Luna Aeternal
Human Capital
District 5 Mag-Lev station
T-9h 45m until detonation
"Alright people, get ready. We do not know what to expect." Matheus said as they approached the station. What worried Twilight at the moment was the utter silence. There was barely any sounds, even machinery seemed to have fallen silent. That was something you didn't want to hear in a place where such sounds meant that life support was working. 3 human soldiers quickly moved to station, spreading out.
"Clear."
"Clear."
"Clear."
"Squad. Move in." In quick and efficient method humans soldiers moved inside the station. Ponies quickly followed them.
"This is strange..." Twilight commented. "Shouldn't there be security here?"
"That is strange indeed. We can't even find bodies. You two, check Security Office." Matheus said to two soldiers.
"Yes sir." They quickly moved to a sidehall, before returning.
"Sir. Reporting 6 corpses. All have been hit by magic. Complete meltdown. They were in their armors when they got hit. Systems are fried."
"Fuck, what the hell is going on? Two ponies couldn't cause this much damage. The security should have taken them down quickly."
"There isn't even a sign that they were even detected here. Guards seemed to have been relaxing, doing normal monitor duty. One suit even had coffee mug in front of it."
"Reich und Gott... Okay, gear up and move out. We know better when we are in The DCC." Group started to move out once again. Rest of the way was, once again, rather silent. What bothered Twilight most that the security was missing and that there was distinct lack of reason for why it was missing. If the place would had bullet holes, she could at least think there had been a battle that the security had lost. Right now, it seemed like everyone had just abandoned the place.
When they reached the door, Twilight saw something in the corner of her vision.
"Huh?" There was an unicorn pony there. Brown, in blue/white armor that seemed to have been made from discarded human armor. "Who are you?" She asked. Humans turned around just to see the unicorn toss something at them.
"TAKE COVER!" Humans jumped away just as there was a flash. Twilight felt something hit her as she flew backwards. Something else cut her cheek and front hoof. Behind her Luna had cast a shield to protect those behind her. One human was left out of the shield and started to scream. Twilight hit the wall and fell down to the floor. Suddenly air was filled with gunfire that sounded like it came from the humans who had accompanied them. Twilight finally managed to her head straight and look around. The unicorn laid dead, shot by humans. One of the humans laid down in the ground, his suit having rupture just below the neck. Suit was empty, with something slowly oozing out of the rupture.
"What the fuck was that?" Matheus said while 3 soldiers pointed their guns at the ponies.
"That unicorn... he wasn't with us when we came." Luna said, looking at the corpse. "We had 2 earth ponies and 2 pegasis with us. Captain Stonewall and Twilight Sparkle here are the only unicorns that were allowed to this trip. Furthermore, I had never seen weapon like that before."
"I think it's was a shrapnel grenade, that emits a burst of raw magic when it detonates..." Twilight concluded. "But how did they conceal it. I didn't feel anything before it detonated."
"It ruptures the suit and kills the victim. Since when have you had such weapons?" One of the soldiers said.
"We never had. We never pursued such weapon. I am just as confused as you are." Luna said.
"Come on men. She saved our lives with that shield. Furthermore, we need to get to The DCC. That is our only concern right now. Call the elevator and get in once it arrives."
Canterlot
Royal Palace
Throne Room
T-9h 30m until detonation
Celestia was in deep meditation. Moving the sun was one thing. Trying to interfere with it's natural life was another. Solar storms were necessary part for the sun to operate normally. Otherwise, the sun would need constant attention to just to prevent it from going supernova. Right now she tried to calm the sun down, just enough so that humans could contact Luna Aeternal and warn them. She didn't notice as Trixie and her squad entered the room.
"Alright, spread out and make sure that Princess is protected. This is important. We need to contact Luna Aeternal as soon as possible. Humans are setting up an outside perimeter. Our job is to take care of the interior."
"Captain, we'll do as you say but are you sure we need to do this? Shouldn't we be hunting down those traitors?"
"That is exactly why we are here. There are still traitors running around free. Right now, we don't know what they plan. The ambassador should be safe, but she is not our concern. Our concern is to make sure that Princess Celestia remains unharmed." Trixie said. Sure, she was wouldn't love anything else than beat down these fools right now, but she was no longer a showmare. She was a captain of the guard now. She could not just run around without thinking, hoping that bravado and flashy appearance did the job for her.
"Look out for anything that is different from normal. Sudden lens flares, unusual movement, unexplained red dots... on... PRINCESS!" She managed to scream and tackle the princess. She felt something hit her in the flank.
"CAPTAIN!" Several more shots hit around her, one of them hitting Princess Celestia in the hind leg.
"SECURE THE PRINCESS! FIND THE SHOOTER!" Trixie shouted and she tried to find out where the shots had came from. Pegasis under her command took to the air, before flying outside. One of the windows had broken to pieces, no doubt from the bullets. She heard as guards outside started to move.
"Princess, are you OK?" Trixie grunted trough her teeth.
"Yes, captain. Thank you, you save my live." Celestia said, shocked that something like this could have happened. This was bad. Terra's Children had planned this operation well. Either the war would start with a terrorist action on the moon or from an assassination. She prayed they had not yet moved to take action on the moon. "Do not move, let me heal you."
"No, it's not that easy. We need to take you to infirmary right now. We need to remove the bullet and disinfect the wound. If we don't, we..." There was a flash of light and Celestia's leg was once again like nothing had happened. On the floor there was a bullet.
"Alicorn, remember? Now hold still." Celestia said with a soft smile. She knew that her captains experience during the war had made her fearful of human weaponry, to point one might call it cowardice. Yet, despite all it, she placed people under her before her, rather risking infection herself than those who trusted her. Another flash of light and removed bullet later Trixie stood up.
"Thank you Princess, and forgive me for this security breach. I will submit my resignation as soon as we have situation under the control." By the sun and moon, she had failed. Failed again. Why couldn't she have a break!? Why did all her attempts to protect everypony keep failing!? "Princess, forgive me but I need you to move to somewhere safe. Somewhere where snipers can't hit you."
"Do not speak of foolishness, captain. You are doing very well. We are all confused of the situation." Celestia said, before heading towards her chambers. Trixie gave orders to guard the chambers with everything they got. She couldn't risk another breach like this. However, at this point she had started to think something.
Only humans could operate the those guns, unicorn magic was (rarely) precise enough to operate them. It was one thing float a gun, but to use telekinesis inside a telekinesis field on different part of the object was whole different thing. It took practice to learn, something she hadn't learned yet. Even Twilight had hard time trying to do it. So shooter had to be human, but on the other hand where had he gotten a talisman or the armor? And how had he managed to get close enough the castle to pull this off? Was the ambassador behind this? She had captured one pony and one human and had them executed. Then again, she was also determined to ensure that the peace was upheld. She would have had millions of possibilities to subtly sabotage the peace, this sort of sudden flashy action was not something she would use. Furthermore, human forces were not mobilizing. If they had wanted a war, humans would be crossing the border right now, assaulting the castle directly not trying to protect it.
Trixie shook her head. Nothing made sense anymore. All she could do was to try to bring situation under the control and find all the traitors.
Luna Aeternal
Human Capital
District 5 Control Center
T-9h until detonation
"My God..."
"Reich und Gott, what happened here..."
"By the sun and the moon..."
"How could someone..."
Control room looked like someone had gone nuts with magical shrapnel grenades. Floor was covered in ooze and empty suits, some that weren't even combat suits, just normal everyday clothing. Twilight swore that at least two clothes were too small for an adult human, which only made it worse. One of the Royal Guards threw up. Twilight couldn't blame him, she too was ready to vomit at any second. The stench was horrible and idea that the floor was covered in melted humans just made it even more horrible. Eventually, one of the soldiers took steps inside. His steps made sickening splashing sounds.
"Uh... let's see... urgh..." The soldier tried to hold himself together while he moved to console and tried to re-establish the contact. "District 1 Command, can you hear us? This is the infiltration team. We have reached The DCC."
There was a moment of silence, before the answer came.
"This is the war room We hear you. What happened there?" Voice that answered belonged to General Ravensaw. At this point Matheus walked to the console, clearly not feeling good.
"We encountered unknown pony, an unicorn. Didn't match any known unicorns that should be here. Used some sort of new weapons, a magical shrapnel grenade or something. Private Gilligan got hit by it. He... he suffered A Magical Meltdown. Rest of us are OK, thanks to Princess Lunas shield."
"... What about The DCC?"
"..."
"Answer, infiltration team, are you there? What is the status of The District 5 Control Center?"
"It is... not a pretty sight. Someone took the entire control center by surprise. They have used magic. I repeat, magic was used to wipe out The District 5 Command Center."
"Reich und Gott... We will attempt to override the system with The First Citizen's codes. Hold steady. Once we are in the system, we will attempt to locate the AMSB."
Now they just had to hope they wouldn't run out of time.
Canterlot
The Human Embassy
The ambassador's office
T-7h 20m until detonation
Ambassador Fahrenheit was not having a good day. Her co-workers knew this because she was going trough her 60th cup of coffee. They also knew that unless this crisis was solved soon, they were going to run out of coffee. A stressed ambassador without coffee was something nobody wanted. It had happened once and nobody wanted to experience it again. The previous assistant was still in therapy from that incident.
For Fahrenheit, everything was going wrong. Two terrorist organizations had infiltrated both governments and now somebody had taken a potshot at the princess. All she now needed was to get in contact with Luna Aeternal and learn that they were having a terrorist crisis too and she would faint. She had known that this job would not be an easy one, but this was beyond what she had ever expected.
"Do we have anything yet?" She said to her assistant. She sipped her coffee.
"Lieutenant Mendoza from New Baltimore said he had found something and was looking into it. Apparently there was some inconsistency with his personal experience and flight records." Fahrenheit sipped her coffee.
"What do you mean?" She sipped her coffee.
"Well, apparently there was one, unlogged and unscheduled flight taken 4 days ago. 1 day before the state visit. Official records show that there was only one scheduled flight on that they. He personally claims that there were two." Fahrenheit sipped her coffee.
"Get in contact with Captain Lulamoon of the Royal Guard. Tell her to check if any ponies are missing. Guards or otherwise. Tell her to check those who have vacation too." She sipped her coffee, or at least tried. There had to be someone who kept stealing her coffee, her mug was empty again. She refilled it. "What about the Princess? Or the shooter?"
"The shooter was caught short time ago, however he cut his suit up while in transit and perished. The Princess is currently in her quarters, watched by her guards." Fahrenheit sipped her coffee.
"Can we trust them?" She sipped her coffee.
"Captain Lulamoon personally handpicked them, however she has requested we set up a perimeter on the ground." Fahrenheit sipped her coffee.
"Do it. We can't take any chances. What about the solar storm." She sipped her coffee.
"We are still out of contact with Luna Aeternal. Current estimate is, that unless Princess attends to the sun once again, we can contact them tomorrow morning." Fahrenheit sipped her coffee.
"Good, good... better than waiting for a several days. Okay. We can do this. We can prevent situation from going to south..." She sipped her coffee. "Fuck... Send message to governors. All flights are grounded as of now. Double check everyone's background. And I mean everyone's. Relay all data back here. Also, I want you to pull double checks against the governors. I don't to learn that one of them is member of Terra's Children. Understand?" She sipped her coffee.
"Understood, ambassador. I shall take care of right away." Fahrenheit sipped her coffee. Or at least tried. Someone had once again drank her coffee without her noticing. She needed to have someone look into that next.
Luna Aeternal
Human Capital
District 5 Control Center
T-5h until detonation
It had been longest 4 hours ever. Everyone had waited for something from the command, but command had not been able to do much. Despite using The First Citizen codes, they had been unable to unlock the system. They had been able to lift the internal lockdown, but only certain extend and the external lockdown was still in effect. This was after they had waited one and half hour. The command was still trying to get around entire new firewall that had been set and get access to the camera network.
"The infiltration team, respond."
"This is the infiltration team, we copy you."
"Our troops are currently breaking in, however it will take at least six hours for them to break through. Assuming nothing goes wrong. This new firewall is something we have never seen before, it's custom made. We are trying to track down people behind this but so far no good. However, we think we may have an idea where the AMSB is."
"Tell Sir, we will intercept it."
"Reactor Cluster 6. Everything else is silent, no humans or ponies. However, RC6 has some readings, biological readings and strange magical energy also. We do not know what it is, but it can't be good. Take care of it."
"Sir yes Sir! Alright people, we are moving to Reactor Cluster 6. If we are lucky, we can catch the culprits there. Move out!"
After the elevator ride down, it was decided they should catch a mag-lev ride to the reactor cluster. It was much faster than trying to run through the entire district. They grabbed what humans called 'a cargo truck', with Matheus entering override codes into the console. The truck sped in speeds that reminded Twilight way too much of the speeds of the mag-lev ride during their visit to District 7. She was glad that there was limited atmosphere in the tunnel, otherwise the truck would have busted into flames from the air resistance.
"So, why are we taking these ponies with us sarge? I can understand the big one and the unicorn, but those others?" One of the humans said to Matheus, gesturing towards Royal Guards.
"Cause they are the royal entourage and thus follow the Princess everywhere. So we need to take them with us. Now shut up and get ready. We do not know what awaits us at the station."
Luna Aeternal
Human Capital
District 5, Reactor Cluster 6
T-3h until detonation
"STOP THE VEHICLE!" One the Royal Guard sudden shouted. Twilight looked out of the window and saw that in the distance, a massive door like before was closed. "We are going to crash in to it!"
"REICH UND GOTT!" One the soldiers screamed as he climbed into the pilots seat and activate the breaks. It wasn't enough, the vehicle slowed down but it didn't stop enough. Twilight cast her own spell on the machine, trying to force it to slow down. Luna followed her example. Still the massive door approached them. The mag-lev truck slowed down, but still not enough.
"Oh shit!"
"GUARDS! Grab every human you can! Grab on anypony near you!" Luna's voice was heard. Twilight felt two arms coming across her. Then a strange metallic ripping sound.
*CRASH*
Twilight had closed her eyes in anticipation of what seemed to be like a painful death, which apparently didn't come to her. She opened her eyes and saw that she was being floated in the air. Around her, humans were clinging to ponies who also floated in the air. One was holding his hands around her. In front of her, a badly mangled wreckage of the mag-lev truck was struck against the door, pieces of it having flown in every direction. She could sense traces of a shield cast by Princess Luna which had protected them from the worst.
"Holy shit that was too close..." One of the humans muttered, while being lowered by a pegasus guard he and another human were holding on. "Thanks. We owe you our lives."
"What, and the time earlier when Princess protected you from that explosive doesn't count?" The pegasus guard said.
"Okay, fine, twice now. Still, good thinking."
"Well, we couldn't stop and if we stayed on, I doubt anyone else except perhaps me would have survived. Which would have not seemed good to The First Citizen and generals. Infiltration team get's mysteriously wiped out and only survivor is an alicorn? Not good for peace talks..."
"I doubt that peace talks are in front of his mind right now. If that bomb goes off, we are all screwed." Matheus said as the Princess lowered the earth pony he was clinging to. Twilight felt as she was lowered to the ground. "Okay, spread out. We need to find a maintenance tunnel. With luck, it should be close and we can use it to reach the Reactor Cluster 6. Vega, contact the command and inform them of our situation.
"Yes sir." Twilight didn't listen too closely, rather keeping close to Princess Luna, but it appeared that something was wrong. She eventually left the safety of the Princess and tried to to find the maintenance access. She didn't find the maintenance access, but something else totally.
"PRINCESS! SERGEANT! QUICK!" Private Aegis Armor and unknown human security officer were thrown on a small alcove near the wall, with Aegis Armor dead. Human slowly moved his head to see her. Upon seeing her, he tried to move only to hiss in pain.
"Bastards.... came to finish the job huh... Don't worry... I still.. got... enough in me... to take you on..."
"No don't move, you are badly hurt and help is coming. What happened? Why is Aegis Armor dead?"
"Don't... even try you..."
"What is it miss Sparkle? Did you REICH UND GOTT! Are you okay?" Matheus said as he walked to the scene.
"Of course he is not, he has clearly fractured bones. Let me trough, I need to check him." One of the soldiers, having a red cross with white outline on his left shoulder, said as he moved past Twilight and others.
"You're... not with them traitors? You're... loyalist, right?" The security officer said.
"Sergeant Matheus Smith, 2nd Squadron, 3rd battalion. Who are you?"
"Officer... Hassan... District 5 Security Service... Arg... It's... Traitors... those... ponies think that... the traitors are working for them... thinking they are taken to the dock... there is no dock... they are being brought to an ambush... ambush and made to confess they planned to use the bomb... they will get killed..."
"And the bomb will explode, making sure nobody tells the truth..."
"What!? They... they can't! It... it would.. .destroy the entire District...."
"The bomb will off in few hours. Can you move him?"
"His body is in bad condition. I seems like he was in a fight. His left lung has collapsed, it's a small miracle he is still alive!"
"That.. .bastard there... they sicked him after me... they... thought they could convince me to work with them... told him that I heard their plans... hell of a kicker... thank God there is no magic here... And he didn't hit me in face... Killed him... but can't move... need to inform... the command..."
"We can't move him Sir, too risky. We need to wait until the medical mag-lev gets here."
"Damnit... Vega, any word from the command?"
"No sir... Something is interfering with the system."
"It's a virus... General... Tarnheiser... He visited us this morning... he did something with the system... and we lost the control of it. Locked everyone inside. Couldn't move... I was on a patrol when things happened. Then... then there were these ponies... ponies with grenades. Came from nowhere... Humans too... damn traitors... Here..." Hassan said as he reached for something from his helmet, before handing it to Matheus.
"Everything... is on the camera. Tarnheisers visit... ponies... traitors... their plan when they tried to convince me... his attempts to beat me. Everything... Leave me here... I can't move, but you... you need to move... Stop them. Stop them before it's too late..."
"We can't leave him alone here sir, he will perish." The medic said.
"Fine, you stay here and watch over him. Private Yuri will stay too. You two are to protect him with your lives. Try to contact the command as soon as you can. Rest of us, move out!"
Things were going more and more wrong, on every account.
Luna Aeternal
Human Capital
District 1, the war room
T- 1h until detonation
"General Tarnheiser, where in bloody hell have you been!?" General Ravensaw shouted at the man in question. General Tarnheiser had just arrived at the war room.
"Taking care of my duties. I got proof that there was a second transport headed to the moon, just a day earlier. It brought in a squad of pony troops! I had my men secure all docks in Luna Aeternal and check every single District."
"WHAT! How is this possible!?" The First Citizen asked. Had Princess Luna lied to him? Had she really planned this all along? But if so, why was she so adamant to protect the peace? This was nearly an official declaration of war.
"The First Citizen, I need to ask you to come with me. We can't be sure that the enemy hasn't infiltrated any other locations. We also need to contain the princess." Tarnheiser said.
"Princess is in District 5, among with 10 volunteers lead by sergeant Matheus Smith." Ravensaw said.
"Damn it, they are propably dead by now. With communications down we need to make sure that they don't get any other drops on us. Please, we need to get you away." The First Citizen nodded and followed him. General Ruvashenko watched after them. There was something off about how Tarnheiser was acting.
"Atlas, I am going to follow them. Something is wrong. Have our men replace every guard here."
"What do you mean?"
"How did he know that we are not in contact with the infiltration team, but not that the Princess was with them? I am going to follow them."
"If you are right and something suspicious is going on, use secondary memory slot and have your suit do constant backup. I don't want to be left guessing what happens if everything goes to hell."
"No worries, I am not an amateur like Tarnheiser." Ruvashenko said and picked an additional memory chip which he plugged in to his suit. Quick adjustment through his PDA and he was ready. Now to find out what that guy was up to...
Luna Aeternal
Human Capital
District 5, Reactor Cluster 6
T- 30m until detonation
After a long time before Princess Luna was able to find the maintenance access. From there, it took almost two hours before they reached the reactor cluster.
"Command, this the infiltration team. We have reached the RC6. Do you hear us?" Nothing happened. "Damn it, still no contact."
"We need to move fast sergeant. Is there any place where we could teleport to safe time?"
"No. This is one of the 'old' places, it was build with as little wasted space as possible. There is barely any room for us to move. Right, we need a plan... Gorbach, Widow, Resnok and you two ponies there, take reactors A and B."
"Yes sir." Humans answered. Royal Guards looked little bit sceptical of the orders, but Luna assured them.
"Follow them. We can't waste time. It is better to split and find this weapon."
"Short range communications still work. Contact us ASAP if you find it. We can't take any risk now. We only have barely one and half hours to find it." Twilight realized the reason why they were divided into pony-human groups. Humans had the communication systems and ability to operate human systems, but couldn't check every room with the numbers they had. With ponies, they could cover larger ground by having ponies look around with them.
"Solomon, Sheppard and you two ponies, take reactors E and F. Me, Quin and Princess and miss Sparkle will take reactors C and D." Troops nodded before exploding into action, each one heading towards their own section of the Reactor Cluster. Twilight and Luna followed Sergeant Smith and Private Quin to another section.
"Wait, sarge, wouldn't it have been better to send the unicorns with another team? I mean, two magic users in same team is kinda overkill." Quin said as they raced down the path. Matheus facepalmed.
"I'm an idiot. Too late now. Let's just move and hope others don't need them."
They arrived at the reactor room, where two massive reactors provided power to the District 5. District 5, like other districts, had several "clusters" of reactors, working together. If one reactor was shut down, other could keep providing power, preventing a blackout. Now, normally the room was filled with technicians keeping eye on the reactors and numerous screens.
This time however, it was filled with traitor ponies and humans.
"We have been found! Move out!" Twilight recognized Captain Stonewall, who was holding something in his saddle bag. He started to run, just as some ponies charged against their group. Traitor humans started to take positions around the room.
"This is Sergeant Smith! Target is in The Reactor Room 2! I repeat, the target is in The Reactor Room 2!" Matheus screamed to comm unit as the traitor humans opened fire at them. Luna quickly cast a spell to protect them. She noticed that it had become more easy to cast the spell than before The War. Guess the practice made master.
"It's the false princess! Take her down! For the glory of Equesteria!" Traitor ponies shouted. Quin and Matheus were having hard time keeping at the charging ponies from overrunning them. Twilight tried to help, mainly by using lose objects to distract them. She had never gotten used to idea of killing anyone, not even during the war and thus avoided causing any lasting damage. On the other hoof, they would need to interrogate these ponies to understand how they had gotten on in and why were they doing this.
Pony traitors had at this point realized that they wouldn't be able to reach their targets and shifted in throwing those strange magical grenades at the group.
"I can't move while I am keeping up this shield! We need to break our way in!" Luna shouted over the gunfire. Twilight tried to think how she could help. Then she had an idea. A flash and she was gone. Another flash and she was behind human traitors. She bucked closest one as hard she could, grabbed his dropped gun with magic and used it as a club against other. Then she teleported behind Princess Luna, who had dropped her shield in favor of casting a thunder spells. Group dashed forward as quickly as they could, just in time for human traitors brought their guns to bear again. Luna cast her shield for 3rd time at the day.
"Good thinking, but I am afraid the won't fall it for a second time. Others are heading this way, they are using other paths." Matheus said before taking several potshots, hitting his targets.
"How much time we have?" Twilight asked
"20 minutes."
Luna Aeternal
Human Capital
District 1, the war room
T- 20m until detonation
"SIR! We got a pony suicide bomber in the District!" A soldier came rushing in.
"WHAT!? What about The First Citizen? General Tarnheiser? Does anyone have any knowledge of general Ruvashenko?" This were going bad quickly. They only had 20 minutes and now this?
"Sir, the assassin had hidden himself well. He attacked the escort protecting The First Citizen. General Tarnheiser is the only survivor. His suit wasn't ruptured by a magic grenade used by the assassin. He said he managed to kill the assassin before he got him. As for general Ruvashenko, he had apparently joined the escort and was killed too." The soldier said in quick succession, clearly starting to panic.
"REICH UND GOTT!" This was worse than the worst case scenario. This the nightmare scenario. "What is the status of General Tarnheiser?"
"He has slightly fracture due to pulse way but otherwise stable. He is currently being taken to the infirmary."
"Keep him there. I want him under constant surveillance." Then he thought something different. He needed to act fast. "You there, you soldier. Bring me general Ruvashenko's PDA and belt."
"Sir?" The request was not something you normally heard.
"You hear me. Bring me the ones he was wearing. There is something I must see." He could trust this one, since he was one the hand-picked ones. Each general had his 'honor guard', the best hand-picked troops that served them. The one that had come to him was one of Tarnheiser's men. He couldn't trust him.
"Get moving. Control! Bring us to DEFCON 1. Full mobilization! If we hear from the surface that they are under an attack, I want our men to be ready to support survivors. Get those weapons in The Vault prepared, but do not re-arm them. If this goes to hell and a war starts, it's going to be an one hour war!" Ravensaw shouted. He prayed to God that it would not come to it. He wasn't sure if he could order an orbital bombardment against the entire planet. Order to launch the Operation Scorch Earth had been hard enough. Order to cause a global extinction would be something he could not live with, but would do if necessary.
It would be a silent spring this year.