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The men let the incredible tale sink in, and struggled with their own thoughts.

‘Who else was in your merry band, general? Who were the other co-conspirators?’ Niven wanted to know. Something would have to be done about neutralising them, and damn quickly.

Masri swallowed and appeared nervous. No matter what the circumstances, giving up comrades was painful. ‘Besides myself and General Suluang, there was Lanti Rajasa, Colonel Javid Jayakatong, Admiral Sampurno Siwalette, and air force Colonel Ari Ajirake.’

Niven pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. He knew nearly all these men by reputation. They were good soldiers, members of the Indonesian parliament, and commanded a considerable chunk of Indonesia’s armed forces between them. The exception was Lanti Rajasa. He was a policeman and not a soldier.

‘How would you deploy your invasion forces? You don’t have the assets for a major amphibious landing,’ said Niven, curious about how the Indonesians intended to pull off that aspect of their plan.

‘Ah… you are talking about conventional assets.’ There was the barest hint of a smile on the Indonesian general’s lips. ‘In World War 1, the French delivered its troops to the Western Front in the cabs of Paris. Japan invaded Indo-China on bicycles in the Second World War. And Indonesia, as you know, has fishing boats. Many thousands of fishing boats.’

Suddenly, Niven knew exactly how they’d pull it off. And it was so bloody obvious, all the musings by defence academics and strategists had failed to consider it. ‘Jesus…’ he swallowed. The navy could barely cope with half a dozen slow, leaking refugee vessels at any one time. A flotilla of such boats — they would only need a few hundred or so — would swamp Australia’s coastal warning systems. It would be impossible to determine which boats held troops and which did not; many would obviously be decoys. The new, over-the-horizon Jindalee radar would certainly provide information about the closing flotilla to Australia’s armed forces, but there simply wouldn’t be enough defence to go round. In a sense, there’d almost be too much information. The navy and air force would be overwhelmed.

The diverted Australian forces would be thrown into confusion, allowing the TNI-AU to drop paratroopers into Townsville. The aircraft would come in low, then pop up near the coastline, disgorging their soldiers. Divers could easily mine the navy ships bobbing unknowingly in Darwin harbour. It would probably all happen at night, or in the early morning, when reaction times were at their slowest. The Indonesian plan would probably succeed at the cost of possibly thousands of Australian lives. But they wouldn’t be able to hold those positions for long. Their supply lines would be way too long and Australia would have the home-soil advantage and, hopefully, assistance from the US. But for a couple of days, maybe three or four until the home defences could rally with the help of a US Carrier Battle Group… yes, the TNI could do it.

‘The border of East and West Timor would be very active too. Another diversion,’ the general added.

‘Of course,’ said Niven distantly, his mind seeing clouds of parachutes in the skies over Townsville.

‘Did you consider that the sort of action you’re talking about would make your bloody country a pariah in the civilised world?’ asked the PM, having difficulty believing educated men could formulate such an outlaw strategy. ‘What do you think would happen to your trade links with other countries after you’ve invaded us?’ The more the PM thought about it, the more indignant he became. ‘The whole thing’s bloody absurd…’

The general visibly stiffened. ‘We’ve bounced back from the crash of ’97. And we don’t need direct links with the West for prosperity. We have trade through organisations and groups like ASEAN. We are Asian and Muslim. We have our own networks. We don’t need Europeans to get on our feet.’

Masri appeared to sigh. ‘I do not think much of your understanding of the situation, Mr Blight,’ he said. ‘Your country is too full of its own self-importance to see the world as it really is. You think America would rush to your aid?’ From his tone, the general obviously believed that it wouldn’t.

Blight felt uncomfortable, but he didn’t take the general’s bait.