by gerald hall
Late in the evening, President Harper was informed that one of her senior intelligence officers had just arrived at the White House and was requesting to speak with her on a very important matter. She quickly rushed to the conference room near the Oval Office where her visitor was waiting.
“We’ve just received some very disturbing news from our agents out West. There’s been a coup in the Western Republic, Madam President.” Director of Central Intelligence, Eric Mercer reported just after President Harper arrived and sat down.
“Who’s in charge now out there?” a shocked President Harper immediately asked.
“The Pacific Caliphate.”
“How the hell did that happen? I’m not all that surprised, I have to admit. But I would like to know how those incompetent fools in charge of the Western Republic could have been so stupid as to allow themselves to be overthrown by the Islamists.”
The Alliance’s intelligence chief then explained the events that occurred at the Republic’s State House and elsewhere within the Western Republic. A lot of the information had actually come from tens of thousands of social media reports that had been gleaned through by the National Security Agency’s computers. This information was then compared with the broadcast announcements on the Republic’s regular news channels.
“This is a disaster for us, Eric. Now, those fools are going to learn about making a deal with the devil really is like. Unfortunately, we will not have any chance now to peacefully reintegrate the Western Republic into a reunited America. If we want the West Coast back, we will have to fight for it against the Caliphate too.” The Alliance President admitted.
“There is still much that we don’t know about the coup though, Ma’am. Our people are trying to learn more even as we speak. Maybe this will wake up the people of the West Coast as to who the real bad guys are finally?” Director Mercer replied.
“That would be nice if that happened. But it’s not like they have a lot of weapons in non-governmental hands after all of the gun control laws that the leftists passed after they split from the rest of the US. Have we heard anything from the front lines about the reaction of the Republic’s troops? They should have enough firepower to crush this coup.”
“Yes, Ma’am. They should. But who knows what the Republic’s commanders in the field will decide to do? I’m sure that Emir Asegaff knows what a large, combat-experienced mechanized force could do to a bunch of lightly armed invaders with no fire support. I’m sure that he has something up his sleeve to hold what he has just seized. We just don’t know what yet.”
“Please keep me appraised as to what happens out there. We need to be able to act quickly to help reclaim the West Coast from the Caliphate, if we can. I also need options ready for whatever develops.”
“Yes, Ma’am. We will let you know immediately if we learn anything.”
“Thank you.
A week later, President Harper was being briefed by her National Security Council when DCI Mercer stepped to the podium for his turn to brief.
“We have intercepted some radio traffic recently from some of the Western Republic’s commanders out on the eastern front lines. Some of them want to rush back home and try to retake the government. Others want to wait and see what happens next however. In any event, we have not yet seen any Guard units on the move in response to the coup yet, Madam President.”
“If we are lucky, they will all go back and boot the Caliphate and the progressives all the way out into the ocean. Failing that, we need to try to get our PSYOPS people busy. If we can get some of the Republic’s troops to also change sides and bring their equipment with them, which will help us tremendously.”
“We will do our best to try to convince the Republic’s troops to do the right thing before it is too late, Ma’am.”
Even as President Harper discussed the fall of the Western Republic, the leaders of the Pacific Caliphate were already busy consolidating their gains.
Less than twenty-four hours after the coup in Sacramento, A gleaming Boeing 747 airliner wearing the colors of Malaysia Airlines landed at San Francisco International Airport. After the airliner had taxied to the private end of the airport, a set of stairs was driven up to the huge airliner’s main passenger door. A cordon of additional heavily-armed men, all dressed in black, also surrounded the airliner to provide additional security.
The first people to exit were several armed security men, followed shortly by the leader of the Pacific Caliphate, Emir Suparman Asegaff. Waiting below on the airport tarmac was President Barghani.
“Welcome to the latest addition to the Pacific Caliphate, Emir.” President Barghani formally said after bowing to the Emir.
“Come with me, Ibrahim. You did very well here. But we still have much work to do.” Suparman said as he raised arm out to guide Ibrahim along with him. An entourage of aides and other support personnel exited the airliner and followed along behind the Emir at a discrete distance.
“Thank you, Sir. The infidels were easily subjugated by our men.”
“Infidel politicians have no stomach for the exercise of real power. When confronted with such power, they run away for fear of offending someone or put up their soft hands in surrender.”
“You are quite right, Sir.”
“Now, I already know that your people have taken control of the main centers of political power. What have you done about the eliminating the other sorts of power here, namely the people who still have guns?
“The police here have mostly chosen to submit to our authority, especially since we outgun them. A few members of their law-enforcement organizations have chosen to leave with their guns, but the numbers are so few as to not really matter. The military forces of the Western Republic are very poorly positioned to resist us. Their aircraft and ships are confined to their bases and unable to take action against us. Beyond the police and military, there are very few others who possess firearms any longer because of the gun control laws that the government here has slowly but surely imposed upon its people to disarm them.”
“Excellent. But those soldiers out in the east remain a threat to us. Are you taking any measures to ensure that they do not return here to take action against us? We are continuing to move more mujahedeen warriors through Mexico north into the Western Republic. But they do not yet have significant numbers of heavy weapons like tanks and artillery.”
“I have already started with such measures. The most efficient aspect of what I have started to implement is that if the Americans choose that discretion is the better part of valor, then there will be little to no bloodshed on our part at all. We will not have the same sort of problem with an insurgency as we did inside of Australia.
You see, Sir. The families of all of the soldiers fighting against the Alliance are virtually all still here within the confines of the major population centers of the West Coast and their adjoining communities.”
The Emir smiled when he realized what Ibrahim was planning on doing.
“I see. You are going to hold the families of these soldiers hostage to ensure that the soldiers continue to follow orders and make no attempt to overthrow out new government here.”
Ibrahim also smiled as he replied.
“That is correct. I have men searching through every soldier, airman and sailor’s personnel records to identify their family members and where they live. This task should be complete within another two weeks. Then our National Guard and Western Republican regular military unit will be informed of the leverage that we will have over them. All of the family members of the Western Republic’s military will be assembled and taken to secure locations for their ‘safety’, of course.
Then we can choose to either have the soldiers and other military personnel come home to be disarmed and secured, or to go on the attack against the Eastern Alliance. We may even be able to find family members related to personnel in the Eastern Alliance at the same time. If blood must be shed in our quest to bring the entire human race under the rule of Sharia l
aw, then is it not better that the blood being lost belongs to other infidels instead of our own people. Besides, we will be doing these men a favor by allowing them to die as shahid or martyrs for Allah?”
“Our own men will become jealous that these Americans will be becoming shahid first.” The Emir laughed.
“Then we will remind them that the spoils of war also include the young widows of our enemies as written within the Quran. The mujahedeen from the Caliphate and the Arab Brotherhood coming here will certainly have more than enough opportunities to become shahid against the Easter Alliance in due time.” Ibrahim replied with a grim but professional expression on his face.”
“Very good. What are you doing concerning the telephone and internet communications coming in and out of our newest conquest?”
“For now, we have been allowing the people to continue to freely communicate as they did prior to our arrival. However, we have already made plans to incorporate a comprehensive monitoring and screening system for all communications. This is based on the Chinese software that was used to monitor their peoples’ communications. We should have the software in place at the primary communications nodes within the week.
With this monitoring system in place, we will then be able to identify any troublemakers, spies and terrorists here. We will remain quiet initially so that our potential threats will reveal themselves while we appear to them as asleep and ignorant of their activities. The unguarded words of our opponents can be very informative in regards to their plans. When we are ready, we will move in quickly and eliminate all of potential threats along with any sympathizers.”
“You are proving to be a very talented politician here, Ibrahim. Allah would be pleased with how your schemes have worked so well with his own plans. I am very pleased with your success here.” The Emir said before leaving the airfield to start his afternoon prayers at the local mosque.
The Eastern Alliance had its own military struggle along its eastern seaboard to deal with. But now, its leadership in Washington was forced to redouble its focus on what was happening beyond its western borders because of the Caliphate’s successful coup.
“How are our efforts going to convince the troops of the Western Republic to change sides and fight for us instead of against us?” President Harper asked, two weeks into the occupation of the Western Republic by the Caliphate.
“Not so well, Ma’am. The Caliphate has thought this coup our very well. They immediately began to round up the family members of their National Guards and use them to blackmail their troops out east into cooperating with them. We just didn’t have enough time to mount an effective PSYOPS effort or to help organize a resistance to the Caliphate’s occupation forces.
A few of the Western Republic’s troops managed to get word to their families in time for them to escape. But over ninety percent of Western Republic’s forces have been forced into either continuing to fight against us or to return west to be with their families. The Caliphate has already created ‘relocation centers’ for the military family members.” Director Mercer explained.
“You mean ‘concentration camps’, don’t you?”
“Yes, Ma’am. That is a fairly accurate description of the facilities that these people have been moved to, I’m afraid. The military of the Western Republic has essentially been neutered. My biggest concern now is that the Caliphate will force the remaining members of the Western Republic’s military to aggressively resume the fight against us.”
“We would be back to Americans fighting Americans once again, unfortunately. Is there any chance of the people of the Republic rising up against their occupiers? There are still more than ten million adults in the Republic, at last report. They have to outnumber the Caliphate’s troops by several hundred to one, at least. If they rebelled, they could overwhelm the invaders. The citizens of the Republic have to already be feeling a lot of resentment after the imposition of Sharia law. All it would take is a spark.”
“But who is willing to light that fire out there? They may outnumber the Caliphate out there, there are practically no guns in the hands of private citizens, except for those in criminal hands. The gangs are not exactly eager to throw their lot in with a bunch of spineless leftists, I believe. If anything, the gangs will try to make an accommodation with the Caliphate instead.”
“We are hearing a lot of chatter among the citizens of the Republic concerning the Caliphate’s occupation. Most of them are complaining loudly about their freedom’s being restricted. Some of them are even talking about organizing protests and resistance movements against the Caliphate. We have even identified some of the Republic’s former politicians among the online protesters. In fact, they are talking too openly about this. They are utilizing absolutely no operational security measures at all.
It is only a matter of time before the Caliphate cracks down on these people, Ma’am. It will not be pretty either when the Caliphate decides to strike, I’m afraid.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, Eric. I had always hoped that the people on the West Coast would wake up and finally see who their real enemies were. We would have certainly welcomed the states on the West Coast with open arms back into a reformed United States of America. But from what you are telling me, the citizens of the Western Republic are already doomed to pay a very heavy price for their shortsighted partisanship.
Unfortunately, that also means that we are going to pay a heavy price for it as well in the not too distant future.” President Harper grimly noted.
Four weeks after the takeover of the Western Republic by the Caliphate, Colin Blackwood and Alan Cockrill set up a meeting of people who wanted to resist the new Caliphate-controlled government at Colin’s home. They were surprised to find that the internet had hardly any restrictions at all placed on it by the Caliphate. Colin quickly sent out a series of emails to many of his friends to begin the organization process. There had been a couple of smaller meetings earlier. But this meeting was the largest so far, with many of the leaders of the various local opposition groups present. The common refrain by everyone at the meeting was how oppressive this new government was.
“I used to enjoy going out to Venice Beach to watch all of the girls roller-skating in their bikinis. Now, the beach is empty except for these Caliphate types and their damned assault weapons walking around as though they own the place.” One of the older men at the meeting complained loudly.
“Well, that is probably because they do own this place now, Steven. All of our women who dare go out on the street are all covered up now too. The new Caliphate government also shut down all of the studios and movie theatres too. They claimed that they were all making and showing pornography.” Colin quickly responded.
“Well, what are we going to do about it? I thought that the Muslims were supposed to be all peaceful as long as we didn’t interfere in their countries. The Western Republic has done nothing at all to attack any Muslim countries at all or interfere in their politics.
Now, they are imposing all kinds of new laws on us. All of my gay, lesbian and transgender friends are all scared to death. They have told me that several dozen members of the community have already been arrested by these Caliphate bastards. There is already talk about them being charged with capital crimes and subject to the death penalty.
I remember that we used to protest against all of the Christians in the Eastern Alliance about their regressive views regarding our community. But these Caliphate people are far worse.”
“Yes, I remember. These are all of the actions that we claimed that the Bible-thumpers would do to us.”
“I know. I guess that we were focused on the wrong people.” Colin shrugged.
“If we are going to stop all of these restrictions on our freedoms, we are going to have to get out everyone to protest against the Caliphate and its new laws. If we can get enough people out on the streets for a powerful show of force and commitment, these thugs will have to back down.” Alan interjected.
“We can’t afford to w
ait any longer, my friends. Every day that these interlopers remain in power here means that they will become even stronger and harder to convince to see reason. We are no threat to them as long as they simply leave us alone and let us continue to live our lives as normal. But we can’t do that with all of these new ‘sharia’ laws that they have imposed on us.”
The discussions were continuing along much of the same lines for a few more minutes until the meeting was very rudely interrupted. Silently, a platoon of Indonesian commandoes had surrounded Colin’s home. They had been ordered to capture or kill everyone there after Caliphate Intelligence analysts had studied all of the communications from the people that had been identified as being activists.
There was suddenly a pair of loud explosions, one each at the front and back doors of Colin’s home. Everyone was stunned by the noise and concussion that was quickly followed by the rapid entry of more than a score of black-clad, gas mask-wearing men armed with Kalashnikov’s. The intruders all were loudly yelling for Colin and the others to get down on the floor and put their hands on top of their heads.
A couple of the attendees to the resistance meeting tried to protest the intrusion. But they were quickly knocked to the floor, bleeding from the head after being struck by several rifle butts. All of the attendees found their hands being roughly yanked behind their backs and flex-cuffed. Then the prisoners were all moved into the living room. One of the intruders stepped forward and began to speak to the prisoners in heavily-accented but proper English.
“You are all being charged with attempted rebellion against the Pacific Caliphate. You will be taken into custody immediately. Tomorrow morning, you will be brought before a judge to be sentenced.” The leader of the Caliphate assault team told everyone from Colin’s meeting.
“What about our rights?” One of the female prisoners yelled out before being brutally slapped.
“You have no rights other than the ones that are part of Islamic law now. You have polluted your minds, bodies and world with the fruits of your ‘rights’ and ‘freedom’. We are here now to make thing right in the eyes of Allah.” The Caliphate commando responded without the slightly hint of sympathy.