Curious at how the Taiwanese could bag such a large number of invaders overnight, Colonel Flint sent Major Ramirez over to the 17th Infantry Division’s headquarters to investigate. The major came back without any official information (the Taiwanese refused to divulge “state secrets”). But, what he did see aroused speculation that Taiwan had a trick or two up its sleeve as well. On his way back to the Marine’s airport HQ, Rez spotted a column of enemy prisoners of war. Judging by the way they stumbled along and the strange looks in their eyes, Rez guessed that they had been blinded by some agent or weapon. All’s fair in love and war, Rez thought, remembering the aborted Combat Laser Assault Weapon from the early 90s. The idea behind the CLAW was to use a computer controlled laser weapon that would sweep a laser beam across the battlefield, permanently blinding enemy forces. The U.S. decided not to deploy the system, reasoning that it was too inhumane and that if America forewent its development, other nations would follow suit. This was a false pretense. Rarely have nations refused to deploy weapons they viewed as being in their national interest just because another nation refused to do so. With China’s huge advantage in infantry and Taiwan’s advantage in technology, it was only natural that Taiwan would seek to use capital to offset its opponent’s advantage in labor.
When the intelligence officer got back to headquarters and reported to Colonel Flint, the senior officer considered the latest information for a long moment. Flint finally sat down wearily, looked up at Ramirez and said, “Rez, this is going to be one hell of a vicious war. There will be no rules. The last nation left standing will rule the world for a hundred years. You think America’s ready for that?”
Rez was surprised at his boss’ sudden bout of melancholy. He tried to put a good face on things, “Well sir, we were ready in World War Two.”
Flint shook his head, “That was a different generation and these are different times. In a couple of days the Chinese have used chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. You can’t beat China with two months of high altitude air strikes and cruise missiles. Do you think America can go toe-to-toe with these bastards and do what it will take to win?”
“We did.”
“We’re Marines, Rez, that’s what we do. It’s the home front I’m concerned about.”
Donna Klein had returned home for a lightning strike to gather some clothes in preparation for her trip to Taiwan. She had huge misgivings — not about her participation, but about the trip itself. Why send a team to Taiwan at all? What could be gained through negotiations? The Chinese expected unconditional surrender. The President wanted to stall for time until greater forces could be mustered to provide him with more leverage. Would negotiations in bad faith be worse than none at all?
The whole mission had an unusual air about it. Three people: the National Security Council Advisor as the President’s representative, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs as the lead negotiator of the surrender terms, and a low-ranking China expert from the CIA — three people attempting to diffuse a potential war between the two most powerful nations on the planet. The State Department was completely opposed to the mission from which they were excluded. However, the Chinese set the terms: no more than three people, including translators, were to fly into Chiang Kai-Shek airport no later than Tuesday and deal directly with the senior Party representative on Taiwan.
Donna knew the Chinese were carefully controlling the venue to their advantage. First, by getting the Americans to agree to meet them on Taiwan, the Chinese had already established the concept that Taiwan was just as much a part of China as was Beijing. Second, by limiting the numbers of the delegation, the Chinese were able to limit the Americans’ potential for mischief. Third, a small delegation was an outward sign of weakness. Such a delegation would lack the stamina to do anything more than capitulate to Chinese demands for the surrender of U.S. forces.
The White House began to get a clearer picture of the extensive Chinese preparations for war. With information hastily pulled together from America’s intelligence agencies — Donna’s own CIA, the DIA (the military’s counterpart), the NSA (an agency that gathered signals intelligence), and the State Department, it became obvious that China had secretly prepared for a crushing assault on Taiwan for an entire half year. Had they looked with their eyes and not blanketed the facts with their preconceived notions, any one of America’s information gathering agencies could have foreseen July’s events. Instead, they were all playing catch-up.
Donna had already moved beyond the finger pointing. She had come as close as anyone in the CIA to discerning China’s true intentions before the attack. Had she been free to work full-time at the China desk instead of being diverted to assist the overworked Indonesia section during the humanitarian crisis there, she might have called it — not that anyone would have listened to her.
What wasn’t easy was determining what China’s intent was after taking Taiwan. Understanding the nature of this conflict was essential. Was it a regional conflict or the opening move in a larger, more ambitious game plan? Knowing was essential for U.S. planners trying to formulate an appropriate response — this was the question that occupied Donna as she packed. Taiwan today. Tomorrow…?
Dugen had only been on Route 4 for a few minutes when he saw it: the Goddess of Democracy! Dugen’s mind raced as he tried to suppress the walled-off emotions of that brutal day in ‘89 at Tiananmen Square. The terrified look on the faces of young men and women — people no different than himself, people who believed in a better China, people he gunned down in cold blood without remorse. Dugen stared at the five-meter high statue. Dugen’s driver pressed on, oblivious to the symbol that had come to haunt his commander’s dreams.
Only three hours later Colonel Chu had met his objectives and had taken up positions in Taishan. He had seen two more Goddess of Democracy statues along the way, each sending him deeper into thought.
The last one they saw during the road march his political officer halted the convoy and ordered a squad to destroy it. Chu countermanded the order, claiming they neither had the time nor the ammunition to waste on destroying a statue. The political officer relented and returned to his car to sulk, not wanting to challenge the popular commando officer.
Dugen made his command post in a small office building overlooking Taipei. He viewed the enemy’s city through his Japanese binoculars. Taipei gleamed and sparkled in the shafts of light that shone through the clouds. He placed the field glasses down for a moment to rest his eyes, then noticed a scuffle on the street below between one of his men and a civilian motorcyclist. The commando had forced the man off of his motorcycle and was binding his hands behind his back, when Dugen noticed a slender white form in the small park beyond the street. The Goddess! The PLA colonel sat in a leather executive’s chair and stared slack-jawed out the window. On the street below, the young, now helmetless man sat tied to a lamppost with his head bowed, crying. Dugen’s gaze passed from the young man to the Goddess of Democracy and back to the young man. Dugen’s thoughts returned to 1989. Could he ever regain what was lost?
Alexander talked a couple of Taiwanese airport security officers into finding Traveller a truck full of jet fuel. A few hundred gallons later, Traveller’s thirst was slaked and the tank was ready for an eight-hour night shift (until it would have to be refueled again).