Chapter 199: Sharp Counterstrike

Inside the famous Pentagon building in the United States, a meeting room with multiple screens is transmitting events happening in faraway Africa.

A general with a stern face is watching ground photos sent by satellites. The photos are very clear, with two adjacent screens showing before and after the bombing.

Even though the ‘before’ photo was taken during the day and the ‘after’ photo at night, the differences are immediately apparent.

In the ‘before’ photo, rows of neatly standing factory buildings are visible, with one particular factory ringed.

In the ‘after’ photo, where the factories once stood, only ruins remain, especially at the site of the previously circled factory building.

The original factory has vanished, replaced by a bottomless crater at least 100 meters in diameter, having been the focus of two rounds of missile strikes.

Moreover, fires are still raging at the site, and the last few missiles to hit there carried incendiary warheads.

Of the 20 missiles fired by the first batch of warships, at least 8 hit this target.

Subsequently, the B2 bombers launched their missiles, hitting with precision again. This batch carried bunker-buster warheads.

The American intent was to prevent any underground spaces, like basements in the factory, ensuring the target person, Du Qiu, had no chance to evade the missile attack.

They also mixed in a few missiles with burning agent warheads to ensure the site was scorched to the ground.

Although the Americans used a special high-resolution satellite for this operation and the photos are indeed very clear,

it was still night and the effects of the bombardment need further confirmation.

“Director Sandy, based on the current situation, it looks like the target person should have been blown to pieces,” someone commented.

Sandy, the Director, smiled and said, “A threat to America, of course, must be eliminated. General Vandiat, this can also be considered revenge for the former Viper Squad.”

General Vandiat replied indifferently, “We’ve spent so much on this operation; if we still can’t kill this man, that would indeed be a great shame.”

At this moment, Clark, who was still examining the screens, suddenly asked, “How often can this satellite update the photos?”

An officer in the rank of a Lieutenant Colonel replied, “For this mission, the E32 satellite has been orbiting over the target area, able to update nine times a minute.”

Clark, surprised, then asked, “But why do I feel that despite some time having passed, there seems to be no change in these photos? Is the satellite data still transmitting normally?”

The Lieutenant Colonel, somewhat incredulous, said, “I’ll contact the command center and find out. These images are transmitted from there; there might be an issue on their end.”

Shortly after, the Lieutenant Colonel contacted the command center, “What? The satellite is out of contact?”

The Lieutenant Colonel’s exclamation alarmed General Vandiat and Director Sandy, and both of them asked simultaneously, “What happened to the satellite?”

The Lieutenant Colonel reported, “The latest message from the command center is that the E32 satellite is out of contact. They have already notified the space agency for a check-up.”

A sense of foreboding entered Director Sandy’s mind, recalling the incident two years ago when three commercial satellites lost contact and were controlled during the pursuit of Du Qiu.

“General, could our military satellite systems be breached by outsiders?” he asked.

General Vandiat shook his head, “Impossible. Our military satellite systems are on a segregated network, armed with strong defense systems. No one can invade from outside unless someone inside assists, and then, and only then, is there the slimmest possibility.”

“General, new development. Two B2s on their way back suddenly lost contact over the Indian Ocean!” an adjutant loudly reported.

The whole demeanor of General Vandiat changed rapidly. B2s on combat missions had never had an incident before; how could they lose contact on their return trip?

“Aren’t all planes equipped with satellite locators? How could they lose contact? Did not the pilots report any abnormalities before losing contact?” he questioned.

The adjutant reported, “Before the base lost contact with the planes, the pilots were in normal communication with the base. Then suddenly, the connection was cut off, and at the same time, the locator signals were lost.

The base has already dispatched search and rescue aircraft and ships to the crash area, but it will take some time before they can reach the location.”

General Vandiat turned to Sandy and asked, “Does the force behind this Du Qiu have that much strength? To be able to intercept our B2 in the skies above the Indian Ocean?”

Sandy, with a grim look, responded, “This force, undoubtedly, must be the same one that controlled our commercial satellites two years ago, causing us substantial losses.

But how did they know our B2 return route, and what weapon did they use to make the B2 disappear?”

General Vandiat looked to another general in an air force uniform, “General Hunter, can you explain what kind of weapon could cause the current situation with the B2s?”

General Hunter spoke gravely, “The only possibility for such a situation to occur is that the two B2s entered an area that’s blanketed by an electromagnetic wave jammer.

However, creating such an area over the open ocean is challenging.”

Clark asked, “Could it not be that they were shot down and fell into the ocean, where at some position a ship could easily set up an electromagnetic wave jammer zone?”

General Hunter nodded, “Your scenario is indeed possible, but according to recent reports, the base immediately checked the satellite locator signals after losing contact; they vanished simultaneously.

If they were shot down and the planes crashed into the sea and then sank to the ocean floor, it would not be a quick process, and the disappearance of the satellite locator signals wouldn’t be simultaneous.”

While these high-ranking officials were discussing these two sudden incidents, out on the vast Indian Ocean, the Graveley-class destroyer, having just launched missiles off the coast of Kenya, received a message from the Diego Garcia base about the disappearance of the B2 bombers.

They were ordered to rush to the incident’s location because it was the closest to the Graveley-class destroyer at only 1400 km away.

The base was 2000 km away from the destination.

When Captain Donald of the Graveley-class ship heard the news, he was taken aback. How could a B2 bomber be involved in an accident?

He was unaware that the B2 bombers, carrying cruise missiles with different types of warheads, had launched an aerial attack on South Sudan together with his warship.

After Donald marked the coordinates provided by the base on the sea chart, he was shocked again.

Isn’t this location near where the Asan country’s Kuchin-class ship sank? Barely 50 km away, and his warship had just left there the day before yesterday.

Donald, full of doubts, directed the warship toward the B2 incident area.

However, it would be another 25 hours before he arrived.

Donald’s questions did not last long. Barely over two hours later, the ship lost contact with the outside world.

“What on earth has happened that caused the communication to break down?” he demanded from the communications officer.

“I’m not sure; it seems we’ve entered an area that’s blocking electromagnetic signals,” came the response.

“Is there anything on the radar? And what about sonar?” Donald pressed on for more information.

“Our radar is functioning normally, with no threats detected in the air or on the sea surface,” the radar officer immediately reported.

The sonar operator reported, “No sign of submarines detected.”

By this time, the sky was tinged with the first light of dawn, and the sea surface was visible within a certain range. Donald picked up his binoculars and started searching the sea surface.

At that moment, the ship’s bottom seemed to be struck by a massive impact, causing the entire warship to jump above the sea surface.

The ship’s alarm system started shrieking like mad all at once.

Donald got up from the ground, not knowing what had just happened. Could it be that the warship and a submarine had collided?

But the sonar operator had just reported no detection of submarines.

“All units, pay attention: observe the situation on the sea surface and report any damage to the ship!” Donald commanded as he turned and shouted at the sonar operator.

“Find that thing on the seafloor for me!”

“Report, Captain: there is significant water intake in the hold; it’s uncontrollable, we can’t seal it!” a report came.

Everyone then noticed that the warship was starting to sink!

“Captain, there’s a huge object on the sea bed; I can’t determine what it is, but it’s definitely not a submarine!” the sonar operator exclaimed.

“A huge object? How big?” Donald asked.

Just as he finished speaking, the warship was struck again.

This time, the impact caused the Graveley-class ship to capsize entirely!

This was a massive 9,200-ton warship, one of the mainstays of the U.S. Navy’s Aegis fleet, now capsized in the sea!

The sailors on the Graveley-class ship, in a panic, scrambled to escape from the swiftly sinking ship.

Mainly because the first impact had breached the bottom of the ship, taking on a massive influx of water, it was already sinking.

Somehow, Captain Donald had been flung out of the ship and fell into the water. He frantically swam to the side to avoid being dragged down by the sinking vessel.

A ray of sunlight fell on the sea surface, and it was daylight.

Donald swam and looked back at his ship, only to be utterly stunned by the sight that met his eyes!

Thank you to “covering ears while stealing a bell using covert measures” for the reward of 100 coins!