Brown, Dale - Patrick McLanahan 06 (55 page)

 
          
“That
all sounds fine, Admiral,” General Chin said. “But we must still deal with the
military realities here. The
United States
is withdrawing two frigates, but with two
frigates and four submarines still in the area, they are still a very strong
military force in the Strait—and we lost a good percentage of our fighters and
bombers in that engagement.”

 
          
“It
is as I have said, General,” Admiral Sun said. “Our J-series fighters must not
engage Nationalist F-16 fighters unless they have full radar coverage and enjoy
at least a six-to-one numerical advantage. In that fight, we had a three-to-one
advantage and fared poorly. We also did not count on the American stealth
bombers launching air-to-air missiles. The H-6 bombers would have had better
success if they had only flown against the frigates’ surface-to-air missiles or
if the Nationalists had been forced to divide their fighters to chase after our
bombers.”

           
“Nonetheless, our losses were severe
and swift,” General Chin said. “I find it impossible to imagine that this plan
of yours can still be accomplished when we lose forces to the Americans like
this.”

 
          
“In
fact, this proves the truth of my plan, General,” Sun argued. “Again we have
shown that the Americans are difficult to defeat in a direct naval engagement,
whether by air or sea. But the unorthodox attack on the Americans proved
successful—we claimed two American Navy frigates, and we leave the Nationalists
and the Americans confused and reluctant fighters in the Strait. The tide is
beginning to turn for us, Comrade General.”

 
          
“You
claimed that you could draw the American carriers into the Strait, where they
would be vulnerable—yet the closest American carrier, the
Independence
,
is apparently ready to depart
Japan
, possibly to rendezvous with two other
carriers somewhere near
Formosa
, possibly in the Strait itself,” Chin
observed. “They can still strike our coastal bases from their carriers, and
still enjoy air protection from the rebel air forces on
Taiwan
.”

 
          
“The
Independence
will never depart
Japan
, comrade,” Admiral Sun said grimly. “Its
death is already being planned—and with it, the death of the pro-Western Asian
alliance as well.”

 
          
“I
think it is about time you informed us of what you intend to do, Admiral Sun,”
Chin said angrily. “It is obvious that the level of aggression has greatly
escalated. If you intend on throwing
China
into general war with the West, be so kind
as to let me know so I can alert our regular military forces and defend the
motherland.”

 
          
“It
will not be necessary to mobilize the army, Comrade General,” Sun said with a
smile. “The biggest naval disaster since the Great War will occur, by our
hands—and the world will be rushing to
China
’s aid, to protect us against the great
satan, the
United States of America
.”

ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE,
GUAM

THURSDAY, 19 JUNE 1997
,
1444 HOURS LOCAL (
WEDNESDAY,
18 JUNE, 2344
HOURS ET)

 
          
“Do
you realize what’s happening?” Admiral George Balboa exploded. “Do you have any
idea what you’ve done?” The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was seated at
the conference table in the
Joint
Chiefs
Conference
Center
at the Pentagon, but his voice was as sharp
and as clear as if he were right there in the base command post’s battle staff
room on
Guam
. “Have you seen the news? That plane of
yours is being shown on TV all over the damned world, along with pictures of your
attack on that passenger ferry.”

 
          
“We’ve
seen it, Admiral,” Patrick McLanahan said. He, Brad Elliott, and the rest of
the crew of the EB-52 Megafortress involved in the recent skirmish in the
Formosa Strait
near
Quemoy
Island
were participating in the secure
videoconference between the Pentagon and Andersen Air Force Base on
Guam
. The base command post’s battle staff room
had been sealed and curtained off, with guards posted outside. To Patrick
McLanahan, it was a little like closing the barn door after all the horses had
run away. The world now knew of the EB-52 Megafortress— why all the security
now
? “The pictures of us were obviously
taken by the MiG-25 Foxbats that intercepted us.”

 
          
“What
possible explanation can you offer the President for what you’ve done?” Balboa
asked.

 
          
“The
Chinese set us up,” McLanahan said confidently. “We’ve compared notes with the
crew aboard the
James Daniel
, and we
agree—that ferry was altered to make it look like a warship.”

 
          
“How
in hell could they do that?”

 
          
“By
towing that barge behind them,” McLanahan replied, “they made themselves look
another one hundred and fifty feet longer.”

 
          
“They
were towing a garbage barge, for Christ’s sake!” Balboa retorted. “Thousands of
those barges are being towed around the Strait every week, and no one’s
mistaken them for warships before! ”

 
          
“A
garbage barge with steel radar-reflective walls, being towed on a short rope
very close to the ferry—and the barge was fitted with an IFF interrogator,”
McLanahan reminded him. “It was sending out identification interrogation
signals just like a warship. Why would a civilian vessel have a Square Head IFF
on board?”

 
          
“That’s
such a lame excuse, McLanahan, that I’m embarrassed for you for making it,”
Balboa said. “An aviator with your reputation making wild accusations like that
to cover up your own mistakes—it’s pretty sad. You obviously picked up a signal
from someone else, or you mistook a standard marine nav radar for an IFF.

 
          
“But
even if it was an IFF, as you claim, why in hell did you attack that ferry?”
Balboa asked. “Even if that ferry really was a Chinese cruiser—and you geniuses
should know
China
doesn’t
own
any cruisers—you
didn’t have permission for any weapon releases, let alone those Striker rocket
bombs. Why did you open fire?”

 
          
“As
we explained in our report, Admiral, the Navy frigates were under attack by
rocket-powered torpedoes,” McLanahan said. “We have no defenses against
torpedoes—our decoys or jammers wouldn’t have done any good. All our sensors
indicated that a Chinese warship had launched numerous Stallion torpedoes at
the frigates. The
Duncan
was a sitting duck for another salvo. We
had no choice but to return fire.”

 
          
“Even
though you didn’t have permission, even though you were not given a command.”

 
          
“I
had permission to launch,” Jeff Denton interjected.

 
          
“What
was that?” Balboa asked. McLanahan turned away from the videoconference camera
and glared at
Denton
to remain quiet. “What did you say, Captain Denton?”

 
          
“Nothing.”

 
          
“Repeat
what you said, Captain, or I’ll have you arrested and thrown in the brig right
now. ”

 
          
Denton
looked at Elliott, then at McLanahan, who
wore expressionless faces now—the bell could not be unrung. “Sir, the frigates
were under attack.”

 
          
“Who
ordered you to launch, Captain?”

 
          
Denton
paused, then lowered his eyes. “General
Elliott,” he said in a low voice.

 
          
“Repeat
that last?”

 
          
“General
Elliott,”
Denton
blurted out. “Sir, we were under attack by
what we thought was a Chinese cruiser, by four formations of Chinese fighters,
and then by Foxbat fighters. I was in the OSO’s seat—I controlled the
Strikers.”

 
          
“But
it was Elliott who ordered you to launch, correct?”

 
          
“The
Duncan
was dead in the water, and the other
frigate was coming about to help it,”
Denton
said excitedly. “Our guys were going to get
plastered. I knew we had to do something. So when General Elliott ordered me to
attack the cruiser, I did. The computer said it was a cruiser, Admiral. The
computer was running good.”

 
          
“That’s
enough, Captain,” Balboa said. “That’s enough—to file charges in federal court
against General Elliott for criminal misconduct. Maybe even murder in the
second degree.”

 
          
“What?”
McLanahan shouted. “You’ve got
to be joking, Admiral!”

           
“You think that’s funny, Mr.
McLanahan? This is even better—I’m going to file charges against
you
for the same thing. You were the
mission commander, and even though you had
Denton
in the seat, you were responsible for his
actions. And because Cheshire, Atkins, Bruno, and Denton are all active-duty
officers, I’m preferring charges against them under the Uniform Code of
Military Justice for disobeying a direct order, for conduct unbecoming an
officer, and for dereliction of duty.”

 
          
“George,
I was expecting you’d try to get me thrown into jail,” Brad Elliott said with
amazing calm, “but to threaten any of these other outstanding individuals with
a crime is beyond ridiculous—it’s psychotic. If you carry through with this
stupid idea, you’re the worst example of a leader that has ever worn a
uniform.”

 
          
“I
believe
that
honor has already fallen
to
you
, Elliott,” Balboa said. “And
I’m not through yet. Because of your illegal, criminal actions, the entire Sky
Masters, Inc.’s, Megafortress project has been compromised, and it now falls
upon the government to clean up the mess. As employees, officers, directors,
and shareholders of the company, yours and Mr. McLanahan’s actions have
implicated Sky Masters, Inc., in your criminal activities as well. You can kiss
any idea of a military service contract good-bye, I’ll see to that. How would
it look to reward a company that started a nuclear exchange and killed hundreds
of civilians with a multimillion-dollar defense contract?”

 
          
“George,
the only persons you’re going to harm are those who believe in things like
performance, value, integrity, and honesty,” Elliott said. “Obviously, you
don’t believe in anything like that. Our hardware and our people did a good
job. You shouldn’t punish a good company because you want to make
my
life miserable.”

 
          
“Fortunately,
it’s all tied together, Elliott,” Balboa said. “I get to shit- can you and your
friends all at once—and you brought it all on yourself. All you had to do was
obey orders and stay out of the fighting, but you didn’t, and now I’ve been
ordered to make sure that you don’t screw up again. Here are your new orders,
folks, and if you disobey them, you will find yourself in prison and your
company shut down, buried in tax liens so deep you’ll need a bulldozer to get
out from under them: