Vorobyev for this assignment long before the developments in Scandinavia had
taken their unexpected turn. His men had been well-briefed, and took up their
positions ringing the conference room with smooth efficiency.
“On the other hand,” Vorobyev continued calmly. “On the other hand, it
may be no replacements at all need be made, once all are aware of the need for
absolute military authority. I am sure all of you will be glad to cooperate
in this effort?”
No one answered for long moments. Then Ubarov nodded. “Of course,
Comrade General, of course. You are correct. We must have unity of purpose.”
“If the general has plans to redeem our situation in Norway, I am sure we
are all eager to hear them,” Boltin added. The other politicians chimed in
with their own platitudes.
All but Doctorov. He sat still, his eyes on Vorobyev. At last he nodded
his head slowly, a gesture which was as much one of respect as it was of
submission.
“Now we can get down to business, Comrades,” Vorobyev said, his smile
growing broader. “Let us see what we may do to turn this setback to our
advantage.”
EPILOGUE
Tuesday, 17 June, 1997
0930 hours Zulu (0930 hours Zone)
CAG office, U.S.S. Thomas Jefferson
Off Bergen, Norway
Tombstone Magruder took down the picture of Stramaglia and his son and
put it into the box he’d been using to clear out the dead man’s belongings.
It was the first time since CAG’s death that he’d had any time at all to take
care of personal effects, and now that Admiral Tarrant had confirmed that
Magruder was staying on as CAG, it was time to bury the ghosts once and for
all and put his own stamp on the Air Wing.
It didn’t promise to be an easy job, filling Stramaglia’s shoes
permanently. The Soviet fleet had withdrawn with a damaged carrier, a pair of
destroyers limping from lucky hits by attacking Hornets, and a few battered
troopships that had survived their Harpoon strikes, but the damage actually
inflicted on their force had been minor. Magruder’s plan had called for
concentrating on the transports, but the corollary to that was the basic fact
that the striking power of the Soviet fleet was undiminished. It was doubtful
that the Soviets would mount another flanking naval landing, but they could
still dominate the Norwegian Sea anytime they wanted.
Their land-based and long-range air units were intact too, and that posed
a second potent threat to Jefferson and her battle group. By creating
multiple distractions, the Americans had managed to even out the inequities
once, but they couldn’t count on doing it again. And the cost of the
Americans’ success had been almost prohibitive. Galveston had eluded pursuit
and reported in, but Bangor had been lost in the strike against Orland, and
that was a Pyrrhic victory at best. And the RNAF planes lost in the
demonstration against Oslo would be sorely missed when the stalled campaign
lurched back into action.
That would come soon enough. The Norwegians were concentrating reserves
to eliminate the airhead at Brekke, but the rest of the Soviet forces were in
the same positions as before the Alpha Strike, still poised to drive on
Bergen. It might not be a blitzkrieg, but eventually sheer weight of numbers
would overpower Lindstrom’s army.
Indeed, the defeat of the flanking movement had spurred new efforts by
the Soviet military. In the morning intelligence report, Commander Lee had
pointed to several signs that fresh forces, land, sea, and air, were mustering
in the Baltic, and there was more activity around Murmansk as well. Plainly
one lost battle was not going to deter them from continuing their campaign of
conquest, and as long as it went on the Thomas Jefferson was liable to be at
the center of the action.
But the news wasn’t all discouraging. Good things had come of the Battle
of Cape Bremanger too. Bare hours after the Soviet defeat, Britain’s Labour
Party had lost a vote of No Confidence in Parliament and resigned. Until
elections were held, the Conservatives had been asked to form a caretaker
government that would take a harder line against the Soviets under an
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122