She took a deep breath and let it out. “Right now, the focus is shifting to China. I implore Mr. Hunt to use whatever political options we have to help persuade the Indian and Chinese governments to come to terms with the Alliance for the sake of all of our people, but we will not back down from our obligation, or this fight,” she said adamantly.
She took her seat again before she continued her lecture. “Look at social media, what the Chinese and Russians have done to our people, the youth of our nation. This brand of technocommunism they are propagating across the internet has turned our youth into mindless supporters of a form of government that would take away our free will as individuals. The development of a thought police, a way to publicly shame people into groupthink conformity, developing social scores for people — it’s not only absurd, it goes against everything we as a free society stand for.”
She smacked the table with her ring. “No, this war is much bigger than just defeating the Eastern Alliance. This is about the minds and souls of our youth and the next generation. This is a battle that must be fought, and one that must be won, or we are looking at the death of everything we hold dear. Please, for the sake of the nation, let’s put aside our pettiness and focus on the common good. When the war is won, if you all want to throw me out as PM, I’ll gladly leave. Right now, we need to focus everything we have on defeating this depraved Eastern Alliance and their ideology before it has time to take root in our societies.”
Most of the cabinet members nodded in agreement. Some even smiled as they relished having a strong PM to stand up to their political foes. Not since Thatcher and Churchill had they seen a PM so resolute in a single cause. With the trial of Michael Chattem now underway, public sentiment toward the Labour Party had dropped precipitously. With the evidence of what he had done laid bare for the people to see, many voters had turned away from Labour, demanding a cleaning of house. The people held regular protests in the streets, insisting on answers from the other members of parliament as to who else was involved, and who knew what.
Indian Squeeze
After the long flight from Hawaii, Admiral James Lomas stretched his legs. It sure felt good to move. He took in the sights around him and stopped in his tracks when he saw several of the carriers that were anchored in Apra Harbor.
“I wish I were still sailing with the fleet,” Admiral James Lomas thought longingly.
His hand rubbed across his abdomen, where his scars were itching him. Some days the area still ached. He counted himself lucky to have survived the opening day of the Korean War; many of the sailors in his fleet had perished, yet he’d survived.
His protégé, now Vice Admiral Michael Richards, had done well in his absence. He couldn’t be prouder of Richards for how he’d handled the ship when he’d been injured, and then during the subsequent battles against the Chinese Navy. When the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of the Navy had asked him in the hospital who should take command of the Seventh Fleet, he’d flatly told them Admiral Richards. He knew Richards had just been selected for admiral the day before the attack, and of the senior officers in the Pacific who truly knew how the Chinese would fight and how to battle them and win, the pick was easy. It had to be Richards.
Admiral Lomas finished his walk and found himself in front of the Navy Gateway Inns & Suites. His staff had rented out the facility for his upcoming conference with his senior NCOs and officers. It had been a rough two and a half years for the Navy. Many of them had lost friends and colleagues they’d known for years, some their entire careers. His goal in renting out the facility was to give everyone a more relaxed environment as they collectively talked about the next phase of the war. During the day, they would hold a series of briefings and strategy sessions; at night, the plan was to celebrate promotions and awards over some delicious BBQ and beers, letting the men and women relax and enjoy each other’s company.
As he reached the front door of the building, the sentries snapped a smart salute and held the door open for him and his bodyguards — they never left his side, even for morning walks. He took a few minutes to freshen up in his room and put a fresh uniform on before leaving to head to the conference room.
When he walked into the main meeting room, everyone stood at attention as he made his way to the front lectern. “At ease,” he ordered.
Surveying the room, Lomas saw a lot of familiar faces, but also a lot of new ones. With the war ended in Europe, the bulk of the Atlantic fleet had been moved to his command for the final phase of the conflict. Sensing the energy in the room, Lomas took a deep breath in before letting it out. “Gentlemen, the greatest war our generation has ever fought is in the final stages. We have before us one last great task — the defeat of both India and China. This morning, we’re going to begin with our strategy concerning India.
“The President has given the Indians an ultimatum: they are to make peace with the Allies and leave the Eastern Alliance in seven days, or face severe consequences. In preparation for the need to swing the hammer, we have been ordered to prepare a series of military strikes aimed at two areas of their economy. However, in order to go after their economy, we’ll first have to neutralize their navy. Although their navy has been largely absent from the war to this point, we will begin actively hunting them down and sinking every Indian-flagged vessel we find, to include their merchant marine ships.
“Once the navy has been removed as a threat, we will pursue the assault on their economy. The first domain we will target is their steel industry, going after a series of steel mills and manufacturing plants. India has been providing China with vast quantities of military war stocks, and the fastest way for us to put a dent in the Chinese ability to wage war is to remove India from the war production equation. The second industry we’ll be going after is their railway infrastructure: major rail junctions, railyards, key tunnels, bridges, and repair facilities. This will restrict their ability to move materials to support China and prevent them from moving against the Allied forces in Southeast Asia as we continue to liberate more nations.”
He paused for a second, letting some of this sink in. This was probably many of these officers’ first chance to really see the big picture of the war and how their efforts were shaping the outcome. In many cases, soldiers, sailors, and airmen are told where to shoot and who to shoot, but seldom given an explanation for why or told how their actions impact the grand strategy. Now that Lomas was the Pacific Commander, he wanted to do things differently. He wanted them to know the end state, so they could help him craft the best means to meet the President’s stated goals.
“The purpose of the strikes at these two sectors is to seriously impede their ability to wage war while minimizing the loss of life as much as possible,” Admiral Lomas continued. “Our attacks will take place in the dark of night, when most people will be asleep, and will be coordinated to hit as many targets as possible during an upcoming three-day holiday. These actions will also coincide with a massive cyberattack that CyberCom and the NSA will be launching.”