Sword of Shiva - Страница 17

Remember Chucky Barnes who reported to the squadron at the same time I did? He’s earned himself a new callsign, and he’s not real happy about it. He used to be Barnstormer, which isn’t too bad, if you ask me. But a couple of days ago, he lost his cookies all over the 0–5 level catwalk. Now everybody in the squadron is calling him ‘Upchuck,’ and it looks like it’s going to stick. (No pun intended.)

My lead, the infamous Poker, has been threatening to change my callsign to ‘Monkey Man,’ which is apparently the most creative thing that his limited imagination can do with the name Monkman. He’s been around so long that his first wingman was Wilbur Wright, so you can’t really expect much. But for now, I’m still Rob the ‘Monk’ Monkman, and I like that just fine. That’s me, baby — the Shaolin monk of the skies, kicking butt with my badass aerial Kung Fu.

Okay, enough of that hero-of-the-skies crap. So far, my aerial Kung Fu has been limited to simulators and unarmed practice engagements against other U.S. Navy flyboys. I look pretty damned good in training, but I’ve never flown against an actual threat. If I ever go up against the real deal, I’ll be happy if they don’t change my callsign to ‘Monkey Butt,’ or something equally flattering.

Speaking of the real deal, we’ll be entering our Op Area just in time for Thanksgiving. We’re only supposed to be doing the observe-protect-stabilize thing, but I’m still kind of nervous. The Chinese and Indian navies have traded shots several times now, and both sides are pretty jumpy. I just hope they remember that we’re not the enemy. I’d hate to get my butt shot off while I’m trying to get my turkey dinner on.

Just kidding, baby. I’m sure everything is going to be fine. We’ve got a full carrier strike group, with all the bells and whistles. We’re not here to fight, and nobody is going to be stupid enough to start any trouble with us.

I sure would love to be home tomorrow, helping you get the turkey ready for the oven. We really are going to have to try that one of these days. We can’t keep doing Thanksgiving at your Mom’s house forever. Or maybe we can… Her sweet potato pie is still the best I’ve ever tasted, and that bean casserole thing she does is amazing.

Speaking of amazing, I happen to think that your Mother’s only daughter is pretty fantastic, now that I mention it. That would be you, Miss Muffin. I wonder if your Mom knows that you do most of your cooking in only panties and my old Chargers jersey. Maybe I should save that piece of information for blackmail at some future date. Hmmm…

Okay, I shouldn’t have gone there. Now all I can think about is your cute little butt prancing around the kitchen in panties. Maybe I better go take a cold shower.

I love you, Beth. I miss you more with each second that passes.

Yours always,

Rob

LT(jg) Robert J. Monkman

VFA-228 Marauders

USS Midway (CVN-82)

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CHAPTER 18

MINISTRY OF NATIONAL DEFENSE COMPOUND

AUGUST 1 BUILDING

BEIJING, CHINA

TUESDAY; 25 NOVEMBER

9:48 PM

TIME ZONE +8 ‘HOTEL’

General Chen Caihou was the first to break the silence. “Comrades, the situation with India is getting out of control. We must act now, before it is too late.” His words were firm, but the tone of his voice was carefully neutral, pitched to avoid any trace of criticism or accusation. He allowed his gaze to take in each of the other eight men seated at the circular table.

Including himself, all nine statutory members of the Central Military Commission were present. When Chen’s eyes came to Lu Shi, they paused for an instant before moving on to the next man.

The table was circular, to symbolize the equality of the commission’s members. There was no bourgeois seat of honor here. Just dedicated communists, meeting on equal footing to debate and decide matters of military strategy.

At least that was the theory. In reality, the greatest concentration of authority in the room lay with Lu Shi. His power as Chairman of the Central Military Commission was technically nominal, but the man was also the First Vice Premier of the People’s Republic of China.

Although Xiao still carried the formal title of Premier, the old leader had long since delegated all serious decisional authority to Lu Shi.

This made Lu a dangerous man to cross. It also put General Chen Caihou and his fellow members of the Central Military Commission in a very delicate position. If the present skirmishes with India continued to escalate, the People’s Republic could find itself in a full scale war with a major military adversary. General Chen had little doubt that China would emerge victorious from such a war, but the cost would likely be staggering, in both financial terms, and in terms of human life. The conflict needed to end before things deteriorated that far.

General Chen’s eyes circled the table again, his words still lingering unanswered in the air. He had discussed this issue with several other members of the commission in advance, and he had received agreement and promises of endorsement. Chen would flatly (but respectfully) raise the topic, and his covert allies would add their voices in support.

But he had spoken up, and the room was silent.

Lu Shi’s eyes also made the circle of the assembled faces. “Someone is letting you down, Comrade General,” he said softly. He let his gaze continue to wander until it came to center on General Chen.

“Who is it?” Lu asked. He raised one eyebrow slightly. “Which of our comrades are supposed to be flocking to your banner right now?”

General Chen sat for several seconds, before he turned to meet the Vice Premier’s scrutiny. “Comrade Lu, we share your grief over the loss of Lu Jianguo. He was a fine young man, and a true communist. His death was a great tragedy. But is that sufficient provocation for war?”

“This is not about my son,” Lu Shi said. His voice was low and hard. “This is about security and national sovereignty. Those who harbor the enemies of China are themselves the enemies of China.”

General Guo Jinping, Chief of General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army, cleared his throat. “With all due respect, Comrade Lu… Is it wise to invite a major military confrontation in order to punish a handful of sewer rats who destroyed a train?”

Lu smiled sadly. “Xīng xīng zhī huǒ kě yǐ liáo yuán.” It was an ancient Chinese proverb which could be translated literally as ‘A single spark can burn the entire prairie.’ Contextually, it was a reminder that leaders must never underestimate the potential destructive power that an apparently minor problem can cause.

“The Qinghai railway is one of the greatest engineering accomplishments in history,” Lu said. “In places, the track elevation reaches more than 5,000 meters. Many aircraft don’t fly that high. When we brought in the Swiss to develop construction methods for laying rail across the permafrost, the Swiss engineers said it was impossible. The Western press called the entire project a five billion dollar boondoggle. They said it couldn’t be done. But we did it. Then, they predicted that the track would fail within a year. But the Qinghai railway carries 3,000 of our people to the Tibet Autonomous Region every single day.”

Lu’s eyes zeroed in on General Guo Jinping. “Comrade General, we can replace the train cars and the engines. We lost nearly two-hundred of your soldiers in the attack, but the PLA can recruit that many replacements in a single afternoon. Between the dead and wounded, there were more than 1,000 civilian casualties as well, but the People’s Republic can also cope with those losses. We can deal with the damaged equipment, and the human victims, and the financial cost. But we cannot permit a direct assault on our national prestige… Our national resolve and our political ideologies have been directly challenged. If we allow such a challenge to go unanswered, China becomes weak in the eyes of our enemies, and the eyes of the world.”

Air Force General Xu Zhiyuan, Commander of the PLA Air Force, nodded respectfully. “I believe we will all concede that there are significant political implications,” he said. “But is it wise to allow political issues to devolve into outright warfare?”

Lu turned toward the general. “I’m surprised that you would even ask such a question,” he said. “Have you forgotten the teachings of Chairman Mao? ‘Politics is war without bloodshed, while war is politics with bloodshed.’”

General Xu nodded again. “Chairman Mao also said that, ‘Communism is a hammer which we use to crush the enemy.’ But he was speaking at a time when China was fighting for its very existence. Is that honestly the case now, Comrade Vice Premier? After decades of peaceful relations, have our Indian neighbors suddenly become a threat to our national survival? For that matter, would we be in conflict with them at all if we had not used a hundred cruise missiles to hammer an Indian village into dust?”

Before Lu Shi could respond, General Chen raised a hand. “How we got into this situation is no longer relevant. Regardless of motivation or intention, we did strike their village, and they have retaliated. So far, the skirmishes have been relatively isolated, but that’s rapidly changing. We are caught in a cycle of escalating retaliations. The question is; how do we break the cycle before it gets completely out of control?”