'We do not intend to involve you in any way except financial. We pay, you buy, the Russians deliver, we take over, in the utmost secrecy. It is likely that Washington will not even know the submarine has been sold out of the Russian Navy when it clears Petropavlovsk.'
'Hmmmm,' said Admiral Zhang. 'You see us as a kind of agent, handling the sale, eh? But yet, right in the firing line, should the Americans discover the formal owners of the sub?'
'Well, the documents could scarcely disclose the true purchaser… '
'Of course not,' said Zhang, interrupting. 'The Russians may very well agree to sell us a couple of nuclear boats, but I do not believe they would fly in the face of world opinion and sell the ships to an Islamic State in the Middle East. That would be a step too far, even for them.'
'Which is, after all, why we are sitting around this table.' Admiral Zhang stood up. He was a big man, burly and tough-looking, son of a southern sea Captain, former Navy Commanding Officer.
'Gentlemen,' he said, 'I accept that the rudiments of your plan are sound. Yes, we could probably buy the ships you want. Yes, it would be of little consequence to us, so long as you were paying. And yes, there would be little enough risk to us so long as it was delivered to a Russian Naval Base and stayed away from China.
'But what, I ask, would happen, if you go off in your nice new submarine and make some astounding attack on your Great Satan, and the Russians, under extreme pressure from the West, admit the ship was sold to us? That it sails under the flag of the Chinese Navy. Then what?'
'I have thought of that,' said the Ayatollah, referring to notes written out for him by General Rashood. 'You admit the truth, the ship was purchased by the Chinese Navy, but you have never taken delivery, and that it has never set foot in Chinese waters, or indeed in any Chinese port.'
'Which would, of course, be perfectly true,' mused Zhang.
'You simply deny all knowledge.'
'But where will the second submarine be at this time?'
'That, Admiral, must remain a matter for negotiation. But I was rather hoping we could smuggle it into a Chinese Base and hide it. Maybe take a different route to China altogether.'
'I suppose that would be possible,' said Zhang, 'but I am at a loss to see what possible advantage any of this could have for either my Navy or our country.'
'It would come under the heading of 'continued agreeable relations' between China and Iran,' said the Ayatollah. 'You remember, the great Sino-Iranian Pact we have so often mentioned. The one that was very nearly broken when you reneged on our contract over the C-802 missile, leaving us defenseless in the face of American aggression. This is such a perfect opportunity for you to make amends.'
Admiral Zhang's Political Commissar, Vice Admiral Pheng Lu Dong, visibly winced. China's massive interests in Middle East oil, and overwhelming reliance on the goodwill of the Ayatollahs, stood before him. And the former Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the PLAN spoke for the first time, addressing the vexed and simmering dispute over the Exocet look-alike C-802 missile that had caused such friction between them.
Pheng nodded to the Chairman of the meeting, and noted the short bow of Zhang's head. 'Your Holiness,' he said. 'I know, of course, your deep and understandable hurt at the failure of that contract, as you in turn must understand the dreadful position in which we found ourselves. And I trust you understand we always acted in your best interests, as well as our own.
'You surely know the Americans would have stepped up and taken military action, probably in Bandar Abbas, had you taken delivery of the C-802. And the possible destruction of your Naval Headquarters would have been very bad for both of us. Not only that, the French were in the middle of it, threatening to refuse us delivery of the missile's turbojet engine. There were so many circumstances completely beyond the control of us both… '
'And yet,' said the Ayatollah, smiling, 'we seemed to rate less of your consideration than all of the others.'
'Most certainly not,' protested the Admiral. 'But we could treat the others as businessmen. You we had to treat as brothers.'
'And you decided to become your brother's keeper?' asked the Ayatollah, still smiling.
'What more could you expect from your greatest friends?' replied Pheng.
Both Zhang Yushu and Ravi Rashood smiled wryly at the dazzling skill and brevity of the exchange.
'Which brings us back to a poignant question,' countered the Ayatollah. 'Are you still our greatest friends?' And this time, his face was passive, devoid of even the thinnest of smiles.
'Of course,' replied the Admiral. 'Nothing less. We honor you and trust you.'
'Then you will surely wish to convey those thoughts to us in a way that would earn our own gratitude and thanks.'
'Most certainly… but… '
'I am afraid, but nothing. When we leave this room at the conclusion of these discussions, we expect to be bidding a temporary farewell to our blood brothers, friends, and sales agents. In so doing, you will have bought the continued devotion of the most powerful nation in the Middle East. And, I would most respectfully remind you, your partners in so many great future ventures.'
'Yes, of course, we do see that,' said the Chinese government's Political Commissar, turning once again to Admiral Zhang, looking for help.
Zhang obliged. 'I am afraid,' he said, 'the bonds that hold us together are much stronger than the issues that occasionally separate us. I accept in principal your request to have us purchase two Russian submarines on your behalf, because that in itself is not unreasonable among friends. 'However, I must also speak to you as a former CO of a Luda Class guided-missile destroyer. By that I mean a professional Naval Officer. And I have several questions that I shall ask in no particular order.' And now Zhang read from the pages of a small notebook:
1. Who's going to pilot this submarine?
2. What experience does your Navy have with nuclear ships?
3. Can you raise any kind of a Command competent to handle a sizable SSN on a long-distance mission?
4. Do you have at least six officers capable of running the nuclear propulsion systems, and I include in that a top- class reactor room Lieutenant Commander, plus at least two Chiefs who have experience in that environment?
5. In short, can you raise a proper crew, complete with Nuclear Engineers, to operate an eight thousand-ton SSN, both at high speeds and, if I guess correctly, for slower, silent running?
And, finally, we require an answer to this sixth question— what precisely do you want the submarine for?
The Ayatollah gave way to Admiral Mohammed Badr, who stood formally and spoke without notes.
'Admiral,' he said, 'as I explained earlier, the two ships we wish to acquire are the two Barracudas, the Type 945s. And the first operational one will come under the command of my son, Commander Ben Badr, who I trust you will remember.
'He studied right here in Qingdao at your Submarine Academy four years ago, and like the rest of his class, took his final diploma in Nuclear Propulsion. His six-month work experience program took place in Shanghai the following year, and I hope you remember it was almost entirely in your Han Class Type 091 nuclear boats. Ben worked in Hull 405, right after her refit.'
'He'll find that Barracuda a sight more difficult than Han 405,' replied Zhang. 'She's a lot faster, a lot bigger, and a lot more complicated.'
'The principles, however, remain the same,' replied Admiral Badr. 'And there were four other young Iranian officers taking the same courses in Qingdao as Ben. Two of them are Commanding Officers in our Kilo Class program and the other two command surface ships. Indeed, in the past month we have sent eight Lieutenant Commanders to study advanced nuclear physics at the University of Tehran. We are not complete novices in nuclear ships.'
'No, I understand that. You do have the basis of an SSN crew, and, of course, the majority of the sub's company can operate an SSN on much the same lines as they operate a diesel-electric boat. The systems are, after all, Russian.'
'Precisely so,' replied the Iranian. 'Nonetheless, we shall require training, and I am hoping the Russians will agree to undertake this under the usual terms. Perhaps you could send a group of Chinese personnel, accompanied
