“Heavy commo traffic between Jakarta, Canberra and Washington. Currently,
President Kediri is in conference with our Secretary of State and the
Australian Foreign Minister.”
“What are they talking about, Chris?”
The Intel looked uncomfortable. “Uh, those communications are on secure State Department links, Boss Ma’am. I’m not authorized to access …”
“Chris, what are they saying?”
She sighed. “Kediri’s asking – no, cancel that, he’s begging – for help. He says that he doesn’t have the forces available to deal with the Bali uprising and that his
government is on the verge of collapse.”
“And?”
“And the Regional Intervention Force is being committed to evacuate the foreign
nationals in the archipelago and to keep the Straits of Malacca open. And that’s all.”
“So they’re cutting him loose,” Amanda murmured. “They’re judging Indonesia as a lost cause.”
Christine shrugged. “What can I say, Boss Ma’am? Harconan’s got us beat.”
The heel of Amanda’s hand slammed down on the desktop. “Not Harconan, Chris. That’s just the problem. It’s not Harconan!”
“What?”
“It’s not just Harconan. There’s somebody else!”
She was interrupted by a voice issuing from the speakers of the second laptop. “Captain, this is communications. Admiral MacIntyre is on channel from
NAVSPECFORCE.”
“Bring him into this call, please.”
The screen of the second laptop filled with the image of Elliot MacIntyre in the
Naval Special Forces briefing room. He appeared to be alone and the tension in
him was obvious. “Amanda, we’ve got major developments in the situation down there.”
“Commander Rendino and I are already working the problem,” Amanda replied. “We understand that the Indonesian government is in imminent danger of collapse
over the Bali situation. We also know President Kediri has asked for assistance
and that the Intervention force is being sortied.”
MacIntyre gave a wry half-smile. “I should have guessed.” He glanced toward what must have been a second conference screen. “Good evening, Miss Rendino. I’m pleased you’re on top of things. It will simplify matters and God knows we need all the
simplification we can get.”
“The primary overt mission of the Intervention Force,” Amanda demanded, “has it been altered?”
“Not appreciably. Evacuate all foreign nationals trapped in country and maintain
freedom of the seas. That’s still the program.”
“And no mission expansion?”
“Nothing is on the boards so far. Our Joint Naval Expeditionary Group and the
composite ANZAC squadron are to move north from Darwin to Bali. They’ll establish a beach head on the southern peninsula, secure Negura Rai
International Airport and the harbor facilities at Benoa for use as a central
evacuee collection point and operations base.”
Amanda frowned. “Seizing a port facility isn’t exactly SOP for an evacuation mission, Elliot.”
“Let’s say that somebody’s thinking long-term. If we’re seeing the Balkanization of the Indonesian Archipelago, we might be needing a
permanent base in the region.”
“What about our people? The Sea Fighters.”
“They’ve been detached from the main body of the Expeditionary Group and are acting as
an independent rapid response unit. They’re proceeding to Labuan Bajo on Flores to clear the tourist resorts there. After
that, they’re off for the southern coast of Sumatra.”
Amanda nodded. “And what are Phantom’s orders, sir?”
“You are being redeployed to an operating location off the northern coast of
Bali. You will continue to operate as a regional Intelligence gathering
platform and you will stand by to assist the Bali Occupation Force as required.”
“So we’re abandoning both the nation-saving mission and the Kediri government.”
MacIntyre grimaced and studied his desk. He was not a man who suffered defeat
easily. “No one is saying so in so many words, but the back-room consensus is that we’re trying to revive a dead horse. Kediri and Indonesia are finished, Amanda. Our
friend Harconan’s won.”
“That’s just the problem, Elliot. We’re not fighting Harconan. At least not now and not in Bali!”
MacIntyre looked up sharply. “What?”
“The scenario has altered. There’s a third faction intervening in the archipelago. Someone with a different
agenda than that of Harconan.”
Speaking rapidly and concisely, Amanda related what she had learned from the Shenandoah’s Signal Intelligence section concerning the fatwa broadcasts.
“It sounds to me like just another example of Harconan’s chaos theory revolution in action,” MacIntyre said when she finally paused.
Amanda shook her head. “No, this is a decisively different game plan. Yes, Makara Harconan wanted to
inflame the various rebellious factions within Indonesia. And yes, his
intentions were to turn them against the government to bring about a division
of the archipelago into a number of independent republics and kingdoms. But he
did not want to set the peoples of Indonesia irreversibly at each other’s throats!” Amanda shoved her chair back and started to pace. “Fomenting a jihad between the Indonesian Muslims and Hindus would do exactly
that. The scenario that is being set up on Bali is not part of his plan. There’s somebody else involved. Somebody far more ruthless.”
“We’ve seen no evidence of any such third faction operating in the archipelago, Amanda,” MacIntyre replied.
“Because their operations were masked by Harconan’s! I suspect we’ve got a group of opportunists out there co-opting Harconan’s plan for their own ends – and, given their willingness to foment an open war between the two largest
religious factions in the island, those ends can’t be good ones.”
MacIntyre impatiently shook his head. “I’m still not seeing any essential deviation from the set strategy we’ve seen Harconan use before.”
On the first screen, Christine Rendino was suddenly looking thoughtful. “It’s not a matter of deviation sir, but of proportion. The Bali event is escalating
the chaos factor doctrine to a new and unnecessary level. Harconan was already
achieving all of his goals. There’s no need to foment this kind of potential holocaust. Captain Garrett’s right. The Bali event would actually be counter-productive to Harconan’s stated desires and goals.”
MacIntyre scowled. “And how do we know just what those desires and goals truly are, Commander?”
