Able Sentry

by John Schettler

  This creeping militarization and rapid exploitation of China’s new relationship with the Philippines was going to complicate matters a great deal for the US. They had already seen the Chinese deliver successive hammer blows against Singapore, largely driving the Royal Navy from that bastion. Now they prepared to defend it yet again, but their intelligence assessment had been wrong.

  Tyrenkov’s would be closer to the mark.

  * * *

  “Did you see this?” asked Fedorov as Karpov emerged from his ready room. The Admiral had been sleeping there on his cot, as he often did, catching an hour here, an hour there while the ship remained in a combat zone. He never wanted to be even one deck from the bridge if they came under attack. Yet this hour, he was not aware of what Fedorov handed him. He looked over the message, terse as they always were, but the gist was clear.

  “Mindanao?” said Karpov.

  “Davao to be exact, and a smaller port to the west.”

  “Can we be certain of this?”

  “It’s from Tyrenkov,” said Fedorov, which was all he had to say.

  “That man roots fast,” said Karpov. “He must already have control of the entire Siberian intelligence network, and he’s undoubtedly pruning that tree, evaluating agents and handlers, reorganizing the cells and safe houses. He’s just a master at intelligence, and he’s obviously gotten wind of something here. So, the Chinese aren’t coming for Singapore again. Was it us, or the Enterprise that scared them off?”

  “Could have been those Zircons we fired,” said Fedorov.

  “No, there is more to this. If Tyrenkov came to this assessment, then he considered a full spectrum of intelligence—signals traffic, ELINT, aircraft and ship movements. An operation like this needs to be supported. It wasn’t a response to my Zircon attack. The Chinese would be moving missiles to Davao, by air or sea, and there would be activity at any bases they have between that fleet and its objective.”

  “Then this initial move towards Singapore was a ruse?”

  “It seems so. I thought it odd that the Chinese fleet staged east of Riau Island this time. My first thought was that they were moving closer to Brunei to support Miri, as the Americans pounded that base earlier. That was a fairly substantial attack against Tengah Airfield. The damage reports were very bad. Those were SCALP missiles, and they came off the Vietnamese ships. I noted that they broke off and seemed to be heading north to Cam Ranh Bay again, but instead they diverted to Fiery Cross Reef.”

  “I’ll bet they were replenishing their VLS bays there,” said Fedorov.

  “Exactly. You see? Those tiny reef island bases prove very handy when it comes to war. China has thrown all these stepping stones across the South China Sea to make the work of replenishment easier. They’ve seen that a big attack can deplete their SAM’s very easily, and that’s when ships start dying. But why Davao? Remember when we were there? It’s a fairly protected port, 90 miles deep in a large inlet.”

  “The Gulf of Davao,” said Fedorov. “That will be the farthest east they’ve gone, about 520 nautical miles from Palau, and 730 to Yap. And it’s only 1150 miles from the big American base at Guam.”

  “That will ring some telephones with the Americans,” said Karpov. “When they lost their bases in the Philippines, it rolled them back over a thousand miles. That’s why they invoked that treaty allowing basing rights on Palau and Yap. So I think the Chinese fleet is headed for the Celebes Sea. The Chinese are infesting the Philippines. This move is an example of how they could quickly surge into an existing airfield or port, and then just move in the reserve ordnance to make it a functional support base. I think we’d better inform Enterprise of this latest intelligence.”

  15:15 Local, USS Enterprise, 16 JAN 2026

  “Says here the enemy objective is not, repeat not Singapore.” Admiral Cook scratched his graying hair over that one. “Confidence high that the South Seas fleet is now intending to operate in the Celebs Sea, supported by air units basing at Davao. You say this came over from the Siberians?”

  “Yes sir, just five minutes ago.”

  “Well they must have a line on something our people missed. Run this by PACOM. See if we have any before and after beauty shots of Davao. I want to know if something is cooking out there.”

  “Siberians are recommending we increase to 25 knots and make our heading 95 degrees east, sir. Should we comply?”

  “I don’t see why not. If the Chinese swing south, we’ll see them easily enough. But if they are headed east, we need to get turned around. Send it to the bridge, and let me know what PACOM has on this the minute you get it.”

  “Aye sir.”

  The Celebes Sea, thought Cook. That was our bathtub when Independence came this way earlier. We muster at Guam, then swing south of Mindanao right into those waters, but if they get into Davao, we’d have them right on our flank and rear if we tried that now. If this intelligence is correct, it changes everything. Here I thought the Chinese were going to beat the same old drum and hammer on Singapore, but this move is brilliant. We should have seen it coming.

  Now look at us. I’m way down here in the Java Sea, over 1200 miles from Davao, and if this Admiral Wu swings north of Borneo, he’s just got a little over 700 miles. I could either try the Makassar Strait into the Celebes Sea, or go further east and operate in the Banda Sea or the Moluccas. The Indonesians may not like that, but I can’t let that worry me. Yet the sea lanes are rather complicated in there. Sulawesi sits like a great octopus, with four big peninsulas extending in all directions. Islands make navigation difficult, but we’ll manage

  Washington is way north off Japan. These guys found a hole and they’re going through it like a good fullback. We’ll need to close ranks, and fast. If they get into Davao in any force, then we’re fighting to save Palau, and that isn’t how this story was supposed to go.

  PACOM would agree with the Admiral an hour later. Enterprise was cleared to move to the eastern Java Sea and await instructions. Washington was also ordered to head south towards Guam. It seemed as if the Siberians had hold of a bone, and the whole battle suddenly changed.

  Orders were now being sent to assets all over the Western Pacific. Washington was moving south with Virginia Class sub Donelson. Two others in that class, Chancellorsville and Shenandoah were hastening to the waters off Davao. The Surface Action Group based at Guam put out to sea with five ships, and from Lombrum Harbor on Manus Island the joint US Australian SAG was ordered to sea. And with the Washington Carrier Strike Group, the Battlecruiser Kentucky was back in action with Captain Rose. Aside from SAG Iowa, which stayed with the Japanese Fleet, it was everything the US had in the Western Pacific at this hour. Altogether, the US Navy was moving 26 surface vessels and five subs. The only other reserves were still at Pearl Harbor, where JFK continued qualifications training

  Admiral Wu Jinlong thought he would steal a march on the USN, but the Navy reacted with the swiftness of an eagle—sea eagle.

  Part XII

  Sea Eagle

  “Attack is the secret of defense; defense is the planning of an attack.”

  ― Sun Tsu: The Art of War

  Chapter 34

  09:00 Local, 17 JAN 2026

  The plan was off to an auspicious start. Through the long night, Admiral Wu Jinlong had moved like a dark wind over the sea, up over Borneo through the Palawan Gap and into the Sulu Sea. By sunrise, he was approaching the tip of the elephant’s trunk of Mindanao, passing through the shallow waters off Basilan Island. Soon the undersea land would drop off precipitously to over 14,500 feet in the depths of the Celebes Sea. One of the deepest basins in the Pacific, in places it was well over 16,000 feet down to the seafloor, a dark, murky world inhabited by unseen monsters glowing with their bioluminescent eyes.

  The Admiral was eager to see what the satellites showed in the next position update for the American carrier Enterprise, but it would take some time before he got good coverage of the Java Sea. Yaogan-20A had just passed over Yap Island, noti
ng a skunk on the sea 80 miles to the north of that outpost. The American carrier was finally reported 80 miles south of Pulau Island off the southeast end of Borneo.

  So they have seen through my deception, he thought. They are over 400 miles east of their position yesterday, and they must have moved at very high speed to reach this new location. From there, they could enter the Makassar Strait, though the water there is very shallow in the south near Borneo. That puts them 780 miles from me now, too far for them to strike me up here. This my window of opportunity. I must strike the American bases before they realize what we are doing at Davao and send their Tomahawks.

  The War Gods moved a dozen bombers to Lingshui air base on Hainan Island. Even though that is just over 1500 nautical miles from Palau, we can still strike that island. The rest of the bombers are at Beiying, (North Star) the base the Americans called Clark in the Philippines. Getting basing rights there was a major coup, the brightest star in the constellation of new bases we have built to defend the South China Sea. Twelve more bombers should be taking off there now, and we will show the Americans we have a long arm for the fires of war. Bombers at Beiying need only take off, reach altitude, and then they can already fire at Palau or Yap. Fly just 300 miles east, and they can strike Guam, but not alone….

  No, not before the East Wind blows from Hainan Island. There we have positioned our DF-26 C and D class missiles, capable of reaching land or ship targets over 2000 miles away. Once the War Gods fire their cruise missiles, they will take time to reach their targets at such long ranges, so the Air force will time the delivery of the East Wind for the appropriate moment. If I strike these bases hard, I achieve half of my goals with this mission, particularly if I can put heavy damage on their Anderson Air Force Base. They know we have these missiles and bombers, and have surely added defenses in the Marianas. Let us see if we can break through.

  Beiying is the key to these bomber operations, because only that base is large enough to accommodate so many bombers. We have been sending ships to Manila Bay for weeks now to bring in the missiles. That was always planned, even before I proposed Operation Sea Eagle. So now the War Gods stretch their wings, and without fear of enemy fighters. The Americans have no bases with fighters that can reach the Philippines easily. Palau is over 900 miles from Manila, and Yap is over 1000. So the only threat can come from their carriers, or the American bombers on Guam. I must make every effort to destroy them! We will soon see what 72 cruise missiles and a dozen ballistic missiles will do. Guam and Palau will be my first targets, and I have already transmitted the codes to the Air Force. Now let us see if they cooperate effectively.

  The twelve bombers from Hainan reached the Philippines around noon that day, reaching their release point east of Luzon. Six planes would be assigned to Palau, and another six to Yap, putting out 36 cruise missiles on each target. The main attack on Guam would be made by the twelve bombers out of Beiying AFB near Manila—72 missiles. Traveling at 500 knots, those missiles would take two hours to reach Guam, and by the time they got there, the bombers would already be safe at their home fields again.

  14:30 Local, 17 JAN 2026 – Anderson AFB, Guam

  Anderson had become the primary support base for the central western Pacific, and on that sleepy Saturday afternoon, the war seemed thousands of miles away. It was, but it was coming, and at that hour, no one on the base knew about it.

  There were 64 aircraft stationed there now. The bomber fleet had six each of the B-1, B-2, and B-52’s, but only two each were assigned to ready status for possible operations. The rest were sleeping in their hangars or sitting in open parking on the vast stretches of tarmac space at the base. An E-3 Sentry was taking off for the afternoon watch that would extend through the night to the following morning. As per protocol, a pair of Raptors would escort it to its patrol zone, even if no threats were expected from enemy fighters.

  The US had moved the new Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System to the island, which was a mouthful, so it was more commonly just called the JLENS Aerostat, a moored blimp system. Most of the ground crews just called it the “Spy Baloon,” and its radars were looking out about 300 miles for cruise missile threats.

  There were four missile batteries on the island, the GBI SAM system against ballistic missiles, and a new Navy installed Aegis Ashore with SM-3. A THAAD battery was also present, and an Army Patriot unit with 88 missiles. If anything would stop those cruise missiles headed their way, the Patriot would figure heavily in the defense. The rest were there to stop exactly what Wu Jinlong was planning, an attack with the dread Dong Feng 26C. That missile could reach Guam all the way from Hainan Island, and it was already warming on the launch TEL’s to join the attack. At that hour, the cruise missile wave was still 900 miles away, so the attack would be coming in after 16:00. Nobody knew it was out there yet.

  The rest of the aircraft stationed at Anderson were a mix of fighters, ASW planes and Helicopters. There were twelve Raptors, another dozen Advanced F-15CX fighters, and six Advanced Super Toms. Six reserve Growlers, four Poseidons and a couple A-10’s were even on the island. The planes had mustered there like a flock of crows, ready to forward deploy to either Palau or Yap. Some planes had already made the hop through Guam to get out to those two forward bases. At Palau, there were six F-22’s and six more Marine F-35B’s. At Yap there were six F-24 Hellcats and six more Marine F-18’s with the LRASM. Each base also had a Hawkeye in service.

  The Chinese cruise missiles heading for the smaller bases were well ahead of the Guam strike package, and so the quiet Saturday afternoon was soon broken by the blare of alarms. The first two KD-20 cruise missiles were seen approaching Yap by its Hawkeye patrol, about 188 miles out, but they were actually headed for Guam, the very southern end of a great wave of missiles that stretched another 300 miles to the north.

  Yap had a friend calling that day, the Surface Action Group out of Guam that had left the previous day. It was composed of five ships, led by the powerful CG-21 class cruiser San Jacinto, with destroyers Buford and Chamberlain, and two of the new FFG (X) Class frigates, Rabaul and Rendova. There were only ten of those frigates in service, all bearing names from the Pacific War. Seconds after the contact was reported, SM-6 was in the air looking for kills.

  That SAG started tearing up the southern end of that missile wave, but when the group commander realized the Vampires were headed towards Guam, he got on the radio and issued an immediate missile strike warning.

  “Raptor Patrol, come right 15 degrees to 270 and engage Vampires, low and slow. You have company soon.”

  The other four planes on ready CAP duty that afternoon were immediately given scramble orders, along with the Super Toms, which were always loaded for bear, a reserve heavy BARCAP Mission loadout that was maintained round the clock. The telephones rang in the hangars to get all the ready bombers out, six of the 18 present on the field. Now fully alerted, scramble orders were being issued to all ready fighters on the islands.

  At 14:37, the first missiles targeting Palau were finally seen by its Hawkeye patrol, and the two Raptors in escort were ordered to engage.

  “Rabid one, cleared hot on Vampires. Over.”

  “Roger Hawk, early dinner. Rabid-1 over.”

  The two Raptors out of Anderson saw what was coming and seconded the warning. “Bertha, Patrol-1, Gorilla, Gorilla, engaging now. Better rattle the cages on Anderson, over.”

  The cages had been rattled.

  At that hour, the DF-21C’s roared off their TEL’s on Hainan Island, tails bright with fire. Soon they were climbing through 220 kilometers in altitude, and traveling all of 10,000 knots. In a matter of minutes they passed high over the northern tip of Luzon, now 300 kilometers high. They were not yet detected.

  “Pain Killer, Able Sentry, come to 270, angels 25 and engage. Over.” The four other Raptors out of Anderson were getting their orders, seeing the sickle of Vampires dead ahead and below. The Don Feng’s were now picked up as they came up high
above the cruise missile swarm, still moving just under 10,000 knots. At a few minutes before 16:00, the Aegis Ashore at Guam was the first to engage. It sent out a stream of missiles and ripped through the oncoming DF-26’s. Now 125 miles out THAAD got into the defense and started firing. But the ballistic missiles had dipped too low in their arc, and that system and SM-3 could no longer engage. Eight had been killed, and the last four were screaming in towards Guam, simply too fast for the Patriots to target. They came plowing into the field, which was crowded with planes. Two Eagles and two Growlers would be smashed on the tarmacs as firefighting crews raced to the impact sites.

  But that was all the cold breath of the east wind would do. The missiles targeting the landing strip, runway access points, and terminal had all been shot down by SM-3, stealing away a lot of the thunder in that wind. It was now up to the fighters and Patriot batteries on the islands, but Yap was getting strong support from that Surface Action Group.

  Pain Killer released all its missiles west of Guam, and then the heavy BARCAP came up to engage. The Super Toms were carrying the AIM-152B, and sent a storm out after the Vampires. Carrying eight or more missiles on each plane, the Super Tom was a workhorse in the BARCAP role, and it simply shredded the last of the Vampires, chasing the last two down by descending to 1000 feet, racing in over the waves and going to Sidewinders. The American pilots had a proverbial field day, largely gutting the attack, which had sent 144 cruise missiles and a dozen DF-21C’s. The loss tally was light considering the strength committed to the attack—two Eagles, two Growlers, and four Seahawk helicopters lost on the fields, and no real impairment to ongoing air operations.