Dawn of the Tiger

by Gus Frazer

  That night Sarah lay in her bed with Matt. Most nights were ending up like this these days. They’d become a steady, regular thing without ever discussing it — cooking meals together, spending whatever free time they had with each other. It was nice. They both enjoyed how naturally it had evolved.

  Rolling over to face Matt, Sarah propped herself up on her elbows. ‘If you were General Stephens right now, what would you do?’

  Matt, a little taken aback by the question, pondered it briefly. ‘Well, I’d do a deal with Yun, get paid a fortune, buy an island in the Caribbean, take my Number One female advisor and disappear forever,’ he grinned, idly playing with her hair.

  Sarah let out a short laugh. ‘Very funny. But seriously, what would you do?’ she said, brushing her hair back behind her ear.

  Matt sat up, trying to consider the question. ‘I have no idea,’ he said finally. ‘It’s a no-win situation we’re in. I guess I would do what’s best for the greatest number of Australians. This war will never be won. It will only ever result in the annihilation of our way of life. So, the first thing I would do is lay down our arms, then I would hand over the running of the country to people who can rebuild our nation under a new paradigm, with new borders and a new focal point of prosperity.’

  ‘Aha! So you have thought about it,’ she said with a smile.

  ‘Of course I’ve thought about what’s right for this country …’ he trailed off. It was bizarre talking about all this — they never talked shop, at Sarah’s insistence. He was pleased with her sudden openness.

  ‘So you don’t think that what we’re doing is right then?’ Sarah interrogated.

  Matt paused and continued slowly, deliberately. ‘No, no I don’t actually.’ All of a sudden, he felt the conversation take a turn. This is why we don’t talk shop, he thought to himself.

  Sarah sat up, shocked by Matt’s admission. ‘That surprises me,’ she said, folding her arms across her chest. ‘I would’ve thought you could see that by surrendering to the Chinese, we are not benefiting the greatest number of Australians, because the greatest number of Australians are yet to be born, the greatest number of Australians are the future generations,’ she felt her voice rising involuntarily. ‘The sacrifices we must make now will benefit the greatest number of Australians. You just have to broaden your point of reference.’

  Matt leaned back tensely. ‘But Sarah, that assumes whatever sacrifice we make now will benefit future generations. There’s a good chance our actions now are not good for them, are possibly even destroying them.’

  ‘Come on, Matt,’ cried Sarah, ‘if we don’t fight now, it will be impossible to get the Chinese out of here until they have sapped our land of every natural resource we have, and that will take hundreds of years, even at the rate they’re going.’

  ‘But what option do we have, Sarah?’ asked Matt, his voice rising in volume to match hers. ‘After the Sydney attack, we know our future if we continue to resist them.’

  Sarah was flustered now, frustrated and surprised by the realisation that Matt’s view was so different from hers. She’d thought they were on the same team, had been so confident that she’d never even thought to ask him what he thought. ‘There is something we can do, rather than wait to be annihilated — we can annihilate the Chinese.’

  ‘What are you talking about Sarah? That’s impossible.’

  ‘No, it’s not impossible; it’s actually entirely possible,’ Sarah said, throwing out her trump card. ‘We nuke them, we nuke the mines — wipe them and our mines out completely.’

  Matt had heard enough. He got off the bed and started to dress. ‘You’re fucking insane. Is the general seriously considering that as an option? It would never get through parliament, you know that.’

  Sarah knelt on the bed with a sheet wrapped around her shoulders. ‘It’s not insane, Matt — it’s our only option, our only chance of saving ourselves.’

  ‘What you’re talking about,’ said Matt, furiously buckling his belt, ‘will result in civilian deaths, possibly thousands. And God knows what will happen to our environment! The ecology would be destroyed. You might get the Chinese out, but at what cost?’ He paused, looking at her with disgust. ‘My God, you talk about future generations of Australians, Sarah. What about the kids born into a nuclear-poisoned land?’

  With that Matt walked out, slamming the bedroom door. Sarah stared at the door, stunned, listening as Matt slammed the main door on his way out.

  ‘Fuck,’ she said to herself, realising what she’d done.

  The next day, Sarah sat on a bench at City Park on the banks of Lake Burley Griffin, looking across to Parliament House. The afternoon sun was hot. Sarah could feel the heat even in the shade. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Connor walking towards her. She did not turn or stand to greet him. She just waited for him to come and sit.

  ‘Hello Sarah,’ said Connor, with as little emotion as could be wrapped in a greeting.

  ‘Connor,’ replied Sarah without looking at him. ‘So, do you have the report?’

  ‘Yes, I do. I must say Sarah, I’m impressed. I didn’t take you to be the sort who would consider, let alone come up with, an idea like this,’ said Connor.

  ‘Well, I can be full of surprises, Connor,’ she said drily.

  ‘Oh, I’m sure you are,’ he chuckled.

  Sarah was in no mood for repartee. ‘So, may I have the report then?’

  ‘Of course,’ replied Connor, quietly pulling the report out of the briefcase on his lap, handing it over.

  Sarah slid it into her attaché case. ‘So, can Operation Fulcrum work then?’

  Connor’s demeanour changed. He was all business again. ‘Provided the right measures are taken to evacuate the area, then we should be able to minimise the initial civilian death toll. Assuming the weather conditions are forecast accurately, then we should be able to contain the fallout. Environmental and ecological ramifications are more difficult to estimate. No one has ever detonated these devices in such an environment. There are concerns about poisoning the farming land to the south and east. There is the possibility of the water table being poisoned, affecting crops and water supplies. There is a question mark over Adelaide and the possibility of long-term fallout. And of course, there is the question over the Chinese. If they were to find out about this plan, who knows what they might do to protect the mines? Equally of concern is what they might do in retaliation, given what they did in Sydney.’

  ‘But do you think it’s feasible?’ prodded Sarah.

  Connor paused. ‘Yes, it is a plausible plan that may very well result in the Chinese extricating themselves from Australia.’

  ‘Good. That’s all I need to know,’ said Sarah, standing up.

  Connor looked up at her. ‘Sarah, I don’t need to remind you that if anyone finds out about Fulcrum, the general will be in seriously hot water, as will you and the rest of the administration. Frankly, I want nothing more to do with this.’

  ‘I understand. Thank you for your help,’ replied Sarah before walking back towards the road, leaving Connor on the park bench.

  She decided to walk back to the general’s office. When she arrived she went straight to see Fletcher and show him the report.

  Sarah knocked and walked immediately into his office. ‘It’ll work, Fletch. There are some calculated risks, but Connor agrees — Fulcrum can work.’

  Fletch looked up from his screen. ‘Come in Sarah, tell me what’s on your mind,’ he said sarcastically, referring to the way she had stormed into his office.

  ‘Like you don’t do that all the time to me!’ she exclaimed. ‘But look, the feasibility report is back and he agrees it could work.’

  ‘Let me see it,’ Fletcher held out his hand. ‘A paper report. Haven’t seen one of these in a long time,’ he mused.

  ‘I naturally didn’t want to risk transmitting it or saving it on a portable device.’

  He was already reading the executive summary. ‘Very smart. See, paper sti
ll has its uses.’

  Sarah didn’t respond — she just watched Fletcher reading the report. They sat in silence for a few minutes while he flipped the pages.

  ‘Well? It’s all there, Fletch — and it could work,’ said Sarah after a few more minutes.

  Fletcher continued to read in silence, nodding occasionally, rubbing his lower lip with his index finger. Sarah looked around the room impatiently, noticing the photos on the wall, which she had seen before, but never actually looked at. One was of Fletcher and General Stephens in a desert somewhere, arms around one another’s shoulders. They were young and, despite their dirty combats, they looked strong and happy. Sarah thought about what they must have been through together over the years.

  ‘Well Sarah, it seems you have come up with a viable plan — can’t say I like it, but I think we need to consider it,’ Fletcher said finally, putting the report down.

  ‘I don’t like it either, Fletch, but I dislike the alternative even more.’

  ‘Yes, that’s a good way to look at it. Let’s get it to Marty as soon as he’s out of the transport meeting this afternoon.’

  Sarah stood to leave. Fletcher leaned back in his chair, looking at Sarah, who stood and gently brushed down her fitted suit jacket. ‘Sarah, put that report in your safe at the office. There can be no leaks of this at all.’

  ‘Of course, Fletch. I’ll take it straight there now,’ replied Sarah, heading for the door.

  ‘Sarah,’ he said suddenly, ‘have you seen the effects of a nuclear explosion?’

  Sarah froze, staring at her hand on the door handle. ‘No, no I haven’t,’ she said quietly.

  ‘I suggest you take a look in the archives at the Iranian attack of 2021. Take a look at what happened after the attack — the years of fallout the Iranian people had to endure. The land at ground zero is still uninhabitable. Generations of children were born disfigured and sick. Marty and I were serving in the region at the time of the attack. What I saw there scared the hell out of me. The level of destruction was on a scale like you could never imagine.’

  Sarah turned back to Fletcher, who was leaning forward on his desk. ‘I will Fletch … I’ll take a look.’

  ‘Good. You need to know before you start pushing this to Marty with any zeal.’

  Locking the feasibility report in her safe, Sarah went to her screen and opened up the Iranian archive. The Iranian bomb, as they called it, was actually an American bomb — it was just dropped in Iran. The first report she opened was a text-based Wikireport to give her a quick and easy-to-understand perspective on the event.

  She remembered vaguely learning about this episode in her studies, but since her education had been mainly in strategy and had focussed on the polar regions, she hadn’t considered it important. Slightly embarrassed that she had to research such an important and relatively recent event, she started to read.

  ... By 2018, the tensions in the Middle East had reached a fever pitch. The entire region was in turmoil and inter- and intra- country wars were raging. In all the unrest, the US was losing its hold on the oil in the region and realised that there could be no peace settlement and no decisive victory for a conventional army. Resistance in the region was so strong that the US decided that something devastating would have to be done to put an end to it and again make the region cooperative. So, to protect their dwindling leverage on energy resources, they decided to put an end to the fighting by dropping a 20-Megaton nuclear bomb. Iran was chosen as the target, as it had risen up against the US after once being its closest ally in the region. The Iranian Government had sanctioned what the US considered to be terrorist attacks on their military bases in the region. This was used as justification for the nuclear attack.

  The bomb was dropped on Teheran on the 12th of August 2019 with catastrophic effect. More than two million people were killed in the initial blast. A further million died soon after the blast, and the long-term damage to those who survived was monstrous.

  The attack did not have the effect the US had projected. The theory was that the neighbouring countries would see what would happen to them if they kept fighting and would lay down their arms. Then they would set about producing more oil for the US energy market.

  However, shortly after the bomb was dropped, the neighbouring Middle Eastern countries, realising they could be next, took a united stand against the US, forming the United Middle East Coalition (UMEC). Under this agreement, they severed all exports of oil to the US. The US threatened more nuclear destruction, but was severely chastised by the international community.

  Since the Iranian bomb, the US has restrained from further nuclear strategies, opting for the more conventional approach of ground troops combined with air and sea supremacy. The US still had to secure energy resources from other parts of the world, so they turned their attention firstly to Canada and then to drilling for oil in the geo-political minefield that is the Arctic Circle.

  As a result of the polar ice melts, a new shipping laneway between Europe and Asia had opened up. It also opened up vast sub-sea oil reserves. No one country has a clear ownership of the region and so at the time of writing the conflict in this region is still unresolved ...

  Sarah realised that this event had helped conspire against Australia. A severely stretched US military and a highly unstable global political environment all worked to China’s advantage, leaving the door wide open for them to invade Australia.

  There were thousands of reports and videos about the incident in the archive, so Sarah refined the search to ‘fallout’. There were still hundreds of reports and videos, so she decided to add another search term — ‘graphic’.

  She started to view the videos — reports by military scientists on the horrifying casualties from the explosion. Children burned, people walking around naked, clothes burned or torn from their bodies. Corpses, thousands of them — the fatalities were staggering, millions of people dead in seconds, millions more dead in the months following.

  Sarah spent hours in the archive, unable to stop herself from watching. One report was created only two years before, and it gave a sobering assessment of the long-term effects of the nuclear explosion. The report painted a bleak picture of a land completely toxic — nothing lived there, nothing could be grown. The land was completely poisoned. Teheran was never rebuilt. It was deserted, left as a sickening reminder of the destructiveness of mankind.

  Leaning back in her chair, Sarah realised she’d been clenching her jaw and fists for the last few hours watching the videos. She felt drained. What was she thinking? Could they really do this to their own land? She questioned her own sanity, confused about how she could go to General Stephens now. Before, she had been evangelical about the plan — she thought it was a stroke of strategic genius to remove the ransom that was holding Australia hostage. Now, however, she realised the gravity of this decision, the terrible consequences that it could have on the people of Australia — on the future generations.

  MiLA rang. It was General Stephens. ‘Can you please come in here, Sarah?’

  ‘Of course, I’ll be right there,’ she replied, rubbing her face and standing up.

  Sarah knocked on his door and went in. Fletcher was already there, seated opposite the general.

  ‘Come in, Sarah. Take a seat. Fletch tells me that the feasibility report is looking good for your idea.’

  Sarah felt unsteady. Your idea. She didn’t want this to be her idea anymore. She wanted distance from it. In truth, she wanted nothing more to do with it after what she had seen in the archives.

  ‘Yes, sir. Connor and his team have reviewed the plan and believe that Operation Fulcrum has potential, though there are significant risks and side effects.’

  ‘Yes, I’m sure there are,’ replied General Stephens. ‘I’ll read the report later, but I have a pretty good idea of what it will say — and Fletch has briefed me. What I want to know is: are we doing the right thing? Are we thinking of Australia’s best interests, for now and in the future?’
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  Fletcher started. ‘I’ve considered all of our military options. We don’t have any moves left. We’re hamstrung because this country is effectively under siege. Our resources are too valuable and we’re gambling with the lives of innocent people. Conventional tactics are not going to win this war, and neither have guerrilla tactics. There is no way around it.’

  General Stephens nodded. ‘I agree. There is nothing more we can do from a conventional military perspective. Sarah — your thoughts?’

  ‘Well sir,’ Sarah began, ‘I agree that we cannot progress with our current military strategy. We have the diplomatic option, which we know will achieve nothing for us. We can independently set about getting on with rebuilding our nation by redrawing our borders — effectively walking away from the mining industry. But then, whatever wealth we create in the future will be at the mercy of the Chinese. Our third and final option is the nuclear one, Operation Fulcrum,’ she took a deep breath and looked down at the desk. ‘An option that I am increasingly uncertain about.’

  ‘Uncertain?’ repeated General Stephens in disbelief. ‘This was your idea, Sarah. Are you having doubts?’

  Sarah raised her head to meet General Stephens’ eye. ‘Yes, as a matter of fact, I am. This may have been my idea initially, but I do not wish to own or champion this strategy. I realise now that the nuclear option is one that will change this country forever. I can’t carry the burden of that responsibility — this cannot be “my idea”, sir.’

  General Stephens stared right back at Sarah, his grey eyes cold. ‘No one is saying that you will carry the responsibility of this decision, Sarah. I alone will labour with that load. However, if you want a seat at the grown-ups’ table, you need to make — and live with — some hard decisions.’

  Sarah blinked. Her mouth dropped open. The general had never spoken to her like that before. ‘Sir, I just … I realise now what it means to take the nuclear option.’

  ‘Why, because you’ve watched a few videos? Read a few reports? Seen some statistics? You have no idea, Sarah, until you see it first-hand,’ Stephens said, glaring at the young woman across from him. ‘You cannot comprehend the destruction. Like Fletch, I’ve seen the horror of nuclear weapons and, since taking control of this country, I dared not consider the possibility of a nuclear scenario. I couldn’t let myself think it, even for a second, in case the thought took hold and then, God forbid, became a reality.’