By Dmitry Filipoff

From December 1-12, CIMSEC featured short stories submitted in response to our annual Call for Fiction.

Authors explored a wide variety of scenarios and dilemmas. From unmanned warship attacks to deceptive electronic warfare, to undersea swarms and a drone strike on a president, these stories envision the complex possibilities of future conflict. 

Below are the authors and stories that featured during this edition of CIMSEC’s annual fiction week. We thank them for their excellent contributions.

“Task Force Rust Bucket,” by Tyler Totten

“The Navy had been keeping a regular-as-clockwork blinding campaign since the war’s start, typically doing nothing in the window. The hope by this point was that the PLA largely ignored the window other than to recheck the locations of the three prowling CSGs that threatened but did not move west from their racetracks around Midway. Further west of that had…unfortunate outcomes.”

“Anna palaa!” by Ben Plotkin

“Chameleon composite IR damping nanotiles coated the HAGs, morphing and mirroring the bleak winter palette. The coaxial rotors ran individual blade control—piezo flaperons twisting each blade to kill harmonics at the source—while higher-harmonic control flattened the acoustic lobes. Their rotor signatures muted to a murmur. Skimming the frozen flats, the three helicopters were almost invisible and unnervingly quiet.”

“The Narco Sea: Three Headings to One Target,” by Till Andrzejewski

“‘They’d have destroyed the evidence as soon as you boarded,” he says into the radio silence. ‘Or they never had any. There are two kinds of ships: those we sink, and those we haven’t sunk yet.’”

“Decapitation,” by Malcolm Reynolds

“Amusement flickered across the general’s face, though his eyes remained cold. ‘Your teams are our instrument for punishing that arrogance, and the arrogance of all the decades preceding it.’ The general checked his watch. ‘My apologies, Comrade Colonel. You must head to the assembly area, and I’m delaying you.’”

“Friendly Fire Isn’t,” by Paul Viscovich

“’Still trying to figure it out, sir. It’s possible that while the Chinese were destroying our satellites, GPS was being slowly degraded without us realizing it. By the time the system was hard down, who knows how far off track we might’ve been?’”

“Phantom Cable,” by Sandro Carniel

“Meyer’s jaw tightened. He knew the IMARC — the Intergovernmental Maritime Research Center — had insisted that a climate scientist be on board for exactly this reason, and that their written orders specified that in case of conflicting priorities, she would have the final word. Still, part of him struggled to accept it. So he decided to challenge her. ‘And what do you think is hiding down there?’”

“Locks and Shadow Swarms,” by Philip Kiley

“In theory, drones were an amplifier to airpower rather than a force that redrew frontlines. In practice, Mara thought, they were a perfect weapon for the canal: cheap, anonymous, and deadly where maneuver was impossible. A tanker in a lock had the evasiveness of a parked building. Against a swarm that used surveillance to find a seam and kamikaze strikes to exploit it, the ships felt exposed.”

“Habeas Corpus,” by Jay Turner

“Politics aside, he thought back to his leadership and ethics courses, including such topics as rules of engagement and the law of the sea. The idea of attacking a vessel that presented no physical threat, and then making no effort to pick up survivors, seemed abhorrent to him. And yet the order implied exactly that.”

“No Fly Zone,” by Bryan Williams

“He’s up the ladder and in the cockpit, helmet fastened, strapped into the seat as the engines whine, their turbines spooling up as he runs through the startup sequence and closes the canopy. Then he gives a thumbs up to the ground crew, who either heroically or suicidally guide him out into the open, yelling for him to go as the AA guns in the distance open fire towards the west.”

“The Henry Protocol,” by Joe Huskey

“’Colonel, your understanding is not important to the outcome of the simulation,’ Womack said. He had raised his voice a little, the first real sign of emotion. ‘If you knew everything then it wouldn’t be a real test.’”

“Fit to Print,” by Ben Van Horrick

“When war broke out with China, the editors needed steady hands, turning to Nora and Abe. The flurry of news wilted the newsroom staff. For Abe and Nora, it was a rebirth. For the past 96 hours, Nora and Abe had remained in the office and napped where they could. Staffers checked on them with a mix of concern and intrigue.”

“Perspective,” by Daniel Lee

“Before she could finish her sentence, an ear-splitting crack far louder than any lightning bolt resonated through the air. Stef then saw multiple fireballs emerge from the clouds above, followed by a cloud of small dark objects that acquired a green S-LINK outline on approach. One of these objects cohered into the shape of a man as it descended, slowing on final approach until he landed before Stef like some sort of heaven-sent angel. The man was clad head-to-toe in armor, torso and limbs encompassed in a sinewy exoskeleton, and he carried a rifle Stef had only seen on the net. Stef stared. ‘Holy shit,’ he exclaimed. ‘They sent HERA.’”

“The Phantom’s Last Ride,” by Karl Flynn

“Detlev gave Amir an incredulous look. ‘Those birds are ancient. Even if we can get them flying, they’re dead meat in the air. What exactly is the plan for them?'”

“Ghost Town,” by Kenyan Medley

“The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was now a husk—a carcass floating down the river Styx. Its passageways once flowed with the lifeblood of the Navy. Men and women of all ages, colors, creeds, and sizes. All of them wore different uniforms—a rainbow of flight deck jerseys, flight suits, coveralls, and utilities. Everyone had a purpose. Now just one intelligence officer fused all-source intelligence and information fed to him by AI into assessments delivered to just two afloat warfare commanders who answered to headquarters in San Diego.”

“What is Old Is New Again,” by Mike Hanson

“The Marines’ role was frustratingly limited as the opposing fleets clashed beyond the range of their land-based fires nodes. They seemed to have missed their chance…at first.”

Dmitry Filipoff is CIMSEC’s Director of Online Content. Contact him at Content@cimsec.org.

Featured Image: Art created with Midjourney AI.