Cyber Warfare and the New World Order: World War III Series: Book IV

by James Rosone

  A couple of his Marines on the roof tops began firing their anti-tank missiles at the PLA tanks rumbling towards them, taking several of them out. Thornton got on the radio and began calling in for naval gun support. Several Zumwalt destroyers off the coast began to rain down 155mm high explosive rounds across the streets where the PLA continued to lead their own people to slaughter. It was gruesome; thousands of civilians were being slain by the naval gun support and the machinegun fire of his Marines. In less than five minutes, most of the human shields were either dead or wounded, laying on the ground. The PLA infantry then began to advance, using their traditional human wave tactics. It did not take long before the Chinese soldiers were within grenade range, then both sides began to throw dozens of grenades at each other. As company-sized elements of PLA soldiers would rush forward after throwing a volley of grenades at the American lines, one of the Marines would detonate a series of claymore mines, obliterating most of the charging soldiers.

  Just as Thornton thought their position was about to be overrun, he looked back to see two Razorbacks arrive on station. They quickly unleashed a torrent of anti-personnel rockets at the charging PLA soldiers, and then proceeded to land. They swiftly unloaded their payload of 16 EHDs each. The EHDs immediately ran towards the perimeter of the Marine positions and began to engage the Chinese soldiers. It was an overwhelming sight to take in--more than two dozen mechanical killing machines were running at full speed while delivering high-speed, accurate fire at the enemy. Once the Reapers reached the perimeter, they quickly advanced past it, with complete disregard for their own safety. The EHDs were after all, drones.

  Many of them were being shot multiple times. Some would eventually have a leg or an arm shot off or those that were hit by larger caliber rifles might ultimately lose their head; However, the rest of them just moved forward at a quick pace, methodically killing everything that moved that did not have a friendly IIF. By the time the first group of EHDs had moved twenty meters in front of Thornton’s position, a second wave of drones landed and began to speedily reinforce the first group. Thornton’s men continued to provide fire support for the Reapers, but they were quite frankly in awe of how fast the enhanced humanoid drones were methodically killing and advancing forward.

  Ten minutes after the first wave of EHDs had landed and began to make their presence known, the third wave of drones arrived. Thornton received word that a total of twelve waves of Reapers would be flown into his LZ before the end of the day. The rest would be landing at three of the five ports the Marines still had under their control (in the last 90 minutes, the Marines holding on to two of the ports had been overrun and wiped out).

  By the end of the first day of the invasion, the Marines and EHDs had regained control of their original perimeter, recovered the two ports they had lost, and secured three more ports. The Reapers had also pushed the PLA back across the Yangtze River and secured most of Nantong. Of the 3,000 EHDs that had been deployed, some 823had been destroyed, but according to their kill counters, they had collectively killed over 33,000 enemy soldiers and nearly 113,000 civilians who had been intentionally placed in the line of fire.

  Unfortunately, the Marine force that had landed in Yancheng had been wiped out before any EHDs from the 32nd infantry division could be rushed forward to assist them. The Marines at Ningbo were nearly wiped out, but 500 Reapers arrived at the last minute. They had helped to create a big enough perimeter for additional forces to land. By the end of the day, some two thousand enhanced humanoid drones had landed at Ningbo and began to push further inland, leaving the Marines to clear the city and surrounding villages.

  Sometime around 0230, Colonel Lee pulled up to Thornton’s position in one of the armored jeeps that had been brought ashore several hours earlier. His vehicle had been followed by seven Pershing battle tanks and thirteen Wolverines, which did not stop, but instead pushed beyond them, heading towards Nantong to support the EHDs before they moved across the river. Colonel Lee spotted Thornton walking out of his headquarters and approached him.

  “Captain Thornton, we need to talk,” Colonel Lee declared.

  “I see you brought some additional armor with you, Sir,” Captain Thornton replied as he observed the armored column moving past his post towards the enemy lines.

  Colonel Lee looked at the armored column briefly, then his eyes settled on the enormous amount of dead bodies surrounding Captain Thornton’s position. He could tell they had been hit hard earlier and somehow managed to hold out long enough for the EHDs to land and help them regain control of the area.

  Looking Thornton in the eyes, Colonel Lee said, “Captain Thornton, your Company did an amazing job today. You not only held your perimeter against multiple enemy assaults throughout the last 24 hours. You beat back their advances and held on to perhaps the most important LZ in the Shanghai area. I wanted you to know I’m putting you in for a medal again, for you and your men.” Lee heaped some much-deserved praise on his best company commander.

  “Thank you for the words of encouragement, but my men and I were just doing our jobs,” he replied feeling almost embarrassed by the adulation and, more importantly, guilty about what they had done to ensure they held their position. “We held, Sir, but I lost a lot of good Marines today. We also killed a lot of civilians, something my men and I were not at all comfortable with.”

  “I know. It was a terrible order they issued, but you executed it flawlessly and because of that, you probably saved the entire invasion force in Nantong. If your position had fallen, we would have lost the last three ports and most likely the other LZ,” the colonel asserted, reaffirming the gallant effort of Thornton’s men.

  Colonel Lee sighed. “Look, I’m here for more than just a social call and to tell you how good you and your men did today. As you know, we took a tremendous number of casualties. Two of my three battalions were completely wiped out, one at the north port and the other at LZ Liberty. I’ve also lost all three of my battalion commanders. Shoot--the division Commander was killed, and I’m now the most senior officer in the division. On my way over here, I was informed by General Black, the invasion force CG, that I’m being promoted to Brigadier General (BG), effective immediately; they want me to take over command of Third Marines.”

  There was a brief pause as Lee allowed Thornton a second to digest before continuing. “As I said earlier, most of the senior officers have been killed; of the three brigades that we have in the division, I’m the only O6 still able to fight. I only have two of thirteen Lieutenant Colonels who are not wounded and able to fight. I’m promoting both of them to full Colonel to take over their brigades. Right now, your brigade has no commander, and your XO was just killed thirty minutes ago. Therefore, I’m promoting you effective immediately to Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) to take over command of your battalion. I’ll send out the official orders to everyone in your battalion shortly.” As he finished his speech, he handed Captain Thornton his new silver oakleaf rank insignias.

  Thornton just stood there dumbfounded for a second; then, snapping out of his stupor, he reached out his hand and took the silver oakleaves from BG Lee. They both took a moment to put their new ranks on before Thornton spoke. “Sir, I do not know what to say. I had never thought I would rise above Captain, having been just promoted less than a year ago. What are my orders?”

  BG Lee looked at Thornton for a second, then responded, “Look, Joe, I know you are still new to being an officer, and there is a lot you do not understand about being a Lieutenant Colonel, or what is expected of you at your rank and position. You are a fighter. Right now, that is all I need you to be. As we get more reinforcements, I’ll get you a good XO who has experience and that can help you with the administrative parts of being a battalion commander. Right now, I want you to get your battalion organized. Find out how many soldiers you have left that are able to fight, see what equipment you have, where everyone is located, and then send your request for replacements to my staff. I will do my best to get you fully staffed
.”

  Still in a bit of shock, LTC Thornton responded the only way he knew how to. “Yes, Sir.” Then, wanting to get on with the business at hand, he inquired, “Where do you want me to deploy?”

  BG Lee smiled. “That’s the man I need…we have reinforcements coming in constantly; I’m going to start syphoning some of them off and will send them your way to get you back up to strength. Have your unit camp out in your headquarters building and give them some rest. As new units arrive, they will be sent here. Unless something drastic changes, I’ll contact you in six hours with your new order. In the meantime, I need to find out what shape the rest of the division is in.”

  “Yes, Sir,” responded LTC Thornton.

  BG Lee shook Thornton’s hand one last time, then turned around and walked back towards his armored vehicle and drove off to the next unit.

  Thornton stood there for a second, trying to comprehend everything that had just happened. The division must really have been hit hard for them to have promoted Lee to BG and him to LTC. Finally, he shrugged, then turned around and began to walk back into his headquarters building. As soon as he got back to his operations center, he brought everyone else up to speed on his conversation with BG Lee. He also promoted several of his lieutenants to captains and the one other captain to major. He also informed his First Sergeant that he was now the battalion Sergeant Major, until another one showed up.

  Over the next hour, Thornton got the rest of his battalion relocated to his position and bedded down for some sleep. As new reinforcements continued to arrive, about a third of them were being syphoned off and sent to his position as replacements, just as BG Lee had suggested. When Lee got back in touch with him later in the day, his battalion had received enough replacements to bring them back up to 85% strength. The Marines had been told to stand fast in their current positions while the rest of the 32nd infantry division’s EHDs continued to advance across the Yangtze River.

  The Air Force was bombing the enemy positions into oblivion. Between the Air Force and the Naval guns off-shore, the enemy was under continuous bombardment. By the end of the third day of the invasion, the Allies had secured a solid foothold around the Shanghai area and had begun to offload thousands of tanks and other armored vehicles. Hundreds of artillery units began to arrive, and started to add their own muscle to the offensive against the enemy positions. By day five, the Allies had the entire city and the surrounding area of Shanghai completely cut off. Tens of thousands of Allied ground forces were arriving every hour through the ports, beaches, landing zones and at the one airport they had managed to secure.

  The Allies had also lost a tremendous number of soldiers. Nearly 68,000 soldiers had been killed, and nearly four times that number wounded. Not all the wounded needed to be evacuated; many could continue to fight on. The Allies had also lost several thousand EHDs, a loss that was going to affect the next several invasions. Because of the daily Allied losses, General Gardner postponed the Taiwan invasion for at least two months. Until the situation in the Shanghai area could be further stabilized, he needed to hold those forces in reserve. The PLA was throwing everything they had at his invasion force in Shanghai, trying to both break the siege and destroy the Allied landing force. However, their forces in Shanghai were trapped and were daily being pounded from the air, sea and ground artillery.

  Taiwan’s Role

  29 June 2043

  China

  It had been four months since the Allies had invaded mainland China. The invasion of Shanghai had eventually ended in success, but not before it claimed the lives of nearly 136,000 Allied soldiers. The PLA had suffered a debilitating defeat, grinding four separate army groups into the dirt trying to crush the Allied invasion force. The Allied introduction of the enhanced humanoid drones and the large number of soldiers equipped with the Raptor combat suits had proven too much for the PLA to overcome, even with their superior numbers.

  However, after the surrender of Shanghai, the PLA had fought the Allies to a standstill. The Allies had a 46-mile bubble around Shanghai that they controlled, but after several attempts to break out, a halt had been called to any further attempts. Once a pause to any further offensive operations had been ordered in the Shanghai region, General Gardner ordered the invasion of Taiwan. The PLA fought ferociously for the first eight days of the invasion, but then their forces collapsed. They began to run low on munitions, supplies, and more importantly, the morale needed to keep fighting. The US employed another 6,000 EHDs in the invasion, and the mechanical killing machines were having their desired effect on the PLA, forcing many of them to just simply give up and surrender.

  As the PLA forces in Taiwan began to collapse, the Chinese high command knew they needed to end the war soon or they might have further desertions or surrenders. President Jinping reached out to President Stein, asking for a 72-hour ceasefire to discuss terms of an armistice. After months of horrific combat and casualties on both sides, President Stein agreed to peace talks, selecting Sydney, Australia, as the neutral meeting location. Jinping was reluctant to meet in Sydney, but knew if he did not agree, Stein was the type of man who would continue to fight on, despite how many soldiers he might lose.

  A New World

  01 July 2043

  Sydney, Australia

  QT Sydney Hotel

  The Australian government quickly accepted President Stein’s request to secure several downtown hotels and the zone surrounding them for the peace talks with the Chinese. The world was on the cusp of ending the bloodiest war in history, and if the Australian government had to kick out a bunch of tourists from some swanky hotels and ask people in the local area to endure some stricter security for a few days, it was worth it.

  The American delegation would be staying at the QT Sydney, a ritzy hotel with cozy meeting rooms that would host the peace talks. The hotel was one of the few locations that could be fully secured to the US Secret Service’s standards as the President had previously stayed at this hotel, just prior to the start of the war. The Chinese delegation would be staying at another luxury hotel just across the street. Both nations’ security advance teams had arrived within 24 hours of the location having been agreed upon. The security teams and the Australian government had less than a day to secure the two facilities before both President Stein and President Jinping would arrive to begin the talks. A lot of work needed to be done with very little time.

  *******

  As President Stein sat in his office on Air Force One, he was going over several of the main points of the tentative terms of the peace deal the Chinese had sent ahead of time. The President was not surprised by the demands, though he was not about to let the Chinese get everything they were asking for. The question he had to ask was what negotiating points could be given away, and what were the points he absolutely would not bend on.

  He looked down at his paper again at the highlighted portion, which discussed the return of Shanghai and the removal of all Allied Forces from mainland China. The Chinese also wanted the Allied forces to leave Taiwan and for China to retain all territorial gains they had made up to this point. This included Southeast Asia, the Philippines, Malaysia and large swaths of east Africa. They also requested that the Allies not attack or intervene with their ally, the African Confederation. The outline of the entreated peace deal also included India, which was part of the Pan Asian Alliance.

  It was a nice starting point, but nothing President Stein was going to agree to. With the endless supply of Tritium4 arriving from the lunar base, the US was producing nearly 5,000 EHDs a month. In a few more months, they would have 20,000 of them they could unleash on China. Stein knew he was negotiating from a position of strength; he was willing to let the Chinese keep some of their territorial gains, but he was not about to let them walk all over the US.

  As soon as he landed in Australia, the President’s motorcade took him directly to the hotel. Once he arrived, the President immediately went to bed; he had worked throughout most of the flight, and he was now
exhausted. He wanted to get a solid eight hours of sleep before his morning meeting began with the Allied leaders to discuss what they would be willing to accept from the Chinese and what their red lines would be. In the afternoon, the two warring parties would meet for the first time and begin the initial discussions. The following day was dedicated to further negotiations. The third day was left open, to allow the parties time to think about the terms that had been offered and handle any last-minute changes. If no deal could be agreed upon by the end of the third day, the warring parties would return to their countries and the fighting would resume.

  *******

  The following afternoon, President Stein and President Jinping walked into the same room to meet for the first time in nearly five years. The meeting was very private; it was just the two leaders, their personal translators and one advisor per leader; this arrangement was designed to be more intimate and direct, a chance for the two leaders to talk directly and hammer out some of the major points of the peace deal.

  As President Jinping walked into the room, he saw President Stein and his two representatives were already seated. They rose when he walked in, and extended their hands as a courtesy. Jinping thought to himself, “President Stein looks tired, like he’s aged an entire decade since our last meeting. He also has a burning rage in his eyes; he is going to be hard to negotiate with.”

  As Jinping shook Stein’s hand and then took his seat, he opened the conversation. “Mr. President, thank you for agreeing to a temporary ceasefire while our two nations work out an end to this war.”