21st Century Goguryeo

January 21st, 2024, 22:00

The Security Service government building, Shinjuku City, Tokyo, Japan

It was late in the day, and the Minister of the Security Service, Mike Takashi, the Minister of Economy and Industry, Ishihara Shintaro, and three big white men were seated at a round table in the basement of the Security Service government building in Shinjuku City, engaged in a discussion.

It was obvious that what they were discussing wasn't a very good thing, since they were in a secret room and it looked as if they were conspiring on something.

The topic they were discussing was related to the 'Declaration of Independence' that was to happen in 36 hours, in Tokyo.

"How much reinforcement will we be getting from America?" Ishihara Shintaro, Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Industry, asked in a low voice, while looking at the white men with a dark glint in his eye.

One of the three white men, the one with his sideburns stylishly reaching his jaws, replied with a deep voice, "Currently, it's about 700 men. If we were to count the men that are to arrive today, it'll be around 1,000 men."

"What? Only around 1,000 men?" Minister Ishihara Shintaro asked again, with a scowl on his face.

One of the other white men, who was sitting on the left, smirked, and replied, "There hasn't ever been 1,000 men of the special force rounded up at one location since the U.S. was founded. Each one of the men is worth 100 normal men, so you don't have to worry too much about how many men we'll have."

He was smiling, but his tone had some kind of charisma that overwhelmed the other person.

"Ah! Even so, only 1,000 men? The Korean marines that are currently garrisoned in Tokyo have over 5,000 men," Minister Ishihara Shintaro trailed off, timidly.

"You won't have to worry, Minister Ishihara! The special force that will be joining this operation is one of the most powerful forces and the pro of pros." The white man who had first spoken replied in a soft tone, after seeing that the mood had turned heavy.

This was true. As the white man had said, the U.S. special forces that were on standby after secretly infiltrating Tokyo were a famous special force that even people that weren't military experts would have heard of at least once.

The special forces that the U.S. had provided were 320 men from the U.S. Marines' only special force, the Radar Force, 20 teams of the Delta Force, which was the special force of the Army, and another special force of the Army, the Green Berets. In the case of the Green Berets, only the 3rd and the 10th special forces groups were included in the operation. Finally, 30 teams of Navy Seals, the special forces of the U.S. Navy that have frequently been used as movie plots, were expected to arrive that day.

As the white man had said, the U.S. had been in wars in various places in the world, but there had never been close to 1,000 men of the special force gathered in one location. This was something that would go down in the history of the U.S.

"Ah, is that so? Haha, I was impatient because I thought this operation might fail. I apologize." Minister Ishihara apologized, scratching his head after hearing names like Delta Force and Navy Seal that he'd heard a few times before in movies.

The Japanese cabinet and the U.S. had painted a big picture, putting the 'Declaration of Independence' at the forefront. As part of that plan, special force soldiers have been going into Japan through the Narita International Airport, disguised as normal people, since last week.

Of course, the personal firearms, as well as the personal equipment and various bombs needed for battle, passed through the immigration checkpoint without any restraint. This was because the Japanese cabinet had already exerted influence on the immigration office. This was indeed something that couldn't ever be done without government intervention.

With both countries turning a blind eye to the illegal methods of smuggling various firearms for war, the U.S. special forces had finished deploying in various locations in Tokyo after arriving there. They were now preparing for cooperation with the security service in the future.

"Besides that, how are the movements of the Korean Marine force that is garrisoned in Tokyo?" This time, the white man on the right asked a question.

At this, Minister Mike Takashi replied, "We're keeping watch every 24 hours, but their movements aren't too different from four days ago. The Korean Marines are strangely quiet."

Four days ago, Minister Mike Takashi had already sent to the command line of the U.S. special forces all of the deployment statuses of the Korean Marines garrisoned in the Honshu area.

"I see. How are the preparations for the security service going?"

"You won't have to worry about that part. As you've requested, 20,000 men from the South and North Honshu security services will join the Tokyo security service by tomorrow night. The total will be 42,000 men."

"I see. Please take care of the planned transfer until tomorrow night."

"Yes, sure thing."

* * *

January 22nd, 2024, 00:30 (Local time: 01:30)

At sea (combat command center of the Gerald R. Ford [CVN-78]), 480 kilometers from the east end of Katsuura, Chiba prefecture, Japan.

Even though it was so cloudy that there wasn't any starlight seen in the sky, the U.S. Navy was in the middle of the '2024 Pacific United Training.' However, the combat command center of the Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) was thinking about something completely different from the currently ongoing training.

They were thinking about the power of the Korean Navy in the East Sea.

As soon as the Pacific Fleet's 3rd and 7th fleet began sailing to the East Sea, the U.S. mobilized all of the reconnaissance power that they had to figure out how powerful the Republic of Korea's Navy was. Among other things, they discovered destroyers and frigates from the 2nd fleet sailing toward the East Sea, as well as other useful information.

But it was impossible to track it in real-time because of the sporadic electromagnetic waves jamming the detection. So it was just a back and forth of detection and losing track.

In the skies of the East Sea, four of the latest models of the Atlas reconnaissance satellites were observing every inch of the empty Pacific Ocean without resting.

"Still not detected yet?" Sitting on a stylish chair made of red leather, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Rubin Scott asked with an unsatisfied expression. He had attended the maritime operations meeting related to the 'Declaration of Independence' held at the Pentagon for a few days.

There were a few conditions that had to be met for the operation of landing six marine divisions at the coast of Chiba, the expected landing location, to be successful.

Even if various pieces of equipment had advanced in technology, landing six marine divisions at the same time was not an easy task. They had to identify what the dangers were ahead of time and also create a plan to get rid of all of those dangers for the operation to succeed before they went through with the operation. To do that, it was of the utmost importance to know how powerful the Republic of Korea's Navy was.

"Yes, they're currently searching inside out at the expected location, but there hasn't been any report of detection. But we found the general location of a few warships three hours ago," replied Jimmy Lopez, the Pacific Fleet's Command Line Operations Officer, pointing to the large screen. The large screen at the front was showing, with red dots, where the destroyer of the 2nd fleet was when they detected it three hours ago with the reconnaissance forces.

"If it was three hours ago, they must have moved dozens of kilometers. This is insufficient information!" Admiral Rubin Scott made a face, stroking his beard.

Operator Nick Rimando of the 3rd fleet, who had been standing in the back, stepped forward and presented his opinion. "Commander! What do you think about sending out a maritime reconnaissance aircraft?"

Admiral Rubin Scott glanced at Operator Nick Rimando, then shook his head. "If our maritime reconnaissance aircraft flies toward the East Sea, won't the Korean Navy or Air Force take notice of it instantly? It's not good to do things that might cause them to notice that we're up to something!"

"Yes, you're right. Since four of the Atlas reconnaissance satellites that were able to detect Korea's 6th generation stealth fighter jets have been mobilized, it might be better to wait a bit longer."

At Operations Officer Jimmy Lopez's additional suggestion, Admiral Rubin Scott nodded in agreement.

"Okay, we'll wait and see. Since it's getting late, finish up the night training and order everyone to switch to a watch system."

"Yes, sir."

Admiral Rubin Scott gave a short order and left the combat command center.

Seven hours later, when the sun was inching up from the eastern horizon, one of the Atlas reconnaissance satellites reported that it had detected warships, assumed to be part of the Korean Navy, 130 kilometers from the east end of Katsuura, Chiba. Along with the report, it immediately projected the data that it had detected on the screen of the combat command center.

Except for those on watch duty, the empty combat command center was filled up quickly with commanders and staff, including Admiral Rubin Scott.

"Really? Is that all?"

The scale of the Korean Naval force, projected on the screen, looked smaller than expected. There were only 12 ships, and of those, two were multipurpose amphibious assault ships and seven were frigates. Thus, the ships that were thought to be destroyers were only three ships out of the 12.

"This information is from the four additional Atlas reconnaissance satellites that were mobilized to help detection of the enemy fleet. It seems like that's the entirety of the Korean Naval force here in the East Sea."

A hundred percent trustful of the performance of the Atlas reconnaissance satellites, Operations Officer, Jimmy Lopez answered in a convincing tone, "Mm, that means Korea isn't doubtful at all about the Pacific Fleet's training..."

"It could be thought that way, but I also think that it could be because they don't want to create friction with us by overreacting to a normal training session."

At Operations Officer Jimmy Lopez's additional statement, Admiral Rubin Scott, who had been a bit doubtful, nodded and agreed, "Good! If it's just that many ships, we can probably destroy them in one go. Present the detailed information about the confirmed Korean Naval warships."

"Yes, sir."

As soon as Admiral Rubin Scott gave the order, the Battle Information officer, who was the head of the combat command center, relayed the orders to the operators operating the equipment in front.

Soon after, the screen was filled with various details about the 12 warships.

First, the three destroyers were KD-3 the Yulgok Yi I (DDG-992), KD-2 the Dae Jo-yeong (DDH-977) and the Wang Geon (DDH-978), with each ship's details shown. Second, the seven ships classified as frigates were the Daegu-class frigates, the Daegu (FF-818), the Seoul (FF-823), the Busan (FF-827), and the Kim Joon-class frigates, the Gowoochoong (FF-832), the Seong Chung (FF-835), the Jisoo-shin (FF-837), and the Gang Su (FF-839). Lastly, the Ganghwado-class multipurpose amphibious assault ship, the Geojedo (LHD-5112) and the Jindo (LHD-5114), which were as good as medium-sized aircraft carriers, were shown in order.

"Admiral! Mm, if there were that many ships, the Korean force could probably be destroyed only with the eight destroyers currently designated as the blue team." Operations Officer Jimmy Lopez concluded after reading all of the various details in order.

"Mm, that's true. What do you think, Admiral Rimando?" Admiral Rubin Scott asked the 3rd fleet's commander, Admiral Nick Rimando, who had been sitting in his seat silently.

"I'm suspicious because the information we'd gotten beforehand doesn't match up with this."

Looking at the screen carefully, Admiral Nick Rimando tilted his head, furrowing his brow. He seemed to feel that something was off.

"This does seem suspicious to me, as well. But as Operations Officer Jimmy Lopez has said, the reason why they mobilized such a small force might be because they didn't want to create friction with us by overreacting to a normal training session."

"Admiral! That's just what we think. I think it would be good to watch for a bit longer."

Admiral Nick Rimando continued his suspicions.

"That's true, but there's only an hour left until the landing operation. For now, we should establish a response plan with those forces in mind. Gather all of the warship captains in the operation meeting room in two hours."