Chapter 2 - Moral Obligation

The week of decision making and choosing the recruits passed slowly for the three commanders. It consisted mostly of getting the recruits familiar with the MT's, how they move, how they dominate, and most importantly, figuring out who was best suited for each combat type. In truth, most of the nuggets would have been capable MT pilots in any machine they chose, however, Mathison's plans for choosing his eight were a little more interpersonal. They ended up being chosen through a series of what was called "psychological evaluations." Mostly to figure out whether the pilots were like Ruthers, or whether they actually had a soul and could be trusted to make moral judgement on the field of battle.

Shortly after the recruits were chosen and Psycho returned from leave, the unit was informed that they had a new mission. Iran was objecting to the destruction of the refugee camp. They weren't necessarily upset that the refugees were wiped out, however, the fact that it was inside Iranian sovereignity, it was being viewed as an invasion, and therefore, an act of war. They were threatening retaliation with whatever they could muster, including their recently developed ICBM's. The Pentagon considered it to be a probable threat, and the invasion order was given. What was left of the United Nations was furiously urging Iran to reconsider, before they were swallowed up by the might of the Horsemen and the American Empire.

Inside the briefing room, the Admiral was laying out the plan for the subjugation of Iran. "With the new creation of the second and third MT squadrons, we will be able to execute a multi-pronged attack that will effectively knock out communications, nuclear command, and the power grid for the entire country. We need to minimize structural damage to as much of the country as possible so that occupation doesnt' involve a lot of costly reconstructions. BC Mathison and the Alpha Squadron will be responsible for taking out the Communications grid. LC Wallace and the Bravo squadron will be hitting the nuclear grid. LC Smith and the Charlie squadron, you will be knocking out the powergrid in Terahn. This should effectively brownout the rest of the country, making power intermittent at best. We have to assume that military outposts will have backup communications and power, which is why the Air Force will be carpeting major military installations once they get the green light from us. Are there any questions?"

No one in the room spoke up. "Very well, the operation will commence at 2200 local Iranian time in 2 days. Prepare to disembark, you have one hour before you leave. Good Hunting."

The crowd of pilots got up to leave, and Mathison signaled his two other commanders to come with him. They left the breifing room and walked through a series of basement hallways so they were well out of range for anyone to overhear them. After coming to a stop and looking around for stray cameras or microphone's, he quietly spoke to them. "Are you two going to be able to handle this?"

Smith said nothing, Omni was quick to respond. "Joe, we've been discussing a few things. We can probably deal with this Iranian thing, even though you know goddamned well what we're about to do is wrong on a very real level. We're going to resign after this mission."

Mathison stood there a little taken aback. "You realize that if we leave others in control of this, they're likely going to answer the beck and call of the Admiral, without question, right? Most people inside what was the United States have never been happier, and everyone seems to think what we're doing is bringing `peace` to the world. If you leave, I'm going to have a very hard time maintaining control over the situation."

Smith folded his arms across his chest. "You're a good guy Joe, you've got the right ideas. If you want us to stick around, you're going to have to do something about this."

Lancer extended his hand. "I swear to you, that this will not continue much longer. I need you both to give me time to come up with a plan, but I need you to trust me in the meantime. We aren't going to be the personal destroyers of entire nations for much longer. I can't do this without you guys, I need you with me on this."

Omni and Thriller stood there for a second, not knowing what to do. Omni broke the silence, and took Mathisons hand. "I'm with you sir, I trust you."

Thriller shook his hand shortly after, and nodded, as if to say the same thing. They both turned and walked back towards their quarters, leaving Mathison to come up with a plan that would appease his collegues and allow him to rest at night.

*****

The trip to the Iranian border was uneventful. The anticipation in the new recruits was easily visible. Some were nervous, praying to whatever god they worshipped that they didn't screw up and they were allowed to stay in the program. Others were engaged with each other, talking about some new trick they learned while on a field exercise the previous week. Psycho was busy entertaining a couple of the rookies, telling them stories about her conquests, but mostly they were forced to listen to her babble on about how amazing she was. Mathison pitied them, but figured they'd learn soon enough not to ask her for stories about her past.

Before the Iranian subjugation, codenamed Operation Trident, went into effect, all of the pilots were required to give their machines a once over. One of the unique things that seperated the HAWC's from other military branches was that all of the pilots were responsible for the maintenance of their own machines, and each pilot had to be given a crash course in MT construction and upkeep.

The time of the operation came and went without much attention really being paid to it by Mathison or the two commanders. The rookies were excited to be on their first sortie, but like everywhere else on the planet, Iran fell in under an hour. Three seperate installations reported being attacked by the Horsemen at the exact same time, which was leaked to the world media. Everyone was now aware that there were three squadrons of MT's in the field, and countries were scrambling to make friends with the American Empire. Some smaller countries were even asking to be annexed into the Empire, so they'd be under the protection of the HAWC's, not in it's crosshairs.

The United Nations was effectively disbanded after the Iranian incident, which gave rise to the Earth Protectorate. In a world where hundreds of nations existed not more than 10 years ago, only four remained. The American Empire, the Chinese Confederacy, British Expanse and the Nation of Jeruselem. The American Empire swallowed up all of North and South America, as well as Southern Africa, and various islands all over the world. The British Expanse included all of Europe, Northern Africa, Austrailia, and parts of Western Asia. The Nation of Jeruselem swallowed up all of the middle eastern countries. The Holy Land was now unified, which is something they'd been hoping for since the beginning of the conquests of the Americans. The Chinese Confederacy owned the rest of the world, including all of Asia and the Southeast Island Chains. Anyone that was part of the American Empire couldn't be happier. The threat of war was gone, they were part of the largest and most powerful nation on Earth, and best of all, they had weapons no one else could match. The Expanse and the Confederacy were dealing with internal problems, as the nations they were annexing realized they couldn't be protected from the American Empire, even if their conquerers wanted to do so.

Back at Area 51, the mood was somber. Most of the pilots hadn't been on a single engagement in over a week, and they were getting restless. Mathison continued plotting in silence, and the other two Commanders had enough. They approached Mathison one cool night outside the compound while he was gazing into the Nevada sky, watching the stars. "Joe. We're resigning effective immediately unless you have good news for us."

Mathison smiled slightly. The lack of a `sir` in that statement or even including his rank meant they were serious and have had enough. "Well, you couldn't have picked a better time. I've come up with a plan. It's not without risk, but I think we can handle it."

Omni sat down next to him. "Care to fill us in on what's going down?"

Mathison pointed up to the sky. "Do you think there's life out there Henry? Do you think they're looking down on us, watching us, judging us to see if we're worthy of being a part of something more grandiose?" He realized he was being cryptic, but most of the time people are when they're about to do something that could be suicidal.

Thriller looked up into the sky, and Omni merely looked confused. "What?"

Joe continued on. "What happens when a warmonger runs out of people to war against? He declares war on his allies, and tries to unify the world. We saw this in World War Two. When Hitler had run out of countries to conquer in Europe, he turned his sights on Russia. Not necessarily an ally, but definately a business partner in his little adventure." He let out a long sigh. "It's coming, and we need to get out before things get any worse. I'm surprised nukes haven't been launched yet in retaliation for all of this, but I can promise you that neither Britain nor China will sit back and allow us to run them over as the rest of the world had. They -will- launch a nuclear counterattack. They probably realize that will mean their defeat, but it would be inevitable anyway, with us out there."

Omni stood up and started walking aimlessly, pathing back and forth. "Well, what did you have in mind then?"

Mathison smiled. "We deny America it's precious weapon of war, and let them all fight it out on equal grounds. That's the only way we ensure the world doesn't get destroyed through nuclear holocaust. We have a very serious moral obligation to prevent the destruction of the world. It should mean more to a soldier than anything else."

Michael laughed, rather loudly considering people weren't supposed to know where they were. "Just what the hell are we going to do? Steal all of the MT's, cargo planes, and personel that go along with it? You're out of your mind."

Mathison stood up, dusting himself off. "I said it would have risks, didn't I?"

Thriller abruptly stopped laughing. "I was joking Commander, I didn't honestly think that's what you had in mind."

"Well, it is. And now we just need to figure out when would be the opportune time to strike is. There's more people than you think that are not going to be happy with the way things are going. People don't naturally crave conquest, it's something society ingrains into them, mostly through brainwashing or propoganda. Most of the people on this base as smart enough to realize the direction we're heading. They also realize that they aren't going to be around to witness it should the Armageddon Scenario play out like this." Mathison paused to take a breath. "Spread out, start talking to everyone you can. Deck Mechanics, Logistics Officers, Quartermasters, everyone. We need to find out who we can trust, and who we can't trust."

Both Henry and Micheal stood there stunned. Mathison turned, and walked away, without even waiting for a response.