by Don Brown
Out on the tarmac, Venezuelan troops were pouring out of the first C-130. Argentinean naval officers, under Montes’ command, directed the Venezuelans into one of four helicopters for the flight south over Drake Passage. Their orders—reinforce the attack force at Camp Churchill.
The first Argentinean Navy transport chopper carrying twenty Venezuelan commandos lifted off the tarmac and headed south. As the chopper became little more than a dot on the horizon, the second C-130 touched down on the runway. This plane too bore the markings of the Bolivarian Venezuelan Air Force.
Once again, naval officers and enlisted personnel under Montes’ command directed the crack troops from the Venezuelan cargo plane to the other Argentinean helicopters.
As Montes watched the action through his binoculars, he could barely contain his excitement over thoughts about his new assignment.
Ordinarily, assignment of a naval officer from one shore facility to another shore facility would be unappealing. Naval officers were eager to return to sea. But Montes could not say no to this assignment.
A rendezvous with destiny came once in a lifetime. The sea could wait.
10 Downing Street
official residence of prime minister
London
Prime Minister David Mulvaney surveyed the group assembled around the long wooden conference table in the historic cabinet room. When the meeting concluded, his duty would be to brief the king. And he would first have to inform the king that without His Majesty’s knowledge, His Majesty’s government had forged a secret international alliance that might have led the kingdom into a perilous military conflict. Camp Churchill was in the hands of an unknown enemy.
The prime minister wished that Queen Elizabeth were still alive. She had experienced war, going back to her childhood when the Nazis bombed London in World War II. She had reigned over every British conflict for over half a century—the Falklands, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
Queen Elizabeth, with her stoic and accepting demeanor, might have been predictable.
With King Charles, one never knew. Yes, Charles possessed his mother’s classic British stiff-upper-lip nature, the product of great generations gone by. Yet Charles proved more opinionated than his mother. Sometimes more hands-on, more vocal.
The fact that, under the British Constitutional Monarchy, the king had no official power did not diminish the prime minister’s anxiety about the meeting with His Majesty. The king remained as king. And the British monarch had always been the essence of Great Britain in the form of human flesh.
“Very well, gentlemen,” Mulvaney said, “since there appears to have been some sort of military action against our installation at Camp Churchill, I’d like to hear from the chief of the defence staff first, and then anyone else can chime in. We’ll see if we can agree on an immediate course of action.” Mulvaney looked at the white-haired gentleman sitting to his left. “Sir Edmond?”
“Thank you, Prime Minister.” Sir Edmond McCutchenson, the highest civilian adviser to the prime minister on military affairs, said, “As you have heard, sir, it appears that we have had a surprise military attack at Camp Churchill in Antarctica.” Sir Edmond spoke in a bantam rooster authoritative pitch with a staccato-like cadence that had characterized the speaking style of his great-grandfather, the revered British military legend Field Marshall Viscount Bernard Montgomery, of Alamein.
“Now then,” he continued, “there are two immediate questions (a) who did this? And (b) how shall we respond?” McCutchenson turned to one of the military assistants he had brought with him. “Captain Morton, please initiate the electronic map of Antarctica to better demonstrate our position for the prime minister.”
“Yes, sir.” The senior naval officer typed in a command on a laptop. A second later, a map of Antarctica appeared on each of four large screens positioned around the room.
ANTARCTICA
CAMP CHURCHILL
BRITISH OIL DISCOVERY
“Gentlemen. Prime Minister. There you see Antarctica.” Sir Edmond tapped a pointer at the screen. “This relatively uninhabited, frozen continent at the bottom of the world is 50 percent larger than the United States and more than fifty times the size of Britain. Antarctica is the fifth largest continent on earth. Larger than Australia and the European subcontinent. During winter, with the ice freezing out many miles from shore, the Antarctic area nearly doubles.
“Now, despite the mammoth size, the human population is scarce. There are no permanent residents on Antarctica. The population fluctuates from a maximum of about four thousand inhabitants in the summer to less than one thousand in the winter.
“We have a full map with all the stations around the continent to put all this in proportion. Captain Morton. Full screen shot, please.”
“Yes, sir.”
RESEARCH STATIONS
ANTARCTICA
“As you see, there are various research stations dotted all around the continent. Twelve nations have a presence there. But the nations with the most active presence are Chile, Argentina, the UK, followed by the US and Russia.
“Now I direct your attention to the Antarctic Peninsula in the upper left of the map. Captain, pull up that image of the Antarctic Peninsula.”
“Yes, sir.”
CAMP CHURCHILL (UK) AND BELGRANO II BASE CAMP (ARGENTINA)
“Thank you, Captain,” Sir Edmond snapped. “What we’re seeing in this image is a view of the Antarctic Peninsula. The dark area of water to the north of the tip of the peninsula is Drake Passage, the treacherous waterway at the bottom of South America that connects the Atlantic with the Pacific. Captain, next screen, please.”
“Yes, sir.”
CAPE HORN
DRAKE PASSAGE AND ANTARCTIC PENINSULA
“Ah, yes. Here we are! I thought we had this shot in our presentation,” the defence chief said. “Here we see the strategic locations at the bottom of the world that are relevant for purposes of our discussion today. Now we can see Drake Passage separating the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula from the southern tip of South America, which is Cape Horn in Chile. The distance across is approximately five hundred miles. This sometimes stormy and treacherous body of water separates Cape Horn from the South Shetland Islands at the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.
“I believe we have an even closer view of Drake Passage. Captain? Would you display that, please?”
“Yes, sir.”
CAPE HORN USHUAIA NAVAL AIR STATION USHUAIA, TIERRA DEL FUEGO PROVINCE (ARGENTINA)
“Here we see the close proximity of the various positions. Cape Horn is here, at the southernmost tip of South America. North of that is Ushuaia, where Argentina has a naval base and air station.
“Note how close Ushuaia is to the Chilean border. We expect any military aggression from Argentina into Antarctica to be staged from Ushuaia.”
“Excuse me, Sir Edmond,” the prime minister said. “Are you suggesting that Argentina is involved in the attack on our position at Camp Churchill?”
The defence chief toyed with his pointer and nodded. “Yes, Prime Minister. That is exactly what I am suggesting. And if Captain Morton here will bring us back to the screen highlighting the position of the Argentine research stations, I will further underscore this point. Captain?”
“Yes, sir,” the naval aide said.
ARGENTINE RESEARCH STATIONS ANTARTICA
Sir Edmond tapped the map with his pointer. “This close-up shows all of the Argentine research stations on the peninsula. The ones shown in white are their seasonal stations that are open only in the summer months. The ones in red are permanent stations that are open year-round. Now bear in mind that we’re only highlighting the presence of the Argentine bases on this map.
“But it is here, on the Antarctic Peninsula, that most countries have their research stations. This peninsula hosts most of the human activity on the continent.”
Sir Edmond looked at an assistant. “Captain, water, please?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Now I direct your attention to the right of the peninsula. This flattened and depressed area not far from the coast is where we have established our base at Camp Churchill. This is the heart of the Black Ice project. It is here that our petro-engineers have discovered what may turn out to be the largest crude oil discovery in the history of human civilization.” He tapped the screen on Camp Churchill. “Plans are to begin massive drilling operations and to construct a refinery not far from this area.
“Now then, turning our attention to the right of Camp Churchill, to this position right here”—he tapped again—“the Argentine base known as Belgrano II. This is Argentina’s principal year-round base camp located outside the Antarctic Peninsula.
“Our monitoring has found an increase in flights buzzing the area, presumably from Ushuaia, and we have intercepted an increase in electronic traffic. In a word, gentlemen, we believe, based on an analysis of our intelligence, that Argentina has been conducting electronic surveillance out of Belgrano II directed at Camp Churchill. Most likely, they intercepted some message traffic from Camp Churchill and discovered our Black Ice activities.
“Given our contentious history with Argentina over the Falklands, we view them as suspect number one, and we would not be at all surprised to learn that their special forces attacked our encampment.”
“Hear! Hear!” exclaimed Admiral Sir Mark Ellington, the first sea lord, the British designation for the highest-ranking officer in the Royal Navy. “And if I may remind you, Prime Minister, that in August of 2012, some thirty years after our glorious victory in the Falklands, the legislature of Buenos Aires province voted to prohibit vessels sailing under the British flag from ‘mooring, loading, or carrying out logistical operations’ in any of its ports.”
The first sea lord continued, “This law, Prime Minister, is designed to hinder British ships involved in oil exploration while navigating waters belonging to the Falklands. It is another in a series of provocations since the Falklands War.”
“All right,” the prime minister said, “I can buy into naming Argentina as suspect number one. But two questions: First, how do we verify that in fact we’re fighting Argentina? And two, what are our military options?”
“Good questions, Prime Minister,” Sir Edmond said. “One option regarding intelligence would be to request the strategic cooperation of the Americans.”
“The Americans?”
“Yes, Prime Minister. Despite massive cuts to NASA during the Obama Administration, when they suspended their manned space program, their satellite network remains the most sophisticated in the world. Their high-level intelligence satellites, with cameras that can photograph the eye of a needle, would provide an effective intelligence tool. They also might be persuaded to loan some of their predator drones, which could be launched from Puerto Williams in Chile. However, if they were willing to help, my guess is they would prefer more of a low-key approach, at least at first.”
“Hmm.” The prime minister thought for a second. “That would require letting the Americans in on our discovery of oil sooner than we had planned.”
Foreign Secretary Gosling nodded. “True, Prime Minister. But we were going to inform them eventually anyway. I do not anticipate any problem from President Surber, who is a big proponent of drilling. And this discovery will lessen America’s dependence on OPEC.”
“Good point,” the prime minister said. “Secretary Gosling, make plans to request American military assistance through back channels for intelligence support.”
“Yes, Prime Minister.”
“I want specific military plans for a counteroffensive. We must remove these invaders as soon as possible if we’re going to be in a position to commence drilling operations.”
“Certainly, Prime Minister.” Sir Edmond nodded. “Captain Morton. Back to the close-up of the Arctic Peninsula region.”
“Yes, sir.”
CAMP CHURCHILL (UK) AND BELGRANO II BASE CAMP (ARGENTINA) RONNE ICE SHELF
“The arrows show the relative positions of both the Belgrano II Argentine camp, over to the right, and Camp Churchill, west of Belgrano. We believe the attack on Camp Churchill originated from Belgrano.
“The Ronne Ice Shelf is this circular depressed area to the west of Camp Churchill. This is actually a large bay that is frozen year-round, but it swells and diminishes between winter and summer. Our discovery of oil, and hence our encampment at Camp Churchill, is on the eastern shore of the Ronne Ice Shelf and west of the Argentine Belgrano II. So it isn’t just our past level of acrimony with Argentina that makes them suspect number one. It is the close proximity of Camp Churchill to the Belgrano II.”
“Let’s get on to proposed military strategy,” the prime minister said.
“Yes, Prime Minister,” Sir Edmond said. “I shall turn this part of the presentation over to the first sea lord, Admiral Sir Mark Ellington.”
“Thank you, Sir Edmond.” The robust admiral stood up and accepted the pointer from the defence chief. “As you recall, gentlemen, when Argentina invaded our Falkland Islands in 1982, Prime Minister Thatcher assembled a naval task force headed by our carriers HMS Hermes and HMS Invincible to sail from bases in the UK and Gibraltar to launch air, sea, and amphibious assaults on both the Falklands and the South Georgia Islands as we replanted the Union Jack in the face of the invaders.”
“Hear, hear!” someone said.
“Well, our strategy in repelling Argentina once again will be based on the overall strategy used in the Falklands War, spearheaded by the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, alongside our amphibious assault ship HMS Ocean and supplemented by the supply ship RFA Black Rover and the freighter M/S Thor Liberty. The Thor Liberty is transporting drilling equipment owned by British Petroleum, along with additional petro- and mechanical engineers to build the initial drilling facilities around Camp Churchill. The submarine HMS Astute is already in the area.
“HMS Ocean is transporting cargo and assault helicopters, along with three companies of Royal Marines. We are rounding up additional SBS forces from Afghanistan and Somalia, but we’re spread thin in light of the budget crisis we’re facing.”
Prime Minister Mulvaney said, “Do we have sufficient firepower to defeat the invaders?”
The first sea lord said, “Considering the air power from our brand-new carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, yes, we do, sir. We will have enough for the initial strike. But we will need reinforcements as soon as possible. We are anticipating the same kind of reinforcement for the enemy forces already there.”
Mulvaney scratched his chin. “Do we have a map showing our proposed staging area?”
“Yes, Prime Minister,” the admiral said. “Captain Morton, bring up the screen showing the naval assault staging area.”
“Yes, Admiral.”
PROPOSED UK NAVAL STAGING AREA
(HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH TASK FORCE)
“The basic naval staging area is this body of water known as the Weddell Sea. Part of the challenge we face in sailing into these waters is not only defending against possible Argentine air assaults but also in dodging icebergs, which, as we learned from the sinking of the Titanic more than a hundred years ago, can spell disaster for even the largest of ships.
“But the plan is to steam in as close as possible toward the ice shelf, then launch jet and helicopter assaults as necessary to recapture Camp Churchill. I am pleased to report that the five-ship task force had set sail before news of this attack came out. Questions, sir?”
“Yes, Admiral,” the prime minister said. “Your comments about ice in the Weddell Sea concern me. How serious is the threat to our task force?”
“Of grave concern, Prime Minister. The waters around the Antarctic continent are charted, but errant icebergs do exist there, so safe navigation in these conditions is not a given. Icebergs can be difficult to detect.”
The prime minister stroked his chin. �
��The thought of losing even one of our ships in treacherous waters, especially our carrier, is disconcerting.”
“I can assure you, Prime Minister,” the first sea lord said, “that our captains will do everything in their power to ensure the safety of His Majesty’s fleet.”
“Well then. We Britons have never run from danger. And, speaking of duty, I declare this meeting adjourned. I must venture to Buckingham Palace to inform His Majesty that not only are we facing the prospect of war with Argentina but also His Majesty’s flagship runs the risk of being sunk by an iceberg.”
CHAPTER 14
Geodesic dome
British base camp
Camp Churchill
Antarctica
Okay, Anderson. It’s your turn,” Rivers said.
Williams Anderson, the wiry, somewhat reclusive thirty-two-year-old engineer from Cardiff, was lying on the deck, face still down, with his hands covering his head. His hands began shaking, but he did not move.
“Anderson, did you hear me?”
“I heard you, Leftenant . . . It’s . . .” His voice trembled and morphed into sobbing.
Captain Dunn, still crouched low with his rifle on the other side of the window, shook his head but didn’t say anything.
“Dunn, keep your rifle trained on the Venezuelan leftenant.”
“Yes, sir.”
Rivers thought of how the great American general George S. Patton, ole “Blood and Guts,” had slapped a crying coward in a hospital tent in Italy and ordered the trembling fellow to the front lines. He even considered a Patton-like slap to shock Anderson, but then reminded himself that the poor fellow was a civilian, not a soldier.