strike from the south.
The mainland, he decided finally. That had been their intent all
along, and the first hint of attack against their landmass would no
doubt send the Americans sputtering and sniveling to the United
States.
That alone would tie up their forces for days, while Cuba negotiated a
massive aid package in exchange for an apology from the United States
for their uninvited incursion into a foreign nation. The fact that
Cuba had retaliated all out of proportion to the alleged violation
would be ignored, as it always was. In terms of politics, the
Americans were the perennial patsies.
The crew in the command center was still alert and coherent, although
some of them appeared shaken by the man-made earthquakes they’d
experienced in the last five minutes. He thought he could count on
them he would have to count on them, at least until relief crews could
be brought in, the rearming process could be started, and his country
could begin working back toward full military power.
In the meantime, only one thing mattered getting off that one shot at
the U.S. mainland that would show them just how capable Cuba was, and
how serious it was about its sovereignty.
He gathered the technicians around him, soothed them with words about
their courage and the greatness of the act they were undertaking, and
sent them back to their stations recharged and energized. As their
missiles would be shortly.
0637 Local (+5 GMT) Tomcat 202
Tombstone, get the hell out of the area,” Batman snarled over
tactical.
“No argument, just do it. Now!” Puzzled, Tombstone flipped the Tomcat
into a tight turn, slinging it around like David lining up against
Goliath. It was an article of faith among aviators that when the air
traffic controller insisted on immediate obedience, you obeyed first,
questioned later. That the man directing his tactical disposition was
another admiral made little difference to Tombstone.
Surely Batman had good reasons for it, although it frustrated the hell
out of him to be taken off his mission once again.
What was it about this island? Would he ever get a damned look at the
BDA?
“Roger, coming right to one-eight-zero now, angels ten and
ascending.”
Tombstone waited for a moment, then asked, “What now?”
“The UAVs,” Batman said. “I need you well away from the ground
site.”
“Why not send me in?” Tombstone asked. “I’ve got five-hundred-pound
bombs on the wings, and I think I still remember the basics of strike
warfare. We can be in and out before” “No time,” Batman said.
‘Tombstone, the Cubans are getting ready to launch. I don’t want you
anywhere near that area when the first missile heads out toward the
United States. Your electronic emissions, the fire control radars that
are lit off buddy, get your ass out of there. Buster. I’m going in
with everything I’ve got in one last try to blast those burrowing moles
out of the ground. I don’t want you anywhere near the fireball.”
Tombstone switched his microphone back to the ICS.
“You listening?” he asked Tomboy.
“I am. And there’s something missing from this equation,” she said
thoughtfully. “Surely the UAVs don’t carry tactical nuclear
warheads?”
“I don’t think so,” Tombstone said, although suddenly he wasn’t nearly
as certain as he’d have liked to be. “Deploying tactical nuclear
weapons in my theater of operations even that would be going too far.
Sure, they might put UAVs on the Arsenal ship without my knowledge, but
to get us involved in a nuclear conflict no, I don’t think so. It was
bad enough that they tried to micromanage the targeting, but surely
they wouldn’t” “What if the Cubans have them, and the U.S. knows it?”
Tomboy persisted. “And Batman’s so worried about us being close init’s
not the blast, it’s the EMP he’s worried about. What else could it
be?”
EMP-electromagnetic pulse was the first and most devastating effect of
a nuclear explosion. The deadly forces unleashed by the weapon
disturbed the electromagnetic field of the earth, shorting out
sensitive microelectronics and transistors for miles around. Cars
would stop, computers would fail, and the delicate instrumentation of
the fly-by-wire Tomcat would immediately cease to function.