Free WAR by Ira Tabankin

Grameniko will want us to share some of our technology with them. If we surrender or give in to them, they win. Attacking Las Vegas becomes a double win for them.”
    President Rand and Vice President Lee are quiet for a long time; President Brownstone sips his coffee. After a couple of silent minutes, President Rand says, “What can we do to stop them?”
    “First, let’s assume the Russians are already in the LSA. I bet if we review surveillance from the past few days we’re going to find a couple of overloaded ships full of fit soldiers. Second, what military force do we have near Las Vegas? I’ve lost track of what’s going on at Base 51 and the other bases. Does the Air Force still fly Red Flag training outside Vegas? Since Fort Irwin was closed in California and moved to Nevada, is it still active? When I was President, there were two battalions of armor at the national training center. Is the base still open? We used to have Russian military equipment there and if they’re still there we can use it against the Russians. They may be confused by fighting against their own equipment. I think we ought to issue a full alert to Pendleton, I’d get them moving towards Vegas tonight.  What’s at Nellis? The Russians have never seen our new anti-tank rail guns, nor have they fought against our new infantry weapons. I suggest calling in the Joint Chiefs, let’s discuss a battle plan with them.”
    Picking up the phone on his desk, President Rand says, “Please ask the Joint Chiefs to join us in the Situation Room, tell them to bring their best strategic planners.”
    At the Pentagon, the Chairman of the Joint Staffs tells his aide, “I think we should take two birds to the White House, alert the secret service that we’ll be landing on the south lawn.”
                  Fifteen minutes later the two helicopters land on the south lawn. The military staff is escorted to the Situation Room where they find Presidents Rand, Brownstone and Vice President Lee, waiting for them. President Brownstone gives the military leaders an overview of his thoughts. The Chairman listens and asks permission to call the surveillance room at the Pentagon. Tapes from the previous three days are uploaded to the White House secure network.  The fourteen people sit around the conference table eating a light dinner watching the recorded tapes. When the videos from Blue flight start, the CNO leans forward saying, “Son of a bitch.”
    Everyone looks at him, he continues, “Look at the video, those aren’t normal cruise passengers. Those are soldiers. There're too many men, notice the lack of women. The ship is overloaded, also notice none is in bathing suits. Whoever released the F35 from this flight should be fired.” The CNO picks up the phone to the Pentagon, “I want to know when ship on track LA 112 docked and if we have any images of the people leaving the ship.” He turns his attention back to the videos, “Look at the second cruise ship. Somehow the Russians took the passengers off the cruise ship while loading them with troops.”
    President Brownstone says, “Admiral, those ships won’t hold their heavy weapons and vehicles, where are those?”
    “Mr. President, my guess would be they’re on an RO/RO ship.”
    President Brownstone nods his head in agreement, “I agree; I bet we don’t watch those very closely because they only carry cars and trucks, right? I also bet since the original agreement that we could use the ports of Long Beach and Seattle to ship cars from Asia is still in place so they knew we wouldn’t be paying any attention to the car carrying ships.” 
    The CNO responds, “Sir, you’re correct. We perform fly byes and do a quick check if nothing looks out of the ordinary and if the ship is carrying cars for us we usually leave it alone.”
    “They know that. I bet at least one of those ships is loaded with tanks and APCs. Admiral, when did the cruise ship, arrive at port?”
    “Three