Jet Stream - Softcover

Muehlberg, R. L.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0965334201 ISBN 13: 9780965334204

Publisher: Novelzine, 2009

Synopsis

This fresh new angle on the future scenario thriller is presented in a unique new format: the novelzine TM. It's a novel printed in magazine form. Author R.L. Muehlberg spins the clock to 2012 A.D. He pits the world's newest superpowers, United Europe and the Asia-Pacific Confederation, against a world-weary, financially-exhausted United States and a divided Canada. In Jet Stream - Part 1 of Muehlberg's WWIII: The Breakup of America trilogy, an independent Quebec allies with United Europe in a surgical, brutal attack against the United States and Canada. Jet Stream is a cautionary adventure that warns against a frighteningly plausible future.

About this title

About the Author

(e-mail: richardm@nyc.rr.com) R.L. Muehlberg lives in New York City. Born in America, he spent his childhood in Germany and England at the height of the Cold War. He served as an officer in the US Army National Guard in the Artillery and Armored Cavalry.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

PROLOGUE

The year is 2012.

A new era is beginning. Like the USSR before it, the United States of America is fading as a world power. Puerto Rico and Hawaii are sovereign nations. Alaska is a United Nations eco-protectorate. The Union is in danger of dissolving.

The world's attention is dominated by the rising struggle between two new superpowers: United Europe and the Asia-Pacific Confederation. United Europe is an economic powerhouse. The Confederation (China, Japan, United Korea and the Asian Pacific Rim Nations ) is a loose but dynamic force.

India and the nations of South America are growing stronger. The nations of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc continue to limp along. The Middle East continues to periodically erupt. Africa continues its numbing struggle with itself.

Quebec - invigorated by a hydroelectric-inspired economic boom - has seceded from Canada. Canada is still in shock.

The "America First" Party, promising a "new America free of the ulcer of foreign aid and of military bonds to an ungrateful world", has put its first President into the White House. America's armed forces, labeled as "relics of history and a flagrant waste of precious tax dollars", have been drastically reduced and hobbled by legislated restrictions and burdened by executive orders. America's entire nuclear arsenal has been decommissioned.

DAY ONE, SUNDAY, 0735 HOURS
AUTOROUTE 173, CHECKPOINT 3,
NW OF THE QUEBEC-MAINE BORDER

Concealed along a narrow logging trail, shielded by an arch of overhanging branches, Major Remy Sorrel stood in the turret of his Badger armored car. His Badger was 50 meters northeast of Checkpoint 3, a road junction with Autoroute 173. He looked at his watch.

Time: 0735.

During the night, a light rain shower had passed through. The cold, morning air was fresh with the fragrance of the moist earth and trees. The autumn sky, peeking between the branches, was a clear blue - the dominant color of Quebec's flag. As the morning brightened, the blue deepened.

He inhaled a long, satisfying breath. It was a good day to be Quebecois. He saw his life in hard, simple terms. He was not compromised by emotions. Abandoned at birth, he was scarred on the inside by a cold, parentless youth, and on the outside - across his face - by shrapnel from a Cree terrorist grenade.

He began his career at 18.

He joined the 1st Airborne Commando of the Canadian Airborne Regiment. The 1st was composed entirely of French-speaking Canadians. At 32, he transferred, as part of the Sovereign Forces Act, to join the SQ, the Surete du Quebec. On the day Quebec seceded, he volunteered for the newly created Armee Quebec, and was eagerly accepted at the rank of Captain. He was assigned to Intelligence, and made major within a year.

His rapid rise paralleled Quebec's rise. Quebec's successful secession followed decades of failed attempts. The keys were a technological breakthrough in the super-efficient transmission of electrical energy and a pledge of massive economic and military support from United Europe.

Following independence, Quebec saw the rest of North America as a hostile continent, and felt the need for a buffer carved from its neighbors. United Europe indulged Quebec's anxieties by sending an expeditionary force - nicknamed "Heweys" for the initials UE - to its new ally under the cover of a joint training exercise. In secret, the Allies began planning a limited invasion. Sorrel took an active part in the planning.

The US and Canada preferred not to believe reports of the invasion plans. The reports were ridiculed. The Pentagon was accused of fabricating the reports in order to preserve its shrinking budget. Sorrel's agents helped seat that accusation.

He didn't hate America or Canada. He was simply Quebecois to his core, and was prepared to see any price paid to protect Quebec's independence. He thought of Montcalm protecting Quebec from the British in 1759. Now, in 2012, all United Europeans were his allies.

He snorted with a laugh as he remembered Cardinal Richelieu's dry summation of history. "Loyalty is but a matter of dates."

Before the hour, he would cross the border into Maine as an Armee Quebec, Corps Headquarters Intelligence Observer assigned to Action Group 5. He scanned the Badgers ahead of and behind him. Their expectant crews waited for their group commander's flag signal to advance.

Edition details

• Publisher: Novelzine
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0965334201
• ISBN 13: 9780965334204
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 136