“Our sub evaded the KPN’s torpedo and summarily sank them, rather than risking an enemy sub getting a second shot off at them. One of our torpedoes missed the Korean submarine, and it continued on a trajectory that took it towards an American submarine. At that moment, the Americans engaged our sub and sunk them. Eighteen sailors were able to escape and are currently being held on an American destroyer,” the admiral concluded.
Foreign Minister Yong Zhang added, “The Americans have reached out to our office and have relayed nearly the exact same information. They said they fired in self-defense of their fleet, believing it was under attack. They have offered to return our sailors as soon as possible, and requested to know where we would like them flown.”
The others in the room grumbled at this. They did not like the fact that their sailors had been taken prisoner and over a hundred others had been killed.
General Kuang, the Defense Minister, interjected, “Mr. President, while the loss of our submarine and most of its crew is tragic, it does present us with a unique opportunity.” The others in the room looked at him as if he had two heads.
“The next phase of our operation calls for us to reoccupy the Province of Formosa (Taiwan). That action was going to result in a probable confrontation with the US. This incident gives us a precursor situation, allowing us to respond militarily to the Americans and shape the narrative that they were the aggressors, that we are merely defending ourselves,” he said convincingly.
Foreign Minister Yong immediately jumped in before anyone else could get a word in edgewise. “I would highly caution us against an immediate retaliation against the Americans,” he urged. “Our plan calls for us to wait until the United States is fully bogged down in a ground war with North Korea. If they are fully committed in both Korea and Ukraine, they are not going to be able to intervene in Taiwan.”
The group devolved into several factions, arguing for and against striking back at the Americans right away. The sinking of their submarine did present the perfect pretext to attack them, but they still needed time to shore up their assets before they made that move. The Americans were in an excellent position to retaliate financially against China, if they did not get certain things taken care of first.
President Xi looked at his Foreign Minister, “How long do you believe we need to dump the remaining Treasuries we hold?”
The group all intently looked at Minister Yong. He looked through some notes, then responded, “At least twenty-four hours. We can take a loss on them, but it would be best if we could wait two days to get a better price. As to the businesses, I have no idea how far along they are at securing themselves from any potential American retribution. They were told they needed to have things ready in eight days, not twenty-four hours.”
Sitting back in his chair, Xi reached out and took his cup of tea. He lifted the warm liquid to his lips and sipped slowly, thinking. “The Americans have given us the appropriate pre-text to act without appearing to be the aggressor. Some of our corporations may be hurt by an expedited timeline, but that cannot be helped. We must execute. Start Operation Red Storm in twenty-four hours. Move our forces across the North Korean border and secure the Peninsula. Then let’s bring that belligerent little Province Formosa back into the fold.”
Everyone in the room smiled; they liked it when their leader was aggressive. Then the room became abuzz with activity as they all sprang to action, issuing orders to the various departments and commands and setting the stage for the next phase of action.
Ant Hive
The two American Supercarriers were almost constantly either launching or recovering aircraft for the past three hours. The Korean War had started just like the Iraq War in 2003, with complete and utter shock and awe, which was a stark contrast to how things had started with Russia. The US hit North Korea with nearly 1,500 cruise missiles and precision-guided munitions, destroying much of the country’s command and control bunkers, air defense and artillery positions in the first thirty minutes of the war.
The KPA (Korean People’s Army) was being pounded from the air, sea, and land by the US and ROK Forces in a very well-planned, and rehearsed attack plan. Since the end of the Korean War in 1953, the US had kept detailed and up-to-date plans on how they would disable and occupy the North, should it ever come to that. Once it became clear that a war with North Korea was unavoidable, those plans were once again combed over and updated. So far, things were basically going according to the grand strategy.
Captain Michael Richards, the Captain of the Carl Vinson stood on the bridge, watching as the next wave of aircraft was recovered from a successful bombing run. The pair of F/A-18s that just flew in, had been hitting suspected artillery positions near the beach area, where the US and ROK Marines would be assaulting once the ground war started.
Richards looked on as the Hornets were guided to the elevators, where they would be lowered to the next deck, so they could be refueled, rearmed, and then returned to the flight deck so they could hit the next target. The whole process moved so quickly that the pilots were only on the ship long enough to use the restroom, rehydrate, and get a brief on their next target before they got back in the air.
The maintenance and ordinance crews below were working feverishly to get the aircraft turned back around and ready for another mission. It was relentlessly hard and backbreaking work getting everything done like this. When things were running smoothly, it was impressive to watch. When things went awry, it could get crazy fast.
Captain Richards picked up a pair of binoculars to catch a glimpse of one of the aircraft coming in. It was streaming smoke from one of its engines. The F/A-18 had taken a hit from some enemy ground fire and was trying to limp its way back home. The aircraft moved a bit awkwardly through the air as it approached the carrier, streaming a light trail of black smoke from one of its engines. He could see it was in a bit of trouble; it was coming in too high and too slow.
The air boss tried to wave the aircraft off, but the pilot was determined to set her down. He descended quickly, thinking he might overshoot. Then, just as the aircraft looked like it was going to make it, its remaining engine stalled out and the F/A-18 slammed into the rear of the ship, just below the flight deck, killing the pilot and injuring nearly a dozen people. Black oily smoke began to billow from the stern. Firefighting groups immediately rushed forward to douse foam and fire retardant on the flames.
“No! The pilot should have gone around or ditched in the water!” yelled Richards. Then the Captain let out a long stream of obscenities. He’d mourn the loss of the pilot later; right now, he had other aircraft needing to land, and this foul-up had just cost him precious time.
One of the other officers from the CIC came up to the bridge and got his attention. “Captain, there’s a message coming in from the Reagan,” he said, handing Richards a piece of paper. The officer paused long enough to look out the window and see the black smoke coming from the rear of the carrier, and then unceremoniously headed back down to the CIC.
His CAG looked at him. “What’s it say, Captain? Anything good?” he asked trying to take his mind off the pilot he just lost.
The Captain read it over, then looked up at the CAG. “One of their Hornet pilots spotted a mobile missile launch vehicle moving through a valley where he was bombing some artillery positions. The pilot didn’t have any ordinance left, but sent the grid back to the carrier. Looks like the North may be trying to get in position to launch some ballistic missiles,” he replied, which made the bridge crew a bit nervous.