Eden's War (A Distant Eden) by Lloyd Tackitt

two coast lines to the interior. Word was spread where he would be and for anyone that could to meet up with him. Mostly he chose major cross-roads of the interstate highway system, for their easy public access and the stretch of clear highway where the jet fighter could land and refuel from bladders supplied by the Navy. By the time Adrian completed his rounds he was exhausted and never wanted to see the inside of an F-16 again as long as he lived.
    He wanted to sleep for seven days, but slept only seven hours before he was back at work again, meeting with the Admiral who had flown up from Corpus Christi. Sitting at the kitchen table with Adrian, the Admiral said “We’re broadcasting coded messages continuously, now. The reports we’re getting back reflect that the word is out, and people know what to do. There is a massive surge of people heading for the twelve coastal points, raiding warehouses and armories as they go. Boats are being taken from thousands of locations and being moved. We’ll have close to three thousand of them ready within a couple of weeks. Merchant craft to take the explosive boats out to sea and deploy them are being worked on by the dozens, I estimate we’ll have four or five hundred of them ready to go soon. Scores are already operational and loaded with explosive boats, waiting for the signal to go.
    “Believe it or not, our biggest obstacle is lack of navigational skills. Astral navigation is almost a lost art. The Navy kept the training at a high standard, but nearly everyone else relied on GPS navigation – and of course the GPS satellites were fried by the CME. We have naval personnel at each of the twelve locations running navigation classes continuously, and we’ll have a cadre of trained navigators ready to go when the ships are ready. Radio codes for ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore communications are in place… but I still have questions about your strategy and tactics I’d like you to clear up.”
    “Go ahead Admiral, ask all the questions you want.” Adrian said.
    “Well first, why do you think the Chinese will hit our east coast? The west coast is a straight line shot for them. Other than our ships in Hawaii they won’t have any obstacles. The east coast will require them to go around the tip of Africa, or through the Arctic passage. They can’t get through the Panama Canal – there’s no power for the locks – and the Suez Canal would be too dangerous, their ships would be too easy to attack from land. They have a hell of a long way to go to get to the east coast, so why bother?”
    Adrian replied, “The Chinese are experts at warfare, they’ve had thousands of years of practice at it. I’ve been putting myself in their place, tried thinking it through their way. If I were them, and didn’t know about our counter-attack plans, I’d try to draw all of the former US Navy into as small an area as possible, with the obvious place being centered on Hawaii. That would leave the back door weakly guarded, and that’s where I would send my main force.
    “Distraction is a wonderful thing if you can pull it off, then you can make a surprise attack where they’re not looking. The Chinese will have their fleets moving through the Arctic Circle and around the tip of Africa long before they show themselves in the Pacific – they may already be en route. In the meantime they’ll engage us near Hawaii, try to draw off as much of the Navy into a battle as they can, then they’ll spread out far and wide across the Pacific Ocean to lure our Navy after them. About that time – while we’re engaged in the Pacific Theater, their other two fleets will be hitting up and down the Atlantic Coast. If you had any high flying spy planes, I believe you’d spot those two fleets – if I don’t miss my guess, they’re about three weeks or less from coming around the corners.”
    The Admiral nodded thoughtfully, and Adrian continued.
    “What they won’t expect is for our Navy to hang