"Show us a tactical map indicating live and disabled weapons. Put each division on a separate screen," I said aloud.
Instantly the two requested displays appeared as high-level overviews of the divisions with green dots indicating live weapons and red dots showing disabled weapons. There were a lot of dots. "Remove handguns from the display." I ordered.
A pretty big number of green dots winked out. There were still a lot of them. I was able to control the view by focusing my gaze on a particular spot to zoom in or out. I zood in and saw that the sixth division had a fairly large number of vehicle-mounted heavy guns. Those would probably be among the most dangerous for aircraft. Along with any shoulder fired ground to air missiles, of course. I could see these steadily switching over from green to red as Joe used the laser-equipped invisible drones to target key component of the weapons.
We had an hour. It looked like we’d have a pretty good chance of getting almost everything before the first engagent was due with the warning fire. At that point, they’d probably try to get off so shots at the planes or helicopters and discover their weapons were not working. That should be a pretty strong argunt against pushing through the warnings to continue onward. At least we’d stop the two divisions from combining forces and the other divisions from gunning them all down from the air.
I had an idea. "Joe, how are the division leaders communicating?"
"They’re using what you people think are encrypted cell phones," Joe replied disdainfully.
"And you can put a call through to them at any ti?"
"Of course."
"Good. Do the enlisted have them as well?"
"No, their operational security is a bit lax. Most have their own personal cell phones. A surprisingly high number of them carry apps with hidden tracking malware."
"So, you can access them all at once, with a common ssage."
"Yes."
"Good. Also, make a note to advise President Arroyo and his military staff on the dangers of personal cell phones among the troops, especially when on maneuvers. Maybe demonstrate with a tactical map showing his troop movents over so period. Maybe demonstrate how you can insert code that overcharges the battery whenever its plugged in to the point of fire or explosion. You know, make it convincing enough that they’ll take action."
"Acknowledged. I’ll try to schedule it within a week. They’re a little pre-occupied at the mont."
"OK, guys," I said addressing Mom, Dad, and Joe, "Here’s what we’re going to do. Joe, work as fast as you can to disable every gun in those rogue divisions. Start with heavy weapons that could take down aircraft and any mortars, and such. Then, I want you to make sure that no one above the rank of private, or whatever Colombia calls them, has a working weapon, then go for the regular enlisted n’s weapons. Calculate your progress rate and apply additional drones from other areas if necessary to finish in ti. Let know before drawing any from our highest priority locations. As you’re doing that, and as soon as you have good confidence that it’s going to be finished within an hour, you’re going to put through a call to the commanders of the divisions planning the airstrikes, as well as the nearest two loyal divisions. Put up a larger theater map marking their locations. OK, that one and that one. Where are the air strikes coming from? OK, those, too. Now show who’s calling the shots and directing the overall force strategy and tactics and those involved in that decision making. Good, tag them all as L1. I want to talk to them all when you know the guns will be disabled within a 1 hour window from now."
"It appears that the Secretary of Defense Juan Castonado is running the overall plan, he is working with the President of the Senate and the leaders of both legislative houses, to keep order and handle problems the loyal mbers of the National Police can’t handle. Right now, special forces units are planning raids on uncooperative police districts. There are ten remaining. The army is handling the rogue divisions, using their own air support. The Colombian Aerospace Command is on alert against foreign intervention. The heavy weaponry, officer, and NCO weapons will all be disabled in 21 minutes. The remainder, including sidearms, will be done in 51 minutes. The delay is largely due to positioning issues to avoid burning holes in the personnel."
"Excellent work Joe," I said with the beginning of a smile. "Keep at it. Give five minutes to make up what I’m going to say, then connect to the L1 command group, including the legislative heads."
"Acknowledged.
"Make sothing up?" Dad asked, "You do actually have a plan, though?"
"Not entirely, but I’m working on it," I said giving him an exaggerated wink. "I think that the commanders and maybe a lot of the senior staff of the two renegade divisions were probably looking at pending arrests and decided that they’d take their chances by defying the authority of those who might co to get them. I doubt that all or even a majority of their troops were on the cartel payroll. They’re just following orders in a chaotic situation. My goal is to let every man decide for himself which side he’s on. Separate the good from the bad. Put the bad guys in an untenable situation, then peacefully arrest them."
"Wow. All that, huh?" Mom asked. ’Is there anything you can’t do?"
"Well, I have it on good advice that I should ’never get involved in a land war in Asia’." I couldn’t help a small giggle as I quoted one of my favorite lines from The Princess Bride.
Dad also snorted. Mom just looked confused. Apparently not as confused as Joe, because he actually asked, "Should we decline Thailand’s request for assistance then?"
Dad and I both burst out laughing.
Reviews
All reviews (0)