by Stephen Makk
He walked out of the control room and headed back aft. On the way he met the Head Chef.
“Hi Sir. Just running up tonight’s menu. I have a free hand today. I like to do something local. They say we’re off to Thailand.” He looked at his Commander with a questioning expression. He knew he wasn’t allowed to know where the boat was, but you can always ask.
“Try something southeast China, that’d do.”
The Chef smiled, “You got it sir, coming up.”
Nathan stepped through the next hatch. How were the Engineers doing with the towed array sonar? He knew that it was essential for running a successful picket line.
Not for the first time he wondered how May Hsin was getting on. She was out there on her own in the PRC, she’d drawn the short straw alright.
SHANGHAI.
GAO OPENED THE DOOR and backed her way into the Golden Garden cafe, pulling the stroller behind her. She made her way into the back room.
“Where’s Hue?”
“Out,” said the man with the eye patch. Gao didn’t expect much more. The old man with the long drooping moustache just sat there looking into nowhere. The woman was cooking so she decided to help her and wait her time. She ate the stir-fry and waited. Gao leaned over and started to feed Ji when Hue walked in.
“Hi, good smell that, have you got any left?” The woman warmed up the wok and added the stir-fry from a plastic tub. She spooned it on to a warm plate and placed it before him.
Hue set to wolfing it down. When he’d finished Gao looked over at him.
“Hue, I got a call today. On this cell phone.” She held up the one linked with May’s.
“So, what did she say?”
“She said. I’m near Ningbo, the horses are all running and I’m with them. My money is on The water purse. The horses are all running and I’m with them. My money is on The water purse.” Hue grunted.
“What does that mean Hue?” asked Gao.
Hue looked at her with narrowed eyes.
“It means that it may be good news, they may have taken the bate. Or it may not.”
“Who? Who’s taken the bait?” Hue ignored her. “Do we pass it on to the NSB? Do we?” He looked over to the old man. The old man stroked his moustache for a while and then turned to Hue, he wrinkled his nose and shook his head.
Hue nodded.
“What does it mean Hue?” asked Gao. “What? Why is it good luck or bad? Tell me.”
“Don’t bother about it. You helped put her where she is and that’s good. That’s what we wanted.”
Gao pressed him. “How can it be good luck and bad luck. Why?”
The old man who rarely spoke looked at Gao.
“Young lady. Have you heard the old tale about the Farmer and his stallion?”
“No sir, no I haven’t.”
He stroked his moustache.
“There is a story of a wise farmer from Yunnan province whose wild stallion ran off one day. All the neighbours gathered around saying “Very bad luck.” The farmer said, “bad luck, good luck, who knows?” A few days later the stallion returned with a herd of wild horses. The neighbours gathered around saying “Very good luck.”
“Bad luck, good luck, who knows,” said the farmer.
A week later the farmer’s son was trying to break in one of the horses and was thrown from the horse and broke his leg.
The neighbours gathered and said, “Very bad luck.”
“Bad luck, good luck, who knows,” said the farmer. Several weeks later the Chinese army came to the town looking for able-bodied youth to join the army and fight in the war. When the soldiers came to the farmer’s house and saw the boy’s broken leg, they left him alone and moved on. The neighbours gathered saying “Very good luck.”
The wise Yunnan farmer said, “Bad luck, good luck, who knows?”
Gao sat back and sighed, she knew they wouldn’t tell her what the call had really meant.
“If you get any more calls from her, let me know.” Gao pulled a face, why? Why should I Hue?
“You will yes?” She nodded it was said without enthusiasm,
“Yes, I will.”
Gao knew they thought she was just some girl, a cousin of Hue’s who helped them out. It hadn’t always been this way, she remembered the lessons and discussions with her Father’s friend. He taught at a University and knew just what he was on about, she’d learned a lot from him. She’d been at University when little Ji came on to the scene and that had changed things a lot.
She knew a lot more than they thought, and this didn’t add up at all. They were sympathetic with Taiwan, yes. So was she, The Republic of China was an area the Party didn’t want you to look into, so for Gao that had been a big come on. She devoured all she could.
Yes, something odd was going on. The PLAN was sailing in numbers and could be heading for Taiwan with an NSB Officer on board. She’d reported to this group and they’d decided not to pass the news on to the NSB? Gao knew it just didn’t add up, she’d have to keep an eye out and play dumb for now. She leaned her head back and sighed, that couldn’t last.
Chapter 7
300 feet beneath the Straits of Taiwan.
“SIR, LUCY IS STREAMING now, she’s giving me good data. It looks like somebody just cleaned the dirty windshield. All clear out there, all but civvy stuff. I did pick up a faint transient that may have been a Taiwanese Hai Lung class boat. If it was, she was on the surface charging her batteries.”
Nathan patted Benson on the shoulder, it was good to get the towed array sonar back.
“XO.” Nathan pointed to Lt Kaminski’s chart display. The two of them looked over her shoulder. “I propose a northeast to southwest track roughly at the mid-point of the Strait, when we get to the northernmost point we do a large lazy circle, about 60 miles diameter and then resume the track. I want to spend more time north than south. With Lucy back online we should get a damn good picture of Strait movements on and below the surface. Let’s be that picket tripwire,” he looked at his XO with steely eyes, “and Larry, if in doubt head to north.
USS Stonewall Jackson’s not here to sneak around and hide.
Remember before the battle of Trafalgar Admiral Nelson said, No Captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy.”
THE PENTAGON. WASHINGTON DC.
IN A MEETING ROOM AT the heart of The Pentagon, a group of uniformed senior officers, The Joint Chiefs sat around a large table, coffees had been served.
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Ian Cotton USAF sat at the head.
Also present were the Chief of Staff of the Army General Sally Weingarten, USA.
Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Nicolaj Kamov, USN.
Commandant of the Marine Corps Bruce Nanut, USMC.
Chief of Staff of the Air Force General Neil L Cooper, USAF.
National Security Advisor, Stockhaisen.
General Cotton spoke.
“Lady and Gentlemen. We are here again to discuss a subject we all love and cherish. Admiral Kamov’s pet attack dog the USS Stonewall Jackson.” General Cotton smiled and looked about the table.
“He currently has it on the leash but straining and ready to chew the ass off the General Secretary of the People’s Republic of China. Over to you Admiral.”
Kamov cleared his throat. “The boat’s on patrol in the Strait of Taiwan, we have fleet movements out of central China to the north. Big movements, consistent with an offensive move against Taiwan. Our boat’s Commander is requesting that we relax the ROE he operates under. He’s allowed to return hostile fire, but he wants more.”
“How much more Admiral?” asked Neil L Cooper USAF.
“That’s down to us Neil, I know he’ll take whatever he can get.”
“If I could fill in some political background here?” said National Security Advisor, Stockhaisen.
General Cotton held out the palm of his hand, “Go ahead.”
“We have some humint that suggest the PR
C is starting to take a more aggressive stance against Taiwan. It hasn’t been helped by the fact that the recent murder of a big C-Pop star, a favourite of the Chairman’s daughters, is being linked to the Taiwanese secret intelligence service, the NSB. The murder was carried out while she was on a US tour in San Francisco.
“Is this credible?” asked Sally Weingarten.
“We don’t think so,” replied Stockhaisen, “but the PRC has gotten all itchy over it. To them it’s one more issue in a list of them. Remember to them Taiwan is a renegade province, and they want it inside the PRC. The United States is by treaty, committed to defend Taiwan should it become necessary.”
“This guy,” Neil L Cooper raised the palms of his hands, “running the boat, is known to be an aggressive SOB, right?”
“Commander Nathan Blake commands the USS Stonewall Jackson,” said Kamov. “he’s one of our best submarine drivers.”
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Cotton looked at Admiral Kamov.
“You’ve more too, haven’t you Nicolaj?” The Admiral sighed.
“Yes, one of the boat’s war committee has been ashore on Taiwan and seen the Heads of the NSB and the Republic Of China’s army. She’s made an analysis of the PRC’s intentions. This has some back up by ROC intel and military.
This analysis predicts an invasion of Taiwan via Taichung City, that’s a major port in the east central part of the Island.”
“Who is this war committee member?” Asked Sally Weingarten head of the Army.
“She’s a Lieutenant on board the boat,” said Kamov sheepishly.
“A naval Lieutenant?” Weingarten was opened mouthed.
“She has been right on these matters before,” Kamov shrugged, “we can’t ignore her.”
“I remember her, she called out Kim Jong-un’s mob the DPRK,” smiled Commandant of the Marine Corps Bruce Nanut, USMC. “And there was the Iran/DPRK nuke thing too. Seems to me if she’s put this together and she’s got back up from the ROC Army we can’t dismiss it. If I remember, this lady has balls.”
“I’ve got details of Lieutenant Kaminski’s report.” Kamov passed out copies around the table.
General Cotton looked around the table at the Joint Chiefs. “We can’t give Blake carte blanche to start hostilities against the PRC, but we need to give him more flexibility. Admiral, issue new more appropriate ROE to USS Stonewall Jackson. People, read this report from Lieutenant Kaminski and make preparations based on the fact that she may be right. She does have a track record on these things.” Cotton sat back in his chair.
“Let’s meet again on this issue tomorrow evening. Anybody have any comments?” There was silence.
“Ok, the meeting is closed. Give this one your full and immediate attention.”
KAMOV RETURNED TO HIS office via the refectory, he got two coffees to go and a bar of Belgian chocolate. He walked in. “Hi, Cleo. I got you this.” He put down a coffee and the chocolate.
“Thanks Admiral,” she grinned, “that’s great.”
He smiled and walked into his inner office and sat. Above his desk was a large photograph of his last command, the Arleigh Burke class Destroyer USS Decatur. The Chiefs had given him all he could realistically ask for in ROE terms. He hadn’t asked, yet, for what he really wanted. The PLAN was out in force, probably and he’d one boat out there in their way. He needed more but he knew that politically they couldn’t give him what he wanted. He’d move ships and boats from Everett, Kitsap and San Diego to Pearl. Some more from the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean. But he wanted ships and boats forward deployed. Positioning as many as he could in Pearl and Guam would help. But as to a mass deployment? Politically, it was a no deal situation. He knew more was needed as far forward as possible, right in the thick of it would be ideal. How can it be done?
He sat for a while and thought. Then it came to him. He chewed it over and dismissed it. What else? His first real idea had a habit of coming back at him, it just wouldn’t go away, and then at last it won. Yes. It’s not ideal, but maybe it was possible. Kamov smiled, it was time to call a few old friends.
FATHOMLESS BLACKNESS deep under the Straits of Taiwan.
NATHAN HAD RETIRED to his cabin for some much-needed sack time, he’d quickly drifted off to sleep. He was awoken by a knock on the door.
Still groggy he called out, “Yes come in.” Lt Commander Lemineux opened the door.
“Sir, this just came in from Pearl.” He passed over a comms slip and left.
PRIORITY RED
R 221345Z OCT 91 ZY10
COMSUBPAC PEARL HARBOR HAWAII//N1//
TO STONEWALL JACKSON
PACFLT// ID S072RQ81//
NAVAL OPS/03
MSGID/PACOPS 6722/COMSUBPAC ACTUAL//
MSG BEGINS://
UPDATE TO CURRENT ROE. WEAPONS FREE IF WEAPON USED AGAINST YOU.
IF SITUATION THREATENING AND YOU BELIEVE ENEMY IS PREPARING FOR IMMINENT WEAPON USE. USE BEST JUDGEMENT.
STATUS: CURRENT IMMEDIATELY.
MSG END://
He smirked and went back to sleep.
SEVERAL HOURS LATER he emerged from his cabin.
“All well XO?”
“Yes sir, no contacts out there, we’re on the northeast leg around 40 miles off the northwest tip. We’re at periscope depth, four knots, batteries near full charge now.”
“Weaps, how are the boat’s teeth?”
Weaps grinned. “All good, I have the weapons Chief running diagnostics on the Harpoons. Found a minor issue with one, we changed the circuit board, we’re downloading a software upgrade from Boeing for the old card and then it’s a good spare. They’ve also been tweaking Vulture’s Stare, I’ve been customising my workstation controls, it’s better now.” Nathan nodded, Weaps was in his element, playing with his toy guns.
They say little boys don’t grow up, their toys just get more expensive, well that was Weaps alright.
“XO, I got this a few hours ago.” He handed over the communication slip. Larry Sayers read it. “That’s clear sir,” he smiled, “it tells us everything and it tells us fuck all.”
“I know Nicolaj Kamov. He wanted to say, sink on suspicion, but he couldn’t. It puts the ball in our court, that’s OK he couldn’t say anything else. We’re as free as we can be, General Cotton’s not stupid, he let Kamov do all he could.”
Minutes went by. Nathan watched his monitor at his conn.
“Sir, we have a full battery charge now.”
“Thanks, retract the snorkel.”
“Snorkel now secure sir.”
Nathan strode to the centre point of the room and stood legs parted.
“Vent forward and aft, trim for diving. Forward one third. Planesman, down bubble ten, make your depth 350 feet.” The deck tilted down to forward. The boat slinked her way down into the dark depths making her way to the northeast. Nathan now felt more secure heading away from the surface. Up there with her mast raised she was more vulnerable, exposed.
He’d listened to the briefings from naval intel. The opposition had respected her, after hearing about her exploits, respect had become fear.
Down here she was where she was intended to be, doing what she was built for. A dark quiet heartless fish designed to seek out and destroy her nation’s foes.
Benson turned to his Commander “Sir, I have a possible contact.” He turned back to his sonar screen. Nathan looked over his shoulder.
“There sir.” He pointed to a vertical trace on the screen.
“It looks like someone spilt oily paint on the monitor. He knew it told Benson lots about the world of sound out there, to him it looked like an abstract painting had melted in the sun.
“It’s faint yet sir, I can’t be sure.” Nathan had learned to respect his sonar man, the “Virginia Visionary” as they called him.
“Go on Chief, what do you think?”
“I’ve been listening to it, for some time now. I think it just made an aspect change.” He rested his hand on Benson’s chair an
d looked at the dripping mystery of the sonar screen.
“Best Virginia guess?”
“I think it’s a Song class, conventional attack boat. He’s got to be thirty miles or so away and heading south.” Nathan knew to take Benson’s guesses seriously.
“Weaps, designate contact as Tango one. What’s the Song class look like?” Weaps looked up the Chinese Song class in the idiot’s guide to Rim Pac forces.
“Diesel-Electric, single shaft, 22 knots, 900 feet depth, medium and low frequency sonar around the bow. Six tubes, Yu-6 wire guided torpedoes, anti-ship and cruise missiles.
In 2006, a Chinese Song class submarine surfaced within firing range of its torpedoes and missiles before being detected. It was within 5 nautical miles of the carrier USS Kitty Hawk while she was operating in the East China Sea off Japan and Taiwan. Cheeky sons of bitches.”
Nathan knew this could be a forward probe.
“Left rudder, come to 270 degrees, we’ll run a ten mile long west-east track from here. Keep Lucy’s ear out there. See what you make of it Benson, good work.”
It took Benson just over an hour.
“Sir, I can confirm Tango one is a PLAN Song class boat. Prop spin count and hull wash sounds indicate type, the library confirms Song class 91%. The library’s a pussy sir, she never gives 100%. Song’s made two aspect changes, it looked like he was trying to detect anybody ahead of him. They were both 60 degree port and starboard turns. I think it’s likely that his sonar lobes are more sensitive in those areas. He’s averaging 14 knots due south southeast from his datum, depth two fifty feet. I have a good track. He’s approx. fifteen miles north of us.”
“Planesman. Left rudder face south, all stop. We’ll let him pass us by.”
TWO HOURS LATER LT Cmd Lemineux handed Nathan a comms slip. “Just in sir.”
PRIORITY RED
R 221345Z OCT 92 ZY10
COMSUBPAC PEARL HARBOR HAWAII//N1//
