Lewis replied, “Yes, sir, we do. We have both weapon systems locked in right now. Do you want to hit them with the railgun or the laser?” he asked with a grin.
“First, let Admiral Stonebridge know we are ready to fire and make sure everyone can see the drone footage. Let’s hit the first carrier with the railguns. Then we’ll hit the second carrier with the pulse beam and see which one has the most effect.” Captain Wright had been told by Admiral Stonebridge that President Stein himself was going to be watching the battle, so he wanted to impress.
The communications officer replied, “All outstations are reporting ready, and the various feeds from the drones are coming in nice and clear.”
Looking at the men and women in the CIC, Captain Wright ordered, “Commander Lewis, FIRE guns one through four!”
There was a slight increase in the mechanical hum of the ship as the reactor increased power and then an ear-piercing SNAP, SNAP, SNAP, SNAP, as the four railguns fired one projectile each at the Chinese Supercarrier one hundred and eighteen miles away. It took nearly a minute for the projectiles to fly the distance to the Chinese fleet, and then the rounds hit the carrier. They saw on the drone feed the impact against the side of the carrier, causing it to rock heavily to one side before it righted itself from the impact. Initially, there was a somewhat small entry hole into the hull, and then a massive explosion detonated as the projectile flew through the ship and out the other side. The projectile was traveling so fast when it hit that the shockwave caused a huge section of the hull on the opposite side to blow right open. Critical sections of the ship started to catch fire and explode. The carrier was still floating, but clearly had suffered a critical hit. Flames burst out of the entrance and exit holes where the projectile had been.
Captain Wright looked at his weapons officer and ordered, “Fire a second volley.”
The USS Iowa shook a second time as the main guns fired a second volley of projectiles at the Chinese warship. When the second round hit the carrier, it shook violently. Several additional explosions erupted, and the carrier began to rip apart. Within minutes, the carrier began to list heavily to one side and started sinking quickly. An audible gasp could be heard in the CIC as the men and women watching saw the ship start to roll over on its side and quickly descend below the waves.
“Commander Lewis,” barked the Captain. “Fire the lasers at the second carrier!”
The reactors of the Iowa began to spool up again, and this time the ship’s two pulse beam lasers discharged. Upon hitting the ship, each laser burned a three-foot round hole into the hull of the ship, just below the flight deck. Within seconds, the laser had ignited the fuel and weapons used for the drones, causing significant damage and secondary explosions.
“Commander Lewis, have the gun battery aim for the waterline, and let’s see if we can sink that ship with the next shot,” the Captain ordered.
Commander Lewis nodded, then picked up a phone to talk with the targeting officers for the laser battery, who quickly made the requested adjustment. The second laser shot impacted the carrier, burning a hole several feet below the waterline and causing the water surrounding the new hole in the hull to quickly bubble away until the laser turned off. In seconds, a huge rush of water could be seen swooshing into the vacant hole left by the laser. In less than a minute, the ship began to tilt heavily to one side as the flames from the drone fuel and ammunition continued to rage.
Admiral Stonebridge came on to the fleet PA system, “Impressive show, Captain Wright. It’s time for both battleships to fire at will now. We need to begin to systematically destroy the Chinese fleet while the carrier drones fly in to finish off the Japanese.”
The battle lasted less than thirty minutes. In that time, the Japanese lost three Supercarriers, their two prized battleships, and their entire support fleet. The Chinese recognized what type of weapons they were being hit with, and the ships that were left immediately began to sail away from the American fleet as fast as possible to try and get out of range of the American super weapons. Three of the four Chinese Supercarriers were destroyed, while the fourth sustained a hit from the Wisconsin’s railgun, causing significant damage. Only three other Chinese surface ships escaped the battle as they ran quickly towards the waters of Hawaii.
In the Middle of the Night
Prime Minister Yasuhiro Hata was asleep with his wife when a knock at the door woke him out of his slumber. As he fumbled with the covers and placed his feet on the floor, he reached for a robe and slowly walked to the door just as the knocking started again. “Shhh — you are going to wake my wife. What is so urgent that it could not wait until morning?” PM Hata asked the military officer standing in front of his bedroom door.
“Sir, I was told by Admiral Hito to come and get you. He said to tell you there has been a major naval engagement with the Americans in the Pacific,” the officer muttered. He seemed to be completely out of breath.
“Perhaps if the officer hurried that much to see me, the situation is truly serious,” thought the Prime Minister.
“Tell the admiral I will be over shortly,” Hata responded aloud. “I am going to get dressed,” he said, and he closed the door, not waiting for a reply.
Twenty minutes later, PM Hata walked into the operations center in the bowels of the PM’s offices and saw several military officers talking animatedly around a holographic map while others were reviewing several different drone feeds. The room looked every bit the military headquarters it had turned into these past few weeks since the start of the war with America.
Up to this point, the invasion had been proceeding better than expected. Their forces in Los Angeles had done a marvelous job fighting the American Marines, though it did appear the war was about to take a turn for the worse as more and more American soldiers continued to pour into California from other areas of America. Their Special Forces raids in the heart of America via the airlines had also been yielding great results. They had already destroyed several critical rail bridges and tunnels in the cities surrounding the airports where a number of operatives had gotten out through security. The attacks against the transportation infrastructure of America were going to have a long-term effect on the Americans’ ability to defend themselves. However, the optimism of the situation was about to change.
Admiral Hito looked up and saw the PM had finally arrived. “PM, please, if you will come this way. We need to discuss the recent naval battle,” he said urgently.
As the PM walked towards the Admiral, he saw the look of sheer anxiety on the faces of many of the military officers. “What is so important that it could not wait until morning?” demanded Hata, clearly not happy with having been woken up in the middle of the night.
“Prime Minister, there was a major naval battle between our forces and the Americans off the Pacific coast of Mexico. The Americans had moved their new battle group called Carrier Strike Group 12, along with their newest battleships and supercarriers to the Pacific several days ago. Three hours ago, the fleets came into range of each other and the battle started,” began the Admiral.
“Near as I can tell Admiral, this battle was a success, we sunk nine American warships,” shot back the PM, not sure why his officers were acting like this was some sort of disaster.
“Sir, there is more. Following our initial attack and success against the Americans, they launched their own assault using their newest super weapons. We had no idea they had these types of weapons, and they were incredibly deadly. They destroyed three of our five carriers and both of our battleships, along with nearly our entire support fleet. What is left of the fleet has retreated to Hawaii.” As the Admiral spoke, he hung his head low, not making eye contact with the PM.