James was in the air
himself one day, heading to a different area, when they had a major flare up
there. It was in one of the spots that had just been secured recently and the
infrastructure still wasn't very dependable. It was in one of the last areas of
Oakland, California to be brought back under control. They had used major force
to secure it. The fighting hadn't been as bloody as it had been in some other
trouble spots, but the people were still very resistant and easily angered. A
lot of them were also still armed. Hodges had moved into the area during the
start of Phase Three operations and tried to establish a relationship, but the
people no longer trusted anyone from outside. During the last few weeks they
had managed to get some control established and were starting to bring the area
back online with utilities and other requirements. They just weren't able to
make it happen fast enough to satisfy the people though and it had gotten very
ugly. Two 'fast response' units had been sent in before James arrived on the
scene with a second wave of air support. Two passes had failed to disperse the
crowds and the troops that had been sent in were in danger of being completely
overwhelmed. The troops had been cut off, so they could no longer retreat.
There appeared to be several hundred people rushing their position when James
took action. He only fired a couple of short bursts from his pulse cannons. He
had tried lasers and even fired tracers with live rounds directly in front of
the crowd, but they had kept coming. The pulse cannons were a last resort, but
an effective one. Those short bursts had
completely broken the rush and the rest of the crowd had dispersed immediately.
The ones who could still stand to disperse were quick to do just that. Nearly
half of the main crowd was down. They were dead or injured and unable to get
up. Many were unconscious, but some had been killed instantly and others died
soon after the bursts first hit them.
That had been one
of the worst days of the entire operation for James. But it had also been
another key turning point in the progression of things. The bloody fighting
that was done street to street and house to house was bad enough. But when the
national news showed the pictures and videos of what James had done...
resistance broke in almost all areas where the news reached. There had been videos of the actual attack.
One came from the cameras mounted on his own plane and two others from the
ground. One from a news team with the troops and one had been found from among
those hit by the bursts. Both of the videos from the ground were very rough and
unclear, but the one from the jets camera clearly showed the devastating
effects of a pulse cannon burst fired into a crowd. If he hadn't acted, most
and perhaps all of the troops he was responsible for would have died. A lot of
the crowd would have died along with them too. It was a terrible choice to
make, but it had been the only one James felt he could make. It had also served
another purpose in the end too. It had proven without a doubt that James was
committed to do whatever he had to do to restore order in the nation. James
would have gladly done without either of those things if he could have avoided
the entire incident, but there had been no other choice left for him.
There had been a
brief burst of outrage from the media and politicians about the incident. They
wanted his head for such brutal action, but once more the President stepped
forward to speak in his defense. James had taken heat from the President too,
but that had been for letting the media post those videos and make it a top
news story to begin with. James had spent a lot of time explaining that he
wouldn't hide anything from the people, not even if it meant more trouble in
the short term. In the long term he was convinced that it would help earn their
trust and cooperation; which were both vital to the final success of
operations. The politicians thought he was nuts and the President wasn't sure
they were wrong. James had earned the trust of the troops though and it quickly
became apparent that a lot of the public had come to trust him too. The story
died as the public response to the outcry against him was met with cold
resistance and even heated anger. It seemed that most people felt he had done
what he had to do. They blamed the people in the crowd more than James. As for
James he simply refused to discuss it publically. In fact he wouldn't comment
on it all, but the pain was obvious on his face when someone questioned him
about it. The media quickly moved on to other items when they failed to draw
any real blood or public outcry.
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