This Mighty Scourge

by Adam Yoshida

  "Admiral?" came a voice through that could be heard clearly through the closed door The Admiral got up and opened it to allow the man on the other side in.

  "Your Grace," said Admiral Childers with a reverent tone of voice.

  "I would prefer Lieutenant-Commander Windsor, if you please, sir," replied the middle-aged sandy-haired man who had stepped through the door.

  "In this case, I think that the more formal style is appropriate," said the Admiral, "as I have been asked to address you as a member of the Royal Family, and not as a naval officer."

  "I see," said the Lieutenant-Commander, who also happened to have been created the Duke of Edinburgh a few years earlier.

  "This is a very sensitive business, your Grace. I have been asked to personally convey to you a message from His Majesty, on account of your refusal to speak to him directly with regard to this matter."

  "If you must, sir," said Lieutenant-Commander Windsor with a sigh.

  "His Majesty conveyed to me - conveyed to me personally mind you - that he is very anxious with regard to your position on this ship. Specifically, that he is very concerned as to... As to, well, your position in the action in which we are about to engage."

  "Though I do not communicate with my father at the moment," replied Lieutenant-Commander Windsor, "I would think that my position here would be to his benefit, would it not?"

  "I don't specialize in politics, Commander," replied the Admiral, "though I would tend to agree. In any case, there is no question of reassigning you off of the ship, simply one of changing your billet."

  "You mean to send the rest of the wings off of this ship and Prince of Wales into battle while I fly a computer console somewhere? I don't think so," said the Prince stiffly.

  "I could peremptorily order you to another station," said the Admiral without malice in his voice.

  "Don't," said Lieutenant-Commander Windsor.

  "I won't," replied the Admiral quietly, his shoulders relaxing.

  "Thank you, sir," replied the Prince.

  "You know," said Admiral Childers, "there are more than a few people in the fleet who would have jumped at the chance to avoid this battle in particular. There are rather a few, of course, who would avoid battle in general, but there are more who would have chosen to avoid this battle in particular. Are you eager to fight?"

  "No, Admiral," replied Lieutenant-Commander Windsor.

  "What do you think about all of this: about fighting Americans, I mean?"

  "It's not my place, as either an officer or as a member of the Royal Family to have an opinion about such things."

  "But you do have one, anyways, do you not?" asked Childers.

  "Of course," said the Prince, standing at attention and not volunteering anything further.

  "That will be all," said the Admiral with a nod.

  "Sir," said the Prince as he saluted and left the room.

  Phoenix, Arizona

  Governor Schmidt waited impatiently as the hold message played on the speakerphone in front of him. He idly wondered who exactly decided what the President's hold music or message ought to be. He supposed that someone, somewhere, probably had to put great thought into it. After all, what if some horribly inappropriate choice accidentally made its way on into the mix and the White House Press Secretary was suddenly called to account for why some borderline-obscene pop song had made its way onto the President's phone lines. Thinking it over, Schmidt let out a small laugh.

  "Governor?" said Oscar Hogan, who had made his way back to Phoenix and was hanging out near the edge of the room.

  "Oh, nothing," said Schmidt as he continued to glare at the phone on the desk in annoyance.

  Finally the repeating message stopped and a human voice cut through.

  "The President will be on the line momentarily," said the woman.

  It was only a few more seconds before the voice of Terrance Rickover came clearly over the line.

  "Governor, what can I do for you?" he asked.

  "I'm glad you were able to get back to me, Mr. President," said Schmidt.

  "Yes, I'm sorry I wasn't able to return your calls earlier," said Rickover, "as you imagine, I've been incredibly busy."

  "As have I," replied the Governor, "rebuilding my state after so much of it was damaged by the invading Mexican Army."

  "Yes, I know. We're hoping to get a better rebuilding package for you folks through the Congress as soon as we can. Though, of course, we're having financing issues at the moment, since we're sort of locked out of the regular bond market and all of that. Really, the extra financing that we do have is essentially a trillion dollar line-of-credit that's been extended to us by the Chinese."

  "If the war was over, we'd see financial markets return to normal a little sooner," said the Governor.

  "Believe me, I'm trying to work on that," said the Acting President, "we should have some real progress soon. I can't share all of it, certainly not over the phone, but things are in progress. I can get in touch with the Speaker and see if we can shake loose a little more aid for Arizona."

  "Forget the money, sir. When are we going to do something about the fact that Mexico actually invaded this country and stop trying to bring liberal votes back into the nation?"

  "I don't think that's a correct assessment, Governor," said Rickover.

  "Well, Mr. President, what I know is that there are people who are desperate and even some who are starving here in Arizona. I know that we have entire cities that are in need of rebuilding and yet, every day, we're spending billions of dollars - billions each and every single day - on trying to force the people who started this war to rejoin the rest of the nation."

  "Governor," said Rickover with a sigh, "what exactly is it that I can do for you?"

  "You can forget about your own ambitions for a moment, Mr. President, and get back to helping the American people."

  "That's what I do every single fucking day," replied Rickover directly.

  "I don't think so," said the Governor coldly.

  "Well, thank you for the call, Governor," said Rickover, "goodbye."

  After the call disconnected, Schmidt looked over at Hogan.

  "Ok," he said, "get your guy to come here. I want to talk to him man-to-man."

  Democratic Union, Temporary Office of the American Commissioner, Chicago, Illinois

  "If we assume - and I believe that we must make such an assumption - that the declaration of war against us by the United Western Republic is a preliminary step to the use of their territory to stage operations against us, we have to reconsider almost the whole of our defensive plan across the western frontier," explained General Wesley.

  "I can read a map, General," replied the High Commissioner, visibly annoyed.

  "Of course, High Commissioner," said the General, "but the implications of this are actually quite profound and offer us opportunities, as well as dangers. It's worth recalling that, unless they plan to pull off some kind of wild amphibious job, the mission in question will require the U.S. forces to march across all of Ontario before they are able to move into any of the former states of the Northeast. It's certainly true that we do not have conventional forces in place to meet them and that we probably cannot move anything of substance in the short term, but we can use special and non-conventional forces to make supplying a force of the sort that they seem to be moving a hellish experience."

  The General brought up a new map for everyone in the room to watch.

  "If we divert some air forces and special forces and have them work with indigenous forces, we believe that we can be very successful in creating disruption that will leave the forces crossing the former Canadian provinces exhausted by the time that they reach the old U.S. border. At that point - somewhere along the borders of New York State - we will hit them with conventional force. Depending on our efforts to that point, we will either rout them or at least shock them and force them to pull back."

  "This all sounds very reasonable," said the High Commissioner,
"and like something that could be handled by the relevant military authorities. Why am I being briefed on this right at the moment? Is there something that you want me to approve?"

  "Yes, High Commissioner," said the General, "I don't want to bog you down in the details, but we believe that the resistance to the forces coming out of Western Canada will be much greater if you, using your authority as the Acting Commander-in-Chief, call the units of the Quebec militias into national service and order them into Ontario."

  "Done," replied the High Commissioner.

  USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76), 1000 Miles East of Puerto Rico

  The first sign that something was amiss had come with a Russian torpedo was detected heading towards the USS John C. Stennis . The massive Nimitz -class carrier had suffered only minor damage from the first torpedo strike, but within seconds there were fully seven more torpedoes in the water and all hell broke loose on every single ship in the 5th Fleet.

  In the seconds after the first torpedo was launched, active sonar flooded the entire space around the ships of the fleet as an urgent hunt was undertaken for the submarine or submarines who had launched the projectiles that the ships of the fleet were now scrambling to avoid.

  "Breathe easy, everyone," ordered Admiral Layton as his staffers watched the delicate and dangerous dance of the ships, "the last thing we need is to have any collisions right now."

  "Jesus, those are some Goddamned ballsy Russian sub commanders. They must have been sitting right on the bottom of the ocean, silent, just waiting for us. We have to be right over them," said Lieutenant Commander Kingston, his intelligence chief.

  The hundred thousand ton Carrier began to accelerate as it sought to evade the second torpedo headed towards it.

  "We've got a location on one of the Russian submarines," reported one officer, "from one of our ASW choppers. Dropping on it now."

  A second torpedo struck the John C. Stennis , the carrier that had happened to be closest to the first Russian submarine. It was followed moments later by a third.

  "Three hits on the Stennis ," reported one of the Operations Specialists in the CIC.

  "Hit on the Russian submarine," reported a second Operations Specialist.

  "AWACS report that we have aircraft incoming," declared a third, "data is feeding through now."

  "What's the count?" asked the Tactical Action Officer.

  "Still working on it," replied the enlisted woman.

  "CAP is moving to engage," reported the Commander, Air Group, a Marine Colonel who was operating from the CIC of the Harry Truman.

  "The count is two-hundred and fourteen inbound bogies," called out the enlisted Operations Specialist, "repeat: two one four enemy aircraft are inbound."

  "...the fuck?" said the CAG over the line, before regaining his composure and continuing, "all ready aircraft, launch."

  HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08) , 1300 Miles East of Puerto Rico

  They had clearly gotten the jump on the Americans, thought Vice-Admiral Travis Childers as he watched his inbound strike move across the displays arrayed in front of him. They had known that the joint European fleet was out there, but they were moving too fast and failing to properly scout. That made a great deal of sense: all of the world's major navies had long ago gotten used to having near-continuous satellite assets available to them and, in their absence, their reconnaissance abilities had atrophied to an almost-shocking degree. In addition, he was certain, the Americans would never have expected him to bring his force of smaller Aircraft Carriers into so close a position before striking, as well as his adoption of a strategy that kept his Russian Backfire bombers on standby, which meant that only a third of them were available to him at any given time. Decades of study of war at sea in both its historic and present-day forms led Childers to believe that the victory usually went to the boldest. The success of the Royal Navy once upon a time had come about largely because they had been the quickest and best gunners: closing and firing upon the enemy at a rapid rate. As it was true two centuries ago, so he hoped it was also the case in the present.

  "The Americans CAP is engaging with AMRAAMs at maximum distance," reported the Marine Nationale Captain who was serving as the joint Commander Air Group of the Anglo-French-Russian force that was embarked upon the ships of the Combined Task Force.

  "Take the strike in, Captain," said Admiral Childers crisply.

  USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76), 1000 Miles East of Puerto Rico

  "Our first priority," ordered Admiral Layton, "must be to find the location of the enemy force. Even if that means sacrificing a few early launch windows for defensive aircraft."

  "Admiral," called back the CAG, "I think that..."

  "That's an order," snapped Layton.

  "Aye sir," replied the CAG.

  "Stennis is in at least some trouble," reported the TAO who was coordinating the operations of the fleet.

  "Detail two of the Burkes to remain behind to defend her as best as possible," ordered Layton, "I want to take the rest of the fleet to the northeast."

  "Based upon the approach of the enemy air group," noted the TAO, "that's the most likely location of the main body of the enemy fleet."

  "I am well aware of that," said Layton, "and I want our own aircraft to get clear of the air space over the fleet. Anything that we have on the decks is to be re-armed for anti-ship attack missions."

  The Admiral took a moment and took a look around the CIC.

  "Engage with SAMs as soon as you have a chance at hitting anything," he ordered, "fire at will."

  Fleet Air Arm F-35 Lightning II, 1100 Miles East of Puerto Rico

  Lieutenant-Commander Harry Windsor and the rest of the inbound Joint Strike Force saw their morning get worse in a moment. Where, just seconds before, they had been dealing primarily with the threat posed by the mix of thirty F/A-18E Super Hornets and F-35 Lightning fighter aircraft that made up the combat air patrol that was covering the massive American fleet, suddenly they had a cloud of more than two hundred American Standard Missiles of both the SM-6 and SM-2 varieties heading into their direction.

  The sudden launch of so many Surface-to-Air missiles forced the JTF's air strike to launch their own missiles, a mix of Anglo-French Perseus and Russian Kh-22 anti-ship missiles somewhat earlier than anticipated and also resulted in some confusion as to targeting as the aircraft of the incoming strike hastily fired and turned to evade.

  Commander Windsor's F-35 dove quickly towards the ocean, hoping that both of the missiles fired and guided by the American AEGIS ships below that were now following his fighter would lose track of him amidst the confusion of nearly a thousand objects of various sorts zipping through a fairly enclosed air space. From the side of his eye the commander watched as the consequences of this were made starkly clear when a a French Rafale managed to collide in mid-air with one of the Russian Backfires as both turned to evade incoming American SAMs.

  Windsor took his Lightning sharply upwards and activated his afterburners as he did. The sudden change in altitude was enough to allow him to shake clear the first of the Standard Missiles, sending it flying harmlessly over him and into the ocean. The second missile continued to track his fighter, even as he pulled into a near-vertical climb. After ten seconds he dropped chaff and brought the aircraft in a long looping turn, which oriented him back towards the American fleet. As he completed the turn his warning indicator abruptly stopped sounding, though he had managed to lose visual track of the incoming missile somewhere during the process.

  USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76), 1012 Miles East of Puerto Rico

  "Total incoming is now one hundred and sixty-seven missiles," reported the TAO as the second round of Standard Missiles began to attrition to the vast wave of missiles that was inbound towards the Fifth Fleet.

  "Admiral," reported the TAO, "the first two rounds have depleted 23% of the magazines of the fleet."

  "Keep up your fire," Layton ordered, as the AEGIS ships began to launch a further round of SM-6s and SM-2s towards the clo
ud of anti-ship missiles that were still targeting the fleet.

  "Admiral," reported the CAG, "most of our aircraft are re-armed and ready to launch."

  "The second we finish off these missiles, one way or another, I want you to put everything that we can into the air," ordered Layton.

  "Into the air and heading where?" asked the CAG.

  "I'll get you that," replied the Admiral.

  "Range now less than fifty kilometres on the incoming fire," reported the TAO, "we are engaging with ESSMs and point defenses."

  The criss-crossing trails of the missiles made for a spectacular mid-day fireworks show over the fleet, as four-packs of Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles burst open one after another and sent their cargo to meet and duel in the night. Moments after the first blasts of the Sea Sparrows occurred, the Rolling Airframe Missiles contained onboard almost every ship came into action, sending more streaks of fire across the clear sky, followed in the seconds after that by the fire of every single Phalanx CIWS within range.

  On every tactical information screen in the fleet the count of the missiles dropped down. It was forty-seven now. Thirty-two next. Then it was nineteen. Then it was too late.

  One of the Kh-22 missiles impacted the USS Paul Hamilton , an Arleigh Burke -class Destroyer, just off the starboard side of the Reagan . The massive warhead of the supersonic missile tore apart the superstructure of the ship, sending debris into the air with so much force that some of it wounded deck personnel onboard the deck of the American carrier. Fires spread across the ship in what seemed like moments, leaving her dead in the water.

  Further away, the USS New Orleans , a 25,000 ton San Antonio -class Amphibious Transport Dock that was carrying seven hundred US Army soldiers was struck by two missiles in the space of thirty seconds. The fires onboard that ship, despite the gallant efforts of the crew and hundreds of soldiers who volunteered to assist, spread out of control in less than an hour, forcing the ship to be abandoned with a loss of three hundred and fourteen lives.

  All told nine missiles struck six ships, forcing three of them to be abandoned within hours, and damaging a fourth so badly that it would never be repaired.