The Manhattan Incident Read online

  PRESENT DAY. Not all were that fortunate in their reliance on the military, thought Laurent.

  VIDEO: THE INCIDENT. The scene now flashed back to NORAD Headquarters. The General’s Aide approached. “Sir, many of the hostiles have appeared to stop over major population centers. Here is a list of what Munger has at this time.” Sergeant Sean O’Malley handed the list over and departed with a salute.

  General Straub is shown looking the list over. It was a list of the more heavily populated cities in the United States. On the list were New York, Boston, Washington DC, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, Detroit, Phoenix, and San Francisco. The total population of those cities was roughly 30% of the US population. General Straub had a bad feeling. The list for other countries was similarly upsetting. It spanned the gamut from Tokyo through Rome. All together the list was essentially that of the 100 largest cities on the globe. God help us, thought the General. Still, on the bright side, communications among the world’s powers had improved. Otherwise this available list of cities outside the US, except for Canada, would not have been possible so quickly. The other good news, thought General Straub, was that the 400 Wedgie number meant that no one site was likely to have great numbers of Wedgies above it. Should there be any hostile moves, numbers might favor us. The bad news was that one Wedgie dropping a hydrogen bomb was all it took to cause major disaster.

  General Straub picked up the hotline to the Mount Weather facility. After many rings, President Tomlinson answered. “President Tomlinson, General Straub here. The hostiles are now parked above our 13 largest cities, which I suggest shows hostile intent. They are also above the largest cities around the globe, some 100 in all counting ours.” Just then Straub’s Aide, Sergeant Sean O’Malley, arrived, saluted and left a list. General Straub picked up the list. “Our just updated list shows the remaining hostiles appear to be closing in on our major air force bases, including NORAD. We also show them likely approaching biological lab facilities such as Plum Island. I suspect the one over Atlanta might be targeting the CDC as well as the city itself. They also appear to be zeroing in on bio-safety level 4 lab facilities and our major back-up military communication hub in the underground facility in Area 51. One is also on direct route to the Mount Weather facility. We owe much of this intelligence to our stealth spy plane, the Aurora. It enabled real time data, unlike the spy satellites when not in position. What are your orders, Commander-in-Chief, Tomlinson?”

  “General Straub, I want you to issue further martial law orders. Notify all National Guard commanders at those 13 cities to issue as much gas and biological warfare gear as they have. Put those troops in the front line. Issue orders to shoot looters and rioters on sight, without hesitation. We have to impose control before things get out of hand. Reallocate or relocate our best equipped fighter jets to protect the targeted air force bases, biological labs, the back- up communication center and Mount Weather. Authorize all military base commanders to have full, independent authority to return fire short of tactical nukes, if attacked. They are not to be given orders to deploy the tactical nukes, yet. Try to minimize collateral damage, but the highest priority is base and facility survival. If any attack occurs, call me immediately. I may be forced to issue DEFCON one. God help us, if I do” were the last words as the President hung up.

  We’ll need more than God to help us this time, thought the General. The General had already issued orders for biological and chemical protection. The President didn’t need to know that. The additional orders went out promptly. The National Guard was now extensively deployed. Fortunately, the Guard was up to full domestic strength. After the Afghanistan war against the Taliban ended in 2014, raising and maintaining Guard numbers had become a high priority. General Straub knew even stronger martial law would not be welcomed, especially by reporters. The current version of martial law came with total news blackouts. Rumors would arise, but hopefully wouldn’t be as bad as the actual truth.

  The video scene switched to Iran. The location was depicted as Tehran. General Hassan Yazdi is shown running into the Ayatollah’s office. “Supreme Rostam Jalili, we have just sighted two aircraft approaching our airspace from Israel. According to the Western military sources, they are alien vessel headed for France and Germany,” said General Yazdi, out of breath. “Lies,” screamed Ayatollah Jalili. “It is a US-Zionist plot, a cover for their attack on us. Shoot them down immediately.” The next scene shows four Iranian Saeqeh 80 fighter jets closing in on the two Wedgies. Missiles streak toward the craft, but are destroyed quickly by laser light pulses from the Wedgies. Next the four fighter jets are seen to blow up when more laser pulses strike them.

  When the Ayatollah hears this from General Yazdi, he is furious. “Launch a dozen Shabab 5 missiles against the infidel craft. I doubt they can handle that many at once, regardless of the US-Zionist technology,” said the Ayatollah. The scene shifts to a courtyard surrounding a beautiful mosque. Suddenly the courtyard is seen to slide open, and two batteries of Shabab missiles are shown rising upwards. Each battery contains 6 missiles. In the control room underground an operator pushes the launch button and the missiles are seen streaking off. The next scene shows all 12 missiles exploding in the air as they approach the alien craft and are struck by multiple laser pulses. Shortly one of the alien craft is seen flying above Tehran. It launches a missile of its own that streaks downward. Suddenly a blinding flash of light is seen, followed by a rising mushroom cloud. Much of Tehran is shown to have been vaporized.

  Back at NORAD headquarters, General Straub listens to his Aide. “Sir, satellite images show fighter and Shabab attacks on two hostiles. The attacks failed. Next there was a nuclear detonation over Tehran. We’re pretty sure the hostiles did it.” “How many planes and missiles,” asked General Straub? “Four and 12” replied Sergeant O’Malley. General Straub looked at Sergeant O’Malley and spoke. “If you were going to go against the hostiles, you damn well have superior numbers and had better win. If not, payback is a bitch. Pass on the information to the various commanders. Let other governments know the outcome of the Iranians, too. Also, pass the info on to our science team. Ask them to assemble in 30 minutes with their best ideas as to how we might defeat these bastards before it becomes too late,” said General Straub.

  The next scene shows the science team sitting around a polished oak conference table. “So,” said General Straub, “if we are attacked, we need to have a defensive strategy which as of now is designated Plan Omega. First, we have prototypes and some functionality with rail guns, lasers, and particle beams. But, according to your past assessments, these require high maintenance and are incapable of rapid fire. Their usefulness currently is only at those locations where they are undergoing development, mostly at Area 51. Getting more and getting them to all our bases is highly unlikely, given our time frame. The hostiles will be here and gone long before these can be deployed. The rail guns have limited usage because of rail erosion during projectile acceleration. All need high energy inputs. The lasers are the only portable devices in limited usage.” He turned to his Aide and said, “Issue orders to those few bases or secret facilities possessing rail guns, particle beams, or large output lasers to use them against hostiles that are approaching these sites. Concentrate our best lasers and missile equipped jets around NORAD, other strategic bases, the Mount Weather facility, and the base at Area 51.” “Sir, what about the Vice President’s bunker,” asked Sergeant O’Malley? The General responded. “Since the hostiles don’t seem to be on track to any remote locations except the Mount Weather facility, we’ll assume that bunker is as unknown to them as it is to us. We have some suspicions that the Vice President is holed up in a Rocky Mountains bunker, but no Wedgies are near there.” The General turned back to the Science Team. “OK, our best bet according to all of you is the old Warthog. Dr. Kaminski, please summarize the pros and cons for this recommendation.”

  Dr. Benedict Kaminski nervously began the presentation. “As you kno
w, our fighter jets appear useless against the hostile aircraft. Our missiles are intercepted by lasers and these same lasers destroy our planes. The main cause of destruction is insufficient armor and highly explosive fuel and ordinance. Of course, fighters don’t need this armor, as normally no known enemy aircraft gets close enough to damage them. Armor would add weight and reduce air speed and maximal altitude range. We do, however, have a highly armored aircraft, the A10/C Thunderbolt II, known affectionately as the Warthog. While we can’t guarantee the titanium armor plates would be immune to laser fire, it might buy enough time for the pilot to bring offensive weapons into play. The Warthog can survive direct hits with armor piercing and highly explosive projectiles up to 23 mm. It has triple redundancy control systems, a double hydraulic system, and a back-up mechanical system. It is a survivor. Too bad the Pentagon decided to end their production and put the remaining planes into mothballs. The process has only recently been completed. The Warthogs have not been removed from their airbases for storage yet, so we can pull most of them back into active service quickly.”

  Dr. Kaminski continued. “Our only intelligence is the Iranian experience. Clearly, the alien targeting system is capable of tracking and destroying 12 missiles at once. However, there has got to be a limit on how many targets can be targeted simultaneously. We do not know that number. Here is my worst case scenario. Let’s assume that the Warthog’s missile capacity, even assuming several Warthogs at once, could not over-saturate the hostile’s targeting system. The hostile craft, however, would be forced to target multiple incoming missiles, thus buying time for the main weapon system, the 30 mm GAU-8/A Avenger Gatling cannon to do its job.”

  “The cannon fires depleted uranium 30 mm rounds at a rate of 3900 rounds per minute. These rounds can penetrate thick armor such as in the best tanks available. We think a full magazine into the hostile craft would damage it sufficiently to bring it down. It is also accurate, its laser painting target system coupled with the helmet mounted integrated targeting system can place 80% of the shots into a 40 foot circle at 4000 feet. While we have no exact size for their craft, the radar signature and visual sightings by our pilots indicate it is larger than the suggested target circle, so we think 100% of the depleted uranium projectiles will hit it. So, in summary, we buy time with the armor and missiles, hopefully enough for the cannon to take out the hostile craft. Warthogs can be extensively damaged and still return to base as we learned in the Iraq war.”

  “On the con side, these aircraft are primarily designed for ground attacks, given their lower speeds and altitude limitations. They can loiter at 5,000 feet, but the hostile craft will have to be at 5,000 feet or lower. We also don’t know the extent of the hostiles’ intelligence. Clearly, they have been monitoring our communications long enough to know base locations, labs and presidential hide-outs. Likely they can tap our Wi-Fi cloud. All the information you would ever want on the Warthog can be found at Wikipedia. However, they seem to only fire when provoked, so it is possible our Warthogs can approach them when they descend to lower altitudes near their destination targets. Essentially, this is a one shot deal. This attack will need to take place in various locations in a tight window time. Once these hostiles find out the capability of our Warthogs up close, it is doubtful that any will have a second time to approach the hostiles. They’ll likely be shot down long before they are in weapons deployment range.”

  “General, I feel compelled to add something else that we think needs to be considered. There is always the possibility that these hostiles are not intent on target destruction, but are merely being positioned to demonstrate a threat and position of power. If they are peaceful, this posture is essentially an insurance policy should we decide to attack them. If they are hostile, it is a threat posture to back up their demand for our surrender. Of course, it could equally be strategic positioning to deal us a deathblow with a surprise attack.” At that, Dr. Kaminski sat down.”

  “Thank you, Dr. Kaminski, for that detailed analysis. I need to think things out for a few minutes.” General Straub considered the facts. Those facts as we know them from the General’s biography are as follows. “How likely was the threat only scenario? I didn’t believe for one minute that the aliens were peaceful and had only assumed a protective stance. If the force-you-to-surrender approach was the case, then positioning over military bases, population centers, and presidential hide-outs made sense. It also made chilling sense for a Pearl Harbor type attack to deal a crippling blow. But why locate over biological labs? That didn’t make sense, unless the aliens were worried about biological weapons being used against them. Shit, we knew nothing about their physiology. Subsequently, the use of biological weapons against the aliens beforehand was very unlikely. That could only occur after the aliens left their ship to either begin a ground assault or occupation. By then the labs would have been either taken over or destroyed. There didn’t seem to be enough invasion craft to provide a creditable level of occupation. A chilling assessment then entered my awareness. What if the hostiles were going to deploy biological weapons? It then made sense to destroy the labs so that we couldn’t create a vaccine or some other countermeasure. With that course of action the aliens would get to keep the infrastructure intact and have the leisure of bringing in an occupation force later.” General Straub said a few minutes later, “Thank you, Science Team, for your input. This meeting is closed for now.” General Straub got up and left. It was time to call the President again.

  General Straub is shown in his NORAD office discussing the Science Team’s recommendation for Plan Omega and the plausible threat scenario over the hotline. The President concurred with General Straub’s deployment of Warthogs to protect bases, labs and the Mount Weather facility. Unlike the General, he did not yet view the aliens as a hostile attack force. The final words from the President shown in his bunker office are heard on the video. “General, deploy your forces as you wish. However, no nuclear attack is to be launched unless I authorize it. Is that understood?” General Straub responded, “Yes, Mr. President.”

  General Straub hung up and thought that the President was wrong. These bastards should be destroyed at the earliest opportunity. Still, he had his orders. He had already issued orders to deploy Warthogs from the USAF bases in Arizona, Florida, Georgia and Nevada; Air National Guard bases in Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, and Pennsylvania; and the Air Force reserve Command in Louisiana and Missouri. Those Warthogs were on their way to the major air force bases to either bolster existing Warthog squadrons or to create Warthog squadrons where none were present. Those Warthogs stationed in South Korea and Germany could not be deployed in time to the United States, but some could help defend Germany. Too bad those Warthogs that were worn out by the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan hadn’t been replaced. It spoke volumes about the careless downsizing of the military and its budget during the Obama presidency. All those stateside were being deployed to destination targets in their vicinity. The Warthogs could counterattack or attack first simultaneously at all locations on his command. The situation remained at DEFCON 2. General Straub then sent out a special order to military facilities doing weapons research with rail guns, lasers and particle beams. He recommended that those facilities test out the experimental weapons against the hostiles at the first sign of attack concurrently with the Warthogs, assuming the bases weren’t nuked before they had a chance.

  By now the “Wedgies” were known to be over major cities worldwide. In Manhattan Alexi Utkin glances nervously at the few troops stationed near the New York Times headquarters. As of now, they were not stopping or challenging anyone. Alexi runs down the stairs and hops on the subway. He is on his way to Grand Central Terminal. The “Wedgie” craft stationed high over the Terminal is barely visible in the video. Alexi wanted some photographs and interviews with people on the street and commuters. Alexi was particularly pleased as his blog news of the Wedgies had got him noticed big time. He could already see himself moving up the food chain at th
e Times. As he approached the terminal, he noticed the ragged looking man with a scraggly beard. His sign read, “Repent, the Rapture is near.” Alexi thought to himself, another crazy religious nut in the city. If only he had a C-note for all the times the world was to end.

  In the video, Alexi looks around at the traffic before he approaches Grand Central Terminal. It seemed that the volume was much higher than usual. He wondered if that was due to people coming to see the “Wedgie.” Or was it people fleeing New York? What Alexi didn’t know was that train traffic out of New York, as well as planes and small boats were leaving at higher than normal rates.

  PRESENT DAY. At this video juncture, Laurent thought, the smart ones had already left.

  VIDEO: THE INCIDENT The video narrator intoned “The Incident, day zero.” The scene shows a fighter plane. Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Hopper is currently monitoring the single Wedgie hovering over Grand Central Terminal. He is commanding a squadron of four F-16Cs, a single seat fighter called the Fighting Falcon. They are New Jersey Air National Guard from the 119th Fighter Squadron, which was stationed at the Atlantic City International Airport. The Fighting Falcons are currently armed with six AIM-9 sidewinder heat seeking short range missiles for air to air combat.” Suddenly, Hopper shouts, “What the Fuck!” The Wedgie suddenly drops straight down from its 10,000 feet stationary post at an incredibly rapid rate. “Shit, they can’t be crashing; what are they up to?” said Hopper. “Squadron leader to loitering team, drop down to see what the fuck this Wedgie is up to.” Hopper prayed that it was not a hostile action, as his orders were to fire upon the Wedgie under those conditions. He knew the collateral damage to civilians and infrastructure would be very high.