Two junior soldiers popped their heads in through the courthouse doors. They’d heard every word, but prayed the generals would forget about them. The corps sergeant major stepped behind the XO and stood at parade rest. He gunned the MP’s down with a grumble. “Get back to your posts!”
Both privates lowered their weapons and retreated outside.
General Brice roared. “You fucking traitors!” He pounced on his friend and shoved the cold handgun against his ear. “Twenty years together, and this is how it ends? Don’t make me do this!”
The XO stared his general dead in the eyes, but spoke to the whole room. “Order all units to stand down and stack arms. Coms: open up a line to the Feds. We’re surrendering, effective immediately.”
None of the headquarters team cheered, but no one ignored him. Brice shook in rage and dug his gun deeper into the new commander’s head, forcing him to his knees. Through the tears in his eyes, the general cursed his protégé.
“Fuck you all!”
Brice whipped the gun up to his own head and squeezed the trigger.
Instead of his skull, the shot ripped a hole in the drywall over his head. He tried to wrestle with the XO’s grip on his wrist, but his strength was gone. Brice slumped down, too drained even to cry.
He listened to the happy acknowledgements pouring in over the radio. A quarter million troops scrambled over one another to confirm their salvation.
Brice tore off the Velcro URA flag on his arm and both stars on each collar. The XO slid the gun from his grasp and knelt beside his mentor.
“It’s over, sir. No one else is going to die.”
The whole tent cheered.
They all believed that fantasy.
“You can’t surrender, not when we’ve come so far!” Esterline was so riled up that one of Salazar’s bodyguards stepped between him and the president. His body relaxed, but his voice cracked.
President Salazar rubbed her neck. “The decision has been made for us. Unless you have an extra army stashed away somewhere, we’re out of this fight. We did our best, but…” She couldn’t look any of her staff in the eye.
Esterline’s eyelids flickered like windshield wipers in a hurricane. “Ma’am, as bleak as it seems, we still have the means to resist. If we start preparing now, we can wage the most epic insurgency in world history. We can bury weapons from here to the Sierra Nevada and dig them up after the Vandals have sacked us. We have the resources to fight for generations, the only question is do you have the will?”
General Watie, the new head of what was left of the URA’s military, slammed his fist on the table. “Those weapons haven’t done us much good in the field. How useful do you think they’ll be squirreled away? Why throw away more lives on a lost cause? Governor Salazar, why the fuck is this man still here?”
President Salazar didn’t even notice the insult. She was far too preoccupied staring at the flickering lights overhead. Her bunker, built right underneath a major hospital, had priority for what little power the city still produced. Even that wasn’t enough to keep the lights on 24/7.
“How long until they get here?”
Watie wrung his hands. “Assuming they don’t stage another amphibious or airborne assault, we have a little bit of time. They’ll need a few days to process all those prisoners and get their main army back on the offensive. From then? One week, two weeks with luck and many sacrifices. We have nothing left that could slow the federal juggernaut down for long. Adding all those conscripts to the force has only corrupted the whole barrel. We’re seeing double-digit desertion rates in every major formation. It’s so bad, entire border units have disintegrated.”
Esterline jumped in. “What about the Freedom Brigades? That’s a hardcore elite force to rebuild around.”
Salazar zeroed in on Esterline, regaining some of her famous strength. “Do you have a way to reach them? Assuming any are still left alive. The Feds have been pounding them even harder than us. I haven’t heard a damn word from any of those Freedom stalwarts or their sponsors in two weeks. We’re on our own. Which might be the best thing that ever happened to us.”
She muttered and pressed the blinking intercom light. “And? What did he say?”
“Ma’am, the president, I mean the other one, finally returned your call. He wants to speak with you directly.”
The last thing in the world she wanted to do was talk to that man. Still, she couldn’t back down at this point. Salazar hit the green button and seized the initiative.
“I will not negotiate. Unconditional surrender is impossible. Too much blood has been shed. If this is going to work, you have to give me something to take to my people, Mr…. Mr. President.” A little blood from her chewed lip shot out with the spittle.
The president didn’t gloat or even hint at anger. “Actually, I wanted to thank you for the brilliant idea. I accept your first demand. The Federal Government will buy up all pre-war debt issued by the URA, assuming you default on all war-related debts. That’s a quick route to economic recovery but keeps your corporate sponsors from profiting. I can swing it through Congress. However, I will not budge on the transitional government issue. No URA official will ever hold public office again. That’s final.”
Salazar bristled. “You claim you want to heal this country. Then why are you trying to alienate a third of the populace?”
“Unlike you, ma’am, I have a congress of elected representatives to answer to. It was a tough enough fight to get the Amnesty Act passed. Your citizens will still be represented; they just need to elect new leaders that have no rebel ties.”
“You mean expatriates from the east? Your people? We don’t need to be flooded with carpetbaggers. The people will never accept that.”
He raised his voice and cut off Salazar’s simmering eruption. “Don’t be so sure. Give the civilians a few weeks under martial law and you’ll see how quickly they clamor for new elections. I’m sorry, but that’s the way it has to be. If you refuse, I’m afraid we have no deal.”
Even underground, vibrations from nearby bombs rocked the conference table. Salazar ground her teeth into nubs. “Like I have a fucking choice.”
The president ignored her. “Now, I do have a compromise that you might find acceptable. Makes the whole situation more palatable. The same day you publically resign, I will as well.”
“Right. Don’t take me for a fool. You’re more powerful now than when we started this war. I turned you into a real dictator and you expect me to just trust you?”
“You haven’t seen any television recently?”
Salazar gave him a genuine laugh. “I don’t know what you fat cats in DC are doing, but we’re a little preoccupied here. What with this pesky war and all. Besides, you need electricity for TV.”
One of her aides slid a tablet over to her. Salazar’s mouth hung open as she watched the short press conference.
“You’ll really step down immediately, but not force your VP to resign? You’ll call for new elections instead of letting the Speaker of the House take over? Come on, this is too good to be true. What’s the catch?”
The president’s voice cracked. “I never wanted this power. If you didn’t have so much blood on your hands, I’d let you take over.”
Salazar’s head swam. After so much destruction, it couldn’t be this easy.
“Every moment you delay costs lives, Ms. Salazar. Just one speech and you’ve won the war. You could be the woman that took down America’s first tyrant.”