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Commander.”
    “I was in Beijing seven years ago,” stated Lunar Richmond to her father.
    “How come I don’t know about your visit Lunar?” Ryan asked with the entire conference call listening.
    “We didn’t know about this visit either,” stated the Australian Defense Minister.
    “How did you meet with them?” Ryan asked his daughter quite shocked that she hadn’t told him why she had visited China.
    Lunar hadn’t really told anybody about her groveling for Rare Earth metals in China with the old Premier to build America Two . Lunar had been so embarrassed about being mistreated by the Chinese government that she hadn’t even told Saturn or her sister what had actually happened, but had kept it to herself.
    “It was certainly a very lousy experience,” she replied slowly. “I was body searched twice, the shuttle I flew in on I sealed down tight and kept the tiny locking mechanism in my mouth the whole time. I had to lay flat on the floor, naked apart from a silk cloth, before the Premier entered and even then I was to lay on the floor while he spoke to me. It took Saturn an hour to fly in so his men could inspect the metal I was paying with for. Saturn re-launched and hovered until the Premier was shown the pictures of the treasure in the cargo hold. It took him another hour to accept the deal. Saturn returned, they unloaded, and then I was told later several helicopters flew in with the rare earth metals on pallets. Twice he tried to rescind on the deal and not pay for the treasure. Twice I warned him that he, and the whole of Beijing would be destroyed within minutes of me not taking off as planned. Twice I was gun butted in the head for talking back to him. Finally I persuaded him to just go through with the deal and take it out on my father when they next met. For five hours I lay on that cold marble floor and thought that I was going to die. That is why I didn’t tell you the whole story, Dad.” Nobody said anything and Saturn, who had landed and protected her own and Lunar’s craft while they inspected Saturn’s shuttle’s hold, had something to add.
    “They were not very nice. Jenny Burgos and I held a laser pistol in one hand the whole time they inspected our cargo hold and took photographs. They tried to get into the cockpit and I stopped them by firing the laser into the cement by the man’s feet. The melting cement stopped him fast. Lunar’s shuttle was closed up tight, and I had to stop them from trying to enter it as well. They stopped after a few holes were drilled into the cement by their feet. I didn’t know Lunar was going through such anguish. Shelley Saunders flew in, we had the cargo loaded, Lunar reappeared after several hours and we all flew out.”
    “So this is what happened to all the valuables we had in storage,” continued Ryan, “and why you wouldn’t tell me?”
    “Well, it was embarrassing, and personal, and it seems the guy is now dead. Good riddance and there is a new younger guy in command,” added Lunar. “I think Jonesy is right. We just go in heavily armed and try to be friendly.”
    “I would like to go with General Jones,” stated Mary Collins from Toronto.
    “You can add me as an interested visitor,” added Martin Brusk from Tel Aviv.
    “I would like to send somebody from the Australian Government,” stated the Australian Defense Minister. The new Aussie DM had been introduced to the crew once, back on the island. “Somebody to report back to me, and I would like to emphasize that our visit there be peaceful, and our mission is to also try to mend broken fences between the West and Beijing.”
    “That is why I would like to be there Minister,” added Mary Collins.
    The conference call came to an end, and Ryan hugged his eldest daughter, feeling bad for what she had gone through.
    Lunar returned that this problem in her life had happened years ago, and that she had forgotten the horrible experience when she had seen America Two fully built for