The Monroe Doctrine

by James Rosone

  “Next, they needed to get real-world information and then test their theory to begin gauging the responses of real people. This is where the concept of DragonLink came into play. China provided free internet to its citizens while tracking its users and manipulating search responses without their knowledge. This provided a previously unheard-of level of real-time intel. Jade Dragon began to learn how to control their own population to achieve the aim and goals given to it by Dr. Xi Zemin, Ma’s direct boss and the man in charge of the program. He apparently reports directly to President Yao.

  “Once Jade Dragon had this basic understanding, DragonLink was rapidly expanded to include the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. Through a couple of intermediaries, they also managed to obtain a steady pipeline of data from Google, Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter. This gave them access to the American people and our country,” Blain shared.

  “What have they done with this information?” Maria pressed.

  “Initially, it was to monitor and learn from us. Then they started using it to create stories designed to further polarize and divide us. When the pandemic eventually broke out, it used the power of social media to absolutely weaponize the fear around it. Worse, based on our travel patterns, the AI provided information to the Chinese government on airports that would be especially good places to spread the virus, and they sent infected travelers to those hubs.”

  Maria’s face turned beet-red. “God, this makes me so angry, Blain,” she said, her fists clenched. “What they did was so diabolical. I just don’t understand how people can be this heartless.”

  Blain sighed. “We have to keep in mind that we are dealing with a machine that doesn’t have emotions. This AI has been given an objective to achieve and it’s using whatever tools are at its disposal to accomplish them.”

  “I suppose you are right. But if that’s the case…if all of that is true, then how do we stop this thing?” she wondered.

  “That, Madam President, is the big question I’ve been trying to tackle since I first learned about this program a little more than a year ago. Right now, we have to keep outthinking it while our own scientists and researchers look for a way to battle this machine better.”

  Maria blew some air out through pursed lips, then stared out the window of her office. She watched the snow falling for a good minute. This is what I signed up for, she reminded herself, to be the person to make the big decisions. We can do this…I can do this.

  “Blain, you’ve given me a lot to think about. I look forward to talking with you again on the twenty-seventh. Once I’ve had a briefing in the Situation Room on the current state of affairs with the war, I’ll let the President know the direction I’d like to take. This way he can have the military focus its preparations along that path. Right now, my head is swimming with information. I need some time to mull this over,” she concluded.

  As Blain left her study, she saw her advisors and transition team giving her a quizzical look. Her meeting with Blain had gone a lot longer than anticipated. “I’ll give you the fifty-cent version once I’ve had a chance to eat lunch,” she said.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Empire of the Sun

  JS Izumo

  Japanese Combined Task Force

  East China Sea

  The missile impacted just below the tower of the Izumo. The high angle of the missile had caused it to glance off the ship as opposed to driving deep into their guts. The fact that it was a point detonation warhead instead of proximity fuse, the speed of the missile, and the angle of the ship’s turn were the only things that had saved the island from being blown apart.

  A second and third YJ-18 missile slammed into the flight deck, sending flames high into the sky. Belowdecks, the ship shuddered as the lights flickered on and off. With so many parts of the ship being hit, the automated computer systems struggled to maintain power to the ship’s critical systems.

  “Admiral, we must withdraw!”

  Just then, another impact rocked the ship and Admiral Mori was thrown from her seat in the CIC. Before she knew it, her aide lifted her to her feet and held her upright in his outstretched arms.

  She collected herself as she swept a tuft of her hair out of her face and over her ear.

  “Thank you.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Smoke and the smell of burnt plastic wafted through the air. The ship’s HVAC system appeared to be down.

  Admiral Mori made eye contact with Captain Nagao. “Signal what’s left of the fleet to withdraw,” she directed. “Let’s hope our remaining submarines are still below to cover our escape.”

  “Yes, Admiral!” He bowed slightly and rushed off to give the order to withdraw.

  She looked around the CIC; several of the 360-degree augmented reality screens were flickering from the power surges. Every screen that was still functioning had flickering red icons, indicating damage to every ship in the fleet. The master display plot showed that out of her original forty-nine warships, twenty-two had been completely destroyed and fifteen were seriously damaged. The remaining twelve had been hit but were still in the fight.

  She looked over to the display that had a live camera feed outside the ship. On the horizon, she saw a line of ships stretching back for miles, many of them ablaze. Thick billowing clouds of black smoke and fire painted the horizon. When she glanced back to the master plot of her task force, she saw another flashing red dot turn solid.

  Twenty-three ships destroyed…

  *******

  Hours Earlier

  JS Izumo

  Japanese Combined Task Force

  South of Jeju-do Island, South Korea

  Rear Admiral Mori Risa rose from her chair in the CIC of the Izumo as she prepared to leave the room. Stopping momentarily, she glanced back to catch a glimpse of this incredible command center. It was a technological marvel that added to the sheer majesty of this ship. At 815 feet in length, the Izumo was the largest warship the Japanese Navy had put to sea since World War II. The fact that she commanded it and forty-nine other warships still left Admiral Mori in awe.

  When the Chinese Navy had overtaken the Americans as the largest naval force in the world, Japan had begun to realize how vulnerable their country was. The Chinese were mass-producing warships at an incredible pace, leading many experts within the military to believe war between their nations was almost inevitable. It was during this period of anxiety and uncertainty that the Self-Defense Force had been renamed to represent what it truly was: the Japanese Navy, Army, and Air Force.

  When the war had broken out, Admiral Mori found herself responsible for two recently combined naval task forces: Escort Squadrons Two and Four. A contingent of South Korean warships was then added to the mix to further increase their combat power.

  It excited her to no end to be in command of the largest naval task force since World War II. She’d previously been the commander of Escort Task Force Four, so she knew its capabilities and the ships assigned to it well.

  When Admiral Miho Otani had been promoted to Vice Admiral and moved to become J3 of the Joint Staff, it had left a vacancy that needed to be filled quickly. No one was more surprised than Admiral Mori when she’d received orders not only promoting her to rear admiral but also giving her command of the combined task force.

  Kotake approached her with a slight bow, breaking into her thoughts. “Admiral, they are waiting for you in the wardroom, ma’am.”

  “Yes, of course,” Mori replied. “I have so much on my mind—sorry if I seem a little dazed, Lieutenant. There’s not nearly enough time in the day to accomplish all that needs to be done.”

  Kotake looked a little nervous but did his best to cover it with a simple smile.

  She smiled back, trying to smooth things over. He wasn’t her choice for an aide—not that she had anything against the man. Lieutenant Kotake Shijo was her aide-de-camp. Technically, he was a member of Japan’s Special Boarding Unit or SBU, so he wasn’t without his own special set of skills
and capabilities. He was also one of the few officers who was always armed on the ship. While it wasn’t uncommon for an admiral to have an aide, it was uncommon for them to have five elite operators assigned to protect them while underway.

  Admiral Mori felt it overkill, but as perhaps the most prominent woman in Japan and a senior flag officer in the military, the government wasn’t taking any chances on the Chinese trying to assassinate her, either. The Chinese intelligence service had already succeeded in assassinating more than a hundred key naval personnel across the South Korean, Australian, Japanese, and American navies since the start of the war. It was an unusual war, given their adversary was now going after their military officers, whether at home or at sea. To say it was unsettling for the families of these officers was an understatement.

  Admiral Miho had insisted on her security detail. Mori wasn’t sure if it was because they were classmates at the Academy or because Mori had protected her that night on the train so many years ago. Maybe it was just because, as the J3, Miho had the pull to keep naval flag officers afloat as safe as she possibly could. Still, it seemed odd having a contingent of bodyguards while at sea—especially considering she was surrounded by the mightiest warships Japan had built and put to sea in nearly eighty years.

  *******

  As they walked down the hall, Kotake was a few feet in front of Admiral Mori. When he rounded the corner to the CIC briefing room, he saw two Korean aides standing there.

  Kotake heard one man whisper, “Does she even know what she’s doing? She’s never been in combat.”

  “I’m certainly not comfortable going the battle with someone so unproven.”

  Both men stiffened as Kotake approached. His eyes bored deep into them as he closed the gap between them. He moved in close to the officer who had made the remark about his charge. “I find your lack of faith disturbing,” he whispered.

  The man’s eyes opened wide at the menace in his voice and the obvious reference to Darth Vader. Both men stepped aside as Kotake opened the door for the admiral.

  When she looked into his eyes, he did his best to maintain an emotionless expression. In his peripheral vision, he saw her smiling.

  Did she hear what I said to that oaf? he wondered.

  Captain Nagao Senzo, the commander of the Izumo, called the room to attention. All the officers assembled came to rigid attention, then bowed slightly as was their custom.

  Kotake pulled Mori’s chair out and she sat. Once she was seated, the assembled officers did the same.

  *******

  Without turning around to look, Admiral Mori knew Kotake was behind her, ready to protect her should the need arise. While everyone in this room was a trusted officer of the Japanese and Korean navies, she knew Kotake trusted no one when it came to keeping her alive.

  Mori cleared her throat. “Gentlemen, our task is as simple as it is dangerous. In exactly eighteen hours’ time, we are going to close with and destroy the Chinese Northern Fleet.”

  As Nagao was the senior captain present, he began the briefing.

  “Admiral Mori, we know the general bearing the enemy force is on, and that they are traveling at twenty-five knots. The fleet is roughly six hundred kilometers from our red line near Cheju-do Island. Our task force’s position is here,” said Nagao as he swiped his tablet and pulled up a map. “Given that the Chinese Northern Fleet has a mixture of surface combatants and support vessels, we estimate that, traveling at max speed, the Izumo will be in optimal missile range of the enemy fleet in approximately eleven hours and forty-five minutes.”

  Admiral Mori picked up her tablet and made a note. She turned to Captain Nae, her J3 and the task force operations officer. “Captain, please lay out the refined attack plan based on my previous guidance.”

  Nae stood and cleared his throat. He glanced down at his tablet and made a sliding motion, and the screen of his tablet was now displayed on the front five panels in the CIC for everyone to see. The display showed the area with the current locations of the Chinese fleet ships in solid red icons, their trajectories in dashed red lines and their future projected locations in flashing red icons.

  “Admiral, as you can see, displayed before us is the weapons loadout of every ship under your command. Based on your guidance, the refined attack plan is straightforward. The F-35s will take off and advance ahead of the fleet to clear the airspace and keep any potential enemy aircraft from engaging us. When our ships have reached this position here”—he pointed to a spot on the map—“we will launch our first salvo of antiship missiles toward the enemy fleet.

  “We’ve designed the first volley of missiles to attack the enemy from a high-altitude trajectory to draw their radars and attention. Once we have a SIGINT indicator that the Chinese have been alerted to the incoming threat, we’ll begin firing our second and third salvo at medium and low trajectories.”

  Captain Nae paused for a moment to see if the admiral had any questions. Seeing that she didn’t, he continued. “At that point, the F-35s will fly in and launch their coordinated joint strike weapon attack. As was briefed earlier this morning, the three Filipino-flagged merchant ships passed to our southwest several hours ago. Per our instructions, they were making as much noise as possible, which allowed our fast-attack submarines to launch their Sea Wasp salvos. We know the Chinese Northern Fleet pushed out their diesel-electric submarines well in advance of the fleet leaving port. They will hold their nuclear fast-attacks in reserve, closer to the actual fleet.”

  “Captain, the Sea Wasp torpedoes have yet to be tried in combat,” said Admiral Mori. “What is your confidence level that this attack will be successful?”

  “Admiral, as you know, Commander Takahashi of the Toryu has developed a tactic that we believe will be successful against diesel electrics. The Type 89 Mod 2 or Sea Wasp torpedo is equipped with the latest sophisticated acoustic memory package. The four submarines from Task Force Two fired their Sea Wasp torpedoes beneath the Filipino merchant ships; each of these torpedoes was programmed with the primary, secondary, and tertiary target package. As we speak, they are at varying depths beneath the waves, listening for their targets. Once they have acquired and verified their targets as they come into range, they will go to active homing and start their terminal attack runs.”

  Admiral Mori put her hand on her chin and reflected on what she had just been told. “Very well, Captain,” she replied. “One last thing: once the Chinese know they are under attack, what kind of response are we likely to receive?”

  “I suspect they’ll launch everything they have at us. We can probably expect repeated salvos of YJ-18 antiship missiles while they look to get in close to bring more of their other weapons to bear on us.”

  “Very well, gentlemen. I want a full status report of the task force in two hours’ time. I suggest everyone try to get some rest and eat something. In two hours, we move to battle stations, where we’ll stay until this battle is decided.”

  Admiral Mori rose, as did everyone else in the room. When she turned to leave the room, she saw that Kotake had already opened the door for her.

  *******

  JS SS-512

  Toryu “Dragon Slayer”

  East China Sea

  As the periscope of the Japanese Toryu slipped beneath the waves, the submarine was already angling downward toward the depths. She had come to periscope depth to exchange information with the Izumo. Commander Takahashi Heiji had ordered the boat back down to a depth of 550 meters. The Chinese ASW presence had increased considerably in the East China Sea, a key indicator that they were preparing to attempt a breakout into the deep waters of the Pacific.

  Two days earlier, the “Fishhook,” a Japanese version of the American SOSUS system, had detected subs out of the Chinese Northern Fleet Headquarters at Qingdao, leaving their bases. The Sasebo Naval District Headquarters had sent the SS-512 out as a vanguard to the Izumo Task Force to intercept any subs looking to break through their perimeter.

  “Sonar, report status
of contacts Sierra 1 through 4.” Commander Takahashi’s voice was steady, almost a loud whisper.

  “Sir, all contacts remain generally on the same two-nine-zero-degree bearing, relative to ship’s position.”

  “Speed and distance?”

  “Sir, they are all making turns for twenty knots, range seven thousand three hundred and fifteen meters.”

  “Very well, continue monitoring.”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  Commander Takahashi motioned for his TAO and his XO to join him at the master plot. As they approached, he dimmed the light on the digital plot. The Conn had been lit in red for the last several hours, and the lighting on the digital plot had started to hurt his eyes before he turned the brightness down.

  He used a trackball to find their location on the digital undersea map. Then, using his fingers, he manipulated the touchscreen until he saw what he wanted to discuss. Yesterday, the three Filipino merchant vessels had passed above them, traveling some five hundred meters apart while intentionally making as much noise as they possibly could. The goal was to ensure the Chinese heard them and only them. Slicing silently beneath the cargo ships had been four subs from Submarine Task Force Two. Each of the submarines had launched five of their Type 89 MOD2 Sea Wasp mines.