In Krakow, the area surrounding the Kursov’s apothecary shop was nearly flattened. The shop and its building were riddled with shrapnel holes and the windows were boarded up. No one walked the streets. One of the plywood panels had been pried off the front of the shop. Looters had done the rest. The upper floor had been hit by a bomb or projectile. It had collapsed onto the next floor and one corner of that floor had also collapsed. Debris was everywhere. There was no one to clean it up.
“We found them,” shouted one of the watch standers. His table was zoomed into a small convoy of trucks moving rapidly along a highway. Hammond and the others came over to look.
“You sure it’s them?” Hammond asked.
“Definite. The satellite feed is being recorded. I backed it up to the time just before we entered the city and caught these trucks leaving the museum compound. I fast forwarded it and watched them come along this highway. They are currently on the R-1 near Nitra. That set of highways will take them straight into the Ukraine,” he said.
“Zoom it out some,” said Hammond.
Looking at the road, it wormed its way up into some steep mountains past a city named Nova Bana. North of the city was walled in by mountains as the highway went through a number of narrow valleys. Hammond pointed to a spot just south of the town of Vosnica where the road ran next to a steep mountain on one side and a river on the other. “Let the Slovakian government know where these guys are. If they have any assets in the area, maybe they can get some word to them and stop these guys somewhere along here. If they can stop them in the mountains, the Russians will have a rough time getting them out of the country,” Hammond said.
“On the way,” said one of the aides. Little did they know but the Slovakian government had left some of its army behind in various parts of the country. One area was in Kozarovce, just fifteen minutes away. Within minutes a small team of men boarded a truck and began making their way toward the area Hammond had pointed out.
The Situation Room was filled with the President and his staff. This was a special meeting for one specific purpose. They were to be briefed by the Supreme Allied Commander on the final stages of the Allied effort. The room was quiet. Almost everything hinged on what they were about to do being a success. Even the President sat quietly in his chair.
There was some activity in one corner as a staff member made the connection. Admiral Roger Hammond’s face appeared on the screen. “Good afternoon Mister President, ladies and gentlemen,” he said smiling.
“Good afternoon, Admiral,” said the President, returning the smile. “We are all anxious to hear your report,” he said. “I understand you were able to get a handle on that Russian incursion.”
“Yes sir. The line was finally drawn just ten miles north of Krakow, but it cost the Poles a lot to hold them there. We were able to do it without bringing in the troops we have been holding back for our little surprise.”
“That’s good news,” muttered Black in his seat at the table. Hammond could see the relief on his face.
“It is, and as you know, the main forces take off tomorrow morning, your time. Thanks to the Transportation Command, we now have all the assets in place to rock and roll,” said Hammond. “In three weeks, when the ships arrive, we all strike at once. I have already been working with the Turks. They will cross the border when our forces land. Once General Richardson crosses to the other border, they will come up and go through the mountains. She will wheel round and come in from the northern part of the Caucuses and we will stair step up to the Ukraine. They will turn off every pipeline leading to Russia while keeping the lines to Turkey open. In the Pacific, General Bryant will land and go inland, then move south along the coast. They too will disrupt oil coming from the peninsula into Russia. The ultimate goal will be Vladivostok. Once there, he will sit and hold. I got the word from the State Department that Japan and Korea are onboard. That completes the circle.”
“One thing, I hope, will work on our side. Everywhere we go we will restore power, heat, light and food to the people there. I have instructed my troops that they will be nothing but courteous and helpful to anyone they meet. We will keep the telephone lines open so they can call their relatives. The fact that they are warm and fed should go a long way. We have plenty of panels and quite a few battery trucks for overnight operations.”
“By the way, Mister President, my intelligence people have begun receiving images and video shot by some of their people of a massacre at a rally in Moscow. They were apparently protesting a lack of food. It appears several hundred were killed when the soldiers opened fire on them,” Hammond said. “It’s working.”
“Can you get those to me?” the President asked.
“Of course. We are now targeting roads and railways. The Russians are wising up to us hitting stations where the lights come on. I am told they are now telling people to use blackout curtains. Not that it matters since we can see the heat at the plant, but they are also bringing in portable diesel units which take care of small sections of the cities. We won’t be able to hit all those. But keeping them hungry should still do the trick,” Hammond said.
“It’s a shame we have to resort to such things, but keep it up,” said the President.
“The main thing is we are ready. Troops, ships, planes and tanks are in place. I have supplies for eight months of all out warfare and I anticipate our resupply will be as efficient as the initial set up. I am told that all our ready aircraft, ships, trucks and tanks have been outfitted with the Maxwell panels. That should shake a few things up, especially with the additional assets from the boneyard. From the very beginning I said we needed to use our technology to win this war. Even though we are bringing in some retired equipment, things like the Maxwell panels will be just the thing to get the job done without much risk for our crews.”
“It’s been a long a difficult two and a half months, but everything has come together very swiftly. I believe our Korean episode paved the way for this. People are thinking outside the box and a number of people are already trained on any older equipment we will be using.”
“The Poles are fighting a desperate battle to keep their nation whole. All of Europe is with us to see this happen. I appreciate all that you have done to make this work. Does anyone have any questions?” Hammond concluded.
“Are the new drones there yet?” asked General Armstrong of the Transportation Command.
“I understand they are being offloaded as we speak. Folks, the drones have been the winner of this war so far. We would not have achieved anything near what we have without them. These new drones will be able to be used during daylight and at longer ranges. I can use that. Send over as many as you can. So far we have lost only around eight percent of the drones we received. Most of that was due to either operator error or someone on the ground got lucky. The Russians are scared to death of the things. Keep them coming,” emphasized Hammond.
“Any more word on their navy? Everything I have says they have bottled their surface ships in port. If you go by my count, they may only have about twenty or so submarines left. I’m still a little worried about what might happen if they gang up on these fleets,” said the CNO.
“I agree. My people here, which includes the Germans and Brits, agree with your figures. I also know that five or six of those subs were damaged and have been seen near their homeports in the last two days. I really don’t anticipate seeing much of their surface fleet until we are within range of their shipboard missiles. I would hope our subs are on the prowl for the rest of them. My biggest fear is their air capabilities. The Maxwell panels should take care of a lot of that, but you can still bomb using your eyes, so I am stressing that we have to be ready for that. Luckily, that means getting a lot closer where we can shoot them down. Long range missiles are not a problem. It will be the close range stuff. We are ready for that,” said Hammond.