Year of the Rooster

Chapter 8

Year of the Rooster is a novel about conflict between the People’s Republic of China and the United States. A conversation that I had several years ago with an exchange student from the PRC served as inspiration for this series. Any similarity between actual persons and characters in the work is coincidental. Year of the Rooster - First 72 Hours is available on Amazon in paperback and digital format.

1645 Local Time, 0845 Zulu- December 26

United States Embassy - Beijing, China

The communications center in the basement of the embassy was a flurry of activity and had been since Chief Lee arrived a few minutes earlier with the news of a war declaration. Initially jolted by the shock of the incredible development, the career diplomat sprang into action quickly. In the ride back to the embassy Lee made multiple unsuccessful attempts to place a call through to State Department headquarters in Washington DC over a secure satellite phone in the vehicle. Back at the embassy all communication networks were down including the SIPRNet, the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network system used by the Departments of State and Defense to transmit classified information. Secret diplomatic cables were typically encrypted and transmitted over this system. In its absence other forms of communications had been attempted. All secure and unsecure satellite, landline, and cellular phone communications were down. State Dept. comm techs stationed at the embassy were able to determine quickly that some of the outages were due to jamming or had intentionally been cut off, however the loss of satellite secure communications was inexplicable. Attempts to communicate over emergency HF frequencies were underway without any luck so far due to what appeared to be jamming.

For Lee and the embassy staff the situation was dire. Among the documents handed over in the brief meeting at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs were instructions for all U.S. embassy personnel to prepare for emergency evacuation to a neutral country. They would have to abandon the facility in twenty-four hours. The area around the embassy was now cordoned off. PLA military vehicles and troops were visible in surrounding streets from windows in the upper levels of the building. The Marine Corps embassy guard detachment was on high alert and prepared to fight if necessary, however Lee had instructed them to avoid taking any posture that could be interpreted as a provocation. The orders received from the Chinese indicated that all civilian employees would be transported to the airport except the marines who were expected to surrender themselves as prisoners of war at the time of the evacuation.

1650 Local Time, 0850 Hours Zulu - December 26

On Board the USS Ronald Reagan, South China Sea, Paracel Islands, 180 Nautical Miles Southeast of Hainan Island

The deck beneath Captain Yates had a seventeen-degree slope in relation to the surface of the water. The list had increased by approximately one degree a minute since the impact of the projectiles into the side of his ship. The ship was dead in the water and the helm no longer responded. Greasy black smoke billowed from the rear aircraft elevators on both the port and starboard sides of the vessel. Another dull thud shuddered through the steel of the deck; it was one of more than a dozen that he had felt in the last ten minutes. Yates knew that this meant munitions were cooking off on the hangar decks. The captain leaned over to look through the sloped window. The sun, a red ball hung low in the sky. In fifteen minutes, it would set. Through the smoke that wafted across the deck in the breeze he observed the flurry of activity, crewmen in their various bright colored shirts and helmets that indicated their job on the flight deck scurried around. Some were handling fire hoses; one group had a hose already in operation and was directing a stream of water down into the smoke. Off to one side several in red tops, indicating that they were ordnance handlers, were dumping live munitions overboard into the sea. Others in green and yellow were frantically working to secure aircraft on the flight deck that had been sitting topside ready to take off, so that they would not slide into the sea. Already one helicopter had been lost when it rolled right off the deck and into the water. Another helicopter could be seen approaching from the port side. A few minutes earlier a dispatch had been sent to the USS Lake Erie, a Ticonderoga class guided missile cruiser, to send a chopper to pick up the strike group commander. Given the situation, the rear admiral had been forced to evacuate his staff to another ship. Lake Erie was equipped to function as a flag vessel if needed.

The large Seahawk helicopter approached the forward end of the ship near the catapults where a yellow shirted seaman directed the pilot down to the uneven flattop. It stopped and hovered with its wheels only inches from the deck. A group of several officers carrying duffel bags made their way from the tower toward the chopper, followed by a group of enlisted men hauling metal boxes. Backwash from the helicopter’s blades beat down on the deck with gale force, whipping at the clothing of the admiral’s party. Hunched over they loaded the crates and, with the assistance of the enlisted men, climbed aboard. As he watched the chopper lift off and pull away from the carrier the last words of the admiral echoed in his ears, “Captain, it looks pretty bad. If she’s going to go down, make sure you get everyone off that you can. We will give you all possible assistance whatever your decision.” Ultimately the ship and the lives of everyone on board were his responsibility. The admiral could not make the decision for him, but he was right about one thing, the situation was bleak. Not since the Second World War had a U.S. aircraft carrier been so badly damaged.

The damage to the vessel was so extensive that a complete report had been impossible in the short time that had elapsed since the attack. A clear picture was out of the question, as information filtered in piecemeal from the Damage Control Officer (DCO). So far Yates knew that projectiles had perforated the ship’s hull in six places along the starboard side at the waterline and penetrated deep into the vessel before detonating. And she was still taking on water, even though all hatches throughout the ship were sealed when they had impacted. The intention of the ship’s design was to create hundreds of small watertight compartments that would isolate and contain the inflow of water caused by any damage to the hull. However, the penetrations had been so deep and the detonations so devastating that the guts of the ship were mangled. Each one must have been the equivalent of a ton or more of high explosive. The detonations had ignited high-octane aviation fuel and fires were raging throughout the lower decks of the ship. He had thought of flooding compartments on the port side of the ship to correct the list, however that was not feasible unless the flooding could be contained. Reactor 1 was out of communication, and so far, unreachable by damage control parties. Reactor 2 was damaged and offline. With the ship running on power from its diesel-powered emergency generators and darkness falling soon, things would become even more complicated.

The phone on the bulkhead buzzed and the captain picked it up. The DCO on the other end was obviously worried, he could hear the tension in his voice. “Sir, we can’t contain the inflow of water. Repair parties report radiation levels of 900 MSV and rising on the lower decks and engine rooms.” “How much longer will she stay afloat?” “By my estimation and that of the chief engineering officer we have an hour, maybe two” replied the DCO. Yates hung up the phone, turned and spoke to his XO who had come up to the bridge a few minutes earlier from damage control. “I’m going to give the order to abandon ship, you will organize the evacuation and leave the ship with the crew. I want all casualties brought topside. We will call for medical evac by chopper for those most critical. I will stay aboard. If she somehow stays afloat through the night, come back at first light with a repair group. If not, give these to my wife.” He removed his wedding band and Naval Academy class ring and handed them to the officer who pocketed them and, in a voice choked with emotion, answered only with “aye aye sir.” The captain walked over to the 1MC on the bridge and picked up the handset from the hook on the wall. This was one order he was going to give himself. He cleared his throat before he pressed the button with his thumb - “This is your captain speaking. All hands prepare to abandon ship.”

0200 Local Time, 0900 Zulu - December 26

Edwards Air Force Base, California

“Sir, so far everything is proceeding as scheduled. Fire teams have secured all entry points to the base and set up a defensive perimeter. Captain Wang’s company took the base command post, aircraft control tower, and has two platoons securing secondary targets, including aircraft hangars and the fire department. Zhao’s company took the base security forces command post (CP) completely by surprise. He also reports that one of his platoons eliminated an enemy security forces vehicle patrol and two other off-duty Americans near the enlisted barracks. They are now in the process of clearing the barracks.” Col. Li glanced at his watch as his XO finished the situation report. “Very well Chen, let’s execute phase two.”

Li rode with his torso out of the commander’s hatch on his IFV as it rolled toward the family housing area located two miles west of the center of Edwards Air Force Base where he had established his initial CP. The cold air felt good after having spent the last two and a half hours inside the stuffy command vehicle. Several minutes later the vehicle rolled to a stop at the end of a well-lit side street. Li glanced to his left at the officers’ club and golf course. “Some things don’t change no matter where you go, the Air Force always knows how to live in style” he thought to himself. Before he could finish the thought, squads were dismounting and swiftly moving up both sides of the street.