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The Little Stinker flights climbed away from the city, circling to observe the effect of the dispersal attacks. Below them, the mobs seemed to explode outward as the individuals involved frantically attempted to get as far away from each other as possible. A faint ghost of the stench at ground level penetrated the strike group’s cockpits, triggering a hasty tightening of oxygen mask straps.

“I think I’d rather be hit with napalm, thank you,” Pink Pinkerton commented over the radio link.

*

The same scene played out across the screens in the Joint Operations Command Center. Amanda couldn’t suppress her chuckle.

“I think we’ve bought our friend Harconan all the time he’ll need for an unmolested evacuation.” She keyed her headset. “This is Star Child to Little Stinker Flight. Mission accomplished. Very well done. We are still clear horizon. Return to base.”

“Roger that, Star Child,” Arkady’s distant jubilant voice replied over the squawk box. “Smelly but victorious, we are inbound.”

“Before we stand down from flight stations, I’d like to get somethin’ else done,” Stone interjected as the channel shut down.

“What’s that, Stone?”

“I’d like to put another Mariner drone up to park on this ol’ boys quarterdeck.” Stone pointed toward the Bugi flagship centered on the main screen. “A dedicated mission. Now that we got Harconan dead in our sights, I want to make extra special sure we can’t lose him until we’re ready to take him.”

Amanda caught the shadow of sadness before it could reach her face. “That’s next on the agenda,” she replied. “From the look of things, Harconan is embarking some of the refugees aboard his flagship, so we can’t simply blow him out of the water. But, given the best speed of those pinisi, there are no off-Bali evacuation points they can reach before nightfall. We’ll move in and take him after dark. I’d like to do it non-lethally if possible.”

Quillain nodded. “I don’t think it’s goin’ to be much of a deal at all Skipper. I’ve been sittin’ here working it out. It should be a pretty simple rush and board.”

He consulted the yellow legal pad in front of him, already covered with a collection of notes in his loose, looping handwriting. “We’ll have the helos hose him down good with flashbang grenades and Pigeyes, drivin’ everybody below decks. Then we’ll run an AAAV in under his stern and bust off his rudder so he can’t maneuver. Then we’ll bring the RIBS alongside with the SEAL and Force Recon teams. That load of passengers will hamper the fighting capacity of his crew just about as bad or worse than it will us. Unless he wants to be a totally suicidal asshole about things, not too many folks should get hurt.”

“He’s not suicidal, Stone,” she replied quietly. “At least not when it comes to other people’s lives.”

“How about the other ships in his flotilla?” Dix Beltrain inquired.

Stone shrugged. “We herd ’em off with more flashbangs and Pigeyes and put rockets and cannon fire across their bows if they don’t get the message. After that, if they want to push the fight beyond all common sense, it’ll be on their heads.”

“True enough,” Amanda cut him off, her words abrupt. “Dix, recover Little Stinker Flight and launch the dedicated Mariner as Stone requested. Maintain continuous covert observation of Harconan’s ship from high altitude. After the Bugi squadron sails, commence shadowing, keeping us below their horizon at all times.”

“Aye aye, Ma’am.”

“Stone, work up your ops plan for the boarding. Co-coordinate it with Mr. Beltrain and with Mr. Arkady to select your optimum engagement point.” She glanced at her wristwatch. “We’ll have another O Group at 1900 Hours to finalize the strike package.” Suddenly, the overhead loudspeaker interrupted, “Captain, this is the Watch Officer. We have an emergency, ma’am.” The voice was urgent in its inflection.

Amanda responded instantly, “This is the Captain! What’s going on?”

“We’ve been ordered to return to Jakarta will all possible speed, ma’am. A military coup has been launched against the Kediri government and the US Embassy is under attack.”

Part Four

Primary Conflict Initiated

The Presidential Palace Complex

Lapangan Merdeka (Freedom Square), Jakarta Indonesia

1127 Hours; Zone Time, October 29, 2008

President Ahsan Kediri was a weary, middle-aged man. At one time, not long before, he had been vigorous and solidly set with hair that had still been black. The gauntness, the graying, the slump to his shoulders had come with his presidency. The tension, the long hours, the perpetual string of compromises with others and with his own conscience, had worn him down.

He had been a rarity in Indonesian governmental circles: a national leader who had not risen from the highly political Army officers’ cadre. By profession, he had been a banker who had entered civil service out of a genuine desire to change his nation for the better. But instead, the nation had changed him, distorting the idealism he had brought with him to the office. “Making do” had become the watchword of his administration –and, as his nation had slid ever deeper into its apparently terminal crisis, Kediri wished with a growing frequency that he had never heard of politics or of the Presidency.

Now the American Ambassador stood before his desk telling him that, at long last, it might be coming to its end. In a way, he should have been relieved – but there was still a flicker of the old idealism left, a stubbornness to not submit to the final indignity of defeat.

“The threat of a military coup is a sword held over the head of every Indonesian administration,” Kediri replied. “I cannot abandon my duties in the face of a mere prospect.”

His private office was a testament to this threat. Windowless and buried in the heart of the main building of the presidential palace compound, its tastefully expensive blend of European and Asian interior decor only partially concealed the fact that it was as much bunker as office.

At the moment, Kediri was alone with the two American diplomatic representatives, at their request.

“Nor does my government desire that you do so, Mr. President,” Ambassador Goodyard replied. “We have supported your administration from the beginning of this crisis and we continue to do so now. That’s why Commander Rendino and I are here, to present you with the evidence we have uncovered indicating that a military coup against your government may be imminent and to urge you to take due precautions.”

“What do you propose I do?” Kediri replied. “Abandon my post, my nation, in this time of disaster? I cannot! It would be the equivalent of surrender to these selfsame revolutionary factions.”

“If I may interject, Mr. President.” It was Commander Rendino, Goodyard’s military advisor – who, surprisingly to Kediri, was a young golden-haired woman. “We do not propose any kind of abandonment. We only suggest that you shift your point of authority out of the capital to one of your garrisons on one of the outlying islands where it will be easier to maintain both governmental control and your personal security. Our Intelligence indicates that the major threat against your administration may be located here on Java and on Sumatra, the primary islands.”

Kediri shook his head. “That would also be out of the question! Java is Indonesia and Jakarta is Java! Fleeing Java would fully be the equivalent of fleeing the country!”

The young woman murmured something under her breath, something like, “So much for Bhinneka Tunggal ika.”

“Mister President,” Ambassador Goodyard resumed, “is it so inconceivable that this threat is not real?”

Kediri shook his head. “No, Mr. Ambassador, not in the least. I readily fear that such an event may, indeed, be possible and imminent – my own Intelligence resources are not so as inept as you may perceive – but, as a very wise man once said, I must not take the counsel of my fears. I must trust in those in my service that I am certain are faithful to Indonesia and to myself.”

“Mr. President,” the young woman said slowly, “are you certain you know just who those faithful are?”

Kediri opened his mouth to reply but hesitated, groping for a response that even he could believe. “I have personally … aided in the selection of the current senior officer corps of my military, men chosen for their dedication to the people and the government.”

Are sens

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