[chico20854]

December 4, 1997

Officially, a Soviet missile destroyed the British government's wartime command post, killing most of the government, some of the royal family, and the chiefs of staff - it was a devastating blow. RainbowSix adds whether by chance or design would never be known, but the missile detonated just as the War Cabinet and Heads of the Armed Forces were meeting to brief the King. Not only was Prime Minister Tony Blake and most of the War Cabinet killed, but perhaps more crucially so too were several senior members of the Royal Family, including the King himself (although rumours would persist for some months afterwards that he had survived the attack but suffered a major nervous breakdown). In one stroke the UK’s national leadership had been virtually decapitated (recriminations would carry on for many months afterwards as to why so many senior figures had been allowed to be in the same place at the same time; in truth, British Intelligence had believed EYEGLASS’s existence to be secret, and in doing so had seriously underestimated the capabilities of their Soviet counterparts, who had learnt of its existence and location several years previously). Also killed in the attack was the director and operational staff of the United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation (UKWMO), a Home Office agency that was tasked with warning the civilian population in the event that a nuclear attack on the UK was detected and providing post-strike data to military and civilian authorities.

Officially, Minister of Defense Ian Burton was attending to his wife, who was undergoing a liver transplant, in Birmingham and survived the attack but his wife’s condition and the breakdown in law and order prevented him from traveling. RainbowSix adds he had been attending a meeting at Army Headquarters in Salisbury. Fearing the effect that it would have on national morale, Burton instructed that the death of the King be kept secret from the general population. (Note: this is a fusion of canon and RainbowSix’s interpretation of the situation.)

Unofficially, following up with the attacks of the prior day, Soviet missiles struck Wolverhampton, that city joining its neighbor in suffering and destruction. The last of the fires in London from the Soviet nuclear bombs died out, more from lack of fuel than from the pitiful efforts of the overwhelmed emergency services.

Officially, in the US federal plans for reconstruction after a nuclear exchange included almost immediate assessment of casualties and demographic dislocation, and efforts in this vein began. The widespread breakdown of transportation due to fuel shortages and blocked highways, along with the flight of workers and drivers, led to an end of food distribution in every major urban center. No American city had reserves of food large enough to last more than three days… and panic buying and pandemic riots and looting depleted what supplies there were in far less time than that. Within a week, those who had remained in the cities were starving, and those who could leave were joining the mass exodus to the country.

In New York City, an independent group called the Harbor Pirates took control of the various historical vessels at the Seaport Museum. Led by minor drug lord named Manuel Diego Huerra who, before the war, used pleasure craft on the East River to bring his wares into Manhattan from ships contacted clandestinely at night off the New Jersey coast. When government began collapsing in New York City, Huerra gathered together a group of merchant seamen, yacht owners, and young, wealthy, former clients who had had experience with sailing craft. Anticipating the chronic shortages of gasoline and diesel fuel which paralyzed all metropolitan New York, Huerra's group seized Piers 16, 17, and 18 on the East River, which was where five historic vessels belonging to the Seaport Museum on Front Street were berthed. These craft, still seaworthy, became the nucleus of the Pirates' East River Fleet.

The US 1st Army proclaimed martial law in New York, with the consent of the President. Under the proclamation the 42nd Infantry Division's 1st Brigade (New York National Guard), along with units of the 43rd Military Police Brigade (Rhode Island National Guard), took over government of the New York metropolitan area, with instructions to keep order and to oversee the relocation of the city's population to rural areas. Most of the inhabitants were alive and possessed of a single thought: Get Out!

Within the Seminole Indian Nation of Florida, a cohort of younger, more militantly radical tribal politicians succeeded to the tribal council. These militants longed for the political power that the tribe's newly earned wealth would bring. In the prewar years the radicals had thrown open the doors of tribal membership to admit a large number of other (non-Seminole) Indian radicals, part-Indians, near-Indians and would be Indians. This policy swelled tribal ranks to almost half a million before the war began. When the bombs fell and a political vacuum was created in Florida, the radicals were ready with a plan to drive all whites out of the state and reclaim their rightful lands. Following the nuclear strikes and the resulting EMP, the radicals seized power within the tribe.

In Ohio, the town of Marietta was the initial reception point for those fleeing the strike that hit Irontown; the influx of panicked civilians overwhelmed the small town; rioting between the locals and the refugees devastated the town.

A B-1B bomber carrying eight 200 kt nuclear-armed ALCMs crashed in poor weather over the Black Hills of South Dakota while approaching Ellsworth Air Force Base.

As expected, New American cells across the country lost touch with one another and each fell back on the provisions of the Eagle Papers. Their prewar preparations had served them well, and now, with stockpiles of food, fuel, weapons, ammunition, and spare parts, they were safe in their prepared communities (except for the cell near Fairbanks, Alaska, which was overrun by the Soviets).

Unofficially, Soviet missiles continued their campaign to destroy American command and control centers and petroleum production. Scott Air Force Base, Illinois was one target of a SS-19 ICBM fired by the 28th Guards Missile Division at Kozelsk. Three of missile’s six warheads (set to 750 kilotons) were aimed at the Transportation Command headquarters, while the others struck refineries at Lawrenceville, Robinson and Wood River/Roxana, Illinois.

The British strategic submarine force returned to action, firing a trio of Trident II missiles at the Volga region of Russia. The strikes are centered on the city of Kuybyshev, location of the Volga Military District Headquarters, a BMP plant, a Tupolev aircraft plant, two refineries, a steel mill and chemical plant. The Volga car plant in nearby Togliatti was struck, as were refineries and military industry in nearby Ulyanovsk and Syrazan. To avoid conflict with incoming British strikes, SAC refrained from attacks on the USSR; instead Pershing II missiles in Germany attacked Czechoslovakian and Hungarian political leadership targets.

The container-barge carrier Kunming Carrier was delivered in Quincy, Massachusetts; the ship already had a crew aboard and was nearly fully stocked. The captain-to-be was desperate to get his ship to sea lest it be destroyed by a nuclear attack.

His request denied by the base commander, the USS Baton Rouge's skipper defied orders and sailed from Bremerton, intent on saving his boat from what he felt was an impending nuclear attack. The boat was only partially stocked with food and spares and had a polyglot crew from the base (several sailors volunteered to escape the base) and a half dozen civilian shipyard workers on board to complete several minor repairs.

Receiving word of its owner's death, the crew of the Iron Duke (a full-scale replica of the clipper ship Cutty Sark) decided to seek shelter in the Caribbean. The captain hastily loaded the ship with as much food and fuel as he could locate in the chaos that was post-strike Key West and hastily departed.