Operation Red Dragon and the Unthinkable

Revenge

Lurking deep in the dark waters of the Mediterranean was the SSBN Minnesota, one of the new Florida class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines. In 2019, the US Navy began a program to replace the fourteen Ohio Class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBN) with the next generation in submarine technology. The older Ohio SSBNs had been converted to cruise-missile carriers and delivery vehicles for Special Forces, giving them a new purpose and mission in the Navy. The twelve new Florida class SSBNs came into service in 2034 (six years behind schedule due to budget cuts during the Great Depression). They were equipped with twenty Trident III ballistic missiles, each of which would split off to hit fourteen different points through the use of MIRVs (multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles). The Florida’s also carried 84 Tomahawk cruise missiles, making them a versatile offensive weapon.

It had been a little over thirty hours since New York and Baltimore had been destroyed, and the US had not retaliated with nuclear weapons. As the SSBN Minnesota waited in its holding pattern, they suddenly received an Emergency Action Message (EAM), indicating a priority message from Commander, Submarine Force Atlantic (COMSUBLANT). As the message was being printed and decoded, the Captain couldn’t help but wonder if this was the order to avenge the destruction of New York City and Baltimore. The casualties from the attack were still being counted and had exceeded five million deaths so far.

The Executive Officer (XO) walked up to the Captain and handed him the decoded message with curiosity and uncertainty written all over his face. As the Captain finished reading the message, he handed it to the XO for him to read and verify it. “By order of the President, the SSBN Minnesota is to launch a series of ballistic missiles at targets across the Islamic Republic’s provinces in North Africa, and standby to launch additional missiles against targets in the Middle East.”

Further instructions ordered them to launch eight of their twenty Trident III missiles, releasing 112 nuclear warheads against the IR’s largest cities, military bases, manufacturing centers and logistical hubs in their North African provinces.

As the Minnesota rose to launch depth, the sonar techs continued to monitor the waters around them for any potential threats. With the threat board showing green, they gave the Captain the go-ahead to initiate the attack. The Captain and the senior weapons officer looked at each other as they turned the keys to launch the missiles, knowing they were about to make history, for better or worse. This was only the second time a submarine had ever launched a nuclear attack against another nation. The vessel shuddered briefly as one missile after another ejected from the tubes and was sent to their targets. As the first rocket broke through the water, its booster ignited and it raced for the sky, slowly starting its arc towards a point about 100 miles in the air, where it would release its MIRVs for maximum effect.

In a bunker 100 feet below the surface of the Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, five B5 Stealth bomber drone pilots were hooked into their controls, guiding drones that were flying 40,000 feet above the Mediterranean Sea. The bomber drones were on their way to deliver the first of the most destructive weapons ever to be used by one nation against another.

Approximately 200 miles west of Israel, four of the five stealth bomber drones launched their X59 scramjet cruise missiles, carrying the largest neutron bomb ever developed. Tehran, Baghdad, Riyadh, and Cairo were all targeted; they represented the largest industrial and logistical nodes of the IR. They also represented the largest population centers outside of Asia.

A single B5 flying over Italy launched their lone X59 at Istanbul. The purpose of these neutron bombs was not to eradicate and destroy these historic cities, it was to kill the population in a 30-mile radius while causing as little destruction and environmental damage as possible. Unlike the 112 cities in North Africa and (thirty more in the Middle East), these five cities could be repopulated with virtually no residual radiation left to clean up.

The bomber crews watched as the scramjet cruise missiles hit their maximum speed of Mach 10. Numerous anti-missile lasers and missiles reached out to try and knock them out of the sky, desperately trying to defend their country. Dozens of lasers in Turkey, Jordan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia were frantically trying to destroy these fast moving missiles with no luck. Horror began to spread across the defenders as they realized they could not hit the missiles. Several Russian and Chinese ships were in the area, and began to use their anti-missile systems to try and engage the American missiles by launching their own missile interceptors and lasers… but it was all to no effect. The missiles were traveling too fast for the lasers to hit them long enough to cause them to explode.

The first missile detonated 15,000 feet above Istanbul. Within a fraction of a second, everyone within a 10-mile radius was hit with over 8,000 rads of radiation and died almost immediately. Their organs began to liquefy and blood poured out of every orifice of their body, until they died minutes later. Everyone within a 30-mile radius of Istanbul received a fatal dose of radiation, and would begin to die over the following 30 days. Their hair and teeth would begin to fall out within hours or days; then their internal organs started failing. Finally, blood would begin to ooze from eyes, ears, nose and mouth until finally their bodies would give out. Their death would be long and horrific. The first neutron bomb used in combat effectively killed 14 million people, including several hundred thousand IR soldiers.

As the missile detonated, the EMP immediately fried the electronics across the 30-mile radius of the city, blacking out the live news broadcasts that millions of people across the Republic had been watching. Within an instant, an emergency alert was being broadcast all across the Republic, urging everyone to make their way to the nearest bomb shelter or basement. The IR immediately let the people know the Americans were launching a nuclear attack against them. The Islamic world erupted in anger and angst at the thought of American nuclear missiles heading towards them, not sure if their city was one of the targets or not.

Once the first missile detonated above Istanbul, the laser operators realized there was nothing they could do to stop the four remaining missiles closing in on their targets. The bombs detonated above Cairo, Riyadh, Baghdad and Tehran, effectively killing fifty-one million, two hundred and fifty thousand people instantly; another thirty million more received a lethal dose of radiation. The power grid all across the Republic began to fail as the EMP blasts ravaged the IRs critical infrastructure, which routed the majority of the nation’s power through substations that operated within the major cities.

The simultaneous missile strikes by the SSBN Minnesota killed another fifty-six million and, in time, would kill thirty-two million more from radiation. In a single day the IR had lost 110.25 million people and another sixty-two million more would perish in the coming weeks. Within the hour, it was determined the IR had lost 128 cities in total, along with all of their major military installations, industrial, logistical and communication centers. The Americans’ attack had effectively plunged the country back into the dark again as their power grid went down.

The Minnesota launched a second wave of nuclear missiles an hour later and hit thirty additional sites across the Middle East to include Mecca, detonating just above the Kaaba. Within twenty minutes, a TV drone was showing raw footage of the mushroom cloud still lingering over what was once Islam’s most holy site and House of God. The Muslim world across the globe exploded in anger towards the US; so many could not believe the Americans had just destroyed the most cherished symbol of their religion. Riots erupted in various parts of the IR throughout Indonesia, Malaysia, the entire Middle East and Northern Africa.

Fortunately for the IR, the Russian and Chinese warships in the Arabian Gulf had managed to shoot down seventy-six of the 106 nuclear warheads, minimizing the amount of damage the IR would have received to several of their military facilities, cities and port facilities in Kuwait, Iraq and parts of Iran. The thirty missiles that did get through hit every major power station in the country, along with critical logistics and transportation nodes. The exception to the Kuwait area, which was heavily protected by both Chinese and Russian warships; together they were able to successfully intercept the American ICBM MIRVs directed at that target.