The hypersonic spray of DF-26 bomblet explosions and ensuing cook-offs of seven vital tankers put Andersen out of action. When Clark took the grim news an hour later, he also learned that the people of Guam were in open revolt. Without Guam he would be fighting Qin at a severe disadvantage, and he could not risk another seven big-wing jets.
He needed to end this.
CHAPTER 58
Olive may have been too quick to judge. The pain level was rising such that even the Kari’s of the world knew there was a war going on someplace in the Pacific — and it was affecting their Christmas shopping.
The effects were worldwide. Retail shelves were thinned, and with halted shipments of product parts and piecework that passed through many countries along the SCS littoral assembly line — in almost every case China — it was going to be a while before the hyper-efficient, just-in-time economic engine could be restarted. Containerships that had escaped the area of hostilities could still proceed to their destinations, but the effect of combat was that China, Vietnam, and Taiwan were cut off from trade. Ships were piling up off Singapore and Malacca, most of them tankers with crude oil bound for China, South Korea and Japan, the latter two already feeling the pinch from the loss of only one scheduled shipment. Two million square miles of battle space also severed air routes connecting the region and the world, and fishing from everything except the flimsy Filipino bancas and Vietnamese coastal junks was at a standstill. Chinese trawlers ventured out, but in much smaller numbers than needed, and one billion bellies felt it first.
While western consumers and Japanese motorists were aggravated, the Chinese were hungry. However, with a long history of enduring privations, and their strong desire to stand up to the barbarians, they accepted hardships that would topple a western government. Even a peasant in the interior could point with pride that Blood Moon Atoll was Chinese territory and worth defending. Kari wanted to buy an extra flax pullover and a flat-screen to replace the old one in the outdoor kitchen/patio. She was really, really bummed that the big box stores didn’t have the styles and colors she wanted because of that war! State-run media ensured Chinese citizens knew where Qin was operating PLA forces and why. With the Cape Esperance incident almost forgotten, half of the West had moved on. With no stake in the outcome, they just wanted the conflict to end. They wanted their stuff, and at a low price.
The Chinese endured hardships… but if a workforce of over 500 million had no market for the products they produced, and no shipments of materials or assembled components to keep assembly lines humming, the economy would sputter and unrest would break out. The specter of a popular uprising was a bigger threat than were the Americans.
In Zhanjiang — and Beijing — PLA leaders were shocked at the level of destruction the Americans had visited on Stingray Reef. To the north, PLA(N) ships and planes were losing the war of attrition with the Americans, and Qin pulled them back to defend the motherland. If he could sink a carrier, the PRC would offer a hand of peace while holding the outposts, no matter the damage to them. Washington was feeling the heat of a restive populace, and Clark could only monitor the moves of his three carriers to feed the Pentagon beast.
Unable to sleep, Wilson got up, put on his flight suit, and went to the carrier intel center to check on their progress.
A planning team led by Gumby had printed the briefing kneeboard cards. With the brief scheduled at 0300—in four hours — the team would nap, grab an early breakfast in the wardroom, and brief in Ready 1. This was the big one, to Blood Moon.
Wilson was allowed in the classified space and found Gumby still up and now alone, poring over the chart of the atoll and searing the details in his mind.
“Skipper, you better get some rest. Big day coming up.”
“Yes, sir, but I believe you are on the schedule, too, CAG.”
“CAGs never sleep. How’s this looking?” Wilson asked.
Gumby pulled the large navigation chart closer to show Wilson the route of flight and threats. The SCS, the Philippines, and Malaysia were depicted, with Blood Moon Atoll a tiny dot in the middle of the sea, among other tiny dots of newly constructed PRC outposts. Both men stood over the chart with Gumby motioning to it.
“CAG, we shoot two E-2s and the ES-3 off at 0450, then six tankers, then our Rhino strikers and three Growlers. The ship says we’ll be about here — within fifty miles anyway — and we’ll join up on the tankers low and head west.”
The ship was in the western Celebes Sea, and, with his fingers, Wilson measured the distance to Blood Moon.
“Yes, sir, it’s a hike. We’ll be conserving gas until we get past Malaysia. We’re going to go in along this sparsely populated coastline between Penetan and Kahayan and then over this mountain rainforest. We will accelerate when we coast out here between Kota Kalbar and Mbah…. The sun will be coming up behind us.”
Wilson nodded. “What’s our ingress speed?”
“Sir, after we are over the SCS, we’ll get on the deck and bump it up. Other than this little island — owned by Malaysia — we have a pretty clear lane to Blood Moon. At the same time, we have a deception package of six Rhinos and four Marine Hornets that launch last and head up here toward Palawan. They’ll join a package of bombers out of Guam that will have MALD and JASSM for Yawu Cay. They’ll all be high and draw their attention early.”
Wilson nodded again. “Okay—Heaven’s Shield. What’s the status?”
“Sir, they may have a software patch to fix it, but last report, it’s degraded. We’ve got redundant jamming as insurance, and we are also down low, tough to see, with the range of threat missiles degraded.”
“Okay, how about a Luyang? What if they have one en route?”
“We should get tipper info, sir, from the ES-3, the E-2, or my guys. And we have a plan. USS Long Beach is going to launch a Romeo up here around Palawan. If they get an ESM bearing, they’ll launch a missile on it.”
“What about Les Aspin? What are they doing?”
“They are in the Andaman Sea — guess it’s hiding in plain sight with all the other merchants there — and they are sending two divisions of strikers. They’ll hit Blood Moon five minutes before we do, along with bombers from Diego Garcia carrying MALD and JASSM.”
Gumby had the answers Wilson wanted, but both knew they had a tough one in front of them. Hancock aircraft would be attacking Blood Moon with a variety of weapons to ensure it was down after the bombers took out key nodes. If they showed up, and on time. There was no time for the last-minute checks and tweaks they had grown accustomed to in their careers. Without satellites, secure radio relay and message traffic was the next best thing. They were telling the forces on Guam, Diego Garcia, and Les Aspin what was required of them, hoping that all would be where they should be and on time. Hope was not what Wilson banked on, but they had to get out of the Celebes, having pushed their luck too far. If they didn’t knock out Blood Moon, along with Yawu and Song Ca, they would have to come back — and the outposts would be stronger. The Big Unit was feeling the heat from Hawaii. You guys gotta hurry up and end this.