NOVEL WEB Chapter 1 V2
At 3:37 AM EST,
25th March 2025,
North American Aerospace Defense Command Headquarters,
Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado Springs.
Chaos flooded the Headquarters of North American Aerospace Defense Command, otherwise known as NORAD.
Setup in 1957 as a joint project with Canada to protect North America airspace and early warning against Soviet ballistic missiles. Just in case of a nuclear war the facility was also set up as a fallout shelter for the federal government, just in case of emergencies like this.
The current situation is unprecedented. Nothing in all of Human history is similar to this. Not even the false flags during the Cold War could match this situation
Major General Matthew Rhodes, Commander of NORAD, is in the Command and Control room. Currently, in the middle of the chaos, he'd been woken up two hours earlier, but hadn't yet returned to bed. Monitors flashed with images, phones ringing, technicians working out what in the world was going on, people panicking and rushing, grabbing files which they never used normally and trying to make emergency contacts to other bases.
Rhodes glanced at one of his officers, Major Earl Jackson, and questioned himself about what was going on.
"Jackson! What in the world is going on here!" Rhodes questioned.
"Sir, the system is going haywire!"
"Stay calm Major, report."
Jackson nodded and reformed himself. "We are trying to figure out what is going on, but we have lost contact with our northern radar sites and systems outside the continent.”
“No contact with Thule Air Base nor our Canadian or NATO uplinks. Deepspace radar lost all contact with our lunar base and space stations. Air traffic outside the US border just vanished. We are running three diagnostic programs but so far everything is green."
"Contact Elmendorf, Wheeler Field and the Canadians. I want to know what is going on," The General ordered as he could only watch what was going on.
A technician that's on another station, who was on the telephone, trying his best to get a line through, put it down and replied."The lines are dead, sir! We cannot contact anyone outside of the Continent."
Rhodes, hearing this, walked up to another technician, who was busy going through the scanners, and questioned him.
"Are the Russians attacking? What are the scanners showing? Are we under attack?"
"No sir! Only commercial and our aircraft are on radar, but we cannot monitor anything past this area. The radars are online but we are not getting any bounce back, not even interference from outside the continent from other scanners." The technician replied as he tried getting a call to radar sites of the West coast.
"What in the world..."
"Sir, we got footage from Rome AFB, New York, you have to watch this...." Jackson tried informing the General while keeping his composure.
"Put it on the main monitor!" The General ordered.
On the main monitor screen in the operation room, footage from Rome, New York and McChord Field AFB, Washington, was displayed. On it, cameras pointed towards the ocean, displaying a massive wall of light, enough to light up the coastal regions.
"My God! Since how long has this.... abnormalities been happening?"
"Nine minutes ago sir." Jackson replied.
"Get me Pentagon right now. And get the FAA to ground all civilian flights before the airspace!" The General ordered.
As the General waited on the phone for anyone at the Pentagon to pick up, the "Wall of light" disappeared, allowing radars and scanners to detect outside the continent, even detecting NORAD systems from Alaska. However, previous chatter detected from civilian and other radar systems no longer interfered with the detection systems, and even American assets outside of the continent seem to have vanished into thin air.
---[+]---
At 2:07 PM IST,
11.7401° N, 92.6586° E,
Somewhere in the Indian Ocean,
2:07 PM IST, 25th March, 2025.
A mighty armada of 36 naval ships cruised along their pre-planned path. The combined power and amphibious landing ability of these ships from three navies, were perhaps even capable of invading a small nation.The fleet consisted of ships from the United States Navy, the Indian Navy and the Royal Australian Navy.
The American fleet comprised a Marine Amphibious fleet represented by the USS Boxer (LHD-4), the USS Bataan (LHD-5) and the USS Tripoli (LHA-7). They were escorted by the Gerald Ford Carrier Strike group, composed of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford, five Ticodenga-Class Cruisers, nine Arleigh Burke-Class Destroyers, along with three Los Angeles-Class and one Seawolf-Class Nuclear Attack Submarines, making this perhaps one of the largest peacetime naval strike group with 23 vessels.
The Indian Fleet was dwarfed by the American fleet. It was made up of a Carrier Strike group headed by the STOBAR aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, and escorted by two Delhi-class and one Kolkata-Class Destroyers, two Shivalik-Class and one Talwar-Class Frigates, one Akula III Nuclear Attack Submarine and two conventional attack submarines, totalling 10 naval vessels.
Finally, the Australian fleet, was very small compared to the American and Indian fleets, consisting of one Destroyer squadron: two Anzae-class and one Hobart-class Destroyers.
This Combined Fleet, consisting of 36 ships, were cruising their way back to Kochi after conducting drills at the Andaman sea when the "Wall of Light" incident occurred, which also engulfed India in it.
---[-]---
On board the USS Gerald Ford, Operation Room.
Alarms wailed inside as the crew took action stations. This could be seen taking place in every ship, with crews donning flash gear as they tookposition.
"All hands to battle stations." A voice announced through the ship's intercom.
"Helm, fleet ahead slow," the commander of the carrier ordered as he looked at the wall of light.
"CIC, get me in touch with the Indians, find out what is happening, is that part of the exercise."
"Aye Commander," The Chief radio officer replied.
"We are getting no bounce on the radars sir, whatever it is, it's not physical and does not have a RCS on it," One of the operators on the radar system, was observing the radar, for even civilian traffic disappeared from the radar.
"The Indians have responded, sir, it's not part of the exercise, they are in contact with one of their surveillance ships, trying to figure out what it is. They are also deploying two Fulcrums in the air, and they are requesting for additional fighters to reinforce the BARCAP," The radio officer replied.
"Alright, get the flight commander on the bridge, I want Hornets in the air now!" The commander ordered.
On the flight deck of the aircraft carrier, all four catapults were readied with F/A-18 Super Hornets, with the F-35s still in the flight hanger yet to be brought up to the flight deck. The four hornets were launched and merged with the Indian MiG-29Ks as they provided CAP over the area, not getting closer to the wall of light.
Flight 14-01 was assigned to get closer, however the jet soon returned back, reporting of interference and his radio picking up random frequencies which are not supposed to exist. They were ordered to return back to the carrier.
---[-]---
On the INS Dhruv.
INS Dhruv, a research vessel and missile range instrumentation ship, which can also track missiles, aircraft, ships, underwater via sonar and also satellites.
Laser range finders were being shined at the wall of light, only for no refraction returning, even tracking ICBMs in the upper atmosphere was possible, yet right now, the INS Dhruv was not getting any refraction.
The operators on board the ship were confused, thinking it was a malfunction and attempted again with the auxiliary laser to once again the same response.
Similar results were being seen with the Radar., No bounce back, and only the jets in the air and civilian traffic were being spotted, nothing past the wall of light. ESM had also gone abnormally quiet, with civilian radio traffic dying down, making the operators wonder if it was really the cause of the wall of light.
Luckily the operators on the sonars detected something. There was subliminal cavitation of the water at the "Wall of light" on passive sonar, however, turning on Active sonar showed nothing as the on-board computer filtered them out as bounce back. However, something worth reporting was noted and soon reported back
---
After the ten minutes mark, the "Wall of light" disappeared, leaving no trace of ever existing. However, bad news was to follow. The Indians were able to contact their naval headquarters to print a status report, and the Americans managed to do so as well, with great difficulty as they were getting a weak satellite connection which was a first. The Australians could not, as it seemed like their naval headquarters and satellite connection to it never existed.
---[+]---
2:20 PM IST,
Parliament Building, New Delhi,
India.
The Parliament was underway, with the introduction of new laws being discussed amongst the politicians as they scramble to figure out what to do during this crisis. The Special Protection Group (SPG) entered the Parliament building to escort the Prime Minister away.
"What is going on Arya?" Prime Minister Tharoor asked as he stood up and followed Major Arya, his personal guard as he even watched other ministers of the cabinet being escorted away as well.
"CDS informed us that we needed you in the bunker now, that I was a matter of your safety," The Officer replied as he walked down the corridors towards the Bunker.
"Is it the Chinese? Or The Pakistanis?" Tharoor only asks these questions as those are the only rational answers for what is going on.
"Was not informed sir, I have no idea what is going on as well."
In the bunker, Tharoor sat next to the President, who was also awaiting to be briefed. Along with them. The CDS Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) and officials from the Ministry of Defense and Home affairs were also present there.
The Aerospace Defense Command briefed them about the incident, about the wall of light surrounding India's borders and aquatic territory, and how scanners could not get anything out of it, with only Surveillance ships reporting detection via passive radar.
They also report a complete loss of contact with the outside world, with a weak connection with the United States. This sparked fears amongst the leaders as this implies that the US was attacked, for this could be a sudden attack by India's adversaries? China did launch another threat towards India, and Pakistani JF-17 fighters were breaching Indian airspace?
"Mister President, and Mister Prime Minister. The situation is critical, I recommend activating Cold Start, we cannot be sitting ducks, there is a huge risk we would be attacked right now, and delaying the activation of this doctrine might be a fatal blow for the defense of our country." The CDS officer had informed the two leaders, requesting for clearance.
"I agree. Activate protocol Cold Start." The President ordered, signing the document after discussing with the Prime Minister.
With "Cold Start" being activated, Nearly eighteen field Corps of the Indian army were activated, with nearly one million and three hundred thousand troops ordered from Active and Reserves being called up to a war footing, nearly 60% of the total personal in the Army, and this is not including the pre-existing Para-militaries stationed at the border and as reserves as well. Air Bases all over India were put on ready alert, with Jets ready to take off soon.
---[+]---
At 3:48 AM EST,
The President's Room, White House,
Washington D.C
President Emily Potts was enjoying a much needed rest, while it has been only a few days it felt like three weeks of office work. Tensions around the world were at its boiling point. North Korea threatened to launch missiles at Japan and armed them as well, requiring a diplomatic resolution between the two leaders.
None stop emergency meetings, calls, none stop updates. Some of her staff even brough pillows into the situation room as some never left the room. The last six hours was the first time she was able to get any real sleep since the Korean crisis began.
She spent her time off on the 24th, enjoying a warm bath, and her hair done as well. While the timing of doing all this might give people the wrong impression, especially with the tensions around the world, all this was needed to refresh herself after working in this field for so many years.
Sadly, she was awakened far earlier than she hoped by a female Secret Server. While traditionally most Secret Service are male she wanted a female agent to come get her to protect her dignity and personal space.
After quickly getting dressed she hustled off to Marine One, a Sikorsky VH-3D Sea King operated by Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX-1) "Nighthawks". They fly in formation with four other similar helicopters and make their way towards Andrews Airforce base, nearly fifteen kilometres or nine miles via air.
As she is in the helicopter, she is briefed by duty officers at the Pentagon and Cheyenne mountain via phone on the helicopter.
"What do you mean a wall of light?" Potts could only ask, surprised by this finding.
"It's from NORAD, Madam President, they detected this abnormality all throughout the continental America, and have lost contact with their Canadian counterparts." The duty officer informed her over the phone. "The Pentagon has reported that it lost contact with our European and Asian forces. They are still investigating. The only nation we have any contact with is India however the signal is weak."
"Okay, and what about the land borders?" She asked again while looking out the window, observing the lights of the city illuminated by a full moon.
"Same situation, they have been able to take footage of the event. We expect it on the morning news today."
"Damn it." Potts thought as she heard this, first having to deal with all the issues inherited from the previous administration, then the rising escalation around the world, this event would affect her popularity ratings amongst americans. She wanted to improve the American welfare system, to improve the lives of American citizens, but now, she has to deal with this situation.
"We recommend that we upgrade the nation's defence posture to DEFCON-2, world wide."
Potts could feel a drop in her chest. DEFCON-2, the last time this happened was during the 1991 Gulf war, and was only locked to one region. Now, The Armed Forces of America would be ready to deploy and engage in less than 6 hours. This was it, one step away from Nuclear war, the worst thing humanity could face.
"Understood, upgrade alert level to DEFCON-2." Potts ordered.
With this, all of the Continental US forces are put on alert.
---[-]---
4:03 AM, Somewhere in American Airspace,
Air Force One.
President Emily Potts is onboard Air Force One, and the situation has become even more confusing. Defense Secretary Petra Rodriguez and Secretary of State, along with other Cabinet members and military leaders, who are gathering in, or e-route to the Situation room at the White House, joining Pentagon and NORAD duty officers in the meeting with Potts.
With all this, the NSA reports that all of its overseas and Hawaiian stations are down, but certain signal intercepts were being gathered, however they unfortunately made no sense and where no similar to modern signal intercepts.
Eventually NASA was called up to explain, and the Head of NASA Jackie Montroy was present to brief them about what is going on.
"Madam President, all we can say is, 'something happened', between 3:37 am and 3:47am, but we have no data on what happened, not even the weather satellites can provide us with any data."
"What about the Satellites on the other side? They must have spotted something?" Potts inquired.
"About that...." Montroy went silent for a few seconds before responding.
"We have lost connection with alot of our satellites, being unresponsive to our tests. Nearly 70-80% of our entire satellites in the air are gone, leaving about nearly three hundred of various types in orbit which are still functional, and GPS is going to be affected outside of Continental America." He answered the President's inquiry.
"My god.... And what about our Military bases outside of our country, are they able to request for help?" She could only feel dread inside of her, as her only son Daniel Potts was on duty stationed in Alaska as an Air force pilot.
"Other than Alaska, we have no contact with any bases, we can only assume the worst and consider them as lost." One of the leaders replied.
With no contact with Hawaii and other bases outside of the continent, it was considered the heaviest military loss of all time for the Americans. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers were stationed abroad. Just in the navy, nearly two Fleets could be considered lost, which is a third of the fleet.
"Could this just be me, or is a Chinese cyber attack that is blinding us?" Potts asked. "They have a history of hacking our system in the past."
"We considered that however the scale is too large and none of our systems show any signs of being hacked," another replied.
"What about the immediate effects of all this?" Potts could only ask, head reeling from hearing the number of losses.
"Madam President, it would be worse than all the riots we have ever faced in our history. The people would demand to know why this has happened, and they will attempt to loot due to this. With no military presence, police would be overwhelmed with their duties and cities might fall.'' One of the members in the meeting gave an exaggerated prediction.
"I see..... Order the National guard to deploy, it's a Federal Government wartime decision, I want airspace to be clear of all civilian air and the waters free from civilian boats. We might be at war, gentlemen and women, it's time to be ready for anything." President Potts, with the memories of the riots of 2020 and the great fiasco of 2022, ordered.
American Airspace was closed off from Civilian traffic, and birds in the air were forced to be grounded. Also all civilian vessels return and remain in port until further instructions, while two carrier groups stationed at Norfork are ordered to patrol the Atlantic, while one carrier fleet stationed at San Diego is ordered into the Pacific ocean. Just in case of an invasion.
The National Guard units in all the states have been federalized and the entire military is being mobilized, with nearly three-hundred and fifty thousand National Guard personnel being mobilized for any major law and order situation that might arise in any of the American cities nationwide.
---[-]---
4:32 PM IST,
Indian Parliament Bunker, New Delhi,
India.
The situation became even more confusing for the Indians. Reports start to flood in that all the Pakistani Army and Rangers Outposts along the western border as well as their Infrastructure have disappeared. Along with that, reports are also coming in that everything Chinese in the North and North Eastern Borders have disappeared without a trace, coupled with ISRO reporting the loss of contact with 26 of its satellites.
"This is not good, not good at all," Tharoor held his aching head, after hearing such fascinating and terrifying reports.
"So you are saying everything has changed? That the Pakistanis and Chinese just disappeared with our neighbouring countries? Is this some sort of joke?" He could only ask so much.
The National Security Advisor was ready to answer all of the Prime Minister's questions, having been briefed multiple times himself.
"No it is not sir, everything within Visual range has disappeared, including the roads, being replaced with either forests, mountains, fields or dirt paths, even bridges on the other side have disappeared."
"Hai Ram.... What do you suggest that we do, we have to confirm this as well." Tharoor requested a solution.
"Well, Sir, we could send existing border guards to investigate, they might be light infantry but they are well trained, just as the BSF on the pakistan border and Bangladesh border, and the ITBP and SSB in the mountains.
"Get it done, I authorise a mission to investigate these occurrences, tell them that they can open fire if needed, we are already mobilising and this would be more than enough to provoke anyone....." Vivek Tharoor orders.
"Very well, sir." The Agent replied as he got the necessary clearance for the Ministry of Home affairs to take action.
With this, border guards were ordered to heavily arm themselves and move on recon missions and if possible to take over any village they could find.
---[-]---
13th March 1942, US Navy Headquarters,
Pearl Harbor.
Meanwhile, the US Naval Base at Pearl Harbor was in an organised chaos after the loss of all communications with the mainland, unable to raise anyone outside the Hawaiian Islands. Admiral Chester Nimitz, the commander in chief of the US Pacific Fleet who is currently present in Hawaii, is also briefed about the loss of all communication with the mainland. Fearing this as an act of sabotage and a prelude to a Japanese Combat mage attack, A Squadron of US Marine Aerial Mages, a US infantry division and Two Marine Divisions on the Island are put on high Alert along with all the Anti Air Batteries present on the Island. It did not take long for several of the Navy Fighters planes to scramble on Recon missions all around the Island to keep an eye on any Japanese Navy strike Force. Contact with the British in Australia though is still intact, even connections with remaining US forces besieged in the Philippines has not been severed , and the Canadians at Vancouver is fine, there were some mentions from British technicians about loss of contact with the British Raj but it was largely ignored by the Pacific command, this caused confusion among the communication officers and radio operators. If it was really some kind of sabotage to cut off the Islands from the rest of the world, then how are they able to contact the rest of the world but unable to contact anyone or even receive radio broadcasts from the mainland.
Similarly Dwight D. Eisenhower, who is enjoying breakfast with his British and Allied counterparts in London and watching British Mages conducting combat exercises, when he is informed by officers from both US Army Intelligence and the British that all contact with Mainland USA has been lost. Additionally, very strange reports have been heard from the Canadians living near the US border, something about a "Strange Light" engulfing the American side, soon similar reports began to arrive from the British India that half of the Punjab Province also has been bathed with a similar "wall of light", and that contact with the rest of the province and along with rest of British India via telegraph and radio is severed. Alarmed and with fear of some sort of Indian uprising taking place, Churchill ordered a Royal Navy Squadron from Halifax to investigate what happened to the US, as well as another Royal Navy Task Force, built around the Carrier HMS Formidable to head to the Arabian Sea and summoned Louis Mountbatten to explain what has happened to the rest of Indian Colony, as well as sending orders to the British Army Command in the province to mobilise its garrisons at Lahore and Karachi and send its units to investigate what really has happened to the rest of the colony.
---[-]---
5 PM IST,
Indo-Pak border, Punjab,
India.
Major Ram Nath of the 25th Battalion of BSF (Borders Security Force) was leading an expedition mission across the border into Pakistan's state of Punjab.
The disappearance of everything modern beyond their border had both surprised and spooked them. They reported every detail of their journey through the land back to base.
After travelling 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) into the unknown territory and finding many things not matching with their modern maps of this region, they soon came across a small town after passing through acres and acres of wheat fields. What was even more surprising to the soldiers was, the town looked like it came out from the 18th Century.
Their sudden arrival caused some of the workers on the fields to stare at them, with many younger ones running back to the town or coming quite close to the BSF vehicles to take a look at the vehicles as if they had never seen a Maruti Gypsy before.
Calculating the risk, Major Nath ordered his troops to enter the town with caution. The 78 men of Bravo Company led by the unit's MRAP moved in. The sudden appearance of an armoured vehicle and armed soldiers caused panic among the Townspeople as many fled and hid in their homes at the sight of Indian soldiers, armed with INSAS and AKM rifles.
The civilians closed their doors and windows in anticipation of something bad going to happen. Some Congress activists in the town fled to the fields to hide in fear of the army coming to arrest and silence them. It did not take time for the local police station to be alerted by one of their informers of the arrival of unknown soldiers.
The British officer in charge of the station first waves it off as a routine passing of British army supply convoys from Karachi to other parts of the colony as it has been since the start of this bloody second great war.
But more reports now start to flood in, this time from a very concerned British citizen who works at the town's hospital and a local Unionist supporter as according them the army convoy was suspiciously heavily armed and even had armoured vehicles with them and were slowly moving through the town inquiring and causing distress to the town's inhabitants, their uniforms also didn't match any of the British army uniforms that existed so far.
The police inspector again thought this convoy must be going to the Afghan border for some exercise. The Kingdom of Afghanistan's close ties with the Axis powers, especially the Germans, has been raising a lot of concerns for the Colonial and the Home Governments. This move must have been a show of force. But that also raises the question why his station has not been informed about this big army movement.
So, just to clear his own doubts and of the people that rely upon him to bring order to this town.
"Sub Inspector Wellis takes charge of the station, I am off to welcome our uninvited guests, the army boys have made quite a ruckus by showing up with their toys before informing us."
"Yes Sir" The Sub Inspector salutes.
"Sergeant Skye, Constable Mirza Khan, Constable Ameer follow me." The inspector ordered, the men saluted and followed their officer lead by one of their informers towards the centre of the town.
The Inspector is greeted by a couple other constables who inform the army unit is nearly there, when asked if they had made any contact, they shook their heads, but they did heard the soldiers calling themselves as some kind of a border force from one of townspeople who made a brief contact with the soldiers before heading for them.
It was at the very moment when the rumbling of the engines of a vehicle was heard and soon as informed a peculiar looking advanced armored car came up the road followed by men dressed in Camouflage uniforms, like the ones he had heard only the paratroopers had, but their weapons they all look very advanced and he had never seen any of them before.
He is quick to wave at them and signalling them to stop, which the soldiers and the vehicle did.
"Where do you chaps come from, the war is fought the other way!" The Inspector said in a joking tone. The soldiers for their part were all confused and looked like they have never seen a white man before in their life.
"Regardless what Regiment you chaps from, I never got any prior information of your arrival and where the hell is your officer ?"
"What country is this and what is an Englishman doing here?" An Indian Soldier now yells from the otherside.
Inspector squinted his eyes. This was not the response he was expecting from the soldiers.
"Are you all drunk?!" He said a bit annoyed at having to deal with drunk servicemen again.
"I will ask again, what country is this and what an English man is doing here ?" The Indian now asked again but this time with more firmness, while the other soldiers appeared they were on edge.
The Colonial police party was also on edge. Not only that, only the Sgt and constable Mirza had their rifles, the rest only had their batons.
"What country are you from?" The British Inspector now countered as he slowly moved his hand towards his revolver's Holster and kept his eyes on the soldier's movements.
Nobody till now noticed the fact they were in a standoff. Some of the residents of nearby houses also peaked through their windows and doors.
"We are from the Republic of India." A reply is heard.
"What? What republic are you talking about? This is a British Colony and part of......." Something dawned upon the British officer.
"Oh bollocks, they are Mutineers!" He yelled and quickly drew his revolver and fired wildly at the soldiers causing them to instantly take cover.
The unarmed constables instantly began to run back to the station, while the armed ones fired a few more shots from their Lee Enfield rifles before they also began to run along with their officer, lowering their heads as the soldiers now retaliated.
The BSF's MRAP at the lead chased after them holding its fire to not accidentally hit any of the civilian huts lining up the road.
Meanwhile hearing the gunfire and being informed of the situation BSF's Major Nath ordered his men to spread over and take over the town but following the ROE not to engage unless fired upon to minimise any kind of collateral damage.
Being chased by the Armored car the Inspector and his party finally reached their station, where he saw his subordinate standing outside with his service revolver out of his holster along with a few other constables also armed.
"Sir are you alright ?" Sub Inspector Wellis worriedly asked as he saw his superior fall to his knees trying to catch his breath.
"Mu..tineers"
"What ?"
"WE HAVE A MUTINY IN OUR HANDS, GET BACK TO STATION AND GET THE WORD BACK TO THE HEA......." Before he could finish his sentence the MRAP turned from the corner and its turret on its top turned towards them.
A constable fired a shot from his rifle hitting the bullet proof windscreen of the vehicle.
The vehicle retaliated by a burst of Automatic fire cutting the constable down. The rest of the policemen ran into their station keeping their heads down as they also began to receive MG fire.
Once inside they quickly closed the main door and blocked it.
The MRAP soon gets at the front of the station and begins to fire into the station inorder to suppress the officers trapped inside as they are only able to fire a few blind shots in retaliation.
More BSF men began to arrive and surrounded the station, exchanging fire with the Imperial police personnel inside, who were now in a very bad situation.
"I do not want to die... I do not want to die..." Constable Ameer kept on rambling as he lay crumbled on the ground, too sacred to do anything. Beside him his friend Mirza Khan is seen slumped on the ground in his own pool of blood as he had passed out of blood loss after receiving multiple bullet wounds on his chest and torso.
Sergeant Skye also hid behind a cabinet clutching his wounded right hand hit by a stray round.
"Keep yourself together lads, help will soon arrive and keep your heads down!." The inspector tried to keep the morale up of his besieged men inside their own station. They were not trained for this, they were meant to quell protests, riots or try to capture some extremists armed with pistols, not fight heavily armed and trained soldiers that too supported by an armoured vehicle, not counting every single one of them is armed with automatic weapons while his men are armed with revolvers and bolt action rifles, they are severely outmatched here.
Sub Inspector Wellis, now armed with a rifle who had taken cover by the window, tried to take a shot when he was hit on his shoulder and fell down onto the ground.
"NO!" The inspector yelled and crawled all the way up to the young man now screaming in pain and calling for his mother. He drags him to the side and applies pressure to his wound.
"Stay with me boy, stay with me" As he did his level best to help him. It was then when the firing stopped and after a few seconds a voice was heard.
"Inspector Morland, I am Major Ram Nath from the Border Security Force, you are surrounded and outnumbered surrender and we can end this bloodshed right now."
Morland lets a constable takeover and peeks out through the window as he saw the man making the announcement, He was also dressed similarly like the other soldiers and from what he can see was being helped by a local resident probably one of those revolutionaries or congress activist who is feeding him information about him and the strength of the station.
"I will personally guarantee your men will be treated fairly as per mentioned under the Geneva conventions. So come out now and surrender and we can end this meaningless fight."
Morland gave a glance at his men and then took a deep breath. He knew they were beaten and decided not to extend the suffering of his men any further.
Meanwhile, Major Nath also held his breath and waited for the inspector's response. On the way to the station he met with one of the local youth who introduced himself as the local Indian National Congress activist and was helping his men in securing the town by giving them correct directions, the youth even helped him by providing the personal information of the Imperial police Station's inspector.
Nath wanted to ask a few more questions, about the place, time but kept to himself as he was feeling in his guts something was wrong from the place as soon as he got word his men had engaged a British Colonial police officer.
'Are we really gone back in time ?' He had asked himself several times since he entered this border town as the doors to the police station opened and a British officer dressed in the uniforms he had read about in various history books and illustrations walked out holding a white handkerchief as a sign of surrender.
He walks right up to Nath, "A lot of my men are in need of medical attention."
"And they will be provided with such." Nath Responded and nodded to his officer who ordered his men to move in and secure the station followed by BSF medical personnel moving in to help the wounded in the station.
Severely wounded ones are quickly taken to the town's small hospital in their Gypsy 4x4s for further treatment.
The engagement resulted in the death of four colonial police constables, three of them were severely wounded while the rest had superficial wounds, in total twenty colonial policemen along with their officers were taken as prisoners.
After interrogating a number of Colonial officers, discussing with the youth and a few locals brave enough to come out of their homes, the english doctor in the hospital and going through various documents and newspapers, Nath was sure now he nation has just landed back in the year of 1942 and in the middle of the second world war.
Everything was thoroughly documented and every interrogation and interview recorded were quickly sent back to the Battalion HQ with pictures of various maps found in the station.
Soon one by one the townspeople began to come out of their homes, some in curiosity other after being assured by the BSF personnel or the Youth going around spreading the message they are free from the Britishers after he heard the soldiers have come from India, free of the colonial oppressors.
But all their fear and doubts began to wash away in a wave of excitement and joy as many began to see the British union jack being replaced at the Police station by the Congress tricolour, many knew it as the flag of Swaraj, of freedom now flying proudly in the sky. Many people hearts are filled with joy as the dream of breaking away from the shackles of oppression and slavery had fianlly become true. As people celebrated, more troops now from the Indian army began to arrive to secure the town.
---[-]---
By 6pm IST,
The reports of the exploits of Ram Nath and other similar reports from all across the border began to flood in. Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and China have all changed. Roads and Bridges ended abruptly across the border. Even strange reports of British Raj come in with the British Imperial soldiers stationed across the borders of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar and have led to incidents and clashes among the Imperial and Indian troops leading to some casualties and taking over some of the border towns and villages by Indian forward elements. With such a risk of three way war, the Indian Government ordered the closure of all the borders, and to have the XVI Corp to be ready for an armed engagement and if ordered move in and take over the British Colonial Provinces in Modern day Bangladesh.
---[-]---
By 5:02 AM EST,
Air Force One.
The situation was even more confusing for Potts, who was on Air Force One. Two F-22s were escorting the plane. NSA signal intercepts were clearer, after frantic technicians returned their equipment to the AM band. Strange reports of fighting in Europe, Philippines, the "Soviet Union", and "Combat mages and magic?" were heard and surprisingly, the US Armed Force Radio, reporting from Britain. Potts ordered the Air Force to conduct recon flights to Canada, Mexico and Cuba.
---[+]---
5:12 AM EST,
In the waters of the Atlantic Ocean,
Near New York.
On board U-523, Captain Mortiz-Paul von Hans could not believe his eyes as he looked through his periscope, Enormous merchant ships ablaze with navigational lights, just sitting outside of New York harbour. U-523 had just arrived, and despite hearing reports of lousy convoying. After looking for any US Navy escorts patrolling the area,
"Weapons Controller! Load Tube 1 and 2!" Hans ordered.
"Aye Captain!"
"Sonar operator! Anything on the passive sonar?" Hans questioned.
"Nein! Waters are clear from any passive sonar."
"Turn on active for 10 seconds and report back" Hans ordered again.
"Tube 1 and 2 are ready to fire, captain!" The weapons controller announced.
"Arm the torpedoes! Target is 240 Degrees, 5 nautical miles out!" Hans ordered again.
"Nothing on Active other than aquatic life Captain!" The Sonar operator informed Hans.
"Alright, Fire 1 and 2! Load Tube 3 and 4 for additional effect!" Hans ordered again.
"Aye Captain!"
---[-]---
The freighter, the Italian-registered Megina Marina was halted due to Federal Government orders. Carrying goods and merchandise from Europe, the ship's crew never saw the two torpedoes that hit them.
The Captain, surprised by the sudden attack, watched as his cargo ship began to take in water from the damage.
"Damage control! Get the fire out! Start pumping the water out!" He managed to order on the ship radio.
Damage control managed to to be effective, with the fire on deck extinguished, and water being pumped out faster than it was seeping in. The captain was able to breathe a sigh of relief that his ship won't be going down anytime soon.
Soon, he contacted the US Coast Guard and the NYPD, fearing it to be a terror attack. That was when the crew was able to see it, two torpedoes, launched from U-523, streaking in the water towards.
The Torpedos strike and rip the ship's hull apart, sending water flooding in. The Captain immediately gave the order to abandon ship, and just before leaving himself, he ensured that he reported that they were under attack by a submarine. He quickly then got into the liftraft with the rest of the crew and then abandoned ship.
This report then triggered a response of US destroyers, now on the hunt for the hostile submarine.
---[+]---
By 6:10 AM EST,
The reports from the attack on the Megina Marina were coupled with those from Detroit, Buffalo, Sarnia, El Paso, and other border locations. Mexico and Canada have changed. Bridges in Detroit going over Windsor, Ontario end abruptly mid-river. The cities themselves have changed, Windsor is unrecognisable, as are cities border towns and cities in Mexico.
US Customs agents on the border report roads that just end at the border.