Sorry, sorry for the delay (again) ... turns out starting college means you don't have a lot of time to do things, especially writing fanfic to post on an online SF discussion forum. But, while you wait for Ch. 28, have some Enclave Propaganda:
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Why We Fight
Pamphlet written by Professor Richard J. Buchan of Georgetown University in collaboration with the Department of Public Information; distributed by the War Department
To understand why we are fighting the people of California one fact must first be made clear. The rebel nation, referred to by itself as the New California Republic, is solely to blame for the war that is now underway between the USA and the rebels. But, surprisingly, the Californian insurrectionist movement did not start out inherently hostile to the US. Aradesh indeed, at the beginning of the “New California Republic”, sought only to establish a local government to reduce banditry on the trade routes between South California’s cities. He did this following the vision of our own Founding Fathers in the establishment of the NCR Constitution, which takes much from the US Constitution, and indeed his Jeffersonian vision deserves some admiration. However, his dream was corrupted by his daughter. The rot set in quickly, and in 2242 the change in the NCR’s government led to the worst act of political terrorism in world history.
Unlike her father, "President" Tandi was a ruthless, authoritarian powermonger who thought only of her prestige and power. Even the NCR admits that ‘Caesar’, the greatest of the Anarchy’s warlords, was inspired by her in creating his totalitarian warrior cult. And like any despot, she feared losing power most of all - unlike Autumn, who stepped down after 24 years, Tandi clung on to the NCR “Presidency” till the day of her death. This is why she deemed the restoration of US authority unacceptable when she learned of President Richardson's efforts to begin constructing US military bases and carry out recon activities on the mainland, leading to the most unforgivable of her crimes.
Like a spider in the centre of her web, from Shady Sands she orchestrated the nuclear terrorist attack on Control Station ENCLAVE shortly after the beginning of the reclamation of the mainland, using a tribal from the village of Arroyo as an agent to obfuscate the clear involvement of the NCR’s rangers and intelligence operatives in the cowardly atrocity that claimed so many lives and put the very existence of the United States into jeopardy. This is why we can never forgive the government heading the rebel nation; why we must fight until, as our anthem says, their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution. The rebels must be broken and made to accept the authority and legitimacy of the US government. Only then can we Americans truly live in peace from the threat they have continuously posed since then to our way of life.
The account described in NCR history books is so nonsensical as to not even need refutation - a Bond-villain scheme to destroy the world, complete with monologuing supervillain; a tribal on a revenge quest somehow infiltrating bases of the most technologically advanced nation on the planet, not just once but twice; the United States of America, which comprehensively settled racial issues by the turn of the 21st century, becoming fanatically racialist to the point it attempts world genocide. But the people in Shady Sands who concocted this myth during the runup to the vicious NCR siege of Camp Navarro (a facility, almost completely evacuated, which the NCR declared a "regional threat") did not care that their narrative was flimsy, but that it appeared plausible enough to serve its purpose.
The goal of this narrative is fundamentally simple - to justify the NCR’s efforts to exterminate the US Federal Government by portraying it as the worst possible evil - a conglomeration of the National Socialists’ genocidal methods and the communist ideological fantasy of destroying the world to recreate in their image. If the NCR’s lies are true, then it isn’t an insurrectionist terrorist state, their repeated assassination attempts of US Presidents are noble efforts to stop the end of humanity. They weren’t villains - on the contrary, they had saved the world!
The actions of the NCR, however, show that it isn’t simply content to protect itself, but seeks the outright eradication of the United States of America, even after they had ended the supposed threat to all mankind. The bloodthirsty persecution of US government and military personnel stranded in NCR territory after their unprovoked attack on Camp Navarro, extending to their children; the constant calls to aggressive war against us in the NCR Congress; the endless repetition of propaganda that makes the Land of the Free out to be a communist-style tyranny. This is what makes it a threat to the United States which we fundamentally cannot allow to exist - even if it was not on our soil, we would be forced to march to bring down an enemy government which rejects the very concept of peace with us.
The rebel nation is a fanatical, extremist state; we know from bitter experience that there are no lows it will not stoop to, no crime it will not tolerate. This is why it is our duty - your duty - to soundly crush it and; like we did with its antecedent in the Confederacy, like we did with the Nazis and the Japanese, like we did with Red China, make sure it never rises to threaten the good people of our nation again!
The Californian denial of a connection to America is also laughable. America has always been a nation that contained many regional identities; Canadian (or “Little American”), Southerner, Texan, Heartlander, etc. Some of these identities were politically independent for a period of time, yes, but eventually the cultural and economic unity they shared led to political unification. Why should ‘Californian’ not be included in this list? It’s impossible to imagine California without reference to the USA, as it was only as part of America that California became something more than an empty wilderness dotted by mission churches.
They have no argument that the Federal Government ceased to exist during the Anarchy, either, since it evidently did not; hence there is no rational argument for Californian political independence. All that they have is laughable conspiracy theories about pre-War secret societies. And even as they deny their origins, the hypocrites use infrastructure built by the US, such as the great Hoover Dam or the mighty Golden Gate Bridge. There is not a single invention, a single piece of infrastructure, a single element of culture, a single anything created by the NCR. Everything they have they stole from us. Isn't it right that we take it back?
So, we conclude, what do the Californians have; lacking a coherent argument that they should be independent, lacking a true history of American crimes against them? They have a fanatical, incoherent hatred and anger over false atrocities instilled into them over generations by their corrupt and authoritarian leaders, based on a fantasy plagiarised from pre-War spy films, to justify their relentless campaign to destroy the United States government, started by those who realised it posed the greatest possible threat to their own power and prestige and continued ever since by the spiritual descendants of the initial traitors.
They have an overwhelming fear, instilled into them since childhood, that we are a tyrannical state and they will surely be subject to slavery or even genocide should they lose, started by those who would indeed be rightfully punished should their rebellion be defeated and the chickens hatched during their century of rebellion and criminality come to roost. These combine to create a dangerous insurrectionist terror-state which doesn’t respect even the most basic laws of civilisation, which will pose a threat to the American people so long as it exists.
Against this madness, you have the sure knowledge that you are a soldier of the legitimate American government, proud citizen-defender of a mighty nation more than five hundred years old, which throughout its history always stood for the right against the most appalling and vile regimes this world has been blighted with. Your forebears broke the Nazi empire and tore down Red China. A few rebels are nothing in comparison. Our mighty land, rent and wounded by rebellion and anarchy, cries out to be healed; to be restored and reunited under its lawful government. Go out and stand tall as you march to the battle. You are fighting for a noble country and a noble cause. Never doubt that.
God bless America!
