Free Repulse: Europe at War 2062-2064 by Chris James Page B

armed with uranium-234 fission warheads yielding between two and ten kilotons each.  The volume of attempted overkill was impressive; for example, Tehran alone was to receive sufficient destructive power to render it uninhabitable for several decades.  Each wave launched at two-minute intervals, and was immediately detected by US satellites.  These began tracking the ACAs until they left the Peace-Buffer Zone and entered Caliphate territory, at which point the Caliphate’s jamming rendered the Israeli attack invisible.  Mendelberg contacted Washington to inform them of his country’s actions, much to President Coll’s consternation.
    Time passed.  Israeli military command requested the US to consult its earthquake monitoring stations for any indications of seismic activity.  It then relayed the same request to Indian seismology facilities.  At length, all returned with nothing to report.  By 04.30, the Israeli military was obliged to conclude that the attack had failed absolutely.  One can imagine the confusion in several installations inside Israel, confusion which would shortly turn to material concern.
    The first Caliphate ACAs to cross into the Peace-Buffer Zone did so at 07.11.  Unknown to Israel and the rest of the world, the Caliphate had indeed destroyed the assault in its entirety, and would now deliver a devastating blow in reply.  Here again the super-AI technology employed by the West failed comprehensively.  Mendelberg’s and the Knesset’s gamble had been that as the bulk of the Caliphate’s forces were now engaged in subduing Turkey, the Caliphate’s main population centres remained relatively unprotected.  In the event, the Caliphate had rearmed to such an unforeseen degree that not only did it have the resources to defeat Israel’s attack, it was able to reply in the same coin.  Moreover, the Caliphate did so in a way that would do most to hold global public opinion on its side, for while Israel attacked with nuclear weapons, which the Caliphate disabled, the Caliphate replied with non-nuclear - although no less lethal - conventional armaments.
    Sirens blared across all of Israel’s major conurbations and local governments continuously transmitted urgent warnings for citizens to take cover in the ‘secure room’ which each Israeli home was obliged by law to have.  However, news of the overnight attack on the Caliphate had spread, and thousands of moderate citizens from the artisan district of Tel Aviv formed an impromptu protest in the early light of the morning.  They gathered at Rabin Square and paused to await the arrival of half a dozen MKs from the two leading left-wing political parties.
    Five thousand metres above them, hundreds of IDF defence ACAs held their formations as the Caliphate machines advanced swiftly across the Peace-Buffer Zone.  The Israeli designed and manufactured Nesher 101-A defensive ACA was believed to be the most advanced weapon of its time.  It came in a number of variations for different military roles: air-to-air combat; air-to-surface smart missile; as well as anti-tank and anti-personnel designations, with armaments to suit the target.  Its shielding was by a narrow margin the strongest in any Western army.  Thus, while confusion may have reigned concerning what became of Israel’s own attack on the Caliphate, it is reasonable to assume many people in Tel Aviv felt confident of their country’s ability to defend itself.
    At 07.16, Israeli ACAs were directed to intercept the leading Caliphate machines, and battle was joined.  Writing in The Fall of the State of Israel a few years later, historian Avraham Udell describes what happened next: ‘The protesters hushed when strange popping sounds could be heard distantly in the bright blue of the morning sky.  Most had been asking each other for news of their own country’s attack on the Caliphate, and none expected they could be at any serious risk of harm.  This made the resulting panic even