Prelude to World War III: The Rise of the Islamic Republic and the Rebirth of America

by James Rosone

  “Mr. President, there is still another issue we need to discuss. As you know, the country has been experiencing an incredible amount of cyber-attacks against the DOD and private industry. Some of the attacks have been going after the critical infrastructure, which is concerning,” said Mike Williams, the National Security Advisor.

  “This is also becoming an issue for the DOD as well; we are starting to see equipment requests and orders for personnel being generated that are bogus. We have to divert manpower to address the issues from the cyber-attacks, which is hurting us in other areas,” said Eric Clarke, the Secretary of Defense.

  “Where are these attacks emanating from?” asked Stein.

  “We have tracked them to various organizations and groups within China. Most of them have some connection with the PLA,” said LTG Rick Scott, the Director of the DIA.

  “Is this a potential precursor for something or are they trying to just take advantage of the situation?” asked the President with trepidation in his voice.

  General Rick Scott’s parents had lived in China while working for an American company. General Scott had become fluent in the language and studied at the University of Beijing before obtaining his Master Degree from Yale through the Army ROTC program. General Scott believed the true threat to the US was Russia and the Islamic Republic, not China. This strong belief that China’s interests lie not with attacking the US but in stealing technology was blinding his perspective.

  “From the DIA’s perspective, it does appear they may be up to something. The challenge with the Chinese is that over the past two years they have been conducting land and naval exercises in and around Taiwan and the South China Sea. These exercises have always been preceded by an increase in cyber-attacks, making it difficult for us to determine if this time there may be something more to the equation. The first few times, we certainly thought something was amiss; after four more exercises, we assumed it was part of their training drill,” General Scott said with an air of confidence.

  “Mr. President, the problem I have with this assessment is that this time around they have more than doubled their number of ships and troops as part of this exercise. The more alarming part is that a PLAN Naval Task Force is conducting their exercise between Taiwan and Guam. My concern is that if this is not an exercise, but a prepositioning of forces, we could be hit pretty hard. We are in a weak position in the Pacific right now; if there were ever a time to invade Taiwan and assert dominion over the Pacific, this would be it,” asserted Admiral Lewis Juliano, the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO).

  “The DIA has evaluated that as well, and we believe they are posturing. The Chinese economy has been growing immensely the last three years. Our repayment of our debt has left them flush with cash and our economic recovery has increased demand for their products. Our analysts do not believe the Chinese would be willing to throw away the American market by attacking our base on Guam or anywhere else.”

  “They may take a risk and go for Taiwan, and if they do, there is little we can do to stop them. However, we believe that would be the extent of it,” General Scott insisted.

  “Admiral, if we wanted to shift additional assets to the Pacific, what do we have available?” asked the President.

  “Sir, we just pulled our third aircraft carrier from the Pacific and most of our naval assets are engaged in Indonesia. The most we could bring to bear would be eight additional submarines and two fighter drone squadrons. We have, at most, two battalions of Marines at Camp Pendleton we could move to Guam, but that is it,” explained Admiral Juliano.

  “Look, I do not want to be caught off guard by the Chinese. We already got sucker-punched by the IR with those nukes; I do not want to get hit by the Chinese like that as well. General Black, I want you to send every additional Marine you can to Guam. Tell the base commander to be ready for a potential Chinese invasion and be ready to repel an invasion, should it come to that. I also want to start evacuating all military dependents from Guam as well,” directed the President.

  “Admiral Juliano, I want you to deploy that additional fighter drone squadron. Also, move additional hunter killer submarines into the waters around Guam; if the Chinese surface fleet does make a move towards Guam, then our subs are to target the Chinese capital ships. This is important, Admiral Juliano. I am authorizing the use of nuclear torpedoes, but only if the sub commander believes it is necessary and would significantly damage the PLAN fleet, understood?”

  “Yes, Mr. President. I hope it does not come to that, but yes, I will relay those specific instructions.”

  “General Lewis, is the Air Force able to maintain air superiority over Guam with assistance from the Navy and Marines?”

  “Yes, Mr. President. We have two squadrons of F22s, two squadrons of F38 fighter drones and three medium range drone bomber squadrons, which are currently being used in support of our operations in Indonesia. They could easily be re-tasked to protect Guam. We still have plenty of anti-ship ordnances on Guam to supply our Air Wings, should it be necessary,” General Lewis said with a devilish grin.

  “Excellent, General. I was hoping you were going to say that. Now moving to the cyber-attacks; since the Chinese have engaged in a full scale cyber-attack against the country, I want our entire cyber-attack capability launched against China. Target their banking, energy, and transportation sectors. If we can turn the lights off in the country, then do so. It’s time we start to show the Chinese what it’s like to be hit with cyber-attacks of the same level, and perhaps a bit more. Oh, and General Black and Admiral Juliano, if hostilities were to erupt between China and the US, then I want those specific locations where the cyber-attacks are originating from to be immediately eliminated--is that clear?” asked the President with a sternness in his voice not often used.

  “Yes sir,” came the synchronized response.

  *******

  10 December 2040

  Day Twelve

  The Middle East

  Between the 7th and 12th day of the war, the US Navy and Air Force had moved 185,000 US Soldiers and Marines into Israel and the Egyptian SCZ via military and commercial aircraft, military naval transports and civilian cruise ships. This massive influx of US Forces into Israel was the deciding factor in being able to repel the near-constant human wave attacks from the IR forces. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians had been killed in less than two weeks, mirroring the destruction of most of Israel and the entire Palestinian area in the West Bank and Gaza. The IR had lost their ability to threaten coalition air forces by the end of the 8th day of the war when the US Air Force conducted a massive air raid comprising of nearly 2,000 fighter and fighter bomber drones and 900 cruise missiles. They destroyed every IR air base within three hundred miles of Israel.

  Once the Allies had regained air superiority, the tide of the war quickly began to shift as the IR supply lines and reinforcements began to come under tremendous pressure. The IDF and US Forces were able to stabilize the frontlines and slowly began to push the IR forces back, reclaiming territory and Israeli cities. As the IR forces withdrew, they ensured no civilians survived and did their best to level every building, increasing the number of defensible positions.

  Every yard of land was being heavily contested as casualties on both sides continued to mount. The IR had lost 400,000 soldiers and another 170,000 were listed as missing. The IDF were reporting nearly 197,000 killed and missing soldiers. From the US, 72,340 had perished or were missing, and nearly twice that number were injured.

  With large portions of the IR operating on limited power and subject to rolling blackouts, it was becoming nearly impossible for them to move additional soldiers and equipment to the frontlines. However, the Russian Federation succeeded in integrating the IR power grid into their own along their shared border in the Caucasus region around the 11th day of the war. Russia began to provide the IR with nearly 65% of their power, restoring most of the country back too normal while emergency repair crews began to fix what power plants coul
d be mended after the American nuclear and conventional attacks on the 1st day of the war.

  Russia also began to move the Second Shock Army into Turkey and began to insist on a dialog with the Israelis and Americans to put an end to hostilities. While the Second Shock Army was being assembled in Turkey, the First and Third Shock Armies were being positioned along the EU border to begin their winter training exercise.

  Caliph Mohammed was adamant with the Russian Foreign Minister that the IR would continue to fight and did not want to pursue talks with Israel and the Americans. They believed if they could continue to send reinforcements and received enough replacement equipment from Russia and China, they could continue to grind the IDF and American Forces into submission.

  The Russian Foreign Minister had to remind the Caliph that neither Russia nor China could supply the IR with essentially a new military overnight; it would take years to replace the equipment that was lost, not to mention the training of military members to operate it. The best course of action was to negotiate a ceasefire and insist upon retaining the conquered land. The Foreign Minister assured Caliph Mohammed that once Russia declared war on the EU and US, the time to restart hostilities with Israel could begin almost immediately. With great reluctance, the IR asked for a ceasefire with the Allies…whether President Stein would listen was another question entirely.

  Operation Red Dragon

  10 December 2040

  Day Twelve

  China

  “We need to get the Premier to start the war; the Americans have already reinforced Guam, and these cyber-attacks against our transportation infrastructure and other aspects of the economy are starting to get worse,” said Director Xi Lee. He was starting to become concerned that the Premier may be getting cold feet.

  “I agree with you Director. We will pressure the Premier to make the decision today at the CMC meeting. Admiral Shengli and General Wanquan will also insist that the war start today,” General Yang said with a bit of urgency in his voice.

  “For the sake of China, we must start the war today; the Americans have had too long to prepare and I fear this preparation is going to cost our forces,” insisted Lee, not trying too hard to hide his trace of anger at the indecisiveness of the Premier.

  China was supposed to have attacked the Americans yesterday, but held off once the cyber-attacks against the Chinese economy began to have some serious impacts.

  Premier Zhang Jinping walked into the secured bunker under his official residence for the final CMC briefing before the government moved to the war-time bunkers burrowed deep in the Da’Anshanxiang Mountains just west of Beijing. As Zhang walked to the head of the table, he could sense the tension in the room.

  The Generals were angry with him for not starting the war according to the original plan, but he had his reasons. He wanted to ensure his generals were loyal to him and to China. Inspector Ma Keshi, the head of the Secret Police, had suggested holding off on initiating the war as a means of testing his generals to determine if they would listen to him or find a way to disobey him. If one or more of them had found a way to start the war without his direction, then Zhang and Inspector Keshi would know who was loyal and who could not be trusted. Inspector Keshi had wanted to hold off for three days; however, Zhang realized holding off for even a day may have provided the Americans with more time to prepare and led to losing the element of surprise. No, today was the day that China would rise and secure her destiny as the dominant power in Asia.

  “Generals, Admiral, please take your seats,” said Zhang, wanting to get down to business.

  “Premier, we must start the war today!” said Admiral Shengli angrily.

  “My task forces are ready and any further delay is going to raise too much suspicion.”

  “Admiral, please keep calm and sit down. I held off on starting the war yesterday as a test. I wanted to assess each of you to see if you would obey my orders or if you would find a way to start the war on your own. You all have passed my test and I am now confident of your loyalties. We begin the war today. This is the day of the Red Dragon. I want all command and control functions moved to their secured bunkers and the military brought to full readiness,” said Zhang. “Please issue your orders and let’s move as a group to the CMC bunker at Da’Anshanxiang.”

  Operation Red Dragon had been in development for nearly forty years. It encompassed a wide variety of tactics including: corporate espionage, industrial sabotage and the placement of thousands of sleeper agents throughout Asia and the US. Once activated, the PLA would begin to turn off critical industrial control switches and routers in virtually every satellite in space with the exception of Russia, China and the IR. All other nations’ satellites would simply turn off and become space junk.

  The loss of critical communications satellites, GPS and military surveillance satellites would blind the allies and give the PLA a short window of opportunity to move forces and conduct attacks without anyone seeing what was going on. With satellite communications down, it would be difficult to coordinate a response or even call for help. The disruption in satellite communications would quickly be followed by tens of millions of internet routers and various industrial control systems burning out in America, Japan, Korea, the European Union and India.

  Great Britain and Australia would be minimally affected since most of their internet switches and routers had been converted over to a product solely built in the UK. That company was one of the few targets that the Chinese had not fully infiltrated prior to Red Dragon. The breakdown in global communications would be nothing short of catastrophic and in the eyes of China, would lead to a quick victory.

  The PLAN had been maneuvering as if they were going to attack the US Air and Naval base at Guam; once the global communications systems went down, the task force that was headed to Guam would quickly change direction and hit the American facilities at Okinawa, Japan. Then they would turn back to Guam, knowing that the Guamanians would receive no assistance or help from their bases in Japan. With the American naval and air forces in the Pacific destroyed, there would be little to stop China in their conquest of Asia.

  *******

  10 December 2040 –1943 hours

  Evening of Day Twelve

  The HIVE – Northern Virginia

  During the early years of the de Blasio Administration, the government had begun building a series of regionally based deep underground bunker complexes for the government and scientists to retreat to in case of an apocalyptic event (e.g. climate change, solar flare, Ebola, etc.). President de Blasio was, if nothing else, paranoid about climate change, and he spent billions of dollars building these networks that he believed could one day save America should it come to that.

  When President Stein was sworn into office, rather than abandoning the bunkers, Stein had them expanded to include a multitude of civilian functions. Each HIVE network consisted of 50 underground levels that started with two ground levels and then three basement levels. From there, the HIVE began a series of 50 underground floors that started at 400 ft. below the surface. Each floor was separated by 50 ft. of earth, reducing the likelihood of one floor collapsing into another; each floor was essentially a self-sustaining little city. At half a mile wide and three miles in length, each floor had immense space that could be divided and partitioned off as needed. Every 5th floor could be converted into a self-enclosed farm that was able to raise chickens, fish and grow produce via hydroponics. The bunkers had all been equipped with sustainable energy generation from geothermal sources below, allowing each bunker to have sun-like UV lighting 365 days of the year. Once operational, each farm floor could grow enough food to sustain 5,000 people indefinitely.

  The design of the floors resembled the design of the human DNA code as it descended into the earth. Only a small portion of each floor was parallel to the one above and below, reducing the likelihood of one floor collapsing onto another. President Stein, along with a select number of senior level individuals, determined that these new bunker s
eries would replace all of the older government bunkers and could be used for more than just housing the government. As they were completed, the government would move most of its research activities to the HIVEs and lease some of the floors to select American firms for their own R&D. These facilities could truly be secured from the public and prying eyes…and hopefully acts of sabotage or espionage.

  When the nation’s satellites and communication systems went down, the Secret Service believed Washington, DC or the President may be the target. “Mr. President, we need to move you and your staff to the HIVE now,” announced the senior Secret Service agent as he entered the Situation Room.

  “What is going on George? Should we go down to the PEOC (Presidential Emergency Operation Center)?” asked the President.

  “No, Mr. President. We believe everyone should be moved to a more secured location.”

  “All right everyone, let’s move with the Secret Service. I assume we are heading to the HIVE in Virginia?” asked the President.

  “Yes, Mr. President. The Secret Service signed off on its operational use two days ago, relegating Mount Weather and other locations to be mothballed.”

  “Mr. President, I just received word from the Pentagon that our satellites have gone offline,” SecDef Eric Clarke said with a look of concern.

  “What do you mean our satellites have gone dark?” asked the President as the group began walking through the White House on their way to the West Lawn.

  The Federal Government had switched phone providers to Verizon and broadband to Google Net two years ago as part of a diversification of the government’s critical infrastructure protection program. This change is probably the only reason the government was able to hold together in the wake of this recent attack.