Battle Born

by Dale Brown

  "Special weapons? You mean, nuclear weapons'!" Ellen Whiting exclaimed.

  "It's the only viable alternative, ma'am," Freeman said. "We have less than one hundred active long-range bombers and less than three hundred medium bombers in the Air Force, and with three carrier battle groups we add only another eighty Navy medium bombers and perhaps a thousand cruise missiles. Even if we could surge these aircraft to two sorties a day and limit attrition to one percent, we won't have nearly enough assets to even put a dent in a massive Chinese ground and armored invasion. And we have to consider the real possibility that China will switch to weapons-of mass destruction itself when American forces respond. Therefore, I believe we need to make the commitment right up front to deploy and use tactical nuclear, subatomic-yield, or plasma-yield weapons."

  The President and the Vice President were too stunned to react, so Freeman went on: "There are other concerns as well. This will put a tremendous strain on our other world commitments, since every few months at least one additional carrier needs to be rotated in--that's more than one-third of our carrier fleet committed to northeast Asia. This will leave important parts of the world, such as the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, without a carrier battle group for long periods of time. If a crisis erupts in the Balkans, the Aegean, the Baltic, or the eastern Med, we couldn't respond rapidly. We would have to commit large portions of our air forces to the Pacific theater-bombers, tankers, and support aircraft-and since we're talking about the northern Pacific, that means deploying those forces north, to Alaska . . ."

  "Aha-the mention of Adak and Elmendorf wasn't a fluke, eh, Philip?" the Vice President said as she flipped through the report.

  "No, ma'am," Freeman replied. "As soon as we lost the use of our bases in Japan, the Pentagon started looking for other alternatives-and that meant Alaska. Now, with the loss of Korean bases as well, Adak's importance has skyrocketed. We have proposals awaiting authorization to dump a billion dollars into Adak in the next five years and base as many as thirty support aircraft there year-round."

  "Looks to me like you'd better get that proposal into the congressional paper mill right away," the President said. "I'll bet you have an emergency spending plan drafted up as well?"

  "One hundred million dollars over the next two years," Freeman answered. "We can have the Pentagon tack it onto some other spending authorization bill and have it back on your desk for signature in a few days. It won't exactly be a plum base of assignment, but we operated aircraft out of there for decades before."

  "Do it," the President said. "Good work. But I'm still bothered about those carriers, Philip. China will start howling at us if we put three carriers around the Korean peninsula. Besides, the carriers are too attack-heavy. How about just a few ships-a little less intrusive, a little more defense-oriented?"

  "Section Three," Freeman said. The President and Vice President smiled and flipped the pages in their documents. "I had another little talk with General McLanahan just a few days ago, and he sent me a draft of a proposal that has been circulating around for years which we appended to his plan. He says we can effectively increase our forward presence around Korea by a factor of between two and five, using assets we already have. He says with a budget, he can set up a missile defense screen over the entire Korean peninsula without one ground-based system at all."

  "What?" the President exclaimed. "How in the hell is that possible?"

  "I can get him in here in a matter of minutes and he can explain it all to you," General Freeman said. "He just happens to be on his way to Washington."

  "Just happens to be?" the President said. "Good. Let's get him in here and do it." He skimmed through the document, shaking his head in amazement. "Unbelievable. Simply unbelievable. How come we didn't implement this plan before?"

  "General McLanahan won't say so, but we both suspect it was because of General Elliott. You remember how fond he was of the Navy." Sarcasm dripped from every word.

  The President shook his head, reminded that interservice rivalry and mistrust had set fine military plans like these back so many years. "Christ, if he was still alive, with George Balboa still at the Pentagon, we'd be lucky to stop the fighting in our own hallways, let alone in Asia."

  "You mentioned a couple of things I'm not too familiar with, General-subatomic-yield and plasma-yield weapons," Vice President Whiting said. "What are those?"

  "Section Five, ma'am," Freeman said. "That was drawn up by General Elliott's successor, General Terrill Samson, the commander of the High Technology Aerospace Weapons Center, along with General McLanahan. He recently made this presentation before a Senate subcommittee. They have devised a way of using the next generation of powerful weapons for use in both attack and air defense applications.

  "Subatomic-yield weapons are weapons such as neutron bombs that kill with high doses of radiation but cause little blast effect. They are unpopular, politically and otherwise, for obvious reasons; they can kill humans-sometimes with excruciating pain over many months-but leave buildings and weapons largely undamaged."

  "Never heard of a weapon that was popular," the President said. "What about that other thing, the plasma-yield weapons?"

  "Plasma-yield weapons are just making it out of the testing facilities and into field testing," Freeman went on. "They kill and destroy with much greater effectiveness than any other kind of weapon ever devised. They use a small nuclear explosion to generate tremendous amounts of plasma energy-heat so intense that it instantly vaporizes anything it touches. The effect is devastating-targets don't just blow up, they vanish."

  "What do you mean, vanish? Like a space ray or something? Like a Star Trek phaser beam?"

  "Exactly," Freeman said. "Matter is turned into plasma energy, which cannot be sensed by humans--the target vanishes."

  "Talk about politically unpopular!"

  "The weapon has many advantages and many disadvantages," Freeman went on. "It works poorly in the atmosphere. It is horrendously expensive. But a plasma-yield detonation causes no blast effects-no overpressure, no heat, not even much noise, and the size of the blast can be electronically limited and controlled to a great extent. Both weapons are in short supply, but they represent a way to respond to greater threats without resorting to full-yield nuclear weapons."

  The Vice President shook her head. "I'm not sure I like where this discussion is going, Mr. President," she said. "We're planning on deploying nuclear weapons again? And these Buck Rogers weapons sound like political suicide-the spies and saboteurs will be fighting with the protesters for access to the labs and bases where we keep these things. Isn't there any other alternative?"

  "Yes, there is. It's called peace," the President said. "As long as everyone involved agrees to stay calm and not overreact to a situation, we might be able to get through this without having to resort to special weapons. I hope-we all hope-for this best resolution. But we need to plan for the worst." He looked at Freeman and nodded. "Let's get Defense and the boys from Dreamland in here, Philip. We need to get something set up right away, before somebody goes and does something stupid."

  MASTER CONTROL AND REPORTING CENTER,

  OSAN, UNITED REPUBLIC OF KOREA

  (FORMERLY SOUTH KOREA)

  THAT SAME TIME

  The very first indication of danger was a tiny yellow flashing light that could have been missed in the huge array of other lights and indicators on the panel. But the controllers on duty-all Korean now, with no Americans at all-were attentive, and one of them noticed the indicator immediately, as if expecting it.

  One press of a button, and the computer display at the controller's station changed to a pictorial depiction of the detection, plus radar data on the new track. !t took only seconds for the controller to study the data and determine what it was. He hit a yellow ATTENTION button, which flashed a warning at all controllers' stations and connected his mike to them. "All stations, all stations, sector seven reports many inbound radar tracks, southbound courses, altitude and speed in
creasing. Verification protocols in progress, all stations stand by."

  The next step took only seconds as well; a second radar array was tasked to cross-check the first radar's information. Once the two systems verified each other's information, identification was positive. The controller hit a red WARNING button, which illuminated red flashing lights throughout the entire complex and put the controller's microphone on Hot Call, which overrode all other communications in the MCRC. "All stations, all stations, missile warning, missile warning in sector seven. Multiple inbound tracks verified and confirmed. All stations, go to threat condition red." At the same moment, his track data was displayed up on one of the electronic screens in the front of the command center so the other controllers and on-duty commanders could study it.

  "Projected targets?" asked the commander, UROK Air Force Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Park Yom. He had been on duty at the Osan MCRC ever since the visit by the American Vice President, when the attacks on North Korea and the transition to reunification began. He had not seen the light of day since that fateful morning. But he didn't care. The citizens were celebrating above, but Korea was still in danger.

  "One . . , no, two tracks on Seoul," the controller said. "Possibly one of those targeting Inchon. One track on Kunsan, one on Pusan. One track . . , sir, one track heading out over the Sea of Japan, target Japan."

  "Payback for Japan's assistance in the revolution, no doubt," General Park said. "Do we have an origin yet? Do we know where these missiles came from?"

  "Very confusing tracks, sir," the controller responded. "The track aimed at Seoul is a very low-altitude ballistic profile. Same for the one aimed at Inchon."

  "Are you saying that they came from somewhere on the Korean peninsula?"

  "Affirmative, sir. We are processing a possible launch point now."

  "It should have been computed by now. Get on it." The secure phone rang at Park's station. "General Park."

  "This is the president, General," Kwon Ki-chae said. "What is happening? The air raid sirens have gone off." Air raid and poison gas sirens were as much a part of life in Korea as kimchee and hanbok.

  "Have you taken cover, sir?" -*

  "Yes. I'm crowded into the subway terminal at Seoul National University, along with about five thousand others," Kwon replied. "I may die of asphyxiation or be trampled before I die of an attack. What is happening?"

  "We show two inbound on the capital," Park said. "Kunsan and Pusan are also targeted. In addition, one missile is headed for Japan."

  "Oh, no," Kwon said. He was silent for a moment, then said, "It appears they are still aiming for military targets, does it not?"

  "Yes, sir. Except for Pusan."

  "Where did the missiles come from? I want the origins bombarded immediately."

  "The origin of at least some of the missiles appear to be inside the peninsula," Park said. "We suspect communist mobile missiles. Stand by ... Sir, we have indications of successful intercepts over Seoul . . . Sir, we have reports of one Vx toxin warhead impact on the outskirts of Kunsan."

  "Any casualty reports?"

  "No, sir," Park replied. "Not yet. But the industrial facilities would most likely be on the graveyard shift. Perhaps a few thousand casualties, maybe less if the population made it to shelters in time. And as you know, most of our population-North and South-is well trained in the use of gas masks and chemical exposure suits. However, there were a great many refugees being housed at the military facilities there, and we do not know whether they were similarly equipped."

  "Where are those missiles coming from, dammit?"

  "We have points of origin on the missile aimed at Japan, sir," Park said, reading from one of his computer monitors. "The launch point is in southern Yanggang Do province, near Toandonggu. Since it is probably a rail-mobile missile, we will concentrate our search along the rail lines."

  "No chance that missile came from China?"

  "Unlikely, sir. Same for the others. Their trajectory is too low for such short range . . . One moment, sir ... Sir, we are receiving reports of a chemical weapons detonation three kilometers northeast of Tonghae. Estimate a Vx nerve gas attack."

  "Poison gas?" Kwon gasped. "It cannot be! Against Pusan} Where are the winds blowing?"

  "From the north, sir ... Sir, the release may have hit well east of the Kyejwan Mountains," Park went on, trying not to distract himself with the enormity of the death and destruction in one of his country's most beautiful cities. "The mountains may have protected Pusan from serious damage." Most of Pusan was located inside a mountainous bowl-the name "Pusan" means "cauldron"-and it was possible that the mountains, some rising as high as three thousand feet, might have diverted the deadly nerve toxins. But if they blew in and settled past the mountains, they would be trapped inside the bowl and their effects would linger.

  "Casualty estimates there?" But the president already knew the answer. Pusan had a population of about four million; the Tonghae district, about a quarter of a million.

  Kwon Ki-chae felt the fury rise in his throat. It was very probably a miss, but targeting Pusan was an attack not against Korea's military or government, but against its economic center. Pusan was an international port city, like San Francisco or Rio de Janeiro, situated on a natural and beautiful harbor. Preferred as an international port of call rather than a military port complex, it never had much of a military presence-it was never occupied by the Communists during the war, like Seoul. It was Korea's largest port and second largest city, with a vibrant international trade, over twenty foreign consulates, mild weather, and friendly, hardworking citizens. Its population was packed in between the sea and the mountains, a relatively small area, which made a nerve agent attack that much more deadly. As much as attacking the capital itself, targeting Pusan was a bloodthirsty blow against the people and an attempt to chop off Korea's economic lifelines to the rest of the world.

  "This is General Kim," Defense Minister Kim Kunmo said, cutting into the conversation. "I am sorry, sir, but I asked to be patched in by the communications center. Are you safe, sir? Have you taken shelter?"

  "I'm fine for now, General," Kwon said. They heard his voice and the background noise change, as if he was maneuvering through a crowded room to a more private place-no doubt his secret service agents were clearing a path for him. "General, do you realize we have almost used up all of our Patriot missiles? We still have Hawks to protect against aircraft, but we are defenseless against any more ballistic missiles. We need to find those rebels. We need to locate all the missing ballistic missiles before the capital is in ashes!"

  "Sir, we cannot say for certain whether the missiles were launched from inside our country or whether they were launched by Communist rebels," Kim said. "To me, it appears more likely this is the work of the Chinese. They could have brought mobile ballistic missiles into our country to launch from our own soil, just to confuse us. The threat is from China, sir, not from some ghostly rebels. We should retaliate at once against the Chinese forces arrayed against us."

  "Excuse me, General; I was told the evidence suggests that the missiles did not come from China."

  "Are we positive of this, sir?" Kim asked excitedly. "Are you sure those were not Chinese rockets? How can you explain a launch against Japan? Had you ever heard about the Communists targeting Japan?"

  "No," Kwon admitted. The North did once launch one of its early Nodong-1 rockets over Japan, but there had never been any evidence that the Communists ever seriously considered Japan a threat.

  "Sir, I suggest we launch an attack that will deter the Chinese from attempting any more missile attacks on Korea: draw a line back along those missiles' flight path into China. Pick a military base or airfield, preferably one where we know missiles or attack aircraft are based. Then attack it with several of the captured communist missiles with conventional warheads."

  "General, this sounds extraordinarily dangerous," Kwon said. "If China should retaliate, the capital could be destroyed within minutes. Chines
e troops could easily swarm across the border and occupy the northern half of the peninsula before we could respond."

  "Sir, elements of the Eleventh Corps have been deployed to Changbai, just north of the border near Hyesan," Kim said, referring to a map placed before him by his aides. "Approximately thirty thousand troops along a forty-mile front, tank-heavy. Reinforced with air assets from their parent corps at Linjiang, but generally fairly isolated. If they moved south, however, they would be expected to cut off half of Yanggang Do province and all of Hamgyong Pukdo province with ease. The Chinese built a nuclear reactor southwest of Hyesan, and it has long been suspected of being a possible weapons-grade material breeder. This unit lies roughly along the reverse flight path of the rocket aimed at Japan."

  "So? What would be the deterrent factor in such an attack, General?" Kwon asked. "Will killing several thousand Chinese troops make our borders any safer? Do you think that China will not be sending in more reinforcements, every one of them howling mad at us for killing their brothers?" •-%

  "Sir, the concept of deterrence says you must demonstrate the willingness to use war to achieve your objectives," General Kim said. "Having weapons of mass destruction is not enough-we must demonstrate our willingness to use them. This is our opportunity."

  "But against China? If they invaded our territory, perhaps . . ."

  "We are not certain they did not do this!" Kim argued. "It is more likely than not they did launch this attack, as a probe to test our resolve if nothing else. But even aside from that, China is indeed massing troops on our northern border. That is a certainty. These events may be tied together, or they may not. But one thing is certain: we must act. We have a legitimate target. We should act, Mr. President!"