[War] China/US: "Contact"

[Chazenesq2b at aol.com]

"Contact"
 
President Xia Hong
People's Republic of China
 
President John Williams
United States of America
 
3rd of March, 2013
==============================================
 
The Executive residence of the Chinese President had been kicked into  
overdrive, 'exactly' the last thing Xia needed given her physical and mental  state. 
 It was a lot for anyone to take in on the best of days under the  best of 
conditions... this was far from either.  Already the PNC had been  called in for 
an emergency meeting... a sideshow really given Xia had  concentrated all the 
power necessary, but an important one for morale and idea's  sake atleast.  
Emergency responders were doing the best they could in the  immediate aftermath 
of what was one of the worst natural disasters in recent  memory.  Phone 
banks and cellular networks were flooded as agency after  agency began responding 
to ensure the public safety and handle the situation as  it developed.  Xia 
felt like the eye of a perfect storm.

"Madame  President, President Williams of the United States on the secured  
line."

Well now 'that' just made her day.  She picked up her phone  after a brief 
reminder of what time it was in America.  Her normally  flawless Californian 
accent was only so-so... she was far too tired to play a  perfect American today. 
 "Good morning Mister President."

"I hope that the morning gets better for you, at least, Madam President.  
Baekdu. Just from the pictures we're seeing over here, it doesn't look good for  
either North Korea or China. So I'm going to ask simply: What do you need  
support in? I have every agency of the US Government standing by to assist if  
you need it, including USFK and the Army Corps of Engineers, and we're rounding  
up every disaster relief charity with operations in the region as well. NASA  
will be packaging our unclassified environmental satellite take with all the  
commercial imagery we can find into integrated imagery packages, and sending  
that over to help. If you need blood, the American Red Cross and the US 
military  are checking their stockpiles." In an emergency, there was hardly time to 
beat  around the bush, so President Williams got to business immediately.
 
The generosity of the offer was, well, stunning for a lack of better  
description.  She thought immediately this would be some kind of crazy  Evangelical 
rant about God condemning the Chinese 'invasion' of North Korea by  blowing a 
small piece of it straight to hell.  "Any help you can provide  would be 
appreciated Mr. President.  We already have a response command  established, though 
my experts are telling me it's unlikely we're out of the  proverbial woods 
just yet."
 
Why would it be an evangelical rant? Williams, after all, was  Catholic, and 
they didn't much believe in active divine retribution.  Usually.

"I doubt that day will come for a while yet. How ready are you  if 
aftershocks hit anywhere along the fault line? The one Baekdu is on, USGS is  telling 
me, runs into the Yellow Sea, off the Liaoning Peninsula," Williams  replies. 
His attempt at pronouncing Mandarin mangles the name of the peninsula,  but he's 
clearly -trying- to pronounce it correctly.  

Xia had lived in the States for a time, and was well aware of how Americans  
sounded trying to speak Chinese names.  She knew what he was talking about,  
and as such never bothered to correct him.  She figured the attempt, and  the 
general idea, were enough.  "All local agencies have been put on alert,  and 
we're asking for NGO assistance in helping with the humanitarian  crisis.  
Evacuation advisories are in effect for areas near tectonic  activity zones, but 
they're just advisories at this point.  I have to be  honest, this is not 
something which we will cope easily with under the best of  circumstances, let alone 
as things stand now.  The part of China effected  has been lagging in 
development, the volcano had been considered dormant and no  longer a significant 
threat.  And North Korea... I'm sure you've seen on  Xinhua broadcasts just how 
badly things were going 'before' the eruption."
 
"I have," Williams replied. Sounds of rustling, then... "Okay,  USGS is as of 
30 seconds ago officially calling the seismic activity associated  with the 
eruption as a 9.0 earthquake. Aftershocks can be expected to be  anywhere in 
the 8s on the high end. I'd pitch you everything we have in Japan,  but we're 
holding our breath and waiting for the tsunami danger to pass before  we presume 
we won't be needed there. Archdiocese of Washington is saying that  Caritas 
Korea is seeing no emergencies in the ROK -yet-, and asked me  to pass along a 
request for approval for the Vatican to send them up into  North Korea. 
Simultaneously, they want me to ask if they'd be wanted in China  itself." Pause. 
"American Red Cross reports they have 30 thousand units of Type  O Negative 
blood which can be shipped to the region as soon as your government  gives the 
approvals. USNS Hope can be in the region within 5 days. USS George  Washington 
battlegroup is standing by in Yokosuka, if you need the assistance I  can order 
them to steam to the region, they'd be there within 48 hours to  provide 
logistical muscle like we had a carrier group do after the tsunami in  2004." They 
could even provide thousands of gallons of fresh water, too.  

"Approval won't be an issue, you can consider any and all assistance  
approved and welcomed by China."  Whether it was from the Church or not,  from 
America or not, she wasn't about to let the situation be made worse on the  stake of 
national pride.  "I'll pass on orders to the Ministries of Health  and 
Defense to let them know.  Likewise we'll provide you with all the  imagery and 
intelligence we have on this incident.  If South Korea needs  help, we also stand 
ready."
 
"I'll let them know." Tapping at a keyboard. "Okay, Caritas will be north  of 
the DMZ within 12 hours. USS George Washington is exiting Yokosuka as we  
speak, making best safe speed they'll be there in 36 hours and ready to work one  
hour after that. Treating casaulties, providing fresh water, providing 
supplies,  providing logistical muscle." A pause. "USFK is throwing this idea out to 
see  what happens. They propose that they and the ROK handle everything in 
North  Korea up to and south of Pyongyang, so you can transfer your forces to 
assist  with relief work in the border regions and in China proper. If you go 
with the  idea, I'll cut the orders for them to move north." There didn't seem 
to be any  usefulness in the present situation of maintaining the fiction that 
there was a  North Korean government in any but the legal sense, Williams 
decided, so the  idea could hardly hurt.
 
Xia on the other hand thought that was a step too far.  The last thing  they 
needed were American and ROK troops in the North, wrecking havoc with the  
order fought for by People's Army soldiers.  "I'm afraid that's a step I  can not 
authorize, mister President.  No more so than you or South Korea  would 
authorize your forces to allow Chinese troops to move south.  It's  best for the 
sake of global sanity that we maintain the integrity of the  borders."
 
 "Fair enough,"  Williams replies. "The world is on enough Prozac as it is." 
A quick glance at  the clock revealed that it was 1045 in Washington.
 
"I couldn't agree more."  Xia couldn't help but let out a soft sigh,  running 
her palm over her forehead she was beginning to realize even coffee had  a 
shelf-life.  "I will order my government to keep the United States  informed 
through the usual public channels.  Disagreement with the PKO or  not, there is 
no reason we should allow innocent people to die over a political  
disagreement."
 
"Agreed. Contact me directly if you at all feel the need,"  Williams replied. 
 

"I will, thank yo..." before Xia had the opportunity to mercifully get off  
the phone there was definite movement, the sound of papers and books hitting 
the  floor and some gasps, shouts, even a scream or two from the more panicked 
among  them.  For her part, there was a loud and questioning "What the 'hell'?" 
 which echoed over the phone line.
 
"Madam President?" Williams asked. His senses told him it was an  earthquake, 
and his fingers flew over his keyboard as he pulled up the director  of USGS 
over his data link.
 
There was a conversation in Chinese between atleast four  people, before Hong 
finally responded.  "I think we can officially claim an  after-shock mister 
President, something close to an 8 on the Richter scale at  the epicenter.  We 
definitely felt it up here, I can't imagine what it's  like at ground zero.  
We're scrambling reconnaissance craft now to find out  what it's like."  

"USGS is saying a 7.5 approximately 2 kilometers south of Dailan. Think of  
what LA would be like after a 7 to think about what they're going through, then 
 adjust for the fact that Dailan is built on sand, not bedrock," Williams  
replied.
 
"And is one of those areas where construction outpaced building  codes."  She 
took a deep breath, doing her best 'not' to let a few tears  lead to a more 
complete breakdown.  "So... how was your day?"  It was  a unique character 
quirk... saying something completely unrelated to the  question as a measure of 
sarcasm, and escapism.  Besides, at this point  there was nothing either of them 
could do to fix things.  Mother Earth was  a bitch at times.
 
Williams grinned, fortunate Hong coudln't see his face. She was reminding  
him of a Sargeant he'd known in Afghanistan, and the association between the  
Chinese President and the 6'8" hulk he knew was a bit surreal. "It had *started* 
 as a pretty good one, thanks, before the Earth started throwing a temper  
tantrum."
 
"Almost as bad a tantrum as my son used to throw."  She teased,  following 
the conversation with a few more chinese remarks.  "I'm sure  you'll understand 
Mister President if I have to leave.  My people need me  at the moment."
 
 "I understand  completely. Good luck, Madam President."
==============================================

ACTIONS
 
1.  United States and China to cooperate in the name of goodwill with  
regards to the Volcanic Eruption.



************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at 
http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://esteroic.com/pipermail/war_esteroic.com/attachments/20070722/c2b1063c/attachment.html