The PM interrupted, “—How were they able to increase the railgun range that much? I thought the railgun only had a range of — at best — 39 kilometers.”
“The Americans incorporated the new Angelic reactor, providing the carrier with enough power generation capability to power one quarter of Great Britain. The increased energy, along with a five-foot increase in barrel length, allows them to shoot the projectile significantly farther than previously possible. The real power of the fleet though is going to be the new Web class battleships,” the Sea Lord explained giddily.
“Let me guess — it also has this new railgun as well?” Blair asked with a wry grin on his face. He was rather amused by watching the Sea Lord (who was normally a very serious and dry person) become this excited about something.
“Yes, it has two-twin turret railguns, but these guns are ten-inch guns with the same range. The ship also has two pulse beam laser turrets, which are capable of engaging aerial targets as far away as 439 kilometers out and enemy ships up to 132 kilometers away, which is basically the limit due to the curve of the horizon. They shared some data on the pulse beam; it shot an eight-inch hole through a ship they were using for target practice. The ship also carries six hundred cruise missiles and has a myriad of anti-aircraft and missile defense systems. Sir, these four new ships are going to single-handedly destroy the Chinese and Japanese fleets once they get in range. Once they secure the ocean along the West Coast and Alaska, the Axis forces there are going to wither and die.”
The group continued to talk for a while about these new ships and what they would mean for the war effort going forward. Finally, PM Blair turned to the MI6 Director and asked, “George, are you ready to brief us on what is going on in India and Japan?”
Trying to reassert himself, the Director replied, “Yes Sir, there is a lot of information to share. As you may be aware, the Americans are now waging a cyber-war against India and Japan. One of my top analysts believes that the Indian financial system may collapse within the next few weeks; the Americans have caused all the ATMs in the country to empty, creating havoc throughout the cities as people tried to grab as much ‘free’ money as possible. Then, rumors spread on the internet about a new bank tax and possible insolvency of several of the major banks. People have been trying to withdraw as much money as possible from their accounts, and I am getting reports that this run on the banks may result in the government closing all of the banks by later today in order to prevent a full run on the banking system. Of course, that would only further fuel the disinformation the American hackers have been spreading everywhere.”
The Sea Lord flipped to a different slide on his tablet as he switched topics. “The situation in Japan is still taking shape; the cyber-attacks there appear to be slightly different. The Americans have gone after the financial system there as well, but they have also attacked a lot of the Internet of Things (IoT) integrated items; this has affected the communications system, among other things. The systems that control the digital glasses people often wear was taken offline. They also disabled the automatic vehicle driving systems within the major cities, effectively disabling a large portion of the vehicles in Japan from being used until they patch the system. To further complicate the transportation system, the Americans disabled the rail systems by attacking the electronically controlled engines and forcing them to burn out.”
The PM was amazed at the ability of the Americans to effectively disable these two countries’ digital capability. “Clearly, the Americans have improved their cyber capabilities since the beginning of the war. This is an impressive display,” he remarked.
Turning to one of his generals, the PM asked, “General, what is the status of our forces here in Europe with regards to the new attack against the Americans?”
All eyes turned to the general, hoping he had good news to share as well. “Sir, 300,000 new soldiers from the South American Multi-National Force have just arrived in France and England. The Americans had also sent us an additional 20,000 soldiers to replace the ones they’ve lost during the last several months of fighting. Right now, we have the Russians contained; they cannot break out of their current lines, nor can we break through. That situation will change in the next couple of months as more of the new German and French tanks come on line and the Americans send some of those new F41 Arch Angel fighters. Our goal right now is to hold our positions and continue to consolidate our gains while we plan for another offensive in February or March,” the general explained.
The prime minister thought for a minute before responding, “General, perhaps it is time we reconsider launching a new attack against the Russians, but not along our current battle lines. Let’s consider a plan to hit northern Norway, with the goal of driving on Murmansk. That northernmost Russian naval base leads to the White Sea and the heart of the Russian navy.”
“We could, PM, but we would need to look at late spring to conduct an attack like that. Most of that area is frozen over during the winter, so moving troops, vehicles and ships would be extremely challenging. I can have our planners put together an invasion plan, but I would like this to be in conjunction to a spring offensive along the western front as well. This way, we can catch them off guard.”
“Excellent, then let’s move forward with the planning phase. We’ll evaluate the strategy in a couple of months once your planners have had time to put things together.”
With the needed updates completed, the PM ended the meeting and everyone moved to execute their orders.
New Directive
Admiral Tomohisa Kawano’s fleet was now in range of launching their heliborne assault forces to reinforce their troops already fighting in the city of LA. It was critical that they hold the city and its port facilities long enough for the invasion force to arrive and bring the follow-on troops coming from Japan, China and India. As they neared the coast, several of the ships began to take aim at the coast, providing fire support to the JDF soldiers desperately trying to hold their ground against the US Marines.
One of the communications officers walked towards the Admiral, signaling that he needed to talk with him. “Sir, Admiral Xi from the PLAN has sent us new orders.” As he spoke, the officer handed the Admiral the newest directive from the PLAN fleet.
The Captain of the Carrier, Nagasaki, saw the exchange and walked over to Admiral Kawano to ask, “What do they want us to do?” He was curious to know what the “new masters” had in store for them. Not all the officers in the fleet were happy about turning on the Americans and attacking them like they had. Captain Nagasaki had honored his orders, but he was not happy about it. He also feared what would happen to his fleet and to Japan once the Americans rebounded from their treachery.
Admiral Kawano forgave the intrusion of his senior captain and explained, “Admiral Xi wants us to offload our ground forces as quickly as possible, and then prepare to join them as they head towards the Panama Canal and attack the American carrier group that is close to traveling through it.”
Admiral Kawano could see the concern in his officer’s eyes; the PLAN had been able to successfully defeat the American Seventh Fleet at the outset of the war, but the Americans had built a new series of warships and none of them knew what they were going to be like. They only knew that they were going to incorporate a lot of new technology that they had not been privy to, even when they were allies. He didn’t judge his captain for those feelings though; he felt the concern too. Instead, he tried to bring him back into the process, asking, “Captain, how soon until our transports can dock at the ports and we turn our attention to the new threat?”