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«Good,» Mueller commented.
«Why good?»
«That leaves the Richbrau in the perimeter.»
«Yeah,» laughed Keene, «I hadn't thought of that.»
«Well, we just would have had to change the perimeter.»
«Right,» laughed Keene again. Then he looked puzzled. «Hey, why are we in the Crowne Plaza instead of the Berkley Hotel? It's right next door to the Richbrau.»
«Hardy Boys.»
«What?»
«Cyberpunks. They got there first. One of the laws of SpecOps: never mix Cybers and SF, it just doesn't work.»
«What the hell are Cyberpunks doing in Richmond?»
« . . . and never ask Cybers what they're doing anywhere.»
«Oh.» Keene shook his head and returned to the business at hand. «The perimeter will be as follows: 95 to the Franklin exit. Block all entrances into the city. Use all the buildings for direct fire into the pocket. Continue up Thirteenth then cut across to Twelfth at Cary down to Byrd. The old power station is outside, the Federal Reserve and Riverfront Plaza are inside. Maintain the defenses up to around Belvedere Street where it gets carried down to the river and necked off with the only real wall we're going to have to build.
«Whatever direction the Posleen come from, all roads leading to Schockoe Bottom are open and all roads leading elsewhere are closed. Pack the back side of the wall with troops, pack the skyscrapers with troops, all of them firing into the pocket. Artillery and mortars on the heights. If they're only on the north side, we can pack artillery on the south side of the James River and pound them all day long.
«God,» John paused for a moment, eyes practically glowing, «it's going to be glorious.»
«Just remember,» Mueller cautioned, «no plan survives contact with the enemy.»
«What?» asked Keene, confused.
«They never told you that in Te
«No. Why is that?»
«It's sort of a military axiom,» explained Mueller, watching the afternoon traffic build early. «The other side wants to win too, so they try to figure out how to defeat your plan. Although that's less of a problem with Posleen than with humans. And then there are all the little things you didn't think of. There are changes in orders that don't take into account the real situation. There are bad communications that lead to actions like Pickett's Charge. Lee said 'Don't charge' and the message was received 'Charge.' There's the 'fog of war,' making decisions on the basis of what you think is reality when in fact it is not.
«Anyway, you construct your plan and really internalize it, but you also construct alternative plans in case that one goes awry. If your primary plan is internalized, but not really expected to succeed perfectly, you can devise changes on the fly. And then you construct your GOTH Plan.»
«A Goth Plan?» asked Keene again, shaking his head at the pessimistic outlook of soldiers. «What? As in getting overrun by Goths?»
«Not 'Goth' as in 'Hun,' 'GOTH' as in G-O-T-H. Your Go-To-Hell plan. Your plan when all your other plans have gone to hell and the wolf is at the door. Your, 'They died with their boots on' plan.»
«Oh.»
«So what's the GOTH plan?»
«I don't know,» answered Keene, musing on the landscape below. «I don't plan for failure very well.»
«Then somebody fucked up saying you're a defense expert. 'Expect success, plan for failure' is right up there with 'on dangerous ground maneuver, on deadly ground fight' as a military axiom.»
«The only military axioms I was aware of before the Planetary Defense Center program were 'never volunteer for anything' and 'never get involved in a land war in Asia.' «
«Well, now you know,» Mueller fiddled his fingers and wrinkled his brow with a grin, «um, three more.»
Keene chuckled as Mueller's AID chirped.
«Sergeant Mueller.»
«Yes, AID?» Mueller said with a smile.
«Five Posleen globes have just exited hyperspace in near-Earth orbit. TERDEF analysis calls for landings in approximately three hours.» The voice was so toneless that the facts took a moment to sink in.
«What?» Mueller's eyes momentarily went round and his skin flushed with a cold sweat. He involuntarily looked up, then shook himself thinking the action was futile. Even as he mentally started to berate himself there was a sudden flash of light in the cloudless sky. The detonation of an antimatter reactor was clear even in bright sunlight.
«Five Posleen globes have just exited hyperspace in near-Earth orbit. TERDEF analysis calls for landings in approximately three hours.»
Mueller looked at Keene who had continued to look out over the cityscape.
Uh, oh. «AID.»
«Yes, Sergeant Mueller?»
«Contact Sergeant Major Mosovich. Tell him to get the corps commander to stall on the defense plan. I think we have a wi
«Well,» said Keene turning back to the sergeant. «I see what you mean about plans now. I suppose I'd better get started on that GOTH plan.»
CHAPTER 31
The Pentagon, VA, United States of America, Sol III
1820 EDT October 9th, 2004 ad
«Have you been getting everything you needed?» asked General Horner as he strode into the conference room. It had been billed as a press conference but, in a rare burst of sanity, the news media agreed to simply have one representative of each major media «type» in the Continental Army Center.
Until the Blue Mountain Planetary Defense Center was completed, the nerve center for the defense of the United States was in the Pentagon. The indefensible building gave Jack Horner the uncomfortable feeling of swinging in the breeze. Being on the front line did not bother him—he had been there and done that—but it was no place to command a continental-scale battle.
His AID would help, but even with it he needed an undistracted staff and that was not going to happen if the Posleen were breathing down their necks. And the latest information made that look pretty likely.
«Well, sir, we really haven't been given any access since the first warning,» answered Argent, as the unofficial spokesperson. Although the other representatives were all «Pentagon Hands» none of them had Argent's depth of experience or name recognition. His cameraman, another old Pentagon hand, subtly directed his camera towards the general. Although the press conference had not officially been «started» all was fair in a fluid situation like this.
«So I understand,» said Horner with a bleak smile of anger. It was not how he had told the Pentagon Public Information Office to handle information flow. As he had just explained to the chief of information's replacement.
«To change that, I'm going to assign you Lieutenant Colonel Tremont, my senior aide.» He gestured to the slim, dark lieutenant colonel accompanying him. «He can cut through any red tape you may encounter. We so far have no indication that the Posleen use battlefield intelligence. I've already cut half of the red tape out and decided you can report on just about anything you generate while you're in here. I'm giving you one hundred percent access to my areas of responsibility. You basically have Top Secret clearance and assumed Need-To-Know on anything related to this invasion. If anyone has any questions about that they can direct them to me after they have answered your questions.»
Argent looked momentarily stu
«This was the original plan, believe it or not. I have to communicate effectively not only to my troops, but to the citizens of the United States. It is my job, my duty, to protect them and keep them informed of dangers to the best of my ability. The best way to do that is through you,» he gestured at the TV crew, «and your radio friends.» He gestured at the representatives from ABC Radio.