This will work, she thought to herself.
Klara didn’t give this log of events to her boyfriend yet, but she decided to keep it in her back pocket as a “get out of jail free” card just in case she got questioned. If asked why she’d waited, she could claim that she didn’t want to seem racist, so she was waiting to gather more information, but ultimately she became scared of what might happen if she unwittingly aided in this heinous act.
I’m not going to compromise years of work on a Russian op for a few incompetent, impatient Chinese agents, she thought.
After mulling over her details and editing her document into a polished gem, Klara went to sleep. She rested peacefully in the knowledge that if she had to turn in a few Chinese operatives and burn them, she would do so, saving years of work with the Russians.
Chapter Thirty-Five:
The Fog of War
“Contact bearing two-four-five, twenty-three kilometers. MV Kalayaan Spirit, Philippine registry.” Lieutenant Commander Zhu Mingzhe’s voice carried crisp professionalism, despite the obvious tension of the moment. They were finally doing it — bringing the renegade province of Taiwan home to its native people.
“Captain, escorts have been spotted. Radar signatures confirm one ROC Kang Ding-class frigate and two Tuo Chiang corvettes,” reported Lieutenant Commander Zhu.
Captain Shen Tao acknowledged with practiced calm, his fingers tracing the outline of the sealed envelope beneath his uniform. Inside were Admiral Deng’s orders and the personal guarantees his crew and officers wouldn’t be hung out to dry should things not work out the way the politicians intended. In a calm yet firm voice, he asked, “Distance to inspection zone boundary?”
“Eight kilometers, Captain. They’ll cross it in approximately twelve minutes at current speed,” confirmed Lieutenant Commander Zhu.
The South China Sea stretched impossibly blue through Zunyi’s bridge windows, the morning sun painting the water in shades of deceptive tranquility. It was perfect visibility — ideal for engagements, terrible for hiding. Every action would be witnessed, recorded, and judged.
Shen turned to Lieutenant Commander Zhu. “I’m headed to CIC. You have the bridge.”
Zhu acknowledged as Shen made his way to the combat information center. As he passed through the hallways into the guts of the ship, he saw his sailors moving about, attending to their duties like nothing was happening. They were calm, prepared and ready for whatever was about to happen.
“Captain entering CIC,” announced one of the enlisted sailors as Shen entered the darkened room. He saw a large digital map of the area displayed on one giant monitor. Another showed the air space around them, while a third tracked potential undersea threats.
Seeing his XO, Commander Gong Jun, Shen ordered, “Give me a status report on the squadron disposition.”
Commander Gong acknowledged, directing his attention to the monitor that showed the tactical display of their current disposition. His ship, the Zunyi, a Type 055 destroyer, was leading a formation of two Type 052D guided missile destroyers and four Type 054A guided missile frigates with enhanced ASW capabilities. To further enhance his squadron’s interdiction capability were four Type 056A corvettes: fast, nimble ships with the ability to transition to subhunters, should his squadron encounter any undersea threats.
As impressive a display of Chinese naval power as this was, the presence of the twelve converted fishing trawlers with the People’s Maritime Militia spread across kilometers of ocean gave his squadron the ability to spread a vast net across the shipping lanes approaching the Taiwan Strait. No ship would escape inspection unless authorized by his superiors.
“As you can see, we have the shipping lanes approaching the Penghu archipelago covered with Maritime Militia trawlers labeled Lotus One through Twelve,” Commander Gong explained. “About an hour ago, the trawler labeled Lotus Seven spotted a Filipino freighter on a course that would take it to Magong Harbor, Penghu. They have been moving to interdict the vessel since they spotted it.”
“Interesting,” Shen commented. “Barely eight hours into the new rules, and we already have our first ship attempting to disregard them.” He looked at the names of the ships in his squadron, then asked, “The Tongling appears to be closest to that Filipino ship, along with Lotus Seven. Direct the Tongling to move closer to get in position to board it if they refuse to comply once we contact the ship’s captain.”
Gong reached for the radio receiver and began issuing orders. They had barely made it past breakfast before they had their first cargo vessel looking to violate the inspection order.
Barely ten minutes had gone by when the closest of the militia trawlers contacted them. “Dragon Lead, this is Lotus Seven,” the voice of the militia commander crackled with excitement.
“Lotus Seven, this is Dragon Actual. Go ahead,” Shen responded directly. He recognized the need and value of having the maritime militia involved in this operation, but that didn’t mean he liked using them. His experiences with them thus far had done little to ameliorate the lack of professionalism in how they conducted themselves in their interactions with the Navy. They were subordinate to him, not the other way around.
The radio crackled. The trawler’s captain was noticeably excited as he realized he was talking directly to the squadron commander. “Ah, Dragon Actual, sir. The Filipino vessel has continued to ignore our hails. As we grew closer, the vessel picked up speed. I am requesting permission to initiate close approach and attempt to slow it down.”
Shen hesitated. He motioned for Commander Gong to activate the ship’s Type 347G EO tracker and get them a visual of the freighter in question. Seconds later, the optical tracker had locked onto the MV Kalayaan Spirit, nine nautical miles off the starboard bow. The image sharpened — despite the haze. The trawler Lotus Seven was a kilometer off the port side of the vessel.
Shen held the radio receiver against his chest as his mind reviewed the rules of engagement for the tenth time that day. The ROE were clear. He was to use the militia vessels to create confusion, force noncompliance, and then use that noncompliance to board the vessel and seize control of it.
“Captain, we have a problem,” Gong interjected before Shen could give the order for Lotus Seven to proceed. “Sir, those Tuo Chiang corvettes we spotted an hour ago are accelerating toward the Kalayaan Spirit. They may try to place themselves between Lotus Seven and the cargo vessel. This is going to place them dangerously close to the Tongling.”
Lifting the radio receiver to his lips, Shen said, “Lotus Seven, we have two Tuo Chiang corvettes moving to intercept you. I want you to maintain current position. Observe and report only.”
“Affirmative, Dragon Actual. Observe and report, out.”
This was exactly what concerned Shen about the operation. If the ROC Navy decided to intervene… things could escalate quickly. The Tuo Chiang corvettes were fast and stealthy multimission corvettes. They could reach speeds of up to forty-five knots, and bristled with eight Hsiung Feng III medium-range supersonic anti-ship missiles with five-hundred-pound warheads and a range of four hundred kilometers if they were the extended-range variant. Further complicating things, the Tuo Chiangs also carried twelve of the ROC’s vaunted Sky Sword II surface-to-air missiles. Shen had been told these were very close to the US Navy’s SM-2 missile. Altogether, these stealthy corvettes were a threat to his squadron he couldn’t ignore.