Fatal Terrain

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by Dale Brown


  been sunk, and the PLAN's getting ready to deep-six the

  other."

  "Too bad," Cowen replied with obvious disinterest in his

  voice. "I'll pass the word along. Any of our guys in the area?"

  "Just that Thunder Pig," Allen replied derisively, smiling

  when Terrill Samson turned toward him when he heard Allen's

  name for the Megafortress.

  "Just make sure Headbanger doesn't pop off any of his

  flying wet dreams until we get a look at the situation."

  "Too late, sir," Allen said. "Headbanger's already

  launched-without permission. A couple decoy cruise missiles

  that suckered a bunch of PLAN anti-ship cruise missiles pretty

  good .

  "Dammit, Crusher knew he'd do that," Admiral Cowen

  swore across the secure satellite hookup. "Crusher" was Ad-

  miral George Balboa's call sign-and it fit his personality and

  management style too, both he and Allen knew. "Recall that

  contraption. Get it on the ground. Elliott is history!"

  "Aye, sir," Allen responded. To the TAO, he shouted, "Is-

  sue recall instructions to Headbanger. Disengage and RTB,

  right now."

  Samson hit a button on his communications panel. "Excuse

  me, Wran gler. This is Buster-"

  "You give Elliott the order to launch those missiles?"

  Cowen snapped.

  "No, sir," Samson replied. "Headbanger reacted to protect

  the Taiwanese frigate when the PLAN launched an anti-ship

  missile and gun barrage. One Taiwanese warship's been sunk,

  and the other is in imminent danger. We need permission to

  launch anti-radar and anti-missile weapons and, if necessary,

  attack the PLAN guided-missile boats with attack cruise mis-

  siles."

  "Denied," Cowen said immediately. "Terminate the mis-

  sion, recall all aircraft, and get them on the ground immedi-

  ately."

  "Sir, the captain of the Taiwanese frigate, Captain Sung,

  reports that the PLAN carrier battle group is carrying nuclear

  land attack and anti-ship missiles," Samson said. "We should

  stop the task force from-"

  FATAL TER RAI N 143

  "What do you mean, the captain of the Taiwanese frigate

  reports?" Cowen exploded. "You mean, you're in contact

  with the Taiwanese vessels? How-T'

  "The skipper of the lead Taiwanese frigate contacted Head-

  banger," Samson said. "I don't know how-there must've

  been a security breakdown."

  "Or else Elliott gave them the UHF synchronizer codes!"

  Cowen retorted. "I'll bet he's the damned security breakdown!

  This mission is supposed to be secret, General! That was your

  damn idea, from the beginning-it was supposed to be secret

  even from the ROC. I want those planes recalled and that

  bastard Elliott.. . " he stopped, realizing he was breaking

  communications security, which made him even madder,

  . . put on house arrest!"

  "Sir, if Headbanger is recalled, that second Taiwanese frig-

  ate will be a sitting duck," Samson argued. "At least authorize

  Headbanger to release their defensive weapons-the remaining

  Wolverines and the Tacit Rainbow cruise missiles. These

  weapons will stay in the area protecting the frigate while they

  withdraw."

  "I'm giving you a direct order, Buster-recall Headbanger

  now!" Cowen shouted. "They are not to release any weapons

  except to protect themselves while they clear the area and re-

  cover. Is that clear?"

  "Perfectly clear, sir,'-' Admiral Allen, who had been listen-

  ing in, replied. "I'll see to it myself immediately." And the

  line went dead. Allen hung up the phone, then said, "TAO,

  issue a recall order to the bomber force, and have the order

  authenticated-by Elliott personally. The mission is termi-

  nated, and he's on report."

  ABOARD THE EB-52 MEGAFORTRESS

  THAT SAME TIME

  "Terminated?" Elliott retorted. "They can't do this to us

  now!" He keyed the mike on the secure satellite link: "Hey,

  Earthmover, tell the squids to go to hell! We're going to cover

  that frigate's withdrawal!"

  "Negative, Headbanger," Admiral Allen replied. "This is

  Trident, and it's a direct order from Wrangler. Your orders are

  144 DALE BROWN

  to terminate and withdraw. You are authorized to expend

  weapons only to defend yourself as you withdraw and RTB.

  Time now, zero-three-two-two-four-eight, authentication

  tango. Do you copy?"

  "Hey, Billy, authenticate this:,fuck you!" Elliott shot back

  angrily, and he switched the secure satellite transceiver off his

  comm panel. "I knew they'd do this," he said hotly. "First

  chance they got, they recalled us."

  "We've done everything we could," Nancy Cheshire said.

  "If we try to defend that Taiwanese frigate any more, we risk

  getting sucked closer and closer in toward that Chinese fleet-

  and that might not be as bad as the ass-kicking we'd get by

  CINCPAC or Balboa once we got back home. You got a head-

  ing to the refueling anchor point, Patrick?"

  "Heading indicator is good back to the air refueling anchor

  point," McLanahan said, calling up the coordinates on his

  computer and entering them into his navigation system.

  "Hey, we can't bug out of here now," Elliott said angrily,

  as he connected the autopilot to the navigation computers and

  monitored the turn to the east. "We haven't done squat, and

  we're about to watch the PLAN sink a Taiwanese frigate and

  kill hundreds more sailors. Doesn't that mean anything to you

  guys?"

  "Sir, we were given an order to withdraw," Cheshire said.

  "I know you don't like it, but we've got to follow those or-

  ders." She hesitated for a moment, then added, "Don't we?"

  "Patrick, you're the mission commander-it's up to you,"

  Elliott said. "But you know as well as I do that if Allen or

  Balboa had their fingers on the triggers, they'd shoot."

  "Maybe, maybe not-that's not our problem," McLanahan

  said. "We were ordered to withdraw, so we withdraw. We'll

  follow orders." The interphone got very quiet. He called up a

  repeater of Emil Vikram's large threat display, superimposing

  it over his God's-eye view so he could map out exactly which

  ships were transmitting. "Emitter, I see that carrier, the north-

  ern destroyer, and those seven northern patrol boats all hitting

  us with target-tracking radar. We're under attack."

  "Why, you sly devil," Cheshire said, turning and grinning

  at her OSO over her shoulder.

  "I believe you're right, Muck," Elliott said. "The PLAN

  is attacking us!"

  "The signal thresholds are too low," Vikrarn said, still con-

  FATAL TERRAI N 145

  fused. "Call up my sigma-echo screen and look for yourselves.

  They can't possibly have a lock."

  "I say we're an item of interest, and we're allowed to use

  all weapons to defend ourselves," McLanahan said emphati-

  cally. "We need to shut down those radars. Stand by for bomb

  bay missile launch, crew, twelve Rainbows." McLanahan des-

  ignated the targets for the
anti-radar cruise missiles: the carrier,

  the northern destroyer, and four of the seven guided-missile

  patrol boats that were transmitting anti-ship missile-targeting

  radar energy. "Doors coming open, crew." He hit the com-

  mand button and spoke: "Launch commit Rainbow missiles."

  WARNING, LAUNCH COMMIT TWELVE BOMB BAY TACIT

  RAINBOW missiLEs, the computer reported, then entered a

  launch hold.

  "Launch," McLanahan commanded. The launch hold was

  cleared, and the crew felt the rumble of the fibersteel bomb

  doors retracting inside the bomb bay; a few seconds later, the

  noise was gone. "All Tacit Rainbows away," McLanahan re-

  ported.

  As they dropped clear of the bomb bay, the AGM- 1 36 Tacit

  Rainbow cruise missiles, each about six feet long, a little more

  than a foot in diameter, and weighing less than a thousand

  pounds, deployed short stubby wings and horizontal and ver-

  tical stabilizers and descended toward the sea. As they got

  closer to the surface, they activated their turbojet engines, in-

  creasing their speed to over 300 miles an hour, and leveled

  off at 500 feet above the sea. One missile's engine failed to

  light off despite dozens of automatic relights, and it glided for

  another nine - miles before hitting the ocean and breaking into

  pieces. Another missile, performing its automatic self-test, de-

  termined that its navigational and sensor accuracy was not

  within its standards; it performed a systems reset, still found

  itt systems faulty, then automatically performed a suicide dive

  straight down into the rock-hard sea.

  One by one, the missiles took up five-mile-long figure-eight

  orbits at its assigned patrol point, took a GPS satellite fix to

  nail down its navigational accuracy, and activated its passive

  electronic sensors. The frequency and pulse rate of every sig-

  nal received was instantly compared to signatures in their com-

  puter memories, and if it matched, the missile immediately

  began homing in on the signal. Each missile would then in-

  146 DALE BROWN

  stantly report back to McLanahan by datalink that it was

  locked on.

  "All surviving Rainbows tracking," McLanahan reported.

  "I'm sending a couple back into their orbits." Several Rain-

  bows had locked onto the same radar, so McLanahan had to

  divert a couple of them back into patrol racetracks so he didn't

  waste any missiles. "Looking good, guys."

  ABOARD THE CHINESE CARRIER MAO ZEDONG

  "Interceptor Group One ready for launch, sir," the officer of

  the deck reported.

  "Very well," Admiral Yi responded. "Have Interceptor

  One establish a high combat patrol at the last known-"

  Just then, they heard a loud booom! roll across the sea. Yi

  ran over to the port rail and saw a cloud of smoke coming

  from the destroyer Kang. "Something hit the Kang! " the look-

  out shouted. Seconds later, another loud explosion rang out,

  and Yi watched in horror as a piece of the Mao's Kilo-band

  fire-control radar for the SA-N-9 antiaircraft missile system

  crashed to the deck just aft of the bridge. Seconds later, an-

  other loud explosion rattled the ship. "Smoke coming from

  the Kang! Looks like he took a missile hit!"

  "Never mind the Kang! Get me a damage report on my

  ship! "

  The phone from Engineering rang just then, and the OOD

  took the damage report: "Kilo- and Ku-band fire-control radar

  array and X-band targeting radar for the Granit missiles hit,

  sir," the officer of the deck reported. "No casualties, no in-

  juries. The flight deck is clear."

  Thank the stars, Yimurmured to himself Yi had never be-

  fore been in combat-he had been based ashore during the

  Philippine and Vietnamese naval conflicts-and the speed of

  the attack, combined with the sudden realization that this big

  high-tech steel ship was vulnerable and they were very far

  from friendly shores, was beginning to invade his conscious-

  ness, replacing pure, abject fear with all other thoughts about-

  his crew and his ship. "Very well." He slammed that phone

  down and picked up the one to his Combat Information Center.

  "Combat, bridge. Status report."

  FATAL T ER RAI N 147

  "SA-N-9 antiaircraft system is down to optronic guidance

  only," the combat officer responded. "Granit targeting system

  is degraded. We can tie it to the India- or Sierra-band navi-

  gation radars for target acquisition-as long as the target does

  not go outside the missile's sixty-degree seeker cone, it will

  track by itself."

  Yi had to consciously straighten his shoulders and force

  himself to think to keep from panicking. "Very well. I want

  a full damage-control report, weapons stations first. Switch to

  backup fire-control sensors."

  "Lookouts report missiles inbound!" the quartermaster

  shouted suddenly. "Small missiles, one hundred meters above

  the water, slow speed, numerous missiles! Should we en-

  gageT I

  Yi felt his knees buckle and his heart pound in his chest.

  Enough, dammit, enough! "Signal the formation, secure all

  fire-control radars, now!" Yi shouted frantically. "Shut them

  down now! Order the entire battle group to switch to manual

  or optronic fire control." His instructions were carried out just

  in time, for a few seconds later Yi saw a small cruise missile

  streak overhead with a tiny whistling sound. It was performing

  a wide oval pattern about two hundred meters above the ship.

  "My God," he muttered as another missile whistled past, or-

  biting a bit lower and in the opposite direction-it felt as if

  they were large irritating mosquitoes buzzing just out of reach.

  "Use the AK-630s and shoot those damn things down, damn

  you-but do not use fire-control radars!"

  "What should we do, sir?" the officer of the deck asked.

  "The Kang and Changsha cannot attack without using their

  radars. "

  "Be silent, damn you," Yi shouted. "Have Missile Attack

  Squadron One move forward in the group and attack the Na-

  tionalist frigate using optronic sensors. That should keep it

  busy so it cannot launch any more missiles against us, and

  maybe we will get lucky and destroy it. I want every ship in

  this fleet to go on the attack and destroy that rebel frigate

  immediately!

  Those small missiles must have been launched by a sub-

  marine or stealth aircraft, Admiral Yi thought. His long-range

  radars were not the best, bat if there were any normal aircraft

  within a hundred kilometers or any subs within five kilometers,

  they would have detected them. That means that Taiwan was

  148 DALE BROWN

  getting assistance-and with weapons that sophisticated, that

  assistance had to be from the United States.

  "Any word from Beijing?" Yi asked.

  "Beijing advises that a message is being relayed through

  the Army Air Force and Navy to provide support so that we

  may have some coverage in case Taiwan launches attack air-

 
; craft. "

  Yi swore again, then said, "I want whatever air support the

  PLA can provide out to support us immediately," Admiral Yi

  shouted. "Is that clear? Patrol aircraft, helicopters, gliders, I

  do not care! Tell Beijing in the strongest possible way to get

  us some air support! What about our fighters?"

  "Interceptor One is ready to launch, sir." Yi looked out

  toward the flight deck. They had modified the takeoff positions

  on the carrier to allow up to three fighters to take off nearly

  simultaneously: the first fighter started at the holdback position

  farthest to port on the 195-meter launch point; another waited

  at the number two holdback launch position on the 210-meter

  spot at the port fantail; and a third fighter was being steered

  into position at the number three launch position at the star-

  board fantail position. The first' Su-33 ran its engines up to full

  afterburner power, the steel wheel chocks retracted into the

  deck, and the fighter accelerated down the flight deck, then up

  onto the "ski jump" and into the sky. Once the first fighter

  cleared the bow, the second fighter began its takeoff run. The

  first fighter disappeared from view for a few moments as its

  momentum carried it down, but seconds later it could be seen

  gracefully arcing through the sky. Ten seconds later, the sec-

  ond Sukhoi-33 was airborne, chasing its leader.

  "Get Interceptor Two up on deck and ready to go as soon

  as Interceptor One finds that American bomber," Yi ordered.

  "Find that American stealth bomber!"

  ABOARD THE EB-52 MEGAFORTRESS

  THAT SAME TIME

  The NIRTSat radar satellite reconnaissance system used six

  low-orbiting satellites, with as many as three taking high-

  resolution "snapshots" of the desired target area

  simulataneously, then combining them electronically into a

  FATAL T ER RAI N 149

  three-dimensional picture. But taking and processing these

  high-tech snapshots took time, sometimes as iong as two

  minutes. McLanahan's supercockpit display system could pre-

  dict the movement of ships and aircraft based on their previous

  position, heading, and speed, but in the heat of battle, two

 

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