:30, 24th of November, 2023

  International waters, East Sea, 43° 1′ 17.06″ north, 139° 23′ 53.69″ east (the location of the 7th Maritime Task Flotilla)

  Target one! Crashlanding at 155 km northeast of the sea.

  Target two! Crashlanding at 180km north of the sea.

  Target three! Crashlanding at 121km northwest of the sea.

  Target four! Crashlanding at 143km west of the sea.

  Target five! Crashlanding at 189km west of the sea.

  Target six! Crashlanding at 123 kilometers southwest of the sea.

  The operator, who was tracking each given target, rushed to report.

  “Turns out it’s not a missile in the DB identification of friend or foe (IFF).”


  “What the hell? What about that missile? It’s not even a few kilometers’ error, each one of these hit points has over 100km error, right?” the operator mumbled with a look on his face that mirrored his bewilderment.

  And then the other operator next to him replied playfully, “What do you mean? At least he tried to shoot it once before he died. Whether it’s right or not. Hahaha.”


  “Well, is that so? It makes sense. Haha.”


  The operators all over the battle command room joked and laughed sarcastically because of the maritime patrol aircraft (MPA)’s missile that had fallen out of the hitting error range by an absurd degree.

  At this time, tactical control officer Kim Hyuk-min rebuked the operators, “You’re not quiet even when the admiral is here? We are in the middle of a battle. Stay focused until the end!”


  The tactical control officer, who warned the operators lightly, went to Admiral Ahn Hyeong-gyun and spoke apologetically, “We’re sorry, Admiral. When the battle is over, we’ll train hard.”


  “Oh, no. It can happen. Anyway, aren’t you suspicious of these missiles?” The unidentified missile kept bothering the admiral’s mind.

  “What? The missiles that just fell?”


  “Yeah, it’s a little suspicious to just easily fail like this.”


  “Well, I’ve got a bad feeling, too, but I’m not really sure……,” Kim Hyuk-min, the tactical control officer who had nothing to say, evaded speaking.

  Admiral Ahn Hyeong-gyun approached the identification of friend or foe (IFF)’s analyst and asked, “We can’t identify the missile yet?”


  “Oh, that’s…… I kept trying to search, but I couldn’t find it.”


  The identification of friend or foe (IFF)’s analyst tapped on the keyboard and controlled the console, but couldn’t find any information about the missile.

  “We’ve checked it three times, but it looks like it’s not in the DB identification of friend or foe (IFF).”


  “What does that mean? When was the DB updated?” tactical control officer Kim Hyuk-min also approached and asked additional questions.

  “It was updated before sailing from Jeju Island, nearly a month ago.”


  “If it’s a month, is it the latest version?”


  “Yes, that’s right. It is the latest version.”


  “Well, there’s a Russian missile that we don’t know about. I want you to send the missile information you’ve detected to the marine officers immediately!

  “Yes, sir.”


  Admiral Ahn Hyeong-gyun, who was constantly concerned about the unidentified missiles that were not even in the DB identification of friend or foe (IFF), wanted to make sure that the detected missile information was found.

  Meanwhile, the KHL-100 mobile radar missile, which had fallen into the sea near the 7th Maritime Task Flotilla, opened its parachute and was slowly sucked into the sea as it separated its warhead from its body just before colliding with the surface.

  And not long after that, four buoyant bags were spread out on the side of the long warhead that had sunk into the water, and it slowly rose to the surface.

  Whoosh!

  In the center of the upper part of the warhead, which appeared above the surface, a small loop opened with a mechanical sound, and then a long square-shaped radar popped out and rose to about 10 meters.

  All sides of the square were full of numerous devices (radar modules).

  Each device was independently transmitting beams unequally, and ultra-small active electron scanning phase array radar (AESAR: Active Electronically Scanned Array Radar), which was worth $100 million per unit, received independently reflected signals and had begun to operate in the sea around the 7th Maritime Task Flotilla.

  As soon as the Ion Glum, which detects everything at sea and above the sea up to 200 kilometers in the surrounding area, had detected the Hocula destroyer, the detection information was immediately data-linked to the Far East fleet, which consisted of the MiG-31BM fighter Bomber, the Tu-22M Tupolev Strategic Bomber, and waiting on the coast of the Maritime Province, the great artillery K-300P Bastion.

  :33, 24th of November, 2023

  International waters, East Sea, 43° 20′ 20.37″ north, 136° 19′ 47.79″ east (the location of the Far East Fleet)

  The atmosphere at the navigating platform was a bit relaxed thanks to the reports that six naval IL-39 Sarakov maritime patrol aircraft which would be the eye of the Far East Fleet, had been shot down by ship-to-air missiles of the 7th Maritime Task Flotilla.

  Even before sailing, Admiral Valerie Karpin, who had been having ominous thoughts about the mission, looked at the visible horizon beyond the bridge window, thinking that his ominous thoughts had come to reality.

  As the commander of the Far East Fleet, he felt uncomfortable because he had pushed his men into hell’s furnace.

  “Captain Izmailov, I’m sorry. You have met a stupid commander.”


  “What do you mean? I’ll be proud to lose my life for my motherland, Russia.”


  Understanding Admiral Valerie Karpin’s feelings to some extent, Captain Marat Izmailov blurted out some consoling words that he didn’t even believe to ease the admiral’s burden.

  “It gives me a little comfort to think this way. Let’s have vodka together in hell.”


  “Hahaha, there is vodka in hell?”


  In the meantime, and while joking around, they were waiting for the third ship-to-air missiles attack by the 7th Maritime Task Flotilla. At that time, the news of the knight’s sacrifice came from the Combat Intelligence Control Room.

  “Commander! All destroyers of by the 7th Maritime Task Flotilla have now been detected.”


  Captain Marat Izmailov approached the telecommunication console and confirmed it again, “Really? Were they detected?”


  “Yes, all six Ion Glum’s IL-39 Sarakov maritime patrol aircraft that were launched before were shot down safely into the sea around the 7th Maritime Task Flotilla, and the radar worked just fine.”


  “The Ion Glum?”


  “It’s an ultra-small phased array radar system.”


  Admiral Valerie Karpin nodded slightly as Captain Marat Izmailov tilted his head.

  “The General Staff Department mobilized a very expensive weapon for the Far East fleet.”


  “Oh! Admiral, you know about the Ion Glum?”


  “I’ve only heard of it too, as it’s probably first-class confidentiality. I understand that only tactical commanders know about it.”


  “Oh! I see. Then we have to fight back.”


  “Yes! We can’t let them get away with it! Operators!”


  “Yes, Admiral!”


  “All the anti-ship missiles are available to the entire fleet! Why don’t we make them pay for what they’ve done with extra interest?”


  “Yes, sir. We will end it with a single attack.”


  :34, 24th of November, 2023

  International waters, East Sea, 43° 1′ 17.06″ north, 139° 23′ 53.69″ east (the location of the 7th Maritime Task Flotilla)

  Once he had dismissed his suspicions about the unidentified missile, Admiral Ahn Hyeong-gyun walked to the top of the battle command room to attack the Far East fleet again and kept his eyes on the screen.

  A red triangle that marked the suspiciousness of the surviving Far East fleet was still sailing toward Hokkaido.

  “Tactical control officers! Fire four Haeseong A anti-ship missiles per target! Exclude the landing ship from the targets!”


  “Yes, we’re going to fire four Haeseong A anti-ship missiles per target, but we will exclude the landing ship. Targeting 2 goals on this ship! The remaining targets are allocated and targeted by each box.”


  At the order of Admiral Ahn Hyeong-gyun, tactical control officer Kim Hyuk-min gave orders for the allocation of targets to the remaining Hocula destroyers.

  Rat-a-tat-tat! Rat-a-tat-tat!

  As soon as the detailed orders from tactical control officer Kim Hyuk-Min were issued, the hands of the arms operator and the communication officers became busy.

  At this time, the senior investigator took off his headphones and shouted, “Argh! Many air-to-ship missiles have emerged against our fleet! 1,100 kilometers from the northwest direction and two points north. Many missiles have been detected! 19 missiles! Oh, there are more.”


  As soon as the six Ion Glums data-linked the information of the detected the Hocula destroyer in the 7th Maritime Task Flotilla, all hypersonic anti-ship missiles, KH-47M2 Kinzhal air-to-ship missiles, were poured out; the 12 MiG-31BM warplanes from Zhelesnogorsk Air Base, were fired from furthest distance, and also the Tu-22M Tupolev Strategic Bomber Squadrons from Krasnoyarsk airbase were fired too.

  On the center screen of the battle command room, several red lines moving at great speeds and in different directions were shown moving toward the 7th Maritime Task Flotilla.

  “A total of 40 aircraft! They’re very fast. I assume they’re at the speed of Mach 10! 312 seconds until they arrive at the front!”


  Unlike a while ago when the operators were making a fuss, they moved around the battle command room calmly.

  “We’re going to do missile identification of friend or foe.”


  As the identification of friend or foe analyst quickly tapped the keyboard, the results of the analysis came out on the monitor.

  “It’s confirmed, these are KH-47M2 Kinzhal air-to-ship missiles with nuclear-launched engines. The range is 2,000 km and the speed is around Mach 10!”


  “It is a hypersonic anti-ship missile equipped with a nuclear-launched engine…… Russia too has a lot of advanced military technology.”


  Admiral Ahn Hyeong-gyun had his hands clasped behind his back while observing the situation, when tactical control officer Kim Hyuk-min directly approached the former investigator’s console and asked while looking at the monitor directly, “Was our flotilla detected?”


  “Yes, it is flying exactly towards our flotilla destroyer. I’m sure it was targeted.”


  “I can’t believe it was just suddenly detected…… Damn it!”


  Due to powerful SECM (wave disturbance system) and excellent stealth performance, the dominance of the 7th Maritime Task Flotilla, which had not been detected, had ended.

  “We won’t be able to always fight in an advantageous position! Anyway, there is enough time for intercepting.”


  Admiral Ahn Hyeong-gyun peeked at his watch, turned his eyes to the central screen, and ordered an attack on the Far East fleet.

  “First, we launch anti-ship missiles at the Far East Fleet and then intercept the air-to-ship missiles. Launch anti-ship missiles from the ready destroyers!”


  As soon as Admiral Ahn Hyeong-gyun’s last firing order was issued, fiery flames and smoke rose from the functional 48-cell K-VLS2 of the six Hocula destroyers and the Haeseong A anti-ship missile burst.

  When a total of 28 Haeseong A anti-ship missiles escaped the K-VLS2 (vertical launcher) and reached the altitude handover limit, the Far East Fleet also fired 150 anti-ship missiles toward the 7th Maritime Task Flotilla.

  “The Far East has also fired anti-ship missiles at the fleet. According to missile analysis, there are 24 P-800 Onyx supersonic anti-ship missiles! 66 P-700 Granite supersonic anti-ship missiles! And 60 KH-35 Uran subsonic anti-ship missiles!”


  The Far East Fleet, which blew away more than $1 billion in supersonic and hypersonic anti-ship missiles in the first attack, fired anti-ship missiles that were equivalent to the first attack as if it did not want to miss the opportunity that came at the expense of a knight. It seemed to have fired all the anti-ship missiles that could be fired at the same time.

  Admiral Ahn Hyeong-gyun, who was frowning when he fired anti-ship missiles at the Far East Fleet, ordered tactical control officer Kim Hyuk-min, “There are too many missiles to intercept! Activate the Hocula’s automatic interception system!”


  “Yes, we’re running the Hocula Automatic Interception System.”


  Six Hocula destroyers converted to automatic interception systems after the restatement of tactical control officer Kim Hyuk-min. Six Hocula artificial intelligence computers calculated an optimum guaranteed target interception while communicating with each other.

  With nearly 200 anti-ship missiles from both countries flying low in the sky and above sea level, ship-to-air missiles aiming to intercept the anti-ship missiles flew off, each drawing a white line of smoke heading toward its target.

  It was the middle of a horrible battlefield, but if you were looking at it from a third-person perspective, your jaw would’ve dropped and you would’ve thought that it was a wonderful sight.