by James Rosone
PM Blair was clearly irritated, but not surprised to learn his EU counterparts were not taking the military situation as seriously as the rest of the Allies. “If the EU is not going to take any precautions or preparation in spite of the evidence of a massive Russian troop buildup on your borders, then are you expecting the Americans to save you?” asked PM Blair with a bit of scorn in his voice.
“If the Russians do invade, our forces will stop them. The Americans will honor the NATO defensive pact,” said Minister Prodi.
“--Just as you have honored that same defensive pact when the Americans were attacked by the IR?” interrupted PM Blair.
“We have assisted the Americans by providing our bases to launch their invasion and giving them logistical support,” Minister Prodi retorted, with the same level of sarcasm.
PM Blair fixed his gaze on the Chancellor and announced, “Chancellor Lowden, we have expressed our concerns and offered to coordinate a defense if the Russians do invade. If they invade and the EU has still not activated its reserves and made preparations for the defense of Europe, then we will be forced to focus our defensive effort on protecting Britain. We are an island nation and are not equipped to defend Europe.”
Without even saying goodbye, the PM Blair abruptly ended the video conference call.
“Well that went about as well as we could have expected,” said General Volker Naumann, the EU Defense Chief of Staff. Naumann was a German military officer, and as such, received enough training from the Americans to know that if their intelligence suggested the Russians were going to invade, then in all likelihood the report was correct.
“Typical British arrogance,” Minister Prodi said, dismissing the PMs warning.
Chancellor Lowden sighed deeply. “Blair is right; we cannot rely on the Americans and British to provide the bulk of our defense. The Americans are already stretched thin; if the Americans have to choose between defending Alaska, Israel and their other interests, they will choose them over us. The British military is just not big enough to fully defend Europe; they will have their hands full with the Russian Navy.”
“I want our reserves activated immediately. Our active forces need to be pulled out of the cities and prepared to meet the Russians now…Blair is right, we have squandered precious time and disregarded the warnings the Americans have given us. Let us hope we are not too late.”
*******
While the Central EU government began to mobilize their reserves and prepare the active duty force to meet a possible Russian invasion, the individual member states started to activate their own military reserves and national guard forces. Chief among them was Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany and Romania. Germany maintained an active force of 250,000 soldiers, the Czechs 95,000, the Romanians 130,000 and the Pols 190,000.
The central EU government maintained a military force separate from the member states (in a similar fashion to the US with the State National Guard units). People from any member state could join the central government forces and reserves or they could join their own country’s military. The central government also had the power to draft individuals from each member state, up to the size of 25% of the member state’s active duty force. Since Germany had a military force of 250,000 soldiers, they would have to provide, if necessary, as many as 62,500 citizens during an EU draft.
The Great Dragon Awakes
Day Twenty-Two
20 December 2040
Da’Anshanxiang, China
Central Military Commission Command Facility
The Chinese Government, like the rest of China and the world, watched the destruction of New York City and Baltimore by the Islamic Republic on their various multimedia devices and tablets, in awe of the carnage and destruction. The average Chinese citizen could not believe these great American cities had been destroyed by a nuclear bomb, and the images of the dead and dying were something the average citizen had never been exposed to before. In the past, the government would censor such images and ensure the people of China saw only what they wanted. In this case, the Chinese government wished to let the people of China know that even the great Americans could be defeated and brought to their knees. They used these images to remind their people that it was now China’s time to rise up and become the dominant world superpower.
*******
The fighting in the Middle East continued, drawing more and more American forces to the region. The newly created American Third Army was in the process of driving the remaining IR forces out of Southern Israel, and had retaken Jerusalem and the entire Jordan Valley. They were now in a position to strike at the former capital of Jordan, Amman.
The Chinese 1st Expeditionary Force (or 1st EF as the CMC was calling them), had finally disembarked in Jeddah, and were making preparations to move to Amman to join the remains of the IR Army group. Over half a million soldiers were on the way from Baghdad along with three million civilian militia volunteers. By the end of the year, the IR should have 800,000 regular army troops in Amman and three million civilian militia volunteers, along with 250,000 Chinese soldiers of the 1st EF. The Chinese would take over the Suez Canal Zone and assist the IR in rebuilding after they had defeated the Israeli and American forces.
*******
Premier Zhang Jinping was happy with the progress of Operation Red Dragon. The Americans had been effectively defeated in the Pacific, and posed no serious threat. Southeast Asia was starting to fall to the Red Army, and Taiwan was in their final death throws. Now it was a matter of getting ready for phase two, the capture of Southern Alaska and the Canadian States.
The capture of Alaska would ensure China had the long-term oil reserves their economy desperately needed and depended upon. It would also provide them with a springboard to launch an invasion of America through their newly acquired Canadian States. The States were rich in resources, with the central provinces providing tens of millions of acres of fertile farmlands. With 2.4 billion citizens to feed, obtaining more agricultural resources was a strong priority for the Chinese. The challenge would be moving their army to North America and still keeping it supplied during combat operations.
Revenge
Day Twenty-Three
21 December 2040
Mediterranean Sea near Crete, Greece
Lurking deep in the dark waters of the Mediterranean was the SSBN Minnesota, one of the new Florida class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines. In 2019, the US Navy began a program to replace the fourteen Ohio Class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBN) with the next generation in submarine technology. The older Ohio SSBNs had been converted to cruise-missile carriers and delivery vehicles for Special Forces, giving them a new purpose and mission in the Navy. The twelve new Florida class SSBNs came into service in 2034 (six years behind schedule due to budget cuts during the Great Depression). They were equipped with twenty Trident III ballistic missiles, each of which would split off to hit fourteen different points through the use of MIRVs (multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles). The Florida’s also carried 84 Tomahawk cruise missiles, making them a versatile offensive weapon.
It had been a little over thirty hours since New York and Baltimore had been destroyed, and the US had not retaliated with nuclear weapons. As the SSBN Minnesota waited in its holding pattern, they suddenly received an Emergency Action Message (EAM), indicating a priority message from Commander, Submarine Force Atlantic (COMSUBLANT). As the message was being printed and decoded, the Captain couldn’t help but wonder if this was the order to avenge the destruction of New York City and Baltimore. The casualties from the attack were still being counted and had exceeded five million deaths so far.
The Executive Officer (XO) walked up to the Captain and handed him the decoded message with curiosity and uncertainty written all over his face. As the Captain finished reading the message, he handed it to the XO for him to read and verify it. “By order of the President, the SSBN Minnesota is to launch a series of ballistic missiles at targets across the Is
lamic Republic’s provinces in North Africa, and standby to launch additional missiles against targets in the Middle East.”
Further instructions ordered them to launch eight of their twenty Trident III missiles, releasing 112 nuclear warheads against the IR’s largest cities, military bases, manufacturing centers and logistical hubs in their North African provinces.
As the Minnesota rose to launch depth, the sonar techs continued to monitor the waters around them for any potential threats. With the threat board showing green, they gave the Captain the go-ahead to initiate the attack. The Captain and the senior weapons officer looked at each other as they turned the keys to launch the missiles, knowing they were about to make history, for better or worse. This was only the second time a submarine had ever launched a nuclear attack against another nation. The vessel shuddered briefly as one missile after another ejected from the tubes and was sent to their targets. As the first rocket broke through the water, its booster ignited and it raced for the sky, slowly starting its arc towards a point about 100 miles in the air, where it would release its MIRVs for maximum effect.
*******
In a bunker 100 feet below the surface of the Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, five B5 Stealth bomber drone pilots were hooked into their controls, guiding drones that were flying 40,000 feet above the Mediterranean Sea. The bomber drones were on their way to deliver the first of the most destructive weapons ever to be used by one nation against another.
Approximately 200 miles west of Israel, four of the five stealth bomber drones launched their X59 scramjet cruise missiles, carrying the largest neutron bomb ever developed. Tehran, Baghdad, Riyadh, and Cairo were all targeted; they represented the largest industrial and logistical nodes of the IR. They also represented the largest population centers outside of Asia.
A single B5 flying over Italy launched their lone X59 at Istanbul. The purpose of these neutron bombs was not to eradicate and destroy these historic cities, it was to kill the population in a 30-mile radius while causing as little destruction and environmental damage as possible. Unlike the 112 cities in North Africa and (thirty more in the Middle East), these five cities could be repopulated with virtually no residual radiation left to clean up.
The bomber crews watched as the scramjet cruise missiles hit their maximum speed of Mach 10. Numerous anti-missile lasers and missiles reached out to try and knock them out of the sky, desperately trying to defend their country. Dozens of lasers in Turkey, Jordan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia were frantically trying to destroy these fast moving missiles with no luck. Horror began to spread across the defenders as they realized they could not hit the missiles. Several Russian and Chinese ships were in the area, and began to use their anti-missile systems to try and engage the American missiles by launching their own missile interceptors and lasers…but it was all to no effect. The missiles were traveling too fast for the lasers to hit them long enough to cause them to explode.
The first missile detonated 15,000 feet above Istanbul. Within a fraction of a second, everyone within a 10-mile radius was hit with over 8,000 rads of radiation and died almost immediately. Their organs began to liquefy and blood poured out of every orifice of their body, until they died minutes later. Everyone within a 30-mile radius of Istanbul received a fatal dose of radiation, and would begin to die over the following 30 days. Their hair and teeth would begin to fall out within hours or days; then their internal organs started failing. Finally, blood would begin to ooze from eyes, ears, nose and mouth until finally their bodies would give out. Their death would be long and horrific. The first neutron bomb used in combat effectively killed 14 million people, including several hundred thousand IR soldiers.
As the missile detonated, the EMP immediately fried the electronics across the 30-mile radius of the city, blacking out the live news broadcasts that millions of people across the Republic had been watching. Within an instant, an emergency alert was being broadcast all across the Republic, urging everyone to make their way to the nearest bomb shelter or basement. The IR immediately let the people know the Americans were launching a nuclear attack against them. The Islamic world erupted in anger and angst at the thought of American nuclear missiles heading towards them, not sure if their city was one of the targets or not.
Once the first missile detonated above Istanbul, the laser operators realized there was nothing they could do to stop the four remaining missiles closing in on their targets. The bombs detonated above Cairo, Riyadh, Baghdad and Tehran, effectively killing fifty-one million, two hundred and fifty thousand people instantly; another thirty million more received a lethal dose of radiation. The power grid all across the Republic began to fail as the EMP blasts ravaged the IRs critical infrastructure, which routed the majority of the nation’s power through substations that operated within the major cities.
The simultaneous missile strikes by the SSBN Minnesota killed another fifty-six million and, in time, would kill thirty-two million more from radiation. In a single day the IR had lost 110.25 million people and another sixty-two million more would perish in the coming weeks. Within the hour, it was determined the IR had lost 128 cities in total, along with all of their major military installations, industrial, logistical and communication centers. The Americans’ attack had effectively plunged the country back into the dark again as their power grid went down.
The Minnesota launched a second wave of nuclear missiles an hour later and hit thirty additional sites across the Middle East to include Mecca, detonating just above the Kaaba. Within twenty minutes, a TV drone was showing raw footage of the mushroom cloud still lingering over what was once Islam’s most holy site and House of God. The Muslim world across the globe exploded in anger towards the US; so many could not believe the Americans had just destroyed the most cherished symbol of their religion. Riots erupted in various parts of the IR throughout Indonesia, Malaysia, the entire Middle East and Northern Africa.
Fortunately for the IR, the Russian and Chinese warships in the Arabian Gulf had managed to shoot down seventy-six of the 106 nuclear warheads, minimizing the amount of damage the IR would have received to several of their military facilities, cities and port facilities in Kuwait, Iraq and parts of Iran. The thirty missiles that did get through hit every major power station in the country, along with critical logistics and transportation nodes. The exception to the Kuwait area, which was heavily protected by both Chinese and Russian warships; together they were able to successfully intercept the American ICBM MIRVs directed at that target.
Mobilization
Day Twenty-Four
22 December 2040
Newark, New Jersey
FEMA Field Headquarters
Within hours of the nuclear bomb going off in New York, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) immediately went into action. They had run several tabletop drills and exercises of what they would do if a nuclear bomb ever went off in a major city. Now those drills were being put into practice as thousands of FEMA workers were being directed to one of the two disaster zones. FEMA also alerted all of the cities that had been designated as disaster and medical relief centers and activated their FEMA disaster relief volunteers.
Thousands of police officers, EMTs, firefighters, nurses and doctors had volunteered to be a part of a reserve force of FEMA personnel in case of a historic natural disaster. These individuals would immediately head to a designated airport and be ready to fly to the affected area to provide what support they could. Hundreds of hospitals across the US were being placed on alert and told to expect injured people from the disaster sites in the coming hours and days. National Guard Armories and school gyms were also being readied to receive displaced people from the blast.
The non-deployed members of the New York, New Jersey, and Northeast National Guard units were immediately activated and ordered to head to the blast zones to begin assisting in the evacuations and recovery efforts. FEMA began to request hundreds of aircraft from the Airlines to begin the massive airlift of equipment, injured and disp
laced people, and all of the volunteers from across the country. All flights in to Newark, LaGuardia and JFK were redirected to other cities. All out bound flights were allowed to leave to make room for the incoming aircraft that were bringing additional rescuers and much needed equipment.
Fortunately, the EMP blast from the nuclear bomb was contained to around 5 miles from the epicenter, so it had not affected the airports (though it seriously damaged the telecommunications and transportation system as many routes traveled through parts that were affected). The Air Force began to shift several of their communication drones to head over New York and Baltimore to provide immediate 4G wireless capability over the affected areas until communication systems could be reestablished.
FEMA had organized their rescue and recovery response into three stages, the first being as close to the affected area as possible. These sites would begin the triage of injured people and identify those which needed to be flown out immediately to one of the local hospitals, or if they could be driven to the second stage of treatment and local hospitals. Once there, their injuries would be tended to and then they would be scheduled to be flown to one of the disaster relief cities for further treatment and free up the local hospitals for the more serious patients.
Everyone being treated by FEMA was being biometrically enrolled and then given a wristband with a RFID chip to identify the injured person and to keep track of where they were being treated. This function was going to be critical to ensuring family members stayed together and, if separated, could be found and reunited quickly. The third staging point was for displaced persons and refugees who could no longer go back to their homes. The government immediately established a five-mile perimeter around the blast site, preventing people from going back into the hot zone.