Chapter 42

Tuesday,
22 April, 2014
Regional Operations Central Command,
Temporary Clarke Residence,
Free City of Charlottesville

“The decision to hold ROCC sessions here in your temporary housing was pure genius on my part, wouldn’t you agree?” Mayor Ted Lansing fished for praise as we sat together with the other principals of the Command.

“Naturally, Your Honor. Now, can we get on with the business at hand?” Lancaster County Sheriff Stuart Lopez urged us with the nodding approval of the other local bigwigs on the ROCC.

“Especially given that it’s Earth Day, but our illustrious mayor here still has a point. From a security standpoint, if nothing else. Enemy operatives would expect the nerve center to be at City Hall or some other government building, not in a private residence, even of the Prophet Adam Clarke.

“In any case, we have much work to do and precious little time remaining to us. The principal item for today’s agenda is the creation of a naval and/or coastal task force intended to keep Eckart as bottled up and landlocked as possible once the trap is closed,” Sarah interjected now with gentle ribbing for her husband and political deputy, who meekly deferred to his head wife, the Prophetess, as usual.

“If we have an enemy who outnumbers us, we’ll frankly need any advantage we can seize for our camp. Thankfully, his cruelty and hatred as well as his racial violence has augmented our ranks with refugees, many of them eager to avenge loved ones cut down by his thugs. Even so, his ranks continue to swell, his numbers growing exponentially by the hour.

“We have been assured by angels of Heaven that this is Divine Providence, God’s trap for the Nazis. All well and good, but in the meantime, we need to keep and strengthen whatever boons we can find,” I insisted, backing up my fellow Prophet, one of my many lovers, none other than Sarah.

“In that spirit, I have a proposed commander for this task force, a former Navy cruiser skipper named Arthur Preuss. I’ve actually met him once or twice while in the old U.S. Navy, of course. I was just a seaman, but Commander Preuss always impressed me, even then. I believe that he is here with us, even now, in fact, smuggled in over from Norfolk, where he serves as co-chair of the Joint Governance Commission which administers said seaport and former naval base.

“I propose that we establish this force as the natural successor to the old American Navy and Virginia naval militia, with Preuss holding the rank of Captain aboard his chosen flagship and him also resigning his seat on the Norfolk governing body. It would be inappropriate for him to wear both hats, that of the naval emissary on the Commission and the new CNO. That’s Chief of Naval Operations for you landlubbers. With an independent naval command that answers directly to the ROCC, he can avoid the jurisdictional issues and turf wars that might otherwise interfere with his effectiveness as commanding flag officer. Any proposals about size, name, scale, location of HQ?” I offered the other local magnates the chance to speak up for themselves in this situation.

“The Virginia Naval Defense Force?” the Prophetess Emma Arliss, also Mayor of Twin Lakes, broke her earlier silence to offer helpful ideas.

“That works for now. We should operate entirely from volunteers and focus most recruiting on the coastal towns and cities first. They would be far more familiar with the expectations and duties of their service in that context. Lots of longshoremen, seamen from the Merchant Marine, etc. Do you have a suggestion for your successor on the Norfolk authority?” I now probed the captain in question.

“Certainly. Lieutenant Commander Karen Bolt of the Norfolk Coastal Defense Force, formerly Major Karen Bolt of the United States Marine Corps. She’s already acted on my behalf a lot. I’m more than confident that she could handle those politicians as well as I have. Now, as to size, there is the sticking point. It’s gonna have to be impressively large. We need plenty of ships and men and to spare to enforce this blockade. We want these goose stepping pricks cut off from the sea. Permanently. Let them endure a proper siege for once. What say you?” Preuss now continued.

“I’d say that we also need to offer amnesty and pardon to some folks in the brig and in civilian jail, if they’re still locked up. We need the manpower, after all. Badly. Even miracles need help, wouldn’t you say? And a victory over these Nazi jerks would be quite the act of God, no doubt of that. This is a very risky business, as all wars tend to be. We truly require all hands on deck.