Jon Smith

by Richard Proctor

  “Well we do from time to time have to split some more wood and we do keep the roads clear, however this year is going to be different.”

  “How so Dad?” asked Chris

  Jon took a look over at Doc who had a wry smile on his face.

  “Well son, let’s enjoy this meal tonight, and in a few days you are going to find out.” said Jon.

  At that Catherine poked her head out the back and announced that dinner was served. The men went in to view a well laid out table complete with a large turkey, squash, rice, gravy, and pickles. After a moment of silence and the prayer the group sat and began to devour the feast. When the first wave of eating was complete Jon sat back in his chair.

  “Oh that was good and normally I would stop right here but I have saved some room for that pie Mrs. Johnson.”

  Claire got up and produced the two pies. Catherine laid out forks and plates while Amanda fetched cups for fresh coffee. Healthy pieces of pumpkin and blue berry pie were consumed and washed down with coffee. Jon stood up and declared that the feast was the best he and Chris had experienced in years and that the men would do the dishes.

  Some thirty minutes later all was put away and cleaned as Doc and the Johnson’s bid their hosts goodbye and drove toward their homes. Chris and Amanda decided that they wanted to check on the I to see if anything was going on.

  “Ok turn it on for a while but don’t tell me what they are saying. No doubt they have some story about the wasteful day that Thanksgiving used to be and the waste of food it was.” said Jon.

  Sure enough as the I came up just such a documentary was being shown and both of the kids laughed.

  “Uh, I have had enough.” said Jon as he grabbed a couple of glasses and the wine.

  “I am headed out back to breathe some air, will you join me Catherine?”

  “Sure, I think some cold air would do me good.”

  Catherine and Jon were sitting in chairs by the fire out doors enjoying a little wine and thinking through the times.

  “I just don’t remember life ever being this good Jon. I mean when the kids were little we had a good time and all but everything seemed so unreal. Being here just seems to bring peace and reality to it all.”

  “That is what removing all the bull shit that was life does for you. When you figure it out and things like what kind of car you drive or what club you belong to doesn’t matter any more then you sit back and truly take in the value of freedom.” said Jon

  “But in the New Order those things don’t exist either so what is the difference?”

  “The difference is in that world those things were taken away in order to impose some sort of social equality. However I will remind you that those in the upper bureaucracy still enjoy those things. The difference is we here chose to remove those things as we measured ourselves against ourselves. In order to be truly complete you have to look at yourself in the mirror and say, damn it is alright being me.” said Jon

  Catherine looked at Jon and grabbed his hand and kissed him.

  “It is wonderful how you are.”

  Chapter 5

  “Well, what is on my agenda today Adjutant Schneider?” asked Tarl.

  “Your first appointment is with Chairman Franks of Xlon Corporation.

  “Oh yes, It seems we have not been keeping up with our production schedule as we should. Is he here yet?”

  “Why yes shall I show him in?” asked Schneider

  “But of course.”

  Into the office of Governor Tarl walked a man roughly in his forties with a haughty demeanor. He displayed the mid life paunch of many men his age and had a receding hairline. He was carrying a briefing book and looked prepared for the conversation that was to ensue.

  Xlon Corporation was a company that produced synthetic fibers that were incorporated in many of the items used by the Order. The fibers were used in the people’s clothes, outer skins of the electric cars, protective vests of the military, as well as incorporated into other military vehicles. Like all companies of the time, while they still operated with some independence, much of the operations were government regulated. The government controlled all compensation, work schedules, production, and labor relations. While technically the companies made profits, these were then turned over to the Order for re-distribution. If any of the corporate executives expressed differences with the bureaucracy, those executives would be removed and replaced with a more politically correct executive.

  This dramatic change in corporate versus government came about in the early part of the proceeding decade. About 2011 extremely regressive taxes were legislated to cover items such as carbon production as well as to re-distribute capital. Labor was given expanded powers by liberal reform of union rules and formation of unions. The final change was done with the control of banks and the control of the currency. When companies were now beholden to the Order for capital then these companies had to answer to government rules instead of private enterprise. In the controlled economy of the Order all of this worked. Or at least it seemed to as while workers had jobs, they had little advancement or any self gratification. In time though these feelings were muted as people just got used to the situation and accepted their standing as it meant that they never had to fear not having some form of employment.

  “Governor Tarl, good to see you.” said Franks as he extended a hand.

  “And you as well Franks, you are looking well.”

  “I can’t complain, we are moving things along and seem to be meeting production.”

  Tarl pointed toward a chair in front of his desk and presently Franks sat. Tarl sat in his chair, which of course was slightly elevated over that of the one across the desk.

  “Would you like some tea Franks?”

  “No I believe I am good. What is it you need to see me about?’

  “Well let’s get to the point. You are well aware that we are in conflict in areas of the world and may soon have some work to do here as well.”

  “Oh really, I wasn’t aware that we were in need of military. I understand about that bombing incident and such but I would think local security could handle that.”

  Tarl leaned back in his chair and looked straight at Franks.

  “Well here is the real issue, you are behind schedule with production and The Hague is not happy. And when The Hague is not happy I am not happy. Part of my responsibility is to keep the corporations in my sector under control and on schedule. You sir are roughly behind by ten percent.” said Tarl.

  Franks pulled out some papers from his brief and looked over the numbers. He already knew that Tarl was correct but he was trying to look like he was in command of the situation.

  “Yes so it seems we are.”

  “Well what would you surmise to be the issue Franks?”

  “I would think we need to increase some labor in order to meet the quotas. We work the 6 day schedules with 4 days on work force but we need to add about one more man hour per day.”

  “Well then add it man, bring in another shift of labor. After all it is not like you really need to turn some profit, you just need to produce.”

  Tarl stood and looked out his window.

  “You are not harboring any old beliefs about life before the Order are you Franks? The notion of old capitol and wealth are no more.”

  “Oh no sir, we just need to meet the quota.” said Franks.

  “Ok then, very well, make arrangements to add what you need as we need to get those numbers up in twenty days.”

  “Yes, we will.”

  Franks stood up, collected his papers and exited the office. Tarl stood looking at him as he walked out.

  “It is a wonder that we are able to do what we can with such weak members of society.”

  Tarl walked back to his desk and sat down looking over his daily reports. Adjutant Schneider entered the room and stood before
the desk.

  “Sir, Colonel James is here per your request.”

  “Ah yes, show the Colonel in at once.”

  Colonel James was the commander of the 501st Regiment that had been assigned to the Mountain region per the orders of the Grand Governor. The Regiment had spent the last two years in Africa in the Sudan region putting down uprisings and taking out rebel elements. They were a battle trained group with roughly 1900 regulars and some 100 special commandos.

  James was all military and had been so since his days at West Point. While he did not necessarily agree with the way his country had devolved he was a soldier and believed that the soldier served the government and did not question. He was roughly 53 years old and quite fit. His graying hair and mustache lent a sense of wisdom to him.

  “Governor Tarl, Colonel Thomas James at your service.”

  The Colonel stuck out his hand as Tarl gave him his. As James took Tarl’s hand and noted the weak hand shake he immediately surmised “weak politician.”

  “Well how was your trip from Africa?” asked Tarl.

  “Uneventful and I am certainly glad to be back in some cool weather. I know when the regiment arrives they will be glad also.”

  “Yes this weather can be quite refreshing, but it is quite cold also. They are outfitting you with winter gear aren’t they?” asked Tarl

  “That is what I have been told.”

  “Wonderful. Now let’s get to the point. You are aware why you are being brought here correct?”

  “I am told that there are several groups of outliers who have been responsible for insurrection and it is our job to bring them to order.” said James.

  “Yes, that is quite correct. There are at least three groups to the west in the mountains. Two of them are of little to concern us however we will deal with them. It is the central group that we need to deal with. It is a group of about 250 people living in a valley. The valley is remote and can only be approached by a single road or I should say that is how vehicles can get to it. This fall we sent two groups in to begin removing those people. The first was a small lightly armed group that the valley people turned back. We then sent in some 150 security troops armed with machine pistols.”

  “I understand that they were repelled with heavy loses.” said Colonel James.

  “Yes that is correct.”

  Tarl hit a button on his console which brought down a screen. A video image then appeared. The image was the one taken of Jon when he was in the city retrieving Catherine.

  “We believe this man is the leader of the valley. His name is Jon Smith. He and his son left for that valley ten years ago and not long ago retrieved his wife and daughter. The wife appears to have terminal cancer and as such has been deemed a lost case.” said Tarl.

  “Lost case, I guess that is the term for not wanting to spend money.” said James.

  Tarl looked at Colonel James and replied.

  “Do you not believe in our medical system here? We provide great care that is free but to that end we always have to be able to treat the illness. Colonel are you not a believer in the Order?” asked Tarl.

  Colonel James gave a straight look at Tarl.

  “Governor, I am a military man and as such follow the commands of the political leaders. I really have no opinion either way.”

  Colonel James looked back at the picture of Jon and began to think. In many ways he respected the figure of the man in front of him. He was obviously a tall broad man that kept in shape. He had clear hazel eyes that fit well with his longer grey hair and short grey goatee. Colonel James began to think he would much rather serve a man such as this than the pitiful political figure that he was working with behind the desk. Those thoughts though soon left him as it was useless to think any other way.

  “So this Mr. Smith, does he have a military background?”

  “No he doesn’t and that is what is interesting as his tactics would have lead us to believe he did.”

  “Maybe there are others in this valley that are ex-military that gave him his ideas.” said Colonel James.

  “Possibly, but according to the commander of our forces there was no doubt he was issuing the orders.”

  “What armaments did they have?” asked Colonel James.

  “From our debriefing they were only armed with hunting rifles. However they seemed to all be excellent shots and as such the caliber of the weapons was devastating on our men. Also after our second raid they confiscated some 150 machine pistols and several thousand rounds of ammunition.”

  “Well I would expect them to be great shots as they are woodsmen; however hunting rifles are no good against APCs, tanks, and heavily armed men.”

  “Yes and that is why you are here. Colonel, when do you think you can be ready?’

  I will have lead elements here in February with the rest of the regiment here by March. I see no need to make a move on the valley until April, when most of the roads are clear.”

  “I concur with that, however I would like to utilize your advanced elements prior. I think it would be important to blockade the roads, thereby denying the groups of further supplies.”

  “I think that can be accomplished.” said Colonel James.

  “I also want to speak about some of your special commandos. I would like to use them in a very special way.” said Tarl.

  Tarl leaned back in his chair and stared at the image of Jon Smith. His thin lips began to curl as the thought came to him.

  “Colonel let me have some lunch brought in and I will let you in on my thoughts.”

  “Certainly Governor. Certainly.”

  Chapter 6

  “Well we got some more snow last night but that is ok. The longer the roads can remain impassible the more time we have got.” said Doc.

  “Yea, that’s good news. Chris, help me with this box as it is heavy.” said Jon.

  “Dad, what the heck is in all of these boxes cause they sure are heavy?”

  “Well you will see shortly. That is the last of them, Doc, JT you ready to go.”

  “Absolutely Jon.” said JT.

  The four got into their trucks and headed up the road toward the party field. Doc and Chris were in Doc’s truck and Jon and Jeremiah, JT, were in the other. Jeremiah Thomas was thirty seven years old. He had served in Afghanistan, Iraq and then in Afghanistan again. He had been in the Special Forces and was considered an expert in light arms. He also had training in heavy weapons and vehicles. He knew quite a bit about combat and relished in it. He lived alone in the valley and had moved there five years prior. He had tried to maintain his military work but found that he could not stand what was happening. He could not serve a government that he did not believe in. JT felt that the New Order was no different than many of the governments that he had been asked to fight.

  JT was about five feet eight inches tall and about one hundred and sixty pounds. He loved to party and loved to make time with the few single women that lived in the valley. But most of all he loved to fight. He had become a ferocious player during the Sunday football games and in the first Urban attack several weeks back he had personally killed eight of the troopers. He was the perfect man to instruct the men of the valley on how to use the weapons that Jon had procured and how to use them in the proper tactical fashion.

  “JT, what do you think they are going to throw against us? We are getting word that they may be bringing in storm troopers from Africa.” said Jon.

  “My bet is that they will deploy a whole Regiment. Probably will spread them out to take care of some of the other settlements. I would bet we will have to deal with at least five hundred men. They will use APCs and some medium tanks to be sure.”

  “Tanks, you think they will bring in tanks?” asked Jon

  “Oh yea, that’s standard OP for these guys. But I wouldn’t worry because they still have to come up that one road and we can
make short work of them. I worry about some of the other things they are going to do.”

  “Like what?” asked Jon.

  “Well I would bet they are going to blockade all the roads below and that will cut of a lot of our trade. Also it will cut off our external food supply.”

  JT stopped and looked out the window of the truck.

  “I also worry about something else, something far worse.”

  “What’s that?” asked Jon.

  “I worry about commandos. They could send commandos in here on foot and start killing us one at a time. That is something else they do.”

  “So how do we deal with that?”

  “We make sure that no one goes anywhere alone and when people do go out that they are armed. We will also need to set up regular recon missions as well.”

  “All this is sounding like we are at war.” said Jon.

  “Well aren’t we? That nice little battle we had is no different than Lexington at Concorde was to the Revolutionary army. Man we are now fighting a Revolution.” said JT.

  Jon pulled the truck into the field which was now filling up with other vehicles and men. He looked out over the valley people, his people. He began to think about what JT had said. He began to wonder again if these people were ready.

  “JT, you think we are ready for a brawl?”

  JT looked out over the men as well and turned to Jon.

  “Well I am going to get them trained and ready to use the weapons we have. But it is up to you to make sure they are mentally ready.”

  The weight of those words landed on Jon like a ton of bricks. Yes the people needed a leader and now maybe it was time that he stepped up and did what he was born to do. It was time he stepped up and led.

  Jon got out of the truck and headed over to the gathering. He shook hands with many and carried on a bit of small conversation. Then he gathered the group around and began to speak with them with a quite honest face.

  “Men, I stand before you today with facts and truth. A few weeks ago we stood and repelled a group of urban security troops that tried to change our world, a world that we all came here to live and that we love.”