That was smart, Ash thought to himself.
The ocean seemed to rush up at him faster during the last hundred feet. Just before he hit the water Ash held his breath and closed his eyes. As he hit the water, he quickly he pulled the releases to free himself of the parachute. He did not want it to pull him under. Ash undid the bungee holding the fins to his lower legs and put them on his feet. As he bent over he felt cool water seeping down the back of his neck. In a few moments his body would raise the water temperature so that it would be comfortably warm.
Ash finned a few feet away from his chute. He decided that separating himself from the canopy and the lines slowly sinking in the water would be prudent. Then he kicked hard, treading and bringing himself out of the water to conduct a quick survey.
Zeke and Billings were still descending. Normandy’s launch had picked up Willy. He and a Normandy sailor were pulling his chute into the boat.
As he continued a 360 sweep, Ash saw January, De Napoli, and Bailey in the water. He realized that he was closest to the F470 inflatable. Leaving his chute behind, Ash swam hard toward the boat.
The inflatable was not moving. Its parachute fell off to the boat’s starboard side and was filling up with water. It was like a large sea anchor.
Ash searched the water around the boat to ensure he would not become fouled in its lines. The port side was clear. He swam over, kicked hard again, and pulled himself into the boat.
At initial look, all the gear appeared in good condition. Ash wondered if the weight of the water in the chute would pull the boat under or if the risers would part first. He pulled his knife from the sheath on his inside calf. Since there was tension in the lines, they cut easily. Each line popped with only three or four strokes.
The lines disappeared quickly into the gray water. Ash caught his breath a moment and surveyed the ocean surface once again to check the status of his teammates. Willy was still pulling his chute into the Normandy’s boat. The ship was about a hundred yards beyond. De Napoli was between Willy and the F470, swimming toward Ash. In the opposite direction he saw January, Bailey, Zeke, and Billings all swimming toward him in the order they jumped.
Ash set up the MARS engine and started it. Then he down the line of swimmers, picking them up one by one.
EIGHT
By nightfall, the whole detachment was recovered onboard Normandy. The Techs were able to save five of their chutes before they were lost to the sea.
From the boat deck, the executive officer, the Normandy’s second in command, escorted them to the quarterdeck. The ship was still at general quarters. All of the sailors were at their battle stations. Only the damage control teams had free access to move about the ship. Ash saw a pair of Normandy crewmembers dressed in firefighting gear walking down the ship’s starboard side. They were surveying the damage. An entire hose team was staged just aft of the boat deck on the starboard side also, ready to respond if the helo caught fire again.
January agreed with the XO that the quarterdeck was a great place to establish their response command post, called a “CP.” Located on the main deck just aft of the forward third of the ship, it provided a lot of open space to layout the detachment’s gear. As on all ships, the quarterdeck already had hardwire communication circuits with the bridge, combat, and with damage control central.
The Techs began stripping off their wetsuits, drying off and drawing their flight suits again from waterproof packs. They donned the flight suits and steel-toed boots.
January talked with the XO as he dressed.
“I want the DCA up here, the senior pilot available, and the weapons officer.”
The ship’s damage control assistant, or DCA, was Normandy’s officer responsible for responding to any damage the ship incurred due to fire, flooding, even collision. He was in effect, Normandy’s fire chief. The weapons officer was the department head responsible for all the weapons onboard, from the .45 caliber pistols used for security to the missiles in the ship’s vertical launch systems. After being summoned, all three officers arrived at the quarterdeck at about the same time.
January moved to one side of the quarterdeck where they would be out of the way of the rest of his team. De Napoli directed the Techs setting up the hardened computer system, laying out equipment for easy access, and dressing out Ash and Zeke to go “downrange.” As he dressed, Ash paid some attention to his OIC coordinating their efforts.
“Gentlemen, let’s start from the beginning.” January said. “What happened on the flight?”
The young pilot was obviously distraught. Ash guessed he was not the Air Boss, the senior aviator normally in charge of the six pilots onboard the cruiser. That meant the Air Boss was one of the pilots on the flight. He could tell that it was difficult for the officer to gather his thoughts after having just watched three of his squadron-mates crash into the deck. One of which had already been pronounced dead.
“Well, everything was fine until the end. Something went wrong, I don’t know what, and they dropped like a stone onto the VLS. They caught fire immediately.”
“Did they attempt to fire the weapon on this flight?” asked January.
“No, it was just to test the systems.”
“Are there any other weapons or ordnance on board the aircraft?”
“No.”
“What side is the weapon on?”
“Port side.”
“Have you been able to talk to them, ask what happened?”
“No.”
January turned to the damage control assistant. He also looked very young, probably an Ensign or Lieutenant Junior Grade. He was sweating profusely, probably from the stress, but he had an air of confidence.
“Okay, DCA, tell me about the firefighting efforts.”
“Right, I had my hot suit men extract the aircrew. We hit it with AFFF foam for about two hours and finally put the fire out. I think we basically controlled the burn until the fuel had all burned up.”
“Did the missile ever appear to detonate? Or were their any smaller detonations?”
“I don’t think so, what do you mean?”
“Well there are probably carts in the missile ejection rack, explosive cartridges that eject the missile from the bird on the pilot’s command in case of failure or aircraft accident. I want to know if they or the missile cooked off.”
“No, I thought of that, the weapon I mean. I specifically had a team on the port side send a high volume of water on it to try to keep it cool. That actually may have allowed the fire to burn longer because the water washed away some of the AFFF from the other team.”
“Anything else I should know besides stuff in the VLS?”
“Not that I can think of.”
“Okay. I think you did the right thing, DCA. You probably saved some lives by using the water. Good work.”
The weapons officer was a department head, a lieutenant commander.
“Weaps, you know what I’m going to ask,” said January.
“Status of the VLS. But first, let me give you a photo of the weapon as it now is.”
He handed January a black and white photo.
“This was taken from the aft VLS camera mounted above the flight deck. We zoomed in on the weapon there. You can see that it is blackened but does not appear melted.”
“Yeah, doesn’t look like there are any explosives oozing from it either,” replied January.
“Nah, it’s medium rare, not well done.”