******** Area 51, July 9th, 2016
"I'm sorry, but did you say dragons?" Grayson asked Shawn as the latter had been retelling of his various adventures for the last hour and a half, and he'd been telling him about Daenerys for a few minutes. "Yea, dragons are real and I've been close to three of them" Shawn shrugged and replied nonchalantly. Grayson had an expression as though he was looking at someone on drugs, but also curiosity. "How close?" He asked. "Enough to pet one on the nose, a couple times too" Shawn said and Grayson made a surprised scoff sound while writing that down. "So you've been to the Imperial Capital planet and dozens of other worlds, one of which has dinosaurs, another where people can manipulate elements and another that sounds like feudal England, but with actual dragons and ice zombies capable of raising the dead?" Grayson read off his notes with a confused look on his face. "Yea pretty much" Shawn responded, though he knew how ridiculous it sounded, after all his friends were just as confused when he had mentioned petting Drogon on the nose like a dog.

"This sounds more like a drug trip than mere adventures, Shawn" Grayson said with a sigh. Shawn made a slight shrug while Grayson continued, "why should we trust your word?, dead people, ice men and lost cities all sound more like works of fiction than anything real". Shawn listened intently and then raised his hand a little, and with the Force made Graysons pen levitate into the air. Grayson poked at the floating object with astonishment. "Sure it sounds crazy, but so is the fact your pen is floating in the air right now" Shawn said, "I was telling the truth, sir , I promise" then allowed Grayson to take the pen out of the air and he jotted down a few more notes.

"The only thing you've said  that I can confirm is the planet of people capable of manipulating certain elements, because our President met her counterpart of one the five nations of that world" Grayson explained to which Shawn was a little surprised as he'd never heard of Raiko meeting anyone from offworld other than himself or Vader, though likewise with Westeros a single or multiple dignitaries handled the diplomatic side of things. "He gave her a file on your arrival to their capital and we were very surprised to see that it was written in traditional mandarin, so translating was no issue" Grayson continued but then glanced at the one way viewing port then his watch to which Shawn sensed he was about to continue asking him questions, though he also sensed it would not be an easy one to answer.

"Tell me, who is the Emperor? And how well do you know him?" Grayson asked and Shawn instantly cursed mentally at the inquiry, for he knew that even if he was truthful and didn't have an answer they would suspect him of simply lying to cover up his supposed true loyalties, but if he did tell them about Palpatine's abilities Grayson would more than likely say how scientifically improbable it would be for a human to conjure electricity. "I don't know know really, only that his real name is Sheev Palpatine and he was part of the Old Republic in someway" Shawn replied, "he keeps to himself a lot of the time, mostly just tinkering with stuff". "Like what?" Grayson asked and Shawn thought of something that was more likely to be believed. "He uh, reads a lot " he said though wondered if it were really true.

"What does he read?" Grayson asked while writing down the new information. "I don't know really, the one time I saw him reading a book it was one by Hitler" Shawn replied. That seemed to peek Graysons interest, "was this book called Mein Kampf by any chance?". "I..think so" Shawn replied and Grayson shook his head in astonishment, but Shawn sensed that Grayson somewhat believed him. "Well that's all the time we have for today Shawn, I will introduce you to-" Grayson started as he stood up from his chair, but Shawn said something impulsively that he knew would be refused, but it had been ingrained into his mind ever since he had arrived at the base.

"Can I call my parents, let them know I'm alright" Shawn said in a somewhat irritated tone. Grayson sighed softly and shook his head slightly, "I'm sorry that's not possible, it's a security risk". And then something happened which Shawn never expected, his temper suddenly flashed and he slammed his fist onto the table while standing up. "I've been here for two days, answering all your stupid questions!-" he stared yelling loudly in a rage until the door flung open and two MPs stormed in ready to detain him. Shawn thrust his hand out and with the Force made one of them fly back out into the hallway and then dodged the tackle of the other MP and kicked him into the wall. Suddenly he sensed someone coming at him from behind and spun around to face the next opponent.

What he didn't expect was Grayson plunging a syringe right into his neck. Shawn smacked Graysons arm away and pulled the syringe out of his neck while already feeling the effects of the sedative, his vision started to fade when he was thrown to the ground by the MP from the hallway and handcuffed. "You could've had us cuff him earlier sir" the MP said though his voice was beginning fade as Shawn did his best to resist the sedative but failed. "It's alright, this has been very interesting" Grayson said as his voice faded away completely.

*******, Gettysburg bunker

Johnson had been busy reading over the latest news of the day for the last hour, and it was now one in the morning. For starters the Chinese had withdrawn from Shanghai and Hong Kong after a brutal orbital bombardment, the Indian government was on the verge of collapse and several cities across the Midwest had been destroyed by the Empire after being abandoned. Though the news of an Imperial ground attack being repelled at Denver was some news to be glad of, including the news of ordinary citizens taking up their arms against the Empire behind the lines and obstructing their ability to move ground troops without harassment. Then the phone rang and she answered. "Yes?" She said calmly as late night phone calls were something she was used to now.

"Ma'am it's Doctor Grayson, he said it's urgent" the aide said. Thinking something was wrong Johnson decided to accept, "put him through" she said and waited for the call to be connected. "Madam President?" Grayson asked. "Yes Doctor, what can I do for you?" She replied in a calm tone. "Nothing ma'am, it's just there's been a little bit of a development here with Contact Zero" Grayson explained and Johnson's was now interested. "What kind of a development?" She asked curiously. "He lashed out at me earlier when we didn't allow him to contact his family, and we had to sedate him", "I don't know if he will cooperate as well as the other two, he's much more free willed than they are but more volatile", "nonetheless Madam President the truth of the matter is he can be very dangerous if we aren't careful enough" Grayson said while Johnson listened intently.

"Well, maybe we should allow at least one opportunity to call his family at least, I can't imagine how happy that'd make him and his parents" Johnson said in a more proposing tone. "Ma'am I-" Grayson objected but Johnson cut him off. "That wasn't a suggestion Doctor, it was an order, understood?" She said in an authoritative tone. The line was silent for a few seconds when Grayson spoke, "yes ma'am" he said. "Talk to you later, Doctor" Johnson said then hung up the line and resumed her previous work of signing papers authorizing aid to be sent to Guam and Puerto Rico, when suddenly the door was knocked on which caught Johnson's attention, "come in" she called out and set her pen and papers down and Watkins walked in with a folder which Johnson already knew contained.

"I'm sorry to just drop by ma'am, but I'll need your signature for this" Watkins said and handed Johnson the folder which she then opened. In it was the executive order to shut down all nuclear power plants in the country and to transfer their reactor cores to classified locations underground until they could be reused. "Michelle, is the Energy Department sure that this can be done discretely, without the Empire finding out?" Johnson asked. "Yes, Kathy notified me earlier that all privately owned plants will allow their cores to be hidden away too" Watkins explained, "but the CEOs of several energy companies said that their fuel reserves for power will be pushed to their limits and that rolling blackouts can be expected everywhere in the country, and that their reserves will only last until February of next year".

Johnson looked at the order and sighed at the weight of this decision, it was either millions of people be inconvenienced by rolling blackouts or millions of people dying of radiation poisoning. Reluctantly, she picked up her pen and signed the order before handing it back to Watkins. "Just get in touch with Jim and let him know that you'll coordinate the distribution of generators with the National Guard" Johnson said. "Yes,Madam President" Watkins replied before walking out of the room and shutting the door behind her.