That first battle with the Chinese had cost the Navy two rear admirals and a vice admiral, along with the lives of nearly 8,000 sailors. It had been the single greatest loss of life in the Navy since World War II. Senior leadership who had experience fighting the Chinese were in short supply, and as her strike group neared the enemy, she was glad they were being led by an officer who understood what they would be facing.
The combat information center or CIC commander pulled her out of her thought bubble and back to the real world. “Ma’am,” he said. “We’ve spotted something unusual that I think you should take a look at.”
“What do you have, George?” She stood up and walked toward him.
“I’m not sure. The Triton just intercepted a burst transmission to what appears to be a small cluster of cargo ships near the Micronesia Island chains. We’ve looked at the area, and there are no PLA Navy ships in the area. There don’t appear to be any hostile planes in the area either,” he explained, a bit puzzled by the information.
“Hmm. Well, let’s take a closer look, shall we?” she commented. They walked over to the console, where a couple of the intelligence folks were looking at the drone’s feed.
“Petty Officer, are you able to zoom in any closer to those ships so we can see what flag they’re flying?” inquired the admiral.
The petty officer nodded and zoomed in as far as the camera would allow. She wrinkled her face as she realized the image wasn’t going to get any clearer. “I’m going to need a better image,” she said.
“Those ships are roughly 500 kilometers away from us right now,” replied the petty officer. “My camera is good, but it’s not a telescope.” With that, she nudged the lieutenant next to her, who was flying the UAV.
“I can turn and head in that direction, but the best I can do is get us maybe 80 kilometers closer,” said the lieutenant. “I have to stay in a certain orbit over the fleet to keep providing us the coverage requirements. If you want a better image, I’d recommend we send a fast mover. They can get over there a lot quicker than I can.”
Admiral Cord nodded. “You’re right, Lieutenant. Good call,” she said, patting him on the shoulder.
She turned to the commander, air group, or CAG, who had walked over to see what they were discussing. “CAG, get me a fast mover to head over to that cluster of ships. I have a feeling there’s more than meets the eye with them, and I want a little more information before I let Admiral Richards know something might be amiss.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” replied the CAG. He rushed off to complete his new mission.
Cord grabbed the attention of a couple of the other petty officers nearby. “Also, someone send a message to the captain to come to CIC and join us,” she ordered.
“Yes, Ma’am,” one of them replied.
Three minutes later, the alert fighters on the flight deck were given the task of investigating the suspicious ships. Seeing how far away the ships were from the fleet, they would need to top off their fuel tanks before they began their journey.
Once the planes left the deck, Captain Patricia Fleece, who had only just found out about their mission, walked into the CIC. “I just saw the alert fighters take off — anything important I should know about?” she asked, directing her question to the CAG.
Admiral Cord knew she should have told Captain Fleece before they’d launched the alert fighters, but she’d felt she needed to get them in the air ASAP. Something just didn’t feel right. “It’s my fault, Captain Fleece. I ordered the CAG to launch them ASAP and get them heading out to investigate something. Let me show you what we’ve found and get your take on this, too.”
The small group now walked over to the monitor that was piping in the video feed of the vessels. Cord explained what they had found, and the odd behavior of the cargo vessels once they received the burst transmission. “Has anyone told Admiral Richards about this? He may know something we don’t,” Fleece said.
“I was going to inform him once we had a better idea of whose vessels those are,” Admiral Cord answered. “The Triton doesn’t show any PLA Navy ships in the area, and we don’t see any air activity.”
Fleece bit her lower lip. Admiral Cord knew by now that this meant Fleece was uncomfortable with the decision to wait. However, she didn’t voice any objections.
“Let’s just hope I know what I’m doing,” Admiral Cord thought, second-guessing herself. It would take some time for the Hornets to check the situation out, and if there was truly something amiss, they might have lost too much valuable time.
Suddenly, the lieutenant handling the UAV loudly announced, “Captain, you need to see this!”
Sensing something important, Admiral Cord also walked over to see what was going on. Then, one of the communications officers vied for their attention as he waved a yellow paper in the air.
“Admiral, we’re receiving a FLASH message from Guam. You need to read this, Ma’am,” the commander said in an urgent voice.
Cord turned toward her comms officer and moved quickly in his direction. As she approached his station, he handed her the message traffic:
//////////TOP SECRET/////////
FLASH TRAFFIC — URGENT WARNING — IMMINENT BALLISTIC MISSILE ATTACK
FROM: NORTH AMERICAN AEROSPACE DEFENSE
TO: SEVENTH FLEET
1) IMINT INTELLIGENCE IDENTIFIED MULTIPLE TRANSPORTER ERECTOR LAUNCHERS BEING MADE READY TO LAUNCH ON THE ISLAND OF TAIWAN. POSSIBLE DONGFENG 21-D ANTI-SHIP BALLISTIC MISSILES.
2) HUMINT INTELLIGENCE IDENTIFIED TWENTY-FOUR TRANSPORTER ERECTOR LAUNCHERS BEING MADE READY TO LAUNCH ON THE ISLAND OF LUZON. POSSIBLE DONGFENG 21-D ANTI-SHIP BALLISTIC MISSILES.
END OF TRANSMISSION.
//////////TOP SECRET//////////
The blood in Admiral Cord’s face seemed to drain out of her head, and she almost felt weak at the knees. This was the very thing she was terrified of.
“Are we cruising into a trap?” she wondered in horror.
“Someone, get Admiral Richards in here ASAP! Set Condition One. Sound general quarters and send a FLASH message to the rest of the fleet of a possible ASBM attack,” Admiral Cord ordered.
In seconds, the general quarters alarm blared throughout the ship, alerting everyone of a possible attack. The men and women on the ship moved as quickly as possible to their battle stations and prepared for the worst.
Captain Fleece turned to the CAG. “Get on the radio to the Raptor flight and order them to get us real-time video of those cargo ships at once!” she ordered. “They may be part of the PLA Navy attack, and we just don’t know it yet.”
The CAG nodded and grabbed the handset.
Lieutenant Josh McDaniel’s Super Hornet had been cruising toward the mysterious cargo vessels now for nearly an hour. “Oh my God, this is boring,” he thought. “We’re still roughly twenty minutes away from even being close enough to use our cameras.”
His radio crackled, startling him. “Raptor Two Two, this is Henhouse. Fleet has gone to Condition One. Initiate afterburners and get a visual of the cargo ships. Approach with caution, possible PLA Navy trap. How copy?”
“That’s a good copy, Henhouse,” Lieutenant McDaniel responded. “Will initiate afterburners. Please be advised that we’ll need to top our tanks off again at the halfway point.”