by James Rosone
Misaligned Priorities
02 September 2042
Tokyo, Japan
Kantei (Prime Minister’s Official Residence)
The situation in Japan had gone from bad to worse since the defeat of the navy off the coast of southern California and then Hawaii. The subsequent surrender of their ground forces in California several months later was a defeat that nearly brought down the government. As it stood, the people of Japan had been demonstrating on an almost daily basis, pleading for an end to the war. The populace was angry with their government for getting them involved in the World War, and they were infuriated by the alignment with China over their traditional ally, the United States.
Foreign Minister Hirohita had just finished a holographic meeting with his Chinese counterpart about the latest protests happening in Tokyo. The Chinese were getting nervous that the government might not be able to maintain law and order, and had offered to send additional troops to Japan, if needed.
Minister Hirohita felt nervous after the conversation. He thought to himself, “I need to talk to the Prime Minister about this. He needs to put down these protesters before the Chinese decide to intervene. I better go find him.”
Unaware and aloof, PM Hata was walking in the gardens behind his residence, enjoying the late summer morning before his day began. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Minister Hirohita walking towards him. “Prime Minister, I have an urgent matter that I need to discuss with you,” he said as he approached the PM, bowing.
“You are disturbing me before our morning meeting. What is so important that it could not wait for our scheduled meeting?” the PM asked, perturbed that he had been interrupted.
Hirohita did not care if he had broken protocol or if the PM was irritated. The country was starting to fall apart around them--this was not the time to focus on routine and personal comfort.
“Sir, I just spoke with the Chinese Foreign Minister, Fang Yung. The Chinese are not pleased at all with our handling of the protesters. They are concerned that we are losing control of things in the cities.” Minister Hirohita spoke with a bit more sternness in his voice than he probably meant to show. He was growing frustrated with the PM’s lack of concern for the situation.
“Hirohita, you are getting yourself too worked up over these protesters,” replied Hata nonchalantly. “People are frustrated, but they were peaceful. There is no threat to the government. Please calm yourself…the people are just upset about the reduced rations. They are young, and they are venting their frustrations. Nothing more. Japan will continue to stay the course with our allies. Now, leave me, and we will continue our discussion during our scheduled meeting.” With that, the PM turned around and continued his walk, leaving his foreign minister speechless.
Unbeknownst to the leaders of Japan, several high ranking military leaders and the Chief of Police for the city of Tokyo were quietly planning a coup to seize control of the government and sue for a separate peace with America. That Saturday evening, nearly two million protesters were gathered in various locations throughout Tokyo, while millions more gathered in other cities across the country, calling for an end to the war.
*******
At the behest of the Chinese, PM Hata had ordered the military into the cities to disperse the protesters and work with the police to restore order. While the military was moving to secure the cities, units loyal to the coup leaders had also silently moved soldiers near the various Chinese forces in Japan, insisting that they were there to protect them from the protesters. The following day, at 0300 in the morning, forces loyal to the former general Tenaka (one of the generals that the PM had relieved of command when he refused to accept the Chinese alliance) were set to strike.
Five heavily armed soldiers walked down the hallway leading to the PM’s residences and ordered the two security guards to stand down or be killed. Seeing that they were heavily outgunned and out-numbered, they placed their weapons on the ground and were quickly apprehended without incident. The soldiers continued to move down the hall and burst through the Prime Minister’s bedroom door, awaking him from his sleep.
Hata instinctively sat up in bed, and demanded, “What is the meaning of this?”
One of the soldiers grabbed him by his pajama shirt and summarily threw him face-down on the floor, zip-tying his hands. His wife, who woke up when her husband was slammed to the floor, screamed in horror to find armed men had intruded their bedroom. Another soldier shouted at her, “Be quiet, or we will arrest you, too!”
“I demand to know what you are doing!” the PM shouted at the soldiers.
One of the men lifted the PM back to his feet and turned him around just as General Tenaka walked into the room. “Prime Minister Hata, they are acting on my orders. You are hereby under arrest and being charged with treason. I am assuming control of the government until a new election can be held,” General Tenaka said forcefully. He then signaled for the soldiers to bring the PM with them. The group walked out of the bedroom and headed towards the armored vehicles that were waiting out front to take them to a more secured facility.
All throughout the country, soldiers loyal to General Tenaka began detaining Hata loyalists and those that supported the war against America. As Tenaka’s men were making arrests across the country, the units that had been placed near the Chinese forces moved quickly to disarm and detain them peacefully. One Chinese Commander suspected that something fishy was going on when several of his units stopped responding to his calls, and he ordered his forces to full alert. A quick standoff ensued, and his forces eventually surrendered once several Japanese attack helicopters showed up. By the early hours of Sunday morning, most of the government officials who had supported PM Hata or been outspoken backers of the war had been arrested.
General Tenaka broadcasted a message to the people of Japan, informing them of the coup and letting them know that he had assumed control of Japan. He encouraged the people of Japan to rally around him and his forces and support an end to the war and the occupation of Chinese forces in Japan.
People took to the streets in joy and celebration that morning. Many of the military units who had not initially involved in the coup quickly lined up to support General Tenaka. The few military units who remained loyal to Prime Minister Hata stood down and were quickly arrested. Even though those men did not want to support the coup against the government, they were not willing to take up arms against their fellow Japanese citizens, and they went into custody peacefully.
General Tenaka announced to the world that Japan was withdrawing from its military alliance with China and Russia, and requested that all foreign troops leave Japan peacefully. He also asked for an end to hostilities between Japan and the United States while a more formal ceasefire deal could be worked out.
The response from China was swift and brutal. The PLAAF and PLA launched a series of cruise missile attacks against multiple Japanese air force bases in the south of Japan. These assaults quickly followed them up with an airborne assault of the Island of Okinawa. Chinese forces also began to move soldiers in to secure Kumamoto, to act as a buffer between the East China Sea and mainland China.
In reaction, General Tenaka immediately ordered the forces loyal to him to fight the Chinese invaders. Despite the recent Japanese betrayal of America, Tenaka also boldly asked for the United States to come to their aid.
Geepers, Reapers
05 October 2042
North Atlantic Ocean
100 Miles Northeast of the Faroe Islands
Captain Elizabeth Mann had been the Commanding officer of the newest Reagan Class Supercarrier, USS Donald J. Trump, for the past year. Before that, she had spent a year as the executive officer on the USS William Clinton before she was promoted and given command of one of the new supercarriers. It had been a great honor; she had beaten out a lot of other officers for such an important command.
Captain Mann was nervous about this particular mission. Her carrier (along with her sister carrier, the USS Barra
ck Obama) were escorting the 32nd Infantry Division to invade the Kola Peninsula and the critical Russian naval base of Murmansk. The fleet was going to be sailing deep into Russian territory, and would be attacking what was perhaps their most important naval base in Russia. If the 32nd Infantry could secure the facility and the Peninsula, it might bring the war that much closer to being won. In addition to transporting the 32nd Infantry, she had been told they were also escorting 1,000 of these new humanoid Reaper combat drones. The senior captains were not given a lot of information about them during the pre-deployment brief, other than being told that they were going to change the way ground wars were going to be fought.
The fleet had three attack submarines running about 100 miles ahead of their position, and another two SUDs shadowing them in case any Russian subs managed to slip through their anti-submarine screen. Subs were her greatest concern. The USS Seawolf had managed to sink one of the enemy carrier ships in the decisive battle of Hawaii. She did not want to lose her ship or any other ship in the fleet to a sneak attack from below.
As the fleet continued to move further north into Russian waters, the weather remained cool and the water became choppier. Thus far, they had encountered little resistance from the Russians. The submarine screen had sunk two subs a couple of days earlier, and one of the fleet’s destroyers had also sunk an enemy submarine.
Unfortunately, three coastal raider ships had managed to slip past one of the American destroyer’s surface radars and fired off a volley of anti-ship missiles, sinking one of the destroyers and damaged another frigate. Some of the intelligence officers thought that the Russians had used some sort of new anti-ship radar technology that allowed the small ships to slip past them.
While the fleet continued to move closer to Murmansk, the ground forces that would be operating the new Reaper drones continued to train on them, trying to become as proficient with them as possible before their first big test.
*******
Captain Paul Allen was still getting used to being on a ship. Of course, operating in a virtual reality simulator all day was not making it any easier. Once the Russian and Chinese began pulling the bulk of their forces out of Alaska, the 32nd Infantry Division had been pulled from the line and redeployed to the East Coast. Captain Allen’s brigade had been selected as operators for the new enhanced humanoid drone program. Seeing the Bodarks for the first time at the start of the New Year had been scary; however, the reality of the Reaper drones was nothing short of terrifying. Their flat silver grayish exteriors, menacing looking faces and glowing red eyes were unnerving. These new killing machines were truly science fiction nightmares.
After being selected for the EHD program, his company had spent a week in a classroom learning about the Reaper drones’ functions, how they worked, and what they could do. They spent another week learning basic maintenance of the drone, though the technicians assigned to each drone would handle the day-to-day maintenance. Following the familiarization of the drone, they were introduced to the equipment that would allow them to operate the machines.
The operation of the EHDs was similar in function to other virtual reality systems; there was a circular three-foot round platform that you stood on while wearing a special suit, shoes, gloves and headset. The shoes were frictionless, which essentially allowed the operators to walk or run in place on the platform. The users’ gestures and movements would be matched by the Reaper the soldier was paired to. If the soldier walked, the Reaper walked, if it ran, then the drone ran. When the soldier raised his simulated rifle, the drone would raise its rifle and engage whatever the soldier had placed in his or her sights. The drone was essentially a surrogate, doing the bidding of the soldier without risking the life of the soldier.
Allen’s soldiers had spent three weeks learning to operate in a virtual reality environment: conducting patrols, storming a beach, conducting house-to-house searches and any other combat scenarios that the trainers threw at them. They were given a week of leave to enjoy some downtime before their brigade boarded the USS America and head to Russia. The USS America was a massive amphibious assault ship that could transport 2,000 soldiers and their combat equipment anywhere in the world. Paul had never been on a naval ship before; as he approached the ship, he was amazed at how utterly enormous it was.
After boarding the ship, they were introduced to their new surroundings; the vessel would become their home for the next several months. Unlike the rest of the soldiers in their division, they would not be going ashore. They would be staying aboard the America, operating the suite of virtual reality stations that had been installed throughout the belly of the ship where the landing craft and vehicles used to be stored. Those areas had been converted into a space large enough to hold up to 600 virtual reality stations. The bays had been broken down by battalions and then companies. The aircraft bay was currently filled with the Reaper drones and the maintenance crews assigned to support them.
Because each of the drones were being operated by human beings with biological needs, the army created drone teams. Each team would consist of three drone pilots and three maintenance technicians. The plan was simple; one soldier would operate the drone in four hour intervals and then swap out with a team member. This would enable the drone to be operated twenty-four hours a day while in combat, and give the operators time to rest.
When the pods got dropped off out in the field, there was a whole system set up out there. Several Reaper drones would be activated in sentry mode to guard spare drones and drone parts. In that cluster of pods, there were also be a few that were designated maintenance pods, filled with spare parts and staffed with technicians to repair the Reapers as needed (these soldiers were not there to fight, but solely to support the EHDs in their mission). As drones became damaged or needed repair, a spare drone would be activated until the original was fully functional again. If the technicians were not able to fix one of the Reapers with the spare parts and tools on hand, then it would be flown back to the USS America for a more advanced maintenance crew to work on.
Between the rest of the division using the Raptor combat suits and the Reaper drones, the Russians would have no idea what hit them. It was hoped that the Army would be able to secure this northernmost Russian base and provide the Allies with a platform from which to launch further attacks deeper into the Russian mainland, pulling additional resources away from the frontlines in Eastern Europe.
*******
After nearly two weeks at sea, the invasion force was nearing their launch position. As Captain Allen sat in the briefing room with the other battalion and company commanders, looking over their objectives, he couldn’t help but wonder if they were finally nearing the end of this bloody war. After nearly three years of combat, he was ready to be done with fighting.
The plan for the invasion was simple; the Reapers would be flown in via the Razorbacks to assault the Severomorsk naval base along with regular troops who had been equipped with the Raptor exoskeleton suits. Once they landed, the first wave of EHD pods would be delivered and the Reapers would then begin to fan out and secure the facility. The same process would be replicated all throughout the peninsula as small units in Raptor suits secured various landing sites for the Reaper pods and then let the drones go do the dangerous and dirty work of securing the broader area. Once the port facilities were fully secured, the transport ships would move down the channel to offload the armored vehicles. The Air Force would work on getting the nearby airfields up and running while several squadrons of fighter drones and additional Razorbacks were flown into the area.
With a forward operating base situated deep behind enemy lines, the allies would be able to launch any number of raids against the Russians, and they would have virtually no defense against them. Paul thought the plan sounded simple, but maybe it was too simple. “Typical higher ups,” he thought, “Always making these grandiose plans. I wonder if they realize that the Russians get a vote in the matter, too.”
As Paul walked through the rows
of virtual reality pods on his way to brief his company, he couldn’t help but think to himself how detached war was becoming. When World War III had first started, he was a rifleman, a soldier with the first railgun to be used as an infantry rifle. Two years later, he was outfitted with an exoskeleton combat suit. Now he was commanding a company of soldiers who would operate the latest mechanical killing machine, the enhanced humanoid drone, a mechanical clone that would enable his soldiers to throw themselves at the enemy without fear of death. It was strange to think how fast the business of killing had advanced and what the next evolution would entail. While talking with one of the computer technicians, he had heard the military was developing an Artificial Intelligence version of the Reaper drone that would enable the military to drop the drones behind enemy lines and let them operate autonomously, on their own without human involvement. That was truly a scary idea to him and he wondered, “What if the machine decides not to listen to its human masters? What if it becomes ‘self-aware’?”
“Room, Attention!” yelled the Company First Sergeant as Captain Allen walked in.
Paul was still not used to the formality and attention every time he entered a room. He had been an NCO most of his military career. As he surveyed the men and women of his command, he could see the apprehension written all over their faces. This was the first time they would be using the Reapers in combat, and they were carrying a heavy burden; the men and women of the division would be counting on them to successfully secure their objectives. If they did their jobs right, a lot of lives would be saved by not using live soldiers in Raptor suits.
