The Texan officer glanced sideways at his scowling Oklahoma National Guard counterpart. They were the same rank, but he was in charge of this joint mission to protect the neutral border. That used to mean just watching out for outlaws and smugglers. Ever since all those federal troops began retreating back to Kansas and bringing the war with them, the mission took a more…complicated direction. He’d seen countless jets and helicopters, from both sides, regularly violating their neutral airspace. Austin and Oklahoma City were probably having a shit-fit, but that wasn’t his problem. A ground incursion, though, was a major escalation. He yelled at his radio operator without taking his eyes off the well-dressed civilian.
“Get the joint border command on the line, right now.”
The civilian smirked even wider. “That won’t do you much good. The Feds aren’t blind. You think they wouldn’t notice a rebel force trying to hit them in the flank? Even if the URA are cutting through neutral territory to get there. You have two choices: either join forces with the rebels, the smart move, or get the hell out of here. Whatever you do, for the sake of your men, don’t try to stand in the way. There’s nothing more I can say.” The civilian shrugged and opened his car door.
The captain snapped his fingers. One of his soldiers kicked the beamer’s door shut and raised his weapon. Now the captain smirked. “I don’t know who the fuck you think you are, but we’ll get to the bottom of—”
“Sir! I can’t raise anyone. There’s some serious jamming going on. Even on the offset bands. We’re trying to run the OE-254 antennae up the highest tree we can find, but I’m not sure it’ll make a difference.”
The khaki-clad civilian’s bravado melted away. “I told you. Look, if you people want to stay here and be heroes, that’s fine, but let me go. I’m not paid enough for this.” Everyone simply gawked at him. He produced another wad of cash and spoke directly to the junior soldiers around him. “Speaking of which, are you guys getting paid enough to die in a ‘friendly fire’ incident?”
He chucked the envelope at the growing crowd of armed men, but no one caught it. In the face of such irrationality, the civilian resorted to begging. “Just walk away, for Christ’s sake. That’s all you have to do. This isn’t your fight! Take me with you, fine, but let’s just get moving!”
The captain sprang forward and snatched him by the collar. He shoved the screaming man towards a makeshift sandbag bunker serving as their headquarters. “Private! Detainee this son of a bitch. We’ll question him later. Everyone else, get back to your positions. We have orders. No combatants are going to use Texas or Oklahoma as a battleground. If either side challenges our neutrality, we’ll bring the war to them! Hooah?”
None of the mumbled “Hooah’s” seemed passionate, but the troops warily returned to their defensive positions anyway. An Oklahoman sergeant slipped up to the captain. “Sir, with all due respect, maybe it’s not such a bad idea to abandon this outpost for a bit. I mean, don’t you watch the news? Didn’t you hear what the Feds did in Denver? Massacring all those civilians? I think the URA deserves a chance at revenge. I sure would if they did that to my kin.” He gripped his officer’s arm. “I can tell you right now, most of the men feel the same way.”
The captain fought down his anger. “Honestly, Sergeant, I agree. The president has gone off the reservation and I’m rooting for the rebels. Personally, I hope the governor gets off his ass and throws our weight behind Sacramento. That’s not yours or my call to make though. Let everyone know that I won’t tolerate—”
“Contact, 6 O’clock!”
The captain dived behind the nearest concrete road barricade and raised his weapon southwest. The civilian wasn’t lying about the oncoming threat. A giant M1 Abrams tank, a lack of any paint job clearly marking it as a rebel vehicle, clanked to a halt 400 yards away. Raising his binos, the Texan counted more than fifty other armored vehicles in column formation behind the tank. His small National Guard force had a few anti-tank rockets, but no armor of their own. They could slow the rebels down, bleed them a bit, but the battle’s outcome wouldn’t be in doubt.
Had that asshole civilian bribed all the checkpoints to the south as well? Probably didn’t matter. A force of this size could go wherever it wanted.
The captain tried his radio one last time. Nothing but static. He studied all the terrified Guardsmen begging him for guidance while unconsciously clicking the forward assist button on his rifle. At last, he snarled and stood up.
“Fuck it! Let them pass.” He led by example and slung his rifle over his back. Soldiers rushed out from cover to help him raise the barricade and pull back the concertina wire.
The crew of the first rebel tank waved as they drove through the checkpoint. The captain just scowled, but quite a few of his men pumped their fists and cheered the triumphant intruders. The Texan turned away from the roaring engines and screams of “kick some ass,” and glared at the Kansas border. He slipped off his Kpod and wiped the sweat away. Would this still seem like the right call when they court-martialed him?
Lost in grim thoughts, his mind didn’t register the rocket plumes high in the sky until too late. His eyes bulged when he finally noticed the live missiles breaching neutral airspace. “Incoming!”
A barrage of Maverick missiles obliterated the first four URA vehicles through his perimeter. Shrapnel shredded several of his men standing out in the open and cheering the parade. Seconds later, two US F-16’s flashed overhead, strafing the outpost with 20 mm Gatling gun fire. Mowing down even more of his neutral soldiers.
Whomping half a mile away added to his problems. Across the Kansas border, several Blackhawk helicopters swooped into the tiny town of Elkhart. Judging from how fast the rebel vehicles took up positions around his base, they weren’t friendly. Mortars from the town started raining down on his little base with astonishing speed. He had to do something.
“Get the wounded under cover, but check fire. This isn’t our fight! Break contact!”
It was a lost cause. When those federal infantry opened up with machine guns and shoulder-fired missiles, his men responded as they’d been trained. Every Guardsman who wasn’t busy tending to the wounded returned fire.
Frantically rushing about and slapping blazing rifles away, their leader didn’t notice a rebel Abrams taking cover behind one of his parked Humvees. The tank’s gunner, his whole world focused on a building in the distance, fired without hesitation. The Texas captain glanced up to find a 120mm cannon muzzle only a yard from his face… just as it boomed.
The blast sent him careening backwards, with both eardrums ruptured. His last sight before passing out was his surviving men jumping onto rebel vehicles and charging into Kansas.
His beloved Texas was now at war.
When the firing faded as the last URA vehicle cruised out of sight, a terrified civilian jumped out of a roadside culvert. He ran to his luxury car and patted it down. All the glass was shattered and the passenger compartment had dozens of holes in the doors. Miraculously, the engine was untouched and sprang to life. Even the tires were all fine.
He hesitated, hand on the wheel, and scanned the disaster around him. Pushing his luck a little further, the civilian climbed out of safety zone and tiptoed over to some dead National Guardsman facing north. Looking away, he ripped off a bloodstained helmet cam from one of them. The civilian halted only long enough to stop puking before hopping in his car and squealing off to the south as fast as he could.