"The apocalypse is a crisis, but even more than that, an opportunity!"
On the video call, Mars's face twisted with excitement, his voice powerfully inciting.
"The old order is collapsing. The people of Great Xia have poured all their resources into the Underground City in the Arctic. They're nothing but an empty shell now!"
"This is our best opportunity!"
"Once we get their technology, Eagle Country will be free of its energy crisis for good!"
"We'll have limitless electricity and build the most powerful weapons!"
"Eagle Country will be great again!"
"Eagle Country will be great again!" Jackson repeated fervently.
The call ended, and the screen went black.
Mike turned to face his subordinates, who were holding their breath on the bridge.
He picked up the internal communications microphone, and his commanding voice carried throughout the fleet.
"All units, attention. This is the flagship Freedom."
"Operation Iron Pincer is officially underway!"
"Our destination: Great Xia's Antarctic waters!"
"Hooooonk!"
A long, low blast of the horn tore through Antarctica's deathly silence.
The flagship Freedom began to move.
Its bow crushed the floating ice, plowing a broad wake through the pale world.
Close behind, the Roosevelt, Nimitz, Queen Elizabeth, Dai Gao, and the others got underway together.
Six full-sized aircraft carriers sailed out of the harbor with suffocating menace.
Around them, more than fifty destroyers and cruisers formed an impenetrable escort ring.
Countless shipboard phased-array radars rotated slowly, scanning every inch of sky and sea.
Deep underwater, a wolf pack of fifteen nuclear-powered attack submarines slipped silently along-the fleet's deadliest fangs.
Six aircraft carriers.
Three hundred and fifty new carrier-based aircraft.
More than sixty major warships and fifteen nuclear submarines.
The finest naval forces of eight nations converged into a torrent of steel that blanketed the sea.
Sunlight struck the missile launchers,