Rigged

by James Rosone

  He turned first to his Chief of Staff. “Rich, get me the AG. I want him to issue an ultimatum to these renegade governors and the Speaker of the House—they are either going to comply with the written orders of the federal government, or I am going to declare their states in open insurrection against the federal government. They will be arrested and charged with sedition and treason.”

  The Senate majority leader stood up. “Mr. President, I know you are angry, but I urge you to use some restraint right now. Things are tense, I know, but we can work through this. We have to calm things down,” he implored.

  The President shook his head. “You’ve seen the intelligence; you know what took place. Our Supreme Court justices were assassinated to place us in this exact situation. No, we’ve placated them long enough. The law and the Constitution are on my side. These renegade governors and members of Congress will either adhere to my authority under the Constitution or they will be brought to heel. We cannot allow this open insurrection to take root and spread. We have to stomp it out now!” Sachs slapped his palm down on the desk for added emphasis.

  The Senate majority leader slumped back in his chair, looking deflated and defeated. He looked up at the others in the room. “In my heart and mind, I know you’re right—we have to stop this from spreading. I just fear we are igniting the first spark of a new civil war that will ravage this great nation.”

  *******

  Sacramento, California

  Governor’s Mansion

  Specially made breakfast pastries, gourmet coffees and other breakfast items were set out across the exquisitely set table in the formal dining room of the California governor’s mansion. The delicious spread was the centerpiece of a meeting of all the Democratic governors and some of the political heavyweights of the party. They were there to discuss the President-Elect’s one-hundred-day game plan for the country. Then they would confer their support for many of his cabinet picks and jockey for other, lesser political appointee positions that would need to be filled once he was sworn in.

  The laughter and banter were loud and joyous. Glasses of champagne were poured to go along with their breakfast. It was a time of celebration, of optimism and high spirits.

  Governor Gary Lawson was enjoying a conversation with President-Elect Marshall Tate, who was seated next to him. They talked about making California’s environmental laws and standards the law of the land for the rest of the country and how they would look to model the rest of the country around the progressive policies that had been remaking California into the green powerhouse it had become. They also gloated amongst themselves about the ultimatum the Speaker of the House was presenting to the President that morning.

  While the governors were collectively finishing their breakfast and jovial conversations, Jerome Powell silently walked up behind the President-Elect and whispered something in his ear. Marshall jerked his head around hard with a stern look on his face.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me. He can’t be serious,” Marshall retorted.

  Jerome solemnly nodded, then handed him a smartphone. “The Speaker of the House is on the line,” he said.

  Marshall got up from his chair and walked over to one of the windows overlooking the garden outside.

  He listened intently, saying very little. After a moment, he hung up the line and put the phone in his pocket, but he continued staring out the window.

  Governor Lawson approached him cautiously. “Is everything all right, Mr. President-Elect?” he asked.

  He turned to face Lawson. “It will be, but I need to make an announcement to everyone,” he said. He moved back to his seat, grabbed the sterling silver knife from his place setting and gently tapped it a few times on the rim of his champagne glass.

  Governor Lawson noticed that the President-Elect suddenly pulled back his shoulders, standing as tall as possible.

  I do the same thing when I want to convey a position of strength, Lawson thought.

  The room quieted down, and Marshall cleared his throat. “As you all know, this morning, the Speaker of the House went with the rest of the congressional leaders to meet with President Sachs to discuss the federal budget, the last major piece of legislation Sachs should have to sign or oversee before he leaves office.”

  Many of the governors nodded. No one had been happy when Congress had conveniently pushed through a continuing resolution to fund the government past the election rather than pass an actual budget.

  “Congressman Borq presented Sachs with two choices. One was for him to accept the results of the election and begin the process of stepping down and handing the reins of power over to me. If he accepted this course of action, then the House would pass a new budget that included every final pet project Sachs wanted funded, including his blasted border wall. If he refused, then they were going to move forward with passing articles of impeachment in the House over his overreach of executive power by instituting martial law. This, of course, would take place once the House returned from the Thanksgiving break, so the President would have a little more than a week to think about it.”

  Marshall held a hand up to forestall any questions. “We all know that measure would never pass in the Senate, but it would send a message to him and, more importantly, the American people and the rest of the world that his reckless decree of martial law and his unwillingness to leave office didn’t go unchallenged.”

  Some applause broke out among the governors and the others who’d been invited to this private get-together. Marshall raised his hands again, doing his best to calm them down.

  With a more serious look on his face, he added, “As you may suspect, the President did not agree to Speaker Borq’s terms. Furthermore, he told Speaker Borq to relay to us that if we don’t cooperate with the feds with this redo of the election on January fourth, he will hold our state governments in a state of open insurrection against the federal government. He also said he will issue warrants for our arrests if we interfere in this process or do anything to impede the federal government from doing its job.”

  Curse words and mumbling turned into a soft roar.

  Before Marshall could continue, the governor from Rhode Island interrupted. “Can he really do that? I mean, what does that mean if he declares my state in open insurrection against the federal government?”

  “It means he can order our arrests and dissolve our state government. He can assume de facto control of your state,” answered the governor of Nevada.

  A murmur rippled through the crowd.

  Slamming his hand down on the table so violently that it knocked a couple of glasses over, Governor Lawson shouted, “This is madness! He’s not an emperor or dictator. He can’t just threaten us with arrests for treason or demand that we adhere to his orders like this. Enough is enough—you have to do something!”

  Everyone looked at Marshall.

  “I think we need to seriously consider the possibility that we are going to have to forcefully remove Sachs from the White House. It’s clear he’s not going to accept the outcome of the election. With him declaring martial law, he can effectively turn the military loose on us, and there isn’t a thing we can do about it.”

  “Forget that! I’m going to activate my National Guard force,” shouted the governor of Oregon angrily. “I’m also going to order my state police and guard units to begin evicting all federal agents from my state.”

  Holding a hand up as he stood, Governor Lawson asserted, “If we’re going to do that, then I recommend we collectively try to organize this kind of effort, so it happens all at once. If we’re going to stand up to this tyrant, then we need to do so together, in unison, or we’re going to get isolated and arrested.”

  “I have another idea,” Marshall said, obviously trying to regain control of the situation. “I’d like to place a call to the UN Secretary-General. I’ve met with him on a couple of occasions, and over the years I’ve developed a bit of a friendship with him. Perhaps we can get the UN to issue some sort of declaration of
support to our cause, and maybe that’ll help get Sachs to back down. We don’t want to see this whole effort blow up in our face, so I think we all need to tread carefully.”

  The rest of the meeting went by in a far less celebratory mood. The governors discussed how they’d work to secure their states from a federal takeover, and what possible legal actions they could take with the courts that might aid them as well.

  *******

  New York, New York

  United Nations Headquarters

  The first major snowstorm of the season was pummeling the city, blanketing the downtown with a fresh layer of snow. The large fluffy cotton balls floated down in a torrent now that the sun had finally slipped below the horizon and the evening darkness had enveloped the city.

  Looking out the windows in his office, Secretary-General Johann Behr almost didn’t notice his smartphone vibrating on his desk. Snapping out of his trance, he reached over and grabbed the phone.

  “SG Behr speaking,” he said with an air of confidence.

  “Mr. Secretary, it’s good to hear your voice. I have a piece of urgent news I needed to share with you.” Behr recognized the voice of General Guy McKenzie. His colleague’s tone caused him to sit straighter in his chair—this must be important.

  “We have a meeting in two days—couldn’t it wait until then?” Behr asked.

  “No, it cannot,” McKenzie responded.

  Johann sighed. “Is it safe to say over the phone? You know how the Americans like to snoop on these sorts of things,” he asked, hoping that their encrypted phone was out of the reach of the NSA.

  A moment of silence ensued. “It’s as secured as we can make it,” the general finally said. “Maybe the NSA can crack it, but they won’t be able to do it right away. What I have to tell you is important and it can’t wait.”

  “Fine. What is it, McKenzie?”

  “You know we’re almost three weeks into our training exercise with our new UN force. At this juncture, all the military units that are supposed to be participating in the exercise have already arrived and have been running through their specific roles. However, a convoy of Chinese-flagged ships just arrived at the global container terminal just outside of Vancouver earlier this morning. While this is a routine affair for large cargo carrying shipping containers arriving from China, they usually don’t show up carrying hundreds of armored vehicles and tanks.”

  Johann raised an eyebrow at the comment but said nothing.

  “Six of the ships that arrived in the harbor are vehicle carrying transports. They were completely full of armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles and main battle tanks. In addition to the vehicle carriers, the shipping container ships are packed to the gills with munitions and supplies. Was there a new force arriving from China that’s going to join us, or did these guys just arrive a few weeks late to the party?” McKenzie asked. His tone indicated that he was not pleased with the situation.

  A slight smile crept across Johann’s face. He knew what the Chinese were doing, and he was glad they appeared to be holding up their end of the bargain thus far.

  “General, thank you for bringing this to my attention,” Behr responded. “I think I know what happened, and this is completely my fault. After the Chinese assigned a contingent of forces to your training exercise and our new UN standing army, they came back to me and said they would like to contribute a much larger force. In fact, they want to have a substantial force of theirs on a continual rotational basis. They feel this will help provide their forces with some real-world experience. President Chen also wants to use them to help improve China’s image abroad as a humanitarian force. He told me his intent is to have a contingent of his armed forces assigned to the UN standing army for periods of fourteen months. Two months for training, and then twelve full months for deployments wherever the UN decides to send them.”

  Johann heard some heavy breathing on the other end, and it didn’t sound pleasant. “Mr. Secretary, while I am appreciative of any member state wanting to contribute forces to this standing army, as the overall military commander of said force, I need to be kept informed of what units and nations are going to participate in it and for how long. I can’t properly train or develop a plan for how we are going to integrate this force if I don’t know what forces I have to work with.”

  Johann nodded, despite the fact that McKenzie wouldn’t see his response. “You’re right, General. That was my fault for not informing you sooner. This decision by the Chinese president was made eight days ago and I must admit, I’ve been incredibly preoccupied with the situation going on in America. As you know, that renegade president of theirs has declared martial law. He’s all but suspended their Congress while he moves forward with a new election in January—one he says will be ‘fair.’” Johann made air quotes around the word fair for himself.

  “Fine. It’s neither here nor there,” McKenzie retorted. “What I need to know is how many Chinese forces are being assigned to my control and what unit is in the harbor? I need to know where to place them in the training exercises we still have left to run through. For the moment, I haven’t authorized their disembarking because I didn’t know anything about it and my own government has raised all sorts of alarm bells on this sudden group of Chinese soldiers and equipment suddenly showing up. We’re lucky as heck the Americans haven’t caught wind of it yet, or they might cross over into our waters and prevent them from unloading their equipment.”

  The thought of the Americans moving in to stop that shipment caught Johann by surprise. He hadn’t considered that. His shoulders shook involuntarily for a second. “If I am not mistaken, the Chinese originally sent you parts of two mechanized infantry brigades and an aviation brigade. President Chen told me those units belonged to the 39th Army Group. He went on ahead and sent the rest of the army group and will assign them to the UN for a duration of their fourteen-month tour. Once that term is met, they’ll rotate another army group to the UN, so we’d have another fully functioning army group at all times.”

  McKenzie let out a whistle that did not transfer through the phone well. Johann held the receiver away from his ear for a second. “Do you realize how many soldiers they just sent us?”

  To be honest, Johann had no idea. He wasn’t a military man.

  “No, but I suppose you’re about to tell me.”

  “At the beginning of this exercise, the Chinese had contributed 3,500 soldiers. Basically, it was elements of two different combat brigades, as you said earlier. They were going to compose a large part of the UN’s actual combat fighting power. This new lot of equipment and soldiers, however, is going to swell that number to 45,000 soldiers. Obviously, that many troops aren’t on the cargo ships, so do you know when or how they are going to arrive?”

  “I’m not sure,” Behr admitted. “I think the soldiers were supposed to be flown in via commercial flights.”

  McKenzie sighed again. “I don’t suppose the Chinese told you when they’re supposed to arrive? This is another major thing that’ll need to be coordinated with the Canadian government.”

  “I’m sorry, General. I appear to have really dropped the ball on this with you and making sure the Canadian government was kept in the loop on this,” Behr apologized. “I’ll find out and get back to you before the end of the day. My gut says they’re probably going to arrange to fly into one of the Canadian Air Force bases so as to not make a scene at the airports. In the meantime, can you work with the port on getting their equipment offloaded and sent to wherever you want them to send it for your exercise?”

  “Yes, I’ll work on getting that taken care of,” McKenzie said, still obviously peeved. “One other thing, sir. When we meet in a couple of days, we really need to talk about appointing an actual United Nations Minister of Defense. As much as I hate adding a layer of bureaucracy to anything, this is the type of coordination that really should be handled by someone with the expertise to do it and not be thrust blindly upon you. It’s putting you in a bad posi
tion, and it’s leaving me uninformed of what’s going on at a time when you and I both need to be focused on our own individual tasks that lie ahead.”

  Johann smiled at the suggestion. He hadn’t even thought about that, but it made a ton of sense. He wrote a quick note to himself to start work on that right away.

  A short pause took place before the general added, “What’s going on with the Americans to the south of us? I’m reading a lot of unusual activity taking place down there with their government.”

  Smiling at the chaos happening, Johann replied, “Nothing we hadn’t accounted for, General. All appears to be moving according to plan. Just make sure you get those additional Chinese forces integrated with your force and ready for a peacekeeping mission should one be necessary. Also, before I go, I was told the Germans, French, and Russian governments were going to send additional fighter aircraft over to participate in your second training exercise. They said they were excited to be able to truly have some practical experience going up against some frontline Russian and Chinese aircraft, and the Russians and Chinese appear just as eager to go up against NATO planes.”

  The two of them talked for a bit more before they ended their call. They had a face-to-face meeting scheduled in a couple of days, where they’d hash out some more details of how well the new UN force was working together and what changes needed to be made to make things run more efficiently.

  *******

  Two Days Later

  Johann stood up from behind his desk as he walked around to greet his newly arrived guest. With a broad smile, he said, “Welcome, Mr. President-Elect. It is good to see you again. It’s been too long, my old friend.”

  The two of them shook hands and smiled as a photographer snapped a few photos of their official handshake. Once the formalities were done and the functionaries had left, the two of them moved over to a pair of comfortable couches in front of a large window that overlooked the city. The view revealed that a fresh layer of snow had fallen over the last couple of days, covering the city and the harbor in a beautiful, shimmering white blanket.