GWOT IV - Credit

GWOT IV - Credit

When our three infirmaries received their first deliveries of medication, I had to personally sign for them as installation commander.

Staff infirmary, for us, complicated by the fact that some of my personnel were seconded to this duty due to injuries. More court recorders were in wheelchairs than not. Plus chemotherapy drugs for Agent Knight.

POW infirmary, according to the laws of war. Another reason I needed to get the POWs closed out; they were in sober fact getting better medical care than California Republic civilians.

Unlawful combatants infirmary, according to the orders of the Surgeon General of the California Republic.

That last had required discussion. We were not going to refer people on trial for their lives to an off prison hospital. I didn't have the guards. What was to keep hundreds of them from claiming say, chest pain?

I won the fight on security grounds. But the UC infirmary therefore had to be stocked as well as any other primary point of care in the Republic, because it wouldn't be referring patients anywhere, and there was some odds that some of them might be innocent after all.

The medications came in sealed boxes escorted by armed guards.

Where had they come from?

In inventorying, I read labels. They had come from Germany and Russia.

How had a poor, struggling new nation, literally fighting for its life, gotten credit to buy medications?

For that matter, how had the medications arrived?

###

"Make your depth twenty meters. Up periscope."

The commander swept the ocean carefully as the analysts looked at their screens, passively monitoring the electromagnetic spectrum. Especially for radars. No findings; no one called out.

"Compose burst signal. Message: RCS Artemis to Monterey. San Francisco outer approaches sanitized. End message."

The message was coded and sent.

"Down periscope. Make your depth forty meters. Bearing 275, three knots. Continue silent running."

"Captain," and by naval law there was only one captain on any vessel, "supplemental engineering report."

"Go ahead."

"Batteries are not performing to specifications, even in colder temperatures. Charging is less efficient underwater. At current rate of consumption we will have to start diesels in less than six hours."

"That's impossible. Take extreme power conservation measures. We have to sneak out of the lane."

The American Navy's underwater sonar capabilities were horribly precise, but the prewar SOSUS net had been heavily damaged, not least of which by Chinese underwater warfare. In this at least, China and the California Republic were allies - America's ears in the Pacific needed to be deafened.

"We have already taken all the measures we can. Heaters are off."

All of them were visibly shivering even with full uniform clothing including headgear.

"We need to take truly extreme measures. Power down battle management and fire control. Turn off the scrubbers and the emergency lighting system. Break out light sticks and oxygen candles. Everyone hydrate, then turn off the potable water pumps."

"Aye aye, Captain."

###

The freighter captain looked at the fantail of his ship.

An enormous red cross was displayed on a flag. More red crosses were painted on the bows, the superstructure and the forward decks.

This was not a hospital ship.

But it was carrying medical supplies into a war zone.

"Sir, emergency message on 121.5 and 243."

"On speakers."

"Unidentified vessel, you are approaching a port that is under blockade. You are ordered and directed to cut your engines for boarding and search."

The freighter captain picked up the mike.

"This is MV Toscana out of Vladivostok. We have only medical supplies aboard. Who is this?"

"Your identity will be confirmed by boarding and inspection."

"We will not be boarded by pirates. Identify yourself or you will be resisted."

A short pause.

"This is USCGC Douglas Munro. We are enforcing a maritime blockade of United States ports. You are not, repeat, not permitted to enter the port."

"This is MV Toscana, we are an unarmed merchant freighter carrying medical supplies on consignment to Oakland, California."

"The port of Oakland is closed to all unauthorized maritime traffic at this time. Cut your engines now."

"Sir! Sir!"

A lookout pointed. A helicopter off the port side, slowly starting to circle.

"Coast Guard ship, you have no jurisdiction over a neutral vessel carrying medical supplies. We intend to proceed to Oakland docks. We will not resist boarding but we will not cut our engines either."

The helicopter suddenly banked hard starboard and dove for the surface of the ocean. A streak of light followed it, but missed. The helicopter raced away, low and fast as it could manage.

"Surface contact, 245 degrees, a Boghammer."

A high speed small boat, a rich man's plaything, or a commando transport.

In this case, flying a huge California flag over and above the deck, with a hand held surface to air missile crew on her bow.

"MV Toscana, you are authorized to proceed," spoke a new voice. "Courtesy of the California Republic. And if the Coasties want to lose another chopper, they are welcome to circle back around and try it again."

###

The paperwork for the cargo was endorsed FOB, Free On Board. In other words, fully paid for.

The angry Asian man in the business suit changed languages three times in his conversation, on dockside with the harbormaster's agent, the customs staff and the stevedore's foreman.

He was an expediter. It was his job to get the cargo from Point A - Europe and Russia - to Point B, California. And despite his features, he was pure Californian. He had been on vacation in Europe when his home and aging parents had been vaporized in San Francisco. Staying in Europe had spared him from Homeland. But now he was in service to his home country.

He would not be paying extra fees to the stevedores. He would pay reasonable harbor charges. And the customs staff could pound sand, this was an outgoing shipment, and he had friends in Moscow. And points in between, too.

###

"This is highly unusual," said the banker.

"This is a highly unusual matter," retorted the attorney.

Both men were as European as can be. But the attorney was a paid agent of the California Republic, as loyal as money could buy.

In European high finance, that could be very loyal indeed. But the attorney had another reason for his loyalty, the idealized memory of a dead lover.

Nuking San Francisco was probably the worst idea anyone had ever had, ever. It was coming back to bite America in all sorts of ways.

"The credit of a small country at war with the United States, which shares a land border with her, is sketchy at best."

"Before the War, California would have been counted as the sixth most powerful economy in the world, by herself."

"Before," the banker added dryly.

"Now she is nuclear armed, has defined borders, has been recognized by over fifty nations ..."

"... none of them terribly important in themselves."

"... including China, Mexico and Canada..."

"... but no European power."

"I have been instructed by my principals to point out the following. California nationals hold numbered bank accounts throughout the European banking system. But Hong Kong is still an exchange. What if these accounts were to be withdrawn? And reinvested?"

"California persists in believing that the numbered bank accounts of those deceased in San Francisco are an asset. We will be happy to honor any claims by their estates, if their estates possess the necessary proof including the numbered PIN codes. If."

"Do you recall our request for the hundred sample accounts?"

"Yes."

"Here is California's reply."

The banker took the anti-RFID envelope with its heavy creased paper inside, walked over to his computer. Typed for a while.

"How is this possible?"

"Are you satisfied that the selection was random?"

"Yes... but every sample account, California was able to provide the PIN for!"

"Do you dispute the ownership of these accounts?"

"We have a fiduciary duty to our account holders ..."

"... even after they are deceased, you mean?"

"... to follow our security procedures."

"California has met them. Will you honor a withdrawal on these hundred sample accounts? And then the tens of thousands to follow?"

The question hung heavily in the air.

"In that case, I am instructed to give you this second letter."

The letter was much plainer than the first, but bore the logo of the California Republic and of its Strategic Defense Force. A bear throwing a javelin.

The banker read it slowly. Stopped. Read it again. Flinched. Put it down slowly.

"Hand it back, if you please."

The banker did, hands shaking.

"We will of course be pleased to work with our new friend and partner the California Republic," he said woodenly and slowly.

GWOT V - SDF

GWOT 5 - SDF

After turning over General Batesman in Barstow ... where he was immediately hustled aboard a jet to San Jose, escorted by fighters on strip alert ... I finally had a chance to change. Unlike Batesman, who still smelled of his own fluids.

I heard boots in the outer locker room. Several pairs.

I was literally unarmed. I'd put my handgun in my locker. I hadn't flown with anything heavier.

I looked at the officer's shower room window. Small, vertical, too small to get through.

"Captain [18]," a stern voice called out.

This was going to get entirely too interesting.

"Who wants to know?" I yelled out, as if casually, as I soaped myself down. I wanted to be literally slippery for what might come next.

A more prudent officer might have screamed for help out that little window. I've been accused fo many things, but never prudence.

"Captain," chided the voice.

I stuck my head out, still soapy, to get a brief glance at what waited for me, and yanked it back.

Two officers in undress uniforms, two MPs. All armed, none with weapons drawn.

If it was an arrest detail, that was a big mistake.

They weren't, for example, going through my locker or standing with guns drawn in opposite corners of the locker room. They should have, and should have been.

But I'd seen the essential point, the rank tabs of the man addressing me. Major.

I reluctantly rinsed off the soap and came back out, my towel in my left hand. Already planning how I would distract, blind, disarm and engage the threats.

"Major," I replied.

"Dress and follow us. You are detained under the Republic Security Act."

His rank made it lawful. But he gestured to a bundle of clothing that was not mine.

Surprisingly, it fit. And it had captain's tabs.

I dried off and put it on. I moved towards my locker and the MPs shook their heads.

They politely walked me out to an idling SUV with dark tinted windows. I took the right front seat; no one stopped me.

The other officer ended up as the driver.

The Republic Security Office has asked that I write a long, convoluted story about how I was driven in circles, blindfolded, put on a plane or two, flown by helicopter, swam a moat, took an elevator up to a tram car and then down to a tunnel. These things may all have happened. Please don't nuke Barstow trying to take out the place I'm about to write about it. Not only is it not there, but it's not very interesting anyway.

After pulling into a building, dismounting and then passing through three sets of guards, each more alert and heavily armed than the last, I reached a final security station. At this point it was just the Major and myself.

The screener politely explained that I would have to be wanded, hand frisked and sit on a BOSS chair.

I invited the Major to go first. He complied. So I did.

Such modern innovations. We had to do our cavity searches the old fashioned way at Alviso.

The tunnel led to what looked like the foyer of a seedy run-down hotel. The four sides of the underground courtyard were a quarters desk, a restaurant, a reception area leading to staff offices, and a reception desk leading to a conference area. The Major escorted me to the latter, where a bored clerk chewing on her pencil directed me to "Room 3."

Room 3 was the size of a small classroom and had two tables and six chairs in it. When I arrived, it was empty, with a whiteboard marked "Please wait."

So I did. But not for long.

Someone I recognized came in, followed by a General I did not.

"Captain [18], good to see you. Thank you for capturing General Batesman, thank you for everything at Alviso, and good work so far at the Border. I have to get back to my conference but I need to introduce you to General [Blank]. Do whatever he asks, he speaks with my voice. Odds favor."

And with that Pat was gone. It was telling that the Governor could move around personally and freely without her usual heavily armed escort.

I looked at General Blank, who closed the door behind him and took up a seat.

Sixties. Not armed. California Republic, Air National Guard. Flight officer. Injured, more than once, but the limp fairly recent. Intellectual. Alive eyes.

I did not salute. I hadn't called this meeting.

"I am the Commanding General of the Strategic Defense Force."

Gulp.

Most people knew very little about the SDF. It had a logo, a bear throwing a javelin. It had a name to go with the acronym. And it held California's nuclear weapons. And maybe other Stuff, too.

"What can I do for you, sir?"

"I understand that you were a member of the California Military Commission?"

"Right up until Alviso Prison was decommissioned, yes."

"I need you to wear your Military Commission hat for a minute. Under what circumstances is the devastation of enemy population centers lawful?"

I wasn't expecting that question. But my reply was instant.

"Never. Oh, you can contrive arguments involving reprisal, national survival, and force majure. But if you have to nuke cities to win, you're a loser with an atrocity problem."

"Very good. Now, when is it _ethical_?"

This was going to be a deeper conversation than I thought. And I intuited that the wrong answers might just cause me to be carried out feet first.

"The survival of humanity in question. Greater loss of life immediately threatened. Deterrence of national destruction. All when there is no other way."

"Let's talk about San Francisco. So if the survival of humanity were threatened, nuking the City would have been OK?"

"I need to draw a sharp line here. Real crimes versus hypothetical ones. When I oversaw the execution of four thousand war criminals at Alviso, that was … real. No one was hung or shot for what they _might_ do next week; they were executed for what they had actually done, and how they had done it. So no 'what ifs' or 'might happens.'"

"But if that were the choice, the survival of humanity in your left hand, and San Francisco in your right hand, which one do you drop? The species or SF?"

"Washington," I retorted. "New York, or at least Manhattan. Denver. Paris? How about Warsaw? Or Bucharest? Let's get the best trade we can."

"You talked about greater loss of life immediately threatened. If nuking SF could have prevented the China War… then what?"

As opposed to starting it.

"Prove to me the inevitability of the choice. I'd like to explore some other options. Two divisions of American Marines. A division of Republic Marines. Eight thousand screaming Chinamen."

"Excuse me?"

"Cultural reference."

"So troops are more expendable than cities? Why?"

"We volunteered. We're combatants. We consented, if uniforms and laws of war mean anything at all."

"Deterrence of national destruction."

"America and Russia didn't do the dance for fifty years because the first one to drop trousers would get it in the shorts. Mutual Assured Destruction is one of the most obscene concepts humanity has ever entertained, but … it sometimes works. I believe it's keeping California alive right this instant."

"You are correct. I am in regular contact with my counterpart in the American Air Defense Command, what was NORAD before the Canadians withdrew from it. Precisely what you intuit was a real possibility before our presentation of capabilities at the UN.

"Sorry for all the philosophy, but I had to know where you stood. You are now a member of the Strategic Defense Force."

He handed me something. You don't need to know what. No one ever needs to know what. Hopefully no one ever will.

"Keep that secure, with your life. If you authenticate yourself with any SDF asset, you have full release authority and the brevet rank of Colonel, SDF. But only the Governor and myself... and the PAL systems… know that.

"Try not to get killed at the Border. Odds favor, Captain."

"Why?"

"Distributed command and control deters decap strikes. The Untied Snakes would have to kill every Republic officer to be certain to get everyone with the codes. Even then... they'd be wrong. There is an SDF hidden reserve."

With that the General left.

Then I did.

The desk arranged my departure and handed me several thousand Warbucks to cover my leave and travel.

###

My second stop was a shopping mall in Riverside. I bought civilian clothes for myself. And some frilly things for a 'friend.'

I stopped by Campos Nation on the way back and spent two days in the cathouse.

The three of them earned every penny.

GWOT V - Republic of California, Strategic Defense Force

GWOT V - Republic of California, Strategic Defense Force


The Republic of California (qv) Strategic Defense Force is one of the five Republic of California armed forces:

Republic of California Army (formerly California Army National Guard & California Strategic Military Reserve / 'California State Guard'), the ground combat arm; includes two separate divisions designated as Republic Marines but under Army control.

[Republic of] California AIr National Guard, the air and space arm, including most satellites and all space warfare.

[Republic of] California Naval Militia, ships carry designation RCS for Republic of California Ship; the naval combat arm; includes air, space, naval and ground elements intended for or to support control of sea lanes and naval battle. Note that 'Admiral' is not a Republic of California rank; instead the Captain rank is extended, with modifiers and sometimes in secret, across the grade covered in the US Navy between Captain and Fleet Admiral (equivalent: Captain Of The Fleet).

Bear Force, the special operations and insurgency / counter insurgency group.

Republic of California Strategic Defense Force, usually referred to only by the acronym SDF.

Each of the five California Republic armed forces reports to a Commandant, who in turn reports to the Commanding General, who reports directly to the Governor. There are also several independent force commanders, most notably the Adjutant General (of all California reserve troops of all five services), Provost Marshal (commands the Republic of California military lawyers, prosecutors and police, again of all five services), the Surgeon General (commands all medical personnel, military _and civilian_, of the California Republic), Psyche General (commands all military psychologists, chaplains and morale personnel, again of all five services) and Commanding General, California Expeditionary Forces. These independent force commanders nominally report to the Commandant of the Army but have right of independent access to the Commanding General and even the Governor with respect to their specializations.

Of the five services and at least five independent forces, the least is known about the SDF.

SDF Motto: "Revenge Is Too Late"

SDF Arms: a snarling bear, reared, throwing a javelin from right to left, with javelin appearing on close examination to be rocket propelled

SDF Mission: to deter a second weapons of mass destruction attack on California soil, from _any_ source [original emphasis]

SDF order of battle: unknown

SDF number of personnel: unknown

SDF aerospace assets: known to include intercontinental ballistic missiles; ground and air launched cruise missiles; anti-shipping missiles on ground, aircraft, submarine and ship mounts; nuclear and fusion 'iron bombs' mounted on jet aircraft; anti-satellite and ballistic missile defense systems mounted on shore, ships and aircraft; and truck-launched nuclear powered ramjet cruise missiles. All assets are believed to be fission warhead capable. ICBMs and GLCMs are confirmed to be fusion warhead capable.

Note that the entire nuclear capable inventory of California Republic aircraft is less than one hundred, concentrated at two bases: March AFB and Edwards AFB respectively. California's Air National Guard has a limited number of tankers (1 squadron of 6, also at Edwards), no Wild Weasels, fragmentary EW capability through bolt on pods, and two modified AWACS on 747 frames, one at each base.

SDF ground assets: 160mm nuclear artillery shells, man portable Special Atomic Demolition Munitions issued to the Bear Force, probably stay-behind atomic mines. The latter are fusion capable. Speculated locations are on former US Interstates where they cross mountain ranges; specifics are not known.

SDF naval assets: except as indicated above, none. CA Republic attempted to purchase a ballistic missile submarine from India; the subject submarine was destroyed by United States Navy divers at dock in India before putting to sea. The Goddess series of lithium ion diesel electric submarines is anti-shipping missile capable and may carry nuclear-tipped missiles and torpedoes with very limited, i.e. tactical ranges. California has no aircraft carriers, no Aegis capable warships and no ability to launch ballistic missiles from underwater.

What little is known about the SDF is known from only three sources: a presentation from the Charge d'Affairs of the San Francisco Resistance to the United Nations; press releases of the Republic of California Governor's Office; and statements from other nuclear powers, notably the United States, Canada and Russia.

The infamous UN Presentation outlined in detail the methods and techniques required to manufacture fission and fusion arms. It is rumored that this presentation also outlined a heretofore unknown technique for either enrichment of uranium or separation of plutonium.

Much of the foregoing information is based directly on press releases from the Governor's Office, always with the 'bear javelin' logo and intended to deter through deliberate disclosure.

The recent American publication, CALIFORNIA MILITARY POWER, expanded on this in some detail, speculating as to what an aircraft attack on the United States from bases in Northern and Southern California would look like, and the relative risks of various defensive strategies.

Canada has a military observer exchange program with all of the former states of the United States, including Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah and Texas. However Canada is the only power that claims to have observers embedded with the California SDF. Canada's own fusion weapons program is well advanced, q.v.

Russia claims that the nuclear ramjet is pirated from a Russian design and that California's possession of this technology is a violation of numerous treaties. California notes that California is presently not a signatory to ANY national treaties and disclaims pre-War membership in the United States as binding it to any treaties, including arms limitation, anti ballistic missile, militarization of space and proliferation treaties. California unilaterally declares that her forces will comply with the Geneva I and II and Hague conventions and "honor the spirit" of the 1st Civil War Lieber Code. Note that California has not applied for United Nations membership despite accepting a limited United Nations peacekeeping presence on her disputed borders, particularly with Mexico.

The SDF has no known bases of its own. However, sections of various former US interstates have been posted with a "MINIMUM SPEED LIMIT" in several areas, and vehicles which stop or break down or drive slowly in these areas are engaged by California military police. Typically the subject vehicle is confiscated and drivers/passengers are detained for investigation.

It is unknown whether the Strategic Defense Force has any weapons of mass destruction capability other than nuclear arms.

It is noteworthy that lethal chemical weapons are under the direct control of the Republic of California Army but may not be released without the authority of the Governor. In other words, nerve gases etc are either excluded from SDF control or under both SDF and Army parallel (but not exclusive) control.

No information on biological weapons is available.