Mists of Time: Echoes of Extinction: Book 3 by D. Ward Cornell

Author:D. Ward Cornell [Cornell, D. Ward]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

CAPTAIN’S OFFICE

It’s just about 5:00 PM Eastern. I’m expecting a call from Natalie shortly. Despite its disastrous start, today ended up being a productive day. Thelma and Millie put together a plan for our replenishment. It will take ten days, which gives me the time I need to deal with my presidential problems. Millie launched one of our autonomous war shuttles toward the Dominion’s rallying point for the invasion. By this time tomorrow, we will start getting some intelligence on the situation there. We also got a few more hours in on our mission to cleanse M5 of its Dominion presence. It’s horrifying to think about, but we annihilated a total of fifty-nine systems today.

With Alex and Kayla gone, Thelma doesn’t have enough to do. So she’s partnering with Millie on the mission to identify any additional Dominion systems. She’s also taking the lead on the replenishment. With any luck, I’ll leave Earth ten days from now, accompanied by ten Space Force battlecruisers and carrying a plan that will cleanse this portion of the galaxy of a Dominion presence.

What could possibly go wrong?

The holoprojection lights up, then Natalie appears wearing a deep frown.

“What’s wrong Natalie?”

“Emmett Dodson.”

The mention of his name spikes my adrenalin. Dodson is the representative from Arizona, the one who challenged my loyalty during my first day of testimony on Capitol Hill.

“What about him?”

“He leads the newly formed bi-partisan Humans First Caucus. It only has twelve members, which he hasn’t held together well enough to change a vote. On behalf of the caucus, he presented articles of impeachment against you today, claiming you abandoned your office. I told him, I would not schedule floor time for such nonsense. Now he is calling on me to recuse myself, because I currently hold the questionably constitutional position of acting president.”

“Why does that matter?” I ask. “It doesn’t stop the chief justice from swearing me in, right?”

Natalie rolls her eyes. “No, it doesn't. But it is likely to tie up the vice-presidential approval process for months.”

For the first time, To’Kana’s solution for stupid political problems appeals to me. I wonder how long it would take before anyone missed my old pal Emmett, if I transported him into the Sun.

“Okay. Let’s schedule the swearing in for Friday, the day after tomorrow, at Noon. I know how to deal with the Emmett Dodson issue. Leave that one to me.”

“Kai,” Natalie says with some distress. “What are you going to do?”

“Not now. Let’s meet again tomorrow morning. Have your press secretary coordinate a media plan with mine. We can discuss it in the morning. Offer Audell Knight an exclusive, if he comes down to the White House Friday for an interview. I want to hit the ground running on my new agenda.”

Natalie nods. “Are you still planning to come down tonight?”

I shake my head. “I have some loose ends I’d like to tend to before coming down. Shall we touch base again tomorrow morning?”

“Thanks for coming back home, Kai. Maybe the three of us can get together for dinner tomorrow night.

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