The chief of staff muttered, “Christ. Their submarines wouldn’t have to do anything. Just sit there quietly waiting while the targets came to him.”
Admiral Manning nodded towards the navigator. “Good job finding this.” He turned to the IWC. “We need your cyber teams to audit every server, computer, program on the ship. And be sure to pass this up the chain. The intelligence folks will want to know about this, for sure.”
The phone rang on the admiral’s desk. He picked it up and muffled the receiver with his hand. “We need to be sure that our decision-making process isn’t being manipulated. All warfare commanders need to review their procedures and evaluate whether we need to cut off from networks that might be insecure.” He held the phone to his ear. “Admiral Manning, go ahead.” The admiral’s face grew grim. “Understood.” He hung up the phone.
“They just found a spy on one of our escort ships. Some E-5 is being flown over to be placed in the brig. They caught him trying to insert a thumb drive into a secret computer.”
The carrier CO rose from his seat. “Sir, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go discuss this with my XO. With five thousand people aboard, we need to be prepared in case the same thing happens here.”
The chief of staff indicated the navigator. “Captain, I believe it already has.”
The Ford CO nodded, frowning, and left the room. The navigator and IWC followed him out, and the hatch was shut behind them.
The intelligence officer began updating them on the top-secret-level plans for the US Navy’s submarine fleet.
“The one bright spot in the WestPac battles were the complete domination of all US submarine battles. We believe that gave us some leverage in the cease-fire agreement. We estimate that US Navy submarines have sunk over twenty-five Chinese warships and eight submarines. We were able to deny large areas of water to the Chinese fleet.”
The chief of staff, who wore the gold dolphins insignia of a submarine officer on his chest, smiled broadly. “If the fighting starts back up, it will all be over in a few weeks, gentlemen.”
The admiral observed nods of approval at the rare bit of good news.
“Where are the Chinese carrier groups?”
The intelligence officer turned his laptop around and flipped to a specific slide. “Sir, the Chinese have divided their naval forces into two main groups. The first is a two-carrier group near the Sea of Japan. It has been hugging the territorial waters of coastal China. One of our LA-class boats was trailing them as of this morning. The second group is a single-carrier fleet located near the Philippines. The carrier is the Liaoning. This was the one that launched the failed air attack on Guam.”
“Is she being trailed?”
“She just went through a delousing process, sir. They’ve set up a very large sonobuoys field with their maritime patrol aircraft as she travels west, back towards China.”
“West?”
“Yes, sir. We believe the Liaoning is taking aboard new squadrons of aircraft. Our intelligence reports say she may be going into port. Although…” The intelligence officer demurred.
“What is it?”
“Well, there is some disagreement at ONI about whether or not the Liaoning is actually going into port. She’s headed that way, but they don’t seem to be making the normal preparations in port for her arrival.”
The CAG said, “So we’re not sure what her intentions are, and we don’t have an exact position on the carrier. Is that right?”
The officer’s eyes shifted around nervously. “Yes, sir.”
The CAG rolled his eyes. “We need to know where the enemy is, and what they’re up to.”
“Yes, sir.” The intelligence officer cleared his throat. “Separately, we have recent reports that a very large group of ships are about to depart their commercial shipping centers, and those groups may include some naval vessels that were docked there.”
“Why would they do that?”
“We don’t know.”
Admiral Manning tapped his desk. “Thank you. You may leave.” The intelligence officer scurried out of the admiral’s stateroom.
“Gentlemen, we must be prepared for what comes next. We must be prepared to strike back.”
The submariner chief of staff smiled again. “The element of surprise is gone now. If the fighting starts up again, we’ll crush them. It’ll be over before you know it, sir.”
Admiral Manning frowned. He had always thought his COS an intelligent man. How many wars had begun with otherwise intelligent men uttering those words?
13
Lena Chou traveled through Beijing in a convoy of government sedans. Her hair was in a tight bun, and she wore a hooded sweatshirt that kept her warm and hid the scars on the left side of her face.
She had been in the city just a few weeks ago, but already much had changed. The pattern of life was different. The looks on people’s faces were different. The people themselves were different.
Digital billboard signs that had been advertising nail polish or dish soap now displayed a call to arms.
FIGHT FOR CHINA, read one of them. It showed a picture of a handsome young man holding a rifle aimed towards the sea, his family behind him, huddling together.
MAKE A DIFFERENCE. SERVE YOUR NATION, read another. This advertisement showed three women standing side-by-side. They were all very pretty. One was dressed in a flight suit, holding her helmet by her side. Another wore green camouflage. The third wore the white-and-black dress uniform of the Navy, complete with black tie and shoulder boards. The women looked determined and proud.
Lena’s vehicle turned down a busy street. She saw that similar government propaganda had been plastered on every storefront. At the street corner, a line of young men waited outside a recruiting center. The line went around the block, with most of the boys looking at their phones.
She expected that they were reading carefully curated articles designed to enflame their spirits. The digital ads and articles, social media posts and images… they all blended together now, serving one purpose: transform China into a wartime state.
Their convoy slowed at a traffic jam, and the driver flipped a switch on the dash. An overhead light began shining red, and a siren sounded. The tone was different from what she’d grown accustomed to in America. The sea of cars parted, and Lena’s convoy zoomed on through.
A few minutes later, she pulled into a small gated army base in the center of the city. A PLA helicopter was spinning on the pad. Lena was escorted into the cabin of the aircraft and the door slid shut. They took off, and she could see the contrast of different parts of the city. The wealthy and modern parts, with their bright LED screens and marvelous skyscrapers, and the impoverished working-class sections, with drab one-bedroom homes covered with sheet metal. But all of the neighborhoods were crowded with volunteers, headed to fulfill their national duty. Cheng Jinshan’s dynasty was beating the drums of war.
For an hour, the aircraft traveled over mountainous terrain covered by an endless evergreen forest. The aircraft set down on a square concrete landing pad hidden among tall pines. The door slid open and one of the aircrewmen escorted her out of the spinning rotor arc.
A military escort led her into an army vehicle, which drove fifty meters before coming to a full stop at the base of a rock wall. Security guards inspected her and then went into their camouflaged guard house.
In front of the vehicle, the mountain moved.
What had appeared to be a dark stone facing was a carefully painted door. The door slid to one side, revealing a long, well-lit tunnel that dove into the earth at a steep grade. The drive took approximately five minutes, and then she was dropped off at a loading dock.