World War S: An Oral History Of The Siren War

The Beginning Of The Storm - Part Two

"This is F311, fired all of our missiles. Hostiles closing into refugee convoy. 76 mm is hot. We are charging at full speed.  Ha det , see  you all in Valhalla!" - Captain of F311, HNoMS Roald Amundsen

Nairobi, United Nations Reconstruction Authority in Kenya (UNRAK)

Gerald Smith

The Sirens nearly depopulated much of Subsaharan Africa during their decade-long occupation. When the United Nations retook occupied Africa, only 24% of the pre-war population was left. Kenya is no different, still, today the UNRAK is holding its first elections since the end of hostilities in order to reestablish the Republic of Kenya. Gerald Smith is the Head Administrator of the region, currently overseeing his final task in Kenya.

If people want to blame me for it, then please do. I don't really give a damn, I mean, look at what they reduced me into, a "Head Administrator" of a nearly nonexistent country. Ignore those skyscrapers behind me in the windows, almost no one lives there. Might as well call this city a ruins. Ah, but that would sound too sour no? A "temporary ruins."

Why did I organize the Battle of Guam? Why would I, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, advise the POTUS to send USS Nimitz to Guam? Because hindsight is 20/20.

By the time we conducted our emergency meeting in Washington, we already had the combat reports from Tokyo Bay. The CIA and ONI both came to the same conclusion - the Japanese just screwed up because they were caught off guard.

The Battle of Tokyo Bay was unfavorable because the JMSDF was forced to fight in green water. In normal settings, a modern blue water fleet should fight at extreme distances, beyond visual ranges, using long-range missiles to fight. On an open battlespace.

Instead, they duked it out without ease of movement in green water, and they didn't get to fully exploit their range advantage. Even then, they were able to dispatch approximately 1/2 of the attacking force, while suffering 8 ships sunk.

We concluded, that if we fight in the open seas, it would just be a breeze. These were ships that were using, albeit accurate and capable cannons, cannons. That, by modern doctrines, was pitiful. No one uses their main guns to fight ship to ship. In fact, if you and the enemy are in visual range, you did something wrong.

With this information at hand, the navy was confident. I reviewed it, along with my colleagues, and concluded that it was the right course of action. And then the President, well, being the President, he was looking at the economic situation caused by the shock of the attacks.

His approval ratings were in shambles already, many civilian ships with US citizens were sunk over the pacific. Not to mention the multitudes of other issues, he needed a victory to restore American confidence.

As for me, I also wanted a quick victory. Because we really did need it. And so, in the meetings, I was one of the loudest voices for doing a well-televised, pitched battle. A battle where we can show the American people that we, the superpower of Earth, is going to ensure that these pirates, terrorist, aliens, or whatever they were, are going to get annihilated.

(He then laughs bitterly.)

Contrary to conspiracy theories back in the day, the US government isn't an infallible, all-seeing, wacky illuminaty that has total control over the situation. It's a machine with flaws, operated by flawed people like me. It's why I don't mind the finger-pointing at me.

Except, it went too far. Why the hell did the CIA and the POTUS aim their fingers at me? And they were so vocal at it too. Those scumbags were just as much to be blamed, I mean god damn the CIA especially. I guess someone just has to be the fall guy. And I made the perfect one, especially when I said on National TV that "We will sink them all."