Chapter 25

Jasmine was correct, the other three sections of the Arizona NG defected to the FFA as soon as they were contacted. Some of the troops, but only three of the officers, were lost because they would not change sides. Instead, they just opted out of the conflict. All of this took only three days, and the FFA suddenly exploded into a significant army.

One major problem was that most of the new officers didn't know shit about modern infantry tactics. An equal problem was that the army had virtually nothing in the way of modern arms. Henry was contacted for more weapons, and the Canadians came through with a generosity that was unprecedented. The Canadians supplied 1,200 Mark 29s and enough ammunition for training and a little left over.

Spartacus had a lot of help, and he set up a counter government to the existing establishment. It was still a military junta, but he hoped to convert to a copy of the government before the takeover by the radical women's movement. In any case, the Canadians recognized his "government" as the legitimate American government and started supplying aid of all kinds, but they never formally supplied troops. They didn't want to stir up actions by other countries, some of it for selfish reasons. Nevertheless, the Canadian support was adequate at this stage.

Jasmine became Spartacus' Chief of Staff, and began intensive training of the officers in modern tactics, mostly using text books provided by the Canadians after they were translated into American English. Meanwhile, the troops were retrained in the use of Mark 29s and mortars. The army was still too small to warrant howitzers. They just were not ready to fight that kind of battle, yet.

Among other things, this was when they took the opportunity to liberate the slaves at the construction site. They could be housed at the NG camps. There were some problems that arose when the slaves found out that they were free. Spartacus tried to hold back from too much action to suppress the slaves, since they had over a 100 years of mistreatment to recover from. Every slave owner who had not managed to escape when the government ran to California for safe haven was treated to some form of abuse, even up to death. Most of the FFA sympathized with them and tried not to interfere as long at there was no great public danger. Once in a while, things got out of hand, but mostly it was survivable. Those slave owners who survived the retribution got out when the FFA ordered the abuse to stop.

Many slaves thought that they were just exchanging places with their former mistresses, but that error was pointed out rather forcefully. It took about three months, but a sort of peace between the sexes settled into place. Male-female couplings began to form, and became the norm when FFA enforcers made their point that both sexes were now equal in rights and privileges. Some problems continued to crop up, but most people were so happy to live under the new rules that Arizona became a Heaven-on-Earth as compared to the rest of America.

The other states, especially those adjacent to Arizona were very uncomfortable and began to mobilize. It was obvious to anyone who paid any attention that the FFA would eventually try to take over all of America. A few even tried to find allies outside North America, but they were soundly rebuffed at all levels. During the slave years, the states had been operating as separate countries in their dealings with the other states, much as had been the situation in the short-lived Confederate States of America back in the 1860s. Now they were going to have to cooperate, or they were going down the drain. That was a hard choice for some!

Six months of hard, intensive training at all levels had made the FFA the equal to any Army in any small country in the world, and far superior to any in any of the other states. Graft and corruption had been the norm in the military of all states, and they were now going to have to come to grips with the situation and try to change. Many of the military "leaders" were too selfish to recognize this, and they were doomed to destruction.

Spartacus' council realized that they were going to have to fight a war to clean out the rogues in the other states, so they were concentrating on who to go up against first. After the first few hours of discussion, it became obvious that California had to be their next target. They still needed major support from Canada, and getting adequate supplies delivered by drone was not going to work when they began major military operations.

New America, as they decided to call themselves, had to have a major supply line from Canada, and it had to come by sea. The only practical way to do that was to conquer a major seaport in California, and the San Diego neighborhood was the obvious choice. Therefore, they began to plan an attack on southern California, and this attack would take place in the spring.

That gave them enough time to train the Army and to get the initial supplies flown in from Canada. Phoenix's airport was now a major logistics base with planes, not just drones, landing at all hours as they brought in more and more supplies. Heavier equipment such as light tanks and mobile missile batteries started to arrive, along with technicians to train the FFA in how to use them. Arizona was now on a full war footing, and everybody who was physically able to do so was in the Army. Any one who was not sympathetic to the new regime had already skipped out. The FFA now had over 7,000 fighting troops and was supported in one way or another by the entire population of the rest of the state.

Yuma was the staging point for the invasion of California. The fact that the invasion was coming and that it was coming through Yuma could not be hidden, so they didn't try. The FFA had some amphibious vehicles, now, so they led the charge across the Rio Grande. However, the three bridges that were also there were also used by shock troops who poured into California with a determination that could not be stemmed.

The California NG put up a token resistance and broke. For practical purposes, the fighting didn't last more than about 10 minutes. The California troops saw the men of the FFA charging at them, fully clothed and carrying automatic weapons, and they broke almost without firing a shot. Those that did shoot only got off one shot from their single-shot rifles before the guns were thrown to the dirt so as not to get in the way of running at maximum speed.

The invasion was almost ludicrous in its ease. A beachhead was established across the river and supplies were moving in at breakneck speed almost before the infantry had cleared the way. The psychological ploy of having only men in the first wave of shock troops had won the day. The women of the California NG had been saturated with propaganda about how the Arizona men would treat them, and they were too scared to take a chance on being captured. It was amazing how much help the California propaganda had given to the FFA.

The initial attack had been so unexpectedly easy that the invading force rolled forward as much as 50km that first day. They had to be halted simply because they were outrunning the FFA's ability to keep up with them logistically. No matter how successful an army might be, it could not continue to function without food and water, fuel, and ammunition.

A heroic effort was made to resupply the forces over night, and they were ready to go the next morning. The vanguard went out full of piss and ginger. They wanted to fight, but they were having trouble finding anybody to fight with. Except for a few snipers here and there, the FFA could not find any opposition until they reached the foothills of the mountains blocking their advance to San Diego. The frustration from two days of not finding anybody to shoot at was at its boiling point when they ran into their first roadblock.

At last, here was somebody to shoot at. It is quite possible that everybody in the lead FFA platoon took at least one shot at the defenders, even though they were dead by then. The guys in the light tanks were pissed that they had never had a chance to shoot—the grunts on foot had completely destroyed the roadblock before the tanks had a chance to round the curve and bring a gun to bear. In fact, the company commander found it necessary to remind her troops that they were supposed to work in conjunction with the tanks, not in competition with them!

When that announcement was made, there was some jeering about party-poopers, but none of it was meant seriously. However, the platoon leader did insist that the troops keep closer to the tanks, since they were supposed to be the protective screen that the tanks needed.

A little farther along, the attitude changed as an RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenade) did plow into the lead tank. Of course, everyone inside the tank was killed, and the infantrymen took this personally. They found the woman who had fired the RPG and literally skinned her alive. The platoon leader looked the other way while this was going on. Fortunately for her, the woman actually died before the inexperienced skinners finished their job; nevertheless, they did feel better about the whole thing. However, the platoon leader refused to let them use the woman's skin as a victory banner.

The woman's screams had penetrated as far as the California NG lines and they resolved to fight all the harder; however, they also resolved to run like hell if there was any chance of being captured. These mixed emotions went a long way toward killing the fighting efficiency of the NG.

The first major battle commenced shortly thereafter. The defenders did have mortars, MGs, RPGs, and hand grenades, as well as their single-shot rifles. The NG women were poorly trained in this kind of warfare, and they retreated before the tanks and mortar fire. This time, the FFA officers on hand refused to let their troops torture the captured enemy. The hope was that the captured troops would defect to the FFA once they had the chance.

Everybody in the FFA wondered if all of the battles were going to be like this one. Well, they did pick up some useful weapons, especially the RPGs. The MGs were of about the same quality as the rifles: not worth a damn! The mortars were 90mm and limited to contact fuses; they might have some value, but time would tell on that. Lastly, the hand grenades were the fragmentation type designed to be used for defense, so they were of dubious value to the FFA, who were trained to always be on the attack.