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«And if they land here, what do you do?»
«Shoot, scoot and hide.»
«Okay.»
«Don't worry about us, Daddy, you're going to be on the sharp end.»
«Are you worried about me, pumpkin?» asked Mike, honestly surprised.
«Uh-huh.» She started to cry.
«Oh, pumpkin,» he smiled, putting on his mission face, «don't worry about me.» He slipped on his Milspecs, wrapped Shelly around his head as a hands-free communicator and smiled ferally. «I've finally got the Posleen right where I want them. They don't know it, but they're about to get the whole can of kick-ass.» He looked out at the fields he had grown up in and thought for a moment about what he had said. The company was trained and ready. He was trained and ready. They could do this. The company believed it. The battalion commander and staff believed it. Regiment was as sure as if it were a steel-hard certainty.
Now if he could only convince himself.
* * *
Mueller, meantime, was getting on a different kind of mission face, as were Mosovich, Ersin and Keene. Keene's proposed plan for the defense of Richmond was not meeting with the approval of the mayor or the city engineer.
«We thought you were going to come up with a compromise plan, Mr. Keene, not a new plan to destroy the city,» snarled the mayor, banging the conference table.
«It is not intended to destroy the city, Mr. Mayor, only a small portion of it.»
«And it does not provide for the defense of the outskirts whatsoever,» noted the city engineer, poring over the detailed plan that Mueller's AID had printed out on their arrival.
«Fortress Forward does not intend the defense of the majority of the city,» interjected the corps engineer, «as we have pointed out time and again.»
The corps commander motioned him subtly to back off, more than familiar with the old argument between the two. «This firesack of Schockoe Bottom actually looks like precisely what the Fortress Forward program is all about, but it only makes provisions for one outer fort,» he continued, «instead of the suggested multiple.»
«Yes, but it makes best use of the available terrain,» noted Keene. «This is really the only area where you have two useable terrain features to emplace on and catch the Posleen in a crossfire. And the outer fortress can provide fire support if the forces are forced to retreat towards Newport News.»
«What about the rest of the city? What about south Richmond? Our primary industrial area?»
Colonel Braggly was again waved down by the corps commander as Keene answered. «It is indefensible. Period. With the exception of a few gently rolling knolls, the James is the only noticeable terrain feature.
«There are four scenarios to work with here, gentlemen,» Keene said in an iron voice, «and we have to be very clear about what they are. Sergeant First Class Mueller, what is the best-case scenario for Richmond?»
«The Posleen land beyond masking terrain features, effectively out of range to cause us harm.»
«Right,» agreed Keene. «In which case, a few days later a portion of the corps rolls out to wherever they are needed.»
«What?» shouted the mayor. «Why the hell are you going to do that?» he snarled, turning to the corps commander.
«To support those in need, Mr. Mayor,» replied the corps commander, calmly. «I would hope that other corps would do the same for us. No, I know they would; it would be the right military decision and so ordered. Of course, if the Posleen land well away from here, other units would react. We're not going anywhere if they land in California.»
«Yes, sir, but I was thinking if they landed south of the Broad River or north of the Potomac, for example,» noted Keene. «Now, Master Sergeant Ersin, what is the worst-case scenario?»
«They land directly on us,» he said to universal grimaces. His own scarred face remained stone-faced, eyes remote.
«And in that case,» Keene said, with an almost u
«Our what?» asked the city engineer.
«Our Go-To-Hell plan,» answered Mosovich, face as stony as Ersin's.
«The plan you use when all your other plans have failed,» noted the corps commander, nodding his head at the clued-in civilian engineer.
«Your 'On Deadly Ground Plan,' as it is sometimes called,» interjected the otherwise silent corps chief of staff.
«Our 'we are fucked' plan,» Keene clarified, «will be to destroy the city, Mr. Mayor, because there will be no survivors anyway and we might as well leave the Posleen a smoking ruin. Mine every building, blow up every block as they come to it. Leave not one edible scrap of food including humans, destroy the bodies as we go. Kill as many Posleen as we can, but most of all, make it very plain that fighting humans is a losing proposition: All you get is sorry, hungry and sore.» He looked around the room and for once saw consensus.
«You might make that Virginians,» corrected the city engineer with a slight, sad smile.
«As you will. Ah, sir, am from the Great State of Juwjah, Ah will have you know.» It was good for a little laugh. «But that is the absolute worst-case scenario. There are two more, anyone care to take a stab?»
«They land either north or south of the James, but not right on us,» said the corps commander, «we've gotten that far.»
«Right. Now, if they have landed south of the James, my professional recommendation is to pull back across the James and wait for support. Maybe do some things with the bridges and the floodwall on that side, in the way of sucking them in, but basically the south side is open terrain and you'll just have to sit on this side and pound them with artillery. On the other hand, if they land on the north side we probably have the time to implement the fire-trap plan. If we get started right away.»
«You already said it is pointless if they don't land between the Potomac and the James. It might not even work if they land north of Fredericksburg,» argued the City Engineer. «In that case, I don't think we could get the support of the owners of those facilities for the demolition work.»
«We don't need it,» pointed out the corps engineer. «Necessary defensive works under the emergency war provisions. We have eminent domain.»
«That could be tied up in court for days,» bemoaned the mayor.
«They can apply for just reparations,» said the corps commander, «but that is all.»
«Yes,» said Keene, «that has all been covered in the PDC program. The private owner just does not have a leg to stand on if the property falls under the heading of necessary defensive structures as defined by the area commander, which is General Keeton,» he noted, gesturing at the Corps Commander at the head of the table. «He can order it with no debate now or in the future, if he, in his sole opinion, feels it militarily justified.»
«On the other hand,» noted General Keeton, with a frown, «we will absolutely require the help of the entire civilian populace. We ca
«Do we really have to destroy Schockoe Bottom?» asked the mayor, plaintively. «It's an eyesore and a crime zone, but there's a lot of history there.»
«Mr. Mayor,» said Mueller gently, «whether today, or in the next year, a whole new book in the history of Richmond is about to be written. The only question is whether there will be anyone to write it.»
The mayor looked at the city engineer, who shook his head in resignation. «I still say we could have circumvalleted the entire city.»
«Maybe we could have,» nodded Keene, «but we're out of time and it would have thrown away our best terrain features. There is no way, in Fortress Forward, to save the city as a functioning entity. Rather, the idea is to absolutely screw the Posleen while retaining the historic core.»