Red Tide, стр. 28

Master Chief Jensen had a navy launch waiting for Ryson when he arrived on the float. Ryson stood for most of the trip so he could see the full sweep of the harbor. It’s tight, he concluded. Very tight. And busy too.

One of the major destinations in the port was the Manado Marine Terminal, where interisland steamers docked to deliver cargos and load huge bins of locally grown produce.

In contrast to many of Manado’s buildings, the terminal was well constructed. And the pilings that supported the warehouse were so tall that even a tsunami would be unlikely to touch the underside of the building.

So it was there, in the shadows below the warehouse, that all ten of Squadron 7’s patrol boats could be moored. Although it was unlikely that the entire force would be in port at the same time.

The squadron consisted of six hydrofoils and four Armindale patrol boats. And, as the launch left the sunlight for the relative darkness beneath the warehouse, Ryson saw that two PHMs and an Armindale were missing and presumably on patrol.

The Australian boats were of particular interest to Ryson because he’d never seen one first hand. The Armindales had a sleek, almost yachtlike appearance. Whereas the PHMs had a rather retro profile when hullborne.

Ryson knew that each Armindale was 186 feet long, which meant the boats were more than fifty feet longer than their American counterparts. Plus, they drew less water, which could be an advantage when fighting inshore.

On the other hand, ton-for-ton, the hydrofoils were better armed. Each PHM carried four missile launchers, plus a bow-mounted auto cannon, and two .50 caliber machine guns. Whereas the Aussie vessels were armed with a single 25mm Bushmaster autocannon.

The other major difference was speed. The Class II Pegs could do 52 knots per hour in a pinch, compared with about half that for the Armindales. Yes, the PHMs could cut speed in order to accompany the Armindales, but doing so would reduce their effectiveness.

Yet, to truly integrate the Americans with the Australians, it would be necessary to have them fight side-by-side occasionally.

Ryson’s train of thought was interrupted as the coxswain brought the launch alongside a floating dock, and applied just the right amount of reverse.

Ryson turned to thank him before making the jump to the dock. Vos was there to greet him. “Good morning, sir … And welcome to Squadron 7. If it’s all the same to you, I thought we would begin with a tour of the Perth.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” Ryson said. And he was.

***

Aboard the semisubmersible cruiser Sea Dragon, at the Yulin Navy Base, China

Jev Jing was terrified. After obtaining the program called Strong Sword NIK7854, and using it to de-encrypt the back-and-forth correspondence between Ang and an MSS official named Diu Zang, Jing knew he was in way over his head.

Now it was clear that political officer Ang was a lot more than a pain in the ass. He was an MSS agent who’d been sent to keep an eye on the Sea Dragon’s Chief Engineer, Captain Bohai Hong. A man who, if Ang’s correspondence was to be believed, was a member of a shadowy group called Shi Quan (The Circle of Ten). A secret society pledged to remove President Enlai from office and replace him with Hong’s brother-in-law Lau.

So, how to extricate himself? There were two choices, or so it seemed to Jing. He could do nothing and hope for the best. Or, he could anonymously pass the information to Hong, in hopes that the Chief Engineer would find a way to rid himself of Ang. And that was the option Jing chose.

But how? After considering all sorts of farfetched possibilities Jing decided that the direct approach would be best. After downloading all the messages to a thumb drive, Jing placed the device in an envelope and addressed it to “Shi Quan.” A name which was sure to grab Hong’s attention. Then Jing went to the tiny postal cubby located next to the officer’s mess, and slid the envelope into Hong’s mailbox.

After returning to his bunk, Jing he wiped his browsing history, and took the time required to reformat the thumb stick he’d been working from. Jing tried to fall sleep. He couldn’t.

***

Aboard the HMAS Eucia in the Celebes Sea, north of Manado, Indonesia

The Eucia’s bow rose, and spray flew port and starboard, as the patrol boat cut through a six-foot wave on her way north toward the Philippine island of Mindanao. The Armindale’s bridge was considerably more spacious than a hydrofoil’s.

Ryson was seated next to Lieutenant James Atworthy. Due to the exigencies of war the Australians, like the Americans, had been forced to give young officers commands that would normally go to someone more senior.

But according to Vos, Lieutenant Atworthy was quite competent, and Ryson had to agree. Part of that competency stemmed from the fact that Atworthy knew the local waters, which showed in the confident way that he pushed his boat north.

Thanks to radar, GPS, and the Armindale’s computer, the Australian knew exactly where he was. The Eucia was westbound between the Philippine island of Palawan, and the northern extreme of Malaysia.

“The Spratly Islands are right over there,” Atworthy said, as he pointed west. “Which puts them more than a thousand miles from China. That’s a long supply chain.

“So, thanks to the sweetheart deal they have with President Costas, the Chinese airlift supplies to Palawan Island, and pay Filipino fishermen to run them out to the bases on the Spratlys. Our job is to disrupt that supply chain, put pressure on those locations, and force the Chinese to evacuate.”

Ryson knew that the Spratlys were part of a long running dispute between China, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines and others concerning the ownership of the islands, which had strategic importance. And might be adjacent to oil deposits as well.

That’s why the Chinese had spent years turning reefs into