Operation Red Dragon and the Unthinkable

Decision Point

It was Christmas in the underground bunker, and the President wanted nothing more than to visit the troops in Israel or Europe. However, it was deemed far too dangerous for the President to travel. The recent political assassinations by Chinese intelligence agents and Special Forces against American elected officials had been very successful in the initial days of the war, until the Trinity program was activated. With the Russians now in the war, there was a lot of concern of potential Russian direct action units trying to assassinate the President, or worse, take him hostage. Seventeen US Senators and eighty-four Congressional leaders had been assassinated over the last three months — this was just at the Federal level. The Chinese, IR, and now the Russians were trying to sow as much chaos, confusion and fear as they could by going after the American leadership structure. It was complete and total war they were waging on the US and its way of life.

As the President walked through his quarters and into the underground Presidential offices of the HIVE, he couldn’t help but notice that despite the world being at war, the Presidential staff still found time to decorate the facility for Christmas. The President invited the troops guarding the facility perimeter to be rotated in for a Christmas lunch and dinner served by the President, his family and his staff.

After serving the last round of soldiers their Christmas dinner and talking with as many soldiers as he could, the President walked into the Situation Room for the scheduled briefing at 2000 hours, and took his seat at the head of the table. Once he was situated, he signaled for the meeting to begin. He glanced at the agenda in front of him, which included the cyber-attacks to the country’s communication infrastructure, the Trinity program, the civil violence problem, and disaster recovery efforts underway in New York and Baltimore.

Director Jorge Perez from DHS began, “Merry Christmas, Mr. President, and to everyone here. I have a brief update on the cyber-attacks we have been experiencing and an update on the fixes that have been made. With a lot of help from both the UK and Australia, our major phone, internet and data providers are back to being operational. There were some brief rolling blackouts from the utility companies that had been affected, but they are shorter and less frequent now as we bring more power plants back online. We expect to have the power grid back to 100 % capacity within the next the month. The internet, phone and data exchanges are also back up and running at 100 %. We attribute about 12,300 deaths to the cyber-attack. We came to this number by looking at the number of 911 calls during a similar timeframe that would have resulted in a death had emergency personnel not been able to get to a patient or respond to a car crash, break-in, etc. We also added in the number of people who died at various hospitals and nursing home across the country from the rolling blackouts. This number could conceivably have been much higher.”

The President just shook his head in disgust.

Director Perez continued, “We have replaced the destroyed routers and switches to get everything back up and running, but it will still take many months to replace and repair everything. With AT&T, and other phone and internet providers operational again, we have returned operational control of Verizon back to the company. The government has successfully switched our service provider over to Verizon as well, and will diversify that service once the other companies’ infrastructure is fully repaired. As for the utility companies, by in large they were not affected by the current wave of cyber-attacks. Similar cyber-attacks continue to emanate from China, but not nearly in the volume they had been. We attribute that to the cruise missile strike in Shanghai that destroyed the PLA’s main cyberwarfare headquarters.”

“We are seeing an uptick in cyber-attacks from Russia now that they are in the war. Presently, none of the cyber-attacks are penetrating anything vital and are being shut down as soon as they are detected. I am sure the NSA can give you a better picture of our offensive cyber-attacks and how effective they are; I will leave that for their brief. It would appear our concerted effort to reinforce our cyber defenses and hardening of the power grid against cyber-attacks has really paid off.”

Changing images on the screen, Director Perez resumed his briefing. “Mr. President, the recovery effort in New York and Baltimore continues to run relatively smoothly. We continue to relocate the injured people to various hospitals and cities around the country, just as the plans called for. People whose homes are in the hot zones and are too close to the blast site to return are being relocated to a city of their choosing, and assistance is being provided. We’ve expended $600 Million NAD in the last week. We will need another $16.2 Billion NAD for the remainder of the year for the resettlements, and another $52 Billion NAD for recovery and cleanup operations.”

The President interrupted, “—Monty, ensure Speaker Fultz knows director Perez is going to be contacting his office for a supplemental budget increase. Make sure they get the funds they need and let’s get an oversight group involved to ensure the money is getting to the right people.”

“Yes, Mr. President. I’ll send him a message following the meeting,” Monty responded, tapping a short note on his tablet.

President Stein was pleased at the incredible response time with which FEMA and DHS had deployed to the disaster zones. The planners for this type of disaster had really put a lot of thought in to how people would be evacuated and treated, and they had not neglected to plan for what to do with refugees and resettlement. Obviously, people who lived in the hot zones could not go back to their homes, so some sort of compensation plan needed to be developed. FEMA had established a process that would take the fair market value of an individual’s home, and then add $75K for personal belongings and would pay that to the affected person, minus the mortgage on the property. This enabled the banks to recover their loans, the displaced families to be free of debt to homes they could no longer use, and gave enough cash so that people could purchase the necessities to start over.

“Please continue, Director, and thank you for keeping us up to date on the recovery. It is important that we take care of our people,” the President said with sincerity in his voice.

“As of twelve hours ago (when we update the search parameters), the Trinity program has identified 496 individuals with ties to Russian intelligence. We have FBI units detaining them now for questioning. Our main concern is the intercepts we decoded a few hours ago. Several Spetsnaz teams located in the US received orders to begin carrying out attacks. We have no idea what the targets are or how many people are involved; that is why the FBI is detaining those individuals I mentioned earlier,” Director Perez said.

The President was concerned with this last statement; America had already suffered enough domestic and political attacks. The last thing the country needed was further nasty surprises. “Director Perez, please continue to do whatever is necessary to apprehend these individuals. I want the CIA, DIA and NSA to have some potential targets identified; then quickly draft a plan to beef up security at those locations. The country has suffered enough domestic terror attacks; we need stability while we focus on the recovery of New York, Baltimore and the war overseas.”

“What is the status of our operations in Europe?” asked the President, changing topics.

General Branson stood up and addressed the President and the group directly. “Mr. President, the situation in Europe is tense and fluid. The Russians have moved their army groups into Hungary and Romania, and are pushing EU forces to their fallback positions faster than we had planned for. The Poles and Germans are holding the line a little better; they’ve managed to stop the 3^rd Shock Army near Warsaw. The EU is starting to pour tens of thousands of troops into Poland.”

Changing some images on the holograph, General Branson continued. “We are starting to see those new MiG40s and Su-37s, and they are tough. Right now, no one has full air dominance over the battlefield, but it is not looking very good for the Allies.”

General Adrian Rice, the Air Force Chief of Staff, broke in to add, “The MiG40 is a tough aircraft, but they are limited in number. Right now they are taking control of the high altitude fight; however, when they come down closer to the ground, that is when we have scored a few hits with our railguns. We found a weakness in the aircraft’s stealth system — it’s the heat it emits. The problem is, we can only spot them using a specialized Doppler radar, which we are short of on the battlefield and have never integrated into our air-to-air missiles before.”

“Well, if that’s the case, let’s definitely get more of these specialized radars to Europe; whatever we need to take control of the skies, let’s get it done gentlemen,” dictated the President.

“Yes sir,” came the response.

“How much longer until the Fifth Army is ready to kick the Russians out of Poland?” asked Stein.

“Soon, Mr. President. We have redirected 90 Pershings to them and another 210 will arrive within the next month. Right now, they will make use of the M1A5s we still have in circulation. We’ve brought another 2,200 M1A4s out of mothball, and hope to have them combat ready within the next 60 days,” General Branson said, responding to the President’s question.

General Wade’s holograph came to life as he said, “One important item to note, Mr. President, is a recent cyber-attack against some of our fighter drone squadrons. My Air Force and NSA LNO’s have told me they identified the problem and are working on a solution, but this could become a serious issue if the Russians or the Chinese can find a way to bring down more of our drone operations.”

General Rice, the Air Force Chief of Staff, jumped in, “We are aware of the problem, Mr. President, and we are currently working on a new software patch and incorporating some additional network security protocols. We believe they gained access to the drone networks via an insider threat. One of the Senior NCOs and two officers who worked in the drone program network security branch were recently apprehended as a result of the Trinity Program. Now that we know how the attacks originated, we are confident we can permanently fix it.”

The President was relieved to know they had identified the problem and it was currently being resolved. He also knew there was not much that could be done in Europe just yet; troops, battle plans and defensive operations were all underway. The only course of action right now was to let things play out and give his generals the latitude they needed to make their military decisions.

“General Branson, General Rice, I am not going to micromanage the air war. I want my generals to have the ability to make the choices on the ground. I do want to be informed and kept in the loop. I may offer a suggestion or advice here and there, but just as in Mexico and Israel, I will leave the actual tactics and strategy to you.”

As the President looked at his commanders, he could visibly see apprehension leaving them. Henry continued, “General Wade, we are going to switch to the Middle East theater now; if you need to leave, we will understand.”

“Thank you, Mr. President, for your vote of confidence and I will step out now. I will continue to keep the Security Council and General Branson apprised of our operations.” Then his holograph disappeared.

General Branson changed the maps and slides over to the Middle East. “General Gardner, are you still with us?” asked General Branson before continuing.

“Yes Sir. I am still here and ready to provide my update” General Gardner said as his holographic image appeared.

“Very well, please continue,” requested the President.

“As you know, Mr. President, the 2^nd Shock Army has moved out of Turkey and is transiting through Syria and Lebanon as we speak. Our air forces continue the battle for the skies; neither side has really taken a decisive advantage in that area as of yet. We anticipate our ground units making contact with the Russians within the next 24 hours. I’ve moved half of my Pershing tanks to meet them, and I am confident we will hold them within the ten-mile buffer zone we have established between the Lebanon and Syrian borders with Israel.” Images were being shown of US, Israeli and Russian units as they were moving towards a convergence.

“The Chinese 1^st Expeditionary Force (1^st EF) has arrived near Ammon. They are under a blanket of mobile laser and SAM defense systems, so for the moment, the Air Force has not been able to attack them much. They appear to be getting ready to make their own offensive push, which will most likely coincide with the Russians. We believe they are going to try and go after the port facilities in the Red Sea, and will also try to make a play for Sinai. We are unsure of whether or not the IR will launch another offensive into the Jordan Valley with their remaining forces in and around Amman. Right now, intelligence is actually suggesting that they may, but the attacks will not be very serious. Intelligence intercepts are showing that the IR is desperately trying to disengage while they work on reestablishing power to the country in order to regain control of their remaining cities,” General Gardner explained. He placed his tablet on his desk and looked up for questions.

The President was intrigued by this last statement and asked. “So you believe the IR may attack and forgo this peace agreement, but yet they would not put their entire effort into attacking like they had in their previous offensive operations?”

“Yes, Mr. President. Our nuclear attack hit them hard, apparently harder than they are letting on or want to believe. Right now, only a small portion of the Republic actually has a functioning power grid. With most of the country in the dark, they have lost communications, and essentially control of large portions of the Republic. Unless they are able to reestablish that control soon, the rest of the country may fall into anarchy as both food and water shortages become critical to non-existent,” General Gardner said in response. More images were being shown of Chinese and IR military units and areas of the IR that were currently without power.

Jim Wise, the Secretary of State, saw an opportunity and jumped in, adding. “Mr. President, with the country in disarray, this could give us a limited opportunity. Most of the IR is broken down into governing sections with a regional deputy Caliph that reports to Mohamed Abbas. If we were able to establish contact with the regional deputy Caliphs, we could offer them a separate peace agreement if they break away from the central government and form their own country.”

The President sat back in his chair for a moment while a few others in the room discussed the possibility of such an event happening. It certainly did present a unique opportunity and one they should explore. After some thought, Henry replied, “I believe there is some merit to this idea. If we can somehow divide the IR and get the governing regions to break off from the central government, then perhaps we can get the entire Republic to collapse. It would eliminate one of the Axis powers.”

Secretary Wise added, “I can have my people begin reaching out to them immediately through various back channels. If any of them are amenable to an agreement, I will let the group know.”

“Excellent, then please move forward with your plan, Jim.” The President smiled for the first time during the meeting.

Stein wanted to know what the situation was with the rest of Israel and with their government, and asked Secretary Wise to bring them up to speed, along with General Gardner.

Secretary Wise spoke first. “The Israeli government is still working out of Tel Aviv; they actually never left, and continued to stay put even during some of the heavier fighting taking place outside the city itself. They are still evacuating people from the country that are not part of the reserves to Cyprus and Italy.”

“Of note, several pro-Israeli paramilitary camps have sprung up in the US and Europe. In Europe, nearly 25,000 people have signed up to join these groups and receive military training before heading to Israel to help fight. Similarly, in the US, there have been an overwhelming number of people wanting to volunteer to go fight in Israel. Close to 200,000 have volunteered at these camps so far. Right now DHS is keeping them under a close watch, but is not actively saying they cannot support Israel in this manner.”

Before this conversation could go further the President interjected, “—Jorge, I want these groups left alone. If American Christians or American Jews would like to join these groups and fight for Israel, then please let them do so. I do want a full registration of who they are and when they leave, but no action is to be taken against them. Israel is a strong ally of ours, and if people wish to come to their aid, then they are free to do so. I would like to encourage them to join the military if they want to fight, but I will not have the government stand in the way of them joining Israel if they so choose. Is that understood by everyone?”

“Yes, Mr. President,” came the response, in unison.

“However, we will let the Israelis worry about how they are going to move them to Israel; that is something we will not divert our military efforts from to help,” the President added.

Changing gears again, the President asked, “General Gardner, what is the status of the Israeli army?”

General Gardner’s holograph appeared again and spoke, “They are still fighting. Once their entire reserve force was called up, their numbers swelled to over 600,000. They lost nearly 260,000 in the Jordan Valley and the fight for Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. We have most of their forces deployed now in Southern Israel on our right flank and in the center against Amman. The only Israeli units in the North in any serious numbers are several armor brigades. We want to crush the Russian armor units first, and then redeploy our armor units to the South to handle the Chinese. With the IR not looking like they are going to get really serious right now, it relieves a lot of pressure on our center.”

“With the additional reinforcements I’ve been receiving, my force now stands at 560,000. I still have 460 Pershing tanks and another 1,454 M1A5 tanks. I’m facing 4,500 Russian tanks and another 4,000 Chinese tanks, so the odds are a bit long but I think we can hold. Our equipment is better,” he added with confidence.

“General Gardner, do your forces have everything you need to defeat the Russian and Chinese army groups?” asked General Branson.

“Yes sir. We have everything necessary to hold Israel. If you want me to defeat them, I am going to need close to double the number of troops. As the Air Force is able to wrestle control from them, the situation will turn out a little better. Our big concern is making sure our supply lines are not cut off. The Russian Navy is going to start to run havoc on our shipping lanes if they break out of the Bosporus and the Aegean Sea. Before the Russians move into Istanbul, I want to drop an airborne brigade to secure the straights and then fill it to the brim with sea mines.”

Stein liked the idea of sending an airborne unit in to secure Istanbul. If they could secure it and mine the straights, they could bottleneck the Russian Black Sea Fleet before they would be able to break out and do some real damage. “I agree, General Gardner. Have a brigade secure the city and drop as many mines as we can spare into the straights. Let’s see if the Greeks will send some troops in and help us secure these targets,” the President ordered.

During the following three days, the battle lines in Europe and the Middle East changed dramatically. The Russians had secured most of Romania and laid siege to Bucharest. They captured the majority of Hungary, and were preparing to invade the Balkans. The Poles and Germans continued to hold the Russians around Warsaw, forcing a bloody house-to-house fight in the outskirts of the city. General Schoen was proving to be a worthy adversary for General Putin; the suburbs around Warsaw were being heavily destroyed as German and Polish soldiers fought for each house and block of the city. The Russian offensive had ground to a halt for the time being while they continued to advance around the city and try to cut it off.

With Istanbul being a virtual ghost town after the neutron bomb attack, US Forces and 30,000 Greek soldiers quickly secured the city before the Russians or the IR were able to get any serious forces there. Within 24 hours, the Allies were in complete control of Istanbul and began to heavily mine the straights. Dozens of railgun systems were also strategically placed in and around the city and the waterways. Unfortunately for the Americans, while the loss of Istanbul did hurt the Russians, the Reds already controlled several large ports on the Black Sea, so the defeat did not cripple their operations in the Middle East.

After moving in and securing Istanbul, the Greek soldiers began to clear the city of the dead. Every house and street was littered with dead bodies that were well into the decomposition state. The Greeks began to dig mass graves outside the perimeter to bury the dead. The soldiers tried to identify people as best they could. The ones that could be named were being given separate graves; the ones that couldn’t be were lumped into mass grave sites. It was a terrible job, but something that had to be done before disease began to run rampant throughout the city. 45,000 additional Greek soldiers arrived in Istanbul to assist in both establishing new defenses for the city and the clearing of the millions of dead bodies.

Greece also initiated a massive draft, and moved to arm roughly 500,000 men and women. They were going to receive roughly two weeks of basic training — just enough to learn how to shoot, identify rank and engage in basic infantry tactics — before they would be sent to shore up defenses in Turkey and their border with Macedonia and Albania. Serbia also began to arm tens of thousands of their civilians in an effort to defend their border with Hungary and Romania as the Russians continued to advance towards them.

As the Reds continued to move their army group through Syria and Lebanon, they eventually ran into the American Third Army. General Gardner’s troops were tired but they were battle tested and ready when the Russians arrived. Despite being outnumbered, the American Pershing tanks proved their weight in gold. The Reds controlled the high altitude air war, while the Americans controlled the lower altitude fight. This was both a blessing and a curse for the Americans; they were able to provide better ground support than the Russians, but the MiG40 was still able to drop precision bombs from high altitude, hitting critical targets and remaining largely immune to allied air defense systems for the time being. They managed to destroy a number Pershings, turning the ground war into a war of attrition rather than the fast moving mobile tank war Gardner had hoped for.

With the situation being bogged down in the North with the Russians, the Chinese launched their invasion of Southern Israel. Despite the heavy losses the Israelis had sustained, they were holding the line. The Chinese had not fought a serious foreign army thus far, so their troops were simply ill-prepared to fight a determined and battle-tested foreign army like the IDF.

The Israeli and American forces stopped the Chinese just outside of Eilat, keeping them from gaining access to the critical port facilities nearby. The problem faced by both the Russian and Chinese forces was that they simply did not have enough troops to properly exploit any breakthroughs or opportunities. The Chinese started their operation with 250,000 soldiers, while the Russians had 350,000. With the IR not fully committing their entire army to the fight, the Axis powers did not have enough troops to push the Americans out of Israel once General Gardner had been fully reinforced.

The Israelis also had 25,000 Jews from Europe join the IDF militia forces, and close to 200,000 more volunteers had been raised from the US. The Israeli Air Force was working through the logistics of how they were going to move these additional people from the US to Israel where they could be integrated into other Israeli units.