It was a back room at number ten. Pictures of various previous Prime Ministers adorned the wall, each with the reigning monarch. The room was usually referred to as ‘The Royals.” Important meetings were held there, in camera, no records. Just like a meeting that had just got started.

“I am concerned, General.”

“Yes, Prime Minister, I am too.”

“With billions of galaxies, each with billions of stars, the changes that we humans are alone are vanishingly small.”

“I concur, Prime Minister.”

“Equally, the odds are that they won’t be friendly.” He paused and took a drink of his coffee. “They will be more advanced than us. We need to prepare.”

“Agreed, pity we can’t destroy those Voyager craft with maps of how to find us before one of the aliens finds it.”

“General, I think that they go too slow to be an issue.”

“We will be totally defenceless when aliens turn up.”

“Indeed, and that is something that we can work on. I want a meeting with the Joint Chiefs and the leading Astrophysicists.”

‘What about other nations, sir?”

“Ah, well, at the moment they are a little preoccupied. Let us get the ball rolling; they can come in when we have something tangible.”

“Do we have anything to start on?”

“Yes. We have an alien spaceship that crashed into Loch Ness in 1937. We think that it must have developed a fault and crashed. As far as we know, no one ever came looking for it.”

“I will arrange for it to be recovered.”

“There is a large underground establishment in Northumberland, Hell Storm.”

“I am aware, Prime Minister.”

“It is vast, I believe it would make an excellent home for our sunken friend and a very good place for our investigations to happen.”

“Indeed, Prime Minister. Budget?”

“That will not be an issue. All funds will come through me. I shall arrange for a drawing line that you can use.”

“Sir,” the General replied.

“And General,” the Prime Minister paused and looked directly in the General's face.

“Sir,” he replied.

“I need not tell you that this is the most top-secret thing that we have ever done. Our allies must not get an inkling, not a single one. You know that they will just want to take over, just like they did with the atom bombs in the war.”

“No, I understand, no one will know. And Sir, as you know, we do have nuclear munitions that the allies know nothing about.”

“Of course we do.”

When the General left, he did not leave by the front door; he used the underground route back to MOD. He sat down in his office, pulled out a pen and started making notes in his pocketbook. Initially, names of scientists that he needed to talk to, to find out what was possible. His second list was the logistics people to arrange recovery from Loch Ness and transport to Northumberland.

“Well, General?” The Prime Minister asked. “We are nine months down the road. I want a progress report.” Nothing, so far, had been communicated in writing, and it was unlikely that anything outside of Hell Storm would be written down.

“Sir. It took, as you know, four months to get the craft into Hell Storm. We have the beginnings of a good team of scientists working on the craft. It was interesting that there were no alien bodies.”

“No.”

The General asked no more questions; he guessed that they had been recovered at the time of the accident, but he wasn’t going to ask. If there was anything the team needed to know, then he was sure that he would have been told.

“I do have some positive areas to report.”

“Carry on, General, tell me.”

“The craft has a basic form of faster-than-light propulsion, FTL, but one of the physicists believes that he can improve on it dramatically. Our understanding of quantum physics has fundamentally helped with that.”

The General paused and took a drink from his tea. After swallowing, he continued.

“We also have some promising other focus areas. It is all based on quantum physics. They believe that they will be able to make a drive that, and you will forgive me, Sir, I am not really familiar with it, but they believe they can make a weapon that folds space.”

“Folds space?”

“Sir, yes, you aim it at the enemy, and it folds the space that they are in, so it basically destroys them at the atomic level.”

“Good God, man.”

“Sir, and one of the other scientists thinks they could use that principle mixed with Quantum Entanglement to make an instant drive. Faster than FTL. They are sure that they can fold space and just move a shop to the other side of the galaxy instantly.”

“Good Lord.”

“They think that they can design a comms system using Quantum Entanglement.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that any message could travel everywhere instantly.”

“Good Grief.”

Two years passed, and like all things in politics, the people changed. The election had ousted the Prime Minister who had got the ball rolling, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer too. This gave the General a problem. He needed funding, and you can’t just hide a billion pounds sterling in the petty cash. He made an appointment.

He arrived in The Royals and opened his case, taking out the various photographs and budget statements. The door opened, and he stood.

“Madam Prime Minister,” he said.

“General. I have twenty minutes. Your request to see me was a little irregular.”

“Madam Prime Minister, I need to acquaint you with a project started during the previous administration.”

“I think I am aware of their various projects, and so was the public, and that is why I am here, and they are not.”

“Yes, Prime Minister, but not this one.” The General spoke for fifteen minutes, outlining the project, the reason for it and the progress thus far.”

“All conjecture,” the Prime Minister said when the General finally paused for a drink from his glass of water.

“It was when we started Madam, but 3I/Atlas changed all that.”

“That was just a comet.”

“No, Madam, it was a derelict alien spacecraft. Very old, and from a very long way away. We do not have the technology to intercept it, but the fact of what it is and just how very big it was, to be an artificial craft, gives even more concern.”

“You are saying?”

“I am saying that there are aliens out there, that they are very much more advanced than we are, and that you only have to ask the Australian Aboriginals or Native Americans, or the Incas, what happens when a more advanced people meet a more primitive people.”

The Prime Minister picked up the telephone and spoke. “Cancel my meetings for the rest of the day.”

He put the phone down and then looked across at The General again. “What about the Americans, what do they say?”

“They do not know. Your predecessor did not trust them; he referenced the original Atom Bomb programme, which suddenly left British hands and became the American Manhatten project, which, after we had invested considerable sums, we saw no return in, insofar as they charged us for our own IP.”

“Where are we at, right now?”

“We have a design for a Faster Than Light rocket motor; it actually folds space. We can go anywhere in the universe instantly.”

“Good God, man,” the Prime Minister gasped.

“Sir, we have a singularity weapon that would send a small black hole to a target; the target would be instantly consumed. The black hole would soon expire with no further fuel. Not a weapon to ever be used on a planetary surface.”

“But, if we had to?”

“Just not on any planet in the solar system, Madam.”

The Prime Minister was silent, and then she listened without interruption as the General talked through the rest of the progress, rail guns that would accelerate slugs of depleted uranium to an appreciable percentage of the speed of light. Their kinetic energy would be so great that they would obliterate anything they struck, regardless of shields.

Next, the General described other ammunition, Anti Matter missiles that exploded on contact with a force greater than anything Nuclear; Gravity bombs that would compress the target a million times in an instant. Shielding using Quantum Entanglement and dimensional phasing that would allow anything fired at a ship to pass harmlessly through.

The General spoke of Instantaneous Communications using quantum entanglement that would allow communications between our ships and Earth in an instant, no matter where the ships were, and that they would be virtually uncrackable. Totally secure comms anywhere, any time. That one we could use on Earth, the General concluded.

“So what is the next step?”

“The gravity bombs gave us an unexpected side effect, Prime Minister. We have discovered anti-gravity.”

“And, that means what?”

“That means we do not need chemical or fusion engines or to get from Earth into space. That means that we do not have to include our allies to get ships or equipment into space.”

“The American will be pissed if he finds out.”

“Madam, how would we tell? He seems that way pretty much all of the time.”

“So, next we build a spaceship?”

“Yes, Madam, and it will be around a kilometre long. It will contain prototypes of all the weapons that I have discussed. And we will launch it.”

“What then?”

“Then we invite our four eyes allies to join us.”

“But not the Americans?”

“No, Madam, not with their current Administration.”

“What is the next phase after that, General?”

“We build AI-controlled mines in a sphere around Earth where the Asteroid belt is. The mines will contain a mixture of Gravity, Anti-Matter and Singularity bombs. We build a number of defence stations on the Moon, on Mars and the moons around Jupiter. They will have rail guns in them.”

“How long will that take?”

“We believe ten years. We hope that we have ten years. Under the previous administration, the UK have withdrawn from all international schemes that are searching for extraterrestrial life. We do not want to help anyone draw attention to us.”

“How did that go down?”

“Not well, madam, but we cited austerity. The senior scientists involved soon stopped talking loudly about it when they were co-opted onto Hell Storm.”

“I see. I guess for me the next steps are to talk to my Canadian, Australian and New Zealand colleagues.”

“Madam, yes, that is out of my jurisdiction.”

“Indeed. I shall propose that publicly, we shall set up a Commonwealth Space Program; privately, it will be an Earth Defence Force.”

“Will it remain under UK control and lead?”

“That may not be possible, General, but I will endeavour to make it so. I will propose to offer them not a full partnership, but a senior partnership. If they have suitably qualified scientists, then they may lead some of the individual projects.”

“Madam, I know that some of our scientists have spoken about bringing in some non-British personnel.”

“So far, only from those we have discussed and only once they are on board.”

Ten years passed, and the various government leaders had changed, and politics had softened. An invitation was sent to the American President to come to England, as Prime Minister Janet Harden had something she needed to discuss with him. A time was arranged, and despite his questioning and probing, Prime Minister Harden refused to be drawn.

Air Force One landed at Newcastle Airport, as directed, and Prime Minister Harden met him on the airport apron. She had a ministerial car with her.

“We need to go somewhere, and I am afraid you cannot bring your security detail. On this occasion, you will have to trust my British Special Forces. They will more than look after us.”

“What is this, Janet?” He enquired, “This is very irregular.”

“Believe me, this is something that will amaze you, and it is something I plan to share with you fully.”

Both leaders got into the ministerial car, and they left the airport accompanied by several Special Forces vehicles. The President’s entourage was not happy, but there was nothing that they could do.

The Leaders’ car and the accompanying special forces headed West across country and soon were in a hilly area, and then a lake came into view. The car stopped at a gated compound, was admitted, and then pulled up under cover in what looked like a large hangar. Prime Minister Janet Harden spoke.

“We are here. It is a small walk, and I think that you will be surprised.”

They got out of the car, and President Harker walked alongside the Prime Minister until they arrived at a door. The door turned out to be a lift, and the President felt that they were descending, confirmed by a slight compression in his knees as the lift stopped.

The lift doors opened, and in front of them was a massive hangar and what looked like a very large spaceship.

“Is this the set of a movie?” Harker asked.

“No, not a film, James, oh no, not a film.”

A man in a military uniform came over to greet them. “Prime Minister, Mr President,” he said.

“General, alright,” Janet said. Are we ready for a demonstration?”

“Yes, Prime Minister, darkness has fallen, we are clear for a flight.”

“Mr President, Madam Prime Minister, if you will accompany me,” the General said as he led them to a small staircase that led into the bowels of the spacecraft. They climbed and then walked along a corridor, a few people walking the other way, ducking to the side to get out of their way. After several minutes' walk, they climbed another flight of stairs and were in what looked like a control room.

“James,” Janet said, “if you will sit next to me over here, and then we can begin.”

James Harker sat on the indicated chair, and Janet sat next to him. “Don’t ask any questions just yet, let us demonstrate, and believe me, it is awe-inspiring, and also very, very scary.”

“Commander, when you are ready,” Janet said and then settled back in her chair. The president was leaning forward, looking around the room, still convinced he was on a movie set, or perhaps one of those reality rides at Disney World.

In front of them, a screen was lowered, and he realised that he was looking through a large window. He could see the ‘spaceship’ stretching out in front of him. Far beyond that was a wall. The wall parted and began to slide sideways. He couldn’t really make out much beyond; it was too dark, but he thought he could see reflected water.

He felt nothing at all, but realised that the gap in the wall was getting closer, and then they passed through it. In a matter of moments, he was looking down on the lights of Great Britain, and then the perspective changed, and the screen was full of stars, millions of them, and he gasped as the stars blurred and what he thought looked just like Jupiter hove into view.

“What?” He asked, “This is a Disney ride, yes?”

“No, James, that really is Jupiter. This really is a spaceship, and we are going to offer you all the technical details so that you can build your own, and the Chinese, the Russians and the Indian’s too”

“What the fuck?” James Harker’s face was pale; he was struggling to take this in. It was beyond his comprehension. The Americans, with the help of an American Billionaire, had only just established a working settlement on Mars, and that took months of travel each way. Looking at his watch told him that he had taken two minutes to get from a lake in England to  Jupiter.

“This is a trick,” he finally said.

“No, James, it is no trick.”

“Why did you not share this technology?”

She went on to explain the reasons why they started, how they had done it in secret with Canada, Australia and New Zealand, that all four nations had a number of space ships, and that there were several more under construction in the asteroid belt, and on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon.

“Why did you exclude us? Why are the largest and richest nations?”

“Because, when we started, your then-President was seemingly at odds with the world. He was irrational, and we could not afford his ego to get in the way of defending the Earth. Now, we judge that the politics of the world has stabilised and that the defence of our planet is more important than keeping you out of the loop.”

“I am rather annoyed, Janet,” he said. I have been in power for 2 years; you could have come to me two years ago.”

“We have come to you now. We would like you to build as many of these ships as you can. We would also like your input on other weapons that we could deploy to protect the solar system.”

“What weapons do you have, and what protection does the spaceship deploy?”

“The ship uses a gravity drive when close to a planet. Put simply, it is like anti-gravity. Once we are out of the atmosphere, we switch to a Quantum drive. It folds space, and we simply move instantly to where we want to be.”

“Instantly?”

“Yes, we have tested it across the whole galaxy; it is instantaneous.”

“Fuck. And weapons?”

“We have a Quantum Gun. We point it, and where it is aimed, it folds space. Anything there simple get folded into nothingness.”

“Fuck.”

“Quite. And in the asteroid belt, we have deployed kinetic rail guns. They are basically a rail gun that shoots a slug of a heavy material; we have been using depleted uranium, but it accelerates the slug to 0.5 the speed of light. The kinetic energy is so immense that it simply obliterates anything it comes into contact with.”

“F… Okay, and you got all this from us?”

“Janet nodded her head.”

“You could have ruled the world with this technology.”

“That wasn’t the point, and that is why America was not initially included. The point of this is to defend the Earth, not rule it.”

“What is the reason? What is the risk?”

“The galaxy is huge. And it is inhabited by alien species that are much older than us. What happened to the Aboriginals in Australia, the Inuit in Canada, the Comanche in America? They were all pretty much enslaved by the invaders. We don’t want that to happen to us when First Contact happens.”

“Do you know that they exist? Have you seen them?”

“Yes. We have left Quantum Probes in various places across the galaxy. They are shielded, they cannot be seen, and they broadcast reports to us using Quantum Communications. We get the reports instantly. There is a section at Pine Gap that analyses what we get.”

“Pine Gap? That is an American station in Australia. How the hell do we not know about this?”

“Because it was kept from you. Do you want in? Do you want to be a part of this? If you do understand this, it will not become an American project; you do not come in to take over. This is currently and equal four way venture. We propose, and I was chosen to do the meet and greet rather than Canada, the Canadians are still a little sore about how they were treated ten years ago.”

Harker looked at Janet Harden, his lips pursed. He looked around and then seemed to make up his mind.

“Okay,” he said. What is next?”

It had to happen sooner, rather than later. Fortunately for humanity, it happened later. It was two hundred and twenty years since the first ship had been built. Earth now had a fleet of over five hundred warships, all hidden in space. The populace knew nothing about them. There had been rumours, of course, there were always people who spoke out of place, but the rumours had been laughed off as conspiracy theories.

It was a grey day in London, a bright day in Canberra, and it was raining in Washington. The world’s leaders were in their bunkers, deep underground. They had detected the arrival of space ships just inside the Oort Cloud. The leaders had determined that they would have a few days before anything happened.

They all spoke over the secure Quantum comms and took to their secret bunkers. The Admiral of the Earth fleet was in a bunker in Geneva, miles below ground, and he was in a room with screens depicting the solar system. Red markers showed the location of the alien ships. Blue markers showed the locations of the Earth defence ships. Five hundred blue markers are spread around the solar system, but all are now moving to the vicinity of the red markers. Green markers showed the locations of the mines and weapons that had been spread around the solar system. If you half-closed your eyes and squinted, the solar system seemed to be a sea of green.

Without warning, every comms device on Earth suddenly lit up. There was a moment of static, and then a voice boomed out.

“People of Earth. I am Admiral Zegorth of the Galactic Hegemony. You have been noticed. We will arrive in your orbit in 5 of your days. Your governments will stand down, and you will be assimilated into the Hegemony as workers. I have two hundred of the finest warships; you have nothing. End of Message.”

There was an initial panic, and then people assumed it was an advertisement for the latest movie blockbuster. People searched online for links to the trailers, but there were none. The next thing that occurred was on every channel, on every social media outlet, a message appeared.

‘Please Standby for a message from the government.’

At this point, people really began to panic. Looting broke out in every city, and the police were unable to quell the violence; they only attempted to contain it in the main areas, rather than try to stop it. Churches, mosques, synagogues, temples and other religious places filled up. Supermarkets were rammed as people tried to stock up on staples.

“Hello, thank you for your attention,” The Secretary of the United Nations said, his voice on every channel in every country. “Please understand that your government have this under control. Yes, they are real aliens, yes, they are threatening us, and no, they cannot harm us. We have been prepared for this for over two hundred years. Get yourself a drink, sit back and watch as your government protects you.”

It didn’t stop the riots or the looting, and it didn’t empty the churches. But then, the various leaders did not expect that it would. The Secretary General spoke to the Admiral after having spoken to Earth.

“Admiral,” he said, “Over to you.”

“Thank you, Secretary,” Admiral Streeting said. He turned to his communications console and flicked a switch.

“This is Admiral Streeting of the United Earth Defence Force. I am addressing Admiral  Zegorth. Thank you for your interest in Earth. We would like to inform you that we shall not be joining your Hegemony; it holds no interest to us.”

Streeting paused and took a sip from a cup of water that was on his desk. He then continued.

“Admiral Zegorth, be aware that Earth is defended. If you proceed beyond the Oort cloud, and for your information, that is where you currently are, and yes, we detected your arrival. If you proceed, we will treat that as an act of war and shall respond accordingly.”

He sat back and smiled; it was the smile not of someone amused, but of someone who was totally assured of his ability and the capability of the forces he commanded.

He watched the red dots on his screens. At first, they didn’t move, and then they did. They moved closer together and then began to make their way through the Oort cloud. Streeting wondered if there had been a translation error? His message would have been transmitted in all the main Galactic Languages that Pine Gap had detected and translated.

There was no further communication from the Aliens, just movement. Admiral Streeting looked at his screens and then made a call to his fleet commanders.

“Commanders, they have proceeded. Please ensure that nothing manages to escape and return. They were warned. Operation Prometheus is live. God bless.”

He watched as the blue dots moved, each one briefly seeming to merge with a red dot, and then the red dot vanished from his screen. It took four minutes, and all two hundred red dots were gone. The blue dots then moved apart again, and then they too vanished as their shields were turned back on and they vanished from view or detection.

Each of the commanders sent a report to the Admiral. There had been no casualties on the Earth side. Each of the Alien ships had been compressed using the Space Fold weapon and was now a small integral component of the Oort belt.

None of the inner Solar System defences had been needed; the shields on the Earth fleet had not been tested. Each Earth ship had folded space, positioned itself adjacent to an alien vessel and had simply destroyed it.

The Admiral called the Secretary of the United Nations. “Threat eliminated, Sir,” he said simply.

“Thank you, Admiral,” was the response.

“People of Earth,” the Secretary said, once more broadcasting on all media, “the threat has been eliminated. You are free to continue with your lives without fear. Thank you.”