Leaning forward, the President put his head in his hands for a moment. “Gentlemen, we will have to come back to this… what is the status of our operations in Europe?”
Clearing his throat before beginning, Secretary Castle answered, “We’ve launched Operation Nordic Thunder. General Cotton’s forces are now pushing the Russians out of the Nordic countries. They’ve encountered resistance, but by and large, the Russians are giving ground without much of a fight. We anticipate that changing as we get closer to the actual Russian border.”
The President nodded.
Castle continued. “As to the Continent — the French, German and Polish armies are set to launch Operation Eisenadler, which means Iron Eagle. The name was agreed upon by the three countries, so we’re letting them run with it. While General Cotton is overseeing the operation, it’s largely being led by the Bundeswehr. The offensive will start in a week and will begin the liberation of Ukraine. We’re still hoping that Operation Strawman will ultimately succeed, and we won’t need to invade Russia directly.”
Sensing that he should provide some sort of update on the covert action to remove Petrov, JP jumped into the conversation. “We’re still moving forward in that direction. As you know, we’ve encountered a couple of recent problems, mainly with the withdrawal of the British from the war. Part of the operation was being run by MI6, who have been ordered home. The direct handling of Strawman is still being carried out by the Germans, while the digital arm and funding are being carried out by us. It’s hard to gain outside coverage of what’s going on inside Russia, but what’s managed to leak or get out has shown a lot of civil unrest among the population.”
“Do tell,” said the President.
“The majority of the civilians are still in support of the war, but they’re mad at how long it’s dragged out and how it’s negatively affecting their daily lives,” JP answered. “The shortages in fuel and food are having the desired effect, so we should keep that pressure on. What has caused a mixed reaction in the country right now is the arrival of the Indian troops. While India and Russia have always had a good working relationship politically and economically, this is the first time the average Russian has seen large numbers of Indian people inside Russia.”
JP took a swig of coffee before he continued. “Right now, the Indian Army is largely being deployed along the actual Russian border, as opposed to inside Ukraine or the Nordic States. They appear to be fortifying the border and building a series of defense-in-depth positions to force our troops to have to travel down specific routes they want us to. Secretary Castle can probably talk more about this angle than I can.”
Castle nodded. “If we can, Mr. President, I’d like to go over this with you during our next war update. My people are still putting together a detailed assessment of what they’re doing, and I think it would be prudent if I had that information present when I talk about it.”
The President grunted. “OK, then let’s talk about Asia. Bring me up to speed on what’s happening there,” he said.
Castle nodded. “General Cutter has officially secured the Island of Luzon from the Chinese Army. His forces and the Navy are largely going to bypass the remaining PLA soldiers on the other Philippine Islands and either force them to surrender or starve them out. Now his Marines are staging and preparing to invade Taiwan. General Cutter says he’ll need at least 45 days to get his forces ready to retake Taiwan. The Navy also needs some time to rearm with missiles before they move closer to the Chinese mainland, and Admiral Richards wants to get a few of his ships repaired so they can be available for the invasion.”
Castle paused for a second, then resumed. “Invading Taiwan is going to be like Iwo Jima or Okinawa was during World War II. The PLA is going to throw everything they have at us, and it’s going to get real dicey. I’d expect a lot of casualties when this operation kicks off, so we need to be prepared for that when the time comes.”
He turned a couple of papers over. “Now on to the good news. The ANZAC force that landed on the Indonesian Island of Java caught the enemy with their pants down. They were able to capture the Indonesian capital of Jakarta and many of the military and political leaders. While the president of Indonesia did manage to escape, the rest of his government did not, and they opted to surrender rather than fight it out in the capital. We’re in negotiations with them now to get them to drop out of the Eastern Alliance and surrender the rest of their military forces on the Philippine Islands.”
The President smiled. He needed some good news.
Castle continued. “This was, by all accounts, a resounding victory in the Pacific, Mr. President, and will greatly reduce the threat to Australia. We can now look to liberate Malaysia and the rest of Southeast Asia with the Australians in the lead.” Castle spoke with genuine satisfaction written across his face. It had been a huge gamble to have the ANZACs and a single American brigade combat team conduct a surprise landing on Java and then race to the capital, but it had succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.
“Jim, that is good news indeed,” said the President. “Send my congratulations to the commanders and the soldiers involved. They’ve moved us one step closer to victory.”
An aide walked in and handed a note to the Commander-in-Chief.
“All right, gentlemen,” Gates announced, “I’m being given the signal that we’re less than twenty minutes away from landing. I need to let you all go, but we’ll continue our discussion tomorrow when I’m back in Washington. Apparently, elections still have to happen during a world war, and I’m still required to do some campaigning.”
When the President’s plane landed at the military base, the Secret Service was ready with their convoy of vehicles to escort him to his speaking engagement. Due to the heightened risk of Russian and Chinese saboteurs, the Secretary of Defense had insisted that the military also have a Special Forces team involved in the security.
Gates descended the stairs and was greeted by a member of his campaign staff, and businessman Andrew Turner, the man he’d be stumping for in a few hours. Extending his hand, the President shook Turner’s. “It’s good to see you again, Andrew. I’m glad we were able to work this out.”
Andrew Turner smiled. “Likewise. I’m glad you were able to fit this into your schedule. It’s a tight race here, and we could really use your help.”
Turner was an Iraq War veteran and local businessman and was running against the Democrat Senate incumbent. It was a close election according to the polls, although by all accounts, it should have been a slam dunk for the incumbent. The sitting senator had recently made a few gaffes that had been caught by the media when he’d made comments about how the new British Prime Minister had found a way to deal with the Russian President Petrov, leading Britain to secure a separate peace with the Eastern Alliance. This had created a bit of a media firestorm as conservative radio pundits reminded the public that it was the Eastern Alliance that was responsible the nuclear destruction of Northern California.
Since then, the race that had been written off by the GOP was suddenly within reach. Despite Gates’ unpopularity and combative relationship with the media and the polls prior to the war, the nation had largely rallied behind him during the country’s struggle, just as America had done for previous wartime presidents. So now the GOP was eager to use his new popularity to potentially influence this election.