Operation Red Dragon and the Unthinkable

Redirect

The President was starting to get worried. The new Russian offensive in Israel had dislodged the Israeli and American positions in the north of Israel, and now they were bearing down on Tel Aviv. The Americans had suffered another 68,000 casualties between those wounded and killed, the Israelis 92,000. The arrival of additional MiG40s in Israel was proving to be disastrous for the Allies. They were losing laser and railgun defensive systems, opening the Allied armored units up to Russian and IR air attacks.

In spite of the battlefield losses, the US economy was finally starting to produce the tools of war in the quantities needed now that they were focusing on one theater of operations and not spread across all three. The Americans were producing 400 Pershing battle tanks a month, and in those numbers, they would have enough to field the entire Army and Marines with them in eighteen months. The vehicle chassis was also being used in two new armored vehicles, an armored personnel carrier that could transport twelve infantrymen into battle, and a light drone tank and anti-personnel fighting vehicle (APFV), or Wolverine as it was now officially being called. The Wolverine was the newest drone vehicle to enter military service and could fight and function alone or in hunter killer groups, much like the animal it was named after. It had a medium railgun that could take out other enemy tanks and multiple smaller railguns ideal for attacking enemy infantry. The vehicle was still six months away from first delivery, but would be a game changer when it does arrive.

On the domestic front, the Trinity Identity Intelligence program had aided in the apprehension of thousands of Russian, Chinese and IR intelligence operatives and sympathizers. This greatly reduced the level of sabotage, assassinations and terrorist activity within the country. From the start of operations in Mexico, nearly 82,300 civilians had been killed by various terrorist attacks and targeted assassinations within the US.

The program also began to work on tackling other areas of high crime in America. This improved apprehension rates of criminals, reducing crime across the country. It also began to over-populate the American prison system, which ironically provided an opportunity. Non-violent prisoners were immediately moved into work gangs and began building defensive positions on the West Coast and in the Pacific Northwest, freeing up thousands of military engineers and soldiers for other critical duties.

Despite the war and massive government spending, the seizure of IR, Chinese and Russian assets, properties and businesses was paying for the war. It had also virtually eliminated the national debt. The challenge faced by America now was how to protect the West Coast and win the wars in Europe and the Middle East. The US mainland had one million three hundred thousand soldiers in various units. The military still had another four million civilians to process through basic training, and another five million more that needed to be drafted. Twenty additional military training bases were being opened to increase the training capacity. Wounded soldiers from the various theaters were being reassigned as drill sergeants once they had recovered from their wounds. Then there were the Central and South American multinational armies that needed to be trained and equipped as well.

To further compound the training and equipment problem, the Middle East was once again turning into a black hole for equipment and troops. Every time things appeared to stabilize, a new offensive would start and the losses would pile up. Europe had been fought to a standstill, with horrific losses on all sides until the blizzards forced a halt to the killing. Fortunately, the war had not turned nuclear, but how long could that possibly last?

As the President entered the Situation Room and walked to the head of the table, he couldn’t help but notice the grim faces on his military and civilian advisors. He could tell the state of affairs abroad must be dire.

“Gentlemen, I assume by looking at you that things must be pretty bad,” the President said, trying to appear optimistic.

Mike Williams, the National Security Advisor, broke the silence. “They certainly could be better, Mr. President. General Gardner has established a new defensive line, and they appear to have stopped the Russian advance. They took some serious casualties but so did the Russians and the IR.”

“It’s those blasted MiG40s; they are chewing our fighters and laser defense systems up,” General Branson grunted, clearly irritated.

General Adrian Rice, the Air Force Chief of Staff, jumped into the conversation, saying, “We have a new radar being deployed right now that will change the situation. We are equipping the JF35s, F22s and our fighter drones with them now, along with our air-to-air missiles, and the laser and railgun radar systems. It is going to take a few months to get this new piece fielded to every unit and aircraft. However, once it is completed, the MiG40 will show up on radar screens like a commercial airliner would. We will retake the skies.”

The President always liked General Rice; he was always optimistic and no matter how bad the situation seemed to get, he found a way to solve problems. He was also the first Air Force General to rise through the ranks from the scientific track. He was not a fighter pilot (though he did have his commercial pilot’s license); rather, he was an Air Force researcher who specialized in drone fighter design and low earth orbit space craft.

“Excellent, General Rice. You have no idea how relieved I am to hear that we have a viable working solution to countering the MiG40. Soon the Russians will be able to mass produce these aircraft, and if we do not figure out how to challenge them, we are really going to be in trouble.” Before turning away from General Rice, the President asked one other question. “Have we found a way to solve our satellite communications problem yet? This constant shooting down of our satellites and drones is becoming a problem.”

“We are still working on that. Right now, we are looking at miniature satellites that are the size of a baseball. The challenge we have is that although they are small, they can still be destroyed by a ground-based laser. We are currently designing them to look like the space debris that is already in earth’s orbit, and we have been launching them in mass, using the space debris as a means to hide them,” General Rice explained as he used his tablet to bring up an image of what he was talking about.

Mike Williams, the National Security Advisor, let out a soft whistle. “That is an ingenious approach — rather amazing if you ask me. How soon could something like this be in place?”

“We believe shortly, maybe a month. We have our 3D printers working on them right now. We want to launch them from one of our high altitude spy planes so that the delivery vehicle will not have far to travel before dispersing them. We hope we can get enough of the satellites dispersed before the Russians or Chinese figure out what we are doing and start to engage the area. To help provide cover for the operation, we are going to launch a couple of missiles at some larger space debris in the area to make the Chinese and Russians think that perhaps we are just trying to clear the debris so we can place a satellite in that area,” Rice elaborated.

“I like it General. Please continue, and keep us apprised. If we can get satellite communications and real-time surveillance operational again, this will greatly aid the war effort,” the President said with excitement.

Sensing a pause coming soon, General Branson brought up one more point. “Mr. President, before we break — I would like to bring up the issue of Japan. As of right now, Japan is not going to come to our aid. With that said, I would like to move additional cargo aircraft to Japan immediately and evacuate as much of our critical equipment and personnel to Alaska and British Columbia as soon as possible. There are also three roll-on, roll-off cargo ships in port, not far from our naval station. They are there to move Toyota and Nissan cars from Japan to the US. I would like to recommend that we commandeer these ships and use them to transport a large majority of the heavy armor and equipment that we brought from Korea to the West Coast. We would, of course, compensate the ship owners, but for a short period of time, we would need to take possession of the ships.”

“I understand the logic in moving the personnel and equipment, but why do you want to commandeer a ship that you know will cause a political uproar in Japan?” asked the President.

‘Right now we do not have enough of these ships on the West Coast, and frankly, if we do not move those tanks and other vehicle soon, they are likely to get stuck in Japan. The Chinese fleet has not sailed yet. Once it does, we will not be able to move that equipment, and chances are the Japanese will look to intern our forces and equipment for the duration of the war,” Branson explained.

“Jim, what are your thoughts?” asked the President, wanting to get his Secretary of State’s opinion.

“Right now, Mr. President, it’s a bit tricky. The Japanese are in a hard spot. They are not ready to stand up to the Chinese, even with our help. I believe if we act on this, we should let them know so that they do not throw up a lot of roadblocks. They can make a public stink about it to save face, but they will let us do it.” Jim replied. He knew that the President wanted to avoid a problem with the Japanese, but felt that this could be a workable solution as long as they left them an “out.”

“Jim, get with the Japanese and make sure this plan will work. General Branson, move forward with your plan,” the President directed.