Chapter 2: A Decision to Wage War

March 14, 1996

“I don’t know. What does everyone else think?”

There was a long moment of silence. The pre-contract briefing sat on the center of the conference table like a viper. No one wanted to touch it.

Amra had sent a missive stating that they wanted to hire Jade Force to support its efforts to contain a group of fanatics called, The Enforcers of God. They hadn’t gotten to the point of a contract, yet. They weren’t even at the point of calling for a Confab. This meeting was to decide if it was even worth the effort to put the resources into reaching a point where a contract could be put forth. If they decided to go forward, a rough plan would be laid out, a contract written, and a Confab held to see if there was interest amongst by a sufficient number of Jade Warriors to meet the contract.

“It will be ugly. There are eighty thousand of them. They aren’t soldiers. They’re warriors.”

“They’re not warriors, they’re butchers.”

“We’ve been called butchers.”

“There’s a difference. We don’t grab children out of their mother’s arms and cut their heads off because we think they aren’t religious enough. We don’t use human shields. We don’t fight from inside hospitals. We try to keep the killing to a minimum. They’re willing to kill anyone, and let Jarjan sort them out.”

“That’s true. However, we do shoot through humans shields which Palarma and Amra won’t do.”

“They may fight like warriors, but they don’t have a true warrior mindset. Deep down, they are cowards.”

“They appear willing enough to die.”

“They aren’t cowards. They’re suicidal. They want to die in service to Jarjan. The problem is that they want to take as many people as possible with them.”

“Even though they aren’t soldiers or warriors, they are skilled fighters. I figure the average fighter is the equivalent to a ninth or tenth year cadet. They’re smart, they’re organized, and they aren’t afraid to kill. Let’s not forget that they’re very well funded.”

“We’ve never faced an enemy like that.”

“They out number us significantly. It’s going to be brutal, even if every Jade Warrior gets involved.”

“We could have fifty percent fatalities.”

“Palarma and Amra have really screwed up the situation there. Even if we win, it’ll just be a temporary victory. They’ll regroup and emerge even stronger.”

“We’ll have to kill them all.”

“There are eighty thousand of them.”

“Jarjan fanatics ... How did they manage to pervert that religion to such a degree?”

“They didn’t pervert it. They are fighting to achieve the perverse vision created by fanatical Voices of Jarjan.”

“It doesn’t matter. They believe that Jarjan is on their side. They act believing that Jarjan’s support gives them the right to do anything they want in pursuit of their goal. They can’t do wrong if Jarjan is on their side.”

“They’ve got Jarjan fanatics from all over the world flying in to join them. They could double in number by the time we got there.”

“It’s got to be stopped. If Palarma falls, then they’ll turn to Grete. The Jarjan fanatics there have already destabilized the government.”

“Palarma and Amra won’t do it. They don’t want to offend the moderate Jarjans.”

“The moderate Jarjans won’t stand up to the radicals.”

“It’s going to require killing off hundreds of Jarjan Voices.”

The Jarjan Voices were the spiritual leaders of the followers of the Jarjan religion. Over the past thirty years, a small group of Jarjan Voices had become increasingly more radical in tone. Now they were calling for a religious cleansing. The Jarjan fanatics had taken to killing anyone who didn’t display the appropriate degree of fanatical belief. Most of the deaths involved other followers of Jarjan, but that could and would change.

“There isn’t a country without radical Jarjan Voices. It would require a world wide effort to get rid of them.”

“The whole world is pretending that this is a problem that’s just going to solve itself. We wouldn’t get any help from any country. We’d be on our own.”

“They’re hoping the moderates regain control of their religion.”

“History shows that they’re wrong.”

“Nobody learns from history.”

“Isn’t that the truth.”

“So do we take it or not?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Even if we win in Palarma, we lose. Palarma is just a battle, it isn’t the war. We might win the battle, but we won’t win the war. I figure that we’d suffer fifty percent casualties fighting in Palarma. Those bastards are tough.”

“There wouldn’t be enough of us left for the next battle.”

“They’d target us specifically the next time. We’d be fighting them here or in Inra.”

“There are already radical groups in Del Moray and Ismal. There are enclaves of fanatics all over Besland and North Ringland. We’ll have to fight them at some time.”

“It’s a problem that isn’t going to go away.”

“It’ll only get worse if they manage to take control of Palarma.”

“So what are our choices?”

“We can’t fight them and win, we can’t join them, and we can’t just sit back and watch them grow.”

“Those aren’t our choices. We either fight them or we don’t.”

“If we fight them, it has to be on our terms.”

“Wait a minute everyone. Let’s go back to basics and assess the situation properly.”

The Basics mentioned were some fundamental questions posed by perhaps the greatest military mind of history. He wrote that these should be answered before the decision to go to war is made. It was to provide an insight into who would win even before a single shot had been fired. The country that raced to war without knowing the answers to those questions was the country that would lose the war. History had born out that observation time and again.

“Okay. So which of the two sovereigns are imbued with moral law?”

“They’ve got a god. We don’t even have a contract, yet.”

“That’s not quite accurate. They’ve got spokesmen for their God.”

“Those spokesmen are just as good as a god. They talk and thousands rally. We’ve got what we’ve got.”

“We’ve got the Misera Army, Navy, and Air Force.”

“With the majority of all three made of conscripted troops. You know the contract. We don’t take people who are serving their mandatory service into war. War is not in their contract.”

“So they’ve got the Sovereign imbued with moral law.”

“I’d say so.”

“Which of the two generals has the most ability?”

“They don’t have generals. We don’t have generals. It’s a tie.”

“I’d say that our leadership is a lot better than theirs. Neither side may have generals, but both sides have strategic and tactical leaders. We understand war better than they do.”

“How can you say that? They’ve been very effective against Amra.”

“I say that because they only have one strategy. They are bullies. They take over through fear and intimidation. They take what they want and kill anyone who resists. If things get too hot for them, they run away.