The Hasten the Day Trilogy

by Billy Roper

  Next, John asked Mark for an update on their international relations. The Secretary of State told them of the Australian’s request for more military assistance in light of increased belligerence by the Indonesians, the Orange Free State request for tactical nuclear weapons to use if necessary against Cape Town or Harare, and the Iranian encirclement of Batman. Jason joked that he thought that was the job of the bat-belt, and they all laughed, before Mark reminded them that their German allies expected western Turkey to get hard enough to keep any refugees shaken loose by the fighting in the east from crossing over into Greece or Bulgaria. And, they expected New America to do the hitting.

  On their own continen t, Bellefont’s Texican forces had attacked Republica del Norte towns in New Mexico again, taking some pressure off of the New American front around Denver, but the Church of the New Dispensation Faithfuls were reported to be plundering as far northeast as Baton Rouge, with little organized resistance by the New African tribes. And, the skirmishes between Mormon Gull units and Chinese troops in Santa Barbara got hotter with every day.

  The President of Argentina had been asking for help treating their people sickened by the radioactive fallout after they’d used their fourth of six tactical nukes on the city of Santiago de Chile two weeks ago, but they seemed to have the medical situation in Mendoza under control now, and had just reached the Pacific at Valparaiso. McNabb asked Smith if the shipments of food were still on schedule every week to Oahu, and Mark confirmed that they were. That was the main thing the Speaker cared about.

  In issues that didn’t directly affect them, Chairman Jiang, in contr ol of the area of China north of the ruins of Beijing, had begun occupying the Korean peninsula, with the tacit approval of Russia, and the Republic of Sri Lanka was now raiding inland as far north as Madurai, in southern India.

  The biggest diplomatic issue on their plate was whether or not to validate the referendums in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine to join the Republic of Quebec, as Nova Scotia and New Brunswick had. The Speaker was of the opinion that if they wanted to speak French, let them, and the Secretary of State agreed.

  That evening at the Christmas dinner, the Speaker announced that British Columbia, Oregon, and Washington had been officially accepted as full states in the Republic of New America. He further added that within a matter of months, Oahu and Emerald Coast, despite both being geographically separated from New America at present, would become the 28th and 29th states, respectively. Before asking them to bow their heads to join him in giving thanks for their redemption and resurgence as a people and as a nation, John joked that it was a good thing they’d left the stars off, after all. The way things were going, that decision had ended up saving their seamstresses a lot of stitches. Dolly Madison surely looked down on him from heaven and smiled.

  Chapter Six

  "As long as he is moderately comfortable, the average man will not change his ways. Only when existence becomes utterly intolerable and there is no alternative can he be persuaded to do what he should have done from foresight and through self-discipline at the beginning. That is his unalterable nature, and it is why democracy is such a catastrophe." -Dr. William Pierce

  Into this house we're born Into this world we're thrown Like a dog without a bone An actor out on loan

  Riders on the storm…

  Being in downtown Austin, the former Governor’s mansion made an appropriate Presidential home for the leader of the Republic of Texas. Perry liked to give speeches from the second floor balcony, and make the media stand at the foot of the steps and look up at him. It was amusing. His kids being both moved out and attending A &M had made his wife feel safer about moving from Fort Hood to the capital with him full-time, so that made it more homey, too.

  Today the reporter from the Dallas Morning News was being particularly jerky. Bellefont had never liked him. According to rumor he’d had a Mexican girlfriend who’d been among the million deported from the state when the former Vice President had declared it a Republic and cleaned them out. Perry believed that he should have went with her. “So, Mr. President, you’re saying that there is no room for Fundamentalist Christianity in the Republic?” he yelled to be heard.

  “Nonsense, Jerry, I said nothing of the sort. You weren’t listening. Of course we all cherish religious liberty, it’s enshrined in the Constitution. I know because I put it there, myself. Remember? What I said was, those who use their religion to undermine our security will be treated like our enemies, whether they are carrying guns for the Church of the New Dispensation or just preaching their destructive doctrine on street corners. We don’t allow Muslims here, either, Jerry, and for a good reason, if you remember.”

  The reporter was relentless. “Yes, Mr. President. Then, Rev. Huckleberry’s missionaries arrested in The Woodlands will not be released, as he has publicly demanded?”

  “Nobody makes demands of The Republic of Texas, Jerry. Especially not drug - running narcoterrorist charlatans. They’ll be put on trial for sedition and treason, and judged by a jury of their peers, before facing a firing squad, you have my word on that. Nobody can say we don’t believe in justice, in Texas. But these people teach the same muddled idiocy that brought down the U.S.. It won’t bring down Texas. Not on my watch. We learned the hard way how to handle terrorists. Every non-White in the Republic has to become extinct. We need to remove these minor-league amateur races out of the game, and refine the playoff brackets a bit, if you get my meaning, Jerry. The whole state is ours, and the only part of Texas that non-Whites, no matter how meek, should inherit is however much it requires to cover them. That goes for anybody in bed with the cartels, and selling drugs, double. Next question!”

  Bellefont pointed at a blonde shielding her eyes with her hand to look up at him who’d been patiently waving the other arm for his attention. “Yes, Ms. Prichard?”

  “Mr. President, what time are you going to place the star on the Executive Mansion Christmas tree?” she asked, knowing he’d look favorably on the softball question and be more likely to give her an interview, sometime soon. The star reporter for the BBC North America in Texas was one of his favorites.

  “Well ma’am, that IS a good question. I know that I’ve had all of ya’ll standing out in the cold for too long already, this morning, but since you’re here, if you want to come on inside and get warmed up, my staff have some refreshments ready downstairs for you. You can set up and I’ll be down in a minute to plunk the star of Bethlehem right on top of the big pine where she belongs. But first, I’d like to offer our prayers and best wishes to the brave men of our armed forces fighting in San Antonio today.”

  Perry closed his eyes and bowed his head, and most of the reporters did the same. The Republic of Texas Rangers on guard took careful note of which ones did not. “We know they’d rather be home with their families for Christmas, and we’d all rather them be home soon, and before long they will be. But we all know how important their bravery and sacrifices are for the future of Texas. Maybe next year I can light up a tree at the Alamo! Let’s also remember our boys doing their part on the Brantley Lake front in New Mexico, and all just thank the good Lord for His bounty, His blessings on Texas, and His protective hand over His people. All these things we ask in Jesus’ name, Amen.” The President raised his head and smiled at them below. “ Now, ya’ll come on in here before you freeze to death!”

  Now you always say

  That you want to be free

  But you'll come running back (said you would baby)…

  The three largest Amish communities in the former U.S. were in Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. It came as no surprise to anyone that the ethnic Dutch and German farmers fared much better than their more technologically-dependent neighbors. In fact, their biggest problems as the economy tanked and then the cities imploded was that the ‘English’ all thought that they would head into Amish country and be safe. In Homes County, Ohio, the 35,000 Amish residents were nearly overwhelmed by three times their number from Cleveland and Co
lumbus. True to their religious tenets, they did not defend themselves or even their property, and so many of their pastures and barns were occupied by squatters. In order to feed their families, however, the men who had taken over private properties ended up having to negotiate with the local Bishops of the community to work for food. Working for and with the Amish, they became loyal to and defensive of the Amish communities.

  By the end of the fall harvest of the first year after Cinco Day, several dozen of them had independently organized themselves into non-Amish militia defenders of the Amish community in Holmes and the surrounding counties. By doing what the Amish themselves could not, they made it possible for their hosts to do what they did best. Following the Ohio example, the Amish regions near Elkhart, Indiana, and in western Pennsylvania adopted similar ‘guest guard’ measures, reluctantly approved by the elders of their Bishoprics. It worked so well that while some urban areas of the country lost eighty to ninety percent of their population, the Amish communities not only gained twenty to thirty percent in population; their crafts, skills, and knowledge translated into unprecedented local wealth and political autonomy on statewide levels.

  The Amish did not get involved in secular political struggles, but most of them recognized that their best interests as a community and as a faith lay in quietly supporting the New American attempt to pacify and reunite the Midwestern states. When New American militia pursued, prosecuted, and executed looters and thieves, that benefited everyone. Most importantly, even though the Republic of New America was dominated by believers in the Christian Identity denomination, the Amish were left to practice their faith in peace. In the end, that was all that they asked for. What they gave in return was a stable local economy and surplus food to feed thousands.

  Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, absorbed most of the final White flight out of Philadelphia, and kept separate from the United Nations occupational force that was temporarily able to restore some semblance of order there. When the Chinese missile brought death to south Philly, Lancaster County was over sixty miles away, and a fortunate wind spared them from the fallout plume. The German Major in command of the Heer contingent evacuating the city, Strosser, had rolled his tanks and APCS right through Lancaster County without stopping. He had led his men to Harrisburg. In the former state capital, they attempted to reestablish contact with surviving blue helmeted forces on the Eastern seaboard. All of them which had survived the bombings of Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York, and Providence were in disarray and seeking evacuation. None could offer any orders or aid to Strosser. With his men near mutiny due to fears of another flight of missiles against the East Coast, they were unwilling to return East, and unwilling to remain in the city. In order to keep them together as their best bet for survival, the Major led them West, then turned South to avoid the suburban areas around Pittsburgh. That was how they had come to find a small town walled in steel named Prosperity, and helped to hold it against a wave of invaders.

  Six months later, the surviving members of the Pennsylvania state legislature began meeting in Pittsburgh, as the city had eventually been secured by its White residents, with the aid of Major Strosser of the German Heer, and his reduced company of mobile armor formerly under United Nations command. Pittsburgh’s position on the defensible peninsula and its industrial infrastructure made it the de facto state capital, as the Eastern side of the state was still an area of ethnic and racial conflict spilled over from the ruined cities of megalopolis. The state legislature selected a representative to attend the conference in St. Louis on their behalf. With the help of U.S. Army Reservists from the three bases in the southwestern quarter of the state, a militia was raised that began to push the nonWhites back. Eventually, Western Pennsylvania was admitted to the Republic of New America as a state, with its Eastern border being the Susquehanna River. As a politically nonaligned area, Lancaster County remained an outpost of peace and stability on the East bank of the river, just outside the borders of New America.

  Head like a hole, black as your soul I’d rather die, than give you control Bow down before the one you serve, You’re going to get what you deserve…

  It was an old adage that an army runs on its stomach, and a government runs on its taxes. The Republics of New America and Texas had been running on borrowed time for four years. Both had been using up amassed stores and ‘salvaging’ food, weapons, ammunition, and other necessities in little more than organized looting. These were nonrenewable resources, of course, and such a policy was not sustainable in the long term. Both nations were successful in resuming petroleum production and refinement for their domestic fuel needs, as a priority. Texas, indeed, had oil to sale in surplus, if they could regain control over their coastal shipping facilities. New America’s surplus was in agricultural products exclusively at first, but they did benefit from indirect access to Atlantic shipping. Wheat from Kansas and corn from Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana began to flow outward, in exchange for manufactured goods and pharmaceuticals returning. Over time the flow in both directions diversified. A secondary effect of their international trade with England, Scotland, Ireland, Iceland, Norway, Denmark, France, and Germany was the tariffs they profited from through this exchange. Although not high enough to discourage their partners, the income from the tariffs became more than sufficient to fund all of the needs of the new national government. While National Socialist in many of its policies, the single body parliamentary form of leadership emerging in St. Louis as the Provisional Government operated on a tiny fraction of the budget required by its predecessor government in D.C.. Because of that, the only taxes in New America were local and state. Deseret, being a theocracy, enacted a much different approach to fundraising.

  Josh frowned at the bill, trying to figure out how much to leave as the tip. “I grew up giving in church, but I can’t figure out whether the tithe here is a tax from the restaurant or the government total, the way they have it here. Is it both?” he asked Kelly.

  She leaned over and looked at the b ill. “No, see, it’s a flat ten percent in Deseret Dollars over everything you buy in Deseret, to the church and the government. So, the tip is just a percentage of ninety percent of the bill.”

  “If you say so. I reckon the waitress deserves a good one, and my steak was good, even by Texas standards. How was your salad?” he asked.

  “Surprisingly fresh, really good. I guess they grew it on our farms down in Arizona. You still haven’t gotten used to being with somebody who’s practically a vegetarian, when I have the choice, have you?” she teased him.

  “I AM from Texas, ma’am.” Josh returned, grinning. “We may not play the classical violin and recite Shakespeare all day long, but we know our steak, and love it.” They had been seeing each other regularly enough that their give and take was natural and easy.

  Kelly had joined Josh at the Texas Embassy Christmas party where the few citizens of the Republic of Texas living in Salt Lake City gathered, mainly merchants and traders, along with the Embassy staff. She’d had to leave her own office Christmas party early, to make it to both without being obvious. It was hard to have a secret relationship in Deseret. With them being unmarried, the only way Kelly and Josh could be out together in public was if it was a part of her official duties. Weeks after the Ambassador had arrived, she was still ‘showing him around town’. Sometimes, she liked her job, a lot. But if it was known that she, a single woman, was dating unchaperoned, much less having extramarital relations, she would lose that job. And, Josh would be sent back to Texas in disgrace.

  She had come to trust him so much. She had opened up to him about her ill-fated mission to Nebraska, and her arrest and incarceration in St. Louis, as well as her recent trip to Oregon. He had listened to her cry about Karen, her lost sister. Then about Emma, her dead best friend. Kelly had even told Josh about her secret inner thoughts and dreams. For example, she’d told him that she thought that déjà vu was the feeling caused by someone from some unknown time in the future, when time travel was common,
coming back and changing their past, and her present, to undo a mistake or change history. That meant that déjà vu was similar to a ghost vision bleed-through on a videocassette that had been recorded over. And, he hadn’t laughed. Kelly didn’t know how she was going to disengage from Josh. She didn’t want to.

  At the office, the Department of Internal Communications had been buried with encrypted messages back and forth insuring the reinforcement and resupply of Deseret Gull and Beehive units fighting the Mexican Army and Republica del Norte militia up and down the seventeen miles of coastline inside the former Camp Pendleton. At the same time, Nevada Militia under Deseret command had moved into position at Lake Isabella in the old Sequoia National Forest northeast of Bakersfield. They were ready to flank the Chinese city defenses when the Saint forces amassing in the Los Padres wilderness attacked from the south. Deseret had to stay on the offensive there, in order to avoid being crushed between their two enemies. The Mormons had established a two hundred mile wide corridor from the ocean to Las Vegas, and they had every intention to keep it.

  Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste I've been around for a long, long year , Stole many a man's soul and faith….