One Good Soldier

Blair to develop a battle plan to attack and hold the Tau Ceti system with the remaining fleet.'

Rear Admiral Lower Half Sharon Walker, sir, Abigail told him DTM.

Thanks, Abby.

'Walker. Admiral Walker,' he added out loud.

'Yes, Mr. President, but I'm not sure why you think you must go, sir. Mr. President, we've got Special Forces troops trained to—' The national security advisor, Frank Puckett, was cut off by Moore abruptly slamming his fists on the table.

'No, no, no!' He hit the table again. 'Because, Frank, it is my daughter out there, and I'm going to by God go out there and bring her the fuck home!' Moore glared at the senior White House advisors and staff and his wife, daring them to defy him on this. If he had to, he'd get up on the table and kick all their asses right there. He'd put on an e-suit and go take over a ship himself and jump it there. He'd take on the entire goddamned universe if he had to, but he was going to help his daughter!

'Then I'm coming, too,' Sehera added. 'If you're going, I'm going.'

Moore started to object, but he could tell from the look on her face that his objection would be duly noted and overruled. So he didn't respond. Instead, he turned to his staff.

'All right, make this happen.' He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. 'I have grown so tired of dealing with these Separatists with the goddamned kid gloves on. I've tried being diplomatic, and every single time to no avail, no matter the approach. These people are waging warfare against our everyday way of life, and we have become so politically correct and bureaucratically corrupt that we can't seem to understand that we are standing in the middle of the goddamned forest staring at the bark on a fucking tree! I am so sick of seeing one good soldier after another killed in the endless skirmishes that are mainly the cause of one person. One crazy, evil person has used our own sedentary, benign, and I dare say, passive political personalities against us in such a way that we will not admit the obvious. WE ARE AT WAR! We have been at war for more than five decades. We have been at war ever since Elle Ahmi donned her ugly ski mask for the first time. Ever since I was tortured by that whack job in the Martian desert, we have been at war. Ever since she killed or had killed my entire platoon, we have been at war. Ever since she had tens and tens of thousands killed on Mars twelve years ago and ever since the Battle for the Oort QMT facility and the attack on Orlando, we have been at war. How many more good soldiers, America's finest, must we send to the grave because of our inability to accept the obvious? No, sir!' Alexander slammed his fists against the table again, jarring it to the point that coffee mugs jumped and pencils rolled onto the floor.

'No longer can I stomach this on my watch!' Moore hadn't felt free to do the right thing in so long that the emotions were flooding over him. The time had come to finally take care of business. 'I, for one, am a soldier, and have always been a soldier, and it is time I stand up for what I believe in like a soldier and elections be goddamned! This is the last day that I will see the endless waste of the lives of one good soldier after the next. No, this will be the end of an old era. Possibly the end of my administration, but I don't give a damn. I'm going in there to get my daughter out and once and for all we will end this goddamned Separatist nonsense today! I'm issuing an executive order right now that the Separatist movement is to be eradicated from existence!'

When he finished his speech, the room was dead silent. He glowered around the room a couple of long, awkward moments. There were smiles on the faces of two of the Joint Chiefs and of the NSA. The others were more insider politicians and were horrified by the impact Moore's actions would have on the party and their careers. Alexander didn't give a flying fuck. It was time somebody did something that was best for the country and for humanity. He turned and marched out of the Situation Room with Sehera at his side matching him stride for stride. He didn't bother to ask the opinions of his Beltway advisors. He didn't need or want their approvals anyway.

'What do you think you are doing, Alexander?' Sehera asked him.

'I'm gonna end something that I should have ended forty goddamned years ago,' he said.

Oorah! Sir! Abigail agreed with him. I'm glad to see Major Moore back in action, sir.

Fuck that. I'm promoting myself to general.