Chapter 29 – Star Wars and Valentines

[3rd POV]

For the entire month, Apollo dominated the news.

Every day the Apollo Enterprises store was sold out. More stores were being opened in major cities where the population had disposable income. Production centers were also being set up to meet demand.

Meanwhile, IBM and AT&T stock crashed by 80%. There was no sign of it recovering.

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In the White House, another meeting was being held.

President Reagan was looking down at his phone watching the latest Pokémon episode. He had earphones plugged in his ears, which delayed the others from noticing.

"I wanna be the very best, Like no one ever was," he whispered along with the theme song.

"Mr. President," Vice President George H.W. Bush said.

"To catch them is my real test, To train them is my cause," he said a little louder nodding his head to the beat.

"Mr. President!" Bush put his hand on Reagan's shoulder, breaking his concentration. The president looked up.

"Ah yes, we're talking about…"

"We were just discussing the defense implications of the Internet," the Secretary of Joint Chiefs explained. In front of him was a diagram of the world with a bunch of satellites orbiting it.

"Ah yes." Towards the end of his presidency, President Reagan showed signs of slowing down. His voice became rougher, and his face had started melting. "Let's have him make Star Wars!"

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[Main POV]

Today I was meeting with the Defense Department. Something about 'National Security.'

"Hello Marshal Apollo," a General saluted me as I entered his office. I guess my German rank was recognized.

"Hello General."

"I'll get straight to the point." The General said. "The Department of Defense requires your assistance in integrating computers into our systems for the purposes of national security."

"Uhhhhh…" I stalled as I thought. I didn't want to give them the weapons that I had already developed for defending Apollonia. Drones, self-driving tanks, plasma rifles were something I didn't really want to hand over.

"Is there something you want in particular?" I asked.

"Well, the president requests your assistance in the Strategic Defense Initiative." He said while handing me a file. Opening it, I saw that they basically had nothing.

I already had hundreds of satellites armed with lasers and missiles for defense purposes. It couldn't hurt to make a couple dozen more.

"General, the president is exactly right." I stated, "I see you have nothing on this project."

"Well," the general said as he fumbled his pen, "our resources are currently tied up on other projects."

"I can finish this project in 12 months," I said. "But I'll be able to do it in 6 months for $50 billion."

"What? Marshal Apollo, the entire military budget is $290 billion! I can't spend a sixth of the budget on one project!"

"I'll be doing the project in 6 months," I pressed. "With anyone else, it'll take decades. It's a small price to pay to make the entire Soviet nuclear arsenal obsolete. And after the first year, the maintenance is only $5 billion a year."

The General paused. After a moment, in a small voiced he asked, "Marshal Apollo, as an American, can we get a discount?"

I smiled. In the end, we settled on $30 billion with $3 billion a year for maintenance, to be renegotiated in 10 years.

Working day and night, the satellites took me 3 weeks to make. They were armed with lasers, and I put specific instructions in the system so they couldn't be used to target stationary objects. Only ballistic missiles that move at high speeds.

And since I transmuted all the materials I needed, and wrote the code myself, I didn't cost me a single cent. Great success.

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Time skip to February 14, 1987

[Main POV]

Today was Valentine's Day and Artemis and I were in our private villa in Greece.

We had spent all day yesterday on the beach. Artemis had never been to the beach before, so I knew that was something we had to do.

For once, we acted our age. We built sandcastles, swam in the Mediterranean Sea, and sunbathe. When I jokingly suggested that we sunbathe naked so we wouldn't get tan lines, she seriously considered it. Then I seriously considered it. Then she looked at me, saw me looking at her, realized she was looking at me, looking at her, and her face blushed gold and quickly started apologizing that it was too early. I silenced her with a kiss.

I slipped out for 5 hours in the middle of the night (not that either of us needed to sleep) and crept back into the next morning. I was armed with three things. The first two were classic. A red rose and a box of chocolates in the shape of a heart.

The third thing I had was a necklace made of seashells she was admiring on the beach. It was really hard deciding on a gift. I already gave her a phone, we had gone shopping for clothes in Berlin after she had lost all of hers before, and I felt that giving her cosmetics would send the wrong message. Anyway, she looked better without makeup.

As I crept into the house, I smelled something delicious. I followed the smell into the kitchen, only to find Artemis, in an apron, over a tray of heart-shaped cookies.

Her back was turned, so she didn't notice me, so I quietly placed the box of chocolates behind me, put the rose and necklace in my pockets, and snuck up on her. When I was close enough, I wrapped my arms around her waist and hugged her from behind.

"Ahhh – Apollo!" she realized before leaning back into my arms.

"Hey Artemis," I whispered into her hair, "what do we have here?"

She looked conflicted before telling me, "I was going to surprise you with these cookies I made, but it seems you've already found out!"

She huffed, puffing her cheeks, and looking away from me. I chuckled in response.

"Well, they smell a lot better than the last thing you cooked up for me…"

Her annoyed expression shattered and turned gold with embarrassment, "I thought we agreed not to talk about that," she said quietly. She then collected herself before exclaiming, "I've been practicing, and I'm confident that they'll taste quite good!"

"I won't deny that they smell heavenly," I started, "but they're still only the second best smelling thing in the room." I whispered in her ear.

I felt her body temperature increase considerably. She wriggled her way out of my arms before holding a cookie in her hand, "There's only one way we'll find out!" she challenged, ignoring my earlier statement. She then shoved the cookie into my mouth.

How do I describe this? Well, I can't. The closest way to describe the taste would be divine. The texture of the cookie was soft and slightly chewy, offering a pleasant resistance before yielding into my bite. The chocolate chips, freshly out of the oven, melted like nectar in my mouth.

"Well?" Artemis asked. "How does it – mmrph!"

I kissed her and fed her some of the cookie in my mouth. Well, she did ask how it tasted.

That Valentines Day, neither of us slept – not that either of us needed to sleep.

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Send me some Power Stones. Don't care if they're heart shaped or not.