by Unknown
The troops entered the town and made their way through the streets. There were no other soldiers around. A few explosions were heard in the distance. That had been the small barracks and army headquarters. In a few minutes the soldiers had made their way to the center of town and assembled on the square. On the beach more troops and equipment were landing unopposed. Once ashore, they would turn south and take the island before turning north and moving on to the mainland. While there, they would turn off the entire oil and gas supply to the rest of Russia.
Georgia
General Richardson stepped down from her Osprey and surveyed the situation. Already there were thousands ashore and more coming in. So far, because of the bombardment, there had been no air strikes and the local forces were, as predicted, stationed along the border with Turkey. It turned out that Jeffers had been right. The Russians considered the Black Sea their lake and had never dreamed that an attacking force would come from that direction. She turned to one of her deputies. “Kelly, have the Turks moved yet?”
The Brigadier nodded. “Just came in. They crossed the border not thirty minutes ago. The paratroops slammed into the Russian lines about the same time. No word yet on casualties, but the Turks are about three hundred yards in right now. The Russians are fighting hard,” he said.
“As I would. They have no place to go so they will fight down to the last man,” she said. “Is everything ready to move inland?”
“All set. We have enough to wheel and deal with another few battalions more on the way. The supply people have got everything set up from what I see, so I recommend we push off,” the Brigadier said. A Bradley fighting vehicle pulled up and the back opened. Richardson motioned for the Brigadier to follow as she climbed inside.
Inside the vehicle, the “star wars” displays told her everything going on for a four hundred mile radius. “I can’t believe they have so few troops down here,” Richardson said. “But I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Give the orders to start moving west. We go as fast as we can. Station troops and equipment to keep what we take, but don’t give them a minute’s rest,” she ordered.
Almost immediately, the Second Marine Division began moving across the plains toward the Caspian Sea. The First Marine Division would follow. For the first time in decades, the Marines had made an amphibious landing on hostile shores. It was their specialty and they were going to prove that in a war, you don’t mess with the Marines.
USS America
Watching from flag plot, Hustvedt was amazed. He had expected some heavy casualties by this point, but the Russians had been caught totally off guard. The 82nd and 101st had slammed the door on the Russians at the Turkish border and the Turks were blasting through the lines to meet up. Russian air defenses had been stopped by long range bombardment and so far no other sorties had appeared from other areas. Of course, that would change.
He looked at Jeffers watching the displays intently. Everything he had thought about was actually coming true before his eyes. Hustvedt could not imagine what he as feeling at this point. He noticed that Jeffers was switching back and forth between the eastern and western Black Sea. He leaned over and spoke. “Don’t worry, they will come out. They almost have to. My worry is the air strikes that will come from some of the northern bases out of our range. You saw how I positioned the carriers? They will be ready for anything that comes at them. All it will take is one call and we switch from ground attack to air defense in a matter of minutes. Since they can’t see us with their radar, we hold the upper hand,” he mentioned.
“Yes, sir,” said Jeffers. “But if they launch a few hundred missiles, it may not make much difference. The probabilities go way up,” he said.
Hustvedt grunted. “That’s why they pay us the big bucks, to take those kinds of risks. Right now, I like the odds, so unless somebody does something stupid, we should come out of this with a fair chance.”
Jeffers let out a long breath. “I wish I had your confidence,” he said. Something caught his eye and he pointed toward the screen. “Looks like they are coming out,” he said.
On the monitor the two men saw a formation of ships leaving Sevastopol and turning toward the eastern Black Sea.
“See there, I told you,” said Hustvedt. “And that’s why we put these ships right here,” he said pointing to three contacts. One was labeled USS Iowa.
USS Iowa
Rhodes saw the ships leaving as well. Sitting in Strike, he saw the formation form up and move east. Already he had told his chief engineer to light off all eight boilers. Iowa was going to be ready for anything that might come up. His orders were to wait in the Western Black Sea until orders came. But what he anticipated made him excited. In the Russian formation was what the Russians had boasted as their own dreadnought. Known as a Kirov class, she weighed 28,000 tons and carried 20, SS-N-19 Shipwreck missiles, 14, SS-N-14 Silex cruise missiles, 96 anti-air missiles, 168 point defense air missiles, along with anti-submarine weapons. She had some armor plating and was powered by nuclear reactors. Her top speed was around 32 knots. Because of her size and firepower, she was very similar to the battlecruiser concept employed in World War One. The Pyotr Velikiy had been the last one build and had all the bells and whistles.
Rhodes knew the small Russian force was going to take on the landing fleet. More than likely, the ships would stand off and fire their weapons from a long distance. The SS-N-19 along could hit targets nearly 400 miles away and flew above Mach one. He was ordered to let them go by. Rhodes only hoped Hustvedt knew what he was taking on. Of course, it would be hard to target them since these new Maxwell plates made even the Iowa invisible. The crew had started calling them their “cloaking device” of old Star Trek shows. Then again, anyone could get lucky. He turned to his operations officer. “Signal the others a turn to the northeast. Keep us at the same speed for now.”
Up on the signal bridge the message was bent on the halyards and the colorful signal flags relayed the orders. When executed, all ships made a turn toward the northeast.
Moscow
“What do you mean we have been invaded!” screamed Borodin. “Our forces are still deep within Poland. Our supply lines are secure. Where are they hitting us?” The news had arrived just an hour before and Borodin had a hard time getting in because of the protests outside the Kremlin gates.
“An amphibious force entered the Black Sea last night and they began landing forces in Georgia this morning. We also received word that paratroopers landed along the line here,” the general said pointing along the border of Turkey. The Turks then advanced across our borders as well. It is a major force,” the general said.
“But we have troops there to defend our borders. Why have they not engaged?” asked Borodin in a panic.
“They have. But we estimate at least four American divisions and five Turkish divisions have attacked our force of only two. We didn’t see them coming, we never planned on any major fleet in the Black Sea,” the general almost pleaded. He knew his job was on the line. “But that is not the only place. We received word that the Americans also landed on Sakhalin Island. There are practically no troops there at all,” he said.
“And why not?” Borodin demanded.
“Because we have had to pull many of our outlying troops to the western front for the Polish operation that was supposed to be over weeks ago. This plan we adopted didn’t take into account the kinds of weapons we have encountered so far. They have drones that attack us day and night, they have crippled our communications, they kill our senior officers at the front and they are now attacking us with aircraft and ships we cannot see,” the general said becoming indignant.
“Come now, what do you mean we cannot see? Our radar systems are some of the best in the world!” Borodin argued.
“And just this morning the front was attacked by a flight of B-52 bombers. We didn’t even see them coming on radar and they usually paint a picture like a 12 story building! I know they were B-52s because my most senior fighter pilo
t happened to get a photo of them. Even his radar couldn’t see them! They have somehow found a way to make their planes and ships invisible,” Air Force General Leanov said.
“My front line commanders are being attacked from every point on the compass by Allied aircraft. We have lost almost 500 tanks just in the two hours since daybreak! Down south it is not much better. Our supply lines have been decimated. The Slovaks and Czechs are now almost completely across Slovakia. I have called up the reserves to bolster the lines. Our troops currently resting must go back immediately,” General Pusko said.
“I ordered our air forces into the air. My orders are to close and shoot the planes down with gunfire if necessary. This assault has to stop,” said Leanov.
“I have ordered a sortie of our naval fleet in the Black Sea. Our most powerful ship is going in with them. A hail of missiles should finish the amphibious forces in short order,” said Admiral Dosvetski.
“But what of the forces already on the ground?” demanded Borodin.
“I am pulling forces from other areas to deal with it,” said Pusko.
“And in the Arctic?”
Pusko grinned. “Don’t forget it is the Russian winter. The Arctic is even colder. They may have landed, but it will be another thing to operate. We can send the fleet in Vladivostok to challenge them. Anyone on the ground will have to be a polar bear to survive.”
Nogliki
“Mayor Severov, we didn’t come here to demand a surrender,” said Colonel Greg Tillman. “Yes, the United States has occupied the island, but I am here to ask if we can help you and the people here by providing electricity and food. I know that you have been without either for a while and we do not wish you to suffer,” he said.
Severov was taken aback. He had always imagined the Americans would simply come and either shoot everyone or put everyone in a gulag. Asking if they could help was outside his understanding. “What do you wish in return?” he asked.
The colonel smiled. “Nothing, actually. My people will remain outside your town and you are free to continue with your lives. We hope to make our presence a negligible influence on your people,” he said.
“Am I to be a hostage?”
“No, sir. You are still the mayor and you may govern as you wish,” the colonel said.
“May I ask why you have come here?”
“Well, your government declared war on the Allies, including the US, France, Britain and Poland. We are here because of the strategic plan to persuade your government to end the war. We don’t really want to be here, but since we are, I hope we can treat each other fairly.”
“You are invading my country. I am not sure we can allow this,” Severov said.
The colonel shrugged. “I understand, but we are here and I am offering to help. My people will otherwise stay out of your way.”
Severov thought a moment. The government in Moscow rarely came to the island. All they wanted was the oil anyway. In the meantime, his people were suffering from the cold and lack of supplies. The government hadn’t done anything about that for three months. Perhaps he could just let it happen. After all, he had no weapons to challenge these soldiers. “Colonel, we would appreciate any help you can provide my people, however, we cannot give the impression we are aiding you. This may be held against us later on,” he said quietly.
Tillman nodded. “I fully understand. I will keep my people out of your city. We will provide food and services as a part of our, occupation,” he said with a wink. “If there are problems, please come to see me. I will try to make everything as pleasant as possible.”
“Thank you, sir,” the mayor said.
USS America
Things were going too well. There had been no attacks on the ships or the ground forces. Already General Richardson was a good twenty miles from the beach and the offloading of the supplies was continuing smoothly.
“Why haven’t they come at us?” asked Commander Still. He and the rest of the staff were huddled in flag plot keeping an eye on things. The link showed no incoming aircraft or ships except for the fleet just making its way from Sevastopol. They were traveling at a speed that would have them in ideal position by dawn the next morning.
“I would guess they are massing their attack. Don’t be surprised if they have planes in the air coming from inside Russia itself,” said Jeffers. He had anticipated such an attack, but was surprised at its tardiness.
“That’s why we sent some of the heavies up the coast to hit targets of opportunity. We spread out what we have. They won’t be able to see us on radar, which means they will have to eyeball it,” said Hustvedt.
Jeffers reached up and extended the range of the Link 16 image. In a few minutes they began to see aircraft gathering nearly 500 miles to the north. “That’s them,” said Hustvedt. “Send a message on the link to prepare for hostile air attack. All cloaks are to remain on,” he said.
In seconds the message was received. Supply operations were suspended and the boats went in to shore. Aboard the carriers of the fleet, the planes were fueled and made ready. In ten minutes, the first of the defenders launched from the deck of the Abraham Lincoln. These pilots had a bone to pick with the Russians and this was their time to do it. In all, four carriers launched over 160 aircraft. The LHAs launched forty more. The planes began heading north to intercept. Unfortunately the staff could see that there were over 500 aircraft coming down from Russia.
Commander Jim Hartsell brought his squadrons to the east and up to 20,000 feet. The link showed the incoming aircraft around 15,000 feet in three levels. The only thing the link didn’t show them was what type aircraft they were, but Hartsell could tell that a section just above the others was jinking from side to side slightly. That would mean the heavier bombers and attack aircraft were in the bottom two layers. Using his touchpad, he selected “auto assign.” This would allow the link to assign the missiles for each aircraft. That way none would be double targeted.
No radios were used and Hartsell prayed that those panels that were supposed to make them invisible did their job. He looked off to his left and could see the Enterprise squadrons joining up. They would take the lower force. The squadrons from the Gerald Ford would go for the fighters. That left Hartsell and the aircraft from the Abraham Lincoln. Every aviator on the ship wanted in on this. He only hoped that the Lightnings from the LHAs would be able to protect the ships while they did the dirty work.
Hartsell watched the screen. The Russians were maintaining their course and speed. It appeared that those cloaks really did work. Signaling his squadrons, Hartsell made his turn to the west to intercept. By coming in from the east, they were coming at the Russians from the sun. From that angle, the AIM-132 Advanced Short Range Air to Air Missile (ASRAAM) would have no problem finding a target. Minutes dragged on, but eventually he began to see the Russian aircraft in the distance. They were still in formation and still on the same course and speed. When they were nearly in range, Hartsell increased his speed to near supersonic. He heard a warble in his headset and the link indicated it was time to fire. Hartsell squeezed the trigger.
The weapons bay opened and an ASRAAM screamed out toward its prey. Almost immediately a second warble was heard as the system automatically switched to a second target. The trigger was squeezed again. It happened six more times. Hartsell watched the last missile leave the aircraft. In the distance, he could see missiles and aircraft exploding all over the sky. It was almost depressing. There would be a bright ball of flame that would then angle downward trailing a string of black smoke. Each trail was a dead aircraft and pilot. It almost didn’t seem fair. The new missiles were a fire and forget missile. It had a longer range than the old Sidewinder and much more sensitive. That meant that the Russian pilots never saw them coming.
As their fellow pilots began exploding in front of them, many of the Russian pilots pickled off their missiles in the direction of the American task force and tried to scurry back home. Those on the far side of the formation had a better chance of
escaping, and many did.
Hartsell followed the missiles in to pick off any misses. He saw several of the Russian aircraft launch their anti-ship missiles. They were already supersonic. There would be no way to catch them.
In the task force, the ships saw the missiles coming via the link. Although it appeared none were actually headed toward the heart of the force, no chances would be taken. The AEGIS cruisers and destroyers were ready. Equipped with the Standard Missile 6 and 7, they no longer needed illumination of an enemy with a shipboard radar. With a range of over 200 miles, the ship simply pointed the missile in the right direction and fired. The onboard seekers, which came from the tried and tested AIM-120 AMRAAM, swept a broad area, then locked in on a target. The missile had already been told what direction and altitude the incoming missiles were coming from. Once acquired, they sped for their targets.
One by one, the Russian anti-ship missiles were knocked out of the sky. Only three of the American missiles failed to hit their targets. Of the nearly 100 missiles launched, twenty two continued on. They flew into a second wave of Standards. Coming close to the first layer of ships, three missiles remained.
Aboard the USS Roosevelt and USS Winston Churchill, the surface weapons coordinators designated the missiles for the latest weapons. On the fantail, a cover was pulled back to reveal a large tube with many cables. Tied in with the link, it swayed toward the targets. In the ship’s combat information center the operator saw one of the missiles on his television screen. The order was given and the operator pressed the firing switch.
On the closest missile, metal began melting off the side. When the metal was gone, the fuel tank was exposed and exploded. The same happened to a second missile. Within five seconds, it began again on the third which exploded in an immense fireball.
