"Things have been extraordinarily quiet," he explained. "The North Koreans have made no incursion into the south for almost a year. There's been rumors that old Do is sick. So their government is kind of in a tithy. Our regular transport flight took off this morning from Seoul and headed for San Francisco. Two North Korean fighters had been orbiting over one of their southern bases just across the DMZ. They do this all the time so no one paid much attention.
Suddenly the fighters took off, overtook the transport. One of them flew alongside for a few moments, then pulled away. At that time his companion fired two air to air missiles. One of our AWACs flying nearby had a clear view of the hits. They said both wings were blown completely off. Then the transport just disintegrated! The passengers didn't suffer, Mr. President. At that altitude they became unconscious in moments, and would not have revived before they struck the water.
We've recovered 280 bodies so far. All dependents in South Korea are issued tracking beacons in case of kidnapping. They have enabled us to locate all the bodies. It will merely be a matter of getting down to them.
The AWACs also got audio of The North Koreans talking to their base. We're having it flown in by courier jet. We don't want to send it by any electronic means, that someone might be able to intercept. It should be ready for you to listen to tomorrow morning, Mr. President."
"There's no way this could have been a mistake, is there?" The President asked.
"The North Koreans are saying they shot down a reconnaissance plane. There's no way in hell, Mr. President, they mistook that passenger plane for an AWACs, or a shadow! They knew precisely what they were firing at. They came right along side and identified it. Do must really be struggling to maintain power! He must be desperate to take such a risk!"
The President nodded. "Well, he's taken one risk too many!" he snapped. "Gentlemen, I want a signal sent to South Korea. I want all American non-combatants out of there in two weeks. What have we got that we can reinforce the troops we have there with?"
"The First and Second Airborne, Mr. President," The General Of The Army remarked, "can be air borne in forty-eight hours."
"The First Marine Corps can be underway in twenty-four, Mr. President!" The Commander of The Marine Corps put in. "But it will take them two weeks to get there. But they'll have armor with them."
"That's a start!" The President answered. "Get them on their way. I'm not sure how severe our response is going to be as of yet. But I'm not going to take instant action. Let's let them stew a while before we start chewing."
The President hesitated a moment then continued, "Activate the reserves! I want to be able to draw on more troops if need be."
"Mr. President!" Howard Morganfield, his press secretary put in, "calling up the reserves might well give the world the impression you intend to make some major response to this incident."
"I may, I may not!" The President answered. "I was a boy scout once. The one thing I learned was their motto...be prepared. I intend to be prepared, gentlemen! Now as much as we would like to take immediate action, I think we have done about all we can, for now.
That music sounds mighty nice, and those children are going to be very disappointed if I don't at least sing a couple of numbers with them. So I think I'll go do that. But keep me advised. Oh, General Crawford, where does old Do hide himself?"
The General Of The Army smiled. "The crafty old boy's got eight underground bunkers that he commands from during emergencies. No one ever knows exactly what one he's in, and it's pretty hard to tell from their communication traffic."
"Have we got anything that will take them out?" The President asked.
The General shook her head. "They're too deep and too fortified," she answered. "Maybe if you could hit the bunkers, themselves, with a sixteen inch shell they just might penetrate the armor. But they're all too far inland for a naval bombardment, even with rocket assisted shells."
The President looked thoughtful. "What if we took sixteen inch shells and put fins on them, then the guidance system from some of our smart bombs, so they could be guided to the target?"
"Our fighter bombers couldn't carry that big a load," The General Of The Air Force objected.
"The old B52s could!" The President answered. "Didn't I read that we still have twenty of them that we use for cruise missiles, and conventional ordinance?"