“Admiral, we are ready to begin when you are,” said the Lieutenant Commander who was the media department chief for the fleet. The Admiral nodded and began his prepared speech.
“Merry Christmas my fellow sailors and marines, and to the civilians who have volunteered to accompany us on this dangerous mission. As we prepare for combat, I want everyone to take some time to remember those who have been lost this past year and to be thankful that we are still alive and able to fight for our country. I am grateful for those of us whose families are safe, and that we have been given the opportunity to bring vengeance and retribution to our enemies. 2040 and ‘41 have been rough years for the Navy and our country. We have lost a lot of friends and family members, and our country has been invaded twice. Not since the war of 1812 has America’s very survival been at stake. We have been punched, sucker-punched, and kicked while we were down. President Stein said it best in his Christmas Day address to the nation a few hours ago, ‘America has been given a bloody nose and a kick to the teeth.’ Unfortunately for our enemies, the military giant that is America has been rousted from its slumber, and soon we will be taking the fight to the enemies’ own homelands.”
Pausing for a second and looking at the sailors in the room with him, he continued, “Carrier Strike Group 12 is the most advanced naval fleet the world has ever seen. Group 12 is anchored by the carriers New York and Baltimore in remembrance of our two great cities that were destroyed by the IR, and with the strength of their memory, we are going to destroy the PLAN and JDF fleets.”
“I want everyone to enjoy this evening and the comraderie of your fellow sailors and marines. Those on shift tonight will be replaced by their commanding officers at the end of your shift for four hours while everyone enjoys a few extra hours of sleep in the morning. Starting tomorrow, we are going to be working longer and harder than ever before to get this fleet ready for combat. We will reach the Panama Canal in 67 hours at flank speed, and we will be in range of attacking the PLAN fleet within six days.”
“We do not have a lot of time left to get our ships ready for combat. I want everyone to know that your nation and I are counting on you to be ready. I have full confidence in your abilities; we will win this coming fight. The men and women you see around you will be the guiding force in turning the war in our favor. Please take a few minutes to pray and give thanks for everything that we have been given, and trust that your commanders have your best interests at heart. That is all.”
The media director had a few small edits and wording changes to the speech, but otherwise it was ready to be broadcast to the crew. The entire fleet would hear the message just before their Christmas dinner.
Rude Awakening
The political and military leadership of Great Britain had been following the latest developments of the war and the invasion of California with rapt attention and shock. They could not believe the Japanese had betrayed the Allies like this and were leading the invasion of California. There were images all over TV and streaming on the Web of millions of residents fleeing San Diego, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area as refugees; the sight was shocking and horrifying. Nearly ten thousand civilians had already been killed across the three major cities from cruise missile attacks and the fighting currently underway.
The massive flow of refugees fleeing the warzone was hampering the American military from getting forces into the cities to repel the invaders, and had stopped additional reinforcements from arriving. The American President had gone to the airways to assure the American people that the military would soon repulse these invaders and that Japan and India would pay a steep price for their betrayal. Images were being shown of General Gardner’s American Third Army moving from their bases across Colorado, Utah and Nevada heading towards California. The President had declared that all 1,300,000 soldiers of the Third Army, as well as their armored vehicles were on their way to California and would retake these iconic cities.
The Prime Minister pulled away from the images on the television and turned to the Director of MI6. “George, you’ve always been one for candor. How bad is it really in America right now?”
The other members in the briefing room all looked at George to see what he had to say. “Good and bad sir.”
Annoyed at the cryptic and unhelpful answer, PM Blair shot back, “Please, elaborate a bit for us, will you?”
Snickering could be heard by a few of the military men as they saw the director stiffen a bit. He was not very well liked; he had been one of the few senior members of the British government to dismiss the idea that Russia was going to invade the EU, citing the same logic as the EU intelligence services (who were claiming that the Russian economy was too tied to Europe to risk a military conflict). He had been proven utterly wrong, but had still managed to cling on to power.
“Sir, the Americans have restored their military communications systems again, so in that respect things are looking up. They can effectively communicate with their ground and air forces. Unfortunately, in the invaded cities they are having a hard time getting reinforcements to the fight with the refugees clogging the roads. The ground war in Alaska has finally become a stalemate now that winter has moved across the state, making it hard for the Russian and Chinese armies to effectively attack the American defenses there, so at least they can focus solely on these new invasions.”
The MI6 director was not telling them anything more than what the media was already providing. Feeling frustrated at the lack of information provided, Admiral Sir Mark West, First Sea Lord, felt he needed to interject. “Prime Minister, the war in the Pacific and on the West Coast is about to change dramatically in the next week. President Stein ordered the secretive American Carrier Strike Group 12 to set sail for the West Coast in order to retake the Pacific. Admiral Juliano just provided us with a brief on their mission and shared the details of the new Reagan class carriers and the new Web class battleships. They have also agreed to share the designs with us, if we wish to pursue building them ourselves.” Sir Mark West was clearly hoping the PM would be interested in building one of these new revolutionary warships; he spoke as a child who is hinting about a new toy they would like for Christmas.
The PM was still feeling rather irritated with his intelligence director, and chided him. “George, you seem distracted; I want to know about what is going on in Japan and India at the end of the meeting. Please collect yourself and be prepared to provide a more detailed response than what you just gave us.”
George nodded to acknowledge the PM, and then he began to look through some of his notes, writing down a few specific points to bring up.
Looking back to the First Sea Lord, the Prime Minister inquired, “Sir Mark, I am not familiar with these new ships; would you please bring us up to speed on them now that they have shared the details with you?”
Smiling, Sir Mark happily complied. “Sir, the Reagan class carriers are a completely new design. They have the command island in the center of the ship with runways on all sides of it. The ship is 100 meters longer in length than their current carriers, 65 meter wider, and 36 meters taller. The carrier can accommodate 36 F35Cs and 150 fighter bomber drones, along with Razorbacks. The defenses on the ship are incredible. They have 32 20mm anti-aircraft/anti-ship railguns surrounding the edge of the flight deck. Just below the flight deck, the ship has two twin-mounted five-inch anti-ship railguns, one on each side of the ship; these have a range of 143 kilometers at a flat trajectory—”