Drone Command

To the scrambling crew, it appeared as if a massive power outage had just occurred. But the automated power-backup systems couldn’t bring the diesel motors or the automated positioning system back on line. Within a few minutes, the churning seas battering the hull of the Tiger II nudged the forty-five-thousand-ton vessel out of alignment, snapping the drill assembly in half. The ship was in deep water; no anchor chain on board could reach the bottom. With no engines online, the ship was now helplessly adrift.

Thanks to his mantabot, Pearce was able to completely shut down the entire drilling operation without firing a shot or shedding a single drop of blood. The Japanese submarine crew shouted triumphantly as Commander Onizuka reported the results. He and Pearce shook hands.

“So far so good,” Onizuka said.

Pearce nodded. “Yeah, but that was the easy part.” He glanced over at Dr. Ashley. She understood.

Even if they managed to pull off the second half of the mission, Pearce doubted they would get out of it alive.

SIXTY-FIVE

ON BOARD THE LIAONING, STEAMING TOWARD MAO ISLAND

19 MAY 2017

09:59 A.M. (JST)

The task force was still two hours away from Mao Island and the Diaoyu Islands. The PLAN marines were making final preparations for loading into their hovercraft, and the Liaoning’s fighter-bombers and surveillance aircraft were launching as fast as the air boss could get them safely into the air. The deck thundered each time the catapult exploded, throwing another multiton airplane into the sky from the angled waist ramp, while more powerful jets rocketed into the air on their own power with the aid of the forward bow “ski jump” ramp. Neither Admiral Ji nor the ship’s captain was taking any chances. They were supremely confident the Americans would hesitate and offer no resistance, but putting all their aircraft in the air would serve as both a training exercise and a wise precaution.

Admiral Ji resented Vice Chairman Feng’s presence on the carrier, let alone in the CIC, the high-tech nerve center where combat operations were conducted. The heavily air-conditioned room looked like the deck of a starship to Feng, bathed in blue digital light and crowded with dozens of computer monitors manned by young officers and enlisted people wearing the familiar blue camouflage uniforms of the PLAN. In the center of the room was the threat assessment display (TAD), a giant digital monitor showing the Liaoning in the center of the vertical transparent glass.

Feng’s arrival on board ship was an obvious attempt by him to share in the glory of Admiral Ji’s impending victory over the hated Japanese and arrogant Americans. When Feng’s helicopter appeared on the horizon, Ji seriously considered shooting it down, but there would be ample time after the coup to deal with him and his cronies. For now, he was still a useful tool in the struggle with President Sun.

A wide-eyed lieutenant called out from his comms station. “Admiral Ji! The Tiger II has gone off-line. We can’t raise her!”

Ji and Feng rushed over. “What do you mean, can’t raise her?” Ji demanded.

“She’s not answering radio calls. Text messages, e-mails, cell phones — nothing’s getting through.”

“Is she sunk?” Feng asked.

“No, sir. She’s still on our radar.”

“Contact the carrier air group commander. I want two more surveillance aircraft overhead in five minutes or I’ll have him court-martialed.”

“Aye, aye, sir!” The lieutenant snatched up a phone and dialed in the commander’s number.

“What does this mean?” Feng asked.

“Software malfunction. Power outage. Could be any number of things,” Ji offered.

“The Americans?”

Ji nodded. “Who else?”

Alarms suddenly blared throughout the CIC. The TAD flashed hundreds of inbound aerial bogies less than a quarter mile away — striking distance — coming at the ship from all directions. Automated chaff rockets exploded above decks, throwing radar-confusing aluminum clouds into the air as antiaircraft missiles and Gatling guns roared.

A bespectacled lieutenant next to Ji shouted, “We’re under attack!” The room exploded with nervous chatter as operators called out status reports.

Ji laid a firm hand on the shoulder of the nervous officer. “Calm down.”

“Sorry, sir.”

Ji turned to another officer. “Someone get me the CAP.”

“The CAP commander reports no visual sightings, but his radar has locked on to multiple targets, closing.” The commander of the combat air patrol flew the latest Shenyang J-15 Flying Shark fighter aircraft, which possessed its own long-range radar, also tied into the TAD.

“Air defense. Status report,” Ji said. The TAD screen exploded with dozens more aerial blips. More antiaircraft missiles roared out of their launchers above his head.

“No splashes, sir!”

“Our missiles hit nothing?”

“No, sir.”

“What kind of aircraft?”

“Indeterminate, sir. Too slow for missiles.”

“Super Hornets? Lightnings?” Ji feared the strike capabilities of the latest American carrier fighter-bombers, the F-35Cs.