America's Galactic Foreign Legion - Book 3: Silent Invasion by Walter Knight Page B

again. “Ready to ride!” they chanted, carrying the two
spiders out to the parking lot and placing them on their bikes.
More bikes arrived. One by one, the big Harleys were started up.
The rumble of engines and blue smoke was intoxicating. A biker babe
hopped on to the back of Private Wayne’s bike and held on tight.
Her human body was so hot it caused Private Wayne to sweat, even
though it was a chilly night.
    Private Wayne led the pack of Harleys down
Elvis Street through the center of New Memphis. Ten bikers and
their biker babes flipped the bird to The Man as they passed the
Sheriff’s Office. The entire event was recorded and broadcast
planet-wide on Channel 7 World News Tonight with Phil Coen.
     
    Return to Table of
Contents
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 8
     
    At the next peace negotiations meeting,
conducted on a large barge north of New Memphis along the New
Mississippi River, the spider Fleet Commander demanded the arrest
and extradition of Carlos Bonanno.
    “We do not extradite our citizens to hostile
nations,” said General Kalipetsis. “Even if they are lowlifes like
Bonanno.”
    “Excuse me, but you do, and you will,” said
the Fleet Commander. “You signed the Anti-Banditry Resolution. It
calls for the extradition of criminals who commit acts of violence
and murder across national borders and then seek the protection of
those borders. Bonanno’s criminal syndicate is part of a criminal
network that spans the galaxy.”
    “So you say,” said General Kalipetsis. “I am
still not convinced. I do not want to set a dangerous precedent
that may be abused in the future.”
    “I am handing you an Imperial Arrest Warrant
for 1,246 counts of murder and terrorism against Carlos Bonanno,”
said the Fleet Commander. “This is in regards to the cowardly
nuclear bombing of my command starship. Attached is a file
containing particulars that include written statements, accounts,
and confessions supporting the indictment. Even your own
subordinates agree that it is time to wipe out the Mafia once and
for all.”
    “My subordinates sometimes act without my
authority,” said General Kalipetsis, glancing at me and Lieutenant
Lopez. “But that is between us.”
    “Do you accept the validity of the arrest
warrant?” asked the Fleet Commander. “Obedience of the law is
demanded, not asked for as a favor.”
    “It is a question of national sovereignty,”
said General Kalipetsis. “We will not give up any citizen until our
relations are normalized. And we certainly will not give in to
coercion.”
    “If you can not reign in your dangerous
criminal elements, the Empire may be forced to move you back to the
original Demilitarized Zone.”
    “If pushing us back to the DMZ is your
ultimate goal, you will have a long time to wait,” said General
Kalipetsis. “Hell will freeze over before that happens.”
    “My ultimate goal is to see the human
pestilence swept from this sector of the galaxy,” said the Fleet
Commander. “But the Emperor still believes there is hope for
coexistence. Because I am but a servant of the Emperor, I am now
sitting here talking to you and trying to be reasonable. Arrest and
extradite the mass murderer Carlos Bonanno!”
    “If you are honest about being reasonable,
you would withdraw from the oil and uranium fields of the North
before war breaks out,” said General Kalipetsis.
    “Oh, get past that,” said the Fleet
Commander. “Where would you have us withdraw to? The North Pole?
The Arthropodan Empire is here in the North to stay. Get used to
it.”
    “Your aggression will not be rewarded,” said
General Kalipetsis. “What goes around comes around.”
    “Your slow-walking stall will not be
tolerated,” said the Fleet Commander. “You will arrest and
extradite Carlos Bonanno in a timely manner, or I will do it for
you. Now there is a precedent for you to worry about.”
    “You just want us to leave New Colorado,”
said General Kalipetsis. “We will never leave. We brought