by James Rosone
The Army sergeant nearby announced, “I have the President. They’ve moved him down to the PEOC, so we’re communicating with him from there.”
Before Tibbets started briefing the President, he turned to Colonel Jessup. “Move us from DEFCON 2 to DEFCON 1. Begin dispersing our strategic assets and scramble all of our bombers and boomers now,” he ordered.
He grabbed the phone from the sergeant. “Mr. President, this is General Tibbets.”
“General, what the hell is going on?” Sachs demanded. “Did I just hear you say you’re moving us to DEFCON 1 and scrambling our bombers?”
“Yes, Mr. President. We’re tracking a total of nine ballistic missiles launched by the Chinese at the continental US and our military forces overseas. Six missiles were launched from one of China’s ballistic missile subs around Wake Island. We have a high degree of certainty that these missiles are nukes. Four of them are heading toward our bases at Guam and Hawaii. We also have single missiles headed toward the Roosevelt and Reagan carrier strike groups in the North and South Pacific.”
He paused for a second. “Sir, we’re also tracking a single missile launched from Mainland China and two originating from Mexico.” When Tibbets didn’t hear an immediate response from Sachs, he continued. “The missile launch from Mainland China appears to be going after the Pine Gap facility in central Australia. It’s a key base in our global signals intelligence apparatus. Judging by the targets they are going after, it would appear they are trying to take out our naval and air presence in the Pacific and completely blind us as to what’s going on along the West Coast and the Southwest border. To further compound the problem, they’ve just taken down more than a dozen of our satellites covering Asia and the continental US.”
President Sachs groaned. “You said there were two missiles fired at us from Mexico—where are they headed, and when are they expected to hit?” he asked.
“The two missile launches from Mexico are still gaining in altitude, but one appears to be targeting Southern California while the other appears to be heading towards Texas.”
Tibbets heard a short pause followed by a few curse words from those in the room with the President. The phone went silent for a moment—Tibbets confirmed that the line hadn’t gone dead. Sachs must have placed the call on mute temporarily.
When he came back, the President said, “General, my advisors here tell me we should have some of our digital communications back up again, once more of the E-4s get airborne. I’m also being told by the Secret Service that they’d like to get me in the air in case Washington is a possible target. Let’s reconvene in ten minutes. I’d like you to have some recommendations for how we should respond to this attack once I’m airborne.”
General Tibbets let out his breath in a huff. He knew it would take them longer than ten minutes to get the President to Air Force One. They needed a decision now. Hoping to get Sachs’s attention before he ended the call, he practically shouted, “We don’t have ten minutes, Mr. President! Some of these missiles are going to hit in the next eight minutes.”
Sachs dropped a few F-bombs before he responded, “What do you want me to do, General? I’m not staying in another flipping bunker and waiting for the Chinese to nuke me. I’m getting on that helicopter to Andrews.” He let out a grunt. “We’ll reconvene when I’m on Air Force One, Tibbets. Do your best to shoot these missiles down, and we’ll go over our response once I’m in the air.”
The President then hung up the phone, leaving Tibbets fuming. He wanted to get an immediate response on the way to China, but he’d need Sachs’s permission for that.
He smacked his hand down on the table in frustration. Then he took a deep breath and let it out in a huff. He realized he needed to get back to the task at hand—figuring out how they were going to stop these missiles from wiping out their only forward naval bases and carriers in the Pacific.
“OK, people,” he said loudly to whoever was in earshot. “We’ve temporarily lost our picture over the Pacific and Asia, but that doesn’t mean we don’t know what’s inbound and what’s going to happen. Let’s get a flash message to the strike groups to begin dispersing their ships and prepare for a nuclear attack. Get a message out to our bases on Guam and Hawaii that they have an inbound ballistic missile attack. Then send an alert to our missile bases out west of a possible inbound nuclear attack.”
“Yes, sir,” several people replied. A flurry of activity began.
“What are our options for stopping these missiles?” bellowed Tibbets.
An Army captain stood up from behind his computer terminal. “Sir, we have a THAAD system at Andersen and another one on Wheeler Army Airfield. They should be engaging those missiles now.”
One of the naval LNOs interjected. “We’ve got the USS Hopper on patrol near Pearl. I’m sure they are working in tandem with the THAADs to knock those missiles out of the sky.”
One of the Air Force officers piped up. “General, one of our Rivet joint aircraft is sending us the targeting data from that missile launch from Mexico. It’s beginning to arc towards Southern California and Texas. Impact in four and five minutes, respectively.”
“The USS Princeton’s SM-3s are engaging the missile headed toward Southern California,” one of the naval LNOs announced.
One of the Air Force officers stood up. “We’ve got a problem!” he yelled. He still had a hand receiver held to his ear from whatever group he was talking to. “Our radar just detected a cone shroud being ejected right after that last booster phase completed.”
“Holy crap! Those two missiles are MIRVs,” called out an Air Force colonel.
“Get more interceptors airborne now!” Colonel Jessup shouted.
They watched the monitors in horror as the reentry vehicles made their final turn and course correction before their final descent. At first, they’d each started off as one warhead, but then a second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth were released. Now the twelve projectiles angled towards their targets, starting their final descent towards the American west and southwest border at a rate of twenty-five thousand miles per hour.
As Tibbets looked at the big board displaying the twelve warheads, dozens of missiles began to lift off from several locations along the US southern border. The Army’s THAAD systems fired their interceptors to try and interdict the warheads. In another three minutes, the Patriot PAC-3 batteries would join the fray, sending their own interceptors up.
A naval officer frantically shouted, “The Princeton’s firing more SM-3s.”
A few seconds later, the blue naval icon identifying the Princeton showed a new interceptor icon appearing every couple of seconds as the ship fired off additional missiles as quickly as it could. Two more Arleigh Burke destroyers joined in, firing their SM-3s at the incoming threats.
Steadily, the interceptors raced towards their assigned targets until the first one appeared to collide with its target. One of the naval officers yelled, “Splash one!” as the two objects impacted.
A few cheers erupted as one of the five warheads was destroyed.
“Splash two!”
“Splash three!”
“Splash four!”
General Tibbets was starting to feel cautiously optimistic, until the interceptor heading for the warhead descending on the Yuma proving grounds suddenly missed. The missile and warhead sailed right past each other.
Tibbets held his breath as the next layer of interceptors from the Patriot PAC-3 went after the remaining warhead. The first interceptor missed, then the second. The third missile didn’t connect either.
Ten seconds after the interceptors missed, the warhead reached five thousand feet in altitude and detonated, whiting out the aerial picture over the base and dozens of kilometers around the city of Yuma.
Several people shouted torrents of curse words. Others stopped what they were doing and silently stared at the screens, unable to take their eyes off what had just happened.
Colonel Jessup clapped his hands together loudly to
snap everyone out of their state of shock. “We still have other warheads to worry about, people! Let’s stay focused,” he bellowed.
Just then, Major General Estrada came running into the room. “Where are those warheads over Texas targeting?” he demanded.
Estrada made his way over to General Tibbets as people scrambled to find him an answer. Estrada still had his gym clothes on and sweat streaked down his back. He’d run across the mountain fortress through one checkpoint after another to get to the ops center when the missile launch warning had blared over the PA and the facility had begun to go on lockdown.
The last remaining warhead falling on San Diego managed to dodge the remaining SM-3s and then detonated at an altitude of fifty thousand feet.
“I think it blew it up early,” commented an Air Force lieutenant, apparently unaware of what a high-altitude detonation meant.
Colonel Jessup shook his head. “It didn’t blow up early. The electromagnetic pulse generated from that blast just blanketed Southern California, northern Mexico, and the entire US military force along the border. That EMP will plunge the region back into the Dark Ages.”
Turning to one of the communications officers, Jessup ordered, “Send a flash message out to our strike groups and facilities, letting them know some of these warheads may be EMPs. They need to power down their radios, radars, and any other electronic equipment. Make sure they get our planes and other assets indoors if there’s still time.”
General Tibbets barely restrained himself from punching a wall. This situation was unfolding into an utter disaster—his forces in Yuma had already been obliterated, an EMP had neutered his California forces, and the attack wasn’t even over yet. On top of it all, they still didn’t have a clear picture of what was happening in Hawaii and the rest of the Pacific.
One of the Air Force officers announced, “The THAAD missiles are starting their intercepts over Texas.”
The warhead descending on El Paso and the US ground forces at Fort Bliss blinked out of existence. Tibbets let out a huge sigh of relief as his eyes now turned to the one heading towards Dyess Air Force Base. An interceptor nailed it too. Then the one heading to Fort Hood disappeared as well.
The remaining warheads were heading towards the McAlester Army ammunition plant in McAlester, Oklahoma, the Red River Army depot near Texarkana, Texas, and the Pine Bluff arsenal in Arkansas. Without a second to spare, the missiles headed toward Red River and Pine Bluff collided with their targets. Then a white spot generated on the map over the McAlester Army ammunition plant.
A mixture of gasps and profanity filled the room. In less than thirty seconds, they had witnessed two nuclear detonations on American soil, something no one could have imagined.
General Tibbets was frozen for a moment, unable to respond to the horror show he’d been watching. General Estrada leaned over to him and put his hand on his shoulder. “I know this isn’t going to bring you a lot of comfort right now, sir, but we did a good job. We just intercepted nine out of twelve warheads. The enemy didn’t take out our forces along the Texas border, nor did they nail our strategic air bases. Right now, the Chinese hit us with an EMP over San Diego and two conventional nukes that didn’t cripple us. We still have those missiles in the Pacific to worry about, but we’ll pull through this.”
Just then, one of the computer monitors near General Tibbets’s desk came on with the image of the President and several of his advisors aboard Air Force One.
“Thanks, Estrada. I needed that,” Tibbets said. He took a deep breath and let it out. Then he moved over to the chair in front of the monitors so he could speak with the President.
When Sachs saw Tibbets, he immediately tore into him. “General, what the hell is going on?! We’re looking at a map right now that shows nuclear detonations in Arizona, California, and Oklahoma. We still have multiple missiles heading towards Hawaii, Guam, Australia, and two of our naval strike groups that we aren’t even able to see right now. What are we doing to stop them?”
Tibbets steeled his nerves. “The detonation over San Diego was an EMP, Mr. President. It wasn’t a direct nuclear detonation over the city. This warhead was designed to fry the electronics of Southern California and northern Mexico, probably in anticipation of a Chinese ground invasion. The other two detonations were air bursts, around five thousand feet above their intended targets. Unfortunately, the hit we took in Yuma effectively wiped out about twelve thousand soldiers and Marines we had positioned there to defend the border. The detonation in Oklahoma hit the McAlester munitions plant and the nearby city. Before you ask me any further questions, Mr. President, we should have data on those missiles heading towards Hawaii, Guam, Australia, and our two carrier strike groups momentarily.”
“Damn it! What are we doing to stop those missiles, General?” the President shouted. His face looked ashen.
“We’ve got a THAAD in Guam and Hawaii, along with Arleigh Burke destroyers that should be engaging those missiles as we speak. The strike groups are also engaging the missiles with their own interceptors. We’re in the process of repositioning some new satellites, along with moving some aircraft around to get our communications with Hawaii and the Pacific back up and running. Unfortunately, though, that EMP over Southern California did put another dent in our communications ability.”
There was a lot of commotion going on around behind Tibbets. He knew more information was coming in, and he should probably get back to it. “Mr. President, I’d like to keep this link open, but I need to keep an eye on what’s happening,” he insisted.
“Yes, General. Please do, but I’d like to start working on getting some sort of response going right now,” Sachs responded. “General Markus is telling me that with our satellites and other radar stations down, it’s possible the Chinese may have launched more missiles at us, and we won’t even know about it right away.” His face registered a mix of fear and concern.
Tibbets saw General Markus sitting next to the President, along with the military officer carrying the nuclear football. He had the briefcase opened on the table next to Sachs. While Tibbets couldn’t see the new Secretary of Defense with him, he did see the National Security Advisor.
“Where’s Secretary Howell?” asked General Tibbets. Secretary Mike Howell had taken over as the new head of the Pentagon a few days ago.
General Markus explained, “He was visiting Fort Benning when everything started. I’ve directed one of the Looking Glass planes to go pick him up and get him airborne. They should be there in another hour. Secretary Kagel wasn’t able to make it to Andrews in time, so we’re having her picked up by one of the TACAMO planes before it heads out to run figure eights over the Atlantic.”
“What are your orders for us, Mr. President?” Tibbets asked. Solemnly, he pulled his nuclear codebook out. Then he removed the dog tags from under his shirt and used a small key on the chain to unlock the codebook.
Before the President could respond, one of the officers behind Tibbets announced, “Sir, we’ve re-established our link with the Roosevelt strike group.”
The general turned to look at the new information and saw that all six of the warheads had been successfully intercepted.
The same officer explained, “Sir, the strike group commander says they succeeded in intercepting the warheads targeting them. They said the THAAD in Hawaii destroyed eleven of the twelve warheads fired at them, but it appears one warhead detonated at a high altitude above the island. They believe this was a targeted EMP blast. Right now, the strike group commander says they are tracking close to a hundred CJ-10 long-range cruise missiles inbound to our facilities on Hawaii emanating from the Johnston Atoll.”
Turning to face the naval LNO, Tibbets asked, “What about the Reagan? Are they able to intercept those cruise missiles?”
The naval officer’s face looked ashen as he replied, “No…the Reagan strike group has been destroyed. Two of the warheads got through. We haven’t been able to make contact with anyone from the strike group.”
General Markus called out to Tibbets. “General, we just spoke with the Brits. They are piping us into their satellite system right now. The NSA should have a new picture for us of the Pacific shortly.”
“Did the Ministry of Defence tell you how it’s looking? Do we have more missiles inbound?” asked Tibbets. He hoped this was it.
The President jumped in. “They said Guam’s gone. At least two of the warheads hit the island. There isn’t anything left. They also said Pine Gap was knocked out. The missile aimed at Australia hit most of the country with a series of EMPs detonating at fifty thousand feet and thirty thousand feet. It looks like a huge part of the country is going to be in the dark.”
Then, just as the NSA got the British satellite system linked to the DoD, the entire system went down. Not only did they lose their momentary picture, but now the entire Department of Defense NIPR, SIPR, and JWICS communication systems had blacked out.
The President shouted, “Oh my God! Seriously, what is happening? Why are our screens blacked out again?”
General Norman’s face suddenly appeared on the screen to answer the question. “Mr. President, one of my folks is telling me we just got hit with some sort of cyberattack. We’re not sure how it happened, but it appears it’s trying to take our communications system down.” The general paused for a moment as someone off-camera handed him a sheet of paper, which he quickly scanned before returning his gaze to Sachs. “Mr. President, I was just informed that AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint are all experiencing a massive cyberattack against their cellular and internet networks as well.”
General Tibbets broke back into the conversation. “Mr. President, the Chinese just hit us with a concerted nuclear first-strike attack against our forces in the Pacific and the continental US. They’re now in the process of blinding and muting our military by taking out our satellites, cellular communications and email system. They’re shutting down our civilian internet and cellular networks, which will cripple our ability to communicate domestically and inhibit our government’s ability to govern and manage the country. I must recommend that you order an immediate counterstrike against the Chinese and their military.”