Standing the Final Watch

by William Alan Webb

  “Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, I am Lieutenant General Norman Fleming, executive officer of the Seventh Cavalry Brigade.” he said. His voice was a deep baritone. Some called it musical, being well modulated and with distinct enunciation of each word.

  “As we embark on the most extraordinary journey ever taken by the armed forces of the United States of America, we should thank God we are led by a man whose courage and judgment are legendary, a man whose leadership encompasses every quality that a soldier wants in his commanding officer. He is a man for whom nothing matters except the achievement of his assigned mission in the fastest, most efficient manner possible, with the well being of those he commands foremost in his mind.

  “As a soldier, I can only ask of my commander than he or she not put me in harm’s way recklessly, but also not to hesitate to do so in pursuit of completing the mission. If my life is to be spent in pursuit of our goal, then make sure the goal is worthwhile and then fight to win. Hold nothing back. We all volunteered for this assignment, some without knowing who their commander would be, but whether you did or did not know in advance who would lead this command, I think we are all agreed that there could not have been a better choice than the man I am now proud to introduce.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, officers, non-commissioned officers, enlisted personnel, and our civilian partners, it is my singular honor to introduce our commander, General of the Army Nicholas Trajanus Angriff!”

  Angriff inspected his audience as they applauded him. Some rose from their seats, clapping and cheering, while others were more reserved. He stopped at the edge of the stage, craning his neck to see all the way to the back, then to either side of the standing room only crowd. He locked eyes with a number of people, and then came to Terry Bettison, who was one of those applauding the most. Their gazes locked for two seconds before Angriff saw Green Ghost standing at the rear of the room, watching the audience for any signs of aggression. He found it comforting.

  Unlike his XO, Angriff never looked like his uniform fit. His thick legs and deep chest simply defied tailoring. He made up for it by spit-polished boots, insignia with a mirror-like sheen, and the twin fifty-caliber Desert Eagles. In the field he wore shoulder holsters, but for formal occasions he used a waist holster as a direct homage to George Patton.

  Motioning for the audience to sit down, Angriff made his way to the lectern and shook hands with Fleming, who left the stage.

  “Fifteen thousand years ago…” His voice had a gruff, raspy quality. When coupled with the driving personality behind it, people could not help but pay attention. “…along the border of what are now Egypt and Sudan, the first battle for which there is archeological evidence seems to have taken place at a location called Cemetery 117. Historians argued about whether it was really a battle site or not, but a large number of skeletons were dug up with arrowheads that were the obvious cause of death, and anybody who wasn’t trying to sell a book believed it was the first known battle.

  “No one knows anything about the people who engaged in this lethal combat, except that organized armed conflict pre-dates the historical record. Of the bodies found, many were female. Those prehistoric warriors were not concerned if you were a man or a woman. They only cared if you could fight.”

  Angriff’s voice began to rise both in volume and urgency. “Armies have existed since men first gathered together for collective security. Fifteen farmers who picked up slings and spears to defend their village from raiders were just as much an army as the legions that conquered Dacia under my namesake, Marcus Ulpius Trajanus, or the barefoot veterans of the Army of Northern Virginia who whipped twice their number at Chancellorsville, or the panzer divisions that overran Russia… or the Seventh Cavalry Brigade that is going to liberate our homeland, the United States of America!”

  As the last note ended the crowd jumped to their feet and applauded. Throughout the mountain shouts of “Fuck, yeah!” and “Let’s go!” rang through the tunnels and echoed in the hangars. Angriff let it go on for twenty seconds before motioning for quiet.

  “Make no mistake, ladies and gentlemen — we are an army. We may be officially designated as a brigade, but we are an army. We are THE army, probably the only one on the entire North American continent. Possibly even the last one on the face of the earth. You and I volunteered to be here today.

  “Before we go further, I want to remember our sixty-eight fellow patriots who went into Long Sleep fully expecting to reawaken and join us in our holy mission, but who, for one reason or another, did not survive the process. They knew the risks, but felt the mission was worth it. We honor them today. Their names will be inscribed in the Hall of Heroes so their sacrifice will never be forgotten. May God have mercy on their souls.

  “As we transition from the deployment phase of operations to that of an active combat command, I want to make clear the exact nature of our mission. I want every member of this brigade to understand that we have not been given the task of resurrecting our country. That implies that America no longer exists and must be brought back from the ash heap of history.

  “That is simply not true. This base operates under the Stars and Stripes. Wherever we set foot, the United States of America exists and holds sway. You were born a citizen of the United States of America and you are still a citizen of the USA. The borders of our nation that existed on the day you were born are still the borders of our nation.

  “All that’s changed is that in some places lawlessness has broken out in the void of authority after the events we call The Collapse. Other places may be occupied by foreign invaders. And while we do not yet know the details of what we face, those details are just obstacles to be overcome, not roadblocks that stop us moving forward.

  “Our mission is to restore justice and hope to those living in tyranny, whether that oppression comes from criminals, warlords, or invaders. From sea to shining sea, we are going to restore the righteous authority of the Constitution of the United States of America, and woe unto anyone stupid enough to get in our way!”

  Once again a standing ovation interrupted him, but this time he did not wait for them to stop before continuing.

  “To say that I am outraged at the fate of our nation is to downplay my rage. I am angry, and I am vengeful. Already the liberation has begun, with the salvation of twenty-three innocent women and children who were held as slaves. The valley just outside this mountain is now under our direct supervision. Thanks to the bravery and skill of our Ready Response Team, we have inflicted several hundred casualties on an enemy, with no losses of our own.

  “This is a good start, but it is only a start. I want each of you to spend the next few days familiarizing yourself with your new surroundings, and to begin the process of forging a highly skilled team with others in your department, company, or platoon. We must each of us be better than we ever thought we could be.

  “As of this moment, we are on a war footing, and will stay that way as long as necessary. In the territory we liberate, martial law will be in effect. As for this command, as members of the armed forces of the United States, you are governed by the Uniform Code of Military Justice. If you have questions about something, bring it to my office.

  “Regardless of your duties, you are all vital to the success of this command. Once I am satisfied as to our state of readiness, we will begin active operations, moving into the countryside, where we will meet our enemies, and with the help of Almighty God, kill them all.”

  “General, Private Dupree needs to speak with you right away,” Schiller said.

  With Walling, Fleming, and Tompkins at his elbow, Angriff was headed down the ramp when the sergeant met him. Dupree hovered nearby.

  “I’m late for the staff meeting,” Angriff said. “Slot time for him after.”

  “If you think that’s best, General,” Schiller said, in that way sergeants used to convey their disapproval of the answer.

  Angriff stopped and studied first the sergeant, then Dupree. He nodded once and handed
some file folders to Walling. “Tell them I’ll be there shortly. Dupree, you’ve got three minutes.”

  Once back in his office, he pointed at the private. “Go.”

  “Ummm… I…”

  “We don’t have time for you to be nervous, son. You just got three minutes of my time while all of my officers wait on you, and that shows how much confidence I have in you. Now, say what you came to say.”

  “I found the tap. One of the mainframes has a hard line running into the floor below it, then through a ceramic pipe sideways, until it comes to this shaft going straight down. It goes down a long way, General. The entrance is in a little maintenance room on the twelfth level and there’s this ladder along the side. I’m scared of small places, but I figured it was important so I followed it as long as I could. I was scared, sir. The air was really stale and all I had for light was the little flashlight I use for computer repairs.”

  “Why didn’t you take a bigger flashlight?”

  “I didn’t think about it until I was in the shaft, and I knew if I climbed out to get a better one, I’d never go back in. There were a couple of places where you could get off, and I really wanted to, but I kept going anyway. I climbed way, way down, General. Finally I couldn’t take it any more, so I climbed back up a ways and crawled out this little side tunnel. It ended in a closed door, but that swung open when I pushed it and I found myself inside some kind of storage cabinet. There wasn’t a handle on the inside, so I kind of finagled with the latch until it popped open and I crawled out.

  “I was in this old storeroom — just a bunch of junk, glass bottles, a bunch more filing cabinets, an old clock, nothing important. It opened onto a lit hallway and I found the elevators. That’s where it showed me I was on sub-floor eleven. It’s restricted access so I got out of there really quick. I didn’t want to get in trouble. I hope I’m not.”

  “No, Dupree, you’re not in trouble. Did this tapline run down that shaft past the door?”

  “Yes, General, it kept going, I couldn’t see how deep. But when I was way down, I found this switch on the side, with nothing else around it. There was no writing or anything, no symbols, just the switch. I figure that’s how the tap got triggered on.”

  “Did you touch it?”

  “No, sir. I didn’t figure that was my place.”

  “But this line kept going down, right? Let me ask you this. How far could a line like that run without too much data loss?”

  “A long way, if you’re using top notch fiber optic cables.”

  “I don’t know what that means, Dupree. A mile, ten miles?”

  “I would think hundreds, sir.”

  Chapter 31

  Better to fight for something than live for nothing.

  George S. Patton, Jr.

  June 20th, 1728 hours

  The long oaken table had twenty-two chairs, all occupied by the senior officers and department heads. Aides lined the walls on either end, but some had to wait outside the conference room. Huge flat-panel monitors flanked the table on both walls. Cork walls and carpeted floors deadened sound.

  Angriff sat at the head of the table, with Norman Fleming at the opposite end. To Angriff’s right sat the third-highest ranking officer, Dennis Tompkins, then the brigade’s command staff, in order starting with the S-1 through the S-9. Most surprising was the man in civilian clothes sitting in the spot between the S4, Supply, and the S6, Communications. The S5 position, Security, was usually incorporated into the S2, Intelligence. To have a separate S5 was unusual, for it to be a civilian was unheard of, and for it to be Terry Bettison was unacceptable. Angriff said nothing yet, however.

  On his left were the department heads and specialized commanders, starting with Agriculture and followed by Research and Development, Medical, Construction and Maintenance, Energy, Agriculture, Education and Recreation, Elite Forces, Deployment and, finally, the Judge Advocate General.

  Water pitchers and glasses lined the center of the table. So many bodies in such a small space overtaxed the air circulators, and the temperature had risen almost ten degrees in half an hour.

  Angriff stood and the small talk ended. Sweat ran down his back and chest, but he did not remove his jacket nor loosen his tie. Discipline started at the top, and that included self-discipline. Despite the room’s sound-damping qualities, when he spoke his voice carried to the far end without need of a microphone.

  “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to our brave new world. Most of us don’t know each other yet, but that will change in the coming months and years. We’ve got one hell of a job staring us in the face and there’s going to be a lot of trial and error for all of us, including me. The U.S. Army has liberated lots of other countries, but we’ve never before had to liberate our own. I have no doubt whatsoever we are up to the task.

  “I think the best use of our time in this meeting is to hear from our deployment officer, Colonel Walling, on where Overtime stands regarding mobilization of assets and what those assets are. But before that, I’ve got a few things to say first.

  “We are all products of the same corrupt and morally bankrupt system that led our country to disaster.” He stopped, letting those words sink in. Most of the people in the room had served in Washington, and flourished, which meant they were part of the very system he condemned. When he met their eyes most of them looked away, with Bettison being an exception.

  “As a people,” Angriff continued, “we let politics and self-aggrandizement ruin our armed forces. This was driven by civilian leaders who cared more about their own careers than the well-being of their country. These narcissists then promoted and favored military officers who felt the same way, and who furthered their careers by pandering to these self-serving politicians. We all know this is true, and we all know that excuses can’t explain it away.”

  There was an immediate shuffling from some officers, while others glanced at Bettison. With that, Angriff found out what he needed to know.

  “We very much were the Roman Empire in the fourth and fifth centuries A.D.,” he continued. “But understand this. I’m not talking about a particular political party or movement. Everyone shares this blame. And we, as military leaders, have all developed bad habits to survive in that atmosphere. I understand this, and as far as I’m concerned, those days are gone. What you may or may not have done then is irrelevant.

  “But what happened yesterday with General Tompkins is a dangerous example of the kind of sloppy thinking that can get you and your people killed. You civilians, Colonel Schiller, and Mr. Bettison are exempt from this, but the rest of you all assumed that the major who walked into my office was still a major on the way out. That was a test. I wanted to see which of my staff had their heads up their asses and which didn’t. Unfortunately, one hundred percent of you were sniffing your own shit.

  “That must never, never happen again. Conditions on the battlefield change fast and you’d better be ready to adapt to them instantly. Each of you is in the chain of succession for this brigade. If something happens to me, General Fleming takes over command, then General Tompkins, and so on. Not paying attention to detail could endanger everything we have all sacrificed for. There are three things I will not tolerate — disloyalty, inattention to detail, and hesitance to act. We are America and our margin for error is nonexistent. Do not let me down again.

  “Lastly, and by far most important, there is no place for politics on this base or in this brigade. There is only one political party, mine. I had better not hear about barracks lawyers creating problems, talking about rules or fairness or any of that shit. Let your people know that we are at war and that I will consider such distractions as insubordination. Since we are at war, insubordination in the face of the enemy could be considered a capital offense.

  “The only law is me. The only judge and jury is me and whoever I appoint to that duty. There will be no mercy for anyone who gets in the way of carrying out our mission. I cannot and will not allow dissension in this command. If I tell
you that a hamster can pull an Abrams, you’d better be looking for a harness small enough to fit a rodent, is that clear?”

  “Yes, sir!” they said in unison, some louder than others.

  But Angriff was not done. “This risen America has a blueprint called the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The extraneous political bullshit that left us fractured will not be tolerated. Is there anyone here who does not understand that? Whatever power you possessed before we went cold, whatever influence you had in Washington, that is gone for good. There is a job for every man and woman. But whether that job is what you’re currently assigned to do, or you wind up digging latrines, will be based solely on the performance of your duties. All that matters is your performance.

  “That does not mean I will make decisions in a vacuum. I want your input and expertise, and I don’t want you to be afraid to tell me anything, whether you think I want to hear it or not. I value your opinions. But once we reach a decision, I expect arguments and discussion to end and uniformity of purpose to take over. Fair enough?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Good. I’m glad we’re all on the same page. And if you and your people perform to my standards, there is no one, before, now, or in the future, who will be more loyal to you than me. If you’re a warrior, then I’ll stand shoulder to shoulder beside you regardless of the odds, even unto death.

  “All right, enough of that. Colonel Walling, could you please bring us up to date on how deployment is going?”

  Chapter 32

  Never take the counsel of your fears.

  Lt. General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson

  June 20th, 1747 hours

  Ben Walling had been a colonel for less than four days. He had attended countless staff meetings in his career, but had never been the center of attention for so many high-ranking officers. Before starting he cleared his throat and drank some water, and tried to keep his hand from shaking.