Summary: Jeff begins to learn about the world of politics.

…The darkness drops again but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born…

The Second Coming, W. B. Yeats. 1919

Prologue:

"Whiskey?"

Barely keeping his impatience in check, Jeff turned towards the portly man who began to pour amber liquid into a crystal tumbler.

''Ah, no, thanks Mr Secretary. I'm flying back to Kansas straight after this meeting."

"Kansas. Don't know why you'd choose to live in that forsaken dust bowl, not after everything you've seen and done."

A gentle snort came from Jeff's left, and he glanced across the coffee table to the woman, silver hair pulled back into a tight bun, crisp navy uniform adorned with four stars on each shoulder and rows of coloured ribbons.

"Carlton, you should know enough about us Midwesterners. You can take us out of the Midwest, but it'll always be our home." Jeff's former Commander from his USAF flight training at Nellis grinned at him. "Of course you'll never convince me that Kansas is better than Oklahoma, but I understand why Jeff's based the family there. I'd do the same in his shoes."

"Flat, uninteresting, dull, boiling hot or freezing cold. Full of cattle and crops and tornados." Carlton Naranjo, US Secretary of Defense waddled across to the winged armchair in the centre of his office. "I suppose I should offer you something else, although if you aren't going to drink whiskey, god only knows what. Pop? Tea or coffee? Water?"

"Tea, please. Darjeeling if you have it, dash of warm milk, no sugar."

"I'll have a coffee, black, one sugar," Jeff chimed in.

"Darjeeling! Nevaeh, if I didn't know from your confirmation hearing you're a Yank, I'd accuse you of being a Brit with the amount of tea you drink. Who'd ever thought you'd spend over thirty years in the military and come out of it drinking tea." Activating a small intercom and placing the order, Carlton's broad New Jersey accent was obvious as he joked. Jeff tried not to roll his eyes.

"That's what happens when you get posted to the UK and then India one after the other, Carlton. You develop a taste for tea."

"I suppose we're lucky you didn't get posted to Australia. You'd be drinking beer all the time."

Jeff tried not to grit his teeth as light-hearted chitchat continued until the requested drinks arrived and the aide departed. This part of business was never his favourite.

"So, Jeff, tell me 'bout this wondrous new invention of yours and how it'll benefit the good ol' US of A. When Nevaeh here starts to get excited 'bout something, I always know it's something worthwhile."

"Well, early days at the moment, Mr Secretary-"

"Jeff, if we're going to do business you'd best call me Carlton. At least in private -otherwise those ol' fuddy-duddies in Cabinet get their catheters in a knot."

"Okay, Carlton. As I said, early days but the modelling looks very promising for this new engine. Looks like it'll knock about ten hours off circumnavigation of Earth at the equator."

"Carlton," Nevaeh leaned forward. "You don't know Jeff the way I do. I can tell you this though, if he says it'll knock ten hours off something, it'll actually be fifteen."

"So planes fly faster. At least this will help the Air Force get places quicker. No more embarrassing debacles like - well you know where I'm referring to."

Jeff glanced at Nevaeh, wondering about the reference. Getting no hint from her, he continued.

"Actually, I think this engine will be compatible with cars, ships, space flight, heck even submarines the way our modelling is looking."

"Now you're talking, Jeff. This could be a huge boon to our military –"

"And the economy in general, Sir. Public transport, logistics, emergency and rescue, foreign aid provision - it would all be cheaper and more efficient– the uses could be unlimited."

"Yes, yes of course. But the military would get first bite of the cherry."

Jeff was about to open his mouth when he caught Nevaeh subtly signalling him to be quiet.

"Yes, I can see it now. This could be a joint venture between Tracy Corporation and the US military initially. After all, we're the only branch of government that has the budget to invest in this type of innovation. Once the military have proven its viable technology, we could consider other uses. For the right price of course. Could be a nice little money earner for the military." Carlton patted his belly. "Yes, I like this."

Jeff was about to correct Carlton that in fact Tracy Corporation would be getting 100% of the profits given he was the one investing all the research and development up front, when he noticed Nevaeh tweak her fingers at him again. Throwing an annoyed look at his former commander, now Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Jeff was only slightly mollified when he caught her using old Air Force hand signals from their deployment days, warning him to be patient.

"Jeff, if this does as you say, I really think this could be a goer. Only issue will be fitting it into the budget cycle. We can't afford it in this coming year's budget and the Technology Committee budget approval for the following year is not until next October next year. That's over twelve months away. Will that be a problem? How much progress can you make by then?"

"You leave that with me and Jeff, Carlton. We'll make sure that the submission is ready by then." Nevaeh looked at the antique steeple clock in the corner. "We should go, Mr Secretary. As your assistant reminded us repeatedly earlier, you have another meeting scheduled in five minutes."

"I know I can rely on you, Nevaeh. Jeff, good work. I'm looking forward to regular updates on progress." Carlton turned his back on them in dismissal and opened the intercom. "Tom, send in Commander Crosby now."

Walking out of the large oak panelled office, Jeff almost tripped up at hearing that name. He knew a Crosby during fighter training. The man was insufferable, arrogant and-

As the door opened in front of him, Jeff remembered one of the primary reasons he disliked Oliver Crosby.

"Jeff! Oh, sorry Ms. Chair. I didn't see you there." Watching as the bald man snapped off a smart salute to his Chairperson of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Jeff felt all his old disdain bubble up. The man still had the same supercilious smirk and manner that so annoyed him when they first met all those years ago as green USAF trainees at Nellis Air Force Base. Nevaeh returned the salute crisply before exiting through the double doors with Jeff following closely behind.

"Commander?" He waited until they were both seated in the soundproofed back section of the limousine before asking the burning question. Nevaeh held up a finger indicating for Jeff to wait as she pushed the intercom to the driver.

"Hyde Field, Captain. We'll drop Mr Tracy back at his plane."

"It'll be slow going, Ma'am. Roadworks on Southeast Freeway."

"That's fine, thank you Lieutenant. I don't have any appointments until dinner with the Japanese Ambassador at nineteen hundred and Mr Tracy is flying himself. No hurry."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Nevaeh, you don't have to-"

"Nonsense." Jeff watched as she checked the intercom was off, and then rolled tense shoulders. "It gives us a chance to debrief after meeting with Carlton. Although it'll take a few days to discuss everything we need to cover. So, Crosby," she sighed. "Commander, Air Mobility and before you ask, no I did not support his appointment. It happened during my confirmation so I didn't get a say in it."

"Given his spectacular cluster-fuck during the Nepal mission in '33, I'm surprised he didn't get busted down to second lieutenant."

"I forgot you were in radio silence on your way back from Mars when that hearing was on. His father pulled in some favours with the then Chair of the Joint Chiefs. It led to the then Chair's 'retirement' and Astrid Karlsson's appointment into the post."

"I was wondering why he retired early, but you know, we got back from Mars, Lucy got pregnant and I left NASA in pretty quick succession. I never did get the full story about what happened. Wasn't really that interested once I knew Scott was on the way, to be frank."

"Can't blame you. It began a pretty sordid period for the service. The President was forced to appoint Astrid as the new Chair JCS with a mandate to clean everything up. She did a great job of it too. But Crosby had already been cleared by JAG and couldn't be retried. They thought the best option was to shove him into a desk-jockey job."

"Well, that obviously didn't work if he's Commander Air Mobility."

"To be frank, we were out of options. After the Military Integrity Commission, we were pretty light on the ground. Jim Mason and Harriet Cheng were both killed in what Carlton just referred to as the 'debacle'." Nevaeh continued quickly cutting Jeff's question off. "And no, I can't discuss that with you, it's classified. Alex Palmer is currently under JAG investigation, also classified. The rest were just too green to consider. We even thought about bringing Johan Leister back from NASA, but he'd recently retired. Medical grounds. Diagnosed with bone cancer although he doesn't want anyone to know about it, doesn't want the fuss. Latest word is he's not expected to make it another three months."

Jeff was silent, remembering his jovial ex-colleague from his first space mission, hauling and installing replacement satellite parts in Asteria Nine. "Typical Johan. How is Rod taking his illness?"

"You know Rod." Nevaeh looked out the window. "Jokes about everything but's there when you really need him."

They drew up at a set of traffic lights as the sun sank behind the Smithsonian.

"What's the story with Carlton, Nevaeh?"

"I know you don't want your inventions to only be used for the military, but you did come to me first to run the idea past me. If I by-passed Carlton as Secretary of Defense, and went straight to the Transport Secretary or Chair of the Appropriations Committee, Carlton would find a way to shut us down before we even got started."

"He's that powerful?"

"Oh yeah, he'd also probably blackball Tracy Corp, just to ensure the message got out there to others not to cross him."

"Not good."

"No, not good. You know you put me in a bind, damn you Jeff. You never learned the ins and outs of politics, always relied on your capability and intelligence."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

"No, it's not a bad thing, so don't you ever change. But the politics here in DC is so much more cut-throat than the Air Force."

"How do you manage then? I seem to remember you never had the patience for it."

"I learned. I had to. It was the only way I survived the fall out after '33 and Crosby's clusterfuck. And then Astrid took me under her wing, said she needed a straight shooter to run her command after she took her next posting. Little did either of us know where that was going lead to."

Watching his former commander take a small device from her pocket, Jeff suddenly realised it was a jammer.

"You think we're being monitored?"

"When Astrid took over the Chair of JCS, the President gave her broad powers to clean up the military. She told me she thought he really didn't want to, but both the House and public opinion forced his hand. She ran the Military Integrity Commission for four years."

"It took down a lot of corrupt officers and enlisted personnel."

"And you wonder why we're so thin on the ground that we had to appoint Crosby to a Command position? You might also remember that it resulted in a Special Counsel to investigate the Senate. A lot of Senators had to resign and some were prosecuted. A lot of aides lost their jobs." Nevaeh looked Jeff in the eye. "Astrid took me aside once I was sworn in. She told me that a lot of the information that the Integrity Commission gathered pointed towards Carlton, but there was never enough for the Special Counsel to indict him."

"And he's still Secretary of Defense?"

"I did tell you he's powerful, probably the most powerful person on the Hill. Maybe even more so than the President."

Jeff could feel a headache coming on. "So you've just put me in front of a potentially corrupt politician, let him know about Tracy Corp's invention-"

"Like I said, we need to go through Carlton, we can't go around him otherwise he'll black ball you and I'll be under investigation faster than you can sneeze."

"Come on Nevaeh, unless you've changed since we were at Nellis, the thought of you being corrupt is laughable."

"A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then Jeff." She placed a hand on his arm. "But no, I haven't changed. I didn't join the USAF to end my career under the cloud of an investigation."

"Why take me to Carlton then, after I told you about the invention? Why not let me sell it on the open market?"

"Jeff, you are too much of a patriot not to let us get first bite of the cherry. This way you get to control the way it gets used in the military as opposed to it being appropriated by Carlton, you get to trade it off for use in areas you're interested in, even if Carlton thinks he's go the upper hand."

"Maybe."

"Yes-be. You know I'm right, you've seen it happen before. Jeff, you're a national hero, heck even the Russians and Chinese want to shake your hand. Having Jeff Tracy attached to any project means all the key Secretaries will want in on the project for their portfolios. Carlton won't be able to keep this quiet within Cabinet once it gets to budget approval, or at least he won't be able to keep it quiet that it's you who's driving the innovation. You just need to make sure you keep a low profile and not arouse Carlton's suspicion before then."

"And how do I do that?"

"Be yourself, Jeff. Spend time in Kansas with the family; run the business as normal, don't personally have meetings with the Russians or Chinese. Oh, and hire someone you trust to be your head of security."

"I've already got a head of security-"

"I know. Javier Vincent, used to work for GMS. Clean background check. It doesn't pick up that he's married to Carlton's godson's daughter."

Jeff looked at her askance. "Really?"

"Really."

"Damn."

"Indeed. However he's about to be offered a role he can't refuse-"

"How do you know that?"

He watched as a small smirk formed on her plain face. "I'm afraid that's cl-"

"Classified," Jeff groaned. "And I suppose you've already picked out my next head of security too?"

"Now Jeff, I would never tell you how to run your business, let alone who to recruit-"

"But?"

"You need someone you can trust inside out, preferably someone you've known for a long time, who not only understands how you work but isn't afraid to tell you you're wrong on occasion. Someone who has a security and intelligence background, is well connected with the right intel people, the ones we can trust."

"Right, and considering I don't know anyone who fits the bill, that person's going to be so easy to find," Jeff muttered sarcastically. He looked out the window at pedestrians moving faster than their car. The silence in the car lingered.

"When was the last time you spoke to Dave Phillips?"

"Dave? On John's birthday, you know he's his godfather. We remained in touch after he was medically discharged from the USAF following the flight training accident when we were both stationed in Niger. He's flown foreign aid mission planes since then."

"Foreign aid? Really?"

"Yes, he was working for Global Aid flying into and out of the Ukraine when we last spoke."

"I hear he's looking for a new job."

"How did you know that?"

"That's cl-"

"Classified. Why is Dave looking for a new job 'classified'?"

"You really think he's flying foreign aid planes?"

"What else would he be doing? He's not allowed to fly fighter jets after the accident, he wouldn't get clearance for passenger jets and cargo would bore him silly."

Jeff watched as Nevaeh looked out the window this time.

"Why don't you give him a call, Jeff. I can guarantee you'll find he's the right person for your head of security job. Also, you need to start carrying a gun."

"What?"

"I know you don't believe in carrying them, especially now with the boys, but you need to ramp up your personal security."

"Do I need to look at the security at our home?"

Nevaeh looked at him slowly. "I know it's not in your nature to be suspicious, that's why you need someone like Dave on your side. But politics across the world currently are fraught. You know yourself that all of your competitors are looking for that advantage, the same goes for foreign governments and militaries. But it's not just them you need to look out for. There are still people on our side who evaded Astrid's Integrity Commission and once word of your invention starts to leak, and it will - Carlton is a dangerous person to make an enemy of, but he's just as dangerous to have on your own side. You need to ensure that your family are safe."