Excerpt
Apparently, communications with carrier battle groups began to be lost at 0100 hours, Washington time. Within seconds, Strategic Command in Cheyenne Mountain reported satellite detections of nuclear blasts happening on a global scale. San Diego was the first U.S. city to suffer the blast of one of the enemy weapons.
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“Mr. President, reports so far indicate nuclear blasts have been detected around the world. At last count, “ he searched his notes nervously, “ there have been 44 blasts since approximately 1 A.M.”
General Armstrong handed the president a note and asked, “ How come nobody detected the launch of these missiles? Aren’t we paying a pile of money for satellites to do that?“
Baker nodded “The systems are all functioning perfectly, Dick. These were not missiles! Perhaps they were submarine launches, torpedoes or something.”
The President spoke, “We are at war. We don’t know yet with whom. I assume that appropriate signals have gone out to all units and bases? “ Nods confirmed this.
“We must do two things: get a calming message out to the American people; and get in touch immediately with our friends. I want a quick press conference and an appropriate message written right away.”
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The nuclear explosion instantly evaporated a huge chunk of ocean, a ball of water roughly 3-4 miles round. This void was instantly filled in by the surrounding seas, resulting in horrendous waves, currents, even winds. Essentially, the ships were caught in a combination hurricane, tidal wave, and whirlpool.
The effects of this condition would last a short time locally, but tidal waves were currently traveling outward from the blast site at high speed. Much like the ripples caused by a stone dropped into a pond, the rings of waves now headed out across the ocean.
With so many bombs going off, the oceans of the world were turned into a huge cauldron of deadly seas, competing with each other for mastery. No coastal settlements were safe; many would be wiped out by mountainous tsunamis.
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“Conn, sonar, I think another wave is coming. Loud roaring sound bearing 095 and getting louder!”
“DIVE EMERGENCY DEEP! “ Captain Mooney yelled.
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“Dmitry, this second message was a list. It was a list of Russian cities and bases. At the bottom of the list was just one sentence. It said ‘If Russia makes any aggressive moves.’ That’s all it said! “
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Baker snorted, “Go after them? Let’s put out the fucking fire before we search for the arsonist!”
Bond looked up at him and smiled. “You are right, and wrong at the same time, General. We mustn’t be short sighted nor play into the hands of these idiots. They would expect us to hunker down, stop to help the wounded, and so on. You don’t win battles that way. Yes, we have resources to clear up the mess. But we, gentlemen, we are the sword point. We must carry the battle forward, because if we don’t, all is lost.”
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“I am speaking to Americans, wherever you may be at this time. Thank you for your patience. These are very trying and confusing times, and I am sure we are all very upset, angry, and for many, grieving the loss of loved ones. I too, have lost many friends and relatives today.
I’ll tell you what I know. Today, United States military bases, at home and abroad, plus several naval task forces at sea, were attacked by nuclear weapons. Many cities in other countries have been devastated as well. No missiles were fired at the United States, or at any of our allies. The nuclear bombs were planted, by whom we are not sure. We are doing everything we can, in conjunction with our allies, to determine both who and why. You will be informed as soon as we can be positive.
In the meanwhile, the government will be doing everything possible to minimize further danger and recover from these terrible, devastating events. The Red Cross will not, repeat not, be needing donations of blood. The people of the United States can help us in several ways: firstly, do not panic; donate whatever money you can to the Red Cross to provide emergency shelter and aid to displaced people; lastly, continue to function as normally as you can.
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“Listen to me, my friend, do you know who I am?” A nod. The eyes focused briefly and then glazed over.
“We cannot kill you until you tell us what we need to know. But we can do terrible things to your family. “ Kulakovs eyes lifted briefly to the senior interrogator. The man nodded to indicate that the family had been rounded up.
“Colonel, time is short, and our problems grow with each minute. Do what you must, but we need information from this man right away. You will call me the instant you have anything, understand?”
The colonel nodded. To the prisoner, the premier whispered, “Do the smart thing, save your family.”
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“This message is for the governments of the world. It comes from the People. We are tired of war, economic sanctions and manipulation, and politics. You have seen our power. Further demonstrations should not be necessary, but will be immediate if our demands are not complied with fully by all nations."
“Our group will be simply called ‘The People’ because that is who we are and whom we represent. We detonated the nuclear bombs to get the attention of the world leaders. The loss of life is regrettable, but those people are heroes if our plan succeeds. We want a better world for our children and future generations.
We serve notice to all nations today that it is we, The People, who are in charge and will dictate the changes to be made both now and in the future.
“Now, to our demands.”
All military forces that are currently outside of their former national boundaries, for whatever reason, must immediately return home and disband.
Naval ships will put into their homeports and remain there. Weapons and ammunition will be liquidated from all ships, aircraft, armories, bases, and weapon storage facilities – and indubitably destroyed with full attendance and exposure to the news media.
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He looked up at his boss. “I have another idea. For all the attacks to happen so soon after the first one, there had to be a signal given.
Someone, somewhere, pushed a button, sent a radio code, or otherwise said ‘start now’. If we could find out if there was any unusual radio traffic about the time of the first attack, say within 8-12 hours before hand.”
“Right, “ Les replied. “I’ll get some people on this. You might have struck on the right idea here.”
“OK,” he said “we go with the idea that there was a radio message broadcast to groups or individuals telling them to launch their part of the attacks. That message would have to be relayed around. That could explain the time differences in the tape delivery too.”
“Or “ Les mused, “they used satellite to cover broader areas. We are not back in the days of radio here. This was a sophisticated plan. They would have used satellite comms.”
“That narrows it down quite a bit,” agreed Cliff. “Focus on sat transmissions. We can rule out cell phones, shorter range and too area specific. Would this be radio, or could it be telemetry or television signal?”
“We just narrow the search and you open up more possibilities! You’re right, of course. We examine all known traffic for the day of the attacks. That is a big job.” Les sat at his desk, leaned back and looked at Cliff with raised eyebrows.
“Saving the world is a big job, Les,” he sighed.
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“The army has been in charge of the bombed areas, sealing them off from the public and so on. Apparently, the radiation levels have been dropping way too fast. Those areas should be contaminated for generations, but Armstrong says the levels are way off normal.”
“What does that mean?” Tanner was arriving at the Pentagon parking area as they spoke. “Does Armstrong have any idea?”
Les answered, “No idea yet. He said the bombs had the explosive power of nukes, but the radiation levels are all wrong. Not only are they dropping fast, but they never went as high as they should have.”
“Maybe this is some new kind of nuclear matter. That would account for the lack of any reports of stolen nuke materials. Somebody has a brand new weapon, Cliff!”
“My God! ” Tanner exclaimed. “ If the bombs used don’t contaminate, then there won’t be as much hesitation to use the weapons! We have held off using nukes for generations because of the residual damage they would do to the world, the environment!”
“That’s right,” answered Les, as Tanner walked from the parking lot to the building. “Somebody has a bunch of tiny nukes that won’t make nuclear war seem so final. We have to find these bastards.