railing and plunged back into the machine shop passageway.
CHAPTER 21
'Gentlemen,' Admiral Magruder said. 'I'm treating this as an act of war.
Forces unknown, but possibly operating together with the communist insurrection in Thailand, have attacked this command.'
It was silent within the Carrier Intelligence Center, save for the isolated creaks of men moving in the metal folding chairs which had been set up in rows. The chairs gave the large room the feel of an elementary school auditorium. Tension was high, an almost electric sharpness in the air. Every department head, squadron CO, and senior staff officer on the carrier was present. Admiral Magruder leaned against the podium, a large-scale color map of Thailand at his back. There were no TV cameras, but a VCR camcorder was being used to tape the meeting, for the record.
Tombstone leaned back in his chair and considered his uncle. The man had aged. Perhaps he was feeling the strain of his responsibilities, strains that had been on his shoulders since Wonsan. Then and now, it was largely his decisions which would determine peace or war, life or death for the men under his command.
The commanding admiral of CBG-14 surveyed the officers in front of him before speaking again. 'The Captain, the Exec, CAG, and the Damage Control Officer gave me their assessment a few minutes ago. In brief, damage to the flight deck is minimal.' He pulled a small notebook from his jacket pocket and consulted it. 'Repairs to the arresting-gear mechanism are being completed now. Full flight-deck operations should be possible within two hours. El Three will probably be out of service until we can return to port, but we can maintain full service on the remaining three elevators.
'Our total losses during the attack and fire amounted to three aircraft destroyed, plus a further five aircraft down-checked by the plane captains for repairs. The most serious losses were two of our KA-6D tankers, one destroyed, one damaged. This leaves us with only two tankers functional for air-to-air refueling ops should we need them.
'Casualties, thank God, were light. Six known dead, four more missing and presumed lost overboard. Eighteen men are in sick bay, most from smoke inhalation.'
He closed the notebook and looked up. 'This is not a formal briefing, gentlemen. It's a brainstorming session. We've been hit. Hard. I want ideas, recommendations about what we should do about it. All of you feel free to chip in. We'll kick this off with a rundown on the situation from Commander Neil.'
Commander Richard Patrick Neil was an Irish Bostonian, the Carrier Group Intelligence Officer for Magruder's staff. He stood and walked to the front of the room, where he took the admiral's place behind the podium. 'Thank you, Admiral, gentlemen. Well, to start with, our options appear to be strictly limited.' Neil's New England twang was sharply evident in the way he said 'appeah.' He looked ill at ease. 'After all that has happened, we still don't know who the enemy really is. We have a communist insurgency in the north with possible Burmese involvement, student demonstrators and rioters in Bangkok, and a military coup breaking out all over the country. It is tempting to see these separate incidents as somehow linked, but we cannot yet prove that. As yet, we do not know who attacked the Jefferson last night.'
'Shit,' someone in the audience muttered. 'I thought that was obvious.
We know it was the gook rebels who piloted those helos-'
'No,' Neil countered. 'We don't. They were RTAF machines and they were based at Sattahip. They may have been piloted by dissident officers, but that doesn't square with what we know about the coup so far.'
'What do we know about it?' Admiral Magruder asked.
'That its leaders appear to be That army and air force officers who feel that Bangkok is dealing too softly with the communist insurrection. And that is what makes it unlikely that the attack on Jefferson was ordered by coup leaders.'
He took a step back and unfolded a telescoping metal pointer to indicate areas on the map. 'Up here on the That-Burmese border, we have a major rebel insurrection… probably led by the Communist Party of Thailand.' The pointer slid along the border. 'We have two separate incidents in this area, encounters with unidentified MiGs, Chinese J-7s, actually. In one of these incidents, one of our aircraft is shot down. Burmese involvement is suspected… but the present Political situation does not support that theory. Burma had its first democratic elections in thirty years not long ago and is now making the transition from a military dictatorship to a Western-style democracy. There are certainly dissident elements within the Burmese military, but Rangoon denies involvement, and Washington accepts that statement at face value.'
The pointer moved again. 'Here is U Feng, a That military base captured three days ago by forces unknown. The Thais suspect the Burmese, working together with CPT rebels. Again, Rangoon denies involvement. Most of you know by now that two of our people are eyewitnesses to what's going on up there. According to Lieutenant Commander Wayne's debriefing report, there are a number of Shenyang J-7s currently based at U Feng. This solidly links the forces at U Feng with whoever is flying J-7s across the Burmese border but doesn't tell us anything more about who is responsible.
'Down here in Bangkok, and outside the base at Sattahip, we've had demonstrations, even riots, going on now for several weeks. That Central Intelligence believes these have been instigated by the CPT. That links them with the rebellion up north, of course… but not with the MiGs and the capture of U Feng.
'Finally, we have the military coup. It began at approximately 2100 hours on the 18th. It purportedly involves a number of high-ranking dissident officers who feel the government has been mismanaging the entire campaign against the rebellion in the north. The word is also out that U Feng would never have fallen if Bangkok had taken a stronger line against Burmese involvement in the north. Apparently, the coup leaders insist that the CPT rebellion is being sponsored by the Burmese… once again, something Rangoon categorically denies.
'So far, the coup has achieved limited success and appears now to be on the defensive. Apparently, only a few units have mutinied, and most army and air force regiments have remained loyal. According to reports, a large percentage of the Royal That Air Force has been crippled by sabotage on the ground, but fighting is light and somewhat sporadic. For the coup to be successful, it would have to win the approval of the King and his ministers.
This is a basic factor of That politics, and so far that approval seems most unlikely.
'The That government has asked for our support through their embassy in Washington. We ourselves have heard very little from the government directly, and we seem to be getting mixed signals here… help us on one hand, get out and leave us alone on the other. Part of this may be due to people high in the government who are actually in sympathy with the mutiny and are deliberately confusing things. I should point out, though, that the coup leaders should be trying to cultivate American support, not attacking us. The That government has maintained close relations with the United States for many years and is our strongest ally in the region. Washington feels it is unlikely that coup leaders would order an attack on the Jefferson, since that would alienate us and isolate them politically.
'So, gentlemen, when it comes to the question of who attacked us last night, we are faced with a contradiction. The leaders of the military coup had the opportunity, using helicopters from the base at Sattahip, but they certainly did not have the motive, at least, not one we understand. The communist rebels have the motive ? the anti-American theme of the demonstrations is rather evident ? but for the most part they are peasants who wouldn't be able to get access to RTAF helicopters or Chinese J-7s, much less fly them. Finally we have the Burmese, who might possibly acquire J-7s or have pilots who could fly RTAF helos, but who have neither motive nor opportunity. The Thais blame the Burmese, but Rangoon claims they do not want a war with Thailand and are moving away from their Marxist past. They certainly don't want a war with us!'
Neil closed his pointer with a snap. 'Where this leaves us, gentlemen, is adrift. Someone attacked us last night, but we don't know who. There appears to be no link between the various factions of the fighting in Thailand, certainly nothing which would explain a rocket attack against the Jefferson.'
No link, Tombstone thought… but there had to be one. He thought about the firefight in the alley in Kiong
