Prelude to World War Three: The Rise of the Islamic Republic and the Rebirth of America

Operation Red Dragon

“We need to get the Premier to start the war; the Americans have already reinforced Guam, and these cyber-attacks against our transportation infrastructure and other aspects of the economy are starting to get worse,” said Director Xi Lee. He was starting to become concerned that the Premier may be getting cold feet.

“I agree with you Director. We will pressure the Premier to make the decision today at the CMC meeting. Admiral Shengli and General Wanquan will also insist that the war start today,” General Yang said with a bit of urgency in his voice.

“For the sake of China, we must start the war today; the Americans have had too long to prepare and I fear this preparation is going to cost our forces,” insisted Lee, not trying too hard to hide his trace of anger at the indecisiveness of the Premier.

China was supposed to have attacked the Americans yesterday, but held off once the cyber-attacks against the Chinese economy began to have some serious impacts.

Premier Zhang Jinping walked into the secured bunker under his official residence for the final CMC briefing before the government moved to the war-time bunkers burrowed deep in the Da’Anshanxiang Mountains just west of Beijing. As Zhang walked to the head of the table, he could sense the tension in the room.

The Generals were angry with him for not starting the war according to the original plan, but he had his reasons. He wanted to ensure his generals were loyal to him and to China. Inspector Ma Keshi, the head of the Secret Police, had suggested holding off on initiating the war as a means of testing his generals to determine if they would listen to him or find a way to disobey him. If one or more of them had found a way to start the war without his direction, then Zhang and Inspector Keshi would know who was loyal and who could not be trusted. Inspector Keshi had wanted to hold off for three days; however, Zhang realized holding off for even a day may have provided the Americans with more time to prepare and led to losing the element of surprise. No, today was the day that China would rise and secure her destiny as the dominant power in Asia.

“Generals, Admiral, please take your seats,” said Zhang, wanting to get down to business.

“Premier, we must start the war today!” said Admiral Shengli angrily.

“My task forces are ready and any further delay is going to raise too much suspicion.”

“Admiral, please keep calm and sit down. I held off on starting the war yesterday as a test. I wanted to assess each of you to see if you would obey my orders or if you would find a way to start the war on your own. You all have passed my test and I am now confident of your loyalties. We begin the war today. This is the day of the Red Dragon. I want all command and control functions moved to their secured bunkers and the military brought to full readiness,” said Zhang. “Please issue your orders and let’s move as a group to the CMC bunker at Da’Anshanxiang.”

Operation Red Dragon had been in development for nearly forty years. It encompassed a wide variety of tactics including: corporate espionage, industrial sabotage and the placement of thousands of sleeper agents throughout Asia and the US. Once activated, the PLA would begin to turn off critical industrial control switches and routers in virtually every satellite in space with the exception of Russia, China and the IR. All other nations’ satellites would simply turn off and become space junk.

The loss of critical communications satellites, GPS and military surveillance satellites would blind the allies and give the PLA a short window of opportunity to move forces and conduct attacks without anyone seeing what was going on. With satellite communications down, it would be difficult to coordinate a response or even call for help. The disruption in satellite communications would quickly be followed by tens of millions of internet routers and various industrial control systems burning out in America, Japan, Korea, the European Union and India.

Great Britain and Australia would be minimally affected since most of their internet switches and routers had been converted over to a product solely built in the UK. That company was one of the few targets that the Chinese had not fully infiltrated prior to Red Dragon. The breakdown in global communications would be nothing short of catastrophic and in the eyes of China, would lead to a quick victory.

The PLAN had been maneuvering as if they were going to attack the US Air and Naval base at Guam; once the global communications systems went down, the task force that was headed to Guam would quickly change direction and hit the American facilities at Okinawa, Japan. Then they would turn back to Guam, knowing that the Guamanians would receive no assistance or help from their bases in Japan. With the American naval and air forces in the Pacific destroyed, there would be little to stop China in their conquest of Asia.

During the early years of the de Blasio Administration, the government had begun building a series of regionally based deep underground bunker complexes for the government and scientists to retreat to in case of an apocalyptic event (e.g. climate change, solar flare, Ebola, etc.). President de Blasio was, if nothing else, paranoid about climate change, and he spent billions of dollars building these networks that he believed could one day save America should it come to that.

When President Stein was sworn into office, rather than abandoning the bunkers, Stein had them expanded to include a multitude of civilian functions. Each HIVE network consisted of 50 underground levels that started with two ground levels and then three basement levels. From there, the HIVE began a series of 50 underground floors that started at 400 ft. below the surface. Each floor was separated by 50 ft. of earth, reducing the likelihood of one floor collapsing into another; each floor was essentially a self-sustaining little city. At half a mile wide and three miles in length, each floor had immense space that could be divided and partitioned off as needed. Every 5th floor could be converted into a self-enclosed farm that was able to raise chickens, fish and grow produce via hydroponics. The bunkers had all been equipped with sustainable energy generation from geothermal sources below, allowing each bunker to have sun-like UV lighting 365 days of the year. Once operational, each farm floor could grow enough food to sustain 5,000 people indefinitely.

The design of the floors resembled the design of the human DNA code as it descended into the earth. Only a small portion of each floor was parallel to the one above and below, reducing the likelihood of one floor collapsing onto another. President Stein, along with a select number of senior level individuals, determined that these new bunker series would replace all of the older government bunkers and could be used for more than just housing the government. As they were completed, the government would move most of its research activities to the HIVEs and lease some of the floors to select American firms for their own R&D. These facilities could truly be secured from the public and prying eyes…and hopefully acts of sabotage or espionage.

When the nation’s satellites and communication systems went down, the Secret Service believed Washington, DC or the President may be the target. “Mr. President, we need to move you and your staff to the HIVE now,” announced the senior Secret Service agent as he entered the Situation Room.

“What is going on George? Should we go down to the PEOC (Presidential Emergency Operation Center)?” asked the President.

“No, Mr. President. We believe everyone should be moved to a more secured location.”

“All right everyone, let’s move with the Secret Service. I assume we are heading to the HIVE in Virginia?” asked the President.

“Yes, Mr. President. The Secret Service signed off on its operational use two days ago, relegating Mount Weather and other locations to be mothballed.”

“Mr. President, I just received word from the Pentagon that our satellites have gone offline,” SecDef Eric Clarke said with a look of concern.

“What do you mean our satellites have gone dark?” asked the President as the group began walking through the White House on their way to the West Lawn.

The Federal Government had switched phone providers to Verizon and broadband to Google Net two years ago as part of a diversification of the government’s critical infrastructure protection program. This change is probably the only reason the government was able to hold together in the wake of this recent attack.

“We are not sure yet,” replied Eric as he was talking to someone on his cell phone. “It appears to also be affecting GPS and the Internet.”

General Branson was on the phone yelling at someone to figure out what was going on when he turned to the President and said, “One of our subs in the Pacific just sent a message saying the Chinese are attacking Taiwan. The Skipper also reports that he has lost communications with our forces in Japan and Hawaii.”

“This is the last thing we needed…the Chinese to join the war,” thought the President.

As the fully armed Razorback assault helicopter took off from the West Lawn, it began to race away from the city. The President emerged from thought and announced, “We need to find out if the loss of our satellites is a result of a direct attack by the Chinese. I also want to know what else the Chinese are up to in Asia.”

The helicopter dropped down to near treetop level as it accelerated to over 200mph, speeding its passengers away from the danger of being in Washington. “Admiral Juliano is in the other Razorback with the rest of the team right behind us. I’m sure when we land, he’ll have more information for us,” Monty said while talking to someone on his smart phone.

LTG Rick Scott, the Director of the DIA, had arrived at the HIVE thirty minutes before the President and the national security staff. His first priority was to find out how bad the cyber-attack was and figure out what still worked. He had been on the phone with the DOD and DIA CIOs, and so far, the most they could tell him was that the Uninet routers and switches had been infected with some sort of malware that caused them to overheat and essentially burn out.

For the last fifteen years, the DOD had been upgrading its IT infrastructure with Uninet hardware, meaning most of the DOD’s IT infrastructure had been effectively destroyed. The CIOs explained that the problem was much worse than just the DOD systems. They had been in touch with their DHS and DOJ counterparts and they were also facing the same problems. Director Scott hit the speed dial on his phone to the Director of Homeland Security.

Within the first couple of minutes of his conversation with Director Perez at DHS, LTG Scott learned that AT&T was down and so was Sprint, along with nearly half of the country’s internet providers. Apparently Verizon was one of the few internet and phone providers who had not used Uninet’s hardware and had not been affected by the malware attack.

“General Scott, the President and the rest of the NSC will be arriving in ten minutes. We assured the President that the Chinese wouldn’t launch an attack against us…what are we going to do now?” asked Colonel Bauser, General Scott’s Chief of Staff.

“We were wrong. I was wrong to doubt General Wright’s warning. I suspect the President will probably fire me once he knows we made the wrong call.”

Brigadier General Joshua Wright was the Director for Intelligence (also known as the J2) at the DIA. Several of his analysts had determined that there was a high likelihood that the Chinese and Russians were going to attack the US and Europe within the week. Their assessment had been dismissed by LTG Scott due to no signals intelligence supporting the assessment and countering information from the economic and geo-political analysts. All of this became a moot point once the satellites started to go down.

The President’s helicopter and his staff arrived at the HIVE entrance and were immediately led to waiting elevators that would take them to the fiftieth floor. The fiftieth floor of the HIVE had been designated as the Presidential level; it had a residency for the first family along with the national security staff. There were also numerous offices and secured conference rooms to conduct the government’s business. The next five floors above them were dedicated for various essential departments of the government and their staff.

Once the President and the NSC arrived, the HIVE went into complete lockdown. Thirteen hundred Marines moved into the facility and took over internal security in coordination with the Secret Service. Five hundred Army Rangers, 50 Special Forces and 3,000 Army infantry soldiers would provide external security outside of the HIVE scattered across every approachable position to the site. The US Government had gone to ground and was hunkering in for the long haul until the situation with the nationwide communications blackout could be sorted out.

As the President got off of the elevator and began to walk to the NSC briefing room, he saw General Scott had already arrived and was clearly getting the room set up and gathering information for a quick briefing. “General Scott, we’ve been in transit for the last hour; I need an update with what we are facing,” said the President with a sense of urgency in his voice.

“Mr. President, I spoke with Director Perez, who is also en-route to our position. He told me his department also lost communications. They believe it had something to do with Uninet routers and switches within the government IT infrastructure. I’ve talked with the CIOs at the DIA, DOD, DOJ, DHS, DOS, NSA and CIA. They all have experienced the same problems. All Uninet routers and switches suddenly overheated and burned out at the exact same time. Our assessment is that they had been compromised prior to installation with some sort of sleeper malware waiting to be activated,” said LTG Scott with a worried look.

“Good God, this is worse than we could possibly have thought…,” said Mike Williams as he trailed off into his own thoughts.

“They have also destroyed our communications and GPS satellites,” Admiral Lewis said.

“So essentially, we are blind and unable to communicate with our forces abroad or here in the US?” asked the President.

“Sir, it’s a bit more than that. AT&T, Sprint, GoogleNet, Comcast, Cox Cable, and TimeWarner are all down. Cell phones, internet, just about everything. We are not entirely in the dark. The government’s cell and phone carrier is Verizon; so far they are the only phone and internet provider that is not down. They did not use the Uninet hardware. Right now we do not even know if this has hit the Europeans or how this is affecting our forces in the Middle East,” LTG Scott said.

The President immediately began to take charge of the situation and began to rapid fire orders to this staff. “First things first, we need to get communications back up ASAP. General Rice, see how many communication drones we have in the US and get them deployed immediately. We need to get military data communications back up immediately. Also, someone get on the horn with the CEO of Verizon; let him know that for the time being the federal government is going to temporarily nationalize their company and infrastructure until the other companies can repair or replace all of the Uninet routers and the switches and are back operational. We need the government functional, and if Verizon is the only content and data provider operational, then they just became our number one priority to secure and use. Work out a generous compensation package for them and ensure that they begin to assist the other providers in order to get services back up and running,” directed the President.

The attack against the American critical infrastructure grid caught most Americans by surprise — though some companies were better prepared than others to deal with a situation like this. Thousands of private companies began to assist the government in restoring the communication grid in the US. Google and Facebook had wireless internet drones and blimps they used in remote locations around the world; they immediately began to deploy that capability in the US, which greatly restored communications within America.

Three Shang-Class Type 96 nuclear-powered submarines entered their optimal strike range of the US Naval Facilities at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. As part of the first strike of Operation Red Dragon, their mission was to destroy the 7^th Fleet Headquarters and any ships within the harbor. Upon receiving a message stating the that American satellites and communications were down, two of the three submarines fired four cruise missiles towards predetermined land targets, while the third submarine fired three cruise missiles at the Honolulu International Airport. One nuclear torpedo was launched towards Ford Island, which would effectively destroy the deep water facilities the US Navy relied upon.

The cruise missiles quickly found their marks and met no resistance since the communications and electronic grids within the naval facility were still offline. They quickly decimated the 7^th Fleet Headquarters and numerous other strategic facilities at Hickam Air Force Base, Camp Smith and the Honolulu International Airport. The final and most devastating element of the attack was the nuclear torpedo. When it exploded, it destroyed dozens of naval ships in port, along with the equipment needed to service the surface fleet. The damage caused by the mini-nuclear explosion was immense and destroyed the use of Pearl Harbor for years to come, essentially neutralizing the military there for the duration of the war.

During the communications and satellite blackout, the PLAN had maneuvered two of their carriers and the rest of the battlegroup to within 90 miles of Okinawa. While it was still early in the first hour of confusion among the American forces, forty-six J36 attack aircraft began their bombing of Kadena AFB, destroying the runways and numerous aircraft. The battlegroup had launched 190 cruise missiles at the AFB and Marines stationed throughout the island. The Japanese Defense Force (JDF) was able to destroy several of the J36 aircraft while their naval forces moved to engage the Chinese battlegroup. With the bulk of the American naval forces fighting in Indonesia, Japan was on their own. Since the American bases on Okinawa were neutralized, the PLAN carrier battlegroup changed course towards Guam to finish destroying the bases’ capability and remove them as a threat.

With the start of Operation Red Dragon, the PLAN and PLAAF launched a massive barrage on the Penghu Islands in the Taiwan Straits and began their amphibious landings to secure the islands. The PLA bombarded the main island with thousands of cruise and several hundred short-range ballistic missiles carrying 20,000 pound warheads; they devastated the Taiwanese airports and major command and control centers, flattening them like bugs under a fly swatter. The missile and air bombardment of the main island lasted for nearly 24 hours before the PLA began to land troops on the main island.

Dozens of PLA and PLAN ships were being destroyed in the straits by Taiwanese missiles and artillery, slowing the PLA advance but not stopping it. The Americans had sold the Taiwanese their advanced mobile anti-aircraft and anti-missile railgun systems over the summer. The Taiwanese leveled these weapons to face the ocean and began to add their own devastating fire into the invasion force. These systems were also having a destructive effect on the PLAAF; within minutes of taking off from their bases on the mainland, they were already within range of the railguns. If it had not been for the swarms of thousands of PLAAF drones involved in the attack, the PLAAF may have suffered even worse losses. The railgun defensive systems were beginning to limit the level and frequency of air support that could be provided to the ground forces.

At the start of Operation Red Dragon, 1.1 million PLA soldiers advanced across the Chinese southern border into Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar. Vietnam had been the Rice Bowl of Asia for over a century; the capture of Vietnam by the Chinese was paramount to stabilizing their nation’s food supply. Myanmar would give China deep water ports on the East Indian Ocean, along with vast amounts of arable farmland.

Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and Singapore were next on the PLA’s list. With control of Malaysia and Singapore, the Chinese would control the straits of Malacca and with it the shipping lane of nearly 60 % of the world’s exportable goods.

“Caliph Mohammed, the American satellites and communications systems are down. We have received word from the Chinese that they have commenced their attack on the Americans,” Zaheer Akhatar, Mohammed’s senior advisor said with glee.

“Excellent. How soon until our packages arrive in America, Huseen?” asked the Caliph, eager to knock the Americans out of the war in the Middle East.

“The Liquid Natural Gas tanker is at the Panama Canal now; it should enter the lock shortly. Once it does, our people will detonate it as it reaches the optimal spot. With the destruction of the canal, the Americans’ ability to move between the Atlantic and Pacific will be crippled. Since the Chinese have plans for the American West Coast, we have moved the Swords of Allah to the East Coast. The first ship has arrived in New York Harbor; once the Captain receives the order, he will move his ship towards the Hudson River until he is adjacent to the New Port Center in New Jersey. Inshallah, he will deliver the first of Allah’s Swords,” described Huseen ibn Abdullah Al Gubayel, the IR Intelligence Director.

“Is that the best location to deliver Allah’s Sword?” asked Mohammed.

“That location will ensure the vast majority of the buildings in lower and mid-Manhattan will be destroyed. It is also one of the heaviest populated areas in Manhattan and next to the Greenwich and SOHO districts; this is where the wealthiest people in the city live.”

“How many casualties do we anticipate?”

“At least one hundred thousand dead from the initial blast, then close to five or six times that number over the next several hours and days as people start to die from radiation poisoning and the general chaos this is going to cause,” explained Huseen with an evil sneer.

“The second Sword is still on track to hit Washington, DC?” asked Mohammed.

“The ship docked in Baltimore two days ago. Allah’s Sword has been offloaded to a lead-shielded delivery vehicle. When you give the order, our operative will drive the vehicle to Washington and will deliver Allah’s Sword near the Capital building. It will destroy everything within a half mile radius of the event, with severe damage extending as far as two to three miles away. We anticipate fifty thousand casualties initially, and that toll will rise to nearly three to four hundred thousand over the next several days.”

“Huseen, I thought the casualties were supposed to be significantly higher than that. What changed?” asked Mohammed.

“The American government has gone to ground. They instituted their Continuity of Government plan. The vast majority of administration functions are no longer being conducted in Washington, DC, and have moved to their various underground complexes. Before you ask if we know where these locations are — we do not. The ones we knew of have recently been decommissioned, which means they have newer ones that we have not found yet,” said Huseen.

“Perhaps we should move the last Sword to a better target then?” inquired the Caliph.

“Sir, the goal was to destroy the symbol of American power, Washington, DC. Even if the government is no longer operating out of Washington, we can still destroy the city,” said General Rafik Hamza.

“Destroying the city has been one of our major goals; however, we only have one of Allah’s Swords left to use. I want to make sure it is used where it can cause the most damage to hurt and kill the most Americans possible. We can have several of our direct action units in the area start fires all across Washington and attempt to burn it, but Allah’s Sword is special. What other targets should we consider?”

“If this is your final decision, then I propose we use Allah’s Sword on Baltimore. It is already in place; all that needs to be done is to move it to the downtown area and then deliver it. We would destroy one of their largest seaports on the East Coast, and cripple a key aspect of their rail and road infrastructure. The casualties from this should be several hundred thousand people initially, and eclipse a million within a month,” said General Rafik Hamza.

“There are better targets than Baltimore, General Hamza. Demolishing Philadelphia would destroy a naval yard, along with one of their oldest and most notable cities,” Zaheer Akhatar said, questioning the strategic significance of attacking Baltimore.

“Zaheer, the drive to Philadelphia is further than the drive to Washington, so the chances of the device being detected are much higher. Philadelphia does have the naval yard, but Baltimore has one of the largest deep water ports on the East Coast. With New York Harbor reeling from the destruction of the first device, extinguishing the port of Baltimore will hurt the American military far more than the demolition of one of their naval yards,” General Hamza said with a bit of annoyance at being challenged by Zaheer. Despite Zaheer being the senior advisor to Caliph Mohammed, Rafik did not like or trust him.

“Enough. You both bring up good points; I believe General Hamza is right. Destroying a second East Coast deep water port is going to cause more problems for the Americans. Our Russian brothers have not attacked yet; the destruction of a critical deep water port will not only aid our war in Israel, it will aid the Russians’ attack against the EU. Huseen, issue the order for the LNG ship to destroy the Panama Canal immediately. Twelve hours after the canal has been destroyed, issue the order to deliver Allah’s Sword to Manhattan. Then, I will issue the Americans their warning to surrender and withdraw from Israel or we will deliver a second Sword of Allah.”

“Caliph, once we do this, we have to expect the Americans to respond with their own nuclear weapons. We saw what they did to us when we used tactical nuclear weapons on the 5^th Fleet. They hit us pretty hard, with over a dozen nukes. We are only just now beginning to restore power to the country, and we lost nearly 60 % of our laser missile defense systems. I fear the use of a nuclear bomb in New York City is going to destroy us,” said Talal bin Abdulaziz, the IR Foreign Minister.

“I understand your concern Talal, and the Americans will most likely respond with more nuclear weapons. This is our chance to hurt the Americans at home; for nearly a century and a half, the Americans have waged war in our lands and killed our people by the millions. This may be the Muslim world’s last chance to really hurt the Americans bad, and I intend to take it.”

“Caliph, we are grinding the American military down in Israel; the Chinese have just entered the war and are hitting the Americans hard. The Russians will launch their attack soon. We need only to stay the course and we will achieve our victory without nuclear weapons.”

“You speak wise words Talal; however, we already have Allah’s Swords in place—”

“—If we do this, we will lose the Republic. The Americans will destroy everything in retaliation, and even if we do win with Russian and Chinese help, we will not have a functioning country for our people to enjoy our hard won victory,” said Talal, almost pleading with Mohammed.

“If I may, Caliph — as the senior military commander for the Republic, I have to agree with Talal. I want to nuke New York City just as bad as you, but I also want to live to enjoy our victory, and my soldiers will want a country to return back to. With the Chinese and soon the Russians entering the war, it will not be long until we have destroyed Israel and permanently removed the Americans from the lands of Allah. Then we should let the Russians and Chinese destroy America for us,” said General Hamza with a somber look.

Caliph Mohammed sighed deeply. “…You both have given me pause. Huseen, continue with the attack on the Canal. Have our operatives continue to hold on to Allah’s Swords. We will wait and leave them in place for the time being.”

“Generals, the Islamic Republic has been battling the American and Israeli forces for sixteen days. How can they possibly have lost 13,000 fighter drones and over 60 % of the aircraft that we sold them and the pilots that we trained?” asked President Mikhail Fradkov.

“The American anti-aircraft, anti-missile railgun systems have proven to be far more effective than we believed possible. Their new Pershing main battle tank also has this technology and completely destroyed our frontline battle tanks we sold to the IR. They were able to engage the IR tanks at maximum range, never allowing the IR tanks to get close enough to fire a shot. When a few of the tanks were able to get a shot or two off, the rounds just bounced off their new armor,” said General Gerasimov with a look of anxiety.

“General Sergun, the GRU assured us that the Americans had not been able to produce these new railgun weapon systems in sufficient numbers to be a problem; yet, they are completely destroying entire drone armadas, and our state-of-the-art tanks cannot get close enough to fire a shot at their tanks. What do you have to say for yourself?” asked the President, clearly irritated.

“Mr. President, the Americans only have one division of Pershing tanks with the new railgun systems. That group is currently bogged down in Israel. They do not have another division of these tanks that can be deployed to Europe. Their mobile and fixed anti-missile, anti-aircraft railgun systems are also limited in number. They have deployed the bulk of these units to their military forces in Israel and now in Asia to fight the Chinese—”

“—Yes, but they are mass producing these weapons, are they not?”

“Yes, Mr. President. They are, but it will take time before they have sufficient numbers.”

“This still creates a problem for us. Have they shared this technology and the plans with the EU? Are they now producing these weapons as well?”

“Our sources have confirmed the Americans have provided this information to their European partners, and yes, the EU is now starting to produce these weapons. Again, this is a very advanced technology; it is not something that can be mass-produced and deployed quickly. It took the Americans nearly three years to produce enough tanks to field one division. We have time on our side, but only if we act soon,” said General Sergun with a look of confidence.

“If we were facing the Americans and the EU at full strength, then these new weapons would pose a significant problem for us. As it stands, the Americans are heavily engaged in Israel, Mexico and now they have to deal with China. They are not going to be a factor in Europe,” said General Dmitri Putin, who had recently returned from Central Asia.

“General Putin, how soon could the First and Third Shock Armies invade the EU?” asked the President.

“I need three days for both army groups to be ready once you give the order. The Third Shock Army will cross into Western Ukraine and then travel to Romania and Hungary. The First Shock Army will cross into Poland and drive towards Germany. The EU army is not large enough or prepared enough to stand against two experienced combat army groups.”

“Do you agree with General Putin’s assessment, General Gerasimov?”

“I do, but we should wait until Christmas Eve. Let’s see what the Chinese do these next two weeks.”

“The destruction of the Panama Canal sure caught the Chinese by surprise. They had originally wanted to capture it.”

“They should have worked that out with the IR,” said General Putin with a smirk on his face.

“Prepare your forces, General Putin; the attack will commence on December 24^th. It will make for a warm present to the EU and America from Russia.”

“Mr. President, I have one last question before I leave to prepare my forces. Will the MiG 40 be ready?” asked General Putin, determined to get a truthful answer.

“Sergei, what is the status of the new MiG?” asked the President, knowing that Putin would put the screws to him if he believed he was being misled.

“I had lunch with the CEO of Mikoyan, Artem Gurevich, and he assures me that the MiG 40 will be ready at the end of this week. They have completed the software patch and testing of the system as of today. With the modified timeline, there will be 120 aircraft available with thirty additional aircraft being completed each month,” responded Sergei Puchkov, the Minister of Defense.

“I do not mean to dismiss the MiG, but how will 120 aircraft be a deciding factor?” asked Putin, wanting to know why this new aircraft could possibly be so important.

“The MiG 40 is a unique aircraft; aside from its ability to fly at Mach 3 and a range of nearly 900 miles, it is the only aircraft that uses not just stealth technology but also incorporates a translucent fiber optic exterior camouflage that mimics its surroundings. This means that the aircraft is invisible to the naked eye. It has virtually no radar signature, and can only be tracked by the heat it emits, making it nearly impossible to detect until it is too late. It can carry a total of eight missile or six guided munitions,” said Sergei.

“It will be impressive if it finally works,” said Alexander Manturov, the Minister of Industry and Trade. He did not believe the aircraft warranted the immense amount of money and resources it was consuming.

“This aircraft has cost a fortune,” asserted Anton Shoygu, the Minister of Finance. “This is like the American JF-35 program — a trillion-dollar program for one aircraft line.”

“Gentlemen, this aircraft will be effective, even if a few more bugs have to be worked out, and when it is utilized, it will be the most advanced aircraft in the world. The Americans have nothing like it; this aircraft will dominate the skies long enough for us to win the war,” replied President Fradkov with confidence.

“I look forward to using it to secure the skies over Europe for my ground forces. It had better work,” General Putin said with a hint of skepticism in his voice.