***
From the New York Times: World Governments Reject Terrorist Demands; Confrontation Now Inevitable in the Face of Threats to World Stability
These headlines, and many more like them, hit newspapers, TV broadcasts and media outlets all over the world on the day after Adam’s appearance at the UN. Hana was in tears, but not the rest of the family. Those who had predicted this outcome felt vindicated; they should not have been. Adam called all of his teams together to discuss this surprise and shock.
“You’ve seen the headlines; my attempt at peaceful resolution, within the time frames we know to constrain us, have failed. I knew this might happen, but the rejection of our overtures has come quickly, which I believe is good news.”
“You can’t be serious,” said Misti. “Not sure in which reality that can be true.”
Adam looked calm. “Would you rather have this headline now, today, or in a year? Which is better, safer, for us?”
“Point taken. We can react to this pushback with time on our side. A year from now and we would be in dire straits. Still, what options do we have?”
“Tons. We will go to war, and soon. And we will unleash our tech, our Immortals and our military, not for the all-out land battle they will want, but for the battle and conditions we want.”
“Which are?”
“One battle, within months, in a place and under conditions we dictate.”
“And they will agree to this? That’s insane.”
“They will agree, or be defeated in place. I have put together a plan for forcing them into the open, and in a place of our choosing. We must defeat them in a way they understand, and in the open for the world to see. Anything short of decisive will not due. No skirmishes, just one massive battle and the end of all forces arrayed against us. Then, whether humanity wants to come along or not, will not matter. Humanity will be dragged kicking and screaming into the future.”
“You sending out invitations?”
“In a sense, yes. I will agree to fight any and all comers, individuals and armies, paramilitaries and all organized resistance in person on the battlefield. Winner take all. I know when and where, and will demand that this final battle take place on a date and time I will set.”
Adam’s wives, family and friends all looked at him, not thinking he was crazy, but knowing he was.
Edward said, “Son, this isn’t possible, no matter the powers you think you have. You alone cannot defeat the forces the world can throw at you. And time is short.”
“Oh, I agree. But, I will not be alone; I will have you guys and a human and Gens army fighting in natural and transformed states. You will all be helping me as you always have. We will prepare to confront the worlds’ militaries, but with only me facing front. You will all be doing what will be necessary to fight this fight, including rooting out the treachery that pervades our own community here.”
“What are you talking about?”
“There are those here amongst us conspiring to inform the world governments of our tech and biology, ready to sell us out to the highest bidder. They are trying to assist those arrayed against us to defeat us by revealing our technological and biological secrets. We must use our advantages to do two things: root out our traitors and make savage war on our enemies. We must be prepared for millions to die, though I doubt it will come to that.”
“Please tell us more. I don’t see what you want us to understand.”
“I prepared a little document for all to read and digest. Please study what is in my plan, then let’s reconvene here tomorrow to discuss. This is a two-part attack on our adversaries, though they are not of one mind. One mind wishes us dead; the other wishes only to sell us out. We shall catch both using the strategy I have devised.”
Hana said, whispering, “You will explain your strategy to me and your wives?”
“If you force my tongue, of course.”
“Then all your wives will be in attendance tonight after dinner. I will excuse your other family members and friends; tonight, we will discover your madness and will either revel in or be dejected by what you have to say.”
“If I speak well and convincingly, will there be cake?”
“Cake is doubtful. But rewards for our blessing of your insanity, yes. I will personally give you free rein to sample my menu of earthly delights; fail and I’ll kick your ass.”
“What if I told you that Liara will want to know about this little twist. I think we should send Hecate to inform the Demon Queen that she may be rid of me and soon. Let’s get her all excited that there may yet be a way to fuck me over.”
“That makes no sense. Won’t she want to help out your adversaries now?”
“Of course, but we shall make sure that is not possible. But, having her committed to my destruction before the war begins is what I want. I wish to eliminate all opposition to our plans, once and for all. This is how we dig out the traitors in our midst, identify and defeat the humans arrayed against us, and silence Liara. All at once.”
“I don’t see how.”
“I know.”
Chapter 48
Adam was on the phone with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, those most desirous of killing or capturing him, his wives and family and forcing them to reveal the secrets of the DL Main, their nanite tech, IP and biology. There was so much they all wanted from Adam, they hardly knew where to begin. But the main problem was that the world’s military had no idea where Adam was, how to draw him out or, how to defeat him. They reasoned that whatever tech and hardware that Adam had, must be similar to conventional weapons and therefore if the world’s militaries converged on Adam and his army of freaks, pounded them with everything it had, there would be no way that Adam could come out of this fight intact. The world would pummel Adam and his monsters, then send them back to the stone age.
They would capture Adam, force him to reveal the location of compound, take control of it then make Adam cooperate in exchange for visiting his family, if he behaved. They might allow him conjugal visits once a month.
“Here’s the deal I’m offering you if you want to end this drama. I will meet you on the field of battle in two months time on the continent of Australia. Bring as many men as you wish, any weaponry you choose and fight us however you wish. You may use army, navy and air forces to attack; we shall camp in marked locations and you may commence your attack whenever it suits you after the date set. I will be in camp and you may come for me and my men in any way you wish. But, beware that if you attack us, we will respond in kind wherever your forces may be; while the first strike will not come from us, the final one will. The Australian government, which is conspiring with other western governments, may prohibit this altercation on its soil, but if it doesn’t, I assume that they agree to its consequences.”
Adam received an email from US Central Command, “We accept your terms and will meet you in eleven weeks time along the Western Australia border line prior to commencement of hostilities.”
***
“I say we send in special forces from all directions, surround the camp he’s in and take him down. Surgical and clean; this war will be over before it starts. He may have some amazing tech and military fanatics to command, but he’s no military genius. He’s apparently going to fight us out in the open, no safe routes for retreat and we’ll have superior ground, naval and air forces to pound the shit out of St. James. This won’t take long.”
***
“The line of demarcation until the date set to commence operations is the border between Western Australia to the west, and South Australia and the Northern Territory to the east. You may bring in whatever personnel and hardware you wish on your side of the border and on the high seas; you may use your air forces to scout, attack and intimidate, if you can. Just remember that on the day, date and time to commence operations, I am at war with you, and the end result is winner take all. We expect no quarter and we will give no quarter. After the confrontation in Australia, we will continue to disable your
forces globally and take the fight where it can be most effective.”
“Which is?”
“The capital cities of the world. The slaughter will cease when you surrender unconditionally.”
“Or you’re dead.”
“You have slightly over two months. I suggest you stock up on body bags and have your forces make their final preparations with family. None will be returning home; and the military minds of the world who are in hiding in bunkers will likewise be dead soon too.”
“Your plans?”
“All I’m going to say is we will be over a million strong, we will enter Australia from the east and make our way inland to the center of the country, and mass along the border. We will be prepared to fight on the stroke of midnight on June 30. That gives you plenty of time to mobilize and prepare. See you then.”
***
Two weeks later
“He’s an idiot. We’ve begun to enter the country through Perth, driving segments of the army to where he is setting up his base camps along the western border. But, we have also landed troops amphibiously to the north, south and east to surround him. We have mobilized millions of troops and cut off any means of escape by sea and air. We’ll have carriers off shore, troop transports with reserves and mobile Ops centers at sea, on land and in the air. We have bombers, jets and heavy air transport to move troops around and plug any holes. We’ll button hole this guy and his troops up and cut off any escape. Then we tighten the noose and let the carnage begin. When he’s had enough, we’ll take him alive, then his family and his hideout. This won’t take more than a day or so. The latest satellite telemetry shows they have no heavy weapons of any consequence, no air force and no sea going capability. They might have a hundred thousand men landed and in camp, but nowhere near the numbers St. James was throwing around. Seriously, this’ll be a turkey shoot.”
***
A month later
“Where are we people? What’s their status?”
A general from Great Britain said, “They’re at about a hundred thousand now, scattered along the eastern border in twenty small camps and not growing in sufficient numbers to make me think they will have anywhere near the force strength St. James was predicting. It’s a lot of men, but we now have two and one-half million or so landed, and triple that in reserve and on the way from all directions if necessary. By the time we hit D-Day, I think we’ll have nearly five million at our disposal, and they’ll have maybe a million and a half spread out and easy to mop up. They’re surrounded. This will be big and bloody, but when the war starts, we’ll come after them with jets, bombers and surface to surface missiles to loosen them up, then with tanks, armored columns and then force deployment. We have their camp locations, relative numbers, armaments and lots of aerial intel. They will be crushed.”
“What’s the intel from the camps. You’ve sent in Special Ops teams, what’s the view from the ground?”
Silence.
“Well?”
“Nothing yet. We’ve deployed Navy Seals, IDF, SAS, Green Beret and Marine Recon teams. The Chinese and Indian armies have sent in the special Ops units. None, not ours or anyone else’s, have come back alive. The corpses of those we sent in have been dropped on our side of the line with a note to stop sending men whose lives are being wasted. They’re batting a thousand on capture and kill. We only have eyes in the sky, not on the ground. Even our high-altitude spy planes are being shot down; all that’s left are the same satellites we assume they are accessing too. That includes our own.”
“So, we’re blind? What are the chances that St. James has surprises for us? Something we don’t know about?”
“Somewhere between zero and one hundred percent. Can’t be more precise; without intel on the ground, we just don’t know.”
“Keep me apprised, and step up the ground game. I want someone inside who can report back out. I want teams all along the border and watching their camps. I need to know what they’re doing and their state of readiness.”
“Yes, sir!”
The new teams entering “St. James territory” each night from the allied sector were quickly found in the morning, dead with a note of warning attached. While Adam’s forces seemed to grow slowly, the forces surrounding them were rapidly deploying to encircle and trap their enemies inside a smaller and smaller perimeter. As the days grew closer to D-Day, the allied forces began tightening the noose, pushing in closer to the perimeter with men, armored vehicles, tanks and ground-based rockets. Their force superiority gave little chance to the St. James forces to move or have any option other than take the pounding that would come before even one allied soldier would move across ‘no mans land’ toward the terrorist and his band of savages. A coordinated air, ground and missile attack would precede the ground assault by troops of the multi-nation strike force.
Unbeknownst to Adam, though anticipated by Ops in Paraiso, the allied forces decided to begin aerial bombardment of the St. James base camps at D-Day minus forty-eight hours. As a result of the potential threat, Adam ordered the base camps to immediately implement and activate the same dome technology that protected Paraiso. The day following the activation, it was difficult for the allied forces to visually detect the locations of the base camps other than to note that there was activity where the base camps had been; the terrorists camouflage was superior in every way and would require that the allied military find a new way to detect the locations of the camps and the activities undertaken. The allies detected very little troop movement toward the camps, so as D-Day approached, the allies assumed that the opposing troop strength hovered at one hundred thousand.
They were wrong, of course, but troop strength alone would not determine the outcome of this conflict. Adam could have gone alone and had the same outcome, but he had more that winning the battles in his mind. He needed to end all conflicts in the near future by emasculating the allied force of millions, the neutering the sea and air capabilities to land personnel and material in Australia, making the conflict just his forces against the allied forces. Shutting down resupply was for pure effect; this is what the allies could expect here and now, and everywhere on the planet in the future.
The war would be short and sweet, but would not turn out as expected for allied command.
The numbers of allied troops and hardware assembled were considered overkill by NATO and Allied commanders who still followed the first Gulf War strategy to attack in overwhelming numbers and destroy the will of the enemy to fight.
D-Day minus seventy-two hours.
Three days before the war was to commence, Adam and his team met with the military leadership of forces surrounding them to discuss terms of surrender. Each side prepared the documents they were sure the other side would eventually sign. They met in a new building that suddenly appeared, half on the allied side, half on the St. James side, to discuss the events about to unfold.
“You’re surrounded by over two million troops. We have bombers, jet planes, heavy equipment, missiles, rockets and troops in reserve to mop up whoever survives our initial air and ground assault. You must know by now what you’re up against. Save yourselves and your families. This is a needless conflict.”
Adam said, “I agree. But it is you who is surrounded by my military, and you are far from resupply. When I cut you off and squeeze your forces, you will die by the hundreds of thousands. I suggest you capitulate now before I am forced to demonstrate my lethal technological superiority.”
“I admire your bravery, but the facts are stacked against you. Once we begin, there will be no quarter for you, your family or your colleagues. You will all die.”
“And, since you threaten my family with death or worse, is it consistent with your Rules of Engagement for me to go after the families of your forces arrayed against me here? The families of those gathered here in this building? I can do that right now if you wish.”
“Doubtful. But do your best.”
Adam called to the Op center in Paraiso to send the “Angel
s of Death”, little bomblet missiles launched from remotely piloted bombers circling undetected over the US, UK, Israel, China, Japan and Continental Europe.
“The families of the senior leadership of the militaries assembled here today are now dead or will be soon. My condolences on your loss. You should never have threatened my family and friends. That was a mistake.”
Within and hour, the tragedy of the loss of millions of innocent men, women and children who suddenly disappeared was reported to Central Command of the Allied Forces, now headquartered in Perth, Australia. The deaths of so many was widely reported around the world, and Adam was quoted as saying that he was only doing to his enemies what his enemies were trying to do to him.
“They threatened not only to kill me, but all of my family too. To hold them as hostages and to murder if I don’t cooperate. This is not new. This same threat has been made several times in the past, all to no avail. The world should know that I am only responding to circumstances; I am not threatening anyone. I want a peaceful resolution of this conflict, but in the end, you must meet us half way. The threat of all out war and destruction is what the world threatens me with; that cannot be the way we move past this series o revelations. Humanity w must do its part.”
Unfortunately, most of humanity sided with their militaries. Adam was considered a terrorist. Why? Because the government said so. No history, no reasons. Just pin the name on Adam, and that is all that is necessary.
“We will kill every one of you freaks and hunt down the rest of you after we mop you up and make you pay.”
“You should stop now and count your blessings.”
“Too late for speech, St. James. The President and his international military council has ordered war. War it shall be.”
Resolution Page 105
