Phoenix Rising: (60 page)

Bryan Gates and Chris Carmack were walking on the beach, along the surf line. A sand crab scurried across the beach in front of them, and five seagulls, in a perfect V formation glided over them, their wings outstretched and unmoving.

“How was the weather in Hamburg?” Chris asked.

“Who else knows?” Bryan asked.

“As far as I know, just me,” Chris replied. “I think that things like this are best kept off the books, even though at this point, there are no books. As long as neither Jake nor Bob know about it, their consciences will be clear.”

“Conscience? Tell me, Chris, what exactly is a conscience?”

“It is something that tells you you did the right thing, even though it might seem wrong to others.”

“The right thing would have been to kill that son of bitch before he ever had a chance to put that incompetent, socialist bastard in the White House,” Bryan said.

“Did you really play Michael Corleone?”

“Yeah, I did. If Coppola had been there, he would have put me in that role instead of Al Pacino.”

“Stick around, Bryan,” Chris said. “We're starting a new nation here, and need good men.”

“I have to stick around, Chris. I have no other place to go.”

Once again, representatives from nine states arrived in Mobile. This time they came as senators, two from each state, and as representatives, with the expressed purpose of declaring into existence the nation of United Free America. Until the new nation was organized, the number of representatives per state reflected the number of representatives each state had in the Congress of the United States.

There had been some discussion over the number of seats Florida should have, because in the pre-O days of the United States, Florida had 25 congressional districts. But only the north half of Florida was included in the alignment of states for United Free America, so, by mutual agreement Florida was given 12 seats. That gave the provisional Congress a construction of 88 House and 16 Senate seats. South Carolina, though it had made a formal application to join the UFA, was not yet included, and would not be included until their petition was voted on and ratified by the other eight states. South Carolina did send a delegation consisting of 6 representatives and 2 senators, but until such time as they were accepted into full union with the rest of the states of United Free America, the South Carolina senators and congressmen would be a nonvoting delegation.

It was quickly pointed out that Texas and Georgia, should they combine, could control the house. But no piece of legislation could pass without approval in both houses of Congress, and that gave some sense of balance to the proceedings.

Bob opened the session with an address to a joint meeting of the House and the Senate. After the initial welcome, he introduced Jake, to give a report on the military situation.

“Ladies and gentlemen of this, the organizing Congress of United Free America,” Jake began, “I am pleased to report that the state of our military is exceptionally good. We have a well-organized military which by actual count is a defense force of 5,379 active duty members. The construct of our defense force is 3,207 in the ground service, 1,453 in our air service, and 719 in our sea service. Our sea service consists of two destroyers, one submarine, and one aircraft carrier. As yet neither our submarine nor our carrier has been deployed, but we expect to do so as soon as they are fully crewed. Eighty-five percent of our service men and women are veterans, twenty-six percent are officers.

“We have already been engaged in some significant military operations. One was the deployment of an armed, unmanned aerial vehicle, the MQ9 Reaper, which provided aerial support for an embattled firebase in South Carolina. The second was embedding one of our advisors with a combat convoy of the South Carolina Defense Core. That convoy came under fire, receiving rather significant casualties, but they were able to call in air support from their own resources. The third was the rescue from an AIRE prison of Dr. Taylor Urban. The fourth military engagement was the destruction of AIRE jet fighters at Homestead Air Force Base in South Florida. These were the same aircraft that attacked Columbia, South Carolina, inflicting heavy casualties on the innocent citizens of that city.

“In addition we have had some significant engagements at sea, interdicting would-be attacks on our offshore gas and oil rigs. In every case, I am proud to say that our military performed well.”

A hand went up in the audience, and Jake called upon him.

The person Jake called upon, a large and powerfully built man, stood and turned sideways so he could address both Jake and the others in the assembly.

“I am William Knowles, a part of the South Carolina delegation, and I would like to extend the thanks of the people of South Carolina for the military support we have received.”

Another delegate raised his hand and, when called upon, stood. “Why are we helping South Carolina? They weren't here for the constitutional convention, and though I know they have applied to join us, they aren't a part of us yet. So why are we taking the chance of having one of our soldiers killed, fighting for South Carolina?”

“Because even though South Carolina hasn't joined us, they are an ally. And we have a long and storied history of providing military support . . . and sustaining casualties . . . in defense of our allies,” Jake replied.

“Are we paying our soldiers?” another delegate asked. “And if so, how much are we paying them, and how are we doing that? What I'm asking is, where is the money coming from?”

“For the moment we are paying our soldiers an equivalent salary to what they were receiving at their respective ranks in the pre-O military. And we are paying them from our treasury,” Jake said. “But part of what I hope we do here for these few days of meetings, will be to come up with a way that we can all participate in funding both our treasury, and our military.”

“You're a general, I can see why you are interested,” someone shouted, and the others laughed.

“Getting paid is nice,” Jake said with a smile and a nod. “And finally, as I'm sure you can understand, though we have a good start in building our defense service, a military force consisting of only five thousand members isn't nearly large enough. We are going to have to start a very active recruitment program. My personal goal is to have one hundred thousand men under arms by the first of the New Year.”

After the opening joint session, the senators and congressmen went to their respective chambers to work out the details of building a new nation. Since there were no political parties, there was no such office as a Senate Majority Leader, so a President Pro Tem was elected in the Senate, and a speaker of the house in the House of Representatives. Both positions were selected by voting at large.

Once the two houses selected their leaders, they were ready to get down to the business of organizing the new nation. The first person to request permission to speak in the Senate was a delegate from Texas.

“Mr. President?”

“The chair recognizes Senator Carter Davis from Texas.”

Senator Davis stepped to the front and, since there were only 18 present, his talk was more of a conversation than elocution.

“This may sound a little far-fetched at first, but hear me out. Back home, when we had our statewide meeting to select the senators and congressman, a question came up.

“I don't know how many of you are up on your history about Texas, but when Texas was first brought in to the United States, it was given the option of dividing itself into five states.

“For various and sundry reasons, Texas chose to remain a single state. But now the dynamics have changed. And the Texas delegation has been asked to petition this assembly for the right to enter into alliance with the new nation of United Free America, not as one, but as five states.”

“Discussion from the floor?” the President Pro Tem said.

“Carter, wouldn't that give Texas almost absolute control of the Senate?” Senator Patterson from Louisiana asked. “You already have control of the House.”

“That would increase the number of seats in the Senate from sixteen to twenty four. And even if every senator from the five Texas states would vote together, it would still be a minority. But I assure you, it would be a rare occasion for all ten senators from the five states to vote in a block. It is because of the varying philosophies throughout the state that we are asking for this move. There are some parts of the state, particularly our Mexican-American citizens, who have, in some cases, a family presence going back nearly four hundred years, who feel they aren't being represented.”

As this discussion was going on in the Senate, the House was dealing with the same question.

To approve the division of the current State of Texas, Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of United Free America in Congress assembled,

JOINT BILL 1. DIVISION OF THE STATE OF TEXAS

In accordance with the initial annexation of Texas to the United States, approved by Congress on 1 March, 1843, which included the following provision, to wit:

New States of convenient size not exceeding four in number, in addition to said State of Texas, and having sufficient population, may, hereafter, by the consent of said State, be formed out of the territory thereof, which shall be entitled to admission under the provisions of the Federal Constitution; and such states as may be formed out of the territory lying south of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north latitude, commonly known as the Missouri Compromise Line, shall be admitted into the Union, with or without slavery, as the people of each State asking admission shall desire; and in such State or States as shall be formed out of said territory north of said Missouri Compromise Line, slavery, or involuntary servitude, (except for crime) shall be prohibited.