Ottawa, Canada

PMO, (Prime Minister's Office)

Langevin Block

Jeff Reardon walked quickly through the dimly lit hall. Hydro Ontario was unable to get the electricity back on.

The power generators were used to keep the recharge stations going. The only devices still working, had a battery as the power source.

Laptops, tablets, and smartphones. The cell towers were down, but someone on the ball had set up a Bluetooth network around Parliament Hill and the major buildings around the Hill.

The other reliable communication network available was the cold war network using the high-frequency radios used to contact the Armed Forces, RCMP, and NORAD.

Jeff wished the NORAD connection stayed down. The Americans were threatening, and being annoying and obnoxious. Par for the course from the current administration. It's like they forgot that for the last century or so Canada has been the US closest ally.

Deep ties born from the same history, people and shared experiences both bad and good. Social, economic and military alliances were worthless in the eyes of the current government.

To be fair the Americans were treating everyone the same. Now they were threatening all kinds of retaliation if they didn't get some sys-admin by the name of Rene Wilder.

The networks were down. How were they supposed to find this Rene Wilder?

Jeff knocked softly at the door, counted to three and walked in.

The PM looked up from the laptop he was working on. "What's with the look, Jeff. The worst has already happened as far as I can tell. You should have progress reports." He smiled, Jeff had been a long time friend. Their friendship went all the way back to McGill university days in Montreal. He was one of the few people he could completely count on.

"There's good news and bad news." Jeff saw JT frown, "Good news is the storm we were dreading has become a godsend. Most of the population stayed home. On the east coast all the way to Manitoba, everything is snowed under. We can easily recover from that with the Essential Services Act."

Jeff was proud of that one. His best idea to date. "The Prairies have been dealing with -50 temperature extremes, which means if they don't need to leave their homes, they won't. With the incentives, we introduced most will stay home."

"And the west coast?" The PM asked.

"They decided to light a joint en masse and take the week off." Jeff and the PM laughed. It was funny because it was true. Jeff remembered their days at the University of British Columbia. They smoked more than a few joints together. For some reason the entire west coast from Alaska to California, something keeps the people mellow. Most of them. Those that resist this mellow feeling, are the true trouble makers. There will be a cost, but it's looking like they can afford to pay it.

"If everything is manageable why the worried face Jeff?"

Jeff handed the PM the dispatches from Washington. He waited silently while the PM went through the messages, one by one. He put them down with care and sighed.

"Who's this guy? This Rene Wilder. I remember joining his chats. When I tried to do one for the government, I was maxed out at twenty-four names."

"They have sent a team to take him back to Washington. We don't even know who this guy is, and they already sent a team." Jeff was fuming.

"I thought all aviation was down due to the storm of the century." The PM was puzzled.

"They flew in under their own power." A knock at the door interrupted the friends. "Are you expecting someone?" The PM asked. Jeff nodded yes.

"Come in." The PM saw an older gentleman in the uniform of an RCMP Chief Superintendent enter the room. He did a quick salute.

"I may have the information you requested Mr. Reardon."

"Oh. Do tell." The PM was looking at Jeff as well.

Jeff waived for the man to go on.

"Yes, sir. This afternoon one of the volunteers we received at our HQ was a man related to one of our special unit commander's. Commander Pierre Wilder to be precise."

Jeff was about to interrupt when the PM raised his hand to stop him and motioned for the Chief Superintendent to continue.

The Chief Superintendent explained everything in detail, up to and including the power he received. A quick demonstration of his ability to produce and manipulate water. He could produce a volume the size of a bathtub, and while he could shape it, the effort to do so was strenuous.

There was an urgent knock at the door. "Did you invite anyone else, Jeff?" The PpM asked. Jeff shook his head, "No."

"He might be one of mine." A quick chat check verified that it was one of the RCMP officers. "He is. And the matter is urgent.

"What's going on?" The PM asked.

"Let me invite you gentlemen to the party. It will be easier to show you." The Chief Superintendent sent invite requests to the two men in the room. The Wilder fellow had given him the ability to add to the party.

After the two men joined in, they saw a small window on the HUD where a fight was taking place in a park.

When the fight was over the three leaders were stunned. "What did he use to destroy that ship?" The PM asked.

His answer came from the Xerys System.

{A Planetary Plasma Projector.}

The three were still stunned by the implications of what they witnessed. They continued to watch as the situation kept escalating.

"Dear God we can't survive a Planetary Bombardment." The PM was about to start ordering people to start taking action when they heard Commander Wilder ask his brother if he could shield.

They held their breathe until this mysterious Rene Wilder said he could try.

They also saw the black metallic replica of the man grab the arm of the alien leader. A bright light went off and the alien slumped into his hands.

Meanwhile, Rene Wilder cast a Force Field around 100 meters in diameter.

"Bigger Rene." Demanded the brother.

"Shut up Pierre." They could see the effort it was taking to cast the field.

Then with a pop of displaced air, the field grew to a kilometre in size, and then again with a bigger pop to 10 kilometres this time.

The bombardment hit the force field and even though they were just under the field they felt the ground shudder from the overwhelming pressure.

The good news is that the force fields held. There were three more salvos from the spaceship when Rene Wilder's hands began to glow again. They knew what that meant. He was going to fire back.

A huge beam of energy flew through the atmosphere and exploded. The watchers were somehow able to witness the explosion beside the warship. It wasn't a direct hit, but the weapons firing at the city of Ottawa were silenced.

"He missed?" The PM and the people who witnessed the shot asked.

"Warning shot." Was the explanation from the Wilder android. They saw the all black robot help the alien officer to her feet. "Please let your superiors know that the next shot will not miss.

The alien must have done that, because the next thing they saw, was the spaceship leave earth orbit and fly behind the moon.

When the action was over the PM asked, "what's this as he tapped a red alert."

Experience energy flooded the RCMP party one more time. Some were offered an ability to upgrade or a new ability.

The PM chose Telekinesis. After watching what Special Constable Stewart did with it the PM was hooked. Jeff Reardon followed his friend's action and did the same. He was seldom wrong.

"Jeff please tell the Americans that Mr. Wilder is an Essential Service."

"Yes, Prime Minister." Jeff Reardon thanked the Chief Superintendent as he led him out of the room.