WAR (2 page)

              “What’s located there?”

              “Sir, it’s a medical store that sells oxygen, wheelchairs, artificial limbs, and other medical devices. Look at it, everything else is dark. Someone not only has the technology, they also have the knowledge to know where these locations are. If we look two blocks to the east, you notice lights are on in this building that’s a Russian Orthodox Church. Looking at the target selection, I’m amazed at the selectivity of the cyber-attack. The attackers knew where to keep the lights on and where to turn them off. I’ve never seen anything like this. Sir, you can call this a precision cyber-attack, sir, I wasn’t even aware this level of software existed.”

              “Alexi who do you think did this to us?”

              “Mr. President, it has to be the Americans. They’re the only country that has the technology to hit us with an attack of such complexity and creativity.”

              “Alexi, why do you say it was so creative?”

              “Mr. President, look at what they hit and what they didn’t touch. We can bring a grid down; however, we have no idea how to bring the grid down while leaving selected sites that are on the same sub-grid, untouched. Our best people are studying the attack. They know some type of cyber worm was injected into our systems, so far our best minds haven’t been able to locate the worm, or where it entered or even how it operates.”

              “Can’t we just shut down the entire system, with all of the associated computers off, pull the power plugs, and then turn it on again? Won’t the systems automatically reboot to their base configurations?”

              “Sir, normally, I’d say yes. We’ve already tried this, every time we rebooted we received a message in Russian on every display panel saying, SORRY THAT IS NOT GOING TO WORK, TRY SOMETHING ELSE. There’s only one country that has the technology to do this. It has to be the Americans.”

              “Alexi, can we counter attack them for what they’ve done to us?”

              “Mr. President, we’ve tried to cyber counter-attack, not only was our attack caught, they sent spikes back to our servers. They shut our servers and generators down. Sir, we tried hitting them from outside of the Russian Federation, they caught our attempt and shut down our generators. No matter how we bounced our attack around the world, they found our source. It’s almost as if our firewalls are transparent to them. Sir, we’re totally stymied. It’s like we’re standing in front of them naked. Our best computer people are stumped; they have no idea how to overcome the worm and turn our electrical power back on. Sir, I ordered a test launch of one of our strategic missiles to see if we could attack if we had to. The electrical power and our communications network with our silos have been cut off. Sir, these are shielded fiber networks buried underground in steel tubes inside reinforced cement. The strategic forces have their own nuclear generating plant to provide our strategic systems with power in case of an attack like this. The nuclear reactors checkout, yet there is no power being supplied to our silos. We can’t launch missiles against anyone.”

              “You’re telling me; the Russian Federation is sitting in front of the USA unable to militarily respond? We are naked before them? Isn’t there some way to fire the missiles without outside power? What about our missile submarines?”

              “Sir, we can’t communicate with them.”

              Grameniko claps his hands together, smiling, he says, “Da! If they follow normal procedures, they will fire their missiles when they can’t communicate with us. The stupid Americans are going to get the reward they deserve for what they’ve done to the motherland.”

              Alexi frowns responding, “Mr. President, they are getting a recording saying we are experiencing a statewide power failure, and they are not to fire.”

              “Alexi, how is this possible?”

              “Sir, we don’t know, it’s even in our strategic code.”

              President Demetri Grameniko says, “I want every department head to put their best people on this problem.”

              Boris Yelsin, director of the FSB, says, “Mr. President, fellow directors, we have another serious issue to discuss today. Our people are scared and they are fleeing their homes, the roads leading out of our cities are jammed with millions of our people. They think the blackout is the prelude to a nuclear war. No one wants to be in our cities when the missiles and bombers arrive. Many have heard the stories of the Great Patriotic war, how the Nazi’s bombed our cities.”

              Serge Gobebachov, director of the Russian Federation Treasury, adds, “Mr. President, directors, we’re looking at the meltdown of our economy within a week.”

              Grameniko asks, “How is that possible? How can our economy collapse in a single week?”

              Gobebachov responds, “Sir, with no one working, entire industries will close, entire sectors will fail, with no deliveries being made, food won’t be delivered resulting in additional panic. No one will be spending any money, companies will not have any workers, we won’t be collecting any taxes while our payments are on a fixed schedule, if we fail to make our payments we’ll default. We’re falling behind on our oil and gas shipping schedules. If we default on these, we’ll have to pay our customers in Europe their costs of replacing our oil and gas on the spot market. This alone can cost us tens of billions of Rubles.  Sir, we have to stop the panic among our people and get them to return to their homes and jobs.”

              Yelsin continues, “If the Americans can selectively black us out, think of what else they can do to us. A couple examples which come to mind, are, consider what would happen if they told every ATM in the country to start pumping out rubles. What’s left of our economy would be trashed in minutes. They could remotely reprogram the robots in all of our factories to destroy every product being built. They could turn on every television in the country and broadcast any message they wanted to. Sir, I’m afraid they might even be able to reprogram our strategic missiles; they might even reprogram our own missiles to strike us.”

              Grameniko says, “I understand what you’re telling me; I know I have to find a way to make peace with President Rand in order to save the Motherland.”

              All of the ministers and directors sitting around the conference table in the leadership bunker nod their agreement. Grameniko looks at each of his staff nodding in agreement. He dismisses them all expect for Alexi. When the two men are alone, Alexi asks, “Mr. President, what did we do to force the Americans to attack us in this manner? The Motherland’s military hasn’t attacked America. What did we do to them? Who kicked over this hornet’s nest that’s stung all of us?”

                “Alexi, we assisted the LSA in a terror attack against the Americans. I didn’t think the Americans would be able to trace it back to us.”

              Alexi looks down at the table shaking his head before he replies, “Mr. President, it was us that provided the chemicals that made their children sick? You did this and didn’t expect to get caught? Well, you got caught with your hands in their cookie jar. We harmed their children. Mr. President, when a child in America falls into a well, their entire country comes together to get them out. It’s major news across the USA. How could you think assisting their breakaway states in an attack against them was going to go unnoticed? We should be happy they didn’t nuke us. I’ve seen the images from space, their breakaway states received the same treatment we got. Look at the images, the LSA is dark. There’s also no signals coming out of the LSA. It appears the entire RF spectrum has been slammed shut over the LSA. I expect that we’ll shortly be receiving a request for military support from the Jew, Bloomberg. Or, Mr. President have you already received it?”

              Demetri Grameniko stands; he starts walking around the conference table, forcing Alexi to keep twisting his head to follow him, “We’ve already received the request. Per our agreements with the LSA, we’re bound to respond to their request for military support.”

              Alexi stands; he pounds his fist on the conference table, “Mr. President, NO, I say again. NO. We can’t supply their breakaway states with military support. Do you have any idea what they would do to us if we invaded the USA?”

              “Alexi, what if our troops changed uniforms and became the LSA army? What if we can give the American’s something else to focus on? Maybe the FSB can distract them.”

              “Mr. President, if and I do mean IF, the FSB can distract the Americans then we might be able to smuggle enough firepower into the LSA to cause the Americans to think twice. Sir, may I remind you that once we cross the border onto American soil, we’ll be facing their military on their home soil, plus their thousands of militias. Mr. President, don’t forget that there are hundreds of millions of armed civilians in America, which is why the Japanese never attempted an invasion in World War two. They said that behind every blade of grass is a gun. Many of those know how to use their weapons. We’ll be facing an armed population plus their military. Sir, we can land in the LSA, we can show our support and prove we lived up to the treaty. However, I strongly recommend we do NOT cross the border and invade America.”

              “Alexi, why do you, of all of my ministers, believe all of the stories the GRU sends you? The Americans aren’t giants. Don’t believe all of their propaganda. I agree with you that the American military is powerful, maybe even the world’s most powerful military, however they don’t train for, nor are they prepared for, an invasion. They are used to being the attackers, not the defenders. If we can land in the LSA silently, if we can hide in plain sight, we’ll surprise them. We both know surprise is a powerful force multiplier. We should be able to catch them with their pants down like little school boys playing with themselves. We don’t have to win, all we have to do is cross the border, plant our boots on their soil. I tell you, all we have to do is take a small amount of their land until they release their hold on our power. I suggest we take their gambling city of Las Vegas. Can you prepare a plan where we capture and hold Las Vegas?”

              “Sir, if we can count on surprise we should be able to move sufficient forces across the border and surprise the hell out of Las Vegas. But sir, why Las Vegas?”

“Alexi, The Americans won’t counterattack Las Vegas for fear of damaging the casinos. Hell, we might be able to finance our invasion from the money kept in the casinos. We’ll be able to hold it until the Americans agree to release our power. We can send hackers to break into the casino’s bank accounts; we can finance the Motherland for years.”

“Mr. President, I agree we could, unless the Americans turn the motherland into ash while our army plays poker in Las Vegas.”

              “Alexi, I don’t think President Rand will turn his nuclear arsenal loose against us. I think he’ll come to the table and talk. I want more than just our power on. I want them to pay for what they’ve done to us. I want them to fund our rebuilding and share some of their technologies with us. Alexi, I want you to prepare the plans. I’ll place a call to Bloomberg, when he’s done whining, I’ll tell him we’ll support him. I won’t give him any details since we both know the American NSA will be listening to the call.”

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              In the posh neighborhood of Beverly Hills there’s one property that’s surrounded by twelve foot high, four foot thick walls topped with razor wire. The driveway is wide enough for a tank to easily drive to the house. There’s a guard station at each end of the curved driveway. In the rear of the house is a three story guest house where the security team rotates a week on, a week off. The main house is painted a medium shade of gray. It’s the official residence of the president of the LSA. The house was purchased by President Reid when the LSA spilt from the USA. He diverted forty million to redo the house and to build a secure bunker under it. The bunker was constructed fifty feet under the Gray House, it's accessed by a special heavily armored elevator and a hidden staircase which exits in the rear of the President’s office. A section of the wooden office paneling opens to reveal the stairs. This afternoon President Bloomberg took the stairs down to the bunker where his executive staff waits to discuss the situation in the LSA after the countrywide blackout. President Bloomberg starts the meeting by saying, “Ladies and gentlemen; it’s very clear the USA decided to attack us by turning off all of our electrical power. We have to…”

              The LSA’s first Vice President, Elizabeth Wrannt says, “Sir, I’m sorry to interrupt, but, it’s not all of our power. My staff has completed a list of the areas that still have power, a few of these examples are; hospitals, senior homes, pharmacies, here’s a very strange one, amusement parks until everyone on a ride was able to exit the ride. Elevators that would have been stuck in-between floors. Once every elevator reached the ground floor, they ceased working. Power continued to function until everyone at risk was safe. It’s a very unusual way to attack us. They attacked us by spending a huge amount of effort not to kill or even badly harm anyone. The Gray House has power, yet every house around us, except for one a block away doesn’t have power.”

              “That’s a very interesting observation. Does anyone know anything about the home a block away that still has power, maybe they have a generator?”

              Elizabeth continues, “Mr. President, that’s another very unusual point, almost every generator has been blocked, they turn on and once connected to an electrical appliance, they are remotely turned off. I think we should send someone to the house that has power to check it out.”