The room sat silent for a minute digesting what they had just heard. Could it be possible that India would join Axis powers and turn on the Allies?
The President made a sour face before adding, “This information about India is troubling to say the least. The last time I spoke with the Indian PM, he was short and curt with me. He had expressed his outrage at our use of nuclear weapons against the IR. He further voiced his anger at the fallout that was landing across India. When I communicated with our Ambassador to India last week, he said they had seen a massive uptick in anti-American demonstrations. I believe we should plan on the Indians joining the Axis at some point, and continue to pray they do not. We should look at using cyber-attacks against any manufacturing production that is being used to support the Chinese war effort. No need to let them off the hook entirely.”
Clearing his voice and then taking a couple of gulps from his Red Bull, the President asked, “What about Japan? What are they doing?”
LTG Scott shifted the map screen away from India and zoomed in to show Japan. “As of right now, we believe the Japanese are still planning on sitting out the war. They continue to train and modernize their forces; they have two additional carriers completing construction this month as well. It will bring their total carrier count up to five.”
Director Rubio interjected to add, “On this front, I believe we have some better information. One of our sources within the defense ministry said that they have been ordered to ramp up plans for attacking the Chinese fleet at Hawaii.” (Unfortunately, unbeknownst to the CIA and the American government, this high level source was not just a spy for the Americans, but a double agent for the Chinese. He had been feeding China intelligence about the American and Japanese relationship since the start of the war, which had greatly enabled the Chinese politically to counter every move the Americans attempted to make to strengthen their relationship or convince the Japanese to join the Allies.)
Perking up at this piece of information, Admiral Juliano asked, “What exactly are the Japanese proposing to do, and when will they reach out to us formally?”
“I am not 100 % sure yet on both accounts; our agent only said that plans were in the works for the Japanese to attack the Chinese fleet assembling in Hawaii. The logic behind the attack is that if they can cripple the Chinese fleet there, then it relieves a lot of anxiety about them being able to launch an invasion of the Japanese home front.”
The President smiled and said, “This is good news indeed. Will we have any of our carriers from the Atlantic that might be able to participate?”
Admiral Juliano glanced down at his tablet and flicked through a few tabs to find the one he was looking for before answering. “As of right now, we have two supercarriers coming out of mothball this month, two more by the end of the year. We will not have a fully operational support fleet though until around the end of the year. Right now, all of our ships coming out of mothball and the shipyards are staying on the East Coast where we can protect them, until we can put together a large enough fleet.”
“We have the 6th Fleet still operating in the Mediterranean, and one carrier battle group operating in the North Sea, trying to keep the Russian fleet bottled up. I’m afraid we do not have a fleet ready to sail to the Pacific just yet in order to support any operation the Japanese may have planned,” the Admiral said, clearly disappointed.
The President looked saddened as well. “Let’s look to move our SUDs over to the Hawaiian area when and if this plan does pan out. Maybe we can get lucky and score a few critical hits; in the meantime, let’s keep those SUDs sinking transport and fuel tankers. If no one else has any major points to discuss, let’s end the meeting here, and we’ll meet back again in a couple of days for our next update, unless something major happens,” said Stein.
He stood to end the meeting, but Admiral Juliano moved to grab his attention. “Sir… not to be impertinent, but there is still something that we need to discuss.”
“Oh? What would that be, Admiral?”
“It’s Dr. Rosanna Weisz, Sir,” replied Juliano. “Her protests are starting to gain quite a lot of traction. She has another one scheduled here in DC in two weeks. We don’t want the war to be lost in the tide of public opinion.”
“I see,” the President responded. “What would you propose that I do in this situation?”
The Admiral straightened up (even more than his usual strict military posture) and asserted, “Sir, I think you should come out hard against this group. You can’t let these people walk all over you; you have to show them that you are the one in power.”
Director Rubio was aghast, “Mr. President, with all due respect to my colleague, I cannot imagine that would go well. Simply telling someone what not to think only makes them want to think about it more. It’s like saying, ‘Don’t think about yellow elephants,’ and suddenly, that’s all you can think about. If you come at them harshly, it will only legitimize their position and give them more publicity.”
“I see your point, Pat. Do you have any suggestions?”
“I don’t know, Mr. President… I do concede that this is becoming a real issue. It wouldn’t be such a problem if Dr. Weisz wasn’t so… well… reasonable. She’s about the most intelligent and non-crazy protestor I have ever seen.”
The President furrowed his brows for a brief moment before turning to his Chief of Staff. “Monty, I want you to set up a meeting with Dr. Weisz and myself before this next protest. Bring her to the White House and give her a nice tour, and then let me meet with her personally. No cameras. I think I know what to do.”
“But sir, by meeting with her directly, aren’t you legitimizing her claims?” dared Admiral Juliano.
“If I want to slow this waterfall, I’m going to have to go to the source,” replied the President. “We may have differing opinions, but if she truly is reasonable, I think I can at least bring us to a mutual understanding.”
Admiral Juliano had said his piece, and so he deferred to the judgment of his Commander-in-Chief. The President dismissed the group, and then turned to walk out of the Situation Room.
F41 Flight
Lieutenant Paul Allen and his platoon had completed their training in the new Raptor combat suit several weeks ago and had redeployed back to Alaska. The Raptor was really unique; it leveraged a newer armor technology that was both lightweight and flexible. It was also a fully closed environmental suit, which meant it could operate in a host of different environments. The soldiers trained for weeks in the new combat suits, trying to become familiar with how to operate them while using their M5 AIRs and other equipment. Now they were prepared, and had been sent back to the fight at Susitna Mountain Range.
The Susitna defensive line was a massive fortified position carved into the low-ranging mountains of the area and was one of the last major obstacles the Chinese needed to capture in order to secure Anchorage. The Americans knew this, and had built a multi-layered defensive network of trenches, tank ditches, traps, and other obstacles meant to funnel enemy armor into pre-determined kill zones. General Black knew the importance of this position and had placed nearly 185,000 troops in this one defensive position alone. Another 60,000 troops were held in reserve, and a mobile QRF of 45,000 troops was nearby as well. General Black also had 900 Pershing MBTs and 2,200 of the older M1A4 MBTs in the area as well. To the left and right flank of the mountain range was relatively flat terrain, which made it great tank country when not covered by the deep snow that usually falls in this particular area of Alaska five out of twelve months of the year.