Free Patriot Dawn: The Resistance Rises by Max Velocity

Bills hand, “we’ll do it.”
    “Ok guys,” said Bill, “that’s great, we have a convoy heading up there the day after tomorrow, so rest up here and we can prepare to get you up there.”
     
    Jack spent some time in discussion with Bill before their departure and they went over the scope of the Resistance plan.
    One of the primary concerns was operational security, OPSEC, and the fear of betrayal by infiltrators. Bill had been working on that and he explained in broad terms that he had set up his networks separated by cut-outs. He had been working on an intelligence gathering and collating network based amongst the population.
    One of the key strengths was that this was a local Resistance movement, spread across communities in the region, based in the surrounding area. As such it was based in, amongst and from, the population. This meant that it was easier to vet participants.
    It also meant that the fighters were often local, with the addition of some vetted outsiders, so the community was broadly supportive of them. One of the priorities was to retain the support of the population and avoid reprisals against families and communities. This was the main reason for moving the loved ones of the active fighters out of the communities and into safe hidden locations.
    However, those safe locations were primarily designed for the families of active fighters and there was a whole support network based around those who remained in place in their farms, villages and small communities.
    Those going to the hidden camps would be taking as much in the way of supplies that they could, but they would be supplemented by the community from the producers that continued to operate on the small farms in the region. There would be no forced tithe or tax, which is why the goodwill of the population was paramount.
    Those remaining in place in their homes would not be active in any Resistance fighting. They would produce food, and act as the eyes and ears, the sensors, for the intelligence gathering operation.
    Not everyone was involved, and OPSEC was paramount, but there were enough Patriots spread around through the communities, in the contested zones where Regime control was weaker, to allow the network to function. Clearly, the plan was well thought and already in place, but it was in the early stages of implementation and needed development.
    There would no doubt be glitches.
    One of the great weaknesses of the Regime was corruption, based in part on how the progressives had infiltrated the fabric of the country before the collapse, and the moral bankruptcy of the Regime that continued into this civil war.
    It also came out of the tedious and crippling bureaucratic system that had pervaded the country before the collapse; the stifling bureaucracy of rules and regulations that had acted as a layer of control because it was so tedious to navigate and so easy to fall foul of.
    The corruption allowed a black market and barter economy to thrive. There was an interaction across the lines in the gray areas of the corruption and greed of the Regime bureaucrats. It was in those gray areas and gaps that the Resistance movement saw its chances and was also able to procure items, information and supplies that were scarce.
    Fuel was an example. It was scarce and closely guarded; a coupon system used to allocate supplies to those the Regime considered needed it, mainly the security apparatus. Corruption circumvented this, allowing bureaucrats at many levels to procure fuel as they required. Occasionally, a tanker truck would go missing in the chaos of the contested sectors, a bureaucrat compensated in some way for the favor.
                  As part of the discussion, Bill told Jack where he believed the enemy forces situation currently stood. His farm was located in the country south west of Warrenton, which made it about thirty five miles south west of Manassas and roughly central to the area of operations.
    The two primary Regime zones