Civil War

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

(December 3, 2025)

As the sun is rising over the mid-US, at the US Army base at Fort Cavazos, Captain Trent Rollings, a member of the 1st Cavalry Division, is getting ready for the day. Today is a day where he doesn't have to report to his post until a little later, so he's taking the time to eat a good breakfast at home and watch the news while his wife takes their daughter to school.

As Rollings flips the channel to Fox News, he immediately freezes as he sees the headline at the bottom of the screen "Defeated presidential candidate arrested". He immediately tunes his ears into what the reporter.

"...confirmation from the Department of Justice that Nikki Haley, the Republican presidential candidate in the most recent presidential election, was arrested last night during a visit to Clemson University on charges of leaking classified documents and intelligence to Israel during and after her tenure as the American ambassador to the United Nations. Information is still scant, but it is likely that former governor Haley's case will be tried by the US District Court of South Carolina."

Rollings continues to watch the report as footage is shown of Haley being arrested on Clemson campus, followed by Haley's mugshot.

"Due to being considered a flight risk, and due to the nature of the crime, Ms. Haley has been denied bail and will be held until trial. Many political groups in South Carolina have already begun protesting the arrest, claiming the charges are false or that the arrest is politically motivated."

Rollings mutes the TV as he ponders on this. While most of the country hasn't been paying too much close attention to political goings on so far this year, Rollings is one who has, and the arrest of Nikki Haley is not the first thing that's piqued his interest.

Since the start of his term as president, President Davidson has not made good on all of his campaign promises. In fact, in some cases, he has done the opposite. The first thing that caught his attention was when, two months into his presidency, Davidson abruptly cut off all arms sales and other such aid to Ukraine after Ukraine refused to lower prices for the US on some of its exports. This was followed only a month later by him canceling a planned arms sale to Israel, which at the time was considered one of the biggest arms sales to the Jewish state in recent years. Only three months later, he made another surprising decision when he passed a bill that expanded what qualified as "probable cause" for police to conduct searches and make arrests, but with those limits being so vast and so open to interpretation that even many devout conservatives and police supporters found to be a bit too far, with some groups saying that this was a step towards further weaponisation of the justice system against the American people. And during this time, economic decisions of his administration had caused gas prices in the United States to rise to their highest they had been in a very long time.

Overall, these things had not caused undue alarm in the United States, but discontent with the new president and his administration was rising. However, this was something more than just a political decision that upset parts of the American populace. This was something potentially dangerous.

Rollings doesn't even hear the front door open as he's mulling over this. He doesn't realize he ha company until he feels hands rubbing his shoulders, and he glances over his shoulder to see his wife standing behind him. She smiles down at him before looking up at the TV. "Nikki Haley was arrested? Wow. That's surprising," she says.

"I know," Rollings says as he looks back at the TV himself, "And something doesn't feel right about it to me."

(December 16, 2025)

At the chow hall at Fort Cavazos, the usual chatter fills the room as hundreds of soldiers are eating dinner prepared by the cooks. While most of the men and women are chatting amongst each other, some are intently reading on their phones, almost all reading the same thing.

Captain Rollings is one of these people. On his phone screen is an article from CNN, the headline reading, "Robert F Kennedy denied bail following surprise arrest"

The previous day, Robert F Kennedy, a major independent candidate expected to run either as an independent or Democrat candidate in the 2028 presidential election, had been arrested at his home on charges of drug possession and of bribing government officials. He was the third major political figure who had been arrested in the past two weeks. After Nikki Haley had been arrested, another surprise had come four days later when Elizabeth Warren, a prominent Democratic politician who had run in the last two elections and was expected to run in the 2028 election, was arrested on charges of embezzling campaign funds from the most recent presidential race. With now three prominent possible candidates for the next presidential election arrested in a relatively short period of time, people were beginning to cry foul and point the finger at President Davidson, though their exact claims varied greatly.

Although he is determined to publicly honor his oath and to treat the president as his Commander in Chief unless the president proves himself a traitor or otherwise prove himself unworthy of the post, Rollings' private thoughts are very different. Rollings hadn't voted for Davidson to begin with, and as time has gone on, he has only grown more suspicious of the president. Although he publicly claims everything he does is to improve America and bring America into greater prosperity, President Davidson's actions have not demonstrated what he professes with his words. And now, to have three possible presidential candidates in the next election to be arrested in such a short time, and on such shaky charges, has Rollings suspicious. This feels like something that would be done in China, North Korea, or the old Soviet Union.

Rollings looks up from his phone and stares off into the distance as he whispers to himself, "I don't like the way things are going. This is becoming a different country than the one I swore to defend."