Parting Gifts

by gerald hall

  “I don’t think so. The one thing that they have in common is their belief that the world is divided into two parts, Dar es Saalam or the Realm of the Faith that is governed under Sharia and Dar es Harb or the part of the world that is in rebellion against Allah. We believe that the two factions will continue to work together until this entire world is considered ‘Dar es Saalam’. Only then, will they hash out any internal differences until one side or the other is the only one left standing, Ma’am.”

  “It is unfortunate that we cannot find a way to get them to focus on their internal differences rather than upon us. If that happened, we could probably find a way to convince the winning faction that it would be a very bad idea to go after us, especially since such an internal conflict would buy us time to build up our strength and settle our own internal differences.” President Harper said, referring to the current political schism between our Eastern Alliance and the Western Republic.

  “The CIA has been looking into possible scenarios where the Brotherhood and the Caliphate could be induced to turn on each other. But Langley has not been very hopeful that this could happen before we fall ourselves.”

  “I see. What is the situation with our neighbors to the South currently?” the President inquired, not really expecting any better news from south of the border either.

  “The Mexicans also took a major hit when the nuclear autumn occurred. They weren’t as badly impacted by the temperature drops as we were. But when our economy crashed, it created a cascade effect that rippled through all of Latin America in addition to Europe and Asia. The economic chaos caused a massive disruption that led to riots, massive unemployment that dwarfed the numbers that Mexico had before the nuclear autumn. Like here, the cities in Mexico burned while tens of millions of people starved. Most of the surviving population returned to subsistence farming if they had not already been living that way.

  What little government that the various Latin American countries had prior to the nuclear autumn has now been completely suborned by the drug cartels. Unfortunately, the cartels have allied themselves with Muslim extremists like Hezbollah. The cartels have a history of supporting the ‘strong horse’ especially if it meant retaining the power and wealth that they had already accumulated. The cartels remained in spite of the collapse of the market here in North America for their drugs after the nuclear autumn.

  That marriage of convenience means that the Caliphate and their Arab allies already have a foothold along our southern border. The Texans will probably continue to be vigilant against any incursions along the border wall. Historically, Texans are also fairly well armed on an individual basis. But I am not so sure about the southern border along the Western Republic.”

  “I know. Those people are clueless about the threat that they are facing, unfortunately. Political correctness and singing Kumbaya will not save them from the Caliphate. Their West Coast naivety will also make our situation a lot more tenuous at the same time.”

  “Madam President, it would have also been nice if the Western Republic had not actively worked to destroy many of our defensive measures to protect America’s southern borders.”

  “I know.” President Harper bitterly replied.

  For a while, there had been a strong movement to build a prominent physical barrier along the southern border of the United States. This border wall was not only meant to prevent significant numbers of illegal immigrants from entering the country, but also to stop smuggling of all sorts of illegal contraband. This included illegal drugs and weapons.

  However, with the secession of the Western Republic from the United States, the leftist politicians there decided to fulfill certain political promises that were made but not kept because of pressure from conservative politicians elsewhere in the United States. One of the first acts of the Western Republic was to tear down the entire border wall along the Republic’s southern border with Mexico.

  Right away, more than a million people flooded north into the Western Republic, overwhelming social services and law enforcement. Within that mass of immigrants were well over a thousand mujahedeen operatives from the Caliphate. These enemy agents soon established themselves into positions where they could facilitate an even larger number of jihadists entering the Western Republic. Only this later wave of migrants would be armed. President Harper and her predecessor tried to no avail to warn the West Coast states. But the progressives in charge out there refused to listen.

  Do we have any good news to report concerning our own defenses, Gentlemen?” President Harper then asked.

  “Yes, Ma’am. We actually do. We are finally starting to get production of the Peregrine air-to-air missile going. It has successfully completed low-level production at the Raytheon facilities at Huntsville, Alabama. Additional production lines will be set up by Raytheon in Dallas, Texas as well.”

  “Please tell me more about this Peregrine, General Hernandez.” Allison asked the short, stocky Army lieutenant general who had quietly just been admitted to the Oval Office. Karl Hernandez was the newest Joint Chief of Staff for the Alliance military.

  “Ma’am. The Peregrine missile was designed by Raytheon as a private venture prior to the nuclear autumn. It is an advanced air-to-air missile equipped with a multi-mode seeker. It is also half the weight and size of an AIM-120 AMRAAM missile but with equivalent range. The Alliance Air Force revived the design hoping that the weapon would complement the AIM-260 long range AAM which is AMRAAM sized but with longer range.

  However, we would prefer to keep these new missiles along with the very long-range AIM-260 missiles in reserve for as long as possible. We want to use the less advanced AMRAAM’s and AIM-9X’s first if possible before revealing the true capabilities of the missiles. The Alliance Navy and Army have been testing ground-based versions of both missiles as well. The Navy feels that it would be an excellent supplement or replacement for the ESSM anti-missile missile, especially in the Mark 41 vertical-launch quad packs. Production of the missiles is going as quickly as possible, especially for the Peregrine.

  Part of our interest in reviving the Peregrine was because two of these missiles can be carried in our stealthy fighters in the same space as one AMRAAM. Of equal importance, in view of our much more constrained resources, is the fact that the Peregrine is much less expensive than the AMRAAM, perhaps as little as half the price, according to Raytheon.” General Hernandez explained.

  “Then we need to expedite the production of these weapons. We have no idea with the Caliphate and Arab Brotherhood are going to truly launch a full offensive against us. I would expect that they would try to overwhelm us with a mass attack. We need to be ready for that.

  But I am worried about one thing, Neil. Do any of the other Raytheon facilities have information on this weapon, especially those overseas or in the Western Republic? I would hate for our people to find themselves facing something this new missile.”

  “Ma’am, the people from Raytheon foresaw this possibility too. None of their overseas facilities had any technical information on the Peregrine. The Raytheon facilities in San Diego and Arizona did have some design and production information, but company officials purged the data from those facilities’ databases and destroyed any hard copy records in the wake of the secession of the Western Republic.

  The company’s leadership felt that with the Republic’s political stances on the military, which the technical information would either be left unused or would be sold to a foreign government without permission by Raytheon. So they took measures to prevent this from happening.”

  “I hope that Raytheon was thorough enough. This Peregrine missile sounds like a very potent weapon in the hands of any power that possesses it.” Allison noted.

  Chapter Eleven:

  The Green House, Government Headquarters

  Sacramento, California, Western Republic

  March 28, 2044

  The conquest of the Western Republic was far quicker than anyone in either the Eastern Alliance or the Republic i
tself dared imagine. Most of the Western Republic’s military was out in places like Nebraska, Montana and Arizona fighting against the Eastern Alliance instead of near the population centers of the West Coast.

  Just prior to the previous Presidential election, the politicians of the Western Republic had reelected Charles Austin as Chairman of the Progressive Party. Without any effective opposition from the few conservatives left in the Republic, Chairman Austin was a shoo-in to be elected President of the Republic. Conservative voices had been ruthlessly shouted down at virtually every public forum throughout the Republic. The freedom of speech that had been enshrined even in the new Western Republic’s Constitution seemed only to apply to leftist voices in the Republic now.

  In an act of ultimate political correctness, the Progressive Party named a Muslim named Ibrahim Barghari as Austin’s running mate. The rationale given at the time was that the Republic wanted to show the Pacific Caliphate that it was no threat so that a peace treaty could be signed between the Caliphate and the Republic. With the help of more than three million illegal immigrants that had been granted the ability to vote in the Republic’s President, the Progressives easily won in a landslide.

  The progressive politicians of the Republic were wrong on several counts concerting Vice-President Barghari, unfortunately. They had not realized that the new Vice-President was completely loyal to the Pacific Caliphate instead of to his oath to the people of the Western Republic and the Constitution that it nominally followed.

  After the election, the last of the border wall and the border patrol officers were eliminated completely as the Progressives had run on an Open Borders platform. As a result, thousands of people flowed north each day into the Western Republic with the government having absolutely no idea of who they were or what they were bringing in with them.

  The security services of the Western Republic had been completely hamstrung by the politicians that took over after its secession from the United States of America. As a result, the people charged with protecting the Republic were completely clueless about the landings of dozens of transport ships from the Pacific Caliphate all along the Pacific Coast from Nicaragua to Baja. So among the hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans that flooded into the Republic were also tens of thousands of mujahedeen from the Caliphate and the Arab Brotherhood.

  In spite of the strict gun control laws that had been implemented throughout the Western Republic that essentially disarmed all civilians, these newcomers from south of the border were very frequently armed. They had real assault rifles capable of fully automatic fire too, not semi-automatic firearms that progressive politicians had railed against for over sixty years. The Republic’s gun control laws were completely ignored by the many thousands of mujahedeen warriors that had clandestinely invaded the Republic.

  Finally, the Western Republic’s legislature had scheduled a meeting with President Austin and Vice-President Barghani. It was at this meeting that the climax of the invasion of the Western Republic occurred.

  “Ibrahim, we have to find some way to enter into negotiations with the Caliphate soon if we are going to avoid what happened in Australia. There was so much unnecessary bloodshed there. We just have to convince them that we can live in peace with them.” President Austin commented as he waited to walk out to speak to the legislature at the California State House building.”

  “I’m sure that the leaders of the Caliphate share your wish to avoid any unnecessary bloodshed as well, Mister President. Once you explain this to our legislators, we will be able to work something out.” The Vice-President said with a smile.

  “Well, it is time for me to go out and speak to the duly elected representatives of our people now.” President Austin said with a smile of his own, not realizing what had already been set in motion.

  The legislators all stood up and enthusiastically cheered President Austin as he walked up to the podium. After a few minutes of welcoming adoration, the legislators finally quietly sat down to listen to the President’s speech.

  Only about five minutes after the speech began, a loud disturbance could be heard just outside the entrance to the State House building. President Austin stopped to see what was happening.

  “What the hell is going on out there?” President Austin asked, irritated that his speech had been interrupted.

  All the while, Vice-President Barghani sat behind him quietly smiling at the events that were already unfolding.

  Suddenly, dozens of black-clothed men armed with automatic weapons burst through the doors and entered the State House. Most of the security guards for the State House were unarmed and unable to resist at all. The few guards that were armed were quickly overwhelmed when they found themselves facing the muzzles of numerous automatic weapons. A few shots were heard still as the armed intruders dispatched the guards that still resisted.

  “This is outrageous. No one but the military and the police are supposed to have any firearms in this state.” President Austin angrily complained.

  “You mean like this gun, Mister President?” The Vice-President sarcastically asked as he pulled out a concealed semi-automatic pistol and pointed it at President Austin.

  “What the hell are you doing, Ibrahim?”

  “I am ensuring that there will be a minimum of bloodshed as the Pacific Caliphate begins its new peaceful relationship with the Western Republic. Forces belonging to the Caliphate now have control of this building and all major government offices in the Republic. The Western Republic is officially a part of the Pacific Caliphate as of now. This will also mean that the Republic will immediately begin full compliance with sharia law.”

  “The hell, we will. You better stop all of this nonsense right now, Ibrahim.” An angry and terrified President Austin demanded.

  “I take it that you have decided to not support the new relationship that we have now with the Caliphate?” Ibrahim asked about two seconds before he leveled the pistol at President Austin’s forehead and pulled the trigger. The violent sound of a single gunshot echoed throughout the entire chamber.

  The entire room went silent as President Austin fell lifelessly to the floor. Several of the legislators that were sitting close to the podium found themselves covered in blood and grey matter that had splattered from the back of the late President’s head.

  “The Caliphate regrets to have to accept your resignation, President Austin.” Ibrahim calmly said as he holstered his pistol and walked to the podium to speak to the Republic’s legislature himself.

  “Men and women of the Western Republic legislature. Your world has changed as of today. The Western Republic is now part of the Pacific Caliphate. We wish to live in peace with all of you. However, resistance to our new governance will not be tolerated. Nor will we tolerate violation of the sharia law that we bring fully to your land.

  You will now all be allowed to return to your homes. Announcements will be made to your people via the usual media outlets and social media venues as to how the laws will change. When you all accept the laws of Allah, you will find that your world will become far more peaceful and orderly.

  Go in peace now, praise to Allah and his prophet Mohammed.” The new president of the Western Republic told the assembled legislators. Most of them stood silently, still in shock after witnessing the assassination of President Austin. But soon, they all found themselves being herded out of the California State House Building at gunpoint. None of the legislators dared openly object for fear of sharing the late President’s fate. Many of them murmured quietly as they witnessed the results of their decisions.

  “What the hell have we done?” Senator Colin Blackwood stood and asked amidst the shocked people still inside of the State House. Senator Blackwood had been a member of the Black Caucus at the time of the Secession. But he never dreamed that the Republic would literally be taken over by a coup d’etat. That was the sort of thing that happened in the banana republics and elsewhere far away from American shores.

  “I don’t know, Colin. It’
s not like we can do anything about it. Our entire damned National Guard is a thousand miles away fighting the Alliance for no good reason at all. That damned murderer Barghani has thousands of armed men backing him up here already.” Another one of the progressive state representatives, Alan Cockrill, replied.

  “Yes, Ibrahim Barghani is using those armed men to back up his claim to be the new President of the Western Republic. Just to think that we watched him shoot and murder President Austin right in front of our eyes and did nothing but watch.”

  ‘We are going to get the blame for what happened here for sure.” Colin admitted.

  “You know what, Colin. We deserve it too. But somehow, I don’t think that the voters here are not going to have much say in the matter anymore.” Alan replied just as he felt himself being prodded by the muzzle of a Kalashnikov assault rifle carried by one of the masked, black-clad Caliphate gunmen.

  A few minutes later, both of the state representatives found themselves outside of the halls of power for the first time in a very long time, literally and figuratively.

  “What are we going to do now, Colin?” The slender young progressive politician asked.

  “I’m afraid that we are going to have to do something that we are going to hate doing. We have to ask for help from those reactionaries in the Eastern Alliance.”

  “How are we going to do that? These bastards who have taken over our government have probably cut the phone and internet connections to the East by now.”

  “I don’t know. I’m sure that we can find someone with a short-wave radio or something like that though. Someone out there in the Eastern Alliance has to be listening.” The older man noted.

  “Maybe. But, what if these murderers are watching us to ensure that we don’t stir up trouble against them by organizing protests?”

  “Then we will just have to be very careful, won’t we?” Colin replied with a sly look towards several of the Caliphate gunmen.