The Fiery Trial

by Adam Yoshida

  "What's happening with AMARG?" asked the Acting President, conceding the point and changing the subject.

  "The facility fell into our hands without a fight," answered the Secretary of Defense, "and most of the personnel were willing to volunteer for the Air Force for the duration. We've begun to move materiel out of Arizona to what bases we have."

  "Well, good," replied Rickover, "we'll have that at least. That'll be a hell of a fucking surprise."

  "We have a more urgent matter," noted Preston, "our fleet in the Pacific is running seriously low on supplies and needs maintenance. Most of the Navy will and the only major port facilities in our hands are in the South – within range of the government's air assets in the northern states."

  "Well," said the Acting President, "we've talked about the Hawaiian solution before."

  "We have," agreed Secretary Preston, "and, I must say, I think that it's now the only viable road."

  "And I have to renew my objection," said Secretary Simpson, "I think that making the first overt act is a grave mistake – as much of one as it would be in the case of trying to sink the European fleet in the Atlantic."

  "It's a very different situation, Jon," said Rickover, "in one case we are talking about initiating hostilities against a foreign power. In this case we are simply talking about using force to gain access to ports and facilities that, after all, we claim by right to be our own."

  "If we make the first large-scale military move since the end of the Great Mutiny, we'll shatter whatever peace remains," insisted the Secretary of State, "and give Bryan and the rest a pretext to move."

  "They're going to move anyways," insisted Rickover, "and there's perhaps a hidden benefit."

  "What's that?" asked Simpson.

  "We'll show them – the loyalists and all foreign nations – that we are willing to kill," said the Acting President.

  Western States' Conference, Helena, MT

  Governor Mitchell Randall had managed, under the protection of elements of the Washington, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Utah National Guard, to gather together officials from a dozen Western states in order to discuss a political solution to developing Second Civil War.

  "The problem is insoluble," explained, Robert Baron, the former Attorney General of California, "because too many of the voters are dependent upon the government. They will vote for whoever pays them and we call it democracy. Even if, in truth, it is no more democratic than the legions of Rome proclaiming whatever functionary promised them the most gold as the new Emperor."

  "Let's not be too pessimistic," said the Governor of Utah.

  "You're free to take that attitude, at least for a while," said the Californian, "because you come from Utah. But I've seen it happen to my own state. California went from golden to bankrupt both economically and morally in a generation. In my own lifetime. I can see the process playing out nationally."

  "The American people have always come around to their senses in the end," sniffed the Utah Governor.

  "The American people, yes, the American people," repeated the Californian reflectively, "but what if the people – or a majority of them at any rate – are no longer American in any real sense of the word?"

  "Let's not get into that today," interjected the Lieutenant Governor of Wyoming.

  "No," said Baron, "let's not get into immigration or any of that business. I mean in a deeper sense. If you don't know when the first Civil War was fought or who led the Revolution and why, are you really an American in any meaningful sense of the word? The New Left, when they set out on their Long March through the institutions began an Orwellian process by which they not only used the schools as a means of propagandizing the youth of America, but they actually erased most of our history, at least insofar as a significant percentage of the population is concerned."

  "If you don't know – to borrow from Ronald Reagan – who Jimmy Doolittle was or what those thirty seconds over Tokyo were about, then are you really an American in any meaningful sense of the word? I wonder."

  "That's a fair point," said Randall, "but I'm not sure how that gets us out of this crisis."

  "The problem with Constitutionalists in recent elections is that they've been preaching a creed that the people don't understand. The great rabble isn't prepared to govern itself. A self-governing people must, by definition, be a self-supporting one. If it is not, then elections merely become contests between rival mobs over whose homes are to be burned and pillaged. That's not liberty and it's not even democracy as any reasonable person would define it," said Baron.

  "What would you like to do?" asked the Governor of Idaho, intrigued.

  "We need to limit the franchise," argued Baron, "to those qualified to exercise it. I don't have a comprehensive list but, at a minimum, I would argue that someone who is going to be qualified to make decisions about our government has to understand the basics of how the government functions and why, as well as our history as a nation. They also must be, in some fashion, net contributors to society as a whole. Leeches are always going to vote for more blood for themselves."

  "That'd be awfully damned controversial, Bob," said Randall.

  "I think that, once we're shooting at one another, the time for niceties has passed, Mitch," replied Baron.

  USS George H.W. Bush, Near Hawaii

  From the Combat Information Center of the USS George H.W. Bush , Vice Admiral Neil Tompkins watched as the ships of the Seventh Fleet made this final approach towards Hawaii and the great prize that was Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. During the Great Mutiny, the senior officers of the Pacific Command had stayed with the Bryan Administration while most of the operational forces had ultimately decided to throw in their lot with Cheyenne Mountain and the rebel government based there. Some of the military forces within Hawaii had attempted to stage local uprisings, but the combination of the forces loyal to Pacific Command with certain elements of the Hawaii National Guard as well as local and Federal law enforcement had been enough to keep both Hawaii and the vital military facilities there in the hands of the Washington government. Now, with most of the major bases used by the United States Navy in the hands of the loyalists, the time had come for the matter to be forced.

  While the majority of the Navy's active combat power had, at the outbreak of the Great Mutiny, remained under the control of the Central Command, the USS Bush and the USS Gerald R Ford Carrier Strike Groups had both been at sea in the Pacific, in the middle of transition from the Bush to the Ford as the forward-deployed Carrier in the Pacific. In the end, both Carrier Strike Groups had chosen to side with Cheyenne Mountain.

  For the first month, the two Carriers had remained close to the Navy's facility at Yokosuka, which had adequate supplies to support both flotillas. However, eventually, the Japanese government had decided to declare itself neutral in the dispute between rival American governments and therefore had given the American military forces stationed on Japanese soil three choices: depart Japanese territory immediately, agree to serve under Japanese command in support of the existing treaty obligations of the United States until such a time as the political situation in America was clarified, or agree to disarm and be interned for the duration of the American conflict. The overwhelming majority of American forces in the Far East opted for the first choice.

  However, once they were cut off from their Japanese bases, the Seventh Fleet and the rest of the rebel forces in Asia and the distant reaches of the Pacific faced an immediate crisis: they had nowhere obvious to go. All of the West Coast states were either loyal to the Bryan Administration or heavily disputed. Governor Randall and the Washington State government had recognized the Cheyenne Government, but they had been forced to retreat into Eastern Washington as a result of the actions of the Federal Government, with Seattle itself occupied (in a largely friendly fashion) by Federal forces.

  Both Carriers had managed to fill themselves, with a little bit of shuffling, with two complete air wings. Now, as the fleet made its final approach to Hawaii, Adm
iral Tompkins prayed that he wouldn't have to make use of them.

  The Pentagon

  General Richard Hall watched as a pair of stealthy UAVs beamed images of the Seventh Fleet to the Pentagon in real time. Over the preceding months, the General – now named as the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff – had managed to consolidate control over all of the Loyalist military forces. He had done this largely by appealing to the personal loyalties of men to their service and to the chain of command while working hard at every turn to avoid any direct confrontation between Loyalist and Rebel forces that would push those loyalties a little too hard. Now, however, with the Seventh Fleet approaching Hawaii, it seemed as through he would have little choice but to test the limits of the military forces at the disposal of the Bryan Administration.

  "We don't have anything that can stand up to two Carrier strike groups – and we have to assume that the Marine Expeditionary Force that pulled out of Okinawa is somewhere with them too," said Admiral Angelo Myers, the Commander of the Pacific Command over a shaky video connection from Honolulu.

  "We always recognized that this was a possibility, Admiral," said Hall, "we'll just have to make do with what we have."

  USS George H.W. Bush, Near Hawaii

  As the Seventh Fleet approached the edge of where they would first be vulnerable to air attacked from land-based aircraft in Hawaii, Admiral Tompkins picked up a satellite phone and dialled the main switchboard at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

  "This is Vice Admiral Neil A. Tompkins, United States Seventh Fleet, Commanding," he said, "please put me through to whoever is in command."

  "One moment," said the operator crisply, followed by a click on the line.

  "This is Admiral Angelo Myers, Commander of the Pacific Command," said a voice on the other end.

  "Admiral Myers, as you are certainly already aware, the Seventh Fleet is on final approach to Oahu. We have two complete air groups, seventeen surface ships, and a Marine Expeditionary Force. The facilities you control are the property of the government of the United States. Per the orders of the President of the United States, I demand that you immediately relinquish your command to such a party as I may designate and permit the forces under my command to take control of all shore facilities."

  "Admiral Tompkins," replied Myers, "you and the forces under your command are in violation of numerous articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. On behalf of the President of the United States, I order you to halt at your present location until such a time as the ships of the Seventh Fleet may be restored to the control of the proper Constitutional authorities."

  "If you do not obey the instructions of the President," insisted Tompkins, "then we will seize your facility by force."

  "If you attempt to do so, Admiral," answered Myers, "we will resist."

  The call was abruptly disconnected.

  With a weary sigh, his shoulders slumped, Admiral Tompkins turned to the Bush's Commander, Air Group.

  "You may commence the attack," he ordered.

  Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam

  Admiral Myers looked down at the silent phone with a sense of disbelief. He had served in the United States Navy for some thirty-seven years, ever since the day when, as barely more than a boy, he had sworn his oath at Annapolis. In all the years between that day and that on which he had earned his fourth star, he had never considered the possibility that this day would come. In the days since he had earned that star, he had rarely had occasion to consider much else.

  "My orders are to attack," he told the tall Air Force Brigadier General who was standing at his side. The man nodded and hastily exited the room.

  19th Fighter Squadron, Near Oahu

  The twenty-six pilots who flew the F-22s of the re-enforced 19th Fighter Squadron flew in silence. Of the four armed services, the Air Force had been the one that the Bryan Administration had been able to hold on to the largest portion of. This was not because Air Force personnel were in any sense politically different than those of the rest of the military, but rather because it was simpler to reconstitute a fighter squadron with a patchwork of personnel from different units or drawn from civilian life than it was to put together an infantry division. Fewer than half of the 19th's current pilots had been active-duty members of the Air Force prior to the Great Mutiny. Many of them were handpicked volunteers who had re-joined the military with the specific purpose of putting down the rebellion. The same was true of the ground crews who serviced the aircraft. Further, it had been easier to find volunteers for Hawaii than it had for other duty stations, both because of the general desirability of Hawaii as a location in which to live and because it was widely recognized that it was likely to be the site of an early clash.

  Flying at more than the speed of sound, the F-22s were the great hope of the Bryan Administration for holding Hawaii against a rebel attack. Though the fighters were greatly outnumbered by the two Carrier Air Wings sitting offshore, it was believed that their stealthiness might allow them to penetrate the Navy's defenses and do enough damage to the amphibious ships carrier the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force to prevent a landing by the rebel forces.

  In order to maximize their stealthiness, all of the ordinance carried by the fighters was behind held internally. As a result, each was limited to carrying some eight Small Diameter Bombs with a JDAM guidance kit. Still, this meant that the combined strike carried some 52,000 pounds of precision-directed high explosive power.

  Information on their primary target was being fed to them in real-time by a Gray Eagle drone. The USS Iwo Jima was a Wasp -class amphibious assault ship that would throw the primary Marine contingent ashore on Oahu. If the Iwo Jima and her compatriots were to be placed out of action, effecting a landing – even against the weak land forces that the government had in Hawaii – would prove to be impossible. Therefore Admiral Myers had ordered that she was to be the primary target of the first wave of the attack.

  The Air Force's fighters had to move fast because, even with their magnificent stealth capabilities, they were far from completely undetectable. Even if the powerful SPY-1 radars of the Seventh Fleet were unable to zero in on the incoming strike, the fighters themselves were visible to the naked eye as well, at times, to both Infrared and electronic surveillance. Old-fashioned visual patrols, especially when combined with human intelligence on the ground, were enough to give the defenders of the fleet a fighting chance.

  Some thirty-two F-35Cs off of the Bush and Ford were maintaining the forward Combat Air Patrol for the ships of the Seventh Fleet. Behind them an additional forty F/A-18E SuperHornets were on standby, armed with mixed weapons loads useful for either air-to-air or air-to-ground missions.

  The Lightning fighters from CVW-8 and CVW-5 were, combined with forward-deployed surface combatants, engaged in intensive visual surveillance, with the fighters operating in pairs. Thanks to rebel sympathizers at Hickam Field, the Navy knew when the strike package had taken off and its rough flight path. The controllers onboard the two E-2C Hawkeye aircraft that were providing airborne early warning support for the fleet worked carefully to guide their charges along the projected paths of the attackers.

  At shortly after 4PM, the first of the incoming Raptors was visually sighted by the operator of a drone flying off of the Ford. A convoluted dance now began, as the F-22s attempted to use their superior speed to prevent an intercept by the Lightnings and SuperHornets, both of which were capable of lower sustained speeds than the attackers.

  Two of the incoming Raptors broke away from the main body of the attacking force, changing their course to make an angular approach towards both the of the Hawkeyes providing AEW coverage for the fleet. The AMRAAMs that both sides were carrying were, of course, quite useless against aircraft with advanced stealth features, but they would be more than effective against a giant radar truck like the prop-driven Hawkeye. As the Raptors made their approach, the pilots of both AEW aircraft were forced to abandon their positions and begin urgent evasive manoeuvres, requir
ing in the process that controller duties be handed over to sailors onboard a pair of AEGIS-equipped ships operating on the waves below.

  USS Paul Ignatius (DDG-117)

  As the fight between the loyalist attackers and rebel defenders continued in the air, Admiral Tompkins ordered the Paul Ignatius and the The Sullivans , both Burke -class guided missile Destroyers to make a high-speed dash to the east, in order to ensure that they were clear of the majority of the melee above.

  Commander Farrah Jacobson had been in command of the Paul Ignatius for less than four months when events in Washington had precipitated the Great Mutiny. Like the overwhelming majority of the sailors in the Navy, she had never even considered the possibility that she would be asked to use her training to fight fellow Americans. And, like a majority of the Navy, when the time had come to choose between liberty and despotism, it had not taken her more than a second to figure out which side she wanted to be on.

  There are many people who can arguably claim to have fired the "first shots" of the Second Civil War. Some people give the dubious honor to Mark Varro, just as you could argue that it was John Brown's gun that began the First Civil War or that of Gavrilo Princip which began the Great War. Others argue that the first shots of the war were fired on the steps of the Capitol, when the Army attempted to take on the Congressional Provisional Battalion or perhaps later still during the confused attempts of both sides during the Great Mutiny to take control in Washington, DC. Tens of thousands more shots were fired during the Great Mutiny as the struggle for control that had overtaken Washington overtook the military in a deadlier form.

  Yet, there is a strong case to be made that it was Farrah Jacobson of Lincoln, Nebraska – a pretty thirty-six-year-old brunette woman with a cat and a degree in electrical engineering from MIT – who fired the true first shots of the war. All of the shots fired prior to that point, it can be argued, were disorganized and inchoate – decisions of a moment or required by the impossibility of continued co-existence.