“I only bring this information up right now because our agent sent this information to us this morning along with the 2nd Shock Army’s final orders for the Christmas Eve attack.” Nodding towards the NSA Director, he continued, “We were working to coordinate this information with the NSA to determine if there was additional collaborating information about the number of nuclear devices before we disseminated the threat. Obviously, since they used the devices today, we were unable to do that,” said Director Rubio.
Director Perez was clearly irate, and barked, “If you had provided that information while it was being vetted, then perhaps we could have pieced that together with additional information and may have prevented this from happening.”
President Stein knew this could get out of hand quickly, and moved to squash the disagreements before they went any further. “Jorge, if this information came in this morning then chances are we were too late. That said, Director Rubio, you will share these types of threats in the future even if they are not fully vetted. So… before we respond to Caliph Mohammed, are you certain these are the only two devices? Should we respond with nuclear weapons of our own?” asked the President.
“We need to identify the other commercial ships that may be used as improvised bombs; they can still hurt us. As for the nukes, I do believe these are the only two they have. Our agent we have in the FSB is assigned to the 2nd Shock Army; they are currently stationed in Turkey and one of his duties is to coordinate intelligence between them and their IR counterparts. He only learned of this information when his counterpart bragged about the Americans being forced to withdraw from the Middle East soon. He alluded to the two nuclear devices, but never mentioned any additional ones. They may have slipped additional nukes in, but I highly doubt it.”
Signaling for the communications officer to unmute the line, President Stein began to address Caliph Mohammed in a measured and calculated manor. “This is President Stein. I have just received confirmation and I am looking at the video feed of a second nuclear detonation in Baltimore. I assume this was detonated by your agents?” asked the President.
Caliph Mohammed was relishing this moment where he clearly thought he had the President of the United States over a barrel. “We needed to make sure you understand that if you do not withdraw your forces from the Middle East then we will detonate additional nuclear bombs in your cities. Your only choice is to withdraw or lose more American cities.” Caliph Mohammed said confidently.
Knowing that the US needed to strike back at the IR, the President began to give his response in a cool and calm manor. “Caliph Mohammed, your regime has shown no regard for human life. Your Army butcher’s innocent civilians while we go out of our way to minimize the loss of innocents. You have clearly indicated with these two nuclear detonations on civilian targets that you have declared complete and open war on our civilian population. Now it is my turn to tell you that we know that you only had two nuclear devices in our country; you have done as much damage as you can do. Now it is time for you to feel the complete and utter wrath of the American nuclear arsenal. I can assure you, you have no idea how much damage the US can do to the Islamic Republic, but you are about to find out.”
Click. With that, the President had the connection terminated.
“Admiral Juliano, how soon can we hit Riyadh?” asked the President.
“We have a nuclear attack submarine in position; the problem is their laser defense system. Our ballistic missiles will be destroyed quickly. We could use a cruise missile, but even those would most likely be destroyed. The cruise missile can fly under their laser defense system until just at the end, when it needs to climb to its effective altitude before detonating. It’s in those last two or three seconds that it would most likely be destroyed. We could do a ground burst but then we radiate the area for generations,” Admiral Juliano described, a look of disappointment in his face.
“Mr. President, if you are willing to give us some time, we can install a warhead on one of the X59 cruise missiles,” said General Rice, the Commanding General of the Air Force.
The President turned and asked, “I thought we had gone through our supply of them when we attacked their power grid at the start of the war, right?”
Eric Clarke interjected for General Rice and explained, “We had Mr. President. The manufacturer said they have five missiles ready for use right now. They began full production of the X59 at the start of the war, and with the current parts they had on hand, they were able to give us five additional missiles. They should be able to start supplying us with about 20 cruise missiles a month starting in January and will ramp up to 100 missiles a month by the end of ‘41.”
The President turned to General Rice and directed, “I want you to pick five of their largest and most strategic cities, and I want them obliterated. What are your immediate suggestions, and how long until we can hit them?” asked the President.
General Rice thought about that for a minute. The US had secretly converted a number of mk-41 thermonuclear warheads to be fitted to cruise missiles. The yield was nothing short of amazing. “Mr. President, we will install a cruise missile variant of the mk-41, called the w-100 warhead, on the cruise missiles. The warhead has a maximum yield of 25 Megatons; it will essentially flatten anything within ten miles of ground zero and radiate everything within a fifty-mile radius of detonation.”
“Alternatively, we also secretly developed an experimental a 25 Megaton neutron bomb. Before anyone says anything, yes this directly violated every nuclear arms reduction treaty we ever signed. It was an ‘eye’s only’ project with a limited number of scientists who worked on it. It was developed to essentially eliminate the population of a city without destroying it. It still produces an EMP, so there will still be damage, but it will not obliterate a physical target. We also worked out the bugs in it and raised the yield from 10 Kilotons to the 25 Megaton beast I am now talking about. The bomb needs to be detonated as an airburst, approximately 15,000 feet above the targeted area. Once it detonates, it will release roughly 8,000+ rads of radiation to everyone within a ten-mile radius, killing them nearly instantly. Everyone within a thirty-mile radius of ground zero will also receive a lethal dose of radiation as well,” General Rice explained, reading the effects from his tablet.
The Secretary of Defense interjected, “Aside from the fact that this bomb should never have been developed, this is a particularly nasty weapon, Mr. President. No country in history has ever used a bomb with these kinds of effects before and I am afraid of the retaliation we may receive from the Chinese and Russians. Not to mention what our allies will say. I agree that we need to retaliate against the IR for these two attacks; I am just not sure if this is the right weapon to use. The million-dollar question is — what will the Chinese and Russians do? And do we risk it?” asked Eric Clarke, a bit concerned that this could escalate out of control.
The President thought for a moment, trying to determine how to respond to what General Rice said. His gut told him not to go down this route — that this could lead to disaster — but his brain said this needed to be done to avenge the lives taken in New York and Baltimore. He was also committed to using whatever weapon necessary to win the war and bring it to a swift conclusion. With the internal battle of the mind having been settled, the President said, “Let’s move forward with the neutron bomb as it will leave the least amount of fallout and long-term damages. I do not want to destroy the global environment if possible… If I am not mistaken, there is a portion of the IR not protected by their laser defense system — correct?” asked the President.