Sweetness in the Dark

by W. B. Martin

  “Glad to join you Syd,” Noel answered as he worked to push the darkness back.

  Chapter 33

  Red Bluff, California

  The abbreviated talks with the Chinese had ended with the Chinese general showing his displeasure with a violation of protocol. Launching an artillery barrage under what was supposed to be a ‘White Flag’ was a statement that General Gale took literally. He would remember the bad manners displayed by his Chinese counterpart.

  The Special Envoy of the Union of American States wasn’t so sanguine when he heard the explosions back at Army Headquarters. He was worried that the party was now a casualty of war and was relieved when the Stryker column was reported entering the area.

  Dr. Paul Kendall forgot his new role as he met the returning negotiators. A wave of relief welled over him as Amanda climbed down out of the armored car.

  “What happened? I heard explosions.”

  “Well, the Chinese were a little pissed about our negotiating position I guess,” General Gale said.

  Amanda explained the position that Ed had taken and Paul smiled. He was new to the whole foreign negotiating thing himself, but he knew insulting Asians wasn’t a good idea. Not unless you were willing and able to kick their butt afterward.

  “So, General. Are we ready?” Paul asked. He was never sure now whether to refer to him as General or Admiral. Ed wouldn’t commit to either one. He said it kept everyone guessing. Since Paul first knew him as a general, he continued using the title.

  “My last report says affirmative. But I think there’s one thing you need to do when you get back to Cheyenne and report to the President,” Ed said. Paul confirmed he would relay the information to the new President.

  The Idaho Governor had appointed himself to the Senate and that body had voted him onto the Cabinet. The nine members of the Cabinet had chosen him as the first President of the UAS. Paul was now an assistant to the President and both were determined to set a high ethical standard.

  The last administrations of the United States were less thsn stellar in that nature. Between dalliances with interns and running guns to drug cartels, these former United States Presidents had become corrupted ghosts compared to their earlier counterparts.

  Before leaving, Paul asked the general if he could see his son and nephew. Isaac and Matt were still with the Idaho Army. General Gale had used most of the Montana and Idaho volunteers to keep the peace in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia when Regular Army units became available for combat duty in California. Only a small remnant of volunteers remained with the front line troops sho had shown up over a year ago.

  Ed had kept Matt and Isaac close at hand to assure some semblance of survival. Paul knew the general had placed the two boys in relatively safe positions out of respect for his family caring for Ed’s grandchildren.

  “I had them transferred to my headquarters. With you now in a position in the government, it would be compromising if they fell into the wrong hands,” Ed offered.

  “I want no special treatment for my family,” Paul protested.

  “It’s not special treatment. It’s operational security. Matt and Isaac are valuable bargaining chips to the wrong people. Anything that affects my command, I will deal with as I see fit,” Ed said. “But I’ll have them report to your quarters ASAP.

  Paul realized that the general had just closed the issue, “Thank you, General.”

  Paul and Amanda were sitting in Paul’s tent when the two boys arrived. Paul looked them over as they walked through the door. He stood and took his son in his arms. Amanda hugged Isaac.

  Paul stood back and marveled at the tall, lean, well-tanned men standing before him. They had left six months before as boys, but the arduous regime had done them both well.

  “Congratulations, Special Envoy of the new President. Very cool, Dad,” Matt offered.

  “Isaac, your dad sends his best and wanted me to tell you the he wished you both could have been there.” Paul referred to his brother John’s quick marriage to Julie. “We’ll have a huge party when this is all over, trust me.”

  “I hear through the grapevine that you and Amanda are made for each other. I’m happy for you. You deserve it after all that has gone on. And Uncle John too,” Matt said.

  “That’s right, Uncle Paul,” Isaac added. “You and my dad earned some happiness in your life. I’m glad you’ve both finally found it.”

  “We reported to General Gale before coming over here. He said we were to report now to his headquarters. We’re assigned to S-2, that’s the Intelligence Section for the Army. We’ll be handling prisoners and stuff like that, so you don’t need to worry about us,” Matt said.

  “I’m not worried, but both of you watch each other’s back and come back home safe,” Paul offered.

  He and Amanda were scheduled to leave so they said their goodbyes. Paul noticed that Amanda spent extra time saying goodbye.

  * * *

  Reaching Cheyenne had taken longer than they expected. With the Chinese acting aggressive, Ed had ordered them to head north by car before catching a flight east. The added ground travel delayed their arrival back at the temporary Capital.

  For Paul, he had to relay the general’s request the next day and that weighed on him. He understood the consequences and dreaded being the messenger. It would be the President who would make the final decision.

  At the Cabinet meeting, Paul waited to report on his trip. He listened as the other members of the Administration presented their status reports on their departments. The critical one was the Defense Department. When the Defense Department Secretary was finished, the President began the questions.

  “Are we ready to declare our maritime exclusion zones, Mr. Secretary?”

  “Mr. President. We have worked hard getting our nuclear subs back to ready status. We have four boomers operational with two currently on station as you directed. We have nine nuclear attack subs on station or moving to their patrol areas. We’ll have four more operational shortly to cover the East Coast from enemy aggression.”

  “Good. And our Carrier Battle Groups. Are we still talking three operational, besides the one already off Oregon?” the President asked.

  “Yes, Mr. President. Getting the supporting ships ready has been the problem. We have prioritized on the subs, Sir, but I expect two more battle groups soon. But without functional West Coast bases for support, even servicing the ones we have is going to be a problem. Everett and Bremerton were almost totally destroyed during the chaos out there,” the Defense Secretary offered.

  “I know. We’re moving as much material as we can out to the Puget Sound area. But the demand on our trains for everything else is limiting what we can do,” the Vice President said. He and his staff had been assigned the task of prioritizing the trains in the country. With the demands for food, electrical transformers, military equipment and personnel, his staff was strained to the maximum.

  “You and your staff are doing a Herculean job. I know because I check regularly,” the President offered. “Then its set. I’ll announce three maritime exclusion zones today. The UAS will enforce an exclusion to all shipping in three areas. The first is the existing one on the West Coast of North America, from the tip of Baja north to Eureka, California.”

  The second exclusion zone would take in the North Island of New Zealand. The third zone would cover the entire Australia Coast except for the part between Adelaide and Sydney.

  Any ship found within two hundred miles of the coast in those areas would be sunk with no warning. Also, those same exclusion zones would be subject to naval mines at the discretion of the UAS and its Allies.

  Paul looked to the President for an answer to General Gale’s request. The President hesitated. The Defense Secretary urged him to make the right decision.

  “Mr. President, we need to let the Chinese know that if they choose to escalate the fight, then we are prepared to meet force with overwhelming force.”

  “I know. It’s just such
a dangerous decision. If they decide to go nuclear, the consequences would be unimaginable,” the President said.

  “And if we don’t state our policy right now, then ignorance on their part might make that decision easier for them to make. We need to emphasize the stakes involved before the shooting really starts, Sir,” the Defense Secretary said.

  Paul had mixed emotions about this himself. When Ed first brought it up he understood the need to have the threat out in the open, but to finally make the move and make it known to the Chinese was huge. How would they take such a policy? he wondered.

  Defeating the fanatical Japanese in World War II had taken the threat of total extinction of the Japanese people to get them to stop. The Chinese had a similar mindset, with a whole lot more people. They might view the nuclear option as winnable, considering how many more people they had compared to the UAS.

  “I don’t think we have any other option. If they launch a nuclear strike, we will retaliate but only stronger. One of their missiles will get five of ours in return,” the Defense Secretary said. “And if they try to nuke one of our battle groups, same equalization. Five to one.”

  “I don’t see any other way to keep our fight conventional. I just don’t know what will happen when they realize they are about to lose. And I’ll be sure to include the Kiwis and the Aussies in that policy,” the President said. “I’ve received confirmation on that from both Prime Ministers. Their cities count just like they were American cities. Nuke one, and we answer.”

  The Health Secretary finally spoke up. “We’re putting our people at risk of nuclear annihilation for those people down under. Are we sure that the voters would go along with that?”

  “First, almost all of our large cities are already ghost towns. ‘The Pulse’ did a very efficient job of killing the large urban centers. So what’s left? Nuking Boise or Omaha?” the Defense Secretary asked. “Hardly worth China’s effort.”

  The entire Cabinet froze at the comment. Paul started to say something defending Boise when the President cut him off.

  “Mr. Secretary. I will note that our larger cities are empty, but I can assure you we would miss Boise or even Missoula as much as we would LA. Maybe more.”

  “I’m sorry, Mr. President if I spoke out of turn, but the Chinese are probably in a similar state. Their urban areas are probably empty as well,” the Dense Secretary offered.

  “Unless they were more prepared than we were. They certainly were prepared with ships to land troops and settlers here and on our friends down under. Maybe their cities carried on without a glitch. I’ll point out that Houston and Dallas barely experienced much disruption,” Paul said. “Texas only came on board a couple years ahead of ‘the Pulse’ and they managed to harden their grid sufficiently enough to keep things under control. Are the Chinese any less thoughtful? I doubt it. They are notorious for taking the long-term look.”

  The Cabinet continued the discussion late into the night. The President was scheduled to give his radio address the next day. Consequently, Paul got home late.

  * * *

  “Bad day? I can tell,” Amanda offered. “I have some food ready. Go take a hot shower and you can unwind.

  Paul dragged himself into the bedroom and undressed. He came to the conclusion that running a nation was much too stressful for him. He missed his little college life back in Boise. Lecturing young people and debating the economic theories of life was what sustained him. He couldn’t think of anything he’d rather be doing.

  After showering, he walked into the kitchen in his robe. He took Amanda in his arms to thank her for the support she provided. Paul wasn’t sure he could have done it without her and he wanted her to know.

  He sat down to the dinner Amanda had prepared and ate like someone who hadn’t eaten in a week. He suddenly realized how famished he was.

  Chapter 34

  Reno, Nevada

  The President’s radio address was broadcast through the loudspeakers at the Reno Airport. The announcer had introduced the President with the statement that the same speech was being beamed around the world on all available frequencies so that all nations were made aware of the impending changes in shipping.

  The airmen of the 8th Air Wing of the UAS Air Force listened intently in their ready room at the air base located at the Reno Airport. A-10 ‘Warthog’ planes were ready for action as F-15’s flew cover over the Reno area. With the hostile Chinese forces on the other side of the Sierras, the Air Force had been on alert for possible enemy action.

  The 2nd Fighter Squadron had scrambled four jets to intercept a reported enemy sighting over Lake Tahoe that morning and they were just returning to base. As two jet fighters lined up on the long runway, the other two jets did another circle over Virginia City, making sure no bogies were waiting.

  The Air Force Commander entered the ready room. The men all rose from their seats and stood at attention.

  “Right. The President has announced our Maritime Exclusion Zones. He has also announced our national policy on the use of nuclear weapons. That leaves me to tell you that today the Air Force is launching two satellites to take up positions over the Pacific. We will have GPS again by noon today over the entire Pacific Basin.”

  The pilots talked among themselves over this development. They had been flying the old-fashion way for over a year now. That the Air Force could get rockets and satellites up in space was impressive.

  “Just so you’ll know, our contractors worked around the clock to get these two satellites ready. Missile Command busted a hump getting a couple Minuteman rockets out of Wyoming ready as launch vehicles. They had to pull the missiles from the silo, remove the nukes and then transport them to Florida for launch,” the commander said. “And kudos to the Army for securing the Cape Kennedy area so the launches could take place.”

  The launching of the satellites was a huge factor in the effort to get the Chinese back to China. With satellite navigation as well as communication, the armed forces of the UAS were much more capable. But it was not without risk since China had spent considerable time and money developing methods to shoot down satellites.

  More satellites and launch vehicles were in the pipeline, but the two being put up today would allow operations in California to proceed. The commander laid out the tasks.

  Air supremacy over California was the first order of the day. Once the Chinese Red Air Force was eliminated, then the UAS Air Force would go to work chewing up the ground forces. With the Maritime Exclusion Zone just announced, the U.S. Navy would sink any supplies of men or material from reaching California.

  Without resupply, the Chinese armed forces in California would quickly start to die. Wars are notoriously wasteful events, and the side with the best logistics usually won. When the Chinese lost all their logistical support, they would lose the war.

  “You guys who flew Desert Storm know the drill. Tonight the F-117’s go in and take down the Air Defense Systems. With the satellites back up, cruise missiles will take out the Command and Control Centers. Then we hit them with the Predators and the Global Hawks,” the Commander said. “At day break, the Eagles and the Falcons go in,” referring to the F-15 and F-16s.

  “When do the ‘Hog’ drivers take a turn?” an A-10 pilot asked.

  “You boys will have your fun as soon as the Red Air Force is neutered. Then give them hell. Remember, these bastards thought they could get away with grabbing the West Coast when we were down on the mat. Remind them who they’re dealing with,” the commander emphasized.

  * * *

  General Ed Gale sat that night in his headquarters and watched the large display. With the satellites up and running the day before, he had real-time information being fed into his hardened computers. The display said it all.

  Ed watched as the green blips of an F-117 flew in from Nellis Air Force Base and maneuvered around the hot zones of the Chinese SAM sites. The radars for the surface-to-air missiles were switching on and off trying to avoid sending a signal long enough
for acquisition by the Americans.

  It was useless. The American forces had experienced such tactics over Iraq when they had crushed Saddam Hussein’s Iraq Air Force. The F-117 opened its bomb bay doors and released two Hellfire missile from its internal bomb bay.

  The display registered the missiles’ flight to where a Chinese radar had just recently shown its location. The signal never turned on again. Two more missiles were released and another SAM site disappeared.

  All the time the F-117s were loitering over California, computer images of the Chinese air defenses were being beamed back to an Airborne Control Center. A Boeing 707 passenger jet, converted into an electronic warfare center, gathered all the information. Soon, orders were being issued directly to the cruise missiles both in Nevada and out at sea.

  Admiral Bud Lanciani’s Battle Group was off the Northern California Coast receiving the intel updates. The cruiser U.S.S. Virginia loaded coordinates into the missile computers. As the F-117s were leaving the area, the cruise missiles blasted out of their tubes into the night sky.

  The glare of the launch soon faded as the small jet engines settled into a steady low altitude flight toward their target. Arriving from both the east and the west, the Chinese only had seconds of warning as the warheads ripped the targets apart.

  The Americans had done their work on interviewing every refugee that had escaped the Chinese held areas. Information on where Command Centers were located had been gathered. When the day approached to launch the attack, Special Forces had been inserted ahead of time into California to confirm the Chinese main bases.

  These same forces were now located nearby to offer laser guidance to munitions arriving by air. The drones were the third prong of the attack. Again, Hellfire missiles aboard the UAVs found their targets as pilots sitting at consoles in Nevada guided their charges to their targets.