Chapter 55

July 6, 2014, the first anniversary of Doomsday
The Chancellery Complex Haven
Province of Oregon, The Commonwealth of Haven

“Westport, Astoria, Portland, even Bend ... we’re rapidly taking over Oregon, my friends,” I noted the swift pace of annexation over the past year.

The Commonwealth of Haven now controlled all of western and much of central Oregon, most of Washington State along the Pacific Coast, and even a toehold in British Columbia. Haven remained the capital, the seat of government, of course. Roughly five to seven million people now lived under my rule. We were definitely a nation and one of the larger successor states of the former USA. Our easternmost city was Bend, Oregon, roughly in the middle of the state.

We had also created the Army of Western Oregon, the first such mobile military formation of its kind in the history of Haven. It only had six divisions, each of about fifteen thousand troops, but it was one of the biggest field armies in the world right then. It was under the field command of Major General Aengus Schumacher himself. For now, at least. It was a professional, standing army, and that went a long way toward encouraging our neighbors to at least consider yielding to our control.

Luckily for us, the main opposition in Oregon was a small collection of eastern counties controlled by extreme survivalists. We had a tacit alliance with the various reservations of the province’s First Nations, who now grasped that we offered a better chance at avoiding a genocidal crusade by far-right extremists. We were a far superior alternative, even if they didn’t quite trust me, since I was a white politician. At least Haven didn’t tend to launch raids on their territories as the local county militias did.

“Fighting has been relatively limited and low-key along the Cascade Mountains, of course. We’re also starting to spread out a bit in western Washington State. The surrender of the last anarchist holdouts in Seattle helped more than a little. The limited amnesty offer did wonders for our cause. Seattle is now fully in our territory, as is Tacoma,” Aengus informed me now.

“As Chancellor of Haven, I congratulate and commend you, General. And you, Admiral, how are our ships, sailors, and marines doing?” I asked Tokutomi at this point.

“We’ve ... smashed a small pirate flotilla just off the northern California coast. Privateers helped along with our regular navy, not to mention our marines. I’m pleased to announce that we also set up a small naval base on the California shore. It’s a start toward our eventual takeover of California, I believe. I took the liberty of hanging the captured pirates, sir,” Tokutomi told me rather nervously.

“You did well. Zero tolerance for piracy ... except by us, of course. I want my sea lanes cleared of all buccaneers. Except mine. How bad is the remaining piracy problem along our littoral? Level with me,” I instructed the admiral.

“It’s about halfway contained, but far from finished, I’m afraid to say. Our latest victory goes a long way toward crushing American piracy, at least. I wish I could say the same about foreign pirates. The bulk of the American freebooters now operate mainly out of southern and central California, as well as Hawaii.