Jack of Harts

Not every battlefield Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base’s units fought on was one they expected to face. The Drug Wars were fairly simple. Kill the drug cartels. Texas gave them targets, and they serviced the targets. The Islamic Jihad’s mass use of human shields was a much more difficult challenge, though Texas had less exposure to that conflict than other States. The Cybernetic Wars were particularly complicated, but the reserve units at the base tended to use less technologically advanced weapons that were far more resistant to Rogue AI hacking attempts. The friendly AIs who would later form the AI Council were quick to help defend their most advanced weapons, such as the Cowboys’ F-35s. And when it came time to make a stand against the Chinese, Texas sent the Cowboys to make sure the lesson took. It is perhaps ironic that they ended up flying with the Chinese during the final assaults against the Singapore Collective. Then they returned home to Fort Worth JRB and began acclimating to the new world they had defended and helped create.

The Dallas/Fort Worth/Arlington Metroplex burned during the Second Great Depression, and only the timely intervention of Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base’s Marine elements saved much of it from complete destruction. But this intervention was not without consequences. The federal government ordered them to stand down, and when the base disregarded those orders, the feds conducted a swift court martial of the base commanders. They soon added every officer they could prove ignored their orders to the courts martial, and even sent a federal oversight team to take control of the base on the ground. The base escorted the oversight team off base and raised the Texas flag above the American flag at the same time. That ended any question of Fort Worth JRB’s loyalties.

The Dallas/Fort Worth/Arlington Metroplex burned during the Second Great Depression Riots. The mayors supported the “peaceful protestors” until the Tarrant County Posse grew large enough to oppose them by recruiting the Marines of Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base and the various police officers resigning from their positions throughout the Metroplex. It was a long and difficult road, and the Metroplex mayors fought the sheriff at every opportunity. The posse eventually marched the mayors in Tarrant County out of their town halls and into the jailhouse after running popular referendums that recalled every single one of them. They had no authority in Dallas, but their cities recovered under county management. Tarrant became a beacon of opportunity in Texas, and soon eclipsed Dallas and Harris in economic power, cultural activity, and even population as the various wars brought in refugees looking for a better life. Tarrant rebuilt itself into one of the vital hearts that powered the Republic of Texas throughout the rest of the century and into the next, and is now the single richest and most powerful county in the entire Republic. All roads lead to Tarrant County.