Free ACV's 1 Operation Black Gold by J Murison, Jeannie Michaud Page B

and stuck it in my mouth despite the fact I still had one lit.  I drew deeply of the soothing smoke and stubbed the part smoked one out.  I had been ranting.
     
    ‘Sorry lads.’  I apologised.
     
    ‘It’s OK Jim, nae bother.’  I looked up full of guilt, but they were forgiving.  The nod of a head, flash of a hand signalling their understanding, it made me feel better.
     
    The young man looked pale, ‘so you won’t fight, none of you?’ 
     
    I shook my head in exasperation, he didn’t understand.  ‘Oh we’ll fight all right, every single one of us will fight, have absolutely no doubts about that.’
     
    He shook his head, ‘I don’t understand, you said.’
     
    ‘No I didn’t.’  I interrupted the poor bugger he was totally confused now.  ‘I said, we wouldn’t like to, there’s a difference.’
     
    ‘So I might see you on the battlefield after all.’  He tried a smile.
     
    ‘No you fucking won’t.’  That left him gawping like a fish.
     
    ‘Why, what will we be doing Jim?’
     
    ‘Geez a break Ali, I just declared war.’  That broke the tension.
     
    ‘Well hurry up.’  He grinned.
     
    ‘Whit?’
     
    ‘Here.’  Buff thrust another cigarette at me.  I waved it away.
     
    ‘Oh a’ right.’  A picture began to form in my mind.  I flew over miles of pipelines.  A forest of derricks, endlessly drilling into the bowels of the earth.  Rank upon rank of pumps thumping in unison like a black heart.  Every river and stream dammed up to provide the masses of power required.  Another Highland clearance larger than the first, our islands turned into large staging posts to feed the enormous tankers.  The west coast black and dead.
    My mind turned to violence as I ran scenario after scenario through it.  I picked on one, expanded it, pulled it to bits, then put it back together again.  I found myself blinking rapidly; the cigarette had burned into the filter and was threatening my fingers.  I just managed to get it over an ashtray before the long finger of ash broke off.  I had barely smoked any of it.
     
    I started to talk, describing the things I had seen in my mind’s eye.  They listened in silence hardening themselves for the task ahead.  I began to explain the way we could fight this giant beast.  Soon the ideas were flowing thick and fast back and forth.
     
    ‘Wait, please wait.’  The young officer pushed his way into the circle, I had completely forgotten he was there; he looked at all our faces and could see the set determination on them.  ‘You can’t do this.’
     
    ‘Why who’s going to stop us?’  I snorted.
     
    ‘Well the army for a start.’ 
    I wasn’t very impressed, ‘what army, just how long do you think you’ll last?’
     
    ‘We can hold them.’  He protested.
     
    ‘With what, an air force that was obsolete before it even left the ground, a Navy that consists of a few fishery protection vessels.’
     
    ‘We’ve still got the best fighting men in the world.’  His chin went up.
     
    ‘Aye and they all happen to be in South America.  Even if they did get them home and combined this new army with the regulars, for a start you’re still using weapons bought off the British army that were obsolete then.  Christ they were damn near smooth bores when we used them.  Now there’s barely enough of them left in working order to supply the regulars, tell me I’m wrong.’
    He couldn’t the old SLRs and GPMG’ bought by our government off the British Army had already been replaced by the SA80 which was in its turn replaced by the SAR90.  Meanwhile we had still carried on with the obsolete weapons. 
     
    ‘We can still put up a bloody good fight.’  He shouted.
     
    Unfortunately I wasn’t impressed, ‘oh wake up man, you’ll never even see a yank soldier unless your only wounded when they’re mopping up.  It will be man against machine.  A couple of hundred pounds worth of rifle against billions of