Chapter 13
There was a top level meeting at Cheyenne Mountain going on. Several things were happening that needed to be addressed. First and foremost was satellite imaging that showed that General Baron was going to have big problems. There was absolutely no way he could deal with them with his on hand personnel and equipment.
The protectorate had gotten two M-1 tanks operational and were even now practicing fire and maneuver techniques. Someone over there appeared to know what they were doing. According to the satellite, the so called protectorate had an ammunition truck, a fuel truck, and enough persons to man two tanks. This did not bode well for General Baron. He was down to just 69 personnel with which to fight with.
General Colton was listening to his own assets and trying to decide what he could afford to shift for support.
"... What if we transferred that company we found in Missouri? That would give him a good solid base to fight with." A Colonel was saying.
"Those M-1s would tear them a new asshole, considering someone over there knows what they are doing. A couple AP rounds and there goes a large part of his people." Responded Major Hendricks, General Colton's aid. (AP stands for anti personnel )
"Not to mention the Bradlys. Those machine guns and the main gun are deadly, and we know they know how to use those too." Added a civilian analyst.
This went on for another 10 minutes before General Colton came to a decision.
"Ok, enough. What has to happen is those tanks and Bradlys are taken out, or immobilized. Here is what I want. We detach a section of our Special Forces with appropriate equipment to do the job. We keep a couple fighters on standby in case we need to take more decisive active action.
"General Baron is the legal authority in there, and by god, we will support him!" General Colton said, slamming his hand down on the conference table.
"Now, that has been taken care of, what is next?" The General inquired in a deceptively mild voice.
At Protectorate headquarters, the three directors were discussing the same person.
"I tell you, with the M-1s at our command, we can wipe this General Baron off the map once and for all. A charge of Bradlys and the tanks, with over 200 people in support will give us control of his ranch." Alex said gleefully.
Shaking his head, Mason retorted, "Think about it. They have air support. They have satellite surveillance. I think the only reason they have not attacked up to now, is because we hurt them, and taking us would be a losing proposition for them. No, we sit tight, train up, and keep our heads low.
"We start letting people out of the holding pens now. We don't give them any reason to come down here in any sort of force. Launching any attack or seeming too is not going to endear the government with us. So we play along. We make it very hard and to expensive to move against us." Mason finished.
And so it was, that while Cheyenne Command and The Protectorate were both discussing General Baron, Greg and his immediate commanders were having a trial. Myron Litchfield had been read the charges, and was trying to defend his actions. Unfortunately for him, in the light of day and listening to the recitation, even he quailed at the realization of his actions.
Lt. Preston was appointed as his defense counsel, and she did a credible job, but it was a loosing job. He was found guilty by a jury of his peers on over a dozen violations of articles of war, civil law, and war profiteering, and abuse of authority under color of law.
His execution was carried out the very next day. He protested his innocence and position right up until the firing squad shot him. Also executed was a soldier who had been caught pilfering medication for personal and recreational use. It was pain killers which he stole from the recovering wounded. It may have seemed harsh, but Greg wanted it known that no person was above the law, and in this time, if you had a problem, come out with it now and ask for help. If you were caught using under the emergency, you could expect summary execution. Particularly if you were caught sleeping on guard duty and drugged out of your mind.
After the day was over, Greg took a Hum V back to the lodge, and his family who waited there for him. He was disturbed at having to sign the death orders, and was feeling a bit nauseated by the whole thing.
When he had opened the link to Cheyenne command, he reported what had been done and his part in it. General Colton was only slightly sympathetic.
"Damn it, Greg. This is an emergency situation. We can't afford to appear weak to anyone. We have to let our people know we support them 100 percent, and using drugs in this situation is a foolish thing to do. I don't fault you your decision at all. You can't depend on a zonked out druggie.
"What you did took courage. It was a bit harsh perhaps, but these are harsh times. Now, we have other matters to address. I have authorized you the use of a detached Special Forces team. They are already on the way. I am also sending you another couple pods of supplies for support operations."
After that, the talk wound down to the general asking Greg if he could send some fresh beef his way. Since the death of so many of his people, he had excess eggs. He would send Milk, eggs, beef, cheese, cream back with the Sikorsky Sky crane supply cargo pods when they were emptied.
People had started to surface when it became apparent that Greg was not another dictator, and had earned their trust. So Greg found himself recruiting from the displaced population of Superior. There were more survivors than had previously been know.
Already Sgt. Ballerton had over 100 new people in a basic training course. It would still be several months before they were ready to join the regular remaining active force. Sgt. Ballerton told Greg to expect them after 4 months of intensive training.
An abandoned farm was being used as a housing and training base. The barn had been turned into a barracks of sorts, and the farm house itself headquarters for the training personnel. It was all new and everyone was learning their job. Several milk cows were turned over to the training camp, as were chickens for eggs. Meat and other supplies were shipped in as needed.
The Special Forces arrived that evening. 52 men of the 1st. Platoon, Charlie company reported under the leadership of 1LT. Lyle Anderson. A young man who was very confident of his men and himself.
They quickly off loaded all their equipment, and the equipment of the following supply copter. The chopper then on loaded the supplies promised by Greg. They then set up one GP medium tent and one small command tent. Heaters were installed, and soon the men were checking gear, and making sure everything was in readiness for instant deployment to the field.
Both Lt. Preston and Lt. Anderson got along very well. While Lt. Preston was titular head of the ranch and it's environs, at least while General Baron was gone, she left the new men in charge of their officer, and he appreciated the courtesy. She did radio the lodge, and Greg said he would return first thing in the morning unless there was something Lt. Anderson needed now. Since he didn't, Greg chose to remain at home with his family that night.
For over a week, the ranch, the training farm, and the lodge were busy reorganizing. It turned out that Sgt. Ballerton knew two people in the Special Forces unit that had been sent. One was a Buck Sergeant, the other was the Platoon Sergeant. A squad of 10 men were detached from the newly arrived SF, and lent a hand with weapons training at the farm. This alone speeded up the training process by several weeks.
While this was going on, The Protectorate was also training. Another tank crew was hastily trained. While not up to military standards, they could load, fire, and maneuver the M-1 well enough to be a threat.
So The Protectorate now had 3 M-1s and 5 Bradlys battle ready. These were dug into forward positions as guards in case of incoming attack. The Protectorate also managed to get into the anti air bunker, and now had 20 Stinger shoulder fired missiles issued out to use against any aircraft that was seen. Those had been the orders. Shoot down any aircraft.
It had been this order that had alerted Cheyenne command to the
existence of anti aircraft capabilities of the protectorate. A routine
over flight caused an over eager Protectorate soldier to try to acquire
th
e air craft as a target. The fighters onboard computer flashed
the
alarm to it's pilot, who took appropriate actions and left the area and
radioed ahead his finding and the air threat.