Colonel Cheodaev flies to attack Superfederant.
10/23/2120.
Aboard the B-252F
Colonel Cheodaev glanced at the navigation display once again, displaying a series of interlink layers, and grinned to himself once again. The transport plane he was piloting was calmly flying over the Omsk region in an easterly direction.
In reality, Cheodaev and the co-pilot were sitting in the cockpit of a B-252F, flying with four others in the direction of the rebellious region, Superfederant, as it was called by the mass media, which tried to avoid sharp corners. After everything goes well, and it cannot fail to be successful, this damned SSSF will again become a normal Kuznetsk Region.
In this case, it was not only about the mission of the unit, secretly removed from the Big Front, but also about the successful work of ground units. The machine, spreading its black wings, floated in the night sky. From a certain angle, for example, from a neighboring bomber, the silhouette of the black "stealth" could fall on the lunar disk, and then it would be quite possible to see some similarity with the vampire theme - the wings and the silhouette itself were as if designed by a clumsy AI, trying to compose something from straight lines and forty-five degree angles that echoed the silhouette of a bat. As if artificial intelligence had coped with the task of designing in the style of some abstract art.
In fact, AI really did, as always in such cases, take part in the design, this was half a century ago, but it did not pursue any aesthetic goals - the shape, that is, the outlines, were designed to minimize the effective surface of the radar signal scattering, while maintaining some kind of aerodynamics. The creators of the legendary first "stealth" - F-117 - wanted the same, but in the middle of the last century, the developers had much more advanced tools and much better materials than at the end of the twentieth. According to a brief and common description, the B-252 was a B-52 in stealth guise.
Of the differences from the legendary predecessor, the two hundred and fifty-second had only two engines versus eight in the classic fifty-second. Two rather impressive P&W engines from the middle of the last century provided comparable power.
Of course, anti-missile defense radars, and even individual air defense systems would quickly figure out what was going on and that this was not a landing transport, but they would not have done this, at least they should not have. The operation was provided with cover, which obviously would not have been organized by any FSK - we were talking about a thorough intervention in the interlink. This could have been sanctioned by very big uncles, although none of the crews even said out loud their assumptions about who could have done this. And was it necessary?
Besides, so much had happened in the past couple of days that if Oppenheimer himself had arrived at the pre-flight briefing, no one would have been surprised. Big deal, so it was necessary.
A shuttle with a supposed super-federalist on board had been flying around orbit for the second day. It was obvious that the super-federalists who knew how to operate shuttles had nothing to do with the SSSF itself - either a terrorist or a political network had simply decided for some reason to raise a toxic symbol on its shield, which, in Cheodaev's opinion, was very doubtful for any political declarations.
In addition, there was every reason to assume that the one sitting in the shuttle stood on an even higher level, and the international super-federalists were no match for him.
What was interesting was something else - what did this madman plan to do after his shuttle landed. Did he really believe in the success of his plan?
On the other hand, there were successes, but not among the international super-federalists, but in the de-escalation process. Thus, the shuttle pilot could already be considered a hero if de-escalation had been conceived from the start. Conceived by "an unknown command" - that's how they sometimes put it.
The presence of de-escalation on the Big Front was already obvious to everyone. There were persistent rumors about a military coup in the Asian Bloc, but this secrecy... It was necessary to wait more than one day before a reliable interpretation of the events that were happening there, figuratively speaking, behind their damn wall, would appear.
In general, Cheodaev, and not only he in his unit, adhered to the CNN version, which explained the positive de-escalation trends of the last two days not by the actions of those who captured the shuttle, but by a thoughtful and balanced reaction of a pool of national leaders to a sudden challenge. The leader of this pool, as was directly stated, was none other than Oppenheimer.
Of course, there was an element of election campaigning in this statement, but if all this was one grandiose plan and if it succeeds, then Oppenheimer will write himself into history on par with the greats of past centuries. Even without any second presidential term.
It was a funny coincidence - there was already one Oppenheimer - he was a scientist who developed the first nuclear bomb. The modern one has already confidently pushed the scientist into the background, at least in the eyes of the average person of the early 22nd century.
Cheodaev brought up the data from the optical observation system on the second display, located on the right side. As expected, no fire activity was recorded. A couple of helicopters and a civilian aircraft heading west were observed within a radius of seventy kilometers.
He brought up the image, having previously selected a sector with a small settlement located directly ahead. From a height of eleven thousand meters, narrow asphalt streets were visible, glittering in the light of the lanterns - apparently, it had rained here recently, an autumn night rain.
Now the sky above that place was clearing up, and that promised cold. Nasty weather! But such is ours! Cheodaev remembered how it happens and shuddered, simultaneously feeling a wave of surging emotions - for the last three years he had spent on the African continent without leaving, except for short vacations. Bad weather is bad weather, but there was so much lack of it there!
The settlement itself belonged to a large railway junction. There was also a marshalling yard with garlands of wagons and a transfer point where cargo, mostly containers, were transferred to the twelve-foot track and vice versa.
A train with platforms loaded with these same containers, like dry cargo ships, was crawling along the twelve-foot track. By that time, the plane was already passing over the village itself, where life went on as usual despite all the shuttles. If you think about it, for those who were now monitoring everything that was happening around the shuttle, the flight of a flight of five bombers was the same everyday, meaningless routine as the train.
Although why these fantasies about who should think what! The crews of the five bombers had to do nothing less than defend the country and stop the unrest that was happening in the rebellious region. To do this, it was necessary to unload the ammunition - gliding munitions with cluster blocks. More accurately, these were not glide munitions in the classic form, they were closer to cruise missiles, and adapted to stealth tactics.
Launches could be carried out from a minimum altitude, with a certain degree of success hiding in the folds of the terrain - this was sometimes done at the front, although they preferred non-signature launches, that is, dropping such specialized cruise missiles that turned on their engines much later.
During the course of this mission, it was necessary to destroy a fortified area belonging to each of the opposing sides - the banks of the Superfederant - these bastards, as is known, also managed to bite each other at the very beginning, in the second half of the fourteenth. Each fortified area was in for a quick and effective reprisal - the striking elements that the main munition would scatter at an altitude of one and a half kilometers were supposed to penetrate to a depth of up to ten meters and rip apart underground labyrinths. There were plans for the holes - the satellite group did not disappear anywhere and methodically filmed the arrangement of fortifications by the day or even by the hour. Other munitions, also cluster, were supposed to deal with everything that was on the surface - armored vehicles, outbuildings, even construction equipment.
So that neither side decided that the central authorities gave preference to them, the fire load was distributed equally. It was believed that after such educational work, the rebel forces, even regardless of the decisions of their leaders, should have taken certain steps to curtail the conflict, that is, to put it simply, to begin to surrender.
If the intelligence of ordinary rebels and low-level commanders was not enough, then a second wave was supposed to follow - this is for those who do not understand well. As for the leaders themselves, the so-called "Combat" and his fellow enemy "Doc", no attempts were made to localize them and further defeat them - the criminals were supposed to remain alive for subsequent trial.
They had nowhere to go anyway, unless the Block's service aviation... It was unlikely that they would try to help them, since they had already provided such a beautiful blow "there". Luck was definitely not on the side of the Superfederant leaders.
Cheodaev glanced at the navigation display and began a smooth descent - now the altitude had to be reduced to five thousand meters, and over the western border of the Novosibirsk region they would have to switch to diffraction mode, that is, bending around the terrain, sneaking along a pre-selected intricate route, going sometimes over rivers, sometimes over highways.
It should have been an exciting flight, almost like a flight of an attack aircraft, only the maneuverability was somewhat more constrained. There were about four hundred kilometers left until the line of opening fire - a little more than forty minutes of flight along a winding trajectory. The territory of the Superfederant, it must be said, was something unique - the thing was that all these fortifications, and in general the infrastructure of the rebels existed side by side with the strategic defense and the missile launch site, which this defense mainly protected.
There were seven third-generation terminals, "Amalgams" there. There were also as many simpler "Lauras" scattered in the vicinity, beyond the borders of the region. Three of those "Lauras" were built during the Pre-War.
There were also two "Amanda" complexes - one in the north, the second in the south. "Amandas" were distinguished by the fact that they were located in uninhabited sectors of the region - in the taiga and in the mountains. The terminals were adjacent to the locals quite closely. By "adjacent" it was necessary to understand proximity not only and not only with the military infrastructure of the rebels, but with civilian objects, settlements first of all. This was a striking exception to the centuries-old rule that Siberia was a sparsely populated region. If there was one thing it was plenty of space. But it was in the Superfederant, this tiny patch of Siberia, that there was a cramped environment that was not present in Europe - at least in Europe the terminals were not so visible. From the Superfederant there were constantly curious videos of anti-missile launches and broken car windows - the roads were too close.
All these strategic objects could not help but influence the operation to suppress the rebels - ground units, motorized riflemen, of course, had to bypass them, and the higher-level command had to reduce the risk of damage to the objects to zero. Of course there was a risk, but it was more likely that an armored vehicle driven by a careless driver would break through the fence and end up on the territory of the terminal, than the guidance of the munition would send it where it should not. In this case, the armored vehicle could well have belonged to the rebels and this could have happened throughout the six years, however, this did not happen. In general, prominent speakers have noted more than once that the War has long been laterated into a number of independent parallel processes - using the example of the Superfederant, this was the coexistence of, firstly, the Great War with its strategic defense, secondly, the confrontation of the Superfederant with the central Russian authorities, albeit frozen, plus the third - the feud between the two parts of the Superfederant itself. This is only Russia. Harlington's visit cooled the degree of confrontation within the SSSF somewhat, but did not completely send this confrontation into history. And then there was Britain with its Ireland, Germany with its terrorists and soldiers... The time has come to completely and irrevocably cross the Siberian region off this list and give the local residents a start to a normal life, well, let it be military, rear, but without their "Combat", "Doc" and their gangs. Rest assured, fellow citizens, a frontline stealth aircraft will soon arrive and free you from the bandits who have captured you.
The altitude indicator on the head-up display passed the five thousand meter mark - the altitude was steadily falling.
Suddenly, a nuclear glow began to flare up in the east - at first, thin edges of cumulus clouds illuminated with white light, then weightless feather clouds, noticeably higher than the heavy cumulus clouds, began to glow. The first thing to assume was the work of anti-missile defense. Perhaps a selector, perhaps just a nuclear anti-missile. One way or another, it was very far away, at distances of many hundreds of kilometers.
The terminal in the Far East is being fired upon... - said the second pilot. - The shuttle again, damn it. I'm already fed up with it.
- Agreed, - answered Cheodaev, bringing the necessary layers to the screen with the interlink. The shooting was carried out by "Laura", located in Transbaikalia. As expected, GBA sys.520 were used. Suddenly, Cheodaev noticed that a green blinking hexagon. The hexagon, which meant the launch of his own, friendly, anti-missile, was superimposed on the "amalgam" located in the south of the Superfederant. Another one blinked in the north of the Kuznetsk Region. These launched two missiles, and every second was already a more modern GBA sys.580.
The nuclear glow began to fade, but at the same time, through the distant clouds hanging over the horizon a hundred kilometers from where the bomber was now, light from a flickering scarlet light began to break through. - He turned on his luminescence again, - said Cheodaev.
- It was yellow all the time before.
- Can you guess what it is? - asked Cheodaev.
- For the same reason that the sun is red at sunset? - the second pilot answered almost affirmatively.
- Of course. Why don't we film it? - Cheodaev was already working with the optical station menu.
- The weapon of the future, - the second pilot said emotionlessly.
Perhaps he, like Cheodaev himself, was now experiencing rather conflicting feelings - undoubtedly, the shuttle was an outstanding machine, but the way it was presented to the world was not the best - instead of terrorizing the enemy, it launched a bacchanalia on a global scale.
Meanwhile, the light was growing brighter. Visually, the difference from what was shown in numerous videos was becoming more and more noticeable - the shuttle was shining noticeably brighter and sharper than before. It did not seem that the reason was that as observers Cheodaev and the second pilot were not at ground level, but at an altitude of just under five kilometers. The thermal scanner characterized the radiation spectrum as abnormal and was unable to reliably identify the object. It was strange, because over the past days the "flying lamp", as the shuttle was sometimes called, had managed to reliably mark itself with numerous observations and leave the parameters of its radiation in the headquarters computers.
The light flying towards the west suddenly shone with a bright nuclear flash. The second pilot made a muffled sound, most likely he wanted to curse. Cheodaev watched silently. Meanwhile, the bright flickering light separated from the flash and continued its movement.
- Missed, - Cheodaev stated coldly.
- I have the impression that it is maneuvering, - the second pilot said.
- It's hard for me to judge, - answered Cheodaev, - if we were motionless, then we could take a closer look...
The angle of the object's location now exceeded thirty degrees. A glowing plasma tail became visible - this plume of ionized gas lasted for many tens of seconds, it would be more correct to say minutes, and was more than a thousand kilometers long. It really was slightly broken.
- It really is maneuvering as if it were a P-shuttle, - Cheodaev said admiringly.
Meanwhile, more and more diamonds with cut edges were blinking on the interlink. Again, a nuclear anti-missile flared up at orbital altitude. Again, the shuttle left.
- What a mess! - said the second pilot, - They can't be deliberately shooting past! Twenty conventional missiles have already left - this is only from terminals in the Kuznetsk Region.
Suddenly, a red line flickered somewhere in the southeast. The beam would disappear and then reappear against the dark sky.
- Laser selector! - the second pilot almost shouted. - Another one! - he immediately added.
The beams would disappear and then reappear - not only did the selectors operate in pulse mode, but these nanosecond pulses would also combine into larger intermittent series. With a certain periodicity, the emitters needed a "rest" - to cool the working elements and optics
Cheodaev looked down at the instrument panel and brought up the onboard weapons menu - despite the spectacular sight, they, like the crews of the other four bombers, were not here to stare at the orbital disgrace, but for something completely different.
Another flash had already confidently illuminated the area and the cabin. It seemed that soon the protective filters on the pilots' individual optics would have worked.
The shuttle, now at an altitude of fifty degrees in the direction of three o'clock, was shining so that its glow began to, albeit slightly, illuminate the clouds. Cheodaev finally turned his head and was amazed at the sight - the object was shining no worse than a meteor - perhaps it had entered the atmosphere much deeper than the last times. Cheodaev had not seen what the mesospheric maneuvers of the pre-war P-shuttles looked like, there was nothing to compare it with, but he knew for sure that they did not emit like that. The beams of the selectors were still dancing. Now there were three of them.
Meanwhile, the bomber began to plunge into the thick autumn clouds. As for the upcoming attack, the strike was not only supposed to be a surprise, but also be interpreted as a shelling by light cruise missiles and drones from mobile installations, which is why it was not supposed to approach the target area more than one hundred and twenty kilometers. Besides, from such distances the rebel air defense would be guaranteed not to detect any air activity.
Suddenly, on the panel of the communication block, located just above the two main displays, a signal began to blink, indicating an incoming message - the bombers were flying in radio silence mode and were receiving only one-way encrypted text directives. All this was happening with the interlink working in both directions, but it was going through its own separate satellites. One way or another, there was no voice exchange over the radio channels.
Cheodaev turned his gaze to the communicator display and gritted his teeth - the mission was canceled and the bomber, like the entire link, was ordered to turn around, gain altitude and go back.
- What the hell?! - growled the second pilot, who had exactly the same block above his displays.
The interlink finally finished him off - the message-directive was duplicated through it as well. - Could it be because of the shuttle? - Cheodaev said with impotent anger.
- What's the point of guessing now! - the second pilot answered. - Have you ever had a mission cancellation lifted mid-flight and the work resumed?
- No, that never happened, - Cheodaev answered, whose rational logic immediately rejected the hope that another directive would follow and that the wonderful ammunition would rain down on the heads of the rebels who had pestered the entire country.
His hand pushed the engine control stick away from him. Soon the plane emerged and again found itself above the moonlit plain of cumulus clouds. The trail from the shuttle had dissipated, while the trails from the solid-fuel boosters of the anti-missiles hung here and there in the mesosphere - they were destined to fall into the lower layers for many hours.
How many of them were released? - a thought flashed through Cheodaev's head, not without a hint of annoyance. - It would be enough to repel a decent ballistic attack.
A flight of five bombers gained an altitude of eleven thousand meters and headed west.