Mike Maden - Drone Command

SANJI HARA — Vice Admiral, JMSDF

DR. NITOBE IKEDA — Director, NEDO

HIROSHI ITO — Prime Minister of Japan

KOBAYASHI— Yakuza boss

HIROSHI ONIZUKA— Captain of the submarine Sword Dragon

OSHIRO— Yakuza underboss

KATSU TANAKA— Parliamentary Senior Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, LDP member of the House of Representatives (Nagasaki Prefecture)

GENERAL CHEN ZULIN— Vice Chairman, Central Military Commission

ADMIRAL DENG ZILONG— Fleet Commander, PLAN South Sea Fleet

FENG YONGBO— Vice Chairman, Central Military Commission

FENG JIANLI— Son of Feng Yongbo

ADMIRAL JI DONGSHENG— Fleet Commander, PLAN East Sea Fleet

HUANG YONG— Minister of State Security

PANG BO— Ambassador to Japan

SUN QUAN— General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, President of the People’s Republic of China, Chairman of the Central Military Commission

DR. WENG LITONG— Head, GAD Expert Working Group (robotic weapon systems)

DR. T. J. ASHLEY— Pearce Systems associate

HENRY DAVIS— Ambassador to Japan

DR. WILLIAM (WILL) ELLIOTT— National Security Research Fellow, the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. Ex-CIA, friend of Troy’s dad

JIM GARZA— National Security Advisor

STELLA KANG— Pearce Systems associate

DAVID LANE— President of the United States

IAN MCTAVISH— Pearce Systems associate

MARGARET MYERS— Former President of the United States

GENERAL GORDON ONSTOT— Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff

TROY PEARCE— CEO, Pearce Systems

MIKE PIA— Director of National Intelligence

BREN SHAFER— Secretary of Defense

GABY WHEELER— Secretary of State

DR. KENJI YAMADA— University of Hawaii faculty, Pearce Systems associate

AUGUST MANN— Pearce Systems director of nuclear facility deconstruction (Germany)

DR. LINH PHAM— VAST drone researcher (Vietnam)

TAMAR STERN— Former Pearce Systems security associate, Mossad agent (Israel)

4GW— Fourth-generation Warfare

A2AD— Anti-Access/Area Denial

AAV— Autonomous Aerial Vehicle

ACTUV— Antisubmarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel

ADPS— Automated Dynamic Positioning System

ASAT— Antisatellite

ASV— Autonomous Surface Vehicle

ASW— Antisubmarine Warfare

AUV— Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

AWACS— Airborne Warning and Control System

CAP— Combat Air Patrol

CIC— Combat Information Center

CMC— Central Military Commission

DARPA— Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

DNI— Director of National Intelligence

EMP— Electromagnetic Pulse

FIC— First Island Chain

GAD— General Armament Department (A PRC/PLA version of DARPA)

GWOT— Global War on Terrorism

HGV— Hypersonic Glide Vehicle

HPM— High-powered Microwave

HUMINT— Human Intelligence (spies)

ICBM— Intercontinental Ballistic Missile

JPALS— Joint Precision Approach and Landing System

LDP— Liberal Democratic Party of Japan

LRAD— Long-range Acoustic Device

MAD— Mutual Assured Destruction

MIRV— Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicle

MOD— Minister of Defense (Japan)

MSS— Ministry of State Security (PRC)

NEDO— New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization

NKP— New Komeito Party (Japan)

SAC— Second Artillery Corps (PRC)

SLBM— Sub-Launched Ballistic Missile

STEM— Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math

TAD— Threat Assessment Display

TEPCO— Tokyo Electric Power Company

TNF— Technical Nuclear Forensics

TTO— Tactical Technology Office (DARPA, USA)

UCAV— Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle

UCLASS— Unmanned Carrier-launched Surveillance and Strike Vehicle

UFP— Upward Falling Payload

USV— Unmanned Surface Vehicle

UUV— Unmanned Underwater Vehicle

VAST— Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology

VPA— Vietnam People’s Army

VTC— Video Teleconference

While many of the drone and related systems described in this novel are currently deployed, others are based on patent filings, prototypes, and research proposals. In some cases I modified or simplified their performance characteristics for the sake of the story. However, I’m confident that some variants of what I’ve imagined could soon be a reality.

The bloodred flag with the five golden stars snapped in the crisp morning breeze. The national flag of the People’s Republic of China was one of three held high by the naval honor guard, along with the flags of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and the East Sea Fleet commander, Admiral Ji Dongsheng.

Two hundred Chinese PLAN officers and sailors stood at rigid attention on the fantail of the seventy-five-hundred-ton guided-missile destroyer Kunming, its ASW helicopter stowed away in the hangar for the occasion. The ship’s skilled helmsman fought to stay in place as the vessel rose and fell in the long swells.

Admiral Ji’s commanding voice cut through the buffeting wind. The handpicked crew stood proudly before him at rigid attention in their starched white uniforms and broad Soviet-style caps. The admiral’s thick neck, powerful jaw, and broad nose had earned him the nickname Bulldog behind his muscular back. A shrouded object stood just behind him.

“A thousand years ago our ancestors crossed the oceans of the world. We are not becoming a new navy, as the Westerners believe; we are the world’s oldest and greatest navy, reclaiming our lost heritage, reclaiming our lost territories, reclaiming the vast resources of our waters from the thieving hands that stole it. We are the guardians of the blue soil of our homeland and will defend it with our blood and our honor.