Battle Born

by Dale Brown

  "The safest alternative was to retake the military facilities, remove the scientific and manufacturing data, destroy the facilities, and then depart. This is our intention." Zhou fixed the President with a sincere gaze. "It is the truth, Mr. President. China only desires peace. It is true we assisted North Korea in its development of weapons of mass destruction. North Korea needed our economic assistance, and we wanted to ensure that our influence exceeded that of the Russians. Setting up weapons laboratories was a simple and effective way of making sure North Korea stayed in our sphere of influence."

  "And what about the other invasions along the border?" the President asked. "Four brigades on the march in the first hour alone?"

  "I am a bureaucrat, not a soldier," Ambassador Zhou said. "I do not understand military tactics. But I assure you, our only intention is to disable or destroy the nuclear, chemical, and biological labs in Chagang Do province. Perhaps the other moves are feints to divide and confuse the Koreans. If they launched nuclear weapons against our forces in Chagang Do province, perhaps the other units could accomplish the mission. We know what secrets those weapons facilities hold, sir. If United Korea was allowed to use those laboratories to develop new weapons or to repair its existing arsenal, the threat against our country would be absolutely intolerable."

  "You mean, the risk of Korea's revolution spreading to China would be intolerable?" the President asked knowingly. Zhou seemed to squirm uncomfortably and he averted his eyes as if he had just been discovered in a lie. "You know as well as we do that Korea is not a threat to China or anyone else, that even a nuclear arsenal doesn't make Korea's threat any greater. But China can't allow a successful revolution on its borders because it might spark a similar revolution in China."

  "That is hardly the issue, sir . . ."

  "Oh, but I think it is," President Martindale said. "A few provinces in China think they have a 'shot at autonomy. If Beijing doesn't do anything against a nuclear-armed Korea, maybe they won't do anything against Inner Mongolia, or Xinjiang, or Tibet. Maybe you thought you needed to show Vietnam or the Philippines or Taiwan that you are still the big kid on the block. Maybe with democracy breaking out in Asia, Beijing is finding it more difficult to deal with protests and insurgency without using military force!"

  "This speculation is pointless!" Zhou interjected. "Mr. President, I have stated my government's position as openly and honestly as possible. China is concerned about United Korea's development of more weapons of mass destruction using captured Chinese technology, so we have taken steps to prevent the technology from falling into their hands.

  "I assure you, this is a peaceful undertaking," Zhou went on. "We desire nothing but peace. Our intention is to transport sensitive weapons technology and information out of Chagang Do province, then make sure that the Koreans cannot use the laboratories, and test and manufacturing facilities. We will destroy only military facilities. My government is even willing to reimburse United Korea for damage to civilian and nonmilitary properties we may cause. But we will do this. Kwon says he will go to war to remove us. We say we will go to war to prevent any more weapons of mass destruction from falling into Kwon's evil hands. I think we all know who would win such a confrontation."

  "Mr. Ambassador, listen to me very carefully," President Martindale said. "The United States was more than willing to give peace a chance when the bloodless revolution took place and the peninsula was reunited. We did everything asked of us: we vacated the country, abandoned our bases, and pulled out. We did this because we wanted to show China and the world that we could trust and be trusted. As long as the conflict in

  Korea was between Koreans, we were willing to stand aside.

  "But with Chinese troops on Korean soil, it's not an internal matter anymore. I feel betrayed. The American people trusted me to keep Korea free. My duty was to the thousands of Americans who died trying to defend freedom and democracy in Korea in the 1950s. I trusted you, and now China has broken that trust. My people, and the shades of the men and women who died in the Korean War, are ready to turn their backs on me."

  "Mr. President, I ..."

  "Be quiet and listen, Mr. Ambassador," Martindale went on angrily. "As long as Chinese troops are on Korean soil, my promise to stay out of Korea's affairs is ended. I now promise the complete opposite: I now promise that I will strike with all the power at my command any foreign military forces in Korea. The life of every soldier your country has sent into Korea is in my hands right now, do you understand?"

  "You dare threaten the lives of Liberation Army soldiers so casually, sir?" Zhou asked, trying to inject as much indignation as he could into his voice. "My country has fought wars that have lasted longer than your nation's entire existence^."

  "Mr. Ambassador, we have spent the last two years since the Taiwan crisis examining your nation's military," Secretary of Defense Chastain said. "We know your strengths and weaknesses, probably better than you know them yourself. China is a formidable adversary. But we stopped you from taking Taiwan, and we'll stop you from taking Korea-any way we can."

  Ambassador Zhou gathered his briefcase and headed for the door but stopped and turned. "Mr. President, Madam Vice President, gentlemen. I implore you one last time: do not interfere in this. We have no intention of precipitating or fighting a war with United Korea.

  But if China is faced with the prospect of a nuclear-armed Korea on its front doorstep, inciting revolution and insurrection and supporting Chinese dissidents with its nuclear weapons, we will act. And we will consider any nation that aids the Koreans to be our sworn enemy as well."

  "We do not appreciate your threats, Mr. Ambassador," the President said. "Tell President Jiang and the Politburo that China first made the mistake by arming North Korea and building those weapons facilities. You do not have the right to interfere now that those facilities are not under your rightful control, no matter what your rationale is. Peace begets peace, Mr. Ambassador, and conflict begets conflict. Chinese troops are on Korean soil and have killed or captured thousands of Koreans. If it's peace you're working for, you're not going about it the right way.

  "My demand is simple: Remove your forces from Korea immediately. If we see China's forces moving north at great speed within the hour, we will speak with President Kwon and compel him to stop any offensives against your retreating forces. If you do not begin withdrawing your forces within the hour, they will be destroyed. Plain and simple."

  Zhou said nothing. He hid a deep scowl by bowing deeply, then departed.

  The President returned to his desk and took a moment to collect his thoughts and try to unwind. "Well, that went swimmingly. China has come right out and admitted they're taking a Korean province for an indefinite period of time."

  "What is Kwon going to do?" the Vice President asked. "He's shown us he's capable of anything. He's likely to level everything inside Chagang Do province with whatever weapon he can."

  The President stared out the window, lost in thought. "And I can't blame him," he said finally. "If it's proved that Kwon launched those rockets against China even though he knew China didn't attack, his actions are unconscionable. But he's also demonstrated his resolve to defend United Korea using every tool at his disposal. I believe Zhou when he says China is afraid of Kwon. I'm afraid of Kwon, and I don't think he has any missiles pointed at us. China might very well do as Zhou says they will: destroy the nuclear weapons labs, burn everything down, and get out."

  "And that wouldn't make me unhappy either," Philip Freeman admitted. "The question is, who's going to step over the line next? Will Kwon back off? And if he doesn't, how much force is he going to use?"

  "And what the hell do we do in the meantime?" the President asked. "Do we risk an escalation by sending in more aircraft carriers? What do we do if China and Korea start an all-out missile exchange? Do we dare even put our forces at risk?"

  "Our best shot right now is McLanahan and his Coronet Tiger antimissile technology," National Security Adviser Freeman said. "I
f he can keep everybody's head down and prevent any more mushroom clouds from going up over Korea or China, we may have enough time to defuse this matter."

  "What's the status of McLanahan's deployment?" Chastain asked.

  "The support teams were dispatched right after you gave the order, while the Nevada Air National Guard crews were recalled and the bombers got ready to deploy," Freeman replied. "The bombers launched late last night." He glanced at Admiral Balboa. "Unfortunately, because of what the Guard troops did during their evaluation, Admiral Balboa ordered the Coronet Tiger program halted and all the funding pulled, McLanahan has a substantially degraded force."

  "But I notice McLanahan and Samson disregarded my orders and went ahead anyway," Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Balboa said. "I ordered the program halted and the planes to be returned to the Guard until I could conduct a full investigation-instead, they convinced the state of Nevada to turn the planes over to them for a dollar each per year! A fucking dollar"

  "Those planes do belong to Nevada, Admiral . . ."

  "And Samson dumped a quarter of a billion dollars of unauthorized funds into modifying them, against my orders," Balboa went on angrily. "When are we going to stop rewarding these HAWC guys for disobeying orders? This Lancelot thing has only undergone limited testing and only one live launch-illegally, against Navy ships, I might add. And what about those Air National Guard crews? I briefed Arthur and Philip on what they did during their predeployment exercise. They're dangerous as hell."

  Balboa glanced at Freeman. He knew that Philip Freeman had the President's ear much more often than he did; he knew the President liked to use secret programs to avoid a lot of public or congressional scrutiny. But just because he knew what the President preferred didn't mean he had to recommend it to him, as Freeman was apt to do: "Sir, I have great respect for Generals Samson and McLanahan, and I know you do too. They're true patriots. But they operate well outside an established chain of command. Even I do not have full authority to interfere with a HAWC project because of all the security involved. If they don't answer to me, whom do they answer to? Will the President of the United States have to issue orders directly to a couple of Air National Guard pilots thousands of miles away? That's not how it's supposed to work, sir." -*

  Balboa paused, considering his next words-he knew full well how the President respected Samson's predecessor-then said, "I truly believe, sir, with no disrespect, that Brad Elliott's don't-give-a-shit attitude has carried through to Samson and McLanahan. Their unauthorized and potentially disastrous plasma-yield warhead test near our Navy support ships, and their tacit approval of that Nevada Air Guard's actions in the bombing ranges, bear this out. I believe that once those two get into it, they'll disregard any plan of action or lawful order if it doesn't fit in with their own agenda. And if they start lobbing plasma-yield missiles into China without proper authorization, they could single-handedly plunge the world into nuclear war. I believe we can't take the chance."

  "I think that's unfair, Admiral," Freeman said.

  Balboa ignored him. "Mr. President, I know how much respect you had for General Elliott and his men. But they haven't proved themselves in combat conditions yet. All they know is what Brad Elliott taught them years ago, which was, 'it's better to ask forgiveness than ask for permission.' "

  The President had a serious, somber expression when Balboa began speaking, but as he went on, the President let a hint of a smile spread across his face. When Balboa finished, he shook his head, the smile on his face now broad.

  "Admiral, I am convinced now that you are mostly full of shit," the President said. Balboa's own expression went from surprise to shock to red-faced anger. "But you weren't around for the early years, when Brad Elliott and HAWC were just getting started. Yes, they were unconventional, shot from the hip, even insubordinate at times-no, most of the time. But to say these guys don't have combat experience shows how little you've learned and how little you know."

  "That's not a fair assessment, sir, but I'll accept your criticism," Balboa said, his face pinched and uneasy.

  "But if I may ask, sir: what's the chain of command? Who gives those crews their orders? And who takes responsibility for them when those nutcase Nevada Air Guard crews crash themselves into Korea or China?"

  "As always, Admiral, I take full responsibility," the President said. "That should come as an immense relief to you-unless you already found a way to distance yourself from them. Now, get out of my office before I remember that my senior uniformed military officer just wished the worst on one of his own flying units."

  OVER SOUTHERN CHAGANG DO PROVINCE,

  UNITED REPUBLIC OF KOREA

  (FORMERLY NORTH KOREA)

  EARLY EVENING HOURS

  Contact!" the observer/weapons officer of the HanGuk Kong Goon (United Republic of Korea Air Force) A-37B Dragonfly close-air-support and observation aircraft shouted on his intercom. There was certainly no reason to shout; his pilot was less than ten centimeters to his left in the tiny side-by-side cockpit. The observer put his left hand on the glareshield and pointed at the target. "Two o'clock. A Chinese ML935 locomotive pulling six cars."

  "Can you see the engine crew arrangement?" the pilot asked, making a slight turn to the right.

  The observer strained to look through his field glasses. "I need a closer look," he said finally.

  "C'mon, we don't want to get too close to those guys," the pilot said. "They have antiaircraft guns."

  "But we gotta try to identify them before we call in a patrol," the observer said. "Let's get down in the weeds. Keep the smash up." Like most Korean fliers, they liked using American military aviation slang.

  "Okay," the pilot said. "Here we go." He shoved the throttles to full military power, rolled the little Cessna twin turbojet on its right wing, and made a diving right turn toward the locomotive.

  It appeared that a section of track ahead was partially broken, and the train was stranded. The crew of men working around the break scattered and ran when they heard the loud high-pitched whine of the Dragonfly's tiny General Electric turbojets. "That looks suspicious already," the observer said. Automatically, he checked weapons status. The A-37B, a Vietnam War-era veteran close-air-support plane, was armed with a 7.62-millimeter Minigun with three hundred rounds of ammo in the nose, two "Mighty Mouse" folding-fin attack rocket pods, two target-marking rocket pods, plus four huge fuel tanks, making the little Cessna look ungainly and slow-which it definitely was.

  "Fingers off the arming switches," the pilot warned him. "The last thing we need to do is fire a rocket at a noncombatant."

  "Nose is cold," the observer acknowledged.

  But not for long. As they careened closer, they could see that the men working on the track had retreated back to one of the cars-and soon the roof of the car opened, revealing a single-barreled antiaircraft gun. "Look out!" the observer shouted. "It's a Type-93! Break left!" The Type-93 was a Chinese-made 37millimeter antiaircraft gun, murderous to any slow, low-flying aircraft. The pilot yanked his Dragonfly into a tight left turn and pulled until right at the verge of a stall, then relaxed the back pressure until he rolled out heading the other way. He immediately started a climb to get out of the 93's lethal range.

  "Call it in, dammit!" the pilot cursed.

  "How do we know they were Communists?"

  "We don't for sure-but they were ready to blow us out of the sky," the pilot said. "We need backup on this one. Call it in." The observer got on the UHF radio and called in the position and description of the train.

  "Orders are to mark the target for inbound paratroopers, disable the locomotive by any means possible to keep it from moving, and eliminate any heavy weapons that might endanger inbound troops," the observer reported a few minutes later. "A security paratroop squad from Sunch'on will parachute into the area by cargo plane, ETA thirty minutes."

  "We've got an hour before we bingo, so it looks about right," the pilot said, checking his fuel gauges. "I don't think we need to w
orry about disabling the locomotive-that train's not going anywhere with a torn-up track. Let's see what we can do about that Type-93." The pilot started a left turn back toward the train and leveled off at twelve thousand feet. "Give me some markers first and let's see what they do."

  "Roger," the observer said, flipping his arming switches. "Target markers armed, your trigger is hot."

  Seven miles from the train, the pilot started a dive at seven thousand feet per minute, accelerating to 420 knots. Winds were mostly calm and the visibility was good, so it was simple to put the aiming pipper right on the car with the antiaircraft gun, and he squeezed the trigger. One target-marking rocket shot out of pods on each wing.

  "Guns! Guns!" the observer shouted. "He's firing!"

  The pilot squeezed off two more rockets, then rolled hard left away from the train. "I'm off! Safe 'em up!" he said through his antiblackout straining. The observer clicked the target-marker pods' safety switches to SAFE.

  "Nose is cold!" The observer strained to look behind them as they rolled out of the escape turn. "No damage, no flak," he said. "They missed us that time." He checked the target area. Mixed in with the bright yellow target-marking smoke were streams of black smoke, pouring out horizontally as well as vertically. "I see black smoke. Looks like we might've hit something."

  "You get a look at that gun mount?" the pilot asked. "It looked to me like the gun was mounted close to the top of the car-almost down inside it."