The Manhattan Incident (8 page)

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 know, 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 the 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 119
th
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.

The Wedgie suddenly stopped directly above Grand Central Terminal at a height of a few hundred feet just above the nearby taller buildings as seen in the video. Suddenly, we see what looked like clear water balloons in the hundreds dropped from various apertures that opened on the underside of the Wedgie. As they dropped they suddenly popped, releasing liquid that became a concentrated mist that floated to the ground. This action was not visible to the F-16Cs as they were descending. In the video several people started screaming and running in various directions in fearful panic. Suddenly the Wedgie shoots straight up at an extremely rapid rate in the video. It levels off just below the descending F-16s and rapidly proceeds eastward toward Long Island Sound as seen in the video.

Hopper just finished updating the Eastern Air Defense Sector headquarters in Rome, New York as the Wedgie suddenly shot eastward. “Wedgie is now proceeding away from New York eastward. Appears there was no visible hostile action down below. What are my orders?” ”This is EADS, you are to pursue until further orders or fuel constraints force you to return to base.” The squadron dutifully pursued the Wedgie which was below them and moving fast.

At the entrance to the terminal, Alexi shivered as he sensed a chill brush of moist air on his cheek. Touching his cheek, he felt a slight dampness. Damn, he thought, it wasn’t expected to snow or rain today. Alexi looked up and is astonished to see the Wedgie above at a height about 200 feet or more above the nearest tall building. Alexi thinks God, how quiet it is. He had not even heard it rapidly descend. Next the craft suddenly shot upward extremely rapidly. Alexi felt a sense of panic. The scene shows him running inside the terminal to the public bathrooms and vigorously washing his hands and face.  He worried that the moisture might have come from the alien craft.  Next he scanned the departure board and ran to the Metro North train heading to New Haven, Connecticut. He just made it as the doors closed. His imagination provided too many unpleasant possibilities about what the mist might or might not be. He had mixed emotions about reporting the incident. What if it was only water? Maybe the NSA would take him away again. He took out his cell phone and called his current female companion in Greenwich, Connecticut. He knew it was short notice, but she liked him a lot and would undoubtedly put him up for a few days. Fortunately, he kept some clothes there. Margaret answered and said “Sure, but you’re taking me out to dinner tonight.” Alexi hoped in a few days things might return to normal in the city. If not, he had a place to stay.