Red Alert- Missles Inbound

by Cliff Deane

  The President was enthusiastic about the PR Blitz and ordered the COS to proceed. Now, the President of the United States released a deep sigh. She hadn’t realized that she had been holding her breath. She smiled and looked to General “Triple H” Howard and asked him to bring everyone up to speed on the progress concerning the Ranger Battalions and their families who would take up residence in the Mount Weather Bunker.

  “Thank you, Madame President. I am pleased to announce that the preparations for the Ranger Battalions and their families are ready to be put into operation.”

  “Excellent,” smiled the President.

  Mack Holland, Chief of Homeland Security was up next, and the President asked, “Mack, how are the preps going for Mount Weather and Cheyenne Mountain?”

  “Madame President, the stocking of supplies in both facilities is going very well. There has, of course, been a somewhat significant uptick in the number of service vehicles in and out of both facilities. We are trying to downplay this issue by utilizing several vendors. We hope that this tactic will help keep the talk down. One service with a huge upswing of deliveries could cause unwanted attention.”

  The COS asked, “Mack, what more remains to be shipped?”

  Mack Holland said, “I’m afraid that we are nowhere near completion of the necessary items. However, I am confident that we will be finished well before our drop-dead date.

  “Just food alone for a group of more than two-thousand people for up to four years is a staggering amount. We’ve had construction crews adding to the facilities at Mount Weather. These additions will house some fairly massive greenhouses and a large rabbit ranch to provide fresh meat and fertilizer. Then comes clothing requirements for the civilians and uniforms for the military contingent. Sanitary products, TP, water access, vehicles, weapons, ammunition, diesel fuel to run the generators for four years, and that is far from all. Fortunately, the cold fusion plants were already up and running.”

  “Yes,” said the COS, “I see your point. I tell you, Mack, I do not envy you this job, and, I’m sorry, but I have to ask, how will you select women’s clothing?” This caused everyone to chuckle, but Mack attempted to remain serious. Ultimately, he failed miserably.

  Mack also laughed as he said, “Sir, we have decided to provide jumpsuits in all possible sizes. The civilians can have them in whatever color they want, as long as they want dark blue.”

  “Mack,” said the President, “let’s back up on that issue and provide several colors of jumpsuits. We can use them to identify differing job types.”

  “Yes, Madame President, I should have thought of that myself. What is your personal preference for Government attire?”

  Eileen said, “I don’t really have a preference, other than we exclude pink. I just think it would be good for morale if everyone isn’t wearing the exact same color. If you are unable to find sufficient colors, then you might try white and get a lot of dye.”

  “Yes, ma’am, I’ll get right on it.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  November 2117

  The U.S. Presidential Election saw President Greene reelected by a landslide. The Legislative Elections, however, did not fare quite so well. Many of the newly elected members of both Houses were from what the media called the Jesus Coalition. They were to be sworn into office on March 10, 2118.

  Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and Bahrain, had all agreed to the premise of Israel’s right to exist some seventy-five years before. Now, these Muslim nations not only fully recognized Israel as a nation but formed an anti-Iranian Pact with their, now friendly, Zionist neighbor.

  The world seemed to settle into a period of relative calm as the comet, Holly Thorne became visible to the naked eye. The months raced by.

  The Holly Thorne mission was progressing as planned. The SRI-F, though downplayed the progress of Operation HT. They did remain close enough to monitor progress. Admiral’s King and Volodin appeared to become fast friends and visited each other’s ships regularly.

  The world had settled back into the normal everyday existence.

  81 Days to Holly Thorne

  15 December 2117

  Oval Office

  White House, Washington DC

  President Greene had just finished a long and difficult meeting with the “loyal opposition” and was exhausted. She stood to stretch her legs, then opened the door to the outer office.

  She said, “Tessa, please get the COS, (ret General Wolfe), Admiral Perry, General Howard, Mr. Gordon Winter, and Mr. Mack Holland on my schedule for 3:15 this afternoon and cancel all of my remaining appointments for the day.”

  “Yes, ma’am, I’ll get right on it,” replied the President’s Secretary.

  At 3:15 pm the COS, Admiral Perry, General Howard, Mr. Gordon Winter, and Mr. Mack Holland were ushered into the Presidential Conference Room.

  The President entered the room one minute later. “Gentlemen, please take a seat.”

  Once everyone was seated, President Eileen Greene, as usual, cut right to the crux of this ad-hoc meeting. “As I am sure you all know, the SRI-F has, this very morning, countered our publicity blitz with one of their own. Theirs, of course, claims that the mission to move Holly Thorne has actually been a complete failure. My friends, this can only be the prelude to the attack which Admiral Perry warned us about just a few months ago. Admiral Perry, would you please share your thoughts on this new development?”

  “Yes, Madame President, of course. I am in complete agreement with your estimate. The SRI-F is, unquestionably, preparing to attack and destroy our fleet. They will use this lie about the failure of Operation HT as a ruse. We can expect tensions to rise over the next few days. I anticipate their attack will commence somewhere between 28 January and 1 February.”

  “Thank you, Admiral, now General Howard; your thoughts?”

  “Madame President, I can only add that if Admiral Perry is correct, and I am sure that he is, we must increase our Def-Con status to at least Level 3. I would also suggest that you contact the SRI-F Chairman, personally, and make it clear to him that firing missiles at our comet could lead to a global tragedy.”

  “Thank you, General. All right, let’s shift gears just a bit. Mack, please tell us that you are nearing completion of stocking Mount Weather.”

  “Madame President,” said Mr. Mack Holland, the Chief of Homeland Security, “I am pleased to say that we will complete this mission within the next ten days, guaranteed.”

  “Now, that, my friends, is truly wonderful news,” said a somewhat relieved President Greene.

  16 December 2117

  CNN News

  London Office

  A panel of four talking heads sat behind an elevated plexiglass desk. They were discussing the SRI Federation claims that the USUG Confederation was falsifying data to show that Holly Thorne’s trajectory realignment was nearly complete.

  The Russian’s produced a video demonstrating their contention that the actual path of this monster comet was boring down upon the Earth. The SRI-F pledged to destroy the comet Holly Thorne if the USUG Confederation proved to not be up to the task of safely removing her.

  CNN then ran the SRI-F video, produced quite elegantly by RT (Russian TV) News Network. This vid which purported to prove that the massive comet, Holly Thorne, had not, in fact, been altered at all. The RT film then portrayed a computerized image of the destruction of all life on Earth should this comet strike our planet.

  The panel of talking heads accepted the RT film as proof that the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany had failed miserably in their effort to move the comet. This failure, the panel decided, placed the Earth and Luna in the crosshairs of Holly Thorne.

  Within twenty-four hours, this roundtable discussion managed to convince nearly one-half of the world’s population that the SRI-F version of events was true, as opposed to the USUG-C’s claims of successfully altering the comet’s path.

  The members of the panel had sided with the SRI-F and their proclamation
that the USUG-C, specifically the government of President Eileen Greene, had placed the Earth and Luna in potentially dire straits.

  The RT News Network also parroted the CNN reports. These two quasi-news outlets fed off each other and were soon followed by socialist networks from around the planet. World opinion quickly began to slip away from the USUG-C, as only two major news outlets, FOX and the German Station WELT TV openly supported the USUG-C contention that all was well with the Holly Thorne mission.

  Around the world, protests began to spring up in support of the SRI-F position and demanded that the USUG-C withdraw to allow the SRI-F Fleet to destroy the comet.

  1 February 2118

  On Station

  50,000 miles Portside of Holly Thorne

  The USUG-C Crewmen grew ever more pensive as the attack, which had been anticipated between 28 January and today, 1 February had not come. Each member of Taffy III knew that the SRI-F would soon attack, but tension or no, they were ready and eager to end the fight.

  Admiral King and Captain Flynn enjoyed breakfast in the Captain’s Ready Room.

  Captain Ward sat in his Ready Room having breakfast and watching a video feed showing the SRI-F Cruisers. In just a nanosecond the video screen displayed the launch of dozens of missiles exiting their silos on the SRI-F ships.

  Captain Ward jumped to his feet, spilling a carafe of coffee onto the floor. Klaxons began echoing throughout the SDF Fleet. RED ALERT: MISSILES INBOUND. Spacers rushed to their Battle Stations.

  On board the USSN Astrid, Phobos, and Deimos, the laser gunnery crews were fully manned with lasers pre-ranged and sighted in on the six Cruisers of the SRI-F Fleet. At only twenty-thousand miles from the SRI-F, the 1,000 kWh Lasers simply could not miss.

  Captain Ward rushed to the Bridge as the Klaxons continued their ahoogha wailing. As he rushed through the door to the Bridge, he shouted, “Open fire!” Taking his Command Chair, Ward demanded, “XO, status, and shut off those damned klaxons!”

  “Aye, sir, as per your orders our laser gunners opened fire on their assigned SRI-F targets immediately upon sensor detection of the missiles being launched by the SRI-F. Sir, all seven enemy ships were destroyed with the first salvo from our ninety laser batteries. The inbound missiles directed against Taffy III have now also been destroyed. We are currently systematically destroying the sixty missiles fired at the comet.”

  “Very well, Number One, were we able to get them all?”

  At just that instant the video stream turned white as, at least, one SRI-F missile detonated a thirty-megaton blast which significantly damaged Holly Thorne. The blast sheared off debris in an arc of roughly two-hundred and seventy degrees from the impact point.

  The video quickly returned, showing thousands of rocks being hurled out into space. Much of this debris was directed on an unavoidable path toward the three USUG-C mining vessels.

  Captain Ward, realizing that he had perhaps only twenty to thirty minutes before the shrapnel struck his ship and that he could not get out of the debris field before the three mining ships were overwhelmed, ordered the ship to roll onto its side. This position only exposed storage and ore bays to the oncoming rocks. Along the ship’s bottom were six laser blisters which were at once put into action to destroy as many of the incoming meteors as possible. Phobos and Deimos followed the example of Astrid, to provide the least vulnerable aspect to the incoming meteors. The laser crews did an admirable job, but they were simply flooded by the tsunami of debris.

  Admiral King quickly made contact and asked if the Astrid could get out of the way of the debris.

  “No, sir, that’s not going to be possible. Perhaps if we had an hour, we might have attempted to run, but our computer tells us that the incoming rocks are traveling at speeds of up to ninety-thousand miles per hour. I have ordered our ships to roll onto their sides to expose only storage and ore bays. Still, at those speeds, many hits will go through both sides of our ships. We’ll doubtless suffer many casualties. All we can do is hold tight and hope for the best.

  “Admiral, I hope you have turned the fleet and are under full thrust at a forty-five-degree oblique angle. You may be able to reach safety by getting ahead of the debris path.”

  King said, “Yes, Al, we have done exactly that. I believe we’ll make it. Our scans indicate that the meteor shower will be short-lived. It should last no more than a few seconds for nearly all of Holly’s debris to pass. I wish you God’s blessings, my friend.”

  “Thank you, Admiral, a bit of luck headed our way would be a very good thing. Our own scans show that the arc of the meteors headed our way will widen significantly over the fifty-thousand miles from the comet. That spreading arc may save us. Still, there is a lot of crap heading directly at us. The Gunnery Crews are already engaged, but it will be a close thing. I’ll contact you as soon as this wall of rocks has passed.”

  The pieces of Holly Thorne approached the three ships as though fired from a shotgun and all three vessels suffered significant hull breaches. Over three-hundred crewmen died from both explosive decompression and being struck by the comet’s fragments.

  God’s blessing was, in fact, with the three mining ships as none of the giant meteor pieces struck home, thanks to the excellent gunnery of the laser crews. The remainder of the SDF fleet was able to get ahead of the debris and were able to avoid being struck.

  Once hull repair crews were dispatched both inside and to the outer hulls, Captain Ward contacted his Admiral with status updates and damage reports.

  “Sir,” said Captain Ward, “Captains Chen and Putin report similar damage to that of the Astrid; many hull breaches by small meteors. They will forward full reports to you as soon as the information is available. We got lucky, sir, very lucky. We anticipate forming back up and making way to Mars within the next couple of hours.

  “Admiral, I don’t think I can ever express how truly thankful I am that you were the man in charge, or how pleased I am to have had the honor to serve with you. Godspeed, sir, I am, and always will be, your friend.”

  Sky King felt humbled by Captain Alan Ward’s words and responded in like manner, adding that he hoped that the two might one day serve together yet again.

  1 February 2118

  President’s Conference Room

  White House

  1600 Pennsylvania Ave,

  Washington, DC, USA

  The President of the United States of America, Mrs. Eileen N. Greene entered the Conference Room and directed everyone present to take their seats. She then convened the meeting and began with Admiral Perry.

  “Madame President, just an hour ago the SRI-F Fleet attacked both the comet and the USUG-C Fleet with nuclear-tipped missiles, just as Admiral King had predicted. The SRI-F Fleet fired sixty nuclear-tipped missiles at Holly Thorne, and ten additional missiles at the USUG-C Fleet.

  “Admiral King was prepared for this possibility, and within two seconds of confirmation of the SRI-F missile firing, the Mining Vessels made short work of the SRI-F Fleet. As King had predicted the laser fire took out the entire SRI-F Fleet in less than a second. Unfortunately, one missile did get through to Holly Thorne. This single blast broke a portion of the comet into thousands of fragments. Hundreds struck the hulls of the three mining vessels. None of the ships were destroyed, and repair crews were able to repair the damage within a few hours. Casualties were two-hundred and thirty crewmen, two, of which, were part of the EVA repair crews.”

  The President’s Secretary burst into the Oval Office and said, “Madame President, the Chairman of the SRI Federation is on the phone. He sounds near panic and wishes to speak with you immediately.”

  The call was forwarded to the President’s phone, which she placed on speaker so everyone could hear the conversation. “Madame President,” said, Chairman Alexi Belinsky, “I have just learned of the horrible situation at the Holly Thorne site. This action was not sanctioned by anyone in the SRI Federation. This attack against Holly Thorne was solely the responsibility of the n
ewly promoted Admiral Volodin. As I am sure you know, our entire fleet was destroyed by the debris from the comet.

  “I am making this call to ensure that you do not take any action which could plunge our planet into a global war. As you know, the SRI Federation seeks only peace and equity with the USUG-Confederation. We, therefore, want you to know that we hold no ill will against the USUG-C. We hope that, by this call, and the fact that our alert status has been lowered to Def Con 1, that you will do the same and we can avoid war.”

  “Mr. Chairman, I deeply appreciate your communication and your acceptance of responsibility for this disaster. I, tentatively, agree to a military stand-down and I will communicate with you again following talks with our allies. Until then, I insist that all construction of SRI-F Spacecraft be halted until the completion of our future discussions. Are we in agreement on this interim issue?”

  “What? Why? How could you even ask for such a thing? No, this is impossible. I cannot agree to such a proposal, no, never.”

  “Alexi, let’s stop the posturing and talk sensibly. You are certainly aware of the USUG Cruisers above each of the SRI-F Capitals. I have ordered those Warships to redeploy to the construction sites of your military shipbuilding facilities. If construction continues, I will order those facilities destroyed.

  “My friend, you must know that your agreement on this condition will go far in proving that you are a peace-loving Federation. Failure to comply will result in the destruction of those facilities. Alexi, I implore you to cease construction in this tension-filled time. Let us seek a peaceful resolution. We mean you no harm. Are we agreed?”