Chapter 597 - 585 Precautions for the Future

"How is the condition of the March, does it need any orbital adjustments?"

"No need, they just released a robot outside to conduct a random inspection, and there are no issues found, neither internally nor externally. It’s nowhere near the limits."

The superior nodded, but was still somewhat uneasy,

"You must have an emergency plan ready. That’s 38 lives on board, and we can’t afford any mishaps with the March."

"Yes, sir!"

Zhong Cheng reflexively snapped his legs together and saluted, then suddenly realized he had already retired from active duty.

He was the one chosen to replace the heads of the Space Agency and the Aerospace Development Committee, with a career that was vastly different from his predecessors.

Zhong Cheng had graduated from Capital University with a degree in fluid dynamics, but after completing his postgraduate studies, he chose to join the military. With over twenty years of work experience, he possessed both solid technical skills and considerable management capability.

As such a capable person, in the prime of his career at just over fifty years old, the Space Force was naturally very reluctant to transfer him to the Space Agency. It took the superiors quite an effort to calm them down.

His expertise in fluid dynamics, combined with extensive exposure to nuclear equipment and rockets, meant he was seen by his superiors as highly adaptable to the new changes in aerospace.

Besides that, Zhong Cheng also had the important mission of exploring the organization of the Space Force and understanding the nature of space warfare and its command structure.

Russia and America had both chosen to upgrade their air forces to the Space Force, but China had not made a decision after careful study.

Firstly, the need for the Space Force was not so urgent. The whole world was unclear about what the Space Force was supposed to do, so there was no need to follow the trend for the sake of being fashionable;

The domestic view was that Earth’s orbit should be the boundary, with everything within Earth’s orbit falling under the jurisdiction of the air force and true space, beyond Earth’s orbit, being the domain of the Space Force.

Therefore, one of the fundamental criteria for the Space Force was surpassing the second cosmic speed. As for whom and how to fight in the desolate cosmos, that was still unknown domestically, so it was left to the Space Agency to forge the path.

Although the March’s exercise was rushed, Zhong Cheng didn’t simply replicate methods from Earth. Instead, he made extensive adjustments based on expert advice and work experience, which pleased the Standing Committee greatly.

Of course, the most important thing was that the March itself experienced no incidents. This super-massive spacecraft, while propelling China’s space program to an undisputed world leader, also brought a huge financial burden.

Over a hundred billion in construction budgets aside, the costs of maintenance are terrifying. Just think about the needs of supplying a space station with an operational mass exceeding 2000 tons. The annual budget could easily reach tens of billions.

During the encounter with the EMP, the Standing Committee was sweating bullets. They were briefed in advance that if the space station’s electronic components didn’t hold up, the repair costs would be at least several tens of billions and would take nearly half a year.

But while there were worries, the Standing Committee’s experience that day was rather impressive.

You see, the launch of the East Wind 15C also had a code name "Doomsday" which was used to carry out an extremely thorough nuclear retaliation drill.

In the simulation’s scenario, UA takes the lead with a nuclear strike; our satellites detect it and immediately lock on to the enemy’s capital for strategic retaliation. Meanwhile, our interception program starts up, and all military regions are mobilized to prepare for counterstrikes everywhere.

During this national-level exercise, the strategic counterattack was only simulated up to the targeting and locking phase before stopping, with interceptions carried out against fixed targets. The only live nuclear-tipped missile launched was that East Wind 15C.

In the imagination, this missile is one that carries out trans-oceanic counterstrikes. The Standing Committee, amidst their normal work, suddenly receives a surprise attack warning. A superior issues the "retaliation" command to launch the missile, and the rest meet in an underground bunker to plan the second wave of retaliatory strikes.

This simulation had three phases, and each IAEA cleanup operation would be accompanied by a specific script for simulation, making the experience extremely realistic.

Of course, there was another purpose to these drills: in the extremely unlikely event that someone lost their mind and the fake operation became real, the exercise could mitigate some losses.

The superior couldn’t resist glancing outside the door, where a guard carrying a black briefcase should be. He vividly remembered what he had done just a few hours ago.

The procedure was actually quite simple: open the password box and you’d see a red and a black booklet. Red for the retaliatory target codes, black for the yield options, presenting several preset selectable scenario combinations.

Based on the intelligence received, the operator needs to choose a plan within 5 to 10 minutes, then punch in the plan code, re-enter the password, and press the button to complete all operations.

This was the standard procedure. The abnormal procedure involved furiously pressing the zero key on the keypad after opening the box, and after entering more than 8 digits, smashing the launch button to execute the highest-level counterstrike order automatically.

According to the exercise plan, the first two times followed the standard procedure, and the last one the abnormal.

Of course, the briefcase used in the drill was for simulation, but it wasn’t fake—it was the backup second briefcase.

Both briefcases were always connected to the satellite network. The first briefcase would respond to the satellite network’s call every 90 seconds, and if it failed to respond three consecutive times, it would automatically be deemed inoperative and the authority would be transferred to the second briefcase. Otherwise, the commands from the second briefcase would be invalid.

The first briefcase was with another guard, just at a different location, so it’s absolutely critical that they don’t mix them up...

Zhong Cheng was fully involved in the first drill, as per his usual schedule he would have been reporting recent work. He saw firsthand the superior’s fingers tremble slightly as he pressed the button, and he also saw the soldiers in the underground bunker with stern, round eyes.

At the time, he constantly doubted: was World War III truly upon us, had the briefcase launched and countless rockets arisen from forests and deserts, had nuclear submarines silently cut off signals and submerged into the depths, was the outside world already a sea of flames?

It wasn’t until he saw the congested ring road again that he dared to believe it was all fake. It just goes to show that the guards’ serious demeanor made it nearly impossible to distinguish the simulation from reality.

The thought of going through this two more times made him somewhat nervous.

Ding-a-ling...

The black phone on the desk suddenly rang. The superior said just a few words before hanging up, then looked at Zhong Cheng,

"Hong Zhong is ready with one. You should immediately mobilize the satellite network and for the next month, ensure strict surveillance over the controlled area."

"Yes, sir!"

Zhong Cheng knew what "Hong Zhong" was. Russia and America’s increase in yield wasn’t done on a whim. China was not concerned with how many times they doubled their yield, but with whether it would exacerbate oceanic pollution, which could be quite problematic.

If such an incident did occur, there was only one solution: use a larger yield hydrogen bomb to clean up the residual problems. After all, there were many outdated 15-megaton two-phase thermonuclear devices left over in the country.