Battle Born

“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. “If 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)