Chapter 190: Shocking the World

On March 8, 2022, during the late hours in the Indian Ocean region, a piece of news suddenly went viral on the internet.

“Shocking news that a coup has taken place in the Seychelles with the President and Vice President colliding violently. The coup-supporting Vice President solicited support from an Indian Navy’s Aegis-class destroyer, the Kocin.

At this time, coincidentally, a frigate of the Tanga Federation, the Dodoma, happened to be outside the port of Victoria.

The Dodoma had just undergone major retrofitting, and this voyage was for sea trials. However, due to a sudden malfunction, the frigate was hurriedly en route to the nearest port of Victoria for repairs.

It was mistakenly identified by the Indian Kocin warship as siding with the Seychelles’ President and, despite international law, was audaciously attacked with missiles.

This frigate Dodoma that the Tanga Federation bought second-hand was far less powerful than the Aegis destroyer.

Yet, a twist of fate occurred where the crew of the Dodoma, all navy greenhorns, in their panic, not only launched an anti-air missile in an attempt to intercept the incoming missile but due to a system error, they also fired an anti-ship missile.

This anti-ship missile bravely pierced through the Kocin’s air defense system and successfully sank it!”

Immediately, people questioned the accuracy of this rapidly unfolding event – how could the writer know all the details?

The author replied directly: “I am a personal radio enthusiast. Both warships communicated with each other through an open telegram before launching missiles, which I happened to receive and made a reasonable guess.”

Almost immediately, the American CMM broadcast breaking news: “According to the US Central Command, a Seychelles local time 8:58 PM, an Indian Aegis destroyer was sunk.”

CMM’s credibility was still recognized by the public. Although they have been known to skew reporting, they can still broadcast some major events in real-time.

This truly shocked the entire world.

As everyone knows, following the United States’ strike against Persia last year, the Indian Ocean had become a gathering place for navies from various countries.

Countries were racing to dispatch warships to escort their oil tankers to ensure their oil supply wasn’t cut off.

Who could have imagined that the coup in a tiny country in the Indian Ocean would spark a clash between the navies of two countries from the opposite sides of the Indian Ocean?

With the Indian Navy’s overwhelming superiority over the Navy of the Tanga Federation, no one thought India would just let it slide.

War was imminent, and since it took place in the Indian Ocean, a crucial waterway for Middle Eastern oil exports, world oil prices and gold surged once more, and stock markets of some countries that were still open instantly turned a sea of green.

People were on alert, governments around the world were shaken by this emergency, and they discussed their respective stances.

The United Nations urgently called for calm from both India and the Tanga Federation and suggested that the best course of action would be for both sides to sit down and negotiate.

On the internet, many people lamented that the world is becoming more chaotic. It wasn’t long ago that a Japanese enterprise’s viral experiment in Africa claimed thousands of lives.

Before that issue was resolved, here was an Indian naval vessel launching a missile attack on a foreign naval ship and getting counterattacked and sunk.

Many people were not familiar with the nation of Tanga Federation and upon searching, they immediately concluded that India would not let it rest and would likely easily overpower the Tanga Federation.

Netizens began to discuss heatedly.

“A year ago, the Tanga Federation’s navy didn’t even have decent warships, and the Dodoma is one of the two 053H frigates they recently purchased—vessels that were constructed in the 1990s.

I think it was definitely a misfire! The black brothers were attacked by a missile and panicked, mistaking the anti-ship missiles for anti-air missiles and fired them out.”

“The above statement is not right. Even if they fired it as an anti-air missile, how could it hit the Kocin, over two hundred kilometers away? The Kocin is an Aegis destroyer, renowned for its air defense.”

“That’s right, with 48 anti-air missiles alone, how could it not intercept a single missile?”

“That’s it. India has always boasted about how powerful their Kolkatta-class 052D is, and now the truth has come out – it was sunk by an 053H’s Eagle Strike 83.”

Indian netizens were a bit embarrassed and stubbornly said: “I bet it wasn’t an Eagle Strike 83 missile, it must have been the latest Eagle Strike 18!”

“That’s very likely. After all, the range of Eagle Strike 83 is a bit forced, but the Eagle Strike 18 is different, with a range of 600 kilometers, easily hitting a target over 200 kilometers away.”

The Kolkatta-class air defense missile system was supplied by Israel, so Israeli netizens were a bit upset and piped up: “Impossible, even an Eagle Strike 18 wouldn’t be able to penetrate the Barak air defense missile intercept! There must have been a mistake in the operation by the Indian sailors.”

British netizens chimed in for fun: “Yes, yes, the Indians are prone to mistakes in battle. My grandfather was forced to surrender to the Japanese because of a mistake by a bunch of Indian soldiers.”

……

Elsewhere, earlier than the online noise, major nations had already received intelligence information.

US President Baysan-Worbsk immediately convened a meeting with his staff.

“What does everyone think about the situation Sandy mentioned?” Baysan-Worbsk scanned the few present.

“Director Sandy, is the Tanga Federation an ally?” the President’s Security Advisor, Brens, asked.

It wasn’t that Brens was unprofessional; the Tanga Federation was simply so minor and had never appeared on the global political stage, making it difficult for him to remember.

GIA Director Sandy explained, “Since its establishment last century, the Tanga Federation has maintained friendly relations with the East and received considerable support from them.

That African railway was built from their eastern port to the city of Ka in the central part of Zambia. Their military has also purchased a lot of equipment from the East.

The ship that sunk the Indian Aegis destroyer Kocin was the 1800-ton retired frigate they bought last year.”

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Curtis said, “Director Sandy, are you sure about your intelligence? It’s hard for me to believe that a missile fired from such an old frigate could penetrate the Kocin’s defense system.”

Sandy replied, “The intelligence is reliable. I find it hard to explain this right now.

There were no satellites of ours over that sea area at that time, so we can only analyze the open telegrams exchanged between the two warships.

Logically speaking, when old warships are sold to the Tanga Federation, the East would retrofit them, but two months ago, they were retrofitted again without going into a shipyard.

Perhaps the East has installed new missiles on it for testing in the Indian Ocean?”

Brens immediately countered, “I don’t think that’s very likely. With the East’s cautiousness, how could their new missiles be deployed on an almost-allied old warship?”

Baysan-Worbsk suddenly asked, “Curtis, how far is our nearest warship from there?”

“It’s the Greville. I’ve ordered it to proceed to the area of the incident. Additionally, I’ve arranged for a salvage vessel to head there with hopes of recovering some useful items first.”

“Very good. Let’s not rush to make a statement on this matter for now; just express concern. Let’s see if the East will surprise us,” Baysan-Worbsk said calmly.

“Mr. President, if India takes military action against the Tanga Federation, do we just watch?” Brens raised his concern.

“If that happens, the East should be the one worrying… Hmm, Sandy, hint to India through the channels that we are willing to provide intelligence support.”

Baysan-Worbsk instructed Sandy, clearly feeling that standing by idle was not in America’s interest, and that they should encourage India to do something that might inadvertently help the United States.

General Curtis immediately said, “If so, should we reinforce our Diego Garcia base so that we have the capability to intervene in the situation?”

Baysan-Worbsk waved his hand and said, “No need. If we act, the East won’t dare to make a move.

At this time, our best strategy is stillness rather than action.”

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In India, there was no sleep tonight.

“It’s confirmed that the Kocin is sunk,” Defense Minister Narayan said solemnly.

Prime Minister Morhan of India was a seasoned politician, currently in his second term, and aimed to elevate India to a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, for which he had carried out a series of domestic, foreign, and military initiatives.

As global economics began bouncing back the past two years and the Middle Eastern situation had completely changed.

Yet, with ongoing disputes with old rivals Pakistan not making substantial progress, achieving a permanent member status seemed impossible—a situation impeded by the East.

Without their interference, Morhan would have disintegrated Pakistan back in 2019.

Four of the five major powers have been swayed by his adept diplomatic policies, yet were vetoed by the East.

Seeing the East’s power rising and military strength growing rapidly, this year their aircraft carrier fleet even sailed into the Indian Ocean.

Morhan was well aware that his country could not match the East, a reality he saw clearly, unlike some of his compatriots who overestimated their capabilities.

The current international situation was clear: only the United States could suppress others!

This incident now seemed quite tricky.

Following the Defense Minister to the meeting, the Navy Chief of Staff Abishek who couldn’t hold back said, “A small country like the Tanga Federation dares to sink our Aegis ship; this is a disgrace to our navy. We must retaliate!”

Narayan glanced at Abishek but remained silent.

At that moment, the National Security Advisor Hilmiq, sitting on the other side, said, “General Abishek, could you please tell us the current location of the East’s carrier strike group?”

Abishek paused for a moment and said, “They are approximately 500 kilometers south of the Maldives.”