' The Longest Night ' & ' Crossing the Rubicon ': The Original Map Illustrated and Uncut Final Volume (Armageddon's Song) (35 page)

"You realise that once this is all over the USA is going to move heaven and earth to get back to the old way of doing business with Europe?"

"As I hear it, this is just a temporary thing, a cleaning of house with a couple of years’ worth of work for the Serious Fraud Office going through MP’s finances, and an end to the nanny state."
"Big Brotherism." Gareth corrected.

"Absolutely...a repealing of a big bunch of laws."

There was a lot of military activity in India, Malaysia and Indonesia as those countries geared up now that the nuclear threat had been removed. China had a big military, but it was already stretched. The Philippines refused to be pacified, and guerrilla warfare had broken out in Japan and Taiwan, tying down forces it could otherwise have used as a threat to the rest of Asia. Its one big remaining field army, 3rd Army, was not as yet committed to holding ground. It had to take Canberra and the Australian cities, and then take the north and south islands of New Zealand in order to be freed-up to put Asian states back in their place. 

Richard thought that Australia was a sub-continent too far for the PLAN and they had not learned from the mistakes of the Philippines. 3
rd
Army had been reorganised so as to employ fewer MBTs, but it was still too mechanised for New South Wales. He had more ‘mountain leaders’ enroute to Australia to replace the M&AWC’s losses and he fully intended to show the 3
rd
Army how small units on foot ate big units in vehicles for breakfast when they got into forests and mountains.

Arbuckle Mountains, Oklahoma.

Tuesday 23
rd
October, 0313hrs

The President had not expected too much change in the way the war was being conducted, now that the fighting in Europe had ended, and the next move of his command post evidenced that.

General Randolph Carmine began with a briefing on events in Europe, in particular with the units that were being reorganised and readied to send to the Pacific.

The British had acted swiftly, setting the pace for their neighbours and the newly formed 1
st
Guards Mechanised Division were just awaiting shipping and escorts to form their convoy. 2CG, 2
nd
Battalion Coldstream Guards with Lt Col Pat Reed now commanding it, 1WG, 1
st
Battalion Welsh Guards and 1IG, the 2nd Battalion Irish Guards, were the Warrior equipped infantry, The Scots Guards and Grenadier Guards had older but upgraded FV-432s. The Life Guards were the armoured reconnaissance element from the Household Cavalry, and the Kings Royal Hussars were the heavy armour.  32 Regiment RA’s MLRS and 40 Field Regiment’s AS90 155mm SP were the divisions artillery, along with engineers, signals and all the logistical units that made a fighting unit work. Three of the Foot Guards battalions though were going to be without their IFVs for a month, Australia needed troops immediately and so they would go ahead by air in the light role.

A Highland Brigade consisting of 1
st
Battalion London Scottish, 1
st
Battalion Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders (having absorbed the 7th/8
th
Battalion of territorials) and the 1
st
Battalion Cameron Highlanders was also forming. The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards were the Highland Brigades armour. Artillery for the Scots was yet to be included until amalgamations or temporary attachments from various units could take place.

8 Infantry Brigade, consisting of the 3
rd
Battalion Royal Green Jackets, the 1st Battalion Light Infantry, which had absorbed two rifle companies from the regiment’s second battalion to bring it up to strength, and finally The Wessex Regiment, a combined battalion made up of the survivors of 1 and 2
Wessex. 8 Infantry Brigade would also arrive in Australia by air to be employed as light infantry. 

“The sending of a leg infantry by the Brits is a good move.” General Carmine explained. “It is boots on the ground in the mountains, not tyres or tracks, which they need right now if the landings do proceed. And we have 10
th
Mountain Division emplaning also, for that very purpose.” 

Having dealt with the initial reinforcements, the general moved on to the enemy, and their intentions.

“Assuming the Chinese 3
rd
Army’s 1
st
Corps can get ashore, the key, as both we and the Anzacs see it, is to keep the Chinese on the coastal plain until we can muster the muscle to kick them back into the sea.” General Carmine stated. “Of course there is their 2
nd
Corps to contend with, although that is a long way off yet, and its 3
rd
Corps, which is mainly reservists and second rate equipment, but a lot of them. 3
rd
Corps is awaiting 1
st
Corps ships to return and collect them, so that is a pressing need for a redeployment of SSN and SSKs.”

“Still no sign of the Russian element of the fleet detaching?” The President asked, but he also knew what the reply would be. He had had a frank discussion with Premier Torneski and she was insistent that her ships had been ordered home, but were not responding. The President was inclined to believe her, especially as that part of Europe was turbulent right now, and having troops on hand would be a bonus.

A briefing for the small, select group known as ‘The Choir’ was the next order of the day and for once grizzled military or intelligence men had not given it.

A brunette who looked somehow familiar was the NSA briefer. Owing to the high security surrounding ‘Church’ the members tended to be senior staffers and middle aged in the main. This NSA representative was short of thirty.

“I know you, don’t I?” the President said.

“Yes Mr President, you made me the systems security chief for the NSA. I debugged the RORSATs.” Sally Peters replied.

The President swung around to look at Paul Stanley, the current chief of the NSA. Jack Graham, his predecessor, had been one of the casualties of the Washington DC bomb.

Next to Paul Stanley was sat another woman young enough to be a daughter to most of the rest of the room’s occupants. The green eyed redhead found herself the centre of attention as everyone else followed the Presidents gaze.

“And who may you be, young lady?”

“Alicia O’Connor, sir. I was contracted to work for Sally.”

“On?” the President enquired.

“Digital manipulation.”

The President grinned and clicked his fingers, pleased with himself. He remembered Ms O’Connor’s name appearing in a report by Scott Tafler, and that was another good man gone, to an assassination squad, in Scott’s case..

“You’ve worked out how the Chinese did what they did to our satellites and you can now do it to them, too?” he said to Paul Stanley.

“It is not quite that simple unfortunately.” Paul Stanley said apologetically.

The plasma screen monitors came to life and the President watched in silence as first Sally Peters, and then Alicia O’Connor took to the floor to explain the complexities of their proposal as well as the very real and obvious risks.

The President stared at the screens.

“Son of a bitch.” he breathed, his eyes going from one screen to the other.

Southern Pacific Ocean. 838 miles west of Guam.

1054hrs.

At a depth 600ft, the Sea Wolf class Hunter/Killer USS
Twin Towers
made ten knots as it made its way west, passing the older scenes of conflict, the tiny islands of Peleliu and Angaur, to the north of them.

Captains Pitt’s original orders had been to relieve the Australian diesel boat but that was no longer deemed necessary since the invasion fleet had altered course for the sub-continent. His new orders were to disrupt the supply line from Cebu, the logistical base for the PLAN 3
rd
Army. He was to join up with a British boat, HMS
Hood
, and together they were to find and sink tankers and merchantmen.

The NATO navies did not have that many hulls in these waters at the moment, and diesels were at a premium. The shallower waters with their thousands of islands, big and small, were not an ideal area of operation for SSNs, and SSKs were even thinner on the ground.

There was something about the orders that puzzled him; it was in the wording, or lack of it.

‘Find and sink enemy cargo vessels and tankers’
.
Did the admiral who issued the orders just assume that his captains would take the sinking of troopships and RO-ROs as a given? He was used to all the ‘Tees’ being crossed and the ‘Is’ dotted to prevent any ambiguity. He had nothing solid, just a nagging suspicion that someone knew more than they were telling. The intelligence bulletin regarding the PLAN 3
rd
Army’s 1
st
, 2
nd
and 3
rd
Corps was also in an almost précis form. 1
st
Corps would try to bulldoze its way to Canberra but if it failed then it would hold the ground it had taken, and await the other two corps arrival. Okay, that was sensible, but when were the other two corps expected, and by which route, the Indian Ocean or the Pacific?

The only solid information was that of the number of units expected to be guarding the supply line from the Philippine Islands, but that figure was a little on the low side and there
was no explanation given for this. Where were the rest of the SSK fleet, and the dedicated surface warfare ships? He was probably going to have to wait until peace broke out before discovering those answers.

The
Hood
was rearmed and running fast and deep to join with them in as short a time as possible. In the meantime he would take the
Twin Towers
into the deep Philippines Sea until the Brits arrived. He reckoned that his crew were ready to start hunting for real, instead of the constant drills and problems he had given them since clearing Newport News.

Rick had a very different crew now to the one he had started out this war with. Only Ensign Hannigan remained from the first crew of the USS
Twin Towers.
Promoted to Lieutenant j.g as a reward for being the only officer still capable of standing watch, he was now boss of the sonar shop.

The Seawolf Class submarine had been towed in to Portsmouth, Virginia, too badly damaged to make headway on her own during that 2
nd
Battle of the Atlantic, as it was now being called. But for a torpedo proximity fuse mistaking her still deployed sonar array for the
Twin Tower’s
hull; they would not be here now.

‘The Tee Tee’ had put to sea again following repairs in dry dock, and her skipper and Lt Hannigan had left hospital in time to be assigned to her.

The current crew had a small core of professional submariners and the rest were reservists or draftees in the less technical roles.

Young Mister Hannigan had a natural ear for sonar and even though it was not required of him he could still be found donning a headset and listening for hours at a time.

USS
Twin Towers
slipped through the depths with her new array streamed and listening intently as she headed for her captains chosen area on their first hunt.

CHAPTER Three

Canberra International Airport, Australia.

Friday 26
th
October

Looking some 100% more presentable than he had during his previous outing on the media, Lt Col Pat Reed led the way into 'Arrivals' at Canberra International Airport. The media were there covering the arrival of 'The soldiers of The Queen, come to Australia's aid from the Mother country' as some of the older Australian's thought, or 'The Mutineers' according to others.

Back in the UK he and Annabelle had not been left alone with their grief. The media, and certain factions of the community, sought them out wherever they went, and so when Brigadier General Salisbury-Jones, who commanded 1
st
Guards Mechanised Brigade, had asked him to command 2CG he had discussed it with her before agreeing. Their own personal grief could not be addressed fully until this war was finished.

1st Guards Brigade arrived in Canberra as light infantry, their vehicles making the journey by sea and not expected to arrive for a month. 1WG and 1IG were veterans of 1(UK) Mechanised Brigade on the Saale; 2CG was largely untested in this war, although veterans of Bosnia and Iraq were in the ranks. 1 Company was pure veteran from the current conflict, made up of 1CG men, as were the mortar and recce platoons in 2 (Support) Company. 1CG's Anti-Tank Platoon had been destroyed at The Wesernitz and the 82nd Airborne men had provided the hybrid battalions anti-armour needs in Germany. It was strange not having those men around now and the 'Odd Couple' had been a fearsome fighting team.

Jim Popham and Pat had spoken briefly by telephone since the civilian government had been ousted in the UK. No doubt the US Intelligence had been eavesdropping the whole time but he had been pretty thoroughly grilled by US Army Intelligence due to his and his men’s association with 1CG. They were now training for some airborne operation or other, but Pat would have been happy to have them with this battalion right now.

His own personal grief could not be addressed fully until this war was finished There were others missing, the Tim Gilchrists who he would never see again, and the Colin Probert’s of the regiment, those who were still recovering from their wounds. Colin had been particularly badly treated as Simon Manson had painted that courageous soldier as being a craven coward in order to justify his own serious shortcomings on the Wesernitz.

1CG's reputation, smeared by Danyella Foxten-Billings with the former PM’s blessing, and the assistance of the gutter press, was now cleared. Their portrayal as unworthy rebels in battle had only been corrected by becoming the ultimate of rebels in many eyes, and that was the final irony.

A small core of Vormundberg veterans and their rescued wounded from prison cells were now working under RSM Probert to rebuild the regiments First Battalion back in the UK. Colin had declined the commission as he lacked the financial means to be a Guards Officer in peacetime and would have had to transfer out of the brigade.

Pat ignored the press, the outreaching arms and the microphones they held. He had briefed his men to do likewise and some fairly inflammatory questions were shouted at the men in order to illicit a reaction. Despite his orders one of his senior NCOs was now having a squaring up to a well-known reporter who had, in frustration, grabbed the arm of a passing soldier.

"I have a right to an answer, the people of Australia have a right to an answer and I am their voice!"

"You have the right do you?"

"Yes, I believe I do."

"Were you at on the Wesernitz?"

"No."

"Were you on the Elbe?"

"No."

"Were you with the International Division at The Vormundberg?"

"No."

"Then you haven't earned the right to Jack-All, have you Hinney?" said CSM Osgood. "What's yer name by the way?"

The internationally famous reporter told him the name that politicians and celebrities alike courted or stepped softly around.

"Never heard of you."

The battalion, and the rest of the Foot Guards, collected their equipment and moved off in Australian Army Unimogs along the Federal Highway to reinforce
Woolongong and Port Kembla.

Two hours later the 8
th
Infantry Brigade arrived at Canberra and headed off in a different direction, along Kings Highway towards a little coastal town. They would relieve the Australians there so that Bateman’s Bay defences could be beefed up.

Sergeant ‘Baz’ Cotter was no longer an Acting Company Commander, he was getting the hang of the Platoon Sergeant’s
role with No. 12 Platoon, D Company, of the amalgamated Wessex battalions. All the men, the rankers, were veterans but there were a few teething problems. Former 1 and 2 Wessex men still considered themselves members of their original companies. One example was in 2 Section where they were all ex-C (Royal Berkshire) Company men of 2 Wessex and still wore the Brandywine flash behind the Wyvern cap badge. The Platoon Commander had taken their reluctance to unpick the stitching of the red flashes, and their permanent removal, as something of a personal challenge to his authority. Mr Pottinger was not a veteran; he was the product of advanced officer training. Baz had been very respectful when he had suggested that Mr P use the situation to the platoon’s advantage, as in a means to foster healthy competition between the sections. This would of course have to be properly handled by the right leader, but the result could be the best fighting platoon in the battalion. The platoon commander had not responded well to the suggestion though, and at a platoon leadership meeting he had publically ordered Corporal ‘Dopey’ Hemp to remove the Brandywine from his beret before the meeting commenced. If Mr P had thought that he was earning support from the other two section commanders he was very much mistaken. Mr P had pointed at his epaulet, at the very low profile embroidered ‘pip’ that marked him as a commissioned officer, before telling them their fortunes as he saw them. The section commanders all had day jobs to go back to, even after serving sentences in ‘Colly’ if it came to that, and all were combat veterans who had been recommended for gallantry awards. As Corporal Dave Whyte of 2 Section succinctly put it, he had ‘done his bit’ and Mrs Whyte would be quite happy for him to sit out the next bit of Global unpleasantness in a nice safe prison cell, but who was going to run Mr P’s rifle sections for him, hmm?

As a direct consequence of that meeting there was now an ‘Us and Him’ atmosphere within 12 Platoon which the CSM had quickly picked up on, and had directed the brand new Sergeant Cotter to deal with ASAP. Mr P however, would merely glare at his platoon sergeant and point at his epaulet whenever that subject came up, which was thrice daily, on good days.

Baz Cotter secretly wished that the Australians would leave wonderfully prepared positions requiring zero work by themselves, and the PLAN to continue to take its time before attempting a landing. After all the blood and snot, the snow and ice, followed by the rain and mud in Germany, perhaps some fun in the sun on the beaches was in order? Perhaps all that was needed was some fun-bonding to put things straight, a little surfing and a barbeque or two in quiet little Moruya?

The Tasman Sea, east of Moruya, New South Wales.

2100hrs Friday 26
th
October

The captain of the Improved Kilo class diesel electric submarine
Zheng He
spared a quick glance around the control room to check all was in order before taking his seat. He groaned when he sat down, he was deathly tired and indicated to his steward that he required yet another coffee.

Captain Aiguo Li had been in command of the
Zheng He
for less than a day, replacing the former commanding officer who had suffered a major stroke and cardiac arrest at sea. Prior to that, he had been in Cuba, in another ocean entirely.

Following the failed attack upon the European Space Agency launch facility in French Guiana, Li had faced the fact that without logistical support his Juliett class diesel
‘Dai’
was not going to make it home on her remaining fuel. He had managed to stay one step ahead of the French Atlantique and the anti-submarine corvette, but things had become more complicated with the arrival of a British vessel, HMS
Westminster
, to make the hunt more interesting for the hunters. His orders were to ‘scuttle and evade’, but he had instead limped into Havana harbor in Cuba where they had been received as heroes.

Anti-American and anti-all-things-Western feelings were running high. Food shortages, particularly fish, were having a bad effect on the civilian populations in the region. America had set of nuclear depth charges that had saved the convoys but had a dreadful effect on fish stocks, the weather and the harvests.

The surprise arrival of the Chinese submarine, so far from home, had become a propaganda coup for the Cuban government. A French ASW corvette, the
Commandant Blaison
and the British ASW frigate HMS
Westminster
sat off the coast, demanding the surrender of the vessel and its crew. If the newspapers were to be believed, the entire US Navy was sat just over the horizon. Somehow the media in those parts had chosen to forget the two nations and two fleets that the PRC had used its nuclear weapons on without hesitation.

Captain Li was feted as the David who had taken on the American Goliath, and when the Ambassador to Cuba from the People’s Republic of China showed Li into his office in the Embassy he did not leave a revolver and a single round upon the table and discretely withdraw. No mention was made of the mission’s failure to prevent further launches; instead it had somehow become a highly successful and daring commando raid to sink the ‘armed merchant freighter’
Fliterland
at her moorings, thereby preventing her cargo from being used against the peoples of China.

Li was tempted to explain to the Ambassador that the vessel had been unarmed, empty, and as good as abandoned but for a security guard in a gatehouse, but that would have been pointless.

His family back home was safe, and he was still drawing breath, which was always a plus.

Aiguo Li was now promoted to Da Xiao, Senior Captain, and put on a special flight home. His crew remained with the
Dai
, and the sunshine, and the extremely friendly Cuban girls. The Exec was now the Juliett’s skipper and Li had not the faintest clue as to what was in store for himself when they shook hands and said farewell.

Li’s orders were for him to return to Beijing but instead his flight had been diverted, delivering him to Mactan in the Philippines, and a fresh set of orders.

He read his these new orders as he descended the airstair of his comfortable Air China Boeing 747, with its moorishly luxurious1
st
Class seating, and he was rereading them as he continued across the tarmac and into a very functional Antonov that fetched and carried for the
Mao
.

The journey had been a nightmare with violent storms along the way before he had his first, and hopefully last, carrier landing.

Only torrential rain had been there to greet the ‘Hero of Kourou’ as he crossed the flight deck and into a Z-8KH helicopter for a rendevous with his current command. The winching down onto its deck with a sea running was also an experience he had no great enthusiasm for repeating.

There had been considerable changes in his county’s, and fleets, fortunes. For the time being the PRC was no longer the possessor of a nuclear arsenal, and furthermore she stood alone now against the West.

“So we had better win this one then.” He thought in reflection, considering China’s current circumstances.

He was once more conducting an inshore covert operation but this time with none of the training and preparation that had preceded the previous mission.

He had special forces aboard once more, and a submersible riding piggy back. All he needed now was for Captain Jie Huaiqing to arrive at his side equipped with some of the most random and bizarre details imaginable to make the experience complete.

Alas the mercurial Jie Huaiqing had not made it back. Dead, captured or evading, he had no idea what had become of Jie or any of the special forces who had swum ashore off Devil’s Island.

Aiguo Li had been picked because he was the Chinese navy’s most experienced captain in the business of inshore raiding and covert ops, but as Li was aware of no other living captains in that line of work it had kind of put that written compliment into perspective. Li’s job now was to carry out the plans that were supposed to guarantee a swift landing by the invasion fleet, and a back door to the Australian capital, Canberra.

New South Wales offered some fairly impressive natural barriers to an invader trying to reach Canberra. Dense forests, rivers and mountains that barred the way to the capital, and the few routes through the mountains were all defended by the small Australian army, navy and air force, with assistance from other countries.

The good news was that those defences were on the coastal plain waiting for the Chinese to roll up along the few roads that were available in an attempt to use the even scarcer passes through the mountains.