Susan Russell was an attractive woman in her mid-forties, wearing a neat business outfit of matching skirt, jacket, and shoes of the kind that had been de rigeur in corporate America under the old régime. Everyone in the cabinet room knew her story, since she had been discussed extensively prior to her appointment. The new NBA director was what had come to be politely termed a “specialist,” as well as several less polite slang terms emanating from more irredentist Volunteers. A specialist was someone with technical or managerial qualifications whom the Republic needed to perform a specific function, but who had not served in the NVA or been involved in any kind of dissident activity during or before the War of Independence. Specialists were coming more and more to the fore in the administration of the new country, its economy, its technology, and in society as a whole. Sometimes they had been employed by the United States or a state government, and they had rendered at least lip service to the Union during the war. In a few cases such people had even been active Unionists in one form or another, who for whatever reason had stayed behind, and whose records at least did not include any outright murder, torture, or informing.
Susan Russell was presently the highest-ranking official of the new government who had no NVA track record. She had been offered the post because of her pre-war experience in running a major chain of Christian television and radio stations throughout the Northwest, her connections with the better conservative elements in the old Republican party whom the Political Bureau wanted to try and reconcile to independence under a new flag, and because of her work in the old days with a number of campaigns against obscenity and sleaze in television and entertainment. Susan was an evangelical Christian who had spent a night in sincere and anguished prayer before taking a position that necessitated an oath of allegiance to the Northwest Republic, committing herself to work alongside people she had once considered to be criminals and murderers. She did so because she wanted to continue with her life’s work of saving young minds from being corrupted by the nauseating filth that had spewed forth from America’s airwaves and internet servers for almost three generations.
Her appointment had been greeted with sullen suspicion by some former Jerry Rebs, who viewed all evangelicals as Jew-worshippers. Her confirmation hearing in front of Parliament’s newly established Communications Commission had been turbulent. She had been attacked as well from the pulpit and excommunicated from her own church for accepting a position in the NAR government by the American-based headquarters of her denomination, although the Northwest synod of the same denomination, men and women who knew Susan personally, had in turn told their brethren in Christ down in Houston to go sit on a nail, with appropriate scriptural references. She was catching flak and criticism from all sides, but she bore up with a dignity and unruffled calm that impressed Morehouse. “Thank you, Mr. Vice President, but you don’t need to address me as comrade,” Russell told him. “We all know what I was doing during the Trouble. I haven’t earned that title.”
“We have every confidence that you will, ma’am,” replied Morehouse.
“By the way, we call it the War of Independence around here,” growled Fiona Bonnar.
“Whatever it was, it’s over now,” said Morehouse decisively. “It ended a year ago today, in fact. Speaking of which, we all have places to be this afternoon for various ceremonies and dedications, hence the meeting at this ungodly hour. The Old Man says no statues or monuments for at least ten years after Longview, and none of him at all until he’s safely dead and he can no longer fuck up, as he puts it. He says the best monument we can build to those who died is the Republic itself. That’s all very well and good, and I think we understand the point he’s making, but we were able to get approval for a few historical markers to be put up, before everyone forgets who did what, and where. These things need to be taken care of while memories are still fresh. At least with these plaque dedications the white race will finally be able to honor our martyrs, and there is no more appropriate day to do so than today. Let me make sure I have everybody’s details straight. General Morgan, you will be unveiling the plaque at the head of the I-205 Bridge in Portland, at the point where you led your men across onto the Oregon shore on November the first of last year, correct?”
“Three o’clock this afternoon,” confirmed Morgan. “Carter Wingfield will be conducting a similar ceremony on the Portland side of the I-5 bridge.”
“Comrade Ridgeway and Comrade Bresler will be representing the government at those ceremonies, since they are both Portland veterans,” said Morehouse. “Comrade Bonnar will be unveiling the plaque at the site of the battle in Ravenhill, Washington, where her sister and our gallant comrades of the Olympic Flying Column died, along with SS Captain William Vitale and NDF Captain Lars Frierson. They’re the closest thing to survivors of the Column available. They were in the scout car ahead of the main body, and so they were able to escape the ambush.”
“I’ve never been to the site before,” said Fiona quietly. “I haven’t been able to bring myself to go. This will be my first time.”
“Our hearts go with you, comrade,” said Morehouse compassionately.
“And our prayers,” added Susan Russell quietly.
Morehouse returned to his list. “The State President will be making a speech at the site of the Singer home, which has been turned into a small garden memorial after the Americans paved it over for a parking lot, and he will also be unveiling a marker at the old Seventh Street post office in Coeur d’Alene, where our people made their last stand against the Marines during the Sixteen Days. Tonight he addresses the first incoming class at the Northwest Military Academy in Sandpoint. I myself will be speaking at the site of Robert Mathews’ death on Whidbey Island. The Americans built a Taco Bell there, but that has also been cleared away. Art, you’re doing Sandpoint as well tonight, but this afternoon you will be dedicating a plaque out at the new Ruby Ridge National Monument and speaking to whoever cares to drive all the way out there, right?”
“The Guards are expecting at least a few thousand people to be there,” said Flowers.
“Were we able to get Sarah Weaver to attend?” asked Morehouse. “I know she’s in poor health.”
“Afraid not,” said Flowers. “The FBI got wind of it and they’ve arrested Sarah and her whole family. Their official line is it’s simply a preventive detention to prevent Sarah from embarrassing Chelsea right when her impeachment trial over the Northwest is running into the home stretch. I talked to Frank, and he said let it go, so long as they release the hostages after today. We can’t go to war over every little insult these bastards throw at us. If Sarah or her family are hurt in any way, then that’s another story. Then we turn it over to Charlie Randall to deal with.”
“Comrade Stanhope and Comrade Stepanov will be commemorating the Treaty signing at the Lewis and Clark Hotel in Longview,” Morehouse went on, referring to his notes. “Which is ironic, in that during the negotiations themselves, they were on opposite sides of the table.”
“Returning to the scene of the crime,” said Stanhope, smiling. “In American eyes, anyway.”
“Doctor Jennings is in Seattle, while Doctor Hassling and Comrade DeMarco will be joining General Zack Hatfield and his surviving Third Battalion veterans at Sunset Beach,” Morehouse went on. “Comrade Salvatore will be in Spokane and Comrade Brennan will be in Boise. General Barrow is in Helena today, where he will dedicate the marker at the old American courthouse there, before we turn it into a Party headquarters.”
“Was Frank able to locate any of Jack Smith’s old crew?” asked Morgan. “If memory serves, there were what, five or six of the Regulators who made it out of that mess alive?”
“Eight, all told. Yes, he told me he found two of the column’s survivors, a married couple named Stockdale, and they’re going to say a few words at the dedication,” Morehouse confirmed.
“Another quick question,” said Morgan. “While we’re out gallivanting all over the Republic, who’s gonna be stayin’ here
and minding the store?”
“Our illustrious Minister of Agriculture,” said Morehouse, as Farmer Brown raised his bullet-scarred hand with a grin.
“Please don’t start any wars while you’re in charge, Donnie,” requested Stanhope gravely.
“You mean I can’t invade Luxembourg?” asked Brown in disappointment.
Morehouse chuckled. “Before we all head out, I just want a quick rundown from all of you updating us on what’s happened since last week. I’ll kick off on the security front. Regarding the question you asked last week, Art, BOSS is currently holding about twelve thousand open files throughout the entire Republic, which all things considered, out of a population of almost fourteen million people is pretty damned good. Almost all of it is petty bullshit, drunken bar talk, possible suspicious associations during the war, but nothing provable. Just people that gut instinct tells the trenchcoat boys we need to keep an eye on. Of those open files, only twenty show any sign of possibly being genuine espionage cases. The Americans don’t seem to have gotten their act together yet as far as setting up a humintel network in the Republic, which is good. Or else they have, and we simply haven’t caught any spies yet, which is bad. We’re not sure which. Frankly, BOSS has to become the most professional and efficient agency at what they do in the government; our very racial existence depends on it. Patrick, how’s the assimilation situation?”
“The current population of the Northwest Republic seems to be around fourteen million, as you mentioned just now, Red,” said Brennan from Race and Resettlement. “The first census is scheduled to begin in June, but since it’s strictly voluntary, I don’t know how accurate it will be. In other words, we have roughly what the population of our present territory was ten years ago, but there has been a significant demographic, social, and economic realignment. We’ve factored out the large number of non-whites who fled from the Northwest during the War of Independence, mostly from the large urban areas along the I-5 corridor, and also the Runaways from the past year since the Longview treaty. Looking at the white figures under the last American census only, we figure about half of the Republic’s present population was here ten years ago, and all the rest are incomers from the United States, Canada, and all over the remaining white and Western world. This is a good thing; it means that over half the population of the Republic has committed an affirmative act of loyalty simply by coming here, at greater and greater risk to themselves over the past year, as the United States and Canada have more effectively sealed off the border with the McCurtain. The fact that the Americans and Canadians are so worried that their own remaining economically and socially productive white populations will flee to the Republic tells us something.”
“Where are most of the newcomers from?” asked Dr. Hassling.
“Mostly from the U.S. and Canada, including the future Aztlan as part of the U.S., which technically it still is,” replied Brennan. “After that, the next largest group is from the U.K., which isn’t surprising. Britain is slated to become the first European country that goes majority non-white, and anybody with two brain cells to rub together is getting the hell out, to anywhere they can. Then comes Germany, and after that South Africa. Then Russia, which is a bit of a surprise. Finally comes a hodge-podge from all over Europe. We’re sure there would be a lot more from Australia than there have been, but the Aussie government has passed a full asset confiscation law affecting anyone who can be shown to have a family member who is residing here. They wiped out every one of Charlie Randall’s relations they could find and literally kicked some of them out onto the street as an example.”
“How’s the housing sitch shaping up?” asked Morehouse.
“Good,” said Brennan. “The Runaways have left behind more than enough abandoned housing, so we’re not running short yet, but we’re working with Commerce and Industry to plan a building program which should begin next year. When our inheritance runs out, as Comrade Ridgeway puts it, we won’t be caught short. New white immigrants are arriving in the Republic at the rate of around 50,000 per month, most of them without American or Canadian exit visas, despite the increasing danger of running the McCurtain, and we project those numbers will increase. We still have two very large cities we need to fill up, of course, Seattle and Portland, but we are encouraging our newcomers to take a good look at Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and the eastern part of the country as a whole. We don’t want to end up like we were under the U.S., with a densely populated coast hogging all the goods and services, contrasted with a virtually empty interior. That’s bad in the long run, economically, socially, and militarily.”
“The rotating seats of government should take care of some of that,” said Morehouse. “As you know, our new Parliament begins its first formal session since the election here in this building on November the first, and a lot of the government departments will be concentrated here in Olympia because they’ll need stability to function, but Parliamentary sessions will be rotated on an annual basis between here, Salem, and Boise, using the old state legislative buildings in each former state capitol. We will be relocating the ministries of Food and Agriculture to Spokane, Energy up to Seattle, Education out to Missoula, Commerce and Industry to Portland, and Race and Resettlement itself to Boise. There will be other decentralization projects as well in the years to come. That way we spread the employment and administration, and hopefully slow the growth of the kind of massive bureaucracy and the Beltway mentality that characterized the United States. Not to mention the military advantage of not having one single capitol city for the enemy to knock out. John, how’s the border situation?”
“We’re still losing two or three men in border incidents every week,” reported Morgan. “The NDF and the Guards don’t like it, as I think I’ve made clear in past meetings of this Council, but the consensus seems to be that it’s acceptable when faced with the alternative of a full-blown war with the United States in our first year of existence as a Republic. If it’s any consolation, we’re giving better than we get, and the Americans are losing more men, not that they give a damn. The worst part is the casualties among the white refugees. It’s hard to get an exact estimation of how many people are being killed trying to escape into the Republic, because they’ve clamped down on their media big time, and almost none of the incidents are even publicly reported any more. Unless an incident is actually witnessed and reported by someone on our side of the line, we have no way of knowing about it. My guess is maybe as many as a hundred people per week are being intercepted before they get to the border. They’re arrested and sent to the secret prisons the Americans have established, or else they’re killed trying to cross the McCurtain by mines, booby-traps and electrified fences, or else simply gunned down. The ADL and SPLC mercenaries are the worst offenders since they get paid by the head, literally.”
“General Randall is arranging a major strike in the next couple of weeks that will take out a large part of the upper echelons of the ADL and SPLC both,” Morehouse informed the cabinet. “Hopefully the survivors will get the message, but our real problem from now on is going to be this new Office of Northwest Recovery thingummy that Chelsea Clinton set up as a kind of political bribe to stave off impeachment.”
“Is she going to be impeached?” asked Fiona Bonnar.
“Looks like she’s going to have her mommy and daddy’s luck with that,” put in Stanhope. “I still have some people back in the District who will talk to me, and they think she’ll clear the trial vote next week by two senators. The régime knows that a major assault on Israel by at least eight Muslim nations is coming, and the Jewish lobby has decided they don’t want to change horses in midstream, so they’re backing Chelsea with every hold they’ve got on the Senate, bribery or blackmail or threats, no holds barred. They will expect her to be appropriately grateful when the shit hits the fan over Tel Aviv.”
“I doubt she’ll win over the senators from Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Montana and Wyoming,” commented Interior minister James Salvatore with a chu
ckle.
“No,” said Stanhope, shaking his head. “Part of the deal as well is that she signs off on a Senate resolution giving lifetime seats to all the remaining senators and congressmen from our states from the last election under the U.S., so that’s one solid anti-Northwest bloc that will be in Congress until they croak.”
“Gary, how’s your home town doing?” asked Morehouse. “You’ll be down there later today. Did we make the deadline?”
“We did,” replied Bresler with satisfaction. “The second thing we will be celebrating in Portland today is the completion of the reconstruction program. Except for certain shelled-out or burned-out buildings that we decided to leave as historical markers and reminders, the city is now one hundred percent restored and functional. Not so much as a single cartridge casing lying on the street any more. The president promised the people of Portland that we’d get the city rebuilt within one year of the last shot being fired, and we made it with thirteen days to spare.” There was a round of appreciative applause from the other cabinet members. “You should thank Ray,” said Bresler, nodding to his fiscal colleague. “I still don’t understand how he came up with the money.”
“I had Charlie and the boys knocking over liquor stores back in the States,” said Ridgeway with a wry smile. “On my end, the currency changeover is on schedule, and folks in the Republic will be spending their last legal U.S. dollars on New Year’s Eve. We’ve officially pegged the credit at par with the dollar on international exchanges, in case anyone is paying attention, and the official rate here in the Republic will remain at one-for-one in the month of January, after which we’ll let it float and see how it does. The euro, the pound sterling, the Canadian dollar, the ruble and so on will reflect their U.S. dollar value at first. The best thing someone in our position can do on the monetary side of an economy is simply let everything find its own level. Economies are living organisms, and sometimes I swear I think they have a brain of some kind. I think the Northwest credit may drop a bit as soon as we de-regulate, but in view of the fact that we’re headed for a highly productive economy with full employment, one that actually makes things, it shouldn’t be too long before one credit is worth five or ten dollars or more. We’ve been able to put almost a hundred million credits into circulation so far in the form of gold, silver, and platinum specie, and about five hundred million in banknotes. That’s actually not much for a country our size, but I want to control the injection of capital into the economy and match it with genuine need and demand. Can’t just start printing money like we’re Zimbabwe niggers.”
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