GWOT VII - Jericho
Aug. 31st, 2021 08:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drewkittyGWOT VII - Jericho
"This is a go-no go for Operation Jericho."
"Department of Communications?"
"Go."
"California Expeditionary Forces?"
"Go."
"Bear Force?"
"Go get some."
"Collections."
"Ok."
The Bear Force representative, clearly uncomfortable in a uniform, scoffed at the special agent.
"What do you mean OK?"
"I mean OK. It's an op. Nothing to get excited about, tree hugger."
They locked eyes for a moment. It was the Bear Force commando who looked away.
The Governor decided to ignore the faux pas, and motioned for the project leader to continue.
"Air National Guard?"
"Go."
"Diplomatic Corps?"
"Go."
"Naval Militia?"
"Go."
"Surgeon General?"
"Go."
The checklist continued. All of the department heads were briefed in on Jericho. What they were not briefed in on was why.
Why California needed to assure its ability to communicate with the rest of the world. Powerful transmitters, AM and FM and TV and HDTV. Many ground based, but some air and some in low earth orbit. Also some at ultra high altitude aboard the stealth airships few as yet knew existed. That was one of the lesser secrets that would be compromised as part of Jericho.
Physical compromise of American satellite links for all the major networks. Four separate Bear teams tasked with breaking into facilities in America, with survival times in hours if not in minutes, just for that purpose. Broad spectrum transmitting on frequencies California intended to use, and narrowband jamming to interfere with American electronic counter-counter measures.
Coordination with California's new allies. The "beeb," or British Broadcasting Corporation, would carry the signal. So would the French, and India, and now also China. The Governor had just gotten the confirmation from Echo 18 that China was fully aboard.
Jericho was just a beginning. The next plan's codeword was so self-explanatory that it hadn't been released yet.
"Checklist complete, Governor."
"Thank you, General. I've gathered you all here today, in these very secure conditions, as the very last opportunity I expect that I will have to do so.
"I anticipate that California will initiate, I repeat, initiate, unlimited war against the United States of America within the next seven days."
The room erupted.
Shock, awe, not a few tears. Angry and demanding questions. Department heads thinking about how this would affect their organizations and their missions. In some cases, sudden realizations of why they had been compelled to do things far outside their core missions, commit resources and take chances.
The Governor motioned for quiet. It was a testament to hir leadership over the last three painful years that hie got it.
"This is not about revenge, for San Francisco or for anyone else. This is not even about the survival of California. I've been compelled to realize that no matter what we do, we are doomed. You've all seen the classified analysis, you know that the likeliest outcome of doing nothing is renewed general war between China and America, and that we will be caught in the crossfire or taken out in passing. This is the only option we have that presents some small chance of saving our state. But that's besides the point."
Rapt attention.
"Our mission is to save humanity from that general nuclear war. We must win so hard, or lose so definitively, that the victor still has a biosphere in which humanity can survive. The ecological intelligence estimates are that we will kick over into nuclear winter with somewhere between 100 and 300 airbursts. We have to keep it under one hundred.
"We're going to open the Air Bridge tomorrow. Even America will start to realize something is up, when we start scattering Californians all over the planet. I want history to record what we tried to do, even if we fail. The evacuation effort is part of that.
"It is also a cover. The task we have set for ourselves is to utterly destroy the power projection capability of the American government and military. The first wave will be electronic. We have seen limited cyberwar, in the Firecracker. American paralysis of the Chinese military in the crucial early days, and crippling of the American economy later. But we have not unleashed all _our_ capabilities, and neither have the Americans. We can run without the computers. America can't.
"I have delegated the authority to detonate electromagnetic pulse weapons over the Eastern Coast of America. If we do this, what is left of the American civilian economy will be wrecked and millions will die as a result. On our new use of force continuum, I must consider that a relatively mild and therefore likely to be employed tactic."
Now silence gripped the room. They'd expected the Governor to make the decisions. Instead ... delegation? They looked at each other.
The Collections and Bear Force representatives nodded at each other. At least one secret hadn't leaked, for once.
"Jericho is so that our words are heard, as we present an ultimatum to America and to the world. You will hear it first. America will surface the Tridents and allow them to be interned by the world's navies. America will open the silo bay doors on her ICBM complexes and leave them open, until global disarmament teams arrive and destroy them on site. America will park her strike aircraft on the tarmac in rows surrounded by obstacles until they are also disarmed. Nuclear arms overseas will be surrendered; domestic nuclear arms will be dismantled. For the crime of initiating offensive nuclear war, in the Firecracker, America has given up the national right to self defense.
"California will pledge to act in her defense instead."
"What?" roared the Commandant, Expeditionary Forces.
"General. Be calm. We are ordering America to disarm. No one would ever accept an order to commit suicide. California will guarantee the national survival of America, from any threat including us, if and only if America surrenders her nuclear arms.
"If not, we will swiftly but in a series of graduated steps, strip her of those arms until she comes to her senses. By swift, I mean within hours. But each step will be a few minutes. First she loses ships. Then she starts losing bases. Remote ones. Then close ones. Silos and airfields. Monuments. Infrastructure. Ultimately, if it comes to it, cities. But I am hoping that the mass panic of the disarmament process will spontaneously evacuate many of those."
The Air National Guard General nodded grimly, and spoke.
"Governor, we've had that conversation. America won't settle for that, not until it becomes clear that the outcome is inevitable. She will test us. She will launch on us."
"And so she will. Have your interceptors and anti-ballistic systems ready. When I call for it, we will initiate maximum civil defense precautions. Our practice evacuations have been relatively smooth. Our warfighting capability is not hampered by dumping our cities. America's is. Bear Force?"
"Governor!"
"I've held half your force back. I know you've chafed at it. Here's why. Figure out how America plans to sneak in her atomic demolition munitions, her weapons of mass destruction and her terror weapons. 'Set a thief to catch a thief.' Initiate offensive operations to prevent this, within our borders as well as outside them. Start now, deadly force is ordered. Pink terror has begun."
The Bear Force commando saluted and left the room. He had the Governor's orders in his ears. It would be done. If every Bear Force commando died, but just one WMD was stopped from striking California, the Bear Force would have done its duty.
"Collections. Catch up with him. Use your agency to provide every possible means of support - and to disrupt America's offensive potential. Until this is over, there are no rules and no laws. You are authorized to strike both within and outside our borders. Save What You Can. That is an order. Go."
The heels of the Collections agent clicked as she left the room at a run. Some people die in full battle gear, firing back at their foes and fighting for their friends. Others die alone and horribly, in dark alleys and enemy interrogation chairs. In a fight for the survival of humanity itself, everyone would have the chance to make sacrifices.
"Army. Start full mobilization. Thunder Run is authorized. I want our lead elements in Salt Lake City and Phoenix by Friday at noon. You will know when to cross the border. You won't be getting any cooperation from our sister traitor states, but they won't fight you either. Use that. You are the logistics support for the disarmament operation, if we win."
Unspoken: and insurance of America's destruction, the old fashioned hard nasty way with bullet and bayonet, if we lose.
"Surgeon General. Nuclear war is dispersal. Start evacuating the hospitals now."
He blanched. Even with the most careful precautions, that would kill hundreds if not thousands of bedridden patients. The hospitals had not practiced evacuation, only drilled in it.
"That is an order, General. Do it now."
"Naval Militia."
"Governor."
"This is an order. By my order, the California Navy comes into being, on this date and at this time. So inform your crews and your sailors. You are no longer a defensive force. As long as one ballistic submarine survives, you are our last hole card and chance at national survival. But you are a Navy. That means you control the sea lanes. There are seven oceans. Own them, Admiral. And no arguments about the promotion either. There are about four hundred ships in the US Navy. When the balloon goes up, you take, sink, burn or destroy every single fucking one of them. America doesn't have the right to control a single sea lane, a single port or a single floating fucking plank. You say you have a broom. I demand a clean sweep! Am I clear, Admiral?"
"Yes, Governor."
And another military officer left, hastily.
"Time is short. Do NOT, I say again, DO NOT talk to your family, before the balloon goes up. Collections will shoot you, and that would be sad. We shall all have to take our chances.
"I will be in the Governor's Mansion in Sacramento. When the time comes, I invite any of your family to come join me."
Above ground. Immobile. In a target which the Americans had pre-registered to the centimeter.
The Governor had picked the field to die on.
The meeting broke up.
They all had a lot of work to do.
Except the Governor.
"That was ... impressive," conceded the bodyguard.
"Just my job. I should have gone into acting."
"This is a go-no go for Operation Jericho."
"Department of Communications?"
"Go."
"California Expeditionary Forces?"
"Go."
"Bear Force?"
"Go get some."
"Collections."
"Ok."
The Bear Force representative, clearly uncomfortable in a uniform, scoffed at the special agent.
"What do you mean OK?"
"I mean OK. It's an op. Nothing to get excited about, tree hugger."
They locked eyes for a moment. It was the Bear Force commando who looked away.
The Governor decided to ignore the faux pas, and motioned for the project leader to continue.
"Air National Guard?"
"Go."
"Diplomatic Corps?"
"Go."
"Naval Militia?"
"Go."
"Surgeon General?"
"Go."
The checklist continued. All of the department heads were briefed in on Jericho. What they were not briefed in on was why.
Why California needed to assure its ability to communicate with the rest of the world. Powerful transmitters, AM and FM and TV and HDTV. Many ground based, but some air and some in low earth orbit. Also some at ultra high altitude aboard the stealth airships few as yet knew existed. That was one of the lesser secrets that would be compromised as part of Jericho.
Physical compromise of American satellite links for all the major networks. Four separate Bear teams tasked with breaking into facilities in America, with survival times in hours if not in minutes, just for that purpose. Broad spectrum transmitting on frequencies California intended to use, and narrowband jamming to interfere with American electronic counter-counter measures.
Coordination with California's new allies. The "beeb," or British Broadcasting Corporation, would carry the signal. So would the French, and India, and now also China. The Governor had just gotten the confirmation from Echo 18 that China was fully aboard.
Jericho was just a beginning. The next plan's codeword was so self-explanatory that it hadn't been released yet.
"Checklist complete, Governor."
"Thank you, General. I've gathered you all here today, in these very secure conditions, as the very last opportunity I expect that I will have to do so.
"I anticipate that California will initiate, I repeat, initiate, unlimited war against the United States of America within the next seven days."
The room erupted.
Shock, awe, not a few tears. Angry and demanding questions. Department heads thinking about how this would affect their organizations and their missions. In some cases, sudden realizations of why they had been compelled to do things far outside their core missions, commit resources and take chances.
The Governor motioned for quiet. It was a testament to hir leadership over the last three painful years that hie got it.
"This is not about revenge, for San Francisco or for anyone else. This is not even about the survival of California. I've been compelled to realize that no matter what we do, we are doomed. You've all seen the classified analysis, you know that the likeliest outcome of doing nothing is renewed general war between China and America, and that we will be caught in the crossfire or taken out in passing. This is the only option we have that presents some small chance of saving our state. But that's besides the point."
Rapt attention.
"Our mission is to save humanity from that general nuclear war. We must win so hard, or lose so definitively, that the victor still has a biosphere in which humanity can survive. The ecological intelligence estimates are that we will kick over into nuclear winter with somewhere between 100 and 300 airbursts. We have to keep it under one hundred.
"We're going to open the Air Bridge tomorrow. Even America will start to realize something is up, when we start scattering Californians all over the planet. I want history to record what we tried to do, even if we fail. The evacuation effort is part of that.
"It is also a cover. The task we have set for ourselves is to utterly destroy the power projection capability of the American government and military. The first wave will be electronic. We have seen limited cyberwar, in the Firecracker. American paralysis of the Chinese military in the crucial early days, and crippling of the American economy later. But we have not unleashed all _our_ capabilities, and neither have the Americans. We can run without the computers. America can't.
"I have delegated the authority to detonate electromagnetic pulse weapons over the Eastern Coast of America. If we do this, what is left of the American civilian economy will be wrecked and millions will die as a result. On our new use of force continuum, I must consider that a relatively mild and therefore likely to be employed tactic."
Now silence gripped the room. They'd expected the Governor to make the decisions. Instead ... delegation? They looked at each other.
The Collections and Bear Force representatives nodded at each other. At least one secret hadn't leaked, for once.
"Jericho is so that our words are heard, as we present an ultimatum to America and to the world. You will hear it first. America will surface the Tridents and allow them to be interned by the world's navies. America will open the silo bay doors on her ICBM complexes and leave them open, until global disarmament teams arrive and destroy them on site. America will park her strike aircraft on the tarmac in rows surrounded by obstacles until they are also disarmed. Nuclear arms overseas will be surrendered; domestic nuclear arms will be dismantled. For the crime of initiating offensive nuclear war, in the Firecracker, America has given up the national right to self defense.
"California will pledge to act in her defense instead."
"What?" roared the Commandant, Expeditionary Forces.
"General. Be calm. We are ordering America to disarm. No one would ever accept an order to commit suicide. California will guarantee the national survival of America, from any threat including us, if and only if America surrenders her nuclear arms.
"If not, we will swiftly but in a series of graduated steps, strip her of those arms until she comes to her senses. By swift, I mean within hours. But each step will be a few minutes. First she loses ships. Then she starts losing bases. Remote ones. Then close ones. Silos and airfields. Monuments. Infrastructure. Ultimately, if it comes to it, cities. But I am hoping that the mass panic of the disarmament process will spontaneously evacuate many of those."
The Air National Guard General nodded grimly, and spoke.
"Governor, we've had that conversation. America won't settle for that, not until it becomes clear that the outcome is inevitable. She will test us. She will launch on us."
"And so she will. Have your interceptors and anti-ballistic systems ready. When I call for it, we will initiate maximum civil defense precautions. Our practice evacuations have been relatively smooth. Our warfighting capability is not hampered by dumping our cities. America's is. Bear Force?"
"Governor!"
"I've held half your force back. I know you've chafed at it. Here's why. Figure out how America plans to sneak in her atomic demolition munitions, her weapons of mass destruction and her terror weapons. 'Set a thief to catch a thief.' Initiate offensive operations to prevent this, within our borders as well as outside them. Start now, deadly force is ordered. Pink terror has begun."
The Bear Force commando saluted and left the room. He had the Governor's orders in his ears. It would be done. If every Bear Force commando died, but just one WMD was stopped from striking California, the Bear Force would have done its duty.
"Collections. Catch up with him. Use your agency to provide every possible means of support - and to disrupt America's offensive potential. Until this is over, there are no rules and no laws. You are authorized to strike both within and outside our borders. Save What You Can. That is an order. Go."
The heels of the Collections agent clicked as she left the room at a run. Some people die in full battle gear, firing back at their foes and fighting for their friends. Others die alone and horribly, in dark alleys and enemy interrogation chairs. In a fight for the survival of humanity itself, everyone would have the chance to make sacrifices.
"Army. Start full mobilization. Thunder Run is authorized. I want our lead elements in Salt Lake City and Phoenix by Friday at noon. You will know when to cross the border. You won't be getting any cooperation from our sister traitor states, but they won't fight you either. Use that. You are the logistics support for the disarmament operation, if we win."
Unspoken: and insurance of America's destruction, the old fashioned hard nasty way with bullet and bayonet, if we lose.
"Surgeon General. Nuclear war is dispersal. Start evacuating the hospitals now."
He blanched. Even with the most careful precautions, that would kill hundreds if not thousands of bedridden patients. The hospitals had not practiced evacuation, only drilled in it.
"That is an order, General. Do it now."
"Naval Militia."
"Governor."
"This is an order. By my order, the California Navy comes into being, on this date and at this time. So inform your crews and your sailors. You are no longer a defensive force. As long as one ballistic submarine survives, you are our last hole card and chance at national survival. But you are a Navy. That means you control the sea lanes. There are seven oceans. Own them, Admiral. And no arguments about the promotion either. There are about four hundred ships in the US Navy. When the balloon goes up, you take, sink, burn or destroy every single fucking one of them. America doesn't have the right to control a single sea lane, a single port or a single floating fucking plank. You say you have a broom. I demand a clean sweep! Am I clear, Admiral?"
"Yes, Governor."
And another military officer left, hastily.
"Time is short. Do NOT, I say again, DO NOT talk to your family, before the balloon goes up. Collections will shoot you, and that would be sad. We shall all have to take our chances.
"I will be in the Governor's Mansion in Sacramento. When the time comes, I invite any of your family to come join me."
Above ground. Immobile. In a target which the Americans had pre-registered to the centimeter.
The Governor had picked the field to die on.
The meeting broke up.
They all had a lot of work to do.
Except the Governor.
"That was ... impressive," conceded the bodyguard.
"Just my job. I should have gone into acting."
