A few words from the author: readers are appreciated, reviewers are appreciated even more.
Warning: this fanfiction contains lead, a substance known to the state of California to cause cancer, birth defects and other reproductive harm
"Chinese or Japanese depending on context"
"English"
Italics are for emphasis
Enjoy
February 11, 2010; 0705 local time (1); Oval Office, Washington D.C., USA
The president was sitting in his office doing some official paperwork when the phone rang.
"Hello?" the president said as he picked up the phone. "Wait. . . slow down. . . what happened? WHAT! . . THE REAGAN? . . Good God! Assemble the joint chiefs for an emergency meeting! . . . How long before the press picks this up? THEY ALREADY HAVE!? DAMMIT! WHY THE HELL DIDN'T I HEAR ABOUT THIS EARLIER?!"
The prestident pounded his desk with a clenched fist.
February 11, 2010; 1930 local time; Chinese Nuclear Launch Control Room
The Chinese technician glanced around him, the other people in the room were doing their various jobs. There were two other men next to him working on their computers. Behind him was a desk where an officer sat with his back to the technician, he was absorbed in his book. His book had a red book jacket and "Sayings of Chairman Mao" was written on the jacket in gold script. The book cover was coming off and through it the words Ha-y Po-t-er could be seen. Two guards stood at the black steel door of the grey concrete room on the Technician's left. They wore olive green uniforms and held QBZ-95 assault rifles.
The technician moved his mouse over to an icon marked "The Life and Times of Mao Zedong", he scrolled down to an icon marked "Zork" in English. A small black window appeared after he clicked the icon.
You are in an open field west of a big white house with a boarded front door.
There is a small mailbox here.
Open mailbox
Opening the mailbox reveals:
A leaflet
Get leaflet
The technician continued playing for a while when the officer looked up from his book and saw the screen. He would have chastized his subordinate for playing a game, but he wanted to find out why Snape was dancing around while wearing a pink tutu (1).
up
It is pitch dark. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
south
Oh no! You walked into the slavering fangs of-
As the text appeared, his entire screen went black. The technician panicked and started pressing buttons on the keyboard and then press the restart button on the computer. None of it worked. The other two computers went black too. The officer quickly put down his book and came over to the computers.
"What's going on?" He asked.
"I don't know, the computer is not responding." The technician answered desparately pushing buttons on the computer.
As if he had said a magic word, the screen turned a sky blue and the most horrible thing that could ever be imagined appeared on the screen. . .
The face of Hello Kitty. . .
February 11, 2010; 0900 local time; Strategic Planning Room, Pentagon, USA
"Gentlemen, thank you for coming on such short notice. No doubt you've already been briefed on the situation. We believe the attack was done by the Chinese, but we have no proof. Communications from the Reagan suggested that there were at least two hundred enemy aircraft. The only country that could mobilize that kind of aerial assault is China. I want all American forces in the western Pacific to move to DEFCON 1. Call Japan, tell them we're sending three more carrier groups. I want all the US military units in Japan and the Korean DMZ to mobilize and get ready for the worst. Prepare a declaration of war for congress should the worst happen."
The president motioned to one of the secret service agents, who checked the area for bugs or observers. He nodded to the president. The president continued quietly:
"I want two Ohio class submarines armed with nuclear missiles I want one to be in strike range of Beijing and the other one in strike range of Pyongyang."
There was a knock on the door, a secretary entered. "Mr. President there's something that you should see."
"What is it?"
"Langley just finished with the translations, the Chinese chairman gave this speech about thirty minutes ago."
The secretary put a disc into the TV monitor on the wall of the room and a picture of Chairman Lao appeared on the screen. He addressed a large crowd. According to the CIA translators, the Chinese nuclear defense grid was hacked and the launch codes for China's nuclear arsenal had been stolen. The Chinese had evidence to blame Japan saying that the Hello Kitty company was behind the virus. If the codes were not returned and the people responsible were not handed over to the Chinese authorities, the Chinese would take them by force.
"The Japanese government denies any involvement with the intrusion. They claim that if it was someone in Japan, they were working independently and without the knowledge or approval of the Diet (Japanese parliament)."
"I have to agree Mr. President. The security systems on those computers are some of the best in the world. The only way to take them down would be to have an intimate knowledge of how it runs."
"Are you saying that this was an inside job?"
"It's a possibility Mr. President. The Japanese also intercepted communications chatter from the forces that attacked the Reagan, the transmissions were in Chinese. They also recently intercepted a heavily encrypted transmission from Shenyang to airbase command in Northeastern China."
"God help us." The president said as he digested the new information. "I want that battle chatter translated; if it is indeed from China, I want to be the first to know. Call Beijing, I want to speak to the Chairman about this."
February 11, 2010; 2200 local time; Airbases in Northeastern China
Eighteen thousand paratroopers got out of their bunks.
They filed past the weapons racks and picked up their weapons and gear. They stood in formation, nine men across, ten men down.
The solders stood in line with their ten man squads. Five of the men were armed with QBZ-95 assault rifles. The weapons were made out of green plastic; they had a bullpup configuration, the trigger mechanism was in front of the black banana-shaped magazine. Two of them carried QBB-95 light support weapons, they were basically the same as the assault rifles but with a heavier barrel and a large drum magazine. Two of them carried Type-05 sub-machine guns and PF-89 anti-tank weapons. The last man carried a QBU-88 sniper rifle; which also resembled the assault rifle, but had a very long barrel and a straight magazine.
The ninety man formations filed into the transport planes and sat down. The four turboprop engines coughed and sputtered as the propellers started up. Men with lightsticks guided the planes as they taxi'd to the runway and took off into the night.
February 11, 2010; 2330 local time; Japanese Early-Warning center, Western Hokkaido, Japan
Two communications officers watched the radar screens. Their nerves were stretched to the limit, if the Chinese could attack and disable one of the most powerful ships in the world, what would stop them from going after Japan next.
Ping
A plane appeared on the radar screens coming from the northwest.
Ping
Another plane appeared coming from the same area. The first com-officer picked up the phone and was about to dial. . .
Ping
The second com-officer looked at the radar screen
Ping
"What is it?" asked the second officer
Ping. . . Ping, Ping, Ping. . .
"What the hell? I think we have a problem" said the first.
PingPingPingPingPing. . .
"Call Tokyo!" The second com-officer shouted over the almost incessant pinging as the giant mass of planes on the radar continued to grow.
The first com-officer dialed the phone, "Hello, this is Early Warning station five. We have detected a huge mass of planes heading toward-"
The phone cut out. The com-officer pressed redial button, nothing. He dialed again, nothing. He looked at the radar screen, nothing. "They knocked out our communications and radar!" The second com-officer said.
The first com-officer looked outside. There were so many red, green and white navigation lights from planes that it looked like a portion of the night sky coming at them. The second com-officer looked outside and gaped at what he saw.
Kami-sama help us all. . .
February 11, 2010; 1145 local time; Strategic Planning Room, Pentagon, USA
President Shrub was worried. He knew that something was wrong. The joint chiefs of staff were sitting around the table discussing various outcomes and strategies. He didn't want to plunge the country into another war, but by the look of things that might be what he would have to do.
The phone rang and the President picked it up.
"Mr. President, we have the Chairman on the line."
"Good, put him on."
"Mr. President, this is Chairman Lao. I understand that you wanted to speak with me."
"Yes, I would like to hear what happened to the USS Ronald Reagan."
"Why Mr. President, whatever do you mean?"
"At about midnight local time, the USS Ronald Reagan and her battlegroup were attacked by an aerial wing of about two hundred planes. The Reagan was disabled and most of her escorts were sunk."
"Are you implying Mr. President, that China was behind this?"
"Yes."
"I will be frank with you Mr. President. We did attack your ship, it stood between us and Japan."
"What do you mean?"
"It was in our way. We needed to remove it to make a clear path for the invasion."
"Invasion?"
"Yes, I intend to invade and take over Japan. For too long the United States has had influence over our region and used Japan as your puppet. That ends now.
"What about the soldiers already stationed in Japan?"
"If they don't surrender, they will be killed."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because I know you won't do a thing about it."
"And why won't I?"
"Because Mr. President, I have two submarines in the Atlantic. These submarines are each armed with 13 strategic (2) nuclear missiles If you send one single soldier, declare war, tell the American public about this, or try to get the United Nations involved; I will order the submarines to level the Eastern Seaboard. New York, Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia and even Washington D.C. itself."
"You wouldn't. . ."
"Would I?"
The Chairman hung up the phone and sat back in his chair. The Americans would take the bait, the truth was that he had no submarines in the Atlantic; but the Americans didn't know that and by the time they found out, it would be too late. . .
(1) The book he's reading is a cheap Chinese knockoff that probably contains harmful chemicals and is unfit for human consumption.
(2) Strategic nuclear missiles have a warhead in them that is similar to the Hiroshima or Nagasaki bombs.