United States Northern Command
Peterson Space Force Base, El Paso County, CO
“That’s an act of war!” Wilkes was stunned. Not in his wildest dreams did he think that Mexico would start a war with the USA, but it appeared that’s what they had just done.
His boss wasn’t so sure. “Yes, but by who? Those are Chinese SAM batteries operating in northern Mexico. We know that the Chinese have peacekeepers in Mexico now.”
“Does it matter? The Chinese say that they only have a limited peacekeeping force there and the Mexicans say they are defending their country. The SAM battery reported to be Mexican Army on the radio.”
“Who exactly we are fighting will certainly matter a great deal, if we all want to survive what’s coming.” The commander of Northern Command ruffled through his notes. “What happened to that Navy Red Team that had such good intentions data during the last war?”
“Disbanded after the war.”
“Of course. OK, get on the horn to Pacific Theater command, let’s see how fast we can revive it.”
Wilkes laughed and handed over a document from Third Fleet. “Admiral Lensten must be a mind reader, sir. He said that exact same thing a week ago.”
“Make it happen.”
“Yes, sir.” Wilkes pulled out another document. “Here is the output of last year’s Ardent Sentry exercise.” Ardent Sentry was a US homeland defense exercise. Normally a completely academic activity, it was urgently relevant at the moment. “As per the exercise critique, we need to call up Guard and Reserve units right now. We are three to four weeks from call up to full strength.”
General Earhart nodded, reading. “OK, we will forward deploy to Bliss, Nellis and Pendleton.”
“Nellis is going to be crowded.”
“Yep, we will overflow tactical aircraft to Luke.”
“Yes, sir. We will be thin on THAAD and Patriot unless we pull units from Europe.”
“Flash a request to the Joint Chiefs. It’s all hands on deck now.”
“Yes, sir.”
As Wilkes walked into the main operations center, his mind on plans for defending the USA from a largely unknown threat, a staff sergeant flagged him down. “State Department has gotten an official protest from the Mexicans. They claim we killed Mexican soldiers in Northern Mexico.”
“Well, to be fair, we probably did.”
“Shit.” The sergeant was so worried he didn’t seem to notice he had sworn in front of a general.
“That sums it up, sergeant.”
Hours later, Wilkes was summoned back into his boss’s office. “Close the door.” Wilkes complied and stood in front of General Earhart’s desk, waiting. “Sit the hell down.” Earhart looked amazingly angry. Red faced and sweating, he looked like he was about to hit something.
“Bad news, sir?”
“We’ve been given a stand down order.”
“Excuse me?”
“We’ve been ordered to stand down. There are no foreign troops in Mexico other than a small peacekeeping force and the Mexicans are not a threat to the United States.”
Wilkes was shocked. He was used to some amount of “reality adjustment” in the military, but there was clearly a severe threat to the United States in Mexico, even if he didn’t really know what it was yet. “I’m sorry sir, but who said that?”
“The President of the United States.”
“The President said that?”
“Yes.”
Wilkes had no reply.
Erhart looked at Wilkes, concern in his eyes. “I want you at Crystal Palace. Now.”