GWOT VII - Setting The Table
Sep. 29th, 2021 06:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drewkittyThe four of us made it to dinner. One of the two SDF troopers had the Object in tow. The other held on to her token submachine gun.
We were seated at two tables. Both had a commanding view of the 'bowl' formed by the terracing below our point, and of the translucent 'dome' that sealed the gardens off from the outside world.
"Dr. Zhao sends his regrets, he is quite busy. But he wanted you to see the sights."
George. Not playing the People's Police detective today. Or was he? I'd never seen him before in full Western style business suit. Bespoke tailored.
We of course remained in our uniforms. The privilege of the host.
An appetizer was served. Then wine and beer; Rize's pick from the room had not gone unnoticed. Then what the Chinese call family style and the Americans call Chinese style... numerous dishes from which we helped ourselves and passed them around.
Unless George had a death wish, had been reclassified as expendable, or had taken an antidote before joining us, this made it most unlikely that anyone could be poisoned.
Trust is trust. The four Californians ate heartily.
Not trusting enough to leave the McGuffin in our rooms. It's rude to impose such a temptation on one's host.
By mutual agreement we avoided talking shop. This left me nearly silent, and Rize more so. The honor of the Republic was upheld by our SDF troopers, with their tongues rather than their trigger fingers.
Safe topics: the weather, kind of. The flight, a little. The weather again.
At a table full of gun toters, the kid's table if you will, eventually we circled around to firearms. I expressed my preference for wheelguns while carrying a semiauto. Rize expressed no preference which I knew was bullshit; Bear Force is only happy when littering brass all over the ground. George said a firearm was just a tool, but passed around his police issue pistol so we could all look at it. The female SDF trooper reciprocated by passing around her submachine gun. She quite properly didn't mention the satellite command data link, the GPS and the suicide charge in the stock. Not a special fitting; all SDF submachine guns have all three options.
The main course arrived, Dr. Zhao cleared his throat and joined us, an extra place being hastily set for him and the tables pushed together so that we were six.
"My apologies, but of course you all know the call of duty. We shall fly you back tomorrow, directly to your Embassy. Arrangements continue for the reception, and for the security of that reception. Of course the Americans will be sorely tempted to destroy the city out of hand. You have your ballistic submarine; we are repositioning our own defense systems at this instant, and work will continue throughout the night.
"Is there no way that this show cannot be taken 'on the road,' as you might say?"
I shook my head.
"We considered it. Even from a submarine or an aircraft. The former has bad connectivity, the latter has poor connectivity and is too vulnerable." I paused. "We even considered the riverine option, as you have taken with at least two of your ballistic nuclear submarines."
The Chinese became wooden.
"Find a stretch of river. Run an extension cord into the depths. Instant missile silo, and good connectivity, and some protection and the ability to run. You are not the only nation that has made this choice."
They blinked. I thought about drowning with a mesh holding me a mere foot above the water.
"California has lakes, and also reservoirs. Even ponds. And it's amazing what you can do when there is no connection to open water, so what the US Navy might consider a testbed or a barge is your entire vessel."
Chinese naval warfare doctrine had always seen the ocean as an adjunct to the land.
American naval warfare doctrine, until before the Firecracker, had seen ocean dominance as a game changer.
I aspired to something far more horrific. World dominance. Yes, a new broom sweeps clean, but from the high orbitals to the ocean trenches, the US was going to lose everything she had.
California would lose a lot too. We might lose everything. But if we could hang on to a single ballistic boat when she lost all of hers ... that was victory.
China had already taken an alpha strike from America.
California hadn't.
But we were going to.
A lot of people gonna die tomorrow. A lot of them, my citizens, my people, my tribe.
Unthinkable if we weren't playing for all the marbles. The survival of the human race.
Having shown my knowledge of a Chinese state naval secret, Dr. Zhao discarded fencing and became clinical. About his nation's chances - fair - and about our chances - rather poor.
His question. George's question.
Would we do it?
"Gentlemen." I paused to collect my thoughts. As civilized men, they let me.
"I was personally selected by the Governor of California over several other candidates for this task. I have shown my credentials and you have verified them. We have generals; I am not one. We have tacticians, strategists, politicians, actors, diplomats - I am none of these.
"I am what George called me at that first dinner. I am a genocidaire. A proven stone cold killer that can look at a noose, a firing squad, a crowd, a village, a town ... a city, or a nation ... and feel nothing but recoil as I pull the trigger.
"I'm also willing to die for the Republic. I've been saved by a breath and a chance more times than I can count from doing exactly that. If the wind hadn't wafted that flag, if I hadn't stopped before placing that next step, if I'd turned left instead of right, allowed my driver to drive instead of taking the wheel myself ... you would be talking to another person instead of me.
"That person would also be a genocidaire and a stone cold killer willing to die for the Republic. We have bred many of them, I understand, to our embarassment and regret. America the rapist has ugly children.
"Pat told me why. Me over the others. Courage is not the absence of fear. Yet I am fearless.
"This problem - the potential extinction of humanity - this issue that we share. I am not afraid to win. I am not afraid to lose. I am as indifferent to the outcome as it is possible to be."
I took a sip of the wine.
"Great drink. A fine woman," I patted RIze's hand and she thought about slapping me, then relented, "and a beautiful view to enjoy them by. Tomorrow night, if I die, I fear it not and I lose nothing.
"What I fear, what I have always feared, is simply doing less than my best. Millions of people will see the most important performance of my life. Whether I live or die, whether _they_ live or die, doesn't matter to me at all. What matters is that I do the very best that a human being can do.
"Humanity will survive not by chance or by calculations, not by systems or manipulations, but by a person raging against the dying of the light. That was the Governor's choice. That is my choice."
For the first time, I saw that George and Dr. Zhao had strong emotion.
They loved China.
That meant that they feared me. Had to. Not just my box of tricks, not just my willingness to put myself in their hands.
When someone else says that the most important thing in your life is worthless to them, you know in your heart that you don't understand them and they don't understand you. At best. It goes downhill from there.
And I was California's emissary.
Dinner ended on that note.
I had to get a good night's sleep.
There was only one way to be certain.
I took a sleeping pill. I made sure Rize watched me take it.
Just in case the pharmacy - or Pat - had slipped me a Mickey so many weeks ago.
I slept placidly.
Like water flowing towards a steep, steep waterfall.
We were seated at two tables. Both had a commanding view of the 'bowl' formed by the terracing below our point, and of the translucent 'dome' that sealed the gardens off from the outside world.
"Dr. Zhao sends his regrets, he is quite busy. But he wanted you to see the sights."
George. Not playing the People's Police detective today. Or was he? I'd never seen him before in full Western style business suit. Bespoke tailored.
We of course remained in our uniforms. The privilege of the host.
An appetizer was served. Then wine and beer; Rize's pick from the room had not gone unnoticed. Then what the Chinese call family style and the Americans call Chinese style... numerous dishes from which we helped ourselves and passed them around.
Unless George had a death wish, had been reclassified as expendable, or had taken an antidote before joining us, this made it most unlikely that anyone could be poisoned.
Trust is trust. The four Californians ate heartily.
Not trusting enough to leave the McGuffin in our rooms. It's rude to impose such a temptation on one's host.
By mutual agreement we avoided talking shop. This left me nearly silent, and Rize more so. The honor of the Republic was upheld by our SDF troopers, with their tongues rather than their trigger fingers.
Safe topics: the weather, kind of. The flight, a little. The weather again.
At a table full of gun toters, the kid's table if you will, eventually we circled around to firearms. I expressed my preference for wheelguns while carrying a semiauto. Rize expressed no preference which I knew was bullshit; Bear Force is only happy when littering brass all over the ground. George said a firearm was just a tool, but passed around his police issue pistol so we could all look at it. The female SDF trooper reciprocated by passing around her submachine gun. She quite properly didn't mention the satellite command data link, the GPS and the suicide charge in the stock. Not a special fitting; all SDF submachine guns have all three options.
The main course arrived, Dr. Zhao cleared his throat and joined us, an extra place being hastily set for him and the tables pushed together so that we were six.
"My apologies, but of course you all know the call of duty. We shall fly you back tomorrow, directly to your Embassy. Arrangements continue for the reception, and for the security of that reception. Of course the Americans will be sorely tempted to destroy the city out of hand. You have your ballistic submarine; we are repositioning our own defense systems at this instant, and work will continue throughout the night.
"Is there no way that this show cannot be taken 'on the road,' as you might say?"
I shook my head.
"We considered it. Even from a submarine or an aircraft. The former has bad connectivity, the latter has poor connectivity and is too vulnerable." I paused. "We even considered the riverine option, as you have taken with at least two of your ballistic nuclear submarines."
The Chinese became wooden.
"Find a stretch of river. Run an extension cord into the depths. Instant missile silo, and good connectivity, and some protection and the ability to run. You are not the only nation that has made this choice."
They blinked. I thought about drowning with a mesh holding me a mere foot above the water.
"California has lakes, and also reservoirs. Even ponds. And it's amazing what you can do when there is no connection to open water, so what the US Navy might consider a testbed or a barge is your entire vessel."
Chinese naval warfare doctrine had always seen the ocean as an adjunct to the land.
American naval warfare doctrine, until before the Firecracker, had seen ocean dominance as a game changer.
I aspired to something far more horrific. World dominance. Yes, a new broom sweeps clean, but from the high orbitals to the ocean trenches, the US was going to lose everything she had.
California would lose a lot too. We might lose everything. But if we could hang on to a single ballistic boat when she lost all of hers ... that was victory.
China had already taken an alpha strike from America.
California hadn't.
But we were going to.
A lot of people gonna die tomorrow. A lot of them, my citizens, my people, my tribe.
Unthinkable if we weren't playing for all the marbles. The survival of the human race.
Having shown my knowledge of a Chinese state naval secret, Dr. Zhao discarded fencing and became clinical. About his nation's chances - fair - and about our chances - rather poor.
His question. George's question.
Would we do it?
"Gentlemen." I paused to collect my thoughts. As civilized men, they let me.
"I was personally selected by the Governor of California over several other candidates for this task. I have shown my credentials and you have verified them. We have generals; I am not one. We have tacticians, strategists, politicians, actors, diplomats - I am none of these.
"I am what George called me at that first dinner. I am a genocidaire. A proven stone cold killer that can look at a noose, a firing squad, a crowd, a village, a town ... a city, or a nation ... and feel nothing but recoil as I pull the trigger.
"I'm also willing to die for the Republic. I've been saved by a breath and a chance more times than I can count from doing exactly that. If the wind hadn't wafted that flag, if I hadn't stopped before placing that next step, if I'd turned left instead of right, allowed my driver to drive instead of taking the wheel myself ... you would be talking to another person instead of me.
"That person would also be a genocidaire and a stone cold killer willing to die for the Republic. We have bred many of them, I understand, to our embarassment and regret. America the rapist has ugly children.
"Pat told me why. Me over the others. Courage is not the absence of fear. Yet I am fearless.
"This problem - the potential extinction of humanity - this issue that we share. I am not afraid to win. I am not afraid to lose. I am as indifferent to the outcome as it is possible to be."
I took a sip of the wine.
"Great drink. A fine woman," I patted RIze's hand and she thought about slapping me, then relented, "and a beautiful view to enjoy them by. Tomorrow night, if I die, I fear it not and I lose nothing.
"What I fear, what I have always feared, is simply doing less than my best. Millions of people will see the most important performance of my life. Whether I live or die, whether _they_ live or die, doesn't matter to me at all. What matters is that I do the very best that a human being can do.
"Humanity will survive not by chance or by calculations, not by systems or manipulations, but by a person raging against the dying of the light. That was the Governor's choice. That is my choice."
For the first time, I saw that George and Dr. Zhao had strong emotion.
They loved China.
That meant that they feared me. Had to. Not just my box of tricks, not just my willingness to put myself in their hands.
When someone else says that the most important thing in your life is worthless to them, you know in your heart that you don't understand them and they don't understand you. At best. It goes downhill from there.
And I was California's emissary.
Dinner ended on that note.
I had to get a good night's sleep.
There was only one way to be certain.
I took a sleeping pill. I made sure Rize watched me take it.
Just in case the pharmacy - or Pat - had slipped me a Mickey so many weeks ago.
I slept placidly.
Like water flowing towards a steep, steep waterfall.
