Red Phoenix Burning

by Larry Bond

  “Colonel,” volunteered Cho. “There is a slight ravine that curves along this rocky outcropping, here. It’s not on your map, but it will offer some cover while allowing a clear line of sight to the target area.”

  Little nodded. “Yes, that should work. Particularly if we combine it with a diversion to the left.”

  “Care to take that on, Colonel Little?” Rhee asked.

  “Absolutely. I can take the four FLASH teams and set up over here.” Kevin pointed to a rock ledge that would give them a slight elevation advantage. “If the incendiary rockets don’t scare the shit out of them, they’ll have to stay hunkered down. The blast should wreck their night vision, and the Apaches can use the heat signature for suppression fire if we need it.”

  “Excellent! Master Sergeant Oh, you go with Colonel Little . . .”

  “Sir, if I may,” interrupted the Korean senior NCO. “I think it best I stay with you and the DGPS transmitter. I can get it set up and calibrated faster than anyone else here. Staff Sergeant Jeo is more than capable to assist Colonel Little.”

  “Very well, Master Sergeant. Colonel Little, you take two-thirds of the men and make a lot of noise. The rest of us will set up the DGPS station.”

  Hellcat Strike

  They had been milling about smartly for almost half an hour. Fortunately, the trip from Kunsan to the loitering station only required the fuel in the two drop tanks, leaving a full internal load for the attack run and return trip. Still, just hanging around wasn’t Tony’s idea of fun. So far, there was no word from Dog Pound. He knew the SOF team had to hike their way to their survey sites, set up their gear, and calibrate it before they could transmit the data. He just hoped they weren’t taking the long way around.

  X Corps Headquarters

  The explosion was far off to Tae’s left, but pieces of dirt and rock rained down on him and Ryeon. The X Corps had plunged almost ten kilometers into the hills before they ran into any real resistance. The defenses weren’t along the mountainside as he expected, but were placed at ground level by key intersections of the limited road network. This suggested a lack of experience, or time, or both. Regardless, Tae’s forces were now fully engaged and, at the moment, pinned down.

  A South Korean officer wiped off the dust from his micro-UAV display and pointed to several mortar batteries just behind the ridge off to their right. The video feed showed the mortar crews loading and firing furiously. There seemed to be no attempt at adjusting their fire, just an emphasis on volume. Tae was dismissive. “Very sloppy. Probably some incompetent political commissar! Major Ryeon, have the Second Field Artillery Group put counter-battery fire on that location immediately. And where are my tanks?”

  “General, the Fourth Armored Battalion is coming up now with twenty Chonma-ho tanks. They’ve been alerted to the positions of the machine gun emplacements.”

  “Very good. Tell the battalion commander to engage those emplacements at his earliest opportunity and have him set up his 122mm howitzers here.” Tae pointed to a flat piece of land behind him and to the right. “I want fire laid down on that ravine, right here, where the road runs straight between these two hills. That’s a perfect place for an ambush.”

  “Yes, sir, at once,” responded Ryeon as he grabbed the battlefield radio handset.

  Tae didn’t bother to wait for his aide; he’d catch up when he was done. The general slapped the South Korean sergeant on the back and roared, “Come, Sergeant, let’s see what more mischief we can cause with that toy of yours!”

  Ghost Brigade

  Kevin kept low as he and Lieutenant Guk and Staff Sergeant Jeo hugged the rocks, positioning themselves to direct fire as necessary. The fifty commandos were spread out in a rough line some seventy meters long. The FLASH teams were placed at regular intervals. Although an old weapon, the four-barreled bazooka-like flame assault shoulder weapon was perfect for close-in fighting. It could fire incendiary rockets out to a range of seven hundred fifty meters, but it was aimed with a standard reflex sight, which meant it wasn’t all that accurate. However, in this situation, Kevin was counting more on the shock value of the weapon. Besides, they were firing from much less than half the maximum range; hitting wouldn’t be an issue.

  “Ghost One Alpha, this is Ghost One Bravo. We are in position and ready to initiate,” he said over the secure radio.

  “Ghost One Bravo, initiate,” ordered Rhee.

  Kevin flashed a small light toward Guk and Jeo. They flashed back; the troops were ready to commence firing. Kevin then held down on the light and the four commandos with the FLASH launchers perched them on their shoulders, took aim, and fired. Chaos descended on the Kim positions.

  Rhee saw one explosion after another erupt along the left side. The FLASH launchers kept up their volley of rockets, while disciplined rifle fire came from Little’s troops. The Kim defenses fell into total panic and began spraying machine gun fire and rocket-propelled grenades inaccurately back in the general direction of their assailants. The colonel motioned, and his men took off at a run across a short opening and down the hillside. They scurried down loose rock and gravel and finally down into the ravine that Cho had mentioned. The location was perfect.

  While Master Sergeant Oh and two corporals began setting up the DGPS transmitter, Rhee positioned his men to defend against any potential attack. He then took his binoculars and looked down into the small trough behind the elevated grove of trees. There he saw the doors of the armored bunkers were open, and four missile TELs positioned at their launch pads some hundred meters away from the cave entrances. Three of the missiles had been raised into a vertical position and were being fueled. He watched as the fourth was raised to the vertical. They were bigger than any mobile missile he’d seen before.

  “Ghost One Alpha, this is Ghost Two. We are in position and ready to take ranges, over,” squawked his headset. Major Maeng’s team was set up and ready to use their laser rangefinder to take the measurements.

  “Ghost Two, stand by,” Rhee instructed.

  “Standing by. Ghost Two, out.”

  It took Oh just a few more minutes to finish setting up and check the calibration; after one last inspection, he signaled Rhee he was ready. The colonel waved for him to take the ranges.

  “Stay here,” Oh told Cho. The master sergeant then crawled on his belly to a small cluster of rocks several meters away. Peeking over the top, he raised the laser rangefinder and started measuring the distance to the bunker doors and launch pads. Within moments of Oh triggering the rangefinder, machine gun fire began peppering their location. The master sergeant was hit in the shoulder and thrown to the ground—out in the open. Without thinking, Cho dove across and pushed Oh out of the line of fire. The man had been hit twice and was badly wounded.

  “Didn’t I tell you not to do anything heroic!” Oh gasped in pain.

  Cho didn’t reply but grabbed his first aid kit and tore open the master sergeant’s uniform near the wound sites. Oh pushed back and grunted angrily, “Take the damn ranges, you moron!”

  Feeling frantically around the ground, Cho found the cable and pulled the laser gun toward him. Rhee signaled him to hurry as the commandos began returning fire. Crawling to the rock, he raised the laser and, exposing as little of himself as possible, began shooting the ranges. A bullet ricocheted off a boulder to his right, stinging his face with small shards of rock. It took all of twenty seconds to get the ranges. Once Rhee gave Cho thumbs-up, the former spy threw down the laser gun and crawled back to Oh.

  “There, are you happy now, Master Sergeant?” exclaimed Cho. Oh didn’t respond. Fear seized Cho as he hunted for a pulse on Oh’s neck—there wasn’t one. Oh was dead.

  Rhee had little time to see what was going on with his master sergeant. Once the shooting had started, he ordered Ghost Two to take ranges and transmit. He also alerted Maeng to expect return fire; the Kim faction apparently had laser-warning sensors.

  One of the corporals flashed Rhee an OK sign. They had the data and were read
y to transmit. Rhee pushed his finger skyward and yelled, “Transmit!”

  Hellcat Strike

  “Puma lead, this is Dog Pound. DPIs received, data being transferred by Dolly. Commence attack by flight, over.”

  “Roger, Dog Pound,” said Tony as he quickly looked at the center flat-panel display. The data link, brevity code Dolly, had uploaded the sixteen-digit UTM coordinates for his four GBU-38B bombs into his computer. He took a brief moment to scan each designated point of impact to make sure they were close to each other. He had no desire to drop a bomb on the friendlies hiding nearby. “Dog Pound, DPI coordinates confirmed. Commencing attack run.”

  Tony then took a deep breath and called out to the other flight leaders. “Commence attack by flight. Puma will go in first, then Lynx, Leopard, with Jaguar bringing up the rear. Let’s not keep the snake-eaters waiting.”

  As he listened to their acknowledgments, Tony pointed his F-16 to the northeast and punched it to full military power. He looked to his left and right and saw the shadowy outlines of the other three jets in his flight. Keying his mike he radioed his wingman, “You go first, Wookie. You’ve got the two big boys.”

  The flights of Hellcat strike quickly formed a line and, guided by their heads-up displays, flew to the release point. One by one, the onboard computer automatically released their bombs. Tony pulled his ship up and to the left as soon as he felt the bombs fall off the racks. Again looking over his shoulder, he tried to watch the other flights during their runs, but it was too dark. All he could do was listen in as each flight lead announced ordnance release, and when they were clear. Once Jaguar flight was done, Tony radioed the E-8C JSTARS.

  “Dog Pound, bombs away.”

  Before the JSTARS aircraft could respond, the E-3C air battle manager broke on line. “All flights, this is Lighthouse. I have six bogeys, bearing zero three zero, range fifteen miles, speed four hundred, angels seven. Negative IFF.”

  Ghost Brigade

  Kevin flinched as an RPG hit the rock face to his left, the shock wave travelling through the solid wall. The defenders had apparently calmed down a little, as their fire was becoming more accurate. So far, they hadn’t ventured from their protective cover, but that would only be a matter of time—and there were a lot more of them than his band of commandos. They needed help.

  “Nightstalker one, this is Ghost One Bravo, request immediate close air support. Target is illuminated with incendiaries,” shouted Kevin. What he heard in reply was disheartening.

  “Negative on CAS request, Ghost One Bravo,” said the helo pilot. His voice betrayed his disappointment. “Airspace is closed due to inbound strike. I suggest you duck and cover.”

  Oh great, thought Kevin.

  Two more commandos were hit as the Kim forces pushed toward their position. The holdouts were attempting a rush, but it was poorly coordinated, and Rhee’s men beat them back. He’d heard the decline for close air support over the radio; the air strike was on its way. All they had to do was hold their ground for just a little longer.

  Cho hugged the small boulder closely as the bullets whizzed by. He managed a few shots with his assault rifle, but had no idea if he hit anything worthwhile. But when an RPG round fell short, he knew he had to get back behind better cover.

  Just as he was about to make a run for it, the attackers made another charge. The accurate fire from the commandos dropped many of those rushing their position, but there were simply too many, and a number of attackers managed to get over the rocks. The fighting devolved into a hand-to-hand skirmish. Again the commandos had the qualitative advantage, but the Kim faction had numbers.

  Cho watched as Rhee took down three with his pistol and then crush the windpipe of a fourth with a forceful knife-hand strike. But it was the fifth soldier that caught the colonel on his blind side, delivering a sharp blow with the rifle butt. Stunned, Rhee was thrown to the ground. The soldier paused to take careful aim, but before he could shoot, Cho ran across and slammed into him, driving the man headfirst into the rock. Dazed, the soldier shook his head, pulled his combat knife, and rushed toward Cho.

  He lunged to his right, the quick move causing the soldier’s main thrust to miss, but he swept the blade downward and caught Cho’s left leg squarely in the calf. The pain was incredible and he let out a scream of agony. Cho hit the ground hard. He struggled to get back up, but with his right leg under his body, and his left useless, he couldn’t move quickly. The soldier approached with a wicked smile; Cho looked frantically for a weapon of any kind. None were within reach. All he could think of was how cruel this war had been to Kary. Just as the soldier raised the knife, a sharp crack from Rhee’s pistol put an end to his lethal intentions.

  Rhee then looked around and saw many of his men were wounded, but the latest charge had been beaten back. He glanced at his watch, and then yelled at the top of his lungs, “EVERYONE DOWN!”

  Then the ground started shaking.

  The bombs fell in such a rapid interval that it seemed like one big, long explosion. The 2,000-pound penetrators tore into the mountainside and ripped the walls apart, causing a landslide. Bodies, living and dead, bounced off the ground as the shock traveled for kilometers. Then the high-explosive bombs hit the launch pads. The fuel and oxidizer tanks of the KN-08 missiles were shredded. Freed from their containment, the hypergolic chemicals poured onto the ground and mixed, enhancing the explosive effects many times over. Rhee felt the intense concussive blast and heat from the exploding missiles, even though they were over five hundred meters away, and shielded by over a meter of hard rock. No one on the other side of that wall could have survived. After what seemed like an eternity, the ground stopped shaking.

  Hellcat Strike

  Tony snapped his head hard right and saw six sets of blue flames below him. The fighters were coming up fast, at full afterburner. “All flights, tally on bogeys, four o’clock low.”

  Reaching over to the control panel, Tony dumped his empty drop tanks and pulled his ship into a hard right bank. He was the farthest away from the approaching enemy aircraft and had to quickly get back into position. He watched in horror as two of the bogeys flew right into the trailing element of Jaguar flight. The other four kept on coming, right toward him. They had no intention of running, or returning alive.

  “Stick with me, Wookie,” exclaimed Tony as he continued his right bank and pushed his nose down. His maneuver threw off the approaching pilot, who tried to pull a steep turn while at afterburner.

  “Saint! You have a bogey slipping into your six o’clock!”

  Oh shit! Tony thought to himself. I’m being double-teamed! “I could use a little help here, Wookie!” he said.

  “Rog. I’m engaging!” Soon after, Tony heard “Fox Two!” indicating a heat-seeking missile had just been launched. The sudden bright flash told him Wookie had got a kill. “Splash one!”

  Tony finished his barrel roll and found himself just off the bogey’s port quarter; the pilot had overshot his target. Lining up the target in his HUD, Tony selected an infrared-guided missile and waited for the loud growl that told him his AIM-9X had locked on to the target. As soon as the welcome noise filled his headphones, Tony pulled the trigger and announced, “Fox Two!”

  The missile leapt off the rail and flew a straight path to the hostile aircraft, aided by the concentrated heat from the afterburners. Tony watched as the bright plume of the missile’s exhaust merged with the target, disappeared, and then exploded, shredding the enemy fighter. “Splash two!” he called out.

  Lynx and Leopard flights soon reported the downing of the remaining two aircraft. His body loaded with adrenaline, Tony did a full search of the night skies, looking for any more hostile aircraft.

  “Puma lead, this is Lighthouse. All bogeys have been splashed. Repeat, all bogeys have been splashed.”

  “Roger, Lighthouse. Thanks for the update. Where did those jokers come from?”

  “Dog Pound picked them up before we did. Looks like they used a highway as a r
unway. They didn’t come from any of the nearby air bases.”

  “Sneaky little bastards,” grumbled Tony as his blood pressure finally began to drop.

  “That they were, Puma lead. Oh, and congratulations on number eighteen, Saint!”

  Tony shook his head; it hadn’t even sunk in yet that he’d scored another kill. “Oh, yeah, right,” he mumbled. “I must be getting old.” Then keying his mike, Tony ordered, “All flights, this is Puma lead, return to base.”

  X Corps Headquarters

  A huge mushroom cloud erupted from the mountain ahead of him—a monstrous pillar of bright orange and red flames. A thundering roar soon followed, the sound echoing off the surrounding hills. At first, Tae could only look on in utter despair. He feared the Chinese had carried out their threat and used a nuclear weapon to destroy the missile site. Disheartened, he waited for the shock wave and wall of fire to put an end to his life. And he kept on waiting.

  But as he watched the cloud dissipate, he realized that blast wasn’t a nuclear device, but the exploding remains of the Kim nightmare. In a most unprofessional manner, Tae let out a shout of joy and gave Ryeon a bear hug.

  There would still be some more fighting, but it was all a mop-up campaign now. The new United Han Republic would survive. His land would survive. With a light heart, he started walking back up the road.

  Epilogue

  9 September 2015, 4:40 p.m. local time

  Munsan Refugee Camp

  Outside Dongducheon, United Han Republic

  She hadn’t been waiting for him, not exactly. There was more than enough to keep her mind occupied. With the final defeat of the Kim holdouts, the army had started talking about repatriating the Northern citizens, which was good news, but this had added “travel agent” to her job description. The army wanted her input on who should go home first, and where they wanted to go, and didn’t understand why it was such a difficult question to answer.

  She’d shifted her chair a little so she had a clearer view of the door. And she checked her phone more often than before, although she knew he didn’t even have one. He could borrow someone’s cell phone, after all.