Modern Warfare

United States Northern Command

Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station, CO

Any person subject to this chapter who— (1) with intent to usurp or override lawful military authority, refuses, in concert with Page 793 TITLE 10—ARMED FORCES § 896 any other person, to obey orders or otherwise do his duty or creates any violence or disturbance is guilty of mutiny; (2) with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of lawful civil authority, creates, in concert with any other person, revolt, violence, or other disturbance against that authority is guilty of sedition; (3) fails to do his utmost to prevent and suppress a mutiny or sedition being committed in his presence, or fails to take all reasonable means to inform his superior commissioned officer or commanding officer of a mutiny or sedition which he knows or has reason to believe is taking place, is guilty of a failure to suppress or report a mutiny or sedition. (b) A person who is found guilty of attempted mutiny, mutiny, sedition, or failure to suppress or report a mutiny or sedition shall be punished by death or such other punishment as a court martial may direct.

Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), Article 94

“Status report, Wilkes.”

General Wilkes cleared his throat.  They had finally managed to get video conferencing working between Cheyenne Mountain and the Pentagon by completely taking down the entire communications infrastructure and restoring a known good backup.  It had taken a full two days, but now they could communicate with the Joint Chiefs and the Secretary of Defense (SecDef).  At first Wilkes had been thrilled to be back in contact.  Now he wasn’t so sure.  Unlike most other Air Force officers, as the commander of US Northern Command he reported directly to the Secretary of Defense, not to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs or the Air Force Chief of Staff.  The SecDef was a civilian but was formerly a US Army officer.  In theory that meant that he should understand what Wilkes was trying to tell him.

“Sir. We have an extremely large force of PLA regulars conducting operations within CONUS, primarily within Texas and California.  We believe that approximately five hundred thousand PLA regulars were sea lifted into Mexico under cover of the UN peacekeeping operations there.  We have active Army, Air Force and Navy units within the AOR.   The invasion was preceded by space-based bombardment from a previously unknown satellite weapon system of Chinese origin.  This bombardment was extremely precise and was able to significantly degrade capabilities across all four branches of the service with a particularly high toll on the Air Force.  The majority of our combat capability was caught on the ground.  This was immediately followed by a highly effective electronic warfare attack.  This attack successfully degraded SACCS causing an EMPTY QUIVER event.  SACCS remains down, unknown time to remediate.  Additional EW attacks on communications systems degraded video, voice and data comms across CONUS.  Service has returned to limited functionality, repairs continue.  SatCom remains down, unknown time to repair.  This attack was preceded by Russian intelligence operations in Mexico which we believe are related to this attack.”

The SecDef just shook his head.  “The Russians and the Chinese hate each other.  This isn’t related.”

“Sir?”

He slapped his hand on the table.  “It’s obvious, our tariff and trade policy is working and the Chinese panicked.  Their economy is about to collapse so they need to take out the President.”

Wilkes was stunned.  Where was this analysis coming from?  “I’m sorry, sir, but our current intelligence…”

“Is wrong.  This is a decapitation strike.”  He looked down at the written report in his hands.  “Your current defense plan needs to be scrapped.  Move I Corps to a blocking position at the Mississippi.  In addition, are to defend Texas at all costs.  California is a lost cause at this point.  We’ll worry about that after we stop the attack on the President.”

“Sir, where is the President now?”

“Need to know.”

“Yes, sir.  Given that his location is secret and presumably mobile if needed, do we really think that a Chinese decapitation strike is possible?”

“Clearly they think so.”

“Sir, I…”

“You have your orders, Wilkes.  Out.”

With that, the video call ended.

Wilkes just sat there in the secure conference room for a full five minutes.  While service in the military always involved some absurdity and he had gotten orders he didn’t agree with before, the conversation with SecDef was something unprecedented in his experience.  It simply was not possible for any sane person to reach the conclusion that the SecDef had reached.  In any emergency, the President would simply be moved.  There were dozens of places he could be moved to and almost nobody would know.  If the Chinese did somehow manage to magically fight their way through half the United States and reach Washington DC, he simply wouldn’t be there.  Besides, if that was their plan, why didn’t they bomb the White House in the original strike?  They could have timed the strike for a press conference or even something like the State of the Union address.  No, the conclusion that the Chinese were conducting a decapitation strike wasn’t wrong, it was certifiably insane. 

Why would the SecDef believe it?

There was only one answer to that.  He didn’t.

Assuming he was not insane, why would he say something that he didn’t believe in?

It didn’t make any sense.

Then he remembered the Red Team report and the note from SacPac.  Could it be true?  Could the Russians have compromised the SecDef?  Hell, had they compromised the President?  Surely not.  Wilkes had never met SacPac himself.  He knew the man by reputation and that reputation was fearsome.  Was that enough for him to….  His mind shied away from the term.  He forced himself to confront what was there in front of him.  Could he commit mutiny?

Never in his professional military life had he faced such a moral crisis.  None of his training or experience prepared him to face a situation where his command leadership had been compromised.  He didn’t know if that was even true in this case.

He opened the door to the conference room.  His aide was outside, waiting patiently.  “Is there anyone from JAG in the facility?”

“Sir, I believe there is a JAG officer down the hall, part of the standby duty team.”

“Ask him to join me here, please.”

When he came in, the Air Force captain looked concerned.  It wasn’t normal that the commanding officer called a JAG officer into a private meeting.  Usually, they call you when someone in your command is under arrest.  “Sir?”

“Lee is it?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Captain Lee, I have a hypothetical for you.  This entire conversation is privileged.  Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir, but as a serving officer any communications with me is not considered privileged unless I am defending you in a court martial.  Do you believe this is the case, sir?”

“No, not yet.”  If anything, the captain became more concerned.  “Very well, this is code word material.  I am ordering you to classify this information as top secret.  That work?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Hypothetically, if I was issued an order by the SecDef but did not follow that order, I assume that would be mutiny.”

“Technically, that would be UCMJ Article 92.”  He paused for a moment and then recited the section from memory.  “Any person subject to this chapter who violates or fails to obey any lawful general order or regulation.  It’s a common article cited in failure to obey orders cases.  I’ve tried two of them myself.”

“And if the order isn’t legal?”

“Well, then you cannot obey the order under any circumstance.  If you obey an illegal order, you can be prosecuted.”

“So, I need to know if the order is legal or not BEFORE I obey it?”

“Sir, you must reasonably believe that the order is not legal.  UCMJ does not require you to be omniscient, just dutiful.”  He looked down at his hands, clasped on the table in front of him.  “Sir, may I ask?”

“No.  This conversation did not happen.  Dismissed.”

“Yes, sir.”

While he probably hadn’t needed the primer on military law, the conversation helped him to crystalize his thinking.  The trick was that he had to reasonably ascertain that the order was not legal.  So, he had to do his due diligence.  How to do that?  He knew how to confirm intelligence.  You had to know the source.  If the source wasn’t available, you confirmed the intel with sources who knew the original source or had access to the information.  To put it another way, he needed to talk to someone who knew SacPac well.

He picked up a handset.  “I need an encrypted channel to Third Fleet, Actual.  Right now.”

It took a few minutes, but finally the handset rang again.  “Third Fleet, Lensten.”  Wilkes didn’t want to think about how the signal had been routed to a ship offshore, he was just pleased that communications were starting to work again.

“Bill, it’s Barry Wilkes.  I need you to keep this conversation confidential.”

“Yes, of course.  I would say congratulations on taking Northern Command, but I’m sure you hate how you got the job.”

“Same to you, of course.”  Wilkes paused, not sure where to start.  “Bill, how well do you know SACPAC?”

“The Admiral?  I worked on his staff for two years.  Most brilliant officer I have ever worked with.”

Wilkes sighed.  He was afraid of that.  “Yeah, I’ve heard.”

“Why is that a problem?”

“Because based on something he told me, I’m about to disobey a direct order.”

“What?” 

Briefly, Wilkes filled him in on the conversation with SecDef and the message from The Admiral.  There was silence on the other end of the line.

Finally, Wilkes couldn’t wait any longer.  “Well?  Should I arrest myself?  Call the MPs?”

“No.  If so, call them for me too.”  Another pause.  “I think this explains his last message to me.”

“What did he tell you?”

“He said, ‘Trust General Ruiz with your life.’”

“General Ruiz?  The commandant of the Marine Corps?”

“Yes.”

“He’s the last of them.”

“What?”

“Ruiz is the last real soldier up there.  Since the Chief of Staff of the Air Force resigned, there hasn’t been a real combat vet in charge of any of the other branches.  Just political hacks, all of them.”

“But not Ruiz.”

“No, he was in Fallujah.  He gets it.”

US Navy, Third Fleet , embarked USS Bougainville (LHA-8)

30 NM West Santa Rosa Island, California

“Sir!  We have confirmed reports of PLA units moving north on I-5, approximately two klicks south of La Jolla.”

Lensten swore to himself.  Again, the Chinese were taking the initiative while the US military stumbled around, unable to get organized due to the ongoing computer and communications outages caused by the Chinese electronic warfare attack on the first day of the war.

“What do we have at Pendleton?”  Camp Pendleton was a major US Marine Corps base and straddled I-5 just north of San Diego.  The coastal hills came pretty close to the ocean there and it made a natural choke point.

“First Marine got pretty beat up.  Plenty of effectives still but a good portion of their equipment was sitting out in the open and got hammered.”  Camp Pendleton was home to 42,000 active-duty troops.  They had the personnel to defend the Los Angeles basin, but they would need logistics support from the ships offshore.

“Alert the MEU commander.  I want them ashore yesterday, prioritize fighting vehicles and ammo until Pendleton digs out.  Establish a defensive line someplace close to San Onofre.  Dig in deep.”

The liaison Marine raised his hand.  “Sir, we train for amphib right there, the beach at the foot of Las Pulgas Road.  I’ve taken an AAV ashore there myself.”

Lensten pointed to the Marine.  “As the man says.  Make it happen.”  He turned to his air commander.  “Spool up the fighters, I assume we will have company.”

“Yes sir, I have a CAP out now, two birds on plus five and ten more down below.  We’ll get them rotating in groups of four to get constant coverage over the beach.”

“Any word from the units ashore?”

“The airfield there took a direct hit.  We have recovered a dozen Ospreys and two dozen helos.  We had them staged up north at Red Beach.”

Lensten looked at the map.  Red Beach airport was a small facility that the USMC used to train crews how to set up Forward Arming and Refueling Points (FARPs).  Just a couple of cement strips and a helicopter landing pad.  “That’s too far south, let’s move them north and set up a FARP for them there.”

The air commander consulted the map.  “HOLF is shut down, but it’s up in the hills up there.  Nice and close but sheltered from direct fire.”  He pointed to an old air strip up on the hills above San Onofre.  It was still within the sprawling Pendleton base, away from civilians.  Harder to supply a remote location but easier to secure.

“OK, make the call.”

1st Battalion, 5th Marines 

Oceanside, California

Twenty Amphibious Combat Vehicles (ACV) from the 1/5 came tearing down Old Pacific Highway at an absurdly unsafe speed.  Suddenly, the lead vehicle screeched to a halt, the others lining up nose-to-tail behind the lead vehicle.  Lieutenant Colonel Seville jumped out of the lead vehicle and sprinted to the right where a large culvert poked out of the low hill leading up to the freeway.  Sticking his head in, he examined the huge pipe.  It was about five feet high. Not comfortable, but his marines could get in there.

“Dismount!”  The ACVs disgorged Marines, all in full combat gear and most carrying heavy boxes.  “Inside!  I want one hundred pounds every five feet.  MOVE IT.”

It had taken nearly two days to unearth the ammunition bunkers located deep within the hilly terrain of Camp Pendleton.  Whoever had attacked them knew EXACTLY where everything was stored.   However, the bunkers had been designed to survive a near miss from a nuclear weapon and were largely intact.  The roads, loading docks, and other related infrastructure were not anywhere near as robust.  When the team of engineers had finally opened up a room containing twenty tons of C4, Seville knew exactly where to put the bounty.  The plan was to blow a huge hole in the freeway to keep Chinese armored units from using it.  Unfortunately, this part of I-5 was built along the flat land of the coast and didn’t have any convenient bridges to blow up.  This meant doing things the hard way. 

Cutting I-5 wasn’t something Seville thought he would ever be doing, but the orders from 1^st division command had been explicit.  Prevent Chinese armored forces from penetrating the LA basin via the I-5 corridor.  The hills in and around Pendleton were tough for armor, and anyone who tried to move THROUGH Pendleton was in for a tough time.  Marines were busy setting up tank traps, IEDs, and other forms of ambush in the narrow valleys and arroyos of the base.  That left the freeway, the railroad right-of-way or the tiny road he was standing on.  Seville was betting on a frontal attack, right up this freeway.

He picked up a handset, “Lima Bravo, One Five Actual.”

“Go for Lima Bravo.”

“Lima Bravo, be advised that the five will be closed for business in three zero mikes.”

“Affirmative, Beachhead Las Pulgas dark in one five mikes.  Amphib moves to alternate site San Onofre.”

“Understood.”  Seville heard the roar of diesel engines and looked up to see a column of huge LVSR trucks roaring down the empty freeway, each carrying a standard shipping container.  The materials in those containers would have to support the Marines defending the narrow strip of land between the hills and Pacific Ocean for at least another day until the teams working feverishly up the hill got the supply situation under control.

Grunting with satisfaction, Sevelle walked back to his antenna-festooned ACV-C command vehicle.  “Move us back to the COC.”  Unlike the US Army or US Air Force, the USMC was used to operating as independent units.  It was normal for a Marine battalion to operate completely independently.  With a LHA off the coast like they had at the moment, they also had their own air cover in the form of F-35Bs and Viper AH-1Z helicopter gunships along with an array of logistics support like the V-22 Osprey.  The Fifth Marine Regiment had set up a temporary “Combat Operations Center” or COC behind a hill on the other side of the freeway.  Marines were also used to operating in austere conditions (as if coastal California could be described as “austere” in any way).  As his command AVC-C pulled up to the large tent holding the COC, he exited the vehicle and walked into a swarming hive of activity.  Marines in full combat gear were moving in every direction.  Moving into the COC, he could hear Colonel Fernandez briefing several other officers.

“Arty, you’re here at Song’s Mesa.  I want all four batteries ready for fire missions in thirty.”  Fernandez looked at the officer commanding the artillery battalion.

“Aye aye, sir.  The units are already moving.”

“How are you fixed for ammo?”

“Could be better, sir.  About one hundred M107 rounds for each gun, but no copperheads.  I’ve checked with the MEU offshore and they don’t have any either.  An even dozen Excaliburs.”

“OK, we’ll save those for anything tasty.”  He looked at Seville.  “Seville, I want you up on the hill, organize recon and spot for artillery.”

“Aye aye, sir.  Explosives will be in place in twenty to close the freeway.”

“Good.  You will also have twenty Javelin teams.  I want those focused on SEAD.  Anything that even looks like anti-air dies first.  We need to keep the skies clear for the helos.”

“Roger that, sir.  I’m assuming MANPADS.”

“Yes, we’ll just have to take our chances there.  Keep moving and hope for the best.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Move it.”

1st Battalion, 5th Marines 

San Onofre Mountain, California

Seville carefully inspected the observation post the Marines of 1^st Battalion had dug into the top of the mountain.  They had taken the time to camouflage it from the air with local plants and to ensure it was fully shielded from infrared by using insulation in the roof.  They fully expected to be surveilled by drones and manned aircraft.  They were terribly exposed up here on the mountain, but without their normal constellation of supporting aircraft and drones, they needed to have a good observation point with a clear view of the entire battlefield.  From up here, they could almost see Oceanside, which was the last town before Camp Pendleton heading north.

A radio tech handed him a handset.  “One Five Actual.”

“One Five Actual, Lima Bravo.  Confirmed enemy movement, battalion-strength armored column.  Ten klicks south of your position, moving north at approximately 20 kph.”

“Copy armored brigade or better ten klicks south.  Any update on air?”

“Negative.  There are bandits approximately fifty klicks south of the border, unknown intention this time.  BARCAP in place, we will attempt to keep them off you, it depends on how heavy they come.”

“Understood.  Out.”

At least they had some air support.  A Barrier Combat Air Patrol was designed to keep the bad guys away from the battle, but with the limited air power the Marines had at their disposal, nobody really knew if they would be able to keep the enemy fighters away.

 In fifteen minutes, they could see the Chinese column.  They were moving methodically up the freeway, using light scouting units to close off the onramps and off ramps as they crossed.  There was zero civilian traffic, so he wasn’t sure why they were bothering.  There had been panic and jammed freeways for two days until martial law had been declared and the freeways closed to civilian traffic.  Now that the fighting was about to actually start, it was a relief to see no civilians in the combat zone.  As the Chinese crossed into Camp Pendleton proper, Seville raised his tactical radio.  “Apache Actual, One Five Actual.”

“Go for Apache.”

“Ready.”

“Affirmative.  Call it.”

“Wait.”  As he watched, the leading elements reached and passed the CHP inspection station that was just beyond the culvert they had rigged with explosives.  The first two tanks were just about to reach the culvert.  “Now.”

“Fire in the hole.”

For a painful two seconds, nothing happened.  Then a huge section of the freeway disappeared in smoke and dust.  Debris flew in every direction.  It was nearly two miles between his position and the explosion, and it took nearly eight seconds for the sound to travel that far.  The rolling boom was impressively loud even at that distance.  Seville held his breath as the smoke and dust cleared, hoping they had used enough explosives.  There hadn’t been time to consult with the combat engineers so they had just used as much C4 as they could.  After a full two minutes, he knew they had used enough.  A deep trench cut across the freeway.  No way a tank would get across that.

The Chinese down below knew their business.  Within fifteen minutes, bridging units had been called up.

Seville picked up the radio again.  “Alpha Six, One Five Actual, fire mission, high explosive.  Grid five six one.  Bridging units coming up on the gap.”

The Marine artillery division had been expecting the call.  “Alpha battery copies.  Fire mission, high explosive, full spread.”

A few moments passed.  “Shot out.”

Seville aimed his binoculars at the target area.  He couldn’t hear the rounds, but he could see them exploding.  A little short.  “Raise five zero and fire for effect.”  Within moments, dozens of high explosive 155 air burst rounds were raining down around the bridging units.

The sound of ripping linen pulled his eyes off the target area.  “INCOMING!  DOWN!  DOWN!”  He had a moment to curse himself for using the radio too much before the Chinese artillery barrage landed all around his position.

“Alpha Battery, One Five Actual – Fire mission, counter battery.”

“Counter battery aye.”

For the next few minutes Seville just hunkered down in his hole and prayed.  He had been under fire before, but nothing like this.  An artillery barrage was pretty much the scariest thing he had ever experienced in his fifteen-year career in the Marine Corps.  He hoped he would never experience it again, but he was pretty certain that was a false hope.  Eventually, the attack slacked off and he was able to take another look at the battlefield.  The Chinese were attempting to use bulldozers to open up a route through the trench.  He looked around the observation post.  Amazingly, none of the three other marines in the small bunker had been injured in the heavy artillery barrage.

“Stalker, One Five Actual.”

“Go for Stalker.”

“I have engineers trying to breech the gap.”

“Roger.  Two mikes.”

The ten AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters came streaking in from the Pacific, barely feet above the water, moving as fast as they could to avoid enemy fire.  At the last minute, they popped up, fired their hellfire missiles and streaked by, winding their way through the canyons below San Onofre Mountain.  SAMs streaked up after them, plucking one Viper from the sky.  A Javelin responded, taking out the radar unit supporting the mobile SAM battery.  Missiles crisscrossed the sky for several minutes.

Seville grinned as the Chinese armor pulled back, out of the killing zone. His good cheer didn’t last.  “What the hell is that?”  It looked like a swarm of insects was coming up the freeway, but insects didn’t move in formation like that.  A swarm of black dots moved along, exactly paralleling the freeway.  He was still wondering what they were when a group peeled off and headed straight for him.  “DRONES!  Open fire!”