permission for the Vietnamese fighters to launch. Bien led the two squadrons
into the air. He quickly ascended to four thousand feet, and then began
orbiting, waiting for the rest of his squadrons to join on him. He heard the
voice on the radio change, and the language shift from Vietnamese to Chinese.
He could see the Chinese fighters beginning their roll-out, rotation, and
initial climb. The Chinese squadrons were joining up to the south of the
airfield, the Vietnamese ones to the north. Evidently the spirit of brotherly
cooperation did not extend to sharing airspace.
Finally, the signal came, first in Chinese then repeated in Vietnamese.
Bien turned east, increasing his speed to 420 knots and climbing to seven
thousand feet. His wingman bobbled for a moment and then settled down to his
left, and the rest of the circling wolf pack of fighters broke into their
respective flights. Behind them, the Chinese were settling into the fighting
formation that Bien had seen entirely too many times in the last five months.
Seventy miles to the east, the American battle group waited.
1000 local (Zulu -7)
Spook Two
“Well, will you look at that?” Tomboy said softly.
“Got them?” Batman asked.
“You betcha. Looks like about eighteen–no, make it closer to
twenty-five high-speed contacts leaving the coast. Tight formation. Any
other bird, it’d be difficult to break them out in this soup.” She twiddled
with the radar, tweaking and peaking. “But I got them–oh, yeah, do I got
them!”
“Best we wake Mother up, then,” Batman said, a tight note creeping into
his voice. “I think we might just back up off the front line a little, too.
At least until our posse arrives.”
“Concur. We just did our job at the OK Corral.”
“Homeplate, this is Doc Holliday,” Tomboy said into the mike. “Suggest
you wake up Wyatt Earp.”
1810 local (Zulu -7)
TFCC
Wyatt Earp could have done with snipers, Tombstone thought, staring at
the TFCC screen and waiting for the air battle to unfold. Snipers provide a
force multiplier that can’t be beat. If a year at the Naval War College had
taught him nothing else, it had taught him that operational planning was the
key to winning an engagement. Define the desired end state, and plan for that
state to exist. We studied enough military history and strategy planning to
have a variety of examples, both good and bad.
The shoot-out at the OK Corral and the Peloponnesian wars. It was a
combination that he didn’t think had even occurred to his professors.
“Could be another feint,” Batman said neutrally.
“Not with that many aircraft,” Tombstone said. “It’s gone on too long.
We’ve held off long enough to convince them that we’re lulled. They’ll take
advantage of our complacency. They’re convinced now.”
“You can’t be sure.”
“Neither can they. But look at it from their point of view. We haven’t
reacted to the last two probes. In this sea state, they’re going to feel a
little more confident that their submarine can get in close, and that our
radar may be degraded. They’ve got to know that we’re tired, and they’re
launching so that the sun will be in our eyes when we intercept them.”
“I almost hope so, for the aircrew’s sake. They can’t take much more of
this, Tombstone.”
Tombstone shot his old wingman a hard look. “You think I don’t know what
they’re going through? It hasn’t been that long, Batman, since you and I were
pulling alert five.”
“We never pulled this many in a row, shipmate–not on top of normal
operations.”
“I know that. But there was no other way. I know this air wing.
They’re tired, but they can do it.”
“I hope you’re right, my friend,” Batman said softly to himself.
“Because if you’re not–the options become unacceptable real fast.”
“As long as the Vietnamese do their part,” Tombstone said. “Feels really
strange, depending on them.”
“You’re the one who’s always telling me that war is more than blowing
aircraft out of the sky.”
“Let’s just hope the politicians understand that part of it. Because if
they didn’t, that’s all this is going to amount to.”
“That’s it!” the TAO shouted. “Admiral, you were right! Tomcat’s