America Stranded in a Fantasy World

Chapter 35 The 25th Hour

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CHAPTER 35

"The 25th Hour"

September 9th, 2040, The Oval Office

Twirling his pen in his right hand, President Dresden continued to stare at the incident report rather than the joint chiefs sitting on the two couches. With a heavy exhale he set his pen down on the report.

"You know what this forces me to do, right? Someone has to take the fall." Dresden sighed.

"Sir, with all due respect. It was no longer a protest at that point, but a riot. We had an obligation to put it down." One general countered.

"I understand that, but the media is pushing a different story on how the civilians were treated. Thirty-five are in hospital and seven are dead. And the fact that this happened here makes it worse. I asked for the protest to be contained, not agitated. And what's this about the police in Denver Colorado just... surrendering to the protesters there? Nearly half of my daily brief is filled with these types of reports." Dresden states, confused by the local law enforcement response, a general answered, sweat forming around his forehead.

"Sir, we've deployed everyone we can. Park Police, National Guard, Secret Service and even Prison Special Operations. But we simply do not have the manpower to contain these protests. My advice is we use the Insurrection Act in our favor. Send in the army to regain control, then have local authorities contain the protests."

"Initiating the Insurrection Act is a significant step, sir." Another general stated. "If we put our soldiers on the streets, there will be debates about civil liberties and state autonomy. This might even cost you your term"

"Better for me to be impeached than to see this nation fall into chaos. Now, where are we with finding a solution to our logistics problem in New Europe?"

"Here, sir." The general handed over a bulky file. President Dresden scanned through the first few pages. "Operation Postmaster, sir. Taking what we learned with the creation and heavy use of the Mulberry harbors during World War Two, there's a plan to create a modernized version and, although a landing zone is still being scouted, we are confident we can pull this off. Once the harbor is created, we can expect to have enough capacity and infrastructure for any large-scale military north of The Elven Forest. Though we still highly recommend the construction of railways to aid in relieving logistical pressure on truck convoys during peacetime or should we find the harbor able to handle more traffic. We also have the option of making it a commercial area."

"And just how much would all of this cost?"

"We're asking for a budget of seven billion, sir." With a huff, President Dresden handed back the file.

"Seven billion, that's all you're getting. We don't have the leeway for a financial blackhole and I certainly don't want another F-22 program situation."

"Sir." At the back of the office, another general produced a file. "On the topic of New Europe, here is the report you requested from the DoD (Department of Defense) concerning troop readiness." Handing over the file, the general continued. "Due to the scattered nature of the transfer, and our soldiers having to abandon the majority of their heavy equipment, we have condition reports of divisions missing up to 67%; and there's a need to keep deterrence high for us to combat The Autoriario Empire, The Utspraakriech Empire and The Parliyorlik Theocracy. However, there is currently no port of sufficient size for transportation and without proper naval infrastructure, it's not logistically feasible to deploy or resupply heavy equipment such as the Abrams M2A1, M1299, Typhoon system, Patriot system, and many others. To counter this, the DoD has started procurement of air-transferable equipment. Namely, the M10 "Booker", KF-41 "Lynx" and Strykers have been sent to replace losses. The DoD has also elected to send out M1288 GMVs, Infantry Squad Vehicles (ISV) and Oshkosh L-ATVs. Specifically with the Oshkosh L-ATVs, a portion will be outfitted with JAGM Quad Launchers. Giving our soldiers some much-needed teeth."