26 January 2031
Location: 150 km off the coast of Newport.
Time: 1800
A patrol squadron sailed northward toward the Canadian border. This squadron, the 2nd Western Patrol Squadron, consisted of five ships from the United States Navy and ten ships/boats of the US Coast guard. Led by the USS Chosin, CG-65, a Ticonderoga-Class cruiser, she was escorted by four other Navy warships.
Among the hustle bustle of sailors aboard the ships, three ships were conversing about interesting issues or just hot gossip to cope with their boredom.
Until USS Chosin decided to remind these three ships about the importance of this mission. "Be advised. We are halfway toward the Canadian border, please stay focused and vigilant."
One of the three ships replied with a smirk, "Don't worry Mom! Our radars are still as vigilant as ever."
"Russel, I am not your mother, so please stop with those remarks. Can you follow the example of Mo? Look at her, even though this is just a patrol mission, she keeps doing her job seriously." With a warm tone, like a mother scolding her child, Chosin pointed the conversation to Mo.
"Eh!? What? Me?" Mo was startled to be suddenly called out.
"Yes, keep up the good work." Chosin figuratively nodded to Mo and continued observing her surroundings.
"Umm, Russel, what was that about?" Mo was left confused and whispered to her left.
"Oh, don't mind it too much, just Chosin being Chosin. By the way, what were you looking at? It's like you're so immersed in something." Russel, DDG-59, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, reassured Mo and curiously asked. She was very bored, looking at Mo who looked very focused inspecting the sea, she thought Mo must have an interesting thing to look for.
"Well, just doing what I was supposed to do, I guess? Oh! And Lyn said she was escorted by orcas during her sail to Britain! That's cool, right? I hope tonight we can meet Orcas too, so keep looking for them, ok?" Noticing that Russel must have been so bored, Mo asked Russel to look for Orcas if there were any. She hoped this trick could make Russel and her two other sisters focused on the mission.
"Woah! Really? That's cool. Alright Mo, leave it to us, the Arleigh Burkes!" Russel excitedly declared and told her sisters about the orcas. Her sisters easily agreed to Russel and stopped the chatter.
Good, let's continue then. With this thought, Mo went back to her working-mode and carefully inspected her radar and surroundings.
Chosin, aware of everything happening at her back, smiled a bit.
The 2nd Western Patrol Squadron continued their mission. Once they reached the border, they should have turned back to the base and recuperated for the next mission. But on their way back, one of the Arleigh Burkes, USS Russel detected two fast moving dots on her radar. The same was true for the other two Arleigh Burkes.
"Guys, y'all have to see this.", Russel told everyone with a tone of disbelief.
"What is it?", Chosin replied with a bit of curiosity as she kept focusing on her own radar.
"Two hypersonic missiles approaching the mainland, 100 nautical miles northwest, bearing 2-8-5.", Russel nervously reported her findings to the squadron.
"Alright, good job Burkes. Let's see how the admiral reacts to this. Everyone! Get ready for hypersonic interception!", ordered Chosin.
"Aye Aye Ma'am!", the entire squadron affirmed.
On board USS Chosin, the squadron's commander received the news from USS Russel. He was shocked but tried to keep his calm. He didn't want to believe that the war had already broken out, but these two hostile hypersonic missiles targeting the US Mainland must have come from none other than the enemies.
He announced the dire situation to the whole squadron, advising them to stay focused and ready in their battle stations. He ordered the three Arleigh Burkes to intercept these missiles as soon as possible. He then sent radio transmissions to the central navy command about the situation. The Navy Pacific Command acknowledged the report and also confirmed the commander's suspicion that indeed the state of war between NATO and China was true. He sighed and readied himself for the war on the horizon.
As he refocused himself on his squadron's situation, he saw six streaks of clouds launched from the three Arleigh Burkes. The six missiles fly faster and faster toward the incoming hypersonic missiles. The hostile missiles were still in their gliding phase when six Glide Phase Interceptors from the Aegis System accurately hit them. But unfortunately only one of the hypersonic missiles could be neutralized. The other one continued its course as it entered the terminal phase. Not only the commander, but sailors aboard the three Arleigh Burkes were in disbelief. They should have successfully neutralized both of them, but bad luck sometimes happened even to the best of us.
In a split second decision, the commander ordered the USS Michaell Monsoor to ready her ER-18 EMRG. Sailors above USS Michael Monsoor quickly stationed themselves to intercept the agile hypersonic missile.
The trajectory calculations were concluded as the ER-18 turret moved facing the planned positions. The sailors on board USS Chosin at the front of the formation could hear a high-pitched sound from USS Michael Monsoor. This sound added psychological pressures to the sailors.
When the hostile missile entered a 70 miles radius from USS Michael Monsoor, a zap of blue light could be seen coming out from the only 6.1 inch gun turret above the ship. Seconds after the blue light, an unnoticeable depleted uranium rod hit the missile with the kinetic energy generated from mach 7 speed.
Friendly radars lost contact with the remaining hypersonic missile and the sailors simultaneously cheered. They successfully protected their homeland. The commander released a mild sigh and smiled at his XO.
Unbeknownst to the sailors and officers, the ships also cheered. This was their first actual hypersonic interception.
"Very well done guys, we did it." Chosin proudly praised the squadron.
"Heck yeah! Taste that Aegis, not even Hypersonic missiles could pass us!" One of Russel's sister cockily bragged about the Aegis System.
"That's true, that's true. The previous one was just unlucky, thankfully we have Mo with us!" Russel figuratively closed her eyes and nodded happily. She felt grateful toward Mo for having intercepted the last missile.
"No No No, that was part of our teamwork." Mo smiled shyly as she replied to Russel's thanks.
"Come on, don't be so modest. You deserved our appreciation." Chosin made clear that Mo had indeed contributed heavily in the interception effort. She was aware of Mo's self-doubt tendency, therefore she pushed Mo to be more confident in herself.
"Thanks guys, this is the first time I ever shoot live rounds outside tests. Thank God everything went well." Mo just smiled as she was excited to tell her sisters about what happened tonight.
"Alright, the commander has decided we have to go back to the base soon. Full speed ahead!" Chosin cranked up her engine and led the squadron home.
But 50 km from their base, fog suddenly covered the entire area. The squadron noticed the fog and they felt something was not right. The temperature dropped at an alarming rate. The fog was getting ticker and ticker as they passed through it. Weirdly enough, sailors and officers didn't feel anything was amiss, they felt it as just a usual fog.
The squadron quickly got out of the fog. Fatigue and stress accumulated after the mission. As they reached the base and docked, the officers quickly landed at the pier and walked toward the base to do debriefing, while sailors prepared to rest and recuperate.
Everything went as usual until one sailor shouted from pier 12.
"USS MICHAEL MONSOOR IS MISSING!"
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