The Fiery Trial

by Adam Yoshida

  "If we can get to the White House... We can end this today."

  "Can we?" asked Robinette.

  "If we can get the government back into Constitutional hands. Well, we can get a good start on everything that needs to be done, at the very least," said Starnes.

  "I'm not so sure, General," said Robinette, "remember – the people elected the bunch that's in the White House. They didn't know everything that they'd do, how far they'd go, or how much they'd violate the Constitution... But they Goddamned well ought to have. But they voted for them anyways."

  "Hmmm..." said Starnes, looking at the latest location reports on his map.

  "The low-information voters will still be with us tomorrow. Truth be told, they might very well be for us tomorrow and against us the next. But they're doing the country no favors."

  A massive explosion rocked the command vehicle, sending it up several inches into the air before crashing into the Earth.

  "Fuck," said Starnes quietly.

  "That was fast-movers, Liberator 1," signaled Colonel Smith from his own command vehicle, "we have casualties."

  Another pair of thunderous explosions rocked the vehicle as the driver sped up and attempted to evade the bombs being dropped upon the Seventh Cavalry by the flight of Strike Eagles out of Seymour Johnson.

  Yankee Flight, Near Fairfax, VA

  "Fox 2," called out Yankee 1 over the radio as the lead F-22 in a group of six launched by the rebel forced out of Langley loosed an AMRAAM in the direction of the Strike Eagles over Fairfax.

  The first missile raced towards its target at four times the speed of sound. As soon as the Lightnings launched their first wave of missiles, the F-15Es over Fairfax broke off their attack on the Seventh Cavalry below and began to accelerate and execute evasive maneuvers. The rebel F-22s pressed onwards, taking advantage of the vast technical superiority of their aircraft by moving at faster than the speed of sound without using their afterburners, and fired again on the fleeing Strike Eagles.

  In just seconds, the first air-to-air engagement of the Second Civil War was over with the victory having gone decisively to the Congressional forces. The F-15Es out of Seymour Johnson had never stood a chance against a group of fifth-generation fighters coming practically out of nowhere. Their only hope once the F-22s had emerged was to survive somehow. Knowing that it was impossible for them to outrun their opponents, the F-15s had sought to evade attack by moving as low as possible with the hope that a combination of low attitude and speed would allow them to slip away from the conflagration in the confusion.

  The Pentagon

  "Slowed, not stopped," reported General Walker as he read the latest report to be passed up to General Hall.

  "That's what they say ground the ground. The air attack managed to get off more than a few bombs, but they were disrupted and largely destroyed in an air-to-air battle. The reports from the ground didn't get a good visual or videos, but I'd bet that it was F-22s out of Langley," said Hall.

  "Fuckers," said Walker.

  "Alright," said Hall, tapping the table, "they're coming this way. How do we stop them?"

  "We've got what forces we could scrape together from Fort Myer – though there's still some fighting going on there," noted one officer.

  "The 29th Division is just gone. We think that it was the Virginia National Guard that took Langley," noted another.

  Hall walked over to the board tracking the movement of troops.

  "As I see it, the nearest major formation reporting itself as ready to come to our aid is the... 10th Mountain Division? Fort Drum, New York."

  "That's what we've got now," agreed General Walker, "but a lot of those other formations haven't really joined the rebel forces either. A lot of them are just immobilized in confusion. The only real rebel forces in the field, at the present time, appear to be part of the Third Infantry Division – the force that's moving on Washington now – and we're guessing that part of the Virginia National Guard is actively fighting as well. Like I said, that's what we're inferring from what happened at Langley."

  "How do we stop them, General?" asked one officer as Hall gazed at the board.

  "Let's give them Washington," answered the General finally.

  "Sir?"

  "It's already been said – there aren't really organized forces here," said Hall, "there are, at the most, a few battalions in the field. Most of our soldiers – on both sides – are busy engaged in fist-fights, stand-offs, and a few active firefights at most facilities. For the moment, unit loyalties – such as they are – are tending to follow the commanders of any given unit. The country is very divided. The rebels can take Washington, but can they administer it? They don't control any of the administrative apparatus of the Federal Government. They can set up their own Cabinet and their own President... But can they pay out Social Security checks next month? Will they be able to move supplies over the roads? They can fight today, but will they be able to do it next week?"

  "What about the President and the White House? I'm sure they'll have plenty of thoughts on this."

  "We pull the fire alarm," answered Hall.

  The Situation Room, The White House

  "Mr. President," said the chief of the Presidential Protective Detail, "we have to go – now."

  "What?" said the President confusedly.

  "The word has come down from the Pentagon, Mr. President," said the Secretary of Defense, "General Hall has raised the Armed Forces to DEFCON2, all forces worldwide. Evacuation of the government is automatic at DEFCON2."

  "Why?" mumbled President Bryan.

  "The situation is very confused right now. Our communications are disrupted somewhat by events. It's very possible that a foreign power might be attempting to take advantage of our current situation. Given that, it's really only prudent that we evacuate and raise the alert level of the whole Armed Forces."

  "I..." began the President, before stopping to collect this thoughts.

  "We still control Andrews," continued Secretary Ransom, "and Air Force One is waiting there to take you airborne, sir."

  "Ok. Alright," the President finally answered.

  U.S. Capitol Grounds

  By the time that the 3rd Squadron of the Seventh Cavalry arrived at the Capitol it was already almost midnight. The ingress of the unit had been allowed to occur almost unopposed, as it would have been futile for the one major Army formation in the city – what was left of the 4th Battalion – to oppose an armored cavalry unit.

  Instead, General Starnes and the troopers of the Seventh Cavalry were left to roll towards the blood-stained steps of the Capitol as their fellow soldiers warily viewed them from a distance. No one was eager to shoot, but everyone was prepared to do so. From a distance of several hundred yards, the Strykers of the 4th Battalion maintained a careful watch even as they in turn were shadowed by the Cavalry unit's Abrams and Bradleys.

  Outside the Capitol itself, jittery members of the Congressional Provisional Battalion kept a careful watch. They were proud of themselves for having taken back the building from the protestors who had seized it and holding the 4th Battalion at bay, but they had paid a terrible price in so doing. More than a few realized that they had only begun.

  "What a disgrace," said Starnes as he emerged from his command vehicle and walked across the West Front of the Capitol.

  "Sir?" replied Colonel Robinette.

  "To think that soldiers of the United States Army would fire upon men and women defending the Constitution," the General shook his head.

  "I agree, General," said Robinette quietly.

  "But," he gestured in the direction of the Strykers nearby, "in the days ahead, we would do well to remember that surely they will think the same of us."

  The Capitol

  "The latest reports say that they're evacuating the government," explained Secretary Preston, "the Pentagon called a nuclear alert and sent everyone off at a run."

  "Mr. President," continued the Secretary, "I think that we have to con
sider our own situation here."

  "How so?" asked Theresa Rowan, "haven't we won Washington, if they're leaving?"

  "We don't have a lot of forces actually on hand," explained the Secretary, "the 3-7 Cavalry was pretty battered by that air strike. We have some elements of the Virginia National Guard on our side... A few air bases. Some of the Navy reporting to us. Elsewhere in the country we have the Mississippi, Georgia, Utah, Idaho... Well, we have a lot of Governors mobilizing their National Guardsmen and reporting in to us. Pretty much anywhere that's voted for the GOP reliability since the Bush era. We don't have reliable communications, though. And we don't have any natural base of supplies or support here. We could have the 7th Cavalry push through to here, to be sure, and the 116th Brigade is down at Langley and largely intact... But that's not an awful lot of force. And the logistics are a nightmare."

  "What are you suggesting, Mark?" the Acting President finally asked.

  "I think that we need to move to a secure location. One that we can defend. One where the population is relatively friendly to us. One where we can be in communication with the rest of the armed forces and start to figure out what, if any elements of the existing Federal Government will recognize our authority. Where we can start coordinating with the states and getting into position to organize an offensive that will allow us to assume control of the whole country."

  "We concede a lot, image-wise, if we give up on Washington," said Rickover.

  "Where would we go?" asked Mark Nelson.

  "Well, most Federal emergency facilities exist in this immediate area... We don't control any of them for the moment. Raven Rock is probably out. I suppose we could take and probably hold Camp David – easier without the urban population. But I think we need to look elsewhere."

  "A state capital?" ventured Rowan, "somewhere friendly, but with access to the media? Salt Lake City? Topeka? Somewhere like that?"

  "How about Cheyenne Mountain?" asked Rickover, looking at the map of areas and facilities responding to the orders of the Congressional Government.

  U.S. Central Command Forward Headquarters, Jerusalem

  General Dylan Mackenzie had been watching the events back in Washington via every possible channel. He'd spent the last six hours in his office, with staff shuffling in and out, using a computer, two tablets, and a television set to try and keep up to date and it still wasn't enough. Events were simply moving too fast and were now beyond the ability of any one person to fully keep up. The General was moving between websites when a knock came on the door.

  "Come in," Mackenzie gruffly said. The door opened and Augustus King gently walked through, closed it, and took a seat.

  "Good," said Mackenzie without looking up, "I was going to call you shortly. I think we're going to have to move up the date for Deluge so that we can get home to deal with this mess."

  "I understand why you want to move immediately – believe me I do," replied King, "but we have to be patient. Planning and organization takes time."

  "Patient!" Mackenzie exploded, looking up and swinging his arm in the direction of the television, "have you seen what the fuck is going on?"

  "Yes," hissed King, "and I want to end it as much as you do. But you have to remember that it profits us not at all to recover what we can in America only to have the world collapse."

  CHAPTER SIX

  Reactions

  Beijing, People's Republic of China

  "What the fuck are the Americans doing?" asked President Sun Lei of the People's Republic of China as he and the rest of the Central Military Commission reviewed the latest news from the United States.

  "Sporadic fighting continues all across the country – and in some other parts of the world as well," reported General Wang Liguo of the People's Liberation Army, "there was some fighting this very day reported by our sources at the American base on Guam. Apparently a group attempted to take control of the forces there in the name of the Bryan Government."

  "That's uncomfortably close to our part of the world," noted Gao Weiman, the Foreign Minister, who had been invited to the meeting as a guest.

  "The economic news in this is bad enough," said the President, "I wanted to call all of you together to talk about the military implications."

  "The economic implications touch upon the military ones as well," pointed out General Liguo, "we can hardly ignore the military questions raised by the onset of a global economic depression."

  "True enough," agreed the President. "How does this change the military balance in the region, though?"

  "In the region? Well, we have these orphaned American forces. It seems like most of the American Navy – at least at sea – has signaled its support for the Cheyenne Government, but its capabilities are going to be very limited in the future because they don't have a strong logistical base, or control of any major Pacific ports. Those are all in the hands of the Eastern Government. I have no idea what the forces – for example in Guam – would do in the event of turbulence here right now. If I had to guess, I think that they'd be headed for home.

  "The Japanese and South Koreans are both getting very jumpy. The Japanese had to close the Nikkei in the wake of what happened to Wall Street. They don't have a lot of money to spend to re-arm right now, but they're scared of us. Same with the South Koreans, but to a lesser degree. I would expect both of them to deploy nuclear weapons in the very near future. That's the best value they can get for their money, at least defense-wise."

  "Gentlemen," said the President, "I challenge you to think beyond the conventional here. These events in the United States are practically world-destroying in their implications. If the current economic collapse is allowed to continue, China will by no means by immune. In fact, these events don't merely threaten the future of the American government – they are a direct threat to the future of the People's Republic of China.

  "These are world-reconfiguring times. Think big. Think global. Consider our ability to deploy and support expeditionary forces in places where this American collapse is going to create an intolerable vacuum, or where China's interests may somehow otherwise be threatened."

  Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany

  "Again, Herr Chancellor," began Walter Quaker, the United States Ambassador to Germany, "thank you for your prompt and thorough refusal to recognize the so-called Ambassador sent to you by the rebel government."

  "Your country stood by us during the many years when Germany was divided," explained the Chancellor, "and Germany will stand by you during your time of troubles."

  "That's what I asked for this meeting to talk about," explained Ambassador Quaker. "Our government has come to the conclusion that we will require a great deal of additional help, especially from Germany and other forward-thinking nations, if not only America, but in fact the world, is to come through this disaster in reasonable shape."

  "What do you mean?" asked the Chancellor, with an edge of suspicion to his voice.

  "The forces who have risen up against the government of the United States are very extreme, Herr Chancellor. You have dealt with their ilk in your own country before and the world – including my country – paid a terrible price for it."

  "I don't think that they are quite so objectionable as that," said the Chancellor with a slight chuckle.

  "Do you, Herr Chancellor? Consider that the victory of the rebel forces would leave them in total control of the government and consider the true objectives of the rebels. They would remake our Constitution to undo anything that resembles true democracy so as to leave themselves – and the wealthiest among them – in permanent control of the government. They have absolutely zero respect for the environment or anything resembling a reasonable social conscience. What would they do? They would drive economic growth above all other things. They would produce limitless energy – from fossil fuels and nuclear reactors and other such dangerous things. They would allow corporations to gather unlimited wealth. And once they did these things – once they had complete control of our gove
rnment and the ability to generate massive wealth without any need to have a regard for progressive values or the common people – what do you think that they would do next? Remember what our government did when it was only partially under the control of these people – under Reagan and Bush? What sort of aggressive wars would they wage then, with what fearful consequences? Do you think that people who turned their guns on their own people to resist a tax increase will have any compunction about killing millions – even tens of millions – of foreigners when they see gain for themselves?"

  "What exactly is it that your government is seeking?"

  "The U.S. Armed Forces have always been a reactionary institution. The majority of the military – not all of it, but a majority – has sided with the rebel government. However, for the moment they are very disorganized and not effectively capable of mounting a true campaign of resistance. Hence their withdrawal from the Washington area and other areas that they initially seized. We control almost all major urban centers and ports but, if given time, we are unsure as to whether we will be able to overcome the rebels on our own. A show of force by the elements of the armed forces that we do control, in cooperation with the military forces of our allies, would be enough to defeat the rebels and restore order. In fact, the defeat and discrediting of the rebels would likely be enough to give birth to a new and more progressive world order..."

  The Chancellor waved his hand.

  "Let me see if I have this: you want Germany – and presumably the rest of NATO – to deploy military forces to the United States to help you fight other Americans?"

  "Yes, Herr Chancellor. We believe that we are within our rights to make such a request under Article V of the North Atlantic Treaty."

  "You are quite mad," said the Chancellor, "surely you are aware, as well as I am, that the North Atlantic Treaty is meant to deal with conflicts of an international nature."

  "I believe that different lawyers will have different interpretations..."