Antican Ballistic Missile Submarine Aquilon, Central Raynor Sea
Captain Laskarine read the latest incoming message from Central Command. The past several weeks have consisted of status reports about the worsening war in Cibola, and continued reiterations to maintain silence and await further orders.
"At least Navigation agrees with NavSat's coordinates now. We can guarantee that we'll hit our targets square." Lt Durand said with a sigh.
Laskarine nodded. "Give me the Main Circuit." She said, before grabbing the handset. The hum of the shipwide PA system came on, and then she spoke.
"I have just been notified by Nafticon that tactical nukes have been exchanged in Cibola between Babkhan and Jingdao forces. As a result, Ashkenatza has gone to full alert and is readying its mobile nuclear forces stationed in Mahoz. In an effort to prevent a full-scale nuclear exchange across the Dire Straits, the Aquilon has been ordered to fire a series high-altitude nuclear bursts and disrupt Ashkenatzi military command.
Set Condition 1."
Laskarine returned the handset to its holster and the Main Circuit clicked off. "CONN, take us to launch depth."
The three warheads were tracked by satellite and RADAR as they launched from somewhere in the North Raynor Sea, launched from a single MIRVed missile.Highway halfway between Rajnagar and Mahapur
Corporal Ilem yawned as they passed another roadsign. This one actually mattered, for a change. Left two lanes keep ahead to Mahapur. Right two lanes turn off towards Jayagarh. Private Kotra, who was driving, signalled to get into the center-right lane. The convoy began to follow suit. At least, the human-driven vehicles were switching.
Ilem leaned forward to look in the side mirror. The drone carriers remained in the center-left lane and were accelerating, passing the human-driven vehicles.
"What are they doing?" Kotra wondered for a moment.
Ilem sat back, and then pulled out the radio. "HQ wagon, what's going on? What's the Grid saying?"
"The Grid system isn't responding to command. Some sort of glitch. We'll get it s--"
The engine stalled. The hum of electronics, the sort of expected thing that one always hears riding around with all of this equipment on, suddenly vanished. Private Kotra spasmed as he attempted to control the vehicle, but quickly calmed himself and brought it straight again as it slowed to a stop. The convoy of drone carriers sped by at high speed, not affected at all by whatever just happened, continuing on towards Mahapur.
Ilem pressed the tab on his radio. "HQ wagon, we need a mechanic dispatched. Our engine has stalled and we've lost electrical power."
"Corporal, my watch doesn't work."
After a few long seconds of no response, not even the sound of static, Ilem realized that the radio wasn't on anymore.
They detonated at an altitude of approximately 100 kilometers. At that altitude, there would be no direct surface effect. Instead, the energy would interact with the upper atmosphere, creating a burst of electromagnetic radiation that shortcircuited any unhardened electronics. Within mere moments, large sections of Antica became dark and stayed dark. The range of each detonation was approximately 1000 kilometers from ground zero.
No government on Micras claimed responsibility. No terms were given.
Within a matter of mere days, chaos was expected to overtake the large urban populations of Aryasht and Platea. Of course, nobody outside would know. Reserve units in Phedodah, Korhal, and Sylvania were called up to re-establish communication with units located inside the affected area.
At the same time, the Exclusion Zone ceased to communicate with Nafticon Central Command. The drone carriers were all hardened against NBC attacks, so they should have been unaffected. And yet the Grid went silent. Not long after, NavSat and ComSat went down. These were completely outside of the affected range of these nuclear detonation.
Whatever was going on, the Antican defense system was shutting down. Or rather, it was no longer speaking to Nafticon.