| From: | shadowtk@*********.com (Paul J. Adam) |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Turning Up The Heat |
| Date: | Tue Jan 16 19:12:00 2001 |
>>>>>[Good quick work on Waller. I hope whoever you used didn't enjoy
themselves as much as the police report suggested.
Unfortunately, Murphy intervened. So did some foreigner we don't have
time to deal with just now.
Run a check on someone called 'Faerie'. Female, magically active,
probably New Zealander. I want known associates, past record, hangouts,
contacts... when the ritual's done we'll have time and power to hunt her
down at leisure.
+++++begin video
Ernang's office, and Ernang has three suits facing him. Two male, one
female. The atmosphere has a sickly air of forced politeness, dishonesty
polluting the air like meat rotting in a desk drawer.
"General, you must understand that this is _very_ alarming to the State
Department." one of the men explains. "The New Zealand government is
asking us if we want your men's bodies repatriated, and by the way what
were they doing on an armed incursion into their country without an
invitation? It's extremely embarrasing to us."
"Unfortunately, Richard, I'm not fully appraised of the situation."
Ernang candidly admits. "My S-2, Colonel Lynch, commanded the mission at
his own request, and it seems he's exceeded the parameters he described
to me. I'm sure he had excellent reasons, but until he's available to
debrief-"
"Was Colonel Lynch one of the casualties?" the other man says. This one
is older, somehow... harder, with silver hair cropped short and a Force
Recon earring.
"Not to my knowledge-"
"Has he reported in?"
"Not yet." Ernang shakes his head.
"Then he's dead or in deep shit and whatever's out there is _bad_ juju.
Richard, we need to consider reinforcing, I think the _Khe Sanh_ group
is closest, and we need to alert the Kiwis that-"
"Bill, I know you trust Jason's judgement, so do I. He hasn't called for
help, he's not among the dead, that tells me-"
"It tells _me_ that in that case, he's finished what he came for. What
_was_ he there for, Tom?" 'Bill' leans forward, his dark eyes glowing in
his mahogany face. "The Kiwis are knee-deep in corpses and they've got
at least half-a-dozen of our boys found dead. What was going on?"
"I'm not at liberty to say-"
"Fuck you, General." the woman speaks for the first time. "The Fast
Response Action Group is made up of UCAS soldiers sworn to the
Constitution and deployed under the authority of the Commander-in-Chief.
And let me tell you something, Ernang, your Commander-in-Chief is
getting nervous. He didn't give *anyone* authority to declare war on, or
in, New Zealand. He wants an explanation and I'm here to get one."
Ernang settles back into his chair. "I was led to believe that Colonel
Lynch was a trustworthy and reliable officer."
'Bill', the retired Recon Marine, fixes Ernang with his gaze again. "He
is."
"He's obviously operating in difficult circumstances. Probably feels his
communications have been compromised. I'm sure once he's able to report-
"
"Tell me, General, you're relaxed about a subordinate committing acts of
war against a UCAS ally and not answering his 'phone?" Bill presses.
"Obviously I'm concerned, but I trust the Colonel's judgement. He's a
highly decorated combat veteran with tremendous experience, I'm sure he
knows what he's doing." Ernang's tone is emollient.
His audience exchange looks quickly... and either accept what's said, or
agree to leave the issue there for now.
"What about your most recent casualty?" Richard asks.
"Lieutenant Waller? Appalling. I've offered the Federal Police our
assistance in the matter-"
"You don't think it's odd that a FRAG officer should be so easily
overwhelmed by a couple of burglars?" Bill interrupts. "Jesus, Tom, have
you read the crime scene report?"
"You're assuming it's just burglars?" Ernang asks. "The details of the
attack-"
Bill presses. "Tell me it was a damn sight more than a couple of
beetleheads looking for their next fix of zappers. The Federal Police
concur. They think it was a shadow hit. What additional force protection
have you put into place?"
"I'm liaising closely with the Federal Police, and I'm aware of their
concerns. But I don't see how-"
"Your troopers are highly trained in various forms of combat? They know
how to fight?"
"Of course." Ernang does bristle at that.
"Then how did a couple of chip-fried burglars manage to overwhelm one of
your _officers_, rape her several times, and then choke her to death?"
Bill says softly. "Either her training was grossly deficient, or else
her attackers were not just chip-fried burglars. It sounds like
someone's gunning for the FRAG, Tom."
"Don't be ludicrous-"
"Three helicopter crashes, a generator explosion, several severe road-
traffic incidents, an absolutely appaling rate of accidental death and
injury... either someone very skilled is picking off your men, Tom, or
else you're covering up some sort of shadow war." The woman picks up the
attack. "You understand just how exposed this leaves VESPASIAN in either
case? Loyalty flows up as well as down, General."
To give Ernang credit, he remains completely calm in the face of this
co-ordinated assault. "I tend more towards misreporting. We're pushing
the envelope hard, training realistically, and drawing together a
disparate team of individuals from all the Services. When a Marine Corps
copilot calls 'Sink rate 250' in alarm because the helicopter's
descending at a quarter-kilometre a minute, an Air Force pilot hears
that as a slightly high but not dangerous 250 _feet_ per minute, and a
few seconds later eighteen soldiers are dead or wounded. It's a known,
identified interservice issue and we're not the first to suffer from it.
And I resent, bitterly, the suffering of my men being used as political
ammunition by anonymous critics. Is anyone willing to go on record
criticising my men, or is this just 'sources close to the Pentagon'?"
"It's anonymous. So far." Richard admits.
"You see? Politics, gentlemen. Someone's renting a mouthpiece." Ernang
sighs. "I could say how angry this makes me, but I'm sure you can guess.
What's the point?"
Perhaps surprisingly, it's Bill who nods. "Yeah. Whatever you do, was
wrong. And if you didn't do anything, you were indecisive. And no matter
what you do, you're a waste of money that should be used to bail out
whoever paid most to that Representative's PAC. You ought to be getting
used to that, Tom."
"I'm just disappointed that I'm being subjected to such scrutiny."
Ernang shakes his head.
"Oh, Tom, if we didn't repose 'special trust and confidence' in you,
you'd be under arrest." the woman says, smiling. "But given the rising
threat, you've been given these orders." She hands over a manila file.
Ernang opens it, reads.
"Excellent." He sounds like he means it. "A secondary HQ, close enough
for mutual support, far enough away for security. The numbers assigned
there seem high-"
"Washington's well secured, General, we don't need more men with guns
and we're short of room for a fast-response, heavily-armed team like
yours. _If_ there is a concerted campaign against your men, basing them
outside Annapolis shortens your perimeter and allows you to protect them
better, and keeps them close enough for rapid response." Bill explains.
"In the meantime, if Lynch reports in, inform me at once."
+++++end video
They're suspicious, but as that Reynolds bitch all but said, if they had
proof they'd do something. In the meantime, we do the best we can with
what we've got.
Displacing to Annapolis is meant to hurt us. Make it help us instead.
Take them at their word, move everything we can there and lock it down.
Make that base a _fortress_ and be ready to scramble out of it, within
thirty seconds of a call, if we have to. Anyone gives you grief, we're
acting on Reynolds' orders, doing what she said.
Lock down security, too. From now on, since we're at threat, nobody but
FRAG has authority over our people and our security. We can't risk
compromise, is the story.
By this time tomorrow I want our people in just three places. This
office, Annapolis, or Madagascar.
We're running out of time - but let's hope we still have enough.]<<<<<
-- BGen T Ernang <19:43:32/01-16-62>
Fast Response Action Group
