Shadow Command

has served the nation and the world so well for the past three generations but also recognizes changes in technology and our vision for the future: fully fund and support an expanded and strengthened Army and Marine Corps as the dominant land and special operations forces; fully support the Navy as the dominant sea and air force; and the Air Force as the dominant global support and space defense force.”

“The Air Force wouldn’t be the dominant air force in the U.S. arsenal? That doesn’t seem right.”

“Details have yet to be worked out, and of course I’m sure we will adjust and rearrange things as necessary to ensure the absolute best force we can build,” Barbeau began, “but it seems to President Gardner and we in the congressional leadership that there is a wasteful and costly overlap between the Air Force and Navy regarding tactical air forces. It all comes down to the basic notion, Brit, that Navy planes can do everything Air Force planes can do, but Air Force planes cannot do everything Navy planes can do — namely, take off and land on an aircraft carrier, which as everyone readily recognizes is the undisputed definition of power projection in the world today.”

“And the President as we all know is a big supporter of the Navy, being the former Navy secretary.”

“It’s a duplication of forces, plain and simple, and now is the time to address this if we want to have a robust, mature, twenty-first century fighting force,” Barbeau said. “We’re trying to think ahead. The Air Force is the proven expert in long-range strategic attack and rapid resupply, and the Navy has no such equivalent capability — it makes sense to give that mission to the Air Force and let the Navy have the mission of training and equipping tactical fighters for theater commanders around the world.”

“Won’t your constituents in Louisiana object to this plan, Senator?”

“I represent the finest, most patriotic, and most pro-military folks in the country, Brit: the good people of Barksdale Air Force Base near Bossier City, Louisiana — Bomber Town, USA,” Barbeau said. “But even the staunchest bomber supporters, like me, have seen the shift coming for years: the shift from World War Two — era land-based bombers to the importance of global reach, rapid mobility, unmanned aircraft, space technology, and most importantly, information warfare. The Air Force is and will remain the leader in these areas. We’ve seen this coming for years, and President Gardner and I think it’s time to design our twenty-first-century forces around this new reality.”

“But the battles are just beginning, aren’t they, Senator?”

“With President Gardner’s strong leadership and his steadfast pledge to work closely with Congress, I think the battles will be kept to the barest minimum. Together, we’ll prevail. The alternative is too awful to consider.”

“So does this mean we’ll see the end of the Black Stallion spaceplanes and military space stations watching over us 24/7?”

“The Black Stallion is a remarkable technological advancement, to be sure, but as we’ve seen with a man like General McLanahan, it has its risks and dangers,” Barbeau said, a serious look of concern briefly shadowing her features. “My heart sank when I learned of General McLanahan’s illness, and we are doing everything we can to bring him safely home. But my concern is this, Brit: Patrick…General McLanahan…is a powerful man. You know the stories as well as I, Brit…”

“The ones about McLanahan being challenged by visiting heads of state and generals to rip their respective capital’s phone books in half?” the reporter filled in with a chuckle. “I thought that was a White House Press Corps rumor.”

“It’s not a rumor, I assure you!” Barbeau exclaimed. “I’ve seen it with my own eyes — Patrick can rip a D.C. phone book in half as easily as you or I could rip a page out of your little notebook there. And yet he was still brought down by something difficult to detect, diagnose, or treat, something so debilitating that it could put the lives of every space crewman we have in jeopardy. There is great concern that the injury has affected more than just his heart.”

The reporter’s mouth opened in surprise. “I haven’t heard anything about that, Senator. Would you care to elaborate? What exactly do you mean?”

“It’s all just speculation and nonsense, I’m sure,” Barbeau said dismissively, acting as if she’d said something completely unintended but riveting the attention of every viewer by looking directly into the camera for a brief moment. “But we do need to fully understand what happened to him. We owe it to him because he is truly a national treasure, a hero in every sense of the word.

“But the fundamental question remains: Can we afford to put our nation’s military future on hold while we study this awful catastrophe?” Barbeau asked resolutely, first looking at the reporter and then directly at the camera, right into the hearts of the viewers. “As responsible caretakers of our armed forces, sworn to build the best possible force to protect and defend our homeland and way of life, the answer is simple and obvious: the space defense force is not ready, and so we must turn to proven systems that we know will work. That’s our job here today, and with the cooperation of the President and the House, we’re going to get it done. The American people expect no less from us.”

Stacy Anne Barbeau fielded more questions from the gaggle of reporters, until finally the officials of the Senate Press Gallery and Barbeau’s aide shooed them away and let her go. On the way to a late-night meeting in a committee conference room, she took a call on her cellular phone: “I thought you laid on the praise for McLanahan a little too thick, Stacy Anne,” President Joe Gardner said. “His ass will be grass here shortly.”

“All the more reason to sing his praises, Mr. President,” Barbeau said, greeting supporters and colleagues as she walked and talked. “I advise you to do similarly, Mr. President: Let your Secretary of Defense, the pundits, the Russians, and the anti-military media trash him, not us.”

“You won’t be saying that when you hear what just happened, Senator.”

Barbeau’s mouth instantly turned dry. “What’s happened, Mr. President?” she asked, turning a puzzled expression to her aide, Colleen Morna. As they reached the conference room, Morna immediately shooed everyone else out so Barbeau could talk in private.

“McLanahan lost it, and I mean completely,” Gardner said. She detected a slight hint of triumph in his voice, like he’d finally gotten something that Barbeau didn’t have and expected some quid pro quo for sharing it with her. “His people took over a Turkish air base, captured the base commander and most of the personnel with their manned robots, then launched another air mission over Iran.”

Barbeau froze, and her mouth dropped open in complete shock before she exclaimed, “What!” Her expression was so alarming that her aide Colleen Morna thought she was having a heart attack. “I…I don’t believe it…”

“What do you say about your knight in shining armor now, Stacy?” the President asked. “But you haven’t heard the best part. When the brass sent in some security units from Incirlik Air Base to arrest McLanahan’s people, they were gone. The planes and most of their stuff are gone. We have no idea where they are.”

“They…they must be on their way back to the States, Mr. President…”

“Not that anyone is aware, Stacy,” Gardner said. “McLanahan has stolen about four experimental attack planes and moved them somewhere. We hope they’re on their way back to Dreamland, their main base in south-central Nevada north of Vegas. If they are, McLanahan can be charged with conspiracy and sedition against the U.S. government. How about them apples? How’s your hero looking now?”

“I…I just cannot believe it, Mr. President,” Barbeau breathed. Shit, after what she just said to the media, all the nice things about McLanahan…God, this could ruin her! “We need to meet and discuss this right away, Mr. President. We need to come up with a united stance, both for Congress and for the press.”

“We’re getting all the information we can, and we’ll prepare a briefing for the leadership that we’ll give first thing in the morning,” the President said. “McLanahan is going down, I promise you, and so is his entire command. He won’t be so popular after people find out what he’s done. We won’t have to look like we’re destroying a national hero anymore — he’s taking himself down.”

“We need all the facts first, Mr. President,” Barbeau said, her mind racing, trying to make sense of this explosive news. “Why exactly did he launch those bombers? McLanahan doesn’t do something for no reason.”

“It doesn’t matter one bit to me, Stacy,” Gardner said. “He’s disobeyed orders, ignored my authority, and now he’s launched military strike missions overseas, stolen military property, moved and directed military forces without authority, and opposed our own and allied military forces. For all we know, he could be engineering a military coup