In the HIVE, the senior advisors were meeting to discuss the recent developments. The President sat down across from the DHS Secretary and jumped right into business. “Director Perez, have we identified any additional IR or Chinese cells in the last couple of days?” The President was hoping they had finally rooted out the last of them.
“Within the first two hours of the Trinity Program going live, we apprehended forty-six suspected IR operatives in Dearborn, MI. We caught them prior to their execution of a massive attack. One of the prisoners said their goal was to encourage a Muslim uprising in Dearborn and Detroit and then support them with weapons and explosives. We captured over 1,200 assault rifles, nearly 8,000 lbs. of Semtex, 14 MANPADs and three dozen Explosively Formed Penetrators (EFPs) — the kind that punch right through our armored vehicles. It was a huge success for DHS and the Trinity Program,” reported Director Perez.
Breathing a sigh of relief at finally catching a big break, the President replied, “This is a big deal; I want this brought up during the press briefing. See if there is some footage we can release as well. The public needs to know that we are apprehending these terrorists and seeing real results. Has the Trinity Program identified any other significant threats yet?”
Secretary Perez continued saying, “We have. There were sixty-seven Chinese nationals identified that had been working in a variety of jobs in the energy and utility sector. We now believe they may have been directly involved in the massive communications blackout with the Uninet routers and switches. The program also identified 1,385 military officers and NCOs across all branches of the military that have ties in one fashion or another to the PLA, Russia and the IR. All of these individuals had Top Secret clearances and worked in sensitive areas within the military—”
General Branson interjected, “—We are going to place them on trial for treason as well. Sorry for the interruption, Director Perez.”
The Director nodded and continued, “In addition to the military members, 3,456 government civilians and 856 government contractors have been arrested. Not all of these individuals had ties to the PLA; some had ties to the Russians and the IR. Everyone detained is going to be charged and tried for treason once all the evidence has been collected.” Director Perez smiled; he had sense of pride, feeling vindicated for having pushed so hard to make this controversial program operational.
“Where do we stand on getting the communications grid fully restored?” asked the President’s Chief of Staff.
Director Perez brought up another slide with some additional information regarding the various status updates and explained, “As of right now, we have about 75 % of the grid back to being operational. There are still some issues with data speed, but that will get resolved as more of the routers are replaced and upgraded. We are finally starting to get the parts we needed from the UK; it’s now more of an issue of replacing the burnt out switches and routers throughout the grid. It’s going to take some time. The aerial drones and aerostat blimps are helping to plug the holes and gaps in the grid for the time being.”
The President smiled. He was impressed by the ability of his staff to see the problem and find a way to quickly solve it. This close collaboration between the private sector, allied and partner nations was key to getting the country’s communication system back in operation. Leaning forward, the President praised his team. “Director Perez, your team has done an outstanding job getting the communications network back up and running. I am also glad you put forth a strong case for going live with Trinity. I was skeptical about using such an intrusive surveillance program, and I know others in the room were as well. However, no one can dispute the results, or the speed in which it found these traitors within our midst. I want this program to stay ‘Eyes Only,’ and keep the circle of people that know about it small. The less people that know about this the better.”
The President’s Chief of Staff asserted, “We need to get these successes in the press. Lord knows the people need something; they are still reeling from the destruction of New York and Baltimore. That said, people are pretty pumped up about our nuking the living daylights out of the IR. Everyone knew someone who died in the vicious attacks,” Monty said, surveying the group.
“Jim, how are the Europeans taking all of this?” asked the President wanting to get a sense of the political situation with his allies.
“Like everyone else, they were shocked and surprised by the IR nukes in New York and Baltimore. They were also horrified at our response. They are saying we went overboard and should have shown some restraint. They are also crying foul about the environmental damage this is going to cause,” Jim said, knowing the President would have gone further if the others had not insisted on limiting the conventional nuclear attack. Stein had wanted to unleash more than a thousand nukes, hitting the entire Islamic Republic from North Africa and the Middle East to Asia.
The President was concerned about the environmental damage the nukes had caused, but found himself saying, “Perhaps they can show restraint when one of their cities is nuked. Are they mobilizing their forces yet? Will they be able to provide any sort of defense?” The President was clearly not expecting a satisfactory response.
General Branson moved to answer the question. “Mr. President, they have mobilized their entire reserve force. Germany is really stepping up. They just announced the conscription of three million additional soldiers, not that they will make a difference for at least six to twelve months.”
A holographic image of General Wade came to life. From his European post, he had been participating in the meeting via conference call. Now he interjected, “The EU is still in the process of pulling their active forces out of the cities and reequipping them with their combat equipment. The only units that are ready right now are the German 10th and 13th armored divisions and the Polish Army. Both German divisions have the latest Leopard 3C model tanks, and will be more than a match for the Russians. The Germans are also mobilizing three infantry divisions to begin setting up defensive positions in and around some of the major Polish cities. The Pols, for their part, are moving most of their armor and mechanized forces to the north and trusting the Germans to hold the center. The EU forces in Poland, Hungary and Romania have all been placed on alert and moved to their marshalling points. For the first week, they will be on their own until the Fifth (and then later the Sixth)Army are ready.”
The President butted in to ask, “Will the German divisions be enough?”
“These are their two best divisions. General Schoen is the area commander, and he is by far their best field general. I am confident they will hold the Russians for a few days, long enough for us to get at least part of the Fifth Army to the German border and ready to fight,” General Wade replied, his face set like flint.
Changing maps on the holographic display, General Branson began showing the North Atlantic and the British sector. “The Brits are going to secure Iceland and Norway. They will focus heavily on interdicting the Russian Navy and ensuring the sea lanes between North America and Europe continue to stay open. They are also going to be providing a large portion of the air support over Europe, since most of our airpower is still in the Middle East.”
Eric Clarke, the SecDef, interrupted to add, “We have 1,200 fighter drones, fresh from the factory. They are being formed into new fighter wings and will be sent to Europe within the next three days. It’s still going to be close to a month, maybe two, until we have most of the aircraft from the boneyards ready to go. Even then, we lack trained pilots. We’ve shortened the training period for our pilot program, but that means our pilots will be less trained and experienced when they go into battle. We are also calling back into service a lot of retired pilots who used to fly these aircraft when they were still on active duty.”