Dux Bellorum (Future History of America Book 3) (29 page)

As word spread of their arrival, the noise level slackened.
 
Only a handful of people failed to turn from their tasks.
 
Someone started clapping and in seconds the entire room was thundering with applause and tumultuous cheering.

General Ross beamed.
 
"We've been watching
Roosevelt
for a while, sir.
 
I thought you could hear the cheering in New York as we monitored the battle unfolding.
 
Brilliant, sir.
 
Simply brilliant."

Nella smiled—the first time Davis had seen that expression crack the Admiral's stony facade in months.
 
He raised his hands and waved, trying to calm the room down.

Ross had to shout to be heard.
 
"Admiral Nella, the Pentagon is yours, sir."

When the clapping and cheering died down Nella lowered his hands and waited as all eyes swiveled to him. The only sounds remaining that could be heard in the room was the occasional murmur of a printer in the background and a few radio operators with hands to their ears, bent over microphones. Nella cleared his throat and spoke.
 

"You all know why you're here—you know why we're
all
here. You know what your jobs are, you've been doing them to the best of your abilities. We have a perilous road before us. I'm going to ask each one of you to have faith in the Constitution and the principles this country was founded on."
 
He paused to take the measure of the room.
 
Grim faces stared back at him.
 

"We're going to restore this country—we're going to save it. The people demand it of us. I want to say right now, General Stapleton and I have decided—after extensive councils of war with our officers—that the only course of action we have left is to remove the current administration from power."

Nella clasped his hands behind his back and paced to and fro, frowning at the floor.
 
No one spoke.
 
Davis glanced around at the faces that watched the old man with rapt attention.
 
At last he turned and stared at the Pentagon's War Room personnel again.
 

"I understand this may be an uncomfortable idea—perhaps crossing the line for some of you. There will be no hard feelings, no reprimands, and no reprisals—if there's anyone out here who does not wish to take part in this mission to restore our country, now’s your chance to leave.
 
You may join the others locked up in the A Ring, or you may leave the building and go where you wish. We won't argue and we won't hinder you. We only ask you stay out of our way."

He paused, waiting to see if anyone took up his offer.
 
No one moved.

"The last thing any of us wants to do is cause injury to our brothers and sisters in arms. That's why any prisoners that we capture will be taken into custody with the utmost respect and protection. At the end of the day we are
all
Americans. When this is settled, we'll let the politicians figure out what's to be done with those who supported Suthby and Jones and their illegitimate regimes."

Nella looked around the room and examined the force allocation maps of the walls. "The entire world is turned against us. You folks know that better than most—you've got it all right in front of you 24/7. But let me tell you, Captain Davis and I have been out there. We’ve been on the angry seas when friends became enemies. We lost too many to a world gone mad and I for one will not tolerate it any longer."

The room erupted into cheers and clapping again. Nella tried to calm them but was forced to wait until it died down. "So here's what's going to happen. We're going to take back Washington piece by piece if we have to, but we're taking it back. When Jones and his administration are removed from office and secured, we will call forth Congress. Once the true government is reestablished, we as the military will step down and gladly hand over the reins of government to those who govern. Legitimately."
 
He raised his hands to forestall the clapping again.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are
not
here to take over the government and run it the way the military runs things.
 
This country has been attacked both from without and within. Stability
must
be reestablished in order for the citizen population to be safe. That, along with preserving and defending the Constitution is our ultimate mission."

More clapping. This time Nella waited, basking in the adoration until the clapping died down on its own. "Now, that's enough pontification. Let's get back to work people."
 
He took a long look around.
 
"As you were."

The room immediately commenced into controlled chaos with the boisterous hubbub of everyone talking at once, moving back to their stations and relaying orders and positions.

Nella turned to face Ross. "All right, now that's over with—let's have a sit rep."

The general escorted them into a room labeled 'officer of the watch'.
 
He shut the door behind them, blocking off almost all the sound from the main room. Turning on a large screen that covered the entire far wall, General Ross picked up a laser pointer.
 

"The situation is not good, admiral. Outside of your forces and General Stapleton's Division," he said indicating on the map with his laser pointer the respective groups on the eastern seaboard, "we're having one hell of a time trying to coordinate the incoming troops from overseas.
 
President Reed's last order to withdraw all troops from foreign bases around the world was never rescinded.
 
I don't know if anyone could stop it, anyway."

"How many?" asked Nella.

The general frowned, pressing his lips into a thin line. "We've only been able to reestablish contact with about 50% of the outstanding assets." He shook his head. "We can confirm almost 30% losses. We’ve been attacked everywhere we turn, Europe being the worst."

"Figures,” Nella grunted.
 
“What about the Rim?"

The general frowned. "The Pacific is a total wildcard.
 
We expected Europe to be the most friendly and China to be the most hostile, however it's been the exact opposite."
 
He shifted the laser pointer to Beijing.
 

"While the Chinese haven't completely ignored our requests for a cessation of hostilities, they haven't overtly attacked any of our forces overseas. It's like they suddenly decided to ignore us. On our own soil, it's a different matter."

Nella looked at the map. Davis followed his gaze and found the southwest littered with little red dots and a few black triangles.
 

"What the hell's going on over here?" Nella said pointing at the map.

The general sighed. "The Chinese invaded the southwest."

"Fuck me sideways," Nella growled. "The rumors were
true?
And that pantywaist in the Oval Office let it happen?"

Gen. Ross narrowed his eyes. "And that was the straw that broke the camel's back, sir. When he announced the treaty, we rose up and took back the Pentagon. We lost twenty-five good people doing so, but we wouldn't stand for making peace with those bastards."

Nella nodded. "Retaking the Pentagon should've happened earlier, but at least it happened when it did."

"Agreed. If you look at the map here, the Chinese have sacked Phoenix, Flagstaff, and crossed the border into California."

"Sacked?" asked Davis.

"Destroyed, Captain. As in completely razed to the ground. Phoenix and Flagstaff no longer exist. We're looking at a total loss—upwards of a million and a half casualties—almost all of them civilian."

"Oh, my God," Nella said, stepping back as if physically struck.
 
He collected himself quickly.
 
His face darkened. "We're damn well not going to let them get away with this. What countermeasure have been taken so far?"

"We've been doing the best we can—coordinating what units remain with NORAD—but we're thin on secure comms. Power supplies are failing all over the west as backup generators run out of fuel. The only thing keeping NORAD alive is its own nuke plant. Most of the units on the west coast are tied up fighting insurgencies spawned by the rebellion. Furthermore, the Russians are sending planes down from Alaska—"

"They took Alaska?" breathed Nella.
 
"What about the SAC bases?"

"Luckily, we still control all SAC sites. They don't have our strategic arsenal. But outside of that, Russia's in almost complete control of the state of Alaska." Ross shook his head.
 
"It happened faster than we thought possible—the bastards have obviously been planning this for some time."

"Of course they did—just like we planned to take Moscow during the Cold War.
 
But we never did anything
with
those plans," grumbled Nella.

Ross continued: "They've been doing a fine job distracting our air assets all up and down the coast.
 
It's kept us from putting up a concentrated effort against the Chinese. There's just too many of them and we're spread too thin.
 
You hear that a lot around here lately," the general said, staring at the wall.

"Well not any more," growled Nella.
 
"We’ll have an immediate council of war and decide the action to take. But I'm going to tell you right now, I think we ought to concentrate all our firepower against the Chinese and take care of them first.
 
The Russians aren't landing troops, they're just harassing us."
 
He looked at the map, arms crossed over his chest.
 

"If we take out the Chinese quickly, we can turn everything against the Russians and put a stop to their incursions into our airspace."

"That was the same idea I put forth when this initially started. You won't find much argument among the people here.
 
The problem is that the Russians are stirring up more trouble in Florida."

"What?"

The general frowned, and the pointer shifted to the middle of the Sunshine State.
 
"After they broke the Orlando-Tampa Line," he said, tracing a red line with his pointer east to west from Cape Canaveral to Tampa, "they went quiet.
 
Our best intel suggests they are trying to consolidate their southern gains.
 
Cuba is trying to ship reinforcements, but the blockade is having an effect."

"About God damn time," grumbled the admiral.
 
"Is this accurate?" he asked, pointing at the positions of several
 
warships.

"Yes, sir.
 
It's updated in real-time."

Nella stepped closer and rubbed his chin.
 
"
Jonestown
?
 
What's she doing down there?"

"Sir," said Davis, stepping forward.
 
"There's no subs on this map."

Nella turned to Ross and arched an eyebrow.

The general cleared his throat.
 
"Ah, no—they're not listed on any map."

"They're dark?
 
All of them?"

"Yes," said the general.
 
"To be honest, we have a fair idea where a few of them are, but the rest have disappeared."

Nella smiled.
 
"Well, it's about time something went our way.
 
If the subs are dark and we still have at least a few carriers—"

"We have all the remaining carriers, Admiral Nella," Ross said as a point of pride.
 
"
Roosevelt
is the only one offline."

Nella clapped Davis on the shoulder.
 
"Now we're cookin' with gas."

As the two flag officers discussed the pros and cons of troop deployments and what it meant that the Russians weren't deploying and where they might go, Davis stood there, staring at the map.
 
He imagined a line from Chicago to New York, then down the coast toward Philadelphia and south to Washington.
 
Wherever Malcolm went, he left a trail of destruction in his wake.

"Excuse me, sirs but do we have contact with the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville?"

The general shook his head.
 
"The Russians hit our air base in Tampa and JNAS also took it on the nose pretty hard.
 
The commies didn't occupy Jacksonville, only knocked out the flight line, radar, and comms with air strikes."

"Then I recommend we send someone down there.
 
Immediately."

Nella looked away from the map and regarded his carrier captain.
 
"Explain."

"Sirs, we shouldn’t trust Malcolm or the rebels at all."

"Agreed," said the general.

"General, from what you said, the rebels are heading south to fight for Jones.
 
General Stapleton's forces are hot on his heels."

"Correct," replied the general.

"Where are you going with this?" asked Nella, studying the map.

"Who's to say the rebels aren't going south to link up with the Russians, who just happened to be
waiting
?
 
The Russians know they can't take Stapleton in a head on fight—now that more of our assets are slipping through the European blockade…what if the 'peace treaty' is nothing but smoke and mirrors?"

"If that's the case, Stapleton could be walking into a trap—with a combined army including the rebels—" Ross began.

"What's their strength?" asked Nella.

"Anywhere from 10-20,000 effectives is our latest estimate."

"Good thinking, Davis," Nella said.
 
"I think it would be prudent to send a significant detachment to Jacksonville and secure it ASAP. If nothing else, it's a training facility—they'll have plenty of JP8 for our fighters.
 
Coordinate the efforts and report back—we'll need that aviation fuel."

"Yes, sir," Davis said, happy at last to be doing something.
 
"I'll get a message to Stapleton."