The Crucible. Joaquin De Torres
to talk about the possibility of buying members of the dying fleet. A deal was struck and thus began a purchasing partnership between the PRC and Russia that would see the transferring of over twenty-five vessels. Months later, North Korea signed a partnership with the PRC to buy several of the vessels at a reduced price. They specifically asked for a large vessel; they got two: the Lazarev and her twin sister, the Ushakov. They would become the largest vessels ever commissioned in the history of the Korean Peninsula. Even more alarming to Asia and the U.S. was that the Chinese would also provide the North Korean navy the weapons and electronics for the new inventory of thirteen total ex-Soviet ships.
After 21 months in dry dock, the Lazarev was alive again. Refitted and refurbished, she was now the Kim Il-Sung, named after their great Communist leader of the twentieth century. The Ushakov became the Kim Jong-il, named after his son. In separate ports, both ships sat like proud centurions, once again prepared to stand guard over their embattled nation.
Only two-thirds of the ship was equipped and operational by the time she was ready to sail. Without the full range of systems, the crew consisted of only 735 officers and men, 165 less than Lazarev’s original crew. Massively armed yet stripped down for speed, she was a juggernaut designed to slam into an enemy navy like a tsunami. She was assigned one of the nation’s most experienced captains, Admiral Park Woo-kuen, who was quoted as saying he would bring down the Iron Clad blockade singlehandedly if he had to.
As workers, engineers and sailors loaded supplies under the blanket of dense cloud cover, many paused to gaze up at the ship. The Kim Il-Sung dwarfed every vessel in the harbor with her sheer mass: 820 feet long, 92 feet wide, and displacing over 24,000 tons. The summits of her fore and aft split superstructures towered over 100 feet above the waterline. Deck by deck, tier upon tier, she exuded the cold invincibility of a vessel flawlessly engineered for war. On her forward deck, the forecastle, flush forward of the bridge laid 20 iron doors, the deck silos for her vertically-launched SS-N-19 Shipwreck anti-ship cruise missiles, one of the most feared weapons of her arsenal. These were the weapons that were configured with thermobaric warheads and feared most in the world. Twenty-four hours later, the Kim Il-Sung would be heading northeast through the Sea of Japan in search of her prey.
“Good evening. This is a CNN special late-breaking report. I’m Gloria Hawk. This just in.
“U.S. Navy sources report that three North Korean fighters intercepted a Navy AWACS reconnaissance plane in international waters over the Tsushima Straits just 30 minutes ago. Navy officials said that at approximately 5:30 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, three North Korean MIG-29 Fulcrum fighters, recently purchased from China, intercepted the AWACS and briefly locked their fire control radars onto it.
“The AWACS, flying from the USS John C. Stennis, was doing a routine reconnaissance flight and was within international airspace when it was intercepted. Two Stennis F/A-18 Super Hornet fighters, flying some 20 miles south responded, chasing the MIGs out of the area. No shots were fired. Interestingly, just two hours prior to this incident, four Chinese Fulcrum fighters flew across the Taiwan Strait and into Taiwanese airspace for approximately 45 seconds until Taiwanese jets scrambled to intercept them. Fighters from the USS Ronald Reagan also responded, but the MIGs had already flown back to China before her fighters arrived.
“We will bring you more details as we follow the intensifying North Korean and Taiwanese situations. This has been a special late-breaking update. Live for CNN in Seoul, I’m Gloria Hawk.”
Pentagon
Office of the Secretary of the Navy
“You want what!?” Lance Stevenson couldn’t believe his ears after hearing the request. The 58-year-old Navy Secretary almost spit up his mouthful of coffee. He reset his thin-rimmed glasses back on the tip of his nose.
“I want to withdraw Commander Torres from the current command selection list, as well as take her off the stop-loss program so she can get out of the Navy.”
The skin under Antonio Espinoza’s eyes was blotched with dark rings. His hair was a disheveled mop, and his uniform hastily thrown on. He had not slept for three nights; two of those nights were on his office couch. He sat up those hours, rifling through naval documents, electronic libraries, stop-loss regulations, human resource manuals, decommissioning procedures; trying to find loopholes, concessions, vague language--anything, to grant his best friend a wish that he had no power of doing. He now sat facing a man with so much influence and so many connections, that he could grant that wish with just a single nod of his head, or the wink of one eye, each equating to the stroke of a pen.
There would, however, be a price. Antonio didn’t know what that price would be just yet, but he knew the game. In the upper echelons of Pentagon politics, one hand always washed the other. Paying back such a favor usually equated to performing an official duty outside one’s job title and jurisdiction. Taking care of something behind the scenes; opening a door for someone that was previously closed; making something potentially problematic go away; or even simply--remaining silent to something that could be construed as a conflict of interest, illegal or even immoral.
“Am I hearing you right, Tony? Did you say Kristina Torres?”
“That’s right.”
“The Kristina Torres? The single greatest technical mind in naval science today? You want her to separate from the Navy? Is that what I’m hearing?”
“That’s right, Lance,” Antonio huffed exhaustedly. “That’s exactly what you’re hearing.” Antonio felt like a teenager asking his father for the keys to the Mercedes the day after crashing the BMW. He didn’t even brace himself for the rejection; he was already thinking of the call he would make to Ramon. How horrible that call would be.
“May I ask why?” Lance Stevenson sat back and folded his hands calmly. The power and leverage he possessed were both enviable and despicable at the same time. In his pocket he had those who sat on review, selection and confirmation boards; he dined with Wall Street CEOs; and golfed with lobbyists, congressmen, lawyers, and judges. This placed him in the position of having the power to grant un-grantable favors, and he never forgot who owed him.
Although Stevenson had total control of the Navy in all forms political, there was one member of the admiralty he could not control or buy--Admiral Ramon Torres. His dislike for Torres was historic. Their egos just could not mesh in the same room. They were the best in their jobs and they knew it. Each of their decisions affected the other in policy and strategy, and this, they despised. Their confrontations were legendary.
During an appropriations proposal to cut Pacific Fleet funding, Torres tore into Stevenson with so much rancor, that the state secretary asked Torres to leave the room. The animosity shared between them sucked on Stevenson’s skin like a leach each time he heard the Torres name. They avoided each other at all costs.
Antonio knew this all too well. But in this situation there seemed to be no way out. A choice had to be made in a no-win situation. Someone would have to be crucified for the sake of someone else. Antonio would have to choose between himself or Ramon. The choice rotted his conscience like a rampant cancer. He desperately needed this woman in the Navy. There was no denying her engineering prowess which was second to none.
Her tall, physical beauty could manipulate men; her innocent unpretentious charm could earn the trust of women; and her genius could save a fleet of ships. Kristina Torres was born to command. But if there was one weakness that overshadowed all her gifts it was her inexperience in battle conditions, and that was Ramon’s fault.
Ramon shielded her throughout her career, keeping her from getting too deep into the very art and science that she had so soundly mastered. He guarded her fiercely like a possessive king watching over his virgin princess. From the course curriculum she pursued at the Academy, to the men she associated with, he was there to grant or deny permission. Antonio understood that Ramon had to be this way. Kristina, despite all her brilliance, was a fragile doll, still emotionally scarred by her personal tragedy years ago. Ramon stood guard over the only thing he loved more than his own life. As a result, twice he kept her from her own command.