Eden's War (A Distant Eden) (9 page)

BOOK: Eden's War (A Distant Eden)
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Chapter 14

A
drian was off on another F-16 tour, stopping often to meet with each militia and describe the possibility of Chinese forces landing and making their way to oil fields and refineries. In North Carolina the militia had gathered to hear him speak.

Adrian stood on an improvised platform and looked over the crowd.
These are some of the roughest and toughest men I’ve ever seen; mountain men, used to surviving in a hard world.
“We should be able to stop most, but not all, of the Chinese ships. But these tankers are huge. With just a little work they will have cleaned the tanks of oil reside, installed bunks, kitchens, and sanitary facilities. It is not an exaggeration to state that one tanker can carry two thousand Chinese soldiers. Trained infantry, special forces units, helicopters, tanks, weapons of every description. These are formidable opponents. They’ll be disciplined and fearless. They’ll be extremely well-armed and versed in the use of their weapons. They’ll have armor on the ground and air cover. Stopping them will require specialized tactics; you won’t have the resources they have, or the training.

“But, and this is a big but, they will have to move to where they want to get to. They won’t be able to entrench and fight from a static position until they get there. This gives us an edge we can take advantage of, by using guerrilla-style hit-and-run techniques to wear them down, drain them by attrition. We’re currently deploying stockpiles of surface to air missiles; you’ll receive yours soon. You’ll also receive portable anti-tank weapons you can use to strip them of their armor and air cover. We’re gathering up mobile field artillery to distribute as well. Each militia will be given a short training on how to deploy, aim, and fire these. It’ll be quick and elementary training, there isn’t time to do full training. Same thing with mortars, anti-personnel mines, and heavy machine guns.

“You’ll work out your own tactics; you know the terrain and where you can take best advantage of it. The overall strategy is to knock down their helicopters, then take out their armor, place anti-personnel mines in their path, hit them with artillery and mortars on a running basis, ambush them every chance you get. Mire them down, kill as many as of them as you can with the least number of losses you can manage. Keep at them day and night. Wear them out physically and mentally, don’t let them get any sleep. Use your terrain against them. Force them into swamps or other areas they can’t move through quickly. Eventually you’ll stop their movement and they’ll have to take a hard stand somewhere. Make it
your
choice where that is, then you have them.

“Once you get them to stop and fight, don’t confront them in a frontal assault, just keep pounding them from a distance. Snipers will be especially effective in keeping their heads down while you pour it to them. At some point they may surrender. It’ll be your choice to take prisoners or not, that’s up to you.”

Adrian paused to give them a moment to think.

“We don’t know where or when they will make landfall, you’ll need to set up a chain of coast watchers with runners or radios to let you know when ships are spotted. We’ve already set up locations for the transfer of armaments and training on them. We have damn little time, so make every minute count.”

When the speech was finished, Adrian met with the local commanders and gave them the locations and estimated dates for the distribution of arms. Adrian couldn’t meet with every militia, only some of them. He met with as many as he could, the rest were being briefed by other members of the military.

“Wake up sir! You’re wanted on the radio,” the pilot said on the intercom.

Adrian groaned, he had finally learned how to sleep in the F-16 trainer, and these naps were about the only sleep he had been able to get for days. Groggily he rubbed his face above the oxygen mask, then keyed the radio button. “Adrian here.” He said into the mike.

“Adrian, the Chinese fleet in the Pacific has begun tightening into vectors aimed at the refineries. The action is picking up fast, and at this rate will be at high intensity within twenty-four hours. We’ve also started picking up signals of ships in the North Atlantic. The shit storm is brewing, and it’s going to accelerate rapidly. I’d like you to return to Hawaii to help direct the battle.” The Admiral’s voice came across was clear, but he sounded strained.

“The West Coast side of the war doesn’t need me as much as the East Coast side will, Admiral,” replied Adrian. “I need to keep doing what I’m doing here – I still believe the main battle will be on this side. Put your best man in command and meet me in Corpus Christi in three days; I still have seven more stops to make.”

“Yes Mr. President.” Adrian couldn’t tell if the Admiral was being polite or sarcastic. Either way, Adrian knew he was ultimately responsible and had to call the shots as he saw them.

“Good. I’ll see you there in three days.” Adrian switched off the radio and tried to go back to sleep, but remained wide awake.

Adrian completed his cross-country tour and was back in Corpus Christi, meeting with the Admiral on the aircraft carrier.

“I’m going home for a few days. I think it may be the last time I’ll be able to see Linda for several months. I plan to move from hotspot to hotspot to help as much as I can. I want a communications unit to go with me, to send and receive full communications and hourly updates. Admiral, you have charge of the West Coast war. You know the drill and can get our assets into place faster than anyone else. I’ll bounce around as needed. Don’t get caught up in worrying about the East Coast side; you have good men there, trust them. Like I’ve said many times, the West Coast war is primarily a distraction, intended to keep us from paying attention to the real threat, but it’s a critical front all the same – if we lose San Francisco or Los Angeles, we’re pretty much done for. I’m charging you with eliminating the Pacific threat.” Adrian paused for a moment. “I’d give you a promotion to go with it, but you’re already in charge of all of our military forces… but if you want my job?” he said with a shrug.

“Hell no! I don’t want your job, and you can’t make me take it.” The Admiral replied with a smile.

“No harm in trying… might’ve caught you in an insane moment.” Adrian returned the smile somewhat grimly.

A knock on the Admiral’s door and an ensign came in with a sheet of paper. “Message for you sir!” he said, handing the paper to the Admiral before leaving the room.

The Admiral read from the document, a frown slowly growing on his face. “Full Naval battle off Hawaii. Chinese warships trying to take the islands. We’ve responded with our warships and are giving them a fast and brutal lesson.” The Admiral paused for a moment and looked at Adrian. “Now why would they do that? Surely they knew it was a suicide mission?”

Adrian sat back in his chair and thought for a moment. “Maybe their intelligence isn’t as good as we thought. Maybe they thought our warships were out hitting tankers like they had originally intended. It’s either that or a feint of some kind. What could they be up to that they wanted to draw us into a battle there?” Adrian shook his head. “I don’t like it. Beef up the coastal watch – both coasts – make sure there isn’t any place that’s not covered. They may be hoping to draw warships out from the Pacific coast to Hawaii, so they can try to get inside of them.”

The Admiral picked up his phone and issued the orders. Hanging it back up he asked, “Could it be possible that their intelligence is that bad?”

“I don’t know. Surely they’ve received radio reports of the explosive boat tactic. They must know what we’re doing. Hell, we
know
they do. That’s why they spread out their tankers so much. But they might think our Navy is more fragile than it is, or that we have fewer warships than we actually have. I hope that’s true anyway. Certainly it’s an expensive diversion, if diversion was their goal. If that’s the case, then they’re up to something big. It may be time to put a few aircraft up and scout the zone between shore and where we’ve found ships. Take the submarines we’ve held in reserve and put them out there patrolling also. I’m going to rack out, I’m exhausted. Have someone wake me in four hours.”

As Adrian stood to leave he remarked, “Looks like I won’t see Linda after all. Put that communication group together for me, I’ll be flying out in the morning.” On his way to his cabin, Adrian stopped at the radio room to put a call through for Linda to be patched in to his cabin. He wasn’t looking forward to telling her he wouldn’t be home after all.

Two days later Adrian landed at Point Mugu Naval Air Station, just north of Los Angeles. The Base Commander greeted Adrian on the air strip.

“Welcome to Point Mugu sir! I’ve got ground transport right here, we can go straight to HQ.” Adrian returned the Captain’s salute then shook his hand. “Thank you Captain. Let’s roll.”

As they settled in at the conference table Adrian unrolled a large map of the Pacific Ocean. “Captain…”

“Please sir, just Tim.”

“I’m here, Tim, because the naval battle off Hawaii makes no sense, makes me suspicious. I’m thinking it has to be a diversionary tactic. My best guess is that they’re trying to divert us from either San Francisco or Los Angeles. Those two cities have the largest concentration of refineries on the West coast. Oil is the immediate target, and they’re not going to ship back unrefined petroleum when they can gin up a few refineries and ship back refined fuels instead. The ports at Los Angeles will be easier for a fleet of tankers to get to than the ports at San Francisco. Somewhat easier, neither presents any particular problems for them. But I think Los Angeles will be target number one. I’ll camp out here a few days with you and see what happens, ride along on a few of your aerial scouting missions. Then I’m heading for the east coast.”

Adrian looked down from the cockpit at the ships far below. The plane had reached the halfway point of its fuel reserve just after they spotted the Chinese fleet of tankers and merchant vessels. Adrian estimated two-hundred ships, a lot closer to the coast than anyone had imagined. As the plane turned back to base the pilot radioed in the coordinates. Radar gave them the fleet’s speed. Back at Mugu they would plot intercept courses for fast boat deployment up and down the coast. Within forty-eight hours the Chinese ships would be under attack.

A Jeep rolled up as the jet taxied to a stop at Mugu on a nearly empty fuel tank and Adrian climbed out of the cockpit. “The Admiral needs you on the radio sir,” shouted the driver.

Minutes later Adrian was in the operations room talking to the Admiral. “Adrian, we’ve spotted three fleets similar to the one you just spotted, but off the east coast. They’re coming in, fast and in large numbers.”

“Where are they headed?” Adrian asked.

“They’re more or less headed for third points along the coast. Can’t say specifically where – could be planning to land at remote locations and establish beach-heads. Too soon to tell.”

“Have we spotted anything moving towards the Gulf yet? I still think that will be their main target.”

“Nothing yet, but they have a lot of islands to hide behind, so I’m not confident that they aren’t close in and waiting until we’re distracted further north.”

“We’ll have a surprise waiting for them when they make that move. I’ll be in Charleston as soon as I can get there.”

Within two hours Adrian was back in the F16-D heading east, stopping briefly in Oklahoma for refueling before getting back in the air. Adrian had just fallen asleep when he was awakened by a strident alarm blaring in his ears. Opening his eyes he saw the pilot quickly hitting switches. “Adrian!” the pilot shouted into his microphone. “We’re going to eject in four seconds. Remember the drill and
hold on!

Adrian barely had time to comprehend the meaning of the words “We’re going to eject” when he was blasted by an explosion that ripped off the canopy above his head and then he was struck by a tremendous force from below. Once out of the plane, a drogue gun in the seat would fire a metal slug that pulled a small parachute, called a drogue parachute, out of the top of the chair. This would slow Adrian’s rate of descent and stabilize the seat’s altitude and trajectory. After a very short amount of time, the altitude sensor would cause the drogue parachute to pull the main parachute from Adrian’s chute pack. At this point, a seat-man-separator motor would fire and the seat would fall away from him. This sequence of actions would only take a few seconds, some of them separated by only micro-seconds.

BOOK: Eden's War (A Distant Eden)
8.65Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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