The Icarian Legacy Collected Edition: Brave Souls - First Strike (Volume 3) (13 page)

As the burial was watched for the first time in its history humanity stood united. And several world leaders saw that. A long time ago there was a dream from some people about united federation of man. This was the first day that that thought was taken seriously.

Unary Samba watched from the stage at the representatives of every   country of the world that were gathered here today.

He knew that this was a meeting that might, that will change the course of human history. He looked at the seven men sitting in front of him.

The presidents of USA, Russia, China, India, Japan, France and Great Britain were sitting there. He had talks with all of them before this meeting. He knew that what he was about to say would cause much commotion and even animosity toward him. But after he talked with them he talked with three men that were also sitting here today. It was rare occasion to see soldiers sitting on a UN meeting.

Three different uniforms were represented. One, a clear US Navy white uniform, and two that represented the SF of two countries. He talked with them as well and he couldn’t forget the talk with the Macedonian soldier. He looked at the young soldier. He was sitting next to the Macedonian president. A smile came to his face as he remembered that small European country and all the struggles it had to go through. Without even thinking it he noticed that he looked at the Greek representative a little further away. He guessed that it was a reflex reaction. But as he looked at the faces of both presidents he noticed the change in both of them. It was the same with many others. The old animosities, problems between countries, they were all put aside today.

“
Twenty nine months. That is the time we have to prepare.”
                    He felt a chill pass through his body at that thought. He looked at the young Macedonian soldier again. He remembered the words he told him, remembered them well.

The blue alien that he said he killed for not to suffer wasn’t the enemy. He was just a prisoner. He remembered the briefing where the scientist explained that the two alien species were totally different, and that there was no chance of them evolving on one world.

“
You have a beautiful world
.”

He looked at the written speech that he was holding in his hands. Then he raised his hand and looked at the young soldier again. Their eyes meet. The soldier smiled and nodded. Without thinking he folded the paper and put it in his pocket.

And without thinking he started the speech that no one will ever forget.

“Dear colleagues, dear friends… I speak to you today not as a General Secretary of the UN, not as a delegate, not as a representative of my country, but as a citizen of this world, I speak to you … as a human being. A human, that word so often spoken has a different meaning today. When before we, spoke of human civilizations, we divided it on the   nations and the people that created it. We named them Roman, Greek and many other. But we never before used that name for what it really means, what it represents. We never, until seven days ago, truly understood what it encompasses.

There are no human civilizations gentlemen.

Look at every men that is today in this room.

Don’t look at his skin   color, at his nation, at his beliefs, look at the man…look at his blood.

Look at his blood, because blood never lies.”

As he said that he took out a small knife and made a small cut on his hand and raised it. Tiny drops of red blood dropped on the stage.

“My skin is black. I am a Christian and the country I come from has men who are Muslim. Many of you are white, some are yellow, some are young and some are old.

But when we bleed, we all bleed the same. We all have red blood in our veins. We are all human beings.

Just four days ago we all watched and cried as seven thousand four hundred and thirteen sailors and marines went on their last journey, and alongside them we buried two hundred and forty civilians.

More than thirty years before on a meeting in this same place a man said:

“In our obsession with antagonisms of the moment, we often forget how much unites all the members of humanity. Perhaps we need some outside, universal threat to make us recognize this common bond. I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world.””

He saw several smiles among his audience on the mentioning of the former American president. He looked at the Russian president.

“He said that he often wondered what would happen if the world faced an alien threat from outer space. Will the United States and the Soviet Union as the most powerful nations fight together? He asked that question at the White House and he got an answer from the soviet foreign minister who said that the answer to that question is simple. The answer ladies and gentlemen was “Yes.”

Both those man are now dead. Did they know something we didn’t?

We will never know that.

That threat showed itself one week ago. The aliens killed both soldiers and civilians. They never asked, never cared for our differences. The people that died were from thirty countries, they were black, white and yellow, they had different beliefs but they all fought as one. Because they were human and they were fighting for the same cause.

When the first time man looked at the stars he was fascinated by them. We always asked the same question.” Are we alone? Is there no one else?” Now we know the answer. Now we know the truth.

And we know their name.

Dacarians… That is the name of the enemy. And in twenty nine months they will come to our world and try to take it from us.

I ask you the same question today that a man asked thirty years before me.

What will we do? How will we counter that threat?

Do we fight alone or do we fight as one? Not as one nation, but as one civilization.

A long time ago a famous general once said “Alone we are weak, but together we are invincible.”

When this organization was first formed, the people who created it had a dream. A dream of a day when we shall stand united, when there will be no borders, no nations, of a day when there will be only people.

I ask of you today to help me make that dream come true. I’m a simple man my friends. I don’t want power, I don’ want war. None of us does. But we have no choice. We will stand as one or we will perish. Everything we ever did, from the day when the first man was born till today it all lead us to this moment. It all leads to today.

Today we make the most important decision in our lives. Today we decide for the future of mankind, for the future of our race.

I stand before all of you today with a proposal, a document that I ask you to sign.”

As he said that he picked up the document before him on the desk. As he did that he noticed everyone looking at him. He opened the paper and as he did he continued.

“Seventy years ago we became Organization of the United Nations. I say that today we become The United Nations of Earth.  I don’t care who the president of that organization will be, that we can decide later. But this is a step we have to take, because this ladies and gentlemen is the first step in to the future. A ask every one of you to sign it and give us the chance to have that future. That is all.”

As he said the final words he noticed that the entire hall was quiet. It was so quiet that he could hear his own heart beating. And he noticed that everyone was looking at him. He looked at the document that he was holding in his hands. As he did that he noticed three people standing up.

The three soldiers just looked at him and saluted. Then, the youngest of the three started clapping with his hands. Soon the applause spread out. Everyone stood up. He never felt the tear coming down on his chick. He wiped it and smiled.

He looked at the presidents of the three most powerful nations smiling as well. He feared that they would not react well to his proclamation but it was obvious that he was wrong.

He closed his eyes.

“
Thank you God. They understand… They understand.”

As he opened his eyes he noticed them approaching. The US president Carter was the first to come to the stage.

He smiled.

“You couldn’t have said it better. Now do you have a pen or do I have to look for one.”

This remark brought a chuckle from the other man that heard it.

Unary smiled as well and took out a pen from his pocket and gave it to the US president.

Carter just bent and signed on the graph that showed his country. After him both the Russian and the Chinese presidents put their signatures.  Then everyone else started slowly coming up and signing. In just half an hour the small document that stood on the desk had the signatures of the representatives of every country in the world. He looked at the remark that someone put on the top. It read Earth Federation.

He smiled. In his heart he knew that today a new age was starting. He knew that for the first time in its history mankind stood united. For the first time there were no nations, no countries, there was just one nation, one civilization. It was the nation of all people, the Earth nation.

He looked at the delegates standing before him. He knew that they like him knew what this meant.

He knew that the Earth Federation was born. He just hoped that humanity was prepared for what that will bring.

30 September 2017 White House

Washington 

The President looked at General Taylor. The fifty four years old general was the only man from his advisory team who served through the previous administration. He was the only man Carter trusted completely. And the reason for that was pretty simple. They knew each other for a long time. Unlike most of the previous presidents Jim Carter did serve in the US Marine Core. The fifty eight years old president spent fifteen years in the marines. And in the beginning of his service he met his current military advisor. But unlike his friend who chose to continue serving Carter chose to enter in to the world of politics. And he never regretted that choice.

As he looked at the general memories of the distant past flushed through his mind. He shook his head and smiled. He looked at a picture on one of the walls from his marine days.

The general looked at his president. He noticed that the president was looking at one of the pictures on the wall. When he noticed it he smiled as well. It was a picture of the two of them. He looked at the two young boys on the picture. He remembered how everything was simple then. They were just two more marines who wanted to serve their country the best way they could. He looked at the reflection on the mirror on the other side of the room. Instead of the two young marines he saw two old people staring back. The black hair was now gray. Their bodies were changed as well. Their faces looked old, had wrinkles that showed their age. And they both had more weight than they were supposed to.

The president was the taller one. Taylor was six feet while Carter was six and half. But the general knew that he was in a better shape than the president. As he looked at the reflections he noticed the eyes. As everything else they were changed as well. They showed experience, knowledge, something that could only come with age. But they still had the same glow they had when they were young. He noticed than that the dark eyes of the president were looking straight at him. There was a strange glow in them.

“I bet I could still kick your ass Jack.”

Taylor smiled.

“Maybe we can go couple of rounds later, for old time’s sake.”

“For old times’ sake.”

They both smiled at each other. It was an honest and sorely needed smile. They both knew they had hard times ahead of them. And that this may be the last time they can smile like this.

“We had some good times back then. Didn’t we Jack?”

“Yes. Life was so much simpler than. No distractions, no nerve breaking meetings. It was just the core. It was family.”

They both looked at each other at the last words. There was no need for words. Every man who ever served in the Marine core knew that look. They knew the feelings. It was something that was always with you. Something you could never forget.

“It’s still a family John. It will always be family.”

“Yes.”

The president sat on the chair. The general poured scotch in two glasses for both of them and after he handed one to the president he sat down to.

“The ship was brought in two days ago.”

“Yes.”

“And, what are the scientists saying? Can we use some of the technology? Can we copy it or reverse engineer it?”

Taylor looked at the president.

“It’s still too early to tell. The ship is damaged, severely damaged. It took a real beating in the battle. Even after two weeks we are still removing the bodies. There were thousands of them. We were lucky that most of them drowned, or died before our troops entered the ship. Otherwise the casualties would have been much higher.”

“How long will it be? How long until we are able to extract some of the technology? You know it will be sorely needed when the time comes.”