The World Trade Center Memorial Lights after its first destruction by Islamofacist terrorists. 11 Sep 2004.
My will shall shape the future. Whether I fail or succeed shall be no man's doing but my own. I am the force; I can clear any obstacle before me or I can be lost in the maze. My choice; my responsibility; win or lose, only I hold the key to my destiny. - Elaine Maxwell
Shattered Citadel: Coup d'Etat
1800 12102061, 1 WTC Freedom Tower, New York City, Free America, Earth [Sol]
The man marched ahead of the long column of heavily armed soldiers, it was clear he was a man of high rank in the American Army. He marched alone in only his Class-A uniform, although Fulton Street was still covered in six inches of snow. He suddenly stopped and lifted his left hand as he approached a barricade of sandbags and overturned cars that blocked his entrance to the Freedom Tower. The First Sergeant behind him recognized the gesture and put the soldiers into mark time march until he finally gave them the order to halt and port arms. The man carefully scanned the buildings around him with his naked eyes and could see a few dozen snipers on the roofs of nearby buildings and hundreds of Marines manning the barricade in front of him.
"General Sanchez! General Sanchez!"
The CO turned to face the man calling his name and did little to hide the look of disgust in his face when he saw the man. "Senator Reed, why have you honored us with your presence?"
"Don't be stupid. I am here to make sure you do your job, soldier boy." The Senator who was an old bespectacled man with graying hair and sickly pale skin stood before the General jabbing his fat fingers into his uniform as he spoke to him. Almost immediately after he finished speaking, Senator Reed realized hundreds of guns were aimed at them from the barricade and he retreated behind the General. Putting the General and his body between him and the guns.
The General ignored him and waved his First Sergeant over, who broke from the formation and ran to him. They quickly exchanged salutes and immediately went down to the business at hand.
"Have the civilians been evacuated?"
"All civvies south of Canal Street have been evacuated." the First Sergeant replied.
"What did you tell them?"
"Gas leak, like you told us."
"Good. I'm going to try and reason with them and prevent a bloodbath."
"Take them out now!" the Senator shouted from behind the General.
"Senator Reed, those are American Marines, our brothers in arms. If I can prevent bloodshed, I will." The General said without turning around. "Do we have them surrounded First Sergeant?"
"Yes Sir. We have Walkers and Armor in key intersections and our snipers are taking positions in the surrounding buildings. There's no way out of the Freedom Tower."
"No air support?"
"No Sir, all our air support is at the front and the Air Force is not responding. We can only assume their loyal to the President."
"Dammit. Ok, we have to do this quick. Go back to the formation and inform the rest of the CoC of what's going down. Take him with you." The General said pointing to the Senator.
The First Sergeant grabbed the Senator by the arm and dragged him kicking and screaming back to the relative safety of the formation. General Sanchez straightened his uniform and breathed in the heavy frigid air, allowing it to fill his lungs. It soothed him and he proceeded to move towards the barricade with his hands up in the air. The Marine defenders watched him with suspicion as he approached their position and he could sense them training their rifles on him. One wrong move now and he would be splattered all across Fulton Street. General Sanchez stopped short of the barricade and called out to the Marines, "I wish to speak with your commanding officer!"
The Marines remained silent and after a few tense minutes one Marine broke from the rest and jumped over the barricade to the snow covered street below. The lone Marine slung his rifle on his back and gave the General a rigid salute. "General, why are you here?" he asked him.
"Dammit Major, you know why I'm here."
"I just want to hear from your own mouth, Sir." The Marine replied.
"I am here to arrest President Sloan on charges of treason."
"On whose authority?"
"Congress. It's been debated and he has been impeached. Here's the paperwork." General Sanchez handed the Marine Major a sheet of paper from inside his uniform blouse.
The Marine took the paper and without looking at it tore it apart and tossed the pieces to the ground. "General, do you seriously believe these trumped up charges? Congress led us to disaster and now they wish to shift the blame to the President. On top of that they want to replace him with one of their own through force. That's not democracy, that's a coup d'etat."
"Were American soldiers, we have to follow the orders of the civilian government. So step aside, I do not want bloodshed. Too much American blood has been spilt already."
"I cannot do that, Sir."
"Marine, move aside. I order you!" The General screamed out loud.
"I will not. We swore an oath to protect the US Constitution from all threats, foreign and domestic and at this moment you're a domestic threat. Your Congress wishes to overthrow the President without consent of the people, they want to circumvent our democracy through force. So General Sanchez it's your decision now. We will not move."
General Sanchez opened his mouth as if to say something, but no words came out. He turned around and stormed back towards his own soldiers. His First Sergeant greeted him with a salute and handed him a tablet computer. He took a look at the computers monitor and shook his head. It took only a second to realize how bad his situation was fast becoming. The computer screen showed the positions of friendly and "hostile" forces that were inbound to New York City. He could see that six Marine divisions along with recruits from Parris Island were on their way to the city. Some Army divisions also were on their way to the city and all attempts to communicate with them were being ignored. So he could only assume they were hostile. The US Air force had also scrambled dozens of jets and they were minutes away. He had to do something soon or the situation could revert into a civil war, a civil war in the worst possible time for America. A time in which half of the country was occupied by a foreign power and more than a third of its citizens were already dead.
"Why are we waiting?!" Senator Reed asked the General.
"There has to be another way." The General said, thinking out loud.
"There is no other way." A new voice from within the formation told the General. A Marine in black armor stepped out from the formation flanked by four large bodyguards and stood face to face with the General.
"Who the hell are you?"
"This is Colonel De-Tierra, the man who discovered the evidence of President Sloan's collaboration with the Chinese. He will also assume control of the Marine Corps, by order of Congress. Once we arrest the President, of course." Senator Reed informed the General.
The General looked the new man up and down and immediately didn't like him; his gut told him something was very wrong with him. "Colonel, can you reason with your fellow Marines?"
"They are beyond redemption. If you want to avoid a civil war you better order your men to storm the Freedom Tower. Once the President is in custody the rebel forces will have no choice, but to align with us. There still is a war to fight with China, after all." De-Tierra said looking into the General's eyes as if he was looking deep into his soul.
This spooked the General and he turned away. He stared at the barricade in front of him and saw his "enemy," fine men such as himself who were willing to die for what they thought was right. He no longer thought he was doing the right thing, he now felt like he was the bad guy. He turned back towards his men and it felt like time slowed down. His senses were heightened and he could feel the goose bumps growing on his skin from the frigid air, he could hear the sound of his soldiers nervously shifting their rifles in their hands as they awaited his decision, and he could also see the Air Force jets circling above them in the distance. This is how it must feel to be making history. It was his decision and his alone. End a civil war before it begins or do nothing and allow it to happen.
"Dammit General, order your men to storm the building. We don't have much time. Congress wills it!" Senator Reed screamed to him from behind a protective metal shield that De-Tierra's men set up for him.
The General made his decision and lifted his hand in a clinched fist. The formation of soldiers immediately broke apart and rushed forward, running from cover to cover as they tossed grenades over the barricade. The Marines opened fire and tore up the closest soldiers. The General himself rushed forward and climbed over the barricade only to find himself staring at the barrel of a rifle.
The General woke up hours later alone in a hospital room with the television on. He tried to get up, but found himself in to much pain. His eyes tried to focus on the television, but couldn't because of the painkillers in his system. Slowly he began to understand the words from the news program on the television.
"Top news story of the hour is that President Sloan, his cabinet and hundreds of Marines were killed in an apparent terrorist attack. Marine Colonel De-Tierra held a press conference this morning and had this to say…"
"Last night an explosion occurred at World Trade Center One which caused its collapse and the loss of all those inside. It is confirmed that President Sloan was inside the building when it collapsed. The investigation is already on its way, but it is strongly suspected that a Chinese sleeper agent set off the explosion. Congress already has chosen a successor and we will observe three days of mourning in honor of President Sloan. I will not be taking questions at this time."
"Our sympathies go out to the families of the dead. We will bring you all the latest as it arrives. In other news US forces crossed the Mississippi and liberated parts of St. Louis, Missouri. The PLA have counter…"
General Sanchez looked away and allowed sleep to take him.
18012087, 1622 Delta Housing, New York City, United States of Earth, Earth [Sol]
"Its begun, I've been saying and I've been saying it. The purge. President Masada was assassinated and De-Tierra has become the President. What's the first thing he's done? Why order the USEA military to round up "enemies of the state,' already tens of millions have disappeared. Where are they being sent? No one knows. If you haven't fled to the Colonies yet you should get off your ass and do so now. I'm safe on Mars, but what about you? Democracy on Earth died a long time ago. Leave while you can." Sanchez switched off the radio and took another swig out of his vodka bottle. He sat alone in a bare windowless room with only a chair, a thin mattress, radio and a pile of empty vodka bottles. He still wore his old uniform, but it was tattered, dirty and no longer fit comfortably over his fat body. He stood up but stumbled over himself, hitting the floor and overturning a bucket he was using as a latrine. He just lay on the floor as the foul smelling liquid pooled around him. He no longer cared about himself.
The door to his apartment suddenly burst open and three black clad Marines stormed into the room. They broke into laughter seeing him lying on the floor in a pool of his own piss and scoped him up. They placed a black hood on his head and dragged him away.
He was put into a shuttle and could hear the screams of dozens, possibly hundreds of other prisoners who were begging not to be taken away. Eventually he could feel the shuttle begin moving and it did not take long for them to reach their destination. Someone grabbed him and he was tossed outside with the rest of the prisoners. The smell of blood and the sound of gunfire were in the air. He heard the voice of a man he had not heard for over a quarter of a century in the distance.
"How dare you?! I am a US Senator! I know De-Tierra, he'll have you killed. Release me now Marine or…" The voice suddenly stopped shouting as the sound of a rifle smashing into a skull filled the night. The man was still alive, but he whimpered like a dog who had just been disciplined by its master.
A man grabbed his shoulder and he could feel his breath in the back of his neck. He could not see with the hood on, but he felt uneasy in this man's presence. He had felt this way before, on that fateful day.
"General Sanchez," the man said in a whisper. "You may not recognize my voice now, but this is De-Tierra. You should have stopped me then, but you played right into my plans. We were weak. I was weak, now I rule the entire planet and with time I will rule over all of humanity."
"Oh my God. De-Tierra! Tell these men to let me go, this is clearly a mistake! You are fucked now, I know De-Tierra!" The man said with glee in his voice.
"No mistake Senator Reed." De-Tierra replied nonchalantly.
"You're joking, right? You were always a jokester! Ha!"
"Marines, Beat him to death."
"No! I helped you!" the Senator pleaded.
"For that I am grateful. I let you live this long haven't I?"
"No!" The Senator shouted before the rifles came crashing down on his body. The sound of breaking bones filled the air and eventually the dull pounding of metal on flesh stopped. The sound of gunfire erupted once again as the other prisoners were being massacred.
"General Sanchez isn't it funny. All these people survived the most devastating war in human history only to die now like the cowards they are." The General said nothing. "I still respect you though, you were a good man. The world would have been a better place with more men like you, but hey I'm not complaining. I get to shape mankind to whatever I want it to be. Thanks to you and other men who thought only about themselves. Here, a gift, a soldier's death." The General heard the click of a pistols safety being switched off and felt it being pressed against his head. "Sanchez. I want you to give God a message, ha, if there is even one. Tell him "I hope the gates of heaven and hell are still open because more people are going to be going through.'" Sanchez was no longer paying attention to him he was replaying that day in his head. It was the last thought he ever had.
Shattered Citadel: Coup d'Etat
1800 12102061, 1 WTC Freedom Tower, New York City, Free America, Earth [Sol]
The man marched ahead of the long column of heavily armed soldiers, it was clear he was a man of high rank in the American Army. He marched alone in only his Class-A uniform, although Fulton Street was still covered in six inches of snow. He suddenly stopped and lifted his left hand as he approached a barricade of sandbags and overturned cars that blocked his entrance to the Freedom Tower. The First Sergeant behind him recognized the gesture and put the soldiers into mark time march until he finally gave them the order to halt and port arms. The man carefully scanned the buildings around him with his naked eyes and could see a few dozen snipers on the roofs of nearby buildings and hundreds of Marines manning the barricade in front of him.
"General Sanchez! General Sanchez!"
The CO turned to face the man calling his name and did little to hide the look of disgust in his face when he saw the man. "Senator Reed, why have you honored us with your presence?"
"Don't be stupid. I am here to make sure you do your job, soldier boy." The Senator who was an old bespectacled man with graying hair and sickly pale skin stood before the General jabbing his fat fingers into his uniform as he spoke to him. Almost immediately after he finished speaking, Senator Reed realized hundreds of guns were aimed at them from the barricade and he retreated behind the General. Putting the General and his body between him and the guns.
The General ignored him and waved his First Sergeant over, who broke from the formation and ran to him. They quickly exchanged salutes and immediately went down to the business at hand.
"Have the civilians been evacuated?"
"All civvies south of Canal Street have been evacuated." the First Sergeant replied.
"What did you tell them?"
"Gas leak, like you told us."
"Good. I'm going to try and reason with them and prevent a bloodbath."
"Take them out now!" the Senator shouted from behind the General.
"Senator Reed, those are American Marines, our brothers in arms. If I can prevent bloodshed, I will." The General said without turning around. "Do we have them surrounded First Sergeant?"
"Yes Sir. We have Walkers and Armor in key intersections and our snipers are taking positions in the surrounding buildings. There's no way out of the Freedom Tower."
"No air support?"
"No Sir, all our air support is at the front and the Air Force is not responding. We can only assume their loyal to the President."
"Dammit. Ok, we have to do this quick. Go back to the formation and inform the rest of the CoC of what's going down. Take him with you." The General said pointing to the Senator.
The First Sergeant grabbed the Senator by the arm and dragged him kicking and screaming back to the relative safety of the formation. General Sanchez straightened his uniform and breathed in the heavy frigid air, allowing it to fill his lungs. It soothed him and he proceeded to move towards the barricade with his hands up in the air. The Marine defenders watched him with suspicion as he approached their position and he could sense them training their rifles on him. One wrong move now and he would be splattered all across Fulton Street. General Sanchez stopped short of the barricade and called out to the Marines, "I wish to speak with your commanding officer!"
The Marines remained silent and after a few tense minutes one Marine broke from the rest and jumped over the barricade to the snow covered street below. The lone Marine slung his rifle on his back and gave the General a rigid salute. "General, why are you here?" he asked him.
"Dammit Major, you know why I'm here."
"I just want to hear from your own mouth, Sir." The Marine replied.
"I am here to arrest President Sloan on charges of treason."
"On whose authority?"
"Congress. It's been debated and he has been impeached. Here's the paperwork." General Sanchez handed the Marine Major a sheet of paper from inside his uniform blouse.
The Marine took the paper and without looking at it tore it apart and tossed the pieces to the ground. "General, do you seriously believe these trumped up charges? Congress led us to disaster and now they wish to shift the blame to the President. On top of that they want to replace him with one of their own through force. That's not democracy, that's a coup d'etat."
"Were American soldiers, we have to follow the orders of the civilian government. So step aside, I do not want bloodshed. Too much American blood has been spilt already."
"I cannot do that, Sir."
"Marine, move aside. I order you!" The General screamed out loud.
"I will not. We swore an oath to protect the US Constitution from all threats, foreign and domestic and at this moment you're a domestic threat. Your Congress wishes to overthrow the President without consent of the people, they want to circumvent our democracy through force. So General Sanchez it's your decision now. We will not move."
General Sanchez opened his mouth as if to say something, but no words came out. He turned around and stormed back towards his own soldiers. His First Sergeant greeted him with a salute and handed him a tablet computer. He took a look at the computers monitor and shook his head. It took only a second to realize how bad his situation was fast becoming. The computer screen showed the positions of friendly and "hostile" forces that were inbound to New York City. He could see that six Marine divisions along with recruits from Parris Island were on their way to the city. Some Army divisions also were on their way to the city and all attempts to communicate with them were being ignored. So he could only assume they were hostile. The US Air force had also scrambled dozens of jets and they were minutes away. He had to do something soon or the situation could revert into a civil war, a civil war in the worst possible time for America. A time in which half of the country was occupied by a foreign power and more than a third of its citizens were already dead.
"Why are we waiting?!" Senator Reed asked the General.
"There has to be another way." The General said, thinking out loud.
"There is no other way." A new voice from within the formation told the General. A Marine in black armor stepped out from the formation flanked by four large bodyguards and stood face to face with the General.
"Who the hell are you?"
"This is Colonel De-Tierra, the man who discovered the evidence of President Sloan's collaboration with the Chinese. He will also assume control of the Marine Corps, by order of Congress. Once we arrest the President, of course." Senator Reed informed the General.
The General looked the new man up and down and immediately didn't like him; his gut told him something was very wrong with him. "Colonel, can you reason with your fellow Marines?"
"They are beyond redemption. If you want to avoid a civil war you better order your men to storm the Freedom Tower. Once the President is in custody the rebel forces will have no choice, but to align with us. There still is a war to fight with China, after all." De-Tierra said looking into the General's eyes as if he was looking deep into his soul.
This spooked the General and he turned away. He stared at the barricade in front of him and saw his "enemy," fine men such as himself who were willing to die for what they thought was right. He no longer thought he was doing the right thing, he now felt like he was the bad guy. He turned back towards his men and it felt like time slowed down. His senses were heightened and he could feel the goose bumps growing on his skin from the frigid air, he could hear the sound of his soldiers nervously shifting their rifles in their hands as they awaited his decision, and he could also see the Air Force jets circling above them in the distance. This is how it must feel to be making history. It was his decision and his alone. End a civil war before it begins or do nothing and allow it to happen.
"Dammit General, order your men to storm the building. We don't have much time. Congress wills it!" Senator Reed screamed to him from behind a protective metal shield that De-Tierra's men set up for him.
The General made his decision and lifted his hand in a clinched fist. The formation of soldiers immediately broke apart and rushed forward, running from cover to cover as they tossed grenades over the barricade. The Marines opened fire and tore up the closest soldiers. The General himself rushed forward and climbed over the barricade only to find himself staring at the barrel of a rifle.
The General woke up hours later alone in a hospital room with the television on. He tried to get up, but found himself in to much pain. His eyes tried to focus on the television, but couldn't because of the painkillers in his system. Slowly he began to understand the words from the news program on the television.
"Top news story of the hour is that President Sloan, his cabinet and hundreds of Marines were killed in an apparent terrorist attack. Marine Colonel De-Tierra held a press conference this morning and had this to say…"
"Last night an explosion occurred at World Trade Center One which caused its collapse and the loss of all those inside. It is confirmed that President Sloan was inside the building when it collapsed. The investigation is already on its way, but it is strongly suspected that a Chinese sleeper agent set off the explosion. Congress already has chosen a successor and we will observe three days of mourning in honor of President Sloan. I will not be taking questions at this time."
"Our sympathies go out to the families of the dead. We will bring you all the latest as it arrives. In other news US forces crossed the Mississippi and liberated parts of St. Louis, Missouri. The PLA have counter…"
General Sanchez looked away and allowed sleep to take him.
18012087, 1622 Delta Housing, New York City, United States of Earth, Earth [Sol]
"Its begun, I've been saying and I've been saying it. The purge. President Masada was assassinated and De-Tierra has become the President. What's the first thing he's done? Why order the USEA military to round up "enemies of the state,' already tens of millions have disappeared. Where are they being sent? No one knows. If you haven't fled to the Colonies yet you should get off your ass and do so now. I'm safe on Mars, but what about you? Democracy on Earth died a long time ago. Leave while you can." Sanchez switched off the radio and took another swig out of his vodka bottle. He sat alone in a bare windowless room with only a chair, a thin mattress, radio and a pile of empty vodka bottles. He still wore his old uniform, but it was tattered, dirty and no longer fit comfortably over his fat body. He stood up but stumbled over himself, hitting the floor and overturning a bucket he was using as a latrine. He just lay on the floor as the foul smelling liquid pooled around him. He no longer cared about himself.
The door to his apartment suddenly burst open and three black clad Marines stormed into the room. They broke into laughter seeing him lying on the floor in a pool of his own piss and scoped him up. They placed a black hood on his head and dragged him away.
He was put into a shuttle and could hear the screams of dozens, possibly hundreds of other prisoners who were begging not to be taken away. Eventually he could feel the shuttle begin moving and it did not take long for them to reach their destination. Someone grabbed him and he was tossed outside with the rest of the prisoners. The smell of blood and the sound of gunfire were in the air. He heard the voice of a man he had not heard for over a quarter of a century in the distance.
"How dare you?! I am a US Senator! I know De-Tierra, he'll have you killed. Release me now Marine or…" The voice suddenly stopped shouting as the sound of a rifle smashing into a skull filled the night. The man was still alive, but he whimpered like a dog who had just been disciplined by its master.
A man grabbed his shoulder and he could feel his breath in the back of his neck. He could not see with the hood on, but he felt uneasy in this man's presence. He had felt this way before, on that fateful day.
"General Sanchez," the man said in a whisper. "You may not recognize my voice now, but this is De-Tierra. You should have stopped me then, but you played right into my plans. We were weak. I was weak, now I rule the entire planet and with time I will rule over all of humanity."
"Oh my God. De-Tierra! Tell these men to let me go, this is clearly a mistake! You are fucked now, I know De-Tierra!" The man said with glee in his voice.
"No mistake Senator Reed." De-Tierra replied nonchalantly.
"You're joking, right? You were always a jokester! Ha!"
"Marines, Beat him to death."
"No! I helped you!" the Senator pleaded.
"For that I am grateful. I let you live this long haven't I?"
"No!" The Senator shouted before the rifles came crashing down on his body. The sound of breaking bones filled the air and eventually the dull pounding of metal on flesh stopped. The sound of gunfire erupted once again as the other prisoners were being massacred.
"General Sanchez isn't it funny. All these people survived the most devastating war in human history only to die now like the cowards they are." The General said nothing. "I still respect you though, you were a good man. The world would have been a better place with more men like you, but hey I'm not complaining. I get to shape mankind to whatever I want it to be. Thanks to you and other men who thought only about themselves. Here, a gift, a soldier's death." The General heard the click of a pistols safety being switched off and felt it being pressed against his head. "Sanchez. I want you to give God a message, ha, if there is even one. Tell him "I hope the gates of heaven and hell are still open because more people are going to be going through.'" Sanchez was no longer paying attention to him he was replaying that day in his head. It was the last thought he ever had.
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SC: Coup d'Etat
Thu, 11th November, 2010
A general must choose between igniting a civil war within an America still at war, or overthrow the U.S. government.
Comments greatly appreciated. Feel free to leave one here.
Comments greatly appreciated. Feel free to leave one here.