Military Terminology Glossary
ADCAPs: ADditional CAPability. The second generation of the Mark-48 torpedo. It has better active sonar, and is faster than the original Mark-48 torpedo.
AEGIS: Advanced Electronic Guided Intercept System. The AEGIS fighting system is a combination of computers and a phased-array radar used to defend battle groups against air attacks from airplanes and missiles.
CAG: The commanding aviator onboard a carrier. This person is in charge of all of the aircraft on the carrier, and overseas all the aviators onboard. The acronym stands for “Commander, Air Group”, even though the navy now calls it an Air Wing.
CAP: Combat Air Patrol. This is a defensive measure. A group of aircraft fly in a pattern in the sky to protect either a particular object, or a particular area.
GUARD frequency: This is not an acronym. I do not know why it is usually fully capitalized. “GUARD” frequency is the emergency radio frequency.
LAMPS helos: The acronym means Light Airborne Multi-Purpose System. It is a suite of electronics that helps the helicopter navigate and function.
nucs: Anyone who works on a nuclear submarine.
ROE: Rules of Engagement. The rules that the military personnel have to follow concerning when they may shoot at an enemy.
RIO: Radar Intercept Officer. The person in the back seat of an F-14. Their job is to handle all of the electronic equipment used for tracking and intercepting enemy aircraft.
SLAM: Standoff Land-Attack Missile. A missile that has both Land and Sea strike capability, and a range of over 200 nautical miles.
Chapter 25
Chain of Command
The flight across the Atlantic had been turbulent and unsettling. Ron and his family were now in Sweden, after a very long flight with lousy food and a boring movie. It had been three days since the death of Mike McGavin and the Committee. Ron had gotten very little sleep in that time. That, as much as anything else, explained why it happened.
They had not been met, so Lars led them to the home of the SkuggDrakarna, the ancient psionics guild of Europe. Lars spoke briefly to the guards, and the group was admitted into the Great Hall of the Dragon’s Heart, the leading body of the SkuggDrakarna. There, they waited. For two hours, they waited for the Dragon’s Heart to arrive.
Finally, the council entered the Great Hall and was seated. Dressed in blood red robes, they kept the hoods up to cover their faces. The head of the council wore a breastplate over his robe, made of what looked like silver. It had two dragons intertwined on it, one dragon bright and shiny, while the other dragon was a subdued color. The dragons appeared to be fighting.
Ron’s train of thought about the breastplate was interrupted when the leader spoke.
“NÃ¥, Lars, ni har slutligen fört honom till oss. /“So, Lars, you have finally brought him to us.â€/
“Ska sanningen fram, Ers nÃ¥d, s r det han som har ansökt om detta mötet. /“Actually, My Lord, it is he who has requested this meeting.â€/
“Jag förstÃ¥r. Och vad r det pojken vill? /“I see. And what is it that the boy wants?â€/
Ron wasn’t about to stand and listen to a conversation he couldn’t understand.
Lars responded,
Lars looked at Ron for a moment, and motioned him forward, as if to say, Go for it.â€
Ron took a step forward, looking around at all the other psionics that had entered the Great Hall just before the council had. He cleared his throat as he began his appeal to the Dragon’s Heart.
“Sirs, I come to you today to tell you of something about which you may not be fully informed. I know that you are aware of the plans and ambitions of the Russian organization we believe is called the Filitov Council. I am sure you are also aware that they have made a great number of strikes into the United States already.
“What you may not be aware of yet is that the Filitov Council has, just three days ago, destroyed the CAMP Committee inside our own compound. With this single act, the Filitov Council has effectively declared war on the American psionic community. And they have shown no hesitation at killing any normals that might happen to get in the way.
“It is our belief that this Russian organization has world-wide ambitions. I am not aware of attacks on psionics in other countries, but I would not be surprised by them. Perhaps you have information on this issue that I do not. In any event, I am requesting your assistance in fighting these people, before too many innocent lives are lost.â€
There was a stir in the room as Ron stepped back with the others. The members of the council bowed their heads, and Lars told Ron that they were conversing telepathically. Ron waited as patiently as he could while they spoke amongst themselves for the next ten minutes. Finally, they raised their heads and spoke.
But not to Ron.
â€Lars, du var tillsagd att föra honom hit för att förena sig med oss i insatts mot den där Amerikanska organisationen, CAMP. Varför har du fört honom framför oss med andra mÃ¥l i sinnet? /“Lars, you were told to bring him here to join with us in an effort against this American organization, CAMP. Why have you brought him here with any other goal in mind?â€/
â€Ers nÃ¥d, han r villig att förena sig med oss, men mnet som r tillhanda r förstÃ¥eligt me viktigt för honom för stunden. /“My Lord, he is willing to join us, but this issue is understandably more important to him at present.â€/
â€Vi har inget intresse att delta i nÃ¥got krig, Om vi hade lagt oss i alla sm trivial sm despyter som minskliga rasen nÃ¥gonsin haft s hade vi aldrigt fÃ¥tt nÃ¥gon ro. /“We have no interest in fighting a war. If we were to involve ourselves in every petty squabble the human race started, we would never have any peace in our lives.â€/
â€Ers nÃ¥d, vi talar inte om nÃ¥gon normal liten konflikt. Detta r en konflikt mellan psionics. Om vi inte kommer att visa ledarskap vid ett sÃ¥dant här tillfälle , vad gör vi d här? /“My Lord, we are not talking about any normal conflict. This is a conflict of psionics. If we are not going to show leadership in such a time of crisis, what are we here for?â€/
Ron had withstood all of this that he could take. Somebody want to start speaking English? Remember me? The guy you are supposed to be dealing with? The annoyance in his voice was quite evident.
The council was somewhat rocked by what they perceived as his impertinence. Their leader spoke to Ron. You have no rights to speak in this forum. We allowed you to speak earlier only because our Hunter insisted. You will remain silent from here forward.â€
Ron’s fury boiled over at this point. Kiss my ass, buddy! You know, I may not speak Swedish, but I can tell you aren’t willing to help. You know what? That’s just fine. I wouldn’t want a coward like you fighting on my side anyway. When the fighting starts right here in your back yard, then maybe you’ll know we were right. Turning to Lars he said, We’ll be waiting out in the hall. He stormed out of the Great Hall, with his family trailing behind.
Lars turned to the council. He’s right. You have shown great disrespect to the leader of another guild. How can you profess to believe in our rules, when you break them so readily?â€
“Our actions are not your concern, Hunter. You will return to your duties.â€
“No, I don’t think so. See, I’ve been out in the world. I’ve seen what’s going on. And, you know what? He’s got it pegged. It isn’t just America. Everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve heard about these Russians. Sooner or later, they will come here. At that time, I hope you can manage to fight them off. Lars removed the ceremonial tunic he had put on for this meeting, and laid it on the stone table before him. Without another word, he left the Great Hall.
Lars had apologized profusely on their way back to the airport, but Ron had remained silent, brooding. Even Nikki had not been able to pull him out of it, and the rest knew just to let him be.
Arriving at the airport, they found a small group waiting for them. From their style of dress, Ron could tell they were part of the ShadowDragon. His defenses immediately went to full strength. The energy he was radiating actually made them back up physically. The leader of this small band was a woman, about 5’9 tall, with flowing blond hair that reached her waist. She was dressed in warrior garb, reminiscent of medieval times, but made of newer materials. Her pale blue eyes widened upon feeling the power of Ron’s defenses wash over her. She bowed politely.
“Sir, you have nothing to fear from us. My name is Kimberly. I am an Adept of the Fourth Order, formerly of the ShadowDragon.â€
Lars continued for her, Kimberly is was my deputy. What are you doing here, Kimmy?â€
“Sir, we Hunters have seen a lot. The rest of the SkuggDrakarna may not believe you, but we know better. We will follow you wherever this leads.â€
“This is going to be dangerous, Kim.â€
“What worth doing isn’t? she responded. Turning to Ron, she said, Sir, I know you have no reason to trust us. We accept that you need proof of our intentions. We would ask only that you give us the opportunity to do so.â€
“How many of you are there? Ron temporized. He wasn’t sure what to say to this lady.
“There are fifty of us, ready to follow your lead.â€
“Very well. Lars, can you take charge of them, and get them back to my house? We need to get all the troops together to try to plan something out.â€
Lars came to attention, and bowed his head slightly. It will be done. Then he walked off with the group of Hunters to find the rest.
Ron and his family boarded another airplane for home. Ron was asleep before the wheels left the runway. He knew he was going to need all the rest he could get.
The USS Nimitz was patrolling in the Northern Atlantic, just west of Ireland. It was a calm, clear day, the sun glinting off the ocean. Captain Charles Farraday was lounging in his bridge chair, enjoying the morning, and keeping an eye on his crew. It was easier for him than most captains: Captain Farraday was a psionic.
“Sir, AWACS is reporting an unidentified surface group approaching, 200 miles out and closing, reported a junior officer.
“Number of vessels? inquired the XO for the captain.
“The Hawkeye doesn’t have a clear count because of distance, sir, but at least ten.â€
“Captain, said the XO, I think we should send some aircraft over there to check it out.â€
The XO saw that faraway look the captain sometimes got just before making an important decision. He waited patiently for the captain’s orders.
Finally, the captain said, You’re right Bob. Air Boss, send the two S-3s to check out that surface group.â€
“Aye aye, Captain! replied the officer.
Though the captain outwardly settled back into his chair, appearing relaxed, he was very nervous. The surface group was too far away for him to read its intentions psionically. Either that, or someone was blocking his attempt. That would be really bad news. He’d gotten the message, through the grapevine, that there might be trouble coming. That would explain why the Nimitz was patrolling so far north. Well, if the Russians wanted to get frisky again, Farraday knew he could knock them down a peg. But if there were psionics involved, just what would that mean?
The captain passed the following fifteen minutes in a building dread. Something told him there was going to be trouble. Without any warning at all from anywhere, the captain turned to his XO and said, Bob, let’s bring the group to general quarters.â€
Though somewhat surprised, Commander Bob Maxton had learned not to question his captain’s motives; he was right far more often than he was wrong. Aye, sir. Maxton gave the orders to the bridge crew, who began to carry out those orders. All of the ships in the battle group came alive as personnel hopped out of their bunks, or put down their cards, and rushed to their battle stations.
The radio crackled with the report of the lead S-3 Viking. Mother Hen, this is Jackal Lead, we have tally on fifteen, repeat one-five surface vessels of Russian origin. These are warships, Mother Hen. They are at full steam, and heading right for the carrier group. Requesting instructions, over.â€
The radio officer turned to the captain expectantly. The captain said, Tell them standard ROE is in effect, but to keep themselves between the two surface groups. Bob, I think it’s time we head down to CIC.â€
Maxton followed his captain down into the ship, where the Combat Information Center was located. The room was dark, with red overhead lighting, to make the displays on the screens easier to read. As soon as the captain had arrived, he requested an update.
“Sir, as you know, began the intelligence officer, The Russians no longer have a functional carrier. However, we are close enough to their turf right now that they can easily do in-flight refueling to get bombers and fighters down from the mainland. The group ahead of us, according to the pilots in the Vikings, are mainly cruisers and destroyers. A few frigates, but no battleships or carriers. However, the S-3 pilots also report that they are in battle formation, sir. It looks like they are looking for trouble.â€
“If they want trouble, they’ll get trouble, interjected the XO, speaking aloud the sentiment of the entire crew.
“Let’s get the fighters up and fueled, and let’s load the Harpoons onto the Hornets. I want every working aircraft in the air. If this becomes a shitstorm, I don’t want to have our pilots on the deck. Radio Washington and let them know what is going on. Tell them we have launched a full alert, but that we are not advancing to meet the other surface group. You have the birds form a CAP around the group at fifty miles.â€
“Aye, sir! chimed the officers.
“Pull that first flight back into the CAP. I don’t want them to be able to say we provoked them into something. If this is going to happen, I want to make damned sure they get the blame for it.â€
“Aye, sir. Captain, should we put the AWACS in EMCON? The officer was referring to Emissions Control, a way to deny the enemy information about yourself.
“No. It’s obvious they already know where we are. Probably satellite photos.â€
“Yes, sir.â€
Aboard the Russian vessel Zhdanov, Captain Beriya was extremely unhappy. He also knew that there was little he could do to change that. He had been given his orders by this. whatever he was. He was told, “call him Putin”, but nothing more. He disagreed with his mission, but, as if this were the days of the old Soviet Empire, he was told that his opinion was not important, that this mission was good for the Rodina, that he would do as he was told.
As if the people of Mother Russia would approve of a direct assault on the Americans in this way! This is madness!
“Watch your thoughts, Comrade Captain,” said Putin, startling Beriya out of his thoughts. “They may have a negative effect on your performance, and you wouldn’t want that.”
“Understood, Comrade Putin.” Comrade. That was another return to the “Good Old Days” of the Union. What was happening to his Motherland, his Rodina? And how did this Putin seem to know what he was thinking all the time?
Igor Putin sat back in what should have been the Captain’s chair, watching the first major operation of the campaign unfold. He had arrayed before him the largest battle group in the Russian Navy. A fleet of fifteen warships, with a group of fleet replenishment vessels on the way. His air cover would be there when he needed it, and he knew that the submarines were lurking in the area around the American battle group. His was the greatest power. Though he had never served a day in the military, he was now acting as Admiral, overseeing this, the first battle of the New Great Patriotic War. They would return Russia to power, to prominence. That he and his brothers and sisters of the Filitov Council would rule permanently shouldn’t trouble the citizens greatly. After all, he thought, they were used to the czars once. They can get used to anything.
“Begin the attack, Captain Beriya,” he commanded.
“Bring the battle group to general quarters,” ordered Beriya. “Begin the launch procedure now.”
The radio signal traveled from ship to ship, and missiles flew from the five cruisers in the fleet, one a minute, for the next eight minutes. A total of forty SS-19 missiles were launched at the Nimitz battle group.
Aboard the Nimitz, things got hectic in a hurry. Captain Farraday ordered all ships into air-defense mode. The first missile would hit in just under nine minutes. No one yet knew exactly which ships were targeted. The aircraft carrier would be the biggest prize, and so it was most likely the main target. Farraday’s options were the same in any case: bring the fleet to air-defense readiness, and launch a counter-attack.
“Bob, launch the SLAMs.”
“How many of them, sir?” his XO inquired.
“All of them,” he responded solemnly.
“Sir?”
“Bob, the Russian missiles will be here in less than 9 minutes. It’ll take our missiles more than 20 minutes to get there. If we don’t launch them all now, we may just have a bigger boom. Launch them all. And tell the air wing to follow them in. I want these cocksuckers doing the dog-paddle home.”
“Aye aye, Captain!” The XO relayed the orders to the radio officers, who didn’t question their orders, but found them highly unusual nonetheless.
Aboard the USS Monterey, 2000 yards away from the Nimitz, Captain John Sizlig found his orders most unusual. But he knew Farraday, and he knew what he was thinking. “Missile crews, prepare the SLAMs for launch. Your target is the Russian fleet. When ready, you will fire all, I repeat, all of our SLAMs.”
He leaned against a bulkhead as he received confirmation from his missile crews. Their motions appeared frantic, but were well organized, and the first SLAM left the rails in under a minute. It would take over three minutes to launch all twenty of them. He knew that the same action was happening aboard the other cruiser in the group, the Normandy, as well as aboard the three destroyers, Stout, Mitscher, and Ross. He wondered if he’d be alive long enough to find out if his missiles hit anything.
In the skies above the battle group, Captain William “Shaggy” Barnes was flying the lead Tomcat of the squadron. He was CAG aboard the USS Nimitz, responsible for every aircraft flying off the deck. He received his orders, and quickly assembled his battle plan.
“To all flights, this is the CAG. Your mission is to follow in the SLAM missiles, and take out any Russian fleet vessels that they miss. Homer, you take lead. The F-14s will fly high cover, in case they’ve got air support hiding somewhere.” He continued his brief, outlining mission objectives and a brief chain of command. He thought to himself, This is supposed to be done in a ready room, not at fifteen thousand feet. Once his briefing was finished, the aircraft broke into their elements, and moved off to the north, toward the enemy.
“Any trouble back there, Scooby?” he asked his RIO, his back-seat officer.
Martin Scobes had been with the fleet for exactly two months. He had gotten paired with the CAG because Shaggy didn’t have a RIO at the moment. Given his name, and CAG’s callsign, his was inevitable.
“Everything’s fine up here, Shaggy,” he answered, “But I wish they could’ve waited until after dinner.”
“I hear ya. And I forgot my Scooby Snacks.” The running joke did little to ease the tension. What were the Russians up to? No Russian fleet had opened fire on an American in longer than he could recall. What had changed?
Four hundred feet below the surface of the Atlantic, the next element of the operation circled, maneuvering at only five knots, the Politovskiy was nearly silent, and almost impossible to detect. It had been circling this area for days, waiting for the American fleet to come to this spot. The captain aboard the Politovskiy, Aleksandr Torpoyev, knew that American sonar was far too good for him to stalk the fleet. But his ship was truly undetectable at this speed, and since he knew where the Americans were going, he simply got there first, and stopped, waiting for them to pass over his head.
This they did, and now he would be allowed to do the thing for which he had trained his entire life. He would show the world that the Americans were not unbeatable. He would show them that Russian - no, Soviet! - naval power was just as strong. He did not understand the reason for his orders any more than his colleague Captain Beriya did, but, unlike Beriya, Torpoyev yearned for this day, and was reveling in the emotions.
His sonar officer announced, “The carrier has just passed over us, Captain. They are at 300 meters and opening.”
“Very well. Torpedo room, load all tubes. Open outer doors.”
With satisfaction, he noted that his actions were carried out quickly and efficiently. The torpedoes were ready to fire in well under a minute. “Range to target?” he asked.
“1500 meters and opening, sir! Bearing three-three-six!”
“Match bearings and fire,” he ordered calmly. He was settling down now, he was becoming what he had been trained to be: a fighting machine.
The submarine shuddered as the four torpedoes were ejected into the water by high-pressure air. Two officers were guiding them in to the American carrier. The running time for the fish was barely over a minute.
This, the Nimitz was not prepared for. A frantic call erupted across the CIC. “Torpedoes! Torpedoes in the water bearing one-five-six! Range is close! Less than fifteen hundred yards!”
“All ahead flank!” ordered Farraday, knowing it was almost a futile action at that distance. He didn’t need to ask how the sub had gotten that close: obviously this was a coordinated plan. “Activate all countermeasures! Get the Vikings, and the LAMPS helos, looking for that sub! Sound collision alarm!”
As crewmen rushed around to follow the captain’s orders, he knew, in the kind of certainty that seamen have, that his ship was doomed. If only my Ability were stronger, I might be able to stop them! Captain Farraday had never had an opportunity to train himself in the psionic ways, and so was not able to turn away such a swiftly moving object. It would not have mattered in any case, for the Russian psionics were prepared for such an attempt.
There were now seven helicopters and two jet aircraft sweeping the waters around the carrier, looking for a submarine. The Politovskiy slid silently down into the depths, sliding below the thermocline, the boundary between warm surface water and colder deep water. This boundary reflected the active sonar waves of its pursuers back up to the surface, and so they felt they were safe.
It was not the fault of the sonar crew that they didn’t hear the Seawolf.
Aboard the USS Seawolf, Captain Brad Simmons was pissed. He had just been informed that a Russian submarine had fired torpedoes at an American aircraft carrier. Mother-fuckers! So, you want to play in our pond, do you? We’ll see about that!
“Spin up the ADCAPs! I want that boat sunk.”
“Aye, sir! Working on a firing solution now, sir!”
“Very well, inform me when you have it.”
Captain Simmons rested in his chair. Though not a psionic, he’d been warned about the coming troubles from his brother. And I thought he was out of his mind at first. Just the loss of his daughter sending him over the edge. But how else to explain this? Shit, I hope all of what Bill told me isn’t actually going to happen.
His fire-control officer interrupted his train of thought. “Sir, we have a firing solution, distance to target six thousand yards, run time on the ADCAP will be four minutes.”
“Fire tubes one and three, and reload.” The submarine quivered as the torpedoes left their tubes. The sonar officer in charge of tracking the torpedo kept a running commentary as the fish closed on the target.
“Comrade Captain! Torpedo in the water! No! Two torpedoes in the water! They are in acquisition mode, they do not yet have us!”
Captain Torpoyev asked calmly, “Bearing and distance?”
“Two-two-four at fifty-five hundred meters!”
“Come right to zero-nine-zero, ten degrees on the rudder. Make your depth two hundred fifty meters. All ahead flank speed.” The control room crew marveled at their commander’s calm demeanor. Inside, he was enraged. How dare they fire on my ship! Do they not know that we are the leaders of the new order? We shall teach them a lesson they will never forget!” He walked back into the sonar room. “Do you have a bearing on the submarine yet?”
“Comrade Captain, I am not tracking a submarine. Obviously, he’s out there, sir, but he does not show on a single scope. I can go active, if you wish.”
“No, that would make it far too easy to track on us. Keep working on it.” He headed back into conn. “Fire control officer, prepare a shot down the reciprocal bearing of the two torpedoes.”
“Aye sir!”
“Match generated bearings and fire one and two.”
Once again the vessel trembled as the torpedoes were launched.
The Seawolf, however, was nowhere near the direction that the torpedoes had been fired. As soon as their own fish had left the tubes, Capt. Simmons had ordered the wires cut, and he had maneuvered clear. He still had the enemy sub on sonar, and he could fire more shots if necessary, but this was obviously a war situation, and he did not wish to waste more torpedoes if he didn’t have to. The Mark 48 ADCAP could just as easily find the other submarine on its own.
On the surface, it took only moments before the torpedoes closed the distance to the Nimitz. The torpedoes had spread out, and struck the ship from bow to stern, mortally wounding one of the largest ships in the world.
Captain Farraday was back on the bridge now, giving orders to the helm. “All stop!” He saw that his orders were being answered, and he turned to the 1-MC public address system. “All hands, abandon ship! Repeat, all hands, abandon ship! The Nimitz has taken multiple torpedo strikes, and is rapidly taking on water. All hands to the lifeboats!” He clicked off the system, and looked to the bridge crew, still staring at him in stunned silence. “Well? What are you waiting for? Get your asses in gear! Get to the lifeboats!”
As all the officers began to leave, the helmsman noted that the captain was not leaving. As young as she was, and as new as she was, she had no place questioning her captain, but she couldn’t not say something. “Captain? Captain, aren’t you coming?”
He looked at her in sympathy. “No, seaman. This is my ship, and I’ll be damned if I’m jumping off her just because somebody put holes in her. Now, go! That’s an order!”
“Aye, aye, sir!” she replied, with a not-so-small lump in her throat. She raced for the door, and looked back, to see the captain standing, staring out the huge bridge windows at the sea. She turned her back on him for the last time, and raced for the nearest life boat.
Captain Farraday had no illusions about going down with the ship. If he thought for certain that the boat was irreparably damaged, he’d have jumped ship like everyone else. But, he did have his Ability. And he had, he hoped, enough strength to keep the ship afloat until he could either get her to shore, or until someone could come repair her. He had to at least make sure that everyone else made it off safely.
Shaggy saw the inbound missiles as he passed over them. They were screaming in toward the fleet at nearly Mach 2. He whispered a silent prayer for the fleet. He radioed in to give them his visual report. That was when he found out that his carrier was sinking. Bastards! Unfortunately, his F-14 was not equipped to handle anti-ship weaponry. He passed the message along to the other flights. He considered keeping it from them until after the attack, but he knew that they would need to be aware that they would have to make a run for the UK as soon as the attack was over, and even then some of them might not make it.
Aboard the Monterey, the radar officer warned, “Time to impact, one minute.”
Captain Sizlig ordered, “Put the system into automatic.”
The officer in charge of the AEGIS defense system on board the Monterey lifted a cover and flipped a switch. The computer was now in charge of the defensive systems onboard the cruiser.
Aboard the Zhdanov, Putin was in the wardroom with the two other psionics on board. They were concentrating very hard. One of them, Bugayev, said, “About a minute to the first missiles, Ivan.”
“Very well. Boris, you and I will take down the computer systems, with help from those on board the Plotkin. I will signal them. You begin your attack.”
There were now five psionics focusing their powers on the battle group. Their psionic abilities reached out, searching for electronic pathways.
“Thirty seconds to impact, sir! System is fully operational!” Sizlig was just about to acknowledge that comment when every system aboard the cruiser flared. Some of the panels actually sparked, and then everything aboard went dead.
“Sir! All defense systems are down! All radar systems are shot to hell! We have no way to track the missiles now, let alone shoot them down!”
“Oh, fuck,” muttered the Captain. He knew his next order was cowardly, and that, if he survived, his career was probably over. But the lives of several hundred crewmen were in his hands, and he couldn’t live with their deaths to make a show of it.
“Abandon ship! All hands, abandon ship! Head for the lifeboats!” He unknowingly echoed the orders of his colleague on the carrier. “Let’s move out, people!” He made sure he was the last to leave the Combat Information Center, but he did leave. He made his way to the nearest available life-raft. His raft hit the water just as the first missile struck his ship.
Aboard the USS Normandy, similar things were happening. However, the captain of that ship chose to stand his ground. The crew onboard felt this was madness, but they would not question their orders. Captain Carl Andreeson had served them well for several years, and they would not desert him now. He had determined that their vessel was not targeted in either of the first two waves of missiles, and that gave them some time to get the systems back up.
“Any luck at all?” he asked the nearest technician.
“Not yet, sir. I’ll let you know if we get anything, okay?” He was nervous, and showing it, and the captain’s interest didn’t help any. Andreeson backed off.
Captain Farraday was holding it together so far. He was using most of his energy to keep the ship afloat. With what other strength he had, he was propelling it forward at a meager speed of five knots. His attention was too focused to notice the incoming SS-19s, and there was nothing he could do about them, anyway.
They struck fore and aft of the superstructure, where he was standing. The missile warheads exploded, ripping the flat top of the flight deck apart, and destroying the supports for the superstructure. The entire island began to topple over. Farraday was thrown through the bridge windows, his face and body lacerated by the broken glass. He fell nearly a hundred feet before hitting anything at all. When he did impact, he could feel bones breaking. The pain was intense. Pieces of the superstructure landed on top of him, pinning him to the deck. He knew that his body would not live much longer, and the ship was a complete goner.
He reached out with his mind, and found Commander Bob Maxton.
In the life raft, Bob Maxton was asking the helmsman, “You just left him there?”
“He ordered me to leave, sir. What was I supposed to do? Drag him out kicking and screaming?”
“I suppose not. Very well, take it.” His statement was cut off by the explosion of the two missiles on the carrier. “Heads down!” he screamed, grabbing the helmsman, and shoving her roughly to the floor of the lifeboat, throwing himself on top of her to protect her from flying debris. Neither of them moved until the explosions died away, and he was the one who rose. He looked at her for a moment, worried that she had been injured, but all of a sudden, some force tried to rip his brain in half.
Charles Farraday’s last conscious act was to send a message to the world. But before he did that, he gave his best friend and first officer a parting present.
Bob Maxton was flung to the floor of the raft with the sheer immensity of power that had flowed through his mind. He had almost grasped the message that his captain had sent out to God-knows-who. He knew that something else had happened, but he could not yet grasp it. What he really knew was that he now had a splitting headache. He looked down, and he saw that the helmsman, whose name he recalled was Rita, was moving. He helped her up, and looked her over for injuries quickly. She appeared okay. Together they stared as their ship sank slowly beneath the waves of the North Atlantic.
“Sir?” she said tearily.
“We’ll get the bastards, Connelly. I promise you that.”
“Yes sir,” she managed, before letting a sob escape her throat.
In the plane, flying over the Atlantic Ocean, Ronald Marcus Chaffey sat bolt upright in his airplane seat out of a dead sleep. His head was throbbing with the message that had carried itself around the world, and had probably awakened several dead people with its forcefulness. He wished Karen were here now, so he could verify that he had not dreamt it, but she was with Lars now. Linda, who was sitting beside him, noticed his sudden agitation.
“Is something wrong, Ron?”
“Yes, I think there is.”
“What.” she started to ask, but could see that Ron had entered one of his “states”, and wasn’t going to be disturbed for a simple matter of curiosity.
Ron was searching for the source of the message. He soon found it, in two different places. Though this confused him, the two points of origin were very close together, and both were in the midst of a pack full of trouble. Ron saw the overall picture, and he realized that he was too far away to help everyone. How do you choose whom to save?
Ron came to his decision by a simple matter of numbers. He was too far away to try to take out the missiles directly. He could only protect one location. While attacking the Russian ships was desirable, that would only kill people, and not save anyone. This would save the lives of American sailors. It was the best he could manage.
Back underwater, the Politovskiy was fleeing for its life. Captain Torpoyev had tried every maneuver he could think of to escape the closing torpedoes. Nothing had managed to shake the Mark 48s. He was resigned to the fate of his submarine. He had taken out their most vaunted carrier, but it would seem that the devil would have his due. Their triumph would cost them their lives. He had but one last duty to perform for his crew.
“Surface the ship, emergency rise. All up on the bow planes!” His orders were confirmed and carried out swiftly. There was the chance that rising back through the thermocline layer would confuse the torpedoes, but it was a slim chance at best.
The torpedoes followed the Politovskiy up to the surface, and they contacted the sub just as its bow cleared the water. The explosion actually pushed the submarine farther out of the water, but this only made things worse. With so much of the sub out of the water, the impact when it fell back was too much of a strain for the already-damaged hull. The ship split in half, and quickly filled with water. Not a single crew member made it to safety before the halves slid back beneath the waters for the last time.
“I have two explosions, captain, and then some tearing noises. They made it to the surface just as the fish got there. No hull crush noises, but engine sounds are gone.”
Captain Simmons easily restrained his enthusiasm. He had to make sure the sub was actually dead, and not waiting on the surface. “Periscope depth.” His ship rose slowly up from the depths, not surfacing, but only close enough so that the ship’s periscope could be raised out of the water. The captain made a quick sweep, and then a slower one. He slapped the handles on the periscope up and said, “Lower periscope.” Turning to his crew, he said, “There’s no sub on the surface, so I think we can call that a kill.” He quashed the beginning celebration with his next sentence. “The USS Nimitz is also not on the surface.” Silence filled the room as this bit of news sank in. “XO, surface the boat. There were life rafts up there, and we have a duty to those sailors. Sonar, this is the captain: keep your ears open for anything that doesn’t belong.”
Bob Maxton was looking in the wrong direction when the Seawolf surfaced. He heard a cry from one of the other lifeboats, and turned to see what that was about. Never had he seen a more welcome sight than the large, black sail of the submarine rising up from the ocean’s surface. I take back everything I ever said about nucs.
The missiles were racing in now, and Captain Andreeson was just about to order the crew to the lifeboats. The missiles were mere seconds from impact, and he feared that he’d left evacuation too late. He was about to turn and give the abandon order, when he saw a bright flare of light from the direction of the missiles. The lookout standing next to him gasped in surprise, and then had his binoculars yanked away by the captain. What he saw was completely impossible: the missile had exploded in mid-air. Nothing had contacted it, and his ship could do nothing to stop it. Incredulously, he focused in on the remaining missile targeted on them. Just as he managed to find it, it too exploded without warning. Now what do I do? Do I abandon ship? Or do I stand my ground and hope like hell that whatever is stopping those missiles holds out?
The answer to his question was surprising for two reasons: first, he had not expected an answer, and second, it was not his voice that he heard in his mind. He was so startled by the event that he didn’t question the wisdom of the voice.
“Get everyone inside! Everyone under cover!” If the missiles exploded any closer in, someone could get caught by the blast. “All right, folks, something is stopping those missiles from getting to us. I don’t know what it is, but, by God, we’ve got a chance now. Any luck with the electronics?”
“No, sir. Sir, these are going to require an overhaul to repair. Every circuit is fried.”
“Very well. Get to your damage control station. Situation report?”
“Sir, the Monterey is sinking, the Mitscher is gone. Both Stout and Ross are damaged, but still afloat. Neither of the frigates has been targeted with a missile. Sir. Nimitz has also been sunk.” That statement silenced the entire room. They had failed. Whether they survived this mission or not, they had failed to protect the carrier. It was their job, and they had not done it, and the only redeeming fact was that the crew had gotten off. That, and.
“Sir, we have contact with the USS Seawolf. She reports having sunk the sub that fired on the carrier. They are presently doing rescue ops for the carrier crew. They report that they do not have room for all the survivors.” That was, at the same time, good and bad news. The good news was that there were that many survivors. The bad news was that the weather in the North Atlantic was notoriously bad, and storms were scheduled to arrive in several hours. They would have to find a way to collect several thousand crewmen from the water before those storms hit.
“Put a call in to the British navy. Tell them if they’ve got anything in the area that can haul a large number of people, we need it.”
“Aye, sir!” That response was punctuated by the sound of three more explosions, two to their front, and one behind them.
“The last explosion was a missile hit on Ross, sir. She’s going down. All hands have abandoned ship. The two to our front were intended for us, but exploded like the others.”
“Well, at least whatever that is, is holding out. Keep me informed.”
“Aye aye, sir!”
Ron was sweating profusely in his airline seat. He had not ever had to work this hard from such a distance. The stewardess, alarmed at his appearance, reached to rouse him. Linda stopped her.
“Don’t. He’ll be okay. But, could you bring me a wet towel for his forehead?”
“Is it contagious?”
“Huh? Oh, no, he’s not sick. he’s. concentrating. Please, just bring me the towel.”
The stewardess complied. But Ron saw none of it.
Shaggy Barnes passed the last of the inbound missiles, but could no longer reach any of the ships of the fleet. Finally, broadcasting on the GUARD frequency, he reached one of the frigates, just to be informed that, except for the Normandy, all of the main ships of the fleet were either damaged, sinking, or sunk, and that the Normandy was unreachable.
“Very well, Simpson. We’ve passed what appears to be the last of the inbound missiles. We are still fifteen minutes from our target. All friendly missiles appear to be tracking well. Can you tell me why the Normandy has managed so well?”
“Sorry, Turkey Lead, we don’t understand the phenomenon involved. No missiles have been able to get through to the Normandy. It hasn’t even had a near miss.”
“Very well, Simpson. We will continue our profile, and then bingo to the United Kingdom. Can you call ahead and let them know we’re coming?”
“Already done, Turkey Lead. There will be Texacos in the air waiting for you.”
“Understood, Simpson. Thank you for that. Turkey Lead, out.” To his rear-seater, he said, “Well, that eliminates that worry.”
“Yeah, great, Shaggy. Now we just have to worry about whatever else can go weird on this mission.”
“I hear you, Scooby. Keep your eyes on that scope.”
The Russian fleet was aware of the incoming missiles, but, unlike the Americans, they had no system readily prepared to deal with it. They had to resort to anti-aircraft weaponry better suited to bringing down a bomber than a missile.
In the wardroom of the Zhdanov, Putin and his associates were keeping an eye on the missiles. Bugayev reported the incoming Alpha Strike of aircraft and missiles. Putin sent off a telepathic message. He had been waiting for this.
While jamming an AWACS radar is next to impossible, Mikhail Borodin had learned how to maneuver the radar energy away from its receiver. It had never occurred to him that this technique could be used on visible light as well, or he would have made his plane invisible altogether. It was enough that he had masked his flight of forty MiG-29s from the American radar systems. He acknowledged Putin’s order, and radioed his comrade pilots. It was time to show the Americans who this part of the world’s oceans belonged to.
Five minutes later, all of the Russian missiles had finished their flights. The last group had focused solely on Normandy, and the last of the five had come dangerously close to hitting them. Now, they had to help their friends who were in the water.
“Let’s begin recovery operations. And thank the Lord, or whoever it was, for stopping those damned missiles.”
The response startled him half out of his wits. He certainly had not expected a response to that statement. Once again, it was not his voice. He dared not mention it to the crew; they would surely think he’d gone ma