China Sea,” Secretary of Defense Fredrick Hayes said.
“I agree too, sir,” Secretary of State Herbert Kevitch said. “All that statement will do is drive up the insurance rates for all ships going through the area—that’ll hurt their economy the worst because they rely on exports to drive their economy.”
“Bill?” the president asked his national security adviser.
“I’m not as positive as the others, sir,” Glenbrook said. “If the United States was up to full AirSea Battle strength, I’d be a lot more positive, but we’re barely holding on as it is. Like the general said, they have a lot of firepower in that region. If they challenged us, they could make it look ugly.”
“It was a bold statement that directly challenges every nation on Earth,” President Phoenix said. “It puts everyone on notice.” He looked at his vice president. “This makes it even more imperative to get that emergency funding for the full complement of McLanahan’s bombers, Ann, and perhaps get more funding for the Navy, Air Force, and Space Defense Force again as well.”
“I’ve got the budget staff working overtime on all that, Mr. President,” Ann Page said.
“How many of McLanahan’s bombers do we have on Guam now?”
“Eight, sir,” Hayes replied. “He has two more ready for deployment and two more being refurbished—that was all last year’s emergency funding allowed, and his company couldn’t afford to rebuild more with their own funds.”
“We’ll find the money,” President Phoenix said. “In the meantime, Fredrick, you are cleared to send additional forces to Guam per the plan put together by Pacific Command. I want Guam to turn into a fortress: air defense, ballistic missile defense, long-range surveillance, the works. Whatever Guam or the outlying Pacific islands need, I want in place. This is going to turn into another Midway mobilization.”
“Do you want to change the profile of McLanahan’s bombers, sir?” Secretary of Defense Hayes said. “Right now they just perform over-the-horizon reconnaissance for small groups of surface ships—they’re not armed. The other bombers on Guam are armed for ground attack and antiship missions. The wing commander says they’ve been practicing loading weapons on some of McLanahan’s bombers to make sure the remote weapons system works, but they’ve flown no missions with weapons aboard.”
Phoenix thought for a moment, then nodded. “Yes, allow McLanahan’s bombers to participate in all the wing’s activities, including alerts with live weapons,” he said. “I understand his bombers can carry air-to-air weapons as well?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Those are authorized as well.”
“Yes, sir. McLanahan’s XB-1s are equipped with a system called SPEAR that has the ability to not only jam radar and radios but to insert commands and even malicious code into enemy electronic sensors,” Hayes said. “Is that authorized?”
Phoenix shook his head ruefully. “My old buddy Patrick McLanahan and his high-tech toys,” he said with a smile. “Yes, authorized. How are things working out with the Navy?”
“McLanahan’s forces so far have had very little to do with the aircraft carriers or other Navy fighters,” Hayes replied. “They perform as part of a Surface Action Group, providing long-range reconnaissance for small groups of cruisers, destroyers, and frigates that aren’t part of a carrier strike group—surface ships that don’t have their own air assets. They haven’t tried coordinating strikes with carrier-based fighters or Navy cruise missile attacks. But as part of the SAG, they seem to be fitting in well. Overall, I’d say the program is working.”
“Excellent,” the president said. “We’ll find the extra money and get more of those Excaliburs out there.”
After the meeting broke up, Ann Page stayed behind with the president. He picked up a telephone. “Get General McLanahan on his personal communicator, please.”
A few moments later the phone rang, and the president picked it up: “McLanahan here, Mr. President.”
“Patrick, I’m going to get you the funding for the rest of the Excalibur program,” the president said. “But it may take some time. I wanted to ask you if you could go to your company once again for initial funding for the remainder of the fleet, and perhaps a little more for some of the other planes you said you were working on.”
SKY MASTERS INC. CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS, NORTHERN NEVADA INDUSTRIAL AIRPORT
THAT SAME TIME
“That is great news, Mr. President,” Patrick said. He had returned to Battle Mountain a day earlier to supervise the last of the XB-1s completing refurbishment and preparing to deploy. He was sitting in his office in the main hangar of Sky Masters Inc., which overlooked the final assembly area for the refurbished planes, talking with the president of the United States through his secure subcutaneous transceiver system. Through the large soundproof picture window behind him in his office he could see an XB-1 Excalibur at the head of the line closest to the hangar doors ready to be rolled outside, and an XF-111 SuperVark, a refurbished F-111G Aardvark medium supersonic bomber, was right behind it, still with a small knot of technicians around it finishing details. Like the B-1 bomber, the F-111 bomber was a swing-wing supersonic design, but it was originally intended to operate off aircraft carriers. Finally rejected by the Navy as being too big and cumbersome for carrier duty, the F-111 served an exemplary role in the U.S. Air Force as a medium and strategic bomber and electronic warfare platform, dropping 40 percent of the guided munitions in Operation Desert Storm before being retired shortly thereafter.
“I’ll schedule a meeting with the company president and ask her to go to the board and the shareholders and find out, sir,” Patrick said. “I’m looking at Excalibur number ten just rolling off the line, and we’re putting the finishing touches on the second refurbished XF-111 bomber.”
“That’s the one I was thinking about, the other swing-wing plane, right?”
“Yes, sir,” Patrick said. “It doesn’t have the long legs or payload of the XB-1, but it’s better than anything else in the Pacific right now.”
“Be in a position to put a few together to send out to Guam.”
“Yes, sir,” Patrick said. “I was watching the address by Foreign Minister Tang and General Zu. I guess they really believe they can dictate terms in the South China Sea.”
“Most everyone in the White House seems to think China won’t follow through,” Phoenix said. “I’m not so sure. Pacific Command came up with a plan to fortify the defenses around Guam and our other Pacific bases in the region, and I’ve ordered that implemented as well. With all of China’s saber-rattling going on, I think Congress will come up with the extra money. But no matter how belligerent China seems to be getting, somebody will squawk when we start talking about raiding their piggy bank.”
“If you’d like me to talk with the folks in Congress, sir, let me know,” Patrick said. “I’ve been out of uniform for a while now, but if you think it’ll help, I’ll be there.”
“You’ve been out of uniform but not out of the news, my friend,” the president said. “Everyone around here still winces when they hear your name. But a lot of people still admire and respect you—like me. We might have you come back and do just that.”
“Thank you, sir,” Patrick said. “I’ll even bring one of the Excaliburs. They have a jump seat—we can even offer congressmen and staffers some rides.”
“What about me?” the president asked. “I remember when President Martindale said he wanted to be the first sitting president to go into space. I nearly dropped my teeth when he said that. But I’d like to fly low-level in one of your monstrosities. The First Lady would kill me, but I’d sure like to do it.”
“I can be at Andrews in four hours, sir—just say the word.”
“I think we both have enough work to do without going off on joy rides,” the president said. “But when all this is over with, I might take you up on that. Later.” And the connection was terminated.
“Kylie, ask Dr. Oglethorpe to come and see me,” Patrick called to his assistant. “And get me an appointment with Dr. Kaddiri for as soon as possible.” The first call he made was to Tom Hoffman. “I just spoke with President Phoenix,” he said. “He wants more Excaliburs and maybe even some XF-111 SuperVarks, but he doesn’t have the money and asked if our company can kick in for a few more until they get funding. I’ll have to go to the company board and find out how much money we can get advanced to us for more planes and training until the funds from Washington show.”
