“What about this ‘Demirci’ the report mentions?” the president asked. “The Lincoln’s CO seemed pretty convinced that he was the one actually running the show out there.”
“Not much data on him, other than him being a government-employed scientist his whole career. He’s a physicist with known involvement in some high-profile military projects. Also, Russian GRU confirms that his son is an Army lieutenant who finished an International Islamic University scholarship last year. That’s pretty hardcore, the fast track into the Iron Wolves.”
“There’s no indications that Demirci was a dissident or insurgent of any kind?”
“No, ma’am. Given that all these others were military, he was probably with them for technical support. We can’t rule out MGT association, except that he’s no career agent.”
The president looked at the paper she held in one hand, the translated message sent by President Celik four hours earlier. Like the missile attack on the relay satellite, he insisted that the Dirac explosion was not his doing, that rebel subversives were behind it all. The message also indicated that his security services had already made some arrests and were still rounding up accomplices. Loughlin knew that Celik was sincere, but that last part worried her.
“So this is all just misdirection, then,” she said, throwing the paper to the conference table.
“Yes, Madam President.”
“And no other guesswork from our allies?”
“We’ve heard none at all, ma’am.” Secretary Gonzalez said. His own deputy at the State Department was on another screen from Washington, with half the display split to text for summarizing diplomatic updates from allies. “If you want to invoke the DA’s mutual defense clause, most if not all our partners are ready to agree.”
Loughlin stood from the head of the table, and the others stood at attention.
“Time is critical here. General Garrett,” she announced to the screen on the cabin’s far wall. The MILCOM commander was also airborne, his craft loitering above the Alps. “Get the word out to allied forces that we’re invoking Article Six. I want to take a few minutes to give leaders in non-DA nations a heads up. Specifically India, Iran, Israel, and the Kinshasa Pact. We don’t want them blindsided by HM reactions as soon as our strikes begin. After we speak to them, selected attack option five-one is a go.”
USS Abraham Lincoln
0357Z, 25 December 2065
“It’s fairly compelling, Jaana, I gotta say,” Admiral McKenna said over the comms display on the captain’s console in C2C. “But you’ve got no real proof of what you’re suggesting.”
“Not yet, sir,” Pierce said, “but there’s also no proof that he wasn’t a rebel. If I’m right, though, proof should come out soon enough.”
“How do you figure?”
“If you’re Celik and you know you’re not behind it, wouldn’t you want to find the people who are as fast as possible? And make sure the world knows about it? We’re up here raising a gun to his head.”
“The intelligence folks are all over this. Hell, they must’ve been chompin’ at the bit. You have to understand, Jaana – the message you sent before your transit doused a lit fuse. The entire DA put this war on hold just so the top brass could hear from you.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You’ve done a good job putting that information together. I’m glad you anticipated the demand for it.”
“Thank you, Admiral. It was hard not to after seeing that blast wave.”
“Just have faith that they’ll know what to do with it downtown. I know you’ve got more than two hundred survivors crowding your ship. We’ll get them off as soon as the situation allows for it. Orders will be coming out soon enough, and maybe they’ll be to stand down. How’s your crew holding up?”
“Hmm. I’d be lying if I said anything other than tired and shaken. And some of us are more than a bit angry. We’re ready for this to be over, but we’re professionals first.”
“Just stay sharp. Lincoln’s in a backup role, but in case… wait…” McKenna looked to the side and then ran off-camera.
CS-Kenya’s watch officer turned to the screen and spoke with a shaky voice. “Lincoln, it’s coming through now.”
“Captain, Comms!” Lieutenant Crawford yelled over the battlenet. “We’re receiving a flash emergency message from MILCOM. Encryption verified. War orders, ma’am!”
The orders were automatically uploaded to Lincoln’s AI as its new course of action. The summary was listed on the main viewscreen:
DEFCON One would go into effect at 0440Z. This was the designated time of A-Hour for Operation Avalanche. Abe displayed a countdown timer on the main screen in Lincoln’s C2C. The third world war was forty-three minutes away.
All DA military satellites were shifting their orbits to mitigate the threats from HM anti-space weapons.
DA commands received Selected Attack Option 5-1 from the Combined Operations Plan, or COPLAN-SAO 5-1. Space-based directed energy and kinetic weapons were both authorized, and the DA’s celestial warships would begin destroying the HM’s more advanced defense batteries at 0440Z. First to go would be their handful of known anti-space weapons and tracking stations, so they couldn’t fire back, followed by strikes against hundreds of air defense targets.
A mixture of ground and orbital anti-satellite systems would try to jam every single HM satellite in orbit, from low altitude to highly elliptical orbiters to the geostationary ring. The communication and surveillance satellites might include a few weaponized ones in disguise. If attempts at disruption failed, the DA might violate the 2027 Kessler Treaty and physically destroy some of them. Either way, the attacks would effectively render the HM blind, unable to target their enemies.
A major cyberattack aimed at disrupting HM communications and infrastructure would also begin at A-Hour. No further details were available.
Following the decimation of HM air and space defenses, a simultaneous time-on-top attack would occur at 0530Z. Airstrike and spacestrike ordnance would hit over two hundred HM command-and-control targets within seconds of that time, including all major headquarters and intelligence facilities. Airstrikes from scramjet bomber aircraft and hypersonic cruise missiles would focus on the above-ground structures, while kinetic shots from the orbital warships would hit hardened underground command centers.
If attacked, or if HM forces did not surrender within twelve hours, India would open its own front against Pakistan. Details would be forthcoming.
Pierce was thoroughly familiar with SAO 5-1 from countless simulations and war college discussions. The orders were focused entirely on HM military targets: the outermost layers of defense, followed by the innermost command centers. It was intended to decapitate the western and central Hras al-M’umnyn military leadership, leaving their armed forces exposed to further strikes and paralyzed from lack of coordination, but it would also leave the HM governments intact and able to surrender. If they did not surrender quickly, or if they attempted a counterattack, the Military Committee would order a Massive Attack Option. With a MAO, allied forces would begin destroying individual military units like air bases and aircraft, army bivouacs, naval shipyards and ships, key infrastructure like power plants, transportation hubs and major tech industry, and possibly civilian leadership targets. The casualties resulting from this escalation would reach seven figures.
The thinking behind the orders was clear enough to her. If war was inevitable, then the DA would need to strike first if it was to protect its own capabilities. Space geostrategy relies heavily on initiative. If HM weapons could strike even a portion of its enemies’ satellites, command stations, and warships in orbit, it would limit the DA’s abilities to hit back or support a drawn-out war. But if the DA wiped out the HM’s anti-space capabilities first, it would have an overwhelming advantage. The DA would hold the ultimate high ground, and the HM would be blind and helpless towards its enemies in orbit. They wouldn’t be able to expose any hidden electromagnetic tracking stations before
DA warships and satellites detected their signals and destroyed them, too soon for any corresponding DEW weapons to lock onto anything. Any anti-satellite missiles launched by the HM would be easily detected and shot down before they could reach their targets.
During the first cold war, the superpowers kept each other’s nuclear arsenals in check with the threat of guaranteed retaliation, in the form of hard-to-target second strikes. It was known as mutually assured destruction, and despite the dreadful name it was an effective form of deterrence. But in the cold logic of space warfare, defending one’s assets means seizing the initiative and going on offense, being the side to launch a crippling first strike and negate the possibility of retaliation. This was the hair-trigger that the whole world feared for years.
After reading the incoming orders, Yates left his battlestation in Engineering Control and entered the C2C. The view of CS-Kenya’s operations center was still on the main display screen, more energetic than ever. The pulsing yellow lights in the background changed to solid red, as did the lights in Lincoln’s C2C. The station’s tracking officer remained in view, keeping simultaneous video links with all warships under the station’s command. Amidst the cacophony of background chatter, Captain Pierce’s voice rang out again.
“Admiral, can you hear me?! Are you still there?!”
The tracking officer motioned with his hands and McKenna came onscreen a few seconds later. “Well it looks like they sure knew what to make of your report, Jaana! Keep your ship ready.”
“That was pretty damn fast! They didn’t want to chew on this information any longer? Or hear testimony from anyone who was out there?”
“They received the information you sent. The analysis and the decisions, that’s not your job.”
“Sir, all they had time to do was match faces to database files. The president is starting a war that someone else wants her to start.”
“Enough with the hunch, Pierce! Now I know you’ve had a trying day, but get yourself ready to backup these strikes. Lincoln’s coilgun might get a workout after all.”
“Admiral, I request permission to transmit the same data towards Earth via open broadcast. Turkey may have information to confirm what I’m saying.”
“You will do no such thing! I don’t have time for this. Damnit, Jaana, you have orders in hand, and I expect you to carry them out!”
“My ship will remain on station as ordered, sir! As the report’s original classifier, I’m asking permission to widen the audience beyond my own authority. MILCOM could grant it within minutes if you ask.”
“Captain Pierce, are you refusing to follow your orders as instructed?”
“Sir, with all due respect, I believe we have a higher obligation–”
McKenna’s voice boomed over the screen. “Pierce, you’re relieved! Commander Yates, that contingency we discussed earlier… permission granted!”
Pierce, Yamada, and everyone else in C2C spun around to see Yates pointing a stun gun at the captain. On the opposite side of the room, Lieutenant Clark stood alone. He held another stun gun at his side, ready to point it at anyone.
Yates’s eyes seared towards Pierce. “Captain, I hereby relieve you of your command. Lieutenant Clark, confine the captain to her cabin.”
CHAPTER 27
Presidential bunker complex
Ankara, Islamic Republic of Turkey
0404Z, 25 December 2065
“It’s inevitable!” Chancellor Shadid shouted over the other arguing men on the video screens. “Their commands have transmitted orders to their forces. They must be orders to attack!”
“We can’t read their encryption,” President Celik said. “We think they’re war orders.”
“Do we dare assume otherwise?” Shadid countered. Most of the alliance leaders answered with a no, Celik being the lone holdout among the Big Three. “We must consider pre-emption. General Bera, is there anything more we can do to blunt their attack before it begins?”
“We have no strategic options that wouldn’t be considered cause for war themselves. Instead of pre-emption, I request that we send out orders for counterattack. Our own communications are likely to be cut if the enemy strikes. I want to be able to fight back even if our military command is decapitated.”
“You told us earlier that we can’t be sure how they’ll attack,” Celik said. “We can’t send out orders for a limited response if their initial attack is widespread.”
“Our orders must cover the possibility of a major attack. I recommend response option nine-red. This will do three things. One, it’ll put our satellite forces on a dead-hand switch. If they’re cut off from our command, they’ll attack whichever DA bases and ships they can target. Nine-red will also include low-level nuclear strikes by our sleeper cells against key enemy targets. Most are already in good position.”
“Tactical nukes?” Celik interrupted.
“A few, yes, against military command centers,” Bera explained. “All happen to be located near cities. In America that means the Pentagon in Washington, along with bases in Omaha, Norfolk, and Denver. In Europe the strikes will hit Brussels, Frankfurt, Naples, Warsaw, and Moscow. The yields will be small, taking out no more than a dozen or so city blocks each. Combined enemy fatalities should be less than half a million. Following this will be the third phase of nine-red, hypersonic airstrikes against the DA’s forward bases.”
“I agree with this option,” Shadid said. “They’ll want to respond to it and exact heavy losses on us, but with one move we can seize the initiative. We won’t be entirely on the defensive.”
“Yes, Chancellor,” Bera continued. “This will give the DA command an excuse to hold off on escalating to truly massive strikes against us. They won’t know what else we’ll have to throw at them. The enemy will still have to strike first, but once they do, we will shock them into a limited war, and our political leadership should survive to end it.”
The talking heads on the screens were eager to agree, or at least too scared not to agree. The conversation subdued as all of them awaited the President of Turkey’s response.
Celik closed his eyes and nodded, looking exhausted. “General, send out the orders.”
USS Abraham Lincoln
0408Z, 25 December 2065
None of the screens in Pierce’s cabin linked to anything on or off the ship, and she tried them all. Even Abe was offline. Yates must’ve ordered Lieutenant Crawford to block all networks, she figured.
Thirty-two minutes left. The next step should’ve happened by now… unless it’s all gone to hell. Did he lose his nerve?
Outside the cabin, Tech Officer Garcia stood guard in front of Pierce’s door. The corridors were quiet, with all the rest of the crew at their battlestations, so the chief engineer approaching was an odd sight.
“Hi there, Miguel. I’m afraid I need a quick word with the captain.”
“Sir, Captain Pierce has been ordered confined to quarters. Can I ask what this is about?”
“I wanted to ask her about chain of command procedures. I’m an engineer, and she’d know this stuff better than me. See, if Commander Yates is the acting CO, I have to wonder – does that make me the acting XO? I was third in command, but I don’t feel comfortable bothering Mr. Yates right now, so…”
“Sir, Lieutenant Clark placed me in charge of keeping the captain under guard. I’ll need to ask him about this,” Garcia said. He motioned to his wristwatch to contact Clark.
“Yeah, I’d rather you didn’t do that, Miguel,” Waters said. He quickly grabbed Garcia’s other wrist, holding the stun gun low. As the tech officer reached to free his weapon, Waters reached behind him with his right hand and pulled a stun gun tucked into his belt.
“Cheng! What’re you doing?!” Garcia yelled, struggling to raise his own weapon.
“Don’t!” Waters yelled, pointing his gun at Garcia’s chest. He pressed the barrel into his sternum and Garcia stopped moving. “Look, I’m sorry about this, Miguel. Please don’t make me shoot you.
Just drop the gun and open the damn door.”
Pierce stood as the door slid open. “Cheng, good to see you. We have thirty-one minutes left.” Waters handed Pierce a second stun gun from his belt.
“Sorry I’m late, ma’am. I was in engineering,” Waters said as he grabbed Garcia’s weapon from the floor. “The XO only just put out word about what happened.”
“How the hell did you get those?” Garcia asked, his arms still raised. “We locked down the armory. The XO, Lieutenant Clark and myself are supposed to be the only ones armed.”
“Well…”
“By way of anticipation,” Pierce answered walking out the door. “I took these from the armory hours ago, in case this happened. Garcia, I’m afraid we need you to stay put. Make yourself comfortable.” Pierce shut her cabin door but didn’t bother entering a code to lock it. Instead, she and Waters ran through the corridor and down one flight of stairs to the C2C.
The hatch to the space opened and revealed the command center crew at their battlestations, quiet and normal except for two things: Commander Yates sat in the CO’s chair, his eyes fixed on the tactical display on the main screen, and the presence of Lieutenant Clark, who stood to the side of the helm consoles, a stun gun in his hand as he glanced around at the crew.
Waters stepped inside first and pointed his gun at Clark before the lieutenant even noticed it. Immediately behind him was Pierce, who raised hers at Yates.
“Tom, don’t move!” Waters yelled. The crew spun around in surprise, Yates included. Clark turned towards the noise and raised his weapon, but it was too late. Waters fired first, striking Clark in the stomach. The lieutenant let out a shout of pain and stiffened his pose before falling sideways against the helm consoles. Yamada shrieked as Clark fell twitching to the floor.
“Commander, I’d like you to get out of that chair.” Pierce said, walking towards Yates. She kept the stun gun pointed at his head. “I know you’ve got a weapon on you somewhere. I want you to slowly place it on the console, then stand yourself up.”
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