by Ira Tabankin
“Hello Admiral, what’s so important you couldn’t put it into a memo?”
The Director smiles while thinking, like all the other memos you never read? “Mr. President, we have intercepted and decoded information between different groups who were located at the various rivers which happened to turn red, and the Confederation’s HQ outside Nashville.”
“Wait a minute, are you telling me Tolson was behind turning our rivers red, p our people?”
“Yes, sir, that’s what the intercepted data shows.”
“Admiral, thank you very much!”
After the Admiral leaves the Oval Office, the President lifts the direct line to the Secretary of Defense.
“I have proof the South was behind turning our rivers red, I want an attack planned to pay him back ASAP. I want the attack planned to damage his economy like he damaged ours.”
“Mr. President, his military is now larger and more powerful than ours.”
“Just find a way to strike him. I want the attack planned to coincide with the attack on his Battleship.”
“Yes, sir.”
Hanging up, the Secretary of Defense shakes his head thinking, how in the world am I going to strike the South when most of our forces are now his? They’ll see us before we cross the border, I’m not sure we can strike him without losing all of the irreplaceable assets we use in the attack. I’ll see if we can launch a cyber-attack against his banks.
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Jay is sitting at the desk in his hotel room reviewing the second part of his Bible attack plan, smiling he signs the bottom of the order. He scans the page, sending it to General Arthur. Smiling, he thinks, if this crazy plan works, they may realize what we’re doing. I’m sure their priests will see the pattern and realize what we’re doing. I don’t understand the formulas in the Georgia Tech report, their modeling says it will work, I hope it does. I wish I could see the look on his face if this works.
Minutes later General Arthur prints out Jay’s signed attack order, smiling he thinks, if this works it’s going to come as a hell of a surprise to the people in D.C. I guess we’ll know in four days when the planes and crews are ready to go. The crews had to modify the plane’s engines to reach the correct sound level and pitch that the engineering report said is required to accomplish the task. Lifting a cup of coffee, he pours a small shot of brandy into his coffee, “here goes to what I hope is a hell of a surprise for the politicians in the North.” He sends the order to the 333rd Fighter Wing based at the Seymour Johnson AFB in North Carolina. “I really hope this works; Jay may be crazy as a fox.” He presses the button on his desk which connects him to his aide,
“Send the alert order to Admiral Jefferson, give him the time of the planned attack.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Sir, we’ve received reports from our agents at the Nevada Test Range, the North’s Air Force is mating the Mother of All Bombs to a C17.”
“Thank you, send that report to the Admiral. I don’t think they would try using it to strike us, they must be trying to sink the Missouri, the Admiral needs to know ASAP.”
“Yes, sir.”
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“Admiral we have warning notices from General Arthur. One says plan Jericho is a go for four days from now and the second says the North’s Air Force is mating the MOABs to a C17 at the Nevada Test Range.”
“Thank you, there’s only one target they would be thinking of attacking with such a weapon; us. Call a Captain’s meeting in one hour.”
“Aye, sir.”
An hour later, Admiral Jefferson stands in front of the captains of all of the ships in his Task Force, the Captain of the Washington and her escorts are connected through a secure data connection.
“Thank you for dropping everything to attend this meeting, I’ve received some interesting information from General Arthur. We have information from the Nevada Test Range saying our friends in the North are test mating the MOABs to a C17, I believe we’re their target. The bomb is too large to fit inside a B52’s bomb bay. We’re their only logical target. We haven’t received any information that says they know the Washington’s battle group is going to merge with us. I want to discuss how to protect this Task Force from their air attack.”
Captain Rogers, Captain of the USS Virginia says,
“Admiral, if I were one of their war planners, I’d hit us with a submarine attack while we’re focused on the sub-surface battle, I’d hit us by air. I’d hope to catch us by surprise. Overwhelm us with as many fish as they can launch at us. They’ll know we won’t be able to maneuver a lot while we’re in air defense mode. The advantage we have with them using the MOABs is it’s not a long range weapon, they’ll have to be very close in order to drop on us. A C17 is a large easy to hit target, thank God the B2 stealth bombers came over to our side.”
“Captain, a very good point, what do you propose?”
“Admiral, I propose we take the fight to them, we place our subs in a circle around the main body, we use P8s to provide additional coverage, we declare a one-hundred-mile exclusion zone around the Task Force. The only weapon they have which exceeds one hundred miles is their Tomahawks, most of which weren’t configured for anti-surface attack. Any sub, surface or air contact we locate be intercepted, if they won’t turn around, we attack them before they get into range to attack us. They’ll know where we are so there’s no need for us to remain in ECOM once the two fleets merge, I suggest we keep the Aegis radars searching the airspace around us. They can see out to 250 miles, they shouldn’t be able to sneak up on us.”
“I like it. I’ll announce the exclusion zone tomorrow so everyone has sufficient notice to move, we’ll put it into place in three days at midnight.”
The captains nod their agreement to the new plan.
“I’ll send the plan to the President.”
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Jay’s reviewing potential Q & As when there’s a knock on his door,
“Sir, we have an urgent message from Base one.”
“Let me see it.”
He reads the reports from General Arthur and Admiral Jefferson, leaning back in his chair Lacy looks at him,
“I know that look, what’s wrong?”
“The North is planning on striking our Task Force off the East Coast.”
“Is it something we can block?”
“I hope so; the Admiral’s staff has come up with a good plan. I’m going to approve it and see if we can coordinate our plan, Jericho, to strike them when they begin their attack on us.”
“I like that, you are a nasty SOB.”
“You ought to know, you married me.”
Jay electronically signs the attack plan informing the General and Admiral he wants to move up the timetable on their attack plan. General Arthur smiles sending the order to the Commanding Officer at Seymour Johnson to be ready to launch the attack at a moment’s notice.
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Major Tom Swift reviews the attack plan on Washington D.C. hoping it will work as well against a real target as it did in their practice runs. He informs the pilots who will accompany him and his escorts they have to be ready to implement the attack order on a moment’s notice. The escorts are armed with AMRAM AIM 120D and AIM 9X air to air missiles, each plane is loaded with their maximum number of missiles. He reminds the escorts to stay above the F4s by at least 10,000 feet and never fly behind or below the F4s. The real attack planes are modified F4 Phantom fighter-bombers. Major Swift thinks to himself, F4s haven’t been used in an attack since Dessert Storm, I hope the nerds got everything right, or this is going to be a very short attack mission. Looking at the squadron of F4s, he smiles at the group of Georgia Tech people swarming over each plane. We won’t be carrying any normal weapons, this had better work.
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Jay’s phone rings while he’s explaining his plans to Lacy.
“It’s Fred, I better take it.”
“Fred, what’s up?”
“Jay, the nerds say plan Jericho is going t
o require seven circles in seven separate passes to work. If you’re going to wait until the North launches their attack against our ships, wouldn’t it be better to just fly the seventh mission?”
“The nerds at Georgia Tech said it’s important all six prefights happen on schedule in order to weaken the foundations.”
“Are you sure it’s going to work? Wouldn’t it be easier to just bomb the crap out of them?”
“I think our plan is better, we’re trying to put the fear of God in the people, not just kill them.”
“Okay, you’re the boss.”
“How’s Tony doing?”
“Fine, just fine.”
Jay laughs, “Keep an eye on him. The contracts for the new shelter and tunnel will be a juicy target for him to try to skim.”
“Will do, I won’t let him issue the contracts to his friends.”
“Unless they have the equipment and people to help us.”
“Good luck in your first meeting.”
“Thank you. Based on breakfast, I’m going to need all the help I can get.”
“You’ll knock the ball out of the park. I have faith in you.”
Jay opens his Bible reading,
“Joshua led the children of Israel back to the Jordan River to cross into the Promised Land after wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. The first obstacle was the city of Jericho. This large walled city was formidable, but through the work of spies, they learned that the people of Jericho were scared of Israel (Joshua 1-2).
Joshua received his marching orders from an appearance of the “Captain of the Lord’s Host.” This may have been an appearance of God personally to bring the message to Joshua. The message was that the Hebrew military would march around the city once a day for six days. On the seventh day, they would march around seven times (Joshua 5:13-6:5).
Following God’s plan the children of Israel defeated the city of Jericho. After they marched around the city according to their instructions, the walls fell down flat. Israel entered the city and took the city as their first victory in the new territory God had promised to them several hundred years before (Joshua 6:6-27).
I pray the nerds are right, if so, we’re going to scare the crap out of everyone in D.C. If not, this is going to be a cluster f-ck. Look at that damn device they’re mounting on the engine exhausts and under each F4’s wings,
Chapter 19
Jay’s security detail hands Jay and Lacy an armored vest to wear, Lacy looks at it shaking her head.
“No way, I can’t move my left arm to put this on, it must weigh twenty pounds, it doesn’t match what I’m wearing and most of all, we’re not going to show our people we’re afraid of them. We’re going to hold a peaceful town hall meeting with the people who voted to secede. We’re going to stand in front of them and tell them our plans and answer their questions. They’re entitled to their leaders being accountable to them.”
“Ms. First Lady, how about wearing it just until we reach the convention center?”
“Nope, we’re riding in an armored vehicle, surrounded by your people and Special Forces, if we need these vests then we’re saying we don’t trust you, who have been asked to protect us. Jay, do you agree with me?”
“Yes, I do. Captain, I have trust in your people to protect us.”
“Sir, there are thousands of people demonstrating outside the convention center. We’re worried they are armed and may take a shot at you and the First Lady.”
“I assume you have snipers positioned above the crowd searching for anyone with a weapon.”
“We do, but, you know they’re never perfect.”
“I’ll tell you what I’ll agree to do, we’ll agree to wear a soft armor vest under our jackets.”
“Sir, they won’t stop a rifle bullet.”
“Aren’t the police wearing soft vests?”
“Yes, sir, of course, they are.”
“Then why should we wear something better than they are when they’re charged with protecting the citizens of the city?”
“Sir, you’re the President and First Lady.”
“Our final offer is we’ll wear the soft vests.”
“Better than nothing, here are two of them.”
“You had them ready, you knew our answer before you asked.”
“Sir, we were told by General Arthur and Colonel Black you would most likely refuse the hard vests.”
“So you prepared, Captain, you’re doing a great job.”
“Sir, tell me that after the meeting and we’ve gotten you home safe and sound.”
“We’re ready to go.”
The halls and lobby of the Peabody have been cleared so there’s no potential risk to Jay and Lacy as they’re moved to the underground parking garage and into an armored vehicle for the short 1.7 miles trip to the Cook Convention Center. They pull into the parking garage which has been closed to eliminate any threats of car bombs.
The town hall meeting has been booked into the main exhibition floor which has 125,000 square feet, Jay thought they’d use no more than 10,000 square feet when they arrive at the exhibition floor, he’s surprised to learn the entire space is filled with thirty-five thousand people. The room has been set up with tables, each seating eight people, Jay decided to offer a free dinner so the people didn’t have to wait for hours on empty stomachs.
“My God! Did we have enough meals for everyone?”
“No sir, we ordered out, we bought out the capacity from every restaurant and the Sheraton Hotel in a ten block radius and there are lines of people trying to get inside the convention center. We’re putting the overflow on the second floor with large monitors and mics.”
“Captain, thank you. I never saw a crowd this large outside of a sporting event.”
“Sir, the line to get in runs three times around the building.”
Jay looks at his watch while a makeup artist tries to put pancake powder on his face,
“No thank you, their entitled to see the real me, warts, bad skin and all.”
“Sir, you’ll be on television, it shows every little defect, this will smooth out your skin.”
“I want them to see I’m real. I want the people to see I’m different than the normal politicians.”
“Sir, would you like to test your teleprompter?”
“I’m not planning on using one.”
“Sir?”
“You heard me. I’m not going to use one. I’m going to speak to the people from my heart.”
“Yes, sir,” whispering under his breath, the makeup artist says, “It’s your funeral.”
“Lacy, we’re on in three minutes, are you ready?”
“Yes, are you?”
“Yup, how bad can it be? They can’t eat us.”
“Are you sure, I thought the people this morning might. They didn’t look happy.”
“They weren’t, I told them the way life is going to be, I’ll tell these people the same thing. This is the first time since the secession the people have a chance to find out our plans and ask what’s on their minds.”
“Are you going to cut it off after an hour or two?”
“I plan to let it go as long as they want to continue to ask questions, and I have the strength to stand at the podium.”
“Okay, remember the poem, ‘into the shadow of death rode the six hundred,’ or in our case the crazy two. You know looking at the crowd, I think we made a mistake agreeing to lead this mess.”
“Lacy, everything is going to be alright. Trust me.”
“I trust you, I love you, let’s go.”
The Governor of Tennessee walks onto the stage to open the meeting, he tells the audience which has filled two floors of the convention center,
“Ladies and gentlemen, I’m not going to give you a long normal speech…”
The audience applauds and cheers.
“I’m going to jump right into tonight’s main program, the first Confederate town hall meeting held by our first President and First Lady. Ladies and
gentlemen, I present to you Jay and Lacy Tolson, fellow Tennesseans.
The applause shakes the building, as Jay and Lacy walk onto the stage waving at everyone. The audience is surprised when Jay and Lacy walk to the podium wearing casual clothes and not the traditional dark suits of a politician. When the people see Lacy’s cast and bandaged head many gasp and cover their mouths in surprise. Jay picks up a microphone opening the meeting,
“Ladies and gentlemen, it’s a pleasure to be here in Memphis and our first town hall meeting, the first we hope, of many.”
