French Tradition

In the Western Pacific, the Charles de Gaulle, with a full-load displacement of over 40,000 tons, approached the 815A alone. As Europe's last remaining face, France was far stronger than Britain.

Britain's shoddy Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers had ships but no aircraft, relying entirely on a handful of helicopters to keep up appearances. Anyone unaware of the situation might have mistaken them for amphibious assault ships. Even as amphibious assault ships, their displacement could not compare to Great East's newly launched Type 076.

The Type 076 had an electromagnetic catapult. The Queen Elizabeth-class carriers did not even have steam catapults, and the F35s they had ordered from the USA still had not arrived. They could only let American carrier-based aircraft land on their own carriers to save face.

Letting foreign aircraft come and go from their own carrier—what kind of propriety was that?

"Has the request been sent?" the captain of the Charles de Gaulle asked, turning toward an officer.

"Sir! It has been sent," the communications officer reported loudly.

Now, they could only wait for Great East's response.

The captain of the Charles de Gaulle let out a long sigh. To demonstrate their sincerity, the Gallic Rooster had already begun softening its tone.

The colossal ship beneath him was France's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the world's only non-American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, France's only active carrier, and the flagship of the French Navy.

No matter what, even if he were dismissed as captain for inappropriate remarks, he could not allow the Charles de Gaulle to be sunk here!

Fortunately, its reactor was derived from a nuclear submarine's, and its combat speed was not particularly high. It had not charged headlong into the hornet's nest and been surrounded by unknown enemies. Sometimes, being slow was not necessarily a bad thing. They had seen with their own eyes how their "boss" had been brutally beaten.

The USA could not even protect itself, and they were supposed to expect it to protect them? The only one who could protect them now was Great East.

On the carrier's flight deck, four Sea Rafales loaded with ordnance were preparing for takeoff, replacing the carrier-based aircraft overhead whose fuel had fallen below half. White steam from the steam catapults filled the flight deck. With an Agence France-Presse filter, it might even have looked like a French version of Top Gun.

The Charles de Gaulle could accommodate more than forty aircraft at most. Its standard complement included twenty-four French Rafale M fighters, which could be increased to over thirty when necessary—enough for rotations.

The three AWACS aircraft in the hangar had not yet taken off. After all, they had previously shared data from the USA's E-2 AWACS aircraft, so the Charles de Gaulle had naturally had no need to launch its own.

However, the Charles de Gaulle could sortie a maximum of seventy-five aircraft per day on average. That force level was roughly the absolute minimum for a carrier capable of both offense and defense, yet this time it had been pushed to its limits.

"Captain, the electromagnetic interference intensity is decreasing."

Hearing his subordinate's report, the captain of the Charles de Gaulle breathed a sigh of relief. The ARABEL phased array radar had been suppressed by electromagnetic interference. Its SAAM/F air-defense system, composed of vertically launched Aster-15 short-range air-defense missiles, and its two six-cell Sadral short-range air-defense missile launchers had effectively been blinded.

Their only remaining reliance was eight Giat 20F2 20mm cannons. But after seeing the Americans, equipped with Phalanx systems, being pinned to the ground and battered by unidentified aircraft, he had begun to doubt those cannons, with their maximum range of roughly eight kilometers and maximum firing rate of 720 rounds per minute.

No matter what, those strange aircraft were currently tied down by the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group. They needed to get as far away as they could.

"Are we certain the signals from those three aircraft have disappeared?" the captain still asked uncertainly.

"Yes. They disappeared near the 815A."

The so-called signals were sources of electromagnetic interference. Those unidentified aircraft continuously emitted interference in all directions, and once that interference disappeared, it meant they had either been shot down or had left.

"They should have been shot down," the captain said after considering it, voicing his conclusion.

It was unclear whether the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group had shot any down, but the ones here had definitely been downed. Since unidentified aircraft had been shot down, their wreckage would certainly have been recovered.

Trying to seize the wreckage by force would be courting death. If Great East got serious, the Charles de Gaulle would be eating Dongfeng missiles. They had come merely to make their presence known and put some pressure on the USA. After all, Great East and France were separated by such a vast distance; geopolitically, they had no irreconcilable conflicts.

Did Great East not have an old saying? Sending charcoal in the snow. Although they had "not had time" to offer assistance when the 815A was attacked, that did not mean they could not do so now.

After maintaining a polite yet dignified distance from the 815A, the Charles de Gaulle slowed somewhat. Sea Rafales launched by steam catapult to replace carrier-based aircraft running low on fuel in the air, while proactively helping the 815A establish an early-warning perimeter in the direction of the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group.

Some things were better left unspoken. Who said foreigners only knew how to conduct business by the book and lacked social finesse?

Naturally, the Charles de Gaulle's deployment could not escape the eyes of the WZ7 and satellites. Its every move was transmitted through laser communications to the Combat Command Center.

The commander directing the battle looked at the Charles de Gaulle's actions and found them difficult to process. First, it had ignored the NATO Mutual Defense Treaty and immediately turned around to flee. Under the agreement, France had considerable autonomy within NATO and did not have to advance or retreat alongside the alliance.

Selling out the USA and turning around to run was truly carrying on its WWII tradition.

Great East naturally saw the goodwill shown by the Charles de Gaulle, but such matters were not for them to decide. Their mission was to command the battle, not to act as Great East's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The intelligence was reported upward layer by layer. After discussion at a high-level meeting, the response returned to the Command Headquarters: agreement in principle, but the Charles de Gaulle had to obey the Liaoning's command.

The Charles de Gaulle had no choice. Throughout the Western Pacific, Great East was closest to it, and Great East was also the one capable of protecting it. As for Japan and South Korea, the French did not even spare them a glance.

Protecting the Charles de Gaulle was also based on several considerations.

First, the Sky Pit was a phenomenon humanity had never before discovered or documented. It contained far too many unknowns, and the unknown represented danger.

Second, the USA's Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group had already been crippled. Although nuclear-powered aircraft carriers had impressive high-speed endurance, maintenance was also a problem. Nuclear reactors were not easy to handle, and maintaining them was far more difficult than maintaining conventionally powered carriers.

Most American carriers had been built in the last century. Considering the many problems caused by aging carrier equipment, fewer than 20% of the USA's carrier strike groups could be deployed. After the Carl Vinson was crippled, at most two or three carrier strike groups would remain available for deployment.

It was still unclear how the Sky Pit would develop, but it was inevitable that the entire Pacific Rim would face an enormous military threat. One more aircraft carrier meant one more source of combat power for humanity. The navy was, after all, a technical branch.

Finally, they could give France some face and prepare for future cooperation.