America Stranded in a Fantasy World

Chapter 15 "Paranoia Or Something More?"

Chapter 15

"Paranoia Or Something More?"

July 5th, 2040: The White House, Undisclosed Location

"So..." President Desden shifted his eyes around the shining conference table as the wood reflected the light from above. At this meeting, Edwards, Marshal, Stevens and Chief of Staff of the Air Force (CSAF) Conrad Green, sat around the table, all wearing respectable attire. "It's been twenty days since the transfer and I believe the gravity of the situation has finally hit most of us, with that being said, does anyone here have anything they wish to share that might help us preserve our nation?" Interlocking his fingers, the President scanned the table with Marshal lifting his right hand off the table.

"Ever since the prototype railgun back in the early two-thousands we've been experimenting and improving it, although at a slow pace because of minimal funding. With that said, we are close to creating a working prototype that can be used in the field, if you're interested Edwards, I am confident that we can decrease the size and potentially place it on top of the Abrams platform." Hearing this, Edwards scoffed and leaned back.

"The last thing we should be doing is putting advanced, experimental equipment onto the battlefield. With what we've so far encountered, magic only poses a problem to small arms fire."

"I wouldn't keep my hopes up Edwards." Steven slid a file across the table to him. "With what little--and I do mean little--information my cells in Ruppriecht have gathered. The magic we've seen so far is but a drop in the proverbial bucket."

"How is the intelligence gathering going Steven?" President Dresden opened a thin file in front of him, only to be greeted by a meager five pages.

"Truth be told, it's disastrous. With the difference in culture, linguistics and general operation of society being so extreme, it could take months or even years for us to get anything meaningful from our cells. In light of this, I ask to be approved to start vetting out potential recruits outside The United States." Before the President could respond Edwards with a roar.

"Like hell you will! If any of your dogs go AWOL (absence without leave) we are FUBAR!" He spat.

"Enough!" Slamming his fist onto the table, President Dresden regained control of the conversation. "Steven, I hereby grant you authorization to start vetting foreign nationals, but make sure you can control them. As for you Marshal, I'll see if I can secure more funding for you. Now, Conrad, do you have anything to add?" Conrad shifted his gaze at Steven who returned a head nod.

"I do have something, sir, however for the sake of national security it cannot leave this room." Conrad paused before continuing, allowing anyone there to speak up but no one objected. "Back during our operations in Africa, our friends in intelligence and the CIA tipped us off about a new possible Russian program, something called "Project Albatross". Sliding a bulky file across the table to the President, he opened it to find detailed documents and pictures of something from science-fiction. "From what could be gathered, the Russians were experimenting with flying drone carriers. The first-ever being an Ilyushin Il-78 simply refitted to hold a few Hunter-B drones. But even with these, they proved to be viable in areas where the need to extend their range was needed. This seemed to only entice the Russians to push it as far as it could go." Flipping page after page in the file. President Dresden stopped when a picture of a massive flying-wing-shaped aircraft greeted him. "The Tupolev 220. Capable of holding upwards of ten or so Hunter-Bs that are modified to be able to carry more armament at the cost of range."

"Yes I remember every news outlet talking about these. But I don't see how this ties in with our current situation?" President Dresden raised an eyebrow at the two, with Stevens speaking up first.