Chapter Four - part nine

   Europe wasn't the only place where things had become very unstable though. James was also watching some very unsettling developments back at home. The people in the large metropolitan areas had been protesting for a while about living conditions, lack of food, and lack of jobs. Now those protests were turning into riots. Power outages, water shortages, and reductions in food allotments for those who depended on them had caused the first riots. But now they seemed to be happening for no clear or apparent reasons at all. The police had been replaced in some of the worst areas of riots by the military. It wasn't the National Guard being called in to restore order either. It was the Army and in some cases even the Marines and Special Forces were moving in to restore order. According to Sarah it was worse on the west coast, but there had been problems along the east coast too. So far it had been violent when it started, but there hadn't been a lot of violence once the troops arrived. The people who were causing the riots just seemed to vanish at the first sign of troops. That wouldn't last unless things improved soon though.

   There were two problems with that solution though. The first problem was that using military force in the manner it was being used wasn't allowed under the Constitution. The second problem was that as soon as the troops left the people came back out and the protests started all over. The protests soon became riots again and it all repeated once more. James was getting to be more concerned about those things than he was about what he was dealing with. Still there was nothing he could have done to change things at home. He might be able to do something here though. This was where God had put him and James tried to keep that in front of his thoughts. He was here for a reason. All he had to do was wait and watch. Eventually James knew the reason would become clear and then he could act accordingly. Until then James just had to do the best he could to deal with whatever was going on. The small conflicts just kept happening along the border between Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The Russian troops were always close by, but they remained out of things. James was beginning to wonder what their plan was. If they continued to limit the flow of oil eventually something would have to give.

   Finally something did happen to cause everything and everyone to explode both figuratively and literally. James had little doubt that Russia had little to do with that event at all. Somebody hit the main oil pipeline near Bucany, Slovakia. They destroyed the pipeline at a point where it had been split off. They had tried to destroy the section of line connected to the refinery in Bratislava. The clear intention was to force them to send more oil, at least until the pipeline could be repaired, on to the Czech Republic refinery. The attack had worked very well except for one small issue. It was too close to the station where the switching was done. The result was severe damage to the entire station and no oil flowing to anyone beyond the switching station. Russia was furious and immediately took action. They moved massive numbers of troops into the area and they moved troops with heavy armored vehicles right to the edge of the border with the Czech Republic. All of Europe condemned the attack and called for the capture and punishment of those responsible. Russia was having none of it though. Russia made it clear that they blamed rebels in the Czech Republic as well as the government; the government for not controlling the rebels.

   Within three days the fighting began along the border and within four days Russia had troops crossing the border. NATO was already on scene and trying to stop the fighting, but they made an immediate withdrawal when Russian tanks rolled across the border. Jeremy and Peter were the two flight leaders on duty when things started to happen. They were in the air before James made it back to headquarters. James ordered that Shanna's flight be made ready for an immediate launch and placed his own fight on standby. Things were moving too fast now for anyone to do anything except react to what was going on. General Madison didn't hesitate. She had contacted the government of the Czech Republic and requested permission to aid and assist in stopping the Russian advance. They had given her a green light. There was little else they could do. The Russian tanks had rolled over what little armor they had faced. They had even captured and detained some of the NATO units that hadn't retreated fast enough. General Madison, as acting commander of the United States Forces in Europe, took drastic action to stop this 'invasion' in its tracks.

  James was ordered to support and defend the 435th CRG (Contingency Response Group) from Ramstein AFB as they established an active American air base inside the Czech Republic. She also called for more support in the form of a second squadron of F/A-48's from Incirlik, Turkey. The sudden knowledge that two squadrons of F/A-48's were involved had made Russia hesitate for just a moment, but when the 435th started into action Russia reacted with force. They scrambled their own squadrons of fighter jets and tried to turn the 435th back. It was Lt. Colonel Shanna Williams who put her flight between the Russian jets and the 435th. She tried to discourage them, but within minutes there had been an exchange of rockets and other weapons. That was when Lt. Colonel Peter Kemp dropped in on the fight. He wasn't worried about keeping the peace any longer, because all hope of peace was gone. Peter simple removed any immediate threats from the area, both in the air and on the ground. When the shooting was over the entire 480th fighter wing was involved. They had three planes damaged. Two of those were severely damaged. However, the Russians had four jets destroyed, almost a dozen damaged and most of the armored ground units still inside the Czech Republic had been disabled or destroyed as well.

   James stayed in the air with the rest of the Warhawks while the damaged planes were landed at the location being used by the 435th CRG to set up a new base. The jets scrambled from Incirlik, Turkey arrived to assist and relieve the Warhawks, so James took the rest of his squadron back home. Once back on base James began preparing for the move. General Madison had ordered James to assume command of the new base at Brno-Turany airport in the Czech Republic. The 435th would have the base ready for complete military use within the week. The jets from Incirlik were already being refueled and readied to fly again from that base. The next day James sent most of the remaining Warhawks back to replace the planes from Incirlik, so they could get back to Turkey. The shooting was over; everything was in the political arena and the news headlines for now. Lots of fingers were being pointed and blame being assigned, but few attempts at finding solutions were being made. This time, for a change, James wasn't the one being grilled about what had happened. He was though, the one who was defending those who were being grilled. General Madison was also doing all she could to support and protect them.

   It was Lt. Colonel Kemp who was taking the majority of the heat. It was his flight that had done the most damage and sustained the most damage during the short, intense battle. He had been stunned when James, Jeremy, and Shanna had defended him and his actions. It was their strong defense and testimony that eventually got Peter off the hook for flaming two of the four Russian jets that were destroyed. He had done that in order to save one of the severely damaged F/A-48's from being destroyed. Peter was even more shocked when he was later presented with the Silver Star for his actions. He wasn't the only one to receive a commendation though. Three other members of the Warhawks received the Distinguished Flying Cross for their actions during the battle. Two of those three were young 1st Lieutenants fighting in their first aerial engagement. The Warhawks had proven themselves to be a formidable fighting force despite the lack of combat experience among their pilots. James still took plenty of heat for what had happened. He was the one who was in command of the Warhawks, so he was ultimately responsible for whatever they did. He was also the one responsible for the other two kills. If not for General Madison, James might well have been called back to Washington to testify about what had happened. But General Madison had assumed responsibility for everything and she was the one who spent weeks in D.C. justifying things to Congress and her commander and chief, the President.

   Things were far from over though. The Russians had repaired the pipeline and switching station in time to be ready for the winter. They also did something unexpected. They actually increased the flow of oil to about what had been flowing before any of this had started. They did reduce the flow into Poland by nearly the same amount from other lines though. In the next few months James began to wonder which side had won and which had lost. The United States had been greeted as saviors when they had moved in to stop the advance of the Russian tanks. When the oil started to flow again everything was wonderful, for a while. Then Poland began to complain. The Russians quickly began to point at the United States presence in the Czech Republic. They implied a threatening United States presence was why they had cut the oil flow north and increased it to the south. Soon even the Czech people were grumbling about Americans just barging in and taking over things. By spring the United States was once again being blamed for the increased tensions in the region.