“We’re on it, sir,” Wilson said.
“All that ‘everything can talk to everything’ stuff we’ve been hearing about for years? Well, it’s here now, and it works. We shot those H-6s down with integrated fires. They were inbound to finish the job at Iwo. We shot missiles from Earl Gallaher on a bearing, and the E-2 grabbed them and guided them in via data link. That’s the good news, and we’ll ride it until the Chinese figure a way to counter it. Then it’s going to be our brute force against theirs. How about you, Blower? You guys proficient in celestial navigation? When was the last time you shot a sun line?”
Blower smiled. “Come up to the bridge in an hour, sir, and we’ll have a sextant for you to plot our local apparent noon position. I’m going to compete against the Nav team for the best fix. Would you like to be judge, sir?”
“Would love to… not that I’ve used a sextant since midshipman days. Meanwhile, keep running hard for Iwo. Want you to launch the Ospreys this afternoon to get the shipyard guys off the ship and to give the guys at Iwo the plan. Then we recover aircraft at first light tomorrow, and once all are aboard, we haul ass south. Cape St. George is staying with us as shotgun, but everyone else is sprinting ahead. We’ve got to look in every lagoon and bay down the Marianas chain for PRC fishing boats and snoopers. Every merchant has to be checked and, if deemed a threat, tracked and boarded. Same with civil air traffic; if we cannot positively ID a track, we must avoid, and if we can’t avoid, we need to launch the alert and intercept. Flip, more jobs for the Air Wing.”
Wilson nodded. All knew there would be no break and that the pace would only pick up with each passing hour. The meeting broke up, and he returned to his stateroom.
Wilson was exhausted from lack of sleep and operating at high tension levels for days on end. If he was exhausted, the Air Wing was, too, and this transit south in relative safety could be the only opportunity he and the rest of Hanna’s aviators would have to rest before the upcoming combat. He knew the junior officers who had flown aboard hours earlier were already asleep, and their COs needed sleep, too. Tomorrow they would recover the remainder of the Wing, and there would be no time to rest. He had to meet with his COs… tonight… after dinner. Then sleep, knowing through experience, that the human body could not “store” it.
The Ospreys would launch soon, and that gave him an opportunity to get a letter off. He wrote a quick note to Mary: All is well. Love you and miss you! He then began writing a more serious letter. He was tired but had to write it. Olive had already written hers, and his letter would follow. It was a letter he had written before and one he had hoped he never would again. In the coming days, the likelihood of rewriting this letter more than once was high. He took a sheet of stationery, one with an embossed commissioning pennant and the CVW-15 Fleet Post Office address, and began to write in longhand with a black fine point.
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Volk,
Please accept my sincere condolences…
Two thousand miles away, Admiral Qin was furious and grumbled to his chief of staff.
“The People’s Air Force sent four old and unescorted bombers to the Second Chain to hit an abandoned runway? This is clearly a Navy job at that long range, or Rocket Artillery, and four bombers can hardly overwhelm enemy defenses!”
“Admiral, the survivors say they had no warning of enemy activity and that missiles rained down from nowhere.” Qin’s answer was quick.
“The Americans have been talking loudly about integrated fires for years, and now we pay in blood and priceless bombers to witness the demonstration. Their Army can talk to their Navy who can talk to their Air Force, all via computer encryption! This is a capability the People’s Liberation forces must possess, and soon!”
Qin heard the phone ring in the anteroom, and sensed it was for him. His orderly appeared. “Marshal Dong is calling for you, Comrade Admiral.”
Qin made a face and muttered under his breath as he picked up the receiver. “Why am I to blame for People’s Air Force incompetence?” After a short wait, Marshal Dong picked up.
“Zǎo, Comrade Admiral Qin.”
“Good morning to you, Marshal Dong. I’ve seen the dispatch from the Second Chain action.”
“I trusted you would have. What is your reaction?”
“I have two reactions, Comrade Marshal. First, we sent far too little force for a strike of that distance. If the island was worth destroying as a basing asset, we should have sent more bombers and fighter-bombers supported by aerial refueling tankers in order to saturate American defenses on multiple axes. Second, the People’s Navy and fishing militia could have supported such a strike with undersea cruise missile attack, search and rescue, or land sappers at night to destroy key installations. Because the People’s Air Force did not coordinate its activities, we missed an opportunity and shed unneeded blood.”
“It appears the pace of battle for the People’s Air Force is that of a hare, and yours, Admiral, the tortoise. How can the two be reconciled?”
“Comrade Marshal, the Americans fight as one. Their Admiral Clark, with whom I am acquainted, conducts operations against us, from the great distance of Hawaii, using subordinate commanders. His command is unified. Ours is piecemeal — with little understanding of what the other is doing. For example, I was surprised when Guam was attacked, and had I known it was imminent, I would have positioned the People’s Navy forces to greater advantage.”
Qin listened to a long silence before Dong spoke.
“Sometimes we must act in a bold fashion to seize the advantage.”
“You are correct, Marshal Dong, and if you direct the People’s Forces, they will act at lightning speed to accomplish any tasks. You command, however, with full knowledge of all your forces’ dispositions and readiness.”
“Naval forces are slower to arrive on scene,” Dong said.
“It is true, Comrade Marshal, as dictated by the laws of physics. However, with lead times of hours, we can move a great distance to affect outcomes throughout the near seas. Our air arm has significant reach for quick reaction inside and outside home waters, particularly from our outposts.” For the second time, Qin’s answer was met by a long silence.
“You speak the truth, Comrade Admiral, and I cannot find fault with your frank assessment. This is a battle that will be fought on the seas and in the air over them. It appears that battle is joined.”
“There is a place, Marshal Dong, for bold action, and each day the American strength increases while ours remains static.”
“Can we win, Admiral?”
Qin needed to form his answer with care, and Dong detected the delay.
“Marshal Dong — if winning is the defeat of the American military on the seas — we cannot. Every one of their units has the combat ability of our most elite units, and they have reserves and a logistics capability we can only marvel at, and our outposts are only hundreds of kilometers distant, not thousands. However, if winning is the shutdown of Southern Seas trade and a violent show of force to influence world opinion, especially American public opinion, that they cannot defeat us without a large sacrifice in blood, then yes, we can do that. At this point Comrade Marshal, it is all we have left.”