The Cresperian Alliance Read Online Free

into space, then it came back, more attentive than before. “General Washington, you just received a request to call the Pentagon. The Chairman wants to talk to you."
    Uh oh. Chadwick can wait.
    "Belay Chadwick, Dianne.” He punched off the monitor, pulled open a drawer and lifted out a phone. It was encrypted both in the hole and at the Pentagon. He punched in the number without referring to an index. He had all the numbers memorized.
    "Chairman."
    "General, this is Caleb. You needed to speak to me."
    "Right. Things going well with you?"
    "Confusing sometimes."
    "I shouldn't wonder. Listen, Caleb, our first ship just reported in. There's lots of new intelligence, including finding some bad guys out there. You'll be getting all that over the next few weeks, but right now the President has decided that White Horse is a go. And we're going ahead simultaneously with Red Horse and Black Horse. Hit ‘em all at once, so nobody has advance warning."
    "I'll be damned. Diplomacy didn't work, huh?"
    "Not with who's running State."
    Washington sighed his understanding. “All right, sir. I've already had them activate the planning as you suggested. When do you want it executed?"
    "As soon as possible. The Zeng Wu was spotted by some astronomer and she spilled the beans all over the world. The President is going to have to go public with the news we have starships, but he wants White Horse to be a done deal by then."
    "Shit. How long are we talking?"
    "He'd have it done yesterday, if it were possible. Within the next two to three days, five at the outside."
    Washington's dark skin paled slightly. “That's really pushing it, sir. Hell, we just got the last of our personnel in."
    "I know, but that's what contingency planning is for. Admiral Terhune has already ordered a Sea Wolf sub into the area. In fact it's the ship of the line, the USS Sea Wolf herself, he's putting in the North Sea. It'll be ready to evacuate the team once they bring out the Crispies."
    "Nothing to do but try if the President is this adamant about it. I take it you told him the chances of success goes way down when getting a mission of this sort off the ground with so little planning?"
    "He knows it and is prepared for the risk.” He heard a short chuckle. “At least this one has some balls. He's willing to lose the unit and will take the site out if it fails."
    "I guess that's what we get paid the big bucks for. Okay, I'll send them off. Wish us luck."
    "You got it.” The line went dead. For a moment Washington simply stared across his desk at nothing. He had been associated with the army all his life, including being an army brat when his black Oklahoma father married a white Italian beauty. He had faced the mixed race epithets and seen prejudice up close. He had been in some extremely hairy situations over the years. None of them bothered him nearly as much as the thought of losing one of his units to the expediency of politics. And while going into combat against a supposed allied country of long standing at that.
    The United Kingdom had been holding three of the aliens since their lifeboat crashed in Scotland at the same time all the other dozen or so lifeboats scattered literally over the world. At first they indicated that they were intending to share what intelligence they gained from the alien technology but somehow it had never materialized. Delay after delay and excuse after excuse was all they ever shared. He put a major part of the blame for the situation on the Secretary of State, Sandra Fellowes. President Waterman had put her in the cabinet in exchange for something he wanted that was never made clear. He supposed the woman did a fair job in normal situations but he and the rest of the military would gladly have given her a cigarette and a blindfold on the occasion of any military crisis. She was inept and helpless where fighting might occur and would much rather talk than take action, even when action was the proper course. Rumor had it she was