“You got a problem with your orders, Captain?” Tombstone said frostily.
“No problem, Admiral. Just a couple of questions about our position that I was discussing with your TAO. I wasn’t sure how familiar he was with the nuances of Aegis anti-air capabilities. Moving up north is going to decrease our-“
“I’m aware of everything I need to know about an element of my battle group, Captain. There are reasons for your orders — they were not invented out of thin air simply to make your life more difficult.”
“I wonder if the Admiral is free to share some of those reasons with me,” the Aegis CO said. Even over the encrypted net, the stiff, formally polite tone of his voice was evident. Tombstone could almost understand it. From Vincennes point of view, there were too many submarines in the vicinity of the carrier. Additionally, since the size of battle groups had declined drastically in the last several years, Vincennes was the only truly capable anti-air platform around, doing double duty filling a role that previously would have been supported by at least two cruisers. The only questionable air contacts they’d seen in the last month had come from the coast of Vietnam. Additionally, given the Chinese’s questionable air refueling capabilities, any strike would most likely not come from China’s mainland, but from a detachment deployed to Vietnam.
The sensible AAW coordinating position was off the coast of Vietnam, and quite definitely not so close to land. From the position Tombstone had ordered the Aegis to, Killington would be forced to try for a tail shot against a missile fired at the battle group if a raid did come off the coast.
Unfortunately, Tombstone could not possibly explain his rationale to the Aegis CO, even if he had been inclined to. The real reasoning behind the operational plan was on a strictly limited need-to-know basis, and Killington didn’t need to know. All he had to do was execute a normal Aegis role in the battle group.
“It’s not necessary that you know why. Just that you know where. You do — so get your ass on station,” Tombstone said impassively.
“Aye, aye, Admiral. We’re heading north at flank speed,” Killington said finally, a note of suppressed anger in his voice.
“Not flank speed! Your orders are to use normal transit speeds. Thirty-plus knots is an aggressive posture, and you’re supposed to be assuming a normal patrol station. Listen to me very carefully, Captain. My chief of staff had command of one of your precious Aegis cruisers before he was assigned here. Given any provocation at all from you, I’ll give him a second command. Yours. Got that?”
“Yes, Admiral.”
Tombstone slammed the receiver down and then switched the dialer off the private frequency. He stared gloomily at the CCTV, focused on the now-quiet flight deck. So much depended on the Aegis fulfilling her delicate role in the maneuvers! Killington’s request hadn’t been unreasonable — to be filled in on the big picture, and to know how his ship’s orders contributed to it. Still, coming from Aegis, he’d been predisposed to deny the request out of hand. And now, with the Aegis headed north smartly, every hour simply increased the logistic problems associated with flying the CO over to the carrier.
Damn, hadn’t he learned this lesson as a lieutenant commander? The problems associated with managing the highly competent men and women who made up the modern Navy? Wasn’t there some point at which he’d feel certain he was capable of doing his job and leading his people?
Tombstone sighed. Too much depended on this plan coming off exactly as planned.
CHAPTER 17
“You set?” Bird Dog asked as he tucked his kneeboard in over the preloading button on his G-suit. Sudden acceleration would depress the button and activate the suit before it could react automatically. One more thing that could go wrong, something in the back of his mind noted, another little mechanism for killing pilots: gray out and unconsciousness brought on by high G-forces.
I might not even know, if it was bad enough. Be in the drink in seconds if I passed out. Cold seawater, hot jet engines, big explosion. It’d be fast, anyway. God, at least don’t let me stay conscious. Don’t let me have to watch it.
An involuntary tremor shook him, and he pushed the thoughts away. This was no time to be thinking about the dangers he faced every day, not while sitting on the cat. Keep your mind in the cockpit, idiot. That’s what kills more pilots than anything else — getting distracted at just the wrong minute and forgetting to fly the aircraft. Look at Gator. He’s done this a million more times than you have, and you don’t see him sweating the load.
Bird Dog glanced in the mirror and saw the RIO give one last tug on his harness. Ice-blue eyes, framed by the flight helmet and the face mask, met his. Gator gave him a thumbs-up.
“Ready now,” Gator answered.
Bird Dog snapped off a salute at the handler and pressed his head and back hard against the back of the seat. Seconds later, he felt the first slight motion of the Tomcat. The steam piston rammed forward to the bow of the ship, accelerating the F-14 to 145 knots in six seconds. Catapulted off the carrier at just above stall speeds, the Tomcat clawed for airspeed and attitude, but settled for just staying airborne.
“Always a miracle,” Gator said, taking a deep breath.
“I haven’t let you down yet, have I?” Bird Dog asked, trying for a light note in his voice.
“First time’s the last time. So you know where we’re heading?” Gator asked, abruptly changing the subject.
“You think I wasn’t paying attention at the brief? South.”
“South is the right answer, my man. You get the nose pointed that way, I’ll give you a vector.”
Bird Dog winced as he thought back to the one time he hadn’t managed to keep the aircraft pointed in the right direction. Then he forced the thought away and resolved to keep his head in the cockpit. His RIO hadn’t taken a slam at him. It was Bird Dog’s mind that was the problem.
“Sure you trust me that much?” Bird Dog replied lightly. “Awful tough task for a pilot, figuring out which way’s south.”
“I think you’re up to that part of it. Okay, come left to 187. That ought to put us dead on course for it. No, it’s the other part that bothers me. The part about why.”
“Now who was nodding off during the brief?” Bird Dog ribbed. “I thought they covered that fairly well. With all these islands going boom, we’re supposed to go watch and see if this one does. A real challenge for a multimillion-dollar aircraft.”
Bird Dog heard the RIO fidgeting in his seat and glanced in the small rearview mirror. “Hey! You hear me?” Bird Dog asked.
“I heard you. I heard the brief, too.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“Aw, come on, Gator! Don’t make me play Twenty Questions with you!”
“It’s nothing, Bird Dog. Nothing firm, anyway. It’s just that I don’t entirely believe that that’s why we’re going out to circle a bunch of rocks. Think about it. We’re headed directly away from everything that’s happened in the last couple of days. Seems strange, that’s all.”
“Well, why else would we be going out there?”
“I’m not entirely sure. And that’s what bothers me. If it were really pictures of rocks blowing up, you’d send a TARPS bird to take pictures. Or an S-3. Or a helo. Or something that could go low and slow and get evidence. Not an F-14 with a combat load. And not on this type of cyclic ops. You notice that, Bird Dog? We’re on flex deck ops, massive alert five birds, and no CAP in the one area we ought to be interested in. Now why do you suppose that is?”