Chapter 18: Orbital Operations
T - 0:29:00… AND COUNTING
Outside a Barracks, Alnus FOB
"That rocket cannot be allowed to fly!"
Itami and much of Recon-3 seemed surprised at Carol's sudden approach and outburst. Some replied the same way as Takagi had minutes earlier. "Ehhhh?" Others, like Lelei, sat in cold silence with a cocked head or raised eyebrow.
Rory, naturally, burst out laughing. "Took you long enough!" She shouted.
"Why?" Itami asked, his eyes narrowing. "Rory, what's this about?"
"The Americans were lying," Rory said with a gleeful smile. "One of their rockets, the rocket they're about to launch, is a weapon."
Carol noticed the color drain from the faces of the JSDF soldiers. They had probably realized what was going on immediately, but Special Region members like Tuka still seemed confused. "A weapon?"
Carol wanted to say something, but stopped. Foster and Schumer were still back at the field hospital, but if it ever came out that she had broken her non-disclosure contract…
Before she had time to complete the moral debate, Greta said, "It's called a Nuclear weapon. I… I learned about them at a museum in the United States."
That was all it took. Carol found herself being lifted by the collar of her shirt as Itami yelled into her face. "YOU BROUGHT THAT SHIT HERE!? HOW FUCKING DARE YOU!"
No one intervened. Greta was likely too scared, and the JSDF soldiers behind Itami liked ready to jump at her themselves. "I don't understand!" Tuka cried. "Nuclear—why are you acting this way? What's so serious about this thing?"
Itami turned his head to face her. "You have legendary weapons on Falmart. Big scary weapons with names that they write stories about. We don't have those on Earth… didn't, until the Americans invented one. An atomic bomb, Tuka, ignites the sky and burns, and burns, and burns until everyone and everything beneath it is reduced to ash and rubble. Your legendary weapons are designed for slaying people and monsters? The atomic bomb is designed to slaughter whole cities. That is what the Americans brought to the Special Region."
"I didn't know!" Carol pleaded.
"Bullshit. I'm taking you to Hazama."
"It was Japan's idea!"
"What do you mean, Japan's idea? Your country has lorded over mine for the past three generations."
"That was before Hakone," Carol explained. It was all coming out now, contract or not. "Your government threatened to make the Hakone Incident public unless the US agreed to provide a nuclear deterrent against Hardy!"
Itami let her go. "What?"
"The Americans were told that Hardy was responsible for opening the Gate, the earthquakes in Falmart, and the distortions in the sky, and now—"
"The distortions are caused by the Gate," Lelei stated.
This time it was Takagi who reacted. "But, the report about Bellnahgo says that Hardy declared herself responsible for the distortions."
"Then we seem to have been misquoted," the magician said. "It is the size and continuous existence of the Gate, a path extended across space and time, which is causing the phenomenon you've described. Additionally, while Hardy created the Gate, it was Emperor Molt's men who expanded it beyond a sustainable size."
It came to Carol in a sudden rush. "Of course!" She declared. "Of course! This isn't Hardy's doing! Magic and the Gate are a product of quantum entanglement affecting SR-Phizons because the Phizons of the Gate have been left 'on' for too long! No wonder you're getting earthquakes! And the distortions in the sky are nebula remnants with SR-Phizons in them—it all makes sense now, why didn't I see it before!?"
The JSDF members gave her a confused stare and Itami, who had followed portions of it, explained, "A few weeks ago, we went with Hardy's Apostle, Giselle, to a place in the Western Desert called Knappnai. We witnessed a void which the locals called Apocryph, which seems to be growing and consuming anything that comes into contact with it. We were told that it would continue to grow until the Gate was closed, or the planet was covered."
"So Giselle was telling the truth?" Carol asked. "She said that she attacked because Hardy wanted the Gate shut."
"Of course she would, the planet is literally melting out from under her! What I fail to understand is how none of this made it to Hazama or the Diet. I was quite clear when describing this to…"
He drifted off, shock building up again on his face as he looked across to Takagi. "Do you think—" she started.
Itami finished for her. "Yanagida faked the report! That weaselly little shit, I'll fucking kill him!"
He turned back to his men. "Tuka, Lelei, Kuribayashi, Tomita, get to General Hazama as fast as you can and convince him of what happened here. Dr. Dawson, you must do the same for Colonel Mullan. Takagi, Rory, and I will go to Yanagida for evidence and update the other two teams if the commanding officers don't listen. Go!"
T - 0:24:00
The White House, Washington D.C., United States
"I understand," President Dirrel said into his secure-line phone. "Good night, Minister Kano."
The Situation Room had emptied out, save for the President, Defense Secretary Clayton, a security detail, and a military aide holding a dark leather case. The last of these was, for the first time in history, about to be called upon to perform his duties in a combat scenario.
As Dirrel placed the handset of the phone back on the receiver, he looked up at Clayton and asked, "There's no way out of this?"
"As we discussed," Clayton said, "If the Japanese are serious about releasing the Hakone Incident to the public, then we risk losing Japan as a strategic ally. From there, China's grip on the Asian side of the Pacific becomes secure, we lose control of trade in the region, and the United States loses global hegemony."
Dirrel gave a grave nod, sighed, and said, "Okay, let's do this."
Clayton nodded at the attendant, who opened and began to unload the black leather case known, colloquially, as the "Nuclear Football." First, he presented and began flipping through the "Black Book," a list of all available nuclear strategies from single tactical strikes to Mutually Assured Destruction versus different enemies. As the attendant flipped through, Dirrel was shocked to see options for not only China, Russia, and North Korea, but also a handful of others that he hadn't expected.
Among the unexpected ones was a single entry for the Special Region labeled OPLAN 8044-18.
Next, Dirrel pulled a small, flat plastic case from his coat pocket and snapped open to extract a credit-card sized printout with a list of five codes on it. One of these, Dirrel knew, was the Nuclear Launch code… the second one, this time, as the NSA rotated both the code placement and this card on a daily basis.
Contrary to what the movies would have you think, there was no souped-up computer with keys to turn or a hand scanner. Instead, the President was directed to a phone that linked directly the necessary parties, and handed an identical handset to Clayton.
Under normal circumstances, the call would go through to the National Military Command Center in the Pentagon, a few miles away. Since this was a special case, however, the call was routed to USSTRATCOM HQ at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska.
"Barton," came the reply from the General on the other end.
"This is the President," Dirrel said. "Enact Operation Plan 8044-18"
Silence from the other end, then, "Does SecDef confirm?"
Legally, Clayton could not say no. His job was merely to authenticate that Dirrel was the one speaking. "Robert Clayton here," the Secretary of Defense stated. "I can confirm that the order is from the correct source."
"Authentication code, please."
The President read it out for him. Another pause, then General Barton said, "Dear God, we're actually doing this."
"I'm afraid so, General."
"I'll order the 94th to launch."
"Thank you." The President returned the phone to the receiver, and heaved a deep sigh. One phone call, and he had just condemned an entire city. He looked to Clayton and asked, "Is that it? Is it really that simple?"
Clayton couldn't meet his eyes, but nodded just the same.
T - 0:19:00
Airstrip Outside Alnus FOB
Mullan had been willing the blinking light above the HML's phone to remain off for the past dozen minutes but, much to his disappointment, a buzzer went off and the light flashed illuminating the message in front of it.
EAM. Emergency Action Message.
Mullan lifted the phone. "94th Missile Squadron."
"Mullan, this is Barton," the General said, his voice low. "I assume you know what this is about?"
A pause. So, it had gone through. Two governments had just decided to use the bomb. How, he thought, How did no one in Japan protest? How did Dirrel and Clayton just let this slide?
"Mullan?"
"HML-2 is upright and ready to fire, sir."
"Thanks. The launch code is X-ray, Zulu, Mike, Mike, Zulu, Hotel.
"Copy, X-ray, Zulu, Mike, Mike, Zulu, Hotel. Sir?"
"Yes?"
Mullan paused again, then said, "And we're sure that there's no better way, sir?"
"Colonel, by God, if you have one, I'm all ears."
He didn't have one, of course. Neither had Carol.
"How about this. Procedures state that we must be able to accept an abort order from the President up until the last possible moment. I'll keep this line open. Maybe Dirrel will change his mind. In the meantime, begin launch procedures. We can't risk losing the HML if Alnus gets hit with a second attack."
"Understood, sir."
He lowered the receiver and turned to the two waiting missiliers. They looked about as sick as he felt. "Your orders, sir?" Major Becker asked.
Mullan heaved a deep sigh. "We are go for launch."
T -0:14:00
Alnus Intelligence and Ops Offices
The door to Yanagida's office didn't so much open as disintegrated under the force of Rory's Halberd. For a fraction of a second, the rabbit-warrior Delilah was moving towards her master's defense, but the Apostle was faster, knocking her to the side of the room and calling back, "All clear, Itami!"
By this point, Yanagida had pushed away from his desk and was opening a desk drawer for a gun before Itami entered the room, reached over the desk, and slammed the drawer shut on the intelligence officer's fingers. "What the hell!?" Yanagida shouted up at him. "Itami, let—"
"You lied to them," Itami spat.
Yanagida shot a confused look up at the Lieutenant. "What?"
"Bellnahgo, the Earthquakes, the Gate… you lied in your report."
"I did not—"
By this point, Takagi had entered the room as was digging through one of the filing cabinets near the back. A few seconds later, she extracted one and read the contents aloud, "According to Lieutenant Itami, the Goddess Hardy claimed all responsibility for the Earthquakes and sky distortions during the interview, and implied the potential to construct additional Gates."
"It's a complete warping of the facts," Itami said, "And the Americans are about to nuke Bellnahgo because of it!"
The expression on Yanagida's face changed. He raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"I want to know why."
"Any testimony from Itami or his squad will prove your report to be falsified, sir," Takagi pointed out. "May as well come clean."
But Yanagida was still lingering a few lines back. "An atomic bomb… yes, yes, that would do the job nicely."
He gave Itami a cold grin and said, "In your report, you stated that Hardy took over Lelei's body and… did things to her. Tell me, how did that make you feel, knowing that there was nothing that you, or anyone for that matter, could do to stop it?
"Japan's future success in the Special Region is dependent upon complete dominance of the occupied lands, and sovereignty over the people and objects within it. What's the point of investing trillions of Yen in a project if some God can waltz through, upending everything with monsters and disasters and the possession of government officials? Hardy will serve as an example to every other God of this wretched planet that Japan is not to be touched, and not to be interfered with."
"With a city of civilians paying the price?" Itami asked.
"Acceptable collateral damage."
Takagi reached into the breast pocket of her uniform and pulled out a digital voice recorder. "Got it," she said, and tossed it to Rory, who raced out of the room with it.
T - 0:06:31
Airstrip
It had taken some convincing to get Foster away from the field hospital, but he eventually obliged, and together they were riding across the airfield in the direction of the upright HML.
Carol went through the plan in her head a fifth time. She had a limited understanding of quantum mechanics from her university days, but she felt that her understanding of SR-Phizons was enough to help her make her point. More importantly, if she could phrase things the right way, she might yet make both sides happy.
Their Humvee screeched to a halt at the HML's defensive line, and Carol barreled out. Greta, they knew from last time, would need to wait in the vehicle.
Mullan met her halfway to the command trailer. He didn't ask her why she was there—he didn't need to, the wild look on her face told him enough. He grabbed her by the arm and hauled her the rest of the way.
"Has the order come through?" She asked, but the activity in the trailer answered her question for her:
"All-call enable code confirmed," Becker stated, the missilier continuing through his firing procedure as if nothing had happened. "Step sixteen, set enable switch to down and locked."
At the back of the trailer, Mullan lifted the handset again and told the person on the other end, "I have your reason…. right, standing by."
He looked over to Carol and asked, "You ready for this?"
"I talked to Generals at the Pentagon about a week ago. I can do it."
Mullan shook his head and said into the receiver, "Yes—yes sir, this is Colonel Mullan, 94th Missile Wing. I have someone who needs to talk to you," and handed a second handset to Carol.
The scientist put the handset up to her ear and mouth and said, "I don't know who I'm talking to, but you need to stop this whole thing now. You're about to make a huge mistake."
The second that the man on the other end of the line started to speak, he needed no introduction. Carol knew that voice from dozens of speeches, news reports, and a year-long election cycle.
"Oh?" said the President of the United States, "This better be good."
Carol nearly dropped the phone, "Oh, I—I Mr. President—"
"We're on the clock," Dirrel said, "Who the hell is this? Do you have a reason or not?"
Of course, she thought, of course it would be the President. The nukes couldn't be authorized for release without his say-so, and so here he was.
"Mr. Dirrel," she said, "My name is Carol Dawson. I'm with NASA. I have just been informed that elements of the report on the Bellnahgo expedition were fabricated. The Japanese are asking you to launch over a fake report."
Another familiar voice came on the line. "This is Robert Clayton," the Secretary of Defense said. "Dawson? That's a hell of a claim, where are you getting this from?"
"Lieutenant Itami Youji, the leader of the expedition."
A pause, then some hurried discussion from the other end before Clayton was back on the line. "Not good enough," he said, "We know that Hardy can mentally compromise people, and he's already traveling around with an Apostle of Emroy. I don't know much about the cosmic politics of the Falmart Parthenon, but we need more than 'Itami said so.'"
"Fine, remember the lecture at the Pentagon?"
"I do."
"Magic in the Special Region, including the Gate, is a product of a destabilized particle called an SR-Phizon. When the particle is energized for long enough, it destabilizes the matter around it. This manifesting both here as Earthquakes, and above the skies of both planets in the form of space distortions. They're not distortions at all. Administrator Kosinski pointed out that Phizons are protected from solar radiation by molecular nebulae. Think about it—they are so easily visible in Falmart's skies but smaller in Earth's skies because Sol has cleared its local space of molecular nebulae, while Falmart's star has not. You're not looking at Hardy rending the sky apart, you're looking at the Phizons of the Gate affecting the closest available Phizons by Earth, the ones in a nearby nebula!"
Just then, she heard a commotion from outside the trailer, some shouts, and Mullan rushed out to have a look.
"Okay," Clayton said, "And if that's the case, then the Gate should also be affecting the closest Phizons on the Falmart side of the Gate as well. If that's the case, what's your theory for why Alnus hasn't melted out from under you?""
Shit! Carol scrambled to find a reason, and eventually blurted, "It only does that on the Earth side because there aren't any SR-Phizons on Earth. On the Special Region side, it's more random. The most prominent location is in a desert over a thousand kilometers Northwest of here, but I am sure that there are other examples both on the planet and beyond its atmosphere."
No response, she clearly wasn't getting through.
"Step seventeen," the Major said. "Initiate key pressed, wait for OID countdown, and confirm enabling of co-op code."
"Carol," Clayton said. "Even if you're right on both accounts, the fact of the matter is that Hardy attacked Alnus, and is going to attack again. We would prefer to solve this conventionally, but our hands are tied. We cannot simply send the Marines to invade mainland Japan. Right now, if we want to take out the enemy command, that rocket is our only option."
Before Carol could respond, she was shocked to see not Mullan renter the trailer, but Rory. The two missiliers turned in their seats, hands going to their sidearms, but Mullan jumped aboard after her saying, "I let her through! Tell them!"
Rory looked Carol dead in the eye and said, "Hardy's bluffing."
Carol felt her blood turn to ice. "Bluffing?"
"Who's bluffing?" Clayton called from the other side of handset, "What's going on over there?"
"Perhaps in your stories and fantasies on Earth, you imagine your enemies as having endless hordes," Rory said. "But the reality is that a world can contain only so many monsters before it becomes unlivable. I have traveled Falmart for nearly nine hundred years, and most of Hardy's tools currently lie dead on the field beyond Alnus. A spectacular feat, to be sure, but I can assure you, for Hardy to commit to another attack, she will need to wait for monsters to arrive from other lands. A second wave an hour after expending a continent of beasts against you? Hah!"
Carol relayed the message, and Clayton sighed. "I told you, we are not willing to trust the opinion of someone involved in cosmic politics—"
"Fuck this!" Carol shouted. "Mr. Dirrel, are you even listening? We're here in the Special Region because people in Washington panicked and struck first, before they knew all the facts, because of what was, ultimately, a bluff by Russia and China. For your actions, we suffered a geopolitical crisis and now we're having a nuclear one. I've given you an intelligence reason, a scientific reason, and a tactical reason not to launch. If the Japanese are saying that they'd plunge the world into a new Cold War over this, then they're bluffing too."
She steeled herself and added, "The last line of a major prayer here in Falmart is 'Teach me ways to grow from what I learn.' I'm begging you, Mr. President, learn from your past mistakes. Do not repeat Hakone."
"Step eighteen, in launch action at this time," Becker stated. "Hands on keys."
Dead silence. Please, Carol thought, please!
"Turn on my mark. Three, two, o—"
"STOP!" Dirrel shouted, "Stop the launch!"
"ABORT!" Mullan called to his men, who immediately took their hands away from the launch keys.
"Copy Abort!" Becker called, flipping several switches to safe the rocket. "Peters, ELC?"
"ELC Message did NOT transmit," Missilier Peters replied then, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand, muttered, "Jesus Christ!"
"New plan," the President said. "You will monitor up to the last second, and you will not turn those keys until it is clear and obvious that a second wave is attacking. Got that? In the meantime, Clayton, what's our closest available force we can dump into Falmart? And get Kano back on the line, we're going to have a chat!"
T - 0:00:30
From the jump seat of the Pave Hawk helicopter, Captain Hines scanned the field south of Alnus with his night vision goggles. A few feet away, one of his men gripped the handles of his GAU-17/A, waiting.
He flipped up his goggles and checked his wristwatch. From the time that Giselle had announced the existence of a second wave, nearly the full hour had passed.
So, they watched, and they waited. He called on his radio set, "Anything?"
"Nope," his pilot called out.
The pilot of the other Hawk gave the same response.
"Nothing," his Combat Controller on the ground replied. "And the JSDF loop's quiet too."
Hines didn't like that, so he clarified, "No tremors either? They dug out of the ground last time."
"794th Security," Lt. Garcia called out. "Nothing from the airfield, and that's with all our vehicles at a dead stop."
"Then where are they?" Hines asked.
Seconds turned to minutes, and Hines pulled out a cigarette as the reality of the situation began to dawn on him. Really? He thought. REALLY?
Nearly forty minutes later, his radio snapped on. "All units, this is Mullan," their CO called. "The operation is over. The Diet has called an immediate halt to all ongoing operations by General Hazama, and Marines from the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group are coming through the Gate as we speak. We're putting together a new plan to get back at the bitch that hit us tonight. In the meantime, RTB and await further orders."
As the helicopter turned to head back to base, Hines shook his head and tossed his cigarette out of the open side of the helicopter. What a fucking night!