before shutting off the machine. He glanced at the clock over his desk and
raised a surprised eyebrow. There were few people aboard who would knock on
that door at this time of night, even if they knew Tarrant was accustomed to
working late and snatching short catnaps.
Jefferson’s CO, Captain Jeremy Brandt, looked apologetic as he entered.
Short, stocky, with close-cut blond hair beginning to go gray, Brandt had a
bulldog face and a temperament, so Tarrant had learned, to match. They’d
never served together before, but Tarrant had heard nothing but good reports
on the captain, and had confirmed them in a month’s direct contact. It was
Brandt’s first cruise commanding a carrier, but he’d put in tours as CO aboard
the Tripoli and the Kalamazoo, with a particularly good record as CAG aboard
the Kennedy back in ’93. The carefully planned career cycle of Navy carrier
skippers ensured that the best men made it to the top, but even in that
distinguished company Brandt stood out.
“Sorry to disturb you, Admiral,” he said. “But Commander Sykes down in
CR just processed a Priority Urgent message from CINCLANT.” He held up a
bundle of teletype printouts.
Tarrant frowned. The bulky ream of paper sent up from the ship’s
Communications Department had to be detailed situation reports and orders for
the battle group from Commander-in-Chief Atlantic Fleet, and the precedence
code of “Priority Urgent” meant that it was important enough to require
attention within three hours of transmission. That could mean only one thing.
“We’re going in,” he said aloud. “We must be going in.”
Brandt nodded slowly. “That’s my guess, sir. Looks like the folks up at
NCA finally got off their collective butt and decided to make a move after
all.”
He took the papers from the captain. “Anything else?”
“Mercury Flight’s on the deck, Admiral. Two Tomcats, two Intruders. Not
a full replacement, but it’s better than nothing.”
“Good.” Tarrant smiled. “I’ll bet CAG’s happy at least.”
“Yes, sir,” Brandt said noncommittally. Everyone on board knew
Stramaglia’s reputation for never being satisfied. “We also had confirmation
from the Hawkeye that the Bear we were tracking changed course after our
Tomcats intercepted.”
“I’ll pretend you didn’t tell me,” Tarrant said. There was a certain
amount of rivalry between Brandt as Captain of the ship and Stramaglia as CO
of the Air Wing. In theory they were equals under Tarrant’s command, and it
might have been considered a breach of protocol for Brandt to report
developments that were entirely within the CAG’s purview. But Tarrant was
more concerned at the moment with information rather than propriety. If the
message from CINCLANT was what he thought it was, he was going to need every
scrap of data he could lay his hands on in the next few hours.
“All right, Captain,” he went on, adopting a more serious tone. “Pass
the word for my staff to meet me in Flag Plot in half an hour. And I want a
meeting of the battle group’s senior officers on board Jefferson tomorrow
morning at 0900. Captains and Execs … CAG and his staff too.”
“Aye, aye, sir,” Brandt responded formally. “I doubt Colby or Wolfe can
get here for the meeting, though.”
They were the skippers of CBG-14’s two 688-class attack subs, Galveston
and Bangor. They were ranging far ahead of the surface ships, and it would be
awkward to transport officers off the submarines to attend a briefing.
A face-to-face meeting with his ship commanders wasn’t absolutely
necessary, but it was something Tarrant always tried to arrange when there
were important orders to be passed along. It gave him a better measure of the
men who had to carry them out. He could see their reactions, hear their
opinions. Despite all the myths of modern high-tech warfare it was still the
men who counted most.
“Don’t worry about them,” he told Brandt. He’d just have to depend on
their skills sight unseen. From what he remembered of them from the short
meetings he’d had with the two sub commanders at the beginning of the
deployment, he had nothing to worry about from either man. “We’ll send them a
transcript afterwards. But see to getting the others aboard.”