America Stranded in a Fantasy World

Chapter 9 "Uncle Sam Needs You!"

"Contact has breached our safety bubble. General, those guns will automatically open fire if it gets any closer. Should we disable them?"

"I am well aware of how they operate. Maintain protocol, it's not our fault if whatever this is gets destroyed by invading our airspace."

The atmosphere in the room grew more tense with each passing second. Finally, turret seven decided the contact was too close. Spooling its gatling gun, it discharged a torrent of bullets. The tracers making a near-perfect red line across the sky. Shortly after, turret six and five engaged the contact, leaving their own red lines of death across the sky. Not even thirty seconds after the engagement, the guns fell silent. With a smooth motion, they all slowly lowered their gatling guns, still tracking the falling contact.

"Seems they neutralized whatever it was. Get a recon drone in the air, I want to have eyes on it." Wolf ordered. "Perkins, a word please?" He motioned to the door and they both left.

"Something wrong General?" Perkins noticed how on edge Wolf was, scanning their surroundings before responding.

"Why do I get the unsettling feeling that we have just declared war on a foreign power?" Wolf stared at Perkins, seemingly wanting to be proven wrong.

"I wouldn't go that far General. Besides, it was probably just a dragon like the navy had to deal with. Right now we need to focus on preserving what ammo we have. Here's hoping our counterparts back home can get those supplies here soon. I was told the latest would be Friday." Perkins gave a reassuring smile. "We have nothing to worry about, besides, aren't we the largest superpower?" Wolf chuckled at the statement.

"Depends, are we going by Earth standards or this world now?" Smirking, Wolf spun on his heels and began walking down the tight hallway.

"Where are you going General?" Perkins raised a confused eyebrow.

"To see that our refugees are having their needs met. Care to join?"

"General, with all due respect. We have more pressing matters--like how we have insufficient manpower to perform even basic tasks."

"Hmm. I think we have a solution to that problem." Wolf continued walking, with Perkin's mind buffering until he finally understood what the General was getting at.

"General you can't be serious!" Perkins jogged to Wolf's side. "They're civilians! Not to mention none of them have even seen a gun, let alone active combat!" He threw his arms in the air, clearly not happy with this turn of events.

"Which is why they will be put into volunteer roles. Ammo packing, cleaning vehicle assets--I hear Galaxy is trying to poach men from the army branch. We don't need to be at each other's throats for manpower when we already have the solution, wouldn't you agree?" Smugness filled Wolf's voice.

"I-I-ugh. You're not wrong General, but this is a slippery slope. I'm not even sure if Washington will support it."

"Bah, you worry too much. Besides, President Dresden would support this. Hell, I would even bet money that he will want us to hire locals for their knowledge of the land."

With that settled, Wolf and Perkins left headquarters. Taking a service car, they drove the length of the airbase to reach the hangar being used as temporary shelter for the refugees.

"You sure this is a good idea, General? I don't mean to question your orders but this seems a bit extreme." Perkins' concerned look hadn't left his face since he sat inside the car.

"I know this is outside protocol, but we don't have any other options. Unless you want soldiers to start pulling double shifts?" Wolf replied.

"Not at all General. I just think it's not right to pull civilians into this." Perkins looked through the clipboard on his lap. "Most of these people are second or third-generation slaves. Education is non-existent, most are malnourished and to top it off none of them are fighters." Perkins turned to Wolf whose face was turning slightly red.