I was greeted by my staff as soon as my foot hit the tarmac. Apparently right after I'd left Dulles Trevor had some problems start bothering his division in Pennsylvania, but that was for him to solve now. I was back in Los Angeles, my wife planting a kiss on my cheek and squeezing the air out of me in a hug while I nodded to the officials gathered around.
Colonel Ivanov passed me a small folder of reports that I would have to read. I groaned, saying goodbye to my wife before departing for my headquarters. It seems they'd taken a liberal interpretation of my orders to advance as far as the Colorado river. I suppressed a chuckle as I read a report of Piron waving the Polish flag over Caesar's palace in vegas.
Apparently there had been several raider gangs that had holed up in the strip, the Poles had… dealt with the problem, the Premier had dispatched Ambassador Hailey to negotiate with the city of Las Vegas on integration with the Union, it was looking like they'd integrate into the system completely.
Furthermore… There was a request to push scouts across the Colorado River from the 7th motor rifle division's headquarters at Mexicali. 6th motor rifle division was well ahead of schedule, Ensenada was firmly in our hands now, with the division projecting its regiments further from the city. Almost as if to give me a pleasant surprise… 4th and 5th motor rifle divisions had fully secured the central valley and bay area.
My forces were stretched a bit thin, but for the moment with these tasks being completed, I had sizable reserves if anything came up. I walked into the headquarters with Ivan greeting me at the door, the major looked much better than the last time i'd seen him.
"Sir, I have some good news, we're receiving the first batches of ammunition from the new factories, you'll no longer need to purchase small arms munitions." he beamed.
I laughed. "Ah yes, every credit saved is an insurance against the future."
"Surely that isn't all you were going to tell him Ivan." Ivanov goaded him as we took seats in my office. Ivan shot him a disapproving look.
"I wanted to start with the most impactful news first." Ivan countered.
"I'd say that isn't the most impactful…" Ivanov replied with a smirk.
Ivan shook his head while I smiled, letting the two of them vent a bit. "Well, sir… we should hit our 90 day operating fuel reserve in a few days, that should finish that quest of yours."
"What? I thought the refineries weren't going to get up to full production for a few more months." i said with some surprise.
"We didn't either sir, but those crystals, those damn rocks in the undead we've been discarding… damn things are a treasure trove. I guess I should mention it, the uses those crazy nut jobs on Santa Catalina keep finding for them…" the two shivered.
"Anyway the gist is they found a way to grind them into a powder, mix them with the fuel during the refining process… they reworked a lot of the mixtures, but we're getting around 700% more fuel for the same input as before." Ivan said with a small frown.
"Then there's Kaiser Steel works…" Ivanov trailed off.
"What about the Steel Mill?" I asked.
"Well, its a public private company, but they started shipping new steel out last night. A lot of companies are springing up, the Ministry of Industrial revitalization proposed expanding the plant by an additional 300 acres…" Ivan muttered.
"Thas….
"Overkill, we are aware sir, but the Ministry of Economic Development has okayed it, they're searching for the mines we'll need to feed the plant. They are also looking into breaking ground on an aluminum foundry." Ivan grumbled.
I leaned back. So it had started, a restart of the industrial powerhouse LA had once been. I frowned, where were we going to get all those minerals though? I wasn't aware of any large mines in the states, well, other than some copper mines.
"Oh, the Department of Prisons and convict labor wanted to thank you, the influx of prison labor has allowed them to get ahead of their schedule, we should expect the San Diego drydocks to come into full operation by summer, and they're announcing plans to begin rebuilding San Francisco next week." Ivan perked up a bit, passing me a small envelope, inside was a twenty dollar gift card to chipotle.
I glanced up at the two as they snickered. "At least they have a sense of humor sir."
I dropped the envelope and card in the trash. "So, other than practical jokes, any other news or reports for me?"
"Yes, those private companies that wanted to make some prototypes, a few of them are promising… praticarauly, California Armaments solution to rapidly reload the Grads…"
"They had success with their prototype?" I asked.
"Indeed sir, the launcher needs some minor tweaks, but the reloader can reload the launcher in two minutes instead of the half hour it takes to do by hand, and since its a single system, they just replace the carriage each time, so once its expended they just put the empties on a truck to take back to a packaging facility to be reloaded there." Ivanonv said.
"Tender them a contract, what about their other projects?" I asked, they'd been a bunch of busy little bees that bunch.
"Ah… well their APC and IFV… they are promising, just need a lot of work." Ivan said after a few minutes. I shrugged, I couldn't expect everything to be sunshine and rainbows.
"What about the other project?" I asked, glancing between the two of them.
"They can do it… it's technically feasible, we don't have the machines for it though, computer chips and the like. We damaged most of the semiconductor factories in Silicon Valley during the siege." Ivan muttered quietly, we're looking at three to four years before we can get any production out of them…"
"That is, unless your store can buy the lithography machines…" They glanced at me after a moment. I shook my head. I could buy a lot of industrial machinery, but nothing that complex. Maybe next time I am promoted I could, but for now, I would just be beyond us. Missile would have to be a thing I bought for our stockpiles. I gazed out of the window, a small smile on my face.
The Union was growing stronger, like a sleeping giant. We were slowly getting back on our feet, and soon enough the Union will be able to be part of the new global order.