Sea Strike

27

“So,” General Ho said slowly, “what the Nationalists claim is true. They have nuclear armaments.”

“I am authorized to verify that fact,” Van Lynden replied.

“Between ten and twenty of your major cities and military installations have been targeted. I am also authorized to state that their ballistic-missile delivery systems have been hardened and camouflaged to the point that they would be immune to any first strike launched by the People’s Republic.”

The Red General gazed silently out across the expanse of Manila Bay, his eyes narrowing. The two men had returned to the bench at the base of the fountain where they had met previously. Van Lynden had requested this off-the-boards meeting prior to the start of the day’s round of crisis reduction talks.

“This is madness,” the Chinese officer hissed.

“I agree,” Van Lynden replied levelly.

“Do the Nationalists think that these bombs of theirs will deter us from using our own?”

“Will they, General?”

“I don’t know.” Ho covered his face with his hands wearily. “I honestly do not know, Mr. Secretary. As the conflict within my nation has grown, my government has come to look upon our stock of nuclear armaments as the final and ultimate insurance of our survival.”

He dropped his hands to his lap and straightened again.

“How they would react should that final reed be broken, I cannot say.”

“Survival is the point here, General,” Van Lynden insisted. “We are no longer talking about the survival of a government here. This situation is escalating to the point that we are talking about the survival of your population. We are now looking at a MAD scenario. Mutually Assured Destruction! Neither side can possibly want that outcome!”

Ho did not answer, and Van Lynden groped for another angle of attack.

“Could it be, Genera], that we have a balance of power established here? Could this provide common cause for both sides to seek a compromise?”

The general shook his head. “Mr. Secretary, compromise would assure our destruction as surely as the Nationalists’ bombs. Each day this rebellion is allowed to continue, our control over our people erodes like a handful of sand held under a stream of water. Plurality is not acceptable to the leadership of my government. To accept the Nationalists and the rebels as our equals would be to acknowledge them as our masters.”

“Maybe that should be telling you something, General.”

Ho paused for a long moment, then nodded. “Perhaps so, Mr. Secretary. But I am not one of those who will make these decisions. Nor will my opinion likely be asked.

“I am a warrior, and I understand the principles of war: the taking and defending of territory, the enforcement of political will. But we are rapidly passing beyond warfare now. We are entering into an area of hatred and revenge and despair that is perhaps even beyond the rule of logic and self preservation. The Nationalists and the rebels must understand this. As I have said before, they are the ones with the options.”

“What if they don’t see it that way, General?”

“Then you had best have escape aircraft standing by to evacuate your Embassy personnel, Mr. Secretary. The radioactive fallout here in the Philippines will probably be quite severe.”