Invasion: Colorado ia-3 Page 27

  She visited Chairman Hong’s country estate every day. She often played with the polar bear cub. Each time was a frightening experience. She played with the cub as the mother bear paced behind iron bars, watching. Often, the mother roared at Shun Li, furious that a human should touch her precious cub. Shun Li had begun to wonder if this was a game with Hong. Would he let the iron bars rise one of these days and laugh as the mother bear destroyed her?

  I am a barracuda, Shun Li told herself. I swim among larger, more dangerous predators, but I, too, am dangerous and capable of battle.

  She knew it was a vain thought. What could a barracuda do to a killer whale? The answer was: absolutely nothing.

  No. A barracuda could gnaw the killer whale’s flukes. But what good would that do the barracuda?

  The trick, she supposed, was swimming away fast enough if a killer whale chased her. She could swim toward a monstrous great white shark and dart aside as the two creatures fought for supremacy.

  She had come to this conclusion yesterday for a specific reason. Chairman Hong continued to question her about Police Minister Xiao. Hong wanted to know all kinds of things: the Police Minister’s habits, his various visits, his comments, his work orders, the way Xiao treated her. Hong had listened with avid interest as she’d told him how Xiao had once slapped her across the face. The Chairman seemed to have forgotten that he’d witnessed the incident himself.

  “Indeed,” the Chairman had said. “How very interesting. I wonder if Xiao would like it if I slapped him across the face.”

  Shun Li didn’t think so. What troubled her with all these questions was Hong’s motive. The Chairman relied upon East Lightning as part of his power base. He needed the secret police in order to corral the generals, the Army. Had Hong come to fear Xiao? She could understand that. The Police Minister was a crocodile, an emotionless beast with hidden thoughts and likely a hidden agenda.

  “Stop,” the operative on her left said.

  Shun Li stopped before the Police Minister’s ornate entrance.

  The East Lightning operative knocked. Twenty second later, a small red light winked above the door.

  “You may enter,” the operative told Shun Li.

  They had of course divested her of her gun. She touched the cold bronze latch and twisted. Nothing squeaked. Everything was well oiled. As she walked through, the door shut behind her. One of the operatives must have closed it.

  Across the spacious room, Police Minister Xiao stared out of a wall of windows. He had his hands clasped behind his back.

  Should I approach? Should I announce myself? What am I supposed to do?

  Shun Li did none of those things. She waited nervously, disliking this game playing. What was the purpose of it? He’d pressed a switch to cause the red light to shine. He knew she was here.

  Finally, he turned. It was impossible to tell where he stared due to the ceiling lights shining off his thick lenses. Xiao seemed like a robot then. He seemed inhuman. At that moment, Shun Li believed she knew whom to trust, and it wasn’t the Police Minister.

  No, no, don’t make up your mind so quickly. You must survive, not attempt to fight these stronger creatures.

  “Guardian Inspector,” he said in his emotionless voice. “This is a surprise. Usually, you are too busy to report to me: your superior. You are too busy hobnobbing with the Chairman to see the lowly likes of me.”

  Shun Li had no idea what to say concerning that. So she continued to wait while standing at attention.

  “Please, come, sit down so we may chat,” Xiao said.

  Shun Li strode across the chamber and sat in the nearest chair, sitting upright.

  “Are you comfortable?” Xiao asked.

  “Yes, Police Minister.”

  “No,” he said. “I do not want you to be so formal. You must relax. You are worthy of the Chairman’s time and I must now take that into consideration.”

  Xiao moved to his desk, sitting, folding his hands on the top. He attempted a smile. It appeared false.

  “Can you elaborate on your visits?” he asked.

  “Certainly, sir,” she said. “The Chairman gave me a polar bear cub.”

  “How fortunate for you,” Xiao said.

  She dipped her head to acknowledge the statement.

  “I imagine the Chairman was delighted with your work discovering the Behemoth Manufacturing Plant,” he said.

  She nodded.

  “You house your cub at his mansion?” Xiao asked.

  “Yes sir.”

  “And do you visit with the Chairman sometimes?”

  “For short periods, sir. Have I done wrong doing this?”

  “Guardian Inspector, you surprise me. How can you do wrong visiting with the Great Leader? That is preposterous. Tell me, what do the two of you talk about.”

  “Polar bears.”

  “And?”

  Fear squeezed Shun Li’s chest. She didn’t know the right answer. Did Hong and Xiao speak together about her? Was this a test? She decided the Police Minister was acting much too formally for this to be a test.

  “Sir,” she said, “at times the Chairman asks about you.”

  “Does he indeed? How flattering,” Xiao said. The man attempted another of his false smiles. “What does the Chairman wish to know about me?”

  Shun Li told him because she feared he already knew the answer. Xiao was too much like a robot, a crocodile with a nasty appetite and secretive ways not to know.

  As she spoke, Xiao watched her carefully. There was no expression on his wooden features to give a hint to his feelings.

  “I will ask you one question, Guardian Inspector. I expect nothing but the truth. Do you understand me?”

  “I do, sir.”

  “Yes,” he said, staring through his thick lenses at her. “I believe you do, which is good for you. Does the Chairman ask these things because he fears me or because he wishes to dispose of me in some nefarious way?”

  Shun Li’s heart began to thud. This was a terrible question. It would make her choose sides. She didn’t want to choose, she wanted to be able to skip whichever way would let her survive.

  “Police Minister, I believe the Chairman fears you.”

  Xiao smiled. It was a cruel thing.

  Shun Li waited to hear him tell her she was lying. He didn’t. Instead, he surprised her by saying:

  “The Chairman plays a dangerous game, Guardian Inspector. He needs me, but that is because he makes serious blunders. I have built a careful web around him. It protects his Lion Guards from harm. It is good that I have security operatives in the Chairman’s home. You will now add to their security work as you begin to study the exact layout of the estate and the strength of his personal security. Am I making myself clear?”

  Yes. That you’re lying to me. Why would you need to know these things if you already had people there? I am your first and only operative in the Chairman’s country estate.

  Shun said aloud. “You wish to provide the ultimate security for the Chairman’s safety and ask that I aid East Lightning in that.”

  “Precisely,” Xiao said. “You have divined my thoughts perfectly.”

  Shun Li’s eyes felt hot, as if smoke would drift out of her pupils. What intrigue did Xiao play at? Could he believe he would keep his seat of power if Hong died? Or was Xiao thinking the unthinkable: of reaching for supreme power himself?

  If she could have, Shun Li would have gladly gone back to North America. These stakes were too high for her. But she was here now and would have to swim with these deadly creatures as best as she could.

  -9-

  Phase II

  From Military History: Past to Present, by Vance Holbrook:

  Invasion of Midwestern America, Phase II, 2039-2040

  BACKGROUND

  By late October 2039, the Pan-Asian Alliance and the South American Federation troops had become mired down due to the uncommonly warm rainy season. (They were warm rains in a relative sense, as it was still cold weather to
the troops on the ground.) The torrential showers turned the landscape into mud and added vast, shallow lakes throughout much of the Central Midwest.

  During this time, Chairman Hong received several pieces of intelligence that caused him to alter the plans for Marshal Liang’s Third Front. The Chairman was only now becoming aware of the full extent of Chancellor Kleist’s offer to the Americans: the Canadian province of Quebec, in exchange for German Dominion neutrality.

  Due to their battlefield supremacy during the Californian invasion, the Chairman loathed the Behemoth tanks. To that end, he demanded the capture of the Denver manufacturing plant. This would entail the subjection of the greater Denver metropolitan area. At the Chairman’s orders, Marshal Liang allocated the Tenth and Fifteenth Armies to the task. Because of the difficult terrain and circumstances, Liang removed their tank corps and added assault and Special Infantry divisions.

  The PAA and SAF formations had taken substantial losses throughout the summer and autumn battles. Even after adding replacements, they were at seventy-five percent of the start-date strengths.

  The Third Front’s objectives were now twofold: Denver with the accompanying capture of the Front Range Urban Corridor and a continuation of the northern assault. The Rocky Mountains would continue to be their western wall as they surged north. The SAF First Front would drive north in tandem with the two Chinese forces on either side of them. The PAA Fourth Front would mask St. Louis as it continued for the distant Canadian border, with the Mississippi River on its eastern side. The offense’s directives would take it through Iowa and Minnesota.

  The Chinese and Brazilian strategists believed the drive, together with well-placed garrison troops, would divide the continental United States into two distinct halves. From such a position, they believed two more campaigns would complete the conquest of the United States.

  Despite their victorious armies and the success of the earlier drives, the Aggressor powers had several critical problems. The first was the incredible wear on their vehicles. Too many had broken down and keeping the rest in operational condition took millions of precious man-hours.

  The second problem was the constant human toll of war. Formations were depleted due to battle losses and extreme fatigue.

  The third was the need for garrison formations along the Mississippi River and the even greater need for security troops in the vast American hinterland. In the growing Occupation Territory, the U.S. partisan and guerilla attacks were now beginning to intensify. Taken altogether, the cutting edge of the Aggressor armies had diminished considerably.

  The Chinese strategists in particular understood the danger. They added a fourth problem. The plan to push their forces to the utmost would cause a substantial weakening everywhere else in a short span of time. The reason was obvious. A man couldn’t operate at his highest capacity for any extended length of time; neither could an army. Both a man and an army needed rest to recoup from exhaustion. The strategists believed several critical factors would offset the combined problems or risks.

  One, the American Army had taken staggering losses, meaning it was much weaker in comparison to its beginning strength. The Chinese strategists understood the Americans mobilized new formations, but they didn’t appreciate the vast quantity about to be unleashed upon them. They believed these hastily-trained and equipped formations would lack the high standards as the veteran units. They also assured themselves these new formations would be composed of second and third-grade quality soldiers.

  Two, the Chinese strategists assumed that American morale had been and would continue to be sapped by constant defeat and retreat. There would naturally come a point when the enemy folded.

  Three, the loss of the American heartland meant less food production and industrial power for the United States. They believed this would slow the appearance of the new formations.

  Finally, the Chinese strategists supposed that the waning strategic strength of the United States meant that any American offensive would lack power. In essence, that likely meant the U.S. could not inflict strategic-level defeats on either the PAA or the SAF armies.

  The key ingredients on the American side were threefold. First, there was Chancellor Kleist’s offer and acceptance of neutrality. It gave the American’s more regular Army formations to put into the Midwest. Two, the Canadians were coming. The Americans would have allies again. Finally, the volume of the newly-raised Militia battalions together with the transfer of the bulk of the East Coast Militia surprised everyone. Most of these battalions lacked armored vehicles of any kind and also lacked artillery. The new Militia levies relied on heavy mortar teams for indirect support. Still, the majority of these battalions were brave and committed defenders of their homeland.

  The historical campaign now entered Phase II of the assault. As an icy Alaskan cold descended over the land, the Chinese continued their original plan, with several seemingly minor alterations, the largest of which was the Denver assault.

  The Americans, meanwhile, gathered strength in the north. The rains had given them time and now they were beginning to regain numbers.

  The brutal contest was nearing the critical clutch. The powers involved were like giant wrestlers exhausted by their previous efforts. A short breathing spell meant they would now throw everything into the final grapple.

  2039, November 7-18. Renewed Offensive. As the fierce American winter descended on the Midwest, turning the mud and miles-long shallow lakes into a tundra-like landscape, the PAA and the South American Federation renewed their stalled offensives.

  Army Group A of Third Front gained several miles in the initial Greater Denver assault. After a week of battle, and with constant American reinforcements, the U.S. positions stiffened. After several attempts, the Chinese cut the key I-70 supply route, completing Greater Denver’s isolation.

  Elsewhere in the West, Chinese and Brazilian armies fought their way to the South Platte and Platte River Defenses. In the East, the Chinese Fourth Front broke through the Missouri River Defenses. American High Command decided on a fighting withdrawal as workers feverishly constructed the Des Moines Line in Iowa four hundred kilometers to the north.

  The differences from the earlier summer and autumn battles were distinct. This time there was no vast haul of American prisoners. The PAA Third Front grained bitterly-contested ground, while far to the east, the PAA Fourth Front matched some of its earlier tank drives, but the Americans retreated in good order.

  The South American offensive showed the greatest difference. They stalled sharply against the Platte River Line.

  2039, November 18-December 2. Battle of Denver. Over the course of a month, increasing Chinese reinforcements entered the grinding siege battle. Urged on by Hong, Liang unleashed the Grand Assault against the city’s 28-mile perimeter. In a tremendous battle of attrition, the Americans defenders resisted stubbornly from house to house as the Chinese gradually closed in. Grueling winter weather now descended upon attacker and defender alike.

  Army Group B of Third Front neared Cheyenne, Wyoming and the North Platte Defense Line. Stubborn American resistance and a constant drain of Chinese units sent south and fed into the Denver meat grinder made sweeping PAA advances here impossible. SAF assaults against the Platte River Defense decreased over the course of a month until the Brazilian generals were content with daily artillery duels. Their soldiers hated the bitter North American winter and morale sank accordingly. In the East, Fourth Front’s advances slowed as they neared the Des Moines Line.

  By now, Chinese and Brazilian commanders were all too aware that the Americans had changed since the summer and autumn battles. The U.S. Army was stronger in a quantitative sense and was more robust in quality. The majority of the soldiers exhibited high morale, characterized by a desire for revenge.

  The U.S. strengthening came from three sources of new soldiers: The Canadians had arrived, along with the East Coast regulars and the new Militia battalions. In Iowa, the Americans often employed cunning tank tactics. The
favored ploy was feigned flight, as the Americans lured overeager Chinese attackers into TOW ambushes.

  Chairman Hong decreed that one more push would shatter the built-up American defenses. His rage at German perfidy caused him to demand a brutal end to the campaign, before the Americans could take advantage of the German Dominion removal of their formerly Cuban-based amphibious army.

  On the American sides, commanders worked feverishly to integrate their forces and unleash their long-awaited strategic surprise.

  From Tank Wars, by B.K. Laumer III:

  It is interesting to note that both the U.S. and the Chinese armies used an abundance of cheap and expendable weapon systems on the American battleground. To field such an amazing number of soldiers with more expensive equipment, the various economies would have beggared themselves into penury. Even so, the more elite formations of each side used the most sophisticated weapon systems possible.

  The Behemoth tank represented a giant leap forward in battlefield armored vehicle technology, but it wasn’t the last word on the subject. The Behemoth had trumped the tri-turreted T-66 tank. Now the Chinese would attempt to trump the Americans with a newer marvel.

  Yet with all deadly weapons of war, one needed enough of them to gain victory. Eighteen Behemoth tanks would face the challenge of an era. In contrast, the T-66 tanks roamed the American landscape in their thousands. The Chinese secret weapon—the MC ABM—few knew existed, and even fewer knew how to exploit properly.

  The Battle of Denver saw the MC ABMs first unleashed as a ground-combat unit, reminiscent of the WWII Germans’ field-expedient employment of the 88mm anti-aircraft gun. Rommel in particular in the North African deserts had used them as superior anti-tank guns. Liang’s Chinese learned to use the MC ABMs in a similar manner. It therefore became a contest of king dinosaurs—the Behemoth tank and the MC ABM fought among the scrambling lesser creatures.

  This bitter and interesting contest is the next topic in the panorama of our study of modern tank warfare.