CARRIER 2: VIPER STRIKE By Keith Douglass

would just add to Thailand’s instability. Now, if Hsiao is behind

Kriangsak, it could mean he’s planning on toppling the present That

government and replacing it with one of his own.

“Of course, U.S. intervention would be a problem. Hsiao couldn’t afford

to have us get involved too deeply helping the legitimate government. By

attacking Jefferson, he either leaves us in doubt about who the enemy

is–and therefore out of the game–or he convinces us that our carrier

is vulnerable and forces us to back off. Same result. By God, it

fits!”

“Okay,” Admiral Magruder said. He stepped to the front of the room and

took Neil’s place. “Thank you, Commander.” He waited while Neil took

his seat, then addressed the entire group. “Very well, gentlemen. The

question is, what can we do about it? Intelligence sharing ought to be

our first step.

Tell the legitimate rulers what we know … help them clean house

themselves.

We’ll need to establish communication directly with the That military,

bypassing Kriangsak. My impression was that Duong was honest, even if

his chief aide wasn’t. Commander Neil, check into that, please.”

“Aye, sir.

“What else?”

CAG Marusko spoke up. “Admiral, it seems to me if our orders are to

support the legitimate That government, we could help a lot by flying

close support with them. Commander Neil said the Thais had lost a lot

of their air force already.”

“Close support against what target?” Barnes asked.

“U Feng, for one,” CAG replied. “We know it’s held by rebel forces. The

Thais are going to want to take it back, if only to prove they’re strong

enough to do so. We could fly close air for them, keep those J-7s

grounded while they send in their ground forces.”

“We certainly have to provide air support against hostile aircraft,”

Admiral Magruder said thoughtfully. “At least until we know how many

MiGs there are at U Feng. I’m concerned, though, that Hsiao might be

working for the Chinese. Washington is going to take a dim view of us

starting a war with the PRC, especially these days, with all the

friendly overtures toward Beijing. Dick? Any suggestions?”

Neil smiled. “Considering that the Chinese aren’t even supposed to be

in Thailand or Burma, I’d say we can take any action we feel is

justified. If Beijing is in on this mess, they can’t very well admit

it, can they?”

“Agreed,” the admiral said. “We’ll wait for a definite word on that

from Washington, but I tend to believe they’ll go along with it.

Anything else?”

“We’ve got the Marines coming in,” Brad Gilmore, Magruder’s chief of

staff, pointed out. “We’ll rendezvous with MEU-6 later today. They can

beef up our position at the American embassy and be on hand to protect

Americans in the city.”

“Yeah. They’d be able to help if it turned out we had to evacuate

American nationals,” the Exec added.

“Right,” CAG said. “And if they’re having trouble with air, our

helicopter assets aboard Chosin and Little Rock could help stretch

things, at least until we got the word to move our people. If they need

airmobile transport into Bangkok, say, the grunts could provide it.”

Magruder pulled out his notebook again and wrote something in it. “Good

point.” He looked up. “Anyone else?”

The room was silent. “Very well. My recommendations to Washington will

be as follows.” He looked down at his notebook. “First, we share

intelligence with the That Military staff. In particular, we tell them

about Hsiao and Kriangsak and what we’ve uncovered or guessed about the

coup.

“Second, we offer close air support to the Thais, filling in for the

losses they’ve suffered to their air force.” He looked up. “CAG, start

putting together an operational plan for a full alpha strike against U

Feng.

Catch those MiGs on the ground and leave nothing but debris for the That

army to mop up. Commander Neil will be able to fill you in on what

Lieutenant Wayne saw in the way of defenses up there.” Several heads

nodded, and there was a scratching of pens on paper as the COs of the

carrier’s attack squadrons made notes. “We will also look for ways we