King of All I Survey
Chapter 116: I Spend a Day at The Beach and the World Goes Crazy

Chapter 116: I Spend a Day at The Beach and the World Goes Crazy

I arrived back at the headquarters in the early evening of the same day I left. Mom and Dad were in the middle of a discussion when I arrived by LITV transport. They stopped and turned to me.

"How was your trip to the research facility?" Mom asked.

"It was good, I think we are going to be up and running pretty soon. We should talk about maybe relocating the headquarters there at some point soon. I’ve been thinking maybe our family backyard in Massachusetts might not be the best place for it, long term."

Dad raised an eyebrow, "I’ve been thinking something along those lines as well... but we’ve got more important things to discuss. Colombia is a mess. Maribel’s statement and evidence have been leaked to the press both in Colombia, the United States, and elsewhere."

Mom jumped in, "The Colombian Legislature took about twenty minutes to impeach President Delgado for corruption and dereliction of duty. He has been arrested and is being held without bail. Other members of the government have either fled, been arrested, or, in some cases, managed to talk their way out of any arrest. Police departments are scrambling, some refusing to acknowledge the legitimacy of the evidence against members of the law enforcement agency, saying they must be considered innocent until given a full trial, while others are jailing members of their own or neighboring squads. The military removed one general, and is conducting arrests, detaining anyone implicated in my documentation. One...what is it dear, platoon?"

Dad shook his head, "One division, the Third Division has declared martial law and announced that the removal of the President is invalid. They’re ordering the other divisions to join them. Six Divisions have refused outright, calling for the disbanding of the 3rd division, and the arrest of its senior officers. The last remaining one, the 7th Division has not issued a statement either way but has mobilized its forces and appears to be headed South in the direction of the renegade 3rd Division, perhaps to join forces with them."

"OK, so should we step in to prevent fighting? What do you think?" I asked.

"Oh, we’re not done yet," Mom said. "Venezuela appears to be massing troops on the Colombian Border. Joe says that their communications suggest they intend to invent a provocation to invade and either install their own puppet government or annex territory directly. They are waiting to see if Colombia’s forces start infighting and weaken themselves before moving."

"OK, what else?" I asked shaking my head, there must be more."

"Oh, there’s plenty more," Mom continued, "Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador have denounced Maribel and Guatemala. Calling for Arroyo’s removal and Maribel’s arrest. They say they are threatened by the actions committed against Colombia’s citizens and may have to take action to defend themselves. They are also mobilizing troops. Honduras has further warned Nicaragua to pull back its troops from their border as they will not permit them passage, even to attack Guatemala. Mexico is not commenting at all."

"What else?" I asked with a sigh.

"So, some other countries around the world have invited us to help them rid their territories of organized crime and help with infrastructure projects. Notably, The Philippines, Haiti, Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Thailand, Mali, Angola, The Central African Republic, Paraguay, and believe it or not, Ukraine although their request for aid has some different implications. Additionally, several indigenous peoples have asked for aid, citing systemic oppression, violence and land-stealing by non-indigenous governments or lack of protection from non-indigenous citizens."

"Interesting. Move those to the top of the list for now, also Ukraine. They might be easiest and quickest to handle without violence. What about the UN response or OAS?"

Ukraine, really? That could escalate things a lot more than I think we’re ready for.

"No action yet, I just want to review the situations and options."

Dad shrugged, "The Secretary General of the UN has called for a period of waiting and discovery in Colombia asking all sides to resist the temptation to use violence. Likewise, he has asked El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras to respect the territory of their neighbors and not make threatening or offensive moves. He would like Maribel and other senior leaders of her organization to appear at the UN tomorrow at an emergency meeting, to answer questions about their intentions and to organize the safe release of ’hostages’. That’s the term he used."

"The OAS is in turmoil, they can’t get a clear majority on any course of action. Not even condemning any planned invasions of Guatemala (a request made by President Arroyo). Speaking of which, he has ordered his military to be ready, but has pointedly not ordered or approved any mobilization to strengthen border areas, in response to potential threats from his neighbors to the south. Looks like he’s counting on us to take care of that, while also making a show of confidence that those neighbors do not warrant a defensive mobilization. Joe has intercepted one call from Mexican government officials to a Honduras general telling him that a large force of rebels from Chiapas tried to invade Guatemala and were wiped out to the man without inflicting a single casualty. He offered that advice to, he said, ’prevent a similar fate for the Honduran army.’ It is not clear how much Honduras will heed that warning. The general in question did pass it along to the President."

"OK... Let’s start with places where fighting could break out," I began, "Joe, do your intercepted communications indicate any attacks on Guatemala directly before tomorrow morning?"

"No, there are no current plans to launch any attack without new provocation within the next 12-16 hours, at least. That is subject to change, of course."

"Of course, people are fickle," I agreed, "So Colombia looks like the hottest hot-spot. What do communications there say?"

The main forces of the military do not want the 3rd and Sixth Divisions to be allowed to unite. They are planning the threat of airstrikes to attempt to deter them from continuing toward one another. If they persist, airstrikes will be launched against the troops on the move. There isn’t much time, the warning shots, which would consist of strafing runs across the paths of moving units, will commence in 62 minutes. Actual airstrikes, if those threats don’t stop the movement, will follow 42 minutes later. Heavy guns and air to surface missiles are planned to be used."

"Ok, I want to let them use the weapons for warning shots. That might work. I don’t want them to start killing people. After the warning shot runs are complete, start using drone lasers to disable weaponry on the aircraft planned for the next escalation. Is that achievable, Joe?"

"Yes, with some reservations. I can disable the weaponry with a 98 percent certainty, meaning perhaps one out of fifty mounted weapons may still function after my first pass. However, helicopters can ferry crew with hand-held automatic weapons that could be used for attacking ground personnel. The counterargument for their use that way is that they’ll need to get considerably closer to targeted units and could receive dangerous return fire, putting entire aircraft with full crew at risk."

"Understood. Dad, other suggestions?"

"We could start disabling weapons within the two dissident divisions now, concentrating on those capable of downing aircraft," he suggested.

"Good, Joe start on that right away. Keep it covert, go slower if you have to, but use precise small laser hits that can pas unnoticed as the units march, or drive or whatever." I ordered.

"Acknowledged. Drones engaging now."