King of All I Survey
Chapter 171: Tim Takes Russia

Chapter 171: Tim Takes Russia

I made sure that I was in the main control room when the Russian attack was scheduled to begin. I wanted to make sure the staff of the power plant knew I was there alongside them and that I trusted the assurances of safety that I had given them earlier.

The attack began as Joe predicted from the intercepted communications. We used the adaptable lasers of our undetectable drones to destroy everything fired or launched at Ukrainian targets. We used LITV transport to take the crews from the five attack jets sent as part of the raid with Joe taking control of the aircraft and flying them to the designated airport as planned.

We took a little over five thousand Russian soldiers, primarily from those sent against Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Joe would cut all communications links from each soldier then transport him out with Local Interdimensional Travel to our simulation room holding cells in the new undersea facility. All weapons and all tactical gear would be left behind. Joe would collect this again using LIT to stockpile it in a hidden depot near Kyiv. Vehicles like the helicopters and trucks of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant attack force were placed inside our secure perimeter protected by our drones.

In short, everything went off exactly as planned. Among the Russian soldiers captured, were 365 former Ukrainian citizens pressed into service from the Russian occupied areas. After Joe screened them to make sure they did not have Russian sympathies, Joe delivered them to Kyiv as well. A contingent of Ukrainian forces waited for them there, welcoming them home.

News of the failed attack quickly spread around the world. Russian leadership remained silent. The next day, The United States introduced a resolution in the UN Security Council to declare Russian President Volkov a war criminal for his deliberate attacks on civilian targets and the attempted genocide backed up by the video and documented orders we provided through our CIA contacts in Guatemala. It was expected that the Russians would veto it and it would amount to nothing. China abstained. Before Russia’s turn to vote came, however, the United States delegate pointed out a particular provision in the security council’s charter. Although it had never been practiced, the charter clearly stated that for Security Council votes directly affecting one particular nation, that nation should be recused from the vote. The Russian delegate was absolutely infuriated, calling it treachery and illegal. The charter, however, was quite clear and the other members upheld Russia’s involuntary recusal from the vote. As a result, the UN Security Council declared Maxim Volkov and his top generals to be war criminals with referrals for prosecution by the International Criminal Court.

Of course, the ICC had no enforcement arm, certainly none that could reach into the heart of Russia and extract a sitting President. So, the criminal referral was scoffed at by Russia and North Korea. Both referred to it as a circus stunt by the Americans, without meaning.

As the UN council meeting was underway, Joe insinuated drones into the missile silos in Russia using LITV. Control circuitry in the missiles and warheads were destroyed by precision lasers. We disabled all of them, even though Joe reported that more than half were actually already unusable due to a lack of maintenance since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

That left the submarine-based missiles. Of course, since every particle in the universe was a part of Joe’s being, he could actually feel the submarines. They had twelve nuclear capable submarines, 9 with actually operable nuclear weapons. Others had conventional missiles. Nuclear submarines had a crew of up to 110 men. Other attack subs held up to 75 crew.

We simply removed all the crews by LITV. Joe assumed control of the submarines, directly controlling the electronics. As a temporary measure, I had Joe simply hide them in the deep ocean, all communications links cut-off, they would be nearly impossible to find.

Volkov had ordered the nuclear submarines to a state of high readiness, prepared for launch. His madness and desperation was mounting. We received a report that his top navy admiral had accidentally fallen from a sixth-floor window near Moscow. This being Volkov’s preferred method of execution for those who failed him.

Hours after our actions, Joe sent me a mental notification, Volkov has ordered a massive assault on Ukraine. He will send an overwhelming force of infantry, tanks, and air support to march across the country, destroying everything in their path. He doesn’t care about the losses on his side, so long as Ukraine and its resistance to Russian rule is crushed. More than three hundred thousand men will be involved in the assault.

I sighed, that was predictable, I guess. OK, Joe, I think it’s time to remove him. Can you LITV the generals named in the ICC indictment and Volkov to someplace near the Hague, with five of our paramilitaries for each. Have our guys handcuff them and use separate transport vans to deliver them to the ICC to be held until trial. Let them know we’re coming. Monitor for any Russian infiltration or sympathizers in the facility so they are not released or murdered.

Acknowledged.

That’s going to leave Russia in chaos. There will be infighting and violence as various factions try to assume leadership there, I told Joe. Disable every military plane and helicopter they’ve got. Nothing gets off the ground. Freeze all government financial transactions, so nobody tries to drain it all away. Get the personal accounts of Volkov and the others arrested as well. Identify people in government and military leadership there who are likely to be reasonable and work with us. I think I’m going to just declare Russia officially a part of the UEC.

Are you sure that’s wise? Joe asked. Taking the country essentially by force seems somewhat against your previous efforts.

I know, but I seem to be losing patience with idiots and crazy people. Taking Russia will send a powerful message to the rest of the world. I’ll have to rethink my current approach of convincing countries, one by one, to join - if they want to. I’ll let those currently considering it vote, but after that, I’m pretty sure I’m going another direction.

I see. Can I ask a question?

Of course.

Are you becoming the same as these other power-hungry leaders? Does the ultimate goal matter more than anything else - even if you have to use force to get what you want?

What kind of question is that? I felt anger flare up. I am trying to save the whole planet from massive galactic empires who wanted to steal Earth’s value and leave a smoking ruin in their wake. Yes, of course, that ultimate goal mattered more than anything else!

Joe remained silent.

The silence stretched longer, as I thought about what I had just said. The ultimate goal of saving Earth was paramount, but perhaps the ’how’ of saving the Earth mattered almost as much as the actual saving. What’s the old saying? If I gain the whole world but lose my soul... something, something... Joe?

Yes, King Tim?

I’m wrong. It does matter how I go about it. I’m still determined to absorb Russia into the Universal Earth Collective, though. I’m also thinking about captured soldiers. I mean we can’t treat them like criminals, well maybe some of them, but for the most part they are just regular folks. Serving their country, earning a living. It’s not their fault that their leaders are nutjobs. Can you screen for those who committed atrocities beyond normal military engagements? Maybe we just release regular soldiers back to their home country. Unarmed, of course.

I can perform a preliminary psychological screening to see who might represent dangerous violent tendencies if released.

Start that process, but don’t release anyone yet. Have the simulated attendants tell them they are temporary prisoners of war or whatever. They won’t be harmed but can’t be released until the conflict is resolved.

Acknowledged, King Tim. By the way, The Hague is about to issue a press conference to announce the incoming prisoners.

Let me listen in. This should shake things up around the world.

Acknowledged. Video feed of the briefing will be displayed in your internal visual display. I can walk you android back to your office while you watch, if you like.

Really? You can just take over control of this body?

Of course, why is that surprising?

I don’t know. I guess I just never thought about it. It’s kind of creepy. Let me walk there on my own.

Acknowledged.

I walked back to the office I had selected near the control room. and sat down at the desk to watch the ICC briefing on Russian President Volkov’s arrest. I asked Joe to record any reactions form around the world as it played. I wanted to see how other world leaders reacted. It could send things spinning in a lot of different ways all at once.