The Visitor (31 page)

CHAPTER 23

In Taipei, Baron had a scheduled meeting with military personnel in a test area for a demonstration of a weapons system he was selling. He wanted Tak to join in, keeping with his promise to include her as he was her Earth guide.

“Tomorrow morning, I’ll take you to military trials in the south, as I’ll be supervising a demonstration of military equipment that the Taiwan government will buy from me.”

“I’ll be interested to see that and learn about the nature of the weapons you are selling,” she assured him.

The next day, the hot, summer sun baked Baron and Tak as they stood in a narrow field owned by the government, in the south of Taiwan, surrounded by private pineapple orchards, including some in between them and the target area. Demonstrations by several contestants had been set up with the contestants vying to win the lucrative government contract.

Tak wore her regular outfit, but Baron wore an outfit of brand new camouflage fatigues, combat boots, and a camouflage hat, as though he was at the front of a real war. He wore a gun belt, with a stainless-steel Sig .45 pistol and two extra clips

The outfit and gun were just for show, to make it look like he was one of the military. The outfit was so new it looked a bit conspicuous--like a dressed up soldier.

Baron’s suppliers, with their various experts, were there, demonstrating the gun turret they wished to have mounted on a number of Taiwanese M113 personnel carriers for the Taiwan army. Those owned by Taiwan had no weapons, and were used as armor-plated personnel and equipment carriers, the idea being to move soldiers, supplies, and small weapons and ammo safely to the site where the Mainland Chinese might one day land to take over Taiwan, which China had often promised to do.

One of the guns had been affixed to the turret on a M113 for the demonstration. The other participants in the trials had already demonstrated their equipment over the past three days.

There were a number of observers. General Hisa was there and was in charge. There were a half dozen junior officers, another dozen enlisted men, two Taiwan officials, and several persons from the French gun manufacturer, as well as from the subcontractors who made the gun mount and targeting system. They were putting on the demonstration and would be expected to fix any problems that might arise.

A target had been set up down range by the army so that a designated Taiwanese officer could shoot the weapon. The man at the trigger was one of General Hisa’s junior officers, a nephew of Hisa’s. Unfortunately, he was not versed in the intricacies of the new gun, which had a complicated, computerized system to account for the speed and movement of the vehicle that it was mounted to, as well as the heat of the barrel, wind, range, type and weight of the ammo, and a few other factors. This data was all fed into the controlling the computer which would, or at least was supposed to, allow the operators of the M113, with the turret attached, to shoot and hit a target while the M113 was charging forward into harm’s way.

But General Hisa had decided it did not matter much what the results were as the bribe was so large that he was going to buy the baron’s system, whether it surpassed the others or not. Therefore, he decided to have his young nephew gain face by having the distinction of firing the first round of the test rather than the European expert who had come to Taiwan just for that purpose and who understood the weapon perfectly.

When everything appeared to be ready, he gave the command to his nephew, “
Fire
!” as though in a real war.

His nephew, Captain Fei, was not an accomplished marksman with such a device, nor, in reality, with any gun at all or, for that matter, accomplished at anything and had no idea how to program the necessary details needed to hit the target. Instead, he just looked down the barrel and gave it his best guess, notwithstanding the million dollar system behind it, which he had no clue how to use, and activated the trigger.

KA BOOM
! It struck with its explosive round well short of the target, landing in the pineapple field that was in between the gun and the target. A blast of dirt shot into the air, followed by an ominous trail of black smoke.

The foreign crew took the lad’s incompetence in stride and prepared for another shot. Down range the smoke was growing rapidly.

“General, it would be a good idea to get the fire brigade down there,” Baron said to Hisa. “I think we have set fire to that farmer’s pineapple field.

Not wanting to embarrass himself by calling the fire brigade if he did not need it, Hisa commanded, “Get fire extinguishers down there at once!”

The enlisted military personnel ran toward the smoke with the small fire extinguishers from their vehicles that were entirely inadequate to put out the rapidly growing fire in the middle of the pineapple field, the owner of which looked on in desperation and bewilderment.

Soon flames could be seen rising up high through the bellowing smoke, and it was clear to all that a substantial fire was in the making. Soon enormous flames rose out of the smoke, blasting up to the sky. Baron realized that it was time to do something more effective or there would be a huge fire and possibly bad news in the press about the incident, all of which would draw unneeded attention to the contract with General Hisa that was already agreed would be awarded. Baron sprang to his feet, taking over leadership of the situation, as it appeared that General Hisa was not going to do it, or at least not fast enough. The flames were now eighty feet high, very wide, growing fast, and the winds were spreading the fire rapidly.

“General, get the fire brigade!” he yelled to General Hisa.

General Hisa stopped watching the fire, came to his senses, and gave a command to contact the fire brigade. The subordinate hurried toward a jeep to go to the nearest communication hut to make the call.

The fire was now out of control. “Tak,” Baron yelled at her in the midst of the commotion, “you run off with that man going for the fire brigade! It may be unsafe for you here soon!”

She complied, jumping into the jeep with the soldier, leaving to go to the communications hut some distance away.

They arrived at the communications hut, got out, and went inside where a soldier sat behind a communications desk. The soldier who had been driving said excitedly, “Hurry, call the fire brigade!” He then explained where the fire was.

In Taiwan, however, the fire brigade was set up under the jurisdiction of the air force, for no particular reason, or at least for no reason that made any sense. In ten minutes, but what seemed like an eternity, an air force colonel drove up in a military vehicle.

“I’m the colonel in charge of the fire brigade,” he proudly announced in Mandarin.

The two enlisted soldiers saluted and then began excited telling of the emergency. Tak stood just behind them.

“The air force had no notification of this operation or a contingent would have been deployed,” the colonel said. “And it is a Sunday, so mobilizing men will be difficult. I do not think that the air force can be of any help.”

The driver pled for assistance, describing how the fire was spreading. But, the colonel did not seem to care.

After the conversation seemed to come to a stalemate, Tak stepped forward and said, in English, “What would it take to get you to send the fire brigade to extinguish the fire?”

The officer spoke English. “The fire brigade is really not interested in this army fire that resulted from an operation of which the air force had no prior notice.”

Tak motioned the colonel to the side, turning her back to the others so they could not see or hear what she was saying. “How about some fragrant oil?”

The colonel’s frown changed to a smile.

“I’ll give you ten thousand United States dollars if you’ll call out the fire brigade and put out the fire,” Tak said. “I’ll give you half now and half upon completion.” She took the money from her bag, counted out five thousand, and gave it to him.

The colonel took the money then turned to the other soldiers. “Given the fact that this is an emergency, the air force will be most willing to come to the assistance of the Army.”

He went to the communications console, picked up the mic and headset, and called in orders for all available men to come and put out the fire.

Soon all of the available men of the fire brigade, and all other available enlisted men on duty, headed for the fire. Tak and the driver returned to the original burning field, which, by that time, was toast. The surrounding fields were now catching fire.

Two fire trucks arrived, speeding dangerously. The driver of the first did not see a ninety degree turn ahead in the dirt road, until it was too late, and slammed on his brakes. The fire truck following too closely behind drove right into the rear of the truck, pushing it off the road into pineapple field.

Men began to arrive and in, what was clearly a completely unorganized, chaotic effort, tried to put out the fire. More fire trucks came, and more men. They scrambled about and, with some luck, by working all afternoon and into the evening, the fire was contained, but not until several hundred acres of field were toasted into ash.

Tak and Baron looked on, soot falling all around them, as the fire subsided, stopped mostly by the surrounding roads that created fire breaks, rather than from the unorganized fire brigade. Baron’s new camouflage fatigues were covered in soot, and he was shaking his head at the debacle.

He saw Tak looking at him and smiled. “To enhance your English vocabulary, there is an expression in English for what you just witnessed, a chaotic event, which is said to be a ‘Chinese Fire Drill.’”

***

The following Saturday evening, in order to celebrate his soon to come wealth, under the guise of an award ceremony to award the winner of the trials, which, oddly enough, was the same company for which the baron was the sole representative, General Hisa had already planned a magnificent, twelve-course Chinese banquet.

The engineers, programmers, and other staff from the French company making the gun and the subcontractors who were at the trial were invited. Also invited were the officers that attended the trials, a few of the general’s high-level friends in the military, and a few government people involved with budget approvals. And everyone brought their wives. No one from the air force and their corrupt fire brigade were invited. Eighty were in attendance. Naturally, Hisa had the army pay for it.

Tak sat next to Baron, who in turn sat next to General Hisa, in the most honored seat next to the podium.

General Hisa was nearing retirement, which would now be expedited with his new wealth, diminishing his respect for regulations. To show his appreciation for what the baron was providing, he had decided earlier that day to reciprocate. After the dinner was completed, he stood and asked for the attention of those present.

In Mandarin he announced, “As an award for the bravery of all that courageously participated in the emergency yesterday, I’m decorating everyone involved.” Loud applause rang throughout the hall.

“However for Baron Von Limbach, as well as his distinguished wife, the baroness, for taking the initiative to get the fire brigade to the scene, and instrumental in extinguishing the fire, they are to receive what they deserve. I present them with the
First In Combat
medal.”

The presentation of the First-In-Combat came as a surprise to the audience, who were in awe of the majesty of the award. All broke into deafening applause. In recent times, no Taiwanese soldier had ever gotten the First-In-Combat medal, as Taiwan soldiers had no battles. But the Taiwanese soldiers were very much into recognizing titles, degrees, and the like, and so everyone in the Taiwan Army knew of it, and would thereafter snap to attention for the baron whenever he came, giving him even more face, as a true hero.

He was now the equivalent of a prestigious officer as the medal included all of the privileges of officers to enter officer clubs and the like. Once awarded, this medal became the most distinguished part of the Taiwan uniform and, in the Taiwanese Army tradition, anyone in the Taiwan Army would thereafter consider the baron to be a true hero. And, after all, anyone that paid as much bribe money as the baron did was a true hero to the general. The baron had suggested earlier that the general include Tak in the award and he complied.