Sky Masters полностью

“Sir… the embassy got a call from an officer who identified himself as a member of the Fleet Admiral’s Staff of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy South Philippines Task Force. He advises us that Admiral Yin Po L’un, the Fleet Admiral, has ordered that the city of Davao be attacked and destroyed with nuclear weapons if the American bombers do not withdraw immediately.”

“What?” Everyone in the command post was on their feet.

“That was the ship… the guy… that launched the antiship nuclear missile… wasn’t it?” Masters asked Stone. No one replied, but the answer was clear.

“It’s a bluff,” Cal Jarrel said resolutely.

“The message origin was verified, sir,” the communications officer reported. “Came directly from the Premier’s offices themselves through military channels. The State Department is notifying the White House now.”

“Back up that call with one of our own,” Stone ordered. “Get the President on the line for me immediately.”

“Can he do it?” Elliott asked. “Can his missiles attack ground targets?”

“Easily, and with pretty good precision,” Stone replied. “The Fei Lung-9 has a range of almost two hundred kilometers — that’s over a hundred nautical miles. It was originally a mobile land-based missile, modified for shipboard use.”

“You can’t take this seriously,” Jarrel protested. “We were expecting something like this. The next call that comes in will say that the Chinese will launch a sea-launched ballistic missile on Guam or Hong Kong or Okinawa if we don’t withdraw.” But faces were still grave — they were taking the threat very seriously. Jarrel said, “There’s nothing we can do anyway — the planes are over their targets now. In three minutes the B-ls will go over the target.”

“We can withdraw them,” Harbaugh said.

“That’s crazy, Tom…”

“Look at the board, Cal,” Harbaugh said. “Your boys have done enough damage already. What’s the big deal if we abort the northern strike group?”

“The big deal is, the Chinese Marines will make it on the beach,” Jarrel argued. “We would have used all the other bombers for nothing… we will have lost all those other crews for nothing.”

“We can’t take the chance that he’ll do it,” Harbaugh said.

“He’ll wipe out a bunch of his own guys, won’t he?” Masters asked.

“If they’re already wiped out by the Air Battle Force, he might not care.” <

“Order a strike by the Tomahawk cruise missiles again,” Elliott said. “What’s the range from the Wisconsin group to the Hong Lung?” But the measurement was quickly made and verified — it was over six hundred miles. The Tomahawk cruise missile crews would need at least thirty minutes to program a new strike, and then the missiles would take at least an hour to fly that distance.

“We can order one of the bombers to attack the Hong Lung, ” Harbaugh said. “They can withhold a couple weapons, head south, and attack. We can use a couple of the B-ls in the northern strike group — they only have mines and fuel-air explosives left by now, but that should do the job.” He pointed at the high-definition monitor. “Hong Lung will need to move farther north, right to the mouth of Davao Gulf, before firing. That means we have about twenty minutes to get someone in position…”

“There isn’t time to send retargeting data to the B-ls, Tom,” Jarrel said. “We’ve got two orders we can give the bombers now — attack or withhold. If we order two planes to withhold, they abort right in the middle of all that air defense.. They have to traverse a hundred and twenty miles of stiff defenses, find the right ship, and attack. It’s crazy. I say send the B-ls in and finish the job. This is an obvious bluff, and we’re falling for it…

“But if it’s not a bluff…

“I have a suggestion, sir,” Masters said. “I think I have a way we can strike that Chinese destroyer in time.”

And Jon Masters began to outline his plan to his audience…

The frigate Xiamen had been hit by no less than six Harpoon missiles and was burning as fiercely as a volcano in the mouth of Davao Gulf — its patrol boat escorts could not get within five kilometers of it because of burning fuel oil on the water, the intense heat, and the occasional explosions in her weapon magazines. Three of Xiamen's six patrol boat escorts had been hit by Harpoon missiles, which left Davao Gulf wide open for the strike package to enter. Two B-52s took heavy-caliber gunfire hits from patrol boats and were forced to jettison their ordnance armed before penetrating into the target area, and one was shot down as it withdrew from the area; all of the crewmen safely ejected and were taken prisoner.