On a ship from his own country, such disrespect would have ended his career immediately. Yet the American admiral turned to look at him with no more than minor annoyance on his face. “What is it?”
“Captain Chang — he wishes to know whether you want him to continue to attempt to locate the Chinese submarine, under the circumstances. Or should he move closer to the carrier and return the helos to your operational command?”
“Keep the helos and keep them looking for a submarine,” Coyote said. He noticed the look of concern on the young Taiwanese major’s face. “Look, he’s well within our air umbrella. I know he heard one sub breaking up, but there’s no guarantee there’s not another one out there.” Coyote said a silent prayer that it had been the Chinese diesel that had taken the hit, not the
Ho turned to study the plot, Coyote’s dismissive words ringing in his ears. Was
A radioman touched Ho on the arm, and he drew back, seriously affronted. For an enlisted man to touch him — that was what came of his touching the American admiral. Now a very junior man felt free to do the same to him. “You want a separate circuit, sir?” the radioman asked, his voice urgent but polite. “I got to know now, Major.”
A separate circuit, even. More evidence — they were relegated to the sidelines, not part of the main battle. Yet still, this could be turned to his advantage as well.
“Yes — a separate circuit. That will be good.”
“Five minutes, sir. Maybe less.” The radioman turned and picked up a telephone and spoke with the communications center. He hung up, and began setting dial switches to the appropriate channels. “You need a speaker, sir? Or just a mike and a headset?”
“A headset will be fine, thank you. After all, this is just to speak to one ship on one issue.”
The radioman nodded, as much as admitting it was true.
Moments later, Ho heard the circuit come to life. The radioman handed him a headset. “It’s all yours, sir,” he said.
Ho slipped the headset on. It was, indeed, all his now. And the Americans would understand — if they survived this — that they could not treat the Taiwanese nation in such a cavalier fashion.
Captain Chang listened to the words coming over the speaker with a growing sense of unreality. After the first sentence, he clicked off the feed to the speaker and listened to the call on a headset. His astonishment grew with every sentence that came out of Ho’s mouth.
“I have told you repeatedly, my captain, that these people are not to be trusted entirely. It is good I am on the scene, because had I not heard the derogatory remarks and seen the disrespect toward our forces, I would not have believed it myself. Even you can have no doubts at this point. We have been removed from the main battle circuit, Captain, removed and relegated to this link. And as you can see from your screen, you are further away from the American carrier and the cruiser than any other ship. It is the admiral’s intent to use you to draw off fighters from his carrier, knowing how much the Chinese hate us. He believes that they will attack you first, giving his forces a chance to follow-up to prevent damage to the American ships.”
“He said that?” the captain asked, still not believing what he was hearing. It was so inconsistent with everything he had seen from the Americans so far, completely inconsistent.
And yet it was possible, wasn’t it? American support for Taiwan had always been difficult for the Taiwanese to understand. In their mind, there should have been a massive retaliatory strike against China at the first offense. But the Americans temporized, talking about free trade, the need to maintain relationships with those nations. Taiwan, in the end, could count it as nothing more than a betrayal.
“You know how they speak,” Ho said. “With the Americans, it is better to watch what they do instead of listen to what they say. And can you have any doubts yourself at this point? Look how exposed the ship is — and all because of the submarine that poses the primary threat to the Americans.”
“And to us as well,” Chang pointed out. “And I am using American helicopters to pin her down as well, do not forget.”
“And what of the American fighters that he sent for defense? If you’re truly within his cruiser’s protection envelope, why would he send fighters at all?” Ho Kung-Sun asked.
Why, indeed? Chang pondered this for moment, a sinking feeling in his gut. Had he so misjudged the admiral, this Coyote? A slip of information from his cross-cultural studies class came back to mind. In the Native American culture, the Coyote was considered the trickster, the one who was always pulling a sly prank on a trusting person. Could it be that this admiral, this Coyote, was very correctly named?
“If you go further north, you risk more,” Ho said. “Captain, it makes sense to break off prosecution and return close to the carrier. You can take the submarine just as easily from here as from there.”
“And risk her coming in closer,” Chang said quietly. “Additionally, the water to the south is not as favorable as these conditions. We would lose in terms of our detection capabilities from the noise generated by the American ships alone. No, it is better to prosecute here. If that is the only factor considered.”
“But it is not, is it?” Ho said, now certain that he had Chang worried.
“No, it is not. Are you absolutely certain that this is the American admiral’s intention? Certain?”
“Yes. I am, sir.”
Just then, Chang Tso-Lin saw the fighters inbound on his ship. Why fighters? Hadn’t the admiral assured him that
“Then we must avenge this act of war,” Chang said firmly. He was certain that Ho did not know what he was starting. If indeed they had been betrayed by the Americans, then the only honorable path was to avenge that betraval by the Americans. And it would begin with
But instead of the righteous light of anger in his soul, he felt dishonorable and incompetent. How could he have so misjudged the American admiral? He thought he knew the man, had seen the spirit of ancient warriors in his soul. But to be betrayed like this, well, there could be no doubt.
“You will tell the people how we died,” Chang said. “Tell them my men served bravely, and in defense of a free and glorious Taiwan.”
He replaced the mike in the holder, and clicked off the circuit. There was nothing else discussed — while Ho Kung-Sun may not have intended this reaction, Chang Tso-Lin had no choice. He turned to his watch officer. “Break the helicopters off — have them return to us. And as they do, target them with our antiair missiles.”
The watch officer’s jaw dropped, but true to his training, he did as he was told.
The speed leader on the
“What he should have done a long time ago,” the Taiwanese major answered, savage glee in his voice.
