Chapter nine

 The three trudged back towards the Chinese embassy, Ling and Mike labouring under the weight of the ordinance they hadn't in the end needed, and Claus labouring under after effects of his previous exertions. A light breeze stirred the German's torn shirt, which fluttered around his pale chest. He had managed to replace the shoe he'd lost with one of the display items from the shop he'd fought the Dragon in that was close enough to his size, although it was a completely different style to his other shoe and gave his trouserless ensemble and extra hint of the bizarre.

They walked back in silence, each lost in their own thoughts; Claus trying to piece together just what the hell what was going on; Mike running through possible military scenarios; and Ling worriedly extrapolating the implications of the Dragon infiltration. With the main entrance to the embassy a shattered wreck, Ling led them through a nondescript side door and up a flight of stairs into a small lobby. Two confused looking embassy staff were waiting for them, the looks of confusion turning close to alarm when they saw Claus. Ling barked something in Chinese, snapping the workers out of their confused contemplation as she and Mike passed over the shoulder mounted weaponry. The taller of the embassy staff gave a small "oomph" as he took the weight of Mike's weapon, but then collected himself and quickly muttered something back to Ling as he attempted to readjust the weight into a more comfortable position.

"Follow me" she instructed Mike and Claus

"Where we going?" Mike had too jog a few paces to catch up with the Chinese lady as she took off to quickly stride down a corridor to their left

"Communications suite, apparently we've got a line to your people"

"My people? What, back home?"

"uh-huh" she made a quick turn down another corridor as she responded in the affirmative, almost catching Mike out who had to quickly readjust to follow her.

"Good, but, er, how?" he managed to catch up and fall into step aside Ling again

"Old tech"

"Eh?"

"Don't you read your history books?" she cast him a sceptical glance

They came to a lift, Ling hammering on the call button. Nothing seemed to happen.

"Centrally controlled?" enquired Claus

"Yeah. Hope you two have got your comfortable shoes on as it's 15 flights up" Ling went over and pushed a door open, revealing a gloomy stair case. Mike grunted, already panting from the walk this far and followed.

Claus looked down at his shoes nervously "Well I hope at least one of them is comfortable" he muttered before starting off after them.

Two flights up and Mike was already struggling. Almost as an attempt to distract himself he probed Ling for more detail, "No, er, I guess history was never a..." he took another hurried breath "...a strong point. What sort of....old tech?"

"First cold war. You guys and the Russians came so close to nuking each other on various occasions through nothing more than insecurity and misunderstanding that some bright spark had the idea of installing a direct line between Washington and Moscow" she turned, to see if Mike was keeping up, both literally and figuratively. He was only a few steps behind and managed something approximating a nod between the gasps for breath. Ling continued, "So when ever the Russians got a spurious radar reading, or the Americans got spooked by some dodgy intel someone could just just call up and say 'Are you guys really about to nuke us?' Beautifully simple"

"And...you....have that?"

"Something like it. When things got hot between our nations back in '22 it was decided that a hotline was needed. They put in a direct 4g link between Washington and Beijing, via Berlin as a symbolic half way point"

"4g? Fuck, you weren't....kidding about the....old tech"

"Indeed. But enough to carry a video link and running on an entirely different protocol to the ultranet"

They continued in silence for a couple more floors, even Ling starting to flag a little. Mike eventually broke the silence, "You said you'd established...a link....with America....but what about with you guys....what about the link  with Beijing?"

Ling stopped. They'd reached their floor and she paused at a door exiting the stairwell. She looked down, then back up and across to Mike "I've been asking myself the same question. They can't get that part of the link to work" The two shared a worried look that Claus didn't quite understand. Instead he scurried after them as Ling swung the door open and entered the communications suite.

It was a large room at the top of the embassy, views across the Berlin skyline that Claus was immediately drawn to. He'd never considered it a beautiful city, but it was home and it was also made considerable less beautiful by the various trails of thick smoke emanating from various parts.

Mike was more concerned with the view inside the room. Banks of computer and communications equipments lined the walls, all with black screens, the occasional red light flashing which he took to mean them being offline. Instead, most of the activity was concentrated around a large meeting table at one end, which faced a screen on the wall. Moving closer Mike saw the screen flicker and judder, while various technicians shouted at each other in frantic Chinese. Ling had taken station behind the table, stood next to a fragile looking old man that Mike recognised as the Chinese ambassador. Ling was a head taller than the ambassador, so had stooped to whisper in his ear. Mike was neither close enough to be able to hear, or understand anything above the smattering of Chinese that Ling had tried to teach him when they occasionally dined together at her favourite Chinese restaurant in down-town Berlin.

Mike worked his way through the press of bodies near the screen and approached the table, standing a little way down from Ling. She didn't see him, but the ambassador did, beckoning him closer, "Ah, Michael, how nice to see you. A shame it is under such unfortunate circumstances". His English, as ever, was impeccable, with a precision that had always slightly unsettled Mike.

"Ambassador Ts'ao, an honour as always" Mike bowed his head "Ling said you had managed to talk to my superiors?"

"Hmmm, not quite. But our technicians are confident that contact will soon be initiated" the old man gave a little chuckle "it seems that the technology involved is a little before the time of the youngsters here" he nodded towards a scurrying technician "I think it would perhaps work best if I tried to find one of my old mobile phones" another chuckle "Do you remember them, Michael?"

"Er, maybe when I was a boy" emphasis on boy, although this wasn't enough to prevent a snigger from Ling; drawing attention to Mike's age was one of the few chinks she had found in his armour

The screen flickered again, but this time behind the haze the form of a head and shoulders could just about be made out. Another flicker and the shape resolved further into focus, this time accompanied by a burst of static from some hidden speakers above the screen. Mike squinted; the shape on the screen was beginning to look familiar. With another pop of static and shudder of the picture it became even more familiar "Shit" muttered Mike.

"Goddammit. This thing working yet?" the American on the other end of the line was looking off to one side. Neat grey hair was tied in a bun at the back of her head, four stars on the insignia at her shoulder. After a muffled reply from off camera, she turned to face them, frown etched onto a stern face. "Ah, yes, finally" eyes flicked back and fourth, presumably as she looked at her own screen, "Ambassador Ts'ao" a curt nod "And what is this, Captain Glover? Why am I not surprised to see you enjoying the hospitality of our Chinese friends?"

Mike stood to attention and gave a quick salute, "General Pierson, the 63rd MOP company is secure, sir"

"Yes, thanks to the kill switch rather than any action of yours"

"Sir" Mike cursed inwardly. He and Pierson had a long shared history, very little of it pleasant. Of a similar age, their early progress in the American army had tracked one another. However, while Pierson adapted to the changing battlefield under the automated era and continued her rise through the ranks, Mike had fallen behind. Pierson had ended up being his commanding officer on a number of occasions, with distinctly mixed results amid an obvious personality clash. It was also Pierson, in her current position of Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that had given him the orders to pass the MOP data to the Chinese. While unable to find Mike directly culpable for the failure of that plan, Pierson had always been suspicious of Mike's relationship with the Chinese, with Ling especially. Thankfully the General's position was busy enough to keep her from spending too much time making Mike's life a complete misery, but he suspected that a combination of Pierson and his ex-husband had blocked his various applications for transfer or early retirement.

"Ambassador Ts'ao, it appears we are facing an unprecedented attack on an unimaginable scale. I urge you to share any intelligence you may have so that we can better combat the threat"

Mike turned to look at the Ambassador, who for the first time in Mike's experience was looking flustered. He could easily emphasise. The very fact that Pierson - renowned for being no friend of the Chinese - was asking for intelligence showed how desperate the Americans must be. Mike swallowed nervously, he knew the situation was serious, but this was beyond all his fears.

"We, er, have been unable to communicate with Beijing so far in order to establish the exact circumstances of the attack" the Ambassador nervously scratched his head

This time it was Pierson's turn to look nervous, she looked off screen "They don't know?" the General enquired of someone next to the camera

"Don't know what" Ling spoke

Pierson turned back to look at them, paused briefly, before addressing them, "At the start of the attack we received  credible evidence that Chinese long range ballistic missiles had been used against a domestic target" another pause

"Domestic target?" the Ambassador croaked, the English accent slipping slightly

"Beijing" replied the General

Silence. Ling had covered her mouth with her hands, the Ambassador just stood still, glazed look on his face. One of the technicians had started to cry. To Mike, it made a grim kind of sense. To a Hawk such as Pierson the Chinese would have been an immediate suspect when the attack began, it would take something major to convince him that the Chinese were facing the same aggressor as the Americans. Something very big.

"Permission to speak, sir?"

"Go ahead Captain"

"The remaining missiles in China sir, are they a threat?"

"As we understand, no. When the initial unauthorised launches took place, Chinese command and control took appropriate steps"

"_Appropriate steps_?" spat Ling "Why do you keep talking in riddles?" Mike looked across, tears were tracing lines down her cheeks. Her brother was in charge of security at one of the Chinese missile bases and her parents lived nearby.

The rebuke had stunned Pierson momentarily, but she continued "The last communication we had from China was a self destruct order, followed by our geoscience department taking seismic readings indicative of multiple high impact explosions from the Chinese interior". Another pause, before the General continued, "So you must understand the imperative for us to share any intelligence that we might have on this"

"Er, yes, yes we do" the Ambassador dabbed a handkerchief at his eyes, but continued to speak "Our technicians here detected multiple intrusions at 16:48 followed by a viral attack at 16:54. The intrusions were initially quarantined before the viral attack force overloaded all systems"

Mike was impressed; without access to IR the ambassador was recounting this from memory, although he spoke as if almost on autopilot, the shock of the recent news obviously distracting attention.

"At 16:57 kill switches kicked in as quarantine broke down. At 16:58 the kill switches were themselves overridden" Pierson frowned at this revelation from the Ambassador

"What happened to your local armaments" she cast her glance down at a piece of paper, even older tech than the 4g "You have three Dragon mobile deterrence units"

"One was already shut-down for maintenance, one was undergoing recharge which was successfully reversed to power it down"

"And the other?"

"Was neutralised" Ling answered, a glance at Mike more of a stare at Claus who hovered nervously to one side of the table, out of shot of the camera Pierson was using.

"Were you able to trace the infiltration?" asked Pierson

"Not entirely, it came from multiple ultranet nodes. Best we can ascertain is north Europe, Scandinavia maybe. But the subsequent viral attack wiped our systems before we could go deeper. That was nothing we've seen before, not even from your people" the ambassador arched an enquiring eyebrow

"We are still investigating the virus" replied Pierson "But it is highly volatile, constantly changing, mutating -almost organic. It seems that the mass infiltration was used as a distraction, a way to force the virus past our firewalls, two separate attacks, two differing sources.

"But co-ordinated? Who has the ability to do that?" Ling was frowning

"As yet undetermined" Pierson looked irritated, having to admit such a large hole in the American intelligence obviously rankled "The infiltration originating from North Europe is the only clue. It would tally with the main cell of techno-anarchists we've been keeping tabs on in Sweden"

"Not very effective tabs" Ling chided

"Also not their M.O." added Mike "The infiltration, ok they've tried similar in the past, but never on this scale. Also the virus has taken the ultranet down. Those idiots spend their whole lives on the ultranet, why attack something you rely on?"

"There's got to be another player, using the anarchists" Ling replied "I guess we'll be able to run a more effective trace when the ultranet comes back online. We got an ETA on that?" this directed at Pierson

The American General looked uncomfortable. Mike's stomach sank, for Pierson to look that flustered something very bad was going on.

"It is, er, not coming back online for the foreseeable future"

"I don't understand" said Ling

"It is overloading every system it comes into contact with, causing physical damage to vital systems"

"What? How can something electronic do physical damage? Can't you just turn your computers off and on again? Or run an anti virus programme to clear it up?" Claus spoke for the first time, his confusion finally reaching critical mass.

Pierson just frowned at the intrusion, so Mike explained "We've been doing it for decades Claus. Tailored viruses designed to cause physical damage to enemy interests. It was how we took down the Iranian nuclear programme way back, viruses gave erroneous commands causing critical machines to overheat and break down. Worked so well we've been refining it ever since. Bit of a cheat if you ask me, but certainly effective"

"But they've always had to be tailored to the infrastructure they're trying to take down" the Ambassador pointed out "This virus is destroying everything it comes into contact with - ultranet nodes, water supply, transport. How can it do that"

"Someone has found the holy grail" Mike rubbed his forehead "And if it isn't out lot, and it isn't yours, who the fuck is it?"






In an opulent office six thousand miles away a man laughed.

A man prepared his invasion.