Carter continued. “All teams for the Brussels assault will be in place by the morning of May the sixteenth. They will have no contact with each other until ten minutes before the assault begins. Because of the lack of satellite communications, at zero three ten Zulu time, an Air Force Raveneye electronic warfare aircraft will overfly Western Europe at an altitude of one hundred and twenty thousand feet. The Raveneye will be flying on course that will arch to the north. This course will provide a fifty-five minute window when it will be able relay signals between the teams in the Urals and Brussels as well as to our forward base in Iceland and the invasion fleet. This will allow the teams to launch coordinated assaults and alert the higher command that the assaults have begun. If everything is on schedule, the assaults will begin at zero three-thirty Zulu.”
“Also at zero three-thirty Zulu teams Delta and Charlie, after having executed separate helicopter insertions, will attack the backup facility in the Urals. Team Delta will assault the command bunker and neutralize it. Team Charlie will destroy the anti-aircraft weapons surrounding the bunker and hold the perimeter so that both teams can be extracted by helicopter when their mission is accomplished.”
General Billings had just taken a long drink from a huge mug of coffee. “What’s your plan for assaulting the command center in Brussels?” he asked; his round, humorless face held cold eyes that fixed on Carter.
“None, Sir,” Carter replied. “As indicated in my written operations plan, any direct assault on the command complex itself would be suicide. It is surrounded by three concentric synthetic granite walls that are forty meters high and five meters thick. The spaces between the walls are mined. The mine fields are one hundred meters wide and every inch of that space is swept my computer controlled twenty-millimeter automatic cannons that have interlocking fields of fire. There is a battalion the First Earth Guards garrisoned there, and a company from that garrison is equipped Mark-23 powered armor. There is also a battalion of secret police there to keep watch over the civilian workers. Additionally, there are nine military bases within fifty kilometers of Brussels. Alert forces from those bases could respond to an attack in Brussels in less a half an hour. I wouldn’t conduct a frontal assault on the central command facility if I had a mechanized infantry division.”
“Then what is your plan?” Billings pressed.
Carter gestured toward a point on the map display. "The intelligence I was given indicates that the senior officers assigned to the Central Command are quartered in this building; a little under one kilometer from the command complex. Intelligence says that there is an underground tunnel connecting the officer’s quarters to the command complex. The tunnel was intended to allow the officers to commute to and from the command complex during aerial attack or in case civil unrest in Brussels made it unsafe to commute on the surface. While the officer’s housing is heavily secured; it is a much softer target than the command complex itself. The tunnel has never been used for anything but drills, but is still being maintained.”
“Team Alpha,” Carter continued, ”will take the officer’s quarters, neutralized the guards and officers there, access the tunnel and, after being joined by the other assault teams, move through it and assault the command complex from within.”
“You are planning to kill the senior officers?” Billings asked.
“Yes, Sir,” Carter replied.
Billings continued his questioning. “Isn’t that a distraction from the mission?”
“Not really Sir,” Carter said. “Team Alpha will be carrying VX-B nerve agent. We will access the building’s air conditioning system and use it to deliver the gas. VX-B kills within twenty seconds and becomes inert and harmless within three minutes after deployment.”
“You mean to say you’re going to gas them all to death in their sleep?” Arthur Pope objected; his pallor changing from its usual pinkish hue to a sickly white.
Carter looked directly at elder Pope. “That’s right.”
The officers at the table had grown silent, but every eye questioned Carter. He answered the next question before it was asked. “The officers that will be killed have been stationed at the Central Command complex for years. They have an intimate knowledge of its daily operations and its’ key systems. Killing them will maximize the damage we do to the enemy’s command and control capability we inflict by the destroying the Central Command. Killing these officers will make it that much more difficult for the enemy to reconstitute their command and control capability.”
Carter paused again, and then went on. “Once the officer’s quarters building has been secured, operators Roth and Sains will set up a sniper’s nest on its’ top floor. This will allow them to provide sniper cover of the command complex outer compound for the open ground adjacent to the south-west corner of the complex’s main building to cover the team’s egress. After deploying sniper teams to positions which will allow them to fire on the other three sides of the command complex, teams Bravo, Echo, and Foxtrot will join Team Alpha and move through the tunnel and prepare to assault complex’s main building.”
Carter paused again briefly before continuing. “We will take out the guard posts at both entrances to the evacuation tunnel and enter the complex’s main building on its first basement level. Once inside the main building, teams Bravo, Echo and Foxtrot will proceed to the first floor, blast a hole in the south wall, exit the main building and assault their respective targets within the compound’s perimeter. Team Bravo will attack the WCA’s army headquarters while teams Echo and Foxtrot will hit the naval and air force headquarters’ respectively.”
“Team Alpha will break into two, three operator elements.” Carted continued. “The first, consisting of Major Williams and operators McNamara and Nagura, will capture the main security control room. This will allow them to open the necessary doors and disable security systems that may impede the assault. They will also disable the perimeter defenses and open several the perimeter gates to the compound for Major Renner’s Special Forces team and one hundred fifty resistance fighters. Major Renner’s force will establish and hold a route for the egress of the assault teams.”
“If you’re going to be carrying VX-B gas,” Simms interjected. “Why not just put that into the main building’s ventilation system? That should clear the way for anything you want to do.”
“Two reasons, Sir,” Carter replied. “First: the environmental control room is in the complex’s seventh sub-basement, six floors down from our point of our entry into the complex and five floors from the control room; which is on first basement level. That much of a detour would break our tactical momentum. Second: the command complex’s ventilation system is monitored by sensors that would detect any chemical agent introduced into the ventilation ducts. This would trigger a total lockdown of the command complex; isolation doors would drop and seal off every section of the building and lock every door in the complex; bringing our assault to a halt. Only a coded signal from an appropriate authority from outside the facility can override such a lock down.”
Carter went on. “The second element, consisting of myself and operators DeFontain and Burgett will proceed to the main control room, kill everyone in it, upload the plague program and, after the plague program has infected the enemy computer network, set up an EMPP device on a five minute delay timer.”
“EMPP?” Arthur Pope asked.
“Electro Magnetic Pulse and Plasma,” Carter answered. “The device will first produce a pulse of electromagnetic energy that will disable any unhardened electronic systems within a one hundred meter radius. The complexes’ main building is has heavy shielding against such pulses originating from outside its walls. However, the computers themselves are not hardened against such attacks. Since the EMPP will be inside the building, our pulse should destroy the command complex’s computers and erase all data stored in their drives. All electronic equipment used by the friendly forces involved in the operation is hardened to withstand the pulse.”
“Seconds after
the pulse,” Carter continued. “A high-energy plasma charge will detonate and incinerate everything within one hundred meter radius.”
“This plague program you’re talking about is some kind of computer virus, then?” Collier asked.
Carter shook his head. “Not precisely, Sir. The plague program is a collection of one hundred-five separate computer viruses. Each individual virus is not only destructive on its own, but is also designed to interact with and compliment the others. This interaction causes the viruses to ‘mutate,’ so-to-speak, and create new destructive programs. This makes it extremely difficult for the enemy to design effective countermeasures since new destructive programs are constantly being created.”
“After the plague program has infected the enemy computer network, the electro-magnetic pulse will disable unshielded electronics and the plasma detonation will disable or destroy the control complex’s computer hardware,” Carter said. “Since the WCA’s computer system is designed so that new programming or software updates cannot be uploaded unless you have physical access to the hardware in one of the Central Command facilities, and since those facilities will either be destroyed or in unfriendly hands after this operation is concluded, it will make impossible for the enemy upload any countermeasures to the plague program, even if they had such countermeasures.”
After pausing for more questions, Carter continued. “Once the EMPP has been set, the two elements of Team Alpha inside the command complex will rejoin with each other and exit the main building through the hole previously blasted by the other assaulting teams. By that time teams Bravo, Echo, and Foxtrot will have destroyed the enemy’s army, air force and naval, command centers. All the assault teams will then fight their way to one of three extraction zones to be extracted by Pueblo assault helicopters. Two of these extraction zones are parking lots adjacent to the Central Command compound that are used by the general public. The third is the roof of a large, multi story parking structure that services the government buildings that surround the Central Command.
Kiowa-two helicopters will meet and extract the sniper teams from their firing positions. Eight Cheyenne gunships will be providing close air support for the extraction and fighters from the battle-carrier USS Arizona will be providing a screen against any enemy fixed wing aircraft.”
“Of course,” Carter added, “we also have alternate contingency plans if, for instance, we fail to achieve an adequate level of surprise at the officer’s quarters and have to blow our way through the blast doors in the evacuation tunnel”
General Casner held up a hand. “You won’t be using Mohawks for your extraction Helos?”
“No Sir,” Carter replied. “The Mohawk’s stealth capabilities are a huge tactical asset but, by the time we’re ready for the assault teams to be extracted, the time for stealth will be over. The whole city will be awake. The Pueblos are faster and better armored than the Mohawks. They also carry more ammunition; making them better suited for a hot extraction.”
General Simms cocked his head slightly, “What if you’re unable to get to any of your extraction zones?”
“In that case, Sir,” Carter responded. “The assault teams will break into pairs; rejoin with the underground organization, and attempt to make their way to the coast to be picked up by submarine. A rendezvous schedule has already been determined and memorized by every FIRE team operator.”
“I’ll leave it to the other team leaders to brief you on the plans for their respective objectives,” Carter said after a short pause.
“I don’t think that will be necessary, Colonel,” Collier said. “This briefing wasn’t intended to pick apart you planning, as much as it was to see how confident you are with the plan. You seem to be quite confident. I want to know one thing, though: what is the one aspect of the plan that you have the least confidence in?”
“That would have to be the intelligence, Sir. It’s so damn detailed,” Carter said. “The Central Command Complex is the nerve center of the most technologically sophisticated authoritarian police state in human history. Having this much detailed information on it seems too good to be true. I know I’ve beaten this horse to death, but I’m worried that a lot of what the intel we have is disinformation.”
“That would worry me too, Colonel,” the admiral said. “But maybe I can ease your concerns a bit.” Collier gestured toward a chair at the table. “Have a seat,” he said to Carter.
Collier sat next to Carter and turned to face him. “Colonel, we have been collecting the intelligence for this raid since before Red Team was formed. From the moment we realized the potential of the paragene, we knew we could use a team of paranormals for cracking key enemy targets. The intel you’ve been using in your planning isn’t from one or two sources, it from hundreds of sources that gave us small bits of information a little at a time over the last six years. Thousands of people spent millions of man hours collecting, analyzing, and verifying this intelligence. It may have been the most intensive intelligence gathering effort, focused on a single target, in the history of military intelligence.”
Carter nodded. “I appreciate that Sir. I don’t mean to question anyone’s professionalism.”
“I know that,” Collier said. “You have a lot of weight on your shoulders. If the intel is bad it’s you and the FIRE teams that will pay the price. But I’m telling you that no military operation in history has had more intelligence resources allocated to support it.”
“I understand Sir,” Carter said. “Is there anything else you need from me?”
“Just one more thing,” General Hicks said. “We’ve chosen a name for your operation: Operation Swift Sword. The overall invasion is called operation Freedom’s Wrath. Do you have any questions for us, Colonel?”
“Yes Sir,” Carter said, turning his head to look at the younger Pope. “I’d like to know what Colonel Pope’s role in this operation.”
Hicks scowled. “Colonel Pope will be one of my deputy mission commanders,” he said. “He’ll be responsible for coordinating the extraction force.”
Carter’s expression hardened as he turn back to find the younger Pope smiling sickly at Carter’s apparent discomfort
“Do you have a problem with Colonel Pope’s participation in this operation Colonel Carter?” General Simms asked.
“Yes, Sir,” Carter said. “I most certainly have a problem with Colonel Pope.” His eyes never left the younger Pope.
Hicks took Carter’s arm and began leading him toward the room’s exit. “I think we should let Colonel Carter get back to work,” he said. “I walk out with you, Colonel.”
Hicks didn’t speak again until they were alone in the elevator on they were on their way to the surface. “Shit, Doug; do the words 'bull in a china shop’ mean anything to you? You insulted Pope in front his father; a goddamn undersecretary of defense, for Christ’s sake.”
“Fuck Pope and his daddy,” Carter said flatly.
“Well, you’re stuck with him,” Hicks said. “I tried to exclude him from the mission, but his father overruled me.”
Carter squared his shoulders. “Then you need to appoint an operations officer for the extraction force before Pope does, Sir,” he said. “You have to freeze Pope out as much as humanly possible. We’ll need someone to handle tactical coordination in cooperation with Chief Donner. Donner will be the on-sight commander of the extraction force, but the operations officer will help determine the final composition of the extraction force and keep Donner informed of enemy activity and guide the extraction force around enemy strong points to and from the target. That officer can also keep an eye on Pope.”
Hicks smirked. “I’ll just bet you have someone in mind.”
“Chief Donner recommends Major Ronald Durst,” Carter said. “He’s at Fort Campbell with 160th Special Operations Air Regiment. He was wounded in the Rocky Mountain campaign, and is in a wheelchair now, so he’s limited to the planning staff and does some classroom instructing, but no one knows air-assault tactics better tha
n he does. Chief Donner recommended him, so you count on him to be tough minded and not afraid to stand his ground with Pope.”
“I’ll get him,” Hicks said. “Do you really think that Pope will be that much of a liability to the mission?” he asked.
“I wouldn’t let Pope command a Boy Scout troop at a jamboree,” Carter said. “But it’s not his military incompetence that really worries me; it’s his agenda. A lot of people who were a threat to Pope seem to get themselves killed on missions he’s involved in, and he has a vested interested in seeing the extraction fail. That way, Brandon and I get killed, but the mission is a success and Pope gets credit for taking part in it. That seems to be his standard operating procedure. ”
“Shit, Doug: you’re all but accusing a fellow officer of plotting the murder of forty eight American and allied soldiers as well as treason.”
“Sir, you know the history that Brandon and I have with Pope; and you know what happened to Barry Macek and his team,” Carter Said.
“There was no proof that Macek died from anything but any enemy action,” Hicks said, trying to convince himself that his own words were true.
“Barry Macek’s unit was ambushed and wiped out while coming back from operation that was based on intelligence provided by Pope four weeks after Macek refused to withdraw cowardice charges against Pope,” Carter said. “The court martial was held anyway, and Brandon and I testified against Pope. But, without Barry’s testimony, the JAG lawyers had to settle for a punitive letter of reprimand. Brandon and I still know what happened that day in Texas, though.
“Macek’s last mission was successful, and Pope used his involvement in it to wrangle his promotion to lieutenant colonel. But, with that letter of reprimand in his file, he’s never going to make general. Once operation Swift Sword is successful, and he’s listed as its deputy commander, he just might be able to get past that reprimand and eventually get some stars for his uniform. From there, he could get a nice cabinet position or maybe a run for office. But he can’t do that if Brandon and I are still around.”
The Fate Of Nations: F.I.R.E. Team Alpha: Book One Page 13
