A Look Ahead

[IKV Avenger]

Early 21st Century Earth.

United States of America.

White House.

Situation Room.

"Are you out of your flipping mind Major"? From his seat, The President of the United States sat glaring at the Air Force Major standing at the briefing podium. The President continued, "You're talking about a T.V. series from the damn 60's and a bunch of movies, your wasting my time". Major Dalton stood at the podium and looked directly into the eyes of the President and each of the Joint Chiefs of Staff sitting around him and the various White House Advisers. He wasn't afraid. Not of the men in this room anyway. He waited a moment longer and then spoke in a clear and determined voice, "With respect Mr. President...no I'm not. The science fiction series your referring to was based, unfortunately, on a small amount of leaked classified information in the 1960's. Through our intelligence sources we allowed a....game to be developed in the 1970's based on the same leaked intelligence to make it look exactly like science 'fiction'. It worked rather well. The actual source material however is stark reality, or at least it will be".

The President simply looked at him and then looked around the room. The Joint Chiefs couldn't meet his gaze. He continued to look at the various Directors of his intelligence agencies. They simply looked back with the air of men that knew something he didn't. The President sat back and threw his hands in the air, "Are you people serious? Is this some kind of joke? You expect me to believe in space men, talking lizards and beam-me-up-Scotty"? The NSA Director stirred to catch the President's attention, "Sir, Presidents come and go but governmental institutions continue despite the changing of the voting tides. Some information isn't ever disseminated to the Office of the President because it is on a need-to-know basis. And to be blunt, sir, sitting Presidents often don't have the need-to-know". The President, starting to get a little red under the collar started to say something when the NSA Director raised two fingers and flatly stated two words, "plausible deniability". The President stopped at that, considered for a moment and then nodded. It was true that even a President didn't know all the dirty little secrets of every little nook and cranny of the government. And sometimes that was a good thing. The NSA Director looked at the Major who on the surface at least was an Officer of the United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations, "Continue Major".

The Major looked down at his briefing notes, found his place and began again, "In the late 1950's our military intelligence community came into possession of a lengthy transmission stream. This transmission stream was decoded. Slowly at first, then later at a quicker pace. Unfortunately 'later' was several decades. Earlier decoded information was incomplete and fragmented. Only after the actual code key itself was found, only a few years ago, were we able to review previously decoded information and fill in more detail. The results were...staggering. Sir, the transmission stream originated in the late 23rd Century. We've known that since the early 60's. What we didn't know was the full, far ranging impact of that information. Until now. Included in the transmission data stream were embedded video and audio links that we've only been able to decipher and format to imaging software in our time".

"So what information does this data stream include"? The President was now beginning to clearly understanding the gravity of this briefing.

"Sir", the Major continued, "The entire data stream concentrates on a one-week period in the late 23rd Century. This one-week period is an academy briefing in a future military organization on earth that is referred to as the 'Star Fleet'. It is centered on earth but from the data clearly is the military branch of a larger organization known as the 'Federation of Planets' of which Earth is a member". The President shift in his chair, "So the whole thing is about some future classroom with a bunch of cadets? What's the problem"?

"The problem sir, is the material that is being discussed during this academy class. It is a week long review, from an historical perspective, of something they call 'The General War'. From what we've decoded, this 'General War' involves what astronomers call the Alpha Octant which includes the Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta Sectors of our galaxy". Noticing the President was beginning to glaze over with a 'lost' look, the Major leaned forward very deliberately, "Sir, in the mid-23rd Century fully one-fourth of this galaxy goes to war with each other. We aren't alone. Not by a long shot. This war last for 25 years and makes any terrestrial war pale in comparison. Fully twenty-four different alien governments, including this 'Federation and Star Fleet' are involved. We've know much of this for decades. But it was the last part of the data stream that was recently decoded that pushed us to call this meeting with you. We found out the future of the entire human race is at stake based upon what we do at THIS juncture in our history and how it connects to our future. Or rather, what we do now will determine IF we have a future".

The President leaned forward, now very serious, "Major, you'd better start at the beginning".