Dark Grid (42 page)

“The communications capabilities, i.e. the satellites, are there, but not everyone has the power to run the gear and centralized command and control is not possible at this time.  As Morris may or may not have told you, we have been monitoring all satellite based communications but have not been interfering or communicating until now.  We’d hoped to have things back on track and put back together by now but obviously we don’t and we don’t know how long it’s going to be.”

“ARCLiTE puts each isolated unit under local command and control under some well defined but very broad guidelines.  That’s part of what was downloaded.  The briefing is actually one-hundred and eighty-four pages with an additional five-hundred pages of ‘useful information’.  The legal part is in the one-hundred and eighty-four pages though.  It officially puts your group in control of what it’s doing instead of hoping you’re doing the right thing and waiting for us to get in touch.”

“From a 10,000 foot overview it may even look like the military is being disbanded with the exception of any base or fort responsible for securing nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons.  Those will stay on station and that is what the remaining centralized command and control has to focus on, which is why we are releasing control to the local level.”

“Any questions so far?”

“Actually no, for once it makes sense, sir.”

“Fair enough.  The next part is gonna be a kick in the pants.  Control of the local unit, regardless of size, cannot be relinquished to an NCO.  I just heard you take a breath, do not interrupt me Major; I am still your Superior Officer.”

“Yes, you heard me right.  You have been reviewed; you might feel that Captain would be more appropriate, and then again, you might feel that First Sergeant was just fine too.  It was, up until about thirty seconds ago.  You do, of course, have the option of refusing the commission, but I don’t think you will.  I’ve had the honor of promoting seven people and so far none of them have refused, although one of them was a near thing.”

“You may now speak freely.”

“Sir, I choked on my original objection when you said Major.  When you said it couldn’t fall to an NCO, I assumed there would be a field promotion to Second Lieutenant, just to get the Officer rank.  Frankly, I’m still trying to process that.  I’m not sure, sir, I,” Mallory stopped for a second.  “Let me try that again, sir, I’ve never been to OCS, I don’t know that I’m ready to be an Officer.  I won’t say that I don’t know the first thing about being an officer, because that’s patently false, but stripes to a Gold Oak Leaf?  Sir, that’s an awfully big jump.”

Olsen laughed out loud, “Indeed it is Major, but official in every way, shape, and form, and is effective as soon as you accept it.  All branches of the United States Military still exist, but you will soon be, literally, under completely autonomous local command and control.  Additionally, there is an extension that had to be added to ARCLiTE, which is why it hasn’t been called sooner.”

“The change won’t be nearly as difficult for you and yours to accept or internalize, but it basically allows for a much tighter relationship between you and the civilian population.  In fact, it almost requires it.  Some folks might even read it as a requirement that the military begin to operate more as a militia that reports to whatever civilian government is being put into place.  We’re obviously not omniscient, we don’t know everything that’s been going on, as we’ve only been able to monitor what’s gone over the satellite links, but from what we’ve observed, your group is set up at least as well as many and better than most.”  Olsen paused.

“Thank you, sir, that’s due in large part to the civilians and the ability of everyone to work together.  I’ve been blessed, frankly, with a very good group of people who are not only very capable, but incredibly motivated.  That goes for both civilian and military.”  Mallory took a deep breath.

“Colonel Olsen, Sir, I hereby accept my commission to the rank of Major in the United States Army.  As a Major, and under the terms outlined in ARCLiTE, having not yet read them, am I granted the authority to either promote from within my ranks, and/or accept for enlistment into my ranks, civilians under my area of influence and protection?”

“Major Jensen, I am uploading additional orders that cover that specifically, but which had to wait until your acceptance of your commission, as they aren’t actually covered directly under ARCLiTE.  To answer your questions, yes on both counts, based on guidelines you have just received.  Congratulations, Major.  As a side note, do you in fact have any Gold Oak Leaves in stores?”

“Thank you, sir, and yes, sir, we do, we should be good for a while at least for ranks.”

“Very good.  In that case, I’ll let you go.  I assume you’ll need some time to adjust, but congratulations again, and good luck.  Olsen Out.”  And with that, Mallory was alone in the tent.  She reached over and pressed the button that stopped recording the transmission.

After a few minutes, Mallory chuckled to herself.  “After all these years, it looks like Ramirez is going to have to stop saying there’s a reason he’s still a Staff Sergeant.”  Mallory leaned forward and put her face in her hands, “What in the world am I going to do?  I can’t gut my entire existing command staff with promotions.  I’m going to need a First Sergeant, and I’m going to need other officers.  Time to see what the orders say.”

She wasn’t overly concerned with the details of ARCLiTE, she could get into the nuts and bolts of it later and she had a feeling that it wouldn’t be changing their day to day much based on what Col. Olsen had said.  She was actually more interested with what her additional orders said and how much leeway they were going to give her.  Autonomous was all well and good as far as it went but the lights would eventually come back on and she would not put her people in a position to be hung out to dry.  She was a Soldier after all, well, actually now she was an Officer in the U. S. Army but the sentiment was the same.

…

Eric and Karen were seated across the table from Mallory in the command tent, which would soon be replaced by an actual building.  Mallory’s hands were clasped in front of her on the table to keep them still.  She wasn’t nervous exactly, but she was still feeling her way around in this new arena of ‘officerhood’.

“Eric, I need your help, don’t interrupt please.  Before I begin I need to share some information with you and Karen that you cannot share with anyone else for the time being.  This is not the beginning of a rumor tree, this is serious.  If you cannot assure me that what I tell you, regardless of what you decide to do, will remain confidential no matter what it is, we can be done now.  It is something that both of you need to know, though.”

Eric’s face was stone; he’d been in this position before and knew exactly how to handle it.  Karen, not so much.  Her eyes were huge and her face was pale as she turned to Eric and grabbed for his hand.  When she turned back to Mallory and asked, “What’s going on?!” there was more than just a little panic in her voice.

“Karen, the answer to that question isn’t going to be forthcoming until we can convince First Sergeant Jensen that whatever she tells us will remain between us for as long as she sees fit.”  There was a slight tremor at the corner of Mallory’s mouth when he called her by her title.  “I will say that if you and I are here, I doubt it’s all bad, or even bad at all.  I’m guessing she needs me to do something, and she wants you to know and/or wants your blessing.  I’m also guessing that she just doesn’t want it to get out before she has a chance to let everyone know.”

Eric turned back to Mallory, “I won’t ask if that’s right, Top because you won’t answer, but you have my word.  You know my security clearance level and, active or not, you know I mean it when I give that word.  Anything we say here stays here until you give the go ahead.  You also have my word for Karen that if she says the same thing its good but I think you know that already too.  If you can ease her mind as far as ‘we aren’t all gonna die in the next ten minutes’, I think she’ll give you that word too.”

“Fair enough.  Karen, I promise that to the best of my knowledge, we aren’t all gonna die in the next ten minutes.” Mallory smiled.

“Oh screw you and the horse you rode in on!” Karen laughed.  “Ok, ok, but Mal, you really need to work on the delivery, girl.  You could have started with the whole not gonna die part, you know?”  Karen took a breath, as she was calming down and getting some color back in her face, “Yes, I swear.  Give me a Bible if it would help, but I’m not going to make light of it by crossing my heart.  Anything we discuss stays here.  I won’t even discuss it with Eric.”

“Good enough for me.”  Now it was Mallory’s turn to take a breath.  “Some time later this evening, next couple of hours at the latest, you can quit calling me Top.”  Neither Karen nor Eric could keep the surprise off their face this time, and Eric almost stood up until he got a look from Mallory that made it clear she wasn’t finished and that he better not make a scene.

“You will finally be able to refer to me as ma’am and not incur my wrath as I’ve been promoted to Major, God help us all.  Eric, before you retired you were a Master Sergeant and therefore senior to everyone here but me, and I’m going to need a Captain…”

…

“Ramirez, have a seat.”

“Top, everything ok?”

“That remains to be seen, but I have a little problem, which means you have a little problem,” Mallory said.  This of course was a euphemism, and one that senior NCOs and Officers have been using time without end.  It also just about made Ramirez stand back up.

What did I do, who screwed up?  Usually I have some idea why I’m getting called on the carpet ahead of time!

“Gotcha,” Mallory grinned.

“Top, don’t DO that!  You’re gonna have to get this chair redone.  There’s a one inch hole missing in the fabric in the seat now!”

“Oh settle down, I haven’t given you grief in weeks, you were due--and besides, I really do have sort of a problem and it really does concern you, but not in a bad way.  I saved you for last because I knew you were going to give me the most flak about it.  As of right now, Sergeant Ramirez, while you will still be Sergeant Ramirez, you will just be Sergeant First Class Ramirez.  And while you can no longer call me Top you will finally be allowed to call me ma’am as I am now Major Mallory Jensen.”

“Of course you have to accept, technically, which I guess you could refuse to do, technically, but I sincerely doubt that’s going to happen.”  Mallory waited a few seconds and then chuckled, “Close your mouth, Kyle, you’re gonna swallow a fly.”

…

It was 23:13 by the time Mallory had her staff assembled, which included herself and the newly promoted; Eric as a Captain, Halstead as a Lieutenant, Jackson as a ‘Butter Bar’ Second Lieutenant, Stewart as First Sergeant, Wilson, Bowersock, and Ramirez as Sergeants First Class, and Morris, Keeler, and Pine as new Staff Sergeants.  She had also assembled Joel and Rachael, Karen, Chuck and Sheri, and all the “block moms”  (which also included more than a few dads now).

“Ladies, gentlemen… First Sergeant Stewart is now Top.  I’ll forgive you for a couple of days,” Mallory smiled, “he probably won’t,” a chuckle rippled through the ‘room’.

“Now for the briefing.  Morris, good job keeping a lid on this,” heads turned to Morris as nothing had leaked, including the fact that higher had called in the first place, until Mallory had called each of them in to talk to them.  For some of them, this would be the first they were hearing about what was going on.

It took just under forty minutes to describe ARCLiTE to those who had assembled and Mallory handed out a ‘Press Release’ for the “block moms” for the inevitable questions after the morning announcements via the radio, which had been up and running for almost three weeks now.

“Are there any questions?” Mallory asked.

Rachael raised her hand and at a nod from Mallory stood up and glanced down at Joel.  “Do we have any idea how much longer it will be until we have a maternity ward?  I think I’m about six weeks along.”

--The End--

Coming September 2012
DARK ROAD
Chapter One

“Day 64,”
Dan Clark wrote in his journal. The entries were getting shorter but he’d made sure to put something down every day since the power went out on June 14
^th
. When they had all come together at the cabana and Ms. Hines told everyone what had happened to the power plant at the dam…well, he just hadn’t wanted to believe it.

But then the next morning she was gone--along with the Taylors, Eric and Karen, and that guy, Chuck, her supervisor from the plant. Carey, the jumped up HOA President, had a broken nose and didn’t want to talk about it, and the Neighborhood Recreational Activities Committee was suddenly the “Food Police”.  Practically overnight they were living in some bizarre feudal society and nobody could remember how Carey got put in charge, or why they allowed him to stay there.

Now,
“Day 64 – We had another suicide today, the last of the single folks.  An older gentleman by the name of Rolland Brandt. He took a handful of allergy pills, the kind that make you really drowsy, and drank most of a bottle of 80 proof rum. I hope it was peaceful.”