The others squirmed a bit in their chairs, unsure of what awaited them.
“For the sake of the war, I hope you are reporting good news to us because my analysts are becoming increasingly concerned that Petrov may start to use his WMD in the very near future,” said SecDef Castle. He narrowed his eyes at JP.
President Foss surveyed the faces in the room. They seemed as genuinely concerned with Castle’s statement as he felt. The Russians had kept the war conventional up this point, but with the continued losses forming an ever-tightening noose around Petrov’s neck, that could change.
Foss signaled for JP to continue. “Alexei Kasyanov, the political leader of the Russian resistance we’ve been cultivating to take Petrov’s place, has been holding secret meetings with certain regime members as he’s sought to build out his coalition of support against Petrov. We know the FSB Director, Ivan Vasilek, was executed by Petrov a short while ago for the failure of the British deception and for the progress of the war. His replacement, Lieutenant General Grigory Sobolev, has been a bit of an unknown to us. However, one of the men Alexei has apparently recruited to his side is a man by the name of Major General Oleg Zolotov. He’s head of the Russian FSO, which is essentially the Russian version of the Secret Service.”
This last part got President Foss’s ears to perk up a bit as he realized this was one guy who truly had access to Petrov on a regular basis and was one of the few people allowed to be armed around him.
“He secretly met with General Zolotov the other day, and the general intimated that an effort to replace Petrov was not only possible but should be carried out sooner rather than later. He also told Alexei that General Sobolev was willing to support a coup against Petrov and sue for a separate peace from China and India with the Allies if he could personally secure and retain power,” JP explained.
The group was silent for a moment. Tom McMillan commented, “On the surface, this sounds great. However, I fear we’d be changing out one dictator for another one. How is Sobolev going to be any better than Petrov? Right now, we’re probably months away from defeating Russia. I’m not sold on this just yet.”
Jim Castle interjected, “I say we go for it, and here’s why. We’re about to capture St. Petersburg, and the British are leading an effort in northern Russia that is driving on Moscow even as we speak. General Cotton is about to launch a several-hundred-kilometer-long offensive to drive the remaining Russian and Indian forces out of Ukraine and move on Moscow. As the war gets closer to Moscow, Petrov is going to become more desperate — so will his generals. His military leaders will advocate for the use of tactical nuclear weapons against our forces, or at least chemical or biological weapons. It’s the only way he can stop our offensive. If backing Sobolev to take Petrov’s place ends the war and removes the credible threat of the Russians using nuclear weapons, then I believe we should take it.”
The room stayed silent for a moment. President Foss contemplated what Castle had just said. He had known the possibility of Russia using their nukes was out there, but no one had really given it a lot of credence before now, especially after how aggressive President Gates had been in his response to the destruction of Oakland. He looked up at the ceiling, saying a prayer that he would make the right decision at this juncture. Then he told the men in the room his counterproposal to Sobolev.
Later that evening, well past dinner, President Foss finished reading a long proposal from his cyberwarfare advisor, Katelyn Mackie, on what actions she advocated for in India. President Gates had still been formulating what he wanted to do with India when he’d been killed, so Foss hadn’t had a lot of precedent to go on. Up until now, he’d been hesitant about going after India too hard as he’d hoped a peaceful solution could be found. However, after his afternoon lunch with several prominent Indian Americans, he realized he hadn’t given India nearly as much attention or effort as he probably should have.
Katelyn had come up with a unique proposal that would limit the loss of life and hopefully get the message across to the Indian government that continuing the war would result in further debilitating attacks. Her plan centered around the rail industry; according to her research, a total of 8.26 billion passengers used the rail system in India annually, which meant the country was heavily dependent on this sector. President Foss shuddered in horror as he looked at photos of how horrifically overcrowded the commuter trains in India were. As he continued to read, Foss learned how vital India’s rail system was in moving the war munitions that India produced, as well as the workers who commuted to produce the ordnance.
Of the 121,407 kilometers of rail tracks in the country, 49 % were electrified, and through collaboration with a team of locomotive engineers in France, Katelyn’s team had identified a vulnerability within the 2x25kV autotransformer system used in the Indian railways. By inserting a malicious code into a component of this system during one of the automated patch updates Indian Railways performed on a weekly basis, they had already successfully infected the electrified portion of the rail line with their code. All Katelyn needed was permission to initiate the attack, and India would lose access to half of their rail lines. The proposed cyberattack wouldn’t destroy India’s rail infrastructure or cause significant loss of life, but it would shut down the sector until the damaged components could be replaced, which could take them months, maybe even a year or more.
Foss had to smile at the ingenuity of the plan. Part of him wished that he knew more about cyberwarfare so that he could have come up with the idea on his own. Then a sobering thought hit him. “If we can do this to India, I have to imagine China, Russia, or India could do this to us too,” he realized. He made a note to discuss vulnerabilities in the homeland with Katelyn Mackie later.
He put his pen behind his ear for a moment as he thought over the implications of the proposal, and then he scribbled his signature on the authorization form to allow Katelyn’s team to initiate the cyberattack. He placed the completed document and the brief in his “Out” bin.
President Foss had a chuckle at himself. Here he was initiating a complex cyberattack while utilizing what was arguably a very archaic filing system for his paperwork. “They have their methods and I have mine,” he thought.
With the final tasks for the day complete, it was time for Foss to collapse and get a few hours of shut-eye before he had to get up and do it all over again the next day.
Battle of Huatung Valley
“I hate chili-mac,” Sergeant Price said to no one in particular as he finished scooping the last spoonful of the stuff out of the MRE and shoved it in his mouth.
“Oh, come on, Sergeant. It isn’t that bad. It comes with the jalapeno cheese pack,” chided one of his soldiers good-naturedly.
Price sat against the trunk of a large tree. Around them, the birds in the forest sang their melodies and did their best to ignore the human intruders to their environment. In the distance, helicopters and the occasional fighter plane flew overhead.
Price spotted Lieutenant Martinez walking over toward him and the rest of his platoon. “Five minutes, guys! We’re pulling out in five mikes, so get your gear ready!” he shouted.
“We finally got orders off this rock?” asked Sergeant Price.
The LT nodded and pulled out a map. “Yeah. The brass wants us to make our way down this ridge so we can patrol and clear this sector here,” he explained, pointing to the location. “Word has it the enemy has a base camp somewhere on the opposite side of this river.” Martinez waved for the other squad leaders to come over so he could show them as well.