“I will be meeting with the Army and Navy this week, as well. I believe the best we can expect from the Navy is six operational submarines and four destroyers—all World War II era. The army has a lot more potential with artillery than the Navy. The only Army weapons, apart from the men and their carbines, will be manually controlled artillery pieces, which is still a powerful force to be reckoned with for sea and harbor defense. We believe they have dozens of older trucks, or troop carriers to drag these old howitzers by the dozens to defend against any sea attack. The range of some of these weapons is as good as five miles out to sea, and any Chinese ship’s intricate missile systems could be blocked by hundreds of ingoing artillery rounds from bridges, beaches, and even the tops of buildings. We can lift these howitzers anywhere with the larger lifting helicopters that I must still locate. I saw them in operation less than a year ago, in San Diego, I believe. The Coast Guard will have a couple of old C-130s and, in total, our potential to drop paratroopers at a moment’s notice in a dozen C-130s will be a maximum of 900 troops and I will be preparing for this.
“The last thing I want to get to is what Ms. Wallace mentioned—civilian aid. We have been primed for a year now to send maximum numbers of supplies overseas. Our, now defunct C-17s have been working around the clock to take food supplies and ammunition to the vast numbers of troops over there. Our bases, especially on the east and west coasts are full to overflowing with rations and could potentially keep a large number of our American population alive. We must set up distribution centers at Bragg and Seymour Johnson to deliver quantities of food on a regular basis in this area. We can use all of our aircraft, which aren’t needed for troop movement and firepower in this endeavor.
“Can we help the whole country? No, not for a few months, it’s not possible, but we must help as many people as we can. Survivors from the north will logically head south over the next couple of weeks, and we must help people in rural areas with military supplies which we will also fly in on a regular basis. I’m thinking that we should deliver to an area of the country that is below a specific line across the country, say from Washington D.C. to Salt Lake City and then down to Edwards in California. Under this line there will be a greater chance of survival than further north.
“We cannot go and get the people—they must first migrate south, where we can provide some food and use large buildings for shelter. If the remaining American population can hold out until spring, then I believe the United States of America has a chance of survival. Any questions?”
“What are the chances of our current Air Force going up against the best of the Chinese fighters, if they are flying?” Preston asked.
“Suicide if we attack China, since about 80% of their military is for defense and not offense,” answered the general. “The Chinese have a very small Blue-Water navy. ‘Blue-Water’ navy refers to the ability to travel over any ocean and attack a foreign country. I believe that they only have five to seven ships that can legitimately be called ‘Blue-Water’ capable. Our understanding is that the Chinese military was never expected to cover global action until 2009 when more ambitious programs went into build mode, and as far as we know everything is still in build mode except for their one aircraft carrier purchased from the Ukraine.
“We were told last year that this aircraft carrier was nearly operational. In other words, they have very few aircraft or naval ships that can travel over the Pacific and attack the United States and then fly all the way back again. Actually, no aircraft in the world can do that. All aircraft must either refuel in the air, or refuel on land for their return flights, or land on an aircraft carrier. Our only real defense is non-guided rockets or missiles, and I believe we still have a lot of those that are still operational. I’m hoping that the Army can come up with enough old rockets to fire from batteries on shore to keep the Chinese anti-missile machines busy long enough for us to either drop bombs on them, or sneak up and attack. I will let you know about that tomorrow.”
The general stopped for a moment. There was so much information to present and review that he was worried that the mixed crowd in the room might be on overload.
“Now I believe everybody in this room is as prepped for war as the president. Our main question is where they will attack first. Of course, the West Coast or Hawaii would be the closest, but Washington D.C. will be the real prize. I’m sure that they think we are already on our knees and on the verge of begging for mercy, but this country will not go down without a fight. Everyone knows that. This weather rules out any attack from the north or around our northern cities. The attacking force would need to bring in too much gear.
“Maybe they will attack in the spring, after more of us have starved or frozen to death. They don’t want us—they more likely just want our land. The Russians and the Chinese have enough people to transfer over and start a new life. Americans will just get in the way. Hence, I don’t expect a full-scale attack during the coldest time of the year. The weather will do more damage than they ever could.
“I would like to get tomorrow’s hostilities over with first, hopefully capture a few of their satellite telephones, and then we can get Carlos and Mr. Wang to tap into their communications and figure out their future plans. Then I want to destroy their building in Nanjing. It will show them that we still have guts. Ghost Rider, Easy Girl and the tankers are the only aircraft that could make the trip at this moment, but I believe a third gunship is operational. I just have got to find her. Ghost Rider, two other gunships and several normal C-130s were especially prepared to be refueled in flight during the later days in Vietnam. These aircraft have the same refueling nozzles as the Vietnam Hueys and F-4s have, and I’m lucky we planned to keep a few around.
“The United States needs to get every ship we can over to the Middle East and bring as many troops back here as possible, much like the retreat of Dunkirk during World War II. Then, I want to destroy the people, who have caused the deaths of millions, and maybe billions of the world’s population— even if we have to declare war on China, Mr. President. A declaration of war would be our last resort, and only upon your orders.”
The room was deathly silent as General Allen then walked over to the radio and called up Ghost Rider to return for a “sitrep.” Nothing had changed. The enemy convoy seemed to be holed up in the city for the time being and Ghost Rider would be landing at the Strong AFB in 15 minutes. Preston automatically went over and turned on the runway lights already repositioned for maximum runway length.
“I would like Mr. Wang and family, the newcomers, all non-American citizens, and all Air Force personnel to leave the room for a few minutes, if you don’t mind,” the general instructed. “I believe that what I’m about to say is not for your ears yet.” People, including the ambassador, got up and shook the hand of the president. Pam Wallace escorted them into the house and Martie suggested they make fresh coffee while they waited. The soldiers left to go back to their duties, a guard was placed outside the side and front doors, and the general continued. “The reason for talking with you separately, is that if we are able to break into communications in China, Carlos, Mr. Wang might need to interpret on our behalf and I don’t want him to know our all our details. Also, this would normally be just between the president and me, but in these circumstances, I need you to be aware of more than you would normally be authorized to know. What I’m about to say cannot go further than the walls of this hangar!” Everyone in the room nodded affirmatively.