John Ringo - When the Devil Dances

Horner opened his mouth and closed it then opened it again and sighed.

“First, Madame President, let me say that I appreciate you… explaining that. If you had done so before, however, I could have suggested some ways that we could have… adjusted that public perception. We could have used them in the ‘fortress cities’ in the plains, after telling the public that we were simply opening up, effectively and pardon my language, ‘the whole can of whup-ass.’ I think that would have permitted a reevaluation on the part of the public.

“Second,” he paused, unsure of how to phrase it, “let me say that your knowledge of nuclear warfare and weaponry does you as much disservice as your knowledge of geography does you credit. We’re not using traditional ‘dirty’ nukes for this; we don’t have them. The warheads in the missiles we’ll be using, the last few Peacekeepers we have in silos, are relatively ‘clean.’ The radioactive exposure for persons downwind of the blast, in the ‘fallout zone’ will be less in one year than the acceptable exposure for an x-ray technician.”

“General, if you’re trying to tell me that there won’t be any radiation from these weapons, please save it for the talking heads,” the President snapped. “Even ‘clean’ nukes are dirty.”

“Madame President, you can believe anything you want,” the general said coldly. “And I’m sure that the ‘Greens’ will scream bloody murder. But the radiation left from dropping a couple of billion megatons on that valley, and we don’t have that much, more’s the pity, will raise the background radiation of the Tennessee to that of, oh, living downwind of a coal-fired power plant. And we have lots of those.

“Be that as it may, this is a desperation use. If we don’t plug the Gap, it’s all over but the screaming. You, personally, and your staff and whatever dependents you have there with you, will undoubtedly survive. Something resembling civilization may even continue north of the ‘cold line’; the Posleen can’t organize a logistics line to save their lives so they’re never going to take, say, Athabasca. I understand that Montreal is a very pretty city, but all the survivors in the United States can’t fit in Canada, not in any sort of sheltered fashion, much less survive for any length of time. We have to plug the Gap. We have to keep it plugged. I need nukes to open it up so I can insert the plug. I’ll probably need them again to open up other points and reduce the Posleen in the Valley. We won’t have a lot of other choices this time.” He paused for a moment. “I don’t have any more ACS to throw away.”

The President looked at the papers on her desk for a moment and shook her head. “Will it work? Not just putting the ACS in place; I thought the Posleen shot down anything that was above the horizon. Will the missiles even be able to get to Georgia?”

“I don’t know,” Horner answered. “The remaining silos are all well north of the Posleen lines and there’s a strong storm across the Midwest. The combination should permit most of the missiles to fly. They’re most vulnerable in boost-phase, of course, but they’re going to loft very fast. The Posleen lose some of their efficiency when the targets get into orbital phase. We’ll just have to see if they make it.”

“And if they don’t?” the President asked.

“There’s… at least one other option,” Horner said with a smile that for him indicated extreme unhappiness. “The University of Tennessee has both a SheVa gun enhancement testbed program and a nuclear, antimatter rather, rounds program.”

“So… they can fire?” the President asked. “Antimatter is better than nukes, right? I mean, their fire can reach the Gap? And it’s a better, a cleaner, system?”

“Possibly,” Horner answered. “I’d… Both of the systems are experimental, ma’am. And their… area denial round has never been field-tested. It’s also… rather large, a very heavy warhead; you really would prefer not to know the megatonnage. The first time I fire something, I don’t want the price of failure being the loss of the entire Cumberland Valley.”

“Oh.”

Horner shrugged at her expression. “I suppose this is what I get for letting rednecks play with antimatter; they just don’t know when to say ‘Okay, that’s ’nough!’ Instead, it’s always ‘Hey, y’all! Watch this!’ I only became… apprised of the size of the round when we went looking for something to open up the Gap. I’ve since ordered a ‘reevaluation’ of the program.

“As for the ACS, the Triple Nickle will be caught in a vise. There will be well over a million Posleen passed through before they land. And there are the airmobile forces. And there are now an estimated twelve million gathered to the south. The battalion, what is left of it, will have to hold on to the Gap until we reduce the forces that have passed through and fight our way forward. Whether they survive… ? I don’t know. I do know that there is no other choice.”

The President continued to look down at the papers on her desk and then nodded.

“General Horner, you are permitted to fire into Rabun Gap. But Rabun Gap only, understood? All other uses will require my okay.”

“Understood,” Horner said with a nod. “Rabun Gap only. There may be a need at other times, however. That terrain favors defense; unfortunately we can’t stay on the defense anymore.”

“I understand that, General,” she said tartly. “But I approve each use. Understood? I want these things used precisely, not at the behest of some… officer… at the front.”

Horner took a calming breath before he replied. “Ma’am, I get the feeling you almost said something along the lines of ‘myrmidon’ there. The… officers at the front are trying to keep us from losing more ground, losing more passes. The targets that need to be struck will often change ; they come and go as fast as the Posleen can manage it. At some point we’ll need to reduce the level of authority, Madame President.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” she said, staring the general in the eye. “In the meantime… I’m the authority. Only I hold nuclear release.” She looked down again and shook her head. “And may the Lord have mercy.”

Horner took pity on her.

“Ma’am,” he said quietly. “I will say this. The only person I could imagine holding that pass, surviving it for long enough, is Michael O’Neal. It will be worth the clearing.”

“I’m glad you feel that way, General,” the President said, looking up angrily. “I was just thinking that I didn’t care much for the major. I don’t care much for someone who is willing to callously slaughter American civilians.”

“Excuse me?” Horner asked.

“There are always survivors,” the president snapped. “There are probably thousands of people in and around the Gap, hiding out. If we drop untold numbers of nuclear weapons on that area, there will be no survivors. I guess the vaunted Michael O’Neal doesn’t care about those poor civilians. The only thing he cares about is his precious battalion!”

Horner’s face was as frozen as a glacier and he waited a full fifteen seconds before answering.

“Madame President,” he said in a voice as cold as liquid helium, “Michael O’Neal’s daughter lives in Rabun Gap.”

Cally rolled over and coughed at the dust in her throat. After a few moments choking she sat up and looked around muzzily.