Athena sighed as she walked into the recruitment conference room, annoyed that the meeting was another case of not getting any information beforehand. Usually she would get some sort of background data, but George and Pam wanted to give her the full briefing in person. She was particularly curious, since Caroline said this mission was apparently so extraordinary and top secret that it was felt no discussion should be done outside of secure locations.
She and Caroline took a seat at the table, where George and Pam were already seated. Everyone said their greetings.
"Athena, I know this is a little unusual, not giving you documentation in advance. But this mission is much different than anything you've done before," George said.
She was intrigued by this, which sounded very novel, though she could tell her mother was very concerned about it.
"The good aspect here is that it's not unusual in the sense of danger to you," George continued. "It's more that the stakes for this are higher than normal. We would like you to do something that doesn't technically fall under recruitment, though we and Caroline believe you could do it. How effective it'll be in the end is another matter."
"All right. I shall do my best, of course. What's the mission?" Athena asked, hoping they would get to the point soon.
"Some background," Pam started. "As you know, Trans Univex's long-term plan is global destabilization. We believe they are particularly strong in the USSR, working to drive a wedge between the Soviets and the Americans."
A picture of an older man appeared on the wall screen.
"This is Leonid Brezhnev, who last year became the General Secretary of the Central Committee and thus the leader of the Soviet Union," Pam continued. "The prior leader of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev, had started opening more dialog with the west. Unfortunately, we're concerned that Brezhnev is listening to people associated with Trans Univex, and they are attempting to influence him to distrust the United States and to generally abandon communication. It hasn't helped with Brezhnev's mood that in March the Americans committed troops to South Vietnam."
"I know that the Soviet Union has been building up their military," Athena noted.
"Yes," Pam said grimly. "Quite frankly, the Soviet Union is a complex beast and he is only one man who must balance many parts of the USSR, some of which are hawks who do want to strengthen their forces, particularly their nuclear stockpiles. Brezhnev is sympathetic to this and we expect it to inevitably happen."
"What are his long-term goals?" Athena asked.
"It's very difficult to say," George put in. "Brezhnev's a complex man. He has a reputation for ruthlessness and oppression in many ways, while other information tells us that he's not a completely unreasonable man. He cares about his country, but is very mistrustful."
"Yes," Pam said, nodding. "Unfortunately, the nature of the Soviets is to be closed, suspicious and insular. They suffered terribly under Stalin, suffered worse in World War II, and have suffered ever since. Trans Univex is taking advantage of this to feed their paranoia and mislead them. But if the Soviets could be influenced to keep communication open, it might make a significant long-term difference to countering Trans Univex – perhaps even eventually leading to arms control treaties, and the eventual opening and reintegration of their culture into the world."
"What can I do to help?" Athena asked.
Pam paused and looked around the table, as though getting a consensus on whether the idea was really a good idea.
YOU ARE READING
Tomorrowland: Frank and Athena
FanficA prequel story of what happened between Frank and Athena! Who created Athena and why was she so powerful? How was Frank able to stay in TL? Why was Frank affected so strongly by Athena? Why didn't Frank know Athena's nature? How did Frank affect At...
