The Premier’s Order, August 22nd

"Yes, it's good to be back, let's get back to business shall we?" I said with a small smile as I sat at the head of the table. The room was really just an office used by some junior officers for planning that had been quickly requisitioned for this meeting.

My wife took the seat to my side, still holding my hand in a death grip as if I was about to float away. Meanwhile to my right was Colonel Ivanov and Major Ivan. Major General Luka and Erik were at the opposite end of the table. Between them was Premier Nicholas Merida, a buff mexican looking guy wearing a business suit. Next to him was the Minister of Economic Development, Julia Espenosa, a strikingly pretty young woman wearing a blue sundress. The pair and my wife stood out amidst the wall of military uniforms.

"So Major, care to back brief me on what the emergency is?" I asked while Ivan unrolled a map of… San Francisco?

"This morning at 0535 hours the destroyer Vengeance and the frigate Eagle came under artillery fire from positions in Oakland, by 0546 both ships and several of our supply vessels were ablaze, settling in the harbor."

Ivan traced the curve of Alameda's coast. "The artillery battery within fob Deniper began exchanging fire with enemy forces at 0541, and to our best guess is still doing so…"

Ivan then began tapping several locations along I 101. "Our forward positions began to come under attack by 0600 hours, with increasing pressure. Colonel Vicorvich of the 4th naval infantry regiment reported to me at 0920 hours that hostile forces included a wide coalition of survivors, city and state police, as well as the California national guard."

"So far we've ordered the San Fran 7/11 convoy to not enter the harbor and scrambled all our aircraft to fly support missions. Otherwise, we're looking at a blank slate sir." Ivan said.

Merida coughed slightly. "Thank you Major. General Reichenbacher, before I'd arrived i'd received word from the hospital in Fob Deniper, and they are treating somewhere in the realm of a thousand casualties, both military and civilian."

"Is Black horse involved?" I asked quietly.

"Our reports do not indicate that they are, though it is possible sir." Ivan replied. The gruff soldier looked worn thin, the sigh looked like it took all the ind from his sails.

"Thank you Major, please sit." I glanced over to the Premier.

"Have the Hawaiians found out yet?" I asked.

He shook his head. "I ordered a complete freeze on our diplomatic channels until noon, I wanted your opinion before I spoke with ambassador Hailey."

"Well Premier, i'll cast the ball over to you, should we withdraw our guys? Let them keep San Fran?"

"After they've killed our people? I don't think you'd let them get off so lightly, much less your staff General." Merida replied guardedly.

"Sir, I can have my Division spearhead up highway 5 in three hours." Luka said, his voice firm.

"San Francisco is what… three hundred, three hundred fifty miles from here? You'd have to have a clearing vehicle at the head of the advance, so it'll be one of our illustrious T-72s… so 35ish miles an hour… so we might be able to reach the city outskirts in what? Ten hours assuming nothing goes wrong?" I said, staring at the map of southern California on the wall.

"What about our VDV regiments?" Erik asked.

"Most of their transports are still in Oklahoma, flights were ordered to return after the General's Illyushgin was shot down." Ivanov muttered darkly. I glanced at the Colonel but he remained cool, almost impassive.

"What of the Pacific Fleet?" Minister Espenosa asked.

"Commodore Gena has been made aware, he informed us he is dispatching a force from TF Pacific to reinforce TF North." Ivan replied with a small sigh.

"What assets did he move? Is Task force Pacific still able to conduct its joint leviathan sweep with the US navy?" I asked.

"They should be sir, his transmission indicated that the Slava and a pair of Udaloys would be making the best possible speed for San Francisco." Ivan replied wearily. I nodded, sharing a glance with the Premier.

"What will you do General?" he asked, all eyes turning to me.

"Perhaps I didn't make myself quite clear enough during our previous conversations. Premier, this may be an emergency, and yes, I am the commander in chief of the entire military of the Union, but I intend to work with you, not to make you work for me." I gave my officers a long look, then shared a small smile with my wife, giving her hand a small squeeze.

"Premier, you set the policy of the nation, I'll run the military. You tell me who and what to kill, I'll do that. I'll run the military, you'll support it." I said firmly.

"General Reichenbacher. You might be crazy if you think any of these men will take orders from me." Merida protested, chuckling to himself while casting a nervous gaze around the room.

"They'll follow my orders though. So Premier, What will your policy be?" I asked, gazing at the man. He paused for a moment, casting a helpless gaze at the minister to his side, but the eyes of everyone reminded him.

He leaned back, rubbing at his forehead. His foot tapped incessantly on the floor, he leaned on the table, a heavy breath escaped him. The man straightened, his face setting. "This isn't the old world anymore… I suppose I wish it was, where a bit of negotiating might have prevented this."

"The time for talk has passed, Premier." Ivanov said quietly, a steely edge to his words. Merida nodded, turning to face me.

"General Reichenbacher. Put them down."

A ghostly smile flashed across my face. My wife squeezed my hand, a worried smile on her face. I turned to Erik and Luka. "Where are my divisions?"

Luka grinned widely. "My fourth Division is spread across Passendea, I can have them advancing up Interstate 5 within the hour."

Erik shook his head, a bit annoyed by Luka's enthusiasm. "1st division is spread from Santa Monica to Commerce. I'll have my 4th regiment ready to move within the hour."

"General Gerorge's 2nd division is currently spread across the metro area, from LAX to Anaheim, General Joseph's 3rd division is still pushing into San Bernardino and the mountain passes." Ivan supplied. I nodded, looking at the map from my chair.

"Luka you'll advance up Highway 5 through the middle of the state. Erik, State highway 101 along the coast, blast a corridor. Do not stop, if someone gets in the way, run them over." I turned to Merida.

"Premier, do you think that little police force can handle public order in Los Angeles now that is clear of undead or do you need the military to continue to handle that?" I asked.

"We can manage," he replied.

"Amazing, in that case… Ivanov, inform George that his division will be following the 1st and 4th, securing their supply lines and securing new Soviet territories." I glanced back at the Premier and nodded.

"Why don't you give the ambassador a call, this clusterfuck is going to take a few days to unfuck." I said with a small smile. He nodded, taking the minister with him as he left. The other officers started to leave but I gestured for them to stay.

"We've received a large windfall of credits. The military is going to expand, each motor rifle division will get another regiment. I'm also going to start filling out those support regiments and brigades we've been leaving on the table." I said, leaning forward.

"What kind of expansion are we looking at sir?" Ivanov asked, a new light in his eyes.

"The works Colonel, all that stuff we've been putting off. Dedicated signals and engineering battalions, logistics brigades, anti air brigades, proper headquarters companies, dedicated supply and replenishment ships…"

"Sir, why don't you let us know what your rank limits you too, and we'll scratch together a list, General Luka, General Erik, please see to your commands, we'll dispatch the new regiments to your headquarters once they've been summoned." Major Ivan interjected.

The two Generals took their leave while Ivan and Ivanov settled in with a few sheets of blank paper. I pulled up the system and glanced at the thing that so rarely hindered me anymore. The unit cap.

'Lieutenant General, limited to: 6/6 Divisions(4 divisions are missing 1 regiment) + 0/5 independent brigades + 0/10 support regiments + 3/12 support battalions + 1/40 support companies + 3/3 aviation brigades + 1/2 naval air squadrons'

I informed them of what was missing and they set to it like bloodhounds.

"So the VDV and Naval infantry divisions have their full 5 regiments… so that means our motor rifle and tank division… you wanted to add an additional motor rifle regiment?" Ivan asked, starting to do the math.

"The independent brigades likely means additional combat units… but support regiments? Signals, Logistics… make that four, make it an informal division that does the heavy logistical work for the corps."

"Military police, don't forget them, they've been awfully stretched." Ivan remined Ivanov. As I flipped through the store, adding the units they were hashing out.

"Anti air brigades, three of them?" Ivanov asked Ivan.

"LA, SF, and SD?" he asked, the two nodded. Okay… three anti air brigades…

"Add a couple Engineer battalions, six?..."

"What are we looking at right now sir?" Ivanov asked.

I didn't look up for a minute, still flipping through the menus to add the units. "4 motor rifle regiments to fill the divisions, 3 anti-air brigades, 1 military police brigade, 4 logistics regiments, 1 signals regiment… a bit over half a million credits"

"Gena would know better about what the navy needs… Colonel Thomas… the airforce slots are full already…"

"Sir, when you said you got a windfall of credits… how much did you mean." Ivanov asked cautiously.

"A hundred million." I replied deadpan. The two glanced at each other and shrugged.

"Sir, I'd always love troops… actually. Can we add a guards tank brigade?" Ivan said, then stopped and asked me a question.

"I'd rather expand our Spetsnaz battalion to a full brigade…" Ivanov replied.

"I figured next time our supreme leader got stuck behind an enemy of the Union…" Ivan started, then Ivanov tilted his head slightly towards me.

"Spetsnaz sir." Ivan said with a falsely cheerful smile…

"You aren't going to let me do the usual cheap equipment for this brigade are you?" i gazed at the two of them with a bit of frustration in my voice. The slowly shook their heads.

"T80s, BMP3, BTR80…" Ivan slowly said.

"Oh, integrated artillery and anti air… so Akatiaya and Tunguska." Ivanov chirped in.

"While we have the chance… Dedicated recon, logistics, signals, and support units just for them." Ivan added with a small smile.

"What are the two of you trying to make? The Old Guard?"

Ivanov stared at me. "Yes."

"Go fuck yourself."

I added it to the list. A small total of 578,740 credits… now to quickly hop over to the car port to summon all these new soldiers to traumatize my officers with.

'Quest issued! Premier's Order. A large coalition has attacked Soviet forces in San Francisco. The Premier has ordered their deaths. Exterminate all resistance in San Francisco, set an example of those that cross the Soviet Union. Reward 150,000 credits, 2,500,000 xp.'

I glanced at the notification, then smiled at my two officers. "Looks like the system decided to reward us with a reward for doing what we were going to do anyway."

I glanced over at my wife. "I'm sorry, i might not be back in time for dinner Darling."

"We aren't going to be back in time for dinner." she replied as she pulled me in for a hug.

"Let's get these new soldiers summoned." she said with a smile, pulling me to my feet.