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The aide shook his head. “Not yet, General. They said it would take another hour to get the helicopters up and running.”

Hu grunted. “Then tell Colonel Tian he may proceed to Manila in an hour, when we have the helicopters ready to support him,” he replied. “In the meantime, I want those helicopters ready to fly at once. No more delays!” he demanded.

He moved to look at a map in the center of the room, which was being constantly updated by his staff as they had updates on the movements of the Philippine forces.

Seeing that a key piece of data was missing, Hu asked, “How many drones do we have operational over our area of responsibility?”

A major, who was in the middle of making the updates on the map, responded, “Five right now. We have two more that will get airborne in the next hour.”

General Hu nodded. “What is the status of Fort Magsaysay airfield?”

“We still don’t have eyes on the base yet,” replied one of the majors nearby. “We’ve dispatched some scout units, so it’ll be a few more hours before we know something.” As soon as he answered the question, the major immediately went back to getting their maps updated with friendly and enemy units.

Fort Magsaysay, also called Fort Mag, was home to the Philippine 7th Infantry Division, along with their military training center, and they were the one immediate threat that could shut down General Hu’s airport operations. While the PLA Air Force and Navy made sure a few cruise missiles paid the base a visit, General Hu was still concerned that if left alone, they’d rally their forces and threaten to shut down his operations before he could get them fully up and running.

Hu flagged down his deputy. “Colonel Lei, I want Colonel Luan’s brigade to head for Fort Mag once they’re ready,” he ordered. “Have them bring a battalion from the 129th Artillery Regiment to provide them with fire support.”

Colonel Lei looked at a clipboard, which had the arrival times of the various units and transports that were being ferried in from the mainland. He wanted to see if the units his boss had requested had already arrived. “It’ll be at least three more hours before that element will be ready, Sir,” he explained. “Several of the transports carrying the artillery regiments guns are just now landing.”

“That’s fine,” General Hu responded. “Just make sure Colonel Luan knows he’s to head to Fort Mag when his artillery support is ready.”

The waves of transports and civilian airliners continued to land in a dizzying frenzy. “This is going to be a long day,” thought the general.

Natuna Island, Indonesia
Natuna Airport

Major Achmad Basry was leery about the Chinese intentions with his country. While he had no say in what his government agreed to, the prospect of joining the Chinese in their war against the Americans was not sitting well with him. When he had been told his engineering battalion was moving to the Island of Natuna, Basry became even more concerned. He really had no idea what was going on.

The Island of Natuna was a large island that sat in the South China Sea, and it essentially shielded the entrance to the Malacca Straits and the critical port of Singapore from the rest of the South China Sea. If the Americans or Australians were going to travel into the South China Sea, then they were going to have to get past this island to do it. After Major Basry’s battalion finished building up the island with surface-to-air missile sites and anti-ship missile launchers, it would be nearly impossible for the Americans to attack Kalimantan or Sumantra without first capturing this island.

It took nearly a week for most of their heavy equipment to arrive. Once it did, they were ordered to get the island's runway expanded and ready to receive fighter planes. Then they were supposed to build launch points for anti-ship missiles throughout the island. Basry’s unit began the process of building aircraft revetments along the taxi strip, along with several new bunkers, which would be used for storing munitions.

Then one morning, just four days after starting construction, a Chinese cargo plane had landed at the airport. Seeing that he had been given no heads-up about their arrival, only Major Basry and a couple of his soldiers met them when the plane landed. Nearly two dozen Chinese military soldiers exited the aircraft. As soon as they had deplaned, the aircraft turned around and sped off down the runway, heading back to wherever it had come from.

A Chinese colonel came up to Basry. With barely any introduction at all, he said, “I’m now in command of the island. Other aircraft will arrive within the hour.”

They talked less formally for a few moments; Basry learned that his new compatriot was named Colonel Chen. All of a sudden, Chen insisted that Major Basry show him what they had done up to that point. As the Chinese soldiers inspected the various positions they had constructed, Chen became visibly angry at the lack of progress they had made.

“When the rest of my troops arrive, we’ll make use of your equipment and get this base operational at once. I’ll need your forces to help my men identify various defensive positions on the island that will need to be fortified. We don’t have a lot of time to turn this island into an impregnable fortress. Do you understand?” Colonel Chen barked.

Major Basry simply nodded, accepting his new position as a servant to the new Chinese overlords.

Hainan Island, China

President Xi observed the controlled chaos below him in the operations room. The planners and operations officers and sergeants scurried about, updating map displays on their computers, which in turn projected those changes on a master map that was being projected on a nine-foot-by-nine-foot monitor. They were twelve hours into the invasion of the Philippines, and frankly, he could not have been happier with how things were playing out. The heavy financial investments they had made into the PLA Airborne Forces were, once again, paying exceptional dividends.

The 43rd Corps had not only captured the old American Clark International Airport — they had decisively crushed the surrounding Philippine Army units that had tried to repel them. Looking at the map, he could see a steady stream of transports strung out from Hainan Island to Clark Airport, bringing more troops and equipment. Likewise, the seaborne invasion by the PLA naval infantry was going extraordinarily well. They had secured several large ports that were critical to the offloading of more tanks and other heavy equipment.

It was now going to be a race against time. Xi knew they had a limited window to capture and secure as much of the Philippines as possible before the American Navy was able to wreak havoc on their ability to supply their forces by sea.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi approached President Xi with a smile on his face. “Mr. President, I have good news to report,” he said, moving closer to Xi so only he would hear him speak.

“I take it you’ve heard from our Asian brothers in Malaysia and Thailand?” asked the president.

“Yes. The Malaysian prime minister has reluctantly agreed to join the Eastern Alliance. I spoke with the PM, and he has said their military will be at our disposal. Although, he did emphasize their limited ability to operate outside of their national border,” he replied.

During the Xi’an meeting, the group of world leaders who had now aligned themselves against the West had collectively agreed to call themselves the “Eastern Alliance.” The People’s Republic of China was still a communist nation, albeit with capitalist tentacles, but still communist at its core. The Russian and Chinese promulgation of techno-communism across social media was proving to be incredibly effective, and the name of their new alliance was getting around on social media. It was all really resonating.

Xi nodded and smiled at the good news. “And the Thais? Have they come around, or are we going to need to send troops across the border to hasten their decision-making process?”