by Adam Yoshida
“Yes.”
“Ok then,” said Rickover, “you have a great day.”
Rickover slammed down the phone.
“Alright,” he said, “now let’s deal with the fucking Mexicans.”
No. 10 Downing Street, London, United Kingdom
The Prime Minister gazed at the latest pictures from Egypt with wide-eyed horror.
“They dropped three nuclear bombs on Egypt?” he asked, aghast.
“Yes, Prime Minister,” reported the Director-General of MI6, “these pictures are only minutes old.”
“But the Aswan High Dam held?”
“It appears that way. But no one knows what explosions on that scale will do to so large a structure. Some of those who I’ve consulted have suggested that almost the whole of the country ought to be evacuated in the short-term as a precautionary measure. The dam could, potentially, crack at any minute.”
“And the Egyptian President?”
“Our Ambassador in Cairo reports that, minutes after he issued the orders to ensure that the canal was cleared for the American Rebels, he took his own life,” said the Foreign Secretary.
“He did what?” asked the Prime Minister.
“He shot himself in the head,” said the Foreign Secretary, “one shot to the temple, I am given to understand.”
“That’s awful,” said Blunt, shaking his head, “and the Canal?”
“The transit of the American fleet is well underway, I am afraid,” said the Chief of the Defense Staff.
“Very well,” said the Prime Minister, tapping his desk in front of him, “it would seem that we have rather underestimated the will of the American Rebels in this context.”
“So it would seem, Prime Minister,” replied the Foreign Secretary.
“Gentlemen,” said the Prime Minister, standing up, “thank you. I think I shall have to take a little bit of time to consider a full response to these quite-unexpected developments.”
Los Pinos, Mexico City
Pablo del Rio, the President of the United Mexican States, ground his teeth as he watched the latest live footage on CNN International.
“The fucking mad men,” he muttered to himself.
“No one expected that they would do that,” agreed his Chief of Staff quietly.
“You all assured me - assured me - that these Rebels were on the ropes and that we could intervene cheaply by crossing the border. You assured me that we could bring the instability to the north to a swift end and that, in so doing, we would win the absolute support of Washington. What have you done?”
“It is not a good situation, Your Excellency,” conceded the Secretary of National Defense, “though our forces in Arizona are, in fact, making good process against the Rebel soldiers there. They’ve been forced into defensive positions that we expect that they will be compelled to surrender as soon as the other American soldiers show up.”
“If their own support doesn’t show up first. Or if they don’t do something else totally fucking crazy. They just dropped three - three - fucking nuclear bombs on the Egyptians. And the Egyptians didn’t invade them!”
“There are no certainties in war,” said the Secretary, “but we still have a strong hand.”
The President swept his arms across his desk, sending a great pile of papers and electronics crashing to the floor.
“Fuck you and your strong hand!” he shouted, standing up and waving his arms in the air.
“For all we fucking know, they could have a bomber loaded up with nuclear weapons headed to Mexico City right now!”
“I’ll note, Your Excellency, that they threatened to kill millions of Egyptians - risked it, even. But they did not do it. Dropping bombs on a dam that may crack and doing it to cities is not exactly the same thing.”
The Situation Room, The White House
“I thought,” said President Bryan, his voice weighed down with anguish, “that you said that they didn’t have access to our nuclear arsenal, or at least the launch codes for it?”
“They didn’t, Mr. President,” said Secretary Ransom quietly, “but clearly they’ve bypassed the protocols that we had put into place to stop something like this.”
“And what’s to stop them from using whatever nukes that they have against us?” asked the President.
“Politics, I suppose, Mr. President,” said the Secretary.
“And where does all of this leave us?” asked Bryan.
“In a bad way, Mr. President,” replied the Secretary of State, “I just got off the phone with the Mexicans. They’re scared shitless. Their assessment is that the Rebels won’t use nukes on other Americans, for political reasons, as Secretary Ransom said - but they think that anyone else is fair game.”
“Could we offer them a nuclear guarantee?” asked the President.
“Would it be a credible one, sir?” replied Secretary Ransom.
“We can’t have the fucking Rebels throwing nukes around the whole Goddamned world,” said Bryan.
“I agree with you on that, of course,” said Ransom, “but are we willing to use nuclear weapons against fellow Americans?”
“I don’t think that the lives of Americans are inherently worth more than those of other people,” said the President stiffly.
“I agree with you in theory, Mr. President,” said Jamal Anderson, “but I fear that the American people would not concur.”
“I asked the Mexicans to stick their necks out for us,” said the President, his voice rising as he became increasingly-agitated, “and I’m not going to fucking abandon them to the fucking Rebels!”
The President got up and began to walk around the table.
“General Hall,” he said, “do we have nuclear weapons at the ready?”
“The portion of our deterrent that we have retained control of is available for tasking,” the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff answered carefully.
“And I assume, Mr. Secretary,” said the President, looking directly at the Secretary of State, “that we have a covert line of communications to the Rebels?”
“We have several, Mr. President,” replied the Secretary of State.
“Very good,” said Bryan, “then I want you to send a message to that fucker Rickover: the entire world is now under the protection of government of the United States. If he makes any further use of nuclear weapons, then we’ll use our weapons in response to destroy the military capabilities of the Rebels. I want him to get this message immediately.”
“Mr. President,” said Jamal Anderson, “I think we need to consider this some more. This sort of threat - though it is certainly justified by the crimes that the Rebels have committed - represents a major escalation that might have untold consequences.”
“Send the message,” said the President.
200th Infantry Division, Wellton, Arizona
“They came on in the same old way and we defeated them in the same old way,” commented General Jackson to himself as he and Colonel Dunford surveyed the wreckage left when the first Mexican column had been shattered by the fire of the 200th Division’s Third Brigade.
“Yes General,” commented Dunford, “but can we do it again?”
“Well,” said Jackson, “I suppose that’s the fun of the thing. Do you have the latest reports?”
“Our surveillance shows that they’ve managed to make solid progress to the east of us. They’re to the north of our positions and have cut off the I-8.”
“We couldn’t hold them there?”
“No, General. All that was left along the highway were some Arizona State Guard units and it seems that the Mexicans sent their armored brigade in for a right hook.”
The General paced, sweeping his hands behind his back and clasping them together as he moved over to view a bank of displays.
“They’ve moved to cut us off from the east, they’re attacking us from the south, and there isn’t anything to the north.”
“That’s about the extent of things,” confirmed Dunford.
> “And to the West?”
“The Loyalist forces withdrew to the West. And there are Loyalist reinforcements coming that way as well,” noted the Division G-2.
“In other words, they want us to stay in place,” said Jackson, “what about our reinforcements?”
“They’re moving from the north, but they’ve been slowed down significantly by Loyalist air attacks. They seem to have thrown a great deal of their surviving air power into the fight.”
“And supplies?” asked Jackson.
“Not great,” replied the G-4, “we’re low on ammo, fuel - pretty much everything.”
“And we are damned exposed out here,” affirmed the General, tapping the panel in front of him deliberately.
“Well,” said Colonel Dunford, “we have our fortifications.”
“Which will make excellent graves for us when we run out of ammunition,” shot back the G-4.
“HQ is working to resupply us by air,” replied Dunford.
“And when will that happen?” said the G-4.
“Alright,” General Jackson held up his hands, “let’s think this one through.”
The General walked directly up to the map and folded his arms, holding them close to his chest.
“We’ve got Mexicans to the south and to our east. We have Loyalists on their way from the west. There’s nothing for us in the north. We’re outnumbered and short of every type of supply. Is that a fair summary?”
The officers in the room all nodded.
“And we do have reinforcements coming from the north. We don’t know when - but they’re coming at some point.”
“So, what then? asked the General as he gazed at the map. The room around him remained silent.
“Yuma,” the General finally said to further silence.
“We move into Yuma,” he repeated, tapping the screen in front of him.
“The Loyalists,” he explained, “are coming down the highway from the West. The Mexicans are to our east and to the south. Yuma’s a reasonably-sized city, around 80,000 people as I recall. That gives us a lot of ground to dig in. More than we have here. We call in our resupply there as best as we can. We give the Merkavas priority for fuel so that they’re still mobile. We can repel attacks from the south and from the west and we can remain a threat to the supply lines of the forces to the east.”
“The only problem, General,” pointed out Colonel Dunford, “is that the Loyalists already had the same idea. They withdrew to Yuma when we displaced them from here.”
“Then,” General Jackson smiled savagely as he spoke, “we’ll take it from them.”
U.S. House of Representatives, Temporary Seat of the Government of the United States, Colorado Springs, CO
“Mr. Speaker,” announced the Sergeant at Arms, “the President of the United States!”
The members of the Congress rose to their feet in silence as the Acting President entered the temporary House Chamber. Here and there a few cheered half-heartedly, but no one was really sure whether the occasion was one that merited applause. The stone-faced President shook the offered hands of members as he made his way forward. As he ascended the rostrum, the Speaker of the House stood to speak.
“Members of the Congress,” said the Speaker, “I have the high privilege and the distinct honor of presenting to you the President of the United States.”
Rickover stood for a moment at the rostrum as a smattering of applause cascaded across the chamber before he began.
“Mr. Speaker, Mr. President Pro Tempore, members of the Senate and of the House of Representatives, and fellow citizens, I address you today in a moment of maximum danger for the American republic and, indeed, for the cause of liberty around the world. Today tremendous battles are raging around the world upon whose outcome rests the future of freedom. This is a contest between two visions for the future of the world - one that prizes individual achievement and which celebrates success and another that believes in a world of homogenized sameness and equality.”
“A long time ago, on another continent, armies marched into battle chanting: Liberté, égalité, fraternité. Liberty. Equality. Brotherhood. This was the dream of the French Revolutionaries and it is the aim of the global left today. Now, you may think that all of these things are, on an individual basis, good. However, the fundamental flaw in the thinking of our opponents is that they do not realize that liberty and equality are not complimentary goods. Equality - as they use the world - means the nullification of liberty for, since human beings themselves are not equal, equality can only be created by the efforts of an outside force. And, if you wish to use force to create equality of outcomes, then you must abridge the liberties of some. Furthermore, if equality can only be created by the debasement of liberty than you will never have brotherhood because those whose liberties are transgressed against in the name of equality will resent the transgressors: and vice-versa.”
“Now there are people in this world, some of whom are perhaps listening or watching tonight. They recognize the internal contradictions of their philosophy, even if they attempt to dissemble and deceive the public. They believe that equality is a higher good than liberty. They believe that it is right and good that they should abridge the fundamental rights of some of the people in the name of the greater good of all of the people.”
“That, my fellow Americans, is the central front in the conflict that we are facing today. It is between those who believe that individual liberties are a gift from the government and that, therefore, they may be abridged or modified whenever it suits the interests of that government and those who believe that the necessity of protecting our liberties if why we have a government.”
“Well, tonight, my fellow Americans I wish to quote another phrase from long ago: give me liberty, or give me death.”
“The illegitimate government that controls Washington, DC and much of our country is seemingly willing to fight to the end for the survival of its doctrines and its vision of America. So are we. They have even proven willing to enlist foreign powers in our own domestic affairs in an effort to gain the victory for themselves. It has long been the position of the legitimate government of the United States that any foreign power that chooses to involve itself in the affairs of our nation does so at its peril. We have - and will continue - to reserve the fight to respond to such hostile acts at a time and place of our own choosing.”
“Earlier today, the Egyptian government - in violation of solemn international commitments - attempted to block the passage of our Navy through the Suez Canal. In response to this violation of international law, which - due to the hostility of a number of European powers - threatened the existence of our fleet itself, I authorized the use of a number of nuclear weapons against Egyptian installations. After the deployment of these weapons - which I am thankful to report caused only minimal casualties in Egypt - the Canal was re-opened to our forces. We have no quarrel with the Egyptian people, in the absence of further acts of hostility by the Egyptians, are willing to deem the matter to be closed. However, it was not only Egypt that acted against our country today.”
“The government of the United Mexican States has long provided support to the illegitimate government in Washington. We have protested this through official channels, but we have received no response from the Mexican Government. Beyond this we have been, given the extent of our current commitments, in no position to respond to such acts of hostility by Mexico against the United States. Today, however, the hostile actions of the Mexican Government have increased exponentially. A portion of the Mexican Army has crossed the border and entered the State of Arizona, where it has engaged in combat with forces of the United States Army, the Arizona National Guard, and the Arizona State Guard. This act by Mexico, in my judgement, amounts to an invasion of the United States.”
“Now, there is a case to be made that we should - as we have in other cases - choose to ignore the nature of this act. After all, some will point out, other foreign forces have been deployed to Ameri
can soil during the course of this conflict and they may well continue to be in the future. Further, the commanders of our Armed Forces have assured me that this Mexican invasion, while inconvenient, can and will be repelled. We could very well do exactly that and leave the settling of accounts to some other day.”
“However, my fellow Americans, let me point out to you that this is the second time in a single day that a foreign power has been induced to commit hostile acts against the United States by the government in Washington and its allies. Twice. In one single day. The desperation of the illegitimate government is plainly growing and, unless they are checked, their behavior will continue to grow more wild and uncontrolled.”
“And what of the foreign nations that have acted against us? Tonight I repeat and amplify what I have said in the past: one day these troubles of ours will pass and then there will be a reckoning. And for some that will come sooner than others.”
“The government of Mexico has, quite deliberately, initiated hostilities with the United States. They cannot be allowed to stand. We will repel this invasion, but we must do more than that. A lesson must and shall be taught. Therefore I ask that the Congress declare that since yesterday’s unprovoked invasion, a state of war has existed between the United States and the United Mexican States.”
The Pentagon, Arlington, VA
As soon as he was able to return to the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Gerald Ransom retreated to a private room and pulled out a pre-paid cellular phone that he’d been given.
“Santiago’s Pizza,” said the voice on the other end of the line.
“I’d like to order an extra large all-meat,” replied the Secretary.
“Standby,” replied the voice on the other line in monotone.
“Hello,” said a further voice after a pause of nearly one minute.
“It’s time that we get a move on,” said the Secretary frantically and without preliminaries.
