by T I WADE
“We have the first aircraft off the carrier,” reported Blue Moon. “We are going into final approach and will land once they form up and come towards us. Have fun guys, enjoy it! Out.” The aircraft dropped down to 1,500 feet and turned onto very short finals, less than a mile out and literally dropped out of the sky towards the runway. Once down, she would shoot straight into her little hideaway surrounded by snow walls ten feet high and large white tarpaulins would be draped over her. She was no match for the incoming fighters.
One by one the fighters took off. The first aircraft turned right, out to sea and then came over the aircraft carrier at 500 feet as the 12th one left the steel runway and rose up to join them. The rest, 17 aircraft, were already being lifted up to the flight deck from below and being prepared for take-off, as were three helicopters that would go in and survey the harbor for any form of shipping, or a surprise ground attack.
“The American aircraft is landing,” stated the first Chinese fighter pilot on their radio frequency as he noticed the C-130 getting lower and lower on his modern radar screen. “Permission to destroy the aircraft?”
“Permission granted” was the reply, and he toggled the switch and two of the world’s most modern Russian missiles left his aircraft and sped towards Blue Moon, 15 miles ahead.
“Missiles hot,” the forward radar position on the other tower of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge reported to the colonel and Lee Wang. Still at McGuire with all the other pilots and aircraft ready to go, Lee activated the scrambling software he and Carlos had designed a couple of days earlier.
The Chinese fighter pilot was surprised to see his rockets suddenly turn skywards and begin to go vertical, not something he had expected. He ordered his next two aircraft to fire their missiles at the C-130, which was now only 500 feet above the ground. They locked their missiles onto her and four new missiles sped forward, yet also went vertical following the heat ejections of the first rocket motors towards space.
“Missile malfunction,” reported the pilot over the radio. “Changing to heat-seeking missiles, two locked and launched,” he said calmly as his next two shot forward and the C-130 landed. Three seconds later the missiles lost their target as dozens of silver balloons were released from the airfield ten miles ahead and hundreds of already warm military engines were started to mess up the missiles’ telemetry. One of the missiles went into an old truck driving down the road a couple of miles in front and the other into an empty burned-out strip mall where some form of fire must have been smoldering.
“Missile failure,” reported the lead aircraft. “It looks like an airfield where the American aircraft went in and we are starting to get return fire from units on the ground,” as a couple of aircraft easily dodged the Sidewinders aimed at them.
“Go in and destroy the airfield with the rest of your missiles at close range,” was the reply from the Air Force commander as he looked towards the container ships cruising a mile in front of the rest of the stationary naval flotilla. They would be under the bridge in about ten minutes. All was still quiet as he watched his three helicopters take off from below him and turn towards the bridge.
“We have three helos incoming. Keep your heads down—no movement, no firing—and make sure they can’t see you. Look like snow, guys, and bury deep,” ordered the colonel as he saw the helicopters coming towards him.
Now only five miles from the airport, the wing commander in the lead J-10 aircraft ordered his fighters to lock onto targets as suddenly a wall of tracer bullets erupted from near the airfield in front and came towards them, blowing up the aircraft to his left just as he ordered the aircraft to split up and fire at anything that moved below them. Missiles were locked onto the hangars, which had been emptied for the occasion and had coal stoves inside each of them omitting heat. The buildings were like saunas inside. Several missiles left their launchers as dozens of lines of cannon tracer came up to meet them. A couple of the missiles flew straight into the wall of incoming fire and exploded, which rocked the lead aircraft.
The fighters banked to the left and right, some going higher, some diving to get closer to the ground when everybody on the airfields began firing as fast as possible. Two aircraft erupted into balls of flame as they were hit and several of the empty hangars blew up as the missiles reached them.
“Take out anything hot you can find,” ordered the wing commander as his aircraft suddenly shuddered underneath his seat and then watched as his right wing began to fall apart and separate itself from the rest of the aircraft. His ejection seat worked fast and he was out of the aircraft seconds before it began its death dive, exploding just before it hit the ground. His parachute opened several seconds before he hit the roof of a flat building, breaking his right leg on impact and knocking him out.
At the same time, the helicopters came in low over the bridge and Colonel Patterson ordered two groups of five Mutts units armed with a TOW missile on each to be uncovered on the road several hundred yards south and north of the bridge, to take out the three helicopters only half a mile away flying just above his height above the right tower of the bridge. The helicopter pilots would be able to see their deployments pretty soon, as well as the men on the towers from this close a range.
All three of the helicopters immediately tried to dodge the incoming missiles, but this was close range shooting and the TOW missiles followed their movements. Colonel Patterson felt the shock waves of the exploding helicopters as all three blew up less than 300 yards from him.
“Well done, Mutts. Men, run! Get out of there. I’m sure the ships immediately located your jeep positions. Run!” the colonel shouted. He saw dots of light as several of the ship’s guns fired and seconds later both areas where the old jeeps stood exploded into orange balls of flames. “Hold your fire around the harbor!” he ordered, as he trained his binoculars onto the firefight going on 20 miles away at the Morrisville Airport.
*****
“Why did our helicopters explode?” shouted the chairman to his Air Force commander as the two frigates 300 hundred yards away began firing at the shoreline.
“They were hit with missiles from either side of the bridge, but the Americans are now history,” he replied, as they all saw large fireballs climb skyward on both sides of the bridge.
“Don’t hit my bridge, Admiral,” warned the chairman. They watched as the first container ship reached the bridge, was not attacked, and carried on into New York Harbor.
*****
The fighting at the airport was in full force. Most of the hangars were burning and the remaining seven fighters were spending much of their time dodging tracers and incoming missiles from every direction. Another J-10 aircraft exploded and several vehicles on the ground exploded as they were hit by cannon fire.
The men on the ground had fared reasonably well. Missiles went into the empty hangars as planned, destroying one or two guns that were too close. But now that the airfield was on fire, the enemy fighter began to take out the ground fire with what they had left. The cannons on the ground were red hot as rounds were fed into them as fast as they could, and the men behind the sights followed the aircraft a couple of miles out as they turned and came in firing cannons in return. Another two were hit as several more ground units exploded. There were just too many vehicles to aim at.
Suddenly the fighters pulled away and the gunners followed them as they retreated back to their ship, hitting one more aircraft before the area went silent.
“Morrisville, your kills and losses, please?” asked Colonel Patterson, as he saw several dots getting closer from the smoky area that was the other battle zone.
“Morrisville reporting,” stated someone whose voice Patterson didn’t recognize. “Commander took a direct hit. I counted seven aircraft down and one left with oil pouring out of its ass.”
“Roger, I have it visual. It just went into the ground,” replied the colonel. “I count four returning to the mother ship. Harbor area, do not—I say do not—fire at the returning aircraft unti
l I give direct orders. Morrisville, continue. Over.”
“I’ve seen about 15 direct hits down here. The C-130 is okay and we have the two medic trucks driving through the airport gates. Every airport building is destroyed. Over.”
“Well done, guys! You did a good job,” commended the colonel to whomever he was speaking. ”Get your wounded sorted out fast, you only have ten minutes max. Blue Moon, get airborne. Morrisville airfield, prepare for a second round of incoming as she gets airborne. Out. Bridge spotters, a sitrep please?”
“All five container ships have passed under the bridge and are currently two miles from the Global Terminal. There are hundreds of soldiers on board. We see four aircraft returning to the carrier, which is still about two miles out and we believe that others are about to take off. Without our airborne eyes, we can’t tell so precisely. Over.”
As the spotter said that, another fighter took off from the carrier and headed out to sea. It would take Blue Moon another five minutes to get airborne, and this time they didn’t know where the aircraft would be heading, but at least eight were history.
“The two destroyers are moving this way,” added the observation post on the other tower. “It looks like they are all slowly turning to head in.”
“Okay, guys, we are about to warm up around here,” stated Colonel Patterson. “Harbor troops, you heard that the container ships are swarming with Charlies. Snipers, you will be ready to fire once I give the order. You should be well in range in about ten minutes. Make each round count.”
On the buildings around the Global Terminal, 300 snipers had regrouped from the roadways around the harbor and airport areas and now each one was ready for the incoming ships with mountains of ammo and each one was within 1,000 yards of the terminal depot.
*****
“What happened to our fighters?” demanded an angry chairman, as he only saw four fighters line up to land. Another 12 had taken off and were now circling over the ships as they turned towards the bridge to follow the container ships into New York harbor.
“I don’t know,” replied the Air Force commander. “I assume that we hit their main Air Force airport, as it was extremely well defended.”
“We will go back once we have taken their harbor and destroy everything around there. Can those defenses attack our aircraft over the harbor?” asked the chairman.
“No, Comrade Chairman,” was the reply. “The air base is at least 20 miles away and too far to be of any trouble.”
“Get those fighters over the harbor bridge. I want air cover as we go in. You can get the remaining fighters off the ship as soon as these others come in,” he ordered.
There were only five more fighters that were ready, and the Air Force commander wanted to wait to get all nine off together. By that time, he reckoned he would know all the strengths of the opposition forces and then take them out. He had missed the information that the other naval ships were now heading for the harbor. He felt that they were moving, but the aircraft carrier had to wait, pointing north to get the last two aircraft aboard, still flying in from the south.
The two Chinese frigates quickly entered the harbor under the bridge, their guns bristling in all directions as they arrogantly swept in under the bridge at 20 knots and kept to the main shipping lane in the middle of the river.
*****
“Everybody keep down. I want the carrier in if we can. Snipers, hold your fire. How far out are the container ships from docking? Over.”
“The first one is entering the enclosed water now,” reported the command center by the Cargo Terminal. They were stationed in one of the massive cranes that the engineers had spent three days getting to work again. “They have formed a line and seem to know where they are going. The third ship is about 700 yards directly behind the first one, and the second one is aiming herself towards the south wharf to her left. The fourth one is beginning to follow her. Over.”
“Comrade Wong, get waving. Let’s welcome in the bastards!” smiled Colonel Patterson.
The waiting was becoming tense. Slowly, the fighters landed back on the carrier’s deck as the second dozen circled at a couple of thousand feet above her. The destroyers were already halfway to the bridge, and it looked like they had slowed slightly to give the much larger ship time to catch up.
Colonel Patterson looked through a powerful telescope he had brought for the occasion—far more powerful than his binoculars— and he saw pallets of what looked like missiles and pallets of cannon rounds being brought up to her flight deck via several elevators. He counted nine aircraft on her deck area and three more helicopters. One had its rotor running and it took off as he watched.
Several minutes later, the carrier was moving slowly towards the bridge and the helicopter came directly towards him only a mile away. “Do we have any more Mutts with TOWS?” he asked into his radio. “I have another helo coming in over the sea.”
“We have two Mutts with TOWS 100 yards further north of the last ones, but no more on the south side,” somebody replied.
“Take out the helo in 30 seconds and run for cover. Anti-aircraft weapons on the north side only open fire on any incoming aircraft once the Mutts explode, but not before, and make your first shots count. The aircraft will turn your area into a disaster zone if you are slow. Over.”
“Roger that,” said several voices.
Thirty seconds later, everybody saw the stripes of light head towards the helicopter and it turned into a white blaze of fire as it disappeared from all radar screens. The ships were waiting this time, and several seconds later the whole area around the two old deserted jeeps erupted into flames and their metal lives quickly came to an end.
Colonel Patterson knew that he had at least another 40 of these vehicles around the harbor, but very few that could shoot at the seaward side of the bridge.
The fighters peeled away from the carrier and came into the area in a single line, throwing missiles into every building surrounding the latest cloud. Over 50 guns and missiles immediately returned fire, and three of the first fighters, not expecting retaliation of this magnitude, exploded only a couple hundred yards from shore. A fourth went straight into a ten-story building and blew up inside. Slowly the whole structure collapsed into itself.
The remaining eight fighters turned in all directions to escape the enemy ground fire, and another was hit at a low altitude as it turned sharply to the north and directly over the shoreline.
*****
“Get the ships to terminate that whole area,” screamed the chairman, as he watched the destruction of his valuable aircraft. “Get those others into the air! Kill the Americans!” he screamed at the Air Force commander.
“They can’t take off until we turn north to south—the wind is too strong for a side wind take-off,” replied the Air Force commander.
“I don’t want to hear excuses—get those last fresh aircraft off now,” ordered the chairman.
“I can’t, Comrade Chairman, they will be destroyed!”
“Must I do everything myself, you stupid man?” replied the chairman as another aircraft exploded going into the area north of the bridge and all four warships opened up their large guns. He grabbed the handset out of the shocked commander’s hand and ordered every aircraft off his aircraft carrier, or they would be fired at by the guns aboard the ship. Engines immediately began to whine as he threw the handset down and again surveyed the scene.
*****
“Submarine command center, fire full torpedoes towards the frigates,” continued Colonel Patterson calmly. He had a fantastic view of the battlefield below and around his position, all the way over to the Global Terminal. “They are coming about and will pass in front of you about 400 yards out in 50 seconds. At that range, they should be sitting ducks with all their attention on the north side. I believe that you will only have one chance to take out both ships, sailors, because our boys are taking one hell of a pounding up there. Snipers, commence firing! The cat is out of the bag. Artillery, I want you t
o wait for the more powerful destroyers and keep your sights on them as they enter under the bridge. They are only a mile away and are at full steam coming in with their guns blazing hot. Shit, there are aircraft readying for take-off from the aircraft carrier. Don’t they know they can’t take off in a strong side wind? It must be a 20-knot wind out there.”
He watched in wonder as the first fighter left the carrier, its pilot totally inexperienced with any form of carrier take-offs other than perfect ones, and his aircraft left the forward part of the deck, flipped over and dove right into the sea. The second pilot, a quick learner, managed not to get his wing pulled over by the breeze and slowly wobbled his aircraft into the air. He was too close to the bridge as the third one also took off and followed the second one up into the air in a wobbly ascent. The second aircraft flew between the destroyers and directly under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, where there was a Mutt waiting with a TOW. It blew up and crashed into the water.
The third fighter tried hard to turn before the bridge and slammed into the pylons in the middle of the bridge under full power, with exploding debris flying in all directions on the roadway before tumbling and hitting the water. The fourth pilot dove into the water like the first one.
*****
The Chinese Air Force commander on the carrier stopped the final aircraft from taking off, and the chairman pulled out a pistol he had in his belt and shot the man in the forehead. He did not like his orders being interfered with.
The frigates pounded the northern area, and smoke poured from the area as the destroyers reached the bridge and stopped firing at the shore. Suddenly both frigates lit up and rose out of the water like lighted candles as torpedoes hit each of them from end to end, immediately blowing up their fuel bunkers and ammunition holds. Nobody aboard had even had time to sound the alarm as the torpedoes came in fast and accurate. The two most modern frigates of the Chinese Navy slumped back into the water and disappeared within seconds, only their very top towers standing out above the water level. The destroyers had already changed course and headed into the area.