“Deadly serious,” Mitchell interjected. “Nobody wants this going kinetic. But like Morpheus once said — ‘Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is.’ We’re about to show you.”
The reference hung in the air. Harrington shot Mitchell a look that said
Ma passed the document to Kao, who began reading with professional intensity. “Wow. The funding is substantial. Four-point-eight billion. I mean, don’t get me wrong, that’s great. But money doesn’t sink landing craft or shoot down helicopters.”
“No, ma’am, it doesn’t,” Mitchell agreed. “But these will.” He produced a ruggedized tablet, fingers dancing across the screen. “May I?” He gestured toward the main monitor in the room.
Ma nodded. A moment later, the room’s main display flickered to life, showing technical schematics that made Admiral Han lean forward involuntarily.
“As I alluded to earlier, we have a substantial gravy train of supplies arriving in the coming weeks. Let me walk you through what all is coming,” Mitchell began, his Boston accent thickening with enthusiasm. “First up, some nasty little devils the techies came up with — smart mines. And not just any mines. We’re delivering a thousand of these Sea Guardian units. Let’s just say these aren’t your grandfather’s tethered sea mines either. These are equipped with passive sensors and networked AI. They decide when to detonate based on a programmable target value we determine.”
The display shifted to show deployment patterns and a second sea mine. “We call these Wraiths. We have six hundred of them arriving. What makes these unique is how they work; they can hunt and attack in swarms. But more than that, the onboard targeting AI is able to reference a library of PLA Navy schematics of the vessel it’s preparing to attack, to find its weak spot before plowing into it. For instance, it will aim for the vessel’s magazine or engineering section, areas of the vessel where its impact would likely lead to a secondary explosion. There’s a higher chance of a ship kill this way.”
Admiral Han’s pencil stopped moving as he realized how many in total were coming. “Are those numbers right? A thousand mines with AI networking?”
“Sure is, but that’s just the appetizer,” Mitchell continued. “We got the main meal still coming. Two hundred forty Hammer Sharks. They’re one-way attack UUVs with thousand-pound warheads. They sprint at sixty knots once they’re within five kilometers of their targets.”
Lieutenant General Wu leaned forward. “Oh, my Marines could deploy these from shore positions. We could wreak havoc on a landing force approaching the coast.”
“Exactly, General. But here’s the kicker, we have forty-eight Seeker XLUUVs that arrived last night. These are the big boys of autonomous underwater vehicles, and they can pack a hell of a punch. They can each carry twelve light torpedoes. These autonomous mini-subs can be programmed to loiter in a particular area, or they can be directed to hunt for enemy subs in a geofenced area. These bad boys are designed to deny the enemy sea control of wherever you direct them to for weeks.”
The display cycled through surface vessels next. “For chaos on top of the waves, we have these bad boys. Four hundred Zealot fast-attack boats. Each carries four naval Hellfires and a MANPAD quad pack, plus a two-hundred-and-fifty-pound suicide charge for when things need to get personal.”
“Wow, like a swarm of angry wasps,” Wu murmured appreciatively.
Mitchell grinned. “Oh, it gets better, Admiral. We got six hundred Feiying drone boats for ISR and strike missions. These are smaller autonomous boats, designed to scout ahead, launch loitering munitions, then kamikaze with a two-hundred-and-fifty-pound bomb once they’ve spent their munitions, or they can be redirected back to be reloaded and sent back on another mission.”
President Ma studied the numbers, his mind racing through the tactical permutations. “This is… substantial. More than I thought possible. Am I to also understand that most of this equipment has already arrived or is arriving before the end of the month?”
Harrington answered for Mitchell. “Yes, Mr. President. A lot of the equipment that could be sent via commercial air cargo has been steadily arriving via DHL, FedEx, and UPS. Some of the items have come via cargo vessels inside of shipping containers. When absolutely necessary, the US Air Force has made a handful of deliveries to Hengchun Airport. From there, a lot of it is moved to Camp Renshou, and then further dispersed to the locations where we’ve been told to hide them. Our goal, Mr. President, is to have as much of this equipment ready for your forces ahead of the mainland’s April fifteenth deadline.”
