around the hillock to escape. Ormack nodded in fascination at the presentation, but he was more interested in studying McLanahan than watching the computer. “There’s quite a party at the 0-Club, Patrick, ” he said. “This is your last night of partying before the weekend, and a lot of your old cronies from Ford Air Force Base asked about you. Why don’t you knock off and join us?” McLanahan shrugged and began reconfiguring the SMFD for another replay. “Crew rest starts in about an hour . “One beer won’t hurt. I’ll buy.” McLanahan hesitated, then glanced at Ormack and shook his head. “I don’t think so, sir… “Something wrong, Patrick? Something you’re not telling me?”
“No . . . nothing’s wrong.” Patrick hesitated, then issued voice commands to the computer to shut down the system. “I just. . . I don’t really feel part of them, you know?” “No, I don’t.”
“These guys are the real crew dogs, the real aviators, ” Patrick said. “They’re young, they’re talented, they’re so cocky they think they can take on the whole world.”
“Just like you were when I first met you, ” Ormack said with a laugh. “We used to think you had an attitude, but that was before we knew how good you really were.” He looked at McLanahan with a hint of concern. “You were pretty excited about coming to the Strategic Warfare Center, about getting back to the ‘real world’ . “But I’m not back, ” Patrick said. “I’m farther from them than I ever thought I’d be. I feel like I’ve abandoned them. I feel like I should be out there pulling a crew or running a bomb-nav shop, but instead I’m.. .” He shrugged again, then concluded, “Like I’m playing around with gadgets that probably won’t have anything to do with the ‘real world’. “That’s not what you’re down about, ” Ormack said. “I know you better than that. You’re down because you somehow don’t think you deserve what you’ve got. I see you around your buddies out there: they’re old captains or majors, and you’re a lieutenant colonel; they’re still on line crews, flying dawn patrols and red eyes and pulling alert, doing the same thing they did ten years ago, while you’re flying starships that most of those guys will never see in their careers, let alone flythey’re talking about their last bomb-competition mission or their last Operational Readiness Inspection, while your job is so classified that you can’t talk about it at all. You’re down because you can’t share what you have with them, so you hole yourself up in here thinking that maybe you don’t really have what it takes to be a good crew dog. “Patrick, you’re where you are because you’re the best. You did more than be chosen for a job: you excelled, you never gave up, you survived, and you saved others. Then when we stuck you in Dreamland to keep you quiet, you didn’t just vegetate until completing your twenty years-you excelled again and made yourself invaluable to the organization. “You deserve what you have. You earned it. You should go out and enjoy it. And you should also buy your boss a beer before he drags your ass out of this cockpit. Now move it, Colonel.” NEAR PHU QUI ISLAND, IN THE SPRATLY ISLAND CHAIN SOUTH CHINA SEA THURSDAY, 22 SEPTEMBER 1994, 2344 HOURS LOCAL The number-two task force of Admiral Yin Po L’un’s Spratly Island flotilla was again cruising within radar range of Phu Qui Island, the large rock and coral formation in the disputed neutral zone between the Philippine-occupied islands to the north and the Chinese-held islands to the south. Unlike the more powerful ten-ship task force that surrounded Admiral Yin’s flagship, this one had only four ships-two Hainan-class patrol boats, a Lienyun-class minesweeper, and a Huangfen-class fast attack missile craft, the Chagda, which acted as the command vessel for this faster, shallow-draft patrol group. Commander Chow Ti U, skipper of the Chagda, felt uneasy with his latest series of orders. It had been over three months since the attack on the Philippine oil- drilling barge, and the tension in the region had been escalating on a weekly basis. Now it was so thick one could cut it with a knife-and much of the heightened tensions could be directly attributed to the way Admiral Yin had handled the entire affair. Despite what was originally and officially reported, Yin had departed the area after attacking the oil barges; his contention that the seas were too rough to begin rescue operations did not sit well with anyone. When the weather cleared, it was found that Yin had steamed back to the Chinese side of the neutral zone, well away from Phu Qui Island-again, his contention that he was concerned about retaliatory attacks from Philippine warships did not explain why he did not offer to assist in rescue operations. Chow would never say so to anyone, but Yin’s actions could be characterized as unprofessional, exhibiting a total disregard for the rules of naval warfare, international law, and common decency between sailors. Chow felt that the Admiral had every right to confront the illegally placed oil-drilling rig, and he was well within his responsibilities when he returned fire-even such devastating return fire as he used. But to sim ply slink away from the area without offering any help or without radioing for help was very suspicious. Since then, while there’d been no skirmishes, there had been a few close calls. Everyone was on edge, looking, waiting, wondering. … Chow and his fellow Chinese crewmen privately felt it was only a matter of time before something else happened, and after witnessing the way Admiral Yin had handled the first skirmish, everyone was skittish about how he would proceed in an escalated conflict. “Range to Phu Qui Island, navigator, ” Chow called out. His crewmen were obviously keeping very close track themselves, for the answer was almost instantaneous: “Sir… we are presently twenty-five kilometers southwest of Phu Qui Island. We will be in radar range within minutes.”
“Very well, ” Chow grunted. Twenty-five kilometers-they were right on the edge of the neutral zone-perhaps inside it by no more than a kilometer. Unlike Admiral Yin, Chow had no intention of tempting fate by openly cruising the neutral zone. Pearson Reef was indisputably the property of the People’s Republic of China, so he would stay close to it. His radar could survey enough of the neutral zone to check for any other intruders. Still… he was uneasy. Perhaps because Admiral Yin chose not to continue operating his larger, more powerful task force along the border as before-but had instead chosen to operate farther south, well in undisputed Chinese waters. The first explanation was, of course, that Yin had been ordered to keep away from the neutral zone, but as weeks went by, the rumor was that Yin simply did not want to risk the wrath of the Philippine Navy and put his precious flagship Hong Lung in harm’s way. Instead, he had ordered Chow’s smaller, less powerful, less capable task force to patrol the area. Admiral Yin’s task force was seventy-two kilometers to the southwest, fairly close to Nansha Dao Island itself, which meant Yin was in very real danger of running aground in the shallow waters. Commander Chow’s force was better suited for those interreef patrols-but if that was where the Admiral preferred to stay… “Surface contact, sir, ” an officer in the Combat section of the bridge crew blurted out. “Bearing, zero-five-zero degrees, range twenty kilometers. Speed zero.” Chow turned to the plotting board as another crewman penciled in the contact on the clear Plexiglas board. Phu Qui Island. “Confirm that contact, ” Chow ordered. “Make sure you’re not painting the island itself.” But he knew it was not possible for his radar to paint the shallow, half-submerged outline of a coral “island” at this extreme range. Someone was on or near the disputed island. The Filipino salvage crews, along with the inevitable warships, had long since departed-there had been no large vessels near the island now for several weeks. Since Yin’s attack, ships transiting the neutral zone, including Chow’s small task force, had been careful to report their movements to the governments of each country that had claims on the islands-Chow had a list of every ship that planned on plying these waters in the next several days. There had been no reports of any vessels that sought to anchor on Phu Qui Island. “Radar confirms contact as a vessel, ” the Combat officer replied a few moments later. “Definite cultural return. Unable to get an ISAR reading on the contact, but it is not terrain or sea shadows.” ISAR, or Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar, was a new feature of the “Square Tie” surface-search radar that could combine vertical and horizontal radar scans with Doppler-frequency shift information to get a two-dimensional “picture” of a surface return; ISAR could usually identify a vessel at ten to fifteen miles, well beyond visual range. Commander Chow hesitated-he couldn’t believe the Filipinos would actually attempt to set up their oil-drilling rigs on the island again. It was tantamount to a declaration of war. He was also reluctant to cruise farther into the neutral zone without specific orders from Admiral Yin. Let him take the responsibility for another attack. “Send a FLASH emergency message to Dragon, ” he finally ordered his officer of the deck. He could feel the first prickles of tension-heated sweat forming on the back of his neck, and it wasn’t from the humidity. “Inform him of our radar contact. We will stand by for instructions.” He paused momentarily, then added, “Send the minesweeper Guangzou from present position northwest and secure the north and northeast axis. If we have to move toward Phu Qui, I want the lane clear. I give specific orders for Guangzou to enter the neutral zone on my authority; record the order in the log.” The minesweeper, although based on a Shanghai-class patrol boat, had no offensive armament except small-caliber machine guns and could not be considered a warship; therefore sending a minesweeper alone into the neutral zone could not be considered a hostile act. The officer of the deck issued the orders; then: “Sir, I suggest we request the helicopter on Ho ng Lung be sent to investigate the contact ahead of the task force. It would be much less threatening to whoever is on Phu Qui Island.”
“We will be ordered to move closer to Phu Qui Island whether we see what is out there or not, Chow predicted. “But it’s a good suggestion. Get it in the air.” They did not have to wait long for the order: “Message from Dragon, sir, ” the officer of the deck reported.” ‘Task force two is hereby ordered to cross into the neutral zone immediately. Investigate contact on Phu Qui Island with all possible speed, identify all intruders, detain all persons. Peacetime rules of engagement in effect-do not fire unless fired upon, but repel assaults with all available
