“I’ve seen about 15 direct hits down here. The C-130 is okay and we have the two medic trucks driving through the airport gates. Every airport building is destroyed. Over.”
“Well done, guys! You did a good job,” commended the colonel to whomever he was speaking. ”Get your wounded sorted out fast, you only have ten minutes max. Blue Moon, get airborne. Morrisville airfield, prepare for a second round of incoming as she gets airborne. Out. Bridge spotters, a sitrep please?”
“All five container ships have passed under the bridge and are currently two miles from the Global Terminal. There are hundreds of soldiers on board. We see four aircraft returning to the carrier, which is still about two miles out and we believe that others are about to take off. Without our airborne eyes, we can’t tell so precisely. Over.”
As the spotter said that, another fighter took off from the carrier and headed out to sea. It would take Blue Moon another five minutes to get airborne, and this time they didn’t know where the aircraft would be heading, but at least eight were history.
“The two destroyers are moving this way,” added the observation post on the other tower. “It looks like they are all slowly turning to head in.”
“Okay, guys, we are about to warm up around here,” stated Colonel Patterson. “Harbor troops, you heard that the container ships are swarming with Charlies. Snipers, you will be ready to fire once I give the order. You should be well in range in about ten minutes. Make each round count.”
On the buildings around the Global Terminal, 300 snipers had regrouped from the roadways around the harbor and airport areas and now each one was ready for the incoming ships with mountains of ammo and each one was within 1,000 yards of the terminal depot.
*****
“What happened to our fighters?” demanded an angry chairman, as he only saw four fighters line up to land. Another 12 had taken off and were now circling over the ships as they turned towards the bridge to follow the container ships into New York harbor.
“I don’t know,” replied the Air Force commander. “I assume that we hit their main Air Force airport, as it was extremely well defended.”
“We will go back once we have taken their harbor and destroy everything around there. Can those defenses attack our aircraft over the harbor?” asked the chairman.
“No, Comrade Chairman,” was the reply. “The air base is at least 20 miles away and too far to be of any trouble.”
“Get those fighters over the harbor bridge. I want air cover as we go in. You can get the remaining fighters off the ship as soon as these others come in,” he ordered.
There were only five more fighters that were ready, and the Air Force commander wanted to wait to get all nine off together. By that time, he reckoned he would know all the strengths of the opposition forces and then take them out. He had missed the information that the other naval ships were now heading for the harbor. He felt that they were moving, but the aircraft carrier had to wait, pointing north to get the last two aircraft aboard, still flying in from the south.
The two Chinese frigates quickly entered the harbor under the bridge, their guns bristling in all directions as they arrogantly swept in under the bridge at 20 knots and kept to the main shipping lane in the middle of the river.
*****
“Everybody keep down. I want the carrier in if we can. Snipers, hold your fire. How far out are the container ships from docking? Over.”
“The first one is entering the enclosed water now,” reported the command center by the Cargo Terminal. They were stationed in one of the massive cranes that the engineers had spent three days getting to work again. “They have formed a line and seem to know where they are going. The third ship is about 700 yards directly behind the first one, and the second one is aiming herself towards the south wharf to her left. The fourth one is beginning to follow her. Over.”
“Comrade Wong, get waving. Let’s welcome in the bastards!” smiled Colonel Patterson.
The waiting was becoming tense. Slowly, the fighters landed back on the carrier’s deck as the second dozen circled at a couple of thousand feet above her. The destroyers were already halfway to the bridge, and it looked like they had slowed slightly to give the much larger ship time to catch up.
Colonel Patterson looked through a powerful telescope he had brought for the occasion—far more powerful than his binoculars— and he saw pallets of what looked like missiles and pallets of cannon rounds being brought up to her flight deck via several elevators. He counted nine aircraft on her deck area and three more helicopters. One had its rotor running and it took off as he watched.
Several minutes later, the carrier was moving slowly towards the bridge and the helicopter came directly towards him only a mile away. “Do we have any more Mutts with TOWS?” he asked into his radio. “I have another helo coming in over the sea.”
“We have two Mutts with TOWS 100 yards further north of the last ones, but no more on the south side,” somebody replied.
“Take out the helo in 30 seconds and run for cover. Anti-aircraft weapons on the north side only open fire on any incoming aircraft once the Mutts explode, but not before, and make your first shots count. The aircraft will turn your area into a disaster zone if you are slow. Over.”
“Roger that,” said several voices.
Thirty seconds later, everybody saw the stripes of light head towards the helicopter and it turned into a white blaze of fire as it disappeared from all radar screens. The ships were waiting this time, and several seconds later the whole area around the two old deserted jeeps erupted into flames and their metal lives quickly came to an end.
Colonel Patterson knew that he had at least another 40 of these vehicles around the harbor, but very few that could shoot at the seaward side of the bridge.
The fighters peeled away from the carrier and came into the area in a single line, throwing missiles into every building surrounding the latest cloud. Over 50 guns and missiles immediately returned fire, and three of the first fighters, not expecting retaliation of this magnitude, exploded only a couple hundred yards from shore. A fourth went straight into a ten-story building and blew up inside. Slowly the whole structure collapsed into itself.
The remaining eight fighters turned in all directions to escape the enemy ground fire, and another was hit at a low altitude as it turned sharply to the north and directly over the shoreline.
*****
“Get the ships to terminate that whole area,” screamed the chairman, as he watched the destruction of his valuable aircraft. “Get those others into the air! Kill the Americans!” he screamed at the Air Force commander.
“They can’t take off until we turn north to south—the wind is too strong for a side wind take-off,” replied the Air Force commander.
“I don’t want to hear excuses—get those last fresh aircraft off now,” ordered the chairman.
“I can’t, Comrade Chairman, they will be destroyed!”
“Must I do everything myself, you stupid man?” replied the chairman as another aircraft exploded going into the area north of the bridge and all four warships opened up their large guns. He grabbed the handset out of the shocked commander’s hand and ordered every aircraft off his aircraft carrier, or they would be fired at by the guns aboard the ship. Engines immediately began to whine as he threw the handset down and again surveyed the scene.