Novo Cetus

Chapter Six

Chapter 6

John Brasco entered the lobby at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). With a wink, he flashed his ID at the security guard. She nodded him past her checkpoint, apparently unimpressed with his flirting. The briefcase he carried contained files, charts, and video footage revealing an unidentified craft. He would present this data to an assembled Homeland Security Panel. Their role: to determine any threat to the United States. If they determined significant threat, the case would go to a DHS Inspector General for further investigation.

A veteran at presenting information to DHS Committees, Special Agent Brasco was familiar with the conference room setup and unimpressed by the political and military clout sitting at an imposing rectangular conference table. There was no room for him at the table, however in a corner of the room was the necessary equipment for a PowerPoint presentation. He linked his computer to the network as the members finished reviewing preliminary reports on the secure tablets he provided earlier. He waited patiently until they finished, then directed their attention to him.

"I am Federal Homeland Security Agent John Brasco. I will present to you all relevant information on an unidentified craft. From this point on, I will be using the acronym UIC for unidentified craft.

"For some time now, our southern satellites have been tracking this UIC moving along the southern oceanic ridge. A naval satellite monitoring its movement detected an explosion. Pinpointed in close proximity to the explosion was the UIC. An unmanned submarine, The Wolf trailing the craft was close enough to gather underwater photos. Moments later we lost contact with The Wolf through what we believe was a large sonar blast."

Brasco, a veteran at highlighting visual information for these committees, slowly clicked through photos of the UIC. There was no noticeable response from the panel. Each had arranged their face in detached boredom. He continued.

"We've attempted to send other underwater vessels to gather more information and are unable to covertly penetrate the large concentration of whales that surround the UIC. We are currently investigating several methods of scattering the whales, including stunning them with sonar, killing one or more to frighten them away, or anesthetizing them with chemical agents. We recently located the UIC near the Galapagos Islands. It seems to be following sperm whale migration patterns using the whales as cover.

"Our hands are tied since it is not in U.S. waters. We have no jurisdiction in the Galapagos, but its trajectory is on course to arrive in the North Pacific. It is my understanding that this committee will be able to fast track the use of extreme force outside of U.S. jurisdiction if needed."

Brasco took his time closing down the presentation. When the overhead screen went blank, he continued, "You have all the relevant information on this subject. Do not assume that the U.S. is the only government assessing this situation. Any questions?"

Senator Sessmen, a senior diplomat from Illinois, gave a slight jerk of his head, indicating he did have a question. "This does not look like a 'craft' to me, and even in these pixilated, fuzzy satellite photos I think I can identify it, so why are you calling it an 'unidentified craft'?"

Anticipating this question, Brasco had prepared an answer. "I can neither confirm nor deny what the craft 'looks like' in pictures and video. I can report that these are the clearest images available and there is credible intelligence that there has been hostile action generated from the UIC."

Assuming Brasco did not have the clearance to be present for the discussion, the panel was cautious. Allowing the information guy to be privy to discussion, inhibited dialogue, therefore Brasco was asked to leave the room for their classified conversation. This was going to be a heated debate.

Sperm whales were still on an endangered list. Killing the whales would be out of the question. "Save the Whales" was still a euphemism for fanatical animal rights groups. Stunning them was also out of the question for the same reason.

"Based on relevancy" was code for "there was a whole lot of information they had not been told." More than likely, there was another panel assembled somewhere else, being briefed with similar, but slightly different information.

Retired Lieutenant Colonel Walter Jacobs wasted no time getting to his point. "This looks like a dang trailer to some dang horror movie to me." His red face ballooned above his starched collar and tie. "This dang relevancy thing is pissin' me off." Jacobs had been on this panel through several administrations and relevancy was a new instruction.

Former Governor Carol Childs looked older than her sixty-four years. Deep furrows between her gray eyes and parentheses carved around her mouth exposed years of making tough choices in her personal as well as her professional life. She had always liked Walter, but also dreaded their rotation together through this Homeland Security Panel. Since 9/11 what DHS considered "relevant" sometimes bordered on the absurd. She knew Walter was as impatient as he was intelligent and did not suffer fools gladly; revelency was a spark to tinder for Walter.

Sean Anderson, first-term congressional representative from Oklahoma, interrupted her thoughts. "I'm pretty sure it isn't a Michael Moore film this time, Wally. I watch Ocean shows with my kid all the time – he loves sharks – anyway, I've seen those stalactite-things crash because of underwater earthquakes. They happen all the time, you know – underwater earthquakes." His Adam's Apple bobbed as he swallowed hard with the little spit he had in his mouth. Sean had lobbied hard to land a rotation on one of these panels. His media team thought he needed experience and confidence dealing with political "big boys."

Carol said, "Regardless if it was an earthquake or an explosion, I don't see how it affects our security."

"The information presented to us does not warrant any action from the United States" said Monroe Feldman, a securities broker in his fifties. He carried an expensive Beau Reed hand-tooled leather briefcase that contained nothing more than his golf shoes and the most recent issue of Golf Digest. He looked at his watch; he could still get in nine holes if the committee made a decision within the next hour. "Any more discussion?" He said brusquely.

The two other members had nothing to add; if they were suspicious of this assignment, they made no comment. The objective of this committee was to consider the danger to the country and give a green light to "use whatever means necessary to secure the waters of the United States of America."

They concluded that, given the information provided, there was no immediate threat to the United States.