Outlier earth, p.26
Outlier Earth, page 26
He was still in contact with all three task forces and they had no contacts. He had the thought for the first time that he might never get back to his wife and garden in Henan. He shook his head to clear it.
"Contact sir. Multiple inbound objects. Ballistic paths – no. They are maneuvering sir. Defensive missiles launched and tracking." There was a long pause – it seemed longer than it was. "Miss – miss – hit sir. They're still coming."
"Evasive maneuvers! Flank speed. Disperse the fleet. If we're separated, they can't damage us too badly."
"It's going to hit the Xu Xiake first off to leeward," said the radar operator.
"We'll see what we have to worry about. Their missile tech isn't supposed to be much better than ours."
"Aiya!" the Admiral said as he threw his arm up to shield his eyes from the scintillating flash as the tungsten rod hit. "Brace for impact!" the Admiral yelled knowing it wouldn't help – and he was right. The next rod hit his carrier flight deck destroying the entire ship in a nuclear holocaust.
A few outlying ships survived. Many were capsized and sunk by the waves. A few of the crew and passengers made it into the water but most would die there. The smaller ships didn't have the capacity to rescue many. The support ships with extra food had been sunk with the rest of the fleet. None of the civilian ocean liners carrying troops had survived.
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General Viho was ready to collapse he was so tired. "It's over," he said.
Major Dustu came up to him. "Sir. Go get some rest. I'll take over here. Sir. It's not over yet. We have to recapture Panama and Belize – the Suez Canal. We have to dislodge their troops from Africa and other places around the world or this will just recur as soon as they can recover. We need to destroy their ability to build weapons and help share economically with them – make them dependent on us. It's not over sir."
"How many died in this insanity?"
"Counting civilians in Wichita – there were almost 380,000 dead on this continent. A rough estimate of their losses would be over four hundred thousand enemy troops died," Dustu explained.
"Gods! So many in so little time," Viho cried. He looked around – nearly collapsing from fatigue.
The major nodded to a sergeant nearby. "The sergeant here will help you back to your quarters. Sergeant...if you would." The sergeant aided Viho out of the room.
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Ama tracked down Alan as he was leaving the operations center. "Are you as tired as I am?"
"Yes. Exhausted. I'm headed back to rendezvous with my cruiser. I plan to get some sleep. Join me," he said.
She gave him a one-sided smile, cocking her head. "I thought you were tired," she said mischievously.
Alan blushed. He was tired. He couldn't even remember how many years it had been since he had blushed. "I didn't mean… I hadn't thought about…"
She let him flounder a moment before rescuing him. "I was just kidding you. I'm exhausted. I'll join you aboard rather than sleep here. Where is the ship – oh – I see it. Let's…" she said as the cruiser cleared air traffic control and landed a hundred meters away.
Sara. Deal with General Ollocot. We can't leave him to take control as incompetent as he is. He would be fine posturing around in a peacetime setting but not prosecuting a war denouement. He would target civilians and damage the enemy food production.
Doing it now. He will have the symptoms of a stroke. He definitely showed enough aberrant behavior in the past. I'll have the nanite collar disperse. What do you need next? Sara thought back to him.
We need to plan the disruption of all the enemy war production. Target all that and send the information to Dustu and Viho. Get the latest updates from all surveillance intercepts and set up plans for prisoner holding facilities somewhere doable – close to a naval base maybe. Get some labor plans to improve roadways or water distribution systems near there. Send those plans to Dustu. Get our latest intelligence intercepts – oh – use any Winikobo ships and try to rescue any survivors. Plan for some troops, food, and medical treatment with any you find.
The ship landed and Ama and Alan went aboard. It wasn't long before Flavia, Daphne, and Jair also came back and boarded. Everyone was worn out.
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Chinese/Indian Fleet Remnants – Mid Ocean - South Atlantic
The Destroyer Dalian survived only because its new engines had developed trouble and lagged behind the fleet while it underwent repair. The crew had been appalled by the slaughter of the fleet and struggled to pick up the injured and scattered survivors of the decimated fleet. The captain knew that they could not continue their mission. There would be too many troops aboard to do anything for any combat. Normally the ship crewed with a complement of 300. The ship now carried almost 2,000 with many of them injured.
"Captain," the communications officer called to the captain. "Sir. I have a contact that is asking for you by name. It reports it is Captain Chatto of a Winikobo Space Cruiser - Apache."
"I'll be in my ready room. Patch him through to me there."
"Aye sir."
"This is the Captain Xin. What do you want?" the captain answered feeling anger overlaid with his fatigue. "How do you know my name?"
"I have files on your ship and crew."
"Get to the point," Captain Xin said obviously dubious about the claim.
"Do you surrender?" Captain Chatto asked.
"I suppose you will sink us if I say no." The Apache did not respond.
"What terms? How will my people be treated?" Xin asked.
"You would proceed to these coordinates: 32°49'4.25" N -79°55'24.23" W. You would leave all weapons on the ship and disembark. You would be treated as prisoners of war even though your countries have failed to notify us that they were, indeed, at war with us. You would be fed and clothed and provided medical aid. You would be transported to an inland prisoner holding facility. You would be transported to your countries once hostilities are ended and a peace treaty is ratified."
Captain Xin thought, Charleston Harbor. Probably our closest port and our mission destination anyway. "We can make that in about three days at current speed. You seem very well informed."
"We have files on every person and ship in your fleet. We also have files on all personnel in your armies – including your allies. We are trying to stop this from escalating."
"If you know so much about me – tell me about my ship and executive officer," Xin said to see if he could puncture Chatto's claim. The answer would be indicative on how disastrous the leaks were that led to their defeat in this battle.
"Your ship in the Destroyer Dalian, 13,000 tons with a regular complement of 300. I'll skip your armament and propulsion. You can make 56 km/hour. It was commissioned three years ago from the Dalian shipyard in Liaoning. You are Captain Zhou Xin from Henan Province. Your executive officer is Commander Zhuan Xu and he went to college at Henan Institute of Engineering in Zhenzhou. Sir. Your western fleet has been destroyed as well. You could make landfall tomorrow afternoon at your current speed. Drop your colors and raise a white flag."
"We shall do as you say." He could always fire off all their missiles and torpedoes as they got in range. Yes, he thought. They could redeem their honor that way.
"Captain Xi," Captain Chatto seemingly reading his very thoughts. "If you fire anything we will destroy the cities of all of your crew. We have a listing of all their home cities. We will strike them with nuclear weapons from space just like you dropped asteroids killing hundreds of thousands of our civilians without ever declaring war on us. My ship alone has the ability to do so and always has had the ability to do so. Strike your colors now. Put up a white flag or condemn your troops. It's a button press for me. You have five minutes starting now. Chatto out."
We killed hundreds of thousands of civilians, he anguished over the thought. They hadn't lied about anything else. He got up still feeling stunned. "Drop the colors! Put up a white flag! We only have a couple minutes. Move!"
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Chinese/Japanese Fleet Remnants – Northern Pacific
The Chinese ship escorting the two allied ships (one from Japan and one from Vietnam) had lagged behind the invasion fleet. The Chinese missile frigate Nantong had been dispatched to 'herd' the wayward Japanese Destroyer Escort Sendai and the Vietnamese Molinaya III Missile Corvette. The Molinaya had gone north – purportedly in the Aleutians when the Fleet commander had sent the Nantong to round up the ships right after they had refueled. There 'wandering' had saved three ships.
Commander Lian Cheng was upset when he was sent on this 'task' to retrieve the two 'allies'. He knew they were deserting but could not imagine how they thought they would get away with it. He did use the occasion to get their leaders to come aboard his ship. The commander from the Japanese Destroyer Escort and the Lieutenant Commander from the Corvette were at attention.
"At ease," Commander Cheng said. He suspected they were deserting but he agreed with them if that was the case. He had a doctorate in history and was disgusted with the reasoning behind this 'war'. He had only joined the Navy when he couldn't get a job teaching history and wanted a decent paying job so he could maybe find a mate. He directed the two commanders into his small ready room and reached into a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of 110 proof Baijiu – drinkable lighter fluid to some – nectar of the gods for others. He pulled out three glasses and started pouring. The other two looked at each other and then reached to take a glass. They toasted each other – holding their glasses lower than Commander Cheng of course but it seemed genuine.
"Tell me, why you went this direction. I suspect it wasn't navigational errors?" Cheng said and took another sip.
The two looked at each other again and decided they were caught or they had support. The commander of the missile corvette said, "We were going to turn for Russia. We saw those molecular disruptors that the alien traders brought. The Winikobo have been technologically ahead of us for hundreds of years. Our leaders," he said with disdain. "Think that they will roll over without a fight. Our leaders planned to drop asteroids on their main bases with the few spacecraft we have. The Winikobo have had spacecraft for hundreds of years and have many more than we do. What's to keep them from doing the same thing to us?"
"I agree but why now?" Cheng asked. "Why did you split off the fleet a few hours ago?"
"We split off when the satellite down links went dead. We had a lot of satellites in orbit. We are not the ones controlling the gravity well. We were headed out of harm's way – maybe Russia."
"We still have to…" There was loud commotion outside the ready room door. They hurriedly put away the glasses and rushed out to the bridge.
"Sir," said an ensign. "There were several large flashes in the direction of the fleet. There's another," he said as they watched several mushroom clouds boil up just over the horizon.
Commander Cheng understood what nuclear weapons meant to an unprotected naval fleet. "We should put up white flags and rescue anyone who might have survived that. Return these men to their ships. We are to be search and rescue now. See if you can contact anyone. Radio silence is no longer a priority. As soon as they are safely away – head to the fleet – the fleet's last location. Navigator. Locate the closest ports we could reach. Give me as many options as you can."
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General Viho, Major Dustu, Alan and Ama sat down in the conference room off of the central operations center. Viho looked like he had some rest.
Viho looked at Dustu. "First; let me say that General Ollocot passed away last night – apparently of a stroke. I suppose the pressure was too much." Everyone took it in stride. "Major. Bring me up to speed. Where do we stand?"
"Sir. The Eastern and Western attack fleets have been decimated. There is a ship, the Chinese Destroyer Dalian, approaching Charleston Harbor. They've surrendered but all their weapons are intact. They are packed to the gunnels. We are overflying them with the space cruisers every half hour but they could still launch all their weaponry. The captain of the WSF Apache told them we would nuke ever hometown of their 300-man crew if any weapons were fired."
"Seems like we're taking a terrible risk," Viho said as he pulled up the armament records on the Dalian on his slate.
"Sir," Dustu said. "We need someone to explain what happened to their fleet instead of them just disappearing. Their leaders will not believe us. We also need to treat them humanely if we are to negotiate a long-lasting peace. We can't fight every generation because they lost so many of their family. I've directed the construction of a prisoner holding facility just south of the harbor and the prefab building were available from a civilian source. They won't have to be transported far and there are only about 2,000. We can contain them with three companies of troops plus there are nearby civilian medical facilities to treat the injured. I've redirected troops to disembark them and transport them to the holding facilities."
"What about Wichita and our two bases?" Viho asked. " Should we expect more asteroids to rain down on us? Are there any more of their ships out there?"
"There could be sir but we've accounted for all but one or two and we are keeping a much closer eye on that right now. They could hit us later if this lasts much longer – their supplies would not last them more than a month or two without resupply. We haven't detected a space station – no resupply points at Lagrange points or any base on the moon but we're not dropping our guard," Dustu explained.
"Our bases? Wichita?" Viho was anxious. "Our council has been dunning me for information. This has come too fast for most of the citizenry to absorb. With no ramp up with threats and accusations – the war came as a surprise to them. I suppose I was negligent about intelligence." Viho looked down – lost in introspection for a moment.
"The bases in Yuman and Haida are simply gone. The civilian housing nearby went with the bases. There is little in the way of injured in the peripheries – everything is just gone. Wichita isn't there anymore. Surrounding forces can handle the few survivors. I've redirected some troops but it will be a day or two before they get squared away. We estimate casualties at 380,000 – give or take ten thousand."
"What about the western invasion fleets and their nukes?"
"Sir. We detected five surviving ships but they only appear to be picking up survivors. Those ships have apparently all struck their colors and are on search and rescue. All are flying white flags according to surveillance operations. They appear to be heading toward the Chinese islands of Hawaii."
General Viho looked around the group. "Where do we go from here?"
Dustu was quiet and they all looked to Alan.
"Your counterstrikes. Have you considered how to respond so they don't do this again in a few years?"
Viho looked totally out of his depth. "I don’t know. What do you recommend? Should we attack to retake Panama and Belize? The Suez Canal? Africa?"
"You need to destroy their base near the Suez Canal and any ancillary bases they have with your spacecraft. You then need to destroy any shipyards building warships. I'll get you lists of the cartels in China, India, Vietnam and Japan that are pushing this war. Send notification to all their embassies in Europe and government communication centers showing the destruction of Wichita and our two military bases. List the names of all the dead from the eight teams sent to attack us preemptively.
He continued. "Their military power must be destroyed psychologically and institutionally. Their business conglomerates must be broken. The hardline political and industrial leaders must be removed. You need to do this tonight – use all your spacecraft. You need to establish trade unions, ban slavery in any form, and drop any embargos so you can reestablish trade routes to Europe and Asia. You must transfer non-military tech – notably your teaching machines and make your Phafalotoi languages a requirement for everyone doing business. Flourishing economies with strong middle classes don't make war as often." Sara. You've been targeting all the hardline leaders and cartel power centers, haven't you?
Of course. I've sent all the coordinates to Dustu to send to the space fleet, Sara thought back to Alan.
Everyone started looking at the files that showed up on his slate listing information about each proposed target. Everyone stared at the lists for several minutes. General Viho let out a huge breath.
"Do we have to destroy all this infrastructure? There will be civilian loss of life. Should we attack them at the dead of night? There would be less death," Viho said.
Dustu spoke up. "The new military bases immediately and the industrial centers to break the cartels mostly at night then. General?"
"Do it. I will be writing the peace terms with you two," Viho said indicating Ama and Alan. "No one is going to question me since this will happen so fast. I've learned that responding with a fait accompli as the French say is the appropriate response."
Ama laughed. "I didn't know you knew French."
"Young lady. I was once young and traveled. The learning devices we obtained from the Allung cemented us a nation – maybe a shared language – even an alien language may be the best bet for peace. Do you happen to have some rough draft for me to look at don't you? You always seem to be three steps ahead of anyone here."
Alan chuckled. "I do have some 'boilerplate' stipulations you should 'request' from your adversaries," he said as the General reviewed the file. Ama's, and Dustu's slates gave out a tone from receiving files.'
Dustu looked up from his slate. "The raids on the enemy bases have been confirmed by our spacecraft. The declaration of war with photos of Wichita and our two bases has been sent to all adversarial and neutrally allied countries. Countries all over Europe have received notifications also. The Allung rods are being targeted to fourteen military sites all over the world. This is simply the military bases outside their home countries. Further strikes will begin tomorrow morning in their home countries."
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