Flash fiction thread

[James G]

The California infestation

Amazon Water Worms arrive in California in the summer of 2025. They are first detected in the Bay Area, near San Francisco, before there is a further, separate infestation in the Imperial Valley in the area around the Salton Sea. As they have done within what was once called the Lungs of the World, the Amazon Water Worms begin to feast and multiple. The United States tries everything that Brazil has done, and a lot more too, all to no avail. The infestation takes hold through these two areas of California through the rest of the year. What has been seen with the Tragedy of the Amazon is repeated here in America.

Amazon Water Worms don’t come from outer space. They come from Earth, out of this planet, rather than from one far away. First seen in Brazil, the infestation in California isn’t the second one. Evidence comes out of the island of Borneo – shared by a trio of countries: Brunei, Indonesia & Malaysia – at the beginning of 2026 that there has been an undetected presence there for at least two years beforehand when only Brazil was thought to have an infestation. Just how Amazon Water Worms have managed to emerge in three widely geographically separate regions across the world is unknown. There is nothing to point to as to how the second and third infestations begun. They have started though. The world watches in horror.

Growing to a reported extent of up to a metre long, though generally at a length of a third of that before they die, foot-long Amazon Water Worms reproduce asexually. They need water to survive and also a supply of food. They will eat anything, living or dead too. One of them will soon become a five: it takes just over a day for that to occur with eggs hatching fast. Average lifespan is about a month. A colony will multiply across a wide area soon enough. Moving underground, they spread out seeking nourishment. To kill Amazon Water Worms, anything will do. They can be poisoned, burnt, blown up, chopped up or even stomped. This only comes about when they are located though. There is always so many of them so fast too. When they came out of the Amazon and into Brazilian cities, it has been found how fast adaptable they are to urban areas just like they were in the rainforest. They can eat anything alive inside cities too. California is different from the Amazon and Borneo without a rainforest environment but it has water, woodland and then urban areas too. Farmland was ravaged in Brazil and that it soon is too across California through the second year of their presence in America. Amazon Water Worms keep on eating with plant-life being ravaged. They also consume crops and every animal. The danger to people as seen in Brazil, and increasingly now in Borneo, is something that California witnesses.

The United States Government does all that it can. It is a war that is launched in California, across those two areas of the coastal state. The war against the Amazon Water Worms fails to stop them though from their expansion. Their infestation has taken hold and they aren’t giving up. It will be 2027 when San Francisco is finally abandoned of the remaining people who clung on: Sacramento is likewise left behind but its citizens that year too. Down in Southern California, the infestation there threatens soon Los Angeles too while providing fears that San Diego, Las Vegas and even Phoenix would see infestations within the coming years. Countless numbers of Amazon Water Worms continue to feed and multiple. The majority of them are below the ground and unseen. Those which are present on the surface gain the attention of efforts to eliminate the infestation. For everyone killed, there are millions more unseen and always on the move. Human lives are lost in California like they have been in Brazil before. They cause building collapses atop of the ecological damage from their presence in water and where they eat anything in sight. People are eaten too. Caught off-guard, usually when asleep, a bite from one Amazon Water Worms will not kill directly. The bacteria in its mouth does though with an infection that requires early, extensive treatment. One bite from one of them isn’t how things are though. Hundreds arrive quickly. As animal life has been, humans are caught by attackers which envelope them unless they can quickly get away. By then, it is usually too late though as infection arrives and those looking to eat return to their meal.

It is 2028, eight years after the first confirmed presence in Brazil, three years since their arrival in the United States, when Amazon Water Worms are being seen across most of California. They have Los Angeles at their mercy and are spreading into Arizona and Nevada too. Their onwards progress follows the course of water above and below ground: freshwater too, not the ocean. This is their preferred route of travel with going through earth being a secondary method though seeing slower spreading. Much of South America is suffering from a far bigger infestation as they spread from far out of Brazil into neighbouring countries, though most world attention is on the California infestation. That state is being depopulated. Rather than be eaten or, more likely, have buildings collapse around them, people flee. The near dry terrain of the American South-West slows them down yet by the next year, staying underground, Arizona and Nevada are on their way to following California in eventually being depopulated. Northern California has before been less infested than the Southern and Central parts of the state – even as the spread went eastwards inland – yet 2029 sees a march made up towards Oregon. Amazon Water Worms are heading to the Pacific North-West. There are now other global infestations breaking out too. China, Central Africa and then India begin to face what has been seen in California.

[lordroel]

Apr 24, 2020 19:11:10 GMT James G said:

The California infestation

Amazon Water Worms arrive in California in the summer of 2025. They are first detected in the Bay Area, near San Francisco, before there is a further, separate infestation in the Imperial Valley in the area around the Salton Sea. As they have done within what was once called the Lungs of the World, the Amazon Water Worms begin to feast and multiple. The United States tries everything that Brazil has done, and a lot more too, all to no avail. The infestation takes hold through these two areas of California through the rest of the year. What has been seen with the Tragedy of the Amazon is repeated here in America.

Amazon Water Worms don’t come from outer space. They come from Earth, out of this planet, rather than from one far away. First seen in Brazil, the infestation in California isn’t the second one. Evidence comes out of the island of Borneo – shared by a trio of countries: Brunei, Indonesia & Malaysia – at the beginning of 2026 that there has been an undetected presence there for at least two years beforehand when only Brazil was thought to have an infestation. Just how Amazon Water Worms have managed to emerge in three widely geographically separate regions across the world is unknown. There is nothing to point to as to how the second and third infestations begun. They have started though. The world watches in horror.

Growing to a reported extent of up to a metre long, though generally at a length of a third of that before they die, foot-long Amazon Water Worms reproduce asexually. They need water to survive and also a supply of food. They will eat anything, living or dead too. One of them will soon become a five: it takes just over a day for that to occur with eggs hatching fast. Average lifespan is about a month. A colony will multiply across a wide area soon enough. Moving underground, they spread out seeking nourishment. To kill Amazon Water Worms, anything will do. They can be poisoned, burnt, blown up, chopped up or even stomped. This only comes about when they are located though. There is always so many of them so fast too. When they came out of the Amazon and into Brazilian cities, it has been found how fast adaptable they are to urban areas just like they were in the rainforest. They can eat anything alive inside cities too. California is different from the Amazon and Borneo without a rainforest environment but it has water, woodland and then urban areas too. Farmland was ravaged in Brazil and that it soon is too across California through the second year of their presence in America. Amazon Water Worms keep on eating with plant-life being ravaged. They also consume crops and every animal. The danger to people as seen in Brazil, and increasingly now in Borneo, is something that California witnesses.

The United States Government does all that it can. It is a war that is launched in California, across those two areas of the coastal state. The war against the Amazon Water Worms fails to stop them though from their expansion. Their infestation has taken hold and they aren’t giving up. It will be 2027 when San Francisco is finally abandoned of the remaining people who clung on: Sacramento is likewise left behind but its citizens that year too. Down in Southern California, the infestation there threatens soon Los Angeles too while providing fears that San Diego, Las Vegas and even Phoenix would see infestations within the coming years. Countless numbers of Amazon Water Worms continue to feed and multiple. The majority of them are below the ground and unseen. Those which are present on the surface gain the attention of efforts to eliminate the infestation. For everyone killed, there are millions more unseen and always on the move. Human lives are lost in California like they have been in Brazil before. They cause building collapses atop of the ecological damage from their presence in water and where they eat anything in sight. People are eaten too. Caught off-guard, usually when asleep, a bite from one Amazon Water Worms will not kill directly. The bacteria in its mouth does though with an infection that requires early, extensive treatment. One bite from one of them isn’t how things are though. Hundreds arrive quickly. As animal life has been, humans are caught by attackers which envelope them unless they can quickly get away. By then, it is usually too late though as infection arrives and those looking to eat return to their meal.

It is 2028, eight years after the first confirmed presence in Brazil, three years since their arrival in the United States, when Amazon Water Worms are being seen across most of California. They have Los Angeles at their mercy and are spreading into Arizona and Nevada too. Their onwards progress follows the course of water above and below ground: freshwater too, not the ocean. This is their preferred route of travel with going through earth being a secondary method though seeing slower spreading. Much of South America is suffering from a far bigger infestation as they spread from far out of Brazil into neighbouring countries, though most world attention is on the California infestation. That state is being depopulated. Rather than be eaten or, more likely, have buildings collapse around them, people flee. The near dry terrain of the American South-West slows them down yet by the next year, staying underground, Arizona and Nevada are on their way to following California in eventually being depopulated. Northern California has before been less infested than the Southern and Central parts of the state – even as the spread went eastwards inland – yet 2029 sees a march made up towards Oregon. Amazon Water Worms are heading to the Pacific North-West. There are now other global infestations breaking out too. China, Central Africa and then India begin to face what has been seen in California.

Worms James G, giant worms.

[stevep]

   James G ,

   Very nasty eco-disaster.  Since they go underground via water tables it sounds like you have something that would be very, very difficult to detect, let alone attack.  Even a successful genetic engineering programme to produce some virus say against them is only likely to have limited practicality.  Plus since they can presumable spread through sea as well as fresh water.  Potentially this could be a bigger wipe out of life than even the Permian mass extinction.

  Steve

[James G]

Britannia still rules the waves

It is the late spring of 2020. A flotilla of Royal Navy ships depart from Portsmouth and head off on a world cruise. There are goodwill visits to be made and fleet exercises with long-standing allies to take place. Past the Needles and down to the gateway to the Mediterranean the ships go. A few more join them from Gibraltar ahead of a port visit a few days later in friendly Malta. Through Suez, across the Indian Ocean and to Sri Lanka the voyage takes them. There are stops made in Aden and Colombo before war games are practised with the Indian Navy in the Sea of Bengal. India has quite the fleet, one modelled on the Royal Navy though without the considerable striking power. The exercises are friendly but they still mean something in terms of testing capabilities for each side. There’s a port visit to Penang in the Malay Federation up next. Britain’s allies here, like in India and elsewhere before, exchange traditional naval formalities with the Royal Navy. The Imperial Japanese Navy are present too. They have anchorage rights here and welcome the ships flying the White Ensign.

Down across the Strait of Malacca and to Singapore the British & Japanese ships go, all making a visit to that once British and now Malaysian shipping hub. Going up through the South China Sea, word comes from the Admiralty back in London that the planned visit to Manila in the Kingdom of the Philippines is cancelled. Before the flotilla set sail, this has been something up in the air due to ‘difficulties’ there. Peacekeepers from the Imperial Japanese Army have made the security situation secure but diplomatic issues will make it difficult for the Royal Navy to go there at this time. The flotilla thus arrives off South China early. Anchoring in the Pearl River Delta, near where Hong Kong once was before its destruction seventy-five years ago, ships of South China’s navy come out. Salutes are exchanges and there are short ceremonies. Smiles are given by all – Britons, Japanese and South Chinese alike – but there is an underlying air of tension. War is still raging in North China with the Japanese winning and Britain is Japan’s ally: the South Chinese are not happy to see this display of naval power off their coast.

Out of Chinese waters, there is a port visit made to the Republic of Formosa, a true Japanese ally and a nation with which Britain has strong ties too. In London, they sometimes call Formosa ‘East China’ but there is no undiplomatic language here like that when the Royal Navy arrives. The Formosan Navy comes out with its little ships before the Royal Navy then sails up to the Japanese Home Islands. Ships with the Imperial Japanese Navy come out to escort them in. These ones are far bigger and more potent than the ones which have sailed with the Royal Navy from Penang. A few days are spent in Tokyo Bay before the scheduled war games in the Western Pacific then start in earnest.


The Royal Navy has brought fifteen vessels on this cruise. There are a handful of support ships and smaller warships alongside the seven capital ships. Three cruisers – HMS Mars, HMS Neptune & HMS Warspite – are present alongside the aircraft carriers HMS Eagle & HMS Hermes. Then there are the arsenal ships: HMS Achilles & HMS Agamemnon. Japan has carriers and cruisers but they don’t have arsenal ships like the Royal Navy does. They’re building some and by this time next year the Imperial Japanese Navy hopes to have one in service but with three overall – HMS Ajax is in home waters – the Royal Navy leads the world’s naval powers in such a new design of warship. Achilles and Agamemnon are each full of missiles. There are hundreds aboard from small anti-aircraft & anti-missile ones to the dual-role anti-ship & land-attack large ones. These are the Thunderbolts, supersonic cruise missiles. Similar subsonic missiles are part of the weapons load-out for those trio of cruisers and the Japanese have missiles aboard their cruisers and even submarines, but these arsenal ships are something else entirely. They have no guns, no torpedoes nor aircraft: just missiles.

The war games commence across the ocean between the Marinas and Micronesia. Those are all Japanese islands which stretch far out through the Western Pacific. Mock naval battles commence between the Royal Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy with limited participation of the naval forces from other regional nations too. Aircraft, submarines and warships are all involved. This goes on for a fortnight and includes live-firing exercises too. The arsenal ships see action. Achilles fires her anti-aircraft missiles against unmanned targets. Agamemnon launches a pair of those Thunderbolts which destroy mock targets on an uninhabited Micronesian island with precision and under the watchful eyes of the Japanese. Naval observers from other countries, not taking part in these war games, see some of the action though in a controlled environment. There’s a message being sent to them concerning the strength of the alliance between London and Tokyo that has survived the testing times of the Twentieth Century and continues to as well now into the Twenty-First Century.

Once done, the Japanese go home and the Royal Navy flotilla sails on. To Sydney in Australia and then afterwards across to Panama they go. There is a stop made off Miami and another in Bermuda too before the ships will make a return to Portsmouth and also Gibraltar. Friends and rivals have been visited on the way. Ships will now undergo maintenance while the crews will be rested. Preparations begin for next year’s war games. They will take place in the North Atlantic and the Imperial Japanese Navy will be making a visit, surely bringing their own arsenal ship to them along with carriers, missile-cruisers and other ships. That is something many are looking forward to… unless you are in Washington, Paris, Berlin or Moscow.

[lordroel]

Apr 27, 2020 0:38:57 GMT James G said:

The Royal Navy has brought fifteen vessels on this cruise.

That is almost entire surface combat navy of OTL.

[stevep]

Apr 27, 2020 7:11:53 GMT lordroel said:

Apr 27, 2020 0:38:57 GMT James G said:

The Royal Navy has brought fifteen vessels on this cruise.

That is almost entire surface combat navy of OTL.

  Possibly subs, being reliant on stealth aren't that useful for showing the flag?

[stevep]

Apr 27, 2020 0:38:57 GMT James G said:

Britannia still rules the waves

It is the late spring of 2020. A flotilla of Royal Navy ships depart from Portsmouth and head off on a world cruise. There are goodwill visits to be made and fleet exercises with long-standing allies to take place. Past the Needles and down to the gateway to the Mediterranean the ships go. A few more join them from Gibraltar ahead of a port visit a few days later in friendly Malta. Through Suez, across the Indian Ocean and to Sri Lanka the voyage takes them. There are stops made in Aden and Colombo before war games are practised with the Indian Navy in the Sea of Bengal. India has quite the fleet, one modelled on the Royal Navy though without the considerable striking power. The exercises are friendly but they still mean something in terms of testing capabilities for each side. There’s a port visit to Penang in the Malay Federation up next. Britain’s allies here, like in India and elsewhere before, exchange traditional naval formalities with the Royal Navy. The Imperial Japanese Navy are present too. They have anchorage rights here and welcome the ships flying the White Ensign.

Down across the Strait of Malacca and to Singapore the British & Japanese ships go, all making a visit to that once British and now Malaysian shipping hub. Going up through the South China Sea, word comes from the Admiralty back in London that the planned visit to Manila in the Kingdom of the Philippines is cancelled. Before the flotilla set sail, this has been something up in the air due to ‘difficulties’ there. Peacekeepers from the Imperial Japanese Army have made the security situation secure but diplomatic issues will make it difficult for the Royal Navy to go there at this time. The flotilla thus arrives off South China early. Anchoring in the Pearl River Delta, near where Hong Kong once was before its destruction seventy-five years ago, ships of South China’s navy come out. Salutes are exchanges and there are short ceremonies. Smiles are given by all – Britons, Japanese and South Chinese alike – but there is an underlying air of tension. War is still raging in North China with the Japanese winning and Britain is Japan’s ally: the South Chinese are not happy to see this display of naval power off their coast.

Out of Chinese waters, there is a port visit made to the Republic of Formosa, a true Japanese ally and a nation with which Britain has strong ties too. In London, they sometimes call Formosa ‘East China’ but there is no undiplomatic language here like that when the Royal Navy arrives. The Formosan Navy comes out with its little ships before the Royal Navy then sails up to the Japanese Home Islands. Ships with the Imperial Japanese Navy come out to escort them in. These ones are far bigger and more potent than the ones which have sailed with the Royal Navy from Penang. A few days are spent in Tokyo Bay before the scheduled war games in the Western Pacific then start in earnest.


The Royal Navy has brought fifteen vessels on this cruise. There are a handful of support ships and smaller warships alongside the seven capital ships. Three cruisers – HMS Mars, HMS Neptune & HMS Warspite – are present alongside the aircraft carriers HMS Eagle & HMS Hermes. Then there are the arsenal ships: HMS Achilles & HMS Agamemnon. Japan has carriers and cruisers but they don’t have arsenal ships like the Royal Navy does. They’re building some and by this time next year the Imperial Japanese Navy hopes to have one in service but with three overall – HMS Ajax is in home waters – the Royal Navy leads the world’s naval powers in such a new design of warship. Achilles and Agamemnon are each full of missiles. There are hundreds aboard from small anti-aircraft & anti-missile ones to the dual-role anti-ship & land-attack large ones. These are the Thunderbolts, supersonic cruise missiles. Similar subsonic missiles are part of the weapons load-out for those trio of cruisers and the Japanese have missiles aboard their cruisers and even submarines, but these arsenal ships are something else entirely. They have no guns, no torpedoes nor aircraft: just missiles.

The war games commence across the ocean between the Marinas and Micronesia. Those are all Japanese islands which stretch far out through the Western Pacific. Mock naval battles commence between the Royal Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy with limited participation of the naval forces from other regional nations too. Aircraft, submarines and warships are all involved. This goes on for a fortnight and includes live-firing exercises too. The arsenal ships see action. Achilles fires her anti-aircraft missiles against unmanned targets. Agamemnon launches a pair of those Thunderbolts which destroy mock targets on an uninhabited Micronesian island with precision and under the watchful eyes of the Japanese. Naval observers from other countries, not taking part in these war games, see some of the action though in a controlled environment. There’s a message being sent to them concerning the strength of the alliance between London and Tokyo that has survived the testing times of the Twentieth Century and continues to as well now into the Twenty-First Century.

Once done, the Japanese go home and the Royal Navy flotilla sails on. To Sydney in Australia and then afterwards across to Panama they go. There is a stop made off Miami and another in Bermuda too before the ships will make a return to Portsmouth and also Gibraltar. Friends and rivals have been visited on the way. Ships will now undergo maintenance while the crews will be rested. Preparations begin for next year’s war games. They will take place in the North Atlantic and the Imperial Japanese Navy will be making a visit, surely bringing their own arsenal ship to them along with carriers, missile-cruisers and other ships. That is something many are looking forward to… unless you are in Washington, Paris, Berlin or Moscow.

  James G,

  Interesting, do you have a background set up for this?  Presuming a continued Anglo-Japanese alliance and a more liberal Japan, although their still heavily involved in China.  That the Russian capital is Moscow rather than St Petersberg hints that Lenin's 1917 coup still occurred. 

  That the Philippines are a monarchy suggests a drastically different history for them, possibly going back some centuries and that the US never got control of it.  Obviously there is a canal in Panama and I would expect this is either British or American, possibly the latter as you mention rivals as well as friends have been visited.  However that Hawaii wasn't on the call list makes me think its still American and probably the base for their Pacific fleet.

  That cruisers as well as arsenal ships - the Spurs fans will be jealous - and carriers are counted as capital ships suggests smaller vessels overall, unless those cruisers are pretty damned large.

  In reality, even with a much better lead Britain during the period from say 1900 onward Britain wouldn't be the dominant naval power, at least without a hell of a lot of destruction of some major rivals.  Although that could have occurred given the mention of the destruction of Hong Kong in 1945.  Which suggests either nukes - although by whom - or possibly a large scale massacre, again by whom?  However an interesting idea.

  Steve

[James G]

Apr 27, 2020 7:11:53 GMT lordroel said:

Apr 27, 2020 0:38:57 GMT James G said:

The Royal Navy has brought fifteen vessels on this cruise.

That is almost entire surface combat navy of OTL.

And this is only a very small portion of it now.

Apr 27, 2020 9:17:58 GMT stevep said:

  James G,

  Interesting, do you have a background set up for this?  Presuming a continued Anglo-Japanese alliance and a more liberal Japan, although their still heavily involved in China.  That the Russian capital is Moscow rather than St Petersberg hints that Lenin's 1917 coup still occurred. 

  That the Philippines are a monarchy suggests a drastically different history for them, possibly going back some centuries and that the US never got control of it.  Obviously there is a canal in Panama and I would expect this is either British or American, possibly the latter as you mention rivals as well as friends have been visited.  However that Hawaii wasn't on the call list makes me think its still American and probably the base for their Pacific fleet.

  That cruisers as well as arsenal ships - the Spurs fans will be jealous - and carriers are counted as capital ships suggests smaller vessels overall, unless those cruisers are pretty damned large.

  In reality, even with a much better lead Britain during the period from say 1900 onward Britain wouldn't be the dominant naval power, at least without a hell of a lot of destruction of some major rivals.  Although that could have occurred given the mention of the destruction of Hong Kong in 1945.  Which suggests either nukes - although by whom - or possibly a large scale massacre, again by whom?  However an interesting idea.

  Steve

I wrote it all in a flurry so the background is difficult. Possibily a POD in the early 1920s? There are many changes to the world from as we know it.
Those cruisers are big. The arsenal ships aren't as large but they pack quite the punch.
Hong Kong posed a problem for the story. I just added 'destruction' rather than gave it a reason. It would have to be something big. The Philippines was another problem. The US here is a rival to Britain, yes.

[lordroel]

Apr 27, 2020 9:49:39 GMT James G said:

Those cruisers are big. The arsenal ships aren't as large but they pack quite the punch.

The modern version of the battleships i guess as i do not think they are cheap to build.

[James G]

Kidnap

The President of the United States has four children. Her two eldest sons are twins in their mid-twenties with one a teacher and the other a banker. Her youngest son is a teen currently in high school. Then there is her third oldest, a daughter named Rebecca who is twenty years-old. She’s attended a prestigious New England college for two years though is now midway through a year aboard as part of her education. This has seen Rebecca in Britain at the University of Winchester. Rebecca and her brothers have always been paid attention to by the media throughout their mother’s political career. Their father, the First Husband, has worked like his wife to try to shield them as best as possible but that has never been easy. Rebecca studying in Britain has been covered by the intrusive press. However, with cooperation from the university and also the British Government, the intrusion into her studies has been minimal. She isn’t a public figure and apart from who her mother is, there isn’t much of a story to her for anyone to run. She’s just a girl studying abroad and living a quiet life.

Yet, Rebecca’s mother is who she is and Secret Service protection is afforded to her children. This is likewise coordinated with the authorities across the pond with a British police presence not shadowing her like the Secret Service agents are but sometimes in the background. Hampshire Constabulary has received a Home Office stipend to cover the extra costs associated with providing support for the Secret Service and other expenses when it comes to security around her conducted at a discreet distance. The last thing anyone in Whitehall wants is for anything to happen to the daughter of the American president. The Prime Minister and his Cabinet know that wouldn’t play well with trans-Atlantic relations should anything happen with Rebecca. Their worst fears come true tonight though. Two of those Secret Service agents are murdered along with a housemate living with Rebecca. As to the president’s daughter, she is kidnapped from her home on the outskirts of the Hampshire town where she has made her temporary home.


The Prime Minister is woken up and told of what has happened. He’s on the phone straight away to Washington. The American President is already aware of what is going on due to other members of the Secret Service detachment assigned to Rebecca, those not murdered tonight, having direct communications links back home. Britain’s leader tells his American counterpart he will do anything and everything it takes to free Rebecca from her kidnappers. He can only speculate on the discussions being had across the pond in Washington with ‘options’ surely presented to Rebecca’s mother about the United States taking action itself. Britain will deal with this matter and get her back.

Hampshire Constabulary has contingency plans to deal with something like this: a kidnap scenario has been hypothesised beforehand in secret exercises. They have the aid of other police forces made available straight away at Home Office direction, including the much larger Metropolitan Police, and then there are too the considerable resources of other elements of the British state in the form of intelligence agencies. Finding Rebecca becomes a task that suddenly hundreds of people are working on. Mobile phone information, security camera footage and witness reports are scoured. A media blackout takes effect as police and spooks flood Winchester. The American ambassador comes to Hampshire first thing in the morning and so too does the Home Secretary. At distant places such as Thames House and Cheltenham, the homes of MI-5 and GCHQ respectively, their personnel are involved in finding out where Rebecca might be and also who might have taken her. The killing of two highly-trained Secret Service agents – everyone is almost forgetting about the other young student who has lost his life – makes it clear that this isn’t some random event. Terrorists or state actors are suspected, something that is at once certain when the cleverness of the kidnap particulars are revealed. Those who snatched Rebecca have made great efforts to cover their tracks but left a few titbits of information behind. The police don’t pick up on these, but the spooks providing assistance do and point them in the right direction.

There are some breadcrumbs to follow and trail which still has some warmth to it.

Military personnel, an SAS team from the Counter-Revolutionary Warfare Wing detachment on anti-terrorism alert, have been put on standby at Whitehall instructions but it is police officers who make the raid on a container ship docked down in Southampton in the afternoon. Those super-secret soldiers are left behind because the Home Secretary believes that the police can handle this. If she’s wrong and the First Daughter is killed… Yes, there will be hell to pay. However, a team of highly-trained armed officers make the assault against a small ship due to leave in a few hours for a distant port. They do well. They disable a trio of bad guys – the SAS would surely have shot them – and locate Rebecca. She is pulled out of a container on deck alive and well, even if rather distraught at all that’s gone on. Fifteen hours she’s been missing but her kidnap ordeal is over. The Prime Minister calls the President and there’s a helicopter flight for Rebecca to an airbase where an American military aircraft is going to be making flight to bring her home to her mother.

As to those kidnappers, they are taken away from the dockside and into police custody. There are many people who will want to talk to them. They are being held on criminal charges of kidnap and murder but their crime is far from ordinary. They start talking. There are foreign nationals, all from one particular country. They have a story to tell about who told them to do this and just what fate was awaiting Rebecca. Their stories are going to bring about a war.

[lordroel]

May 1, 2020 0:21:13 GMT James G said:

Yet, Rebecca’s mother is who she is and Secret Service protection is afforded to her children. This is likewise coordinated with the authorities across the pond with a British police presence not shadowing her like the Secret Service agents are but sometimes in the background. Hampshire Constabulary has received a Home Office stipend to cover the extra costs associated with providing support for the Secret Service and other expenses when it comes to security around her conducted at a discreet distance. The last thing anyone in Whitehall wants is for anything to happen to the daughter of the American president. The Prime Minister and his Cabinet know that wouldn’t play well with trans-Atlantic relations should anything happen with Rebecca. Their worst fears come true tonight though. Two of those Secret Service agents are murdered along with a housemate living with Rebecca. As to the president’s daughter, she is kidnapped from her home on the outskirts of the Hampshire town where she has made her temporary home.

I always assume that the host nation also would add visibility security to a person, just in case something happens what you flash fiction is about.

[forcon]

Nice story there. My money is on Iran or Russia, most likely the latter. Some audacious intelligence plot to coerce the President.

[stevep]

May 1, 2020 12:05:07 GMT forcon said:

Nice story there. My money is on Iran or Russia, most likely the latter. Some audacious intelligence plot to coerce the President.

  Could be, although as James is showing in Blue Dawn deception is possible.  If their all from one nation its suspicious but the fact their talking so quickly, unless their say religious fanatics or others so certain of their cause does sound a bit odd given how well planned the attack is.  Do they seem to be professionals and are they possibly mercenaries?  The probability is that their home country is responsible, or a faction in it but without a lot more knowledge it would be risky to assume its the case.

[James G]

May 1, 2020 10:06:34 GMT lordroel said:

May 1, 2020 0:21:13 GMT James G said:

Yet, Rebecca’s mother is who she is and Secret Service protection is afforded to her children. This is likewise coordinated with the authorities across the pond with a British police presence not shadowing her like the Secret Service agents are but sometimes in the background. Hampshire Constabulary has received a Home Office stipend to cover the extra costs associated with providing support for the Secret Service and other expenses when it comes to security around her conducted at a discreet distance. The last thing anyone in Whitehall wants is for anything to happen to the daughter of the American president. The Prime Minister and his Cabinet know that wouldn’t play well with trans-Atlantic relations should anything happen with Rebecca. Their worst fears come true tonight though. Two of those Secret Service agents are murdered along with a housemate living with Rebecca. As to the president’s daughter, she is kidnapped from her home on the outskirts of the Hampshire town where she has made her temporary home.

I always assume that the host nation also would add visibility security to a person, just in case something happens what you flash fiction is about.

There will be British police in the background but this protection was Secret Service. In this scenario, that's how I have it but it might be as you describe in a real life situation.

May 1, 2020 12:05:07 GMT forcon said:

Nice story there. My money is on Iran or Russia, most likely the latter. Some audacious intelligence plot to coerce the President.

Thank you. Someone had a cunning plan but its gone awry... or maybe not.

May 1, 2020 12:15:57 GMT stevep said:

  Could be, although as James is showing in Blue Dawn deception is possible.  If their all from one nation its suspicious but the fact their talking so quickly, unless their say religious fanatics or others so certain of their cause does sound a bit odd given how well planned the attack is.  Do they seem to be professionals and are they possibly mercenaries?  The probability is that their home country is responsible, or a faction in it but without a lot more knowledge it would be risky to assume its the case.

I left it unsaid on purpose what this is all ultimately about. The kidnap was done well but then the kidnappers were caught and at once started talking: which would suggest a lack of initial professionalism as first shown. It stinks of a fit up.

[stevep]

Fire At Will

   The watcher woke early and took up position on the small hillock. He had heard the 2nd army arrive the previous evening and so was nervous as the key point of his mission approached. His arrival the previous morning had given him time to select his location although given the vagaries of the historical record he had been relieved when their arrival had confirmed he had the correct position.

   Using the telescopic sight he was able to observe both positions to some degree although the attackers location was already clouded by activity as they realised their opponents had arrived and taken up a position on the crest of the steep hill, effectively isolating them from the lands they had raided in previous days. Men were already milling around as they prepared their attack.

   It was a clear and sunny day, despite it already been October so despite the dust he was confident that given a clear view he could complete the mission. Remembering his history however he was waiting for this 1st attack to be completed.

  The attack was over quickly. The steepness of the hill and the vigorous resistance of the defending force meant the attackers recoiled in some disorder. Retreating in some chaos towards the base of the hill. As he looked he could already see some of the defenders on one flank start to chase down after them and cursed quietly at the fools. However having check his equipment when the attack started he looked down at the attacking army again and saw what he was certain was his target.

   The man was of medium height, sat on a large horse and clad in mail and with a number of people clustered around him in some animation. Slowly he took off his helmet and waved it in the air, shouting at the same time although at this distance nothing could be heard. Most of the crowd looked at him and several looked relived.

   This changed to shock as he fell from the saddle as if struck a heavy blow, going sidewards as much as down for several feet. There was further turmoil in the crowd and some panic as men looked around wondering what had happened. Some clustered closely around him and picked up his body and the watcher could see through the sight the hole in his mail armour on the right side of his chest, already red with blood.

   He had gone with a body shot to make certain of the hit rather than one to the head. Given the size of the bullet and the velocity of his rifle he was confident that it would not only punch through any protection available at this time but also a torso shot would be lethal enough.

   Even so he reloaded and looked again down the sights. Things were a bit clearer now as sizeable numbers of the army, with news spreading that their leader was down and possibly wild rumours as to the bolt from the blue causing fear and many were fleeing towards the boats at the shoreline.

   Some were engaging the men who had descended from the hill, with some success as they were isolated and seemed relatively poorly equipped. However the spreading panic must have been clear to those at the crest as more were starting to descend in what seemed a more ordered advance.

   A few people were gathered around the body arguing with much gestation. One who had a prominent bald spot and good quality looking armour was trying to rally the men shouting loudly by the look of it and also waving a cross in his hand that he had slung around his neck. Some were starting to listen to him.

   This ended when the 2nd shot knocked him to the ground and his body thrashed briefly. Dread was now clear in those who had been clustered around him and with the defenders now approaching the bottom of the hill and ploughing into those who had been fighting the 1st wave that had come downwards any semblance of order or chance for the attackers to avoid total defeat collapsed.

   The watcher decided his work was done. He wondered how good his lessons in middle English actually were but thought he would soon find out. Presuming he didn't simply disappear. He had no understanding of the science behind the operation but knew that even the experts who had developed the machine that had delivered him here couldn't agree on how the grandfather paradox – one step he did understand – would resolve itself. Given how desperate 2048 Earth was the decision had been taken, once the option became available that something must be done to change things. Exactly why they had decided on a point so far in the past he didn't know but his was aware enough of the events that he had hopefully averted that he had no qualms about the people he had shot.

  ####

  A little idea that occurred to me earlier today.  Often thought the title phase is very hostile to anyone called William then the thought came to me of a situation which could be interesting from a AH point of view.  I suspect most of your will guess from the description who was the 1st man shot and the 2nd was intended to be his brother.

  Anyway, hope you enjoy.

  Steve