Battlefield Korea

Mourn with Those Who Mourn

The President’s Chief of Staff had just finished working on Gate’s speech with the Communications Director and Press Secretary as they prepared to present it to the boss. The press was pushing for a comment, and wanted to know when and if the President would be making an address to the nation. It had been nearly four hours since the city of Oakland and most of San Francisco had been destroyed. Over a million people had been killed or injured in the blast, and nine other cities had almost been nuked as well. The public was in a panic, and the media was not doing anything to help the matter.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average had fallen nearly 10 % in the final forty minutes of trading before it was closed to prevent a possible run on the market. When the government began to evacuate Washington DC, the news media immediately went to the air, informing the country that a nuclear attack against the capital and potentially other cities was underway. People began to flee several of the major cities as fast as they could. No one knew for certain which cities had been targeted or when the nuclear missiles might arrive. Then, new reports came of several explosions occurring in the sky. Military advisors spoke out through various news networks, informing everyone that these were most likely the vaunted missile interceptors, destroying the incoming nuclear missiles.

As soon as the nuclear explosion occurred, dozens of people on social media, and local media began to report on the detonation over the city of Oakland, California. Images began to show a growing mushroom cloud where the city and critical port had once been. Beyond the telltale intimidating cloud, fires were visible all throughout the city of San Francisco, along with numerous torn and damaged buildings. The hills surrounding the area were also ablaze, threatening nearby communities as the destruction from the bomb began to spread well beyond the initial blast area.

Some people began to post videos from closer to the blast site on Facebook Live, Snapchat, and Twitter. The images were horrendous. Torn, twisted, and burnt bodies could be seen everywhere. One student at UC-Berkeley was filming parts of the campus that had been destroyed by the blast. There were bodies everywhere-some alive in agonizing pain from third degree burns, pleading for help, some crying out for death to come, just to end their agony.

As the President read the draft, he nodded in approval. It was a good message, and something needed to be put out to calm the country and let them know their government was functioning and that FEMA and other emergency response services were on the way to California.

“Liam, when I’m done with this speech, I want to meet with the National Security Council. We need to discuss what to do next about China. So far, they have not responded to our nuking of Shenyang, but this was clearly an act of war committed by them” Gates said.

“All right people, we go live in two minutes,” one of the coms people announced.

Everyone who did not need to be in the room scurried their way out while the President took several deep breaths to calm his nerves. This was possibly the most important speech of his life, and he wanted to make sure he got it right.

The camera light turned red, indicating he was now live. He looked up at the camera and began to read from the teleprompter.

“My fellow Americans, today is perhaps the saddest day in our history. Approximately four and a half hours ago, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea fired 23 short-range ballistic missiles at United States and Republic of Korea Forces on the Korean Peninsula. The THAAD missile defense system, along with several of our naval ships, were able to intercept 21 of the missiles, destroying them before they could hit their targets. However, the US Air Force base at Kunsan was hit with a nuclear missile and subsequently destroyed. A second nuclear missile hit the Republic of Korea’s Northern Air Command at Wonju, obliterating the base and the surrounding city.”

He paused to let that sink in. Gates looked down for a second before continuing, trying to keep his own emotions in check. “Pak Lee then ordered his only ten Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles to be launched at the US Homeland. These missiles were highly advanced, multiple independently-targetable reentry vehicle or MIRV missiles. Our intelligence agencies were unaware that North Korea had these types of systems. Within minutes of these ICBMs being launched, we were able to determine that these were, in fact, Chinese-made missiles that had been provided to North Korea.”

“When the missiles began their downward trajectory towards the US, the MIRVs released a total of forty-five nuclear warheads at American cities. NORAD directed our ship and land-based missile interceptors towards the incoming threats, successfully eliminating 44 of the 45 warheads. Unfortunately, one of the warheads detonated a one Megaton nuclear explosion approximately 10,000 feet above the port of Oakland in California.” He paused for a second, genuinely choked up. He wiped a tear from his left eye before continuing.

“Our hearts go out to the families of those who have been injured or killed by this attack. I can report to you that the imminent threat of nuclear attack is now over.” The President paused for a second, letting that last comment sink in for a second.

“The cities that had been targeted were El Paso, New York City, Washington, DC, Ft. Hood, San Diego, Chicago, Seattle, Pearl Harbor, and Fairbanks, Alaska. As of right now, there are no additional missiles headed towards the United States, and we have made it clear to both Russia and China that if any missile launches are detected from their countries at the US, we will respond with overwhelming force.”

“In response to this devastating attack, I have ordered the Air Force to respond with a nuclear attack of our own. Two hours ago, the Air Force dropped eight 340 kiloton nuclear bombs on North Korea’s largest four cities and four separate military targets. Because the Chinese provided Pak Lee with the advanced ICBMs that resulted in the destruction of Oakland and San Francisco, I have directed the Air Force to bomb one of China’s cities in retaliation. The city of Shenyang was destroyed by a 1.2 Megaton nuclear bomb, the largest nuclear bomb in our inventory. I have personally informed the Chinese president that any further nuclear launches against the US or our allies would result in a crushing nuclear response from America.”

“I want to assure you, the American people, that our great military is doing everything in their power to protect our nation. Our service members have suffered some horrific losses since the start of both the war with Russia, and now North Korea. We must continue to support our men and women in uniform and all of those who serve our country to protect us.”

“I am asking that we all come together as Americans in this tragedy, working together and supporting one another during these trying times. Please keep the people of California and our Armed Forces in your thoughts and prayers. For now, I wish you all good night. May God bless the United States,” he said concluding a short, but informative statement.

“Now we have to figure out what to do next,” he thought.

When the President finished his address to the nation, he began to head towards the conference room to meet with the National Security Council. As he entered the room, he saw they had several video monitors up and running on the walls.

“Good, it looks like everyone is here,” he thought.

He took his seat, and jumped right into it, asking, “What is the situation in Korea right now, and what is going on with China?”

To say McMillan was stressed was an understatement. A half-eaten bottle of TUMS sat in front of him, and he briefly rubbed his chest where the pain of a possible ulcer was forming. “Our forces in the South are ready to move across the DMZ. We are holding off on sending them in while we try to make contact with whomever is still in charge in the North and see if we can convince them to surrender before we start the ground war. If we can force them into conceding, then we can save countless lives.”

“The Chinese, for their part, have not moved to engage our naval battlegroup or air assets yet. I think they are trying to figure out internally how to respond to our nuking one of their cities-”

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Meyers, interjected, “-We have to decide if the Chinese providing the North with MIRV-capable ICBMs constitutes an act of war, which I believe it does. If so, how we are ultimately going to respond to that?” he asked, speaking passionately.

Secretary Johnson signaled that he wanted to speak, and the President nodded for him to proceed. “Mr. President, while I share the CJC’s anger, I would argue that calmer heads should prevail. Let’s see if we can get the North Koreans to surrender first. If that does not work, then we move forward with the ground war…. As to the Chinese, let’s see what they do next. Maybe the loss of one of their largest cities will caution them against any further aggressions towards our forces or the annexation of any further countries. Keep in mind, we still have an active war going on in Europe, and we cannot afford to attack China right now.”

Several of the members at the table nodded in agreement. It was sound advice, even if it was hard to accept with everyone’s emotions running so high.

A moment passed as the Secretary of State’s words soaked in. Then the President turned to his SecDef and asked, “When do we start to win some battles in Europe?”

All eyes turned to Secretary Castle, who smiled a devilish grin and began to explain the new strategy.