Virus-72 Hours to Live (3 page)

Lieutenant Commander Ott saw the admiral
enter and moved to intercept him.

"Sir there is some comm traffic I think you
should be aware of."

"Ok, commander. What is it?"

"Sir, we're picking up comm traffic about an
outbreak of a virus in numerous parts of the Russian Caucasus.
There has been a significant increase in the communications in the
area and the 6th thinks it is significant. Right now, Iran and
Turkey are confused whether it's an outbreak or some kind of
separatist activity. Each side is blaming the other, which is only
adding to the confusion."

"Ok, monitor it and stay in touch with the
6th in the Med. Pass a summary up to Central Command."

"Yes, sir."

"Also, arrange my transport back to the
Doggert."

"Yes, sir."

The 5th fleet had changed a lot over the
years. It used to be a small group of ships responsible for just
the northwestern part of the Indian Ocean. In the last 15 years,
the Iranian influence in the area grew significantly and the 5th
fleet grew. In the last 5 years, it grew in size until it was the
second larger fleet behind the 7th Fleet in the western Pacific.
Its breadth of responsibility grew to include all of the Indian
Ocean.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Everyone, please be seated," President
Patterson said as he entered the morning briefing. "What do we have
going on tap this morning?" he said as he moved to his seat at the
head of the table and sat down. The Presidential Daily Brief or PDB
was on the table in front of him. Once the president sat down,
everyone in the room looked towards the briefer who was a staff
member from the Director of National Intelligence. He was standing
at a podium with the presidential seal mounted on the front. He
glanced at the data information displays behind him to make sure
everything was ready.

When he spoke the different displays on the
presentation screen took their own cues and showed the information
relevant to each of the subjects. As his speech changed pace or an
attendee asked questions, the dynamic information display kept up
and responded in concert with the words spoken. In response to each
sentence, the DID would draw from thousands of hours of video or
presentation material and select the best information to support
the discussion.

"Mr. President we have three subjects we're
planning to cover this morning. The first one is the status of the
Middle East negotiations." Behind the speaker, the screen showed
the recent video feed from the negotiations followed by quick fact
sheets which popped up and receded to the corners of the view
screen."

"Since the shelling by the Palestinian
Defense Forces into southern Israel, the tensions have increased.
We have spoken with the Palestinian and Israeli governments and
they agree it was a limited exchange and they feel it won't
escalate. Israel and Palestine are continuing their trade
negotiations. Even though they are optimistic in public, they're
both manipulating the discussions to make the other side look bad.
They've continued the economic war on each other ever since the war
10 years ago. We don't expect that to change much in these
negotiations. Secretary Bartlett's people from State Department are
assisting and letting them negotiate on their own. State's opinion
is 'we should stay out of it and let them reach an agreement. If we
have any problems with their direction, we can always get
involved."

"Let's hope for some progress, since the
limited nuclear exchange in '48 were they almost wiped each other
out you'd think it would calm them down a little. But at least
they've made some progress and if we can pressure them to sign this
trade agreement, we might be able to get them one step further,"
observed the president.

"Yes sir, we'll talk to them again,"
interjected the secretary of state Nancy Bartlett who was sitting
on President Patterson's right side. On the president's left side
was Vice President Roberto Gonzales. Beside the vice president was
Admiral Nial Hagerly. He was sitting in for the secretary of
defense Bruce Madsen, who was meeting with the Southern Pacific
Defense Alliance in Australia.

Nancy Bartlett was one of the president's
oldest friends. She was a member of his board of directors while
his company was growing. When he moved on to politics, she had
already used her Ph.D. in Political Science and joined the state
department. While he was a congressman she, rose through the ranks
and spent positive terms as ambassador to many of the key countries
in the world. She never married, Abby and the president were eager
in asking her to be Beth's God Mother.

"Mr. President the second issue is
preparations for the First Lady's visit to the Eastern European
Alliance. Everything is set-up; she'll be leaving this morning and
arriving by tomorrow morning. Her meetings are set-up and she'll be
speaking at the Confederation of Economic Support Councils tomorrow
night. Then she will have five days of typical hand shaking and
sightseeing. Her primary objectives are to secure some agreements
to increase funding for juvenile vaccinations. Incidentally, your
children aren't happy about this trip. There are activities going
on at both of their schools that they want to attend."

"Before they leave, remind them that we'll
have time for some fun at Camp David the weekend after they get
back. Tell them they can bring some friends to the retreat. Don't
forget to block out 15 minutes so I can say goodbye to them."

"Yes sir," said Judy, the president's
secretary.

"Mr. President, the third item on the agenda
is the tension in the Indian Ocean." The DID presented a moving map
display which showed the ships leaving their ports, their
trajectories and expected paths to projected rendezvous points.

"The Eastern Alliance is starting some naval
maneuvers. The Alliance has sent us another message saying 'they
represent the needs of the people' and we should scale down our
mutual defense exercise with Australia. They have renewed their
claim to that part of the Indian Ocean and claim all rights to
it."

"I presume Admiral Monson is aware and is
taking the appropriate precautions?"

"Yes sir," said Admiral Hagerly, "he has
been instructed to monitor the exercise, but not to interfere with
any of the Alliance activities. He is maintaining a low level of
alert, but he is watching their resources in the area."

"Roberto could you work with Nancy and see
if we can pass some smooth words to them, assuring them that we
aren't going to interfere but we are going to support our allies in
the area. Avoid using the word territory or disputing any of their
claims. Just make it clear that we are there and we will continue
doing what we deem necessary."

"Yes, Mr. President," responded the Vice
President.

"Thank you, ladies, and gentlemen," the
president said as he rose; followed by the others in the room. Out
of respect, everyone remained standing behind the seat where they
sat, planning to follow him out of the underground status room.

The status room was two stories below the
White House, had no windows. Even though it was comfortable, it
wasn't as plush as the conference rooms upstairs. It was a
functional room, meant for getting the business of the day started.
The walls had pictures from some of the states. The chairs were
comfortable and the table was beautifully polished wood. The only
accouterment in the room was a table in the corner, which always
had a pot of coffee, donuts, and fruit.

President Arnold Patterson was a very
popular president, he was well into his second term and things were
starting to come together. He was happy about his domestic
accomplishments, but foreign affairs were another story. There was
the typical amount of push and shove going on with the major
powers. Europe was still trying to establish itself as a major
force in the world, but the internal debate always seemed to derail
their plans. China had put together an alliance of Asian powers
trying to dominate the western Pacific and control as much of the
resources as possible. Under Iran's control, another alliance
emerged in the Arab world and they wanted to change world politics
and economics to their benefits. The alliances caught India, Japan,
and Australia in the middle. If one of them favored the US
policies, their neighbors might ostracize them. If they sided with
one of their neighbors, they might have to face the wrath of the
others. Therefore, they generally took the middle and tried to
balance the policies between all of the major forces. Sometimes
that worked out and usually it made it difficult for the United
States.

There was the famous saying in politics; a
"tall man with good hair is always a good political candidate." In
Patterson's case, he had neither. He was short, bald and wore
glasses. His most powerful personal characteristic was his ability
to make you feel like he was your best friend. Once you heard him
talk, you thought you had known him your entire life. Even if you
disagreed with him, you immediately trusted what he said. It was a
rare gift for any politician. "Miracle Politician," was his
unofficial nickname, in most cases, he accomplished what he
said.

His career brought him to politics after
starting and running a successful business, then entering Congress
as a Senator. After a notable 2-term career in the Senate, he ran
for and won one term in the Governor's Office. He then took the
giant leap and culminated his political life by a successful run
for the presidency. Not necessarily a charmed political career, but
one marked by accomplishments at each level.

Roberto Gonzales was almost a complete
opposite to the president. He was tall, had great hair and used his
PH.D in Political Affairs to its maximum. Everyone wondered why he
didn't run for president in the last election but at the time, he
was just getting his footing in politics. When the president asked
him to run on his ticket, he was flattered and everyone thought he
would a good visual balance to the president. He was the Dean of
International Studies at Harvard when they offered him the
position. Given his recent experience as Vice President and his
excellent performance, everyone expected him to run in the next
election. He was almost destined to become the next president.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Admiral Hagerly took a moment to look out of
his window on the top floor of the Pentagon. It was a pleasant
scene overlooking Boundary Channel Drive and watching the boats
moored at the Columbia Island Marina. Nial Hagerly was a full
admiral for three years. At the two-year point in the president's
term, the president promoted Admiral Hagerly to the position
Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs. He was proud of his position, he was
proud of each of the services but he was most proud of the Navy. He
knew the Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs was a very influential
position and, in it, he could help the services. Serving the
president and military was the high point in his career and he was
relishing it. He had known the president since his early days in
Congress. Senator Arnold Patterson served on the Armed Services
Committee; he worked closely with Admiral Hagerly, who was the
chief of naval operations. Over time, they built a mutual respect
for each other and spent many evenings bullshitting about the ways
of the world over a cold beer.

Admiral Hagerly secretly wished he could
work directly with the president. However, the Chairmen of the
Joint Chiefs, answered to the secretary of defense Bruce Madsen.
From day one, the appointment of the secretary of defense was a
political maneuver. Secretary Madsen was the chair of the Armed
Services Committee. The president knew that he needed to build
bridges with Congress, and it was a logical choice to use one of
them in the cabinet. Unfortunately, Madsen was more of a politician
than a military leader. Nial was afraid that in a pinch, Madsen
couldn't tell the difference between a ship and a plane, but
perhaps he was too hard on him. Madsen was a master at maneuvering
Congress to get what the Admiral and the military needed.
Therefore, Hagerly was willing to accept the man's limitations.

"Admiral, if you're ready we need to go over
the issues for the president's stand-up in the morning. Mark from
the SECDEF's office is on speaker," said Commander Enrique Ott, who
was his chief of staff.

"Are you online, Mark?"

"Yes, Admiral."

"Yes, Enrique let's get to it," the admiral
said as he redirected his attention from the boats on the Potomac
to the briefing.

"Sir tomorrow the presentation will cover
the deteriorating situation in the Indian Ocean. Nothing major has
changed since your status meeting this morning. Not all of their
ships have left port, but the ones that are en route, are
continuing to the rendezvous area. We expect them to be in fleet
alignment in about 24 hours."

”Second on the agenda is the First Ladies
trip to Europe. Our military attaches are traveling with her and
they have some background meetings set up separate from her trip.
Each of them has the summary of major points published by your
office three days ago. If anything unusual comes up, they will
contact your office, per their standard procedure. Secretary Madsen
and his people are making considerable progress in their meetings
with the Australian government. As they get closer to an agreement,
you'll be briefed on the major points."

"The last item on the agenda is a last
minute addition. There has been a very suspicious viral outbreak in
the Caucasus area of southern Russia. The outbreak is suspicious
because it appears to be occurring spontaneously in multiple areas
instead of a typical viral spread. We are concerned if it might be
biological warfare, but we have been unable to find a source or
reason for it. The 6th fleet in the Med is aware along with the
5th. We hope to have more information prior to the president's
brief but if we don't, we suggest that we give him a heads up if
you agree?"