The engineer sitting behind the console that dominated the room was Rentaro Fujii. He had been with the defense forces for more than twenty-five years and was largely responsible for designing their autonomous torpedo technology and the air-to-air system that had been so successfully tested the day before. Leaning over his shoulder was the hunched and increasingly deformed figure of Dr. Hideki Ito.

“Is everything ready?” Takahashi said, breaking the silence.

The two scientists spun and Fujii leaped to his feet in order to deliver a respectful bow. “All systems are online and showing green, General.”

Takahashi nodded and turned to his guard. “I’ll be fine. Please wait outside.”

His reluctant expression was expected but, as always, he followed his orders without question. Takahashi trusted the man with his life, but knowledge of what was about to happen in that room could never be revealed and had to be limited to a few critical people. Ito’s condition made him easy to control and, unknown to him, his doctors were confident that he wouldn’t live another year. The man returning to his position in front of the console was nearing the end of his usefulness and would be watched obsessively until it was practical to implement a more permanent solution. Takahashi even considered himself a potential threat. In a few years, age would catch up to him as it did all men. He couldn’t afford to let his mind weaken. At the first signs that it was happening, he would take his own life.

“The Chinese submarine is still within range of our battleship,” Ito said. “We have a torpedo resting on the seafloor less than six hundred meters from it.”

“The Song carries Yu-4 torpedoes,” Takahashi said. “Will this be convincing?”

“As we’ve discussed, our technology is significantly different, sir.”

It was a wild understatement. Their system was based on the Soviet VA-111 Shkval—a rocket-propelled torpedo. Gas released from the nose cone allowed the weapon to fly inside a bubble and achieve speeds in excess of two hundred knots. The Soviet version was still available on the international arms market but had never fully made the jump from theoretical to practical. Maneuverability was extremely poor, range was limited to about twelve kilometers, and the archaic guidance system could neither compensate for the sea’s unpredictable currents nor distinguish the enemy from natural geological features.

Fujii and his people had overcome all those problems and more. Range was now 90 kilometers at over 350 knots, pinpoint maneuverability had been achieved using subtle distortions of the bubble’s shape, and targeting was handled by a purpose-built computer connected to a state-of-the-art sensor array. It couldn’t just differentiate a submarine from an underwater volcano, it could differentiate the USS Ronald Reagan from the Stennis.

“You’re still confident that we can mimic the Chinese torpedo?”