Shortly before impact their fleet would be sent into interior rivers as far inland as possible. A 24/7 air search supplemented by satellite reconnaissance was implemented to protect the U.S. borders from foreign intrusion.
Numerous sites were designated for bivouac areas in the high desert area of eastern California. Seven thousand six-man tents that could withstand a chemical attack were ordered. Temporary water storage tanks with a total capacity of ten million gallons of potable water were being moved to the sites in addition to the six million individual water bottles. Portable hospital units, generators, thousands of oxygen tanks for the troops to withstand the fouled atmosphere, fuel storage tanks, command communication centers, field kitchens, portable toilets, thousands of critical items hit the massive supply pipeline. Fax machines and vendor phone lines lit up nationwide in an unparalleled display of economic might.
The nourishment needs of a forty-five thousand man contingent camped out in the desert for possibly two years was enormous. It necessitated ordering fifty metric tons of rice, thirty metric tons of dried beans, forty metric tons of processed flour, fifty thousand gallons of cooking oil, portable refrigerated storage units capable of holding one million packages each of corn, green beans, carrots, and other assorted vegetables along with eight million pounds of ground beef, turkey slices, hot dogs, sausages, and twenty-six thousand cases of various domestic beers were in transit within seventy two hours. The stress levels at vendors plants skyrocketed, it was 24/7 nonstop production, plant managers slept on cots, assembly line workers grabbed a few winks of sleep in their cars or wherever they could. The sound of America gearing up was deafening, it would have astounded even Henry Ford.
Admiral Hanover forewarned his senior officers all hell was going to break loose on January 2nd and they better damn well be prepared. If that meant no sleep each and every officer would do so until their part of the mission was accomplished. No excuses, this was a life and death situation they were facing…failure was not an option.
Colonel Brad Cole, Flight Operations Officer at Nellis, had a team of sixteen air controllers managing a fleet of over three hundred C-5, and C-17 cargo planes moving back and forth across the U.S. carrying millions of tons of food and supplies, equipment, military personnel, and civilian technical people. Alex subcontracted with cargo delivery companies that provided another four hundred heavy cargo planes. Domestic travel began to feel the effects of the increased air cargo activity as military transports took precedence over commercial airline flight schedules. Los Angeles, Phoenix, Seattle, Chicago, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Atlanta, Charleston, Boston, and Pittsburgh were hardest hit, primarily because most of the vendors were located in those cities. The various vendor plants had military trucks alongside contracted big rigs parked at their docks waiting to be loaded with ordered material. Refineries worked non-stop to produce jet fuel and diesel for delivery to the military on an emergency basis.
As the sites in eastern California were being staked out and set up, a continuous line of military trucks began the trek to the sites. Interstates I-10 and I-15 were clogged within forty-eight hours of Admiral Hanover’s orders. Military MP’s were dispatched to move civilian traffic to the side of the road giving the military convoys priority status. The lobbyists for the casinos in Las Vegas, furious about the disruption of gaming revenue, frantically bombarded the White House switchboard to no avail. I-15 was a lifeline between them and southern California. Traffic had come to a grinding halt because of the military convoys. It wouldn’t take long for people to notice the activity… then the questions would begin.
“Mr. President, George Neff is on the line, do you want to speak to him?” his secretary asked.
“Go ahead and put him through I’ll take it.”
“Hello George, what’s up?”
“Mr. President, we are getting reports of massive military movements, and some companies have acknowledged orders from military units at unprecedented levels. Can you tell me what is going on?” Neff asked.
“Where are you George?”
“I’m at the D.C. bureau right now,” Neff replied.
“Can you be here in thirty minutes?”
“I’m on my way.”
George Neff, NBC anchor of the nightly news, the most watched newsman in America, walked into the White House and was greeted by the President’s secretary.
“Good afternoon Mr. Neff, the President will see you now.”
Neff walked briskly toward President Cantwell, they shook hands, the President motioned for George to have a seat on the couch.
After the formalities offering George something to drink, the President got right down to business. Why had he extended a personal invitation to answer the question at hand?
“George, we’ve crossed paths many times during the past year, we’ve worked well together, you’ve been fair in your coverage and I’ve tried my level best to be open and honest with you. My better judgment tells me not to reveal to you what is behind this extraordinary movement of men and material, but I want to be frank with you. One word of caution, if you divulge any of what I’m about to tell you before January 2nd I will not hesitate to bring you up on charges of violating the National Security Act.”
“If what you’re about to tell me is to be announced publicly on January 2nd, then I agree not to report any details before that date. And being the reporter that I am, I want an exclusive sit down interview afterwards as part of the deal.”
“That’s fair, I agree to that.”
“What I’m about to say will no doubt stun you more than the takeover plot ever could have.”
“My God, what could be more stunning than that?”
“If you’ll remember the whole premise behind the cover-up was based on a comet called Sedna/Kern p236. Supposedly it had been knocked out of its orbit and plunged into the asteroid belt resulting in a stream of asteroids headed toward earth. This ‘rogue’ program ran unnoticed at two critical observatories for nearly ten months. Since those two observatories were the only assigned teams, observation of that area of space was impossible. They both received false readings generated by the ‘rogue’ program. One month ago Professor Kumar and his team at Cal Tech accessed a satellite outfitted with special filtering equipment allowing scientists to look at the sun without the glare of the sun’s surface interfering. They discovered the comet Sedna/Kern has indeed been thrown off of its original orbit and is headed for earth. It’s expected to hit earth on or about July 1st, approximately one hundred eighty-two days from now. Nine separate teams of scientists from around the world have performed exhaustive analysis on the data; in their words the data is incontrovertible. The planet will suffer a strike by this comet. They have asked General Hanken to deliver the grim news to the UN on January 2nd, and I agreed. So, now you can understand why I need you to hold off reporting anything until then.” Neff sat stunned, the color drained from his face, his jaw slightly open, his heart rate soaring and his mind a complete blank for a moment.
“George, are you okay?” the President inquired, worried that Neff might faint.
“Mr. President, forgive me. For once I’m at a loss for words. I can’t quite believe everything you’ve just told me. After all we’ve been through to have this happen…where do I begin?”
“George…there’s more incredible news. The Chief Justice, Attorney General and I have conferred. We’ve decided to appoint General Alex Hanken as the man in charge of the country’s affairs during this crisis. The day this announcement is made to the world he will announce that martial law will go into effect and the inaugurations and convening of Congress will be suspended until we can assess where our country stands after the full impact of the comet strikes are known. There are some very tough decisions to be made in the coming months. Millions of lives will be lost initially, followed by millions more who will die from injuries, starvation, and disease. There’s a distinct possibility those numbers could skyrocket if the comet breaks into several pieces as it enters the earth’s atmosphere. General Hanken, as I’m sure you’re well