Dale Brown - Sky Masters

“If there was no apparent attack in progress, then you had time to notify me and let me make the decision, ” the President interrupted. “That’s what I expect. We will need to change the OPLAN after this to rectify it.”

“Yes, sir, ” Curtis acknowledged. “What else have you got for me, General?” Curtis cleared his throat. “Our strategic forces are in full readiness, so if this is some sort of prelude to an all-out attack against the United States, we’re ready, sir.” Curtis glanced at the Navy captain seated near the door, keeping the “football.” The President disliked having the football around-he had once told the press that he likened it to the Grim Reaper, with scythe in hand, following him everywhere he went-but in this he had no choice. “Well, ” Taylor grumbled, “I guess the question of whether this is a prelude or not will be answered once we have more information, won’t it, General? This PACER SKY thing saw who launched the missile, didn’t it?” “Not exactly, sir, ” Curtis replied. “The NIRTSatpart of the PACER SKY program-saw the nuclear explosion, but we’re trying to keep a lid on that. As you know, we’ve been monitoring the situation between the Chinese and the Philippines since that original skirmish. But because of our past association with the Philippines, we didn’t want it to appear as if we were monitoring anyone-or feeding anyone intelligence information. Still, we do know, thanks to PACER SKY, exactly which ships were in the area. SAC analysts have concluded that only the Chinese could have launched the weapon.”

“Well, then, that brings us to the bigger picture, doesn’t it?” the President said. “I’ve been briefed on the shit going down in the Philippines for some time. And you people tell me the Communists are running rampant in the outlying provinces and that if Mikaso kicks the damned bucket we could lose all ties to the Philippines-our stopover and resupply privileges, our radar sites, our listening posts, our practice bombing ranges. I was also briefed on the skirmish a few months ago between the Chinese and the Philippines, but it was characterized as nothing more than a little tiff. When a fucking nuclear bomb goes off, gentlemen, it’s not just a little tiff. Now what the hell is going on here? Is it the start of a major war, an illegal test by some country, or an accident?” Director of Central Intelligence Kenneth Wayne said, “An accident, sir, seems the only plausible explanation. The Chinese Navy could certainly overtake the Philippine Navy without having to resort to nuclear weapons. Also, we’ve detected only one explosion, which tells us there was no nuclear ex change. Of course, ” the CIA director said, lighting a pipe, “it also could have been a military response by the Chinese, but a response by . . . say, a lone wolf, and not necessarily the Chinese government itself.”

“Lone wolf?” the President asked, raising his eyebrows. “You mean some nutjob in command of a ship?” The CIA director shrugged his shoulders. “Entirely possible. Not a nutjob, per se, but simply a commander who panicked. But I’d put my money on it being a simple accident.”

“JCS doesn’t agree with the DCI’s estimation, sir, ” Curtis said. The look the President, as well as Wayne, gave him could have chilled a polar bear. “We don’t discount the DCI’s theory, but we have evidence of another possibility that I feel it would be more prudent to act upon.” The President had a very slight-but very noticeable-exasperated frown-he didn’t like being told that he was wrong. He rolled his hand as if to say, ‘Get on with it.” Curtis said, “My staff feels that this attack may be a prelude to an all-out attack and invasion of the Philippines by China… Everyone in the room sat up. Voices started coming at Curtis and at President Taylor all at once. “Ridiculous “Totally off the mark “They’d never try it Curtis pressed on. “All I have is speculation, sir, but we’re forgetting China has long historical claims to many of the Philippine Islands and the fact that ethnic Chinese make up a great majority of the Philippine population. Couple that with someone like Daniel Teguina, who has strong Communist ties, and you’ve got the makings of a real land-grab.” Voices of dissent were heard from the CIA director, the Secretary of Defense, the National Security Advisor. The President cleared his throat-loudly. All heads turned to him. “Look, we can speculate all we want, but without any information, speculation’s not going to do us a damned bit of good.” He turned to the DCI. “No word from Manila yet? Or Mikaso?”

“All lines are still jammed, sir. Satellite and HF networks are still down.” This got a grunt from the President. “And what China? Have we heard what they think about all this?” DCI Kenneth Wayne said, “We’ve got calls in to sir, including Premier Cheung.” The President turned to Tom Preston, his Secretary of Defense. Preston had been silent so far. “Thomas, what do you think?” “Well, this is an extremely vulnerable region, sir. And we’ve lost a lot of influence there since… leaving. So I think we’ve got to do at least an on-site military inspection. A task force sent from Hawaii or Japan would be sufficient and, ” in partial acknowledgment to Curtis, he added, “would deter any possible aggression, if that were going to happen.”

“Uh-huh.” The President nodded. “We do have ships patrolling the area all the time, right? So we send a few in, check it out, keep them on station for a while, and get the CIA in as well: Meanwhile I can sell everyone-for the time being-on this being an accident.”

“Excuse me, sir, but there are several standard OPLAN responses that should be implemented, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff have a few plans we’d like to offer as suggested responses, ” Curtis interjected. “You don’t think just a few ships-say, sending one carrier group-are enough?” the President asked. “Why am 1 not surprised?”

“Sir, the nuclear blast itself is cause enough for concern. But a single twentyzkilometer nuclear device detonated in the middle of one carrier battle group would destroy everyone and everything within five miles, including an aircraft carrier. “This is why the standard OPLAN calls for the deployment of at least three carrier battle groups to the region, along with a Marine Expeditionary Force, the Twenty-fifth Infantry Division of the Army Western Command, and the Air Force First Air Battle Wing. They would deploy afloat or from Okinawa or Andersen Air Force Base on Guam, as appropriate. It is especially important these days since we have no… military forces in the Philippines. Even if we don’t use three, at least two carrier battle groups would be more appropriate. “The only two carrier battle groups available are two fossil fueled carriers, Independence and Ranger. Ranger still does not have Hornet fighter-bombers because of her accelerated decommissioning schedule, but Independence is fully combatready. Two nuclear carriers, Nimitz and Abraham Lincoln, are both in the Indian Ocean at the present time, but that’s several days’ steaming time to get back to the South China Sea. We recommend that the Marines’ landing-support carrier Belleau Wood and her support ships be deployed with the task force; they can carry about two thousand Marines and about thirty helicopters. They can split between the two carrier groups as necessary.” Curtis saw the President’s eyes when he mentioned the Marines, and he added quickly, “It’s routine to send a Marine Expeditionary Unit with such a task force, and if we’re dealing with the Philippines it might be necessary. The President still had that pained look in his eyes, but Curtis continued nonetheless: “Because the two carrier groups have fewer air-to-ground attack planes, it was suggested to augment the task force by forming the First Air Battle Wing at Andersen Air Force Base on Guam to-“