Hanover smiled. “Cheerfully pardoned,” he said.
“On the plus side of the ledger, we’ve demonstrated the success of the Hercules bomber, in fact we’ve done that so well that Patton has reinforced his demands for heavy bombers in the United States,” Stirling said. “The JDAM knock-off seems to have proven itself, along with the MOAB and the collection of dumb bombs. The Germans simply don’t have a good defence; in fact, they don’t have any defence now that we’ve cut most of their supply lines.”
He coughed, and then tapped a German tactical icon. “That force was moved into Sweden, and is now making its way north,” he said. “Unfortunately, the Swedes don’t seem willing to confront the Germans directly, particularly with the presence of the German division near Stockholm. I think we might end up having to support them directly, and the Germans are way closer to their government than we are. It looks as if Hitler and Stalin have agreed to divide Sweden between them.”
Hanover scowled. “Are there any plans for the situation?”
“PJHQ did suggest launching missiles against the Soviet forces massing on the border,” Stirling said. “We could move a submarine closer, if we had to.”
“True,” Hanover said. “Did Patton give any estimate of when he would take Oslo?”
Stirling nodded. “For the moment, they’re concentrating on exterminating the smaller German holdouts as they extend their logistical lines eastwards,” Stirling said. “We’re helping with that with precision bombing and some reconnaissance, but Patton is confident that he can get near to Oslo – near enough to launch attacks – within a fortnight at most.”
“You’d think that the Germans would surrender,” Hanover muttered.
“Spy satellites suggest that the Germans are digging in,” Stirling said. “Patton is expecting a hard fight, even with bombers ready to strike at Oslo.”
“A fortnight,” Hanover mused. “22nd June 1941. Wasn’t that the day that Hitler marched east into Russia?”
“Yes, sir,” Stirling said. Hanover allowed himself a brief flush of pleasure that he didn’t sound surprised. “Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa on that date.”
“Let’s hope it’s not a bad omen,” Hanover said. “Now, what about Redemption? Can we launch on the same day?”
“I don’t think so,” Stirling admitted. He changed the display; tactical icons flickered over the Mediterranean Sea and the Middle East. “We’re moving forces around as fast as we can, even after losing Baghdad to the Russians – fortunately that’s good defensive terrain – but we won’t be remotely ready to launch Redemption for at least a fortnight if we push it, according to Rommel. General Flynn is less eager to move fast; he wants to ensure that we have everything we need in place first.”
“I’ll go with Flynn,” Hanover said. He scowled down at the display. “How are the preparations going?”
“We’re launching air and cruise missile attacks on Greece from Crete, as planned,” Stirling said. “The raids have reached as far north as Serbia, or what would have been Serbia in our time. Sir, by the time this war is over, the ethnic makeup of the region is going to be very different.”
“I know,” Hanover said grimly. He’d considered threatening the Germans with nuclear attacks; only the sick certainty that Hitler would have called his bluff had deterred him. “We can’t do anything about it, Steve.”
“I know,” Stirling said. “They’re doing it everywhere, from Iran to Poland to Central Asia, exterminating peoples who would have posed a problem to them in the future. The ethnic makeup of the world is going to be a poorer place in the future.”
“I know people who wouldn’t have thought that that was a bad idea,” Hanover said grimly. “Still, we can’t do anything about it. Did the satellites plot out the German supply lines for us?”
“Yes, sir,” Stirling said. “They’re very weak, sir, and they can be taken out as part of Redemption. Once we have the RAF ready to sortie from Egypt and even Crete, we can utterly destroy their defence lines. Still, Egypt may pose a problem.”
Hanover nodded. Egypt was something of a problem; the nationalistic public wasn’t keen on the British. The new treaty had given them major trading advantages, in exchange for a peaceful rear area, and also a limited veto over British military operations from their territory.
“Once the benefits of being within the Commonwealth become apparent, they will be unable to leave,” he said, and smiled. They’d also given the Egyptians control over the Sudan, under the single condition that they treated both Christians and Muslims equally. As the Muslim Brotherhood was still trying to decide how to view the Republic of Arabia, the Egyptians had agreed to the condition.
“And the new railways are completed,” Stirling said. Hanover nodded; the American-built railways might be only 1941-era technology, but they were very simple and easy to use. Building a massive rail network throughout North Africa and the Sudan, as well as the former French and Belgium territories, had been intended to replace shipping through the Mediterranean Sea after Gibraltar fell, but they had grown into systems to pull the fragmented nations together. Egypt had agreed to the railways – on the understanding that there was no question of them paying for them – and they had found them very useful indeed.
“True, true,” Hanover said. “Finally, what about the Ministry of Space?”
Stirling smiled. Like Hanover, he’d been a big backer of the space program, even coining the term. “The latest report was that the first space station component has been launched into LEO – Low Earth Orbit – in a fairly stable orbit.”
Hanover narrowed his eyes. “Fairly stable?”
“In a hundred years, it’ll burn up in the atmosphere,” Stirling said wryly. He grinned, his enthusiasm showing though. “Major Dashwood believes that the entire station can be built in several months, once we have a team up there working permanently. He did ask me to ask you what the station should be called.”
“I’ll think about it,” Hanover said. “A question; if the tanks, as they seem to be called, are going up empty, what about the supplies?”
Stirling tapped the display, altering it. “The supplies will be launched into space using a number of Clarke-class and Goddard-class launchers,” he said. “It’s rather like the first space station, Skylab, where massive boosters push most of the supplies into orbit. Over the next few months, everything that would be needed will be placed in orbit, and then the first team of astronauts will be sent into orbit. They’ll do most of the work of assembling the station, mainly by moving all of the fuel tanks into one single mass, then they will pressure the station by filling it with compressed air.”
He tapped the display. “We don’t plan on doing anything too fancy with the first space station,” he said. “There’ll be solar panels for power, and a number of sensors for staring down at the Earth.”
“And there’s no way that the Germans can get at her?” Hanover asked grimly.
Stirling shook his head. “They might be able to launch a missile at it, but we’d see them building it on the ground,” he said. “Sir, with space-based weapons, we can win the war!”
“I have no intention of losing,” Hanover said dryly. He smiled at the young officer’s enthusiasm. “We’ll get the weapons built, and then we’ll get them into space, and then we’ll use them. Still, the Ministry of Space will be even more important in the post-war period.”
Stirling blinked. “You’re thinking that far ahead?”
“It’s a good habit to get into,” Hanover said. “The last time we fought this war, the post-war government fucked up badly. This time… this time there will be no mistakes. The nation that has the strongest presence in space will be the superpower of the new timeline… and Britain is going to be that power.”