Chapter Six - part five

   Yesterday, the President had ordered the military to take whatever action was required to restore order within those cities. It had been a month since the first small riots had begun. Now, thousands were dead and billions of dollars in damage had been done. It would take years to restore what had already been destroyed. The President had tried to get shipments of food and other supplies into the cities early on, but it had proven to be almost impossible. It had been like trying to supply relief to people in a third world nation in the middle of a war; only everyone was heavily armed and wanted to fight first. The military, on his orders, had begun moving in force last night. This morning the first of the heavily armored reinforcements were rolling up to the cities. The President was in a secure bunker watching and listening to the events as they were happening. There was heavy fighting in some locations and lots of people, on both sides, were dying even as the military was still preparing to actually move into the cities again. Los Angles seemed to be the worst of all. The military had literally been forced to withdraw most of the initial forces that had been sent in to restore order early on; at the very start of things. However, a lot of those initial forces had refused the orders to withdraw. They were now dug in to fight against the heavier forces now being sent in to 'restore order'. The President listened as his Joint Chief, General Hodges, handled command of the action.

    "I don't care if they are members of your own unit! They are no longer obeying orders, they are armed, and they are opposing us! That makes them enemies at the least and traitors at the worst! Now I am ordering you to advance on those positions!" General Hodges was yelling, over the radio, at the commanding officer leading the heavy armored units into L.A. this morning. He lowered his voice as he continued talking. "Listen to me. I don't like this any better than you do. I was the commander of those men... once. I know Colonel Phillips and his family. We have fought side by side at times. That changes nothing about what is happening now. We have to take control of this situation and if he isn't with us, then he is against us. Now move forward and be prepared to move in quickly. I have called for an air strike on his fortified locations. He may be able to stop you now, but once those strikes happen he won't be able to stop anyone immediately. If you move quickly, you can roll right over him. Just be ready before he can try to regroup. I don't want to kill any more of those boys than I have to in order to take this city back." There was a moment's pause before a quiet, "Yes Sir", came back. Then it was silent except for the sound of more orders being given to move the armor and troops into position for an assault following the air strike.

   The general turned his attention to other matters across the nation. There were many small battles already going on and more that would soon begin. The air strike on L.A. had been planned ahead of time; it should be only moments before it began. A young captain monitoring all communications in the bunker suddenly called out for the general. "Sir, I think you need to hear this. It isn't on a standard broadcast, but the commander of that Air Force strike unit is talking to Colonel Phillips." The general rushed towards the young captain. "WHAT THE DEVIL! Put that idiot on the speaker and get me a line to him...NOW!!!" The captain responded quickly. As the speaker came on, a calm voice could be heard speaking. "Kirby, you know me and I know you. This is pure stupidity. I am not going to turn on you or anyone else who is willing to listen to reason."

   The general grabbed up a microphone and began talking. "This is General Patrick Michael Hodges. Who the devil is this?! I gave the orders for this air strike to Major Roberts personally and you are not him! He should be in command of this mission and I want to speak with him right now or know why not!" A long silence hung in the room before that same calm voice spoke once more. "This is Colonel James Cooper, Sir. Major Roberts is on my wing today. I have taken over command of this mission. Now if you will allow me to finish, I hope to avoid armed conflict with our own brothers in arms. We are fully armed and prepared to carry out your orders as required, but not if this fight can be avoided." General Hodges hesitated just long enough for the President to step in. It was the President who took the mike from him and spoke now. His voice was calm and showed no sign of any emotions at all as he began to speak. "Colonel Cooper, what do you have in mind? None of us wanted it to come to this, but we must regain control, and quickly, or I fear this will be beyond anyone's control short of an all out civil war."

    After a short moment Cooper responded. "Sir, we have been ordered to launch an all out attack on our own forces. If that isn't an act of civil war, I don't know what is. With all due respect sir, things are already completely out of control! I know Colonel Phillips. I served with him during some of those "peacekeeping" missions in the Europe. He didn't take up these positions as an act of treason. He is trying to avoid a slaughter and maybe worse, a civil war among our own armed forces. The people in the city are out of control and he believes that he has no other option available. He could have slaughtered thousands or he could withdraw, but now he is trying to keep those people contained and more forces out to avoid a slaughter.  Please Mr. President, you first tried to restore order with food and supplies, but we must have both order and supplies together, if we want to make it work. The planes are still loaded with supplies and if we can all come to terms we can make your idea work." The President asked one more question. "How do we do that? If the people see supplies coming in they will riot again, just like the last time we tried." 

    Once more that calm voice spoke from the speaker. "Sir, I have spoken with General Kendrick." (General Kendrick was in charge of entire North American Air Force) The voice continued. "We now have every available aircraft, west of the Mississippi, either in the air or on standby. If Colonel Phillips is agreeable we will use his knowledge of the immediate area, and those heavy armored units about to overrun him, to secure sites just outside the problem areas. Then we will bring in supplies and give the people a choice. Stay where they are and destroy themselves, or come out peacefully and receive the help they need... with no questions asked. I was just making that offer to Colonel Phillips. I was trying to assure him that we won't attack him, but that we would defend his troops if anyone else did. That is including the heavy armored units that you were about to send in behind this strike. This can work. Please sir, let us try this." The silence that followed lasted only a short time before General Hodges tried to speak. A raised hand from the President stopped him short. After a long moment the President spoke. "You can try, but if this fails I will see that you face a court martial and are shot for disobeying direct orders. Is that clear?" The only reply was a firm, "YES SIR!"

    That firm declaration was followed almost immediately by another question from James. "Kirby, are you with us? Will you try to stop this madness or will you force me to try this alone?" The radio was silent for a long time. Then a rough voice spoke. "There is a small strip just behind our positions. I doubt you can land heavy planes there, but it is secured and will handle lots of choppers and support. Drop me the supplies, but have the armor back off. These people aren't ready to let the military take control. They are scared, hungry, and mad at anyone wearing a uniform. I lost a third of my men and equipment when we had to start killing people to save ourselves. A lot of those men actually went over to the people we were fighting. They are still armed and prepared to die to defend those same people now. They might still listen to me, but I don't think they will if they see more troops waiting in heavy armored vehicles to confront them. I am counting on you, Cooper. Honor your word to defend us and them too if I ask for it. Give me your word on that and I am willing to try this."

   Without hesitation Cooper spoke. This time it was on full broadcast to all forces on all channels. "You have my word, Colonel Phillips. I will defend you and anyone else who approaches peacefully to receive supplies and food. I will take out anyone that comes in looking for a fight of any kind. General Kendrick, send in heavy choppers loaded with supplies. Make sure they come in without military escort. My squadron is on site, fully fueled, and fully loaded for ground support missions. We can secure the position against any attacks as long as we have Colonel Phillips help on the ground.  We don't need further support. Have another squadron standing ready to back us up if it is required later though. We will maintain our positions to defend the landing area from anyone who doesn't come in unarmed, except of course for you Kirby. You leave your heavy units where they are and take the bulk of your light units in to keep that strip secured once those supplies start offloading. I want to see choppers landing within the hour. General Kendrick, we will need in flight refueling made available for my squadron. I intend to stay up here, until this either works or comes apart around me."

    The President quietly whispered something to General Hodges and then walked back to take his seat once again. After only a short time of listening to the new orders being given and the reports coming in, General Hodges had all other forces hold where they were in the other cities he had been moving against. He moved over to speak to the president once that was done. "Sir, with all due respect I thought I had command of these operations. If you don't trust my decisions I think it would be best if I stepped aside and let you name someone else to take my place." Frowning, the President shook his head and spoke quietly. "Oh sit down, Pat. I am not sure I trust myself at the moment. Look around us Pat. Our troops are killing American citizens and in some cases even our own soldiers. We are watching cities burning down and the destruction of our own nation. If this Colonel can get control of L.A., then I think we have a chance of stopping things. If he can't... what have we lost? I meant what I said to him. I will see him shot if this fails and makes things worse. Now just sit down and let's see if he really can make this work. You were taking heavy casualties in all the other cities, even without a major military force dug in to oppose you. Not to mention the amount of damage that would have been done in order to secure each block of those cities. If this does work, then it will appear to be my plan working and we can do the same in other places. If it fails, history will see just another traitor causing more chaos. Now just sit down and wait to see which it turns out to be at the end of the day."