by Mark Harritt
As it was, he couldn’t see the power structure of North Korea being able to weather another five years, let alone thirty. Odds were very good that the current Dear Leader was quite probably the last Dear Leader that North Korea would ever have to worry about. This possibility was starting to worry several of the senior North Korean officers.
After the demonstration that Kim IL Don put on tonight, it was doubtful that Dear Leader would be around much longer. General Som Bak Yip would have to talk to the other senior officers about limiting Dear Leader’s access to the special weapons program. Dear Leader’s influence over some of the junior officers in the program was . . . disturbing.
------------------------------------------------------
At the moment, Kim IL Don was upset. Even in his coked up state, he knew that his empire was collapsing around him. The economy, what there was, was declining rapidly. The international community instituted more and more sanctions against him. Because of this, it was getting hard to feed his army. The Chinese and Russians were starting to curtail their support for him as well. This was more disturbing to him than the sanctions from the international community.
The kingdom survived by keeping the Army happy. Most of the Army was totally devoted to its Dear Leader. It had beenforfour generations of Dear Leaders. He had been lucky that his brother and his brother’s new wife died in an airplane crash. It took finesse to ensure his father didn’t find out his role in that, but he had help. Senior officers were upset with some of the new initiatives that his brother had tried to implement. Anything that took power away from the senior officers was generally frowned upon by the officer corps.
He knew that his esoteric tastes in girls, and the things that he liked to do with them, caused trouble with the Chinese government. They looked the other way about a lot of things that had happened in the past. The economy in China was not working very well right now, though, and the Chinese media was being used to focus the attention of the Chinese people in any other direction that would take their minds off of Chinese internal problems.
By diverting the attention of the Chinese general population towards the situation with the North Koreans, they bought themselves another six months to try and fix thirty trillion dollars of debt, corruption, and a big real estate bubble. It was a fragile six months, but it bought time for the senior leadership to steadily move their own funds to offshore accounts. They needed this to manage a comfortable existence once the collapse in their own country began.
He had been sacrificed by the Chinese to ensure that they had time to arrange for a better outcome to their circumstances. He raged as he walked down the hall, the little North Korean gymnast by his side. She cried as they walked. She was too afraid to do anything else. She was fourteen years old, and only wanted to be with her mother. Dear Leader still had his pistol in hand, and as Dear leader raged, he waved the pistol around, scaring her.
They came to his room. He opened the door and pushed her inside. He pushed her down on the bed and walked over to the dresser and poured himself another drink. She was relieved to watch him put down the pistol to pour, hoping that he would forget it was there. He walked to an overstuffed chair and sat down. He drank the scotch, and held the cold glass to his head. Suddenly, he noticed the little girl again.
“Make yourself useful,” he told her.
She was still crying, but she nodded and stood up.
“Without the clothes,” he ordered her.
She wasn’t wearing much in the way of clothes to begin with, but she shrugged out of the gauzy lingerie that she was wearing. “What does my Dear Leader desire?” she asked in what she thought was a seductive voice. Both of them ignored the quivering undertones in her voice.
“You’re a gymnast, yes?” he asked.
She nodded. She had to fight the impulse to cover her body with her hands.
“Then do something. Do a dance. Just do something,” he told her.
As she danced, he tried to think. He blamed the Chinese for his predicament. Hell, his father had been worse than he was. The Chinese had been more than happy to procure girls for his father. Of course, his father was not as rough with them, and they returned to their families richer when his father was done with them. It was the fault of the Chinese government. His father had been more than happy to act as the cut out for the more violent worldwide programs that the Chinese were involved in. His kingdom, of course, made a lot of money from the transactions, and,North Korea kept the Chinese government’s involvement from being identified. Now they abandoned him. He was furious. He knew that his senior officers would be meeting soon about the situation. He may be a coked up pedophile, but he learned the way of internal politics from his father. He had spies everywhere, watching everyone. He knew what was going on in his kingdom.
Superficial thoughts ran through his head as he watched the girl go through her routines. She was a very good gymnast, and she was quite flexible. He could tell that she would be a pretty young woman when she grew up. He was still upset, and the longer he thought about things, the more upset he became. Finally, he decided to do something about it. He walked over to the wardrobe, and started getting dressed. The gymnast watched this with interest when his back was turned. If he left, she might actually live through the night. If she was lucky, she might even leave the palace and go back to practicing gymnastics.
He slicked back his hair, and then walked to the door of the room. The girl was completely forgotten. He walked out and told one of the guards to get a car ready for him. The young soldier ran off and made sure that the commander of the guard knew what was happening. They had the motorcade ready for him by the time he got to the door leading out of the building.
He walked out and the leader of the security detachment asked him where he wanted to go. He told the young officer, and then settled into his personal car. As he seated himself in the plush interior, he was focusing much better. His thoughts were directed towards one goal, so his focus was quite intense.
The motorcade started up, and they drove north. They were going to one of his favorite places in the world. This was the one thing that kept the rest of the world at bay. He knew that as long as he possessed nuclear weapons, the rest of the world would never be able to do anything to him. It was his own senior officers that worried him, though. He needed a purge, and he could only do that if his kingdom was secure. There was only one way to ensure this. The Chinese needed to know that he was a serious man. The Chinese politburo would never have imagined his intent.
The rest of the world knew about North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, and they knew about the missile program. What they didn’t know about was the No Dong missiles with nuclear warheads on them. While there were some critical ideological differences between North Korea and Pakistan, they had collaborated for some time to ensure that both had the capability to launch nuclear missiles at their enemies. The collaboration between the two countries had been very beneficial.
China, while it had spies among the North Koreans, didn’t know the full capabilities of the North Korean nuclear program, because the North Koreans had been feeding disinformation to the Chinese for some time. Right now, the Chinese thought that it might be another ten years before the North Koreans possessed a viable nuclear missile.
Dear Leader thought about the situation, and started feeling better. Once the Chinese understood the strength, and resolution of North Korea and Dear Leader, they would once again respect him and his country. Then they would do as he told them.
He pulled a small vial and spoon out of his pocket. The nice thing about being a dictator was that he had access to all the good drugs. He had his own personal lab and chemists who ensured that he had the finest, purist drugs available. On the way to the nuclear facility, he did some coke, a hit of ecstasy, and washed it down with more scotch. He was weaving when he entered the facility that housed the command of his nuclear forces. He borrowed a pistol from one of his personal security detachment to remove a few obstacles,
their bloody bodies speaking loudly to the rest of the personnel in the building, and the rest of his security detachment ensured compliance with his further instructions.
It was only later, when the Chinese saw the lone missile launch from North Korea, that they took the North Korean leader seriously. By that time, it was much too late to do anything about the situation. The single missile took the entire world by surprise. The target selection was even more surprising. It was headed directly towards Beijing. The Chinese Strategic Missile command had a series of orders that they followed. Because of this, mutually assured destruction was very much ensured. Though officials in the politburo knew where the missile was coming from, the ones that knew were more concerned about leaving Beijing than they were about stopping the retaliation against everyone else.
Chinese nuclear missiles filled the air as they launched toward targets in foreign countries. Even though it was a lone missile, because of submarines, the Chinese Military was not sure which country launched the missile. Just because the missile came from the direction of North Korea, it could have been a launch from a United States or Russian submarine in the Sea of Japan. More than one Chinese officer was cursing the Japanese and Taiwanese as well.
Nuclear missiles launched from China and headed to Russia and the United States. They, in turn, launched everything that they had in their inventory. Prayers filled the air, but none were answered.
Ten years ago, a Chinese scientist attached to the nuclear program watched a DVD about a super volcano located in North America. After watching it, he contacted his superior, a general officer in the Chinese army. The scientist did a presentation to several senior officials and generals. They brought in several prestigious geologists with backgrounds in vulcanology from different Chinese universities, and explained to them how their families would be killed if they ever talked about the subject material discussed.
After the geologists left, there were several papers produced, and many scientists and officers were asked for their opinions on the subject. Once everybody concurred, three nuclear missiles were retargeted. Those three missiles flew an eight minute trajectory. They were targeted for Yellowstone National park just outside of Jackson, Wyoming. They were aimed at the Yellowstone Caldera.
--------------------------------------
Yellowstone is an active volcano. Most people in the United States were unaware that an active volcano, capable of extinguishing a great portion of life on the planet,is one of the United States most popular tourist destinations. The entire park is comprised of a huge volcanic caldera that was shaped over a time period of 2.1 million years. The caldera itself was thirty four by forty five miles wide. The caldera was shaped by three large eruptions, one at 2.1 million years ago, one at 1.3 million years ago, and at 640,000 years ago. The most recent eruption was a smaller steam explosion 13,800 years ago.
The hotspot that created the super volcano has been moving east as the North American plate moved west across it, which had created the Snake River Plane. The most energetic eruption was the one at 2.1 million years prior, which produced 2,500 times more ash than the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption. Recent studies concluded that it was unlikely that the super volcano would erupt, and indeed, might be slipping under thicker crust that would not allow it to explode until it created another hotspot further east.
This all changed as the nuclear bombs ripped into the crater, cracking the underlying geologic strata, making the rock underneath bow down as it absorbed the energy from the radiation and overpressure of the nuclear explosions. It took moments for the energy to be redirected as the floor of the park cracked, and the ash exploded into the sky.
Malmstrom Air Force base was hit by two nuclear bombs, one from Russia, one from China. The Air Force base, and the town of Great Falls, Montana turned into a melted, desolated nuclear ruin before the volcano destroyed the landscape. Lava bombs peppered the land as far as two states away from the volcano.
A ridge of rock south of Great Falls redirected the pyroclastic flow away from the Great Falls and Malmstrom AFB area to the east. But, the area was not to be spared. The pyroclastic flow moved to the west down the valleys carved by the Madison, the Gallatin, and the Jefferson rivers, across Canyon Ferry Lake and onto the Missouri River. The current of hot gas and rock known as tephra, reaching temperatures of 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit, flew across the top of the water, and moving at 450 miles per hour, destroyed all life and any sign of human habitation.
The area around Area 19 was devastated, irradiated and shattered by nuclear weapons. Then the pyroclastic flow completely covered everything in the area. There was no indication that any life had ever been present.As the ash cloud exploded from the super volcano that used to be Yellowstone National Park, it settled and buried the Air Force base in cement like particles that combined with the steady rain that the ash particles induced from theatmosphere. Lightning skipped along the ash clouds, highlighting the hellish landscape that was used to be the Missouri River Basin.
Now
Mike threw up. It wasn’t much vomit, but inside the helmet, it seemed like a lot. Mike never threw up. He didn’t get motion sickness, he wasn’t afraid of enclosed spaces, and he had a stomach made of iron. Now he had to breathe through his nose so that he didn’t suffocate. Mike’s visual input was blank, and he couldn’t see any ambient light. He felt the armor tip and fall. He cursed as he realized that he couldn’t control the fall. Panic hit as he realized the vomit was not draining out. He was afraid that he was going to suffocate. He pushed the panic down, knowing that was more likely to kill him than the vomit. Evidently, the electrical power in the armor had shut down, and the foam that held him in place deflated as electrical current no longer flowed through it. He controlled his fear, and held his breath, hoping the vomit wouldn’t enter his nose. He waited a few seconds as the foam collapsed, and his body and arms were no longer held in place. He was able to move his hands and arms so that he could ease the helmet back from his face. He wiped the slick, foul vomit away from the helmet and his face with his hand. He took in a deep breath, then another, and repositioned the helmet back on his head. The smell was horrible. The audio in the armor wasn’t working, and he couldn’t hear anything around him. As the armor rocked in its new position, he hoped that everybody on the floorhad the chance to get out of the way.
The armor was sliding as it rocked against the floor. The floor around trembled as he moved. He felt an impact, and his helmeted head smacked against the side of the armor, but the impact wasn’t significant enough to hurt him. He felt his mech armor slide to a stop as friction from the floor overcame his momentum. He was disoriented as the sensors and heads up display kicked back on, blurred by the remnants of the vomit. The foam in the armor start to re-inflate. He was going to have to talk to the engineering team and see if there was a better configuration for the helmet to handle projectile vomiting.
From the view and the cacophony that he was hearing in the audio, he wasn’t the only person that had experienced the electrical failure. Emergency lights were flashing red. Battery backup emergency lights spread a dim white light through the large room. The overhead lights flashed back on, and the backup emergency lights turned off, flooding the large room with white light, though the red emergency lights were still flashing. Electricity had been restored.
From this position, it was very hard for him to see what was going on. He could hear groans, and shouting as people started dealing with their new reality.
“Radio check, radio check, can anybody read me, over?” Mike broadcasted. The team came back with, “Roger, Lima Charlie,” or with, “Roger, Mike, I have you five by five.”
“SITREP, over,” Mike ordered. The entire team came on, in sequence from Everett, through Mickey, Rob, and Tom. They all reported that none of them had any injuries. He asked them if they had experienced the same system failure that he had, receiving affirmatives from the rest of the team.
“Does anybody know what just happened, over?”
<
br /> The team all replied with a quick, “Negative,” on the radios.
“Can everybody do an emergency exit from their armor, over?” he asked. Everybody on the team replied, “Affirmative,” except for Everett.
“Chief, that is a negative. I’m currently laying on my back. I cannot do an emergency exit from the armor. Over,” he replied.
“Roger, Everett. Can you roll so that you can expose the armor’s back? Over.” Mike asked.
“Chief, I’m concerned about moving around. From the display, it’s chaotic over here. I hear people around me, but I can’t see them. I’m afraid that if I try to roll, I may crush somebody. Over.” Everett reported back.
“Roger, Everett. Just stay put and we’ll do a quick recon to ensure that there is no one around you. Out.”
Mike gave the command for the rest of the team to do an emergency shutdown of the armor. As the power shut down, the foam started deflating again. Mike pulled the lever that disengaged the lock to the door on the armor. Quickly, Mike and the rest of the team, exited the mech armor and stood among the displaced equipment which had shifted across the room, strewn haphazardly across the floor.
The floor was now at a five to ten degree tilt. From what Mike could see, the entire room was still intact. People had fallen and tumbled to new positions across the floor of the play room. People were yelling and groaning, and a few weren’t moving. Dust from lights and rafters sifted slowly down to the ground, giving the room a smoky look.
Mickey grabbed his medic bag from the armor and ran to members of theengineering team to take care of any injuries. The rest of the team moved among the debris to help with the engineers and techs, pulling those who were able to stand to their feet, and evaluating injuries. As the team found people that were moderately to seriously injured, they called for Mickey to come over and evaluate.
