“All I can say, Mal,” he told his RIO. “The goddamned cavalry better hustle. We got a shitload of company that’s fixing to come step on us!”
0747 hours, 26 March CIC, U.S.S.
“Admiral on deck!”
Marine sentries snapped to attention and presented arms, but the rest of the officers and sailors in the Aegis cruiser’s CIC suite remained motionless at their stations as Admiral Vaughn stepped across the knee-knocker and into the room. Captain Cunningham looked up, then waved him over. “Welcome aboard, Admiral,” he said. There was a twinkle in his eye. “I trust you had a pleasant flight.”
“Never mind that. What the hell’s going on?”
Vicksburg’s captain began outlining the situation. Vaughn was uncomfortably aware of the surge and roll of the ship in die heavy seas and reached out to steady himself on a nearby console top.
“Aye, sir. The Indies fired sixteen missiles from an estimated four patrol craft. Range twenty-seven miles. Jefferson stopped them all. No damage.”
“Thank God!”
“At the same time, they appear to have begun launching large number of land-based aircraft.’ ‘ He pointed toward one of the LSDs, which now displayed a portion of the Indian mainland in lines of white light.
Bhuj, south of the salt marshes of the Rann of Kutch. Okha, an Indian air force base on the very western tip of the peninsula called Kathiawar. The airfields outside the major Kathiawar
196
Keith Dougiass
cities of Jamnagar, Rajkot, and Bhanagar. Bombay to the east. At each location, aircraft were still rising into the skies, circling, gathering for the storm.
“Some of them are already skirting the edge of our air defense zone,” Cunningham said “Jefferson reports she is now launching her remaining F-14s.”
“How . . . how many enemy planes?” Vaughn asked, his eyes on the scramble of blips on the LSD.
“Unknown,” Cunningham replied. “We estimate fifty to one hundred aircraft aloft so far. Jamming is very heavy.”
“Anything out of the Indian fleet?”
“Nothing yet. Admiral. They could have launched their Sea Harriers, but our Hawkeyes haven’t picked up anything yet. Like I said, the jamming—”
“Has Washington been apprised of the situation yet?”
Cunningham looked surprised. “Uh … no, sir. Unless Jefferson …”
Vaughn slumped. “There hasn’t been time. Okay. My responsibility. Get me a satellite patch. Now.”
“Aye, aye, sir.”
‘ ‘And bring the goddamned Russians down here. We might as well start working widi the bastards.”
Vaughn wasn’t certain where or when the turning point had been, but he was surprised to realize that he was less concerned now about what the Joint Chiefs might say than with the handful of ships and men under his command. Not that he should have been surprised by that, he realized . . . but for so long his world had revolved around the tight little perimeter of the Washington Beltway. He’d been aware of the outside world, certainly, but his personal world had been that of career and peers, of position and politics.
All of that was lost now, under the hot rising sun of the Arabian Sea, and against the rising swarms of aircraft bent on destroying his command.
So far from home, against such odds, he would take any allies he could find . . . even if they spoke Russian.
If only there was time.
ARMAGEDDON MODE
197
0748 hours, 26 March
Sea Hairier 101, Blue King Leader
Lieutenant Commander Ravi Tahliani held his aircraft steady at an altitude of less than fifty meters. Traveling at eleven miles a minute, just below the speed of sound, the Sea Harrier bucked and jumped, the vibrations transmitted to the young Indian pilot through his ejection seat and the control stick between his knees. At so low an altitude, the horizon seemed to be above him on all sides, and sea spray blasted across his windscreen like a stiff rain. He reached out and flicked on a device that he, trained on simpler aircraft like MiGs, still found strange in a fighter. Its utility was undeniable, however. The windshield wiper cleared the spray with several quick swipes.
He checked his console clock. He’d been airborne now for six minutes and had already crossed nearly half the distance between the Indian fleet and the American carrier. By now, he was deep inside the enemy’s air defense zone. It was remarkable that they’d come so far without being detected.