“Hold on. Where did you get these pictures?” asked Ford.
“Google Images,” Emily replied.
“I’m half kidding. Some are purchased from Geo-Eye, the maps from NGA, and the runway photos here, here… and this one here,” as Emily pointed, “were taken from passengers flying on flights and posted on Facebook and obtained by Google.”
“Wow. Pretty good pics. Yup, I can see where to go… pretty good on there. Thanks.”
“So, Ford, you’ll use a Class 4 laser to paint heat on the fire sprinklers. Now, it is invisible to the naked eye, so we’ll give you a mono night device to see. It’s a dangerous laser, so don’t be pointing into your eyes. It’s not a flashlight. Spray the laser energy on the fire sprinklers… the heat… it will set them off. The hangar will then completely fill up with foam… the, ah, fire retardant. That’s the distraction for the op,” Emily said.
“Interesting. Okay, keep going. I like it,” the Deputy weighed in.
Mark was up at bat again as the briefer. “Wu, you bring the jet in on Monday after sunset. Get in there and squeeze in between the airliners. Depending on when you get there that evening will decide everything. You’ll have to text Ford somehow when you’re coming in so he knows when to set off the sprinklers. Then, after landing, taxi over to the firehouse and do the crew swap,” Mark continued to explain. Emily was writing away on the white board.
“I’m confident you will hear us arriving, but yes, yes, I can do that. General Chen won’t make it fast enough to our location to detect anything. When we’ve landed someplace unannounced, and we eventually contact him, it takes hours for him to arrive,” Wu shared. Wu was also thinking about his Liu, his co-pilot, and what the plan was for him. “On another note, what were you thinking for my co-pilot, Liu?”
“I’ve thought of that. Do you have access to eye drops?” Robert asked.
“Eye drops? What kind of question is that? The little clear container? Yeah, we have that here. The ones you put in your eyes to get red eyes clear, right?” Wu replied.
“Yes, those. Put a good amount of those clear and tasteless drops into a drink before take-off. He’ll feel some stomach grumbling. Mid-way, he’ll have an issue. Upon landing, he’ll have to hit the bathroom as soon as possible for quite a while. The guy will have some severe bowel problems. I’d expect that he’ll have to run into the empty firehouse to use the toilet right away. It works out because the fire company and all the fire fighters will be out responding to the hangar foam fiasco. The firehouse leaves their bay doors open, so your co-pilot could walk right in,” Robert said.
“That’s the end of Phase 1. Phase 2 is getting Ford in the jet, taking off, and departing to the east. Ford, you’re up,” Mark started.
“Wu, Ford here. What you and I will do is depart out of the airport and head east, really southeast bound. We’ll go feet wet over the water and climb high. Depending on the fuel state, and winds, we’ll go high as we can. I’ll do my best to pre-breathe, but I won’t have a pressure suit. We’ll have to talk about aircraft performance here in a few minutes.”
“High and southeast. Ok. We are landing in South Korea? Or, rather Japan?” Wu asked.
“Well, not exactly…” Ford answered.
“No? What then? We won’t have that much fuel to reach Hawaii.” Wu said, already not liking the idea. “Plus, by the time Chen figures out what is happening, he could contact chasers and cause some major issues. We could get pursued by J-31’s.” Wu could not imagine executing the plan by taking off into nowhere land. It was all water after that, and they could never make it. Perhaps Ford thought they could since they haven’t discussed most aircraft parameters yet?
“Wu, allow me to weigh in. We are already in contact with our Combatant Commander for that area of the world, U.S. Pacific Command. That’s a U.S. Navy Admiral, a four-star, that leads all United States forces in that area of the world,” Mark explained.
The United States Pacific Command statistics were staggering. They had 360,000 military and civilian personnel, along with 1,200 special operations personnel assigned. This area of the world consisted of 36 nations, along with five of the seven U.S. treaty allies. In addition, five of the world’s declared nuclear nations were present, along with seven of the world’s ten largest standing militaries. On top of this complex environment was a language barrier, a geographic area consisting of 3,200 different languages.
“Yes, I am aware,” Wu said, now curious why he was bringing this up. “I live there, remember?”
“Yes, Wu, sorry. Yes, we know. PACOM is moving an aircraft carrier for us, about 250 miles southeast of Okinawa. Ford, as you know, is a fully qualified carrier pilot. He’ll bring her down to… well… land on the ship,” Emily shared.
“No kidding? Wait. What?” the Deputy said. The tone of his voice showed both surprise and pride.
“Wow. I… I have never been to the carrier. That’s a great idea. Yes, I like that,” Wu said.
The Deputy sat his office, arms folded, thinking about the carrier idea. “Hold up. Hold up. Hang on a sec. I have big concern here. We want to take a foreign, a foreign aircraft, with no tailhook, onto a U.S. carrier? They could do a lot of damage. I need to do some definite push back because I think it’s an absolutely crazy idea. The Hill would have a field day with this, not to mention, the Secretary of Defense. Brilliant, but crazy.”
Mark didn’t answer him just yet, and wanted him to mull it over a bit longer. This push back was unexpected.
The Deputy sat on his end with his arms folded still. “Ah, look. This is doable, but not as safe and probably effective as sneaking it into Okinawa or some other US base in Southeast Asia and Pacific area. Even Guam has climate controlled hangars for B-2s where you could hide it… those things should at least be considered before the carrier idea.”
Mark was pleased that Wu was on board, but not so sure about the Deputy. It was important to him to have buy-in from both, especially since Wu was taking such a high risk.
Some time passed with complete silence. “Yes, sir. I understand your…”
“Mark. Wait a second, again, excuse me. I trust you and the team. If this is your plan, and you tell me it’s going to work, then… … then let’s do it. Go for it. It’s a risk for sure, but… okay, continue.”
“Got it, sir. Thank you. The, ahh, the… USS Abraham Lincoln could be in that vicinity in as early as two days from now. In fact, everyone, listen up. That’s what we are shooting for on the timeline. Ford just completed his orientation wing suit jump earlier today and scheduled to go back out for another two jumps… with his little squirrel suit, and, so, the plan is ready,” Mark said. “Are there any questions related to the plan before we get into aircraft performance?”
“Mark, this is Wu,” Wu said. Mark chucked quietly, as he clearly knew it who it was. “The Devil Dragon wingspan is just shorter than your Boeing 737… and a C-130. Will it fit on your carrier’s roof… your ship deck?”
“Yup, sure will, Wu. You’ll clear the right wing on the vertical island of the ship by a few feet. No issues there. What we are concerned about, though, are your Chinese satellites. It’s possible that they could see the Devil Dragon sitting on the flight deck. So, our plan is to fly out our welders to the Abe Lincoln tonight. Upon your arrival, they will cut off the wing or wings so we can get the jet onto the elevator, and hidden in the hangar deck. Underneath,” Mark said.