Inside the East Sea Fleet’s Command Center, Admiral Tsou stood at the back of the facility, his eyes skimming across six rows of consoles before coming to rest on the main screens at the front of the Command Center. The PLA was on the verge of capturing the last beachhead on Japan’s main island, and only an injection of American airpower could stave off the advancing PLA forces. America’s last aircraft carrier in the Pacific had launched its air wing, and China’s new Hongqi surface-to-air missile batteries had locked on to the first wave, the aircraft almost within range. China was about to deliver the fatal blow.
Scattered across Japan in PLA-controlled territory, red icons marked the location of over one hundred mobile missile batteries, while three waves of blue symbols over the Pacific Ocean speeding west represented Ronald Reagan’s air wing. The aircraft were accompanied by twice the usual number of radar-jamming EA-18G Growlers for protection. But China’s Hongqi missiles, far surpassing the capability of the Russian S-400 they had copied, would overwhelm them. In less than a minute, the lead missile batteries would begin firing, and America would be forced to accept defeat as the last remnant of their airpower in the Pacific was destroyed.
Tsou glanced at the timer on the main display as it counted down toward zero, when the first of their missiles would begin launching.
Only ten seconds remaining.
The consoles on the left side of the Command Center suddenly flickered off. In a cascade of darkening displays flowing left to right, console after console dropped off-line, their displays going black. The disciplined communications between console operators and their supervisors deteriorated into chaos as supervisors rushed to assist the nearest operators, directing them to reboot their consoles. One by one, the console screens turned blue, with white characters scrolling across the displays. After a few seconds, each screen went dark again. Operators frantically rebooted their consoles again, obtaining the same result; the displays went dark at the same point in the start-up process each time. Tsou looked toward the front of the Command Center. The main screens were frozen, no longer being updated. The entire Command Center was paralyzed.
Captain Cheng Bo, in charge of the Command Center, approached a moment later.
“A hard fault has occurred, Admiral. We must do a cold start of the entire system.”
“How long will that take?”
“Ten minutes, sir. But it might not fix the problem. We have no idea what’s wrong.”
“Are we the only command center affected?”
The Captain shifted uncomfortably on his feet before continuing. “No, sir. All command centers are down, including weapon systems in the field linked to our tactical networks.”
Captain Cheng’s report was alarming. Their most potent missile batteries were linked to their tactical networks. That meant the Hongqi batteries, Dong Feng anti-carrier missiles, and Hong Niao surface-to-surface missiles were inoperable.
Admiral Tsou checked his watch. If the batteries could be brought up again, ten minutes was acceptable. When their missile batteries returned to service, Reagan’s aircraft, and then Reagan itself, would be destroyed.