Chapter Seven - part nine

   By the end of the day the tension level at headquarters was starting to decrease. As the days continued to pass the tension levels dropped among all of the people involved. James gave the credit for the change in attitudes to General Hodges. His attitude had changed dramatically after their little talk. He had been relaxed and happier than he had been during the entire operation. That attitude was contagious. His men didn't know what had changed and they didn't care. They just knew that if he was happy; they should be happy too! They knew that a smile on his face meant things couldn't be going much better in his opinion. A week passed and then another before things changed again. The change came in the form of an unannounced visit. At least it wasn't a bunch of politicians or the President himself. It was bad enough though. It was the current 'temporary' Joint Chief, General Kendrick. He had arrived just before dawn and was waiting for James in his office before James even knew he was on base.

    James didn't bother knocking or announcing himself when he walked into the office where General Kendrick was waiting. It was for all purposes James private office, although he used it as a staff briefing room too. Kendrick was standing beside the huge display panel that was sitting against one wall. It was actually a touch screen monitor tied into a computer system that monitored current situations across the nation. As James approached Kendrick he noted that it was currently displaying only the areas that James was responsible for. Kendrick had glanced at James as he came in, but had immediately gone back to his study of the display. James stepped up to stand beside Kendrick and wait for him to make the first move. After a moment Kendrick spoke without ever looking at James. "This is a very impressive display. I can easily see the status of the entire area, from troop locations to supply shipments, along with information on current civilian conditions and the status of repairs. It makes it easy to see what has been done, what needs to be done, and even helps me see a clear path to follow towards improving the situation in problem areas. I wish I had this available when I was trying to convince everyone how much you had accomplished in such a short time. Where did you come up with this? I have never seen anything quite this simple and yet this comprehensive for displaying current field situations."

    James shrugged as he replied. "It is basically the same program that we used to go over training missions with our pilots. Jeremy just modified and tweaked it to do what we needed it to do. It wasn't too hard for him to do, but I don't think anybody else would have thought to try it, or had the skill to do it. It has made it much easier to plan and run the day to day operations on an operation of this size. I doubt that anyone could have kept as close a watch on things without this system. The program tracks the details and the display is just a bonus. It makes things obvious that many people might miss otherwise. All it really does is display all of the information we already have in the system. Reading about things or even hearing the reports can't make it as clear as being able to see it with your eyes while you also hear the reports or read the information." General Kendrick had turned to look at James as he spoke. When James was done Kendrick shook his head and then clicked the control to switch the display on the screen. It now displayed the entire nation and the status of all areas in the nation. Now he turned to face James and spoke again.

   This time his voice was sharper and more commanding. "That is an understatement to say the least! Do you have any idea what I could have done if I had known this existed before I arrived here? I have spent weeks fighting to keep you from being removed from command and maybe shot as a traitor! This would have silenced a good number of people and made the rest wish they had stayed silent! You had to know how much this could have helped you and those who have been defending you! Why didn't you make it available to us? It would have saved a lot of time and trouble for me and you too!" Now James found himself being glared at as Kendrick waited for his answers. James turned and walked over to take his seat behind his desk before motioning for Kendrick to take a seat in front of it. That didn't help the look on Kendrick's face a bit. But Kendrick did walk over and take the seat, though the look in his eyes told James he was ready to take his head too.

    James spoke after Kendrick was seated. "Sir, I was well aware of all the help it might have been to you, but I also was certain of the amount of damage it would do to my efforts here as well. I was ordered to get control of and secure the west coast, to establish order again and maintain it. That was and is my only concern. Maybe the politics in D.C. have a place in the big picture, but they have no place in my operations. I have no time for playing political games or smoothing ruffled feathers. Sir, I have a job to do and I have done it to the best of my ability. That is all I can do. If what I do isn't obvious enough without me taking time to display it for them, well then I doubt all the fancy displays in the world would be enough to make a difference. Now if you don't mind... could we get down to the business that brought you here? My days are always long and this one just got a lot longer unless I miss my guess."

    General Kendrick sat there looking at James. His anger had vanished and been replaced by something close to shock. After a long moment he started to shake his head and slowly began to smile. Then he spoke very softly. "There are other men, a lot higher ranking men than you, who I would have stripped of rank and dismissed for showing such an attitude towards a superior officer, but I almost think you would welcome that. Why do you think I am here, since you seem to be feeling so confident this morning?" Now James smiled as he shrugged and spoke quickly in reply. "There are only two possibilities. You came to relieve me of my command or to hand me a whole new set of orders. If you are here to relieve me, what I say and do now won't matter. But since I very seriously doubt that you would have survived to be the one to relieve me of my command... I have to assume you have new orders for me. And yes sir, I suspect that I would prefer to be dismissed than to get those new orders, but that isn't an option is it?"

   Once more Kendrick looked stunned, but then he smiled again as he spoke. "You have it right! I do have new orders for you, but I hope you do understand how close you came to being relieved instead. Frankly, until he told me to come out here, I wasn't sure which way the President was going to go. You have done wonders at restoring order and getting the area stabilized, but you have made more enemies than I can count too. A lot of very powerful people are very unhappy with not getting enough credit for what you have done. I think even the President is a little irked with you over your attitude with the press and politicians. You may think you can do this without the help of the press and politicians, but you are sadly mistaken. That is one thing that you will have to adjust before you start work on your new mission. You are going to have to deal with the press and the politicians whether you like it or not. I think you can do that, but you will have to learn to make them a priority or they will make themselves a priority by making anything else impossible."

    James started to speak, but Kendrick held up a hand as he stood up. "Enough talk! Follow me! We have a ceremony to attend and then you have a few things to get done before you fly out of here." James had no choice except to follow the man. General Kendrick hadn't waited. He had immediately turned and walked out of the office. Once James had caught up to him Kendrick spoke. "You never asked how I managed to access your secure display. Weren't you even a little curious?" James smiled as he quickly responded. "No sir, only a few people have access to the system. Only two of those were available and I know that one wouldn't have given you access without speaking to me first." Kendrick glanced over at James after he didn't say which one it was. He had asked someone and been told no, but he hadn't expected James to know that. The young lieutenant had looked very pale when facing the Joint Chief, but he had stood his ground and refused to give him access. Only a quick call to Hodges had gotten Kendrick access, and Hodges had hesitated for a moment before he had given it. It seemed that Cooper knew his people very well indeed.