0100 – Pentagon
"How're you holding up?" General Scott Mitchell asked to the theater commander in Korea. The Iridium satellite network in the US was still functioning despite all attempts for the Chinese to shoot down their satellites or jam them. The US Air Force had been very busy moving their ComSats on Delta V evasive burns and providing cover from fighters while still keeping them in range just so Mitchell could talk face to face with some of his commanders.
"We're taking a licking sir." The General in Korea managed a grim smirk. "The Chinese have been hitting us with regiment sized attacks for the past week. Skinnies seem to have dropped off the face of the earth."
"Who has?"
"Sorry sir, Skinnies. It's the local term. The Korean People's Army is really underfed and some of our men-"
"Okay. How long do you think you can hold?"
"Our men are beat sir." The general shook his head. "Morale is getting lower, a lot of the fighting is reduced to frontal assaults or trench sniping which I don't have to tell you is no way to fight a war. We're giving twice as many as what we take but casualties are still heavy. Averaging thirty percent killed and wounded down to the platoon level. The Koreans and Japanese are telling me our air cover is strained and our air support is nil. I haven't talked with the Air Force about this yet, he's just getting set up in Tokyo."
"Must be nice to fight a war from a safe place." Mitchell smirked, the General he was speaking to was at Pusan itself, at the head of the fighting.
"Yes sir."
"You'll know this isn't a social call. I'm telling you that the reinforcements we've promised are being redirected to another front. The Joint Strike Force regiments are heading north to take Kamatchka but the rest of the PANTO units will be at your doorstep by tonight."
"Understood." The General nodded. Mitchell noticed the slightest twitch in his jaw that betrayed the fact that he wasn't taking this news well. "I've heard rumors that Ivan's up for a fight too."
"That's right."
"Brilliant. I hope you don't mind me setting up a shoot on sight ROE."
"Do you think you need to be evacuated General?"
"Morale can't take another hit." The General shook his head. "And the Koreans here are fighting for their home, we can't just take that away from these people. If we leave, I don't think the others will sir. So we can't let them show us up."
"Keep up the good work."
1700 – AO YANKEE, USS Oregon
Most ships at about this time would be breaking for lunch, at least if they were in the Chinese Navy. Their mealtime routine was much different than the United States Navy. The Chinese rotated mealtimes with half the crew at stations and the other half at meal. This meant that half the Chicomm sailors would be scoffing down rice when they should have been watching the waters. The US did it by quarters so that three quarters of the crew were watching. So what if lunch officially took four hours?
"Periscope depth." Captain Portman ordered and the sub slipped upward to 400 feet and raised its periscope. Portman spun it in three hundred and sixty degrees and flipped on the EM filters to pick up electromagnetic transmissions up to twenty miles away. Line of sight was good but it wasn't up to par with the computer's power. A scattering of blue blocky shapes were spotted on the horizon. Portman watched them for ten minutes, they were station keeping moving in good order. That meant a major fleet, and that meant a carrier was somewhere in there.
"X, confirm that my visual bearing is away from the advance of the PANTO fleet."
"Aye sir. Your looking down three zero five."
"Looks like we found the Chinese fleet." Portman couldn't help but grin. He depressed a button to flip the powerful laser target designator to get a range estimate. Approximately ten miles away.
"Down scope." Portman stepped off the platform. "Raise the ELF mast and dictate this message to CVN-1. Chinese fleet sighted, multiple vessels of varying tonnage at…" Portman rattled off their coordinates. "Recommend an immediate strike at the previously designated coordinates. We will pursue priority targets until receiving further instructions." The Electronics officer nodded and went over to his station to relay the message to the PANTO fleet. Portman opened the intercom.
"Crew, this is the Captain. We have spotted what I believe is the Chinese carrier fleet at three zero five. My intention is to infiltrate through their outer defense web and shoot four harpoon missiles at each of the priority targets inside their range. XO, take the Conn."
"Aye aye skipper." Grifen nodded. "All ahead one third, make your depth sixteen hundred twenty degrees down angle…"
1700 – Vladivostock
The thing hanging over most people's heads around this time was a decision whether to eat healthy or splurge for dinner. Blanco's decision was what she would do once she was inside the base. The final Vladivostock division had left just last this morning she had learned from eavesdropping earlier in the coffee shop. Blanco was jogging, taking the long route to the University that passed by the army base, she had her big purse today which hid her pistol and most of her electronics equipment. The base would be very vulnerable to a single operator such as Blanco. She wore purple jogging pants and a marshmallow white sweater to hide the skintight black raid clothes she wore and the knee and elbow pads seemed to be too visible even though her clothes were baggy.
Getting inside was easy, getting those codes and getting out was going to be much harder. She mentally ran through the layout one last time; if she approached on the eastern end of the base she would be able to lay up inside the dormitories where the tech personnel probably lived. Probably, she'd have to find out. Blanco slipped her gloves on and tossed a Frisbee over the wall. It took one leap to bring her up to the wall, it was higher on this side, but the gloves were thick and padded so they would protect her form the barbed wire. They were also insulated at the palms by rubber so that the electric current that ran through the wire was disappated. slightly.
Blanco received a jolt for her troubles and almost let go of the wall. She hissed and shook her head free, the current was powerful. If she hadn't just touched it with her glove it might have sent her smoking to the ground. She couldn't go back the way she got in the first time, they would be watching it now that a hole had been identified. But that meant that this side would be watched less and that was what Blanco was hoping for. She let herself drop and on the ground fumbled for wire cutters. It was time for a little Thomas Edison work. She spooled a thin strand of copper wire to the tip of the steel cutters and attached it to a nail which she dug into the soil of a planter. It was a long piece of wire, and she leapt back up again, cutters in hand and snipped the electric and barbed wire cleanly. The current that should have been forced through the cutters was redirected by the copper wire and went safely into the ground.
Blanco was in. She landed on her toes, being careful to shift her weight from back to front as she landed because that damped the noise and she slipped off her outer garments so that she was only dressed in her black raid clothing. Next she rifled through her purse which she turned inside out so that it was matte black, the same color as her clothes and slipped the contents onto her belt, pistol, motion sensors, electronic disruptors, heartbeat sensor, flash drives, multitool, satellite hopper and multipurpose goggles all were slipped on in relative silence in the shadows of the base. The entire changing operation had taken six minutes. Showtime.
The lights that bathed the base in light created pools of absolute black which Blanco sprinted to like jumps in a perverse game of leapfrog. She reached the dormitories without problem, and once she entered the confines, flipped her goggle visor down and touched the edge.
The Third Echelon Sonar Goggles fired six off the audible scale tones which bounced around the building and returned to the goggles which used its minicomputer to map out the entire bottom floor and part of the second floor dormitories for her. A couple rooms were unknown, they were the ones with proper soundproofing and therefore Blanco would avoid them. Everyone that worked on the base would come to sleep in one of these buildings eventually, and all of them would have to go to the bathroom at some point. Blanco would use that to her advantage and quietely slipped into a men's toilet stall to wait.
The next person entering would get much more than the satisfaction of relieving his bladder.
1700 – Tokyo
"Rogue one, sky is yours. Wind five knots at three six zero."
"Copy, my sky." Cotugno couldn't help but smile behind his mask at the joy of being behind the stick again. Being grounded felt as if someone had torn off his legs. He was a bird of prey, born in the cockpit and raised to kill. Cotugno rotated his turbines for the final burn and lifted off, joining dozens more attack aircraft in a journey west. It was going to be a massive operation to help those boys on the ground, the PANTO units had finally gotten their act together in Tokyo and were deploying in force to help out the beleaguered troops at Pusan. Cotugno and his four raptors rose to sixty thousand feet to join the escort formation above the V-22 ospreys which were at twenty thousand feet. There were a lot of them below, the twin propeller VTOL craft could deploy an entire rifle platoon quickly behind enemy lines (as they were going to be doing now) and then lift to provide fire support from a chin mounted 50 calibur machine gun and hull mounted grenade launchers. Almost as nimble but much bulkier and slower were the V120 Valkyries which had been deployed by PANTO to deploy tanks and armor with them. It was quite a babysitting operation, there were thirty six transport units down there. But that was why there were fifty escorts supported by an AWACS and a B-1 Lancer converted as a Missile Sled.
The other pilots were alright, although Cotugno still considered himself better than any of them, the Australians were new but had proven very competent against the Chinese. They had even brought their F-35s out to play. Cotugno and his Raptors were the only Americans aloft though. There were at least a hundred American fighters in Tokyo now, but apparently they were being shifted North to deal with something quick that was bowling over. Too bad, those A-20 Razorback tank busters would have been nice for the guys on the ground. They would have to be satisfied with the Japanese F-2 and Rockeye clusterbombs.
"All callsigns, Evil eye, detecting multiple radar tracks at two seven zero-okay they just dropped tanks and went Mach 1. Multiple bandits are identified J-10 dragons and J-8 Sinoflankers, count them twenty four plus at angels twenty. Huscarl, Vanguard, Diablo- snap to intercepts and you are weapons free."
Cotugno heard the three squadron leaders acknowledge and their F-15 Stealth Eagles kick up their afterburners and boost forward as they eagerly closed to fight.
"Eyes up Rogues." Cotugno voiced to his squadron. "Watch for Stealth fighters."
"They're racking up all the kills Cap'n." Rogue three feigned a complaint.
"Well let them so we can do our-" Cotugno spotted a flash overhead, like a shooting star but it had been red. He squinted his eyes, the sun was just beginning its final dip and inching towards the ground so the stars overhead were materializing and maybe it was his eyes-no there it was again. Cotugno grinned. It was a sloppy mistake that would cost them. If there were fighters up there- and there were because red flashes in the upper atmosphere seemed to be man made rather than the laws of nature having a bad day – then they hadn't been picked up on Evil Eye's radar. And that meant they were stealth fighters.
Black Silk. And one of them had accidentally left his running lights on.
"Rogues on me, I've got eyes on multiple bandits at sixty thousand feet. Evil eye you've got J-20 Stealth fighters heading right towards you coming high, moving to engage."
"Good spot, Rogue Leader. You are weapons free, splash them all for us."
Cotugno kicked up his throttle to supercruise and closed the distance. His first target hadn't even realized he was painted for a millimeter band radar lock until Cotugno's Vulcan cannon tore into him and the dogfight was joined.