by James Rosone
As everyone was listening to Dr. Gorka speak, on another screen they could see video clips of what the lunar operation would look like. Henry Stein thought to himself, “I don’t think I can really get used to this--the future is really here.”
The Beatings Will Continue until Morale Improves
01 January 2042
Tetlin Junction, Alaska
Lieutenant Paul Allen and his beat-up company of infantry had been pulled back to the unincorporated township of Tetlin Junction, which sat at the split between Highway 5 and Highway 2. Most of the US Forces left in Alaska had been pulled back either to this point or further down the Peninsula towards Vancouver. Allen’s company had fought hard in Fairbanks, but ultimately it was a losing cause. The Russians had too many men and the Chinese had dislodged the American stronghold further south. For the time-being, Alaska was lost. Now their objective was to keep the enemy bottled up in this frozen wasteland in order to keep them from capturing the Canadian states and pushing further down into the Pacific Northwest.
The mood of the soldiers was low. They had lost many of their comrades, and they had suffered defeat in the war in Alaska after enduring nearly six grueling months and hundreds of thousands of casualties. Then, just as Christmas was about to arrive, the media had started to report on a major invasion of California by the Chinese and the brutal betrayal of Japan and India as both nations officially declared war against the US.
The rumor mill was rampant in the 12th Infantry Division; some soldiers were reporting that LA and San Diego had fallen to the enemy, while others bragged that the Marines had pushed the invaders back into the sea. Eventually, a message was sent down from General Black, the First Army Commander, detailing the events of the past several days and explaining the current situation. Once the soldiers knew what was going on, a lot of things settled down as they knew the Third Army was in-route to California and would crush the invaders. Many soldiers had already fought with General Gardner in the Middle East; they felt confident in America’s chances with him at the helm on the West Coast.
Now that it was New Year’s Day, there was a special lunch for the men and women at the Tetlin Defense. While they ate, they watched videos of what military experts were calling the largest naval battle since World War II. The footage of the two new American battleships in action was awe-inspiring. They were massive futuristic looking ships and the display of their weapons against the joint Chinese/Japanese fleet was incredible. They shredded the enemy fleet, forcing the remaining ships to flee back to Hawaii. Per the Pentagon, the Carrier Strike Group was going to sail up the coast to San Diego and Los Angeles and assist the Army and Marines in crushing the enemy invasion force. Their help would go a long way toward recapturing the territory lost during the Christmas Day invasion.
Following the celebration, Lieutenant Allen was informed that he was being promoted to Captain and taking over command of his company. He was also invited to a high-level briefing being given at brigade headquarters. Unbeknownst to the officers in attendance, the division commander, a one star general, was also with their brigade commander to discuss a new secret weapon. During the briefing, they were shown images and then videos of the newest drone weapon that would be used in Alaska, the Bodark. What they saw terrified and excited them at the same time.
When Allen looked at the Bodark for the first time he was not impressed; then it transformed from a large rock-like form into a Werewolf looking creature with red glowing eyes, razor sharp claws and a howling shriek that caused a shiver to run down his back. The general explained how the Bodark was a mythological creature in Russian folklore. The goal in creating this new weapon was instilling psychological terror. As more and more units were built, the plan was to drop thousands of them behind the lines to wreak as much havoc as possible.
As Allen left the briefing room, he was glad his forces would not have to deal with facing a new weapon like that. They had seen enough horrific things in their lives; they did not need to add fictitious mythical creatures to their repertoire of frightening memories. Some of the new guys in his company were disappointed that their battalion was not being rotated back to the States to go fight in California. He had to remind them that less than a few hundred miles away were hundreds of thousands of Russian and Chinese soldiers spoiling for a good fight. Their chance at combat would come soon enough. As it stood, the 12th ID was going to hold this position until spring and then see what the higher-ups had planned for them.
A Man Named Bucky
01 January 2042
Pacific Ocean, 200 Miles South of San Diego
After the naval victory off the coast of Baja California, Admiral Stonebridge directed the fleet to move up the coast towards San Diego. While the remaining ships of the enemy fleet retreated to the Hawaiian Islands, Stonebridge wanted to go after the now vulnerable transports and supply ships heading to the Californian coast and disrupt the supply of equipment being offloaded at the ports. Though his objective was to destroy the enemy fleet, the more pressing demand from the Pentagon was to hammer the enemy forces in and around the ports.
Captain Baker was deep in thought when Admiral Stonebridge walked up to him and rudely interrupted his daydreams. Without any sort of small talk, he probed, “Captain, how many aircraft do the New York and Baltimore have available?”
Captain Baker jarred himself back to reality quickly and responded, “We have 12 drones and seven F35s down for maintenance; it will be the better part of a day, maybe two, before they are operational. The Carrier Air Group Commander (CAG) reports having 19 F35s ready for combat, another 36 F38As and 42 F38Bs. Are you wanting to send them ahead of the fleet to engage the enemy transports?” asked the Captain quizzically.
Stonebridge smiled for a second before responding, “Yes. It’s going to be another five more hours before the battleships are in range, and I do not want to waste any cruise missiles on trying to destroy their escorts. We need the cruise missiles for land targets. Have our aircraft take out the escorts, and we’ll let the battleships handle the supply ships.”
Walking over to the coms position, the captain asked one of his officers to signal the captain of the Baltimore that the Admiral needed to talk with him immediately. A few minutes later Captain Bruck, the commander of the Baltimore, came on the video link.
Admiral Stonebridge looked at both of his captains, “Gentlemen, we are not out of danger just yet. The Pentagon has ordered us to interdict the enemy troop transports and equipment ships heading to California before we finish off the enemy fleet. To that end, I want you both to order your remaining aircraft to attack the escort ships guarding the transports heading to San Diego and Los Angeles. As we sail closer to LA, we’ll send a second or third wave if necessary to hit the transports heading to San Francisco. Is that understood?” Stonebridge asked.
“Yes, Sir,” they replied in unison.
Within an hour, the airwing of both carriers was heading towards San Diego and the enemy transports. Commander John Buckley (“Bucky”) was leading his squadron of F35s in the direction of the enemy transports. As they neared their targets, they saw dozens of enemy ships queued up, waiting for their turn to dock at the port and offload their cargo. They also saw half a dozen enemy destroyers and frigates, which immediately began to engage the F38B drones as they began to make their combat runs against the ships. Dozens of anti-ship missiles began to streak away from the attack drones heading towards the enemy destroyers and frigates guarding the fleet.
Missile after missile began to leave the various frigates and destroyers as they tried to intercept the incoming anti-ship missiles and counter-attack the American drones. Shortly after the conflict began, a swarm of Chinese J20s began to gather over San Diego and started to head towards the American fighters. Bucky briefly saw the J20s show up on his radar from the AWACs controller before they disappeared. The J20 was China’s version of the American F22 stealth fighter and was exceptional in combat. Like the American aircraft, it was also a stealth aircraf
t, only visible when taking off or landing, making it very difficult (although not impossible) to track once in the air.
Bucky got on his coms to call his squadron. “I want you all to gain altitude and put some distance between yourselves and the fighter drones. I just saw a group of J20s taking off; let’s use the fighter drones as bait and get them to give away their position while they are engaged with the fighter drones. Each time you locate one of those J20s, I want you to lock onto that target and attack them with your long-range air-to-air missiles.”
“Yes, Sir,” the squadron replied.
The enemy fighter drones began to engage the American drones, and within minutes, drone aircraft on both sides began to fall out of the sky. The enemy J20s heavily outnumbered Bucky’s squadron, but he needed to at least try and thin them out. The fleet was going to be moving his direction soon, and they needed to do their best to gain some sense of air supremacy.
Had the fleet intelligence officers known the enemy air strength, they never would have recommended the carrier airwings attack. They were heavily outnumbered, and not likely to succeed in their mission. It was unfortunate as most of the carrier fighters and ground attack drones would be destroyed during the battle.
After a while in the air, Bucky concluded that their situation was not very optimistic, and got back on his coms to change up the plan. “OK everyone, here is what we are going to do. We have four missiles each; everyone is going to be assigned a target by our AWACs. Once you have a target for your missiles, launch and then immediately go supersonic back towards the fleet. Don’t stick around to see if your missiles were successful or get in closer to engage with the Sidewinders. I want everyone back to the safety of the fleet as quickly as possible.”
The fleets air combat controllers in the AWACs had linked their screens to the C3 surveillance drone that was high above the fighting. The C3 had monitored the takeoff of the J20s and had been tracking them ever since. Using specialized heat scanners, the C3 fed the AWACs controllers the enemy coordinates, and they in turn fed the data to the targeting computers on the F35s. Once all 64 missiles had been assigned intended targets, Bucky’s squadron of 16 fighters began to send the volley of missiles on their way. Within seconds, the J20s (whose radar had spotted the launch) began to fire their own air-to-air missiles at the F35s. Now it was a race to see if the F35s could get back to the laser and missile defense screen of the fleet or not.
As Bucky’s squadron retreated to the safety of the fleet, their 64 missiles scored 19 hits; the remaining missiles were either evaded or ran out of fuel while the J20s performed evasive maneuvers. Bucky’s squadron lost only one aircraft from the enemy missiles before they made it back to the safety of the fleet’s missile defense system. As his squadron landed, they learned that most of the attacking F38Bs had been destroyed during their attack run, and half of the F38As has been shot down while trying to provide air cover for them. The fleet had effectively lost half of their airpower during the battle.
However, they had managed to destroy the remaining enemy frigates and destroyers and sink seven of the 22 transport ships they had engaged. Unfortunately though, if the fleet was going to interdict the remaining enemy cargo and transport ships, they were going to need to get in range of the battleships’ main guns and laser batteries.
Brazilians in Germany
10 January 2042
Hamburg, Germany
General Eduardo Temer had been the second-in-command of the Brazilian Army when the Americans began to develop the South American Multination Force to fight the Russian and Chinese forces. After being sent to America to participate in several general officer training courses, he was then deployed to Germany to observe and assist General Black and General Gardner’s staff for three-month rotations. The experience was designed to give him a sense of the enemy his army would be fighting, and to gain some experience from working with these two dynamic generals.
Now he had finished training up his MNF, and they had finally been deployed to Europe to bolster the NATO lines. It took nearly a month for the Americans to move the bulk of their military equipment and troops from South America to Hamburg, Germany. After nearly three weeks of unpacking and reorganizing their equipment, they began their preparations to move towards the frontlines. Many of his soldiers experienced a rude awakening when a major snowfall blanketed the countryside; a lot of them had never even seen the cold fluffy flakes in their lives, and now they were going to be asked to fight a war in it.
The NATO lines had stabilized along the German/Polish border one week after the New Year. However, the Russians had been moving men and equipment back to the European front now that they had accomplished everything they set out to achieve in Alaska. With the arrival of the MNF force, the NATO forces were now planning on launching a winter offensive to recapture most of Poland before any Indian reinforcements had a chance to arrive from Russia. The latest intel suggested that the Indian Army would arrive in Poland sometime around April, bringing close to 600,000 soldiers with them.
In Europe, it had taken the better part of a year to recruit and train a sufficient army to stop the Russian advance. Now France, Spain, Germany, Italy and the UK had the troops and equipment needed to retake the lands captured by Russia early in the war. Shortly after arriving in Hamburg, General Temer was flown via helicopter to Brussels to meet with the NATO Commander and other political leaders. The Allies were going to hold a war council to devise the end-game strategy for the war, much like the Allies of World War II had during the meeting between Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin at the Yalta meeting.
As it turned out, Brussels was not his final destination. Once General Temer arrived at the military base, he was ushered into a blacked-out vehicle that drove him to yet another airport. Then he was scurried onto a plane that flew him to a small French island called Saint Anne, not far from the French coastline. This sleepy little island had been taken over by the military just four hours ago, in preparation for the arrival of the leaders of the Allies, so they could meet face-to-face for the first time in nearly a year. Saint Anne had been chosen because of its remoteness and the fact that it could be easily guarded and secured for the twelve-hour meeting. At the end of the gathering, everyone would be flown back to their respective countries to continue with their activities.
Some had questioned the wisdom of having an in-person meeting. With technology, people could just as easily meet virtually and not have to risk leaving their secured facilities. However, President Stein had insisted on the meeting, arguing that technology could never replace a face-to-face meeting or the interaction between participants in a room.
As General Temer exited the aircraft that brought him to the island, there was a vehicle ready and waiting to take him to meet with the other military commanders. General Wade, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) had arrived a couple of hours ahead of General Temer and had already met briefly with President Stein, General Branson and the National Security Advisor Mike Williams. President Stein wanted to give General Wade a heads-up on the conversation they were going to have with the rest of the Allied leaders before the rest of the group arrived.
Soon Prime Minister Blair and Chancellor Lowden both arrived; everyone stood and exchanged pleasantries and handshakes and then quickly took their seats at the table. Some attendants brought in some drinks and snacks, and then quickly left the room; security personnel then ensured the room was secured and locked.
President Stein immediately got down to business, “Gentlemen, thank you for agreeing to meet in person. I know we could have done this via the holograph system, but I felt a face-to-face meeting was needed as we discuss what the future of the world will look like once the war is over.”
Everyone in the room nodded and appeared ready to listen to President Stein’s suggestions and then offer their own.
Stein brought up an image from his tablet and linked it to the holographic projector at the center of the table. A series of floating maps appeared: one with
the current breakdown of nations, one with the current disposition of enemy and allied forces on the global map, and a third map. The third map had a very different looking picture than the first. This map had several countries broken up and others merged. This map, everyone realized, is what President Stein was going to propose be the new world post-World War III.
President Stein began, “For more than one hundred years, the world has been given geographical borders with no regard as to the ethnicities, religions or people who live there. This, I argue, has given rise to numerous wars and tensions across the world and led to many genocides. This is our opportunity to right that wrong and to redraw the borders, taking into consideration the ethnicities, religions and people that will live within them. I do not propose that we impose our form of government or democracy on our vanquished foes, but we will replace the existing countries and borders with ones that will better represent the people living in them.”
Stein paused for a moment to take a sip of his water and to let his proposal settle in for a minute. Then he continued, “It is incumbent upon us to ensure that once this great war has been won, that we do not also sow the seeds of another conflict. I am not going to be so naïve as to believe that this will be the war to end all wars, but we need to be cognizant in how we handle our victory so as not to breed permanent enmity and hatred within our current adversaries, like what happened with Germany at the end of World War I.”
The leaders seemed intrigued; Chancellor Lowden seemed the most amicable to this philosophy, and Prime Minister Blair would need the most convincing. They talked at length about the implications of what President Stein was suggesting. After several hours of discussing the post-war future, the conversation turned back to the matters at hand. They needed a plan to defeat Russia, China and the other countries that had just joined the war. Without that, discussions of a world after the conflict were meaningless.