Episode 62

Pacific Command HQ

Joint Base Hickam Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Braverman could not believe the report he was reading. The America was gone? Just like that? Two destroyers were also out of the fight. It was the worst day for the US Navy since World War II.

“You OK Tom?”

Braverman snapped his head up. The Admiral was looking at him with an uncharacteristic look of concern on his face. “I’m fine sir.”

The Admiral began to pace behind his desk. “I need your head in the game here, Tom.”

“Yes sir.”

“The Chinese have showed their cards. Three aces.”

“Did you expect losses like this?”

“Expect? No. I’ve learned not to have expectations.” The Admiral shook his head and sat down behind the large leather-topped desk again. “This was their big play. Multiple attack vectors, time on target, the works. Even though we messed up their timing, the results would have been about the same. We beat them. Pure and simple. Royal Flush beats three aces. “

“I’m not sure how many victories like this the country can take.”

“More than you think, Tom. More than you think.”

The Admiral opened a well-thumbed folder and re-read the summary page again for the hundredth time. “The math just doesn’t work for them in the SCS. They had to know that we would push back.”

“They assumed we wouldn’t take losses.”

“That’s bullshit.” The admiral slammed his fist on the desk with a loud thump. “They aren’t stupid Tom. Only a moron thinks we don’t react when you take out a carrier. They are not morons.”

“No, sir.”

“It’s the red team again. I think they are right.”

“Yes, sir.” The red team had proven again and again that they truly understood the organizational dynamics and psychology of the Chinese military. Set up originally to play OpFor during war games, the team had been pressed into service as a “intentions” group since the outbreak of hostilities. Their current assessment was that Taiwan was the actual objective. With the US Navy tied up in the South China Sea, the ability of the USA to prevent an invasion in the Taiwan Strait was significantly lowered. By taking out the Vinson, they had completely eliminated any credible carrier threat in the area. With their proven ability to attack from land bases, moving any carriers in close enough to repulse an invasion of Taiwan was not something the United States wanted to do.

“That only leaves Okinawa and Korea.”

“There is no way they can take out Okinawa.”

“No, but I don’t think they will try. Besides, Okinawa is too small. It’s about Korea now.”

“Would they invade?”

“Or encourage the little fucker to do their work.”

“Any invasion would be messy.”

“Do you think the North really cares?”

“No.”

“Any signs?”

“We see increased readiness across the board and freight going into North Korea from China. Nothing conclusive.”

“No, there wouldn’t be.”

“If we want to do this, we need to give them the GO now.”

“I know. For the first time in this war, I am unsure. This could be decisive, one way or another.”

“What does your gut say?”

“GO.”

“Remember that book you had me read? Blink?”

“Yeah.”

“Perhaps your subconscious knows what your conscious doesn’t know.”

“You mean I’ve been parsing data all this time but I don’t know it?”

“Something like that. After so much time perfecting your craft, you know what is right and wrong even though you can’t always tell WHY you know. You just know. We won’t ever get to a perfect level of understanding. We need to make the call based on what we know.”

“Let’s get on the horn with the Joint Chiefs. The boss is going to have to approve this one.”

“Yes, sir.”