John Schettler

KIROV SAGA: ABLE FIRE

THE NEXT WAR — 2025 and Beyond

If you want peace, prepare for war….

Author’s Note:

Dear Readers,

“May you live in interesting times….”

With the Coronavirus on a rampage, the stock market tumbling, over 25 million filing for unemployment, Infections and deaths mounting, and the election campaigns trying to adapt and still carry their respective fights into November, things have sure gotten “interesting” in the world this year. Few could have seen the whirlwind that would soon overtake the world way back in October and November when the only thing gripping the news headlines was the impeachment process. Now, as of this writing, Americans are in “lockdown” mode as they did in China when the outbreak first occurred, and for many it’s a question of how far the money will go to pay rent, utilities and keep food on the table. The unprecedented relief package will likely top $3 trillion, to say nothing of the multi-trillion expansion of the Fed’s balance sheet too.

In recent decades our nation has lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Kennedy assassination, Vietnam War, Watergate, 9/11, the Gulf Wars like those underway now in this story, the earlier stock market crashes, and the “Great Recession,” but brothers, we ain’t never see nuthin’ like this! The economic hit will be three to five times deeper than the Great Recession, and as a society we will be profoundly changed by this virus. It’s a most unusual time when you look at the google traffic map and see its all green at rush hour, even in places where driving is a real nightmare like LA. The empty freeways in California are almost eerily silent.

It will be hard to measure the scope and scale of the economic damage alone that this pandemic will cause, or the loss of life, particularly in vulnerable populations. The “boomer” generation built this world, but many aged badly, and they are very vulnerable now. It’s up to the younger folks out there to protect them, all the moms, dads, grandads and grandma’s that might be infected by an unknowing younger person, who felt fine but was still carrying the virus without having symptoms.

What may happen next is anybody’s guess. There’s a push to reopen the economy and get people back to work, yet that will come with renewed risk if this infection spreading. Will we see a resurgence in the fall? Many or most medical experts think we will. The killer “Spanish Flu” of 1918 came in a series of waves. (Though it did not start in Spain. They just called it that because Spain got hit so hard with it.) That Pandemic began in Europe and the US, and then consumed the entire world, infecting a third of the earth’s population, killing an estimated 50 million, of which 675,000 were in the US. 40% of the US Navy came down with it and 36% of the US Army, where more American soldiers died from that flu than they did from WWI.

That bug was in the H1N1 virus class, a kind of mixed beast with characteristics of both “swine flu” and “bird flu.” This time, COVID-19 is a kind of “bat flu.” When recovery of damaged lung tissue was found in buried victims, we finally decoded the genome of the 1918 pandemic flu, and discovered that it had mutated from milder strains that were circulating in the population between 1900 and 1915. The pandemic it caused endured for three long years, from January of 1918 until December of 1920. Then that monster mercifully vanished after its rampage, and did not return. No one yet knows what COVID-19 will do, as I write this about the time cases were making their initial “peak” in the US.

Just a few months earlier, we had only one confirmed case, and the rest were all in an off shore cruise liner. Now look what happened. Evidence of a death as early as Feb 6 was found to have the virus after autopsy. With the long incubation period and slow progression of the disease once infected, that meant the person could have contracted the bug a full month sooner, in early January, in Santa Clara County California. That means the beast was already here, quietly circulating in its stealth mode, where people have it without symptoms.

It shows you just how vulnerable the world is in our highly mobile society, where a person can be in Italy one moment, and New York City a few hours later. After just a few weeks in “lockdown” mode, we are all wanting to get back to normal, but considering the duration of that Spanish Flu pandemic is sobering. We may only be at the start of this war against the virus, though I hope it passes soon.

Now, at this hour, we must all stand up and do our part for the nation, our families, and our friends. We must do our best to see that everyone is taken care of. There can be no greater national calling. Patriotism isn’t about politics, reds and blues, or anything remotely like that. Patriotism now means participation, in every respect, in the effort to contain and suppress this virus so we can return to the way of life we knew before it struck.

Now, in this time of national crisis, it is my hope that the country that has been so bitterly divided into the reds and blues forgets all that nonsense, and that we realize we are one nation. The virus respects no state borders, ignores all political leanings, disdains the rich and poor alike. So let’s step up, take care of each other, protect the vulnerable, show the country and the world what our citizens can do.

And please don’t blame it on China. That’s nonsense too. This virus was out there, aggressive, and looking to find any vector it could into our population. There are signs that it may have been quietly circulating in numbers far greater than we knew, and that “confirmed” cases were just the tip of the iceberg. It came out of the world, and it matters not where it started, just like the 1918 flu where many of the first cases appeared in the US. It was going to find us one day, and that day has come.

There will be long hours at home that will need filling, and Netflix only takes you so far. So for those of you who have been with this story for so long, I’ll keep them coming. While I realize an epic about the great world wars, past and future, might not be seen as comforting, heck, it’s a story, and a damn good read. World War Three might make worries over the pandemic, or your bank account, seem a little less threatening. I spend half my time on another Meridian, this one, where I vanish into the heads and hearts of the characters in this epic story, and carry on the tale. You come too.

Karpov and Fedorov face old fears and harrowing events in their struggle to shape the future they helped build. As you will soon see, they have left room for self-doubt. They will soon begin to face the disturbing recurrence of “missing men” on the ship, signs Fedorov will now recount for Karpov when the very first ship and crew faced the coming of Paradox Hour.

They came to this Meridian thinking it was the world they had created, but Fedorov has always feared one thing in all of his ruminations, that they would reach a future where the ship itself had never been built, and where their place and existence in that world has no underpinnings at all. This is what he fears now, and that possibility will only be worsened with the scheming’s of one Ivan Volkov, as you will see by the end of this volume.

After stopping the offensives in the Middle East, and reopening the Suez Canal, the Western Coalition now transitions from Able Sentry to Able Fire in this volume, and goes on the offense. At sea, the Chinese are beginning to see the limitations of their naval strategy, and now attempt maneuvers aimed at consolidating their remaining strength while they attempt to bring new weapons to the fight.

For those of you who might wonder at the fate of Captain MacRae and Elena Fairchild after their disappearance at Isandlwana, I can say that I have been writing that entire tale as a separate volume, which will stand next to Field of Glory as the Keyholders Saga, Volume II, entitled Zulu Hour. I’m writing it between and betwixt these regular series volumes, and will keep you posted on its progress. (Just finished Chapter 15!).

Until then, enjoy Able Fire, and stay safe. My best to you all, with continued thanks for keeping me fed. If you don’t read, I don’t eat. Let’s all hope that when I present the next volume in the series, Far Horizon, our world looks much better. Help make it so.

- John Schettler

Part I

Three Blind Mice

“Three blind mice. Three blind mice.

See how they run. See how they run.

They all ran after the farmer’s wife,

Who cut off their tails with a carving knife,

Did you ever see such a sight in your life,

As three blind mice?”

― English Nursery Rhyme

Chapter 1

Tell me everything that happened.

That was a tall order, thought Fedorov. It had been the most harrowing time of his life, through all the many dangers and travails of Kirov these many years. He remembered how alone he felt, in command of the ship, lost in that sickening, impenetrable sea fog for seemingly endless days. How to begin? How could he explain that time to Karpov, and get him to understand.

“After what happened to Lenkov,” he started, you can imagine how the rest of the crew must have felt.”

“Certainly,” said Karpov.

“Well, I did my best to calm things, and then Dobrynin came to me again.”

“Trouble with the reactors?”

“Not exactly. He thought that at first, but it was something else—a sound, a deep abiding thrum that he really couldn’t explain. I remember he told me that it wasn’t something mechanical. He said he walked the ship to try and localize it, but could not attribute it as coming from any particular place. Then he said it seemed to be coming from all directions—everywhere. He asked me if he could take a boat out and get away from Kirov to see if he could still hear it, but there was no time for that.”

“Spooky,” said Karpov. “Dobrynin’s ears are very sharp, or so I’ve been told. He’s as good as Tasarov.”

“Yes, and Tasarov heard this sound as well. Then I remembered that Troyak had heard something like this, and Orlov—on that mission to Siberia. So I sought out the Sergeant, and that was when we found Lenkov’s legs.”

“Eerie,” said Karpov. “Was Troyak hearing it right then?”

“No… but he tried to describe what he heard when we were in Siberia. He called it glubokiy zvuk—deep sound—bone deep. It’s something you feel more than hear, unless you have ears like Tasarov and Dobrynin. He heard this when Orlov found the Devil’s Teardrop, so I began to suspect that was the source of the problem. Well, I went to Volsky, and we decided that the only thing to do was throw the damn thing overboard.”

“Yes, you told me about that—Peake’s Deep.”

“Correct… But something happened to me when I did that—to my hand. It was cold, and I rubbed my hands together a moment, and then I saw… well I saw one of my hands emit that strange green glow, and then it vanished!”

“Good lord,” said Karpov, friendly with the man upstairs when he needed to be.

“It was just a moment, but it phased, just a part of me like that, which was most unsettling. After that, I was alright, but that isn’t something you forget.”

“Of course. Did it ever happen again?”

“Thankfully not, but to be honest, I began to feel like a marked man. We got into a battle shortly after that, with the Germans, and I… well, I sunk the Graf Zeppelin.”

“The German aircraft carrier… Well, it seems I’m not alone as a man who hunts those beasts.”

“It didn’t feel quite so good to me,” said Fedorov. “I don’t get the rush you do with a victory at sea. All I remember doing was looking up the specs on that ship and learning I had just put 1700 men into the sea. It wasn’t a good feeling, Karpov. As much as I have changed, I’m just not the warrior soul you are. With all that distraction, I thought we had put the other stuff behind us, but I was wrong. That was when Tasarov collapsed. He looked worn out, haggard, saying he could just not shake off that sound. You know how he gets when he hears something at his station. He’s intense, unrelenting. Well, this was a sound he took with him to his cabin the previous night. He could hear it, just like Dobrynin. It was just the first of many more problems to come, and remember, this was while we were sailing in the impending shadow of Paradox Hour.”

“Ah, yes,” said Karpov. “The Second Coming, as we came to call it. That was what brought my brother-self to that time in the past, and I was spared annihilation because I was safe aboard Tunguska. That’s what permitted us both to survive in the same milieu, the first man in human history to have a real Doppelganger. Fedorov… We still have Rod-25 aboard. What if the rad-safe container isn’t enough? Perhaps we should throw the damn thing overboard too.”

“Perhaps,” said Fedorov. “I had a talk with Volsky about our situation, and I remember telling him I suspected the ship itself may have acquired some kind of strange property from all our time shifts. You know—the same way metals can take on magnetic properties. You know how we have to degauss the ship’s hull every so often. We were right in the middle of that discussion when it happened.”

“When what happened?”

“We vanished….” He remembered that moment as clear as yesterday.

* * *

Kalinichev interrupted with a sudden report.

“System malfunction,” he said, and Rodenko was soon at his side at the radar station.

“What is the problem?”

“I get no returns on the Fregat system, sir. All contact tracks are void. I can’t even read Invincible in our wake, yet I have no red light. My system still reads green.”

“Switch to phased array and reboot the Fregat system.”

“Aye sir. Initializing phased array now.”

There was no difference. Both systems now reported no contacts around them at all, which immediately drew Volsky and Fedorov to the radar station to see what was happening.

“Is this a local ship’s problem?” said Volsky. “Is it confined to the electronics?”

“Mister Nikolin,” said Fedorov. “Activate the aft Tin Man and feed the camera optics to the main viewing screen.”

“Aye sir. Tin Man active.”

They all looked up at the screen, expecting to see the tall mainmast and superstructure of Invincible in their wake, half a kilometer behind them. The weather was good, and there was nothing that should have been able to fool the optics of that hi-res camera system.

But the sea was clear and calm. They had been quietly planning the destruction of the entire German fleet, a feat they might have easily accomplished, until this….

Fedorov looked at Volsky, and then moved immediately to the weather bridge hatch, intending to have a look with his own eyes. He knew it was a foolish thing to do, as the Tin Man signal was clearly showing the empty sea, but something in him just wanted the confirmation of his own senses, with no digital interface.

HMS Invincible was gone, and all around the ship, a thick grey haze began to fall like a shroud.

* * *

“The ship vanished,” said Karpov. “It might have been that thing Orlov found, Fedorov. You saw what it did to your hand.”

“That may be so, but I came to feel that it was inevitable. We had foolishly allowed ourselves to remain in a time before our first regression to the past, and each tick of the clock was bringing us closer and closer to an insoluble problem for time—Paradox. There could only be one ship and crew in that time. They simply could not co-exist like you managed with your brother-self. We were all gone, removed from the time Meridian to make way for the Second Coming, which was really just our first regression to the past. That simply had to happen. Otherwise, how could we be there, sinking Graf Zeppelin and doing all the other things we did in that damn war?”

“Where did you go? You must have told me this, but so much has happened since.”

“We appeared on the sea,” said Fedorov. “I could feel the waves and swell of the ocean, but we were in that heavy fog I spoke of. We had clearly phased, and shifted again, because my boots were stuck in the deck.”

“Yes, you told me about all that.”

“There were other problems—hatches that would not seat or shut properly, warped ladders, an odd outward bulge in the hull. All I could think of was that we might have systems down all over the ship. Think of all the electronics aboard! If they were affected, the micro circuitry altered in any way, we could have failures in vital ship’s systems, but everything checked out fine. I reasoned that something about the energy, or perhaps the magnetic field surrounding the equipment, served to shield it from the odd effects being reported elsewhere. There was no other way to explain it.”

“Sounds reasonable,” said Karpov.

“So now I had both Tasarov and Dobrynin down, and a line of queasy men at Zolkin’s door.”

“Dobrynin too?”

“Yes, and Volsky was reporting dizziness, though he waved it off as normal. I made ship’s rounds to check on things, and that’s when Sub Lieutenant Gagarin informed me he thought he had a man missing—Kornalev’s shift mate, but it was odd, Karpov. He couldn’t remember who the other man was.”

“The man who went missing?”

“Exactly. Things settled down, but I had no idea where we were. We clearly shifted, but where? We still had those reserve control rods aboard, and Volsky and I considered using one to try and initiate another shift, but then decided to leave the poor ship in peace for a while. So I went to Kamenski—he was aboard when this all happened—but when I got there….”

“Ah,” said Karpov, “I know this part. Kamenski was gone, vanished, but not his key.”

Fedorov nodded. “We searched the whole ship, but the ship’s Purser, Belov, didn’t even remember that Kamenski was ever aboard! Of course he would have logged Kamenski aboard, but he had no record of that either. I went to the officer’s dining room, and that was where Nikolin came to me, looking very upset.

* * *

“What Nikolin? You look upset.”

“I am, sir, but it feels like my roof has caved in—Choknutyj.” That was an untranslatable Russian word for crazy, and Fedorov could understand how anyone on the ship might feel that way just now. “When Karpov was here—during that last incident on the bridge,” said Nikolin, “I caught part of the radio transmission on a recording when the Admiral was ordering the Captain to stand down. I didn’t know what to do, but I had been sending riddles to someone on the text messaging system, and I used it to give warning of what was happening. I ran across the very message I sent in my system check, by chance I suppose. It was very upsetting. The station number was listed, and the crew member’s code comes right after that for message routing. I had been playing the game, sending riddles to that same code earlier that day, so I looked it up.” He gave Fedorov a puzzled look. “There’s no one assigned to that code sir. It was void—designated unused.”

“Perhaps you got the number wrong,” Fedorov suggested.

“No sir. The code was on numerous text messages I sent that day, always the same number, and these are permanent assignments, like a person’s email address. Yet when I queried the database the code was unassigned.”

“You are certain of this number?”

“001-C-12.” Nikolin rattled off the number from memory. “I know it as easily as my old street address. 001 is for main bridge stations. Sub-codes C-10 through C-12 are for personnel serving at the sonar station.”

“Velichko?

“No sir, his number is C-11. I double checked that.”

“I see… So you say you have messages in the archive sent to C-12, but no one has that number? Then you found a glitch in the system, Nikolin. Good for you! This could be a clue. We will have to give the electronics a deeper look. If this data was not stored properly, or perhaps written wrong by the system, then other things could be amiss as well. I discovered a problem with the Purser’s data just a little while ago.”

“I suppose so, sir, but you don’t understand…” Nikolin had a tormented look on his face now. “When I saw that number, it was as though something broke inside me, and I remembered. 001-C-12. The number kept after me. I knew it meant something—someone, but I could not remember who it was. Then this feeling came over me that is hard to describe. I felt so sad, as though I had lost a brother—my best friend. That’s when it hit me, Captain. My best friend! Yes, I knew who had that number now—I could see his face, hear his voice, remember. It all came back, and I remembered he had been taken ill—just a little while ago, sir. So I went looking for him. I went down to sick bay and asked the Doctor about him, but he had no idea who I was talking about!”

“Well who are you talking about?”

“Alexi, sir. Alexi Tasarov! I can’t find him! I’ve looked all over the ship!” There was a pleading look on his face now, very troubled and bothered.

“You can’t find him?” Now Fedorov realized he had been sitting there waiting for Director Kamenski for the last 45 minutes. Something about Nikolin’s travail suddenly struck him like a hammer.

“You can’t find him? Have you gone to his quarters?” His mind offered up the next logical step in solving that simple puzzle, but even as he did so, he had the feeling that the missing piece meant something much, much more than it seemed on the surface. Nikolin was sitting there, telling him he’d lost his best friend—telling him he could not find this man Tasarov…

Fedorov knew every man that served in a main bridge station, with no exceptions, but he had no recollection of this name—Tasarov…

Until that very moment.

* * *

Karpov was silent, thinking deeply of what Fedorov had said. Men were vanishing, just like the ship, just like Fedorov’s hand, and no one even remembered they were ever there. They say that a person’s soul never dies, until every other soul that ever knew them also died, and there was no one left alive who remembered them.

“I took this to Volsky, but he did not remember Tasarov either, or Dobrynin. Thank God Nikolin remembered, and he jogged the memory in me. I eventually nudged something loose in Volsky, and he finally remembered Kamenski, Dobrynin, and Tasarov. If you could get to someone who knew these men soon enough—after they vanished—then you could shake loose those memories again. I eventually came to the notion that when we first arrived in the past, it was like a stone falling on a still pool of water. Ripples went out in all directions, forward in time, and also into the past. They were stronger close to the point when we appeared, gradually weakening as they progressed outward—a metaphor, but I think it’s true—Heisenberg Waves.”

“We talked about this once, long ago it seems.”

“Yes… Heisenberg Waves. There we were at a point in time, very close to the ship’s first regression. At that point, those waves would be very strong.”

“Strong enough to bend bulkheads and hatches out of shape, or create a bulge in the hull of the ship.” said Karpov. “Strong enough to simply sweep men away, as if they were never there.”

The light glittered in Fedorov’s eyes. “Exactly so! We shifted again—and for the last time on that ship. Volsky addressed the crew, and then it happened—the fog, that deep terrifying sound, the weird lights around us all. And the next thing I remember, I was still there on the bridge, but not on the same ship, no, not the one we sailed through the Denmark Strait. I was on the ship that was destined to arrive that very first time, and so were you, at the time of the Second Coming.”

Chapter 2

“Soul migration,” said Fedorov. “That’s the only way I can explain it. Nothing in my head had changed, but it was all in the head of young Navigator Anton Fedorov now. I was there, everything I ever knew, and with the memories of all the things we experienced after first regression. Finding you there was quite a shock, and that is what led me to conclude that I was not on my old ship any longer. I have no idea what happened to it, but who knows, it may have been annihilated by Paradox.”

“Why did you survive? Why not Rodenko, Zolkin, or any of the others? Ah, because you were a Prime Mover, just like I survived that hour aboard Tunguska.”

“No, I don’t think so. I survived because I was wearing this key, the thing Kamenski left for me before he vanished. And you survived only because you were protected from Paradox by the fairy dust in the bones of Tunguska. It had nothing to do with this Prime Mover business. No, it was something physical that protected us, an arcane property that we’ll probably never understand, but it resides in physical objects. That much is clear.”

“But you say my brother-self knew nothing of this, of all the things we did after we first vanished.”

“Of course not. He was your Doppelganger. Frankly, I don’t think Time wanted the two of you to survive.”

“I’ll have to agree,” said Karpov. “She didn’t harm the man you saw there on Kirov, but I damn well thought she was after me when I was on Tunguska. It wasn’t a pleasant experience. Well, now she’s corrected the matter. My brother-self is gone. He lived a full life, Fedorov, an old man when that missile found him. I was still young, and I also had full recollection of everything we did after first regression. So I guess I was spared this time, though I still feel that a part of me died with the Siberian.”

“The question now is this,” said Fedorov. “It’s starting again. We’re starting to see men go missing, Volushin, Markov, and if the pattern holds, it will be Lenkov next. I’ve asked his mates to keep an eye on him, but I’m not sure that will be of any help.”

“A man’s fate is a man’s fate,” said Karpov, “and life means very little.”

“Spoken like a true Samurai,” said Fedorov. “Karpov, what should we do? You suggested we get rid of Rod-25, and that we could do easily enough, but what about this key I’m wearing? What about the box we used to even get here to this future? We thought it was only fitting that Kirov should get to the future we helped create, and here we are. That said, the ship is unstable. The aberration Dobrynin reported, and Markov’s fate, were clear warnings. Now Volushin is gone, and the list is long.”

“Look, at least we know the road ahead. It’s right in there!” Karpov pointed a finger to Fedorov’s head. “We know Lenkov is next, then Kornalev’s shift mate, Tasarov, Dobrynin…. But there’s no Kamenski aboard to vanish.”

“He was a keyholder,” said Fedorov. “And guess what—this is the key he held, right here around my neck, so it didn’t protect him.”

“You’re suggesting you will vanish like he did?”

“I don’t know what to think, but like I said earlier, I’m on the list, we all are. Everyone vanished in the end.”

“Not all of us,” said Karpov. “Remember, I wasn’t aboard, and since Time already got a pound of my flesh when my brother died, I could be immune. You could be immune too, Fedorov. That key saved you once already. It might work again.”

“Small comfort,” said Fedorov, clearly distressed. “My God, look what we’ve done—the two of us. We came forward from WWII in the effort to try and prevent first regression, but it’s clear that we didn’t appear on this Meridian. It was another time line. Well, we succeeded in keeping the ship where it was, but then saw that whole world careen into a nuclear war. So we make good our escape, back here, to the future we really came from in the first place, only now we find it radically altered by the things we did in WWII. And we’ve dragged this ship and crew with us. Now look what’s happening to them. They don’t deserve this fate.”

“We’re not powerless, Fedorov. We can act to stave off that fate. First, we must try to stabilize the ship, and make sure Dobrynin doesn’t start hearing that sound again.”

“Alright, let’s dump Rod-25. These waters are very deep, particularly in the Celebes Sea. We don’t need it, and we already know it can destabilize our position in time.”

“But we still keep the keys,” said Karpov. “Something tells me they will be more stable. Rod-25 was never planned. It was happenstance that saw it laden with those exotic particles in the mines near Vanavara, but this box—these keys—they’re something quite different. These things were engineered in the future, Fedorov, and that’s where they’ve been taking us—always forward. In the last extreme, we could use that box to move the ship again.”

“Move it? To another time? For God’s sake, where?”

“Who knows, but it would be better than suffering the fate you just described to me. There may be other Meridians out there.”

Fedorov thought about that. It had to be true, for they had seen more than one themselves. Yet how many were there? Was time an infinite weave of multiple universes, or was it more frugal? In his many discourses with Kamenski, and even that American Physicist, Paul Dorland, he knew that other time lines existed. The one they were on when those live fire exercises began was not this meridian… or was it?

Dorland talked about the Prime Meridian, as if Time had a preference for keeping things wrapped up on one time line. Then we go and screw the whole thing up, he thought. Yes, we shift back to 1941, Karpov ends up shifting even further to 1908, as do I, and then the entire history of that Meridian is altered. I was so adamant in my quest to go after him and bring Kirov forward, but we didn’t make it. We fell out of the shift at a point before our first regression to the past. That’s what caused the loop, and I was right there in the middle of that. When Kirov and crew vanished, my consciousness was migrated to the Anton Fedorov on the ship we called the Second Coming. But that was still the original ship, wasn’t it? That was who we were before all of this started happening. The first ship was gone, as if it had never existed, just like those men on Zolkin’s list.

“Karpov,” he said haltingly. “I think we’re back on the Prime Meridian.”

“Having a brain storm, Fedorov? What do you mean?”

“We thought there was an earlier recurrence—that we were not the first cause of all this, but now I think differently.”

“Differently? Well, where the hell did we get this ship? It wasn’t from this Meridian.”

“Correct, but I think that time line was like a shadow of this one. Yes, we stopped this ship from regressing, but then look what happened to that Meridian? We got caught up in WWIII, and it all went to hell. That little jump we made in the icy north showed us a dead world. The Northern Shamrock was abandoned, and there was a crater there that could have only been made by a nuke. That world died, and now that I think of it, we saw that dead world before. Remember?”

“When we went to Halifax… yes, and when we sailed into the Med. Then we ended up in WWII again.”

“Yes, but back on the same Meridian we came from. The Meridian that now had the altered history of WWII, and we’re in the future of that same time line right now. So you see, we never really did stop the first regression of Kirov on this Meridian, not on the Prime. No, we stopped it on the Shadow….”

“What are you saying, that we took the wrong train? We have to go back to July 28, 2021 on this time line? But Fedorov, Kirov wasn’t there.”

“Yes, because it shifted back to WWII.”

“That ship had two fates. I’ve just described one of them for you, all the vanishing men, the fog, the final shift to God knows where. The other fate was played out in the hands of your brother-self, the Siberian. That ship made it to the 1980s, before the reactor died, and then the Siberian scuttled it. I’m willing to bet that happened just before another Paradox Hour, the day the first steel would have been cut on the original ship. Then again, I don’t think this ship was ever built here on this altered time line. We changed the Prime Meridian so drastically, that the ship was never built.”

“You’ve said that before, it was always one of your favorite worries.”

“And justifiably so,” said Fedorov. “You see… Kirov did shift back, we know that. And it had two fates which I just identified. But now we’ve made it so that the Soviets of this era never built the ship at all! Let’s look….”

Fedorov knew he was correct, but they could easily verify that with a little Internet search. It took him just a moment to call up the status of the current Soviet Navy. It was much smaller, as there had been no Cold War to justify its buildup as a foil against the West. And yes, the Kirov class battlecruisers were not in the fleet. They were never built.

“Strange that we never thought to look this up,” said Karpov.

“Indeed. Well now, that explains a lot. We ended up doing exactly what I feared—we changed so much of the history that Kirov was never built. That makes us, and this ship, a complete anomaly here. And look what we’re doing—we’re at it again! We’re involving ourselves in the history of these events, changing things.”

“I thought we agreed this was our future, worth fighting for.”

“Yes, that may be so, but there shouldn’t be a ship called Kirov in this fight, and that goes for a Lider Class destroyer called Kursk, and a Yasen class sub called Kazan. This Soviet union never built those ships either, otherwise neither one could have shifted here.”

“A fine little group we are,” said Karpov. “The Three Blind Mice.”

“A British nursery rhyme,” said Fedorov. “Yes, I know that one. They all ran after the Farmer’s wife.”

“Who cut off their tails with a carving knife,” Karpov finished.

“Guess who the Farmer’s Wife is,” said Fedorov.

Karpov nodded heavily. “Mother Time….”

They sat with that for a moment, metaphorical as it was. It nonetheless seemed a perfect way to describe their plight. There they were, in a place they did not belong, and up to the same old mischief again.

“We’ve already drastically altered the course of this war,” said Fedorov. “Hell, you’ve sunk two of the six Chinese aircraft carriers, and now here we are, gunning for another one. Taifeng is out there south of Davao, and I know damn well that you have it in your sights.”

“What are you saying, Fedorov, that we should not have come here? Well, this is where Time sent us, all three warships. That was no mere coincidence. The Meridian we left in 2021 died, we know that now. The fact that we’re here means something. Time had to know that. Scorpions sting, Fedorov, and that is what this ship is, a scorpion.

“This was the only place we could go,” Fedorov asserted. “Maybe there wasn’t any other place to put us. In that scenario, Time had no other choice.”

“Well, we saw our appearance here as only right and just—to clean up the mess we created.”

“But we’re muddling the waters again,” said Fedorov. “We’re changing the outcome of WWIII, a completely anomalous force that doesn’t belong here. There is now no historical continuum beneath us to justify our presence here, and look what is happening to us now. You saw that eerie light in the reactor section, and it was accompanied by the same deep sound that Dobrynin and Tasarov both heard on the original ship, when we were lost in that fog. Low and behold, we have two men missing now. Don’t you see? Time got rid of that first ship, and everyone aboard. Why my soul was spared, I’ll never know, but all the rest are gone. Now Time is getting rid of us!”

“Spooky to think that,” said Karpov, but you may be right. That aberration we saw in the reactor room happened as we were approaching the Sunda Strait—Krakatoa, and we know that region was profoundly shattered when that monster erupted.”

“Correct. We’re not really stable in any time, or so it seems. We shifted here when we were in the Kuriles, and I’ll bet if we had kept to that course and entered the Sunda Strait, the temporal instability there would have sent us somewhere else.”

“Where, Fedorov?”

“You said that other Meridian, the Shadow Meridian, was dead. Where else could we go?”

“Oh, we could still end up there, I suppose, in that blighted world. It would be a fitting punishment for all we’ve done. One thing is clear. Time may have sent us here, for lack of any better choice. Yet now we’re on her list. Yes, we started meddling again, changing the outcome of this war, and reshaping this history. So now we’ve become dangerous free radicals. The Farmer’s Wife is gunning for us with her carving knife, Karpov, and she’s already taken down two of our crew….”

That was a very sobering thought. All Karpov’s bravado about his importance as a Prime Mover now seemed a wet, ragged mantle. The crown on his head was made of tin. They weren’t the irreplaceable masters of time, out to right the wrongs and settle things. The Carrier Killer was just that, a meddler, a killer, someone who had no business being here, and someone who now had to be dealt with.

“My God,” he breathed. “If the Chinese don’t get us first, then Mother Time will be after us with her carving knife. But Fedorov…” There was a twinkle of light and hope in his eyes now. “That rhyme wasn’t the end of that story. The complete version ends quite differently. Look it up!”[1]

“The mice took a trip, got hungry, begged food from the farmer, and got fed. Then the Farmer’s wife showed up, and she was pissed. In fact, she set the cat after them.”

“Fedorov was looking up the tale, shaking his head. “A cat named Paradox, no doubt,” he said. “Here it is… The Farmer’s Wife said, ‘What are you at, and why were you capering round like that? Just wait a minute: I’ll fetch the Cat.’ Oh dear! Poor Mice…. It keeps the same meter and rhyme as the verse most people know. The mice ran and hid in a bramble hedge, which is how they got blinded by the thorns.”

“Yes,” said Karpov, “and see how it ends. They got their tails clipped, but it didn’t end that way. They went to an alchemist and he gave them a tonic.”

“Here it is,” Fedorov read. “They could not see, and they had no end; They sought out a Chemist and found a Friend. He gave them some ‘Never too late to mend,’ These Three Sick Mice.”

“A tonic,” said Karpov. “It regrew their tails and restored their sight. Then they settled down somewhere, and all was well. The story had a happy ending, Fedorov, and ours might have one too.”

“It’s hard to see that now,” said Fedorov. “Particularly after Markov and Volushin.”

“Oh, we might get our tails clipped before the end, but we’ve got a tonic, Fedorov. We’ve got those keys, that box. They were engineered in the future, and for a reason. It was all about sealing off those time fissures, healing what was broken. Don’t you see? I’m betting that box will be our salvation in all of this. It’s never too late to mend… In the meantime, removing other destabilizing elements on the ship might be wise. Why don’t you get down to the reactor section and have Dobrynin put together a disposal team for Rod-25. If need be, we can use a torpedo. I can get one in the water off the ship and we could strap the container to the damn thing, then send it deep.”

“Good idea. I’ll see if Dobrynin can still hear anything wrong—that sound—and let you know. What will you do?”

“What else can we do? At the moment, we’re in the middle of a battle here. Don’t forget we’re still at war.”

“Right, but should we be in this fight, Karpov? Isn’t that why we’re so dangerous? We’ve already changed things. You want to continue our meddling? What if the Chinese were supposed to succeed in their push for Iwo Jima?”

Chapter 3

“I don’t think that would have been a likely outcome,” said Karpov. “The Americans had too much carrier power there. Besides, that theater looked like the main event when things started, but it was just the early rounds of this war. The real fighting is in the Indian Ocean, and the land war in the Middle East. We had nothing to do with any of those outcomes.”

“But we’re altering things here,” said Fedorov. “The Chinese kicked the British out of Singapore, and then we teamed up with the New Jersey Battlegroup to stop them. We pushed them back into the South China Sea, and so now they’ve changed their plans. They’re striking east. These new operations are aimed at taking down the American Pacific island bases, and so we’re trying to help prevent that. What if Palau, or Yap, or even Guam was supposed to fall? What if the Chinese were supposed to dominate the Malacca Strait? Sinking Shandong was a heavy blow. It set them back on their heels in that encounter.”

Karpov didn’t like the thought that he shouldn’t be in this fight. His warrior’s soul wanted to mix it up, lay down the law, and show the enemy who was in charge out here. Yet Fedorov was quite correct. There would have been no Siberian Navy in this conflict, and they had already determined that Kirov was never even built at this end of the history they altered in WWII. That alone was reason enough for time to paint a target on them. But why were they sent here? Perhaps Fedorov was correct. Maybe there was no other future they could go to, but that did not change the fact that they were an anomaly here, something Time had to correct. That fat black cat was out there—Paradox—and its teeth and claws were very sharp. It was already collecting lost souls like mice, and that was a very scary thought.

But they had a tonic…

Yes, they had something in their pocket to give them the hope that they could avoid that same descending slippery slope that took one man after another. They would relinquish the one magic wand they had used in the past, Rod-25, but these keys were something else.

“Fedorov, perhaps I should wear the other key, like you do. It’s in the ship’s safe now, but maybe it would be better if I had it with me 24-7, in case something were to happen… Like with Lenkov.”

“I suppose that might be wise,” said Fedorov. “Then again, Kamenski had this key with him, and he still vanished. Be careful what you wish for, Karpov. You might be hanging yourself with that key.”

“I’ll take my chances. Before you go down to the reactor section, let’s open the safe. Something tells me these keys are a tonic, something to regrow our tails if Time cleaves them away. Something to restore our sight. I’ll admit that we haven’t exactly been clear headed in a lot of what we did. You always had one eye on trying to fix things, the force of order I suppose. Sorry to say, I was all chaos. I just had every confidence in my ability to wield the sword I had in hand—Kirov, and frankly, I still do.”

“Yet here we are, changing the outcome of this war, just as we did in WWII.”

“Understood,” said Karpov, “but who’s to say the changes we make aren’t for the better? Suppose China wins this war? Look what they did in the Middle East. The world could see them building out that Blue Water Navy for years before they decided to try and really use it. Maybe that’s an outcome that would be best avoided. Then again, think of it this way. We’re Siberia’s Navy.”

“But there’s been an armistice signed on that front,” said Fedorov.

“Perhaps, but that situation is far from over. You read the history, it’s been a flashpoint since 1990. This was just the second major outbreak of war there, and frankly, I think a third will be inevitable. Siberia sits there with a tiny population commanding vast resources, trees, fresh water, oil and gas, minerals, strategic metals. China wants and needs those things, and 1.5 billion people have a way of getting what they want if they put their minds to it. That’s why I think this naval war is just the first. In my opinion, China came in too early. In another five or even ten years, they would have nearly a 600 ship navy. They jumped the gun in 2021, but that was only because of the alliance they had with us, with Russia. Here they may have jumped the gun as well, but they’ll be back, win, lose, or draw.”

“You’re saying that has to be prevented? Russia was a communist state. It wasn’t all that bad.”

“Well it wasn’t all that good, Fedorov. You don’t see long lines and empty store shelves in the US, except in that strange pandemic of 2020, but we always had them in Russia. Face it, Capitalism succeeded because it understands that people want things, and chief among them is a better life. It gave them that, but China is something else. China swallowed the Capitalist Pill when they absorbed Hong Kong. They were going about buying up the world left and right. Their economy had real muscle. I think they made a grave misjudgment with this war, and perhaps it may be better to help make that clear to them. Yes, I sunk carriers—put men in the sea, but it will buy time, Fedorov. Each one I put under is one more they will have to build.”

“So what’s the plan?” asked Fedorov.

“We keep the keys, and get rid of Rod-25. You make sure you keep an eye on men you know are vulnerable, particularly Tasarov and Dobrynin. You say they’ll hear the train coming long before it hits them, right? That will be our warning period. We’ll be able to take action before that happens. If something happens to Lenkov, that will put us on guard too.”

“But what will we do? You want to use the keys again?”

“That would appear to be our only recourse.”

“Yet we’ll have no way to know where we will end up.”

“Well, there were two arrows on that box, the red one and the green one. We already know the green arrow takes us forward in time, so it’s no great leap to guess where the red arrow takes us. We could use the box to reach some other future, but who knows how far it might take us. I don’t think we want to go to the past again.”

“Agreed,” said Fedorov. “The future… Kind of scary to take a leap forward beyond this point. What if we end up in another situation—the war you say will come when China regroups. The war you say is inevitable.”

“Fedorov… Do you remember when we talked about this Grand Finality thing?”

“Yes, what about it?”

“Well correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that some great gloom and doom in the future? Wasn’t there something about a shadow washing backwards from that calamity?”

“That’s what Dorland told me, the American Physicist. He said that when we created this loop with Kirov, it had to be resolved, or the future could not be born. If that happens, the future dies. Normally, if you go back in time and make some major change that transforms things like we did, the Heisenberg Wave moves forward from that point, and here we are in the future made new by that energy. But if that far distant future did die, then there would be a similar wave of annihilation moving backwards in time. Somewhere, the two waves meet, and it isn’t pretty.”

“The Grand Finality.”

“I guess so. See why I’m just a little nervous about using that box again? We don’t know how far out that backwash is. What if we jump forward, right into its path?”

“Well, in that case, we just face things a little sooner than we might,” said Karpov. “Like I said, a man’s fate is a man’s fate.”

“And life means very little….”

* * *

Karpov returned to the bridge as Fedorov went below, both men thinking heavily on all they had discussed. The thought that the very source of his strength and power, Kirov, was now unstable, left Karpov very edgy. He was standing on a deck that could melt away beneath his boot soles at any moment. He had been an almost symbiotic part of the ship from the very beginning, and now he wondered what their fate really was in the months ahead.

I must stand by the crew, he thought. They have been steadfast, loyal to a man. We took them from friends, family, wives and loved ones, and into impossible circumstances, and yet they have remained a cohesive force, reliable, dedicated, unconquered. I must protect them; serve them. A voice came, jarring him from his reverie as Rodenko gave him a status update.

“Sir, the Americans report they have cleared the undersea threat in the Makassar Strait. Enterprise reports they are proceeding into the Celebes Sea at 25 knots, and we are presently on course to follow them, speed 30 knots.”

“Very well. Tovarich, how far are we from clearing the strait?”

“Sir about 130 miles, a little over four hours at this speed.”

“Rodenko, what is the present range to the main Chinese fleet?”

“Just under 600 nautical miles, sir. That data is from the last satellite pass, which is now 24 minutes old. No heading or speed information. The Americans have another submarine up there, the Chancellorsville, so we may get an update from that boat in time.”

“Very well… How long since that last Chinese bomber strike?”

“About 15 hours, sir.”

“Then that means they could be nearing a ready state for another strike. I doubt if anything will be headed our way, as their primary mission seems to be focused on the American Pacific island bases at the moment.”

“Any report from Kazan?”

“No sir. They are still on station ahead. Tasarov has them about eight miles ahead of us, and Kursk is still about a mile off our starboard aft quarter.”

Karpov turned, regarding Tasarov, and went over to tap his shoulder. He sat up, sliding his ear phones aside.

“Yes sir?”

“How are you, Comrade Tasarov? Are you well rested?”

“Yes sir. Fine sir. Thank you for asking.”

“Good. Have you heard anything unusual of late—any sounds that may have puzzled you in any way?”

“No sir. Just screw noise from the Americans, and normal background sonics. I heard that submarine duel, but all is quiet now.”

“Good. Well, if you should hear anything that seems unusual, anything at all, I want you to let me know immediately. Yes?”

“Of course, sir.”

“As you were.”

Now Karpov turned to approach Nikolin. “Ready a message transmission to both Kursk and Kazan, Comrade Nikolin. Ask Captains Molotov and Gromyko to make a general status report. I want to know if they have any problems, how the crew is doing, or if there are any other concerns.”

“Yes sir. I’ll format it right away and submit for your approval prior to transmission.”

“Good. But Nikolin, before you do that, riddle me this… What goes on four legs at morning, two legs at noon and three legs in the evening.”

Nikolin blushed, thinking Karpov was after him for his secret game of riddles, which he often played via the internal text messaging system. Then he gave his answer, ready to accept his fate if he was to be disciplined.

“A human, sir. We crawl on hands and legs after birth… in the morning. We walk on two legs in our prime, but in old age, we take a cane, that third leg. Sorry sir. I won’t be riddling while on duty.”

“Good answer, Nikolin. My, you are good at this. And don’t worry about it. As long as it does not interfere with your duties, or those of anyone else, feel free to play your game. It’s fine.”

He patted Nikolin on the should and the Communications Officer smiled. “Thank you, sir.”

Tasarov looked over, and gave him a wink.

“Sir,” said Rodenko. “I have heading information on the Chinese fleet from Chancellorsville now. They are bearing 080, at 23 knots.”

“Where does that take them, Comrade Tovarich?”

“Sir, that’s a direct heading to the American base at Palau.”

“How far out are they from that base, Rodenko?”

“About 440 nautical miles, sir.”

“Ah,” said Karpov “They’re getting into missile range. Gentlemen, I think they will go offensive very shortly. Nikolin, give the Enterprise my assessment.”

“Yes sir. I also have that status request message ready now, sir.”

All this was typical activity on the bridge, particularly when a new officer assumed command, as Karpov did by default whenever he was present. He was getting information on the general situation, noting where all his assets were, and what the enemy was up to. The Admiral looked at his watch, checking to see if it was in sync with the ship’s chronometer.

“I think the Chinese bombers will be taking off from the Philippines about now. Losing Clark AFB was a real slip for the Americans. I’m amazed they let that happen. The Chinese bombers will be up before noon. Any Chinese satellites scheduled, Rodenko?”

“Yes sir. In fact, Yaogan-20A just overflew the Celebes Sea, and Yaogan-15 passed over Borneo at the same time.”

“Then they will see the Enterprise in the Makassar Strait, but they will be too far away to strike it, even if those satellites get a good position fix. So with Enterprise nearly 600 miles off, here’s how this is going to play out. The Chinese bombers are going to launch their long range cruise missiles at one or more American bases in the next hour. Those missiles should be on target somewhere around 15:00. But this is getting interesting. The Enterprise move into the Celebes Sea will certainly weigh on the Chinese Commander’s mind. That move threatens his LOC, but then again, this fleet may be relying on Davao now as its primary support base. I think the Chinese will also use ship launched cruise missiles to hit Palau, and after that, we’ll see if they make a heading change. The Americans still have a Surface Action Group screening Palau, so that will be a factor in this upcoming strike.”

“Are we planning to engage, sir?” asked Rodenko.

“Not just yet,” said Karpov. “Enterprise will move to close the range a bit, and my guess is they will have a strike ready in the late afternoon or early evening. That’s when I’ll have work for you, Comrade Samsonov. So you can take a hearty lunch break, and get three hours sleep.”

He smiled.

Part II

Two Devils

“Better the Devil you know than the devil you don’t.”

― Jack Heath

Chapter 4

Sixteen hours, thought Wu Jinlong, looking over his list of strike assets. That is a terribly long time to wait for the bombers to be rearmed. We were lucky that interval passed with the enemy carriers both still too far away to strike us. What I do now is dangerous, because the Enterprise has passed through the Makassar Strait, and is threatening my route back to the South China Sea. Yaogan-23 reveals that the Washington Strike Group is now only 350 miles north of Guam. That put them in a position to cover that island group, and their air wing augments the fighters already based there, so the defense against any cruise missile attack will be redoubled.

So what should I do? I have 36 bombers, and two thirds can carry our long range cruise missiles. That totals 126 cruise missiles, a substantial attack. The last twelve each carry a pair of YJ-100’s, a much small 24 missile strike package I can use against the American ships, but it must get within 430 miles to release those weapons.

Thankfully, the Vietnamese destroyers arrived in this interval carrying 64 of that excellent naval SCALP missile made by the French and British. I have three bases to strike, but Guam is the prize. That is where the Americans have their most dangerous assets. My first attack was ineffective, because the enemy had just enough air defense and was greatly aided by that surface action group. Now it has moved to defend Palau, positioned to easily intercept cruise missiles coming from the bombers. Yet if my naval strike fails to destroy that base, I still have the Flying Leopards at Davao.

I could combine all my strike assets to destroy Yap and Palau, but that would just buy us time—time for the bulldozers and tractors to repair those fields. So I will throw the weight of my War Gods at Guam, and then see what I can do against the smaller bases with the Naval Strike Missiles. I will commit all 64 SCALP’s against Palau, and the two dozen YJ-100’s will strike their ships as a distraction. That attack can be further strengthened by twelve DF-21C ballistic missiles from Hainan. Yap is the smallest base, and perhaps six bombers could deal with that. That will be the order. The bombers are about 45 minutes from their release points, so we wait….

13:00 Local, 18 JAN 2026

SAG Guam

Surface Action Group Guam was composed of five ships, led by the powerful CG-21 class cruiser San Jacinto under Captain Allan Shill, with destroyers Buford and Chamberlain, and two of the new FFG (X) Class frigates, Rabaul and Rendova. They had already helped a great deal in the defense of the US island bases, and now they were standing the watch about 100 miles west of Palau.

But they weren’t going to just sit there and wait.

SAG Guam had a couple dozen TacToms, and another 152 Multi-Mission Tomahawks, which they preferred to keep for surface warfare operations, so Captain Shill decided to try and shake up the airfield at Davao. The battle for the airfields was what this was all about. Those two dozen Toms were soon away, painting a new artificial cloud around the TF as they fired.

The Tomahawks soon crossed the coast of Mindanao, and were hugging the mountainous terrain as they weaved a path through the highlands towards Davao. A scramble order went out and six J-20’s were lifting off the airfield minutes later. With the leading Toms just 24 miles out, an HQ-9A battery set up on the peninsula near the harbor was already firing as they took off. The fighters stayed at a relatively low altitude, switched on radars, and went hunting. The PL-15 would prove to be very adept at finding and killing the lumbering Tomahawks, and not one would survive to strike the base.

So the base was well defended, as the Chinese had delivered two HQ-9A batteries, and there were 20 fighters there. The six that had scrambled were enough to take down all but one Tomahawk. The last was a sleeper, taking a wide ranging course, and actually was not spotted on radars until it was very close. By this time, all six fighters had already returned to base, but one plane was ready on a tarmac close by the runway, and got a quick scramble order. It would not have time to get airborne before the missile came in, falling right into open parking where it destroyed two J-20’s. That was it, 24 missiles, 23 dead so that the last could get in there and kill two fighters on the ground. It wasn’t much, but it was at least something.

At that same time, a scythe of YJ-100 Chinese cruise missiles were already on their way towards the American ships, but no US assets had detected them, nor any of the 12 bombers that fired them. At 14:00, the first of the air-launched YJ-100’s was spotted on radar by San Jacinto, and the TF opened defensive fire. The 24 cruise missiles were not a significant threat, as SAG Guam was sitting with over 200 ESSM’s, and 62 SM-6. So here the defense would easily prevail, and none of the Vampires even got close enough to a US ship to break the horizon.

About that same time, Vampires were finally building up on the radar screens far to the north. It was the leading edge of a great boomerang shaped missile wave that had been fired by the Gods of War at Guam, 300 miles wide. The northern end of that missile storm would pass very near Carrier Strike Group Washington, and would likely pay heavily, but this had been a deliberate move on the part of the Chinese. On radar, it would look like this was an SSM strike against the carrier, and that would likely see the American fighter defense scramble to engage it there, while as far as 300 miles to the south, many more Vampires were making their sedate journey toward the Marianas, hopefully out of sight and harm’s way from planes off that American carrier.

The carrier was under the command of Captain James Rayburn, who had taken over from the man that Karpov once dueled with when he fought that flattop in another time, Captain Tanner.

“Sir, Hawkeye-1 reports Vampires, bearing 260 and 310 miles out. Low and slow, sir.”

“Cruise missiles,” said Rayburn. “Those had to come off the bombers at Clark. Air force was going to hit that base, but it takes 20 hours to rig out the bombers on Guam. Those Vampires vectoring on us?”

“Sure looks that way, sir.”

“Very well, send in the morning patrol, and scramble the ready CAP behind them.”

“Aye sir.”

Seconds later, those orders went out. “Bright Eyes this is Bertha. Vector 260 and engage Vampires low. You are cleared Hot. Over.”

Six F-35’s had been tasked with CAP patrols that day. Three were already up, Bright Eyes, and more would join them. The rest of the Panthers were rigging out for strike or escort duty, but the Captain still had a dozen more Hellcats ready for CAP if he needed them. As the seconds passed, the red wave just got bigger and wider.

“How many contacts?” asked Rayburn, a slim, grey haired man, always dapper and trim in his uniform.

“Sir, presently reading 65 Vampires.”

“Move six Hellcats to ready CAP. Then signal all ships to go to battle stations missile. That’s a significant strike.”

Bright Eyes would take the first bite out of the missile storm. Each plane could carry 6 of the new AIM-260 missiles, which were available in limited supply, and there were plenty of the older AIM-120s available too. Today they had the better missiles, and could engage at range. As they fired the last of them, turning for the carrier, they saw the SAM’s rising from the escorts—SM-6.

Carrier Strike Group Washington, like all US Strike Groups, was well defended. A ship that had campaigned with Karpov in the Sea of Japan had patched up light damage sustained there, and now Captain Rose had taken the big new battlecruiser Kentucky south to join the Washington. That ship alone had tremendous firepower, and it was joined by a CG-21 Class cruiser the Santa Fe, and destroyers JEB Stuart, Jenkins, Hampton and the Nathan Bedford Forrest, all named for famous Confederate Cavalry officers from the Civil War.

In this world, no one had to fuss with the silly need to be “politically correct,” in regards to these ship names. History was history, and there were still statues of Robert E. Lee up in the south. The history would not be expunged as if it had never happened simply because the South once held up the institution of slavery, and George Washington’s face would not be removed from the dollar because he was a former slave owner either. The world had grown up a bit in these matters, realizing that the statues and flags from that unfortunate conflict were emblems of that history, and not banners for modern day right wing minds to rally around.

Together these ships combined to muster up 400 ESSM’s, a huge allotment of 260 SM-6’s, and 80 SM-3’s to protect against ballistic missile threats too. Add in the RIM-116C’s on the carrier itself, and Captain Rayburn’s group was defended by 700 SAM’s. Add to that the missiles he could put in the weapons bays and wings of his fighters, and the Strike Group was damn near invulnerable. So anything that came his way probably going to die, which was now a good chunk of that cloud of Vampires out there, which just seemed to be getting bigger and wider as the minutes passed, but they were dying.

Of the 126 cruise missiles fired by the bombers, only about 20 survived to slip by Carrier Strike Group Washington far to the south. The long reach of Standard Missile-6 was lethal in gutting the center of the wave.

Yap also issued a similar scramble order to send its air assets up to join the fray. Six F-24’s would rise to the defense of the base, but other planes carrying strike ordnance were ordered up too, just in case. At Palau, nothing wicked seemed to be heading their way, but the order went out to get fighters up on defensive patrols.

The first inkling of trouble for Palau was the appearance of Vampires 50 miles north of SAG Guam. That started the ESSM fire by San Jacinto and the two destroyers, the missiles lancing out to destroy one group of Vampires, only to see more groups appearing on the radar screens seconds later. Some on a wide vector to avoid the US ships were now seen 40 miles from Palau, prompting immediate fire by the patriot battery stationed there. Anything that got past the ships and fighters then had to face those land based SAM’s. In the end, only two of 64 would survive and get in to attack the base, and one of those would be shot down. Only one lonesome Vampire reached Anderson AFB on Guam, doing no significant damage, and Yap was completely untouched.

16:00 Local, 18 JAN 2026

Wu Jinlong’s second big strike had gone bust. It would now be another 16 hours or longer before the War Gods could rearm, and given limited missile inventories in the Philippines, only a portion of those planes might be available for operations the next day. All the Naval SCALP missiles on the four Vietnamese destroyers had been expended, and with little result. Once again, he had underestimated the tremendous defensive power on the American side, and now he knew that the US Admirals and Captains would begin to consider their own offensive operations soon.

The Chinese fleet was presently about 200 miles southwest of Davao, but the Admiral had no further ordnance to strike at any of his mission targets. The only way he could wrangle any sense of victory from this situation now was to do so by engaging one or another of the American carriers.

There is no way I will operate out in the Pacific, he realized. At the moment, I am within striking range of the American Surface Action Group, but we must wait for yaogan-13 to give us a chance at getting a target fix… Unless I order the Flying Leopards at Davao to make their strike.

Yet something tells me that would be fruitless. As long as that SAG is there, Palau will be well defended. So I must decide where to engage. Do I strike the American SAG, or return to the Celebes Sea and face the Enterprise ? The latter seems to be the wiser course. From a position southeast of Davao in the Moro Gulf, I have fighter support from that airfield, as well as the planes now basing at Zambangoa. That course also moves me to a position to restore my communications back to China. So that will be the order.

At every turn, I do what seems most reasonable, most sound in military terms, and yet, I have so little to show for it! Am I being overly cautious? Thus far, I have at least successfully covered the supply lift to Davao, and we have troops there now—a solid footing on Mindanao. While I have failed to hurt Guam, or the other island bases as I had hoped, I see the folly of that now. It only buys us time. Yet I can operate in the Celebes Sea, and stay there, if I wish, and that is what I will do.

When I turn, I will have one Devil behind me, but that carrier is at least 600 miles away, and it will not get any closer as I move southwest. Then I will have another Devil before me in the Celebes Sea, and I must do all in my power to sink the Enterprise and gain the victory there.

He went to the nearest computer terminal, and began keying data queries into the CIC. The Flagship, Taifeng, received hourly reports on the status and inventory of all ships under his command, 24 in all. Defensively, he had 650 HQ-9’s at his disposal, which was a solid defensive shield. Behind that, mostly on the better frigates, he had 210 medium range HQ-16’s. The inner circle held 300 HQ-10’s, good out to the 5 mile range marker. The Vietnamese Destroyers also contributed 64 of the British made Aster 15 Sea Vipers. He smiled.

Getting our hands on those was a nice acquisition, he thought. Now we can evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of those missiles, and incorporate any useful technology into our own missile designs. Now… What about my offense?

He keyed another data query, seeing that he now held 148 of the longer range YJ-100’s, primarily on the better destroyers. Once inside the 300 mile range marker, he could then add 120 YJ-18’s on his Type 052D Class destroyers. The frigates contributed another 36 YJ-12’s good out to 215 miles, but he doubted he would ever get that close to an American carrier.

They run when we charge, he thought, which is why I have every confidence I can drive them out of the Celebes Sea. Yes, they will try to stay 300 miles out to cut my offensive capability in half. But I have planes, too, and I intend to charge.

* * *

The Admiral was going to need every missile he could deploy, and then some. The Devil behind him was very strong, as we have seen, and it was picking up a couple hobgoblins as it came. The seven ship Australian Task Force, designated SAG South, was moving up to rendezvous with SAG Guam. That made for a strong 12 ship screen that could operate forward of Carrier Strike Group Washington, and they added more offensive and defensive clout to the US Pacific Fleet.

In the Celebes Sea, Admiral Cook’s SAG Enterprise had seven ships, with 400 ESSM’s, 168 SM-6, and 48 SM-2. Against ballistic missile threats they had 70 SM-3, and the close in circle around Enterprise had 42 RIM-116C’s. The US Navy on this Meridian was loaded for bear. Offensively, Admiral Cook could throw 152 MMT’s at enemy ships and another 96 TacToms could be used against Davao. There was also that formidable strike wing aboard Enterprise , with an array of SSMs and glide bombs that could ruin the enemy’s day. Beyond that, he had a pair of Virginia Class subs in front of him, and then there was Kirov, Kursk and Kazan.

That was the tale of the tape as the two fleets now prepared to square off. The Devil in the Celebes Sea was nothing to trifle with, but that was what Admiral Wu Jinlong had decided to do….

Chapter 5

“Gentlemen, this Admiral Wu out there just took another swipe at all our Pacific island bases,” said Admiral Cook, looking squared away and solid as a rock. “But it’s my pleasure to say he didn’t lay a finger on us. The big Chinese bombers retired to Clark, and they can thank Uncle Sam that base is even there. Now we’re going after them. For the next 16 to 18 hours, those bombers will be nice fat geese on the ground, getting a belly full of anything else they may have to throw at us. Well, we have bombers too. Anderson is lining up a bomber strike to see if we can make them pay some rent out there. In the meantime, the Chinese fleet has turned southwest. They may be headed back to Davao, or they may be headed our way. In either case, we’re going to be ready for them.”

Cook exuded confidence, and the ribbons on his chest were a good reason for it. Enterprise had a long war history behind it, even though this was just the latest ship to bear that name and carry that tradition forward. In that observation alone, lay the essence of the difference between the PLAN and the USN. The Chinese had a lot of shiny new ships to float, but there had been a USS Enterprise , in one form or another, patrolling the waters of the Pacific for the last 85 years. The Chinese Navy was professional, competent, but largely without experience. The United States, flanked by two great oceans, had been a sea faring nation from its early days, and the US Navy was haunted by Old Salts, gritty Master Chiefs, and men and women who knew damn well what they were about, and then some.

That difference contributed mightily to the fact that while 67 Chinese ships were on the bottom of the world’s oceans and seas, not one US surface ship had joined them. As Admiral Cook saw things, they were beating the PLAN from pillar to post, and he was ready for the next round.

“So here’s what we’re going to do,” said Cook, pointing at the wall map with a laser marker. “I’m taking Enterprise out here to get us a little sea room. We’ll be over one of the world’s deep ocean basins, over 16,000 feet. If they come west for us, by the time they reach this archipelago starting with Sangihe Island, they’ll be in strike range, and that’s where we hit them. They fight close to supporting land bases, and for them, that’s what this operation is all about. They went after our island bases, and failed. Now we’re going to take down the bases they set up out here to try and support this power projection into the Celebes Sea. I’m going to start nipping at known enemy radar, SAM and SSM sites, and then we’re going to dump some of those 96 TacToms in the VLS Bays on this base up here—Zamboanga.”

Cook pointed out the location, at the very tip of the Western ‘Elephant’s Trunk’ of Mindanao.

“That base is an important stepping stone for them. They’ve been moving ordnance and supplies overland by rail to Cam Ranh Bay, then out to sea from there to these reef island bases in the South China Sea. They then transit the Palawan gap into the Sulu Sea bound for Zamboanga. That port and airfield also receive air lifted supplies. It’s vital to their continued support of Davao, so we’re going to clip it, and good. Intel expects they may have as many as two full J-20 squadrons there, so they’ll make a fight of it. That’s a fight I intend to win.”

That got a round of applause from the officers and airmen assembled in the big hangar deck, and the Admiral cocked his head to one side, nodding.

“Alright,” he continued, “the bad guys are about 180 miles from that trip line archipelago I pointed out, and by the last estimate, they were at 25 knots. So that means we get ready to rumble in about seven hours. Get with your strike leaders and mission planners and chew the fat. I want every flight in this operation on mission and razor sharp. Now… In the course of these operations, this task force will maneuver to maintain a range of 300 or more miles from the enemy. That winnows down their offensive punch a good deal. They’ll try to get closer, but I won’t let them. If that means I take us back down through the Makassar Strait, so be it, but don’t think for one minute that they will ever have us on the run. That’s bullshit. Maneuver is what naval operations are all about. You position yourself where you can hurt the other guy without taking hits yourself. That’s exactly what this strike group will do. So get to it, plan it well, and while you’re at it, get some chow and a little shut eye if you have the time. Don’t worry, I’ll wake you.” He smiled.

18:00 Local, 18 JAN 2026

Where were the Americans?

That was the question that vexed Wu Jinlong that hour. All three enemy task groups had fallen off his radar screens, and at that hour, he had no idea where they were at all. Frustrated, he sent orders to Zamboanga AFB to get two J-20’s out on a deep recon mission south towards the Makassar Strait. In about 40 minutes Yaogan-20A was scheduled to have eyes on the Celebes Sea. The optical satellite Jilin-01-10 would report in about an hour, and in two and a half hours, he would hear from Yaogan-30. After that, it would be another six hours before Yaogan-13 would be overhead.

We did not think this through, before the war, he thought. We should have prepositioned satellites in geostationary orbits over areas where we intended extensive operations. I suppose we can thank our lucky stars that there has been no satellite war. We did not start one here, because we knew how important these eyes in space would be to us. Thus far, that truce has held, as we threatened to take down all their GPS satellites if they attacked our surveillance network. What would I do without them?

Time to get the new KJ-600 up.

That was the latest carrier based Chinese AEW plane, with radar that could peer out 350 miles. That plane gave him the first hammer on the metal of his kill chain. He did not see the American carrier, but he saw their AEW plane, which usually operated between 100 and 200 miles from its home fleet.

So they remain where I suspected they would be, he thought, probably somewhere here, north of the Makassar Strait. Are they attempting to cut me off from the South China Sea? Most likely.

At 20:00, a satellite updated the position of the Washington Strike Group, now only 180 miles north of Guam, and a solitary ship was seen south of Palau. That gave the two J-20’s out of Zamboanga the scent, and they were moved forward. But first, they thought they would ambush the American AEW plane with their long range PL-15’s. They were able to get into firing range before they were finally spotted on radar, with missiles in the air. That was when the two escorting F-35’s on CAP saw them, and vectored in to attack.

The enemy fighters were already close enough to paint Carrier Strike Group Enterprise with their radars, and so now they turned to run north, but the pilots had been too eager in their hunt for that Hawkeye. They had used a 1000 knot rush to close quickly into firing range, and now they saw their fuel reserves too low to maintain that speed and escape from the American fighters.

Both would die that hour, but the missiles they had fired at the Hawkeye would exact revenge, destroying that plane as well. Admiral Cook did not like that news one bit.

“Gentlemen, these damn J-20’s are proving to be more stealthy than we would like. So it’s double CAP rotations from here on out. That was one valuable plane and crew we just lost out there, and it damn well better not happen again. Reinforce CAP—now!”

21:00 Local, 18 JAN 2026

Clark Airfield, the Philippines.

It was the first use of the new JASSM-ER cruise missile in the war, a mission flown by all six B-2 Spirit Bombers that had been stationed at Anderson AFB on Guam. The plan was a simple one, as Admiral Cook had briefed his crews. They were going to revisit their old roost at Clark, now called Beiying, the Northern Star in this theater, and they were going to catch the big fat geese in their hangars as they were gorging themselves with fresh ordnance.

JASSM was the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, and this was the extended range version, a stealthy subsonic missile that was both difficult to see on radar and difficult to track and kill. Lockheed Martin had designed the beast, and the B-2’s carried it all of 1000 miles to their release point east of Manila, completely undetected. It was a big missile, 14 feet long, with wings that would deploy to a span of nearly eight feet, and it weighed 2,250 pounds, with 1000 of those being the penetrating warhead it brought to the fight. It could use both GPS and inertial navigation to make its way to the assigned target, with terminal infrared homing, and a computer brain pre-programmed to automatically recognize its target.

That was easy work for the mission tasking teams. The Americans knew every inch of Clark AFB, so it was like coming home from a hunting trip to find a burglar in your cabin. You knew exactly how and where to shoot.

The missiles came in just 30 feet over the water, and they had reached the east coast of Luzon without being seen on any radars, in spite of a big KJ-2000 AEW plane orbiting 40,000 feet above them. Their path then took them directly past a Chinese HQ-9A SAM site, which finally woke up and managed to fire off 32 missiles at very close ranges to get a good number of kills, but the great mass of the strike just rolled right on by, and the base was going to take a terrible pounding minutes later.

The base was a main operational hub for the Chinese, with a lot of munitions stockpiled, and the grounds replete with aircraft. There were 18 J-20’s, another 18 Flying Leopards, and of course those 36 big H-6 bombers. As the missiles rained in, one explosion after another rocked the base, striking hangars, tarmacs, taxiways, and open parking. Planes started exploding all over the field, and before the attack was over, all 18 JH-7B Flying leopards were left in ruins, along with half the J-20 fighters, and eight of the big H-6 Bombers. Beyond that, the control tower was destroyed, both terminals hit, a fuel pumping station damaged, and many hangars raging with fire.

Those six B-2’s had done to Clark what all 36 H-6 bombers had been unable to do to Anderson in two large attacks. What was the difference? The US had strong naval assets that could interdict the flight path of a significant number of the enemy missiles, and a robust fighter defense aloft to fall on the lumbering subsonic Vampires like hawks. The naval units had served as good forward radar pickets, that gave the US early notice the base was being attacked when combined with airborne AEW assets. That is what had enabled those fighters to scramble and do their work.

In the attack against Clark, the stealthy US missiles had flown right under the nose of the Chinese AEW plane, hugging the sea and ground all the way in until the HQ-9 battery 20 miles east of the airfield suddenly saw the missiles coming, and began firing. Two other SAM sites saw crews rushing to activate radars and prep their systems, but they never got off a shot. All told, the single battery that fired was able to kill a baker’s dozen, but there had been 96 missiles in that attack, and the rest surged on through like a wild herd of buffalo and just trampled those tarmacs, leaving the base ravaged and burning. Communications equipment was destroyed, radars smashed, ammo bunkers damaged, and for all purposes the base was out of commission.

The shock of the attack jarred Admiral Wu, and went all the way to Beijing, a dark omen in their minds. The Air force sent orders that as soon as any bomber was ready to fly and could take off, they were to return to the Chinese mainland at once. An exception was made for planes that had already loaded ordnance to some degree. They would be made available to complete one more strike if possible, which amounted to 18 planes. Ten others were simply ordered to rig for the air ferry ride home, but it would be some time before even that would be possible.

It had been bad enough that the two strikes had both failed to inflict any significant damage on the American bases. Now the loss of eight bombers and a full heavy squadron of Flying Leopards was a severe blow. It darkened the Admiral’s mood, sending his mind in circles as he looked for a way to generate mass and concentration when he faced the American fleet for a surface action.

They are going after the bases, he thought, preparing the battlefield. A radar site near Jolo was also reported hit and destroyed, so they are going to try and blind me and destroy my air support capabilities by hammering these bases. What was wrong with the Air Force? Did they think the Northern Star was so far off that they had no risk of attack? The fools! They should have had round the clock combat air patrols there. The damage to Clark could be near fatal. At the very least, it will take days, or possibly weeks to repair. I must count Beiying as a dead asset now.

Alright, I still have 20 Flying Leopards at Davao, and six more at Miri, west of the American carriers. They can carry the YJ-12, with a 215 mile range, and the plane could fly as far as 320 miles to a release point with that loadout. Adding the 215 mile range of the missile, that gives them a maximum strike radius of 535 miles, and the Enterprise group can be reached from either airfield.

And here I stand on an aircraft carrier! Time to start fighting like a carrier commander. Zhendong has 24 J-31’s for excellent defense, but only 12 J-15 Flying Sharks. Their only strike ordnance in this situation would be a pair of YJ-83K, with a 135 mile range. Taifeng has 36 J-31’s and yes, 12 more J-15’s. So I can send 48 missiles at the Enterprise with my carriers—not much, but at least something. Those planes will be easily seen on radar, so I must fly with a heavy escort. That combines with all 32 remaining Flying Leopards for my air strike, and with it, I will send my long range YJ-100’s.

I have the air power to do this now. I can saturate the skies with every J-20 and J-31 I have. They have destroyed the Northern Star with impunity, but now I will make them pay.

The Enterprise must die.

Chapter 6

22:00 Local, 18 JAN 2026

USS Enterprise

The first inkling that an enemy attack was pending came from the west, when DDG McClaws detected bogeys at angels 36 near the east coast of Borneo. Six planes were seen on radar, the small flight of Flying Leopards out of Miri on the west coast of that big island. Enterprise launched six F-35’s and sent them west to investigate, and six more moved up into the ready CAP positions.

With the main body of the Chinese fleet now 395 miles to the northeast, the Enterprise had been planning a midnight launch for its first naval strike operation. The anger and frustration over what had happened at the Northern Star had prompted Wu Jinlong to counterattack immediately. The small Miri package waited for the unseen six J-20’s ahead of it to paint their targets with radar, then they selected one ship, and fired their YJ-12’s.

This small strike package had been timed to get the Enterprise to look over its shoulder to the west, while the much larger strikes would be coming from the east. The deception worked, for a moment.

“Sir, this is a strike. I now read 12 inbound, Vampires, bearing two-eight-zero at 180 nautical miles.”

“Weapons free,” said Admiral Cook. “Signal prepare to repulse enemy missile attack.”

It was at that moment that more radar contacts appeared to the northeast, passing very near the outlying presence of the AEW plane that had been circling in that area for some hours.

“What do we have, Mister Kane?”

“Sir, I read two squadrons of J-15’s, 24 planes in all.”

“Well I’ll be…” said Cook. “These guys have beaten us to the draw. We were all locked and loaded for a midnight rush, and they sneak this business in at 22:00. Very well, launch ready CAP and vector them east. What’s in the bank on air to air?”

Lt. Pete Kane was officer of the watch, feeding the flag bridge reports from the radar teams and other ship stations, and relaying the Admiral’s orders.

“Sir, we have seven more Panthers moving to the Ready CAP position behind your last launch order, and then the six Super Toms are rigged for BARCAP. Forward Eagle now reports new contacts just off the coast of Mindanao, ten JH-7B’s. Another ten following that group, about 40 miles behind.”

They heard the first roar of defensive fire off CG-21 Class cruiser Atlanta, off the port bow of Enterprise . The newly refurbished cruiser Ticonderoga was off the starboard bow, the first in her class, made all shiny and new. DDG Breckinridge was picketing to the west, and off to the east, where the enemy was thicker, were destroyers, Longstreet, and John Bell Hood. McLaws was in the carrier’s wake, and the Admiral had two other more distant pickets, the Siberian ships, cruising about 25 miles to the southeast.

At 22:16 they saw SM-6 get the first kill on a Vampire, and Talon-6, the F-35’s that had vectored out that way, began to engage with their missiles. They were able to easily defeat the twelve Vampires, and then started in on the six J-20’s that had been paining the TF with its radars. In a swirling fighter duel, the more experienced American pilots prevailed, shooting down four J-20’s but sadly losing one of their brothers in the counter fire of PL-15’s

Now the reports came in fast. Three separate groups of enemy fighters were reported to the northeast, J-20’s and J-31’s. John Bell Hood had the new Spy-6 AMDR Radars, and they were damn good, able to make those detections over 100 miles out. Admiral Cook went over to take a look at the radar screen himself, and he could see what the enemy was doing.

“They’re making a fighter sweep forward of their strike packages, and they’re using the combined radars of all those fighters to fix our location. Not bad…” The Admiral called things as he saw them.

He gave grudging respect to his enemy now. He had pulled his pistol and got off the first shot, and Cook had little doubt that there were also cruise missiles out there vectoring in. The sound of more missiles rising from the Task Force vibrated the windows on the bridge, and they could see the water glowing with the fire of the rocket motors.

The leading group of ten Flying Leopards out of Davao now reached their release point and put 24 YJ-12’s in the air, all aimed at the Enterprise . A fast missile, they would fly at 1450 knots all the way to the target.

“Mister Kane, get the BARCAP up next, two groups of three.”

“Aye sir.”

* * *

Karpov had been watching the battle with white-knuckled interest since it began. He was amazed at the American Standard Missile-6. Their ships had radars that were far superior to his own systems, and they were locking on to the Vampires at range, and reaching out 130 miles or more with SM-6 to kill them. Anything that survived was game for legions of ESSM’s, the Enhanced Sea Sparrows that were deadly accurate. His own Fregat system had not seen the Chinese J-31’s, but the American radars found them, and they shot down quite a few that strayed too close to the carrier in an attempt to fix its position on radar.

At one point, with a long stream of YJ-100’s bearing down on Enterprise , he told Samsonov to engage them with his Gargoyles. There was no way he was going to just sit there and watch. In time the missiles stopped firing. The heavy white smoke from their exhaust slowly dissipated on the wind, and an uneasy calm settled over the sea. He watched while US fighters that had been up on various missions began to que up for landing. Battle damage assessment was next, the BDA finding that none of the American ships had suffered a hit. The defending missiles were just too good.

He looked out to see that Kursk was nowhere to be found, but Rodenko quickly reassured him that the destroyer had just maneuvered southeast when the fighting began, and it was now heading their way again, just beyond the horizon.

“Samsonov, how are we doing on the missile count?”

“That was a drain on our 48N6 cells, sir. We used about half our inventory, with 48 remaining. But we still have 90 missile in the 9M96 system.”

“Good enough,” said Karpov. He never felt comfortable with anything under 100 SAM’s under the decks. That seemed to be the minimum count a ship the size of Kirov needed, because it was often the target of the enemy’s ire.

“We should expect to see the Enterprise launch their counterattack soon. So stand ready. Comrade Samsonov, we may soon have what the Americans call a little Moonlight Madness at sea.”

* * *

The last of the planes that had scrambled in defense of the fleet had landed just before midnight, and as the hour slipped into the new day, the American strike took off as scheduled. Twelve F-35’s were carrying a new high speed attack missile, the HAWC, the Hypersonic Air Breathing Weapon Concept, capable of speeds between 1400 and 1600 knots. Yet it’s range was limited in these early models, and it could only reach out 135 miles from its release point.

The twelve Avengers would split their mission between the LRASM and GBU-53. The former had marvelous range at 500 miles, but it was relatively slow ay 600 knots. The GBU’s, an old standby for saturation attacks, required the Avengers to get inside 60 miles. The flight of six planes would bring 96 of those to the attack, if they could get in that close without being seen and engaged by enemy CAP. Six Growlers, two jamming and four with SEAD munitions were also in the attack, but there were only six F-35’s ready at that hour for the escort, leaving one ready plane on the deck. Everything else was now rearming.

As Admiral Cook had predicted, the Chinese fleet was now about 60 miles north of Sangihe Island, and heading southwest. To muddy the waters as the strike approached, he also committed about 40% of his Multi-Mission Tomahawks to the attack, about 60 missiles. He had second thoughts about the Growlers. They relied on their jammers to do their work, but more often than not, they would be seen on radar, and tip the enemy off to the fact that a strike was on the way. It was a different world now, where stealth was a major factor making the US carrier operations effective as they had been.

The Growler, as it was presently configured, was not long for that world. If the navy wanted an offensive jammer, and reliable SEAD carriers, then they were going to have to give that role to a more stealthy plane. This time out, the planes evaded four PL-15’s, picked a big cruiser up front that was going to figure prominently in the Chinese defense, and fired their AGM-88 anti-radiation missiles. They would now home on the radars of any firing ship in range.

Those Growlers were seen, and a few minutes before 01:00, the first PL-15 had been fired at them, and Wu Jinlong was issuing scramble orders to his J-31’s. Six would rise from each of his two carriers, sending out an initial group of 12 planes to reinforce his CAP.

At that hour, the twelve F-35’s with HAWC reached their release point unseen, and fired. Almost immediately, the J-31’s began to engage the fast lances with their own missiles. The PL-15 was also hypersonic, and faster than the HAWC at just under 2400 knots. Six more J-31’s took off from Taifeng to bring another two dozen of those to the fight.

None of the HWAC’s or SEAD missiles got through, but now the 24 LRASM’s were bearing down on the enemy fleet, and the Avengers carrying the GBU-53 were just a minute from their release point, undetected. It was at this juncture that Vladimir Karpov decided to throw his hat into the ring. The Carrier Killer was going to make a play.

* * *

“Well, Comrade Samsonov, let’s see if you can sink me another aircraft carrier. Give me three sets of two missiles each, on varied attack vectors, and bring them all up here to the north. That will avoid the bulk of these other contacts.”

Karpov had timed his Zircon punch to coincide with the release of all those GBU-53’s from the south, which were likely to draw the defensive fire of many of the screening units. The carrier Zhendong was the only target they had, as Taifeng had stayed in tight with its escorts and was lost on radar in that clutter. But Zhendong had maneuvered slightly north of the main body to get sea room for recovery operations on depleted fighters, and it was seen there easily enough. Karpov had already sent this ship to the repair yards once, and now he wanted to finish the job.

Just as that great red cloud of glide bombs was detected by the Chinese ships, the Zircons were up over 1000,000 feet, exceeding 4000 knots. As expected, the GBU-53’s drew a massive cascade of missile fire, and as they engaged the bombs, the Zircons were finally seen on radar. They appeared to be targeting a group of four frigates about 18 miles from Zhendong, but that was just their turning point to sweep south towards the vulnerable carrier. Wu Jinlong had frowned when he saw how the carrier had maneuvered away from the main body, and barked an order to detach two destroyers north to give the ship some better defense.

The first two Zircons reached their first turn, and it was just happenstance that it took them directly at those frigates, whereupon the cold computer minds saw a bird in hand, and recalculated to attack. The first came plummeting right into the Type 054B Class frigate Wuzhi, still traveling just under 4000 knots, and literally cut the ship right in half with the explosion and tremendous kinetic impact of that hit. While the HAWC’s and LRASM’s had all failed to find targets, the very first Zircon fired had drawn first blood and logged a kill. The second missile of that first pair followed its brother’s example and plowed into frigate Putian, blowing it to hell.

The second pair of Zircons soared above the smoke and fire of those two hits, obeying orders and turning as planned. Four HQ-9B’s bent after them, but missed badly. The Zircons turned south, and there stood the Rain God, Type 055 Class destroyer Yushen. Four SAM’s killed one of the two, but the second raced right over the destroyer, ignoring it completely. It then descended to 30 feet, failed to make its final turn, and went merrily off to the southeast, chased by an HQ-9. Of the last two missiles, one died, but the other jogged towards the carrier, then changed its mind and vectored back at the Rain God. Guns rattled, chaff flew everywhere, the jammers screamed bloody murder… but Yushen would die.

When the BDA was confirmed a moment later, Samsonov reported. “Sir, all missiles vectored on targets of opportunity. We have three hits.”

“Three for six,” said Karpov. “Not bad, Samsonov. Not bad at all. Ninety plus glide bombs are all shot down, but our Zircons carry the hour yet again. Well done.” He looked at Rodenko’s screen, seeing that the leading train of 60 Tomahawks was now about 110 miles from its target. “So now we wait a bit. When the Tomahawks begin their attack, we fire again. As before, prepare three sets of two missiles each. Look for carriers or high value cruisers.”

“Aye sir!” Samsonov was full of energy, Kirov’s steel fist, and he was loving every second at the CIC.

Karpov and Rodenko watched the radar tracks of the American Tomahawks as they began to close. At least 24 had been targeted to Zhendong, and 36 assigned to Taifeng, though nine of those had already fallen to attacks by defending J-31’s. Every missile was after one of those two carriers.

“Now Samsonov. Fire at will.”

Six more Zircons were away, all moving to that same sector north, but this time placed to avoid those frigates. The enemy fleet was now heavily engaged against the Tomahawks. The Gyrfalcon J-31’s fell on the low missile trains, clawing them down. twelve more had scrambled to meet this threat, and that, more than anything else, had served to protect the carriers thus far. As the last of the Tomahawks died, finding no joy, Samsonov’s six Zircons were closing in at blistering speed. The very first missile saw the carrier ahead on radar, and determined its assigned path would require it to make too sharp a turn to engage. So it cancelled its instructions, utilizing its own on-board radar to find the correct position of the target, and went right through three SAMs to blast into the side of Zhendong. It’s brother was right behind it, scoring yet another hit. Kirov was five for eight.

Now the next pair of missiles came on the scene, with five HQ-9B’s out after them. But the firing destroyers were six miles to the south of the carrier, requiring those missile for make a side attack. Against a Tomahawk, that would have been no problem, but not against a Zircon traveling over 2000 knots

Zhendong was already a mass of broiling fire, and several planes were just blown completely off the deck. In a cruel one-two punch, Samsonov delivered the knockout. Both missiles struck home, and there came a tremendous explosion when the carrier magazines went off in a mighty roar. Ripped to shreds, the carcass of that carrier now boiled into the sea in a heavy hissing list. The final two Zircons then retargeted to the older ASW frigate Shaoguan, and the first killed that ship. The last surged past the target, fining nothing else on the sea, and then self-terminated. Of the twelve Zircons fired, eight had found targets, sinking three frigates, a good destroyer, and the carrier Zhendong. Karpov smiled.

The first rounds were over, and Kirov had now single handedly cut the Chinese carrier fleet of six pre-war ships in half.

“Comrade Samsonov,” he said. “I hereby award this ship and crew the Medal of Ushakov for outstanding service in naval combat, and you, my friend, will be the man who wears that medal on your jersey.”

The crew gave a cheer, and Samsonov beamed. He was a man of very few words, all muscle, a warrior thru and thru, but the light in his eyes clearly showed how buoyed he was by that praise.

Part III

Broken Arrow

“Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.”

―F. Scott Fitzgerald

Chapter 7

Admiral Wu Jinlong was outraged to the point that his face reddened as the anger simmered and boiled within him. Zhendong, the ship he had fought so hard to save in the South China Sea, was gone. The smoke still hung heavily over the scene, making a mockery of his entire operation. He watched through the view panes on the flag bridge of Taifeng, seeing the desperate effort to rescue the stricken crew, so many men in the water as the ship died. He was now standing on the only carrier in the Chinese Navy operating south of Taiwan.

All 36 bombers failed to put even one American airfield out of operation, he thought sullenly, and Beiying, the North Star, is a wreck. Now this…. That entire air wing is gone, except for ten planes that were aloft. It was the Siberians, damn their souls. Something has to be done about them. They make peace on the Amur River line, but continue their war at sea. This is the third carrier they have sunk with those demons they fling at us. Beijing has now ordered me to return to the South China Sea.

I cannot bear this shame….

The victory I had hoped to win here has eluded me. Oh, I have at least done one thing in establishing a strong outpost at Davao, but how long can one Knight stand in the center of the board alone? This fleet was the Queen, the two carriers my Rooks, the bombers my Bishops, and now the enemy plays for checkmate.

“Are the Americans still heading south?” he growled.

“Yes sir.”

“And the Siberians?”

“They appear to be on a heading to join the Americans.”

“Very well, the fleet will assume standard cruising order three, and come to two-four-two degrees southwest. Increase to 25 knots.”

“Yes sir. We also have a message from Zamboanga.”

“Send it to the terminal my ready room.”

The Admiral strode away, his brow wet with sweat, eyes narrowed, cheeks flushed. He plopped his heavy frame down into the chair by his desk, and activated his messaging terminal. Zamboanga reported they had just come under heavy cruise missile attack, and all planes based there, 10 precious J-20’s, were destroyed. Admiral Cook had turned south for the Makassar Strait, but he threw salt over his shoulder to sting the wounds he had already inflicted. The vital airfield at Zamboanga was wrecked…

The big Chinese Admiral put his fists to his forehead, and let out a roar that could be heard all the way out on the main bridge of Taifeng. More than one head was turned, but not one officer said a word….

04:00 Local 19 JAN 2026

USS Enterprise

“Mister Kane, will you look at the goddamn Siberians? We threw 60 MMT’s, 96 GBU-53’s, 24 LRASMs and another two dozen HAWC’s at these guys and didn’t lay a finger on them. That Siberian cruiser runs out twelve of those hot new missiles they have, and gets eight hits, sinking five ships, including a carrier and a Type 055 class cruiser.”

“That’s one hot missile sir. You can’t go after the damn thing while its inbound. It flies over 100,000 feet high, then dives to sea level like a rabid banshee. It’s one hell of a speed demon.”

“And it gets hits. It thinks on its feet. I don’t believe the Siberians targeted those frigates. Those missiles recalculated and redirected to those ships. That’s one slick missile.”

“I wonder if SM-6 could catch the damn thing,” said Kane.

“Speaking of that, how many of those stallions do we still have in the barn?”

“Zero, sir. But we still have 48 SM-2 Block-III. That will give us some reach out to 90 miles, and we’ve got the fighters, sir.”

“What’s on deck?

“A dozen Panthers rigged for air to air, and then we have the six Super Toms on BARCAP.”

“Good enough. What about the TacToms?”

“Fifty left on the destroyers, sir, and we still have 90 MMT’s. Are we going to hammer Davao?”

“No, we’ll leave that to the Washington. The Chinese fleet is headed our way, so we move to a neutral corner and get ready to tangle with them again in the morning. Air wing rearming on schedule?”

“Yes sir. Everything is rolling over, except for Avengers Flight-2. They switched to Slammers.”

“Better with the GBU-53,” said Cook. “They were able to get right in there, and I’ll bet they pulled a lot of SAM’s. Otherwise, I don’t think those hot Siberian missiles would have run up the score like that.”

“Do you want me to send down an order to switch back, sir?”

“No, proceed with the Slammers. We’ll look at the situation at 06:00. In the meantime, I think a good bunk and a warm blanket would do you some good. The Captain will be up to take his bridge watch in about ten minutes. Get some rest.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Enterprise was now maneuvering, steering 190 degrees south, back into the Makassar Strait. The waters ahead would be friendly, so both of the two Virginia Class subs had been detached to continue operations in the Celebes Sea. Just in case the Chinese snuck in another diesel boat, the Siberian submarine, Kazan, would be operating close at hand.

Admiral Cook had been understandably curious about the Siberian ships. Going to fleet intelligence data yielded nothing on any of them. Either the information was being suppressed, or it just wasn’t there. How does a nation with no significant maritime presence, or even major ship building facilities, manage to produce a ship like that big battlecruiser out there? Making a discrete inquiry to PACOM received a terse reply—CLASSIFIED – NO INQUIRIES PERMITTED. The question would not be answered, not even to an Admiral, and beyond that, the inquiry itself was deemed off limits.

Very well, he thought. The Siberians are here, that much is certain, and they are certainly pulling their weight. Better let sleeping dogs lie. I can see what the fleet learned about them later, but for now, its war time security, and no one rocks the boat.

They were about 325 miles from the Chinese fleet now, and scooting south at flank speed, 35 knots. That speed in the carrier strike groups has been one of their best fighting assets over the long decades of service. They could run like the wind, and very little on or under the sea could catch them when they did.

From the present course of the Chinese fleet, they were trying to close the range with him now, but he would not permit that to happen. He had moved into the Celebes Sea, put in his first naval strike, then blasted the airfield at Zamboanga. Now he would keep the enemy at arm’s length, and strike them again at dawn.

And there wasn’t a goddamned thing they could do about it.

He smiled.

* * *

At 04:00, all enemy contacts went dark on the tracking screens. Admiral Wu had composed himself, and was now leaning over the radar operator, and checking his watch. There had been no sign of the Enterprise for the last 30 minutes, and at 04:30 he ordered one of the three J-31’s on forward CAP to move out and conduct a long range radar search.

As it happened, the scout moved up right in the middle of a US CAP replacement cycle, and was able to advance to a position about 150 miles from the Enterprise unnoticed, and therefore unchallenged. The J-31 quickly picked up a pair of surface contacts, heading south at 30 knots, but there was nothing else for several minutes until another Skunk was detected about 65 nautical miles further on.

The Admiral realized what he was seeing. That farthest contact had to be part of the carrier escort, and the two first contacts were most likely the Siberians. His eyes narrowed at that, seeing them as nice isolated targets, too far from the Americans to gain their support if attacked. That farthest on contact was now almost 350 miles away, and at 35 knots, so he knew he would never get any closer to the carrier now.

So I will strike the Siberians, he decided. They are only 285 miles away—inside the radius of our YJ-18’s. It is high time they suffered for all they have done to hurt our cause in this damn war. He would throw down the gauntlet with 34 missiles, and test the defenses of those ships.

At that point, his scout was finally detected by the enemy. A flight of three F-35’s, Watcher-3, had seen them on radar, and so had the Siberians. Kursk put two missiles in the air, the 9M96D with its 65 mile range good enough to reach the fighter, which prompted it to immediately turn and accelerate to military speed, 900 knots.

Watcher-3 reported the fleeing enemy contact, and was given clearance to pursue. A whisker faster than the J-31 at military speed supercruise, the F-35’s accelerated to 920 knots. They were carrying AAMRAM’s, with a 75 mile range, but the J-31 was a slippery target, and they would have to get closer than that to have any chance of locking on. That pursuit took Watcher-3 out into the no man’s land in the center of the Celebes Sea, and they flashed their radars to see if they could get a lock. It was at that point that their 200 mile range radars picked up Vampires, low on the sea.

“Nemo-1, Watcher-3. We have Vampires, low and slow. Over.”

“Roger, Watcher. Lock and Engage all hostile targets. Cleared Hot.”

That scout had triggered a defensive response that might not have been in place if Wu Jinlong had not been so curious that morning. As soon as the Forward CAP patrol engaged, the ship’s Captain, now on the bridge while Admiral Cook got some much needed rest, sent the Air Boss an order to launch the ready CAP fighters, two flights of two planes each, designated Linebacker 1 and 2.

Aboard Kirov, Kalinichev was standing in for Rodenko when the contacts came in. Karpov and Fedorov were both getting rest, so he was the Senior Watch officer on the bridge when the Vampires were seen. He followed procedure and sounded Air Alert One. Then, seconds later, all the contacts vanished. Kalinichev saw three American fighters overfly his position, returning to the Enterprise while others passed the ship a little to the southeast, outward bound. Then the Vampires reappeared, about 100 miles out, and he saw the American fighters engage. They unleashed all their arrows, and then turned for the carrier.

That still left 13 contacts inbound. The missiles disappeared again, lost on radar, then suddenly reappeared, this time just 20 miles out. With a standing order of weapons free, Kalinichev ordered Gromenko at the CIC to engage, and the Gargoyles leapt off the forward deck.

Karpov, sleeping in the ready room, was now out through the hatch as the missiles roared away. He immediately took stock of the situation, giving Kalinichev a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

“Well done,” he said, watching the Gargoyles engage on the radar screen. They were getting out to the Vampires just before they were close enough to enter their high speed terminal run, and they got every last one. That dropped his missile count to 29, but he had 90 medium range missiles behind those, so he was not concerned. You always put your best foot forward in combat, using the weapon most likely to get you a kill.

It was still too early for the morning strike, which had been postponed to 08:00 to give the ordnance crews more time to ready the planes. So Enterprise would recover the seven fighters it had sent out to engage those Vampires, and then posted its dawn watch, this time just one ready fighter and Hawkeye #3.

Karpov noted that the Chinese fleet had now changed course, and they were heading 325 degrees northwest. One look at the map told him they were going to Zamboanga, forsaking their effort to close with the Americans. There they would likely cover the base, or utilize the small port to refuel thirsty ships.

Enterprise was down through the narrow bottleneck of the Makassar Strait by sunrise, and into the bottle. Once through that northern gap where the US subs had dueled with Chinese boats earlier, the strait widened considerably for the next 300 miles until it gave way to the Java Sea. The morning seemed strangely quiet, but that was soon about to change.

06:30 Local, 19 JAN 2026

Fighter deployments on the Chinese side started to thicken up just after sunrise. Six J-20’s rose from Davao, headed west to Zamboanga, and Taifeng sent up a flight of six J-31’s for morning CAP. They would be joined by six more from Davao, survivors from the carrier Zhendong. These planes would form the outer shield against an air strike expected that morning. Admiral Wu Jinlong knew his enemy by now, and could count the hours it took to rearm their planes well enough. The Chinese field at Miri on the west coast of Borneo also sent up a couple J-20’s. They would have a good angle to make a run at the US carrier and fix its position on radar.

On the US side, SAG Guam met TF South from Australia, and the two groups now formed one cohesive task force, designated Bougainville. There the US Navy Captain Jack Dorne would command a Marine Amphibious Group, with the LHD’s attached, Arlington, Portland and Green Bay. That was a force capable of making a landing anywhere on Mindanao to deal with the Chinese encroachment at Davao.

So while both sides prepared to launch air strikes, the threat Wu Jinlong would have to face would not come from the sky, but from beneath the sea. Two US boats, Franklin and Chancellorsville, were quietly stalking the enemy fleet, and they were getting close. Franklin was 20 miles off the port side of the enemy formation, and Chancellorsville 30 mile off the starboard side, both moving on intercept vectors like a pair of predatory sea demons.

Chapter 8

You never knew just where an enemy submarine might be lurking. They could be closing on your flanks, as the two US boats were now, but they might also be stalking you from behind, hiding in the noise of your wake, or just silently waiting dead ahead, the proverbial silent hole in the sea—with torpedoes. And of all weapons designed and deployed in this war to kill ships, torpedoes were the most deadly and consistent killers. Of those that had been fired, over 90% had found a steel hull, killing ships at an alarming rate.

The Chinese had lost 25 ships to torpedoes, and they in turn had sunk six Royal Navy and Singapore Navy ships with their own subs. The only SSM that got close to achieving anything like that was the Chinese YJ-18, which had savaged the Royal Navy and Singapore fleets with 17 kills. Third in line were Kirov’s Zircons, which had sunk 14 ships, including three carriers, and with far fewer missiles than the YJ-18. That said torpedoes were still the king of the seas, with the highest kill percentage and the more ships sunk than any other weapon.

The two US subs were going to try to extend that reign as they closed on the enemy ships. They would sprint to the ten mile mark, then drift and shoot.

* * *

The last of the F-35’s carrying HAWC’s was spotted and ready at 08:15, and a full squadron of 12 planes would take off to join a dozen Avengers already circling overhead. The forward escort of four F-35’s had already seen and engaged an enemy fighter that had been getting nosey. It took a number of attempts, and an evasive run to avoid four PL-15’s, but they got the lone J-20 that had been snooping on the fleet.

As they formed up and started north, the pilots could see that a group of Avengers were already cleared hot and firing their LRASM’s. The missile had a 500 mile range, so it was take off, fire, and land for those six planes, and it sent 24 missiles after the enemy carrier.

No report had been made by radar of any incoming Vampires, and no flights of enemy planes had been detected, but Admiral Wu had his own inner radar, and his hackles were raised, knowing danger was at hand. He could sense it, feel it, something close, something far.

He was very correct.

The US air strike was already underway, with some missiles already fired, and the two US subs were bracketing the Chinese fleet on two sides. Flight V Virginia Class boat Franklin would be the first to fire, sending three torpedoes at the heart of the fleet, which had been cruising at 326 degrees northwest. This sent them into an evasive turn away from the sub, and to a new heading of about 45 degrees northeast—directly into the path of the Chancellorsville. She was still some 17 miles off, coming at 30 knots, and her Captain was keeping his cool. He waited until the enemy had churned to within nine miles, then slowed to five knots and fired a spread of four torpedoes.

The effect these sudden attacks had on the formation was jarring. FFG Weifang bravely broke formation, accelerated to its top speed, and charged at the suspected location of the first sub, willing to sacrifice the ship and crew just to put pressure on the attacking enemy submarine if it could. It threw an ASROC YU-7 out, which plopped into the water eight miles ahead, but found no targets.

Two helicopters took off from destroyers and fluttered away at low altitude after Franklin, thudding out to the position where the torpedoes had been detected. But that contact was already twelve minutes old, and in that time the sub had been maneuvering away from its firing point at 20 knots, and was at least four miles away. That wasn’t good enough for what the Chinese helos were carrying. The single YU-7 torpedo on a Chinese X-9C helo had a two mile standard range, and a kinematic range of just 4 miles. It had to be damn near spot on when launched to have any chance of getting a hit.

The Z-9 reached the point where they thought to find the American sub, then hovered to deploy their dipping sonar. They had gone slightly beyond the contact point, and got lucky. There was an almost immediate contact, and the excited pilots pulled up to get moving on that target. At that moment, something streaked in from the south west, jogged left, and bored right in on the helo, blasting it from the sky.

The US Escort-2 had been dueling with the J-31’s, found a hole in their defense, and unleashed several AIM-260 missiles at the helos. The Z-18 off the Moon God was the first to be knocked down, and now, just as that Z-9 was ready to pounce on Franklin, another missile saved the hour.

Chaos swept through the fleet like a storm. Seven ships behind Taifeng had been scattered in all directions by the torpedo attack, then the first of the LRASM’s started to come in at the front of the herd, all bearing down on the carrier. The big ship had been screened, and maneuvered successfully to get out of harm’s way, but the lances Franklin had fired were now locking on to alternate targets and still chasing them down, all while that spread of four torpedoes fired by Chancellorsville was sweeping in from the east.

SAM’s started leaping off the decks to get after the LRASM’s, and deck mounted lasers were flashing like lightning from the newer Type 055 destroyers. In the midst of this, one of the torpedoes fired by Franklin found the Vietnamese destroyer Haiphong and sent up a wall of white water and black smoke when it exploded. The ship was so badly hit that it was dead in the water a minute later, with fire and flooding amidships, and a broken back. The second torpedo circled and struck the wrecked ship again, sending what was left of it on a steep ride to the sea floor, over 16,000 feet below.

The third of Franklin’s fish then turned, detected the fuming wake of another ship, and surged towards DDG Saigon, just as a torpedo off the Chancellorsville found the frigate Yulin. A second struck DDG Yueshen, the Moon God. A third hit DDG Xining, a Type 052D Class ship. The American subs were simply devouring the confused and scattered southern end of the enemy formation. For good measure, Franklin put two more torpedoes in the water to get after the bold frigate Weifang that was tormenting it, wanting to shake that terrier off its tail.

In reprisal, the frigate fired its last two ASROC YU-7’s, and now it was up to the torpedoes. The ASROC’s plopped into the sea just 750 meters from the American sub, and began to look for their quarry, even while the two Mark 48’s locked on to the frigate and started their terminal run to the target. The ship would not survive, but the submarine would race away at 32 knots, quickly getting outside the shore ranged YU-7’s. Franklin slipped away, avoiding the threat until the enemy torpedoes lost energy and sunk into the depths below.

Wu Jinlong fled northwest, every ship ordered to make its best speed. Yet when he looked over his shoulder, he could see the smoke and fire of five stricken comrades burning on the sea, each and every one devoured by the terrible effectiveness of the torpedoes that were fired at them.

Yet the torment wasn’t over. Admiral Cook had also ordered another volley of MMT Tomahawks timed to follow up his air delivered ordnance, and now those missiles started tracking in. Type 052D Class destroyer Yinchuan was the first to detect them, and started firing its remaining HQ-9’s. As that battle began, Admiral Wu took some heart out on the weather deck, when he looked up high in the sky and saw the contrails of two formations of aircraft. The Flying Leopards were coming….

* * *

They rose in two groups of ten planes each, the JH-7B Fighters known as the Flying Leopards at Davao. Each plane carried a pair of YJ-12 cruise missiles, with fast turbojet engines that would push them at 1600 knots for 215 miles. That was bringing 40 missiles to the attack, and now Wu Jinlong knew he had to augment this with any cruise missiles that still had the range. He ordered all his gods and warriors with the YJ-100 to fire half their remaining inventory, which would send another 48 missiles southwest after the Americans. It was a desperate counterattack, but there was nothing else to be done. Orders were sent to a pair of J-20’s orbiting over Borneo to dash on the American carrier and paint it with radar.

The Leopards strained to make the range, getting right up to the last minutes of available fuel before they released. They got their missiles in the air, and then started the long trip back to Davao, over 300 miles away. That sent the alarms ringing in the Enterprise Strike Group, and the crews stood ready to unleash their SAM’s.

The fast YJ-12’s were going to outrun the YJ-100s and get to their assigned targets first, only to face a streaming cloud of ESSM’s. The Sea Sparrows were out like predatory fish, lancing into the oncoming school of Vampires and cutting it to pieces in that feeding frenzy. Some got very close—laser close, and the CG-21 Class cruiser Atlanta flashed its energy weapons to get two fast leakers before they could find a hull to savage.

That defense held, and as the YJ-100’s finally came on the scene, sea skimmers at 500 knots, Karpov gave orders for Kirov and Kursk to support the defense. They were running out of Gargoyles, but still had plenty of Growlers. The weight of those missiles, combined with the American ESSM’s was more than enough to smash the last of the YJ-100’s. By 10:30 Local, the smoke was finally clearing. Once again, while the cruise missiles had fired in their hundreds, none had scored a hit, while a total of nine torpedoes, including two more fired by Franklin, had hit six ships, sinking three and leaving the other three creeping along as the damage control teams fought to control the flooding and seal all leaks.

Yet the undersea attack was never without risks, especially when so close to a large number of enemy ships. While Franklin slipped away, Chancellorsville was detected and targeted by two ASROC YU-7s fired by the cruiser Zanshi, the Warrior. Those, with the aid of two helicopters, were able to get hits on the American sub, and end its war.

The battle had been intense, confusing, and costly for both sides. Escorts and strike planes both took hits, and of the 36 F-35’s Admiral Cook took to sea, there were now 27 remaining, with a lot of empty chairs in the briefing rooms. All twelve Avengers were safe after two strike missions, and the six SuperToms were now up on BARCAP in case anything else came their way. Submarines Shenandoah and Chancellorsville were gone, but the enemy had suffered much greater harm, at least in overall tonnage and ships lost.

Admiral Wu would return to the South China Sea, missing six ships already sunk, including carrier Zhendong and the Rain God, Yushen, with three more badly damaged. His mission was a complete failure. He had been unable to destroy any of the American bases, while Beiying in the Philippines, was badly damaged, and with heavy plane losses. His grand campaign was now a broken arrow….

The 36 bombers at Clark AFB were trapped, as the runways and access points were so beaten up that they could not take off. The base commander, under orders to get those bombers back to China, fretted the hours away, knowing American bombers might strike them again at any hour. Two B-1’s were taking off at noon to do exactly that, and stir the embers there with more JASSM-ER’s. If necessary, the B2’s were rearming with that missile, using up almost all the remaining inventory on that ordnance at Anderson. A pair of B-52’s also sat ready with them if needed.

Aboard the Enterprise, Admiral Cook looked at his watch and figured it would be 16:00 before he was ready to contemplate another strike, so he turned and began moving back up towards the bottleneck of the Makassar Strait. From all reports, the Chinese fleet was still strung out on a long formation, and running for Zamboanga at the end of the Elephant’s Trunk of Mindanao. They would look to refuel hungry ships, and then his best guess was that they would return to the South China Sea.

A little after 13:00, Local, the two B1’s were in position to release on Clark AFB again. A few of the crewmen had spent time there, and as the missiles started to drop away and ignite their engines, one blew a kiss at a departing missile and spoke wistfully of a favorite restaurant and bar. “Now don’t overshoot your goddamned target and hit my Lomi House. I slogged down a lot of good food and beer there in my time.”

The missiles went in, eventually engaged by a defending HQ-9 battery, which got eight kills. But the rest delivered another pounding to Clark, this time the fires and shrapnel slashing at those big bombers all over the field. When it was over, only 21 of the 36 that had been based there remained, and the Air Force Generals were screaming bloody murder.

Captain Shill on the USS Washington was also about to deliver the same treatment to the airfield at Davao. His destroyers were laden with Tomahawks, and he would send out 72 to cover all the main targets at that field, including open parking and tarmac space. While the Tomahawk had proved to be a very inept ship killer, this was a mission it was built for, precision ground strike operations. It would be a 300 mile journey to the target, with the missiles traveling 500 knots, so they would get there within the hour.

The first Vampires were spotted over the eastern highlands at 14:44, which prompted an immediate scramble order for all twelve J-20’s based there, and one KJ-200 AEW Plane. The 20 flying Leopards were all laid up in the hangars and parking spots, surrounded by ordnance crews that now raced to get to shelters as the air raid sirens blared all across the field. Two SAM batteries switched on radars and begin processing the contacts to get firing solutions. A minute later they started sending missiles at the leading Vampires.

One battery sawed off the tip of the spear, buying the fighters just enough time to get airborne, which allowed them to fire their PL-12’s at the main body of the Tomahawks to get many kills. The KJ-200 thrummed skyward just as the first leaker got through and struck one of the tarmacs. Of the 72 missiles fired, only ten would get through that combined SAM and air defense to strike the base, but even those ten killed eight Leopards on the ground, and smashed the control tower and cargo terminal. The runway itself was also damaged to a point that the emergency crews had to radio the J-20s and tell them they could not land. They had no choice but to turn away and head northwest to Puerto Princesa AFB on Cebu, so the strike had effectively driven off all the remaining fighter defense at Davao.

With Carrier Strike Group Washington now under 300 miles to the east, the US would soon dominate the skies over Mindanao. TF Bougainville, was now ordered to begin preparations for the landing of US Marines on the west coast of the Gulf of Davao southwest of the city. They were tasked to come ashore at Binagao Beach south of the big Davao Therma South Power station complex, and also north of that site at Merco Beach.

It was expected that landing would be unopposed, and then the Marines would move overland up Highway 1 to take on anything the Chinese had at Davao in the way of garrison troops. The first ground counterattack of the Pacific War would be underway within 48 hours.

Chapter 9

“I don’t know what it is, Dimitri, but something feels odd.”

Admiral Volsky eased off the examination table as Doctor Zolkin finished listening to his heart and lungs with a stethoscope.

“I know what you mean,” said Zolkin. “But it isn’t up here.” He pointed to his head. “It’s just a gut feeling. Tell me about these dreams you say you have.”

“Well,” said Volsky. “It starts with a great sea battle, but it is nothing like the things going on here now.”

“How so?”

“Here a battle at sea is a lonesome affair. You never really ever see the thing you are firing at, unless the occasional missile gets inside five miles. All you see are the SAM’s firing off the deck, the SSM’s. Soon the entire ship is shrouded in a white misty cloud from the smoke of all the rockets. The only way you can ever make any sense of what might be happening would be to hover over the radar station, and there you can watch the tracks of the missiles as they come and go. The computers tell you whether a missile failed or hit its target, and if it does, you know nothing of the terror it caused on that unfortunate ship. There is a wrenching explosion, smoke, fire, but you see nothing. You just sit there in that white fog….”

The Admiral inclined his head, as if he had hold of something in his mind. “Yes… fog….”

“And this is what you dream?”

“Quite the contrary. The battle I see in my dream is one where you can actually see the ship you are attacking, off on the horizon, a dark and threatening shape, a shadow. From time to time you see the flash and wink of light, and then comes the boom of great guns.”

“Guns? You mean naval guns? We never seem to use them on this ship. They just sit there.”

“Very true, but not in my dream. Kirov is there, to be sure, but then in one dream I find myself on some other ship, and not one I even command. It is very old, one of those big battleships from the great war. The sound of the guns firing is deafening, terrible, worse even than the roar of these missiles when they fire. You can hear the woosh and fall of those massive shells, and see them plop into the sea to send up big water geysers. No, it is nothing like modern naval combat, where the missile you send will almost certainly find and kill its target—unless another missile finds and kills that Vampire first. It is almost exhilarating. The fact that the enemy shells miss you actually heightens the tension. You see them walking closer to your ship on the sea, and realize that should one ever strike…. Well, at least there is no fog. You actually see the devil stalking you, and feel the wind from his fists of steel as he flings his madness at you. Yes… no fog.”

“Better to see your end, if it’s coming?” said Zolkin. “I would not like to be sitting there is a cloud, not knowing whether an enemy missile is about to break on through and smash into the ship. So I just stay here and hope nothing bad happens, and that I will not have a line of wounded men to tend to.”

“Well, that’s the thing, Dimitri. All you have to do is go to the radar screens, and you will know if an enemy missile is close or far. But this is not the case on those old dreadnoughts.”

“Leonid, you sound as though you have actually fought such battles. I know you have been in the navy a good long time, but not that long.”

Volsky smiled. Of course there was no way he could tell his friend all that he really knew, and all he had experienced. Because yes, he had seen those mighty old battleships, and he knew the doings of the war where they once fought on the seas first hand. Yes, he had been to the last great war, aboard Kazan, until Fedorov had urged them to try and return to the world where they belonged. Go forward, he said. Go home. They had the means, one of those magic control rods Kazan had been carrying, and Time had the will. So they dipped that rod, shifted, and here they were, but not in the world they once knew as home. Instead, they found themselves in this far flung future, the years that grew directly from the great war he had seen in the past.

Yet his friend here knew nothing of that, nothing at all. Fedorov and Karpov hijacked this ship in 2021. That was the future we came from. They tell me they stopped Kirov from regressing to the past, and instead became embroiled in a war like this one. They tell me I was on that ship—another Admiral Volsky, and perhaps the man I was before all of this ever happened. So there we were. The missiles started flying, and we fought, for our lives, for our country, for that future, or so Fedorov tells me. But we failed. Way leads on to way when first we practice the deadly art of war. There we were, thumping our chest with those live fire exercises, and yes, way leads on to way….

Fedorov told me Russia was losing that war, in spite of all our efforts. Karpov fought with the same art and skill he has always shown, the same unwavering determination, but the Navy was just not strong enough to face and defeat the USN. And the land war that started so auspiciously for us in the Baltic States, and Ukraine, took a decided turn for the worse once the European Union, Britain, and the United States mobilized their latent strength.

Very strange… That was a war I should have fought—the war I trained and prepared for through all my years in the service. They tell me I did fight, defending Severomorsk and the approaches to the Barents Sea, and covering our troops in Norway, but it was not me. It was some other version of this old man, and when Karpov, Fedorov, and Tyrenkov got the notion that things were going up in smoke in that war—nuclear war being imminent—they simply stole away on this ship, leaving that old Volsky behind to his fate.

I suppose that wasn’t something they could remedy, as I was not aboard when they felt compelled to make good their escape. That said, it still stings a bit to think they left me there, but time has a way of righting all wrongs. Here I am! I came forward with Gromyko aboard Kazan, and we have had our nice little reunion. But this is not the future I once knew. No, it is the future of the war I saw with my own eyes, the war where dreadnoughts prowled the seas. Yet even as I think back on it, I am beset with these strange feelings. I fought there, yes, but in some deep place within me, I feel I died there as well. That is what I dream of now. Yes, I died in that war, as I died again in 2021…. Yet here I am, sitting with my old friend of so many years, in this and every Meridian of time where I have ever existed.

“It is very strange, Dimitri—more than strange. If you knew all the things I have really done, you would know I came to make friends with the impossible long ago. But this is what I dream… Once I was on a great battleship, in the last war, and the enemy shells found my ship I think—found me.”

Zolkin nodded. “Just a dream, Leonid. Do not fret about it.”

“You are probably right,” said Volsky. “Dimitri, do you ever have the odd feeling you have done something twice?”

“Twice? You mean feeling like I have lived through the same event more than once?”

“Exactly.”

“Well, to be quite honest, I have. I putter around in here when there’s no line at the hatch, and once I found something that puzzled me. It was an old bandage, still bloodied, but for the life of me, I could not remember ever using it, or dressing out a crewman with it. If that were the case, I would certainly have disposed of it properly.”

“A bandage? Just throw it away, Dimitri. Nothing to bother with.”

“You might think as much, but I couldn’t…. throw it away. I wouldn’t. It seemed important, though for the life of me I cannot say why. But it was important, something I kept for a reason. The strange thing is this. The instant I saw that bandage, I had the distinct feeling that I had found it once before, and had this very same reaction to it. You would think I would recall something like that, eh? Well, it seemed as if I did recall it, but then I could not remember why it would be important enough for me to keep it like that—locked up in the medicine cabinet and all. That was most unusual.”

“Something tells me we’ve both been at sea too long,” said Volsky. “Tell me, Dimitri. What do you make of all this?”

“It’s crazy,” said Zolkin. “One moment we are out there to conduct those live fire exercises for Naval Day, and then we suddenly find ourselves under attack by a hidden submarine and World War Three starts! Now look where we are, five years ahead and still stuck in that war. How could it be? How does a ship like this suddenly leap into the future? And here we find the whole war is turned on its head. Instead of fighting the Americans, they are all our friends. Instead of locking arms with the Chinese, Karpov is up there sinking their aircraft carriers. It’s madness! The men have accepted it, god bless their souls, but I could never quite swallow it. Movement in time? Even if I could accept that, why would we still be fighting this war now, in 2026?”

Volsky smiled.

“You are not the only one so confused and bewildered by what had happened to us.”

“True, Leonid, but I can’t for the life of me reason why the Americans would suddenly decide we are their friends.”

Volsky did not know how to respond, because he knew his friend had no idea Kirov had actually sailed with those grand old battleships of WWII either. So he tried to come up with some reason.

“We are five years ahead, and not any older. That at least is one good thing. But Dimitri, we don’t know what happened in those five years. The history books might write it somewhere in this world, but we have none of them aboard this ship. Perhaps Fedorov could explain it to you, as he has a nose for history. All I can imagine is that there must have been an armistice, and a peace made between Russia and the United States. It seems Russia isn’t even fighting in this war any longer—just us. We are the only ships still in the conflict, and now they are struggling to deal with China. That is all I can say about it.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” said Zolkin. “But for five years? Look how it almost came to a terrible end in 2021.”

“It seems this world avoided that.”

“But still they fight. The missiles still fly. The fog of war still envelops us every time that alarm sounds.”

“Yes,” said Volsky solemnly, “the fog….”

That was another deep memory he struggled to see and hold in his mind. The fog—but not from the missiles firing. No, this was something else, a deep, oppressive fog that enveloped them on every side. It was so thick that none of the helicopters could fly high enough to find clear skies. This is what he dreamed at times. Endless fog…. Men missing…. Brave Fedorov….

“Well Dimitri, we won’t sort all of this out here. All I can say is how grateful I am that you are here, my old friend. You may be troubled with dreams as well, and odd memories like those I describe to you here. Who knows, maybe a man lives many lives, and has many chances. But at least one thing holds true—our friendship.”

“Yes, Leonid. I was so glad when you returned on that submarine. Nobody really tells me much of what is happening. Oh, I get hints and clues from what the men whisper among themselves. I knew you were out there somewhere, fighting, defending Severomorsk. Then this crazy ship came here, a thing I have struggled to understand and accept. You know, trying to explain it to the men was the only way I kept my sanity. What happened, Doctor? Where are we? How is it possible? These are the things they all lined up to ask me. So I had to put aside my own bewilderment, remain calm, be strong for them, and help them make sense of it. Here we are, I told them. It’s the same world, just a little farther on.”

Volsky nodded, but he knew it wasn’t the same world. No, this was the future Kirov and Kazan shaped long ago, in WWII, and not the world his friend had lived in. That world was gone, and he knew that some version of his very own self had perished with it. This was another world, and another life, but his head was now a jumble of too many odd memories, snippets of one world or another, one life or another. It seemed to him that he had been caught up in the exploits of this ship and crew for ages past, and that there would be no end to the story. It would just go on, and on, and on.

He smiled inwardly. That is life, he thought. That’s how it really is. The only place things get tidied up and all resolved to a fitting end is in the story books and movies. But that isn’t the way it is in real life. There we just move from one time to another, one life to another. We reach back in our mind and see ourselves in one chapter or another of our life, and the older we get, the more there is to sort through, the love, the losses, the friends and foes, successes and failures, and all the choices we made to bring us to the place where we now stand, remembering it all. Yet I am a man grown too old, or so it seems. I have more things in this head than I can hold at any one time, which is why I think so much of my story must remain asleep. If it all woke up and came out at once, it could overwhelm me. So let it sleep, Leonid, he told himself.

Yes, forget the battleships, and forget the fog. Just be here now where you are—on this proud ship, and with this fine crew. Just be here with your dear old friend, and be glad for it.

“Yes,” he said to Zolkin. “Just a little farther on. That was a good way to say it.”

“Yet the men could only wonder what had happened to their wives, their children, all their friends. No one can use ship’s Internet stations to find out. Wartime security, says Karpov, and I suppose he is correct. Who knows what happened, but I told them they were all still out there, still waiting for them. Some were not so sure…. Think of the sacrifice these men have made, Leonid. We take them out on one sea or another, ask them to fight, to stand up, remain loyal. And amazingly, they do!”

“The finest crew in the fleet,” said Volsky.

“Yes? Well, how many aircraft carriers does Karpov need to sink? Why don’t we just go home. The Americans seem to have things well in hand.”

“Do they? Perhaps, but we have made a big difference in this war. It is a sad thing that we must fight it, and yes, we might wish the world would finally learn the folly of war. Yet here we are. The missiles come for us, and we fight back. That said, I do understand what you are saying. The men must long for their loved ones, and wonder where they are. One day that will all be resolved… One day…”

But Volsky knew that day might never really come, and that if they ever did finally put in to a friendly port, it would be one more hard shock for the crew. They don’t know the whole of it, he thought. They think this is the same war that started in 2021, and that we have pulled some kind of Rip Van Winkle affair to sleep and then wake here five years on. If we ever do take them home, what would they find?

Then he came to the hard fact he had discovered, too curious one day, just as Fedorov had learned the difficult truth. This world was not the one Fedorov left in 2021. So he thought he would use his Admiral’s privilege to gain access to the Internet. The first thing he did was see if he could learn the history of this ship, but it wasn’t there. The Soviet Navy of this era had never built it.

That was a most unsettling discovery, and it prompted him to want to search for his own name to see what he could learn. His hands hovered over the keyboard, and then he thought twice about it, and just shut the session down.

Better not to know, he thought. Be here now. What I don’t know cannot hurt me. If we keep the men in the dark, then I will sit there with them—all in the same boat, quite literally. I already know far too much….

As he thought on that, he wondered if the crew also had these odd dreams at times, and if their sleeping past would awaken in their heads as they took their rest in the bunks. He would help them as best he could, he thought. And for now, while Kirov still cut the waves with her proud bow, he would sail with them, wherever they went.

Then words came to him, one of those far off memories from some distant, hidden place in his mind. It was his voice, speaking to this crew: On the sea the boldest steer but where their ports invite, but there are wanderers o’er Eternity, whose bark drives on and on, and anchor’d ne’re shall be….

Part IV

Objective Babylon

“It’s courage, not luck, that takes us through to the end of the road.”

― Ruskin Bond

Chapter 10

“So we’re going to be up front?”

“Tip of the spear, Mister Resel. A-Troop, 1st Battalion, 7th Cav.”

“It’s Todd. No need for formalities if I’m going to be bouncing around in that Hummer with you guys for the next couple weeks.”

“Right… Todd. What paper did you say you were working for?”

“The New York Times.”

Major Jason Philips tightened the strap on his helmet and checked the position of his goggles. Tall, with short dark hair, he was all Army, and his cool efficiency was the reason he was going to be up front that day, right on point.

“Know how to wear one of these?” He tossed the reporter an Advanced Combat Helmet, Generation II, the lightweight model, which weighed a pound less than the standard combat helmet.

“Don’t I get the same kind you have?”

“That’s the lightweight model. Don’t worry, it has the same protection level as mine—just a little easier on the noggin. Believe me, you’ll appreciate that soon enough.”

“What’s this bit up front?”

“That’s the NVG Bracket—for mounting a night-vision goggle.”

“Cool. I get one of those?”

“You won’t need one. We’ll handle the reconnaissance. Now… This is your IOTV.”

“Sure doesn’t look like one.”

“What?”

“Never mind.”

“You wear the helmet like this, and the chin strap attaches here. You may want to get yourself a haircut. It can get hot under there.”

The reporter ran his hand through his thick, sandy hair, a bit wild, and he got the point. “A little too late for that,” he said.

“Suit yourself. Alright, this is your IOTV, the Improved Outer Tactical Vest—body armor. That weighs under four pounds, but once you rig it out with soft armor panel inserts, ballistic plates, collar and groin protectors, you’re looking at 30 pounds. So you may want to keep the camera equipment you plan to bring to a minimum.”

“Oh, I won’t need that. I brought my own. A buddy of mine in the Marines got hold of one. He calls it the Modular Body Armor Vest.”

“You got one of those? Hell, that’s what 75th Rangers wear.”

“Just sixteen pounds,” said Todd with a grin.

“Good for mobility,” said Philips, “but not as good on protection as this equipment. Your choice.”

“Well,” said Todd. “Seeing that I may be doing more running than fighting, better mobility sounds good to me right now.”

“We’ll issue you a sidearm for personal protection, but no assault rifle for nonmilitary personnel.”

“No problem. I’ll be snapping photos, not shooting at Iraqis.”

“Yup. We’ll do that, and we’ll be kicking ass and taking names, so you’ll have to be near the back of the column if you want to stay safe out there. Ok? Listen up. When we move you need that body armor on at all times, and this helmet. We move fast, but we can stop suddenly to conduct visual reconnaissance. If we come under fire, stay in your vehicle, and stay low. Keep your head down.”

“Well how am I supposed to cover this operation if I’m holed up in a Hummer while all the good photo-ops are happening?”

“Look, if you’re willing to die for a photo-op, be my guest. It’s just safer in the vehicle, but if we determine otherwise, you just do what your corporal says. We’re a pretty wild bunch, which is why we’re up front. Frankly, I’m surprised you even got permission to ride with this troop. If things get hot, stay calm, use your head, and follow orders. The men will be all business, but like I say, we’re the saw’s teeth up here. There will be combat. You’ll probably get a nickname pretty soon, so it may be better to pick one now that you can live with.”

“A nickname?”

“Right. Nobody’s going to call you Todd…. Todd. Let’s see. Your last name is Resel….”

Todd scratched his head. “Weasel,” he said. “Resel the Weasel. That’s what they called me in high school.”

“Sounds good to me. So from here on out, you’re the Weasel. I know you’re here to do a job, but just don’t try to weasel your way into places you don’t belong. And stay with the column at all times. No one’s going to have time to hold your hand, or to go looking for you if you wander off. Stay close, even if you take a piss, because we can move out on a moment’s notice and you’d better be in your vehicle when we do. If you hear someone say we’re Oscar Mike, that mean on the move. Get it? Miss the train and you’ll have to wait for a cab.”

“A cab? Out here?”

“That’s C.A.B.—Combined Arms Battalion. There’s three of them right behind us, Lancers, Stallions and Thunder Horse. This here is the Iron Horse Division, and we move like steel thunder. So if you miss your ride, you’ll have to stick out a thumb with one of those three battalions behind us.”

“Yes sir, Major. Understood… What’s your handle, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“My handle? You mean my nickname? It’s Major.” He looked at his watch. “We roll at midnight tonight, so you may want to catch some Z’s before that. The road is likely to be rough in places, and a Humvee is no limousine.”

“Right… Any idea where we’re going, Major Philips?”

“You can read a map, can’t you? We’ll be on Highway-1, and as far as it goes—all the way to Babylon.”

“You mean Baghdad?”

“Right, but keep that under your helmet, Mister Weasel. By the way, how do you report to your paper?”

“I’m on deep background, so I file my story with the press pool, whenever we find them.”

“So you don’t need to phone home each day?”

“No, nothing like that.”

“Good, because they’ll be listening. No need to let them know where we are, and by all means, where we may be going.”

“Right,” said the Weasel. “But Major, I think someone over there will be able to read a map too. This road only goes one place.”

“Oh, it goes a few other places too,” said the Major. “But don’t let that bother your sleep, Mister Weasel. Remember—midnight.”

* * *

The world wasn’t going to hear about Operation Able Fire until noon that day, when the president planned to go live for a statement to the nation. In the meantime, the darkness of the Iraqi desert that folded itself over the land was near complete. There was no moon, as it was new that day, and so the stars were the only witness to what was happening.

The Coalition forces were taking two routes east into Iraq. The US contingent had moved east through the long panhandle of Jordan to the Iraqi border where two roads (Highways 1 and 10) threaded themselves east through the desert to Ramadi, a 250 mile march. The first stop was the town of Rutba, 75 miles from the Jordanian border. Leg two, 80 miles on, would take the column to the junction of Highway 21 running south to meet Highway 22, which ran to Karbala from the Saudi border. The roads formed a great letter H turned on its side, with Highways 1 and 22 being the down strokes, and Highway-21 the cross connector.

The US forces in the north would lead with two BCT’s of the 1st Cavalry Division, the 3rd BCT being in Saudi Arabia south of Kuwait with the 1st USMC Division. Immediately behind 1st Cav, would come the iron hammer of Old Ironsides, 1st Armored Division, and then 3rd Infantry Division. 4th I.D. was still in the Sinai, but it had detached its 1st Stryker Brigade and another of these, the 3rd Stryker Brigade, was send over from 2nd Division for the operation. These two mobile brigades would stand as the US ground element reserve. The force was then augmented by the whole of the 101st Air Assault Division, with the 173rd Airborne Brigade acting as the airmobile reserve.

In the south, the European Coalition forces moved out of Jordan to Arar in Saudi Arabia, which was on the Saudi Highway 85, about 40 road miles from the Iraqi border. This force was composed of the French 7th Armored Brigade under General Lemont, the British 20th Armored Infantry Brigade under Major General Wilson, and their Strike Brigade under Brigadier Grant, the German 21st Panzer Brigade arrived under Brigadier Berg, and the Italian Ariete Brigade under General Romano. With five brigades, it was a much smaller force compared to the American contingent, which had all of ten ground BCT’s and four air mobile brigades in its generous order of battle.

The plan that night was to move rapidly through the vast empty western desert of Iraq in a 150 mile lightning dash that would take both contingents to the joints of that cross bar on the letter H. First to move was the massive helicopter force of the 101st Airborne, which would rise like a dark horde of metal locusts, thumping its way east, low over the ground. The Apaches of 1/17th Cav would lead the way, scanning the dark ground ahead on infrared as they moved to a point a little north of the junction to carve out the first occupied territory of Iraq in this war, appropriately called FOB Alpha. Stretching 15 x 15 kilometers, it would become a massive arming and refueling and point for the helicopters, which had already delivered their BCT’s to positions deep inside Iraq.

While the flat open desert offered little in the way of obstacles to the Coalition advance, the approaches to Baghdad would soon be compressed into two chokepoint sectors. It was not stony mountains that formed these chokepoints, but water barriers. The long Euphrates river ran out of Syria and made its winding journey south through Iraq. In 1956, the great Tharthar depression was filled with the diverted floodwaters of the Tigris river to the east, and became an imposing obstacle that stood as a massive water shield for the region between Baghdad and Tikrit in northern Iraq.

South of Tharthar was the much smaller Lake Habbaniyah, and between the two lakes, Highway-1 ran through the Ramadi-Fallujah Gap, about 20 miles wide from north to south. That was where the US column was headed, intending to simply bull its way through the gap, and then drive another 50 miles to Baghdad.

The European Contingent would push up highway 22 until it bent south of another water barrier, the large Lake Razzazah. Just east of the lake sat the city of Karbala, nestled between Razzazah and the Tigris river. That city was their first objective prior to forcing the Tigris to secure Al Hillah and Alexandria. After that, they were to drive north to Baghdad as well. The entire operation was aimed at that one massive city, the heart of Iraq, designated Objective Babylon.

As the Weasel had suggested to Major Philips that night, the Iraqis could read a map well enough. They had been watching the big buildup in Israel and Jordan nervously for weeks, hoping it was just there to deliver the coup de grace to the operation aimed at the Suez Canal. When the Egyptians signed an armistice, all bets were off, and Chinese intelligence informed Baghdad that it was very likely the Coalition forces were there to invade Iraq.

That started the mad scramble to get combat worthy divisions out of Saudi Arabia and north to Baghdad, because they could easily see where all the roads leading east would bring the invaders if they came. So by the time Able Fire was set to be kindled, the entire 1st Corps of the Republican Guard had already left Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and moved north to Baghdad. Yet it was not the same force that had started the war with its bold invasion of Kuwait many weeks earlier. Both the Talwalkana and Nebuchadnezzar Divisions were so badly depleted that they were disbanded, and their remaining troops and equipment used to build the other three divisions (Baghdad, Al Medina, and Hammurabi) up to strength.

The first two deployed to Baghdad to join Qusay Hussein’s personal division in defense of the capital. The Hammurabi went south to Alexandria to watch the river crossing there. All the rest of the force that was returned to Iraq was composed of territorial infantry brigades, and these were all sent to their respecting cities and districts to prepare defensive positions there.

In the north, all the national guard brigades were scraped together to form three makeshift divisions, with one posted at Tikrit, another at Samarra and the third at Mosul. Other forces in the north included territorial brigades at Erbil and Kirkuk. All the special forces battalions that had swept into Kuwait were withdrawn with their helicopters to form the screening defense in Al Anbar province, the first to be invaded by the Western Coalition forces.

If General Abdul Bakir could have concentrated the bulk of all these forces at the two chokepoints, he might have presented a formidable defense, but Qusay Hussein overruled that option.

“We will not bunch our forces in one place,” he said. “It will leave the rest of the country defenseless, and you know how restless the Shia tribes are in the south.”

General Bakir folded his thick arms. “But if we occupy these natural gaps near the lakes, we can hold them at bay. They will never get into the rest of the country.”

“Oh? Do not be so certain of that. They have airmobile forces. Furthermore, if we bunch the army up as you suggest, then it will offer them one massive target for their air force to pummel us night and day. No, we will disperse the Army throughout the country, with all the territorial brigades at their home bases. This way, even if Baghdad were to fall, the greatest part of Iraq will remain unconquered. We will fight them here, to be sure, and with our three best divisions, but if we fail, there will be many bastions of defense remaining in all our cities. This is the way we will fight. The Americans call it Distributed Lethality.”

“Military jargon,” said General Bakir. “I call it dispersion, lack of concentration. You will end up giving them the chance to destroy our best troops if we fight this way, and what will the rest do when they see them beaten?”

“Perhaps, but if we cannot save Baghdad, then all surviving forces here will simply withdraw to the next bastion city. It will be up to you, General, to preserve these good divisions, and keep them from destruction. We must hold the north! That is the heart of our Baath Party power base. So if we must yield Baghdad, then we will fall back on Samarra and Tikrit.”

“Look here,” the General pointed at the map. “The first contact will be along the upper Euphrates, and certainly at Ramadi. If they take that city, then they could swing to the north of Fallujah through the Ramadi Gap. Do not forget those airmobile forces you mentioned a moment ago. They will look to seize good air bases for further operations in theater. Suppose they strike at Al Muthana here, or at Balad here.” His thick finger moved around the map, pointing out those bases. “That would prevent any withdrawal north to Tikrit as you advise.”

“Then I will post a full brigade of the Qusay Division here, at Al Taji north of Baghdad. They will be able to move north to those airfields if they are threatened. So if they storm the capital, then we fall back on Tikrit, and certainly Baqubah. If they come here, and take Baghdad, they will think they have defeated us, but will just look up and see we still control 90% of the country. You see? They will never defeat us.”

“What about General Ayad in the south? What about Kuwait?”

“He must retain command of 1st Army and fight to hold what we have taken, particularly Kuwait. Nothing inside Saudi Arabia matters now, but if we can retain the oil fields in Kuwait long enough, we might negotiate to keep them permanently.”

“Respectfully, sir, they did not move all these brigades into Jordan to negotiate. The time for that is long gone. We should have sued for peace when they first started landing in Israel, and launched this operation against Suez.”

“Perhaps,” said Qusay. “But we must fight the war we have, not the one we might wish to have. They were very bold. We thought they would build up in the south, and only strike at Kuwait to liberate that place. This is something entirely different now. The very survival of Iraq and the Baath Party is on the line—so do not disappoint me, General Bakir. You now command 2nd Army, directly under me, and you must fight!”

Chapter 11

The night move by the 101st Airborne went off without a hitch, and though it wasn’t entirely unexpected, it was still a shock to the Iraqis when the scope of the lift was revealed at sunrise. 1st BCT had gone in to take the Al Asad airbase on the middle Euphrates, rooting out a battalion of Iraqi Special Forces in fortified positions. The Apaches provided cover fire against the enemy bunkers, which had been built as aircraft revetments, but otherwise, the air base was empty. Once under the fire of those Apaches, the Iraqi units bugged out and looked for safer climes.

2nd BCT landed 40 kilometers to the south at Hit, setting up road blocks on the road that ran parallel to the Euphrates, Highway-12, and then organizing an attack to seize the bridge over the river. Hit was an ancient Assyrian frontier outpost, and Bitumen wells there yielded an asphalt like substance that was used to help build the Ziggurats of old Babylon. So as the troops entered, they were driving in to thousands of years of history in that place. The air was cool and crisp, and they could smell the river. It was winter on the Euphrates, with daytime highs around 55 degrees Fahrenheit, and it was the rainy season. That said, the place would average less than an inch of rain per month. It was as balmy a winter as many in the battalion ever had.

The bridge leading northeast into the hamlet of Bakr was a minor objective, taken only to control movement across the river. The real objective was the pipeline that crossed the river there, continuing up to the H-Line that would eventually reach the Mediterranean Sea. The pumping station was taken undamaged, and the reporting Lieutenant sent the welcome message up the chain of command that “Pushpot-1 was in allied hands and secured.

Pushpot-2 would take just a little more before if it was going to change hands….

* * *

“Resel the Weasel,” said Sergeant King. “I like it. We got the short straw when the order came down to take you on, but you got lucky. This here is the Wild Bunch, Corporal Neal, main gunner Duran, our driver Private Sanchez, and that’s Murphy. He’ll be riding with you in the back seat.”

The men gave the newcomer a cursory glance, looking busy with their equipment, and then Neal wandered off.

“Now you could have asked for a ride in a real armored vehicle, so you’ve at least got the balls if you wanted to roll with us. This here is armored cavalry, so we have a couple dozen Bradley AFV’s, and over 30 Strykers in the battalion. That’s a lot more protection than a Humvee.”

“Yeah, but once you get stuck inside, you can’t see much. That’s why I asked for a lighter vehicle like a Hummer.”

“Well that’s what you got, but this ain’t no goddamn Hummer. That’s the civilian model. This here is a genuine High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, a bona fide Humvee. It’s been a long time since we had a Pogue along for the ride.”

“What?”

“Pogue—P.O.G. That’s People Other than Grunts, which is you. I suppose you had to pass muster with Major Philips, so we’ll take you on. But make sure you look after all your own Battle Rattle when we move. I’m not carrying extras.”

“Right… Battle Rattle.”

“You know, helmet, vest, weapons, and all the rest.”

“Yes, I got the lecture from the Major.”

“Good. That’s a slick vest. You got Sappy in there?”

“What’s that?”

“Small arms protective plates—SAPI.”

“I think so.”

“Well, you’ll know if someone takes a shot at you. Anyone else with you? No Terp? No Photographer?”

“Did you say twerp?”

“Terp… interpreter.”

“No, I’ll look for one later. As for photos, that’s my job too.”

“Alright, I hope you hit the chow hall hard and got some sleep, because from here on in, it will be MRE’s and sleepless nights in this old buggy.”

“M.R.E’s” said the Weasel. “That’s one I know. You guys invented a whole new language out here.”

“Oh there’s more. You’ll pick it up in no time.” The Sergeant looked at his watch, his round, ruddy cheeked face smiling. Here’s another one, we’re Oscar Mike, on the move, and that in five minutes. Kapish?”

“Gotcha,” said the Weasel. “The Major taught me that one.”

“Hey,” came a voice. “We Oscar Mike, Sarge?” It was the top gunner, Alphonso Duran back again, climbing up to man the big 50-Cal, MG when they moved.

“Any minute now,” said the Sergeant. “This here is manos de piedra, hands of stone. He’s a cold hearted shit kicker on that fifty.”

“Cold hearted and freshly farted, Sarge. Just took my first combat dump. We heading up to Al Wafa? Sanchez is calling it the waffle house.”

“A little more than ten Klicks on,” said King.

“Say,” the reporter ventured. “What’s your nickname, Sergeant.”

“Take a good guess. The name is King, but anything appropriate will do. I tend to like Your Royal Highness, but your majesty will do.”

“You mean your royal hind ass,” said Duran. “How you lug all that Battle Rattle about when you’re already packing so much armor on your backside, Sarge?”

“Can it, Duran.” The Sergeant gave him a disparaging look. Then he put two fingers to his mouth and whistled. “Where the hell is Neal? Mount up!”

Neal came running up when he heard the whistle, along with Murphy, a veritable red haired Irishman the others simply called Murph. The Sergeant got into the front right seat next to Sanchez, twirled his finger in the air and pointed dead ahead. Neal and the other men jumped in the back with the Weasel, and soon the Humvee was growling down the road, headed for the Waffle House, but there would be no breakfast served there that day. When they got there they found the place was already crawling with tough looking infantry, but at least they were friendlies. Todd thought they were hostiles at first, but the sergeant clued him in.

“That’s Task Force-1,” he said. “Tango Foxtrot One, the Black Lions. They were air mobile in here last night. Bastards fired the first bullets from any American rifle in WWI, and they probably want to fire the first one here too. They’ll have four companies in here, Aztec, Battle, Crusher, and Destroyer.”

“They sound like friendly guys,” said the Weasel.

“Goddamn welcoming committee,” said the King. “They were supposed to set up a blocking position here until we arrived. Then we start the rough stuff. Up ahead is the Al Muhammadi Air Field, and that’s our first objective. Take that, and then it’s just another 25 Klicks to the Ramada Inn.”

“You mean Ramadi?” The Weasel shook his head.

“Gentlemen, I made reservations for all of us there, and check in starts at 15:00. First come, first served. Do you realize that the column behind us now stretches all of 200 miles? 2nd BCT will be out on our right soon. They took that secondary road we passed a while back. That puts two fists of the Iron Horse Division right up front, and brothers, we ain’t stopping till I get to my master suite in the Ramada.”

15:00 Local, 18 JAN 2026

The Black Lions would not be the ones to fire the first shots of the ground war, for technically, the 101st Airborne troops landing to seize Al Asad AFB had already done that. As the main column approached Al Muhammadi AFB, the Weasel’s unit, 1/7th Cav, veered off the road into the open desert. They were bypassing the airfield, the light Humvees in the vanguard, with the rest of the battalion fanning out in a chevron formation. The Bradley AFV’s were on the left, and the Strykers on the right, but the Weasel was right in the middle of things, taking photos of the armored charge, with streams of sand and dust in the wake of each vehicle.

They did not get far before the tip of the spearhead halted to get optics on a shimmering mirage up ahead, knotted with dark blobs. It was the 175 Recon Squadron of the Iraqi Air Assault Division, which was watching the road about 15 kilometers west of Ramadi. 1/7th Cav was going to say hello.

“Kingmaker, this is Pale Horse. We have eyes on a light armored formation, about two klicks out and blocking the main road. Confirmed hostile. Over.”

“Roger Pale Horse, cleared hot on hostiles. Engage and clear that road. Over.”

Sergeant King heard that transmission on the coms and smiled. “Time to get this war started,” he said.

At that moment, with the sandy vehicles stretched out in that wide chevron to either side, no one could see the end of the road they had taken to come to this place. Mack Morgan had sent information on one possible outcome in his secret Geronimo transmission file to the President of the United States, and if that were to repeat here, the end would be a long decade or more away. Would the chronology move from invasion, to combat, occupation and insurgency, as it had in the history Morgan knew?

The official US Iraq War Logs listed just over 109,000 deaths in the war, of which 3,771 were US or Coalition friendly forces.[2] Yet numerous surveys taken by various institutions all tallied different numbers, one exceeding 650,000 deaths. No matter how the bodies would be counted, the killing would start here for 1/7th Cav. The Weasel heard someone on a trumpet sounding a traditional cavalry charge, and the chevron started moving. It was time to “get some,” an old war cry made popular by the Marines of 1st USMC Division. But here the war cry was Garryowen, the song of the 7th Cav…

‘Our hearts so stout have got us fame,

for soon ’tis known from whence we came;

where’re we go they dread the name

of Garryowen in glory.’

Streams of tracer rounds lanced east as the wave of dust and sand closed on the enemy formation. The Weasel leaned out of the Humvee, snapping photos with his small hand held camera, which was tied securely to his wrist with the strap to keep it from being jarred loose when they hit a rough spot. The men hooted, and they heard the sound of that 50-Cal MG chugging away above them. As the battalion charged, the Iraqi vehicles were turning east down the road. They sped away, leaving their own dust trail behind them, which clouded the whole scene in a dull brown haze. Soon they reached the first of six burning vehicles, old Soviet built equipment that the Iraqis had bought years ago. About three kilometers on, the charge ended. Up ahead the road split, and the enemy had taken the left fork that led to the main bridge over the Euphrates northwest of Ramadi. From that fork, they were now 15 kilometers from the heart of the city.

The real ground war would start there, in the mud brown buildings of Ramadi, a city that would see at least 100 separate battles between the years 2003 and 2026 in Mack Morgan’s history. This would be the first in this retelling of these events, in a war that was embracing actions fought in the first two Gulf Wars as Morgan knew them. Even as it began, there was already a Desert Storm like operation underway in the distant south.

Dubbed Operation Clipper, a force composed of the 1st USMC Division, 3rd BCT of 1st Cav were swinging into the southern desert to enfilade the Iraqi and Iranian forces in Saudi Arabia. At the same time, the Saudi and Gulf State Forces threw themselves into a counterattack against the enemy line to pin it in place. Waiting in the wings was the concentrated 82nd Airborne Division, ready to move by helicopters to positions behind the enemy lines, blocking roads and avenues of retreat. That withdrawal order had already been issued, and the Iraqi forces were streaming north, trying to avoid engagement and take up a new line in northern Kuwait, defending the Sabiryah and Rumailah Oil Fields.

Here, as the Weasel snapped a photo of a wrecked Iraqi APC, the Ramada Inn ahead was now being made into Iraq’s first desert shield for the approach to Baghdad. Four Special Forces battalions, and four more of the Ramadi Territorial Brigade were digging into the bones of the city, where nearly a quarter of a million people huddled in fear as the war came to their homeland in this most unexpected way.

They were mostly Sunni Arabs, the tough, irascible Dulaim Bedouin tribe, the strongest in the “Sunni Triangle” of western Iraq. Fiercely independent, up to 20% of the ranks of the Republican Guard divisions were filled by men from this tribe, and it had formed the heart of the resistance movement in Al Anbar province against US occupation in Mack Morgan’s history. That resistance here would begin with this battle.

1/7th Cav got orders to pursue the retreating Iraqis up that north fork to the bridge, and when they got there, they found that the enemy had crossed to the far bank.

“Kingmaker, this is Pale Horse. Sitrep. Be advised. We have reached the river as ordered and have optics on the far bank. The enemy appears to be bringing up demolitions teams.. Over.”

“Roger Pale Horse. Imperative you cross that bridge and prevent demolition. Over.”

Sergeant King was squinting at his map. The airfield at Al Muhammadi had been overrun without much difficulty by the three heavy battalions that had followed them. Now he looked at the snaking course of the Euphrates, noting that there were few other places to cross north of his position. If he wanted to check in to the Ramada Inn, he needed to cross here, and fast, or he would find himself sitting there, staring at a broken bridge.

The sun was already low, setting red on the horizon, and they could hear the sound of artillery firing near Ramadi to the southwest.

“Hey Sarge, what gives?” Duran stuck his head down to complain. “I thought we were going to Ramadi.”

“This is the way to Ramadi,” said the Sergeant. “That’s the goddamn main bridge right there, and we just got orders to cross it.

“Well, we ain’t getting over that,” said Neal. “Not without tanks and engineers. What if they knock out some of our vehicles. It will be one hell of a clusterfuck on that bridge.”

“We got tanks, Neal.”

“Yeah, but they’re at the back of the column. Better if we wait here until they come up.”

“Stow that, Neal. We got orders to cross, and that’s that we do. Move it!”

As the engines growled to life again, they saw vehicles on the road behind them, friendlies. It was the Stryker Company, the first of the heavier units in the battalion. The lead vehicle stopped, and the company commander walked up, Lt. John Ranes, a tall Texan, all muscle.

“Outstanding, move to contact,” he said. “We just got tasking orders to take that bridge. You stay here and hold Abu Rishah while we take point.”

“Roger that,” said the Sergeant.

The distant sound of gunfire near Ramadi festered in Sergeant King. That was his fight, and now the Stryker Company had horned in and taken it from him. Yet the more he thought of it, the more the wisdom of Corporal Neal’s complaint settled in. Better to lead with something heavier in a situation like this. But the fight was just beginning, and there would be plenty of time and opportunities for 1/7th Cav to get some.

Chapter 12

03:00 Local, 20 JAN 2026

Abu Rishah was a small outlying town just west of the Palestine Bridge into Ramadi, which had two main spans and a slimmer secondary bridge. It was the largest bridge in the region, and there was no way the Iraqi’s were going to rig it for demolition that night in time to stop those Strykers. But just as Sergeant King’s team moved into the hamlet, they came under small arm’s fire from unseen fighters in the heavier buildings ahead.

The Strykers moved off the road, passing on their right like grey ghosts, ignoring the encounter in the village and intent on their mission. The 50-Cal’s were heavy hitting rounds, nearly 5.5 inches long. If they hit someone, there was no way that unfortunate target could survive, and they could chew through brick, blast away wood or concrete walls, and even collapse buildings. They were the main guns on the Humvees, but the Stryker Company had heavier arms. The Stryker Dragoon Infantry carrier had many variants, one with a 30mm cannon, another with a 105mmm gun. Others were rigged to carry ATGM’s, Mortars, or an M2 Heavy Machinegun. It was perhaps the most versatile vehicle class in the army, though not as well protected as the Bradley.

The main city of Ramadi was screened by water barriers the muddy Euphrates to the north, and a wide channel and canal known as the Ramadi barrage that ran southeast to block the approaches from the west. That canal diverted water all the way south to Habbaniyah Lake, which was completely impassible. So the city presented a formidable obstacle. While it might be bypassed to the north, leaving any strong enemy force there would complicate the long line of communications and supply. Ramadi simply had to be cleared and secured.

Getting over these water obstacles with any expediency counted on the US forces capturing the few bridges intact, and the Palestine Bridge was the prize. Once across, Highway 1 would continue east north of the Euphrates, effectively bypassing the city, and Sergeant King and his men could count their lucky stars that they had not been tasked with veering off onto Highway 11.

That road approached Ramadi at the point where the canal diverted off from the Euphrates. There was a big ceramics and glass factory there on the west bank on the channel, blocking access to another bridge that would lead into the city where the toughest fighting would be.

The Strykers rolled across both spans of the Palestine Bridge, cannon spitting fire at the defenders on the far bank as they went. Behind them came the three mech infantry companies of the Thunder Horse Battalion, tasked with continuing up Highway 1 and enfilading the city to the north of the Euphrates. South of the fighting in Abu Rishah, there was an open area that was a pre-designated site for 1st BCT to set up its forward operating base—Camp Ramadi. So Sergeant King knew that the dark haired brigade commander, Colonel Deacon, would be very close, and he wanted to please.

Called “The Raven” on comms, Deacon would send out his tasking orders as the battle progressed, and at that hour he was fixated on the bridge, ignoring the firefight at Abu Rishah, as the rest of the brigade had done when they bypassed that action.

“Damn bastards are hanging tough,” said King. The MG Gunners on the Humvees had chewed up half the buildings ahead of them, with all three platoons engaged now, but the enemy fighters were irregulars, crouching in the rubble, and moving from one building to another. It was just the first nibble of what the urban fighting might be like in Ramadi, a much more densely built up area.

The Strykers bulled their way across the Palestine Bridge, losing only two vehicles to RPG attacks on the far bank. They were both support vehicles, one of the ATGM carriers and a big Stryker Mobile Gun, which pissed off the Company commander to no end. As dawn came, the light platoons had finally cleared out the last of the enemy fighters in and around Abu Rishah, losing only one Humvee in all that action. It had been night optics that had kept them safe, for they were able to see the small teams of Iraqi fighters trying to get close to use their RPG’s and gun them down before they could get off a shot.

“Hajis got their asses kicked,” said Gunner Duran with a grin.

“Hell,” said King. These guys weren’t even regulars. Not one had even as much as a helmet on. These were just locals with AK’s and RPG’s, but they kept at us all night.”

“Well bring on the Republican Guard,” said Sanchez. “I just wet my beak with this scuffle.”

“Team one, Harrier. Standby for tasking.”

“Roger Harrier, Standing by.”

There would be no breakfast break, because the tempo of operations was going to remain brisk all the next day. Sergeant King would get his orders soon enough, to move north along the west bank of the Euphrates and reconnoiter that area to make sure it was free of enemy units. Along the way they would see the rag tag remnants of the men they had been fighting in the pre-dawn darkness. As the Weasel looked through the field glasses he borrowed from Murphy, he could see that they just seemed to be civilians, which gave him a very uneasy feeling.

They weren’t going to be checking in to the Ramada Inn.

06:00 Local, 20 JAN 2026

The heaviest fighting that morning was at the Ceramics Factory, where the first uniformed soldiers of the Ramadi Brigade were holed up. The heavy concrete buildings provided them fairly good positions, and that factory commanded the approached to the bridge over the canal. 1st BCT had plenty of 155mm SPG’s with them, and they started using the big guns liberally to reduce strongpoints, crushing one building complex after another and reducing the factory to smoking rubble. What remained was work for the Abrams tanks, and the Brigades of 1st Cav were equipped with the latest models, the Abrams M1-A2C.

Though largely destroyed, the factory was cleared by sunrise, and the infantry of 2/5 Lancers was securing the power station near the canal. Just south of the factory, the town of Al Tamim was also swept by the light recon platoons of 4/9th Cav, a unit structured in the same way as 1/7th Cav. Below that, the whole of 2nd BCT, 1st Cav, was rumbling along to enfilade Ramadi from the south. The Anbar University there had been taken, and it was now being used as a supply point as more trucks carrying everything from ammo and fuel to claymore mines and C5 explosives came up the long road from Jordan. 1st Cav was just the leading edge of the power that was still rolling along that road. Next in line was 1st BCT of the 3rd I.D.

Also underway that hour, was a battle for the Qassam Bridge further south on the canal. That bridge led to the Al Huz district of Ramadi, and word had come down from on high that all bridges were to be in US hands before noon that day.

Next on that list was the Al Jazeera Bridge, which was actually on a dam that controlled the flow of the Euphrates. At the narrow point where the canal and Euphrates diverged from one another, a palatial estate that belonged to the Baath Party was seized as an HQ site to oversee the operation to secure the Dam. It was taken with teams of infantry advancing behind Abrams tanks, the enemy small arms and MG fire snapping off the armor, and in on case, an RPG defeated when it failed to penetrate the frontal armor on the leading US tank.

Once that was crossed, and the palace was occupied, the first phase of the operation was complete. The night assault had been a great success thus far, storming the western rail station and rail yards, the Ramadi Silo, Ceramics Factory, Power Station, Palestine and Al Jazeera bridges, and three of four canal bridges. The last was secured by 09:00.

Resistance on the western edge of the main city now stiffened at two locations. Within that narrow triangle near the palace and Al Jazeera Bridge, the Iraqis had fallen back to occupy the hospital and medical college buildings in the Al Warwar district. Four companies of US infantry were now forming to reduce and clear those strong points, preparing the operation with artillery. A well-aimed barrage smashed the supports on one wall of the medical college, sending that entire half of the building into a tumultuous collapse, and that broke the resistance there. The second battle was in the south near the East Rail Station. That sat astride a secondary road running beside the rail line east, and controlling that road would enable US forces to encircle the main city. A mix of Ramadi Brigade infantry units and a light battalion of Iraqi special forces were trying to contain the US bridgehead over the canal, but they were badly outgunned. It was only a matter of time, and lives, as smoke rose that morning over the western end of the city to mark the places where all this fighting had occurred.

12:00 Noon, 20 JAN 2026

Corporal Neal was sitting with his MRE lunch, the same as yesterday’s lunch, and likely the same for tomorrow until they finished off the case they were working through. They had scouted up the west bank of the Euphrates all morning, but saw absolutely nothing. Then, at 10:00 a helicopter went over them from the 101st, which had been operating up river at Hit. Eventually word came to return to the Palestine Bridge, and for the next two hours they bumped along, singing their favorite ‘oldies’ from a few years back. They were all millennials, born at the dawn of the 21st century, and the songs they were singing hadn’t topped the charts yet in our day, and would not be released for another three years.

“Falcon One, this is Harrier. You are tasked to move up red route to grid three-seven-zero-fiver, dash four-four. Scout and report.”

“Roger Harrier, we are Oscar Mike.”

That was going to send them up Highway-1 to a point about four klicks south of the village of Talal Jurashah, a location that was reportedly occupied by Iraqi special forces. They mounted up, moving quickly down the four lane highway, and thinking that they wished all the freeways back home were this empty. Passing through the hamlet of Shayk Hadid, they waved at the locals who watched them with guarded attention. Along the way they saw a venerable A-10 Warthog roar low overhead, bank sharply right and unleash its metal snot at the city of Ramadi. The brrrrr of its main 3-173mm Avenger autocannon was so distinctive that anyone would know that plane was in action when it fired. The old “warthog” as it was called was still one of the best close support aircraft in the world, a veritable flying tank, and that autocannon could chew up top armor on AFV’s and enemy tanks with its snarling report.

They passed a company of Abrams tanks, which were heading in the same direction they were going. A little over five klicks out, the lead vehicle suddenly stopped. Sergeant King immediately got on the comms and asked what was happening.

“Sir, we have eyes on foot mobiles up ahead. Looks like a road block. Iraqi infantry, in black uniforms.”

“Damn, that has to be those I-Racki Special Ops that were supposed to be operating out here. Get opticals on them. See if you can find out what they’re packing.”

“Looks like assault rifles, sir. Light infantry. Don’t see any heavy weapons.”

“Right up our alley,” said Sanchez. “We can take-em, Sarge. Manos de Piedra will chop those bastards up.”

“Right,” came Duran’s deep voice from above.

“What about those tanks we just passed a while ago?” said the Weasel.

“Tanks?” said Corporal Neal giving him an incredulous look, “We don’t get tank support, Weasel. Those are for the better armored, up-gunned assholes in the Strykers and Bradleys. Us wee folk in unarmored Humvees just fend for ourselves. Besides, they’re probably on mission too. There’s a secondary bridge south of us. Says new construction on the map, and I’ll bet the armored company is headed there.”

“Alright,” said King, “let’s see if these I-Rackis want to mess with us. We’ll have at ‘em, just like we did at that airfield yesterday.”

“This is crazy,” said Neal looking at the map updating the battalion unit locations on a pad device. “Strykers are south of us at that new bridge I mentioned. And yup, D Company Armor turned off the highway and that’s where they’re headed. Charlie Company is north of us, which is where these black ops guys are supposed to be, and here we are, Light Recon, good old Alpha Company, going right up the middle. That’s like trying to score with third and three with the quarterback running the ball.”

“Can it Sanchez. We got work to do.” Sergeant King twirled his finger and pointed east up the highway towards that roadblock position. “Guns, guns, guns,” he said on the comms. “Engage.”

They began to move on the enemy position, the vehicles in line abreast, all the 50-cals thrumming away and sending thick streamers at the roadblock. The Iraqis fell back 250 meters, and as they reached the roadblock, Sanchez hit the brakes.”

“Whisky Tango Foxtrot!” said Neal, meaning WTF? “Why’d you stop. We got them on the run.”

“Take a look!”

They could see demolition charges on the abatis that had been set up to block the road, and off in the distance, more dark uniformed Iraqi soldiers.

“We try to bust through that on the run and it’ll likely blow sky high,” said Sanchez.

“Alright,” said the King. “Comm this sitrep to Harrier and see what he wants to do. Maybe we can get some artillery.”

“Ha!” said Neal. “No Sarge, we don’t get arty either, just like the damn tanks. Bradleys went to that town up north, and all the Iraqis just came down here to crash our party. Isn’t recon fun?”

Part V

Recon

“Combat is fast, unfair, cruel, and dirty. It is meant to be that way so that the terrible experience is branded into the memory of those who are fortunate enough to survive. It is up to those survivors to ensure that the experience is recorded and passed along to those who just might want to try it.”

― Bruce H. Norton

Chapter 13

The crump of mortar fire was heard, the rounds coming in very close, close enough to kick up dust and dirt against the side of the Humvee, with the hard chink of shrapnel.

“Oh, great… They got the artillery.”

“That’s just a goddamned mortar,” King growled. “Duran, what’s it look like?”

“Thick and getting thicker, Sarge. At least a couple companies out there now, and they’re forming up.”

“They’re going to attack us?” asked the Weasel.

“Sure is lookin’ that way, said Duran, pulling back the bolt on his 50-Cal MG.

King swore and got out of the vehicle, slamming the door. He raised his field glasses, frowning at the distant Iraqi soldiers.

“They’re setting up an MG position. Three more teams are digging in. Hell, they ain’t comin’. If they do, we’ll kick their asses half way to Texarkana. Murphy!”

“Sarge?”

“Get on the comms and tell Falcon-2 to make sure that M-19 is up and ready to rumble.”

“Will do,” said Murph. The M-19 was the 40mm auto grenade launcher that could churn out M430 grenades at a brisk clip and lay down terrible suppressive fire against infantry and light vehicles. With a practical range of 1500 meters, it could hit the Iraqi positions now, and so could the 50-Cal MG’s mounted on the Humvees.

“Falcon-1, this is Harrier. Hold positions. Falcon-3 is on the wing. Over.”

There were three company sized units, or Squadrons, in the battalion. Falcon-1 had the light troops in Humvees. Falcon-2 were the Strykers, and Falcon 3- had the heavy troops, with Bradley AFV’s.

“Hey Sarge, we got orders to stand pat on this one,” said Murphy. “The Bradleys are coming.”

“Hell, we don’t need no goddamned Bradleys . We could roll right through those Hajis in a heartbeat.”

“Right, but we got orders to hold positions.”

The King shook his head, giving the reporter a sideways glance. “They send us out here, but do they want us to fight the Hajis, or merely observe them in their natural habitat?”

“Durnford!” said the Weasel.

“What?”

“That was Durnford’s line in the movie Zulu Dawn. Great flick. I always loved those days of the red jerseys and white helmets, and the good old Martini & Henry.”

“What’s he talking about, Nash?”

“Beat’s me, Sarge.”[3]

The Sergeant frowned. “This is just a stare down contest for us, and Charlie Company gets to bring the whoop ass. There ain’t no justice in this man’s war. That’s a fact.”

The King strode off, ignoring another incoming mortar round and small arms fire scudding off the ground near the Humvee. He walked along the line of his dozen odd vehicles, making sure all the men were at the ready. Impatient, he waited for a sitrep or new orders, and in time the men all heard the sound of the 25mm Bushmaster chain guns firing. Charlie Company had arrived from the north, finding the enemy ATGM positions, mortar teams, and it was chopping them up. Hearing that, the Sergeant ran back to his team and shouted an order.

“Light those bastards up!” The MG’s started firing, and the 40mm auto grenade launcher joined the chorus of fire. When the rest of the line saw that team lit off, they started opening up too, and the entire line was pouring it on.

“Hey Sarge, trouble on your six.”

King looked over his shoulder and saw the squadron commander, Captain Nedelman, tromping up from the rear. The “Needle Head” as the men called him, was on the move, and he had the troop commander with him, Lt. John Ranes,

“Sergeant King,” said Nedelman, “nobody gave orders to engage the enemy.”

“With all respect, sir, that is not correct. Charlie Company has engaged the enemy’s rear with the Bradleys, and I gave orders to put out supporting fire with my squadron. Take a look, sir. Hajis don’t like it one damn bit.”

They could see the dark uniformed soldiers down the road withdrawing under that fire, several men hit and falling as they ran to the rear. Nedelman pursed his lips, looking at Ranes to let him do the honors.

“Sergeant, before engaging the enemy you are to wait for orders from this headquarters. Is that clear?”

“Sir, yes sir!” King nodded. “Shall I stand the men down?”

“Yes, cease fire.”

King put two fingers to his mouth and whistled hard, and the whole team stopped firing. The vehicles on the far ends shouted out the cease fire to the rest, and soon the line settled down again.

“Fine afternoon, sir,” said King. “We’ve got the Hajis on the run.”

Needle Head nodded and went stomping back to the end of the column on the road to phone home. He would deliver a sitrep on the situation so Battalion knew that road block had been removed.

Highway One was now wide open to the east.

* * *

Down south of the Euphrates in Ramadi, there was heavy fighting underway all morning. The Thunder Horse Battalion had taken the Al Jazeera Bridge, also called the Island Bridge, and they had subsequently fought their way through the Medical College and Hospital, deep into the Al Warar District. Two companies moved east along the southern bank of the Euphrates, towards the Abu Faraj Bridge where elements of the Lancer Battalion were on the north bank, attacking that crossing point. The enemy had a company that had taken up defensive positions in and around a Mosque, which complicated matters as the US infantry came up that road. Word went back to Brigade, and the Raven’s call was quick. If the enemy was using a mosque as a defensive position, then it was fair game.

Further south, the Stallions pushed down from the Med College, and the Black Knights of 2 BCT had crossed the canal at the Qassam Bridge to pushed into the Al Huz and Al Andalus districts towards the heart of the city. There, in the heavy concrete government buildings, the enemy resistance stiffened, but it was slowly being squeezed from two sides.

This was the main battle for control of the city, and nearly all the remaining infantry of the Ramadi Brigade was involved. That Brigade was slowly being ground up by the superior tactics and fire power of the US ground assault teams. Their companies shattered in the fighting, the remnants of the Ramadi Brigade filtered back through the cover of the dense urban setting, trying to reorganize a new line of defense near the soccer stadium and a factory site to the north. They had been reinforced by the last battalion west of Fallujah, the Habbaniyah Mech Battalion which had rumbled into the city around noon.

Unable to hold their exposed blocking position on Highway-1, the 3rd Al Anbar Special Forces Battalion retreated around a sharp bend in the Euphrates, falling back on the Ajaas Salim Bridge. They would take up positions there, where they could cross to enter the city fight to the south if need be. Those battalions were the only cohesive fighting forces remaining in the Ramadi area, the territorial brigade units being largely shattered. As the sun lowered, the Light Company of 1/7th Cav got orders from the Raven to press on up Highway-1.

18:00 Local, 20 JAN 2026

“Zip it up and mount the ponies,” said King. “We got orders to hump it.”

They were going to move up the highway to link up with the Bradleys. The men had been resting the last three hours, much to the unsettlement of Sergeant King. In his mind, they should have aggressively pursued the enemy special forces when they withdrew, but the Needle Head was darning other plans.

“Needle Head is just sitting on his pin cushion,” King complained. “We could have put enough pressure on that Haji Battalion to bust it up. Now they’ll be digging in somewhere down the road tonight, and we’ll just have to kick some more ass like we did this afternoon.”

“Needle Head gets his orders from the Raven,” said Corporal Neal, a cooler head when the Sergeant got steamed. “Who knows what’s up, Sarge. We don’t see the big picture.”

As the sun began to set, Lieutenant Nedelman had been summoned to the Raven’s Nest for a briefing, and the tall dark haired BCT Commander was pointing to the map.

“Gentlemen,” he said. “Today’s operations were just outstanding. As of this moment we’re sitting on all our objectives, and the enemy in Ramadi is badly disorganized. The Recon Squadron has cleared Highway-1, and now we’re going to move out—tonight.” His finger landed heavily on the next large urban center.

“Fallujah,” he said. “3rd I.D. is coming in to relieve us in Ramadi, and we are heading east on that long lovely highway. We move tonight, with your Squadron in the vanguard, Lieutenant Nedelman. Your next objective is the bridge over the Tharthar Canal, about 20 klicks from your Light Troop’s current position. I want you to get out there by midnight tonight, and take and hold that bridge. That canal runs south to the Euphrates near Maalahma and Habbaniyah, and just south of that city is the big Al Taqaddum Air Field, the old British RAF Habbaniyah when they had the duty out here. 101st Air Mobile wants that field for its major forward staging base in the operations against Baghdad.” He folded his arms, and looked over the assembled officers, smiling.

“Both BCT’s are pulling out of that rats nest in Ramadi and we are Oscar Mike at 20:00, no ifs, ands or buts. When Recon gets to that canal, we halt for a sitrep, as I’ll need to hear from the 101st. We may have to send 2 BCT south into Habbaniyah, but Division has tasked 1st BCT up here on Highway-1 all the way to Fallujah. Intel has it that elements of the Al Medina Republican Guard Division are in that city, a much tougher lot than the troops we faced here. Whether we get an order to take the city remains to be seen, but 1st Armored Division will be right behind our 2nd BCT, we may keep moving east along this road here, strait as an arrow south of this lateral canal, right into Taji north of Baghdad. If we get in there in force, we cut off anything they have in Baghdad and stop a withdrawal north on this side of the Tigris River. But gentlemen, Al Taji is an old haunt of Qusay Hussein, and we’ve also learned that at least one brigade of his personal division is assigned there. So we may have a fight on our hands, and a big one. That’s the plan, because if we break these guys now, the rest is done with mirrors. Let’s get to it.”

* * *

The sheer weight of force at Ramadi had decided the issue by midnight on the 20th of January. There were simply too many US brigades in the long line coming up Highway-1 for any resistance there to be sustained. The two BCT’s of 1st Cav pulled out and reformed on Highway-1 north of the Euphrates, and 3rd I.D. moved into the city to clear out any pockets of resistance or would be jihadis. They had been surprised to find men that had entered Iraq from Syria weeks earlier, veterans of the long civil war there looking for a new war to fight the heathens of the West.

The plan for the next day was for 3rd ID to continue to push east south of the Euphrates, while 1st Cav and 1st Armored did the same to the north. When these ground forces drew near Fallujah, the 101st would move a brigade in by helicopter to attack that airfield they wanted.

Meanwhile, far to the south, beneath the big Razzazah Lake, the European contingent had finally reached the vicinity of Karbala. That city was famous for the Shrine Imam Husayn, which was burial site of Husayn ibn Ali, the third Imam of Shia Islam. Its two golden minarets and great onion dome could be seen from all over the city, and it was one of the holiest sites in all of Iraq.

The question of what to do if the Iraqis chose to defend the site came up in the planning, and it was determined that a parley should be called. The Iraqis would be told that if they deployed troops there, the Shrine could be destroyed, but if they withdrew to fight elsewhere, Coalition forces promised they would not enter the site unless fired upon from those facilities. The Iraqis were wise enough to agree, making the site a demilitarized zone for both sides, though faithful Fadayeen would remain in those high minarets, reporting movements of British troops in the city when they entered.

Karbala was defended by a territorial brigade as in Ramadi, augmented by Iranian irregulars that had gone there specifically two see to the wellbeing of that shrine. With strong and well equipped European brigades attacking, the defense would not hold for more than a day once the fighting got started.

Brigadier Wilson and the British Brigade deployed on the left, closest to the city, with Berg’s 21st Panzer on his right, and then the French 7th Armored under General Lemont. The Italian Ariete Brigade was the general reserve of this contingent, which would be tasked with taking Karbala, and Hillah, another 40 kilometers to the southeast. That accomplished, they were to converge on Alexandria, about 50 kilometers south of Baghdad, but the Brigadiers were aware they might have a tough fight on this flank. The Hammurabi Division of the Republican Guard was reported to be at Alexandria.

Chapter 14

When the three troops of the Light Squadron reached the Habbaniyah Canal, they found it occupied by the 3rd Mech Battalion of the Al Medina Division. The Iraqis had old Chinese wheeled AFV’s that were east targets when the rest of the battalion came up. This time, they were content to let the Strykers, Bradleys and Abrams tanks sit and pick those vehicles off at range. There were no enemy tanks present, and the Recon Squadron soon commanded the canal bridge.

“Hey Sarge,” said Sanchez. “Why the hell aren’t they blowing these bridges? Don’t they have any demolitions?”

“Maybe not,” said the King. “Suits me just fine. Are you getting enough photos, Mr. Weasel?”

The reporter had been a quiet observer, taking notes on a pad device and lots of photos. “Getting it all,” he said.

“But nuthin’ classified,” said the Sergeant. “No shots of these interior screens and such.”

“Scout’s honor,” said Todd, though he had warmed to the men calling him the Weasel, and almost preferred it to his real name, which was never uttered. “Will there be a big fight for Habbaniyah?”

“Not after the 101st swooped down and stormed the Al Taqaddum airfield. Habbaniyah is surrounded on three sides by water, which means anyone trying to defend it hasn’t got anywhere to displace when they get hit hard—and they will. So my guess is that if the Iraqis can read a map, they’ll fall back east of the Euphrates, and make their stand in Fallujah.”

“We going there?”

“That’s up to the Raven. Harrier says we were to take this canal and sit tight. 101 is mopping up at that airfield, and 3rd I.D. is coming up from Ramadi south of the river. 1st Armored is behind us, and I heard they sent a Stryker Brigade up to get the Tharthar Dam. That’s what controls the flow of water in this canal. Hoowee, if the Hajis blow that, they could flood this place so bad we’d have to sit here for weeks. The only problem is that if they do that, they’ll flood out all the sewer rat Fedayeen in Fallujah too. But I wouldn’t put it past the mothers.

* * *

Before sunrise, 1/7th Cav went north on Highway-23, well north of Al Taji. They had been relieved of their positions on the canal and ordered to scout the way, and now they were the northernmost unit in the Army, deep inside Bad Guy country. The route took them along the Tharthar Canal, and without any enemy contact for almost twenty kilometers. Reporter Todd Resel managed to doze off for some much needed sleep until he heard Sergeant King’s voice.

“Slow down here, Sanchez. There’s another canal on our right—Ishaki Canal.”

“Gee, Sarge. I didn’t know any Japanese were here in Iraq.”

“It ain’t Japanese, Sanchez. But there’s supposed to be a checkpoint up here where the two canals run close. We need to stay frosty. Duran, get ready on big fifty.”

“Roger that, Sarge.”

The two canals were now creating a bottleneck ahead, the dry ground between them compressing to as little as 80 feet. Sergeant King didn’t like it. If they continued, they would be unable to maneuver, stuck in that narrow corridor for nearly ten kilometers.

“We stop here,” he said. “No way we’re going into that rats tunnel.”

At that point, they started taking incoming fire, the red tracers zipping past the vehicles. There was a hard chink, and they knew they had been hit.

“Duran, get some suppressive fire going. Sanchez, turn around!”

The Humvees started growling, and they were lucky they had stopped. Up ahead, elements of a battalion of the Qusay Mechanized Division had taken up residence in a small walled compound where the canals approached one another, squeezing the road between them. It was a perfect place to block that highway, and when they heard a big gun firing, they knew the enemy had at least one tank, and probably more.

“Harrier, this is Falcon-1 on point. We have contact at the bottleneck. Taking heavy fire, and the enemy has tanks, over.”

“Roger Falcon-1. Strongpoint that position and hold. Help is on the way. Over.”

“Strongpoint? Shit, Sarge. That’s heavy gun fire coming our way. They got tanks.”

“I can see that, Neal. So we back it off, that’s all. They probably can’t see shit in the darkness, so we fall back a thousand meters out of gun range and strongpoint there.” He gave them a wicked grin.

It wasn’t a fight for light recon infantry in unarmored Humvees, and they were very lucky they had stopped when they did. The ground between the canals was about 800 meters where they were, but it would narrow with each meter forward on that road. Now they were taking flanking fire as well, as the Humvees rumbled about and powered away to the south. If the enemy had waited, they might have hit the mined roadway ahead, but someone on the other side got jumpy, fired, and gave what would have been a perfect ambush away.

They raced south again, the last tracers of enemy fire zipping past them in the dark. A kilometer south, the King stopped again, and put his troop into a line abreast formation. The Tharthar Canal was about 650 feet wide at this point, but an exposed mud flat hugging the far side actually narrowed that water width to about 300 feet.

They would wait, edgy, and expecting enemy tanks to come lumbering down the highway towards them any minute, but none came. Instead a Stryker came up behind them, and Lieutenant Nedelman got out to look for someone in charge. He saw King’s Humvee and leaned in the driver’s side window.

“What have you got?”

“Tanks ahead, sir, and we took plenty of MG and small arms fire. These buggies weren’t cut for that, so we backed off.”

“Good call. Did you get the grid spot on that fire?”

King looked at his digital map. “Has to be 43.8 East, 33.9 North. Right there. Map shows outbuildings east of the smaller canal, but we took fire in here where the two canals compress to flank the road. That’s a doomsday road, sir. You can’t maneuver in there. We need to be on the other side of this smaller canal on the right, and that means we’ll need engineers to lay down a bridge.”

“You say they have tanks?”

“Lobbed at least three rounds at us, but they didn’t hit anything. I don’t think they expected us. We must have surprised them.”

“Alright Sergeant, good collar. We’ll need something heavier to make the arrest, so stay put. I may have to call in a fire mission.”

“You might want to wait on that, sir,” said King, “at least until something heavier does come up behind us. Hit them now and they’ll have two choices. They can either skedaddle up Highway-23, hemmed in by canals on both sides, or they can come down here where there’s room to fight. Hell, my guess is that their main body is east of the canal on our right. That’s probably just a road block up ahead.”

The Needle Head simply nodded. “I’ll take that under advisement. Carry on, Sergeant King.”

He walked away, back to the Stryker, and Sanchez gave the Sergeant a bemused look. “What’s he mean, Sarge? Is Needle Head going to call for artillery?”

“He’s thinking about it.”

“Well that will piss those guys off.”

“It just might. Reporter, if this thing starts going south on us here, that’s where you head—south. Bug out and run to one of the vehicles at the rear.”

A report of enemy tanks is always a sure fire way to get some heavy metal heading your way. Needle Head kicked the can up to Battalion, and they kicked it up to Brigade. That ended up diverting 2/5 Combined Arms Battalion up that same road, and they had 28 M1-A2C’s with them, and engineers. At the same time, 2/8 CAB deployed east of the narrower Ishaki Canal, and the two heavy battalions were going to sweep north and see if the enemy wanted a fight.

There was a brief, sharp exchange of fire, and to Sergeant King and his men, the sound of those Abrams tanks firing was a great relief. They weren’t going to try and blow though that position in Humvees with HMGs, but the Abrams got the job done.

Just before dawn Lieutenant Nedleman, came over and told them they had fingered a battalion of the Qusay Division, and that Brigade had sent them packing north towards Samarra.

“That’s where the brigade going,” he said. “But we’ve got another mission. From here we head east to a big airfield they have up here….”

* * *

Balad Air Base was a huge complex, measuring four by six kilometers, with two 4000 meter runways. Code named “Anaconda,” it had been the 2nd largest US airfield complex in the war fought in our history, and would likely be developed in the same way here.

At that hour, no one had any firm intelligence on just what the Iraqis might have there. They had no air force worth the name to base at the many airfields in the country, but denying their use to the Americans was always a good play. Situated 50 kilometers to the east on the Tigris River, it would be a long ride through hostile country, for this was the proverbial “Sunni Triangle,” the fertile ground that had spawned Iraq’s ruling Baath Party and the Hussein regime. Half that 50 kilometers would be over sparsely populated arid ground, but as they approached the Tigris, the terrain would become a patchwork quilt of cultivation and small farms fed by small canals, with occasional larger villages. They would make for the town of Dejail, on Highway-1 less than 15 klicks from the base.

“Sarge, we’d better get some intel before we get to that air field,” said Corporal Neal, always thinking of complications that might lie ahead.

“That’s what we’re out here to do, Neal. We’re Recon.”

“Right but the air force could at least clue us in as to whether the place is even occupied. What if we run into a situation like the one we just left? What if the Hajis have tanks on that field?”

“Well, we ain’t alone, Neal. We got the whole battalion. All we have to do is lead the way and let the Stryker and Bradley boys know what’s up ahead.”

“Assuming we don’t get our asses blown off.”

“Don’t worry, Corporal. We’re going to time the approach to the field at night, so they won’t see us coming.”

“But Sarge, this whole region is Sunni Arabs. Someone’s going to see us. We’re not going to sneak the whole squadron up on that field unnoticed.”

The Sergeant didn’t like irritating facts like that, and just grumbled, chewing on some tobacco that he spit out the window from time to time. Neal wasn’t wrong, he knew, but that didn’t make this mission any easier, or his sour mood any better.

Balad AFB was about 45 kilometers southeast of Samarra, and that town was known to be the deployment zone for the entire Samarra Mech Division. As it happened, there would be more than one Iraqi battalion near the airfield by the time the light recon troops got close. On the field itself was 5th Battalion Samarra Mech, which had 27 squads of infantry in older Chinese APC’s and a lot of supporting elements, including six BM-21 rocket launchers, three 122mm guns, and three heavy 120mm mortars. There were no tanks, but that heavy ordnance alone was bad news for the leading recon units if they were spotted and identified.

The 1st Mech Battalion of the Qusay Division that had been chased from the blocking position on Highway 23, had also retreated towards the Tigris and was only about seven kilometers from the airfield. On the other side of the Tigris, the Karukh Mountain Brigade had come down from the Kirkuk region, with four infantry battalions, one guarding a ferry site on the Tigris just five klicks from the base.

They made the approach to the airfield keeping to small secondary roads and avoiding hamlets and farm buildings. Any they strayed near drew occasional AK-47 fire, which they ignored as they pressed on in the dark. Moving into the greenbelt closer to the river they came to a position about 5000 meters from the airfield, and that was when the heavy weapons in that Iraqi mech battalion opened up.

They hears the distant crump of artillery fire, and then the rounds sailing through the grey dawn until they fell heavily about 500 meters down the road. That was danger close.

“Goddamnit,” said the King. “They got artillery. That was unaimed fire, just warning shots, but they damn well know we’re out here.”

Yes, all it took was a curious Fedayeen farmer taking a look at what was moving in the night, and then getting on a radio to Balad. Darkness was not really reliable cover when you were rolling in Bad Guy country, where every hovel, hamlet, and farm was filled with hidden, unfriendly eyes.

“Falcon-1, this is Harrier. What was that fire we just heard?”

Needle Head wanted to know what was up.

“Harrier, this is Falcon-1. Be advised, the enemy is lobbing artillery—five rounds, unaimed fire, but danger close, sir. They’ve got guns.”

“Roger that, Falcon-1. Egress two klicks if it gets any closer and stand by. The rest of the battalion is coming up, and be advised, we have Black Jack at three. Over.”

“Black Jack?” said Neal. “That’s 2nd BCT.”

“Yes it is,” said King, with a satisfied nod.

“Well what did he mean, are they coming at three, or are they at our three-o-clock position?”

“Damn it Neal, if they were coming at three, then Needle Head would have said 15:00. Right? So that has to mean they’re coming up on our right flank at three-o’clock.”

“Not 15:00 o’clock, Sarge?”

“Don’t get cute, Neal. Remember, we’ve got a reporter with us.”

Another three rounds came in, this time only about 200 meters out—danger close, and then some.

“Sergeant,” said Sanchez, leaning over the wheel. “That artillery just got closer. Right?”

“They obviously corrected 300 meters, but they still couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn door, even if they were standing next to it!”

“But shouldn’t we … what did Needle Head say… egress?”

Before the Sergeant could answer, three more rounds came whistling in and this time they sailed right overhead, and straddled the road about 100 meters behind them.

“Damn, Sergeant. They can walk that shit right up that road. Those are just spotting rounds, but we just got bracketed. What if they fire for effect?”

King leaned out the window and spat. Then he reached for the comms with some reluctance and contacted Needle Head again. “Harrier this is Falcon-1. Moving to grid 37-47 as ordered. Over. The heat is on.”

King folded his arms, frowning. “Alright Sanchez, get on with it. Egress… Egress. But stay off that goddamn road. Move off to the right.”

“You got it, Sarge.”

Chapter 15

They fired up the Humvees, and were Oscar Mike—to the rear, a 2000 meter withdrawal as ordered. That was the lot of the Light Troops. They would often take point, because they were fast, light, and maneuverable. Their mission was to sniff out enemy opposition, determine what it might be, and then report to Squadron HQ. After that, it was up to Needle Head to determine what to do. Their problem was that light unarmored Humvees could rarely deal with any real opposition, so their war was one part bravado and dash, but two parts caution. There was no way they were going any further towards Balad AFB that night, not until that artillery settled down.

If the Iraqis had been more offensive minded, they might have attacked with four battalions and given 1/7th Cav a run for the money. As it happened, the mountain troops stayed north on the Tigris, digging in to guard the few bridges there, and that battalion from the Qusay Mech Division stayed put too. So there was nothing else to do but wait for the sun to rise, when they saw some welcome contrails in the sky.

The US Army always had a friend upstairs in the USAF. The routine now was to recon that airfield from above, and then drop some eggs on that nest before Black Jack came up to join the party. The first two battalions of that brigade to arrive were 4/9th Cav, and 1/9th CAB, and they had artillery too.

* * *

The battle for Balad AFB was tougher than anyone thought. 1/7thCav got orders to deploy west of the field, with its heavier elements attacking from that direction. But it was 2nd BCT of the division that would put in the main attack with its combined Arms Battalions. The Iraqis were well dug in, fighting from the concrete revetments that had been built for their nonexistent fighters, so the hardest fighting was in the south, where as many as 100 hardened revetments were clustered together. Just north of those were a series of great concrete mushrooms designed to house bigger planes, each one becoming a strong point for the Iraqis.

The Combined Arm’s Battalions each had 30 tanks, so there was plenty of firepower to do the job of breaking those positions. More often than not, it needed that heavy direct fire from the tanks, and on occasion, an air strike was called in to toast any position that was particularly stubborn.

Up in the northwest end of the field, 1/7th Cav moved out of the farmland known as Arab Ajil, and into an area with many storage huts, and a big squarish water pool near an old shooting range. There were four mushroom strong points there, and the first was fronted by three big tin roofed workshops for the planes and helicopters. A few old, broken Iraqi helos sat on the field, but they would never fly again. As Falcon-1 was basically light infantry, the troops were ordered to dismount and take those three workshops.

“You’d better stay put here, Weasel,” said the Sergeant. “You ain’t trained for infantry fighting. Stay with Duran.”

That suited the Weasel fine, but as the sound of small arms fire rattled away, he found himself straining to see what was happening so he could get some pictures. But he had to stay out near a barrel storage area near the water pool, watching the infantry advancing across 500 meters of open ground. Half way to those three workshop buildings, they started taking fire, and went to ground. Then all the Humvees, opened up to give their comrades heavy supporting fire with the big MG’s. The heavy rounds pierced the metal sided buildings, and caused a lot of mayhem. Then Todd saw the soldiers flinging smoke grenades, and the whole scene was awash in white fog.

It was a classic infantry attack, and Falcon-1 was getting some as they stormed the first workshop, driving the last of the Iraqi soldiers out and gunning down three others. When that fell, the troops in the other two shops fell back towards the big aircraft bunker, their retreat peppered and harried by fire as they went.

The Light Troops held the workshops but that was one heavy concrete shelter up ahead, and they had nothing bigger than a 40mm grenade launcher or a Javelin, so that was what they used. The Iraqis were trying to get the big metal doors closed, but that autogrenade launcher just pounded the entrance with grenades, and then they hissed in a Javelin round.

Designed to pierce the armor of tanks, it blew through that door, and it wasn’t long before they saw a white flag waving from the smoky entrance. These Iraqis did not really want to die in that concrete bunker, slammed by Javelins with a deafening roar when they exploded. So that night Falcon-1 had that bunker cleared, while Falcon-2 was fighting for the others a little to the southeast.

Before sunrise, the Recon Squadron would clear all four positions, and Lt. Ranes was quite pleased with what his Squadron had accomplished. So was Sergeant King.

“See there, Weasel? Light troops can still rumble when we have to. Kicked some Haji ass out there tonight, and damn good. LT is naming this road out there Texas Avenue. We own this end of the field now, and 2nd BCT is mopping up in the south.”

09:00 Local, 22 JAN 2026

They had no immediate orders other than to sit on that airfield for the time being, though the heavier elements of the Squadron were pulling out to the south.

“Hey Sarge,” why are we still sitting here? Aren’t we supposed to be the tip of the dick out here?”

“Goddammit, Neal. There you go desecratin’ a time honored battle motto. We’re the tip of the spear. Leave your dick out of it. Now we got orders to sit tight, and if you have questions about them, why don’t you just go see the Needle Head yourself?”

At mid-day, the mystery was solved when a helicopter came in low and hovered over the field briefly before it landed. They watched as a man in dark camos crouched low beneath the rotor wash, carrying a small satchel. He spied the row of Humvees and came running in their direction, so Sergeant King got out to see what was up. The man had bars, so the Sergeant proffered a salute.

“Don’t mind the rank, Sergeant,” said the man, a tall, lean, but well-built soldier, yet curiously with a lot of odd looking equipment that wasn’t regulation Army.

“Captain Jason Dunn,” he said “at least for this assignment. I’m CIA—Paramilitary, and I understand you’re going to Baghdad.”

“Well your understanding is better than mine, Captain. I’ve no orders at the moment. We’re just sitting here.”

“Waiting for me,” said the Captain.

“Sir?”

“I’ll be riding to Baghdad with you, as I have business there.”

“Of course, sir. My vehicle is full up, but you can ride with C- Troop. They’ll be right over there. Just ask for the Jackal. That would be Sergeant Jekel, or Mister Hyde as we sometimes call him. You’ll know him by his laugh.”

The Sergeant had a haw, haw, haw laugh that sounded like a jackal, which mated perfectly with his name. King thought he might get some intel from this man, so he asked him where, exactly, they were supposed to take him.

“That’s classified, Sergeant. When we get to Baghdad, I’ll let you know.”

The man turned and headed for number C-Troop, and King shook his head as he went back to the Humvee. “Now get this,” he said. “We got us another visitor, only this guy looks like bad news, a real ice cube, only with fire in his eyes. He’s CIA Paramilitary, a goddamned Captain too, and we’re supposed to take him to Baghdad.”

“Then we are going to Baghdad,” said Neal. “I guess we’re supposed to wait here for the plane. Oh, that’s why they had us take this airfield, which is … well, 50 miles north of Baghdad. Because we get first class seats on the next plane. Right Sarge?”

“Wrong, Neal. This here was a goddamn seize and hold operation for a key mil-I-tery asset.”

“Well, does that mean were not flying first class today? That would be a shame, because I was just warming up to the idea of easing back in that nice big seat with a cocktail while all the rest of the squadron gets stuck in coach.”

“Dream on, Neal. Dream on. Well, now we’ve got us a bona fidee[4] Spook riding with three troop. What do you figure he wants?”

“Probably wants to get into all the defense ministry and intelligence buildings,” said Murphy. ‘There’s probably all kinds of documents in there he’ll want to get his hands on. Wasn’t there some talk about the Hajis hiding some WMD shit before this war?”

“If they had it, they sure forgot where it was,” said the King. “We ain’t seen so much as a smoke grenade from these guys, let alone any weapons of mass de-struction. Well, this complicates things. This guy could be taking’ notes out here, which means we can’t go free wheeling and pissing about this place like you’d have us doing, Corporal Neal. We gots to mind our proverbial P’s and Q’s.”

“What in god’s name is that supposed to mean, anyway?” Asked Corporal Neal.

“P’s and Q’s,” said the Weasel. “It dates back to the days when they used to set type for printing with small lead letters. The lowercase P and the Q looked almost identical, only they were facing in opposite directions. So minding your P’s and Q’s just meant you had to watch what you were doing when laying that type—so you wouldn’t get those letters mixed up.”

Neal just looked at him, frowning. “They fixed that,” he said. “The P and Q are on opposite sides of the top letter row, at least on the screwed up QWERTY Keyboards.”

“Never mind,” said the Weasel. “But it is odd that we suddenly get tasked to ferry in a CIA special agent.”

“This guy ain’t no James Bond,” said King. “He’s probably going to do just what Murph says, and dig through all the stuff in the Defense Ministry. Well, that’s fine by me, and long as he stays out of my underwear. I expect we’ll be Oscar Mike soon now that the Captain has arrived.”

“Did he have a Terp with him?” asked the Weasel, remembering that he had been asked if he had one himself earlier.

“Not that I could see, unless we have to wait for another helicopter. But these guys know languages. I’ll bet he speaks Haji.”

“Alright,” said Neal. “If we don’t get first class seats, I’ll settle for the helo. It get’s a bit drafty, but it sure beats riding through this lovely farmland getting popped at by AK-47’s.”

“Well, that’s what we’re going to do, Neal,” said King. “Unless you figure a way to get this here Humvee into a helo. Any which way you skin this cat, it looks like we’re going to Baghdad after all. So pull up the maps to the south and get familiar with the road net. I don’t want Sanchez making any wrong turns and getting us in a world of shit out here.”

Neal and Sanchez would look over his digital map, and see that if they did roll south through the tall sunflower fields, they would follow the twisting course of the Tigris, but it would not be easy to get to Baghdad on the west side of the river. The roads would take them to Al Taji, just north of Baghdad where they heard the Qusay Division had a full brigade. That was where the US 1st Armored Division would be called in to handle the fighting, but if they went that way, it would be a long time before they got through what was left of that city.

“Any other way we might get there?” asked Sergeant King.

“Aside from flying first class? Well Sarge, we could take this other highway here, straight as an arrow and right into northern Baghdad.”

“That’s east of the river, Neal. We’re on the west bank. See any good crossing sites?”

“Nope. We might find something down here—At Tarmiyah”

“I don’t see any bridges there.”

“No, but the river thins out quite a bit. Maybe we could wade over, Sarge?” Neal gave him his shit eating grin.

They would wait for another hour before they saw the Needle Head riding up in his vehicle, and that prompted them to quickly get mounted in the Humvee, hoping he would visit one of the other troops. Thankfully, number C-Troop was farther back, and the Needle head stopped there first.

King leaned out, squinting, through a small hand held optical device, and he saw that CIA Spook shaking hands with the Needle Head. Something was up, he knew. The reporter was one thing, but now they load us up with a Spook. What is this now, limo service? Who else were they waiting to pick up? He voiced that, and Neal cocked his head to one side.

“Think of us as a kind of military Uber,” he said. “Hell, if we’re supposed to ferry the silver bars into Baghdad, then we might not get tasked with heavy fighting orders.”

“Just what I was worried about,” said Sergeant King. “That explains why the heavy troops pulled out south over an hour ago. They got us bringing up the squadron rear now, and all because of this shmuck from CIA.”

“Ours is not to reason why,” said the Weasel.

Luckily, no one in the troop had died yet, and they wanted to keep things that way. They thought they would get orders to move, but lingered there at the airfield, watching more helos come and go, until a truck was brought up at the back of number three troop.

“Something’s going on back there,” said the King. “I think I just may well get the courage up to go see the Jackal and find out what’s up. That last helo was a Ghost Hawk. Did you see that?”

Wondering was one thing; finding out was another. Information usually flowed one way in the military, from the bottom to the top, and not the other way around until an operation started. The King figured he could see what the Jackal may have learned, but not now. Now was a good time to sleep, until they got real orders. He settled in, closing his eyes and thinking of better times.

Part VI

The Oil War

“God is a witness to anything done in secret.”

― Lailah Gifty

Chapter 16

Operation Clipper in the far south was a major success for the Coalition forces defending Saudi Arabia, and it immediately forced a retreat north into Kuwait. As that got underway, the 82nd Airborne had swooped in to set up blocking position on key roads, and a good many Iraqi formations were trapped, including the 8th, 10th, 15th, 28th, and 47th Motor Rifle Brigades. The prize included all that remained of the Al Faw Motorized Republican Guard Division, though the mechanized Andan Division was one of the lucky units to escape into northern Kuwait. These forces included the 1st, 6th, 9th, and 20th Motor Rifle Brigades, three Iranian Marine battalions, numerous Iranian Revolutionary Guard units, Takavar special forces, and their 92nd Armored Division, or what was left of it, about three battalions of armor.

The Iranian forces anchored their lines on the coast in northern Kuwait, forward of the port of Umm Qasr. Composed of about three to four brigades in actual strength, the line covered the Sabiryah Oil fields and stretched all the way west to the end of the Kuwaiti border. The four Iraqi MR Brigades then took over, positioning to screen and defend their own valuable Rumailah oil fields The Andan Republican Guard Division moved further north as a mobile reserve unit screening the valuable oil producing center of Basrah.

That was where all these surviving units would stay, in the south. They would not be attempting to conduct a long retreat north under withering Coalition air strikes as had been expected. Instead they would defend the key cities and installations in their sector, and of these, Basrah was the most important. To that end, Iran had promised, and was now sending, significant reinforcements into Iraq, seeing that as advantageous whether the war was won or lost.

All this was in keeping with the strategy Qusay Hussein had insisted upon—to disperse the combat power of the army to as many cities as possible, so that it could not be engaged or destroyed in any one decisive battle by the superior Western forces. If that were to be possible, it might only happen in Baghdad, which would surely be the site of major fighting. But positioning strong forces in the south, between Al Qurna and Abadan, was also forcing the Coalition to rethink its overall operational plan.

The major difference was that there would be not strong push north by US units after the liberation of Kuwait. There was only one US ground division there, 1st USMC, and the 3rd Brigade of 1st Cav, along with the 82nd Airborne. That entire corps would be needed to drive the invaders from Kuwait, and then secure Basrah and Abadan. In effect, this set up two distinct theaters for the war, SOUTHCOM based in Kuwait, and CENTCOM focused on Baghdad. So the fabled 21 day advance north by 1st Marine Division was not in the plans here. The Leathernecks would stay in the south.

There, along the marshy swamps of the Shatt al Arab waterway that ran through Basrah, the Iraqis hoped to create a kind of Stalingrad on the Tigris, or in this history, a Volgograd. Called the Arvand Rud, or “Swift River” by the Iraqis, that waterway was actually formed by the confluence of both the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, which joined further north at the city of Al Qurna. As wide as 2600 feet in some places, it presented a formidable water barrier, and had served in the south as the border between Iraq and Iran. As both nations had oil production facilities in that region, they had squabbled and fought there, until China brokered the peace.

Yet now China seemed very far away. No Chinese air squadrons had been sent to Iraq, and no troops had yet come from far away Beijing. The region was left on its own, though at least it would fight with much equipment that had been purchased from China over the years. Hot and humid in the summers, with temperatures topping 120 degrees (F), there were vast groves of date palm trees steaming in the heat. But was much cooler in January, with an average high between 63 and 68. Second only to Baghdad’s teeming 7.5 million souls, there were 2.6 million in Basrah, which made it a warren of virtually unlimited resistance fighters if things went that way.

The city was famous for the old mosque of Basrah, the first ever built outside the Arabian Peninsula. Now, in 2026, its sported shopping malls, a sports city, bustling markets and bazaars, swank hotels and amusement parks, like the Basra Fun City. Another park sat on “Sinbad Island” where one of the main bridges crossed the Shatt al Arab. Yet the thing that made it most important was oil, now as it was in WWII decades earlier. Today it was mostly managed by the Iraqi South Oil Company.

The so called “Mesopotamian Foredeep Basin” was rich with oil and gas fields. The Rumailah Oil fields alone contained 14% of the world’s known oil reserves, and further north, the West Qurna Oil Field was the second largest in the world with 42 billion recoverable barrels of oil. These were among the most lucrative supergiant fields in the world, so it was not the city, but these oil fields that would be the object of the campaign.

Executives at Western Oil Companies had been rubbing their palms together since the war began, realizing that the terrible disruption of their operations worldwide would also yield huge opportunities. They were already lining up for the bidding war on development rights after Iraq was “liberated.” Royal Dutch Shell was eying Kirkuk in the north. Both Shell and BHP Billiton were looking at the Missan fields on the Iranian border, and Petronas wanted the Majnoon field, along with the Chinese. Chevron had its mind set on taking the development contracts away from the Chinese in the big West Qurna fields complex. Exxon Mobile coveted the nearby Zubair fields, and the old master of the region dating from the last war, British Petroleum, was laying claim to the big Rumailah fields, where the Chinese presently had big interests. The fact that Basra’s 2.6 million citizens were in the region did not interest them in the least. That was just an unfortunate inconvenience, and a source of “above ground” complications they would have to deal with. So Basrah had to be tamed.

Yet it was cities like this that made the modern world unconquerable. The 1st USMC division had about 23,000 troops, which included a good number of “Pogue” support troops. That meant there were over 100 Iraqi citizens for every Marine in Basrah, perhaps 200 for each actual combat Marine in the division. Occupying and attempting to control such a city was a daunting, if not impossible, task. Yet at that time, the Coalition planners were thinking that they could simply defeat the Iraqi Army in the south and then gain the good will of a liberated local population.

It would not happen that way.

The Iraqis planned to fight forward of the city to protect the oil fields, but if beaten, they intended to fall back into the concrete maze of Basrah, joined by thousands of Iranians that were even now making their way to the city, both regular troops and Revolutionary Guard units. There they would find a teeming host of young men of military age, and the process of radicalizing them to resist the Western Infidels would begin in earnest.

The odd thing about oil infrastructure was that you couldn’t really occupy and defend it militarily. You could do this to guard against small threats or planned terrorist acts, but not against a big conventional military force. Defending on or too near these fragile and volatile facilities would only lead to their destruction, and so the strategy was to yield the ground if the line could not be held forward of the fields. Then you would wait out the resolution of the conflict to see who could claim the prizes in the end. Basrah was where the Iraqis and Iranians would be waiting….

* * *

The Marines were ready.

They had already broken the back of the Iraqi defense in Saudi Arabia, sent them retreating north, then outmaneuvered them with the help of 82nd Airborne, and cut their numbers in half in a great pocket. The road ahead was just what was left, and they were going to get some more. While the Iraqi Army remained in Saudi Arabia or Kuwait, they were in a position that was tailor made for an envelopment to the West. Given the extreme mobility of the US forces, the result was virtually inevitable. The Iraqis thought they could run, but they could simply not run and gun with the USMC, America’s premier shock troops. Nothing that was so boldly taken in the Iraqi Operation Desert Sword would be kept for long. By the 21st of January, the Coalition had liberated the Bahra, Burgan and Ratqa Oil Fields in Kuwait, and they were about to go after the Sabiryah Fields next.

03:00 Local, 21 JAN 2026

“Panther, this is Wildfire. Sitrep. Over.”

“Roger Wildfire. We have movement to the northwest on both highways. Objective J-7 is occupied as well. It’s getting lonesome out here. Panther, over.”

“Roger Panther. Eagle wants you on J-7 immediately. Falcon will assist from the south. Over.”

Panther and Falcon were the 1st and 2nd BCTs of the 82nd Airborne, out on a wide envelopment mission to get the airfield at Jalibah, (J-7), and establish a blocking position astride Highways 1 and 8 connecting Baghdad with Basrah. SOUTHCOM did not want any more Iraqi reserve forces moving south into the Basrah sector as the Marines bulled their way into the port of Umm Qasr, reaching the northern border of Kuwait just before dawn on the 21st. Kuwait was officially liberated, with all hostile forces ejected and the country back in the hands of the Kuwaiti Royal Family by 06:00.

The Iranian troops were still just across that frontier, and four Iraqi Motor Rifle Brigades extended the front along the southern edge of the Rumailah Oil Fields, and on out into the desert, where fixed defensive positions had been prepared before the war. With those two BCT’s of the 82nd on Objective J-7, everything in the south was officially cut off from the north, and the war now had its two distinct theaters.

The movement to the north on Highways 1 and 8 were the 26th and 27th Iraqi Motor Rifle Brigades, the forces that had been way out on a limb near Halfar in Saudi Arabia for the entire war. They were the troops that Lieutenant Michael Ives and Sergeant James Stoker had first eyeballed crossing the Saudi border in the wee early hours of the 25th of November, almost two months earlier. That had been all the time that Qusay Hussein’s war had bought him in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Just shy of 60 days later, all his troops were back on home turf, and those two brigades were among the last to reach populated areas of Iraq again following a long march through the emptiness of the desert.

After resting briefly near Nasiriyah, they had been ordered south to join the Sibay MR Brigade, posted near the airfield they had just lost to the 82nd Airborne. A little north of their position at Nasiriyah, two more territorial brigades were mustering near that city. So even with two BCT’s out on that flank, the 82nd was still in Bad Guy territory, with elements of five Iraqi Brigades withing striking distance of their position near Jalibah Airfield. They were a thorn in the Iraqis’ side there, and a battle was slowly brewing in that sector.

That morning, the men of the 82nd watched and waited for trouble, but it never came. In taking the airfield, they had surrounded and destroyed one battalion of the Sibay MR Brigade. The remaining two did not stick around, retreating east along Highway-8 to man prepared positions elsewhere.

Those vast fields extended from the Kuwaiti border as far north as Al Qurna, and they had been producing 1.4 million barrels of oil per day before the war, with almost all of that running southeast through pipelines to the oil terminal port of Fao. From there the tankers would take it all out through the Persian Gulf to destinations all over the world, though the Chinese had drawn heavily on that supply, until the war stopped virtually all tanker traffic to and from the Gulf.

But there in the south of Iraq, the world’s 2nd, 3rd and 4th largest oil fields, West Qurna, Majnoon, and Rumailah, and of these only the latter was now in full production. The other two sat as vast untapped reserves, with only modest production underway in this history, but they were the fields that would carry much of the weight of the world’s energy needs to the year 2050. China had bet heavily on them, and now it was seeing that bet in danger of being lost.

Qusay Hussein and his brother might have good reason to complain now. They had risked a great deal to make a bold play for control of the world’s greatest oil prize, Ghawar, along with the fields in Kuwait, but now all of that had been for naught. The question now was whether or not Iraq could defend these tremendous field assets in the south, and the Chinese were nowhere to be seen.

Geography was the principle reason. In our history, there is no direct rail line from China to Pakistan. The formidable obstacle of high rugged mountains made this near impossible. But China had invested heavily in a major pipeline project through Kazakhstan and also in the Central Asia-China pipeline through Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. These steel arteries were reaching to tap the new oil fields of the Caspian Basin, and with them in this history, China financed and built railways into those regions as well.

It was another case of an apparent economic infrastructure project that would now have a secondary role in time of war. China could not send troops to Pakistan by rail easily, or at all, but it could send them to Iran. In this history, a 425 mile rail connection between Kashgar in China and Dushanbe in Tajikistan had been completed by the year 2020, and from there, existing lines reached through Turkmenistan into Iran. There the rails ran from Mashad to Tehran, and then south through Arak, Khorramabad, Dezful, and on to Avhaz, which was just 65 miles north of Basrah.

That was what was now on the table in Beijing as the Chinese General Staff saw the inevitable collapse of the Iraqi Army as only a matter of time. With the Siberian front settled down to a glare across the newly established DMZ, the General Staff was asked to consider the moment of the Chinese 13th Army to Iran.

That would change everything, or so they believed….

Chapter 17

“As you were.” The assembled officers were meeting at SOUTHCOM in Kuwait City for a status conference and planning session, including General Bergman of the 1st Marine Division, and now overall commander of the SOUTHCOM forces, with Air Force commander General Goldman. EUROCOM Commander Black Jack Arnold joined, and CENTCOM Commander Jonas Walker flew in from the north to attend and report on progress there, As the senior commander in theater, he took the podium.

“Gentlemen, we’ve made exceptional progress since Zero Hour. All our initial objectives have been obtained, principally Ramadi and Karbala, and we own the gaps. In the north, the enemy defensive front is now on a line from Fallujah to Al Taji north of Baghdad, and that has pulled in the Qusar Hussein Division to cover the northern approaches to Baghdad through Al Taji. General Arnold and associates have done an outstanding job at Karbala, and the French contingent is now involved at Hillah to clear that flank as EUROCOM prepares to move north. In that sector, we note that the Iraqis have pulled the Hammurabi Division out of Alexandria, tightening their defenses around Baghdad. It’s clear they mean to make a fight for the capital, but we’re up to the task. General Bergman will now brief us on SOUTHCOM operations.”

“Thank you, sir.” Bergman was in camos, a big man, and all square jawed business.

“SOUTHCOM is pleased to report that as of 06:00 this morning, all enemy forces had been driven north across the border into Iraq, and Kuwait is liberated. That fulfills our principle objective, with Operation Clipper liberating Saudi Arabia, and now Southern Eagle liberating Kuwait. But before we celebrate, General Goldman’s air intelligence arm has been reporting a considerable influx of Iranian forces crossing into Iraq over the last 24 hours. These forces include the 64th Bandar Motor Rifle Brigade, three Marine Battalions, The Dezful Reserve Armored Brigade, and a significant number of Revolutionary Guard units. General?”

Goldman was in his dress uniform, laden with ribbons and medals, and looked all the world like a highly decorated insurance salesman. He ran up some digital slides showing the latest intelligence, and now focused on the north.

“Gentlemen, I have good news, and bad news. The Erbil Division left that city near the Turkish frontier and moved south yesterday to join a column of Iranian units emerging from the Kirkuk district. Thus far, we’ve identified the Iranian 77th Khorasan and 84th Lorestan MR Brigades approaching Baqubah, the Karukh Mountain Brigade on Highway-3 heading south with brigades from Tehran, Hamedan, and Azerbaijan, so those forces constitute two Iranian divisions in the north, and let’s also remember the Iraqi Mosul Division is up there too. Given this increased concentration of enemy units, we need to assess the wisdom of moving too far north, especially since we still have what looks to be a hard nut to crack at Baghdad.”

He smiled. “In case you were wondering, that was the good news. Now for the bad… The Chinese have mobilized significant forces from their Western Military District, notably from the 13th and 21st Armies, and they are on the move. The first elements crossed the border by rail into Tajikistan, heading for Dushanbe, and that can only mean they are intending to move into Iran. Whether they stay there, or deploy here remains to be seen, but this is a complication that no one on the operational planning side anticipated. It was generally believed, particularly given the situation in Manchuria with the Siberians, that we would not see any significant ground force from PLAN in this theater. Unfortunately, that may be about to change, and I’ll yield the podium back to General Walker to take it from here.”

“Thank you, General Goldman. I’m sure you’ll be watching that strategic rail lift like a hawk. As for what this may mean for our situation, I can report that the two Armored BCT’s of 1st Infantry Division have arrived in Israel, and they are moving into Saudi Arabia to take Highway 85 down to your sector, General Bergman. With the single BCT from 1st Cav, the addition of the Big Red One will augment your core ground force to two full divisions. Beyond that, we are releasing the 173rd’s Air Mobile Brigade from theater reserve, and it will be coming down to join the 82nd airborne as well.”

“Any help from the Saudis, sir? After all, we pulled their chestnuts out of the fire.”

“That we did, and that’s an affirmative. The Saudis wanted to keep their forces in the Kingdom, but considering what we did to eject the Iraqis, they have put together a heavy contingent composed of their King Khalid Armored Brigade, and the 11th Mech Brigade. This was, in the opinion of the Joint Chiefs, the minimum reinforcement necessary if we are to continue with Able Fire, and gentlemen, I’ll be blunt—we are continuing. The liberation of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait under Able Sentry has come to a conclusion here with General Bergman’s report this morning. Now Able Fire has a new task list. The operations we move to stage and conduct at this point have two goals.”

General Walker, short, graying, a 30 year Army Veteran, now put up a new slide showing the general state of operations in Iraq as a whole. The audience could see the lines curving around Fallujah in the north, and extending northeast towards Al Taji. This front was largely manned by the six brigades in 1st Armored and the 3rd I.D. The two brigades of 1st Cav had been detached north, sweeping above Al Taji to cut Highway-1, and now probing towards Samarra.

South of Baghdad, the European Brigades had secured both Karbala and Al Hillah, with British forces entering Alexandria, which had been abandoned by the Hammurabi Division. That force was now organizing for a thrust towards Baghdad to complete the pincer operation with US forces and squeeze the capital from two sides. Walker addressed the issues at hand.

“In the north, the taking of Baghdad is largely a political goal, aimed at unseating or badly destabilizing the Hussein regime to the point where we render it ineffective as a controlling and governing force in Iraq that can oppose our other objectives. At this junction, I want to bring up a Special Central Intelligence Agency Agent, Mister James Coleman.

“Thank you, General Walker. I’ll put up a slide of Baghdad to get a look at what we’re about to bite off and chew here. As you can see, it’s a vast sprawling city, bisected by the Tigris River, which makes this sharp hairpin turn just south of city center. A good many of our objective sites in the city will be just above that hairpin, which is the centered on the great twin swords of the Victory Arch, commemorating the fallen in the Iran-Iraq war. It seems they’ve put their differences aside to fight this one, and so this is no small matter. The operations we now conduct are going to reshape the entire Middle East, a political upheaval the ends of which are still not clearly seen.

“Please bear in mind that we are on a short leash here. The President has authorized both Able Sentry and our transition now to Able Fire, but the Army was put on notice in the planning stages, and we were given 90 days to conclude major fighting that would liberate both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, neuter the Hussein Regime so we don’t have to come back here in another five years, and then secure the vital oil facilities in country, as far as we are able—and ladies and gentlemen, from all battlefield reports I’ve seen to date, we are able.”

At that, the junior officers in the room let out the expected “Uraah,” and Coleman smiled.

“I wanted to give you just a list of some of the facilities and objectives we have in entering Baghdad. This city is the heartbeat of Iraq, and here they are marked in red on this next slide. We’ll find the Iraqi Directorate of Military Intelligence and Ministry of Defense, their Secret Police complex, Army storage depots and barracks, SCUD missile factory, Baath Party HQ and Presidential Palace, the Ministry of Propaganda, command centers and bunkers, the National Air Defense Operations Center, and a host of economic infrastructure targets. These would include the bridges, power stations, TV and radio transmission sites, and the Ad Dawrah Oil Refinery. Also on the list is the Iraq Museum, right in central Baghdad.”

Coleman could see that last objective didn’t seem to fit with the others, so he offered an explanation.

“This museum holds thousands of artifacts, the cultural heritage of not only Iraq, but the world itself. In any operation on the scale we are now planning, there is going to be a breakdown of local civil authority, and the chances are therefore high that we could see that facility heavily looted, or even destroyed. I’m here to tell you that will not happen, and I’ve been assured that I will have the full support of General Walker in this. We will have some of our paramilitary people on the ground riding with forces entering the city, and they will take a particular interest in the places just I’ve highlighted on this map.”

Walker stood briefly and spoke. “You’ll not only my support, but this is a directive that comes down from the Joint Chiefs. So Mister Coleman here is the Hammer of God when it comes to any and all matters concerning these targets. His people are going to have broad authority, to the point where they will be authorized to commandeer and direct any element of our military to assure they secure those objectives—including the museum. Consider it the top of the list he has just presented here. I want no questions in the field as to the who, what, when, where or why of this. Just listen up if you meet CIA in the field, and do whatever they order.”

“Thank you, General Walker. You might all take comfort in the fact that I’m CIA also with the Paramilitary Division, so please don’t think of me as a meddling civilian. That said, I’ll yield the podium now so you can speak to the SOUTHCOM operations.”

Walker resumed his post and changed slides to show the situation in the south from the Kuwaiti Border north to Basrah and beyond.

Ladies and gentlemen, in the south there will be no politics involved, and I will be quite frank and call it like it is. General Bergman’s operation there is all about the oil. It’s been about the oil since the day he put his troops ashore at Salaha in Oman, and it will continue to be about the oil from this day forward. We have just successfully defended production facilities and fields friendly to the West in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Now we’re after the other fellah’s luggage. The Joint Chiefs have directed me to proceed with Able Fire with the aim of securing and controlling as many of the fields and production sites you now see on this map.”

They were all there, Rumailah and Zubayr southwest of Basrah, the big Siba Gas fields near Abadan, and the Al Qurna and Majnoon fields north of Basrah.

“Gentlemen, control of these production sites and proven reserves is the principle strategic goal of this war—not only for us, but given this latest intelligence from General Goldman, apparently for the Chinese as well. The President has been informed and has approved the Joint Chief’s assessment on this.”

The General switched on his laser pointer, circling locations on the map as he continued.

“We do not anticipate difficulties in securing the two main segments of the big Rumailah field, but that field is in active production, and so we want to tread lightly. Any air or indirect fire missions must be approved at brigade level, which means no battalion fire missions. This smaller field here is the Zubayr Field, just forward of that town. As we take that, you will note that geography will no longer be our friend. On our right is the marshland of Abu Al Khasib, still passable in places as it approaches Basrah, but on our left the heavy marshland of Hawr Al Hammar will impede all mechanized operations. There is a gap here at the north end of the Rumaliah Fields that leads to Al Qurna at the confluence of the Euphtates and Tigris Rivers. The West Qurna Field is tucked right into that elbow, just north of the Euphrates. Majnoon, is here in this region between the Tigris and the Iranian border. That field is largely undeveloped, but crazy with oil reserves, which is what the word Majnoon means—crazy.”

“Sir,” came a question, “do you figure the Chinese have their eyes on those two big northern fields?”

“Well, as West Qurna and Majnoon are the second and third largest fields on the planet for proven reserves, I’d say that was a good bet. If they do get in there before we do, moving them out won’t be easy. We would have to fight our way over the rivers at Al Qurna, or swing all the way out west to Nasiriyah. There it is, gentlemen, plain and simple. We need to get there before the Chinese do, and Get Some.”

That got another “Uraah,” much to Walker’s satisfaction.

“Music to my ears,” he said, and flipped to the next slide, which was the underlying rationale and need for the operations now being planned. A huge portion of the world’s total daily oil supply was coming from fields that had been discovered before 1970, and after that, fewer and fewer resources were surveyed and found. In those older fields over 80 percent of them had peaked and were already in decline.

A perfect example was Canterell, Mexico’s big offshore field discovered in 1976. It had a meteoric rise to just over 2 million barrels per day because of a massive gas bubble that maintained pressure on the oil reservoir making it easy to extract. Then production started to falter as the pressure lowered. This prompted Mexico to consider injecting water or steam to keep up the pressure, as the Saudis had done in their supergiant Ghawar fields, and in the end, they decided to inject nitrogen at the turn of the century. Over the next four years, Cantarell was the fastest growing field in the world, and then production faltered again, and would never recover. Once the world’s number two field behind Ghawar, it reached “Peak oil” in 2004 and saw production fall by 14% per year to just 400,000 BB/d.

Too many other fields had faced the same fate, and in the United States, production levels were only increased because they were literally squeezing oil embedded in shale by “fracking,” a costly process that needed solid oil prices to remain profitable. The steep decline of the supergiants meant the world would need to find another 40 million barrels per day to meet current demand—four times the production of Saudi Arabia. This is why the untapped proven reserves in fields like West Qurna and Majnoon were now key strategic resources.

China had already maneuvered into the good graces of the Hussein regime in Iraq, and had courted the Mullahs In Iran to gain pipeline routes that would bring that oil to China. It was why Admiral Sun Wei had amassed a forty ship fleet in the Indian Ocean to control and guard the Gulf of Oman. And it was why the navies of the United States and Britain, the founders of the industry that had discovered all that oil, were there to give challenge and renew those old claims. Churchill had fretted over the assets and operations of British Petroleum in 1943 when Heinz Guderian went to Baghdad. Now the British and Americans were going there, not for the city, not to liberate anyone, but to unseat a government hostile to their interests in those vast oil fields in the south. Without question, World War Three was an “Oil War.”

Chapter 18

One aspect of that oil war would unquestionably involve the sea lanes. Thus far, the West had cleared the Med, albeit with the cooperation of the Chinese Navy, which migrated through the Suez Canal and Red Sea into the Arabian Sea. The lightning campaign in Sinai had also cleared those last two vital transit lanes, though commercial traffic was not yet moving through the canal.

After savaging the Royal Navy in the Indian Ocean, Admiral Sun Wei had been forced to withdraw on the port of Karachi, yielding the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea to the US and Great Britain, whereupon Aden and Djibouti were cleared and captured as Admiral Wells swept through the Gulf of Aden. In his initial clashes with US carriers, Sun Wei had seen the difficulty of his situation in the Gulf of Oman, learning the same hard lesson being taught by the Enterprise .

It was really just a question of simple math. Outside the range of 300 miles, the Chinese air force and navy had a limited strike capability. For SSM’s it was restricted to the YJ-100, with its 430 mile range. For the Air force, the JH-7B Flying Leopard could carry a YJ-12 out to a target 535 miles away. They had nothing else that could get at a target beyond the range of 300 miles. That meant that Admiral Sun Wei had 120 YJ-100’s to throw from his ships, and after losses, only 13 JH-7B Flying Leopards that could bring 26 YJ-12’s to the fight. It was 146 weapons, and every battle fought to date in the war had clearly shown that was just not enough saturation to break through the highly effective and potent defensive shell of a US Carrier Strike Group.

While Admiral Wu Jinlong was pitching his plan to strike east at the American Pacific island bases, Admiral Sun Wei got news of the operation, and he would not sit mute in Karachi bemoaning his fate. He had hoped Wu Jinlong would have been sent through the risky transit of the Malacca Strait, but that was not going to happen. So when he learned that the Air Force had allocated 36 heavy bombers to Operation Sea Eagle in the Celebes Sea, he was quite irate.

“Here I have been struggling for weeks, with few resources, and look what they give to Wu Jinlong! I must make my voice heard with the Naval General Staff, and protest if this theater is not supported with equal strategic assets.”

As it happened, the General Staff had been generous. China was realizing that if it was to have any chance to prevail, it simply had to start committing its strategic assets to support the tactical operations of the Admirals at sea. So Admiral Sun Wei would get his wish. The air force had 120 H-6 Bombers, and while Wu Jinlong had received 36, another 24 would be sent into Pakistan, a commitment now of half the total bomber force. The remaining 60 planes would be locked down on mainland China bases, and would not be touched for any reason.

China also had a total of 120 Flying Leopard strike planes, and by now half of those were deployed or lost. 36 had been sent to Wu Jinlong, with half of them killed on the field at Clark AFB. Admiral Sun Wei had lost about half of those sent to his theater, and so the Air Force vowed to send replacements and bring him back to two full squadrons of 12 planes each. That still left 60 planes in China, again, reserved for the defense of the East and South China Seas.

In fighter strength, both theaters had been allocated 60 of the land based J-20’s, which accounted for a little over a third of China’s total production on that plane. While Wu Jinlong had augmented his fighter strength with his carrier based J-31’s, Admiral Sun Wei had received one squadron of J-31A, land based versions of that fighter, and had ten left. No more would be forthcoming, but he was promised another squadron of 12 J-20’s would arrive with the bombers. Hyderabad AFB in Pakistan was the chosen bomber base, and it would be defended by two new batteries of HQ-9A SAM’s.

The War Gods of Hyderabad were the H-6M variant, capable of carrying three anti-ship missiles, the YJ-100, YJ-12, and C-803, a short range missile that was not sent to the base. The preferred weapon would be those YJ-100’s but only 60 had been sent to Hyderabad. After that, there were 60 of the shorter range YJ-12’s.

These much needed reinforcements took three days to arrive, but that gave Sun Wei time to refuel and rearm his ships in Karachi. Now when he sortied, his long range strength had nearly doubled with the 96 missiles the bombers and extra Flying Leopards might deliver. That would give him the ability to put 236 weapons on enemy targets, assuming all the planes got to their release points safely, and that was beginning to reach a saturation level that might get hits. If, by any chance he could get inside 290 miles, he could then deliver another 100 YJ-18’s.

That was the math, and the numbers were unforgiving in defining his actual wartime offensive strength. While he sortied from Karachi at midnight on the 18th with all 20 ships in his fleet, most of his YJ-100’s were on just three of those ships, the Type 055’s. These were the Flying Dragon, Eagle God and Dragon God, where he himself stood on the bridge, eager to see if he could put fire on his enemy. Out in front of the fleet this time was every submarine that had been in Karachi, departing 12 hours earlier. This sent four Yuan Class boats out to join the single Song Class boat that was already at sea, and three Pakistani subs would join to watch the coastal areas of Northwest India.

It was once more into the breach, a brave war face on the Admiral as they set out. The bombers and Flying Leopards were on call when he needed them, and there was one more weapon he had coaxed from the Strategic Rocket Forces, three batteries of DF-21D ship killers.

My plan now is a simple one, thought Sun Wei. I will attack, and with everything I have. I must coordinate the bombers and air strike squadrons effectively with my ship launched attack. The two American carriers are out there, a little over 350 miles away. Do they know if I Have left Karachi tonight? The moon is dark, which is why I chose this hour to sortie, and the sun is over seven hours away. Out of this blackness, I will bring fire. The Dragon God has wakened, and woe to my enemies. But first I must find them! The satellites can only give me their general location, which will not be good enough for my DF-21’s to get after them. So it will once again be up to my J-20s to dash on the targets and get me radar locks—more brave pilots that I will ask to risk their lives this hour.

02:00 Local, 19 JAN 2023

Arabian Sea

USS Independence

Captain Avery Holmes had been burning the midnight oil, looking over his list of available aircraft and the strike packages they were forming. They were out in the middle of the Arabian Sea, about 225 miles east of Masirah AFB on the island off the coast of Oman. Captain James Simpson and the Roosevelt were just 11 miles north of the Independence—good company. Both carriers had taken on ordnance from the AOE ships, and though they were still a little light on SAM’s each group was well defended.

They had spent the last three days undergoing the laborious and often dangerous work of at-sea replenishment, an art the Navy had insisted on returning to its operational capabilities. Chief on their list in that interval was the loading and installation of Standard Missile-6, which had nearly been depleted in the duels fought earlier. That missile was the outer crust of the carrier’s defense, and with forward deployed planes, presented a most formidable defense.[5] A big missile at 21 feet in length, the Navy had installed a special crane for these loading operations on every ship that was to carry it, which required slow speeds and calm seas to conduct.

It’s damn dark tonight, he thought. A good night for a fight. CAP is light right now, but we’ll have a Hawkeye rotation soon, and I’ll double it to six fighters. Seatiger reported an enemy submarine contact, but that’s 120 miles out and they are on the way to investigate it. So let’s hope it will be another quiet night. Things look good on paper, so its time I turned in.

As the Captain left his ready room to look over the bridge crew, he got some unwelcome news.

“Captain, sir, I have bogies due north, range 220 miles—another group bearing zero-four-five degrees northeast, but they appear to be orbiting. Sir… Identifying J-20’s and they are radiating, now just 120 miles out.”

“Well I’ll be…” said Holmes, reaching up to adjust his gold rimmed glasses. “Officer of the Watch, send to the Air Boss—launch Ready CAP. Signal all ships—Battle Stations.”

At that moment, he could see the sky to the north brighten with the fiery tails of friendly missile fire. The Roosevelt group was already locking on and sending those freshly loaded SM-6’s out to greet the interlopers.

It wasn’t long before the general scope of the attack was surmised. The radars reported high altitude ballistic missiles inbound, and now they were able to identify at least 18 JH-7 attack planes in the bogie stream, and cruise missiles coming off their wings. It was all hands on deck, the old naval war cry that no longer really applied when a battle station was a comfortable chair in front of a computer screen with a headset on. But that didn’t make things any less hectic, or less tense. Everyone knew that missiles were coming for them, and even as SM-3’s started surging up into the darkness like bats out of hell, there was always that off chance that a leaker would get through, its aim true, and chaos could reign supreme.

The first group of two ballistic Vampires were knocked down by the now proven and reliable SM-3’s, but behind them the radars had identified eight more inbound, screaming at over 6000 knots and just 80 miles away. At that speed they would reach their assigned targets in less than one minute… but none would. Sixteen SM-3’s locked on like fiery darts and smashed every last one of the DF-21’s, a weapon that had not lived up to the threat it seemed to pose before the war. Now it would be down to the slower birds out there. The YJ-12’s off those J-7s seemed to plod at 1450 knots, and the YJ-100s were much slower yet.

The fire control computers quickly targeted the faster missiles with SM-6, and a stream of those long lance SAM’s were already in the air after them. In the midst of this raging missile fire from the escorts, Roosevelt was sending its ready F-35’s off the deck in a hot rush, ten planes in all. The rest were rigged for strike when this was over, but defense was the first order of business on that dark morning.

Admiral Sun Wei had fired 90 of his 120 ship mounted YJ-100’s, and the bombers put 48 more in the air. So there would be 138 Vampires on the prowl, and another 21 YJ-12’s were still in the air. The Pakistani Air Force had sent up a dozen of their J-17 Thunder strike planes carrying the Wrecker cruise missile, but they would not have the range to get to a release point. So they were circling with four big H-6 tankers, which could refuel two planes at a time, trying to build up enough reserve fuel to enable them to continue on to the attack. It took them so long that their mission was eventually scrubbed and they all returned to base.

In the meantime, it was the lethality and range of the US SM-6 that was now defeating the first YJ-12 strike, while also chasing off any J-20’s that were identified. Yet an hour after the attack began, the missile count for SM-6 was zero on both Carrier Strike Groups. It had taken six hours to load those big missiles, and less than six minutes to fire each and every one. Even so, neither Captain was worried, because each group had a hard inner circle of defense manned by legions of the Evolved Sea Sparrows, and there were also fifteen F-35’s out there falling on the enemy missiles like hawks.

At 03:00, the nearest Vampire to the Roosevelt group was 60 miles out, and leading in 70 more YJ-100’s behind it on various attack vectors. That was all that survived against the ranged defense of SM-6 and the fighters, which killed 111 Vampires. Seventeen minutes later, the ESSM’s had killed all the rest….

The Navy’s concept of a network-centric defense, with concentric circles around its valuable carriers, once again proved to be near invulnerable in actual combat. No Vampire even made it to the innermost defensive circle where short range RIM-116 missiles and Phalanx guns or lasers might be used.

The combination of SM-6 at range, and the huge numbers of Quad packed ESSM’s (4 to every cell), provided the most potent missile defense on the planet. Theoretically, if every one of its 98 VLS cells were used, a single US destroyer could carry 392 ESSM’s. This was, of course, a loadout that was never used, but that was how powerful a ship could be made for defensive purposes if one had a mind to do so, and the missiles. 2000 ESSM’s had been delivered to the Navy by 2012. That number doubled by 2020, and then, with tensions rising and the Navy gearing up for possible conflict, the inventory doubled again by 2025 to more than 8000 before the war broke out. So wartime loadouts ranged from 60 to 120 missiles on each destroyer. Thus far, it was a defense that had not been penetrated.

Sun Wei had shaken his fist at his enemy, but he could not strike him. He was now sitting with only about 45 more missiles that could reach the American carriers, and little hope that a strike that small could break through. But in the confusion of the fighting, the range had slowly decreased, and he now found his fleet about 315 miles from the nearest American carrier. He gave a general fleet order ay 03:26—all ahead flank!

* * *

“Mister Connors, watch your range circles. How close is their main body now?”

“Sir, I read them at 315 nautical miles.”

“Well, that puts them just 25 miles from getting those YJ-18’s into the fight. Exercise Standing Order One. Signal all ships that Independence will come to course 300 southwest and run at 35 knots until we open that range to 350 miles.”

“Aye sir, I’ll sent that immediately.”

Standing Order One was a life saver that would keep the enemy at bay, and all but neuter their naval strike power now. At the same time, the US would finalize its own air strike planning, but by prearranged agreement, the destroyers would lead that attack with maritime Tomahawks at dawn.

That strike would see eight missiles allocated from all escorting ships in the two Carrier Strike Group’s, a total of 80 Tomahawks. It would keep the enemy busy while the carriers spotted strike planes and finalized the attack plan. They were going to lead with the LRASM. The forward fighter defense would be provided by 18 F-35’s, and then a mix of Super Tomcats off the Roosevelt and Avengers off the Independence would go up for a quick release of the LRASM to augment the cruise missile strike. That would be evaluated before a decision was made on ordnance requiring a closer approach to the enemy fleet.

So it was a standoff attack, a combination of Tomahawks and LRASM’s to start the day on the 19th at about 08:30. With the Avengers each carrying four missiles, and the six Toms two each that sent 72 LRASM’s out on the heels of the 80 Tomahawks, the first beginning to arrive near targets at 08:50.

The Chinese fleet was like an ancient armored warrior, slashing its way forward through the successive streams of enemy arrows with the bright flashing sword of the HQ-9B. As in many previous engagements, the Tomahawks did not prove difficult to find, track, and kill, but the LRASM was just a little more slippery. Those lances got inside 15 miles, creeping up low and slow, until they finally appeared on Chinese radars in one great mass. Their destroyers reacted quickly, weapons free and firing at will with a rain of SAM’s.

The enemy missiles were aimed at the heart of the fleet, where the defense was thick and hot, but an older Type 053H3 Frigate, the Linfen, was way out on the flank as an ASW picket, and relatively isolated. Of the eight missiles sent its way, one got through to strike the ship and end its war, the only hit achieved by the massive wave of cruise missiles that had once been 152 strong.

Part VII

Retreat

“He who advances without seeking fame,

Who retreats without escaping blame,

He whose one aim is to protect his people and serve his lord,

The man is a jewel of the Realm.”

― Sun Tsu: The Art of War

Chapter 19

Admiral Sun Wei regretted the loss of that single ship, but he was inwardly pleased that no further damage had been done. Yet now his situation was becoming precarious. By 09:15, when the attack ended, he found himself 220 miles from Karachi, leaving the Gulf of Oman behind as he began to enter the Arabian Sea. In the last two hours, steaming at 30 knots, he had been unable to close with the American ships, and he knew, instinctively, that they had been using their superior speed to stay just beyond the reach of his YJ-18’s.

Look what the simple advantage of five knots of speed can do, he mused. If I had that advantage, I would already have fired my missiles, but I simply cannot close on those carriers. It will be another 12 hours before my bombers are ready again, and out here, I am straining my fighter coverage. I am so close, just 305 miles away from those carriers, but strive as I might, we will never close that last 15 miles to fire our Eagle Strike missiles. In this fight, they are simply useless….

He turned, a solemn look on his face. “The Fleet will come about and assume a heading of 040 degrees northeast.”

He would wait for the bombers.

10:00 Local, 19 JAN 2026

Arabian Sea

USS Independence

“Gentlemen,” said Captain Holmes, addressing the bridge officers. “About ten minutes ago, the Chinese fleet turned northeast. They tried to close on us, so we were happy to invite them to follow us out into the Arabian Sea, but they wouldn’t take that bait. So now we send in the next wave to get after them. This is going to be a low-observable strike, all F-35’s and with the GBU-53. It means the strike groups will need to get inside the HQ-9 SAM range to 60 miles before they can release, so there will be no Growlers up to let them know that anything is coming. No offense to our Growler team, but the minute you fart, the Chinese can smell it.”

That got a round of laughter, but then the Captain took a more serious tone.

“Gentlemen, this war was regrettable, and from any angle you want to look at it. China and the US have had increasingly strained relations for the last several years, but frankly, it didn’t have to be that way, or come to this. The move they made into the Ryukyus was the trigger point, but that isn’t what this is all about—not here. This fight is about sea control, and access and control over the oil that travels the sea lanes in this region. If they had left it to business, that would probably have taken care of itself, but when you get Qusay Hussein running across the border into Kuwait as he did, well, that dog won’t hunt. We couldn’t leave it at that, and we won’t.

“Now… The Chinese Navy, and to some extent that of Pakistan, wants to block access to the Persian Gulf, and as long as they do, then we’ll fight to clear the way. But understand one thing, this may not end here, no matter what the outcome, and the last thing we want is to make a long term enemy of the Chinese. There’s 1.5 Billion people in China, and we’re going to have to find a way to live with them in the years ahead. We need to do that, or we’ll have to come to this dance again in another five years. If we can find the peace somewhere in that equation, all the better, because it sure as hell is something to be preferred over this business. I don’t think the men and women on their ships out there want to be here flinging fire and steel at us any more than we do, but this is what’s in front of us.

“Now here’s the situation… Unless this conflict can move to a negotiated settlement, then we are going to have to put down that fleet out there, and make a land lubber out of Admiral Sun Wei. We’ve showed him he can’t hurt us, and now we have to show him that the inverse is not true. This next attack may not sink ships, but it’s going to pull SAM’s from under their decks like there was no tomorrow. When it concludes, I will expect Sun Wei’s fleet will be very vulnerable, at which point we get after them again. I want them bottled up in Karachi, and then we’re going to hammer that port with TacToms and put it out of the game.

“Enough said, as you were.”

* * *

The Panthers were going to have to put about 300 miles behind them before they got to their release points, but they had the range. The strike was all about stealth, and the F-35 had proven itself as perhaps the most stealthy aircraft the US had. It was very difficult to see on radar, especially from the forward aspect as the planes approached their targets.

“Firebright, this is Bertha. You are cleared to Angels 50. Over.”

It was time to gain altitude for the bomb release. The Chinese fleet was dead ahead, about 80 miles out, being watched over by an AEW plane put up by Pakistan, the Y-8F-400, known to them as the Karakoram Eagle. But it did not see those F-35’s as they climbed into the empty blue sky.

“Firebright, tally ho.”

It was time to dash on the target to gain speed for the release. Every bit of that would be imparted to those glide bombs, which were completely unpowered, and had to fall 60 miles to reach their targets. So the planes would supercruise as they reached altitude. At 10:28, the final order came.

“Firebright, Bertha, Cleared hot. Over.”

Seconds later, the weapons bays had released that deadly hail of 120 bombs, the love all spread out with about 8 bombs targeting each ship. One, the Eagle God, got 16 allocated, as it was suspected of being the flagship. The Panthers got in completely undetected, released, then turned and supercruised out of there.

As soon as that strike was detected, 12 J-20’s that had been on the way out to provide air cover all switched on their excellent AESA radars and moved forward to attack. They could see the F-35’s as they high tailed it away, but could not lock on. They could also see those metal clouds of GBU-53’s, so there would soon be plenty of targets for their PL-15’s.

Now Admiral Sun Wei looked over his shoulder and saw what was coming on radar. He knew exactly what it intended to do—weaken his SAM defense, for while these bombs were too small to threaten to sink a ship with one or two hits, they would still do serious damage to ship systems, and so they had to be killed. He still had the SAM’s, and he would use them, but deep down, he had the feeling that he would have been better off to simply stay in Karachi. The song here remained the same….

He watched as the vast cloud of white enveloped his fleet, until no ship could even see another in the big formation. His lethal arrows emerged from that cloud, hunted down the incoming bombs with their radars, and one by one, they killed each and every one. His ships had just over 300 HQ-9B’s before the attack. When it was concluded, they had 82 left, and the Admiral knew that it would not be easy to replace them in Karachi.

Defensively, we are still able to weather at least two strong attacks, he thought. But now comes the danger zone, when our long range defensive missiles begin to run low. Now we must return to home port to replenish. How many missiles will be waiting there for us? I was told to expect the trains to arrive on the 20th. Will there be enough for one more round of this stubborn duel? They have not hurt me, and I cannot hurt them, yet we wrestle with one another nonetheless.

That said, our very presence here is a victory on one level. We are a fleet in being, still a threat, but when the missile trains no longer come to Karachi, what then? We will become a paper tiger. That said, and for the moment, I still rule the Gulf of Oman. They have not been able to enter, and as long as I can keep them ay bay, I fulfill some strategic purpose here. I shield the southern coast of Iran, and access to the Persian Gulf that would expose them even further. We are still a viable force.

He wondered, does this set the template of what will happen later? Is this the shadow of the war that will eventually come to the South China Sea, the East China Sea? There we will be much stronger, and with all that remains of the air force behind us. We will resist, that is certain, and therefore this war is far from over. They have made gains, and yes, we have seen our shortcomings, but we are not defeated—not by a long road. It was then that a junior officer came to hand the Admiral the latest intelligence briefing.

It was news of Wu Jinlong….

* * *

Aboard Roosevelt, Captain James Simpson an order he did not expect, though it wasn’t all that surprising. He was to transfer existing ordnance to Independence, then move immediately to Salaha to replenish his carrier there. That was not uncommon when two carriers were on the beat, or when one was relieving another on regular rotations. It allowed a single carrier to stay operational, and also made it easier in port with only one big flattop to service at any one time.

So the order went down to begin emptying out the magazines of the most common ordnance used in battle, and vertical replenishment operations began, with the helicopters loading up and ferrying the ordnance over to Independence. Only select weapons would move. As Independence had zeroed out its allocation of the LRASM, they sent all 36 they had remaining, along with all 172 GBU-53’s, and 60 SLAM-ER’s. To these they added 50 AIM-12D’s, and that topped off the Independence on the most vital weapons to enable her to stand the watch while Roosevelt went home to Salaha.

Looking at the status of the escorts, Holmes noted that his CG-21 Class cruiser Portland had exhausted all its SAM’s, so it was a good idea to detach that ship and get it replenished in port. Simpson agreed to take on the impoverished cruiser with his strike Group, and he sent the Ticonderoga Class Vicksburg over to Holmes, which still had 66 ESSM’ under the hood. These changes made, the two ships winked at one another and parted company, with the Roosevelt breaking off to the west and Independence carrying on due east.

Now Captain Holmes had to decide whether to plan and mount another strike on the retreating Chinese ships before they could reach port. He and his XO Cooper were chewing the fat over that one.

“We’ve got ‘em on the run now sir. They won’t be weaker. Once they get into Karachi, they’ll rearm and come out like a tiger again.”

“That’s a good point, but at the moment, Roosevelt is 435 miles from Salaha. At 25 knots, they won’t get there until sunrise tomorrow, and then they’ll be all day replenishing on the 21st—maybe even into the 22nd before they can come out to fight again. Yes, if we throw now, we might get some hits, but how many? We just topped off the tank, but we still don’t have any SM-6 left, nor does Roosevelt.”

“We could break off and make a rendezvous with Asgard, sir.”

Cooper was referring to a replenishment and supply convoy out of Diego Garcia, which was the other big supply depot, 1600+ miles to the southeast. The US logistics chain was pulling ordnance and supplies from the west coast ports, and then moving them to Pearl Harbor. From there, some went to Japan, but the lion’s share was being sent to Darwin, and then a good chunk of that continued on to Diego Garcia. Other convoys reached Diego by moving from Atlantic ports around the Cape of Good Hope. After that, Convoy Asgard would sea ferry the ordnance north to Salaha, but as the USN had made underway replenishment a standard drill for the last several decades, it was possible for the Independence group to pick over the stores now on the water headed for Salaha, and get first dibs on the missiles they needed.

“ I think that will be the order,” said the Captain. “If Roosevelt was going to be with us, I’d attack, but as we’re standing the watch alone for the next two to three days, we’ll play it safe and gird ourselves for the next round. But we can’t sit out here and shadow box with these guys indefinitely. We’re going to have to land punches and hurt them soon.”

“We’ll get at them, sir,” said Cooper, always the optimist.

“Good enough,” said Holmes. “Any news on the Black Dragon?”

“New Jersey? She’s coming north, sir, and with the rest of what the British had at Singapore.”

“What about Grant and Sherman?”

“Grant is pretty beat up, sir. She’ll need a week or more at Mumbai, but Sherman is ready there.”

“Then let’s get Sherman out to sea. Order her to meet up with the New Jersey.”

“Will do, sir. Say, Captain… What was the story on that British F-35 that we took on a while back?”

“It went on its merry way days ago—ferried back to the Gulf of Aden.”

“But what was he doing out there, sir? Wasn’t he a thousand miles from his carrier?”

“That he was, and the man had quite a tale to tell. Says he was out on point with his flight and went forward to investigate some persistent radar contacts. Word from the British is that he then vanished from all their radar screens, and they went so far as to report him MIA. Then he just turns up again, hours later.”

“How do you figure it, sir? How could he be out there that long? He’d run out of fuel.”

“Well, this is where it gets strange, Mister Cooper, so keep this under your cap. This man, Campbell was his name, said he was only out of contact on the network about 20 minutes until he picked us up on radar and vectored our way.”

“Twenty minutes? Strange, sir. That doesn’t jive with what the Brits said.”

“Damn right, but that was the easy part. The man says he lost contact with all friendlies, but then his systems started picking up a lot of unknown contacts, and a good number were vectoring in on his position.”

“He never identified any of them, sir?”

“Nope. But it got real spooky. They were silently closing on his position, and from multiple compass headings.”

“Air contacts?”

“Yes, and surface contacts too.”

“But sir… We were out there, and had a Hawkeye up as usual. Those contacts they investigated were all ghosts—probably just radar bounce from the Chinese fleet, which was north of that position at the time. We saw nothing else at all.”

“That’s what we all thought, mister Cooper, but he says something took a pot shot at him. A surface contact put a missile out after him, and he had to evade. Right in the middle of that, he felt his plane shudder and thought he was hit, but then seconds later his whole screen lit up again, and he saw us out there. Said he was never so glad to see some friendlies in his life. The man was real spooked. You could see it in his face.”

Cooper took a deep breath. “I’ll keep that to myself, sir.”

Chapter 20

Admiral Sun Wei got some most unexpected orders as well, emerging from a heated discussion at the headquarters of the Chinese General Staff. Present were Zhen Bao, Chief of Naval Operations in the Littoral Seas, Zhang Wendan, the Chief of the General Staff, and Shen Jinlong, Commander in Chief of the Navy.

Zhang Wendan had consulted with the political leadership in Beijing to weigh their opinions and wishes in this matter, particularly that of the President. It was clear to all that the war was not going well. China had lost control of the Med, the West Atlantic, Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and southern and central waters of the Indian Ocean. The Navy had neutralized Singapore, in effect pulling the cork out of the bottle where the Malacca Strait was concerned, but they had not yet been able to drink the wine. As midnight passed on the 19th and rolled over to January 20th, some very hard decisions were now to be taken.

“I am here to tell you both that the political leadership has lost faith in the Navy’s ability to prevail in the operations presently underway.”

That announcement was greeted with silence, and both the Admirals present knew that it had surely stemmed from the great setback suffered by Wu Jinlong in the Celebes Sea. There was nothing like the sinking of another aircraft carrier to turn heads and get the grumbling started in the civilian leadership. But it was more than that, it was the Party leadership, which had absolute authority concerning the conduct and progression of China’s war at that moment. So Zhang Wendan was merely there to dictate what had been decided, though he wished to hear the opinions of his Admirals, nonetheless.

“Operation Sea Eagle must now be deemed a failure,” said Zhang. “We were unable to destroy any of the three American Pacific island bases, and in fact, saw two of our valuable bases in the Philippines severely damaged, with significant losses to the valuable aircraft stationed there by the Air Force. Certainly the Party expected some losses… but not this. The sinking of Zhendong made this all the more difficult to swallow. Admiral Shen, given that Wu Jinlong has now seen two carriers lost under his leadership, the decision has been made to relieve him of command, effective immediately. Do you object”

“I have no objection,” said Shen Jinlong, knowing the decision had already been made by the General Staff.

“Good enough,” said Zhang. “Gentlemen, we must now take some hard decisions. First I must ask you if the Navy can recover from our fallen Sea Eagle and hold the South China Sea secure?”

“At the moment,” said Shen Jinlong, “we see no immediate threat to that region, which is not to say that one might not materialize in the days ahead. The Americans were able to defeat Operation Sea Eagle because of two things—their long range bombers at Guam, and the fact that they were able to shift a second Carrier Strike Group south to join their Enterprise group. It was the bombers that did the damage at Beiying,[6] not the American Navy. And it was the Siberians that sunk Zhendong, not the Americans. This must not be forgotten.”

“I am well aware of that,” said Zhang, “as is the Party leadership. That is why the decision was taken to turn matters over to the Army. The Siberians have been a thorn in our side, and they must be taught a lesson, once and for all. The Army is now fully mobilized, and we will now reopen hostilities on the Amur River line, as a direct reprisal for the continued Siberian hostility in the naval theater.”

“A wise decision,” said Shen Jinlong. “In spite of the Armistice. That regained most of the territory they seized in their offensive. If the Army can take it back again, all the better.”

“Yes? Well, that is not all. We have seen that while our client states and allies have been useful in peacetime in supporting our naval outreach programs, they are less so in wartime. Iran and Iraq started their Operation Desert Sword auspiciously, but we underestimated the resolve of the Europeans and Americans. That situation has now also suffered a severe reversal of fate, and as it is something the Navy cannot resolve, the matter there will also be turned over to the Army, and the Air Force. The following decisions have now been taken. 13th and 21st Armies have been moved by rail through Tajikistan and Turkmenistan to Iran. They will be deployed to secure and defend the major oil fields in Southern Iraq. I must ask you now to give me an estimate—how long will the Gulf of Oman and Persian Gulf remain under our control? And please be realistic.”

Shen Jinlong scratched an eyebrow. “That will depend on the outcome of the fighting underway there. The most recent engagement must be seen as a draw. Our losses were minimal, just one older frigate. Admiral Sun Wei is competent, and he has my every confidence. As long as he is supplied, with adequate ordnance and supporting aircraft, I believe he will hold for some time.”

“And if Karachi were to be attacked and destroyed—what then?”

“That would make things… difficult. You believe this will occur?”

“Pakistani aircraft have been participating in the fighting, have they not?”

“Only in supporting roles. They have inadequate range to serve in the strike role, given the American tactics.”

“Indeed,” said Zhang, “but as they have flown in support of our forces, and opened their bases to our bombers and fighters, that makes those same bases legitimate targets.”

“You have intelligence to relate on this matter?” asked Shen.

“ I do… The Americans are now transferring more of their long range strategic bombers to their base at Diego Garcia. If they are able to do to Karachi what they have just done to our bases in the Philippines… Well, you can understand the concern.”

Admiral Shen pursed his lips, but yes, he understood. Without Karachi, his fighting Admiral Sun Wei would lose his support base, and the loss of his entire fleet would surely follow. He sensed now that a tectonic shift was about to play out in the naval war, but waited to see what the Chief of Staff would say next. It was as he feared.

“Shen Jinlong, the General Staff wants you to withdraw the Indian Ocean fleet at once.”

“Withdraw? Abandon the Persian Gulf? Abandon our allies in Pakistan?”

“You expressed no concerns when we ordered our Mediterranean Squadrons to move to the Indian Ocean.”

“That was different,” said Shen. “We knew we could not operate there for long, well before the war. The plan was always to relocate those forces to the Indian Ocean theater.”

“And it was well executed. That said, while Admiral Sun Wei sunk many British ships, he seems unable to sink the American ships any more than Wu Jinlong could prevail in his operation. There were forty ships in our Indian Ocean Fleet a month ago. Now there are twenty. It is the opinion of the General Staff that the fleet is now overmatched, and because the outcome of the land war in Iraq will decide everything, the mission of that fleet is now diminished. Yes, Sun Wei controls the Gulf of Oman, and sits as a naval shield for both Pakistan and Iran, but not for long, particularly if Karachi is destroyed. I ask you—how long?”

“In that event, it would be a matter of weeks before those ships could no longer operate… Perhaps more like a matter of days.”

“Correct,” said Zhang, “and I appreciate your forthright assessment, as difficult as it may be. We must face facts now, not wishes. The General Staff does not believe that those twenty ships can prevail, any more than the twenty we gave to Wu Jinlong were able to succeed. So yes, the order to withdraw will be given. Sun Wei is to move south at once and attempt to reach Colombo as his next support base.”

“But the Americans spent all last week attacking Sri Lanka.”

“Indeed, but we will repair that damage, as we will also repair the damage to Beiying and Davao. They truth is this, the Army will now move to support Iran and Iraq, as I have said, and that cannot operate in an environment where they have no air cover. Therefore the Air Force assets presently covering the Indian Ocean Fleet will be transferred further west to bases in Iran. That fleet has been deemed a liability where it presently sits, and we believe a window of opportunity has opened to allow it to withdraw. The American carriers are replenishing, one at Salaha in southwest Oman, the other deep in the Indian Ocean in an underway replenishment operation.”

“Yes, I am aware of this. I’ve seen the intelligence,” said Shen.

“Of course. Then in this situation, Admiral Sun Wei must move south as quickly as possible.”

“General… it is 1500 nautical miles from Karachi to Colombo, and we have no friendly bases or supply ships anywhere along that route… Unless you will now tell me that India is joining our side in this war.”

“Not likely,” said Zhang Wendan. “In fact, the inverse may soon be true. All the more reason to get Sun Wei out of there while we may still have that chance. Can this be done?”

Shen Jinlong rubbed his forehead. “It will be very dangerous. He will have little air cover, and then no air cover as he gets further south, but if this is ordered, then it must be done quickly, while the Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group is replenishing at Salaha. That port is 1300 nautical miles from the coast of India, and Sun Wei must stay as far east as possible. It will mean he may have to face at least one US carrier, but not both—assuming he moves quickly. There is also a small American Task Force coming up from the south, and the British forces that abandoned Singapore.”

“So be it,” said Zhang. “You must give the order at once.”

Admiral Shen nodded gravely, but it was clear he was not happy. This was now going to cede control of the entire Indian Ocean to the enemy, and it was a matter of time before they controlled the Gulf of Oman, and the Persian Gulf. Zhang Wendan saw the look of distress and disappointment on his face, and spoke again.

“Admiral,” he said quietly. “You have fought well, and without adequate support. That was our fault. Take no shame in this. It is a strategic decision taken by the Party itself. The matter comes down to this: if the Army cannot prevail in Iraq, then our fleet in the Indian Ocean is only a target, and it will surely be lost. Yes, it could hold stubbornly in the Gulf of Oman, holding sea lanes that will never be traveled by tankers from Iraq if we lose that fight, and it could only hold a short time. So we want it home. Our losses have been heavy, and those ships will now be needed for operations in the Pacific Theater. The mission is therefore to reinforce our Pacific Fleets, and assure that we do not relinquish any of our gains in that theater.”

“I understand,” said Shen.

“Good,” said Zhang. “Give the order, and with urgency. The route you choose home will be up to you, but it will be imperative that you at least reach Colombo safely.”

“Of course,” said Shen. “If the fleet cannot refuel there, then it could not proceed further east. Can you assure me Sun Wei will not arrive to ruin and fire at Colombo? What if those American bombers you mention strike there?”

“We are seizing Trincomalee as well, the fifth largest natural harbor in the world.”

“Seizing it?”

“Again… A matter for the Army. Airborne troops have been relieved in the Ryukyus and they will do what is necessary.”

“Yes? Well, it will need to be a matter for the Air Force as well.”

“Certainly. They will move fighters to Sri Lanka from our bases in Burma. And the new commander you appoint to replace Wu Jinlong will operate in the South China Sea so as to provide air cover over the Strait of Malacca. Do you believe Sun Wei should attempt that route?”

“It will be difficult in such constricted waters, but if he attempts the Sunda Strait instead he will get little air cover there, if any—unless it comes off the deck of Taifeng.”

“Exactly,” said Zhang Wendan. “Now, as we lose them one by one, we see just how valuable our aircraft carriers were.”

“Indeed. I must order Laoning to move from the Yellow Sea into the East China Sea to relieve Guandong, then that ship can move to the South China Sea to further support Admiral….” He hesitated, realizing Wu Jinlong was to be relieved of command.

“A good question, eh?” said Zhang. “Who will be the new Commander for South Seas Operations?”

At that point, they both turned to the third man in the room, Zheng Bao. He had been listening quietly, with great concern, and now he saw Admiral Shen give him a wink. It was obvious to him that he would not have been summoned here unless the General Staff already had their eye on him.

“Zheng Bao,” he said. “It seems you would be available for this post, and I cannot think of a better man.”

* * *

When his adjutant handed him the communication from Naval General Headquarters, Admiral Wu Jinlong took it stoically. “I will be in my ready room,” he said. “but I do not wish to be disturbed.”

“Understood, sir.”

The message was on paper, but with it the Adjutant handed him a memory key, because a video transmission was also sent, and directly from Navy Chief Shen Jinlong. He watched it, eyes heavy. The Navy Chief had tried to say he was needed at home, and that he was to be promoted to operational Commandant of all naval facilities on Hainan, now responsible for organizing and planning the defense of the South China Sea.

“I need a thinker there,” said Shen Jinlong. “I need a planner. As you cannot do this while still managing tactical affairs, that duty will pass to another….”

That duty will pass to another….

Any fighting Admiral who has ever come to realize he was now leaving the flag bridge and heading for a desk ashore would have reacted badly to the news, no matter how much it was dressed up as a promotion. For a long time after, Wu Jinlong sat in silence, head in hands, with the red burn of shame on his neck and back. If he had been a Japanese Admiral in WWII, he might have contemplated something more, but ritual suicide was not in the Chinese character. So he would bear up, do what he could to salvage his face and honor, and go on.

An hour later he emerged from his ready room, not even looking at the bridge crew as he left the bridge and headed down to the officer’s dining room. When he entered, he was shocked to see all his senior officers in dress whites. They snapped to attention, and at the back of the room, the ship’s band played an anthem. Each man saluted him in turn, and then they all bowed, a sign of great honor and respect.

“So,” he said, trying to smile. “I was going to make an announcement this evening, but the rice is already cooked! It seems an Admiral’s private messages have become common knowledge, but I will not ask why. Very well, let me say that it has been an honor to serve with each and every one of you. I have been ordered to assume a post at Hainan, thinking and planning things you all will be doing in the coming weeks, and I will remember you all when I do so. But that is not all….”

He looked at them one at a time, as if trying to see their individual fates in the days and weeks ahead.

“Admiral Sun Wei is in a most difficult situation at Karachi. We have seen that the bases we use to support our operations are also subject to interdiction by the enemy, just as we tried to do the same to the American bases. So Sun Wei is coming home, and it is very likely that this fleet will be the welcoming committee. I know each of you will do your utmost, even if I must depart this very night to fly to Hainan. Captain Yang Chen will therefore assume tactical control of the fleet until a senior officer is sent from the homeland. Now… Let us eat.”

He gestured to the great round table in the center of the room, laden with freshly cooked dishes that had been rushed up from the galley. They would eat, and toast one another, but mostly the Admiral, and it was good to spend those last few hours with them. He did not know it at that hour, for one never knows these things, even if they can sense something in the moment, just beneath the strained smiles and restrained tears, but he would never see any of them again….

Chapter 21

Wu Jinlong’s fleet had reached Zamboanga by 18:00 on the 19th of January, when he learned that the Americans were now striking the newly provisioned airbase at Davao with their infernal Tomahawk missiles. All that he had labored to build was now under threat of destruction. Yet he could not wallow in this any longer. He packed away a few personal effects, then boarded a two seater J-15 and rose into the darkening skies with an escort of three J-31’s. He would be flown 540 miles to Subi Reef, landing there to meet briefly with Admiral Zheng Bao, his nominal superior for South Seas Operations, and now the man assuming overall tactical command of the fleet.

“Bad fortune,” said Zheng Bao. “The plight of the bombers at Beiying was most disturbing.”

“I cannot answer for that, as the Air Force is responsible for defending the Philippines. But the loss of Zhendong was my responsibility, and I fully accept that burden. I must tell you that we will most likely lose DDG’s Xining, and Yueshen as well.”

“The Moon God? I heard it was damaged, but not sunk.”

“Those two ships are still in the Celebes Sea, probably about 100 miles from Zamboanga now. The Moon God is still trying to control her flooding, and can only make 2 knots while that effort is underway. I fear the submarine that first attacked the fleet there will surely finish the job.”

Zheng Bao nodded grimly. “How did it happen?”

“We were ambushed from two sides. The torpedoes were first spotted off our aft port quarter, so the fleet turned and ran the other way. I believe Taifeng was the initial target, but I was able to maneuver the carrier to safety, and the torpedoes selected other ships. Then, we were suddenly attacked from the starboard side, by a wide spread of four torpedoes. There we were, running right at them….” The Admiral shrugged, taking a deep breath.

“Zhen Bao, we must find a way to strike at the bases they will use. The bombers made two big attacks, but the Americans were able to defend those islands with their naval and air assets. Their ships all carry land attack cruise missiles, and we have little that can be used in that role unless the Air Force brings it. That is what really broke the back of my operation, the American Tomahawks… and the Siberians.”

Zheng Bao placed a hand on Admiral Wu’s shoulder.

“Rest, Admiral,” he said. “You went there seeking no fame or glory, and now you return and shirk no blame. That is honorable. Now there will be much for you to do on Hainan. I have reserved my own office for you there. The Strategic Rocket Corps will be delivering DF-21’s, and I will be calling on you to use them, rest assured. You must now plan the defense of the South China Sea, provisioning all the reef island bases there. We must get more YJ-12 batteries and SAM sites established, and then you will also command the deployment of all naval assets there. Submarines must be moved to access sea lanes, patrols established, and expect a visitor. Carrier Guandong is moving into your zone from the East China Sea. Laoning will relieve that ship.”

“Laoning? I thought it was still designated a training ship.”

“It was. We have just graduated another class of carrier trained pilots. There are plenty now, and so the decision was made to make Laoning combat ready. It will help guard our position in the Ryukyus.”

“Am I to go to sea when Guandong arrives?”

That was the uncomfortable question Zheng Bao hoped he would not be asked, but he gave his friend and longtime associate a straight answer.

“For the moment, the General Staff wishes to avail itself of your organizational skills on Hainan.”

“I see…. Very well, Admiral. I will do all I can. And Admiral… Please accept my humble apology. I promised you a victory and instead—”

“Say nothing more, my friend,” said Zheng.

Admiral Wu would board another plane for the last 500 miles to Hainan Island three hours later, and Zheng Bao would fly to Zamboanga to see the long flight deck of Taifeng below in the Basilan Strait. He could see eight ships making that transit, and there were five more docked at the harbor. By the time he landed on Taifeng to assume command, his work was well cut out for him. Successive waves of cruise missiles were striking the airfield and port at Davao. SAM’s were depleted there, and only brave FFG Jinzhou was left on defense at the harbor, quickly exhausting its 32 HQ 16 SAM’s.

The Tomahawks quickly found the ship where it was docked at the pier, and destroyed it. the diesel fuel tanks were flaming, and Sasa Wharf destroyed. For all intents and purposes, the garrison troops there were now guarding nothing. The Flying Leopards were caught on the ground at the airport and savaged half way through their rearming cycle. All the strike assets that the Air Force had delivered to Wu Jinlong were now mostly destroyed or marooned on the damage airfields. Only the fighters were able to redeploy to other bases. Zheng Bao ordered any thirsty ship to quickly replenish at Zamboanga, and then continued on through the strait into the South China Sea.

As Wu Jinlong had feared and warned, the USS Franklin crept up on the foundering Moon God, and ended its misery with another torpedo at 17:48. No long after that, the last straggler, Type 052D destroyer Xining would suffer a similar fate. A Chinese Fuchi Class supply ship was in the area, but it would be spared to allow it to come to the aid of the stricken ships.

The defeat was complete now. Clark and Davao had been wrecked, killing bombers and all but six of the Flying Leopards sent to support the operation. Eight ships and one sub had been sunk, including a carrier and two irreplaceable Type 055 destroyers. None of the American bases was put out of operation for more than a few hours, but both Shenandoah and Chancellorsville had gone down in close fighting with the enemy fleet during the action. Those were two significant losses, but the USN had cut its pound of flesh in reprisal.

* * *

As the evening wore away, Admiral Cook took stock of his situation in the bottleneck of the Makassar Strait. He was looking at his carrier magazines, and aside from what was already mounted on strike planes, he had the following ordnance left: 12 x Slammers, 87 AAMRAM’s, just 25 of the newer AIM-260’s, and 8x HAWC’s. All the LRASM’s were gone, along with all his GBU-53’s, but he still had JSOW glide bombs and plenty of anti-radiation missiles. What he had mounted on the planes now would probably constitute his last effective strike. After that, he would have to undergo replenishment.

So he sent a message to Darwin to that effect, indicating that he wanted to move back into the Java Sea and await a replenishment convoy there. Just getting that far south was a 400 mile journey, and Carrier Strike Group Washington was now available to move into the Celebes Sea and take that watch.

Replenishment Group Forger out of Darwin was in the Timor Sea heading for the Java Sea at that hour with a tanker, ammunition ship, and the FFG (X) Class frigate Tavua, but that rendezvous and replenishment operation was going to take 48 hours.

It seemed that the naval situation was ‘under control’ in both theaters, and that a period of a few days quiet would settle on the seas. The next day, however, on the night of the 20th of January, Admiral Sun Wei sortied again from Karachi. His last desperate dash to Colombo was now underway.

* * *

US Satellite intelligence didn’t get a good look at what was happening until dawn on the 21st, but by 08:00, Captain Avrey Holmes had the data.

“These guys pulled a fast one,” he told his XO, Lt. Commander Cooper. “They turned it over last night and were out to sea before sunrise. Satellites picked them up 60 miles south of Karachi, but on a heading of 150. That’s right down the coast of India, and they’re just 30 miles beyond their territorial waters.”

“Now they don’t want to pick a fight with India,” said Cooper.

“I would think not, but there are also two Pakistani surface action Groups following in their wake. Time to get finished up here with the UNREP and head east. Just where, exactly, are we, Mister Cooper?”

“660 miles west of India, sir.”

The Captain took that in. “That means we wouldn’t get into strike range until about 20:00 this evening. Did Sherman leave Mumbai as ordered?”

“Yes sir, she’s about 120 miles south of the port now.”

“Well I’m sure Hap Turner got this same intel, but just in case he missed it, let him know that we think something is fishy here. Unless the Chinese turn west soon, they may be up to something. Tell him we’re heading east at once.”

“What about Roosevelt, sir? They just arrived at Salaha this morning, and we made off with all their loose change.”

“They’ll be on the bench for this one. If the Chinese keep this heading, then they may be attempting to withdraw. That’s good news and bad news, because they’ll be making for Sri Lanka now, and we’ll have to stop them. It’ll be up to Independence and New Jersey, so we’ll have to step lively.”

“India has ships at Mumbai, sir. What if they sortie?”

“Under the circumstances, it would not be very wise for that eel to come out of his cave, but I don’t like those two Pak TF’s trailing along with the Chinese. That could get someone’s dander up in New Delhi.”

“Let’s hope they mind their manners, sir.”

* * *

“Fedorov, how are things below decks,” said Karpov. “I haven’t had time to walk the ship of late.”

“Well enough,” said Fedorov. “Orlov has really warmed to his promotion. Now he walks around with his dress Captain’s hat on all the time. It’s almost comical, and some of the men mock him behind his back. But secretly, I think they are proud of him. They know what he does down there, and they are glad to see him get a leg up on the ladder.”

“Good, I meant it as a way to give him something I think he has been sorely needing—respect. I’ll be having dinner with him soon, and try to do that one-on-one with him more regularly. But tell me, is Lenkov still in one piece?”

The grim humor of that forced a smile from Fedorov. “Thankfully, he is, and there has been no further instance of that aberration in the reactor room. But Markov and Volushin haven’t reappeared, and it’s a little disturbing that none of the men have asked about them.”

“You are worried that no one remembers them?”

“Correct.”

“But Dobrynin remembered Markov easily enough.”

“Yes, but that may be because he was made aware of his disappearance from the very beginning. He was right there in the reactor section when it happened. You don’t forget something like that.”

“What about the others there?”

“Dobrynin clued them in on what had happened. I haven’t asked anyone yet, but I wonder if other crewmen on the ship would remember him now. Well, at least we accomplished a few things in the Celebes Sea.”

“Yes, we sunk another aircraft carrier,” said Karpov with a smile.

“And we got rid of Rod-25,” Fedorov followed quickly. “Yet I understand Tyrenkov had something to say about our last kill.”

“Yes,” said Karpov. “He called me on the secure comms last night. Says he thinks the Chinese are building up along the Amur River line, and he doesn’t like it. There’s been a lot of negative press in China—all state monitored and controlled, of course, but Siberians are not well liked there these days. He actually asked me not to sink anything more for a while. Can you believe that?”

“Well, I suppose I can see his point. An Armistice was signed, and here we are sinking a brand name capital ship like we did. The Chinese are probably pissed.”

“Are they?” said Karpov dismissively. “Well I don’t have to remind you that they killed my brother, Fedorov. They killed me. So they get what’s coming to them when they cross my path. That said, it looks like they’ve had more than they bargained for out here. Tyrenkov tells me their Admiral Wu has been recalled to Hainan—relieved of his command. He’s been replaced by Zheng Bao, his nominal superior, and the Chinese fleet has moved back into the Sulu Sea. Enterprise is heading south to replenish, and I suppose we should as well.”

“So where are we headed now, back to Surabaya?”

“Yes, we have a ship there with a few more missiles. We need the Gargoyles, and they have another eleven Zircons—the last in theater on those missiles. No matter. With the way they perform, we have plenty. But there more intelligence from Tyrenkov. He tells me the Chinese are pulling the remainder of their fleet out of the Gulf of Oman. They’re heading south as we speak, trying to get to Colombo on Sri Lanka, I suppose.”

“I thought the Americans sent cruise missiles against that port.”

“They did, but the Chinese have had engineers down there working day and night. You can only knock down a land base temporarily, Fedorov. Remember Pearl Harbor. It’s only a matter of time before it gets up and running again.”

“So what does this mean? Will the next fight be in the Indian Ocean?”

“Most likely, so I want to head that way as soon as we replenish. Enterprise is going to maneuver to the west Java Sea again to cover Singapore, but that’s boring. Let’s get out into the Indian Ocean.”

“That’s a big place,” said Fedorov. “Remember, we can’t use the Sunda Strait, and I wouldn’t advise the Strait of Malacca either.”

“All the more reason not to tag along with the Enterprise. What’s a good course, Mister Navigator?”

“Due south to Surabaya,” said Fedorov. “Then we sail out around Bali and take the Lombok Strait into the Indian Ocean. The Australians have Christmas and Cocos Islands out there.”

“Good sea room,” said Karpov.

“So will we get in on another fight?”

“Possibly. But the Americans are moving to cut off this Admiral Sun Wei before he can reach Colombo. It’s going to be a hard sea road for the Chinese. There’s no turning back. They’ll have to forge ahead, no matter what if they want to get to Sri Lanka, and I think they’re going to lose a lot of ships. One way or another, that fleet was doomed. The American Carrier Strike Groups have proven to be very effective—war winners. And I suppose we had something to do with it all as well.”

“We certainly did,” said Fedorov. “Perhaps more than we know right now.”

It was another of those ominous statements Fedorov would often make, and it was quite true.

Part VIII

Intervention

“Providence is always on the side of the last reserve.”

― Napoleon Bonaparte

Chapter 22

20:00 Local, 21 JAN 2026

As darkness folded itself over the deserts of Southern Iraq, the 1st Marine Division was revving up to make its push north from the Kuwaiti border. The official “invasion” of the country had begun earlier that day for them, when 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment cleared the port of Umm Qasr. The rest of the division was lined up to cross the frontier after sunset and by 20:00, they were pushing north.

On their left, 3rd BCT of the US 1st Armored Cav Division and the King Khalid Armored Brigade swept through the southern reaches of the vast Rumailah Oil field. Behind them came 1st and 2nd Armored BCTs of the Big Red 1, which had pushed rapidly north through the open desert that day.

The entire region was replete with oil. The troops of the 82nd Airborne Division, which had air lifted the previous day to cut both Highway 1 and 8 were now securing the smaller outlying Suba Field. Directly east of their position was the Ratawi Field with 10 billion barrels in reserves, then came Rumailah North, with another 10 billion barrels, and Rumailah South with 8 billion more. Behind the long 40 kilometer reaches of those fields, the Tuba Field held another 6 billion barrels and then the Zubayr Field further west had 4.5 billion more totaling over 38 billion Barrels of oil in the ground. The less developed reserves north of Basrah at Qurna, Majnoon, and Narh Umr held about the same amount, some 34.6 billion barrels. Taken together, that amounted to 75 billion barrels of oil, and that was what this war was really all about.

Iraq and Iran had thought to enlarge their hold on the world’s oil by seizing Burgan in Kuwait and Ghawar in Saudi Arabia two supergiant fields that were the heart of Saudi and Kuwaiti production for decades. Now they were fighting simply to save their own oil from the avenging angels of the West.

It was the sweeping envelopment made by the US mobile brigades that was unhinging the Iraqi defense further east and south. If those troops did not retreat, they risked being cut off in a pocket, with their backs to the big water obstacle of the Shatt al Basrah, and the wetlands behind it. Tactically, all the ground south of Basrah itself was largely indefensible against a move like this, particularly when it was executed by well trained and superbly armed troops like 1st Infantry Division.

The Iraqi General Ayad in command of what was left of the old 1st Army could see his plight clearly enough. Once the frontier defense line had been breached and enveloped as it was, his only sound move would be to order an immediate retreat north to the line of the Shatt Al Arab. This was the swollen watercourse that carried all the waters of both the Tigris and Euphrates rivers after they met at Al Qurna. From there the Shatt flowed southeast, bending around Iraq’s second most populous city at Basrah and then flowed on through Khorramshahr and finally Abadan before it wound its way to the Persian Gulf at the oil terminal Port Fao.

That line was defensible, particularly because his own forces would be strongly supported by Iranian troops and Revolutionary Guard units. So as the Americans pushed, the Iraqis withdrew to escape that pocket, racing north in a mad rush through the night. Coalition air strikes found prime targets like columns of towed artillery, their bombs arcing down, guided by the infrared sensors that could see the warm columns glowing on their screens.

As his forces pull out to the north, General Ayad knew his position would strengthen with time when the front compressed. His only concern was Basrah itself, which was all mostly south of the Shatt al Arab. Qusay Hussein had sent him a direct order that the city should be held, and that any further movement by Coalition forces towards Al Qurna had to be stopped.

Thankfully, the terrain on the battlefield itself would heavily favor the defense. The most prominent obstacle was the wetland area known as the Mesopotamian Marshes, largely impassable to tanks and APCs or other vehicles. Extending from Basrah nearly all the way to Nasiriyah, these wetlands made the wide enveloping moves made thus far impossible. There were only a few areas where dry and firm land permitted them to be penetrated, and those would become bottlenecks or choke points favoring the defense.

As it approached Basrah, the Coalition would gain control of the existing production fields of Rumailah, but the two great untapped oil fields further north, West Qurna and Majnoon, would be difficult prizes to obtain. Above Al Qurna, the “Glory River” had once been a wide oblong shaped man-made channel filled with water from the marshlands and running north from that city for 50 kilometers before angling sharply northwest to completely screen Al Amara. Like a castle wall made of water, it was created during the fighting between Iran and Iraq before those countries reached an accord, and it was a natural barrier shielding the Majnoon Oil Fields. In recent years much of that had been drained, and a small canal now marked its western edge.

Any way you looked at it, the Generals on the US side were looking at the maps and scratching their heads, and many of the planners wondered if the mission to secure those last two fields ought to be abandoned. The Iraqi Foreign Minister was already promising the proverbial “Mother of all Battles” should Coalition forces enter Baghdad. Now they promised the same in the south, and they would not be alone.

US intelligence had noted the movement of Chinese military forces through Iran. A main line from Tehran ran south through the mountainous country to Ahvaz and then on to Abadan and Port Imam Khomeini on the upper Persian Gulf. That rail was a major artery allowing Iran to move reinforcements into the region, and that included elements of the Chinese 13th and 21st Armies.

“Gentlemen, If the Chinese move one or both those armies to Ahvaz or Al Amara, then we have a completely different ballgame here. At present, the political leadership has not authorized strategic bombing of Iran to interdict these rail lines. So it’s a question of when, not if, we may be face to face with the Chinese Army in this thing. I don’t have to tell you that will increase the stakes in this war, and ratchet up the tension another few notches. In that instance, politics may take the field here as well. Until that happens, we continue on our objectives, and if we can get them first, all the better. The question then is whether and how long we can hold them….”

* * *

The road north from Kuwait was trailblazed by 1st Recon Squadron, USMC, and it was Oscar Mike.[7] They had passed through a region of gas tanks and pipelines, finally reaching and occupying a pumping substation near the Saddah Marshland. All was quiet on the road as it bypassed that substation to the left, but when they reached the settlement of Khor al Zubayr, small arms and RPG fire came at them thick and heavy.

About 18 miles south of the main city of Zubayr, the Iranian 45th Takavar had prepared blocking positions there on the main road, so the Light Troops called up the heavier companies to join the fight. It was the first action in a series of engagements that would light up the desert that night. Soon the battle would extend a full 50 kilometers to the west, reaching from the marshland all the way to the South Rumailah Oil Field. That line was held by the entire 1st Marine Division, and it intended to sweep right through the South Rumailah field and reach Highway 8 that day.

Fierce warriors when they were on the move, the Marines were hitting Iraqi motorized rifle troops and the Andan Republican Guards Division in the oil fields, and hitting them hard. Every attack they made shattered Iraqi company defenses and sent platoons retreating to the rear. Not even the Andan 12th Motor Rifle Regiment could hold its positions. It was the first time the entire Marine division had fought a major battle since WWII, and the men knew they were writing new history with every forward step they took, so it was a no holds barred fight.

The 1st Regiment had been mechanized, so it had a lot of Bradley AFV’s in the mix and some supporting Abrams tanks. The other two regiments of the division were motorized in trucks with lighter AFV support. 5th Marine Regiment was just west of the 1st Regiment, and they were advancing on the Tuba Oil Fields to put 6 billion barrels in the bank. On their left, 7th Marine Regiment was sweeping through the South Rumailah Fields. The Leathernecks were sweeping forward with any AFV’s in the company providing the close fire support. Eight or ten Iraqi tanks were encountered, and they were work for the Javelin teams, or the legions of Apache AH-64’s that were haunting the sky like unseen banshees.

Two thirds of all the helicopters the US brought to the fight were here in the south. The 82nd Airborne had a full aviation brigade, and in this organization of the Big Red 1, there were two Armored infantry brigades and an aviation brigade. That saw nearly 100 attack helicopters in the south, with scores of Blackhawks to move the 82nd Airborne troops wherever they were needed.

Just west of the Marines, the Saudi King Khalild Armored Brigade was manned with men who could smell all that oil in the ground, having had long experience in their own country. Now they were excited to be turning the tables on their Iraqi tormentors. On their right, all the US heavy metal was sweeping northeast through the desert, their first objective being the “liberation” of the Ratawi Oil Field. Long columns of tanks and APC’s were leaving trails of dust behind them, the telltale signs Rommel would look for in his desert wars.

That wide envelopment was being made by the reinforced 1st Infantry Division, where 3rd BCT of 1st Armored Cav was attached and leading the way. It was 95% of all the tanks and Bradley AFV’s in the south, as both brigades of the Big Red 1 were Armored BCT’s using the new Combined Arms Battalion structure. Each had four companies, two with mechanized infantry, and two with 14 M1A2 tanks each. That put 168 tanks in the field plus 70 more in 3rd BCT, 1st Cav, and thus far, they had encountered very little in the way of Iraqi armor.

The movement was basically a replay of the earlier Operation Clipper that had bagged five Iraqi Brigades and the Al Faw Republican Guard Division in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Determined not to repeat that disaster and lose all that remained of his army, General Ayad was ordering his troops to fall back towards Basrah. There was simply no way they could effectively defend those southern oil fields against the heavy Coalition forces now on the move.

Rumailah North was a particularly vulnerable spot, as marsh lined canals and lakes bordered that area to the north and west. There was one bridge over the canal near a section of oil tanks and two pumping substations, and that led the bulk of the motor rifle battalions north into the coveted Al Qurna Oil Field. Below that, and screening the city of As Zubayr, the Iraqi 11th Mech Brigade of the Andan Republican Guard consolidated in the Tuba Oil Fields, hoping to make a stand there.

The US 5th and 7th Marine Regiments moved up to front that line, preparing for a two regiment assault at noon on the 22nd of January. The big mechanized pincer would sweep the Ratawi and Rumalia North fields, then execute a bridging operation on the canal screening the West Qurna Field. In that they were already being aided by the intrepid 82nd Airborne, which leapt over the canal with two brigades in helicopters landing to secure a bridgehead. There were only a few sites suitable for bridging where the ground wasn’t too marshy on either side of the canal, and their engineers threw up one bridge that night, which allowed the Recon Squadron of 1st ABCT to cross just before sunrise. There they would soon have their eyes on the prize—West Qurna, with 15 billion barrels in proven reserves.

There were now four motor rifle battalions forming a rudimentary defense on the southern edge of that field, and they included a few companies of special forces. These were strengthened with the arrival of a battalion of tanks from the Iraqi 10th Armored Brigade, 30 Type 85-II Chinese built tanks in all, a model that was basically the Chinese copy of the Soviet T-72.

The Recon Squadron that had crossed into the 82nd bridgehead now moved rapidly forward to engage the enemy line at the edge of the oil fields, while 3/66th ABCT Battalion raced east along the north bank of the canal towards the only fixed bridge. Just as the Iron Rangers of the 1/16th ABCT pushed up to that bridge from the south, it was blown by Iraqi special forces. Now the arrival of 3/66th would fight to clear the north side of that bridge so the engineers could get in from the south and rebuild or repair that span. In the meantime, the US artillery was raining down on Iraqi positions north of the canal sending up dark plumes of smoke and sand that were soon twisted into smoke devils by the rising wind.

Everywhere, the smell of diesel and burning oil mixed with cordite and gunpowder, and it was the aroma of battle that would never be forgotten by any man who fought this oil war. Realizing what was now on the table, the Iraqis committed the other two battalions of their 10th Armored Brigade, their last armored reserve in the south. It began rolling in to the West Qurna Fields at 15:00, past the gaunt silent metal rigs and scattered drilling equipment and pipe stands. The decision had been made to send it there, while Qusay Hussein was on the telephone from his new roost in Tikrit, haranguing the Chinese in Beijing to get them to commit forces they had sent to Iran.

There, on the border south of Ahvaz, the Chinese 13th Army was assembling. Their 37th Motor Rifle Division was on the Iraqi frontier near Amara, reinforced by the 17th Armored Brigade with 81 Type 99 Tanks. The 37th Division had been scheduled to restructure as independent combined arms brigades, but when the Siberian war came, it remained a three brigade motorized infantry division. At Ahvaz itself, the Chinese 149th Motor Rifle Division could be quickly sent to Abadan or Basrah as a defensive formation.

But the Chinese were hesitating….

Committing either part of that force would put it right in the middle of a ground war, on foreign soil, with the United States. This army, and the 21st Army further north at Kermanshah, were now thousands of miles from the Chinese mainland. If they entered the war on the ground in Iraq, it would be a come as you are party, because that 2000 mile supply line from the Iraqi border to Xinjiang Province in northwest China was, to the say the least, overstretched. The movement of those troops had been a political move as much as a military one, meant to show their resolve to the West and throw down a proverbial gauntlet. Yet now the United States was poised to enter and seize the West Qurna Fields, where China had lucrative development contracts, and something had to be done….

Chapter 23

18:00 Local 22 JAN 2026

By sunset on the 22nd the crushing battle for the Tuba Fields had become a grinding chaos in the darkness. The Marines were advancing with night vision, sending tracer rounds like hot lead through the darkness. In places oil flare pipes were burning like vents from hell, and dark acrid smoke hung over the scene. Artillery fire directed at the regimental level plowed into the ground. Though they avoided any operational rig or well site, several pipelines were blasted open and began leaking dark crude. In places this caught fire, and silhouetted infantry on both sides, painting a macabre landscape that seemed to be writhing with demons on the oily field. The Andan Division was slowly being ground down, and in serious danger of being pocketed on that nightmarish battleground.

General Ayad was shouting orders over the radio until he was hoarse, ordering his battalions to get off the open ground of the Tuba Fields and fall back on As Zubayr and the Shaibah air field to the northwest. The men straggled back across the Shaibah airfield, occupying a factory and refinery area near the town of Tuba al Hamra. The rest of the Andan division, remnants of the 12th MR Brigade, joined the defense of Zubayr.

Only in the West Qurna Field did he try to stand fast, committing the 10th Armored Brigade there as US forces were impeded by that canal. As more US troops crossed the two bridges that had been laid down, the weight of that attack began to build, and the Abrams tanks began tearing up the platoons of Iraqi tanks from 10th Armored, bringing their counterattack to a halt. The 10th Brigade was not going to stop the powerful American armored forces, but it was trading blood and steel for time.

As the scattered Iraqi companies fell back, the General noted that Basrah itself had very little in the way of regular army defenders at that hour. The Mahdi Militias had all risen from the Mosques, their eyes glowing with the newly fanned flames of jihad. They were irregular forces, none heavily armed, but the urban maze of the city would make them a great nuisance if the enemy came there. The Iranians had moved the last three companies of the once vaunted 92nd Armored, all to guard the three main bridges over the Shatt al Arab. This was the best position forward of the Iranian border, so it was better to fight there than anywhere else.

General Ayad knew that none of those forces would be enough if his troops near As Zubayr were destroyed and the enemy came here in force, but he was playing for time, hoping they could hold the Coalition forces off long enough for more help to arrive.

That night, the Chinese General Staff finally obtained permission from the General Secretariat and Party elite in Beijing, and orders were sent to the 13th Army to cross into Iraq and secure the interests of the People’s Republic of China. That sent two long columns moving in the darkness, one from Amara on the road to Al Qurna, with the 37th MR Division and 17th Armored Brigade, and the other on the road to Abadan further east.

A little after midnight, a flight of four Strike Eagles that had been up flying support missions for the Marines was given the order to strike that column as a warning shot. But when a plane was shot down by an unseen J-20 fighter, the Eagles had to retire. The Chinese weren’t stopping, and the ground war in the south would soon evolve into a new monster that neither side really wanted or anticipated when all these plans were drawn up months ago around the map tables.

Instead of a well-justified reprisal for the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, the US had morphed its operations into a grab for those oil fields. The West had already cleared the Suez Canal, opened the Red Sea, and liberated both Kuwait and the Saudi Kingdom. Now it wanted more, and for that, it was looking at a great power war on the ground in the Middle East. Chinese J-20’s had risen from fields in Iran, and the heretofore uncontested airspace would soon become heavily embattled again by dawn on the 23rd of January. The dominoes had fallen, one oil field after another, but now China was making its great gambit to salvage its overall political position in the Middle East and “get some” where all that oil was concerned.

* * *

Far to the north near the Iraqi capital, the hard nut of Fallujah fell that night as a full brigade of the 101st Airborne Division swept through the town like a hard wind. That city had anchored the Iraqi defense on the Euphrates River west of Baghdad, and behind it there was open desert, with the next hard point being Abu Ghraib and its nefarious prison site another 25 kilometers to the east.

From Fallujah the US line extended northeast with 3rd Infantry holding the ground between Fallujah and Al Karmah, and then 1st Armored on the line Al Karmah to Al Taji. All the ground between that city and the great Tharthar Lake was now US controlled, and the two reserve Stryker Brigades had swept north to take over Balad AFB and screen off Iraqi forces mustered in Samarra.

As for the two BCTs of 1st Armored Cav, they were relieved at Balad and given a new mission, just as Sergeant King and Corporal Neal had surmised. A big operation would be staged across the Tigris River, with the aim of cutting off Baghdad from the north, and encircling the city. So that night, the Light Troops of 1/7th Cav moved south from Balad through big fields of thick stalked sunflowers. Their mission was to identify possible crossing sites for the engineers, and on the map, the town of Tarmiyah that Neal had fingered earlier offered a makeshift ferry site across a narrower segment of the river that was only 550 feet wide. On the far side of the river, there was a small road that led east through a heavily cultivated area, dense with orchards and olive and date groves.

“We got us a river crossing operation,” said Sergeant King, smiling broadly.

“But there’s no bridge here,” Corporal Neal complained.

“That may be so, Neal, but there are boats, and we’re gonna e-ffect a rapid cross river assault here, just like we trained. So we’ll line up the Humvees and leave the gunners, then the rest of us round up those boats and get on over.”

“Oh great,” said Neal. “Now we get to walk to Baghdad. What about our VIP? The CIA guy gets to walk too? It’s a perfect way to meet all the locals and see the countryside.” He smiled, feigning excitement.

“Don’t get loopy on me, Neal. We ain’t walking anywhere. Our mission is to cross this here river and then strongpoint on the other side. The brigade engineers are coming up here to lay down a pontoon bridge, and then you can walk back with Sanchez and lead the vehicles on over.”

That was the plan, simple enough it seemed, and the darkness of the night was offering good cover. They got all the vehicles lined up, their guns pointed across the river and the troops scanning the far bank with night optics. All seemed empty and quiet there.

“What about me?” asked the Weasel.

The Sergeant frowned. “Was you at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas for Operation River Assault 2024, Mister reporter? If you were, I didn’t read nuthin’ about it in the papers. So you ain’t qualified. Stay here with Duran and pass ammunition if he needs it. You can come on over when Neal comes back for the vehicle.”

Todd frowned, folded his arms in resignation, and settled in for the wait. He wouldn’t get any good photos in this darkness anyway, and of course the Sergeant wasn’t going to let him use a flash while his men were supposed to be making a surprise river crossing. So he watched as the men all moved down to the west bank, commandeering any boat they found there, about eight or ten as he counted them, There were two short wooden piers extending about 60 feet out into the river, and they used them to board the boats.

Sergeant King quieted everyone down, and from then on they were all business, making the swift crossing with paddles and without a single shot being fired by anyone. They reached the far bank, leaping out of the boats and then running ashore to secure the road where it met the river there. Peering through some night optics, Todd could see the men fan out to either side of the road, and then they slowly disappeared into the thick groves. The three light troops then took up defensive positions about 350 meters further on, where the dirt road ran into a paved road that ran north to south.

The groves were thicker to the north, but thinned out to the south, opening on flat cultivated ground. All was still quiet until the engineers arrived and started that busy work of bridging the river. Trucks brought in the floating bays, and the men got them positioned. Training on the Arkansas River had seen them build a 300 meter floating bridge, but here the crossing was only about 157 meters, and so it got done quickly enough. Just after midnight, that bridge was in place and anchored to the far side, and Neal was one of the first men to saunter back across with Sanchez. In little time, the drivers were all back on the west bank, and the Humvees thrummed to life again. Recon was on the move.

It wasn’t until they had pushed a little over three kilometers on that they ran into the first sign of enemy units. 1st Regiment of the Iranian 84th Lorestan Division, which had crossed into Iraq days ago and moved as far as Baqubah, about 20 kilometers to the northwest. That regiment was really more a battalion in actual strength, and it had been coming down Highway-2 towards Baghdad, scouting ahead of the rest of the troops mustering at Baqubah. It once had six tanks with it, but they were all destroyed by coalition air strikes in the last couple days. Now it was mostly an infantry force in trucks, with a few towed guns and lighter scout vehicles.

The light troops formed up, and then got the order to engage and stop the Iranian column. They broke the silence of the night, lighting up the leading vehicles with those heavy MG tracers, and causing quite a bit of chaos. Behind the light troops, the Stryker and Bradley mounted squadrons were already crossing the river, so it was not long before they got strong support. In a sharp attack, 1/7th Cav pushed the Iranian troops east off the road, seeing them flee into the darkness across a narrow irrigation canal.

The 2nd Regiment of that Iranian division had taken the secondary road due south from Baqubah, called “Baghdad Street,” with orders to reach and occupy a small airfield near the town of Khan Bani Sad, but the third regiment came down Highway-2 behind the first.

It was King’s troop, scouting up the road, that first spotted them.

“Got us another column Sarge,” said Neal when they stopped to peer through night optics ahead. Sergeant King wasted no time calling it in.

“Harrier this is Falcon-1. We have a column again, about two miles out on Highway-2, Over.”

“Roger that, Falcon-1. Relay estimated grid coordinates.”

That order always meant an air strike was brewing, and it wasn’t long after that before they saw a series of big explosions on the road. They thought that would be the end of it, but that column just kept on coming. King reported the enemy was moving to contact, and they had tanks.

They were actually six Type 80 Chinese built self-propelled AA Guns. The vehicle was a Type 59, with a twin anti-aircraft autocannon mounted on the chassis of a Chinese Type 69-II main battle tank, an old warrior dating from the 1980’s. Those twin 57mm cannons could tear up a Humvee pretty bad, and when King saw them, he thought it was time to be elsewhere.

“Time to egress,” he said, and he called for the Bradleys, the only vehicles in the battalion that had armor and guns enough to deal with that threat. They were lucky that was all that came down that highway that night, for there was another Iranian division, the 77th Khorasan, settling in at Baqubah.

Time, however, was favoring the US forces, and the Combined Arms Battalions of the 1st BCT began to cross that bridge and expand the bridgehead. This put heavy armor east of the Tigris for the first time, and pretty much ruled out any chance of an effective counterattack by the Iranians in that sector.

The tentacles of the Coalition military were now surrounding the Iraqi capital on all sides. South of the city. EUROCORPS had pushed north from Alexandria and engaged the Hammurabi Division. The US had already battered the Al Medina Division with its 3rd I.D., and now it was preparing to engage the Qusay Division between Fallujah and Al Taji. The only reserve that remained in the city was the Baghdad Republican Guard Division.

Seeing the steel trap closing around the city, Qusay, his brother Uday had already made an escape to the east, taking nondescript pickup trucks and keeping to secondary roads to avoid air strikes. By the time this happened, they were already in Tikrit wrangling with the Chinese authorities in Beijing to send help. That promised, their plan now was to take a circuitous route into northern Iraq, rally the tribes, and organize the defenses there. So even if Baghdad fell, Qusay’s plan was still in effect, and the greater part of Iraq would remain unconquered.

In the north, the battle for Baghdad still lay ahead, and General Bakir’s predictions of what would happen seemed to be coming true. South of the city, the British, French, and German brigades were going to be more than a match for the Hammurabi Division. West of the city, the Al Medina Division was already worn down to 50% nominal strength, and the Qusay Division was next for that buzz saw. Now, with the Americans moving two armored cavalry brigades across the Tigris north of Baghdad, he would have to send his last reserve division to watch that flank.

These were the last cohesive units he considered of any decent caliber in the army. In Northern Iraq, there was still the Mosul and Erbil Divisions, and a good number of Iranian troops, but none were the equal of the force he had there at Baghdad.

“Do you want these divisions destroyed here?” he had asked Qusay Hussein before the President left the city. “That is what will happen if we try to defend Baghdad.”

“What is the alternative?” said Qusay.

“We can yield the city, and take these good divisions to join those we still have in the north. In that instance, we might still have something we can remotely call an army left, but if I lose the Republican Guards at Baghdad, then the North will surely fall as well.”

“Can they not fight like tigers in Baghdad? We can fight house to house, street by street, and cause them a world of pain.”

“Perhaps, but in the end, we will lose, and they will still have Baghdad, only that fighting will destroy those streets and neighborhoods, including all the palaces, museums, hospitals and government buildings. There will be chaos!”

“Isn’t that what we want?” asked Qusay. “Let them try to impose order on 7.6 million Iraqis in Baghdad, and see what happens.”

“And what if they simply ransack all our government buildings and then leave? Who will impose order on the country then? Do you think you could do that with the Mosul Division… With the Erbil Division… With the Tribes? And remember there will be Iranian troops all over the country, licking their chops to settle in on a permanent basis. They will be setting up little fiefdoms and spreading their Shiite blasphemy. We made Peace with them to satisfy the Chinese, but where are they now?”

“The Chinese? You will see, General Bakir. Yes, you will see. Their troops have moved into Iran they will come to Baghdad soon. Then let us see how long the Americans wish to reap the whirlwind they have stirred up here”

He smiled…. But he was wrong.

Chapter 24

06:00 Local 23 JAN 2026

General Wang Fanlong was a conservative man, short and stocky, dark haired even into his later 50’s, and a believer in protocol and performance when it came to the units under his command. The Western Theater forces would often train in Xinjiang Province, where the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts created terrain very much like the deserts of Iraq. So he knew his men would not be intimidated by the harsh terrain, and he knew he had trained them well. In the latest Sino-Siberian War, his 21st Army had fought along the Songhua River near Mulan, and his 13th Army near Lake Khanka. Though they arrived late, they still got good experience in mobilizing, moving to assembly, and deployment for battle, with many defensive engagements fought in those operations.

Since the Armistice was signed, both those armies were pulled off the line, refit with more modern equipment, and then he had swelled with pride when he was summoned to the General Staff conference room in Beijing and told he was to command a most important expeditionary mission to the Middle East. China was going to back its allies there, and the armies of the Western Theater would do the backing. 13th and 21st Armies were ordered to make the long strategic move immediately, and 47th Army would stand ready to move as a general reserve if needed.

Before the Siberian war, the forces of these armies existed as combined arms brigades, containing about 5 battalions each. After the war, several of these brigades were expanded and built out to nine battalion division structures, and now the armies selected for the move had three of these, the 37th, 149th and 61st Divisions that had moved into Iran. They were then supported by 12th and 17th Armored Brigades, and the 62nd Mechanized Infantry Brigade. Four more brigades composing the 47th Army stood ready in Xinjiang Province. This would commit three of the five armies in the Western Theater to this operation, designated Da Feiyue, or “Great Leap.”

There was certainly no lack of manpower in China, and in the interval after the armistice was signed, the Army had replaced all its losses from the fighting with the Siberians easily enough… but the inverse was not true. China had an inexhaustible pool of manpower to draw upon, but Siberian soldiers came at a premium, and were never easy to replace.

The Americans want a ground war, thought Wang Fanlong. So that is what they will get. As long as we can preserve that long line of communications back to China, and keep my armies supplied, then they will find the PLA will not be bested so easily. We are not the Iraqis, and God forbid, the Iranians. Yes, their men are brave and determined, but not well equipped. I was given all new Type-99 tanks for my armored brigades, and so we will see how they fare against the American tanks now.

My mission is to protect and preserve China’s national interests in Iraq, and that means the oil under those deserts. I am to take and hold both West Qurna and Majnoon, the two fields where we have signed the contracts for future development. So be it. I am told the Americans are already fighting the Iraqis in the West Qurna Fields, so my first official act will to invite them to withdraw. Should they decline… then I get all the rest of my official acts in a long line that will not end until I have obtained my objectives.

Beijing suggested it may be necessary to intervene in the fighting for Baghdad, but then more reasoned thinking prevailed. There is no oil under Baghdad, and we have no great interest in seeing Qusay Hussein remain in power in Iraq. So I have been ordered to commit both 13th and 21st Armies to the south, for that is where we can guard all those billions and billions of barrels of oil, and keep them from the greedy hands of the West.

* * *

General Bergman took the podium to lay out the latest intelligence and get the senior combat crew officers in the loop. “Gentlemen,” he said gruffly, “we’re about to have some uninvited dinner guests. The Chinese crossed the border into Iraq just after sunset, and they’re heading our way. Intel has two divisions moving now, a third in reserve at Ahvaz up here, and those mobile columns are each being led by a full armored brigade.”

The General put up a slide, showing the Type-99 main battle tank. “This is what they’re bringing, China’s most modern third generation tank, with modular composite and reactive armor, and a new 125mm smoothbore gun that can fire both regular ammunition and ATGM rounds. These brigades might normally field up to 134 of those each, but in this case, the Air Force says they think the companies are lighter. That said, we think we’re going to be facing about 200 of those goblins on the field, and as early as mid-day tomorrow.”

“Sir, why doesn’t the air force just clobber them?”

“Good question, but there’s a simple answer—the Chinese brought an air force too. General Goldman says the F-35 patrols have been mixing it up with J-20s since 18:00 this evening. The airspace over the battlefield has now been officially declared as contested, which means our own close air support is going to get thin, and the F-15’s may have to be grounded until we change that situation. So those tanks are going to have to be taken down the old fashioned way, but that’s a fight for the 1st Provisional Division.”

That was what they were now calling the two mobile brigades of the 1st I.D. combined with 3rd BCT of the 1st Armored Cav. That was where the muscle was when it came to dealing with heavily armored or mechanized forces, and the Leathernecks would be somewhere else, as Bergman explained.

“Alright, 1st Marine Division will clear As Zubayr and secure those oil fields tonight. Tomorrow we move on Basrah, which is work for infantry. Make no mistake, that isn’t going to be the cake walk we had today. We caught the Iraqis out on open ground, and kicked their ass today, but tomorrow, whatever they managed to salvage from that fight is going to be heading for Basrah, the second most populous city in Iraq. Once we get in there, we’ll be the uninvited guests, and there are over 2.5 million people in that city.”

The silence in the room told the story on that one. No one looked forward to urban warfare, but the Marines had trained for it, and they would get the appetizer tonight in Zubayr. That said, Bergman clarified what he was planning.

“Now we don’t want a block by block clearing of that city. The mission will be to envelop it on this side of the Shatt al Arab, and control key objectives that will be assigned to all brigade commanders. Our main effort will be west of the city in this gap between Basrah and the Al Jaz’ir marshland. There are three bridges right here, and we want them. If necessary, the engineers will also bridge here, west of the University. Once we get over that water barrier, we’ll be looking at our primary objective, the Nahr Umr Oil Field. If anybody knows how to pronounce that, clue me in, but you’ll smell it when we get close. There’s 6.6 billion barrels of oil in the ground up there. And further north at Majnoon, there’s more than twice that, though that field is not yet developed. I’ve no doubt the Chinese can quote those same numbers, and that’s is certainly why they’re here. They hold the development contracts on those fields, so that makes this personal.”

The General paused, hands on his hips, taking a moment to think. “I don’t have to tell you that this could now represent a major escalation in this war. Up until now, it’s been an air/naval war, but this is different. This is the kind of fight the history books record as real war, and don’t underestimate your opponent. The Siberians tangled with the Chinese Army, and gained ground, but most of it was taken before the defending armies were fully mobilized. After the armistice was signed, the Siberians counted their losses at 30% casualties, and that’s a lot of body bags. Chinese took worse, but here they are, 2000 miles from home, just like we are. That should tell everyone in this room one thing—these guys are coming for a fight, and by God, that’s exactly what we’ll give them. 1st Corps is going to engage, and prevail.”

1st Corps was the new designation for all US forces in the SOUTHCOM area of operations. With 1st Infantry, 1st Armored Cav, and 1st Marines, it was an easy handle to assign.

The arrival of the Chinese forces had certainly changed the entire complexion of the battle here. Without this intervention, the 23rd of January would have likely been a victory romp to clear and hold the final objectives. Now it was something quite more. US forces assigned here had were limited, and no more were in theater, unless they came from the Baghdad area of operations. Yet General Bergman did have a little good news to end his briefing.

“SOUTHCOM has been informed that the Saudis are going to commit two more brigades to our operations here, the King Fah’ad Armored Brigade, and the 11th Mechanized Brigade. They are moving to Kuwait now, and should be coming up behind the Old Breed tomorrow morning. In that event, I will most likely commit those troops here, west of Basrah. Saudi’s can smell oil ten miles away, so we’ll let them sniff out those fields north of the river. When they get there, I want leathernecks standing on the bridges. Understood?”

The guttural cheer in the room said it was.

* * *

On the night of the 22nd, the Iraqi retreat from their disastrous stand in the Tuba Oil Fields sent most of the Andan Republican Guard Division into As Zubayr. A city of 370,000 people, it was so named because the famous companion of the Prophet Muhammed, Zubayr ibn al Awwam, was buried there, commander of the Radushin Army in the 7th Century. If he could have been there now, he might have wept to see the chaos and disorder of that retreat.

There would be a brief stand on the outskirts of the city, but the weight of the 1st USMC Division, now backed by two arriving Saudi brigades, was simply too much to stop. The retreat continued through the city, sparing the residents a devastating fight there as the Andan Division withdrew across the cultivated land outside Basrah. Some elements tried to cover the Basrah International Airport, but most took up positions along the Basrah Canal, that ran behind the airport southeast into the Saddah Marshes.

General Ayad was fortunate to have that division still at 60% strength after the retreat, and the men were disciplined enough to try and pull themselves together, particularly when he sent down good news—the Chinese had arrived. The leading elements of the 149th Motor Rifle Division had reached the Shatt al Arab, and Chinese Type-99 tanks were now near the As Sinbad Bridge, their long barrels looking strangely out of place near the Sinbad amusement Park.

This was one of the three bridges General Bergman had designated for capture, but it had not been possible to reach that area that night. The closest US unit was the Recon Squadron of 3rd BCT, Armored Cav, and it was about 12 kilometers to the southwest, approaching the Basrah airport. The Qarmat Ali was the water barrier the Marine General had planned to cross, and now it would be strongly defended by at least a full brigade of the 149th Division. That put the Nahr Umr Oil Fields out of easy reach, and it would not soon be added to the list of five fields the Coalition forces had already “liberated.”

04:00 Local, 23 JAN 2026

That night the US had moved several battalions of the 82nd Airborne by helicopter to set up a blocking position at Al Qurna and Al Madinah on the Euphrates River to the north. That was just above the West Qurna Oil Field where the fighting was still going on in those pre-dawn hours. 2nd/325th Battalion of the Falcon Brigade landed in the heavily cultivated fields south of the Tigris, and the men moved up through the town of Ash Shahin towards the main bridge. The main segment of Al Qurna was on the north side of the river, and as the American paratroopers approached, they sent staff and HQ personnel of the 10th Armored Brigade into a hasty retreat across the bridge.

When the Paras came up to the bridge itself, they could see a lot of movement on the other side of the river. It was the Chendu Special Forces Brigade, a three battalion formation known as the “Leopards” that had spearheaded the road march south from Al Amara. So the US battalion set up defensive positions, informed Brigade of what they saw, and waited. They could still hear the sound of the big guns on the Abrams tanks where both Armored BCT’s were still fighting the Iraqi 10th Armored Brigade in the oil fields.

The only other bridge over the Euphrates was at Al Madinah about 15 kilometers west of Al Qurna, and as both bridges were blocked, the Iraqi forces in the oil fields now had nowhere to go. Their only recourse would be to withdraw towards the Shatt al Arab, which now carried the waters of both the Tigris and Euphrates after they met at Al Qurna. The other choice would be to fight and die there in that macabre landscape.

As the most Iraqis did not yet know the Chinese had arrived, they opted to head east for the Shatt. That basically ceded the valuable West Qurna Fields to the US, the greatest prize of the battle, with 15 billion barrels in reserves. The Big Red 1 had gotten there first, and if the Chinese wanted it back, they were now going to have to organize a cross river assault to get there.

To that end, units of the Iraqi 27th Motor Rifle Brigade had held out in Madinah just long enough for Chinese troops to arrive and find the bridge there still in friendly hands. They immediately sent the 8th Battalion of their 37th MR Division across, with a company of tanks. They were soon just a city block from the US forces, where the paratroops had been joined by two companies of the 1/18 Battalion of the Vanguard Brigade, 1st Infantry.

All that morning, more and more Chinese battalions arrived, covering all the ground north of the Euphrates between Al Madinah and Al Qurna. Others took a secondary road east of the Shatt al Arab, moving south. That line would put them between any enemy and the vast Majnoon Oil Field, making sure that would be kept from American hands.

As all these troops began to deploy, nobody fired any artillery on either side to indicate hostile intent. It was now a proverbial “Mexican Standoff,” but some decision had to be made about the battalions of the 82nd that had lifted in to the area just south of Al Qurna. As the Iraqis retreated from the oil fields, many went that way hoping to get to that bridge, and so now those paratroopers were cut off, and well behind the US main line, which was about 12 kilometers to the southwest. It was therefore decided to cede the bridge at Al Qurna, and strongpoint along a shorter line between the Euphrates in the northwest and the Shatt al Arab in the southeast.

2nd Armored BCT got that gig, with the 1st Armored BCT on their right, watching the Shatt al Arab to the south. So the Chinese got their bridgeheads over the rivers at Al Madinah and Al Qurna, but with those heavy US brigades in the front of them, they were not going any further. Both sides were now squaring off as night fell on the 23rd of January, and back in Washington and Beijing, men were leaning over map tables and reading the latest situation reports as the political leadership on both sides struggled to determine what to do next. The war against the Iraqis in the south was all but over. The question now was whether they wanted a war there against the Chinese.

Part IX

The Gauntlet

“When the will defies fear, when duty throws the gauntlet down to fate, when honor scorns to compromise with death - that is heroism.”

― Robert Green Ingersoll

Chapter 25

Admiral Arun Sing, Chief of the Naval Staff in the Indian Navy, had a problem, and it was growing more urgent by the minute. India could not fail to notice the major sortie now underway by the Chinese naval forces that had been operating from Karachi. In spite of the fact that Pakistan was a hostile foe, India had been reluctant to join the war, and for obvious reasons. Yet its geographic position, jutting deep into the ocean that was named after that vast subcontinent, was conspiring to draw India into the conflict. When the fighting was far to the southwest, or off near the Red Sea, the pressure was minimal, but when it centered on Sri Lanka for a time, the hatbands were thick around the map table watching that conflict closely.

Unwilling to lose its valuable base at Colombo, China had taken the bold step of sending airborne troops to Sri Lanka, and they had literally commandeered the harbor in the northeast quadrant of the island at Trincomalee, and the nearby airfield, aptly named “China Bay.” Beijing had doubled down in its gamble to control Sri Lanka, and now it was spinning the roulette wheel of fate yet again.

When intelligence came in the night of January 20 that the Chinese fleet had sortied and was moving south off the Indian coast, eyebrows were raised in New Delhi. What was going on here? To make matters worse, the heart of Pakistan’s Navy at Karachi had also sortied behind the Chinese fleet. In the past, they had always stayed in littoral waters north of the actual border zone, which was only about 110 miles from Karachi. This time they were heading southeast, well beyond their waters, and something had to be done.

The Indian Navy had dispatched the diesel-electric submarine Kalvari to investigate, and now the Pakistani fleet was getting very close to that boat, so a decision had to be made. Should the submarine move inshore within India’s territorial waters, or stay where it was, about 100 miles off the Indian coast? A proud nation, with a substantial navy, India was not in the mood to find itself bullied or threatened by anyone, least of all the Pakistanis.

The second choice was more dangerous, and it would rely on the inherent stealth of the submarine to avoid detection and report on what the Paks were up to. Yet there was always a chance that the sub would be found, or even attacked, which would take an already tense international situation and twist the rope to the breaking point. The Navy’s first instinct was to reinforce the sub patrol, and a second boat, Chakra, was vectored towards Kalvari that hour. Indian ships at Mumbai were put on notice to get up steam, and the oil was burning late in the Naval General Staff headquarters.

India had watched the Chinese fleet pass uneventfully, for it was well out to sea. But here, one Pakistani task force was skirting the 30 mile limit line, and a heated discussion was held to determine whether the Indian fleet should show the flag. The Chinese were still close by, some argued. What if the fleet did sortie, and got into a scrap or confrontation with the Pakistani Navy? Would the Chinese weigh in, or leave it as a private fight between the two old enemies?

Others argued that the Pakistani ships could be trying to position themselves to screen the Chinese fleet from any interference as they passed. In either case, India didn’t like these unruly visitors off her coast, and she had the Navy to do something about it.

New Delhi did not think Beijing wanted trouble, for the two countries already shared a disputed border zone. Western powers had been pressing India to join their alliance, but thus far, New Delhi had maintained neutrality in the war. But they were not about to tolerate a deliberate provocation by Pakistan. The military was put on high alert, and eventually, the Navy was ordered to make a show of force from Mumbai. India had 27 warships at that major western port, and that is exactly what they would do.

13:45 Local, 21 JAN 2026

Admiral Sun Wei had been given his marching orders, and he left Karachi with 17 ships on the night of the 20th of January, leaving a token force of two older destroyers behind. Nearly 20 hours later he was well south, passing the Indian port of Mumbai, about 130 miles off the coast. He was giving the Indian Government no reason to be concerned, the proverbial “wide berth” as he headed south, but the move being made by the Pakistani Fleet would certainly be provocative. It was meant to draw the attention of the Indian Navy north, and not west as the Chinese passed Mumbai, and it had exactly the desired effect, risky as it was.

As a precaution, a quiet diplomatic message was sent to New Delhi explaining that the Chinese had no hostile intention, and were merely redeploying their fleet to Sri Lanka. This left India in a difficult position. China wanted no trouble, but would they support the Pakistani Fleet is it came to blows? The notion that they were now taking their war to Sri Lanka was also unwelcome.

Admiral Sun Wei knew those yarrow sticks would have to fall where they may. His primary concern was the American Navy, a force that would certainly be hostile, and one he knew he had to reckon with. At that hour, satellite recon imaging placed the Americans about 360 miles to the southwest, and he knew they would certainly not come any closer. In fact, they could be launching strike planes at me now, he thought, considering his options.

I have taken the last of the YJ-100’s stored at Karachi, and now my destroyers are carrying 110 of those beasts. They will most likely be the only weapons I can use against this Carrier Strike Group, and I doubt I will be able to hurt them, even with that many missiles. The War Gods are still at Hyderabad, but they would have to fly within 215 miles of the American carrier to release their YJ-12’s, and that will expose them to grave danger from the enemy fighters. The Air Force will not permit it, and those bombers will be recalled to China.

So this is a run through the gauntlet. They will strike with aircraft, and then Tomahawks, and we are weaker now than we might be near Karachi, as I have no air defense here at all. The last of the J-20’s wagged their wings and turned for home an hour ago. Now we are on our own.

He knew, in the long run, that the fleet’s chances of survival were only as good as the SAM count. He had divided his ships into two groups, with the main body of ten ships having all his better destroyers. Together they could muster about 420 HQ-9’s. The remaining seven ships formed an outer screen, about 14 miles off his starboard side, out near the horizon. They were the lighter destroyers, and had 192 HQ-16 SAM’s as their best defense.

So let it begin, he thought. The Americans are in range of my YJ-100’s now. Should I strike with everything, or just labor to keep them on the defensive and buy time?

“Signal the screen,” he ordered. “They are to alter course to 185 degrees south, and attempt to close inside 300 miles at 30 knots. The main body will now execute Plan Warhorse.”

That was his first strike order with the YJ-100’s, and each destroyer had been assigned targets and given instructions as to how many missiles they should fire. Only 40 of the 110 would go in this attack, but they would focus on just two ships, the contact presumed to be the carrier Independence, and its closest screening unit.

14:15 Local, 21 JAN 2026

USS Independence

Captain Holmes signed off on the morning strike and was heading for his chair on the bridge when the radar team noted a contact aspect heading change that hour. A group of enemy ships had altered course on an intercept heading, and increased speed.

“And sir, Argent Forward just reported vampires, about 284 miles out now.”

“They’re attacking with the YJ-100’s,” said Holmes. “Alright, tell the Air Boss to shake ‘em loose.”

“Yes sir.”

Independence had teed up a squadron of Avengers with the LRASM and another of F-35’s with GBU-53. They would all be airborne in a matter of minutes, even as the first SM-6 missiles started firing at the distant Vampires, which were now 130 miles out. That the US ships could see and target the low flying enemy missiles that far away was a tribute to their excellent radar and missile technology.

“Come to 138 degrees southeast,” said Holmes. He was altering course to keep those bird dogs heading his way at bay.

“Sir, Avengers report they have reached assembly point and have the range.”

“Clear them hot, and the escort is to engage the Vampires.”

“Aye sir.” His XO, Lt. Commander Cooper, was fast and efficient.

The battle was on, 40 YJ-100’s inbound, 48 LRASM’s about to be released in reprisal from the Avengers. The F-35’s would be a while closing the range for their saturation attack, and the Captain looked at his watch. He was going to follow them with Maritime Tomahawks. He had about the same number of those long range missiles as the Chinese had. There were 118 MMT’s in the strike group, and about 175 miles to the southeast, the New Jersey Surface Action Group under Captain Hap Turner had another 150.

For the next ten minutes, the Captain watched as the combination of SM-6 and AAMRAM’s off his F-35’s slowly cut those trains of 40 YJ-100’s to pieces. Not one would get as close as 80 miles from the US ships.

* * *

Pakistan had 15 ships at sea, and one group of nine ships had slipped inside the 30 mile limit line. Under normal circumstances, planes might have been scrambled from the nearest Indian airbase, which was now at Jamnagar, just 80 miles away. That base was home to the 6th and 224th Squadrons of Jaguars and the 28th Fighter squadron, which had a dozen Soviet built Mig-29’s.

India had made most of its military hardware purchases from the Soviets. In fact, they had a modified Kiev Class carrier still in service, now at sea as the Vikramaditya. Their own newest carrier, Vikrant (Courageous), was also at sea, and both ships had squadrons of Mig-29K’s and a lot of Russian built ordnance. The presence of these two carriers, and the fact that India could also call on support now from several airfields, made the sortie by the Pakistani fleet a dangerous ploy. It had worked insofar as getting the attention of the Indian forces, but now, after thumbing their noses at their old foe, the Pakistani Admiral Zahid Ilyas, Commander of COMKAR, (Naval Group Karachi), realized he was badly outgunned. His fifteen ships carried a total of 64 C-803 Chinese built missiles, with a range of 100 miles, and not much else.

Relatively speaking, the Indian Navy was armed to the teeth. It had fighters that could carry fast and dangerously effective missiles like the KH-35 Russian Star, and the deadly Brahmos high speed cruise missile. The Indian ships also carried those missiles, and they also had the export variant of the Klub “Sizzler.” Their weapons were much better than anything Pakistan had, and that meant Admiral Ilyas was going to now exercise the better part of valor, and turn for Karachi before things got hot. They were now 240 miles from the Indian fleet, and the order was given to return to port at 15:00 that afternoon.

But then there was Kalvari….

The Indian Sub Captain had been told to investigate, and he was eager to do so. So he cruised, just over the layer, and got himself very close to the intruding ships… too close. His boat was detected, the Pakistani Fleet got very edgy, thinking they might have stumbled upon an American sub, and a YU-7 torpedo was put in the water.

As soon as the Captain of Kalvari realized he was under attack, he accelerated to 20 knots to try and evade, and then counterattacked the nearest enemy ship, which was the Frigate Zufliquar, a Chinese 053H3 class ship sold to Pakistan. When that YU-7 failed to lock on and hit, the Indian Captain fired two torpedoes, and he would put that frigate down. Seconds after that explosion was heard, another torpedo made a run at the sub, this time a Mark-46, but it swept past, spoofed by countermeasures.

The torpedo soon realized it had no target, and began to circle to re-acquire. It would make one more pass at Kalvari, but fail a second time before it ran out of energy and died. Kalvari had escaped, but its attack had sent the entire Pakistani fleet into wild evasive maneuvers like a lion coming on a herd of Wildebeests. Once the sub got to clear water, out of range of enemy torpedoes, it would send up an emergency buoy for a flash comm signal to Mumbai stating that it had been fired upon, and returned fire in self-defense, sinking a Pakistani frigate.

The hellcat was out of the bag…

* * *

As this was playing out, the nine F-35’s carrying a total of 72 GBU-53’s snuck inside HQ-9 range and released without being detected. They had targeted the main body, and particularly the heavy destroyers where all the Chinese offensive, and most of their defensive capability was roosting. About 25 miles out, the HQ-9’s rose up in a furious stream of missiles that tore into the glide bomb cloud and savaged it. The defense was rock solid, and they would find and destroy every target, none reaching even the 15 mile range mark before they died. But there went over 100 SAM’s….

The Chinese screening formation was now getting close to the 300 mile marker as it kept closing the range, which prompted Captain Holmes to turn due south after his Avengers were recovered. He would not allow Independence to be put inside the range of those YJ-18’s.

“Gentlemen,” he said, “The GBU’s didn’t get any hits, but they did their job and pulled some teeth. Now we go to the Tomahawks. All ships are cleared hot to engage as planned.”

That plan would allocate 80 missiles, keeping up the pressure on the enemy SAM bays, and intending to slowly wear down the defensive viability of the enemy fleet. Unlike the GBU’s which would do minor damage if one hit, a Tomahawk could not be ignored, because a single hit would likely kill any ship it struck.

At 16:00, the Chinese satellite Yaogan-7 made its timely overflight and updated all the positions of the US ships. Without it, Sun Wei might have been largely blind, but at least he knew where his antagonist was. That data hit the updated situation screens a few minutes later, and it showed a lone US destroyer, identified as DDG Sherman, now within range of YJ-18’s in both TF’s.

“A lost sheep,” said Sun Wei.

“That is the ship that escorted the damaged US destroyer to Mumbai,” said the Watch Officer.

“Yes,” said the Admiral, “and if India wishes to remain neutral, it should demand that ship be interned there for the duration of this war. Very well, let us see if we can kill this ship before it reaches the protection of one of the other task forces.”

“DDG Chaoyong reports they have target lock, sir, and with 16 missiles.”

“Then they must fire at once. I want first blood in this fight.”

Chapter 26

Two Seafire Class[8] destroyers in the screen also reported they had a target lock on the Sherman, and they were authorized to join the attack with 8 missiles each. As it happened, Yaogan-7 flew almost directly over the US destroyer, further refining its position. The YJ-18 was a fussy missile, and needed very precise position data before it could be fired. So it wasn’t merely a question of having the range, it also needed down range certainty as to the location of the target.

The attack was fired just before the first of the US Tomahawks were picked up, and now the alarms sounded for fleet defense. The Vampires were coming in on many different vectors, but they were slow enough to allow the Chinese defense systems to acquire and target them easily enough. The missile was an old dog dating from decades past that had been upgraded and taught new tricks, but it was still the same old dog when it came to speed at just 500 knots. If these missiles had been designed to make a terminal run at three times that speed, they might have scored some hits. As it was, they were threatening weapons that had to be respected, but not unduly feared as long as Sun Wei still had SAM’s. There were a little over 200 HQ-9’s still available, and they were going to work.

Yet the Admiral watched, somewhat nervously, as his missiles fired, seeing his defensive strength ebbing away with each SAM he flung into the hazy sky. How many Vampires were out there this time? It might take two SAM’s to ensure a kill, though his HQ-9’s got many hits with just one missile. That said, he had used half of those missiles to kill the first 120 vampires that had already attacked. Now these infernal Tomahawks were going to drain away the better part of his remaining strength. It was all happening as he feared it would. His enemy was going to have more missiles to throw at him than he could hope to kill….

The worst of the attack appeared to be over, and now the stragglers on odd attack vectors were coming in ones and twos. He was also watching the progress of the YJ-18 attack, seeing that the Independence group, which was 150 miles west of the Sherman, had still been able to cover that ship with its superb Standard Missile-6. In spite of that, he took some heart when he saw his missiles begin their high-speed sprint, no longer easy targets for the American SAM’s. Two hits later, DDG Sherman was a smoking wreck on the sea, and sinking fast. The killer YJ-18 had struck again, and the Admiral had his blood. That was the first US surface ship to be sunk by the Chinese Navy in the war, though three other ships had been damaged and were in various stages of repair.

Now he looked his situation over, the grim realization settling on him that he was running low on SAM’s. His main group now reported only 69 HQ-9’s remaining, and 35 medium range HQ-16’s. He had 70 YJ-100’s left, and two prime targets out there in range, the Independence and the New Jersey. Which could hurt him the most? He knew he had not been hit with the full air wing off that carrier, but how soon would they strike again? As for the American battleship, it had an enormous missile battery, and could carry up to 100 strike missiles in addition to scores of SAM’s. In the end, he deemed the carrier the more valuable target, and now he would expend all his remaining YJ-100’s in a desperate effort to kill that ship.

“Dragonfire!” he shouted the order. “Everything on the American carrier!”

16:45 Local, 21 JAN 2026

“Mother, this is Bertha. Hot potatoes heading your way, over.”

The E-2D Hawkeye had seen the missile fire from the Chinese main body, and flashed the warning. Captain Holmes looked at the screen, so he gave the order for Independence to turn to port and come to 212 degrees southwest.

“Let’s get six F-35’s up on BARCAP, and then increase to all ahead flank,” he finished.

They watched those six fighters roar off the deck and climb away from the strike group. Captain Holmes looked on his ready board and noted he still had six Avengers armed, four with GBU-53, and two with Slammers. He noted the incoming Vampires, now being tracked by the Hawkeye, and decided to hold his cards in hand for the moment.

The BARCAP, got five kills, then thought to return to the carrier when they went Shotgun, before the Captain found out they were inbound and ordered them to stay in the fight until they went Winchester. They had 12 AAMRAM’s left, and took them back to the Vampires knowing they would hear from Holmes when they got back to the carrier. They could almost hear the Captain now: ‘You don’t go Shotgun and break off in a situation like this. You hang in there until you’ve got nothing left to fight with.’

The chastened F-35 pilots were at high altitude, but they overflew the Vampires on the way back out, then turned around and swooped down on them like birds of prey. Seconds later they rammed their last twelve missile right up the ass end of a long train of YJ-100’s. They got more kills, but it still left 47 Vampires inbound on the Independence, about 50 miles out.

Some tense minutes passed, and the Captain folded his arms, waiting for his screening units to engage. They were having trouble getting enough reflectivity off the YJ-100, but cruiser Shiloh finally opened up with ESSM’s. Antietam was next to fire, and then the destroyers Sheridan and Hancock. For the next few minutes, missiles seemed to be flying everywhere, but it was a SAM feast. The combined weight of the defense was still just too strong for those 47 Vampires to penetrate, and they would all be stopped.

With that attack, Admiral Sun Wei had literally shot his wad, at least for any attack he might make beyond 300 miles in range. The Chinese were still leading 1-0 into the middle innings here, but the US was now coming up to bat. When the smoke cleared, Captain Holmes took a deep breath, because he knew every last damn missile the Chinese had just fired had the name Independence written on it—but they had failed.

“Alright,” he said. “It’s Miller Time. These guys won’t have much else to throw at us, and so now we start picking them apart. We’ll coordinate with New Jersey, and go to the Tomahawks again. Let’s bleed the suckers dry.”

* * *

The sun began to set that day, a big orange ball over the quiet seas, and with it Sun Wei knew the darkness would not bring him any comfort. His offensive power was largely gone, though his screen signaled they had a firing solution with YJ-18’s on the US destroyer Buckner, cruising with the New Jersey. He authorized them to fire, knowing he would never get close to the carrier to do it any harm. At that hour he was still 730 miles from Colombo, running at 30 knots, and it was going to be a long, hard night on the bridge.

After the screening units fired, he ordered those ships to vector in on his position, knowing he would need their HQ-16’s soon. They had not yet been targeted, and reported a SAM inventory on that weapon at 190 missiles. That would go a good way towards bolstering his defense, but those ships had been chasing the American carrier, and were now 75 miles to the southwest. They were to make an immediate rendezvous.

That night, the 24 H-6 Bombers that had operated from Hyderabad took off a little before 18:00, and started the long flight north to Hotan Airbase on the southern rim of the Taklamakan Desert. The War Gods were leaving. They would land at Hotan, refuel, and then take to the skies yet again, bound for Lhasa in Tibet, and from there they would await orders, possibly to redeploy to Yangon in southern Burma, a base where China had negotiated rights in trade for her older fighter jets. The plan now was to use the long range of J-20’s based at Yangon, with J-31’s off Taifeng operating from the Gulf of Thailand, and it was hoped those assets could secure the western entrance to the Malacca Strait.

Admiral Sun Wei was stoic, regretting all that was lost with this withdrawal order. Now it will be up to Pakistan, and any air force units we left behind, to see to the Gulf of Oman. This is a disgraceful retreat, he thought, but yet, I could see no way to prevail against those two American Carriers. Here we struggle to escape from just one carrier, and may not yet live to reach Colombo. If we can at least get close before our SAM defense is depleted, we may get air cover from Sri Lanka. And of course this is why we must tip-toe past Mumbai, and do nothing to antagonize India at this point. Their Air Force is the last thing we need turning on us as we continue south.

Just after 18:00, the alarms jangled again, and the Admiral rushed to the tactical display to see more enemy missiles heading his way. More Tomahawks, he thought. How many? We may have the HQ-9’s to stop them now, but then what?

That proved to be true, for it seemed a small package of only about 36 enemy missiles. Just sent to annoy us, he thought, but looking at his SAM count told the real tale. He had 41 HQ-9’s left when that attack ended.

As if in reprisal, the 16 YJ-18’s that had locked on to DDG Buckner earlier were now closing on the place they expected that target to be. The three ships in the SAG were having trouble targeting the Sizzlers, and it was DDG Sheridan with the Independence who saw and fired on them first, some 80 miles to the east. They would not have much work to do. The target lock could not be held by the Chinese destroyers who sent the Sizzlers here, and so the first eight missiles executed a turn, fired up their rocket motors, and began to sprint… Unfortunately, that turn had taken them away from Buckner, and they were streaking off over an empty sea, totally lost. The next group would do the very same thing, and Captain Hap Turner just stood on the bridge of the New Jersey, grinning from ear to ear. There went 16 valuable missiles, off into the night to become nothing more than junk on the bottom of the Indian Ocean.

The Admiral took the news of that failed attack with stoic resignation. The YJ-18 is a killer, he thought, but only when it knows exactly where to go. Down range ambiguity of even two miles can result in costly failures like this. It was our inability to actually have a real time radar fix on the enemy ships that caused this. Yet I have no AEW assets or even fighters to dash in and get me that information. I can rely only on the latest satellite feeds, which age second by second. If we could have better positioned our submarines before attempting this withdrawal, it might have helped, but they are too slow, and that could have taken days. So I elected to try and surprise the Americans by leaving Karachi last night, and here we are, under constant attack as our SAM’s dwindle away.

I am weary, and in need of sleep, but now I must be strong. If we succeed, it will be spoken of as one of the greatest sea romps since the last great war. Let us write this history our way….

* * *

Captain Holmes had other ideas about how this mission would be written up in the history books. He had kept the pressure on all day, with an air strike and two SSM strikes using Tomahawks, all against the same target, the main body where the better Type 055 destroyers held forth. He wanted to break the enemy’s main offensive and defensive strength, which resided in those ships, and by his count, he did not think they had anything more they could use to hurt him. His strike group had beaten off at least 100 cruise missiles, the long range YJ-100’s, and he knew those were only typically carried on the Type 055’s.

Now he was rigging out his wing for another strike. The enemy had no air cover, and they were now very vulnerable after fending off his three attacks. So in about three hours he would begin spotting planes again for a little midnight madness.

“Mister Cooper,” he called to his XO. “What’s our count on available Tomahawks?”

“We still have 68 MMT’s, sir. The rest are TacToms.”

“That’s a good throw. Did New Jersey update on the network yet?”

“Yes sir. They have 86, mostly on the battleship.”

“Excellent. You know, if we threw in an attack of that size, I don’t think they could stop it now. But I want our air wing to get at these guys. They’re hungry. So let’s pester them with half our present loadout on the MMT’s. When we’re done, New Jersey can do the same. I want to keep them under heavy pressure between now and midnight.”

As the clock swept through 20:00, the Chinese screen was the first to detect the Tomahawks. 30 had been sent, but one group of six had vectored close to that screen, which had been maneuvering to rejoin the main body. That served as a warning that another attack was coming in, and the alert jangled the nerves of the crews yet again. The intruding Vampires had ventured inside the 21 mile range of the HQ-16’s, so the DDG screen engaged. They sent six SAM’s out, but only got two kills, and saw the Tomahawks making an evasive maneuver, much to their surprise. Before they could lock on and fire again, the Vampires had slipped beyond range.

As they began to reach the main body, now 36 miles to the northeast, HQ’9’s came out to greet them. Over the next 15 minutes, the Vampires came in twos and threes, and some got close enough to require three missiles fired before they were killed. No hits were scored, but the attack left only three HQ-9’s and 20 HQ-16’s in the VLS bays. After that, it would be up to the short range HQ-10, a last ditch defender inside the five mile range marker. Enemy missiles that got that close were very dangerous, with a strong chance of scoring hits.

That attack concluded, the New Jersey Group would now throw another 30 missiles, and look to get even for the loss of DDG Sherman. They would approach in a fairly tight group, with the course plotted to avoid the screening group. The first Vampires were picked up at 21:10 as they passed through the 20 mile range mark, and 30 seconds later the last three HQ-9’s went out into the fray. As Sun Wei watched them go, rising from the forward deck of the Dragon God, he realized that he should have left all his YJ-100’s at Karachi, and simply filled his VLS Bays with SAM’s, but it was too late for second thoughts now.

Those last three missiles got just one kill, and now the frigate Weifang began firing its eight remaining HQ-16’s. FFG Nantong joined in, the missiles soaring over the destroyers and heading out towards the horizon. Explosions glowed in the sky, and the sound of thunder rolled back at then Chinese ships. Soon the Vampires broke through the five mile marker, and DDG Chaoyong now began firing a hissing stream of HQ-10’s. All but one missile in the first two trains was killed, but a leaker was boring in on DDG Feilong, the Flying Dragon.

Captain Chen Wang had reported his ship was now depleted of all SAM’s. The once powerful super destroyer was now weaker than an old frigate from the 1980’s. All it had left were its ASROC’s and Gatling guns, which began to rattle out a stream of fire at the last Vampire. Two precious laser turrets sat inoperative, because the power couplings had not been finished.

The guns scored the kill, but then over a dozen more Vampires appeared from the southeast. Longshen and Yingshen, the other two Type 055’s, still had HQ-10’s and they began to fire. They were barely enough to stop that attack, and as the smoke began to clear in a light breeze over the fleet, Admiral Sun Wei knew the desperate hours had come upon them. The next attack would see death and destruction delivered to his proud fleet. Yet for now, he had work to do.

“Signal all ships reporting SAM depletion to take stations to port side and aft of the main body,” he said.

Those that still had weapons would now stand in the front rank.

Chapter 27

Help was coming, the Seafire Class destroyers in the screening group that had not yet been attacked. Six in that class and one frigate were rushing to the scene on an intercept heading, and together they would combine to add 184 HQ-16’s to the defense. That would extend the SAM shield to at least 20 miles, and Sun Wei hoped that might buy the fleet several hours before things got worse.

In the meantime, far to the north, The Indian Navy was given a most unexpected order. There had been ongoing “incidents” along the line in the Punjab, with exchanges of artillery fire, and even air strikes delivered on both sides. India was weary of the constant antagonism of the Pakistani Government, and now New Delhi saw the injudicious sortie by the Pakistani Karachi Command as a perfect means of punishing them.

The order was given to strike, coded Shiva, the Destroyer.

Both Indian carriers had 18 Mig-29’s, and each would send up a squadron of nine planes carrying the Soviet built AS-20 Kayak, or Star. It was a slow turbojet missile with a 140 mile range and a terminal popup maneuver as it attacked. Another 12 Migs took off from Jamnagar AFB, a little east of the enemy fleet, also carrying that ordnance. Behind the carriers at Pune AFB behind Mumbai, a squadron of SU-30’s would bring the coup de gras, the high speed Brahmos.

Alarmed when they saw the planes on radar, the Pakistani Admiral Zahid Ilyas sent an emergency message to Karachi warning that they might be under attack, and requested air support. Unfortunately, most of the planes on the fields near Karachi had been loaded with strike ordnance, but six fighters scrambled from Omara on the coast northwest of the port. In frustration, the PAK Air Commandant looked at all the planes at Faisal AFB, J-20’s armed and ready on the field, but the Chinese Air Liaison Officer told him they had orders not to engage the Indian military unless attacked.

At that hour, no one was really sure whether this even was an attack. It could simply be a show of force, as would often happen during similar “incidents” during peacetime. But this was war, and the Vampires would soon be flying. As the radar crews on the Pakistani ships nervously watched the tracks they had on those aircraft, the Indian fleet was seen to be increasing speed in its distant pursuit. At 21:50, there was no longer any doubt when the Indian planes were cleared hot and began to release those Kayak missiles.

There were eight ships in the trailing PAK Task Force, and each one was targeted with six missiles. The Vampires were seen immediately when they were released, and a wide eyed Admiral Ilyas, forward in the leading TF, gave orders to prepare to defend the fleet. For that mission, there were 48 Chinese built HQ-7 missiles in the trailing TF, with a 5 mile range, and a dozen of another strange bird, the HQ-64. That missile had a twisted development path. The Italians first knocked off the US made RIM-7E Sea Sparrow, and then the Chinese got hold of that and copied it to build their HQ-64, a missile with a 10 mile range.

All the Kayaks penetrated the ten mile line unchallenged, but at 5 miles, the frigate Shamsheer began to engage with its HQ-7, which was itself a reverse engineered copy of the French Crotale missile. All these missiles dated to the 1990’s, but that was what the Pakistan Navy had, with nary an HQ-9B to be seen. Other ships started firing, but the missiles were not very effective, getting few hits, which soon brought the close in defense guns into action. Seconds later, Shamsheer was struck, and exploded in an angry welter of fire and smoke.

Frigate Khaibar was hit seconds later, and the 145Kg warhead in the Vampire was more than enough to kill that ship as well. Then, in rapid succession FFG’s Saif, Tariq, and Tippu Sultan were blasted open to the sea. Frigate Aslat was hit soon after, along with Frigate Sha Jahan, and seven of the eight ships were burning wrecks. Only the squadron leader, the US built Perry Class Frigate Alamgir, had survived.

The six Pakistani Mirage Fighters saw the long columns of smoke on the sea, and they rushed in to look for enemy fighters. Unfortunately, the Indian Migs had seen them, and moved to engage with their longer ranged Soviet built missiles. They would easily target and shoot down all six fighters, whereupon they began circling in a loiter, painting the next Pakistani TF with their radars. The dangerous sortie made by the PAK Navy had been a case of “fools rush in where Angels fear to tread.” India was teaching them a very hard lesson now, that at least in the Air/Naval arena, they held a clear superiority.

By this time, that squadron of nine SU-30’s from Pune AFB were arriving on the scene with their Brahmos missiles. They were looking for targets, identifying the frigate Larkana some 60 miles beyond the stricken TF. With time running out on fuel, they decided to fire, half their missiles at the more distant target, and the remainder at the two ships still afloat in the first TF, for one frigate, the Sha Jahan, had not yet sunk. That ship would die with its second hit a minute later, and the Perry Class frigate Alamgir would die with it.

Five other missiles streaked in at 1450 knots on the distant TF, but those were the best ships in the Pakistani fleet, all Type 054A Class Frigates bought directly from the Chinese. As such, they had the HQ-16 SAM, and enough of them to get those Vampires before they could harm any of the ships.

There, shaken by the stunning loss of all eight ships in his trailing TF, Admiral Zahid Ilyas stood aboard the frigate named for his home port and command center, Karachi, and burned with anger. This was a dastardly attack, he thought, and it must not go unpunished. Yet behind that anger he knew that if that were to happen, the reprisal would most likely have to be delivered by the Air Force or the Army.

Some fool gets spooked by an Indian submarine, he thought. Now I have lost nine ships, and over a thousand men in the water, and this war has taken a most deadly turn. The Chinese have abandoned us! Their planes sat idle on the air fields we provided for them here, and did not intervene. Yet can we bite the hand that feeds us now? This ship beneath my feet was built by China, and we get all our best weapons from them now. This is not over. We will have our vengeance! The Air Force is coming.

At that moment, Mirage F-1 Fighters and JF-17 Thunder strike planes were roaring off the Pakistani airfields. They were bringing the H-4 SOW Raptor glide bombs, with a 60 mile range, and the Wrecker cruise missiles, a derivative of the Chinese YJ-12 with a 135 mile range. They flew off in angry swarms, heading out to find and strike the Indian fleet, with a few Mirage-5’s joining them, carrying Exocets.

The mission was to be all guts and a glory. They would have no fighter escorts, but would just bore in on the suspected location of the enemy fleet, turn on all radars, and strike any ship they could find.

The Indian Admiral Arun Sing had joined the fleet when it left Mumbai, wanting a firm hand on what was to happen that day. He planted his flag of the new carrier Vikrant, and had been very pleased with the stunning results obtained by his strike. Now, however, he was going to have to weather the storm of reprisal heading his way.

As soon as word came that the Pakistani Air Force was rising from their bases around Karachi, he realized he needed to get more fighters up, and quickly. The nine planes he still had out there were only carrying their short range AA-11 missiles, but they would have to do until he could get more Migs in the air. He had one squadron of Mig-29’s remaining, armed for fleet air defense, and another Mig-29 Squadron at Pune AFB, with six more French built Raphael fighters there. All these planes would begin scrambling at once.

Berated by the Pakistani Air Commandant, the Chinese had agreed to send up two J-20’s to use their long range radars as spotters and coordinators, hoping India would not detect them. They also agreed to protect the Pakistani Saab 2000 AEW plane that was deploying out near the border zone.

The last nine Mig-29’s took off from Vikrant in three flights of three planes each, and it was not long before they were engaging with their AA-12 Adders. For all its bravado, the Pakistani attack was going bust. The enemy fleet, when finally located, was much farther away than they thought, and all the JF-17 Thunders went bingo after the Adder attack, and did not have the fuel to carry on. Only two of those missiles could be fired. Four Mirage F-1’s slipped through the CAP defense at 300 feet with their Raptor Glide bombs, and delivered four of those. Five remaining Mirage-5’s each got off an Exocet, and five more Mirage III’s delivered their bombs too, but that was the strike.

Against those 16 Vampires, India had 22 ships out there, and they had good Russian built SAM’s, (including the SA-N-12 Grizzly) that were more than capable of defeating that jab. The grand air strike out for vengeance had become pathetic, and all the Vampires were shot down with little difficulty. When the smoke settled, the score in this little duel would be logged 9-0, a decisive Indian victory. Having made their case in the most direct way possible, the Indian Fleet now turned back for Mumbai.

Midnight, 21/22 JAN 2026

USS Independence

Now the professionals when it came to naval strike operations were stepping up to bat, and the Independence began to send its strike planes aloft. All 18 Avengers would take off with a mix of Slammers, LRASM, and the GBU-53. They would be joined by nine more F-35’s carrying those same small diameter bombs, and six escorts, just in case.

The six escort F-35’s surged ahead at 740 knots and then went to active radars to nail down the location of the Chinese fleet. Once found, the data was relayed to all the strike planes, and the LRASM’s were in the air minutes later. The Slammers followed soon after. All this time, the only plane that was seen on Chinese radars was the Hawkeye overlooking the event. They did not even know the strike was underway. It was a naval air strike capability an order of magnitude beyond anything else on the sea, and the only defense against it would have had to come from a robust screen of stealth fighters like the J-20, but none were there.

Four Avengers got in to their 60 mile release point and each would put 16 GBU-53 bombs in the air against the Chinese Seafire DDG screen, intending to saturate that group, as yet unfought. Keeping that group hot would try and prevent them from defending the main body, where most of the other ordnance had been targeted. The DDG screen was still very effective, able to defend itself while also getting after several groups of Slammers. But now a storm of steel was headed for the main body, and the screen had expended all its medium range HQ-16’s. It was down to the HQ-10’s, guns, and chaff, and for a good mass of reasonably stealthy weapons that could not be engaged until they were just five miles out, that spelled disaster.

Admiral Sun Wei still had 100 HQ-10’s left on his own ships, and the life of his mission, ships, and men now depended on those missiles…. But there were 87 Vampires on the radar screens….

Aboard Dragon God, Sun Wei instinctively braced himself for what he knew was about to happen. He had bravely positioned Longshen on the starboard flank of his formation, and watched as the darkness was lit by the tails of missiles being fired from all his ships.

There came a flash of light and the rumble of thunder, and he looked to see DDG Taiyuan badly hit by an American LRASM. In came a cloud of GBU-53’s with at least eight targeted to every ship. At the tail end of the formation, destroyer Lanzhou erupted with fire, and then her magazine blew up with all remaining missiles in the VLS bay, including eight YJ-18’s. Yingshen, the Eagle God, had systems damage from the GBU’s but no fire.

He felt Longshen shudder, then an explosion broiled up on the aft helo deck where a Z-9 had been hit and destroyed. A succession of four rapid punches hit the Dragon God, ripping through her superstructure and exploding inside the ship. He could smell the smoke, and knew he had a bad fire with those hits.

Then it was over. A stony silence settled over the sea, and the roiling smoke from all that missile fire and the explosions was a ghastly ocher hue. One minute he had his entire fleet intact, straining south in the darkness. Now two ships were sinking, and two more burning.

“Admiral,” came the voice of the ship’s Captain. “The engineers report heavy damage. We can make only nine knots, and have damage to the torpedoes, VLS Bays, hangar deck, and a very bad fire. You must transfer your flag immediately. I will carry on here. The Flying Dragon was not hit. I can have the men get a launch ready at once.

The Admiral gave him a dull eyed look. “Feilong reported SAM depletion some time ago. That is why it was moved to the interior of the formation.”

“But sir, it still has all its Gatling guns in good working order, and lasers. The engineers here report we now have only one gun operational.”

“You think those Gatling guns re going to stop the next American attack? No, Captain, I will stay right where I am. If this ship sinks, and I survive, then you may see me to another vessel. Yet I have little hope of that. If the Americans have any Tomahawks left, they will be on us within the hour.”

Yes… They would.

Captain Hap Turner got the message from Independence requesting the follow up SSM strike, and he still had 56 Maritime Tomahawks. They had good targeting data being relayed by the escort of F-35’s, and so they would not let this opportunity pass. Their enemy was finally cornered, on the ropes, and it was time for the heavy punches to go for the knockout.

SAG New Jersey was 375 miles southwest of the enemy fleet, and put 40 missiles out at about 01:30 on the 22nd of January. Sun Wei had tried to reorganize his remaining ships, pulling in the Seafire DDGs that still had missiles to form a good picket line defense off his starboard side. The alarms rang again. His prediction had come true.

Brave Taizhou was screening the center of the fleet, firing all its last HQ-10’s and then going to guns. One Tomahawk got through, pounding into Longshen, and the Dragon God groaned in agony, and the Admiral braced himself to keep from falling with that impact. The only other ship hit was DDG Haihuo, another of the pickets. So now, with over 90% of his systems down, the Captain pleaded with the Admiral to abandon ship.

Heavy hearted, and unwilling to leave his men, the Admiral finally relented, and Feilong came alongside to receive him. It was a cold, bitter end, but Sun Wei knew he had other ships and men to still look after, still in the fight, and he could not be so selfish as to abandon them. The call of duty, his disdain for fear, and his sense of honor would keep him in the fight with them, and he made the transfer to the Flying Dragon in the next twenty minutes.

The Dragon God sank ten minutes later, and he would never see that Captain of that ship again.

Part X

Last Dance

“Never give a sword to a man who can’t dance.”

― Confucius

Chapter 28

China had started the war with 60 Type 052 or 055 Class destroyers, ten more than the US had at that time. Now, 37 of those Chinese destroyers were at the bottom of the world’s many oceans, along with three carriers and many more frigates and submarines. While the Chinese Navy had sunk 32 ships in their battles with the Royal Navy and Singapore, the USN had only seen Kentucky, Halsey and Grant damaged, and the single DDG Sherman sunk, with two more submarines. It was a lopsided score that spelled only one thing—victory—and the Chinese Navy was now fighting to simply muster enough force to be able to defend its littoral seas.

Admiral Sun Wei knew he was still in grave danger and more ships could be added to that list before he reached Colombo. The fleet was largely SAM depleted. Only two Seafire Class destroyers still had any missile defense, Haifeng and Haiying, and between them they mustered only 27 HQ-10’s. The only thing he could do was station them starboard of the main body, and press on. If the enemy still had weapons to fling at him, he knew he was going to lose more ships and men, but he had one last option.

At Karachi, the Type 055 Class destroyers had moved one of their helicopters to other ships to make room in the hangar for crates of reserve ordnance. In the heat of battle, it could not be touched, and was left sitting there, somewhat of a liability if the ship was ever hit aft. That is undoubtedly what helped kill the Dragon God, he thought. That explosion AFT was much too robust from a GBU bomb hit, which is what first damaged the ship and cut its speed. Yet Eagle God and Flying Dragon might attempt to reload their twin external HQ-10 mounts, which held 24 missiles each.

The seas are calm, thought Sun Wei, and I do not think the enemy could strike us now for another five or six hours. We are desperate, so this simply must be attempted. Those were small, easily handled missiles, just six feet in length and weighing only 44 pounds. As for the long range HQ-9’s, they weighed 1.4 tons each, and measured 22 feet in length. Missiles that large and heavy needed special dock-side handling equipment to manage them, and had to be vertically loaded with a crane, so it was impossible to replenish them at sea.

He gave the order that all engineers were to move to at least reload the HQ-10 systems, and even summoned techs from other ships to assist. Anything would help, perhaps enough to survive one more attack, and he might save many lives. So in those last hours of darkness, the engineers worked feverishly, opening crates and moving ordnance.

DDG Yingshen had taken moderate damage, but had most systems still working. The Eagle God reported they could move 48 HQ-10s to the external deck mounts. The Flying Dragon, where the Admiral now set his flag, was in better shape, and they would also uncrate and mount 48 HQ-10’s. This ship has also received two of the new laser turrets, but work on the power couplings was not finished. So the engineers made that a top priority to get the ship some additional defensive capability. The two remaining Type 052D class destroyers, Chaoyong and Naning, reported they could each replenish their HQ-10’s in the external canisters.

Eagle God was limping and could only make 20 knots, and as the Admiral was not willing to abandon that ship, the TF set its speed to match that. Seafire class Haihuo was down to 8 knots, and that ship was detached to fare for itself. It would attempt to negotiate entry to an Indian port, if that could possibly be arranged. India had not declared for the Western Alliance, and they had harbored a damaged US destroyer, so they agreed to take this one Chinese ship as a good faith gesture, and possibly to ease tensions with China if they could.

* * *

Aboard the Independence, XO Cooper also had some bad news to give Captain Holmes. “Sir,” he began, “we’re running out of stones to throw. I can get you five planes rigged with Slammers, but that will be the last of those missiles. LRASM is depleted, and then anything else we throw will have to be the GBU-53. There’s enough for one Squadron, and after that, we’re out of business, unless you want to move to JSOW. The soonest we could go with any of that would be 08:00.”

“What do we look like with the Tomahawks?” asked the Captain.

“We have 61 TacToms and 44 MMT’s, and that includes everything the New Jersey Group has.”

“Better have Hap Turner’s ships join us then. We’ll operate together as one group now. SAM Inventory?”

“Not a problem sir. That would give us 88 SM-6 and just over 600 ESSM’s. We’re well defended.”

“Good. Very well, Mister Cooper. Get that message to Turner. I’ll be in my ready room.”

The Captain would mull his situation over for the next five hours, and also request any order or feedback from OMCOM. In effect, the carrier now had the means of making just one normal strike, with a follow up using JSOW.

Those bombs hit hard, he thought. The AGM-154C JSOW had a thousand pound two stage armor penetrating warhead that could tear a ship apart. They were ship wreckers to be sure, but the planes delivering them needed to be inside 45 miles. I don’t think that would be a problem now. We didn’t see a single HQ-9 come at us during that last attack, so I’m betting they ran dry on those. They won’t have anything else that could get beyond 20 miles.

He smiled.

I have the means, he knew. I can tear what’s left of that fleet apart, ship by ship. The only reason I hesitate at all is that it will leave this carrier toothless after I’m done. I’ll have to retire to Diego Garcia for full replenishment.

He got on the secure data inventory system and looked up Diego Garcia. They had enough in the nest to get him squared away, but after that, even that arsenal would have to await the next convoy from the states. They had been throwing a lot of lead around out there, and the weapons were expensive monsters that were in limited supply. There had been just enough delivered to Salaha in the 1st USMC convoy to replenish Roosevelt, and Diego Garcia had only one typical carrier magazine load remaining for his use.

I’ll let OMCOM make the call, he thought, and slept on it. At 08:00 he had his answer. He was ordered to use his own prudent judgment and continue to put harm on the enemy while preserving as much of his Strike Group’s combat power as possible. OMCOM had punted.

After a well-deserved breakfast in the wardroom, the Captain looked over his ready board and made a decision. Then he went up to the bridge to watch the Hawkeye rotation and morning CAP deployment. At a little after 09:00, he would send his order to the Air Boss, and then he got on the ship’s intercom.

“All hands, this is the Captain. We’ve been out here after these guys for the last week, and now we got them on the run. If we wait for them to gain the safety of a friendly port, then we’re going to have to do this all over again to wear them down for the count. I know we’re going to put men in the sea now, and sink ships, and believe me, I take no pleasure in that. But that’s what we’re here for, and we’re going to do our job and finish the mission. Until and unless they end this, and we reach a diplomatic solution, then it’s on us to do our very best to prevail. Strike groups, man your planes, and go get ‘em. That is all.”

As he hung up the handset, he could hear cheers throughout the ship. The crew was fired up, and ready to finish the job. At 09:15 that morning the first flights of assigned strike planes began taking off.

The previous night, Captain Holmes had thought about what his XO said, knowing he had some heavy metal in that JSOW ordnance. So he had sent down the word that he wanted two flights of three to carry that weapon in close, believing they would not be facing a heavy SAM threat now.

Nine F-35’s were going to be tasked for this initial strike, six with JSOW and three with the GBU-53 to lead the attack. Six more Avenger II’s would take off carrying the SLAM-ER, four missiles each. They would get into range and orbit until called. The strike would be led by six F-35’s on escort, and the Growlers would get into the game to work over the enemy electronics.

The SLAM Flight got inside 60 miles undetected and released, and the Avengers were cleared hot as they did so. The six planes carrying JSOW continued to close until they got the word.

“JSOW, JSOW, ram it home.”

“Roger that, Bertha, We are Winchester.”

* * *

Admiral Sun Wei stood on the bridge, the Flying Dragon leading the formation south. When the attack alarms rang, he heard the crews rushing, and now they would unleash the precious missiles they had labored so hard to make ready for this hour. As the HQ-10’s began to fire, he gave the order to deploy and use the new laser turrets that were now operational on his ship, and they proved to be very deadly. The smoke rose about the fleet as the missiles fired, the smell of the rocket fuel heavy in the air. Then he saw the lasers lancing through the haze, only visible because of that smoke, and soon he heard distant explosions indicating they had score kills.

All the action was inside the five mile line, and it was far more tense and exacting without the HQ-9’s able to engage out to 80 miles. Now you could both see and hear the incoming enemy missiles, and the grinding fire from the 30mm guns filled the air, the rounds streaming out to try and shred the Vampires and knock them out. They beat down the first wave, about two dozen contacts, and the lasers got four kills. Twelve more Vampires followed, the JSOW with the tandem BROACH warhead and a heavy punch. They would come in sets of two, on a front six miles wide.

Flying Dragon’s lasers flashed in anger, firing, retargeting, and firing again. While the HQ-10’s were struggling to lock on, his lasers were able to track and fire, getting an astounding ten kills as the Vampires crossed the 10 mile range marker.

“Yes!” he said. “Why did we wait so long to get those weapons on-line? They are fearsome defenders!”

He breathed in, finally seeing just a little hope that they might survive. The alarm rang yet again as the final wave approached, this time the 24 Slammers that had been brought in by the Avengers. Again, it was the incredible effectiveness of the laser turrets that decided the hour, chewing right through the small trains of missiles and damaging them enough to send them into the sea. It was an evolutionary leap in fleet defense, only installed on about a third of the Type 055’s, but this was the first time it had proven itself to be a reliable shield. Quite literally, the Slammers were defeated in a flash, the lighting swift and unerringly targeted lasers ripping the attack apart.

Two missiles got very close to the wounded Eagle God near the end of the formation, and Sun Wei held his breath when he saw Vampires close inside two miles. HQ-10’s fired, and got the last just 500 meters from the ship. The radar screens were now blank, and the bridge crew cheered in jubilation. The men had feared this might be their last battle, but they had survived.

Back aboard the Independence, Captain Holmes had been listening to his pilots during the attack, and he heard them call out the word lasers more than a few times. The Chinese had brought something to the game here that he did not expect, and swatted his ordnance down. Why weren’t they using this weapon earlier? Word came soon after.

“Strike leader to Mother. No Joy. We are RTB. Over.”

The enemy had a new magic wand.

* * *

The next surprise was the sudden appearance of J-20 fighters, picked up by the Daywatch Flight out on the right flank of the operation. They called in bogies and then engaged, with their AIM-260’s, getting a kill and driving the enemy down on the deck. The remaining five came roaring back up into the fight, closing on the Growlers and shooting one of them down, before the escort burned south to get at them with their AAMRAM’s. All six enemy fighters would be killed in that melee, proving the superiority of the US pilots, if nothing else.

When he got the report on that from Cooper, Captain Holmes knew the situation had changed. Apparently the Chinese had loaded up with fighters at Colombo, and the J-20 now had the range to get far enough out to assist their comrades on the sea. That may have been a CAP patrol, but now they would be certain to double down on that tactic, and the next time they could come in force, providing as much air cover as they could.

He liked the kill ratio in that fight, six to one, and with none of the F-35’s lost in the action. Yet he lost another Growler, and knew they would be easy targets when deployed to support a strike. In this kind of atmosphere, with 5th generation stealth fighters ruling the skies, it was a case of use them and lose them for any 4th generation fighter. Even the upgraded Eagle-X fighters had a rough time earlier out of bases in Oman.

In his mind, the strike had gone bust, and he would now have to think things over before he put together another attack. I thought I had this guy down on the mat for the final pin, he mused. Then he goes and pulls a knife on me.

He looked at his ready board and saw that he had plenty of fighters, but only four more Avengers ready now with 16 GBU-53’s each. It wouldn’t be enough, he knew. Not seeing the effectiveness of their laser defense. I’d have to bulk up again, and throw all 44 remaining Tomahawks with those 64 GBU’s and then that would leave me an empty shell with a ticket to Diego Garcia—New Jersey too. I was to operate against the enemy while preserving the striking power of this task force, and that is all I’ve got left on the deck right now. I could go to more JSOW’s, but they were swept right out of the sky in this last attack.

Damnit, he swore inwardly. I had their number, and now they may get to Colombo after all. I’ll need time to recover planes, and then another six hours to beef up the package before I could hit them again. The earliest we could rumble would be right around sunset.

And I’ll bet that cagey Admiral out there knows that….

* * *

The enemy operation ended at 10:30 on the 22nd, and Sun Wei knew he had just won priceless time here. He was now only 382 miles from Colombo, and he could shave another 150 miles off that before the enemy might be ready to strike him again. That would put him under heavy air cover, and long last.

The lasers, he thought. The lasers!

We must get those modules on each and every heavy destroyer we have. I will propose sweeping changes to standard fleet loadouts now.

This changes everything.

Chapter 29

“We’re not done,” said Captain Holmes. He adjusted his eyeglasses and looked over a clipboard, a stickler for paper based reports in the digital age. So that’s the way XO Cooper fed it to him, the whole shebang when it came to what was still in the carrier magazine.

There were things in there that they would seldom use in these long range naval duels. His wariness for committing his Growlers to anti-radiation attacks because of their vulnerability to enemy fighters had left a good deal of those munitions in stock, and they had standoff ranges at 70 miles. The Avengers could each carry four, and so he ordered five of those planes to rig out with the new advanced ant-radiation missile, the AGM-88E. Five more Avengers could carry GBU-53, (16 per plane), finishing up the inventory on that weapon. That would put 100 weapons in the air, but he had more tricks up his sleeve.

“We go to the MALD decoys on this one,” he said. “Give me four planes with those, a full loadout of eight each. The rest of the Avengers go with JSOW, another flight of five planes. That totals out to 152 weapons in this throw, which looks like our last dance with these guys out here before they reach Colombo. Get the crews busy, and I want this ready to go at 18:00, right around sunset. In the meantime, we go to the Tomahawks, but this time the target is not the enemy fleet. We’ve still got 61 TacToms, and I want a good package delivered to that air base at Colombo to try and preempt any air cover they might throw up. That attack goes in now.” That was the order.

The Tomahawk TacToms had a journey of 500 miles to make to Colombo AFB, and they would be an hour getting there. So as the crews began that arming order, Independence turned south intending to navigate the treacherous Maldives through the gap south of Laamu Atoll. The long archipelago had hundreds of islands that stretched over 300 miles into the Indian Ocean, and there were places where shallows ran to as little as seven feet, which was bad news for deep draft ships like a carrier. They could not go north of the archipelago, as that would bring them well inside the range of any YJ-18’s the Chinese might still have, so it was south to the Laamu Gap.

Since Hap Turner and the New Jersey had last worked over Colombo with their TacToms, the Chinese engineers and Army had been quite busy restoring that field to full operation. Even after losing those six fighters earlier, they still had 20 more J-20’s there, and another dozen at China Bay AFB near Trincomalee. With these two excellent roosts, their old base at Hambantoa was now just a secondary port, and a small base for helicopters. They had also flown in HQ-9A and HQ-16 SAM batteries to protect all these facilities, in addition to mobile radars sites and the better part of an airborne brigade for muscle on the ground.

The island was in no way as secure as Karachi had been in Pakistan, but it was closer to the Malacca Strait and Andaman Sea, waters that China saw as fertile areas for the next round of fighting with the US Navy.

The “Malacca Dilemma” continued to haunt them, in spite of attack they made to chase the Royal Navy from Singapore and neuter the local fleet there. Admiral Thomas Cook still had the Enterprise in the Java Sea, and that meant he could challenge or interdict any move through the straits, a problem the Chinese Naval command was now feverishly working on. At the moment, however, they had to look after the dumplings that were already in the wok. Admiral Sun Wei was coming home, and they had to help him get there any way they could.

At 13:50, those radars spotted the incoming TacToms, and the Air Commandant immediately issued a scramble order. He had a three plane CAP patrol up, and also vectored them in to attack the Vampires at once. The CAP planes expended their PL-15’s to get several kills, then closed to use their short range PL-10’s. As the leading Tomahawk was about 12 miles out over the sea, the first HQ-9’s started to fire from a battery north of the airfield. More J-20’s roared into the sky, banked in a deafening turn, and the leveled off at 12000 feet to get after those Vampires. This time, the Chinese were determined to defend that crucial base.

Twelve more Mighty Dragons lifted from the field like great grey bats, and with each plane carrying four PL-15’s and a pair of PL-10’s. It was the weight and effectiveness of those missiles, combined with the land batteries, that broke the back of the TacTom strike. Only two missiles would get through, destroying one of eleven hangars that had been thankfully emptied minutes earlier when the fighters scrambled.

So the Chinese had some fresh wind in their sails now, intending to fight to preserve that vital base at all costs. The strike defeated, six of the fighters turned out to sea, soaring up to 50,000 feet to take up a high overwatch of their fleet. It had never occurred to Captain Holmes that he would need to send an F-35 fighter escort in to watch over those Tomahawks, and it was a costly mistake that galled him when he got the news that yet another strike mission had gone bust.

* * *

At 17:45 the strike leaders had finished their briefings and the planes and pilots were on the flight deck. As Captain Holmes looked at the men mounting their war steeds, he could only feel pride for the fact that he was given command of this ship, this crew, and for this mission.

This is it, he thought. Time to see if we know how to use a sword. We hit them early, and often, and hit them hard. We bled them dry, and then they brought out those lasers and gave us a surprise, just when we were ready to make our kill. It’s a long haul this time out, as they are hugging the coast of India, and we had to stay west of the Maldives, but we’ve still got the range, almost 400 miles to the targets.

“Alright, gentlemen,” he said aloud to the bridge crew. “This is our last dance. Start the music.”

The F-35 escort of 12 planes would go first, followed by the 18 Avengers for the strike, and then another flight of six Panthers for backup, rigged for air-to air. The four planes with MALD did not have far to go, as they could throw their decoys out 500 miles. They would fire immediately, a bearing only attack that would see the decoys arriving about the same time the other planes put their live ordnance on the targets.

The Avenger strike flights would wing their way north first, before spotting an island that would clue them to make their right turn towards the targets. This was taking the strike planes well away from the possibility of being found by enemy fighters, and the F-35 escorts would also be sweeping the skies far off their right flank as they began to make their final approach to the enemy fleet.

As it happened, the six J-20’s that had been out to provide air cover saw the decoys, and went after them. As soon as they did so, the Panthers unleashed a torrent of AAMRAM’s on them, intending to clear the skies of bogies. That got the attention of the J-20’s and the Avengers then had clear skies to get to their release points and fire.

As the strike ordnance released, the GBU’s went first to create that telltale cloud of glide bombs that was so threatening. It would compel all the targets would switch on active radars, and that lit them up and gave the anti-radiation missiles something to home in on.

The Chinese fleet had become a long line of ships, with the frigates somewhat behind the leading group, with a few Seafire Class destroyers. Last in the line, was the wounded Eagle God, a prime target that had been struggling to keep up. That ship was work for twelve JSOW’s, and everything else went after the tail end of the formation. It was the speedy AGM-88E’s that raced in to get the first hits, with four smashing into FFG Hengshui, and another for hitting FFG Xianning.

Now Admiral Sun Wei looked over his shoulder and saw the danger. His lasers had engaged and killed missiles heading his way, but the frigates had fallen too far behind. The simple lapse of not keeping proper stations relative to the leading ships made the them vulnerable, and the light sabers of the Flying Dragon could no longer cover them. The GBU-53’s now came in a massive steel cloud, and most of those ships were SAM depleted.

He was shaken when the bombs started to hit, slamming into the already listing Hengshui, then delivering a pounding of many hits to FFG Weifang. Xianning was struck again with many bombs, and that ship would not survive. FFG Nantong was pummeled and on fire, and the escorting Seafire Class DDG Haiwang was a burning wreck. It was the blow that should have been struck hours ago, before the lasers and rearmed HQ-10’s in the leading ships so changed the equation.

Only two ships aft of the leading ships would survive, the destroyer Taizhou, and to his great relief, the Eagle God. The 48 HQ-10’s the ship had managed to reload had been just enough of a defense to save its life. The engineers had saved the ship. Now he saw many other targets still coming, but realized they were hitting nothing, sailing harmlessly over his ships, mere decoys meant to draw his fire.

The attack was soon over, a beautiful dance in the sky, perfectly coordinated throughout the entire mission. It was all Captain Holmes was going to throw at his enemy, but it had thinned his ranks considerably that hour, sinking three frigates and a destroyer.

Of the 17 ships that had left Karachi on the night of the 20th of January under Admiral Sun Wei’s command, only eight were still afloat, and one more had reached the safety of an Indian port. So his fleet had been cut in half, and he had lost too many good men and women in the long and desperate race south.

Yet the main body was still alive. The Flying Dragon and Eagle God would reach Colombo safely now, along with two good Type 052D class destroyers, two Seafire Class destroyers, and two more upgraded Type 051D class ships. It was the better half of his command, but he would not sleep well for many days now, the faces of the men he had lost haunting him.

In Beijing, while the losses were heavy, the Admiral was lauded for his daring courage. Now those eight ships would refuel and rearm, and they would send fighters to replace all they had lost in the effort to cover that grueling redeployment. Admiral Shen Jinlong,[9] Commander in Chief of the Navy, flew directly to Colombo to meet with Sun Wei, a medal in hand. But the gritty fighting Admiral refused to accept it.

“I want no such medal on my chest,” he said. “It would serve only to remind me of my many failures—the many ships and sailors I lost in the Indian Ocean adventure.”

“Regrettable, but the fortunes of war, Admiral.”

“Yes, the bad fortunes this war has brought to us all. You know me well, Admiral, but realize that the cost of this war gets ever higher, and for what? Those useless islands in the Ryukyus?”

“Okinawa is far from useless, Sun Wei, as you well know.”

“Perhaps, but was it worth all this? We have lost our positions in the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman, all of Africa, and now the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean!”

“Not just yet,” said Shen Jinlong. “You are here in Colombo, and we have two new destroyers here to help offset your losses, both Type 052D’s. They were at Bangkok, and I sent them here some days ago.”

“Good foresight,” said Sun Wei, “but now what am I to do here? We have just come over 1200 sea miles, through fire and steel, under constant attack, and seen much that I would wish to forget. Yet in fighting this withdrawal, I learned some very valuable lessons.”

“Tell me,” said the fleet Commander.

“Very well… First, while the YJ-18 was a superb weapon against the British, I had only one occasion where I could get in range to use it against the Americans, and even that could have been prevented by them if they wished. They all just sailed off into the blue. The missile is too demanding, and needs precise downrange targeting data. While it has good range, the Americans always stay beyond 300 miles, and none of our ships has the speed to catch them. So Admiral, if we are to have any offense at sea at all, then it must come from the YJ-100. Please tell me our war supplies on that weapon are still holding up.”

“For the moment. Beijing has ordered three more factories to produce that missile round the clock. You should find adequate stocks here, flown in over many days by the Air Force—enough to give you some punch.”

“Good, but I must tell you, it is seldom enough. Lesson two—we do not have the offensive strength to overcome the defense of an American Carrier Strike group. The hope we placed in the Dong Feng-21D has not proven fruitful. Their Standard Missile-3 is simply too capable. And the combined defense of their SM-6, augmented by fighters on CAP, sees most of our missile strikes defeated as far away as 80 miles from the carrier. Not once did I ever get a missile inside 20 miles. That shows you how weak we are offensively relative to the Americans, who strike us with a dizzying array of different weapons on their carriers. And what do we strike back with from our carriers?”

It was an uncomfortable moment, but the two men knew it was the truth, and it had to be spoken. Yet the news Sun Wei wanted to deliver was not all bad, and now he spoke of changes that must be made to fleet weapons loadouts.

“The lasers,” he began. “We left Karachi with work incomplete on the installation of those modules, but in desperate need when our ship ran out of SAM’s, I ordered those turret assemblies and power couplings made ready. The engineers and service crews are the real heroes. Give them the medals. In six hours they managed to reload our HQ-10 mounts and get the lasers operational on the Flying Dragon. They are lethal! I saw them strike down whole groups of enemy cruise missiles three and four at a time, and with twice the range of our HQ-10. Without them, I believe that ship would have also been sunk, but with them, we survived. So Admiral, you must get them onto every ship with enough power generation capability to use them. This is what the Americans might call a game changer.”

“Indeed,” said Shen Jinlong. “Then I will do all I can to do exactly what you suggest. What more?”

“The Type 055 is a wonderful ship, but it need not be configured for either ASW or even naval strike missions now. Give it a token defensive missile load of eight YJ-18’s, and then use every other cell on the ship for the HQ-9’s. In effect, they must be reconfigured to become heavy fleet air defense ships, and each one must have at least two operational laser turrets and two deck mounted HQ-10 systems instead of one. The remaining Type 052D’s can yield their YJ-18s and send them to the Type-055’s. Then they should all be rearmed with the YJ-100’s to provide our offensive punch.”

“I see… Then you advise we must strengthen our defense.”

“Of course! I found myself regretting that I brought any offensive missiles with me at all. If I had an HQ-9B for each one of them, I might have saved a four more ships.”

“Very well,” said the Fleet Commander. “I will take all this to heart, and we will make the necessary changes you advise. I must say that Admiral Wu Jinlong suffered from these same shortcomings—an inability to reach and hurt his enemy, while the fleet was continually attacked by the enemy carriers. Operation Sea Eagle and the entire strike east plan he devised was a complete failure. The Americans are now preparing to land troops on Mindanao, and we have had to withdraw to the South China Sea again.”

“Most unfortunate,” said Sun Wei. “Yes, we need an offense. We must begin to hurt the enemy, or this war is surely lost. In fact, any sane man would see that it has already been lost. We have seen over ten years’ worth of ship production sunk, while the enemy’s losses are not even worth mentioning. If this does not change, and immediately, then you know the outcome as well as I do, Admiral. I will fight, as honor demands it, but a man must have the means. What was it Confucius said? Never give a sword to a man who does not know how to dance. Well Admiral, I think I have finally learned how to dance… but I have no sword….”

Chapter 30

That was a most disheartening characterization of the present situation faced by China in this war. Before this conflict, there were think tanks and would-be Admirals all claiming the day of the big deck aircraft carrier was over, and that these massive, expensive ships were becoming too vulnerable. They had begun to spout new warfighting theories with names like “Distributed Lethality,” to devise a strategy that would make their operations less dependent on that single ship. They had started to think about drones and unmanned ships and subs.

To some extent, the evolution of the Gator Navy to deploy and use the F-35 was a step in the right direction, but when it came to the real work, facing down these massive flotillas and fleets the Chinese sent to sea, it was the Carrier Strike Group that prevailed time and time again.

90 Chinese warships had been sunk, a staggering total that has seen their navy swept from the seas and sent into retreat to the homeland. Submarines had taken the greatest toll, sinking nearly a third of those ships, with 28 confirmed kills and HMS Anson leading the pack getting eight of those. The Siberians were in second place, with 19 ships sunk, including three carriers, and they were the overall winners for actual tonnage sunk if that mattered. Then the US carriers had put 17 ships under the sea, with Holmes on the Independence leading that group with eight kills, and the Roosevelt right behind him with seven.

The Chinese had reinforced their Indian Ocean Fleet by withdrawing from the Med, to a point where Admiral Sun Wei once had 40 warships and six submarines under his command. He reached Colombo with eight, leaving three others behind in friendly or neutral ports. That was a staggering loss of 29 ships, and all the waters they had thought to contest and control, from Aden to Karachi. They had, in turn, sunk 12 British ships and one American Destroyer, (Sherman), damaging one more, (Grant). Any way you counted it, that 29 to 13 score was a thumping defeat, and it was achieved by the Roosevelt, Independence, and a handful of lethal submarines.

No “Distributed Lethality” was involved.

The Navy had concentrated its offensive and defensive power in those Carrier Strike Groups, both the sword and shield of the USN. The carriers were every bit as effective as they had been in WWII, if not more so. One big deck supercarrier was now doing the work that whole fleets of carriers did under Halsey’s command. That roving airfield at sea, with a lethal, stealthy strike wing, was a big reason the war was now so lop-sided, with Kudos to the undersea fleet as well. That was the same carrier-sub combination that had won WWII in the Pacific Theater.

The undersea fleet of China had some success, but it was too slow to ever really threaten an American Carrier when that force was skillfully operated. The Americans stayed out in the Deep Blue, where the Chinese Fleet sailed at their own peril. From there, far from littoral waters where the diesel boats might operate, they struck at their whim with that devastating air wing, and the US conversion of the Tomahawk to the Maritime Strike Missile gave the supporting destroyers and cruisers a reach of 1500 miles on offense with that weapon. Their inventories of TACTOM’s were also hounding and pounding all the vital support bases the Chinese relied upon. The United States Navy had simply cut the so called “String of Pearls” to pieces. They had taught China the most important lesson of the war—you cannot control your maritime lines of communication.

Period.

It was a lesson that both Wu Jinlong and now Sun Wei had learned in the hardest possible way. China had counted too heavily on unproven technology with its DF-21D’s. In that duel, when Standard Missile-3 had shown itself capable of defending the fleet from ballistic missile attack, China had lost that great fearsome trump card. After that, the only way it could engage the American carriers was with the YJ-100, and there were just not enough of those missiles to do the job.

“I might have held out another few weeks at Karachi,” said Sun Wei. “I had good air cover there, though the Pakistani Air Force was useless, as was their navy.”

“Yes,” said Shen Jinlong. “You may have seen the report, but there was a flareup with India, and their navy inflicted severe losses on the Pakistani fleet.”

“So they have fled to Karachi, as I was forced to do,” said Sun Wei. “This shameful withdrawal now cedes the Persian Gulf to the West.”

“Not until they fight their way in,” said Shen Jinlong.

“They will turn to those operations directly. I have not had time to follow the news from Iraq. Can you brief me?”

“No good news there,” said the Fleet Admiral. “The Western Coalition forces have encircled Baghdad in the north, and liberated Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in the south. They have even gone so far as to seize many oil fields in southern Iraq, including fields where we held the major development contracts. That prompted the Party to send the Army, and a kind of stalemate has developed. We have kept the Majnoon oil fields, and the Army is drawing up offensive plans to take back the West Qurna fields if the Americans do not withdraw from them. But that is not our concern.”

“Yes,” said Sun Wei. “It matters not how much oil we control there if we cannot also control the sea lanes between the Persian Gulf and China. As you can see, Shen Jinlong, that is a task that seems beyond our means.”

“Perhaps, but this is not yet over. Nothing is decided yet. So this is what we will do. I will have the laser turret modules you need for the Eagle God sent immediately. We will also look into installing them on other ships with the necessary space, weight, electrical power, and cooling capacity to accommodate these weapons. Our new LDH carriers, all our remaining aircraft carriers, are perfect candidates. They have the power required, and I will see that every Type 055 gets them as you advise. The Type 052D can also generate sufficient power, and we may be able to install perhaps a single laser turret on those ships.”

“While they last,” Sun Wei said darkly. “What we need is a new missile. Look at the Siberians! Where did they get that battlecruiser, and the deadly hypersonic missiles it carries?”

“That question has been on the lips of many,” said Shen Jinlong. “We can only believe that this is Soviet technology, but we have been working hard on a number of new weapons, with excellent speed and range. You will see them very soon. In the meantime, we must make the best use of the weapons we have. Now we must discuss future operations. You are correct, Sun Wei, we cannot control the sea lanes we decorated with all those distant support bases, our String of Pearls. Except at Karachi, there was never sufficient airfield capacity in and around the bases to enable them to hold out against a concerted attack. Our losses in the Gulf of Aden were most telling. You bested the British Fleet when you outnumbered them, even against their carriers, but when the tables were turned, we lost much.”

“That stone was first thrown by the Americans,” said Sun Wei. “In the first hours of the operation, when our various Task Forces were maneuvering to assemble into the main fleet, the Americans focused on the Aden group, and so weakened it that I had to retire it to replenish. As it happened, that group was never again able to rejoin the fleet, and brave Nanchang made a gallant stand at Aden, but could not hold. Once isolated like that, a task force is extremely vulnerable.”

“Well,” said Shen Jinlong, “you have two airfields at your disposal here on Sri Lanka, and we will keep them well provisioned.”

“Is this my mission? Am I to defend this island?”

“That has not been decided. The General Staff has a mind to recall your entire task force to the south China Sea.”

“What? It is over a thousand nautical miles to reach the western approaches to the Malacca Strait, and from there another six or seven hundred miles to make the transit. If we are pursued by the Independence, that would become another suicide mission.”

“When you depart, you will get strong air cover from all our fighters here on Sri Lanka, and the J-20’s can give you that 600 miles out.”

“Can they? Twelve were lost trying to welcome me here.”

“They were not deployed in good numbers, and overwhelmed by the American fighters, but we will correct that. We have acquired basing rights at Yangon in Burma, and the Air Force will move both fighters and bombers there.”

“The War Gods?”

“Yes, those we used to support you in Karachi. They were withdrawn to Lhasa, and will be transferred to Yangon tonight. Our fighters there will help cover the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal with those based on Sri Lanka. But there’s more. Admiral Zheng Bao has assumed command of the Taifeng group, which has returned to the South China Sea. He will maneuver to the Gulf of Thailand to extend his air cover over the isthmus into the approaches to the strait. Then, as you transit the strait, he will be moving on a parallel course on the other side of the Malayan Peninsula, so you will have J-31’s over you the entire time, from not one, but two carriers. Guandong was moved from the East China Sea to enable this.”

“And what is the opposition?”

“The Enterprise group is in the Java Sea.”

“And the Independence….” Sun Wei thought about that. “Two carriers could present an insurmountable defense. So once again, in spite of the air cover, I believe I will be on another suicide mission.”

Shen Jinlong, understood why his Admiral was so recalcitrant. He had seen so many ships and crews go into the sea, and did not want to undertake another risky operation like this. But there were mitigating factors.

“You forget that the American carriers have been at sea, and in combat, for a good long while. They, too, need to replenish in port from time to time. We have learned that the Independence has been ordered to Diego Garcia. When it gets there, that strike group will be almost a thousand nautical miles from the waters off Sri Lanka. So the quicker you replenish here, the quicker you can leave. It will give you an insurmountable lead on that carrier group, and then, with Zheng Bao’s fleet, the two of you can face down the Enterprise .”

“All this simply to recover my ten ships to home waters? What of Sri Lanka?”

“We have SAM batteries and fighters to defend it, and I do not think the Americans will attempt a landing there. You will not be under attack as you move east. You will outrun the Independence, and then drive off the Enterprise with Zheng Bao.”

Sun Wei took a deep breath. “And then that is the end of our naval presence in the Indian Ocean Theater. The Army can sit on the oil in Iraq for as long as it likes, but no ship will ever carry it to Shanghai—not while this war continues.”

“Sun Wei… if you remain at Sri Lanka, you will be isolated, just like the group that tried to hold Aden. Once they replenish, then both these American carriers will come for you here. This is our only chance to salvage what remains of your fleet. You must replenish quickly, and then race east. We have technicians and shipwrights here from China. Do not worry, the damaged Eagle God will be ready to resume operations in 24 hours. They have already boarded to assess what needs to be done. Configure your fleet, Admiral. Load out the ships as you see best. When that work is completed, and before the Independence reaches Diego Garcia, slip away in the night, and run east like the wind. Operation Dong Feng is hereby ordered to commence at your earliest opportunity.”

* * *

The hidden reason behind this urgent need to recall Sun Wei was never mentioned. Zhen Bao had taken command of 17 ships returning from the Celebes Sea. There were nine ships at Manila Bay, four patrolling the Taiwan Gap north of the Philippines, and seven assigned to the reef island bases in the South China Sea. Eight more ships composed the Guandong CVBG, and two older destroyers were at Sanya Harbor on Hainan Island. Aside from submarines and Corvettes, this was the South Seas Fleet now, 40 surface ships of any note. So Sun Wei’s ten ships were sorely needed, because the General Staff had read the tea leaves and knew the war was coming to home waters sooner than they ever expected.

All thought of trying to control the Gulf of Oman or Indian Ocean dissipated with the defeat of the 40 ship Fleet Sun Wei had once commanded. Now it was becoming a question of whether the South China Sea could be held. That fleet could be further reinforced by ships from the East China Sea, which was presently holding and guarding the long Ryukyu island chain, China’s new great island wall at sea.

While Wu Jinlong’s attempt to control the Celebes and Sulu Seas had failed, those waters were still contested, the province of hidden Chinese subs, and also defended by SSM batteries ashore to some extent, and modest air power. But they were not waters where the Chinese surface fleets could sail without risk, and it was likely that the Americans would take control over the Celebes Sea soon with their Washington Carrier Strike Group.

The General Staff had watched the deployment of the US Carriers to assess where their own risk was, and it now appeared that any future enemy offensive would be aimed at the South China Sea before it happened in the East China Sea. So China was calling its last overseas squadron home, and looked to be planning a defensive war from that hour forward. Unless something happened, and the “fortunes of war” Shen Jinlong had mentioned began to favor them, China would now be fighting to defend the homeland.

It had been a grand ambition, and perhaps hubris that led them to strike so boldly into the Middle East, but now the sea lines of communications to that region had been decisively severed, and any hope for control of the Indian Ocean was lost. With Sun Wei, the war would soon be coming home, but there was a secret new reason for hope. Shen Jinlong had left much unsaid about these new missiles China was building. It would not be long before he would see them in action.

Part XI

The Milkman

“It’s past midnight once again,

And again I cannot sleep, I’m restless.

It’s the waters of the Caspian,

So frightening in the darkness that won’t calm down.

Break down this tower with your waves—

This tower that imprisons us behind these walls.

Drown it with your waves,

This tower that keeps us behind this unbreakable spell…”

― Ummugulsum Sadigzade, Bailov Prison

Chapter 31

Time Unknown: Airship Tunguska

The stateroom was a very dangerous place now, thought Trushin, and he always quailed at the thought of entering the room, deep at the heart of the airship, just above the main bridge gondola. But enter I must, at the beck and call of my master, Ivan Volkov. I was the fool who thought it would be a good idea to get close to the man, and serve him as Adjutant in all his busy ways.

Yes, I know him quite well now, more than I ever wished to know. He was always ruthless, determined, self-absorbed, and often cruel, but now he has changed for the worse. The man is obsessed, and bent on revenge. He tells me Tyrenkov betrayed him, and fled to some far off future, and that he will find that place if it is the last thing he does. God only knows, but it may be the last thing any of us do on this dreary airship. Three times we have tried to ride the storms, tried to move again, but all we find is this barren, frozen emptiness, a silent cold world where nothing moves or lives. And now Volkov is getting restless, frustrated, angry.

He stood at the stateroom doom, eyes fearful, and then took a deep breath before he knocked.

“Come,” said the familiar voice from within, and Trushin saw his hand quaver as he reached for the latch to enter. As soon as he knocked, the wolves began to snarl and growl, raising his hackles and sending a chill up his spine. He pushed the door open, and there they were, two great beasts, one dark and grey, the other tallow white, and their eyes glowed with wild, savage anger, their teeth barred.

Volkov was sitting at his desk, reading something, and then he shuffled some papers aside and snapped his fingers. At once the two wolves became silent, slinking away through the open iron barred door of their cage, and then lying down, though they eyed Trushin darkly, watching his every move.

“Close the damn door, Trushin,” said Volkov. “It’s drafty!”

Sealing the hatch, Trushin kept one eye on the wolves, the other on Volkov as he sidled up to the desk, waiting. Volkov had a thick sheaf of documents, and several books, things they had taken from the library at the Northern Shamrock.

“Well?” he said. “What news, Trushin. The wind is up, and it’s getting colder. What does the Weatherman say this time?”

“Sorry sir, there’s no danger of a storm just now,” said Trushin, hating to be the bearer of bad news to Volkov. “But the ground observation crews are a little confused.”

“Confused?”

“Yes sir, they say things have… well, they say things have changed, sir. I’m not entirely sure what they mean.”

That got Volkov’s attention, and he set down his pen on the desk, looking at Trushin for the first time. He inclined his head.

“The ground has changed? In what way?”

“The trees… the small lake we were using as a landmark is now completely forested over, sir.”

“Just where are we, exactly?”

“Well sir, we overflew the site as you wished. It was unmistakable, or so the spotters claimed. We’re over the Reka Khushma River now, bound for Vanavara, about 55 kilometers from the town. We should get there in half an hour at our present speed.”

“And the observation teams say the ground has changed? …. This I’ll have to see.”

Volkov got up, setting his papers aside, and starting towards the iron cage first. He smiled at his two wolf hounds, then closed the cage door and set the latch. The beasts tended to get curious if left uncaged in his absence, and should anyone enter the room while he was gone…. At times he would leave the cage door open for that very reason, knowing his preserve in the stateroom was perfectly safe with Greyback and Ghost on the watch.

“Come, Trushin, let’s get down to the bridge gondola.”

An airship was like a ship turned upside down. Instead of climbing the main superstructure to the bridge, one descended into the metal gondolas at the bottom of the great mass of the ship. The ground was always the surest reference for navigation, and observation teams would be posted at special nodes along the lower outer canvas ‘hull’ of the airship, peering through field glasses and noting the lay of the land as they compared it to their maps. They could call the bridge directly on the intercoms to report anything unusual, and that is what they just did, which sent Trushin to the stateroom with the news for Volkov.

They tromped down the metal stairway, and a ladder to reach the main gondola. There was Voronin, the security man Volkov had taken in tow, smoking a cigar, as he often did. Captain Gorev was at his post, saluting Volkov as he entered. The rest of the bridge crew were busy at their posts, and diligently so, now that Volkov was on the bridge.

“What’s this nonsense about trees in the lake?”

“See for yourself, sir,” said Gorev, pointing out the spot. Ground spotters called in the lake a few minutes ago as we were approaching the river. Then one called back to say it was gone.”

“Gone?”

“I took a look myself when they called the lake in, sir, but sure enough, I can’t spot the damn thing now—just trees, as far as the eye could see.”

“But you can see the river?”

“Yes sir, overflew that just a minute ago. The Reka Chamba is coming up now, about 40 kilometers from Vanavara. We turn due south and follow that to the next river, then turn to port for another ten kilometers to approach the town from the west.”

“Very well, let’s get there and sort this out.”

It was another twenty minutes before the spotters called in again, saying they could now see the gleam of wan sunlight on water ahead. The rivers they had overflown earlier were just thin wandering ribbons, but this was bigger, the Stony Tunguska, a watercourse that was 800 to 1000 feet wide in many places.

“River ahead, sir,” called the navigator.

“Come to 055 degrees southeast,” said the Captain. They would just keep the river off their starboard side now until it made another turn that became a sharp bend to the south. Minutes later, they could see the bend ahead, but there was no sign of the town.

“Ground observers, do you have Vanavara?”

Men in the forward gondola or the nose observation ports would have the best view ahead, but one by one they reported the disturbing news.

“Negative, sir. No settlement on the river.”

Volkov shook his head. “Navigator!” he growled. “What in God’s name are you about?”

“Sorry sir,” said the Navigator, “but there is no error. That’s the final bend in the Stony Tunguska up ahead. It will turn south now.”

“Well look, gentlemen,” said Volkov, clearly irritated. “Lakes and towns do not simply vanish! Captain, slow down and hover over the bend ahead, and if I find out this is the wrong hump in that river, I’ll skin you alive, Mister Delov.”

The navigator gave Volkov a nervous look, but he knew he had made no mistakes. The river was bending south ahead, just as it was on his charts, and yet, the town of Vanavara, 3000 plus souls, was simply not there.”

“My God,” the Captain breathed. “What’s going on here? The airfield is gone too. We should be able to see that easily enough, but the whole area is forested. It’s as if the city was never….”

Never there.

Volkov’s eyes narrowed. He reached into his pocket and took out a cell phone device, wherein he had stored the “Mobile Wiki,” an encyclopedia at his fingertips, quite literally. A few taps later, a dark light kindled in his eyes as he stared at the device.

“This can mean only one thing,” he said in a low voice. “I see no sign of distress in the woodland around that river bend, do you, Captain Gorev?”

“No sir.”

“No craters or any sign of war damage?”

“No sir, we’d spot that easily enough.”

“Then this can mean only one thing—we’ve moved again.”

“Moved? In time, sir?”

“How else can this be explained.”

“Then we’ve gone even farther forward? My God, sir. For the landscape to be completely grown over like this, why, we’d have to be decades farther on—perhaps centuries!”

“Perhaps,” said Volkov, “or decades in the past. It says here that Vanavara was an old hunting lodge site for trappers and fishermen on this river, and then a weather station, and the town started up here in 1932.”

“Mister Kornev,” the blond haired Captain looked over his shoulder. “Anything on the radio?”

“Nothing sir. All quiet.”

“Another clue,” said Volkov. “Not that it helps us much. The first radio news broadcast was in 1920. So if we moved forward, we hear nothing because no one is there. If we went backwards, however, then we might have moved to a time before radio broadcast was common. If Vanavara is gone, then we know we went beyond 1932. Navigator, what’s the next closest settlement?”

“Well, if we head south from here we’ll hit the Angara River, and there should be settlements there—possibly Bratsk. Then of course Irkutsk is farther south, and Krasnoyarsk to the southwest.”

“Those would be old city sites, sir,” said the Captain, “well established.”

“Yes…” said Volkov. “Kansk is very near Krasnoyarsk. Plot me a course there. How far is it?”

The navigator traced the route, walking his calipers quickly across the chart. “About 585 Kilometers, sir.”

“Good,” said Volkov. “Take me there, 100 kph. We’ll have breakfast in Kansk, gentlemen, and we’ll sort this business out there once and for all.”

There were a hundred little towns on the navigator’s charts, but most, if not all, were missing as they flew southwest. As with Vanavara, they saw no sign of distress in the landscape—just no settlements, which was strong evidence that none had been founded. How deep had they gone, Volkov wondered when he had returned to his stateroom. How far back? I didn’t think Time wanted us here. Why in God’s name would we slip into the past? Time has to work very hard to send me to the past. There are so many complications, and the risk of Paradox is very high. Moving me forward would be relatively effortless. They say that flowing water seeks the easiest course—this is what I reasoned before when this question first came to mind. So I set my will on going forward, only to find the war in 2021 had come to a desolate end.

Now this!

Where in hell have we ended up this time? How did we get here? There was no storm at all… yet we did overfly the site of the Tunguska Event just a little while ago. Tyrenkov told me that was how all this got started, so I got curious. Could that be a region of temporal instability? Did my sightseeing tour just float blithely through some fissure in time there? If that is so, could I get back that same way if we are marooned in the past here now as I suspect?

It was all so confusing.

Even as he thought that, his wolves started growling, their eyes red, hackles raised. They had been eating their dinner in the iron cage, quite content, but now they were suddenly agitated. There came a shudder, a quavering in the air, and then came a terrible sound. The airship shuddered heavily, as if struck by a great concussion wave. The wolves were howling now, their toothy snouts raised, calling, calling….

Volkov strode quickly to the door of his stateroom, throwing it open and stepping out into the interior corridor. He was amazed to see the entire ship seemed to be glowing, as if some terrible light was on the other side of the exterior canvass shell of the airship, and for a moment, he thought there might be a fire.

That sent a jab of regret through his mind. I should have brought Siberia along on this mission, he thought, just in case, but I left that ship back at the Northern Shamrock when I set off into the wilds it was named for. What has happened? He was on his way to the stairway down, and the ladder to the main bridge gondola again. When he got there, the bridge crew were working the elevator wheel and stabilizing the ship.

“What’s happened?” he shouted, hearing the distant rumble of thunder, explosions. Then they grew quiet, fading, fading away, the light subsiding, the neon green glow suddenly gone, until all was as it was.

“I haven’t the foggiest idea,” said Captain Gorev. He was on the intercom. “All hands, report and damage to the bridge immediately. Chief of Engineers—check all stations. This is the Captain.”

They would check, but no damage would be found, and no reports would come. All was as it was before that first shudder trembled in the air of his stateroom. Now he had the distinct feeling that something had reached for him with deadly intent. Something had sought his life. It was a deep, ominous realization, and though there was nothing he could see as any evidence around him, he was certain that something had just tried, with all its might, to crush this ship and end his life—but it had failed.

Now he smiled, knowing what it was.

Chapter 32

Paradox, he thought. I believed I needed to be in the future, and that Time would certainly send me there. It was so much easier, but no, we shifted to the distant past. I’m sure of it now. Yet the past is so powerful, so laden with possibility. From here I can effect catastrophic change. That’s what I did before, finding myself in 1908 to eventually rule the Orenburg Federation… yes, I remember everything now. The dreams were all real. I know everything at long last, and particularly how that conniving bastard Tyrenkov worked so diligently with Karpov against se during WWII.

My head had been filling up with memories for months now, and I think Tyrenkov was beginning to suspect I was learning things he wanted to keep sleeping. But now I know it all, the mind of every Volkov on various meridians of time all joining hands in one head. It is wonderful, and terrible at the same time.

We have moved, and surely to the past. That is always dangerous. Tyrenkov spoke of this many times. He said that a man could never go to a place where he already existed, and I spent hours when I first considered this, wondering where I could go, and where that prohibition would hold me at bay… And yet…. Didn’t that rodent Vladimir Karpov do exactly that? He was there in the 1940’s when Kirov came that second time, and look what happened! Suddenly there were two Karpov’s.

Yes… and he was aboard this very ship when it happened— Tunguska. That’s how he managed to defeat my other self in the past. He went back, even while he already existed on that damn battlecruiser as another self, and the two of them survived—Doppelgangers. The Siberian then took over all the duties the original Karpov wished to shirk off on him, but the senior partner was always the first Karpov, the man who first came back…. The bastards double teamed me, and they undoubtedly poisoned Sergei Kirov’s ear to get him to send his armies against me during that war.

Of course they did. They knew my Orenburg Federation and alliance with Hitler could have changed the entire outcome of the war. It would most certainly have done so… until Karpov appeared. Once that brigand seized the reins of power in Siberia, then he and his lacky Siberian self both double teamed me.

Once Volkov got over the anger and resentment in remembering all of that, he composed himself, eyes narrowed. He was watching his wolves, seeing how they both settled down again, their eyes on him, watching him as closely as he was watching them. Then a sudden thought came to him. Two wolves, Greyback and Ghost…. Why not two of me? Yes…. Two Volkovs! What if I pulled the same rabbit out of my hat, just like Karpov did? What if we are in the past now, a past where I already exist, yet I remain alive and well here on this ship. Would my other self also survive? Would I get a Doppelganger, just like Karpov did? Interesting….

But what would I do here? Yes, I could use my foreknowledge of the history, and this airship, to wield tremendous power. I could certainly set myself up as a nice little emperor in my own rite. Why, men would flock to my banner like they did to Napoleon when he returned to Southern France. But how dreary it would be, living out all those long years in the early 20th Century, struggling through the Revolution, building my network, consolidating power, watching that monster Adolf Hitler rise to cast his shadow over Europe again, fighting that long terrible war…

He thought about that a good long while, until he realized he did not have to suffer that fate. He could leave here any time he wished. He could go anywhere with Tunguska, even though he had no real control over where he would end up. He was not marooned here.

As this certainty settled on him, he began thinking of how he should exploit this time, and what he might do. First things first, he thought. I must learn exactly where we have ended up. It’s clear now what happened. We must have flown right through some temporal instability over the site of the Tunguska Event. Why we were thrown into the past, I may never know, but if we are here, I must not let this opportunity go to waste. There is so much mischief I can work, but first I must know where we have ended up. Kansk will tell the tale. When I get there, I will learn what the date and time is now, and all these questions will be answered. Then I can begin.

Kansk was only six hours away, the great mass of Tunguska soaring above the white clouds over the taiga and tundra. In modern times, it was a city of 92,000 people on the Kan River, and the site of a naval arsenal. As they approached, beginning their slow descent, Volkov remembered how his men fought here during the war, falling on the city, and nearby Ilanskiy, with a fleet of airships and his 22nd Air Mobile Brigade.

I was a much older man then, he remembered, pulling the memory from another head. I had lived out all those long hard days from the madness of 1908 when I first stumbled down those stairs at Ilanskiy, to the heat and fire of WWII. Yes, I was aging, but still strong, still as determined as ever. I took three of my airmobile battalions in, and then brought in reserves with those German transports I wrangled from Hitler, my Air Landing Brigade. It was a glorious attack, the airship fleets dueling in the skies, the men parachuting into battle. Or leaping from our airships when they went to a low ground hover.[10]

Three times we fought to control that railway inn, but the Siberians fought hard, and I could never succeed in taking it. Now it is right there for the taking, before any of those battles will ever be fought—assuming I am correct about our movement to the past. So we will go to ground quietly, north of Kansk, and then take a shore party on the ground into the city. No use frightening the locals when they see this massive airship in the sky. No, that must be avoided.

Then again… is the inn still there?

Memories flooded in, of that fateful moment when they set that railway inn on fire…. They watched it burn for a good long while, the dark grey smoke thickening to black, the bright red and yellow flames raging ever higher. The wood would hiss and pop as it burned, and little by little, the key load bearing beams and columns were consumed, until they gave way in a chaotic snap, sending a plume of wild red cinders and glowing embers up into the deepening gloom. It was as if long decades were burning, the death of the railway inn being a key supporting beam that had allowed them to ever exist, the floorboards of the years warped and bent, then broken in the collapse, and devoured by the flames….

Well, we certainly created on massive problem for Mother Time, when we kindled that fire, he thought. If that railway inn was burned in 1908, then how did Tyrenkov get there to even light the fire? How did I get there, and Orlov too? None of us could have been standing there watching that railway inn burn. It was impossible, a Paradox of the highest order, and it simply could not be happening. Unless….

Yes, unless Tyrenkov rebuilt that inn. He gave the innkeeper a pouch of Rubles and Kopecks in compensation, and he asked the innkeeper for the name of architect who built the place. So that has to be the answer. Tyrenkov rebuilt it, sometime between the hour we first burned it, and the day Fedorov first stopped there in WWII. That can be the only answer to that dilemma.

So it may be that I find myself unable to take possession yet again. Ironic, isn’t it? Here I come in the airship that Karpov used to lord over these grey skies. But I must know where we are… when we are.

“Captain—that clearing ahead looks suitable. Take us down, and notify the Guard to get a team together.”

“Will you be accompanying them, sir?”

“Of course not. Just get four or five men on motorbikes and get them into Kansk. They are to bring me back documentary evidence of the current date. Nothing more.”

“Very good, sir.”

That ended up being a very easy thing to do. They hovered, lowered four men and four motorbikes down in a cargo lift, and they sputtered off to the south in their black uniforms, submachineguns strapped over their shoulders. They would return a few hours later with newspapers in hand, the easiest way they could have possibly learned the date and time.

“You are certain these are current, Colonel Dobkin?”

“Yes sir, I asked a local if the date on that paper was accurate. He said it had just come out that morning. Someone brought a bundle in on the train from Krasnoyarsk.”

“Excellent work, Colonel. Dismissed.”

The dark coated man saluted, and was up the ladder from the bridge gondola and gone. Volkov held the freshly printed newspaper out to have a look, smiling.

“My, my,” he said with an evil grin. “It’s September of 1910, gentlemen. Interesting…. Captain, take us up. We are going to the Caucasus, to Baku, in fact. How far is it, Mister Delov?”

“One moment, sir…. I make it about 3,700 kilometers.”

“No small journey,” said the Captain.

“Indeed. Do we have the fuel?”

“Yes sir, and that we use can be replaced in Baku easily enough.”

“Perfect,” said Volkov. “Then, weather permitting, we could be there in 36 hours or so. See to it, Captain. I’ll be in my stateroom.”

Captain Gorlev knew enough by now to never ask why Volkov was giving an order. His job was merely to find a way to make it so, and this one seemed easy enough. Yet he could not help but wonder, nonetheless, just why this sudden move to the Caucasus would be in order. He would not learn that until they arrived….

Bailov Prison, September 13, 1910

Colonel Martynov was not happy. This wretch of a man that he and so many others in the Okhrana had been watching for months was trying to wriggle off the hook yet again. He was a man of a hundred faces, a hundred names, though the Colonel would never forget him now that he had a good long look. Yes, this is the same man they called Kuba when we had him here before, in 1908—the same man they called Soso, a cagey little rabble-rouser of the incipient revolution. Tracking him became almost impossible. He shifts identities as often as another man might change his clothes!

He was Gayoz Nizheradz when we first got our hands on him in March of 1908, but that name didn’t fool us for very long. Eventually we simply exiled the man, and two years later he is back again, up to his same old tricks. So we arrest him a second time, only this time he calls himself Zakhar Melikyantz. One day he is Kuba, or Beso, or Ivanov. The next day he is Kato, Solin, the Caucasian, the Priest, and today he is called the Milkman, perhaps because of his fondness for milk, because our spies found him frequenting a milk bar.

He is as shady a character as I have ever seen, and so once again, I recommend no less than five years exile in Siberia. This time, we will send him to Yakutsk! Yet today I learn he is appealing to the Caucasian Viceroy, asking for leniency. On what grounds, I might ask? All the man has done since we got our hands on him is work his bile through the prison inmates, accusing them of being spies, organizing gangs, attacking and killing his enemies in his ruthless self-styled purge.

He is as corrupt a man as I have ever seen, and the list of his crimes goes on and on—robbery, extortion, bribery, racketeering, and of course we cannot forget his subversive propaganda, his traitorous organizing in the shadows of this city. He should be locked up forever, but then that would only be my headache for as long as the man is under my guard. I am told the final decision on his exile will be made today, so we shall see what fate has in store for him. We shall see…

* * *

The greatest part of that fate was lying in wait for all of Russia, but few, if any, could see that far ahead, or ever believe what they would see if they could. The Revolution, like all rebellions against an established order, began with discontent, perceived injustice and oppression, and basic inequity in the distribution of wealth and services. It was the same story everywhere. Elite families husbanded wealth and power, while the common man or woman scrounged out a living as best they could. Capitalism had a genius for generating wealth, but its mechanism continued to move it higher and higher on the social pyramid, until the barest few at the very top controlled more wealth that all the rest combined.

The Revolution started as an idea, as grand and compelling in the minds of its creators as any other great social edict, and it began with every good intention. Yet like all social systems created by men, it would slowly become corrupt over time. The British writer George Orwell wrote his now famous parody of the Russian Revolution in the book Animal Farm, where the grand experiment began with the catchphrase “All Animals are equal!” Yet it did not take long before it was evident that “some Animals are more equal than others.” The same story played out in the United States, which had boldly proclaimed “all men are created equal! Soon, however, it was evident that those who were not white Anglo-Saxon Protestants, and those who came to America from foreign shores, were deemed less equal than others.

The oppressive world that Orwell painted in his more serious book 1984 was one path this inherent inequality of society could take. The other path was that described by Aldus Huxley in his landmark novel Brave New World.

No one knew it at that moment, though Colonel Martynov might have been one to suspect, that a man like the one he was ruminating over might one day seize real power, overthrow the old order, and become the “Big Brother” that Orwell was writing about in 1984, and it would not take nearly that long. Today was the day the Colonel had waited for, the final sentencing and banishment of the man he had been grumbling about, and at that moment, the thought that this same man would rise to seize control of the entire government of Russia was unthinkable.

He would use all the same old tactics and ploys that the Colonel saw him crafting in prison. He would sew suspicion and spread rumors to prompt others to take action against his perceived enemies. He would manipulate everyone around him to the service of his devious plots, and slowly breed an atmosphere of terror and fear. He would eliminate his opposition, one man after another, until no one dared oppose him. Even after they all fell into line, he would continue to decimate the ranks with grand purges to slake his own inner fear.

Then, all over Siberia, the place where he would be banished, he would build little prisons and detention camps like the one he found himself in now. What was good for the goose, was good for the gander. Everyone would suffer as he had suffered. There would be no exceptions. Even his most trusted associates would fall under his suspicion, particularly anyone who had gained any measure of popularity and respect. One by one, he would eliminate them all… in the purges, executions, labor camps… in the Gulags.

And it all started here.

Chapter 33

Bailov prison was a dark and cheerless place, a place of terror, and isolation, and the misery squeezed from one man after another where they huddled in the cold stone cells, behind heartless bars of iron. One man sat there, brooding, yet scheming in his mind. He had been arrested for his persistent criminal acts against the order of the state. The tall, fearsome agents of the Okhrana had finally tracked him down and dragged him before a court of censure, where he was lucky to have only been sentenced to 18 months in this rat’s nest.

He was born 18 December 1878 in a little town in the Caucasus called Gori. His mother had been a simple housekeeper, his father a cobbler who often drunk himself into a stupor and beat him cruelly in the early years of his life, where the world also branded him with the scars of smallpox, and physical ailments in his feet and left arm that would plague him in later years. Yet he endured the abuse, as if he was nothing more than another piece of stone beat upon by his father, and he grew to a handsome man in his twenties.

That childhood was perhaps the reason why he forsook his real name long ago, becoming a chameleon of sorts, changing names and identities, and moving in the shadows. He had come to Baku to rouse the oil workers, to rob and steal in order to fund other revolutionary cells, to drink and brawl, and hatch subversive plans.

His rebellious spirit soon found him in the activist circles and hidden meeting rooms of the incipient revolution in Russia. He read forbidden literature, the writings of men named Lenin and Marx, and soon began to agitate on their behalf. He wrote and circulated papers condemning the wealthy oil barons and bankers who had come to Baku at the edge of the Caspian Sea, and he helped organize workers strikes against them there. He joined the Bolsheviks, helped to print and spread their propaganda, and recruited new cells. He robbed the bankers he saw bleeding the country dry and used their money to foment further revolutionary activity… and he was tracked down by the Tsar’s secret police and arrested.

The Okhrana had been watching him for years, other shadows that seemed to follow him everywhere, instilling in him the ever present fear of being discovered. It came to a point where he could trust no one, and he was always looking over one shoulder, even with his most trusted associates, and he let them all know why he was so ardent in the pursuit of perceived enemies and spies.

“Betrayal is the worst fate a man can endure in his mind,” he told them. “The betrayal of someone with whom you’ve shared everything is so horrible, that no actor or writer could ever express it. It is worse than the very bite of Death!”

This dark sentiment would be a blight upon all of Russia one day, for he would never still his suspicion, his constant fear of betrayal, the urge to root out and eliminate anyone he perceived as a threat.

By the same token, he could never operate in one location for very long, and he learned to disassemble, move, and reassemble his printing press as a matter of course. Movement was life, stagnation death. Loyalty was an illusion, distrust the bitter way of life. That was how he saw things. In many ways, he was like a deadly virus in the body politic of his time, infecting the masses, always pursued by the antibodies of the Tsar’s secret police, then mutating to come again in another guise. And for this man, there was no vaccine.

The prisoner was a man with no heart, for it had died with his young wife of 23 years the previous autumn, a shattering life tragedy that left a terrible mark on Koba. He told his associates how he felt in no uncertain terms: “…Now she is dead, and with her passing goes my last drop of feeling for mankind.” He placed his hand on his breast in anguish. “Here, in here, everything is empty, unutterably empty.”

Now he sat in the prison of Bailov, brooding on how he might soon regain his freedom and continue with his revolutionary zeal. He had a plan, and it was all arranged. He would feign illness, something terrible like tuberculosis, so he could be taken from his cell to the infirmary, and there he would switch places with another patient being discharged, and escape. He had secretly sent messages to his comrades outside, and they would arrange a coach and driver to spirit him away into the cold countryside where he would travel north and east, far away from the black hole in which he now found himself. He would then change his name again, assuming another alias like so many other comrades in the struggle, and he would find another cell to infect and breed the virus of revolution. As Colonel Martynov had surmised so well, he was a man with a hundred identities.

That night he was thinking what he would call himself next, and something elegantly simple came to mind. The name would be easily grasped, and rooted in the Russian word that sounded much like his old family name, for he was Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, and Dzhuga meant “Steel” in the old Georgian tongue. So he called himself by the Russian name for that word—“Stalin.”

It was all set to happen as he planned it, except for one small mishap. Three nights before he would set his plan in motion, a man arrived at the gate of the prison, dressed in the dark black garb of the Okhrana. He presented his badge and papers, and was let in through the high metal doors, slowly climbing the stone steps to the warden’s office. In his hand he held an order concerning a certain prisoner.

* * *

“Ah,” said Colonel Martynov. “You have come for the Milkman. It’s about time. I wanted to see him dealt with before I, myself, am replaced here. It seems a Captain Galimbatovsky is being sent to take my place, and for a moment I thought you might be him.”

“Not at all,” said the visitor. “But who is this Milkman?”

“Just an alias,” said Martynov. “Tomorrow we will be calling him something else, but you most likely know the man as Koba.”

“Indeed.”

“Well? Is he to be banished as I strongly suggested? The only thing to be done with this rogue is to get him as far from here as possible. Even Yakutsk would be too close. Perhaps Sakhalin or even Kamchatka would be better. I have heard that Colonel Eremin is softening on the man, but that would be a grave mistake. This one is a snake, and if left to his devices, there is no telling what he might end up doing next. He should be dealt with in the harshest possible terms.”

“Have no fear,” said the visitor. “But tell me,” he handed the Colonel a document. “Is this the man in question? I must be certain there is no mistake made here, particularly since you say this man has so many identities.”

Martynov looked at the document, a police report showing the man’s mug shot, face forward and in profile. There was no mistaking him, young, handsome, with wild dark hair, coal black eyes and that stiff mustache. “That is him, the Milkman today, Koba again tomorrow, or Sosa, or something else.”

“Very well, I must see him now to verify this with my own eyes, and then we can conclude this matter. I have a proper writ, which I will present to you after I see this man.”

“Good! At long last. Here is the cell number. I had him removed from the general population and put in isolation today pending this verdict. Go and see him for yourself. The Corporal will show you the way.”

“Very well, Colonel, but understand that the law may proscribe a harder fate than even you might dictate for a man like this. It will be taken care of this hour.”

“Can you assure me that he will not be permitted to stay in the Caucasus for at least five years?”

“Colonel, I can assure you that he will not live in the Caucasus another day…. Ever again.”

The visitor turned, led off by the young Okhrana Corporal, and soon the cold clap of his boots were echoing in the long stony hallway that led to the cell where Stalin slept.

* * *

It was not long before the Colonel would receive yet another visitor, this time a troop of armed men, carrying weapons unlike any he had ever seen. They were tall, in jet black uniforms that bore a double eagle insignia, but they were not like any soldiers or security officers he knew. Something about them spoke of fear, and behind them, flanked on either side by two great beasts that he held on iron chains, there were even more soldiers.

In they came, striding right to the central command offices of the prison, as if they knew exactly where to go. When one of his Okhrana guards stepped to block the doorway, two of the dark uniformed men hammered him aside with the butts of their weapons. Then they kicked open the office door, and three men entered.

“What is the meaning of this?” said Martynov. “Who are you? What business have you here?”

None of the Colonel’s questions were answered. The three men walked boldly up to the Colonel, removed his sidearm, searched his desk, and then one turned and nodded to another man by the door.

“This is outrageous!” said Martynov. “Do you realize who I am?”

In came a tall, trim man, in a light grey uniform with a dark outer cape draped over his shoulders, lined with burgundy. His boots were high and black, and his chest bore a single gold medal, again, the double eagle, overlaid with the platinum letter “V.” The two beasts were at his side, snarling and growling at the Colonel, enough to deflate all his indignant anger. He had never seen such a thing! Those were not dogs as he first thought, but wild wolves!

“Yes, Colonel Martynov,” said the man in grey. “I know exactly who you are. Now then… I will be brief. Do not worry, I have no interest in you at all. I am merely here to see to the fate of another—a man you know as Koba.”

“Koba? Then you are with the man I just spoke with?”

Volkov inclined his head. “What man is this?”

“Why… now that you ask, he did not even give his name. But he had a police report identifying Koba.”

“I see… And where is this man now?”

“He’s gone to see the prisoner, Koba, Sosa, Ivanov, call him what you will. They are all the same man.”

“The Milkman,” said Volkov, with a wry smile.

“You heard that too? Good. Then you must be Okhrana. Were you sent from St. Petersburg?”

“No more questions,” said Volkov. “Where is this prisoner, and this other man you say you just spoke with?”

“He was Okhrana too,” said the Colonel. “He said he was here to pronounce the final verdict, and needed to first identify the prisoner. You do not know him? My God… Could he be an accomplice? Might they be planning an escape?”

“Where is he!” Volkov raised his voice, and the two wolves lunged forward, snarling at the Colonel, who staggered back against the wall, terrified.

“The guard will take you!” he pointed, eyes wide with fear.

* * *

The prisoner was awakened in the night, squinting up through bleary, sleepless eyes when he heard the footsteps approaching. A long stony corridor led to his cell, which had once been a storage room, and it was lit by a single bare lightbulb, which flickered on and off at times in a most annoying way. Koba sat up, squinting at the figure approaching his iron barred cell door. Then a shadowy form stood there, his face unseen in the darkness. A quiet voice spoke from beyond the metal bars, saying his old family name, a question in the inflexion.

Who was this, he wondered? Was his appeal to the Viceroy finally granted? Yet how did he know his real family name? Was he a friend, an associate sent by his comrades to offer him aid? He should not have answered the man’s question, but as everything he ever said was mostly thought of as a lie, this one would think his real name was nothing more than another alias.

“Yes,” he breathed, wondering who the shadow was that had come to him in the dark of the night. The shadow was death—his own death—in the hand of a man who held a steel pistol, aiming it right at the center of the empty heart that would so blacken the world in decades to come with its insatiable hunger for violence and revenge. The shadow had a name as well, Sergei Mironovich Kostrikov, though now he simply called himself Mironov, an alias, like the many names this Josef Stalin had taken upon himself. He never gave his name to Stalin, and he wasted not another second as he pointed his pistol, squeezed the trigger, and fired.

That one single act, the flexing of a finger in the night, would change the lives and fates of millions, redraw the borders of nations, and recast the entire political landscape of the world in decades to come. Was it born in Fedorov’s plaintive and desperate whisper at Mironov’s ear, and given life by his insatiable curiosity that led Mironov to discover what the stranger meant? Or did it spring from the hollow of Orlov’s darkened soul when he leapt from that helicopter and set Fedorov off on the long pursuit that followed? Where was first cause? Was it Karpov’s darkened soul that had set Orlov in motion? No man would ever know, but that did not matter now.

It was done.

Mironov could not help but flinch when he fired, and he could see the wound he had delivered to Stalin was surely fatal. Then, to his surprise, there came a great commotion echoing up the corridor behind him, and the sound of some growling beast. Hard footfalls slapped the stony hallway, but he knew he might face a moment like this when he first hatched his plan. Yet he had been very careful, very precise. He had well forged identity papers, written orders, a writ of execution and summary judgment that was so authentic that the men in the hallway would never doubt it

They would have to question him, of course, but he knew exactly what to say, and how to threaten them if they dared to interfere with him now. Mironov had every confidence that he would prevail, and soon be on his way. It was the same careful confidence that might have served him so well in the years ahead, when he, too, would take a new name like the man he had just killed. Yes, he had thought about it a good long while, and from this day forward, he would be known as Kirov…. Sergei Kirov.

The men came up the hall, and he turned slowly, seeing them leveling evil looking weapons at him. These were guards unlike any of the others, he thought. Did that Colonel Martynov send them? Then a voice spoke from the shadowy clutch of men clotting that corridor, and blocking any hope of flight.

“You are Sergei Mironovich Kostrikov?” came the question. “You were sent here to carry out a writ of execution for this prisoner?”

Kirov took a deep breath, and smiled. They must have already been informed, he thought, which meant the artfully crafted cover story he had labored to build, through one official after another, had held up.

“Yes,” he said quietly. “To both questions, and I have just carried out the sentence as ordered by St. Petersburg.”

“Good,” came the reply. Then Sergei Kirov heard the cold snap of fingers, the last sound he would hear in this life. The two guards opened fire with their automatic weapons, the bullets tearing through him like the Devil’s Teardrops. He fell, his body riddled and bleeding.

Then Ivan Volkov stepped forward, his face just now bathed in the wan overhead light, his heavy brows leaving the eyes wreathed in shadow.

“Open that cell door,” he said darkly to his men. “My wolves are hungry, and there is certainly plenty here to eat….”

Part XII

Sea Wolves

“We have doomed the wolf not for what it is, but for what we deliberately and mistakenly perceive it to be –the mythologized epitome of a savage ruthless killer – which is, in reality, no more than a reflected image of ourself.”

― Farley Mowat

Chapter 34

They could feel it.

Everyone on the ship seemed uneasy that morning. The men at breakfast mess seemed listless, cheerless, and bothered. The Mishmanny, looked over the charts for work rotations, all while feeling some great thing was being overlooked. It was a general feeling of threat, something impending, like a great sword hanging over them, and the farther up the chain of command, the more those feelings registered.

Orlov’s dreams were dark that night, and the last image in his mind before he awoke was the face of the conniving security man—Ivan Volkov. He wasn’t trying to butter his bread this time, promising him things he could never deliver. No, this time is was just his face, staring, then laughing, and he heard the growl of some animal behind him, low, dangerous, threatening.

Doctor Zolkin was unable to sleep, restless in his quarters, and decided to open the infirmary early that morning. He had been cleaning up, and organizing things, when he came upon a memory key tucked away in an envelope, deep in his desk. What was this, he wondered? He took it out, eyes narrowing behind his thick dark-rimmed glasses. Then he went to his computer to see exactly what it was, but found the file was encrypted.

“That’s strange,” he said aloud. “Why would I…?” Frowning, he typed in a password, but it failed. Then he went to another old standby, a password he used only for very select files, and was gratified to see the file open. There, in a long column, were names of crewmen on the ship. Right at the top, three names jarred him at once: Markov, Volushin, Lenkov…. He sat there, staring at the screen, trying to remember what this list was all about.

Still sleeping in his cabin, Admiral Volsky was having that same old nightmare again. He was at sea, on the bridge of a great fighting ship, and hearing the roar of big guns firing. The sound of something big and dangerous in the sky possessed him, the whoosh of great metal rounds falling into the water off his port side. He saw the sea churned up in a great splash as one fell very near the long steep bow of the ship. Then the image faded, the dream fled, and in its place he saw the face of Pavel Kamenski, the old KGB man, and he was holding a book of some kind.

“It’s all gone, Admiral,” he said. “Everything has changed. Wake up now! Pay attention! You are on a ship with no name. You must see for yourself….”

The old man’s face faded away, and his eyelids fluttered open. For a moment, he blinked, confused, wondering where he was. Then the familiar sound and feel of Kirov registered on his waking mind, and he sat up. As soon as he did so, the sense of some grave and terrible error was upon him. What was it? What was wrong?

Two decks above, Fedorov woke with a start, eyes wide, knowing something had happened. Was it only a dream? The feeling he had was dreadful, as if some great wave was about to crest and break upon the ship, dragging Kirov down, down, deep beneath the sea. He looked about, as if trying to see if the room itself had changed, if the ship was stable, and still structurally sound, but all seemed normal and in place. Yet he could not shake the feeling that some great doom had befallen the world; that some news was vibrating on the airwaves, carrying the dreadful tale.

Nikolin, he thought. I must get to Nikolin.

Up on the bridge, Karpov opened the door from his ready room, seeing the night crew just getting ready to go off shift. The men saluted, and Kalinichev at radar for Rodenko announced him.

“Admiral on the bridge!”

“As you were,” said Karpov. “I heard no alarm, but I had the distinct feeling that something was amiss. Anything on radar, Comrade Kalinichev?”

“No sir, all clear.”

But this was something deeper, thought Karpov, something unseen. In his mind, the only thing that emerged was the hidden threat posed by a submarine, and he immediately looked to Velichko, who had the night watch there.

“Sonar, anything unusual?”

“All quiet sir. No readings to report.”

Karpov nodded, then walked slowly to the view pane, seeing the sleek grey shape of Kursk off the starboard side, about five miles out. The ship looked trim and ready, and nothing seemed amiss. Then why did it feel like something was wrong, something was out there, something was coming for them? He looked to Chekov at communications.

“Any overnight messages, Comrade Chekov?”

“Sir, a routine missile inventory and fuel status report from Kursk, routed to the ready room terminal two hours ago. That is all.”

“Anything on general airwaves of any note?”

“I’ve been listening, sir, to the news, but it seems a quiet day. The major news wires are reporting the Chinese have sent troops across the border into southern Iraq. That seems to be the big story this morning.”

It was, but it certainly wasn’t big enough to get Karpov bothered like this. He looked around, noting the ship’s position on the vertical plexiglass digital screen, then looked out to sea again, as if searching for some great white whale, a looming behemoth that he could feel and sense, but not yet see.

One by one, the senior officers of the bridge crew began to arrive, saluting the Admiral as they came in through the hatch, Tasarov, Rodenko, Samsonov. As the shift turned over, Karpov was just looking out to the grey horizon, as if waiting for something to appear. In time he turned, and the first man he went to was Tasarov.

“Lieutenant, give me a good listen, will you? And let’s get a helicopter up. We’ve been lax on ASW patrols of late.”

“Yes sir,” said Tasarov, toggling his message interface to order the helo to make ready for liftoff. Then he settled in beneath his headset, to listen to the sea, closing his eyes. He had been feeling something was wrong that morning, and now, beneath that headset, he could hear some distant moaning under the sea, like the song of a great wounded sea beast. It rose and fell, rose and fell, and he was immediately making adjustments to localize the sound.

Karpov was watching him very closely now, for he knew most every movement an officer might make at his station, and the things Tasarov was doing carried some presentiment of warning. He was listening, then looking up at his waterfall, the visual display of the sonic information the sonar system was picking up. Then he made an adjustment, listening… listening… and Karpov’s worrisome eyes were on him the whole time.

Kirov had a variable-depth low-frequency sonar aft, and a low-frequency bow sonar, known in the West at one time as the “Horse Tail” towed array and the hull mounted “Horse Jaw” in the bow. The towed array could be lowered down and away from the churning wake of the ship, into the quiet zone above the thermocline where submarines often loved to prowl.

“Trouble, Tasarov?” asked Karpov. “Do you hear something?”

“I’m not sure, sir… Yes, I have a sonic aberration, but I’m having difficulty localizing it. Give me a little time, sir.”

“I knew it,” said Karpov, vindicated to think his unease was now associated with his old fear—an enemy submarine. Yet this was an odd place to find one, if that was the threat. They had replenished on the 22nd and 23rd, and then made the passage out of the Java Sea into the Indian Ocean that Fedorov had recommended. They were south of Java, heading out towards the Australian outpost at Christmas Island, and over very deep water.

For Tasarov, something seemed to be resonating in those dark depths, and it was becoming one of those challenges he set his mind to. What was it? At the moment, the itch was there, but he could not scratch it. When the helicopter was up, he would have another data stream from its sonar, more distant from the ship, and he began toggling in the data from Kursk off their starboard side to utilize that ship’s sensors as well. Somewhere up ahead, he knew that Kazan was cruising silently below them, because he could hear it. So he made a mental note to see if they could get a message to Gromyko to coordinate their sonar search.

Fedorov came in through the hatch, breathless, and saw Karpov out on the weather deck with his field glasses. Rodenko announced him, and the crew saluted as he made his way out to see the Admiral.

“What is happening?” he asked immediately.

“Probable submarine,” said Karpov. “The helo is launching now, and Tasarov is working the contact. Don’t worry, we’ll find that snake.”

“A submarine… You’re sure? I woke this morning feeling that something terrible had just happened.”

“I can say the same,” said Karpov, “but it seems I have a sixth sense when it comes to submarines. I put Tasarov on it right away, and he heard something that Velichko missed.”

Karpov had settled on that tangible and familiar threat, and now he seemed to be searching for it through those field glasses, as if he was trying to spot a periscope. But for Fedorov, the sense of dread was deeper, something more fundamental, and not local to the ship—something global….

“I’ll check with Nikolin,” he said. “Can’t shake the feeling that there’s big news today.”

He went back in through the hatch and found Nikolin fiddling with his radio set, and the look on his face was one of annoyance.

“Anything important on broadband?” asked Fedorov, and Nikolin removed his headset.

“Bands are all faded out,” he said, very attenuated—even shortwave. The signals have been getting weaker and weaker. I can’t make out much of anything, sir.”

“What? We’re just 150 miles south of Java. You should have great reception from all their commercial stations.”

“You would think so, sir, and I did hear them when I first sat down—but no longer. Things are fading away. I’ve checked all the big stations locally, Jakarta, Singapore, Darwin. They’re all getting some strange interference, a kind of static that comes in waves, and they’re fading. I can’t even make out voice or music now. It’s just become mush, a wash of noise.”

Of course that did very little to ease Fedorov’s mind, and just reinforced his worry. What would put out general static all across the band like that? Could it have been an EMP burst? Had something started here as it had in 2021? Were the nukes about to fly?

“Rodenko,” he said rushing over to the radar station. “Have you seen anything unusual—anything like an EMP burst?”

“No sir, nothing like that, but I just noticed we lost the carrier signals from Iswahjudi airfield. It’s due north of us now on Java, about 175 miles off, but they just went dark.”

“What about Soekarno Airport to the northwest near Jakharta and the Sunda Strait?”

“Nothing radiating from there either, sir. They’re dark. They may have gone EMCON deliberately.”

“Well, do we still have the Enterprise group on the network?”

Rodenko toggles a few switches, changing his screen display, and raised an eyebrow. Sorry sir, the network feed appears to be down. It does this from time to time, but I can’t read Enterprise just now, or any of the other TF’s that were on our local network feed.”

“Well, they would have a Hawkeye up and that should be out there like a lighthouse beacon.”

“You would think so, sir, but I don’t see it.”

“Did Kalinichev say anything when you relieved him?”

“No sir, just that all was normal. Whatever’s going on it must have just happened.”

Fedorov nodded, clearly distressed. He tapped Rodenko on the shoulder. “Keep watching,” he said. “I need to sit with Tovarich at Navigation.”

“Aye sir.”

Fedorov moved quickly to the Navigation station, and Tovarich saluted. “God morning, Captain,” he said. “Just putting a few charts to rest. We won’t need them out here.”

“Right,” said Fedorov, “we’re in deep water here, and Christmas Island is the only land we’ll likely see.”

“350 miles west, sir,” said Tovarich.

“A long way… Well, I’d like to use the almanac computer. Take a short break and get some coffee or tea.”

“Of course, sir.”

Fedorov settled in and activated the computer module, which was basically just a big database with sun and moon rising and setting times for each day, projecting 200 years into the past and future. He was going to his old standby, the heavenly bodies, unalterable things that would always be where they were supposed to be, each and every second of every day. They were in the first hour of a new day, Zulu Time, which Fedorov always called “Zulu Hour.” Here it was a kind of Zulu Dawn instead, because they were many hours ahead of Zulu Time at this geographic location and it was 07:30, just about an hour after sunrise. That data would be consistent at this location, year after year. The sun rose that morning at 06:28 and it would set that day at a minute after 19:00. Ten years forward or backward in time, and those numbers would be identical—but not for the moon.

The wild mistress of the night shined by borrowed light, and its rising and setting times, and phase, would be different in this location every year. That day, on the 24th of January 2026, the moon was not yet up, and would rise at 10:46. That meant hours of uncertainty until he could get a visual on that moon and determine its phase. It should be an evening crescent, about a third full, and that was what he hoped he would see, though he feared that might not be the case. Just to satisfy himself, he got up and went to the port side weather deck off the bridge, looking for any sign of the moon, but nothing was there. Now he passed through the bridge to the starboard side to rejoin Karpov.

“Anything, Fedorov?” said the Admiral.

“Rodenko says he’s lost contact with land based radars on Java, and the network is down, so he can’t see the Enterprise or Washington groups either.”

“That happens,” said Karpov, “but Java isn’t radiating anything? That’s odd. You mean he hasn’t picked up any civilian aircraft either?”

“Nothing. So I was at navigation looking up sun and moon data.”

For the first time, Karpov lowered his field glasses and looked at him, a searching expression on his face. “You’re thinking we may have shifted?”

“I don’t know, but that’s what I’m trying to determine. I was just looking for the moon. It shouldn’t be up yet, and thankfully, it’s not visible, so that’s some relief. Yet Nikolin says there’s a wave like interference all across the band. I suggested there might have been an EMP event to Rodenko, but he said he saw nothing to indicate that.”

“So you’re thinking we might have drifted off to never-never land again. I wouldn’t put it past this ship, but Tasarov thinks he’s got a bite on an undersea contact, and that argues for the fact that we’re still in our nice little war here.”

“Possibly,” said Fedorov. “Has he confirmed that?”

“Not yet, but the helo is out in position now and he should be getting more data.”

A junior crewman was at the hatch. “Sir,” he said. “Rodenko is reporting an unidentified airborne contact.”

Karpov looked over his shoulder, and that report suddenly focused his attention. “Come Fedorov. Let’s see what this is about.”

They moved quickly to the radar station, and there they could see a pair of bears in the woods, about 236 miles out and very high at 60,000 feet.

“That’s unusual,” said Karpov. “What would be up that high, and out here, in the middle of nowhere like this? Is it on an intercept vector?”

“No sir, there are actually two contacts, and they are slightly off angle, heading 136 degrees southeast, speed 420 knots.”

Chapter 35

“Two contacts….” Karpov thought about that. “Well, it can’t be a Chinese aircraft, not way down here south of Java. Their nearest airfield would be Riau Island, and those contacts would have to be over 800 miles from that. They’re probably Australian aircraft, most likely from Christmas Island. They fly routine maritime surveillance over these waters. Comrade Nikolin—”

“Sir?”

“Get hold of Christmas Island. Ask them if they have any aircraft up this morning.”

It would not take Nikolin long to make that call, but it would offer them no more information. He reported that he was unable to raise anyone there. “No one answers, sir. I get no response.”

Karpov looked at Fedorov. If it was the Australian military, it would have been on the network, but that system was dark at the moment, so there was no joy down that hallway. Karpov didn’t like this ambiguity, and his eyes narrowed.

“The ship will come to Air Alert-2,” he said. “Warm up the Gargoyles, Comrade Samsonov.”

As he finished, Rodenko broke in with yet another contact report.

“New airborne contacts, Bear, Bear, two units off our starboard bow. Heading 133 degrees southeast, and that is an intercept vector. Speed, 480 knots at 45,000 feet.”

Now that was right in the wheelhouse for a fighter or strike plane, thought Karpov, but here?

“Nikolin, raise those aircraft with a warning. They need to respond, and now.”

But all Nikolin got back was silence, after repeated hails. This was very strange. Was it the Australians, the Indonesians? Could it be planes out of Singapore headed for Perth? He had no reason to do anything more than wait, but there was a stirring in his gut that was unsettling. His instincts told him this was an attack vector.

He was quite correct.

“Vampires!” shouted Rodenko. “The Bears have fired. Weapon speed 2000 knots. More Vampires to the north, now falling through 12,000 feet, speed 530 knots. I’m getting two more Bears there, sir—just picked them up as they fired.”

“Air Alert-1. You are cleared hot, Samsonov.”

“Kursk is responding with Growlers, sir,” said Rodenko.

They watched, riveted to the tactical screen as Kursk’s 9M96 Growlers lanced out and tore up the fast contacts Rodenko had reported. Then they fired on the slower contacts. Kursk had pulled ahead to take the morning forward watch, and it seemed to be able to lock on and engage. But Samsonov reported he had no reflectivity on the Vampires.

“What about the Bears?” said Karpov.

“Imprecise targets, sir. I cannot lock on.”

“Even at 65 mile range?”

“Sir,” said Rodenko. “Kursk has downed all the Vampires, but they also report they cannot get a solution on the Bears.”

Karpov nodded.

“Stealth fighters?” Fedorov suggested. “That looked like a glide bomb attack from the north, with anti-radiation missiles from the northwest.”

“Affirmative,” said Rodenko. “And I can now report the initial two contacts have turned on an intercept heading. They are now 206 miles out, and still at 60,000 feet.”

Karpov frowned. A J-20 might get up there, though it was believed that plane topped out at 55,000 feet. In his estimation, those had to be reconnaissance planes, possibly even UAV’s, but who owned them? Who was calling the shots here? They were suddenly jolted by yet another alarm.

“Vampires at one-o-clock!” said Samsonov in his deep voice. “Locking on and engaging now.”

“Sea skimmers, sir,” said Rodenko. “Very fast—over 1100 knots.”

“Well that rules out Tomahawks, and most every missile the Chinese have. Who the hell is attacking us?”

There were a lot of missiles out there, a train of 16 according to Rodenko, fast and low on the sea. Kirov’s Gargoyles responded now, but they would not have a good attack angle. The missiles would be coming in perpendicular to the train of Vampires, and would have to execute a turn to the left to catch them as they passed, apparently all directed at Kursk.

Karpov rushed to the window, and he could see the first explosions out near the horizon as the Gargoyles got kills. Kursk was trying to lock on, but was having difficulty getting reflection off the incoming vampires, so they were stealthy. It was up to Kirov, but given that attack angle, they had to use a great many SAM’s to clear that threat. The last five turned and had to race after the Vampires, finally catching them from behind with their superior speed. They had been using the medium range 48N6, which had an 80 mile range, but it had taken 27 missiles to catch and kill all 16 vampires.

When Karpov heard that, he started to become concerned. This entire situation was crazy. They were in waters that should have been entirely safe.

“Rodenko, were any of those airborne contacts to the northeast?”

“No sir. You can see all three contact pairs on the tactical display. I have no contacts behind us.”

“Then they might have come off a submarine,” said Karpov, returning again to the nemesis he thought he had sensed first thing that morning. None of this was adding up. Java was dark, all across the bandwidth; the network was down, and no one was responding to direct radio hails. Nikolin tried to raise the Enterprise, and got no response there as well. It was getting spooky. Then, before he could think another thought, the alarms jarred his nerves yet again.

“Vampires, low and fast, bearing on Kursk and just 16 miles out. The cruiser was out on the horizon now, and Karpov saw the white contrails of its SAM defense lacing up into the sky. This time, Kursk was firing Gargoyles. Soon the ship was lost in a great white cloud of all that missile exhaust, but they could hear the rolling thunder of explosions, just beyond the horizon, so they were getting kills. Kursk had 48 of those missiles, and it had taken 22 of them to do the job, but the cruiser stopped that Vampire train, another 16 missiles that had seemed to come from nowhere.

“Vampires!” said Rodenko again. “12-o-clock, at 530 knots.”

“9M96 system engaging,” said Samsonov. He went to the Growlers, fast and accurate at medium ranges. Even as he engaged, yet another train of fast Vampires came at Kursk from the west, 20 miles out. At 11 miles, their systems finally locked on and fired. It was suddenly a free for all, missile against missile, but the power of both cruisers was enough to win the day. Seconds after the last Vampire was reported killed by Rodenko, there were yet more coming in from the southwest, this time low and slow.

“Sir!” said Nikolin. “Kursk is reporting they are now depleted on all SAM’s.”

The ship had 48 Gargoyles and 48 Growlers, but all had been expended against those fast sea skimmers and glide bombs. They still had seven gatling guns, and Kirov started firing gargoyles to try and cover them. They were four for four, but got the last Vampire inside two miles from Kursk, which was too damn close as Karpov saw things. He was exasperated, still trying to figure out who was attacking them.

Another group of four missiles appeared coming in lazily from the northwest, and Kirov started firing again, clearing the threat. Then four more came from the southwest. They got three, but their fourth missile missed. Samsonov sent another, but it was going to be a race to the target. The Vampire broke through two miles, then Kursk directed three of its 30mm Gatling guns on the beast, and knocked it down just as that last SAM lanced through the smoke of that kill.

An uneasy quiet settled over the smoky seas around them. Anything they had been feeling that morning, that unseen threat, the sensation of impending dread, had suddenly materialized in to this well-coordinated and persistent attack. Yet it was completely unexplained. Yet Karpov had his suspicions, and that was a very dark road to go down if his misgivings were proved to be true. Could the Americans be behind these attacks?

It was now 08:30, and nothing more came at them. All they could see on radar were those very first two contacts, high at 60,000 feet, and moving away from them now to the northwest.

“Nikolin,” said Karpov, “signal Kursk to slow down. We will come up alongside her now.”

“Yes sir.”

“Well, what do you make of this, Fedorov? That looked suspiciously like a good sized carrier strike by stealth aircraft. Tasarov still has no confirmed submarine contacts, and we know damn well that attack wasn’t carried out by the Indonesian Air force. They don’t have the means.”

“A carrier attack? You’re suggesting the Americans did this?”

“With me,” said Karpov, wanting to take the conversation into the ready room. The bridge crew watched them go, and looked at one another, clearly confused and concerned. Why would the Americans suddenly attack them like that? It was the first question Fedorov asked when the ready room door had closed behind them.

“It makes no sense,” he finished.

“Nothing this morning makes any sense, but consider the kind of ordnance we just engaged. There were fast sea skimmers, over 1100 knots, much like the new American LRASM. Then slower missiles came at us, like Tomahawks, and also targets that presented like glide bombs. We never saw the planes until they were released, and they were about 60 miles out. That stinks of F-35’s and their damn GBU-53’s. What other planes could get in that close to us like that undetected? And guess what—the Chinese don’t have this kind of ordnance. The slower cruise missiles that attacked us were moving quicker than their YJ-100, and the faster cruise missiles weren’t YJ-18’s either. They were too far out to be moving at over 1100 knots. Could this be why we suddenly can’t see anything on the fleet network, or why the Enterprise would not respond to Nikolin’s hails? That strike group is just north of Java, about 380 miles from our position, which puts us right in their wheelhouse.”

“That’s quite a shit list,” said Fedorov. “Yes, now that you analyze it like that, it does sound suspicious.”

“Damn suspicious.” Karpov folded his arms.

“But why? I just can’t see why the Americans would suddenly turn on us like this, particularly after all we’ve done for them. Hell, we’re top dog for ship kills in this war, and with three carriers on the list.”

“Remember, Fedorov…. Wasn’t there a bounty out on us? Didn’t the West get messages, to Argos Fire from who knows where? Beware a ship, they said. Beware Kirov.”

That took a moment to sink in. Then there came another alarm. They rushed back out onto the bridge, and Karpov took a wide eyed look at the tactical screen, another massive string of Vampires was coming in at Kursk.

“I’m reading 40 contacts sir,” said Rodenko darkly. Karpov looked at Samsonov.

“SAM count!” he said.

“Sir, I have 79 Growlers and 61 Gargoyles. Attempting to resolve contacts.”

Too close, thought Karpov. The Vampires are too close to Kursk. We are several miles behind her, and it might take all our Growlers to have any chance of defeating that attack. If he give the order we might not even save Kursk given the weight of this attack, and our own SAM count would be dangerously low. But that doesn’t matter.

“Get at them, Samsonov.”

“Sir… The targets are very imprecise. The system is having difficulty locking on.”

Kirov’s Growlers did not lock on until it was too late to fire. To their horror, they looked and saw Kursk come under heavy attack. Explosions pummeled the ship, and they saw smoke and fire consume the superstructure.

“Damn!,” Karpov swore. “Can you get at the planes that delivered that?”

“Unable to lock on, sir. Insufficient reflectivity.” Samsonov’s voice was hollowed out, and the entire bridge crew was downcast. They had arrived here, with hope in hand and brave hearts, meaning to shape the future they had helped create. In all their many battles, they had prevailed, always hurting the enemy, always invulnerable to harm from the other side. Seeing that smoke and fire pouring up into the sky like blood was a shock to them all, and Karpov knew that they had lost many good men over there.

“Recall the helo. Tell them to get in close and prepare for recovery. Let’s get up there, and ready all boats. All ship’s engineers, prepare to render assistance. Kursk is finished….”

There was fire in Karpov’s eyes now as he stared at the burning ship up ahead. There was anger and the desire for vengeance. Fedorov had seen it before, and he knew how dangerous it was. As Kirov approached its stricken comrades, Fedorov looked at his watch and went out onto the weather deck. He would look east, low on the sea, and through the dissipating haze and smoke he strained to see the moon. Nothing was there. He went over to the bridge opticals, scanning the horizon again with good magnification.

Nothing was there.

Frustrated, he looked all over the sky, his careful eye aided by that high magnification on the telescope. He swept slowly, from side to side, gradually moving higher in the sky, and then he thought he saw something. It took him a moment to find it again through the opticals, but he got it centered and adjusted the magnification to full power.

There it was, not the evening crescent he should have seen, but an ominously dark new moon, sullen, bleak, and foreboding. He took note of its position in the sky, judging how long it might have been up there, but this would be an easy mystery to solve. Now he turned and headed for the bridge again. The navigation almanac computer would tell him exactly what he needed to know.

Chapter 36

“This confirms it,” he told Karpov when the two were conferring again in the ready room. “We’ve moved. Don’t ask me how or why, but that moon should have been up as an evening crescent at 10:46, and it was a no show. Instead I found a dead moon, high up, and so dark I had to use the optics on full power to see it. My guess is that it rose five or six hours ago, probably as early as 06:00.”

For a man who had spent so much time reckoning things by the sun and moon, the ex-navigator and now Captain of the battlecruiser Kirov was almost spot on. (That moon rose at 05:55.) Now he explained what he thought this meant.

“I think we’ve moved forward again.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Easy, because if we had slipped backwards, we would surely know that. Things we see around us would be historical events. Can you remember a time when Java was dark and all the radio stations within range of us in the Pacific were down? I can’t, so I think we moved forward. I consulted the Almanac computer to tell me when the moon would be new on this date and time, at this location. That data is chiseled in stone. All the computer has to do is look it up with a simple data query. I ran the search out to the turn of the next century, and it gave me four years: 2039, 2058, 2077, and 2088. Nothing else until after 2100.”

“So you’re telling me we’ve moved to one of those four years?”

“Assuming this is still the 24th of January. If we find out that isn’t the case, then I could redo the search with the date we verify, but by then, we’d already know the year. Right? So this is the best I can do assuming it is still January 24..”

“Lord almighty,” said Karpov. “But Rod-25 is gone, and we certainly haven’t activated that box again.”

“We’d better check with Dobrynin. What if the reactors were acting up again? We’ve been a little busy here to take calls from Engineering.”

“None came in that I’m aware of, but we’ll get to that in a moment,” said Karpov, thinking. “For now, let’s assume you’re correct and we’ve shifted to one of these four dates. My gut is telling me its 2039.”

“Why so?”

“Well, can you imagine how advanced things would be in military affairs beyond that? The weapons we saw coming at us at least resembled those we are familiar with, but I don’t think any navy in the world will still be throwing slow cruise missiles about much after that.”

“Good point,” said Fedorov. “Well, what in God’s name have we gotten ourselves into here?”

“It was certainly a rude welcome. Why would we come under attack like that, and I mean a well-coordinated, deliberate attack. We were hit from multiple attack vectors, with weapons of varying speeds, and with enough saturation to bankrupt Kursk and run our SAM count down as well.”

“The history could have changed a great deal since 2026. Your speculation that this attack was made by the Americans might be correct. What if we are enemies here?”

It was the only explanation that made any sense. The alarm sounded again, this time three consecutive tones, and that got Karpov’s attention immediately. His eyes widened, and he stood up.

“Undersea contact,” he said quickly. “Comrade Tasarov has found us a sea serpent.”

They both went quickly to the bridge, leaving their speculation behind for another hour. Kirov had come up on Kursk, and slowed to a few knots, as the cruiser was dead in the water, still burning fiercely. Orlov had organized the rescue parties, and they now had every lifeboat on the ship out moving the wounded off Kursk first. The morning helicopter ASW watch had landed, so in such a vulnerable situation, Karpov had ordered up another helicopter, and it had been circling them for the last hour, dropping a web of sonobuoys into the sea around the ships. Something had crept into that web, and Tasarov heard it.

“Report!” said Karpov.

“Sir, Goblin bearing 275 degrees, 16 nautical miles out. Speed estimate is 8 knots, depth estimate about 160 feet. Detection data relayed by buoy number 567, but I have no profile match yet. Moving the KA-40 to the site now.”

“Excellent, Tasarov. Excellent. Let’s get another one up.”

They waited, the tension mounting as the helicopter moved in on the location. Tasarov kept working, adjusting his systems, collating data from the sonobuoy sensor net now, and refining his contact. The helo was on site and using its dipping sonar when he turned to the Admiral, an excited look on his face.

“Sir, I have a firing solution.”

“Veter!” said Karpov, referring to the RPK-Veter ASW missile torpedo. Its name meant “wind” and it was the quickest way to get a weapon on an undersea target. It would move at a brisk 1000 knots, and could range out 54 miles before plopping into the water to become a torpedo.

At that moment, Rodenko chimed in.

“Undersea missile launch. The weapons are breaking the surface now. Eight Vampires.”

They saw the missiles rising up on the horizon, turning, then diving for the sea. They were subsonic, and descended to about 100 feet. Kirov’s computers locked on, and Samsonov sent out the Growlers to get the first six at range. Then the Gauntlet system was used to kill the last two. As that battle was fought, the Veter dove into the sea near the suspected goblin, found it, and bored in.

“Explosion in the water!” said Tasarov. “We got it, sir!”

“You got it, Comrade Tasarov. Good work.” Karpov looked at Fedorov. “See what I mean,” he said quietly. “Now they are moving in the submarine. I could feel it out there this morning—feel it in my bones. So it was a missile boat. That could have been firing the slower cruise missiles at us earlier, and by God, the instant they knew we had them, they shot the works at us. I’ve recalled Gromyko, and he’s out there somewhere too, but Tasarov will know that if he hears Kazan. This is a dangerous situation. There may be another boat out there somewhere.”

As if to underscore all Karpov had said, Tasarov sat up strait and called out another contact.

“Goblin! Bearing 307 Degrees Northwest, range 23 miles. No depth or speed data yet.”

“Confirmed,” said Rodenko. I now have missile fire from that location.”

“Take that bastard out, Tasarov, “ Karpov said quickly.

“Unable to engage with Veter or Vodopad systems, sir. Downrange ambiguity is too great at the moment. I am moving the KA-40.”

“Very well. Prepare to repel cruise missile attack. Cleared Hot, Samsonov.”

He would play his Ace, going to the Gargoyles, and taking down all eight missile in a rumble of fire. The helicopter was about 20 miles away, but moved quickly to the scene. It only had enough fuel left to make two dipping sonar deployments, but both yielded no further data.

By this time the morning had worn completely away, and the crew had worked right through afternoon mess, the men tireless as the rescue operation for Kursk continued. A freshly fueled helicopter went out to take up the watch and continue the hunt for this mysterious sub, which now had Karpov getting edgy again.

“One submarine—this I expected. I could feel it all morning. But two? What have we run into out here, a nice little rat’s nest?”

“More like a wolf pack,” said Fedorov, which didn’t help. Kirov continued to circle Kursk, like a great whale minding its wounded cub. That sub may have exhausted its missile inventory, but it still had torpedoes, and they were even deadlier. Then Tasarov reported that something had tickled the sonobuoy web again, and the downrange ambiguity tightened around the Goblin.

A second Veter was fired and soared out to plunge into the sea. It then became a UGMT-1 Orlan class torpedo, and immediately began circling to look for a target. The helicopter had arrived and continued dipping its sonar, but the Goblin was a slippery fish, the contact jumping around on Tasarov’s screen now.

The helo moved south, dipped again, and got a fleeting reading that allowed a second Veter to get out there from Kirov. The rocket hit the sea, circled like a shark, then detected something to the south. It angled towards it, and soon Tasarov had his second kill.

“Got it, sir!”

“Two for two, Tasarov. Good man.”

* * *

The day wore on.

Karpov could see his primary bridge crew was exhausted, and so he ordered the rotation, a little nervous to see Tasarov go. The men would get a good meal, and four hours sleep, ordered to return at 18:00, which was an hour before sunset. He took some rest himself on the cot he had in the ready room, and Fedorov went down to Engineering to see Dobrynin. He would eat, grab two hours sleep, and then report back to the bridge.

They were not attacked again, and all that late afternoon Orlov worked tirelessly to manage the rescue operation. He reported that Captain Molotov had assessed Kursk was over 80% damaged, with so many systems down that there would be no hope of saving the ship. The fires had been controlled, but there was still flooding, and the ship was listing to port. He asked Karpov for permission to abandon ship with the surviving crew, and that was granted.

In all this time, Admiral Volsky had emerged from his cabin, and he had been walking the ship below decks, talking to the men, encouraging them, praising their courage and giving direction as needed. The presence of “Papa Volsky” there among them was invaluable, and it served to buoy the ship’s morale. Then he went to the sick bay, where his good friend Doctor Zolkin had been a very busy man. The wounded had been moved over first, about thirty men, and many had burns, lacerations and concussive injuries. Kursk had a crew of about 400 officers and men, and Zolkin was saddened to learn that over 120 had been killed by that last attack. That left 280 men to see to, but Kirov was a big ship, and they would find room to get them all aboard.

Captain Molotov was among the last to leave the ship, as duty demanded, but he finally came over in a launch at 17:00. Two crewmen were with him, carrying something heavy wrapped in a tarp. They went into the ready room, and the crewmen set the bundle down, saluting as they departed. A gruff, dark haired man, Molotov, “the Hammer” as he was called, was understandably disturbed. Short and stocky, he pointed a thick finger at the bundle on the floor.

“Take a look,” he said to Karpov, who stooped and unwrapped the gift. His eyes narrowed when he saw a small bomb, with the stubs of a little wing deployed, though it was mostly sheared off.

“A glide bomb,” said Karpov sourly.

“That was what hit us in that final attack,” said Molotov. “Forty of them! This one failed to explode. We found it up on the mainmast, and even without detonating, it damaged one of the radars. Don’t worry, I had the engineers remove the warhead. It weighed just a little over 16 kilograms (36 pounds), and the whole bomb weighed only 27 kilograms, (60 pounds).” Molotov folded his arms on his thick chest with a huff.

“Not a GBU-53,” said Karpov. That’s the small diameter bomb carried by the American F-35, and it is over three times heavier. Even its warhead would almost double the weight of this entire bomb. That explains why Kursk wasn’t simply obliterated and remains afloat.”

“Then what is it?” asked Molotov. “It certainly looks like something the Americans might build. Yes?”

“That it does,” said Karpov.

“So what is going on here? Who killed my ship? Have the Americans just turned on us?”

“We don’t know,” said Karpov, “but I suspect as much. That attack was too damn coordinated. We didn’t detect the planes until they released weapons, and even then we could not get firing solutions just sixty miles out. It stinks.”

“Yes, it looks like stealth fighters, and not the Chinese—not way down here. I lost a lot of good men today. Am I to understand you also detected submarines?”

“Yes, and we killed two of them. I think they were missile boats, shooting those cruise missiles at us in close.”

“Their new Virginia Class can carry missiles now,” said Molotov. “You say you got two kills? That is either very good shooting or the American sub Captains got very sloppy. You know how good they are.”

Karpov nodded. Then he gave Molotov a long look. “Captain,” he said, “perhaps you had better take a seat. Captain Fedorov and I have discovered something else you should know….”

17:00 Local, Time Unknown

Submarine Kazan

Captain Gromyko knew that Karpov suddenly had a fight on his hands, but he could not imagine how and why. He had been 40 miles ahead of the two ships, finding the sea quiet, the routine uneventful. Karpov had kept him on a very tight leash, using him mainly for close defense of the ships like this, or forward patrols. They had no encounters, so it was quite surprising to get a message that Kirov and Kursk were now under heavy attack from both air and undersea targets. Hours passed, and then he got an order to turn about and return to Kirov immediately.

He called in his first line bridge crew, and then came about, speeding away through the dark, deep waters south of Java. A careful man, he would sprint and drift, taking a little time to let his sonar man Chernov listen to the sea. If there were enemy submarines out there, he wanted to find them first, and at 17:06, Chernov had a contact.

“Undersea contact,” he said, “bearing 228 degrees, southwest. Range 28 miles, approximate. Estimate depth at 164 feet, speed 8 knots.”

“Helm,” said Gromyko. “Come right to 180.”

“Aye sir, coming right to course 180 true south.”

“Steady on at five knots,” said Gromyko. “Keep listening, Chernov. Any profile on it?”

“No sir, contact reads as unknown.”

“Then we will creep south on this intercept vector and see who this is.”

That would take a good long while, but Gromyko was a very patient man. He had turned so his bow sonar would also come into play, and he was also hiding his own screw noise behind the boat with this maneuver. A flash message went out to Karpov saying he had the scent on an unknown undersea contact that appeared to be moving to intercept Kirov. The message he got back was stark and to the point.

“Prosecute and kill contact. You are cleared hot.”

“Comrade Belanov,” he said, handing his Starpom the message to read. Belanov scratched his head.

“This is most unusual, sir. Would the Chinese have submarines down here?”

“Who knows, but something has killed Kursk, and you know how Karpov feels about undersea threats. Let’s put two Fizik-1’s on it as soon as we have the range.”

That would not be the case until a little before 19:00 hours when Chernov reported the contact range estimate was now just a little over seven miles. They fired, and the two torpedoes whooshed out, quickly accelerating to 70 knots. The first torpedo rapidly closed the range, and at 19:04, Chernov heard it explode.

“Did you hear countermeasures being fired?”

“No sir, just our torpedoes and the explosion.”

Gromyko raised an eyebrow. That was too easy, he thought. But the sonic field cleared, and silence settled around them again. “Resume course to Kirov,” he said. “Speed twenty, sprint and drift.”

Something was very strange with all this. He could feel it. He got a report from Kirov saying they had killed two undersea contacts, and now here was a third. Three submarine kills? This was most unusual.

* * *

Most unusual indeed.

Both Karpov and Molotov hated to abandon Kursk. While the cruiser had used all her SAM’s, it still had 64 Onyx cruise missiles that would be lost, and valuable ASW munitions, including a helicopter that was trapped in the aft hangar.

“This is a damnable mess!” said Molotov when Fedorov returned from his time below decks. “2039? 2058? You mean to say you don’t even know where we are? When we are?”

“The munitions used in the attack argue for the earlier date,” said Karpov, but this is merely speculation. We could still be right where we were, in 2026, but we have had no radio signals of any kind all through the day. This is looking grim.”

And it would get worse.

They would stand on the bridge, looking at the gaunt wreck of Kursk on the horizon as they pulled away into the darkness towards the setting sun. Then, to their surprise, there came a great explosion, and they looked, wide eyed, to see Kursk had blown up. The cruiser was gone minutes later. Something had crept in behind them, silent, unseen, deadly, and it had killed the ship. Each man had his own dark thoughts, but Karpov spoke his.

“The wolves have come for their kill,” he said. “There was no missile detected. That had to be another submarine. Helm, all ahead full. Get us out of here.”

The shadows of uncertainty ahead would offer them little comfort, for there were things lurking in the night, roving the seas, hidden beneath them, and now they had the scent of the kill.

And they were coming….

The Saga Continues…

Kirov Series: The Next War

Far Horizon

In a strange day of tension and battle, the seas once believed to be safe waters have become a private hell for Karpov and the crew of Kirov. With their sister ship Kursk destroyed, they now set their course for Christmas Island, preparing a shore party to determine why the world around them has gone dark, and where they might be in time. They will not get far before the alarms will sound again, and Kirov and Kazan are soon in a struggle for their lives.

Meanwhile, the war in Iraq continues as the Coalition encircles Baghdad and Sergeant King’s Light Troop soon finds itself on a mission to the heart of the city. In the south the standoff between the Chinese and US forces near the West Qurna oil field threatens to erupt, even while the Chinese Navy consolidates for a daring new campaign.

Reading the Kirov Series

The Kirov Series is a long chain of linked novels by John Schettler in the Military Alternate History / Time Travel Genre. Like the popular movie “The Final Countdown” which saw the US Carrier Nimitz sent back in time to the eve of Pearl Harbor in 1941, in the opening volume, the powerful Russian battlecruiser Kirov is involved in an accident during live fire exercises that sends the ship back to the 1940s in the Norwegian Sea, where it subsequently becomes embroiled in WWII.

Similar to episodes in the never-ending Star Trek series, the saga continues through one volume after another as the ship’s position in time remains unstable. The main 40 volume series is an alternate history of WWII, from 1940 to late 1944, showing the war as it is changed by the intervention of Kirov and crew. It is the most detailed fictional depiction of WWII ever written, covering most every major battle on land and sea.

Getting Started:

There are two key entry points to the series, the most obvious being Book 1, Kirov, where you will meet all the main characters in the series and learn their inner motivations. However, as the series describes a great loop in time, new readers can also enter with the current season 6 of the story, beginning with volume 41, Homecoming. The author is writing these final books to include all the necessary information new readers would need to know. This final season shows what would have happened to the ship and crew if they had not shifted to the past in book 1, and Kirov becomes embroiled in the outbreak of WWIII in the Norwegian Sea. At the conclusion of Season 6, new readers can then move to book 1 in the main series, and see what happens to the ship if it does shift back in time.

Detailed information on the battles covered in each book, including battle maps, is available at www.writingshop.ws. A listing of books in all six “seasons” of this amazing series appears below.

KIROV SERIES - SEASON 1: Kirov

1) Kirov

2) Cauldron of Fire

3) Pacific Storm

4) Men of War

5) Nine Days Falling

6) Fallen Angels

7) Devil’s Garden

8) Armageddon – Season 1 Finale

KIROV SERIES - SEASON 2: Altered States (1940–1941)

9) Altered States

10) Darkest Hour (Naval Battles, Mers El Kebir)

11) Hinge of Fate (Gibraltar & The Med)

12) Three Kings (North Africa, Spain)

13) Grand Alliance (North Africa, Syria)

14) Hammer of God (Crete, Malta, North Africa)

15) Crescendo of Doom (North Africa, Tobruk)

16) Paradox Hour – Season 2 Finale

KIROV SERIES – SEASON 3: Doppelganger (1941–1942)

17) Doppelganger (Naval Action)

18) Nemesis (Barbarossa, Typhoon)

19) Winter Storm (Moscow, Operation Crusader)

20) Tide of Fortune (Moscow, Pearl Harbor, Operation Condor)

21) Knight’s Move (Japanese Offensive, Malaya, Singapore)

22) Turning Point (Soviet Counteroffensive, Java Sea, Supercharge)

23) Steel Reign (Operation FS - Fiji-Samoa, Sakhalin)

24) Second Front – (Torch, PQ-17, Portugal) Season 3 Finale

KIROV SERIES – SEASON 4: Tigers East (1942–1943)

25) Tigers East (Operation Blue)

26) Thor’s Anvil (Stalingrad)

27) 1943 (Pacific Battles)

28) Lions at Dawn (Plan Orient, Operation Phoenix, Tunisia)

29) Stormtide Rising (Tunisia, Syria, Baghdad)

30) Ironfall (East Front, Kharkov)

31) Nexus Deep (Operation Zitadelle, Rumyantsev, Sicily-Italy)

32) Field of Glory (Special Edition: Waterloo Campaign)

KIROV SERIES – SEASON 5: Prime Meridian (1943–1944)

(Historical material covered by each volume in parentheses.)

33) Prime Meridian (Italy, Operation Dragoon)

34) Event Horizon (Russian Autumn Wind, New Guinea, Makin)

35) Dragonfall (Drive on Dnieper, Solomon Sea, Philippine Sea)

36) 1944 (Battles in France, Operation Valkyrie)

37) The Tempest – (Overlord & The Marianas)

38) Breakout – (Cobra)

39) Starfall – (Market Garden & The Bulge)

40) Rhinelander – (Across the Rhine)

WWIII ~ The Next War Segment:

These volumes depict what would have happened to the ship and crew of Kirov if it had not shifted to the past in volume 1 of the series. It has two “Seasons,” with the first presenting in detail the war in 2021 that was the background to Season 1 of the series. In the course of that action, Kirov shifts to 2025, finding itself in the future of the time line they intervened in during WWII. Readers interested in WWIII action can therefore enter the series with Homecoming, and then return to book 1 if interested in the WWII interventions. These volumes are written to present all necessary information required for you to dive right in. Enjoy!

KIROV SERIES – SEASON 6: The Next War (2021)

Vol 1: Homecoming – (Alternative entry point for new readers)

Vol 2: Kill Chain

Vol 3: Twilight’s End

Vol 4: Resurgent

Vol 5: Deep Blue

Vol 6: Ice War

Vol 7: Eagle Rising

Vol 8: Tangent Fire – Bridge novel to Season 7

KIROV SERIES – SEASON 7: The Next War (2025)

More WWIII action to come, as the final season covers the war in 2025

Vol 1: Condition Zebra

Vol 2: Able Sentry

Vol 3: Able Fire

Vol 4: Far Horizon

More to come!

Discover other titles by John Schettler:

Award Winning Science Fiction:

Meridian - Meridian Series - Volume I

Nexus Point - Meridian Series - Volume II

Touchstone - Meridian Series - Volume III

Anvil of Fate - Meridian Series - Volume IV

Golem 7 - Meridian Series - Volume V

The Meridian series merges with the Kirov Series, beginning with Book 16, Paradox Hour, when the Meridian team discovers the catastrophic damage to the continuum created by the battlecruiser’s unexpected shift into the cauldron of WWII.

Classic Science Fiction:

Wild Zone - Dharman Series - Volume I

Mother Heart - Dharman Series - Volume II

Historical Fiction:

Taklamakan - Silk Road Series - Volume I

Khan Tengri - Silk Road Series - Volume II

Mythic Horror

Dream Reaper

Copyright

A publication of: The Writing Shop Press

Able Fire, Copyright©2020, John A. Schettler

Notes

1

Just Google “The Complete Version of Three Blind Mice” to read how it really ended in a free ebook from the Gutenberg Project.

2

That was just over 1000 more than the 2997 that died in the 9/11 attack that catalyzed the Iraq war in our history. Sadly, we have lost over 40,000 Americans as I write this to the COVID-19 virus, and that will surely go higher.

3

Those of you who know what the Weasel is talking about will get a treat with the release of Zulu Hour, the story of what happened to the Fairchild party and Sir Roger Ames at Isandlwana. Stay tuned for the publication date.

4

Not my spelling error. It’s just the way King said it, in his own colorful manner.

5

Only about 200 SM-6 missiles have been built in our history as of this writing, but here, the missile is broadly available in good numbers.

6

Beiying is the North Star, Clark AFB north of Manila.

7

This is the unit featured in the excellent “Generation Kill” miniseries on the Iraq war.

8

These ships were copies of an older Sovremenny Class destroyer that China had bought from the Soviets in better times. They built a small series of six ships, with upgraded electronics and weapons.

9

Not to be confused with Admiral Wu Jinlong. Both Admirals simply share the same given name, Jinlong, which means “Golden Dragon.”

10

For a depiction of all these battles for Ilanskiy, the airship duels and fighting on the ground, you can get the entire tale of Volkov’s war with Karpov in the special battle book volume entitled Vendetta.

Content

John Schettler
KIROV SAGA: ABLE FIRE
THE NEXT WAR — 2025 and Beyond

Author’s Note:

Part I Three Blind Mice

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Part II Two Devils

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Part III Broken Arrow

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Part IV Objective Babylon

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Part V Recon

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Part VI The Oil War

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Part VII Retreat

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Part VIII Intervention

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Part IX The Gauntlet

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Part X Last Dance

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Part XI The Milkman

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Part XII Sea Wolves

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

The Saga Continues…

Reading the Kirov Series

Copyright

Notes