There Will Be War Vol. X Ed
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Copyright There Will Be War Volume X Edited by Jerry Pournelle Published by Castalia House Kouvola, Finland www.castaliahouse.com This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise— without prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by Finnish copyright law. Copyright © 2015 by Jerry Pournelle All rights reserved Assistant Editor: Vox Day Cover Image: Lars Braad Andersen Version: 002 The stories contained herein were first published and copyrighted as follows: THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE by Gregory Benford was previously published in Cosmos (August 2005). Copyright © 2005 by Gregory Benford. SEVEN KILL TIGER by Charles W. Shao is published by permission of the author. Copyright © 2015 by Charles W. Shao. THE 4GW COUNTERFORCE by William S. Lind and Gregory A. Thiele was previously published in The 4GW Handbook, Castalia House, 2015. Copyright © 2015 by William S. Lind and Gregory A. Thiele. BATTLE STATION by Ben Bova was previously published in Battle Station, Tor Books, 1990. Copyright © 1990 by Ben Bova. THE WAR MEMORIAL by Allen M. Steele was previously published in Asimov's September 1995. Copyright © 1995 by Allen M. Steele. RULES OF ENGAGEMENT by Michael F. Flynn was previously published in Analog March 1998. Copyright © 1998 by Michael F. Flynn. WAR AND MIGRATION by Martin van Creveld is published by permission of the author. Copyright © 2015 by Martin van Creveld. THE LAST SHOW by Matthew Joseph Harrington is published by permission of the author. Copyright © 2015 by Matthew Joseph Harrington. FLASHPOINT: TITAN by Cheah Kai Wai is published by permission of the author. Copyright © 2015 by Cheah Kai Wai. WAR AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT by Douglas Beason was previously published in The E-Bomb: How America's New Directed Energy Weapons Will Change the Way Future Wars Will Be Fought. Copyright © 2006 by Doug Beason. BOOMER by John DeChancie was previously published in Space Cadets, SCIFI, Inc, 2006. Copyright © 2006 by John DeChancie. THE DEADLY FUTURE OF LITTORAL SEA CONTROL by Commander Phillip E. Pournelle, USN was previously published in the July 2015 issue of Proceedings Magazine. It is reprinted here by permission of the author and the United States Naval Institute. Copyright © 2015 by Phillip E. Pournelle. THE FOURTH FLEET by Russell Newquist was previously published in Make Death Proud to Take Us, Silver Empire, 2015. Copyright © 2015 by Russell Newquist. CANNY by Brian J. Noggle is published by permission of the author. Copyright © 2015 by Brian J. Noggle. WHAT PRICE HUMANITY? by David VanDyke is published by permission of the author. Copyright © 2015 by David VanDyke. FLUSH-AND-FFE by Guy R. Hooper and Michael L. McDaniel was previously published as “Fighting with Fires” in the Winter 2000-01 issue of Joint Forces Quarterly. It appears here by arrangement with the authors. Copyright © 2000 by Guy R. Hooper and Michael L. McDaniel. AMONG THIEVES by Poul Anderson was previously published in Astounding Stories June 1957. Copyright © 1957 by Poul Anderson. “FLY-BY-NIGHT” by Larry Niven was previously published in Man-Kzin Wars XI, Baen Books, 2002. Copyright © 2002 by Larry Niven. There Will Be War Volume X Edited by Jerry Pournelle Table of Contents Cover Introduction to Volume X by Jerry Pournelle The Man Who Wasn’t There by Gregory Benford Seven Kill Tiger by Charles W. Shao The 4GW Counterforce by William S. Lind and LtCol Gregory A. Thiele, USMC Battle Station by Ben Bova The War Memorial by Allen M. Steele Rules of Engagement by Michael Flynn War and Migration by Martin van Creveld The Last Show by Matthew Joseph Harrington Flashpoint: Titan by Cheah Kai Wai War At The Speed Of Light by Col Douglas Beason, USAF, ret. Boomer by John DeChancie The Deadly Future of Littoral Sea Control by CDR Phillip E. Pournelle, USN The Fourth Fleet by Russell Newquist Canny by Brian J. Noggle What Price Humanity? by David VanDyke Flush-and-FFE by Lt Col Guy R. Hooper, USAF, ret. and Michael L. McDaniel Among Thieves by Poul Anderson “Fly-By-Night” by Larry Niven There Will Be War Riding the Red Horse Castalia House New Releases Editor’s Introduction to: THERE WILL BE WAR Volume X When the There Will Be War series began, the Cold War was on with a vengeance. Twenty-six thousand nuclear warheads were aimed at the United States. Marxism had faded within the Communist Party, but Marxist/Leninist doctrine remained the official ruling principle; and it held that the worldwide establishment of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat— Communist rule—was inevitable. Détente was possible, but never peace; class war always continued. Most of the Nomenklatura—the inner ruling circle of the Communist Party—might be skeptical, but all of them had compulsorily taken many hours of Marxist theory in University, as well as the usual doctrines taught in grade and high school, and all claimed to believe in the scientific truth of Marxism. The United States had endured the long and divisive Cold War. Korea, then Viet Nam, claimed American lives, but neither ended in victory parades or peace. The Cold War continued, and both sides kept ready-alert nuclear forces, with bomber crews ready to man their B-52’s, and young men, then young men and women, spent much time deep underground, waiting for the sound of the klaxon and the dread words: “EWO. EWO. Emergency War Orders. Emergency War Orders. I have a message in five parts. Message begins. Tango. X-ray. Papa. Kilo….” The protracted conflict came to an end in 1990, and then the Soviet Union itself dissolved. The series, There Will Be War, ended shortly thereafter, and the United States stood down in anticipation of a well-earned era of peace. The Strategic Air Command, the elite force which had existed to fight a world nuclear war, was disbanded, along with Systems Command, whose mission was to design and build the weapons of a future war that would never come. The blitzkrieg of the First Gulf War did little to dispel that illusion. There would be brush fires, world police activities, but the future was clear. The history of war had come to an end. One popular book even proclaimed “The End of History”; it would take time, but it was now inevitable that history would progress to its natural conclusion, a peaceful coalition of liberal democracies. That belief vanished on the morning of September 11, 2001. Well before the rubble of what had once been the tallest buildings in America was cleared, the United States had already embarked on what has proven to be the longest war in her history. The armed forces responded splendidly. But what would have been glorious victory in another era became the prelude to endless nightmares as the civilian leadership tried vainly to build liberal democracy in lands that wanted no part of it; asymmetric war in the form of terror spread from Iraq to Syria to Paris to San Bernardino. A new power, dedicated to world peace through world submission, arose from the ashes of Iraq and continues to steadily grow. History has not ended. The world has not united in peace and liberal democracy. This series has been revived to again offer stories and essays on the challenges of the future; in a time when There Will Be War. Herewith Volume Ten. Jerry Pournelle Studio City, 2015 Editor’s Introduction to: THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE by Gregory Benford I have known Professor Greg Benford for a long time. He participated in the studies that generated the Strategic Defense Initiative, both in the Council I chaired to advise the incoming Reagan Administration in 1980 and many other venues, and he is well known for his non-fiction. He is also a well-known science fiction writer. His latest works have been collaborations with Larry Niven on stories of the far future, but he has also paid attention to the news. Given the events in Paris last month, this story is timely; but in fact it was one of the first chosen for this book and was accepted well before the Paris massacre. High tech versus low tech in defending the security of Western Civilization; another battle in a war that has gone on since before Charles Martel turned the tide at Tours in 732 A.D. But tides ebb and flow, and still the war continues. THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE Gregory Benford The security ’bots zoomed around the looming mosque like supersonic butterflies in the cold air. Jean watched them with his infrared eyes as their tiny plumes darted over the bare zone, blazing high tech fireflies. They patrolled silently over the wide stone plaza, watching for movement up and down the spectral bands. Sentinels of Islam in a suburb of Paris. Around the butterfly buzz hung a weekday midnight silence. Incense flavored the air with a pungent reek. “Merde du jour,” he muttered. The Islamic Front could afford the butterflies. They fed on endless money from the Saudis, part of the campaign to restore Islam to Europe after the regrettable Christian Era. Not restored by the sword, of course—they were hopeless on a battlefield. But now, in softened consumerist Europe, their shopworn push- pull strategies of terror and political demand still worked. Islamic Front had plenty of followers in the immigrant masses. Their code of strict secrecy— talk and you die, unpleasantly—made them potent. Against them the French government deployed lawyers. Thinking of them, he spat on the floor of the apartment he had rented.