Oppenheimer Approves Cover Operation.
15.oct.2120
Air Force One unmoors from headquarters.
The roar of the engines began to increase. Oppenheimer looked up from the pages of the document and glanced out the window. The surface of the flying giant, lined with fine seams, was still there - the presidential plane was still held by the dock's grip.
"I apologize for the delay, gentlemen," the President said, once again immersed in his reading, "But before we begin, I must familiarize myself with the basic points."
"Of course, Sir," one of the two generals present in the office answered, his own, the Pentagon one. The second, from Blok's forces, although he remained silent, expressed his agreement with his whole appearance.
Finally, the sound of the engines was joined by the howl of mechanical drives - the dock machinery lifted the liner, which was still hanging on, above the mooring node. Oppenheimer, like, presumably, the other two present, glanced towards the nearest porthole. Another howl, a push, and the liner soared above the metal plain, moving forward - at first slightly, then more noticeably. The headquarters was flying at its usual cruising-economical speed, not exceeding three hundred knots - the flying wing with a span of one thousand two hundred feet provided excellent lift to keep it all in the air even at lower speeds. These giants were generally quite unhurried, this was especially well perceived purely visually from the ground, when the machine traveled a distance equal to the length of its hull in a much longer period of time than an ordinary liner did. This made the giant delta-shaped flying wing seem to float lightly in the sky, as if weightless.
They also had difficulty climbing to altitudes of thirty thousand feet, typical for classic general-range aircraft that had changed little in a century and a half.
The giants flew low because they felt more confident in the denser atmosphere, which ensured an optimal cooling cycle and, in general, the operation of the nuclear turbine units.
- What interests me most of all, - the president began again, without looking up from the document, - is whether a flight of five machines will ensure one hundred percent fulfillment of the plan? By the standards of frontline operations, this is a rather modest group.
- Sir, everything has been calculated and this is more than enough, - the American general answered. - The rebels do not have the air defense systems that the front is oversaturated with in its standard configuration. The most advanced thing they have is mobile short-range air defense installations. These are Russian systems with a history of modernization lasting half a century. In general, they are functional and they cope with their tasks, but with a standard frontline aviation weapon system, such as the B-252F, they exist in different planes. It's not even a matter of technical superiority, but of tactics - a bomber will not enter their range of destruction or even detection. In general, this is how we imagined the Big Front long before the War, - the general grinned, - at least here we will show ourselves, as we saw decades ago.
- Not exactly us, - Oppenheimer corrected. - It would be more correct to say not us at all.
- Agreed, Sir. I meant the machines as such. The way they were conceived.
- Okay, I get your point. Now a question about the opposing side, that is, the rebels. Is the information about their plans to counter government troops reliable? It will not go well if they decide to resort to mobile combat tactics and abandon the idea of their fortifications. "That's impossible, Sir," replied the general from Blok's forces, "they have already begun to assemble equipment and prepare bridgeheads."
- Amazing people, what are they counting on? - Oppenheimer muttered, taking a fountain pen out of its case. - Of course, they don't know about the bombers, but even without them... These motorized riflemen alone, I think, should have been enough to make you doubt... If only this energy were for the Common Cause, to the front... - Oppenheimer began to write his sweeping signature on the document, approving the cover operation.
- So, gentlemen, now we will go to the main office and get down to the main agenda, - he addressed those present in the office-compartment. - I will tell you in advance, our first item is the implementation of the next planned mobilization. We will talk separately about the East Coast and separately about the southern states.
Oppenheimer put the document in a folder and handed it to the Pentagon general. Then all three stood up and moved toward the exit. The plane, which had already reached cruising altitude and speed, was moving north, toward the American continent.