When the first two had moved ten meters and found cover, they dropped down and began providing covering fire along with the rest of the squad as two more advanced. Within seconds, the American gunners quickly saw what was happening and turned their machine gun towards Chang’s advancing squad. While Chang’s crew was advancing towards the gun emplacement, four other squads began to advance as well. The machine gun crew was manning a .25mm machine-railgun spitting out nearly 600 rounds a minute; they swept their gun back and forth between the advancing groups, hitting some while missing others. Other men in the trenches were also firing tremendous volumes of fire in their directions as well.
Several of Chang’s men and men from another squad got within 30 meters of the gun emplacement and the trench line. All of a sudden, a massive explosion occurred and blew eight Chinese soldiers apart. The Dragon Skin armor generally did a good job of protecting the core of a soldier’s body; however, the explosion ripped their legs and arms right off. The screams they made as they thrashed around on the ground, calling for help, were horrendous. The Americans had detonated three Claymore landmines they had put into place earlier. A nearby Lieutenant ordered everyone in the area to advance at once towards the gun emplacement and try to overwhelm the defenders.
As the soldiers in the area rose to advance, the machine-railgun came alive again, cutting dozens of soldiers down. The exoskeleton suits enabled the Chinese soldiers to advance quickly towards the American lines; as they got within 20 meters of their positions the Americans triggered another series of Claymore mines, killing and maiming dozens of additional Chinese soldiers. In seconds, Chang was in the American position, and found himself face to face with an American soldier. Chang quickly brought his gun to bear, and was able to shoot the American in the face, exploding his head before he was able to use his M5 (which would have cut through Chang’s body armor).
Chang called out to the others in his squad to form up around him as they continued to clear the trench network they were currently in. An American jumped out from one of the bomb bunkers and threw a grenade towards Chang and his men. Without thinking, one of Chang’s soldiers jumped on the grenade just as it exploded. The soldier died immediately, but he had saved half a dozen of his fellow soldiers. One of Chang’s men charged the American bunker, while another soldier shot his grenade gun into the entrance. A small explosion could be heard, along with a quick burst of several machine guns from both Chang’s men and the remaining Americans in the bunker. In less than a minute the conflict was over, and Chang’s men began to shift their focus to their next objective.
Drone Attack
Lieutenant Daniels was a drone fighter pilot. He had just been transferred to Eielson Air Force Base near Fairbanks after completing drone flight school four days earlier. Daniels was controlling an F38A fighter drone; his squadron was tasked with providing cover for the F38B ground attack drones that were supporting the infantry as they tried to repel multiple landing invasions.
Daniels heard his squadron commander sign in and began to give them a quick message before the squadron moved as a group to engage the hundreds of fighters heading in their direction. “Men, listen up. I know most of you are fresh out of flight school and this is your first real combat mission. It’s OK to be nervous and doubt yourself, but trust your training and remember this is the real deal. There are tens of thousands of soldiers on the ground depending on us to succeed, so our ground attack planes can provide the close air support they desperately need. Remember your training — I cannot stress that enough. Your preparation works, and so do the tactics we are about to employ. If your fighter is shot down, I want you to grab another and get back in the fight.”
As Lieutenant Daniels’ squadron began to head towards Anchorage, they began to detect hundreds of enemy fighter drones and manned Chinese aircraft. “All right. Our squadron has been directed to engage the fighter drones; one of the other squadrons is going to engage the manned aircraft. We will be in range to launch our AMRAAMs in three minutes. Everyone is to launch your missiles, one after the other, and then accelerate to get into knife range and engage with your sidewinders. Once we go weapons free, you and your wingman are on your own, understand?”
“Yes sir,” they all replied in unison.
The pilots continued to position their aircraft to engage the Chinese. Daniels’ squadron consisted of twenty-four drones; each pilot had three spare drones at the base, ready to be moved to the runway as soon as the pilot was ready to use it. The F38A was a powerful fighter drone; Without having to worry about the survivability of a pilot, the aircraft was able to incorporate some incredible new designs that allowed the aircraft to maneuver on a dime. It had a range of 520 miles, could travel at speeds of up to Mach 3, and carried a 20mm railgun for air-to-air combat. It was armed with six AMRAAM air-to-air missiles, which could engage an enemy aircraft as far away as 90 miles at a speed of Mach five. It also carried six Sidewinder 4 short-range heat seeking missiles, which had a range of 15 miles. The aircraft had an advanced suite of electronic countermeasures and defensive systems to assist in its survivability.
The squadron was engaging about 80 Chinese drones that were trying to secure the air over Kodiak Island. Daniels’ aircraft came into AMRAAM range just as his squadron began to release the first volley of missiles. Daniels toggled a couple of switches and released his six missiles towards their targets, when all of a sudden his warning alarms began to go off. His aircraft was being targeted by multiple enemy drones, who simultaneously fired their own missiles at him and his squadron. His aircraft now had five enemy missiles heading towards it. He hit the after burn, bringing his aircraft to its maximum speed as his wingman maneuvered to stay next to him. The two of them were going to bring their aircraft up to maximum speed and then begin to jink and pull a few other maneuvers as they closed the gap between themselves and the Chinese.
As Daniels followed his training, he was surprised to see that all of the missiles that had been fired at him missed when he conducted a series of tight turns and jinks designed to make it impossible for a missile to continue to track his aircraft, especially in light of his suite of countermeasures. Suddenly, he was within 15 miles of the remaining Chinese aircraft, and he began to cycle through his last remaining missiles. Just as Daniels’ last missile left his aircraft, he was hit by machine gun fire from a fighter that had somehow gotten behind him. In seconds, Daniels’ fighter drone was ripped apart by bullets and at the speed it was traveling, it lost control. He immediately disconnected from the drone and activated another that was now leaving the secured bunker and moving towards the runways.
In less than sixty minutes in the air, nearly all 24 of the drone fighters in Daniels’ squadron had been shot down, but not before shooting down 73 enemy fighter drones. Most of the pilots were in the process of piloting their second drone out to the runways or just taking off when the building’s alarms went off. A loud explosion could be heard nearby, and suddenly, a lot of machine gun fire. It sounded as it if it was coming from the floor above them, which was the Operations Room. That was the room where a lot of the analysis and fighter operations were conducted from.