Winter Kill 2 - China Invades Australia

by Gene Skellig

  Winter Kill

  China Invades

  Australia

  By Gene Skellig

  Copyright © 2013 Flea Circus Books Inc.

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN:

  ISBN-13:

  eBook: 978-0-9878645-7-4

  DEDICATION

  This book is dedicated in part to past and future participants of the Commonwealth Antisubmarine Warfare competition known as “Fincastle”, which in 1991 was held at RAAF Edinburgh, near Adelaide, South Australia. In particular, to the flight crew and ground crew of Royal Canadian Air Force 407 Maritime Patrol Squadron “Demons”, Crew 7 “Moosemen”; to the crew of Royal Australian Navy (RAN) Her Majesty’s Australian Ship (HMAS) Ovens, the Oberon Class diesel submarine that proved so elusive to the “407-7”; to the Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3C Orion crew from No.5 Sqn RNZAF Whenuapai, who ultimately won the competition; and to those scoundrels from the Royal Air Force, RAF, Nimrod crew and their “Liars Dice!” Special thanks to the RAAF Edinburgh’s Wing Commander and to our hosts from No. 10 Squadron, and to the locals who gave us all such great experiences such as a tour of the vineyards of Barossa Valley and the Adelaide region in general. These experiences left long-lasting impressions of what Australia is all about.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  The Winter Kill series, and my writing and publishing hobby, would not be possible without the encouragement and support of my wife and our four children. These wonderful, creative, people are a constant source of inspiration which I draw upon in my writing. As I plan my transition from service life to a semi-retired lifestyle as an author I am constantly amazed and reassured by the ease with which they embrace the complexities and challenges presented to them by the world which they are inheriting from us.

  I am grateful for the huge contribution of my editor Michael McGee, and of my stable of ‘beta readers’ with a diverse range of expertise – Ron, Ben, Michel, Rand and others – who read various stages of the manuscript and provided feedback and suggestions to improve the readability and accuracy of the book.

  disclaimer

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to real world events or person living or dead is purely coincidental or used fictitiously.

  FOREWORD

  Winter Kill – China Invades Australia runs parallel to the original, Winter Kill – War With China Has Already Begun. Available on-line at: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0050D7E06 Whether you read War With China or China Invades Australia first is entirely your choice as both novels stand on their own. However, the author recommends reading Winter Kill - War With China Has Already Begun first, as it provides the geopolitical context and other ‘big hands - small map’ type of detail which would ultimately enhance your enjoyment of Winter Kill – China Invades Australia.

  For best results, you may want to open a map application that will allow you to get to know the terrain where this novel is set. Imagine that you are personally involved in this crisis and you are the only one whose internet is still working. You can use internet resources to fact-check salient details and to study the terrain, and to seek out articles about real-world military preparations underway in far flung places such as Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia, South Korea, Japan and other countries which see the rapid build-up of Chinese military forces in the region with increased concern. You may find, as the author suggests, that war with China has already begun and that a Chinese invasion of Australia could be on the horizon. An appreciation for these contemporary geopolitical and military trends will make your reading experience that much more intense. Your ear for snippets of news from the region will be that much more well-tuned to these real-world events.

  CONTENTS

  PROLOGUE: LONG TERM STORAGE

  01. DIPLOMACY

  02. BANISHMENT

  03. BILLABONG

  04. LITTLE DRAGONS

  05. DRAGONFILES

  06. BY LAND IF NOT BY AIR

  07. BYPASSING CUSTOMS

  08. ROPE A DOPE

  09. FOG OF WAR

  10. RUN FLAT

  11. ART OF TOTAL WAR

  12. MASSACRE AT CHARTERS TOWERS

  13. THE ROAD TO CLONCURRY

  14. BILLABANG

  15. INDIAN OCEAN

  16. TERRIBLE MISTAKE

  17. OSAKA TO OTTAWA

  18. COMBAT INEFFECTIVE

  19. UNMISTAKEN IDENTITY

  20. AUSSIE RULES OFFENSE

  21. A FATE WOSE THAN DEATH

  22. DEPARTURE

  CAST OF KEY CHARACTERS

  People’s Liberation Army (PLA)

  Major Gouling Fang

  – Little Dragon

  Captain Zhao Yingting

  – Little Dragon

  Colonel Huang

  – External Intelligence

  General Bing

  – Supreme Military Commander, China

  Colonel Hua

  – Executive Asst to Gen. Bing, Jinan District

  Colonel Xu

  – External Intelligence

  Colonel Guo

  – CO of air assaulters at New Zealand

  Colonel Yip

  – CO of372nd Division

  L.Gen Leung

  – Army Group North

  Colonel Wu

  – 2 IC to L Gen Leung

  Colonel Ma

  – CO of air assaulters, QLD

  Wan Shanyu

  – infanteer, 4th Btn, 370th

  General Sheung

  – Army Group South

  Colonel Jing

  – 1st Armored Div, 65th GA

  United States of America

  Rylan O’Connor

  – CIA Station Chief, Australia

  Carl

  – Deputy Station Chief

  James Webber

  – Secretary of State

  L Col Peter Weir

  – 75th Ranger Regiment

  Cheryl Weir

  – Wife of Peter Weir

  Jake Weir

  – son of Peter Weir

  Major Joe Blakely

  – USMCLnO to Aus Army

  Tannis Blakely

  – Wife of Joe

  Agness Blakely

  –Blakely daughter, dating Sunny Yao

  Sunny Yao (Yao Ming)

  – Chinese-American teenager

  Stanley Yao (Yao Ping)

  – US engineer working in Australia

  Top Sgt Rick Rideout

  – Top Sergeant, 3rd Marines

  Master Gunnery Sgt Gary Gannon

  – Master Gunnery Sergeant

  Matthew “Matt” Blakely

  – WO, Mt Weather EOC

  General Upton (retired)

  – Matt Blakely’s father-in-law

  Maggie Blakely

  – Upton girl, Matt’s wife

  Catherine MacInnes

  – Upton girl, wife of Owen

  Owen MacInnes

  – Mechanic, Richland Center

  Ian Morgan

  – Mechanic, friend of Owen

  Beth Morgan

  – Secretary to L Col Hurdman

  LCol Hurdman

  – CO, 1st Det, 829th Eng Coy, Richland

  Captain Jarvis

  – Marine, MAGTFA

  Lieutenant Lion

  – MAGTFA, Darwin, Log Officer

  Colonel Millar

  – 3rd Marines, M4 Log, MAGTFA

  Australia

  Captain Thorne

  – 1 Cdo, Aus Special Forces

  Sgt Wendy Hayman

  – Military Police, 1st Bde, 1 Div

  Cpl Dickie Guay

  – Miliary Pol
ice, 1st Bde, 1 Div

  General Adams

  – Commaning Officer, 1 Div

  Nicholas Lenko

  – Leading Snr Constable, NSW

  Allied Military Personnel

  Col Mike Latimer

  – Canadian Military Attaché, Tokyo

  Sarah Latimer

  – Wife of Colonel Mike Latimer

  Group Captain Patel

  – Indian Air Force, Wing Comd

  General Singh

  –II Indian Armoured Corps

  Commander Malhotra

  – Captain(N), Indian convoy escort

  Sqn Ldr Tanta

  – Indian Air Force SU30MK1 pilot

  Military Units

  United States of America:

  3rd Marines MAGTFA

  - (Air Ground Task Force Australia)

  DDG 114 Ralph Johnson

  – Air Warfare Destoryer

  DDG 111 Spruance

  – Air Warfare Destroyer

  DDG 116 Thomas Hudner

  – Air Warfare Destroyer

  Australia:

  Forces Command HQ

  – Sydney, HQ ADF

  HMAS Hobart

  – Air Warfare Destroyer, Adelaide

  Royal Australian Army (RAA)

  -1st Division, “1st Div”, combat ready

  3rd Brigade, 1st Division (Townsville, QLD)

  1st Armored Regiment

  No.4 Field Artillery Regiment

  -2nd Division, “2nd Div”, Res, low readiness

  -1st Commando Div(Sydney), Special Forces

  Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF)

  RAAF Base Tindal – F/A-18 Fighters

  People’s Republic of China (PRC):

  People’s Liberation Army (PLA)

  PLA Ground Force (PLAGF),

  PLA Air Force (PLAAF),

  PLA Navy (PLAN)

  Beijing Military Region

  -38th Group Army, General Guo

  Guangzhou Military Region

  (south-coast, Hong Kong, Macau)

  -42nd Group Army

  – infamous for Korean Chosin Resevoir

  Special Operations Battalion

  124th Amphibious Mech Infantry Div

  370th, 371st, 372nd Regiments

  163rd Division

  Jinan Military Region

  20th Group Army, “all brigade”

  41st Group Army

  123rd Mechanized

  20th Division

  PROLOGUE

  LONG TERM STORAGE

  Here we go, the Customs and Immigration Officer sighed quietly to himself as he scanned the rows of people lining up in front of him. This bunch would be arriving off the Qantas flight from Hong Kong. They might be a little better behaved than the passengers from other parts of the world. An increasing number of travelers seemed more desperate, more troublesome these days. But then, the whole world was different now.

  The Officer straightened up and set his shoulders back, Australia’s first line of defense from the relentless hordes. He motioned the man at the front of the line to come forward. The Chinese, very tall and gangly, lurched towards him awkwardly. He was young, in his late twenties, and fit-looking. But otherwise, he was a hopeless mess: an ill-fitting suit a few sizes too small, a tousled mop of hair with beads of sweat trickling down the forehead of his flushed face, clammy skin, and eyes darting left to right like a man at the gallows. The Officer took it all in and decided to give this one a careful check.

  Four lines to the left, Major Goulong Fang progressed towards the front of the line. He turned his focus inward, trying to reach a Chi-Kung meditative state of equanimity. As he felt himself relax, his pulse and breathing slowing, he knew that his outward appearance had become a relaxed, unhurried, calm.

  The passenger in front of him was waved to the counter, leaving Fang on-deck at the yellow line. He looked around at the other passengers from the Qantas flight from Hong Kong. A few lines to his right, he saw the nervous young Chinese being motioned to come forward. Should have had some Chi-Kung training, he thought of his compatriot.

  “What is the purpose of your visit to Australia?” asked the inspector. Fang overheard, noticing the Officer’s distinctive Australian-English accent.

  “I am a student. It is recorded into my Academic Visa,” the gangly Chinese stammered, holding open his passport to the page where a Student Visa was attached.

  “How do you pronounce your name, in English?”

  “Yingting-Zhao. Err, Zhao Yingting.” The man replied, seemingly confused about his own name.

  “Which is it, Mr. Zhao or Mr. Yingting?”

  “I sorry for confusing. English naming is upside-downside from Chinese. I am in English Yingting. My name is Zhao.”

  Shaking his head at the tall young man’s confusion, the inspector felt more confident in his impression that there was something wrong with the man. Is he high? A drug mule? But the drug trade had taken such a back seat in security matters these days…

  “Would you please open up your suitcase, Sir?”

  “By all means, Sir,” said the bean-pole, fumbling with his keys and hastily undoing the tiny lock. Then he zipped open his suitcase while the immigration inspector took a more careful look at the man’s student Visa.

  Finding nothing out of the ordinary the inspector turned his attention to the contents of the suitcase. With his white-gloved hands, he gently probed the sides, top and bottom of the suitcase for hidden compartments. He took his time examining every detail of the Chinese national’s possessions.

  He squeezed the folded clothing gently but firmly, like a paramedic might feel a casualty’s body for internal injuries. Nothing seemed unusual about the clothing, which was folded and packed with military precision.

  “And what is this?” he asked, holding up a small porcelain statue of a top-knotted man dressed in robes and sitting on a throne, “This some kind of Buddha?”

  “No Sir! That is Laojun, the Lord Laozi in his divine aspect,” the man said with enormous pride.

  “Is this an artifact, or some other culturally significant or valuable piece?” the Immigration Officer asked, uncertain if it was on the list of restricted imports.

  “Not at all, Sir. It is simple tourist gift. I was….I obtained it at Jinan Province before my traveling here. I planning to giving it as gifting to Australian host family.”

  “Host Family?”

  “Yes, Dr. Samulski Jack. His is familying my host stay. I am life with them to finished Diploma at Sustainability in Port Macquarie TAFE campus.”

  Looking unsure about the young man, the inspector turned the statuette over carefully in his hands. This seemed to make the man incredibly nervous, but when the inspector saw ‘MADE IN CHINA’ stamped on the bottom of the statuette, he realized that it was a simple tourist piece and not an archeological treasure.

  The inspector stopped for a moment. This character is just not right, he thought to himself. He’s nervous like an amateur drug smuggler, but his luggage is clean... It’s been through the x-ray and the sniffer-tunnel, and the man’s already cleared the metal detector or he wouldn’t have even been able to board the plane back in Hong Kong. But still...he looked around. The other Officers had their hands full with the passengers coming up the other lines. People in the line in front of him were standing quietly, but he could sense their impatience. Do I alert the shift super and risk another false alarm? On what, my hunch? I’ll get another black mark on my record. he thought to himself. Or should I just let the bugger go?

  “Welcome to Australia,” he said, handing the Laozi statuette to the man, who reached out for it reverently, with both hands. The Officer waved the next person up. Despite his misgivings, he had nothing to go on other than the man’s obvious jitters.

  Watching from just a few meters away, Major Fang wondered for a moment whether the Australian Customs and Immigrations Officers would pick up on the large number of such statuettes that were in the suitcases of many exceptionally fit young
Chinese entering Australia over the last few days.

  Having been briefed-in on his assignment to a much greater extent than less experienced Little Dragon agents, Major Fang knew that there were several hundred such agents making their way to their assignments across Australia, and that each of them had their own Laozi statuette.

  Fang remembered when he had been given the details of his assignment directly from Colonel Huang, commander of Fang’s unit within the External Intelligence Directorate. He had been given his own Laozi at that meeting; he remembered that his first impression of the statuette was that its face made him think of some of the Generals commanding the People’s Liberation Army. But why? He had concentrated for a moment and then it had come to him: it looks just like General Bing! Makes sense, Fang reflected, after all, the man was just elevated from commander of Jinan Military District to be the Chief of the People’s Liberation Army General Staff, our supreme commander.

  Based on the role that the statuettes were to play in the operation, it now seemed obvious to Fang that General Bing was the genius behind OPERATION WINTER SNAKE. Of course, he would not share his deductions with anybody. That would be too risky, violating everything that Major Fang knew about OPSEC and INFOSEC. He could not share his insight with anybody. It was enough to be given such an important mission and the freedom of action required to carry it out. He knew that he was the right man for the job, which was more than he could say about many of the other Little Dragons.

  Fang watched the tall, nervous Chinese, who had almost begged for the Australian Customs and Immigration Officer to detain him for looking suspicious, gather his things and move on hurriedly. What a dead-head, Fang thought. Why would we have need of such a bumbler, he reflected sourly. Then, as he watched the Chinese blunder hopelessly along, a head taller than nearly everyone else in the arrivals area, it made him stop and think.

  Fang’s meditations were abruptly stopped. The Chinese blunderer halted awkwardly, his upper body threatening to crash forward while his feet stopped in place. He was letting a large black man pass by. The man craned his neck up as the Chinese towered over him. He nodded and smiled in appreciation, and turned on his way. The Chinese kept looking at the black man as he walked away, quietly saying “Hac gwai,” under his breath, with a sneer on his face. The husky black man passed, and then stopped to talk to a man in an airport uniform.