Condition Zebra: The Next War - 2025

Chapter 7

Lessons learned…. That was the heart of post-combat briefing in HQ’s the world over as the news rolled in concerning the dramatic and costly battle fought off Singapore. At Whale Island, Sir Frederick Graham Cooper, 1st Sea Lord of the Royal Navy, was looking at the reports from Singapore with some trepidation. He had taken over from Admiral Anthony Radakin two years ago, and was now the man in the chair, as it were, for this sudden and violent outbreak of war.

In truth, every Admiral wonders if they will ever serve in time of real war, or hold the tiller as the navy steered its way through genuine crisis. It had been a long, sleepy time for the Royal Navy since WWII, with only that scrap in the Falklands to rattle the teacups in the Naval Staff HQ. This was something quite more.

“Pearson damn near got handed his hat,” said Cooper, a tall man, strait and strong for his years as he entered his early 50’s. He looked at his 2nd Sea Lord, Admiral George Oliver, and his concern was evident.

“Heavy losses all around,” said Oliver. “He had just one Type 45 destroyer with each carrier, but it wasn’t enough, because the frigates simply couldn’t offer adequate support.”

“Why?” asked Admiral Cooper.

“The Type 23 is getting a bit long in the tooth, sir, as you well know. But it was more than that. The Sea Ceptor was faced with a missile it simply couldn’t catch, the Chinese YJ-18. It’s the best they have, with good range, stealth, and hitting power, but the real trick is the terminal attack run, with maneuvers—at 1900 knots. Sea Ceptor can only handle targets moving a little over 1300 knots, so it can’t even engage this Chinese missile, which befuddles the gun systems as well when it comes in at that speed. Our frigates do quite well against subsonic cruise missiles, but this is something altogether different.”

“Well, we’ve also put the Ceptors on the newer Type 26. What in blazes are we going to do about this? We can’t very well rip those missiles out of all those VLS bays, can we?”

“It’s something we’ll have to think about. Our Type 31 does just a little better with the American ESSM. We may have to make a crash effort to use that system.”

“Could it be done?”

“Chili did it with the three older Type 23’s we sold them. The Yanks shipped them everything they needed, including the Mark 41 VLS bays and ESSM fire controller.”

“The missile won’t fit into the CAMMs bay?”

“Sea Ceptor is 3.2 meters long and weighs 99 kilograms. The ESSM is 3.6 meters long and weighs 280 Kilograms.”

“Three times the weight?” Admiral Cooper inclined his head. “Would that be a problem?”

“It wasn’t one for Chile. Sir, we’ve got four Type 23’s in home waters, and we might start with them if we can get the necessary missiles and equipment from the United States.”

“Very well…. Look into it. But this won’t do us much good now in the Indian Ocean. What’s the latest from Singapore?”

“There was another big attack on the RSN frigates standing the watch now, mostly with the older Chinese YJ-83 cruise missiles. It was quite intense, but it was defeated without further losses. Those ships have the Aster 15.”

“Indeed. Is that a consideration for our frigates?”

“Possibly, but we would have the same size and weight problem. Aster 15 is 310 Kilograms, and it needs a full cell for every missile. If we go with the American system, we can quad pack four ESSM’s into one cell.”

“And it can stop these YJ-18’s?”

“Yes sir. It has the necessary speed, and with a bigger warhead. The missile can even be used effectively against patrol craft and other small boats, and the ESSM has twice the range of our new Sea Ceptors.”

Admiral Cooper nodded. “A pity that nobody thinks these things through before we get into a situation like this. I suppose this is as much my fault as that of anyone else. At the moment, with the ships already deployed, we must play the hand we have dealt, but surely exercise more caution, and see that the frigates are defended.”

“They’re still capable, sir,” said Admiral Oliver. “It’s only been this one enemy missile that they’ve been unable to track and kill. I would suggest we use them in tight around our carriers, and for ASW purposes, but by no means should they ever be picketed forward of the main body. If a forward screen is posted, that job will have to go to the destroyers.”

“See that Admiral Wells is notified of this, Mister Oliver. He’s about to lock horns with the Chinese off Madagascar, is he not?”

“Yes sir. It seems that has just about come to the boil. I’ll get a message off immediately.”

“Interesting,” said Vice Admiral James Wells. “This is a rather pointed warning from Whale Island.”

“Yes sir, and I’ll vouch for it. Sea Ceptor is a fine weapon system, but it has one blind spot—missiles at high supersonic speeds.” Commodore John Charles “Jack” Westfield, Commander of TF Vengeance, had joined Captain Grant off the Victorious for a meeting of the senior officers.

“For that we need the Aster system,” said Westfield, “or the American ESSM installed on our new Type 31’s.”

“There’s talk of trying to retrofit that missile on our other frigates.”

“That won’t happen soon,” said Grant. “I can say the same about the Sea Ceptor. Frankly, without the Type 45 destroyers, we would be in trouble here if they have a good number of destroyers out there with the YJ-18.”

“Very well, then we’ll abide by this cruising order. The frigates form the inner screen, destroyers out on point. We’ll just have to fill the hole in our overall defensive scheme with the F-35’s. Those will be our forward pickets, not ships.”

“Good enough,” said Westfield. “Admiral, what’s the plan?”

Wells walked them over to the lighted map table, pointing at the northern tip of Madagascar. “We thought they were going to mass here, north of the island,” he said. “But in the last 24 hours they’ve fallen back off the coast of Tanzania and Kenya.”

“Air cover,” said Captain Grant. “If they stay off Madagascar, then they have just this one small airfield at Toamasina, and this one here at Andrakaka on Madagascar. They may joust with us from those fields, but if I were the Chinese, I’d want to be off the East African coast, closer to the bigger bases there.”

“Right,” said Wells. “They’ll have four fields there, Dar es Salam and Zanzibar in Tanzania, and Mombasa and Lamu in Kenya. Most of their air strength will be at Dar es Salam and Mombasa. Intelligence estimates they have no more than 20 aircraft on Madagascar, but perhaps twice that in East Africa below the Horn. Yet it’s the naval threat that we’ll have to deal with. They haven’t shown any real ability to use their air force to interdict sea traffic. Their destroyers and frigates are another matter. We’ll be opposed by at least twenty ships, and an unknown number of submarines.”

“A fleet the size of the one they pressed on Singapore,” said Captain Grant.

“Yes, but with many more destroyers here. At Singapore, the Chinese used their carrier Zhendong to good effect, and reports indicate our F-35’s were matched by the Chinese J-31. I doubt if we’ll see that plane here, but they will have the J-20, so the pilots will have to be sharp. Here, they’ll be relying on their destroyers, and land based air assets. Hence this withdrawal towards East Africa. From a position there, they can still get support from their bases in northern Madagascar.”

“Just how many enemy destroyers will we be looking at, sir?”

“Fourteen, which means they outnumber us two to one in that category. The advantage we have, of course, is three carriers, and that means we’ll have to use them as strike assets, not simply for air superiority. I’ll want flights armed with both SPEAR and Storm Shadow, and at the ready.”

“Will we retain our present TF assignments, sir?” asked Grant.

“Correct,” said Wells. “I considered grouping all three carriers in one TF, but once identified, it would become the primary target, so we’ll continue to operate in separate formations as presently established. Now then, gentlemen, they’ve had a good long while to get sorted out, so this is likely to heat up soon once we come into range. We will be facing an Admiral Sun Wei, coming up through the ranks in their South Seas Command. Unfortunately, not much is known about the man, though he was a strong proponent of Chinese expansion into the Indian Ocean. Now he sleeps in the bed they made.”

“Time we woke them up, sir,” said Captain Grant, always ready for a scrap at sea.

“Indeed, but let’s us be careful what we wish for here. Five years ago one might come across the occasional article in defense related sites concerning China’s slow and quiet entry into the Indian Ocean. It started with Djibouti, then Hambantoa on Sri Lanka, and look at them now. They’re even roosting out in the Seychelles at Victoria Harbor! Now we see what it was all bending towards. Here we are, with half the Royal Navy, and we’ll have to fight our way forward from this point on. Our mission is a simple one, sea control. Without it, the Yanks can’t reinforce Saudi Arabia as planned, and that situation could erupt at any time. We’ll begin by putting our land attack ordnance on the Madagascar bases to clear our left and rear as we advance. May God be with us, gentlemen, and remember, destroyers forward—frigates in the second rank.”

11:50 Local, 19 NOV 2025

Several Daring Class destroyers had been upgraded with a 32 cell Mk41 VLS section so they could carry the US made Tomahawk—a contingency made necessary by the retirement of the Harpoon. The British had considered going with the Norwegian Naval Strike Missile, which was on the Type 31 frigates, but decided to follow the American model and add Tomahawk to the bigger destroyers. Just before noon, the first TACTOM’s fired by the British began their attack run on Toamasina harbor, but results were not encouraging. It was discovered that the base was defended by batteries of HQ-9A SAM’s, and only one significant hit was scored, destroying the COMINT compound on the base. A radar station was also taken out further up the coast, but the attack was deemed marginal at best, and did not diminish the Chinese ability to use that base in the future.

As the British fleet advanced, it had been the Chinese strategy to withdraw before them, shifting air assets and any ships or boats out of harm’s way. They then left their ground garrisons in place, and their SAM batteries, and while the British had three troop carriers in the fleet, there were no immediate plans to land anything on Madagascar. Royal Marines would be tasked with landing at Victoria in the Seychelles later, seizing and securing that mid-ocean base. Trying to run the Chinese out of Madagascar, an island over 800 nautical miles long, was out of the question. As the fleet was well north of Toamasina now, the decision was made to cancel a follow up strike there, and shift assets to Andrakaka, on the northern tip of the island.

The British would throw a jab first, testing the enemy guard. They send six TACTOM’s, one after a radar station, and five aimed at the harbor to see if it was also defended by SAM batteries. This fire mission went off at 12:15 Local time, and as it turned out, the Chinese had left air assets at that base. A single J-20 was up on a recon mission, and spotted the first Tomahawk around 12:36 in the afternoon. That plane alone was enough to begin breaking up this small attack, sniping at the Tomahawks with its PL-15’s and killing two of the six missiles. The HQ-9A batteries, suspected but as yet unseen, would deal with the rest. Admiral Wells was given the report that the fire mission had gone bust, and in his mind he came to an unwelcome conclusion.

Half the bloody navy is here under my command, and I can’t take down a radar site and SAM battery. Oh, we could get serious and go in heavier, but at what cost? It would expend the last of my TACTOM’s, so perhaps I’ll use my F-35’s to try and suppress these targets. It would give the men some good experience.

It was a pointed reminder on the limits of his power, and the need for discretion in the hours ahead. These fire missions left him with 60 TACTOM’s, which he decided to hold in reserve. Admiral Wells did not know the actual missile count available to the enemy, or what ordnance the enemy ships were carrying, but the two fleets were very evenly matched, at least in overall numbers.

The British had the edge, with 232 ship killers and 60 more TACTOMS. The Chinese had 258 Ship killers, but their advantage lay in the weapons themselves. Due to the preponderance of destroyers, there were 166 of the lethal YJ-18’s with a 290 mile range, and 32 YJ-100’s with a 430 mile range. They also had a few YJ-12’s and YJ-62’s all over 200 miles in range.

That gave the Chinese 220 missiles they could throw at the British at a range of 200 miles or more. On the British side, they could only answer with 64 Multi-Mission Tomahawks and 48 LRASM’s, mostly on the Argos Fire. So for any battle fought out at the 200 mile marker, the Chinese could throw twice as many punches. The remainder of the British SSMs were all limited to about 100 miles in range.

In effect, the Chinese ships simply outgunned the Royal Navy in any ranged fight, but this is where the three carriers could act to redress that imbalance. The F-35’s could fly out 450 miles and then deliver the British SPEAR’s, a light attack weapon that could travel another 80 miles to the target. Yet to do that, they would first have to operate in the fighter role to win air superiority.

Admiral Sun Wei was a party man, staying as close to the red line as possible when it came to attitudes, beliefs, and public comments. A man of 50 years, he had witnessed the whole of China’s dramatic rise to world superpower status, most of that accomplished in the last 25 years. China did not really want to harm others, he said, but if its interests and security needs were challenged, it would fight to the last breath if necessary. It was his mantra that as long as the people of China believed the same thing, then nothing would stop China’s eventual domination of the globe in this century.

The time of America’s hegemony in world affairs is coming to a close, he said. They are turning inward, with fewer and fewer allies on the world stage, and wherever they take a backward step, we will step forward in their place. So yes, I argued mightily that China needed to be able to project power through the Malacca Strait and into the Indian Ocean.

Our workarounds where the Malacca Dilemma was concerned have helped the situation, but they could never cure it. We send ships carrying 6.2 million barrels of oil through that strait every day. The pipelines through Pakistan, and the new oil line through Burma can only make up for a third of that total. So if we must be in a position to secure and defend the Strait of Malacca from interdiction by a hostile power, then we had to have strength on either side—in the South China Sea, and also in the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean.

Admiral Wu Jinlong has just delivered a heavy blow in the action off Singapore. Now I must do my part, and stop the Royal Navy from bulling their way forward here. We could not contest the waters off West Africa, but those off East Africa are well in hand. I labored ten years to see those bases built in Kenya and Tanzania, and we must hold them, as we still hold Madagascar, in spite of our strategic withdrawal from those bases.

It was necessary to consolidate our strength, and now we will fight the first of two great battles we must win here in the Indian Ocean. First we must stop the British, and crush the Royal Navy, then we must turn and face our old nemesis from the Pacific—the United States. Time is of the essence. The Americans have already put out from Port Darwin, and we must engage and defeat the British before they can advance to their outpost at Diego Garcia.

Tomorrow we begin….

Chapter 8

“Anything new to report?” asked Commander Dean.

“Not a word,” said Mack Morgan. “Authorities are all over the scene, but find absolutely nothing. They’ve gone to every settlement within 100 miles and questioned all the locals, but no one has seen hide nor hair of our people.”

“This is completely befuddling,” said Dean. “It’s as if the earth just opened up and swallowed them.”

“It’s more than befuddling,” said Morgan. “I’ve pretty much ruled out kidnapping. There is no sign of foul play, and the isolated nature of the terrain out there supports that. Besides, how would anyone get the better of MacRae and four Argonauts? They’d need a small army! Ground search has turned up nothing, no tracks at all in the area they were having that lunch. So I’m beginning to think they may have moved in other ways.”

“Other ways?”

“Aye. You do recall we visited Malta in the 1800’s, and that after leaving Gibraltar in the 1940’s. We’ve come to accept these impossible things as commonplace, and this may be what we’re looking at here.” Morgan folded his arms.

“A time shift?” said Dean. “But how?”

“The proverbial good question. Their disappearance was too stark and sudden, and without any possible explanation other than time shift. I’m thinking there’s no trace of them out there, because they aren’t in this time any longer. Aye, there was no detonation, thank god. This world hasn’t started throwing nukes about. But Elena told us these time rifts we’ve discovered are physical, and this may be a case of that. They may have just stumbled on a rift no one knew about.”

“Good lord,” said Dean. “Well, how would they get back?”

“Another good question. This is all speculation. We don’t really know what happened yet, but it doesn’t seem that we can do anything more about it. We’ll just have to wait. In the event they did shift in time, and to the past, I’ve put a man on the history.”

“I don’t understand,” said Dean.

“Well, it isn’t easy to muck about in the past without leaving some trace. And if I know the Captain and Miss Fairchild, they would find a way to signal us as to their whereabouts.”

“Signal us? You’re speaking as if they could just get on the radio and phone home.”

“No, Mister Dean, but they could use more pedestrian means—simply writing a letter and getting it to a place that would likely be preserved. If they did such a thing, then the letter would just suddenly appear in the historical records. At least this is the way I understand this business. It’s pretty arcane, I’ll admit it. For the moment, we’ll have enough to worry about as things stand. The Chinese Navy has 20 ships out here, and they’re heading our way.”

The distances involved in this region made for a slow approach as the two sides closed on one another. By 17:00 on the 19th of November, 650 nautical miles still separated them, and both sides were simply conducting recon operations. A second strike against Andrakaka was much more successful. Flown by six F-35’s off HMS Vengeance, the planes carried the Storm Shadow this time out, and it was much stealthier than the ship launched Tomahawks. Hits were scored on the north cape radar, the SAM battery and at the airfield, where six J-10’s and another four J-20’s were destroyed on the ground.

Seeing it was a use them or lose them proposition, the remaining planes at the airfield were ordered up. There were only three planes still operational, one being a J-20, but the smoke and fire on the airfield was going to delay this launch for some time. In effect, the surprise attack by those unseen F-35’s, and an equally stealthy weapon, had all but neutralized Andrakaka as a functioning air base.

“That’s more like it,” said Wells. “This may just set the template if we get a shot at their East African fields. At least one of our missiles is living up to the advertising. Mister Hurley, the Type 42’s should be getting thirsty by now. See that they undertake replenishment. I’ll want them full and fit when it comes time for a fight.”

“Right away, sir.”

Older ships, those destroyers actually had shorter legs than any of the frigates, which was why the fleet had a pair of fast oilers assigned, one with Vengeance and one with Victorious, each being escorted by a pair of Type 42’s.

“The next problem is that we’ve lost our contacts on the Chinese fleet. Let’s send out a reconnaissance. Let Victorious handle it. The last we heard, the Chinese were operating 300 miles off the coast. “

At 22:00, the first report from that mission came in.

“Sir,” said Hurley, the Admiral’s adjutant. “Skybolt reconnaissance has reacquired the enemy. We have four discrete surface groups, presently about 480 miles from Victorious.”

“So their longer range missiles will be able to reach us by midnight,” said Wells. “But weren’t there at least five separate groups this morning from the satellite report?”

“Yes, but they may have consolidated, sir.”

“Just the same, have that recon linger a bit. I’d rather be certain. Redesignate that plane Livewire, and have it act as an air controller for the other fighters.”

It would not be long before Livewire found group five. The Chinese Fleet was still advancing, in a long series of TF’s, line abreast, over 100 miles wide. It was a seaborne storm of steel, and still headed directly for the British carriers.

Wells considered the situation, taking note of the fact that his recon plane had not been spotted. He was considering an air strike, but he could also elect to use his Multi-Mission Tomahawks, a most welcome gift from the Americans on the Daring Class upgrades.

We might as well simply buy their ships, he thought. Here we are needing their ESSM instead of our Sea Ceptor, and if not for these Tomahawks, I would either have to turn and close the range dramatically, or stand off and be limited to air operations only. For now, with the range this open, let’s see what our F-35’s can do.

Wells was a carrier man, and wanted to spread his wings. He ordered up six F-35’s off each of the three carriers, all laden with the SPEAR, and sent them east. Livewire would picket on active radar, with all the other strike groups coming in EMCON. The strike would be directed at the southern end of the Chinese TF line.

The Chinese had one KJ-200 AEW plane up over the center of their line, but it saw nothing as the F-35’s began to approach release range. Aside from that, at 01:30 in the morning on the 20th of November, there were apparently no other enemy contacts airborne, though that was not ruled out.

“Livewire, this is Whalerider, we are in position. Over.”

“Roger Whalerider. You are cleared hot. Sharktail, Skybolt, Cleared hot when ready.”

“Livewire, Sharktail. In position and going hot.”

The Chinese ships saw nothing, until the planes had flung their SPEAR’s and turned for home. About 30 miles out, they finally picked up the incoming Vampires, and the entire southern end of their TF line lit up with active radars. The British had achieved complete tactical surprise. Yet when the SPEAR’s closed inside 20 miles, long streams of defending SAMs began to lance out at the incoming Vampires, and the battle had finally been joined.

While the British SPEAR was not a real ship killer, its small 8Kg warhead could still do damage if it hit radars, gun mounts, and other sensors on a ship. The defense against those thrown by Whalerider and Sharktail was too good, with only two missiles getting close to their targets, only to be gunned down by Gatling guns. Skybolt had better luck. It had attacked the southernmost TF, unseen until the planes got into position, and was able to get a single hit on the frigate Jinhua, which took out a twin 37mm gun, and destroyed an I.R. range finding camera. Corvette Bengbu was struck twice, with damage to sensors and one of the gun magazines. Neither ship had fires or flooding, and they were in no danger of sinking, but the British had drawn first blood, even if it was only a scratch or two,

The real lesson Admiral Wells took from the strike was that his planes were indeed stealthy enough to get in close and deliver their missiles from their 80 mile range. If only I had a decent air launched cruise missile worth the name, he thought. What will we have to do, go begging to the Americans again for ordnance that can put real harm on the enemy? We built these damn carriers at great expense. What in the world did we think we would do with them? We have no real teeth.

Yet as he thought the situation over, he realized the strike had accomplished one more thing. It had put 136 missiles into the air, and if they were defeated, he had just pulled 136 SAM’s, or more, from beneath the enemy decks. He didn’t hurt them as he had hoped, but he had weakened their defensive strength a good deal.

Now then, he thought. Should I follow up with my 64 Sea Tomahawks and see if we can box their ears?

Admiral Sun Wei was glad the enemy attack had struck at the southern end of his line. The two northernmost TFs had been refueling their destroyers, and that would have been difficult if they were attacked in the midst of that operation. He received the damage report from his southern TF, ships that had come up to join the fleet from the small port of Narinda on Madagascar. There was nothing to be concerned about, though he inherently took notice of ordnance expended. He presently had the range with just 32 YJ-100’s.

I might use them, he thought, just for spite. If I do, they would have to be concentrated on one enemy carrier. We could pull a few teeth as well with such a strike, as the enemy will likely have to use upwards of 50 missiles to defeat it.

My great disadvantage now is that in order to engage and really fight the British, I must move east, further and further away from any land based air support. Our J-20’s can come out here, and still loiter for a reasonable time, but not the J-10’s. They can only be used for air defense over our bases on the coast. Yet we have one little surprise for them in the Seychelles at Victoria. A flight of six J-31’s joined the two J-20’s we had posted there. I can use them to keep a good eye on the British carriers as we move to intercept. My aim, of course, is to close inside 300 miles where I can then bring my real power to bear, the YJ-18’s. Do they know their peril now? Do they have intelligence on what we might be carrying?

“Sir,” came a voice, and Admiral Wells turned to see it was Sir Frederick Simon Gill, Captain of Prince of Wales on this outing.

“Yes Mister Gill?”

“I’ve got the latest on the enemy positions. They’re coming on like gangbusters. Their two northern TF’s are up near 30 knots, heading 095 east. It seems to me they are trying to close the range, and that can only mean one thing.”

“Indeed,” said Wells. “They’re trying to get missiles in range to get after us.”

“Precisely sir, and given that, we might give some thought to making a heading change to keep them at arm’s length.”

“We’re gut punchers, Captain. I can only jab at them with the F-35’s. If we want to put real harm on them, we’ll have to get inside.”

“We could throw Tomahawks at any time,” said Gill, a man in his mid-40’s, yet prematurely grey, in spite of a thick head of hair.”

“And when they are gone?”

“Well sir, this new ship that’s been attached, the Argos, I’m told it has the American Long Range ASM. They should have the range shortly, and if we combine a strike with our Tomahawks, that would make 100 missiles. Very good saturation, sir. We might even follow that up with the F-35’s again.”

“Understood.”

“Yes sir. If we’re going to hit them, the sooner the better. We’ll have to cover the landing at Victoria tomorrow. Wouldn’t it be best if we stop them before they can get into range to interfere with that?”

“Sound thinking, Mister Gill. Send to Argos Fire. Have them come to a heading of 355 degrees northwest. That should get their missiles in range directly.”

“Very good, sir.”

Wells could see that the Captain was eager to get into the swing of things, but the Admiral was playing a cautious opening here. Half his SSM strength resided in those Tomahawks and the missiles on Argos Fire. The remainder was another foreign buy, the Naval Strike Missile that was installed on many frigates three years earlier. Wells shook his head.

If we hadn’t done that, the Type 23’s would be sitting empty, with no offensive power at all, and a new air defense missile that has serious shortcomings against high supersonic targets. By god, the only reason this fleet is even half way ready for what’s in front of us is the fact that we’ve acquired better missiles from Norway and the United States. We haven’t a single domestically built missile that we can put on a ship or plane and have a decent chance of sinking an enemy warship at sea. Yet this Chinese fleet out there is armed to the teeth, and for one main purpose—to sink enemy ships.

Captain Gill wants to fight at range, which means we would fire now and then run, because closing to get the Naval Strike Missiles into it will expose us to the Full Monty—everything they have would be able to hit us. I hesitate to do what the Captain asked, only for the reason that once I do throw my long range missiles, then there would be little else we could do.

The Admiral had a sinking feeling now, but he would not have time to mull it through. Word came in from his F-35 on forward recon, and the enemy was firing. Alarms sounded throughout the big carrier, and now Wells knew he had one thing in hand when it came to defending this fleet. His F-35’s may not be ship killers, but by god, they could kill cruise missiles. He turned to Captain Gill.

“Freddy, they’re coming. Scramble the ready alert fighters at once.”

Chapter 9

Fourteen F-35’s would respond to that call from the three carriers. Some were held back to take up a ready CAP assignment, and the remainder were on the hangar decks, rigging out with SPEAR’s and Storm Shadows.

The radar picket plane, Livewire, had gone Bingo fuel, but would pass its controller role to another plane given the same code name, so Livewire lived on, a constant presence orbiting and monitoring the arrival and targeting of all the other fighters. They had been tracking the Chinese ships fired off missiles at the Vampires, getting a few kills, but another 20 pressed on toward the British fleet. At 07:00, with the sun up and clear skies, that wave of 14 F-35’s switched on their targeting radars and saw the Vampires, low on the sea. Seconds later, their Meteors started hunting them down. The crossfire of missiles had sliced through the enemy SSM’s and cut them to pieces.

When word got back to Prince of Wales, Admiral Wells smiled. So, he thought. I’m told the enemy has a fast attack missile that our Sea Ceptors can’t handle, effectively reducing this fleet to seven destroyers and the single Type 31 frigate we have on hand. But that missile makes its approach to the target as a slow dog indeed. It just cruises in at 500 knots, relying on its stealth and low altitude to get within range before it sprints home to attack.

It seems I have just discovered the solution to this problem—get them before they sprint. Our destroyers could never accomplish that, because even if the Asters had the range, they could not get good target locks. Now, the F-35 can take the fight well out to sea, catching these demons in their slow cruise mode.

“Mister Gill!”

“Sir?”

“What are the rest of our F-35’s doing?”

The Captain looked at a clipboard he was carrying. “Sir, we’ve got four in the ready CAP position, six more arming with the SPEAR, and another six below decks ready with Storm Shadow.”

“Belay all strike ordnance operations. I want all those planes rearmed with Meteors, and as quickly as possible.”

“That will take three hours, sir.”

“I’m aware of that, but we’ve just solved our problem with the Chinese YJ-18. Our fighters just cut that enemy strike to pieces. We’ve got to get them in their cruise run, Mister Gill. See that this order also gets out to the other two carriers.”

“Yes sir. By god, I think you’re on to something.”

Let’s just hope we can hold them off for another three hours, thought Wells.

When Admiral Sun Wei received the report that his first strike had failed he initially took the setback in stride.

“Their VLS bays are full,” he said to the messenger.

“No sir, our missiles did not get close enough to make their terminal runs. They were intercepted by enemy fighters.”

That news struck the Admiral, though he showed no emotion. Clever, he thought. Our lack of air power at sea allows the enemy fighters to do this without being challenged. We cannot allow this to continue. Those planes could neutralize the great advantage we have in the YJ-18.

“Order all our ready YJ-20’s at Mombasa and Dar es Salam to sortie at once! The mission is fighter sweep. They must clear the enemy F-35’s before we launch our next missile strike. Signal Victoria airfield in the Seychelles. All J-31’s must launch and undertake the same mission. We must neutralize the enemy fighters at all cost!”

What happened next would decide the outcome of this naval engagement. While both Admirals had been counting SSM’s, the action now became a contest for the airspace between the two fleets. The two J-20’s that had taken off from Victoria earlier had been hovering, and now they rushed in toward the suspected position of the enemy F-35’s, but they were seen, and one was immediately killed by two British Meteors. The second plane was driven down on the water to escape, then poured on the power to climb and fire. The pilot could see the enemy fighters on radar after they fired, but could not get a confident target lock on them. As he climbed into the clear morning sky, two more Meteors would end his war forever….

Livewire was still up there, scoring the music of war in the sky above the wild sea below. The air picket strike controller was now using his radars to surveille the space between the two fleets, and coordinate ten other F-35’s that were still in his zone of operations. Four had gone Winchester and returned to the carriers, and after fighting off a rush by a pair of J-20’s, the remaining ten fighters still had 16 Meteors between them. The defensive shield they represented was thin, but it was still there.

“Livewire, Sundog. What about those two bandits east of the carriers barking on radar?”

“Negative Sundog. Hold your position and await further instructions. Livewire Over.”

“Roger Livewire, standing by.”

The pilots saw eight cruise missiles launching from their friendly TF’s, looking down on them as they passed well below them on the sea. Then four more fired, much faster, coming off the decks of the Argos Fire. They were all being aimed at a single enemy destroyer to the north, a Type 055 Renhai Class ship that was leading the enemy charge. It was then that the first of the four J-31’s from the Seychelles were picked up on radar. Two more planes were detected a few seconds later.

“Sundog, Sundog, be advised. Bogies at One-Zero-Zero degrees northwest, range 112, bearing 250…. Now turning to 215 on intercept vector. You’ve been made. All planes Winchester, break, break, break. Armed planes cleared hot.”

“Roger that Livewire. Tally Ho!”

As Sundog flight turned to challenge the J-31’s, destroyer Gloucester, a Type 42 escorting Vengeance, saw them stray into their SAM defense zone and fired a Sea Dart. It spoiled the party, because when the Chinese pilots realized they were under threat, they turned, put on speed, and slipped away to the north. They had not seen the British planes, but it looked as if they had.

“Livewire, Sundog. No Joy. Over.”

“Roger Sundog. Standby.”

Livewire was keeping his fighters on a tight leash. The missile off the destroyer had chased off the prey. So he would hold his planes in their defensive role unless challenged again. He had just seen two Chinese ships fire cruise missiles, and knew every missile counted as a possible kill on one of those deadly SSM’s.

“All hounds, Livewire. Turn on a heading of 350 and descend to Angels 30. Close on Vampires, Over.”

The planes tipped their noses down to attack, and they would expend the last of their Meteors, getting nine of the 32 Vampires tracking in from the west. As they turned for home, Prince of Wales launched the last of its ready CAP, just four planes that had been spotted on deck while the remainder were being rearmed as ordered. Those would need at least another hour before they could be ready.

As the fighters finished their attack on the Chinese cruise missile trains, they were seen and attacked by the four J-31’s off Victoria, and after their missiles had all been expended. The PL-15’s were merciless, coming in to savage the formation, and getting four kills, which was a very costly loss for the British, their only consolation being the fact they at least took down two of the four J-31’s in that brief engagement.

At 07:30, the British strike of twelve SSM’s was well to the west and bearing down on designated targets. DDG Yinshen, came under sudden and unexpected attack. Their radars had seen nothing until the four LRASM’s off the Argos Fire were almost on top of them. The Eagle God reacted, radars locking on as the HQ-9’s began firing. It was just barely able to fend off the missiles, getting the last inside the two mile marker.

Now the Chinese strike was also getting close, and there were only two fighters ready to scramble, on HMS Victorious. Designated Seafire, that flight roared off the deck and climbed west, even as the first of the surviving Chinese SSM’s were closing on Vengeance.

All 16 of the YJ-100’s off the Eagle God had been killed by the F-35’s, but there were still eleven of the more deadly YJ-18’s, and they were just reaching their jump point for the terminal run. Twenty miles from Vengeance, their turbojet engines ignited with sudden fire, and they began to accelerate rapidly, jogging with evasive maneuvers as they came. Destroyers Edinburgh and lightning were east of the carrier, and that left Type 23 class frigate Sutherland as the only ship screening Vengeance from immediate harm, nine miles due west of the carrier.

It was those two brave pilots in the Seafire flight that rushed in to attack, putting all their eight Meteors out after the Vampires in an attempt to defend that carrier. They would get only two of the speedy enemy lances, which screamed right past the bow of the Sutherland, intent on bigger fish.

Commodore Jack Westfield was back on his ship, aghast as he saw the enemy missiles ignore the frigate and come burning in after Vengeance. Four Sea Ceptors off the Sutherland were fired, all failing to even get close to the Vampires, which were just too fast for them. Then Vengeance lit off with every gun it had, knocking down the lead missile with a Phalanx.

Chaff and decoys fluttered into the sky all around the carrier. Defensive jammers wailed like banshees, but none of the enemy missiles were fooled. That target was just too large, dead ahead, and they came in like sharks to the kill. When the first missile hit, the ship was jolted and the radar screens on the bridge fluttered and went dead.

Two more missiles were finally spoofed, but the next three would slam into the carrier with heavy explosions amidships. The port side of the ship was ravaged, open to the sea, and fires leapt from the great yawning gash in the ship’s hull. Inside on the hangar deck, the feverish rearming effort on the F-35’s was caught up in a holocaust, which set off a series of explosions that rocked the ship heavily as the planes blew up. Six more Merlin helicopters that had been assigned to the planned assault on Victoria were now consumed by the raging fire. Men were down everywhere, some killed in the blast, others groping through the choking black smoke. Captain John Grant on the Victorious was out on the horizon to the southwest, and he saw the heavy column of smoke rising up into the morning blue. In spite of every effort, the YJ-18 had scored again.

Aboard Argos Fire, Commander Dean had taken the ship west after joining the cruise missile attack that nearly hit the Eagle God. They had been coming up to support Vengeance when the enemy attack pounded the carrier senseless, and now they were 13 miles southwest of the scene, just beyond the position of Victorious.

“My god,” said Mack Morgan. “Look at Vengeance.”

Dean was too busy to gawk, ordering his Aster-30’s to get after the last two harassing J-31’s that had tried to break up the fighter defense of the carrier. Four missiles tracked them down, and killed both planes.

“We’d better answer that,” said Morgan, fuming as he stared at the burning carrier.

The Eagle God was now about 215 miles to the west, leading in a squadron of eight enemy ships, but that put every ship in TF Vengeance out of range, except DDG Lightning, but it had only four missiles left. Dean saw them fire, for honor’s sake, if nothing more. The four LRASM-A class missiles started away to the north, programmed to jog west about 60 miles out. It seemed a pathetic response, with little chance of putting any real harm on the enemy. Commander Dean knew that, and finally the anger that had been burning in Mack Morgan started to rile him up as well.

“We’ll put eight missiles on that lead ship,” said Dean. “Two salvos of four. Jog the leading set, then just ram the last four home.”

As they were firing, they saw that the Victorious group was also putting Tomahawks in the sky. They would fire off twelve, but now that TF had nothing left that could reach out more than 100 miles and target a ship. The Chinese, well aware of their advantage in missile range, had decided that not one of those shiny new Naval Strike Missiles the British had bought from Norway would ever be used here. They had over 250 SSM’s, and all but 36 of them could achieve ranges of at least 200 miles. That was where they would fight their battle, which had only just begun.

The Eagle God was already firing again, a series of 16 YJ-100’s aimed at TF Vengeance to try and finish her off. That seemed to be a signal fire, because all the ships following in that destroyer’s wake suddenly began to launch a storm of YJ-18’s, a total of 48 missiles in that massive salvo. The Chinese were now opening their main effort against the British. They had drawn blood, putting heavy wounds on a carrier, and now they would deal the death blows to TF Vengeance, while also targeting TF Victorious to the east.

By 08:40, the Eagle God had defeated the LRASM attack, and was finally seeing the twelve Tomahawks fired by Coventry. Now it was time for turnabout, always fair play in war. When Admiral Sun Wei saw what the British were doing with their fighters, he had called for any support that could reach the scene from East Africa. That sent out ten J-20’s, the only planes with the range to get out there, and now they had overflown the Chinese fleet to take up forward screening positions 150 miles further east. It was their searching radars that had spotted the Tomahawks, and now they swooped down to sink their talons into them, and all while the British were struggling to get more fighters ready.

Six more lined up for takeoff on Prince of Wales, all freshly rearmed with Meteors. Victorious reported it now had another six ready and they were immediately ordered aloft. That was going to put a dozen F-35’s into the fight, carrying a combined 48 Meteors to the defense. The British ships could now see the incoming missile storm, with a light squall of 12 Vampires 60 miles out, and the main missile front another 60 miles on.

“Rabid One, Livewire. Make your heading 270 degrees west, and cleared hot. Vampires! Vampires! Continue dry on opposing fighters. Over.”

“Roger Livewire, Weapons hot on Vampires. Over.”

The Meteors would stream out, immediately breaking up that leading squall of 12 Vampires. Then the F-35’s turned their fire on the main stormfront, the missiles racing out and diving for the sea. It was a Perseid shower of death that got six quick kills, but it wouldn’t be enough. More Chinese ships had fired, making up for the 18 missiles the fighters had taken down, and there were still 48 Vampires tracking in on the British Fleet….