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  The young man chuckled. “You got turned down too, huh? You remember that our illustrious governor used to be a partner in that company.”

  Patricia’s eyes widened. “No, I didn’t. You don’t think…”

  The young man took a deep breath. “It may get nasty.”

  Patricia’s face broke into a smile. “He’s been the most useless governor on record. If we find out he did this for personal gain, he’ll be the one doing the sweating. As a matter of fact, once all the documents are in, let’s give the media a statement. If there’s something dirty, they’ll find it,” she said.

  The White House

  The President placed a new set of shoulder boards on Hammond’s shoulders. They had four stars on them. The small ceremony was in the State Dining Room of the White house and nearly the whole staff was there. Each remembered Hammond from his tour as Navy Liaison and he had made many friends. When he finished, the President said, “Congratulations, Admiral Hammond.”

  Applause broke out across the large room as people were genuinely happy for the man who had been just a captain a few years before. The President held up his hands to quiet the staff.

  “Roger, I am sorry Patricia couldn’t be here to do this, but when I mentioned it to my secretary, Barbara insisted we do something here. Then my Chief of Staff threatened to resign if we didn’t, so I caved in,” said the President as laughter erupted in the room. As the laughter died away he continued. “I don’t know how many of you saw his performance on C-SPAN, but I must say that the feedback I got was the most positive I have heard from the Senate in a long time. But now he has a real job to do. His first task has been completed and implemented. Now he has a Secretary of Defense on his side. So Roger, please don’t run for office before I leave.”

  The laughter started again and many applauded. Then Hammond spoke. “Mr. President, I appreciate all this, I really do. It would have been nice if Patricia were here, but as many of you have seen on television, she has taken on the Governor of California and the insurance industry. Just a while back, I warned her not to do to the Governor what she did to one of her guards in Venezuela,” he said. The laughter returned for a moment. “But she has promised to take a short break and come see us as soon as she can. My son will be coming along and I want you all to see him. So don’t be surprised if he wants to come explore the place,” he said. “Again, I appreciate you doing this for me, and I am very happy to be with my friends once more.”

  There was applause again and the President led the way to a table filled with all sorts of interesting snacks. After the congratulations petered out he pulled Hammond aside. “Why don’t you and Perry join me for a minute,” he said under his breath.

  A few minutes later and the three men were in the Oval Office. “Roger, you have caused quite a stir in the Pentagon. There are a bunch of guys a little upset that you have stirred the pot, but those are the ones who slow things down. Right now, we have moved four brigades of tanks and all their equipment to France. I have told them not to show themselves much until the time comes. I am sending some planes as well. But what interests me is this stuff you sent over to your research and development center. I got a summary of it. How would you use it?” he asked.

  Hammond shrugged his shoulders. “If it’s up to me, I would put it on every plane, ship and large vehicle. If you recall, I mentioned using technology to our advantage. That was why that’s in there. If this works like I expect, we can fly anything over Russia without them being able to see us or track us. We can send a fleet across the ocean undetected by air or sea, and if they do launch missiles, those missiles won’t be able to track in on them.

  “But the second thing I would go with is something Claire Richardson told me about. They have gotten with a contractor who makes these small drones. At first, they were used for just recon work, but the contractor said they had initially designed them to carry a weapon. Just think what the Russians might do of a few thousand of these things descended on them at night, killing their tank crews before they could mount an attack. I’d build thousands of the things to not only carry a gun, but maybe even grenades or small land mines that could be dropped just in front of advancing tanks. Things like these could make the difference for us,” he said enthusiastically.

  “I agree,” said Perry Johnson, the CNO. “And so do the rest of the joint chiefs. Just to let you know, within a month, we may have about ten thousand of the things. The first shipment will go over when the troops are trained. There’s actually a lot of things happening that I can fill you in on later,” he said.

  “What I’d like to know is, if this was your baby, how would you stop the Russians?” asked the President, sitting back on the couch.

  Hammond paused a second. His eyes focused for a moment, studying the man before he began. “You remember Shock and Awe, back in Iraq?” he asked.

  Both men nodded. “Well, as far as I remember, the United States has not gone all out on any conflict. No one really knows what we can do. In Korea, we did what we could, but it was never everything. Now, our technology is back, our weapons arsenal is full. I would show them that pissing off the United States is the worse idea a country could have,” he said.

  They talked for an hour, before the President broke it up. The President walked Hammond to the front door and saw them off, then returned to the Oval Office. General Black was there waiting.

  “Did you hear?” the President asked.

  “I did.”

  “And?”

  Black grinned an evil grin. “He’s the one.”

  Fort Belvoir, Virginia

  Master Sergeant Dale Ricks looked across the classroom at the young faces of this latest group of selectees. He was only in his twenties, but these guys looked like they should be in middle school. What made it worse was that they all looked up at him as if he were some sort of god. Everyone knew about Master Sergeant Ricks.

  Now he was taking on the latest scheme the Army had come up with. These young men and women had just completed a day of playing a video game. Only people who had achieved a certain level had been brought back in today. Now it was time to bring them in on the secret.

  “Okay, listen up. You people think you had fun yesterday? Play a few games? Well, I’m afraid it was more than that. Each of you now is in a new part of the service. I say this one more time. If you want to leave, leave now.”

  No one moved. Some even smiled and glanced at their friends in anticipation.

  Ricks smiled. “Okay, you asked for it. I wonder if this looks a little familiar?” he asked as he walked over to a cloth covered lump in the middle of the lecture table at the front of the hall. Grasping the cloth, he gave it a yank, revealing a black military drone. It had four propellers mounted horizontally on each corner. There was an antenna, some wiring, a camera under the rig and what looked like a sideways turned pistol beneath it. “Oh shit!” exclaimed one of the people in the room. “It looks like the game!” shouted another. People started talking back and forth to each other before Ricks regained control.

  “Okay, knock it off. This is an M-32 weaponized drone. It has a range of around five miles out and back and can send back images of what we’re up against, but more importantly, this little thing down here will allow each operator to target and fire this weapon to disable or kill your target. It is operated with this gadget right here. Notice how it looks exactly like your controllers from yesterday, except for this red button right here. That’s what pulls the trigger. The weapon holds seven rounds. The idea is that you go in, select a target and pull the trigger, then repeat it until your magazine is empty. Our job is to hit the enemy before they can get organized or start after us. The more we kill with this thing, the fewer of our guys will get shot at,” Ricks said.

  “Tomorrow, we will begin training with these things. I need you up and ready with this within just a week or so. Faster if possible. Your setup is this,” he said pulling the cover off a large display on an easel. It showed a seat with two video monito
rs. “The top monitor displays where you and the rest of your people are. It also will show generally where you need to go. The second monitor has the image from your drone. Using these, we hope to send you out ahead of our lines to disrupt the enemy and keep them off balance. That will allow ground troops to come in. You will be operating at night mostly, so the camera is set for low light levels or infra-red. Once you have done your job, it’s just like the game. Hit the return to base feature and it will come home to Mama on its own. Once home, it will hover until you take over again and land it. Remember, it’s only good for around five miles out and five miles back, plus some loiter time. So get in and get out as quick as you can. Once the unit is back, it will be rapidly recharged; taking about fifteen minutes. Then you will be taking it back out again. Your job is to kill as many people as you can, just like the game. Any questions?”

  Looking around the room, Ricks could tell that this was something some of them had not thought about. A game was one thing, killing a person was another. Ricks eased himself back and perched on the table. “Look people, I know what a lot of you are thinking. I thought the same way when I first came in the Army. They threw a rifle in my hand and it just about knocked me over,” he said. There were some spotty snickers through the room. “But then I found myself getting shot at. I hadn’t done much of anything and all of a sudden people were trying to kill me. The man I was on watch with ended up dead. He was a nice guy. It took my sergeant to shove me into reality. He once told me that we don’t start wars, but often find out we’re in one. When that happens, our job is to make them wish they hadn’t. That means we have to kill more of them, than they kill of us. It also means we have to make a personal decision that this thing we do isn’t what we might consider normal. It’s forced upon us. So we have to step back and not take things personally. As for me, I don’t like to kill anybody. The people we may go up against are just like you and me. They didn’t start this war either, but they’re stuck too. So we do our jobs. We don’t take pleasure in it. But we get the job done. And we hope that someday we won’t ever have to go to war again. The best thing may be to look at what we are doing just like that video game. They are just images on a screen. Whatever it takes, you will have to deal with it because that’s what we are in the Army for. As my sergeant said, those people on the other side would not hesitate to take a bayonet and stick it through your heart, so we do what we do so that maybe, some of our guys will get to go home when it’s over. That’s my take on it. If you want to talk to me about it, send in your chit. But remember, if I can do these things, you can. Now take a few minutes to take a look at this stuff. When I get back, you will be assigned training platoons. Then the real work begins. Carry on,” he said as he turned and left the room. Outside the door was his commanding officer.

  “How did they take the idea?” asked Colonel Smalls.

  Ricks grunted. “It dawned on them that we are supposed to kill people with these things. There may be ten or so out of the sixty that may have lingering problems. I could see it in some of their faces. But the rest will be okay,” he said.

  “Better be. I just got word these will ship over to Germany in two weeks,” the colonel said.

  “Damn,” said Ricks. “That’s an awful short time to get these guys ready.”

  “I know, but you’ve seen the papers. I’m starting to think it’s actually worse than even the media expects. I heard they want over five thousand people like these over there. If that’s the case, somebody’s going to get hurt. I just hope it’s not us,” the colonel said.

  “If they do send people over, do you think it includes us?”

  “Not right now. We just train them and send them out. Train them hard, Ricks. Even if we don’t go, we made a difference,” said Smalls.

  “Yes, sir,” Ricks said as he turned back and reentered the classroom.

  Vednoye, Russia

  Maria Slovatin gave her son a big hug. He stood there resplendent in his Russian Navy uniform. Many mentioned that he hadn’t worn it long enough to take the creases out of it. Over the past year all of the young men in the village had been called into service. Maria’s son Misha was the last. They stood on the bus platform along with several other families to bid Misha farewell. No one spoke much. Misha was only seventeen, but the government had sent a letter telling him to report for training just six months before. Now that training was complete and this was his last trip home for at least a year. The visit had been bittersweet. Misha was enthusiastic about serving, but he really didn’t want to leave home. His mother seemed to always be crying or wiping her eyes.

  Handing his canvas bag to the driver to be put away, Misha gave his mother another kiss, shook his father’s hand and climbed aboard. As the bus pulled away, the small crowd waved and he waved back.

  Misha was number fifty one from the small community southeast of Moscow. Now there was no young man in the village older than 16 or younger than 25. Only the oldest members of the community remembered when, during the Great Patriotic War, all the young men had gone. It was a good thing the harvests were in. There would not be enough to bring in the crops during harvest time. Everyone hoped the young men would return in a few months. Otherwise, the elderly and children would be forced back into the fields.

  Without fanfare, the crowd began drifting back to their homes. There was already snow on the ground. Soon it would be too cold to do much of anything but try to stay warm.

  Voronovo, Russia

  The military headquarters was filled with many photos and paintings of former Russian military heroes. They included Vasily Chuikov, commander and hero in the Battle of Stalingrad, Andrei Grechko, World War II Soviet Marshal and Soviet Defence Minister under Brezhnev, Mikhail Kutuzov, hero of the Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792), who defeated Napoleon's Grande Armée during French invasion of Russia in 1812, Maria Bochkareva, founder of the Women's Battalion of Death during World War I, Aleksandr Menshikov, associate of Peter the Great, Roza Shanina, World War II Soviet sniper with 54 confirmed kills, Vice Admiral Cornelius Cruys, the first commander of the Russian Baltic Fleet, Admiral Ivan Yumashev, who reclaimed Southern Sakhalin and Kuril Islands for the USSR during the Soviet–Japanese War in 1945, Alexander Novikov, Chief Marshal of Aviation during World War II, Nikolay Sutyagin, the top Korean War Soviet fighter ace, Yuri Gagarin, the first human to travel into space, along with dozens of others whose exploits dated back. Few westerners understood the rich history of the Russian military or the pride Russians felt about their accomplishments. Every day the officers would go to and from their offices and were reminded of the leadership which brought the Russian Military to where it was today.

  With such leadership on their minds, a group of senior leaders gathered in a large ornate room with one gigantic table in its center. On it, were the maps of Europe. Each map was embellished with symbols of where current strongholds were and where Russian troops were expected to move. The meeting had already been going for over an hour, yet the arguments were still strong and vocal.

  “They cannot have that many tanks, I tell you! I don’t care what our intelligence says. We have seen thousands in the photographs. Has anyone reported an increase in production? Has anyone seen the units drilling? It cannot be real!” a general shouted. Several others in the room were nodding in agreement.

  General Gregorye Pusko sighed and tried to reassure the man. “General, I share your concerns, however we cannot take the risk that these numbers are accurate. We know the Americans are sending over more tanks and the Germans are pulling in tanks they had taken out of service. If the Austrians and a few of the other countries are doing the same, we might see higher numbers like these, but I believe we are seeing some of the same tanks over a period of several days. Moving from one place to another would be confusing for us, but I believe we can see through these things. Nevertheless, it does not alter the plan. If you notice, the tank buildups are in Austria, Germany and along the Czech border. It would appear that the European powers are leaving Po
land to fend for themselves. The Poles are deploying to protect Warsaw and this northern area. That leaves the rest of the country ripe for the picking. Notice the fine roadways from Lviv across the southern part of the country straight through to Germany and on to Amsterdam. Once we are at the Channel, we turn south through France and Spain. This will leave Denmark and Italy isolated. They will be easy to take once we have the rest. England we will simply blockade and starve to death with our submarine forces,” he said following the plan explicitly.

  “Humph,” expressed another general. “Hitler tried it in the Great Patriotic war. Little good it did him.”

  “Yes, but he didn’t have the resources we have. If we go by the plan, the United States will not be able to resupply the English. By placing our submarines close around the islands, nothing can get through,” said Pusko. “Is this not so, Admiral?”

  Admiral Ivan Koseko was the top ranking submarine officer in the Navy. Everyone had heard of his heroic exploits in the past. They turned to him. “It is true, comrades. I can keep a small fleet of our submarines along the coasts here,” he said pointing along the map. “With rotations every week or so, our submarines can prevent anything from entering their waters. More importantly, I can mine their harbors so that their own ships cannot leave port. By the time our planes have begun using the French and Belgium airfields, nothing will be able to get in. Remember, our subs and aircraft have far longer ranges than anything from that far back. Our technology can make this all work,” he assured the men there.

  “And the plan calls for us to do the same elsewhere. But it is imperative that we stick to the time schedule. The start is at the end of next month, so we have already begun moving our assets. It is time to cast away our doubts. We have gone over this many times. It cannot fail unless we make it so. What I need to know is if everyone is ready,” he said straightening up and looking around the room.