“Look, I do not want to be caught off guard by the Chinese. We already got sucker-punched by the IR with those nukes; I do not want to get hit by the Chinese like that as well. General Black, I want you to send every additional Marine you can to Guam. Tell the base commander to be ready for a potential Chinese invasion and be ready to repel an invasion, should it come to that. I also want to start evacuating all military dependents from Guam as well,” directed the President.
“Admiral Juliano, I want you to deploy that additional fighter drone squadron. Also, move additional hunter killer submarines into the waters around Guam; if the Chinese surface fleet does make a move towards Guam, then our subs are to target the Chinese capital ships. This is important, Admiral Juliano. I am authorizing the use of nuclear torpedoes, but only if the sub commander believes it is necessary and would significantly damage the PLAN fleet, understood?”
“Yes, Mr. President. I hope it does not come to that, but yes, I will relay those specific instructions.”
“General Lewis, is the Air Force able to maintain air superiority over Guam with assistance from the Navy and Marines?”
“Yes, Mr. President. We have two squadrons of F22s, two squadrons of F38 fighter drones and three medium range drone bomber squadrons, which are currently being used in support of our operations in Indonesia. They could easily be re-tasked to protect Guam. We still have plenty of anti-ship ordnances on Guam to supply our Air Wings, should it be necessary,” General Lewis said with a devilish grin.
“Excellent, General. I was hoping you were going to say that. Now moving to the cyber-attacks; since the Chinese have engaged in a full scale cyber-attack against the country, I want our entire cyber-attack capability launched against China. Target their banking, energy, and transportation sectors. If we can turn the lights off in the country, then do so. It’s time we start to show the Chinese what it’s like to be hit with cyber-attacks of the same level, and perhaps a bit more. Oh, and General Black and Admiral Juliano, if hostilities were to erupt between China and the US, then I want those specific locations where the cyber-attacks are originating from to be immediately eliminated — is that clear?” asked the President with a sternness in his voice not often used.
“Yes sir,” came the synchronized response.
Between the 7th and 12th day of the war, the US Navy and Air Force had moved 185,000 US Soldiers and Marines into Israel and the Egyptian SCZ via military and commercial aircraft, military naval transports and civilian cruise ships. This massive influx of US Forces into Israel was the deciding factor in being able to repel the near-constant human wave attacks from the IR forces. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians had been killed in less than two weeks, mirroring the destruction of most of Israel and the entire Palestinian area in the West Bank and Gaza. The IR had lost their ability to threaten coalition air forces by the end of the 8th day of the war when the US Air Force conducted a massive air raid comprising of nearly 2,000 fighter and fighter bomber drones and 900 cruise missiles. They destroyed every IR air base within three hundred miles of Israel.
Once the Allies had regained air superiority, the tide of the war quickly began to shift as the IR supply lines and reinforcements began to come under tremendous pressure. The IDF and US Forces were able to stabilize the frontlines and slowly began to push the IR forces back, reclaiming territory and Israeli cities. As the IR forces withdrew, they ensured no civilians survived and did their best to level every building, increasing the number of defensible positions.
Every yard of land was being heavily contested as casualties on both sides continued to mount. The IR had lost 400,000 soldiers and another 170,000 were listed as missing. The IDF were reporting nearly 197,000 killed and missing soldiers. From the US, 72,340 had perished or were missing, and nearly twice that number were injured.
With large portions of the IR operating on limited power and subject to rolling blackouts, it was becoming nearly impossible for them to move additional soldiers and equipment to the frontlines. However, the Russian Federation succeeded in integrating the IR power grid into their own along their shared border in the Caucasus region around the 11th day of the war. Russia began to provide the IR with nearly 65 % of their power, restoring most of the country back too normal while emergency repair crews began to fix what power plants could be mended after the American nuclear and conventional attacks on the 1st day of the war.
Russia also began to move the Second Shock Army into Turkey and began to insist on a dialog with the Israelis and Americans to put an end to hostilities. While the Second Shock Army was being assembled in Turkey, the First and Third Shock Armies were being positioned along the EU border to begin their winter training exercise.
Caliph Mohammed was adamant with the Russian Foreign Minister that the IR would continue to fight and did not want to pursue talks with Israel and the Americans. They believed if they could continue to send reinforcements and received enough replacement equipment from Russia and China, they could continue to grind the IDF and American Forces into submission.
The Russian Foreign Minister had to remind the Caliph that neither Russia nor China could supply the IR with essentially a new military overnight; it would take years to replace the equipment that was lost, not to mention the training of military members to operate it. The best course of action was to negotiate a ceasefire and insist upon retaining the conquered land. The Foreign Minister assured Caliph Mohammed that once Russia declared war on the EU and US, the time to restart hostilities with Israel could begin almost immediately. With great reluctance, the IR asked for a ceasefire with the Allies…whether President Stein would listen was another question entirely.
Operation Red Dragon
“We need to get the Premier to start the war; the Americans have already reinforced Guam, and these cyber-attacks against our transportation infrastructure and other aspects of the economy are starting to get worse,” said Director Xi Lee. He was starting to become concerned that the Premier may be getting cold feet.
“I agree with you Director. We will pressure the Premier to make the decision today at the CMC meeting. Admiral Shengli and General Wanquan will also insist that the war start today,” General Yang said with a bit of urgency in his voice.
“For the sake of China, we must start the war today; the Americans have had too long to prepare and I fear this preparation is going to cost our forces,” insisted Lee, not trying too hard to hide his trace of anger at the indecisiveness of the Premier.
China was supposed to have attacked the Americans yesterday, but held off once the cyber-attacks against the Chinese economy began to have some serious impacts.
Premier Zhang Jinping walked into the secured bunker under his official residence for the final CMC briefing before the government moved to the war-time bunkers burrowed deep in the Da’Anshanxiang Mountains just west of Beijing. As Zhang walked to the head of the table, he could sense the tension in the room.
The Generals were angry with him for not starting the war according to the original plan, but he had his reasons. He wanted to ensure his generals were loyal to him and to China. Inspector Ma Keshi, the head of the Secret Police, had suggested holding off on initiating the war as a means of testing his generals to determine if they would listen to him or find a way to disobey him. If one or more of them had found a way to start the war without his direction, then Zhang and Inspector Keshi would know who was loyal and who could not be trusted. Inspector Keshi had wanted to hold off for three days; however, Zhang realized holding off for even a day may have provided the Americans with more time to prepare and led to losing the element of surprise. No, today was the day that China would rise and secure her destiny as the dominant power in Asia.