"We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender."
— Winston Churchill
6/20/14 3:20pm Undisclosed Location in U.S. airspace.
This isn’t how things work. There is supposed to be a buildup of forces, cessation of all diplomatic communications, small skirmishes. Not even a warning shot, the equivalent of running across the border to burn down the White House. It was a miracle that blast hit at night, when air traffic was slower and fewer vehicles were on the road. The casualty numbers were inflated; it was a good propaganda move.
But what if it wasn’t a miracle? She shook the thought from her head.
Tow sat across from two marines holding rifles while a secret service agent sat next to her as Marine One, a variant of the Black Hawk. The reports told her it was just a matter of replacing certain parts and that other military weapons were being fixed as fast as possible, the F-35 easier with it modular parts but there wasn’t enough supply, it was taking a day per plane to fix. But the Secret Service had whisked her out of the White House as soon as the alicorn appeared on television.
“We think they bribed a network for use of their satellite to broadcast their transmission, probably one used to cover China.” The agent next to her said.
How can they all be so calm? Tow wondered, staring at the expressionless faces of two marines. Do they not understand what just happened? No, they know, they are just expecting me to tell them where to go and what to do. To tell them what to shoot; to protect me and their countrymen.
How could Brent ever have been so stupid though? Assassinate a foreign leader? Even the CIA is reluctant to try that anymore. And how did he know? It felt like her heart stopped. I caused this by denying I sent people to plant bugs, she already knew, someone talked and with Brent; Celestia must have thought a war was coming. President Tow rummaged through a stack of papers, pulling out a writing pad and a pen. Someone had to give her the information, made it look like a war. Brent wouldn’t have, he would have planned for the strike to fall on someone else. The only safe bet is to assume the Ambassador and the entire team was compromised in some way. Celestia got through the Embassy’s burn safe too quickly.
When was the last time there was a war on American soil? World War Two. And none for a long time before that. We need information and a battle plan. Talking won’t work and we…I. Tow corrected herself; have given them a huge advantage.
“Lisa, I need the military leaders at 9x immediately, I don’t care what you have to do, just make it happen, make sure there is an AM generator there, we don’t want any surprises from a teleporter. Find out what the CIA and NSA know. Get ahold of Jethro and tell him I want the files on our ‘guests’.”
“Yes ma’am.” The aide was sitting further away, no longer looking as nervous now that she had a job.
Tow entertained the idea of stringing up the Senator for his crimes, she knew he had to have been involved, it reeked of underhandedness and manipulation. The only trouble was she had absolutely zero proof and he was an American citizen being handed over to a foreign power.
“And call an emergency session of congress to vote for authorizing military action.”
In flight to Bunker X9
“Madam President, we have a call coming in from Texas, it’s Senator Brent.” The copilot of Marine One informed her, waiting to know if he should pass the call back to her or just disconnect.
“Put him through.” President Tow picked up a phone next to her chair, the plush leather feeling much harder than it had a moment before. “And set it to record.”
“Yes ma’am.” The marine clicked several buttons, a red light blinked on the phone, signaling Brent on hold for her.
Margarette was conflicted, but politics had to reign, working within the system, the failings being what drove her to politics. “Senator Brent.” She replied, more ice in her voice than intended.
The Senator seemed to ignore the tone. “Madam President. I would like to offer you my complete support. I assume you are headed to a secure location.”
What game is he playing now? “Is there something you needed Senator? I am in the middle of contacting who to lead the army.”
“I would suggest Keyes; he always had a good head on his shoulder.”
Tow didn’t know of any Keyes, but she was not as familiar with the military as she should have been. “I will take that under advisement with the Secretary of Defense.”
“That is all I could ask.” Brent spoke like silk, a small tremble in his voice. “However;” he stopped for a moment, “I want you to know that whoever you pick, I will make sure my supporters back him completely.”
“You will be held to that. This call is being recorded.” His response stopped her for a moment.
Brent laughed, something from deep in his chest, no malice just humor, something happy. “I would expect nothing less.”
“Why are you doing this?” What does he have to gain?
“As a wise man once said, ‘a country divided against itself cannot stand.’ Especially when at war. We must provide a united front, keep up morale. Do what Americans do best, unite in tumultuous times, and prove that we are one people.”
“I thank you and will take that under advisement.”
“That is all I could ask. Stay safe. And, I am sorry about my role in this. I never would have piggybacked off of your operation if I knew it would blow up like this.”
The red-headed president hung up the phone. So that is his game, still playing for the election I see. ‘A Senator willing to step across the aisles for the betterment of the country’ is how he will slant it to the press. And if one of the military leaders I pick does poorly, it will all hang on me. She thought about that last line of his, the line where he admitted it was his fault, a line she could never release to the press because it would implicate her as well. Now if I want to take you down I will have to go down myself, or find other evidence.
6/20/2014 Bunker X9
President Tow sat in the darkened room, a complex buried under the ground to help protect it, she steepled her fingers and closed her eyes to assess the situation. She thought of those CIA reports, of their special studies. She had hated letting them proceed but was glad she did, a neighboring room was filled with machines required to make a bubble of energy that absorbed magic, preventing its use; it had already been thoroughly tested and shown to work against any magic. It wasn’t morally right, it still isn’t. But isn’t that why I told Jethro to keep those files to himself? Deniability? Now we have weapons and a better idea how to defend ourselves. She heard one of the scientists gave it the nickname the Manehatten Project. The things people do to keep their sanity.
She opened her eyes to look at the packed table, filled with generals and advisors. From the recently promoted five-star military leaders, a rank reserved for times of war; her Vice President, an ex-athlete that made sure to keep the physique; several members of her cabinet, the CIA director and several others.
Executive Committee of the National Security Council. Last time was Kennedy for dealing with the Cuban Missile Crisis. The world is never at peace, but to lead during a war.
“What ideas does everyone have about how to respond to this threat?” She ordered, eyes moving between the members of her council.
“Isn’t there some risk of just appointing people to a military rank? Congress has not even declared a war yet.” Shaw was always a bit of a coward for Tow’s taste, never wanting to offend anyone and now worried about his own political career.
“I have sixty days and there is no way congress will not declare war.” President Tow stared the man down, not wanting more complications.
“Senator Brent may use it as another reason to impeach you. Say you are trying to make yourself an emperor.” He continued.
“Like the one we are fighting now? She is just Hirohito from the last war.” General of the Army Sidney Adams responded. A man who had seen actual war and had a will of steel, always with a hint of fire though. “That stuff comes after. You can only fight one battle at a time. What are the exact forces we have at our disposal?”
“We have enough satellites back up or repositioned to get a good look at the damage.” Director Shepherd pulled some images onto the screens set into the table for each member.
Tow had already seen the images. Hangers and tanks destroyed, the fires had burned themselves out leaving only wreckage. Small scouting parties had gone in and found nothing but a few patches of blood with some testing pony and others human, all ordinance and weapons had been destroyed.
The room stilled as the military men saw the damage. “And that blast took out the rest of our forces.” She saw Sid mutter, saw the gears turning.
“Not quite. So far we have gotten at least sixty f-35’s back up and running as well and some older f-18s and some 14s. The modular design of the new craft made it easier to repair. There are also quite a few tanks that are back up and running. And they only focused on the bigger bases so the smaller ones escaped unscathed.” Director Shepherd informed, having been gathering as much intelligence as he could since the initial attack. “The attacks took place around the same time as the solar flare which was clearly the intent, and is backed up by the age of the damage. They have not expanded yet and are most likely waiting for a response from us.”
“And all they want is Brent? I could live with that.” A hearty chuckle bellowed from the Fleet Admiral, a man who had his own run-ins with the senator.
“There is no way in hell we are handing over a United States citizen, let along one of its leaders to be judged by some two bit despot. We have enough kangaroo courts to deal with on this planet.” A heavy, meaty fist landed on the table.
You didn’t pick this man for his diplomatic skills, merely his ability to fight. Patton. Tow reminded herself, letting the quarreling parties’ get a little bit of stress out of their systems. Maybe they can spark some kind of idea.
“Our first priority should be to move what troops we have to positions away from bases, make them harder to hit, but still able to be mobilized. Aircraft may be a bit hard to move though from places like LNAS. Should we recall overseas troops is something else we should look at.” All heads turned to the Secretary of Defense and his carefully metered voice, a cool breeze of rationality whose words pierced the fighting. “What about getting supplies to people that have now been cut off?”
“Do you think this is my first day? The troops have already been moved with whatever ordinance they could truck out.” Adams countered.
“We have eleven carriers out at sea that should be able to return. Or had, we have yet to hear back from two and one has been reported as sunk. Just be warned though. Those ships are the only thing preventing wars throughout the world. The first fleet in the Sea of China would cost China thirty percent of its forces if they got aggressive. That’s the point of surrender for any army.”
“And how many have we lost?”
“We aren’t the aggressors.”
“It doesn’t change the question of exactly how many did we lose?”
“Not that many. Most of our troops are overseas.”
“What kind of food can we afford to send in?” Another asked.
“We have to let all shipments in or we could lose support. Act like business as usual, send in the national guard to get more information.” Tow couldn’t lose support, as there would still be money; all that happened was military territory. And she knew some of those supplies would be feeding the enemy, but Equestria should be able to feed their own troops. It was intriguing to her. Celestia could in fact just take over means of production and take what they needed, but was playing with sympathies.
“What about the economy? Could they flood the market with gems and gold?” She looked up, her economic advisor Blair Keening sat off on his own.
The man was bald, skinny as a rail and wore thick glasses; he cultivated that stereotypical look though as she knew he kept in shape and shaved his head. “I don’t think Celestia will do that. Historically if gold prices fall the dollar rises. There was an exemption in the 80s though. It will also impact the economies of other countries like Europe that she wants to keep out of the war.”
“Which should also mean they will not want to support our enemies as that would cause other countries to align against her. And a world war is the last thing either side should want.” The Secretary of Defense spoke, getting nods from the military men around the room, although that occurrence would still be planned for.
“Then we should plan a counter-attack immediately. We should have a standard two pronged attack, send everything we have.”
“No. We don’t know what kind of defenses they have.”\
The General was ready to argue again. “They are feudal. They can’t stand up to our full military might.”
A hushed laugh echoed through the room. Adams returned the mystery snicker with a glare.
“And they did more damage in one day then Pearl Harbor with that CME. We will do this properly, then you can attack. Or we can find a more moderate General.” Tow had to set the rules that she would be listened to; this was no time for infighting. “How many troops can we bring back?”
“Not even half.” The Admiral of the Navy looked over some papers. “What do you think is keeping the peace in the Middle East and Korea? China may stop North Korea from doing something stupid but we are stopping the South. And there are many more places like that.”
“Fine. Move back what you can covertly. Sneak some teams onto the coast. We may have to switch tactics quickly.”
6/22/14 6:00am, 50 miles East of Bridal Lake
Staff Sergeant Gallindez was still fifteen miles out from his target, helping to clear the way for the artillery. The M1A1 rattles as it shot along the rocky ground at thirty miles per hour. She looked at the various screens. She may only have commanded this tank but it was still hers. The gunner, an E3, sat at her feet in the rotating turret, the only one she could see. Most of the newer A2s were still under repair except for those used specifically for the commanders.
Gallindez had seen a concrete sky before heading out, the weather unseasonably cool. A voice in her ear kept them apace the other tanks in the small battalion of hodgepodge units. Light filtered down in streams that darkened the area and created long shadows. Besides that the scenery was more than a little creepy with discarded and scorched tanks littering the area. There were no bodies, but more than a few tanks looked like they were ripped in half. Was the cordon really this close to the dome? She wondered as they kept moving.
The gunner nearly jumped out of his seat with her when all hell broke loose, as did she. They were warned about possible attacks so they were watching the wreckage and the skies for possible threats. A tank at the head of the formation went up in a flare of purple just as an explosion rocked her tank from behind.
She started issuing commands to the driver in the main body of the tank, explosions were popping up sporadically. A spot one tank had gone over erupted beneath a long range artillery unit. She could see the formation breaking up. Her commander wasn’t responding. A bright light filled the cabin as the tank flipped.
***
Second Lieutenant Roberts looked out the window of his F-18, one of several dozen fighters on this mission. It was a ragtag group with A10s, an A6, F-35s which he had never seen in flight before. There were even a handful of reaper drones. He knew this was at least a two pronged attack with more forces coming in from the Pacific.
“Hit the pink shield first with everything, fire the second you get a lock. Fire at any kind of defensive structures you see. Clear the way for the ground support.” Crackled over his radio. They were flying out of the sun to make themselves harder to see, it would also help to spot the bright pink shield.
“Prepare to fire.” Roberts knew they were well within range for Hellfire missiles which worked off of radar but he didn’t know what everyone else had, and this needed to be a fast strike before the bubble could be reinforced. “We have bombers ready for a second pass.”
The sky above was dark; everyone was keeping a lookout for surprise attackers.
Roberts focused his breathing. Just like training.
“Fire.”
He moved the selectors and depressed the button and objects launched from his wings as a puff of smoke erupted feet from his cockpit and released dozens of colored streaks he saw in an instant.
“Is that …confetti??” He heard from his wingman, followed seconds later by a reply from a fellow pilot.
“Negative. Negative. That is flak. Repeat, that is flak.”
A burst went off in front of a fellow pilot, the engine flared and ignited before the craft lost lift. The craft turned down and dove before the pilot punched out, a small white chute could be seen opening as Roberts flashed by. “Shit!”
“Launch your weapons and fall back immediately.” Someone called out from the radio. “Remember, we are near enemy lines. Fire and fall back. If you start to go down, aim for the flak launchers.”
“Watch out, we have incoming pegasi!” Someone called out through the radio. “They have bombs!” The mysterious pilot called out before and explosion ripped through another aircraft. Flak still peppered the air around Roberts. The aircraft juked and jinked through the air. He saw techno colored things flying through the sky.
A bright orange thing was right in Robert’s path. It looked to be flying at him but at a much slower speed than he was towards it. The pegasi released something from its hooves and he pulled hard right, a blast reverberated through his craft.
“What the hell.” The blast felt like massive turbulence and he had to fight for control of his aircraft. He fired at a grey and blonde pegasi as he turned, unsure if he hit it or not. It was time to leave; he fired what he could and had orders. His commanders would know what to do. “This is Eagle three, Weapons expended and pulling out.” He didn’t see his wingman anywhere as blasts continued to pepper the sky.
6/22/14 6:13am, 10 miles East of Bridal Lake
Twilight stared at the battle above her, but focused on the enemy in front. Her chest clenched. It wasn’t that long ago that her biggest fear had been escaping a hydra or battling changelings. Now tanks and troops were moving up as she watched from behind a mobile shield, the occasional shot peppering it. The attack made no sense to her, what could a frontal assault possibly provide? Any good chess expert would use this as a distraction, but there were more units here than Princess Celestia had predicted.
They must believe they can just force their way through. An aircraft crashed into one of the party cannons and they both went up, several white shapes floated down from the sky. Pegasus guards would collect them if it was safe. They must have underestimated our defenses. Even Celestia had predicted this would happen. They should be doing the same attack from the West. The place had been ringed by cannons, mines and other surprises.
The tanks started firing once they hit the two mile mark. One shell hit her shield and it vaporized. It took her a split second to teleport away; hot metal still hit her leg, leaving scorch marks along her fur. Then an explosion tore the treads off the tank. Some of the guards had taken mines from the various bases before destroying the ammo bunkers. Twilight was now proud of their foresight as more mines started to go off, along with some of her own based upon the human’s designs. The unicorn also knew of other weapons being worked on, there was talk of making gun easily usable for ponies.
Twilight stared at the carnage dispassionately, regretting the need for such measures yet realized the battlefield was no place for emotion. Emotion got you killed or made you stupid and expend yourself.
The enemy turned back much sooner than she expected. This must not be their full assault. Twilight realized. There was very little long range artillery which was the first thing their Air Defense destroyed. The image of the guard with his throat ripped out ran through her head alongside the burnt body of Rarity. Princess Celestia knows that’s what will happen if we can’t win.
Rainbow Dash landed next to Twilight. “Did you see how amazing those guns were? Those planes didn’t stand a chance!”
6/22/14 6pm, Bunker x9
President Tow looked at the figures, at the estimated damage to both sides.
“I was wrong.” General Adams admitted through gritted teeth. “Can we discuss the minuteman now?”
“No, the fallout will kill how many citizens? Did their shield show any signs of weakness?” Tow asked.
“The color shifted and cracks started to appear on the areas with massive hits to them.” Shepherd looked at his papers. “We believe a large enough hit should shatter it.”
“So, a minuteman and just have it impact the ground.” Adams continued. “Any luck the radiation will leak back through the portal and make it too hot for entry.”
“And too hot for us to hold. If Celestia really has control over her sun there is no telling what she can do with radiation.” Shepherd shot back.
“What if we launched one through the portal?” Alonzo Paz finally spoke up, the completely nondescript man spoke up. His brown hair was the result of dye, average height and weight and believed to only speak when he had something to contribute. “If we destroy the shield and move a small nuclear device up to the portal or through it, which should be considered a decent deterrent.”
“And how do you suggest we destroy that shield? You have some secret weapon up your sleeve?”
Tow sighed, it seemed Adams couldn’t get along with anyone, but that seemed common for Generals.
“Project Thor is operational.” Paz said, a smug grin plastered on his face.
“That is operational?!” Adams glanced around the room.
“It has been for quite some time. It was just deemed too risky for international relations as it skirt the line of WMDs in orbit and would be too easy to shoot down.” Paz continued. “It hits like a small yield nuke, but without explosives or fallout. It drops a nine ton rod of tungsten onto a stationary target. But, with the X-37 project proving successful we have a means to deliver it anywhere within moments. We launch the X-37 which goes into orbit, a small craft with two pilots. And when it is over the target it will open the bay doors and launch however many rods we need before returning to base. It can’t hit moving targets due to the heat of re-entry blinding its sensors but it can hit a stationary target within inches.”
“What do we do about their Princess then?” Shepherd asked. “We don’t know exactly what she can do.”
Tow steepled her fingers, there was a way to do it though. “Bring Senator Brent here and call in Celestia for a Peace Talk. And make sure for her arrival that the AMF is turned off for her arrival, but leave someone at the switch, and see what kind of force we can sneak into the area.” Now all the President had to do was figure out how long it would take for the X-37 to be operational and when to make her trip to New York to seek aid.