Terminal Run

“But the Indians refuse to sell any of that oil back to Red China. So the Reds want the plateau back. And revenge.” Pat ton sank into his chair, the fleet commanders sitting as well. “A major Asian war is now inevitable. That concludes the unclassified portion of this briefing. The following is classified Top Secret, special compartmented information, codeword “Echo.” Six hours ago the Peoples Liberation Army began their mobilization to the western front. The trains are rolling, the convoys are winding their way over the passes, and the jet transports and fighters are in flight. And as the Reds mobilize toward the Indian frontier, the Red Northern Fleet is starting their engines and singling up their lines, preparing to depart the ports of the Red Chinese Bo Hai Bay east of Beijing.

“Kelly, your unit, the Virginia-class submarine Leopard, is lurking inside the bay. She’s spying on the Red communications from Beijing, but she’s also a trip wire. When the Red fleet departs the bay on the way to the Indian Ocean, Leopard will be tasked with shadowing the fleet as it moves south.

“As you know, the Red Northern Fleet is formidable. They used to be a rust bucket mothball flotilla that couldn’t even cruise in the deep water of the bay. But they’ve been reequipping, and the Russian Republic has been building export-version aircraft carriers, antisubmarine destroyers, fast frigates, and antiaircraft heavy cruisers around the clock. The three Red Chinese carriers are top-of-the-line Kuznetsov-class giants, and the Beijing-class nuclear battle cruisers are fully seaworthy. Their aircraft are top shelf, if not a match for ours, but they have them in sheer numbers. With three carrier battle groups they intend to surround and crush India.

“The Red submarine force admiral, Chu HuaFeng, has rebuilt his fleet after his defeat in the East China Sea. Now he’s got eleven fast attack nuclear submarines — six Russians, three Japanese Destinys, a French Valiant-class, and the lead ship of the Chinese-built Giant Wave or Julang-class has completed sea trials and loaded weapons, and Chu’s best captain will be taking her to sea. All the foreign-sourced subs have been reworked to accept Chinese supercavitating East Wind torpedoes, all refit for ultra quiet sound quieting by the Swedes, and all engineering spaces redesigned and reworked by the Germans.

“But before they can use that firepower, they have to get in close, within cruise missile range of their targets, since the missiles’ warheads are much heavier now, reducing their range. I’ll tell you why in a moment. The Red generals proposed an early attack against India with the cruise missiles that are in range now, but their Supreme Commander, General Fang Shui, is insisting on a time-on-target attack. That means he’ll mobilize slowly and deliberately, while India sweats, and then when the second hand hits the twelve of zero-hour, every missile and bomb hits India at once. Communications and infrastructure are hit so hard they may as well be destroyed. The enemy’s morale collapses. And the oil rigs, pipelines, and refineries are the first targets.

“Each Red carrier battle group is carrying about three hundred heavy short-range cruise missiles armed with precision enhanced blast-radius plasma warheads. The enhanced blast weapons are heavier, which reduces their range, which is why General Fang wants them positioned before he shoots anything.”

Patton paused to pour himself a black coffee. Neither admiral said a word, each man watching him as if he were about to perform a magic trick. He took a pull of the scalding liquid and cleared his throat.

“But the war with the Reds at sea is only part of the picture. Let’s go back to the Indians for a moment. The British constructed the oil facilities for India against the advice of the European Union, since the EU’s economy is closely tied to China, and the EU is betting the Chinese will kick the Indians out of the Shamalan fields. The British have pulled the Royal Navy Flotilla out of the European Union High Seas Fleet. They’refueling up and loading food and weapons. A squadron of advance ships is heading for the eastern Mediterranean, where we expect they will transit the Suez Canal to the Gulf of Oman, to the Arabian Sea and into the western Indian Ocean. By the time the Reds enter the eastern Indian Ocean, half the British force will arrive in the west with the remainder of their fleet joining them two weeks later.