CARRIER 4: FLAME-OUT By Keith Douglass

experienced and uncompromising Prime Minister who could be counted on to

support America’s interests. Though it would take time to organize the new

British government, military forces were already preparing to join in the

effort to support Free Norway.

And there was an American Task Force on the way as well. Now that

Lindstrom’s hold on Bergen had been shored up for a while longer, America had

a focal point for arms, men, and other assistance to pour into the embattled

country. Jefferson still faced the Russian threat by herself for now, but

soon she would not be alone any more.

Yes, the cost had been high. Gridley and Bangor lost … Powers and

Bannon and Trapper Martin and the other pilots who had died fighting in

Jefferson’s private, remote little war. And Stramaglia. But they had all

died making sure that the Russians would not turn Norway into another occupied

Kuwait. Now all that remained was to turn the respite they had won into final

victory.

He turned back toward the desk and noticed the mug with Stramaglia’s

cigars there. Magruder picked it up, but stopped before putting it into the

box. Stramaglia’s cigars had been the stuff of legend at Top Gun and

afterward. Like the man himself, somehow bigger than life.

Back at Miramar Magruder had once made the mistake of protesting that the

mock fights weren’t fair. Even though Top Gun used aggressor aircraft that

matched their Soviet counterparts, the teachers didn’t fly using Russian

tactics or doctrine. It had been bad enough questioning Top Gun policy, but

on top of that Magruder had made the mistake of voicing his opinion in front

of Stramaglia, who had promptly scheduled an extra exercise for the day in

which the instructors did adhere to Soviet fighter tactics … and still beat

the students handily. “Doctrine’s only as bad as the pilots who are following

it,” Stramaglia had said afterward, stabbing at Tombstone’s chest with the

inevitable unlit cigar. “If you get yourself beat playing by the rules, how

do you expect to do when the enemy decides not to play fair?”

After the desperate fighting off of the Norwegian coast, Magruder thought

he finally understood just what his old teacher had been driving at. Smiling,

he put the mug and the cigars back on the desk. They could be a reminder to

everyone who saw them to always expect the unexpected … and to never play by

the rules.

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