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JAPAN ELECTS SOCIALIST PRIME MINISTER
February 2nd 2031, Yomiuri Shimbun
Tokyo. 2:00 am. Japan's Election Authority announced the Social Democratic Party as the winner of the 2031 General Election. Its leader, Jinsho Hashimoto, will be the next Prime Minister. Mr Hashimoto is the grandson of ex-Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto. Born in 1988, he spent time living in the US and China in his formative years as his father worked for the Toyota Motor Corporation. A charismatic and eloquent leader, he is fluent in English, Mandarin, and Russian as well as his native Japanese. Educated at the prestigious Edogawa Senior High School in Tokyo, he graduated from Tokyo University with a major in political science. He spent two years in Beijing University acquiring his MBA while learning mandarin. Mr Hashimoto has pro-China leanings and is in favor of removing American troops from Japan. "It is time this archaic reliance on the Americans for our defence be abandoned. Japan can secure its borders with closer relations with its neighbors, rather than depend on a nation an ocean away," he was quoted as saying in an interview two years ago.
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Paku Point: 30 years ago
April 6, 2050
Pulau Paku is a granitic island 40 km south of Tioman. It wasn't large, 800 m in length and 400 m at its widest point. It's main feature was a 1000 ft high column sprouting from it's southern end with a 20 foot diameter peak called Paku Point. The island has no permanent human habitation.
During the 2020's when China's military strength grew to a point which alarmed the ASEAN nations, the military of Malaysia and Singapore decided on locating several strategic observation stations in the South China Sea. Pulau Paku was chosen as an ideal location for one of the observation posts because of its spot along a busy shipping lane, its deserted status, and Paku Point. The island is so named because it resembled an upside down nail from afar. Paku is Malay for nail.
An ambitious project began in 2029 to carve out a covert bunker within the island capable of housing two observers for an indefinite period of time. The then Colonel Ahmad Sofi with his Singapore counterpart planned the construction of the structure within Paku Point itself. So secretive was its construction that raw material were transported to the island during the night. No contractors were used, only soldiers of the Malaysian and Singaporean Armies provided labour. The island was designated a No-Fly zone and it's beaches were strewn with signs warning off visitors or risk being shot. After five years and twenty singaporean millions, it was completed. Col Sofi boasted it had the most advanced listening and monitoring devices in the world at the time, could house two specially trained officers for a period of 6 months without resupply, was self sustaining with power from the largest thermocouple generator in the world, and batteries to store 20 kWhr. It has no radio for communications and has a hardwired fiber optics connection with the mainland. The entire point of Paku was secrecy.
It was chilly at the peak and the wind was around 50 kph. Nur wrapped his hands around the night vision binoculars scanning the horizon. It was just past midnight and his shift had begun ten minutes ago. He has a mike positioned at his mouth ready to communicate any info that might be relevant to command and control at Kuala Lumpur.
It was a half moon night and he could see the silhouette of Tioman to the north. To the west he could see the mountains of Kota Tinggi. But Mersing itself was beyond the horizon. To the south was Tinggi and it's 2000 ft peak. Except for fishing boats in the water, no ships could be seen.
These were tension filled days. The Sino-Nippon Alliance had given the Western Navies an ultimatum a month ago to withdraw it's Navy out of the South China Sea, China's claimed territorial waters, by April 5th. That deadline passed 30 minutes ago. No consequences were mentioned. Only the words "or else". The US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln had not budged. The task force remained in the South China Sea. Satellite had picked up two Japanese heavy cruisers with their escorts moving towards the east coast of the Malaysian Peninsula a day ago, exactly where he is now. The Singapore and KL HQ were on high alert following the announcement of the ultimatum and now this Japanese naval movement.
He could scan as far as 30 km away and nothing was amiss. It was approaching 1:00 am and it seemed a routine night.
"Gading to Kris Dua, Gading to Kris Dua," the sound crackled in his headphone.
"Kris Dua. Whats up Gading?"
"How's the weather?"
"Calm and peaceful."
"Roger Kris Dua."
He looked with his naked eye to the north-east and something seemed different. He scanned the horizon with his bino and it looked like a hump had appeared 25 km away. It wasn't a ship, but a hump like a whale. However from 25 km that whale must be massive. He zoomed in on the hump. He could make out a conning tower. Then the hump seemed to flatten out into the traditional silhouette of an aircraft carrier.
"Kris Dua to Gading."
"Gading here."
"An aircraft carrier has appeared 25 km north-east of my position."
"Repeat Kris Dua, repeat."
"An aircraft carrier 25 km north-east of my position, over."
"Roger, Kris Dua."
The nearest airbase would be Singapore and pretty soon friendly F-35s would be here. He estimated ETA 15 minutes. Two more humps appeared in his view and transformed into carriers.
"Kris Dua to Gading, two more aircraft carriers have appeared. There are three aircraft carriers 25 km north-east of my position."
"Repeat Kris Dua, repeat."
"There are three aircraft carriers 25 km north-east of my position, over."
"Roger, Kris Dua."
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"Gading to Kris Dua, Nur, General Sofi here."
"General, Kris Dua here."
"What's the status? Over."
"We have three aircraft carriers supported by two JNS Heavy Cruisers. Looks like Shinto Abe class."
"Can you identify the carriers? Over."
"Negative. Haven't seen them before."
"How many jets do you see? Over."
"I counted around 60 Foxes. Over."
"Support on the way Nur. Over."
The unmistakable sound of F-35s screamed in the night air. Tracers filled the night sky as a dogfight seemed to ensue above him. There was an explosion as a jet was hit and the flaming craft left a streak of light as it dived into the sea. The F35s was still in the fight but they seem to be outnumbered. A second jet took a direct hit and exploded in a ball of fire lighting up the night sky for a second. Then the F35s were gone.
Nur zoomed in on the carriers and the heavy cruisers. The Shinto Abe class heavy cruisers have 10-inch guns capable of firing a distance of 100 km. Those guns were within range of Mersing. He has no doubt that's their target. The Foxes would now have a protective air cover over the armada, looking out for enemy jets and missiles. Wonder where the troop carriers are.
Loud explosions filled the night as the heavy cruisers opened up with their 10-inch guns. As the shells streaked through the air at supersonic speed, it created a very loud high pitched sound. At the rate of fire, he estimated maybe the shells were being fired 6 rounds a minute. Hope the defenders are well dug in. Looking at the direction of Mersing he couldn't see how accurate their firing was, but he could see the horizon lighting up as the shells hit land and explode.
Time now was 3:00 am. If there's going to be a landing, the troop carriers should be here by now. Nur scanned the horizon and could not see any troop carriers. Maybe they are behind Tioman.
At 5:00 am, the bombardment stopped, and he saw amphibous landing crafts emerging from behind Tioman. He counted 30. With around 30 troops in each craft, he estimated around 1000 troops in the first wave, and reported the numbers to HQ.
Several F35s sorties have challenged the armada with no success.
RMN and RSN ships should be heading this way but Nur doubted if they could change the balance of power, those 3 aircraft carriers tipped the scale. The last reported position of the Abraham Lincoln placed them a 1000 km away, and that was yesterday, too far to reach them in time.
At 6:00 am, he saw Foxes firing off missiles in the southern direction. Missiles were also fired from the ships in the armada. But there weren't any F35s in the air. Seconds later he realised why. The unmistakable humming sound of the Jassmer air to ship missiles came from behind him. He couldn't see them at night but he thought there might be around thirty of them. As the missiles approach the armada, red and yellow tracers lighted up the night as the anti-aircraft guns opened up from the destroyer escorts, the heavy cruisers, and the aircraft carriers throwing up a blanket of lead in the path of the missiles. Explosions filled the air as the missiles were intercepted and exploded. One slid through and hit a carrier creating a ball of fire. Nur reported the hit to HQ.
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