by Adam Yoshida
When the crowd began to cheer this time, they weren’t forcing it at all.
Along the Manitoba-Ontario Border
The units of the Federation of North American States that had been sitting along the border between Ontario and Manitoba, which some wag had named the “Inner Canadian Border”, had consisted mostly of troops that had formerly belonged to what was left of the Canadian Forces in the aftermath of the conclusion of the Canadian Civil War. These troops had been largely poorly-led and were badly-disciplined. Given this, General William Thomas Jackson had taken a particular joy in beginning his part of the United States’ great offensive by unleashing an extraordinary artillery barrage against the two brigades that were stationed along the border.
Some officers, both within the ranks and within the higher echelons of the Army, had objected to the firing plan submitted by the General. Ordinary procedure would have called for commencing artillery preparation only when the primary body of the force was actually ready to commence its attack. Jackson had instead authorized a plan where fully eight batteries of towed M777 Howitzers, supported by two batteries of M270 Multiple Rocket Launch Systems would open fire upon the Federation’s positions even before the first of the armored and infantry units that were now being deployed for combat actually reached their own jumping-off points. This, in theory, would leave the artillery units extraordinarily vulnerable to a ground-based counter-attack. Jackson argued that this was a wholly theoretical concern, since he was certain that the Federation Army would not dare to mount a land-based counter-attack in such a short window of time and that, in any case, such an attack could and would be turned back by the application of massed helicopter support should it come to pass.
Most of the air power that the United States possessed was still being reserved for the central offensives in Illinois and Virginia. The small portion of the available air support that had been allocated to the northern front was being reserved for deep interdiction missions designed to facilitate the general advance. However, thanks to Chinese support, standard 155mm artillery ammunition was now extraordinarily plentiful and General Jackson was more than prepared to make a very liberal use of it.
The Federation’s units along the ICB were mostly strung-out in little pockets. They consisted primarily of small outposts designed to guard the massive border that existed between the two new nations against smuggling and insurgent activity, as opposed to repelling a conventional invasion. During the weeks leading up to the commencement of the final American assault, small teams of American and Western Republic special forces had carefully mapped out their exact locations and coordinates. Now that information was being put to a very good use.
155mm shells began to slam into the Federation formations in impossibly-rapid succession at just before 4AM. The shells burst over the fragile Federation outposts one after another, showering the soldiers below with shrapnel. Even though the forces throughout the region had been reinforced in anticipation of offensive action by the Americans and the Westerners, they were simply wholly unprepared to deal with the use of force on such a scale as this. The better soldiers among the bunch hunkered down in the best shelters that they could find and prayed that they would not suffer the effects of a direct impact. In more than a few cases, however, the morale of units broke under the pressure of the shelling and the men simply fled. This proved to be a fatal mistake, as the US Army’s planners had anticipated exactly this development and marked out killing fields that would allow their artillery to strike out at anyone exposed and out in the open. Drones and observers in the field allowed the artillerymen to expertly adjust their fire. Anyone out in the open was cut to pieces by the accurate American fire. Fields and hills across the border between Manitoba and Ontario were quickly covered with the almost-unrecognizable remains of shattered men and women who had lacked the good sense to simply stay put.
The complete manoeuvre element of the FNAS army along the border consisted of just two armored battalions that were held well behind the front lines towards Kenora, which had also been the scene of fighting during the Canadian Civil War itself. The AH-64D Apache helicopters that had been assigned to XII Corps swept forward, covered by the handful of older F-16s that had been allocated for primary air support, and began to engage the enemy forces with Hellfire missiles. The panicked tankers collided in the night as they tried to move out of their encampments. In order to complicate matters further, a single squadron of F-16s swept low over the bases along the frontier and dropped CBU-100 cluster bombs.
XII Corps Headquarters, Near Winnipeg, United Western Republic
Colonel Dunford hurried into XII Corps Headquarters and handed his tablet to General Jackson.
“They don’t seem to have been prepared for the violence of the assault at all,” he reported, “we caught most of them asleep. Our artillery and air strikes caught them by surprise. Our estimates of the casualties are massive. They’ve suffered losses of up to a third in some units.”
The General took the tablet from the Colonel’s hands and flicked through the figures himself.
“They is very fine,” he said, “order the Second Armored Division to accelerate its timetable for the capture of Thunder Bay. I want them in Thunder Bay by tomorrow.”
“That’s more than six hundred kilometres in a day, General,” said Dunford.
“I can read a map, Colonel,” replied the General sharply, running his hands through his hair.
“They’ll have to refuel in enemy territory, perhaps more than once,” said the Colonel.
General Jackson walked over to a map spread out on a table.
“I’ve got it worked out already,” he said.
“1st Squadron, 102nd Cavalry and 2nd Battalion, 113th Infantry from the 42nd Division will, together with a Tank Company from 3rd Brigade, 200th Infantry Division, form Task Force Reup. They’re two Stryker units combined with a Merkava unit. We’ll send them to this open space 50 clicks to the east of Dryden along the Trans-Canada Highway. They’re going to do the run at full speed and we’ll use the aviation assets to support them if we need to. That amounts to a light brigade of troops. We’ll blow past anything that tries to stop us and out logistics people will set up a fuelling station there. Two hours later, the Second Division will come roaring in at maximum speed, refuel, and then they’ll take Thunder Bay at a run.”
“Ok,” said Dunford with a nod, “we can do that.”
“Colonel Benson,” said Jackson, “I want you to put out a statement on my behalf. Demand that the Federation Government declare Toronto to be an open city, say that we don’t want to fight for the city, want to spare lives, etc.”
“I guess we’re finally going to go all the way to Toronto, eh boss?” asked Colonel Dunford, recalling that the advance of the Western Army was stopped well short of that city during the last war, the mere threat of an assault upon it being enough to start the upheaval that had destroyed the last Canadian government.
“We are going to keep our options open, Colonel,” said Jackson, “I want you to organize a second Task Force that will follow our Thunder Bay operation and jump ahead to Nipigon, where the highway junction is. I want them to take the city and to be prepared to support a further advance from there in any direction.”
The Kremlin, Moscow, Russian Federation
Admiral of the Fleet Boris Stepashin wished that he’d taken a drink before arriving at the Kremlin. When the President of Russia summons the commander of the Navy hours after word arrives that a substantial portion of the fleet has been lost in a major sea battle, the welcome could hardly be expected to be warm.
“The President will see you now,” said the dead-eyed aide who was guarding the door. Silently, the Admiral got up and walked in. As he walked he said a silent prayer that he wasn’t living in Stalin’s Russia. He would only be disgraced, not killed. At least, that was what he hoped for.
The President was sitting down at his desk, with the commanders of the Russian Army, Air Force, and Strategic Roc
ket Forces already sitting in the room.
“Admiral,” said the President, not bothering to look up from the paper he was reading, “please have a seat.”
The military commanders looked at one another nervously as the President continued to write something. All of them had been peremptorily summoned less than an hour earlier. The Minister of Defense also sat nervously in the corner of the room as through he also had no idea what exactly was going on.
The President coughed, set down his pen, and then looked up.
“Well, gentlemen,” began the President, “obviously we have had some very shocking news today. The clash with the American fleet was unexpectedly violent. We have lost many fine men today.”
“And yet,” asked the President rhetorically, “has this not also been a glorious day? After all, our gallant Navy did something that everyone else said was impossible: they have disabled and possibly even destroyed one of the vaunted American Carriers. Yes, we have lost ships, but ships are not built to remain safe in a port.”
Admiral Stepashin relaxed slightly as the other military commanders continued to look at one another in confusion.
“Not to say, of course,” continued the President, “that there must not be a greater price paid by the Americans for what they have done and the lives that they have taken. That goes without saying. But, that being said, there are more immediate opportunities ahead of us.”
“Gentlemen, when we reached our understanding with the Europeans, it was that we would participate in their intervention in the American civil war and that, in exchange, they would give us more flexibility in our dealings with those territories that were once properly a part of our sphere of influence. This understanding was, of course, quite vague. We are going to make it less so.”
The President stopped for a second and then looked straight ahead before continuing.
“It is my understanding that there have been regrettable - most regrettable - anti-Russian disturbances in the Baltic States during recent weeks.”
The Generals and Admiral looked at one another for a moment. There had been a bomb attack on a Russian-language school in Riga two weeks ago and a gunman in Vilnius had gone on an anti-Russian rampage that had killed seventeen people some four days either. They knew that the President would be very well-versed about all of this.
“There certainly have, Mr. President,” said Admiral Stepashin after a long pause.
“Yes,” said the President, “it is most regrettable indeed. I am afraid that Russia will be forced, with the utmost reluctance, to utilize the Motherland’s armed forces to ensure that no future anti-Russian pogroms occur.”
The President returned to the papers in front of him and resumed writing. After a moment he looked up.
“That will be all, gentlemen,” he said.
Élysée Palace, Paris, France
“This isn’t what we agreed to at all!” raged the German Chancellor over the speakerphone.
“No, it is not,” agreed the French President, “and yet here we are.”
“I wasn’t a party to whatever discussions did take place,” said the American High Commissioner contemplatively, “since those took place before I was invited into these particular councils, so you would have a better understanding as to what does and does not accord with your previous understandings. But it simply seems to me that the Russians do not understand that we live in the twenty-first century and that these sorts of things just aren’t done.”
“Ah, yes, High Commissioner,” replied the French President, “perhaps if we had had your particular charm and powers of persuasion on our side at some earlier juncture, you might have won yourself another Nobel Prize.”
Just hours earlier the first Russian tanks had poured across the borders of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. The invasions had come as a complete surprise to the world’s intelligence agencies, which were focused almost-entirely either upon the unfolding drama in the Americas or the spiralling chaos in Asia where an aggressive China was flexing its muscles.
“Might I remind you that these nations are members of both NATO and the DU as well,” said the President of the Democratic Union.
“Yes, yes,” said Prime Minister Blunt, the urgency evident in his tone, “this is all terrible. But we have more important problems to contend with today…”
Crosstalk disrupted the call as objections rang forth from all sides.
“Fucking English sons-of-whores!” screamed the Belgian representative, managing to make himself heard over the majority of the noise. The call began to quiet down.
“All I am saying,” said Prime Minister Blunt, making himself heard, “is that all of us are in grave danger, both personal and political, if the American effort is allowed to result in the complete triumph of the United States. If President Rickover is allowed to win re-election and to conquer all of North America, do you think that it will really come to an end there? He will be coming for us. It may be British military personnel - or former British military personnel, I should say - who are spreading sedition on TV today, but tomorrow it will be all of Europe. Already that dreadful Senator from Texas gave a speech about the need to “liberate” Europe. Where do you think that it will end?”
“I understand your point, Prime Minister,” said the French President, leaning in, “but what would you have us do at this point in time? We have already thrown in the fleet and we have all sustained severe losses. Our losses will grow only greater still as we bring more force to bear. And we will have less force now that we have come to a parting of the ways with the Russians.”
“Perhaps we should not rebuke Russia too harshly,” said the British Prime Minister.
More shouts and angry yelling filled the phone line as heads of state and government screamed and howled like children.
“We need to hear this out!” cried the German Chancellor, the bear-line resonance of his voice being enough to bring temporary order.
“The American right-wingers were willing to do a deal with the Chinese to assure their own survival. Their offensive is being powered by Chinese-made war materiel. Their army only escaped the Middle East due to the intervention of the Chinese. This - the Democratic Union - is now the only surviving progressive force on the continent and we must do whatever we can to preserve it. That is our duty,” said the Prime Minister.
“You mean to preserve your government,” shot back the Dutch Prime Minister.
“To preserve all of Europe - and progressive forces everywhere in the world,” insisted the Prime Minister, “after all, if my party is to go from power - I care not a bit about power for myself, but for my cause - who do you think would take my place? I can tell you who would win elections held today and you would not want to be dealing with them.”
“Suppose we accept that,” said the German Chancellor warily, “how do we win?”
“I think that the question, if properly formulated, is how we should survive,” said Prime Minister Blunt.
“Fine, fine, let us answer that,” said the Bundeskanzler.
“Why, we surrender,” said the Prime Minister smugly as the line exploded with noise once again.
Temporary Seat of the Government of the United States, Colorado Springs, Colorado
“The message was delivered half an hour ago by the Australian Ambassador here in Colorado Springs,” explained Secretary of State Jon Simpson.
Acting President Rickover began to flip through the pages on the tablet in front of him.
“Have you read the whole thing?” asked the Acting President.
“Not yet. Not personally,” said the Secretary, “but the Ambassador summarized its contents. In essence, they offer us a conditional surrender of all hostile military forces in North America in exchange for our agreement to hold plebiscites in any and all territory that they currently control under international supervision.”
“Plebiscites determining whether or not those areas will secede from the United States,” said Rickover.
“Well,�
�� said Secretary Simpson, “their position is that they will be votes on what polity those areas wish to be aligned with, since they consider them to already be independent. I believe the preferred form - it’s somewhere in here - is a three-option vote.”
“Meaning that some areas would surely secede,” said the Acting President.
“Yes, Mr. President,” said Ira Skelton, leafing through a stack of papers in front of him, “the latest data that we have - what we’ve been able to obtain, at any rate given the challenges of conducting opinion polls in hostile territory - is that the majority of the territory would secede.”
“They wouldn’t be making this offer,” said Secretary Preston, “if they weren’t militarily spent. If they could fight us and win they wouldn’t even consider this. Some of those areas that they control will join us. Including, I should note, the State of Illinois. At least if the polls that Ira has there are to be believed.”
“But they could draw the fighting out for a long time,” said General Monroe, “beyond the election, certainly. Not that I’m supposed to consider such things, but it is the elephant in the room, so to speak. They might even be able to hold out for the better part of a year. That’s just a military reality.”
The Acting President sank deeply into his chair, exhausted.
“Has the offer been released to the public?” he asked.
“No,” said the Secretary of State, “but it certainly will be. Or it’ll leak. It’s going to get out, anyways.”
“Are we ready on the other fronts?” he asked.
“The Illinois front is ready immediately. We can attack on the Virginia front as well, but General Mackenzie’s troops are still unloading and preparing to move to engage,” reported General Monroe.
“Mr. President,” said the Chief of Staff, “I had to put it in such a crass fashion: but if you reject this offer out-of-hand and launch the rest of our offensive, then you will lose the election. We will have thousands of dead Americans in a very short period of time. We will have cities in ruins and images of burning buildings, vehicles, and people all over the news. It’ll just be impossible.”
