by James Rosone
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Claudia Álvaros had had the wildest, craziest 48 hours of her life; she had managed to stay awake without sleeping for the last couple of days, moving from one patient to the other without ceasing, and (in true nurse fashion) barely stopping to use the restroom at all. When the FEMA agents arrived at the hospital to help transport all of the patients to safety, she had stayed behind until there were only a handful of people left to move and she was basically ordered to get on a plane. She didn’t realize until she was in the flight, but she hadn’t eaten or had anything to drink since the bomb went off; the result was that she had actually gotten incredibly dehydrated and had managed to throw her electrolytes way off balance. She was forced to become the patient for a little while as she was hooked up to IV fluids to stabilize her condition.
Claudia had a brother in Houston, so she had requested to be transferred there. Once she arrived, she learned that she actually was not exposed to a fatal level of radiation. She had gotten indoors before the fallout had really started to come down, and although she was exposed to some additional radiation that emanated in through the entrance, her condition was still treatable. The hospital had also given everyone who was not acutely dying a dose of potassium iodine. She went through the full decontamination process before being transported; she was scrubbed within an inch of her life with a special solution, and given new clothing to wear. Now they were giving her new medications that had recently been developed to treat and prevent damage to her bone marrow and internal organs. It would take her a little while to process the fact that she had another chance at life.
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The only individuals being allowed to enter the contaminated area were rescue workers, firefighters and paramedics. Police were assigned to go door to door and search for injured people and to evacuate everyone in the danger zones. Radiation was going to be high within the perimeters, and unless people began to move out of them, they were going to receive a lethal dose of radiation in short order. All police and rescue workers were required to wear a radiation counter and once the readout reached a certain level, they were no longer allowed into the hot zones.
As FedEx and UPS cargo aircraft began to land at previously identified airports, they were being loaded with prepositioned pallets configured to transport injured people in double decker beds. Other parts of the planes’ cargo hold were set up for people with more severe injuries. The Boeing transports could move sixty non-critically injured people, and up to twenty-four intensive care patients, along with all the medical equipment and personnel needed to care for them.
While the aircraft were being readied for their new medical mission, helicopters began to arrive at the airports from the stage one and two triage centers, bringing hundreds of injured people to the waiting aircraft. As the planes were filled with the wounded, they began their take offs to the next destination. Most aircraft would fly to a city within a two-hour radius and then return for another trip. FEMA had the aircraft spread out their trips to different cities so one city would not get suddenly overwhelmed. As medical, police and firefighter volunteers showed up at those airports, they were loaded in to the aircraft for the return flight back.
Within sixteen hours of activating the disaster relief plan, thousands of seriously injured people had been flown to dozens of cities across America. Those who could not return back to their homes were being loaded into trucks and taken to Ft. Dix or flown to Ft. Drum (where field tents and barracks were being made available for people to stay in until they could be flown to their next of kin in another city or state). Because it was in the throes of a cold Northeast winter, establishing adequate shelter for the tens of thousands of refugees was imperative.
By the end of the first day, FEMA had their disaster recovery system fully operational and running at 100%. People were being treated and relocated to other cities for further care or tended to by their extended family. Those who had nowhere else to go, were being provided with housing and food on a variety of military bases and local hotels near those military installations until something more permanent could be arranged.
New Commander
Day Twenty-Four
NATO Headquarters Brussels, Belgium
22 December 2040
General Michaels had been the US European Commander and the NATO Supreme Allied Commander (SACEUR) until two days ago; he was dining with his wife at a restaurant in Brussels when he suddenly suffered a heart attack and died. His expeditious demise was still under investigation, but it was believed he had been poisoned with something, causing his heart to fail on the eve of the Russian invasion. President Stein knew he had to get a new commander in place who had combat experience. General Branson would be ideal, but his counsel was needed with the President; plus, he was the organizational genius behind the rapid mobilization of forces in the US.
That left General Wade; he had overseen Operation Brimstone in Mexico as the senior military commander and then had moved into Command position at US Central Command (CENTCOM); now he would take over as Supreme Allied Commander NATO. The President wasted no time in announcing his choice.
General Wade didn’t waste any time either; his first task was to get the American and NATO forces ready to take on a Russian army that number in the millions of men and tens of thousands in tanks and drones. As soon as he accepted the new position, he immediately began to disperse forward elements in Poland, Hungary and Romania, getting them ready to meet the Russians head on. Their mission was to conduct a series of delaying actions and give ground as required, but most importantly, make sure their forces were neither surrounded nor destroyed. They needed to buy time for the reactivated American Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Armies to constitute.
General Aaron Wade was a very competent commander, but he was an unknown to Europe and NATO. He had never served in a European or NATO command or staff position; spending all of his military time either in the Middle East, Asia or South America. He had scant precious time to move to a theater of operation and take over command of a multinational force he knew very little about. The NATO countries had historically been more of a social club than a military organization. The only countries that really maintained a military close to the NATO standards were Germany, Poland and England. French Special Forces were still on par with the US and others, but the rest of their force was using outdated equipment from decades of neglect and lack of modernization.
The European Union attempted to take over control of the national military forces, and to a large extent they had. Each country’s active military force became a National Guard force, like the ones that the American states each maintained. The exception was Germany’s National Guard force; theirs was as strong and large as the entire EU military force, of which Germany provided nearly 40% of all the military members. Germany was by far the industrial and military backbone of the EU. The question was--would Germany’s strength be enough to save Europe from the Russian hoards, or would the EU collapse?
With the situation temporarily stabilized in Israel, the American Fifth Army was not going to open a second offensive front into Turkey. They were now redirected to form in Northern Germany and be prepared to defend Western Europe. The American Sixth Army was forming in Southern Germany and would move into Hungary and Romania, with their fallback position identified as Serbia and Hungary’s Western border once they were ready. NATO would slowly allow lost ground in order to buy time for the rest of the EU army to mobilize and reinforce the Americans.
General Wade’s combined American Force consisted of 575,000 soldiers, with another 200,000 set to arrive over the next five days. The biggest problem facing him in the EU was equipment. They were in desperate need of tanks, armored vehicles, munitions, artillery and aircraft. The vast majority of the available equipment had been shipped to Israel to replace the horrendous losses General Gardner had taken. The American economy was quickly retooling for war, but it would be months (if not a full year) before the economy could produce enough equipment to
replace the current losses prior to the Russians invading. It was going to be a fight against time. Truth be told, General Wade was not confident he could win.
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Major General Dieter Schoen was the Commander of the German 10th Panzer Division Bundeswehr, which consisted of approximately 12,200 soldiers spread across two armored brigades, a grenadier brigade (Mechanized Infantry), an artillery brigade and a mountain infantry brigade. His division had 680 Leopard 3Cs main battle tanks (the most advanced European battle tank available). Unlike their French counter-parts, these tanks were on par with anything the Russians had. The disadvantage they had was their numbers. The Russians would be advancing into Poland and the rest of the EU with 8,000+ main battle tanks and light drone tanks. As good as the Leopard was, it would not last long against numbers like this. General Schoen knew his best chance of success was to see if he could get an American Pershing battalion to integrate with his tanks division.
Schoen was a rising star in the German Army. He was young, just 39 years of age, and the absolute picture of what you would expect a German General to look like. Tall, blond hair, blue eyes, muscular, and good looking; under the extremely polished and well-starched exterior, the man was also a military genius. He had trained with the Americans at the Army’s Ft. Benning Armor School, and participated in numerous armored training exercises with the Americans, both at the Ft. Irwin National Training Center, and at the US Army Joint Military Training Center in Hohenfels, Germany.
Word had it that Germany was building a new battle tank using the American advance armor and railgun technology…the question was--would it be completed in enough time to make a difference? Intelligence also said the Russians had a new tank that might make its own appearance in the near future.
General Schoen directed his Division to start heading towards Warsaw. Once there, they would offload their tanks and other armored vehicles and begin moving them to various marshaling points, where he could quickly deploy them against the Russians. He wanted to get his scouts and anti-tank units deployed as soon as possible; the key was going to be identifying the likely enemy approaches so that the engineers could determine the best prepared positions to send the tanks and grenadiers.
The EU leadership may not believe the Russians were going to invade, but after hearing General Wade’s speech and seeing the intelligence himself, Schoen wanted to get his division into the field and deployed as soon as possible. This would be the first time the Germany army would be deployed in Europe to fight against another army since World War II. General Schoen was determined to show the world and the Russians that despite not having been involved in any recent wars, the German war machine was something to still fear. The Fatherland was retooling for war; this time as allies with America.
The 13th Panzer Division was moving towards Rzeszow to the south of General Schoen, which was approximately 45 miles west of the Ukrainian border. This was one of the two most vulnerable points for Russian attack; the other was the Lublin/Warsaw gap, and that is where Schoen concentrated his forces. The 13th Panzer Division consisted of two extra brigades of Grenadiers (mechanized infantry) and light anti-tank drones instead of the heavier Leopard 3Cs; this was a good equipment setup for the area that they were guarding, which was loaded with mountain ranges, impassible ridges and rock formations. Combat in this area would certainly turn into close-in fighting. On the other hand, the Lublin/Warsaw gap was relatively flat country; ideal for fast moving tanks. General Schoen placed carefully plotted tank traps in this area, preparing for the first of several tank battles. In addition to controlling the Lublin/Warsaw gap, Schoen was the area Commander and was directing the 10th and 13th Panzer Divisions in order to stop the Russian armored advance.
The Polish Army was going to focus their defense in the north near Bialystok on the Belarus border. Their army was heavily equipped with German-made military equipment, including Leopard 3C tanks, so integrating with the German divisions in Poland was not going to be a problem. The Poles and Germans knew they could give ground for a time, but they were determined to make the Russians pay for each kilometer of ground they took and ensure they kept the Russians out of Germany. If they failed their mission, the industrial machine of Germany, which was the backbone of the EU, would likely fall. Then there would be no hope of producing the tools of war needed to win the ultimate victory.
There was still no sign of the French or Belgium units yet; they were supposed to join the Polish forces in the north and provide them with additional support. In addition to the 10th and 13th Panzer Divisions, Germany was moving an additional three divisions of infantry to shore up defensive positions in and around the major cities in eastern Poland.
Tipping Point
Day Twenty-Four
22 December 2040
Northwest Virginia
Presidential HIVE
The President and his advisors had been monitoring the political situation in Asia and Europe intensely since Stein had ordered an overwhelming nuclear response against the IR. The Chinese media came out with an official statement, insisting that the war remain conventional and agreeing to no longer use nuclear torpedoes or any other form of nuclear weapons. They also said that if the US hit China with a neutron bomb, they would respond with their own colossal nuclear response. The war of words continued to heat up as President Stein had the Secretary of State convey that any nation who used nuclear weapons against the United States would face a similar response to the retribution the IR had just received.
The leaders of the European Union were still in a state of shock at the sheer destruction that the IR had inflicted on New York and Baltimore. They were then further aghast at President Stein’s response; over one hundred and ten million people had been killed, and more than a hundred cities were decimated. They felt that the Americans had responded too harshly in retaliation, not to mention the environmental catastrophe they had just unleashed--thousands of tons of dust particles were being thrown into the upper atmosphere. In an effort to keep his allies appeased, President Stein made it clear that the United States would refrain from further use of nuclear weapons in the war, unless one was used against America or American Forces again.
In addition to the continued possible use of nuclear weapons, the President was still very concerned with the domestic attacks. The IR had masterfully infiltrated Special Forces and intelligence agents into the country, who had, in turn, recruited thousands of American Muslims and Muslim immigrants to conduct terror attacks against the country. This had unfortunately led to more American Muslims joining in to be a part of what they thought was a real chance at a revolution in the country. As a result, hundreds, if not thousands, of reprisals began against American Muslims, the vast majority of whom had absolutely nothing to do with the terror attacks. The violence between the Muslim and non-Muslims in the country had risen to a point where the President had addressed it directly in several briefings. He was hoping to get the American people to calm down and to trust the justice system to handle the threats. Stein encouraged those who were concerned to report suspicious activity to the authorities and let them deal with it.
In the HIVE, the senior advisors were meeting to discuss the recent developments. The President sat down across from the DHS Secretary and jumped right into business. “Director Perez, have we identified any additional IR or Chinese cells in the last couple of days?” The President was hoping they had finally rooted out the last of them.
“Within the first two hours of the Trinity Program going live, we apprehended forty-six suspected IR operatives in Dearborn, MI. We caught them prior to their execution of a massive attack. One of the prisoners said their goal was to encourage a Muslim uprising in Dearborn and Detroit and then support them with weapons and explosives. We captured over 1,200 assault rifles, nearly 8,000 lbs. of Semtex, 14 MANPADs and three dozen Explosively Formed Penetrators (EFPs)--the kind that punch right through our armored vehicles. It was a huge success for DHS and the Trinity Program,” reported Direc
tor Perez.
Breathing a sigh of relief at finally catching a big break, the President replied, “This is a big deal; I want this brought up during the press briefing. See if there is some footage we can release as well. The public needs to know that we are apprehending these terrorists and seeing real results. Has the Trinity Program identified any other significant threats yet?”
Secretary Perez continued saying, “We have. There were sixty-seven Chinese nationals identified that had been working in a variety of jobs in the energy and utility sector. We now believe they may have been directly involved in the massive communications blackout with the Uninet routers and switches. The program also identified 1,385 military officers and NCOs across all branches of the military that have ties in one fashion or another to the PLA, Russia and the IR. All of these individuals had Top Secret clearances and worked in sensitive areas within the military--”
General Branson interjected, “--We are going to place them on trial for treason as well. Sorry for the interruption, Director Perez.”
The Director nodded and continued, “In addition to the military members, 3,456 government civilians and 856 government contractors have been arrested. Not all of these individuals had ties to the PLA; some had ties to the Russians and the IR. Everyone detained is going to be charged and tried for treason once all the evidence has been collected.” Director Perez smiled; he had sense of pride, feeling vindicated for having pushed so hard to make this controversial program operational.
“Where do we stand on getting the communications grid fully restored?” asked the President’s Chief of Staff.
Director Perez brought up another slide with some additional information regarding the various status updates and explained, “As of right now, we have about 75% of the grid back to being operational. There are still some issues with data speed, but that will get resolved as more of the routers are replaced and upgraded. We are finally starting to get the parts we needed from the UK; it’s now more of an issue of replacing the burnt out switches and routers throughout the grid. It’s going to take some time. The aerial drones and aerostat blimps are helping to plug the holes and gaps in the grid for the time being.”
