Shoshone Station: The Galactic Consortium season 2

Episode Three: The Egg #23

"We are very close to having the diplomatic issues worked out, at least as far as the station goes," Lannister told the assembled group of reporters. He was sitting in his conference room. The reports were mostly on the surface station, being projected up here in holo form. Lannister was slowly getting used to these weekly press conferences, feeling more and more comfortable with this.

"What do you mean, for the station at least?" Someone asked.

"I mean there are still a lot of issues to work about who can travel throughout the Consortium, how visa and passport details will work for long term visits, work visas, citizenship, etc. But for right now we've made a simple compromise for visitors to our station," Lannister explained.

"And?" the voice prompted.

"Simply put, we, America," he clarified, "will have primary responsibility of the ground station and decide who can come up and who can leave that station. The Consortium will continue to have primary responsibility for the spaceport and who can travel on their ships and from where."

"Doesn't that make it possible for a terrorist to board a station elsewhere and arrive on your station?" Someone asked. "Indeed didn't that happen recently."

"It did," Lannister said. "And we saw how far they got. The new regulations should tighten up security considerably. Visa stations will be at the entrance to the spaceport. You will need ID and a passport to pass through in either direction. For the ground station, a simple government issued ID will be sufficient. Anything else?" he asked, looking around the group.

"Power?"

"Yes," Lannister smiled. It was not the best subject, but slowly that was starting to bear good news. "We are at a hundred percent production, have been for sometime. The interface with the power grid on the surface," he grimaced, "has been slowed several times. Currently it's bearing about fifteen percent of the load we can provide."

"There have been reports of problem throughout the U.S." A voice commented. "With relay stations, power stations."

Lannister knew this, knew what needed to be done, but selling it was hard. He hoped he found a way. "Yes, our energy infrastructure is struggling. So is our economy. My father, of all people, reminded me of something in our last conversation, the Tennessee Valley Authority. Perhaps it's time to upgrade some of these stations. It would put a lot of people below back to work."

"And what do you think are the odds of such a thing?"

Lannister shrugged. "I've spoken to our senator. I suggest concerned viewers do the same." He knew the reality was that it had little hope of passing in the current political climate. The president, surrounded by scandal, had seen his party slammed in the mid-terms and many of the new congressmen had won on a platform of reducing government expenses and of holding the Consortium at arms length if possible.

Lannister noticed the clock. "I have time for one more question. Anything?" He looked the group over expectantly.

A man's voice came from the very back of the group. "Is an asteroid going to strike the earth?"

The question threw Lannister. He scrunched his brow. "An asteroid?"

The voice barreled on. "An asteroid or meteor of considerable size, if it struck the earth could create havoc, even make it uninhabitable. What is the Consortium's plan for dealing with such a thing? Will they act?"

"A meteor of considerable size?" he asked again, caught off balance.

Shir, his anti-missile commander, rescued him. "My crew has been watching the skies over your country. We have seen no such thing. If we did, we would act, surely."

"Would you be able to shoot it down?"

Her brow scrunched as well. "Shoot it down? Depends on size and trajectory. Likely such a thing would have to be removed. I would look to the commission of orbits and objects for guidance on this."

"What is the commission of orbits and objects?" the voice asked.

There was a long painful silence while Shir thought and the rest just shrugged. It was Zeta who finally answered. "One hasn't been establish in this system. Diplomacy will, in time."

"How much time? Before or after the meteor strike?"

"There is no meteor that we know of," Zeta replied, her tone defensive. "If there were..."

There was a ripple through the crowd, anger, concern, confusion. A crowd that was about to be out of control, in Lannister's opinion.

"Enough," he said. "There is no meteor that we know of. If there was both our governments would work together to handle the situation. If you wish to know how, that would be a question for the high level diplomats. Now our time here is up. Thank you for coming."

The moment the holo-projection faded he rounded on the officers gathered around him. "Anybody know what that was about?" he asked. No one did.

This ends Episode Three: The Egg. Stay tuned for Episode Four: Meteors. And the return of a character from Season One: The Girl in the Tank. Available on Wattpad.

Blurb for Episode Four: 

Dan Oleson has been chosen to serve as embassy security on Saras Station in the Consortium, but he will soon discover the dangers are of a different type than he's expecting.

Rumors are swirling about an asteroid or some other large body colliding with the earth. Would the Consortium allow such a thing to happen? More importantly, it seems the rumor may have started on Shin Station, of all places. Can Dan find the answer to this riddle?