by TW Powell
A few nights later, John and his recovering friend were playing chess in their Safe House hideaway. The LDS Ward was holding a sacrament meeting down on the ground floor. John had read some of their holy book, but he was very skeptical. He was Eastern Orthodox and just wasn’t buying what his Mormon friends were selling. These were good, moral people. They had saved John’s life. John just did not share their beliefs, much the same as John’s new Jewish friend did not share John’s Christian beliefs. But John Nicolescu was willing to fight, and even die, for their right to hold those different beliefs.
“Queen to Queen Bishop’s 8, checkmate!”
Just as John’s black queen checkmated his friend’s white king, the front door of the Safe House was smashed in by Peoples’ Militia who seized the dozen Mormon men, women, and children and dragged them out into the street.
The Militia leader began calling out instructions over a bullhorn. He ordered all neighborhood Members to fulfill their duty to The Collective by immediately gathering out in the street to mete out The Collective’s sick brand of justice upon these Mormon fanatics. The local Members slowly formed a circle around the dozen frightened Mormons. The Members were carrying baseball bats, rocks, bricks, knives, you name it. There was no thirst for justice in the Members’ eyes, only hatred and bloodlust.
John peered out the attic window, sized up the situation, donned his cloak, then grabbed his whip and the red machete.
“Stay here, my friend. If I don’t come back, wait until this all blows over, then get out of town and find your way over to the town of Kingston in the Big Smoky Valley.”
“Shalom, my dear friend.”
John made the Orthodox Sign of the Cross, “May God be with us both, my friend.”
John exited through the attic’s hidden door, descended the steep, narrow, secret stairway to the second floor, grabbed a couple of homemade smoke bombs from the Mormon Bishop’s storeroom, then slowly pried opened the second-floor front window.
John could now hear the Militia leader denouncing the Mormons amid the cheers and jeers of the surrounding Members. John climbed out the front window and shimmied from branch to branch of the old oak tree that dominated the Safe House front yard and overhung The Collective’s curbside Inquisition. He now had a front row seat for this kangaroo court.
Just as the Members were ready to execute the religious fanatics, John ignited both smoke bombs and tossed them down into the midst of the Mormons. As thick plumes of yellowish white, sulfurous smoke enveloped the crowd, John used his whip to swing down from his oak tree perch into the midst of the Mormons. Then he began administering his own unique brand of justice upon the intolerant Members.
The bullwhip began lashing out from within the thick clouds of smoke as if it were being wielded by an invisible hand. A black hooded form slowly emerged from the smoke, brandishing a razor-sharp machete. The Militia leader was the first to fall under John’s blade, dying almost instantly upon decapitation. Next, John disemboweled the local Block Coordinator who had been acting as Peoples’ Prosecutor for this legal sham.
When the smoke cleared, a dozen Members lay dead in the street and the rest had fled the scene. The dozen Mormons had completely disappeared along with John and his new Jewish friend.
Gideon’s 300
The Book of Judges is the seventh book of the Hebrew Tora and the Christian Old Testament. This book is set in the period between the Israelites’ deliverance from the land of Egypt, up until Israel crowned its first monarch, King Saul.
Yahweh had picked a “stiff necked” and somewhat fickle people as his chosen ones. Periodically, the Israelites would turn away from Yahweh and begin worshipping pagan gods and violating Yahweh’s Ten Commandments. Yahweh would then discipline His People by lifting his hand of protection, thereby allowing neighboring tribes to threaten them.
Each and every time the Hebrews hit “rock bottom”, they would cry out to Yahweh for help. The Lord would then raise up a great Judge to deliver the Hebrew people from their sinful ways and deliver them from their earthly enemies. So, these Judges were not actual judges in a legal sense. They were great spiritual and military leaders. Yahweh spiritually anointed a total of 12 Judges, 6 major and 6 minor Judges. Gideon was one of the major Judges.
During the 12th century BC, after 40 years of peace and prosperity, the Israelites once again turned away from Yahweh and began worshiping pagan gods, such as Baal and Asherah.
For 7 years Yahweh allowed the Midianites, and their Bedouin allies, to torment His People. Finally, The Lord raised up a young man named Gideon to rescue His People from the Midianite threat and their own wickedness.
Gideon raised a force of 32,000 men to confront an enemy force at least four times that number. Yahweh knew if the Israelites managed to defeat the Midianite host, they would chalk it up to their own prowess as warriors. So, Yahweh told Gideon to dismiss any man who was afraid, or just had better things to do at home. 22,000 men went home, leaving Gideon with only 10,000 warriors.
Yahweh once again counted heads and told Gideon that his army was still too large. He instructed Gideon to take his men to water and make note of how they drank. Those who stooped down and lapped up the water like dogs were set apart from those who scooped up the water with their hands. The warriors who lapped like dogs numbered 300; all the others were sent home.
Now Gideon had just 300 warriors and was hopelessly outnumbered, facing a great host. It would surely be a miracle if they won. But win they did.
Monday, October 7, 2030, was Yom Kippur, The Day of Atonement, one of Judaism’s holiest days. It had been over 4 years since the State of Israel had lost its most trusted and mighty ally, The United States of America. Most Israelis feared the worst when The Collective came to power on April 1, 2026, but those fears never materialized. Yes, there were rumors of anti-Semitic activities in The Peoples’ United States, but the PUS had recently made diplomatic overtures to Israel that appeared to offer a chance for true peace in the Mideast.
The Israelis reasoned that better relations between the PUS and Israel might benefit the many Jews still living in the PUS. The PUS could also be an “honest broker”, an intermediary in the ongoing peace negotiations between Israel and her Muslim neighbors. The Islamic Republic of Iran now had nuclear weapons, which was a real security problem for Israel. Perhaps the PUS, which was a major proponent of nuclear disarmament, could help solve the Iranian nuclear problem.
Israel had fought major wars for its very survival in 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973. These wars were fought in addition to many long running police actions over the last 80 years. Despite being surrounded by enemies calling for its destruction, the Jewish State had miraculously survived and even flourished. Over the years, the highly educated and prosperous Israelis became more secular and humanistic, putting their faith in politicians, economics, military power, and peace agreements written by men on scraps of paper. Most certainly, many Israelis were still devoted to Yahweh, but their numbers were steadily decreasing.
By 2030, The Peoples’ United States Navy was down to only two nuclear powered aircraft carriers. Three carriers had been lost in The Great Pacific War of 2025. Several carriers and crews had remained loyal to The United States government in exile and sought asylum in Japan, or the British Commonwealth nations. The balance of the nuclear aircraft carriers had been mothballed by the PUS due to environmental and economic concerns, not to mention the lack of available aircraft and pilots.
As part of the rapprochement between the PUS and Israel, The Collective’s two remaining supercarriers were scheduled to visit the Israeli Port of Haifa immediately after Yom Kippur. The two carrier air wings would conduct joint exercises with the Israeli Air Force. Most Israelis welcomed this rapprochement as both pragmatic and necessary.
At 6 a.m. Jerusalem time on October 7, 2030, the PUS naval force approaching Haifa launched both carrier air wings in accordance with predetermined war game guidelines, except for the PUS this was not a game. The F-35Bs and
EA-18G Growlers made surprise attacks upon air defense assets located throughout the Jewish State. Many of the PUS pilots were Chinese volunteers and many other volunteers belonged to Syrian, Egyptian, Pakistani, and Saudi extremist groups. This attack was coordinated with nuclear strikes by the Islamic Republic of Iran, which targeted Israeli nuclear installations and population centers along the Mediterranean coast from the Tel Aviv metro area all the way north to Haifa. Jerusalem was not targeted as it was a holy site for both the Jews and Muslims.
The Iranians launched swarms of cruise missiles and intermediate range ballistic missiles targeting Israel’s Mediterranean coast, but these missiles did not carry nuclear warheads. Some did carry chemical agents. The main purpose of those missiles was to strain any remaining Israeli air defenses. The missiles were, in effect, decoys.
The Iranian nuclear weapons were delivered by Iranian fighter-bombers that took off from Iran, refueled at secret temporary airfields located in the Syrian desert, then flew westward out over the Mediterranean Sea and made a 180 degree turn to attack Israel from the west. The PUS naval force helped cover the bombers’ approach with the NEMESIS system so effectively employed against the Chinese during the Okinawa campaign of 2025.
The PUS naval force was badly mauled by the almost suicidal Israeli counterattack, but the F-35Bs and EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft suppressed Israeli air defenses just enough to allow the wave hopping Iranian fighter bombers to deliver their nuclear ordnance with relative precision.
Israel’s Muslim neighbors quickly read the geo-political tea leaves and promptly declared war on Israel, notwithstanding any peace treaties previously negotiated with the Jewish State. They simply tore up all those worthless pieces of paper.
Israel counterattacked with whatever nuclear deterrent that survived the initial Iranian strikes. Tehran and Damascus were vaporized. Israel did not have the intercontinental reach to strike the PUS and, even if they had that capability, too many fellow Jews lived in the East Coast PUS metro areas.
No one knows the exact Israeli war death toll. Some experts contend that 80% of Israel’s Jewish population died in the “30 Days in ’30” conflict. After the Egyptian, Syrian, Iraqi, Palestinian, and Lebanese armies captured Jerusalem, most organized Israeli resistance crumbled. For several months thereafter, the occupying forces publicly beheaded many of the Jewish survivors. Some of the aforementioned experts estimate that as few as 5% of the Israeli Jewish population survived the war and the subsequent genocide.
But the suffering of the Jews was not limited to Israeli Jews. In the early morning hours of October 7, 2030, just hours after the mushrooms sprouted over Tel Aviv, The Collective began rounding up Jews across The Peoples’ United States. Jewish leaders, Rabbis, and Intellectuals were denounced and publicly executed. The remaining Jews were sent to Racial Reparation Work Camps. All Jewish property was seized by The Collective.
At 6 a.m. EST that same morning, the Peoples’ News Network opened the morning news hour with breaking news, “In cooperation with the Peoples’ ally, the Islamic Republic of Iran, PUS Naval forces have decimated the air defenses of the criminal State of Israel enabling the Islamic Republic to neutralize the Zionist aggressor’s capacity to wage war. Other nations have joined this coalition by declaring war on Israel. Here at home, The Collective is taking new measures to eliminate the Zionist threat once and for all.”
This was The Collective’s “final solution” to the Jewish problem.
Around the Globe, Jews went into hiding. They began crying out to Yahweh for salvation, but there was no answer. Slowly, over the next decade, a small remnant made its way to the PUS. Some were IDF, a few were Mossad, many were Jewish-American veterans or former police officers. The toughest and most determined of that remnant made their way to the West Virginia hills. They called themselves “Gideon’s 300”.
DoA
Delvin stopped by the house in Stockton on his way over to Ely. Ever since Dad had passed on, Mom had lost her purpose and reason for living. He phoned her when he was about 20 minutes out, but there was no answer. Mom always answered the phone, but not today.
Delvin pulled the truck up in the driveway and got out with his right hand on the Glock in his jacket pocket. He walked around the house; nothing was out of place. There were no signs of forced entry. Delvin unlocked the kitchen door and stepped inside.
He found his Mom lying on the kitchen floor still in her housecoat. Delvin squatted down to take her pulse, but as soon as he lifted her arm, his worst fear was realized. She was dead. Her body was cold, stiff, and pale. There was no pulse, and she wasn’t breathing. Delvin just sat down on the floor and started crying while still holding his mother’s lifeless hand.
After indulging himself in several minutes of emotion, Delvin pulled himself together.
He began reasoning with himself, “OK, Mom’s gone. What would she want? She sure as hell wouldn’t want to be burnt like so much Collective trash. She would want a Christian burial.
“The Collective isn’t in the burial business, they’re in the exhumation and cremation business. What can I do?”
The answer came to Delvin almost instantly, “Cowboy Tom would have a place for Mom. He had to get Mom down to Stonewall Ranch.”
Delvin wrapped Mom up in some clean sheets and secured the body in his refer. He removed the RFID chip from Mom’s right hand and smashed the chip and her Peoples’ Phone to bits and buried the pieces out in Mom’s flower bed under the gardenias. Delvin then headed northeast along Highway 86, following Sutter’s Creek up into the Sierra Mountain wilderness.
Delvin parked his truck off on the shoulder of Highway 86, then bicycled his way about a half mile further up the creek. He turned off onto a long-forgotten winding dirt logging road and continued pedaling uphill for another mile. He parked his bike beneath a lone giant Sequoia that dominated a small alpine meadow.
Before he continued on foot, Delvin paused to take stock of the beauty that surrounded him. Delvin was not a religious man. The Corps was his creed. He was a man bound by duty and honor. If there was a God, Delvin had not seen much evidence of His existence. This idyllic scene gave Delvin pause for thought on the subject.
A moment of thought was all he could spare. The question of God’s existence could wait. Delvin hurriedly made his way into the alpine forest. An abandoned logger’s shack stood all alone next to a small gurgling brook about a couple of hundred yards into the forest. The windows were boarded up and the door was padlocked. Needless to say, Delvin had the only key.
The one room cabin was empty, except for a cobbled together wooden workbench and an equally makeshift wooden stool. Delvin walked over to the far-right hand corner of the room and pried up a floorboard revealing another of his compact Japanese shortwave transmitters. As Delvin began turning the hand cranked generator, he simultaneously began sending a message in Morse code.
“Slick to Cowboy. Party house at dawn. Casual attire. Invite Miss Daisy.”
Delvin continuously repeated the message awaiting confirmation.
Down at Stonewall Ranch, Tommy, Adam, and The Skipper were immersed in their studies when the coded message came over the shortwave. Tommy was the coms specialist and tech geek of the Jackson gang. He deciphered the message in real time.
“Adam, better go get Dad. There’s an incoming message from Lieutenant Smith.”
Moving Out
Tommy Jackson wasn’t the only one receiving short-wave traffic that morning. 2,000 miles away, near Iberia, Kentucky, Colonel Jimmy Haycraft was just getting ready to move out when he received flash radio traffic from the National Command Authority. Jimmy was to personally take command of 1st Brigade of the 2nd Kentucky Volunteers. 2nd & 3rd Brigades were to advance directly on Elizabethtown from the southwest and south, respectively. The 2nd & 3rd Brigades’ advance was to be visible, loud, and violent.
As the orders were deciphered in real time, Jimmy thought to himself, “Oh shit, we’re just demonstrating, yet again.”<
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Then, 1st Brigade received its orders. 1st Brigade would advance directly northeast from Rough River to a point just north of the small town of Vine Grove, Kentucky. 1st Brigade would advance at night under strict EMCON, radio silence. They were to avoid enemy contact at all costs. Once in Vine Grove, 1st Brigade would receive further orders. Vine Grove was just northwest of Elizabethtown.
Simultaneously, the 1st Kentucky Volunteers received their orders. The 1st Kentucky would continue their advance northeast, up the Ohio River, toward the town of Brandenburg, Kentucky. Once there, they would await further orders while preparing to cut Highway 31W (the old Dixie Highway) at a moment’s notice.
So, 1st Kentucky would be covering Jimmy’s left flank and 2nd & 3rd Brigades of 2nd Kentucky would be covering his right and demonstrating.
“Somebody get me a map, now!”
Jimmy spread out a large, detailed map of Central Kentucky and appraised the situation. He would order 3rd Brigade to move almost due north on US 31W. 2nd Brigade would move northeast along US 62. 2nd & 3rd Brigades would distract The Collective and cover his right. The 1st Kentucky would cover his left and be in position to cut the westernmost of the two main arteries from Elizabethtown to Louisville.
Jimmy once again pondered the situation, “What is the objective? 1st Brigade would conduct a stealth advance to Vine Grove. Why? For what? What is the objective?”
The answer to Jimmy’s question practically leapt off the map and smacked his brain like a Mike Tyson right uppercut.
Jimmy just shook his head and smiled, “They have got to be kidding me!”
Arrangements
Tom Jackson would need to hustle to make his rendezvous with Slick up in Black Bird Canyon. The coded message had set the rendezvous for dawn, but that really meant sundown. The troubling part of Slick’s message was his reference to “casual dress”. That meant this was an emergency. Tom didn’t hesitate.