No. He might let her continue to fly, but that was the most she could expect under the circumstances. It was time to get this show on the road.
He waited impassively as she approached, hands still on his hips. When she came up, she said, “Good afternoon, Admiral. I guess you want to talk to me.”
“Talk isn’t the word I would have used,” Batman said. “What the hell do you think you were doing up there? And don’t give me any shit about a communications problem. Just don’t even try.”
“Sir, that MiG — ”
“What were your orders, mister?” Batman snarled, completely oblivious to the gender question. “What the fuck did I tell you to do?”
“You told us not to engage the MiG, Admiral.”
“And what did you did?”
“Went after him sir. Over the water.”
“And do you see any little problem with that? Other than the fact that I told you not to?”
Lobo paused for a moment, clearly coming down from the adrenaline high. She must have known — how could she not? — that she was going to get her ass chewed for the stunt she’d pulled up there. But it always took a few moments for reality to seep back into a pilot’s brain. Batman waited until he saw the smug smile disappear from her face.
“You getting the picture now?” he continued. Over Lobo’s shoulder, he could see Hot Rock taxiing into his spot. Hot Rock was dividing his attention between the plane captain directing him and Lobo popped tall in front of her admiral. “You and that little shithead wingman of yours are in deep shit. Disobeying a direct order, endangering civilian lives unnecessarily, and I can think of about four other articles under the Uniform Code of Military Justice to charge you with, but that’s just for starters. A court-martial, at the very least a FNAEB — that’s what you’re looking at.”
Hot Rock was walking over toward them now, worry on his face. Batman pointed a finger at him and shouted, “Stay right there, asshole, until I’ve dealt with your lead.” Turning back to Lobo, Batman said, “You want to ruin your career, go ahead. But what you did also put his on the line. You think about that, if that’s the kind of officer you want to be. Now get out of here before I have your ass tossed into the brig to think this over.”
Batman waited for her to turn and leave, but to his surprise, Lobo stood rock steady in front of him. “Permission to speak, sir?”
“Hell, no. You heard me.”
Lobo ignored him. “If I let that MiG live, my career would have been over anyway, sir. I couldn’t walk away from it. You wouldn’t either, if you’d been the lead.” Lobo’s voice was calm but unrepentant. “If you ground me for that, I can live with it.” But not easily, the look of anguish on her face told him. “It’s the MiG that screwed up, sir. I saw people falling through the air — and parts of people. Some of them were on fire. I though — I thought I saw one of them screaming. I couldn’t walk away from that, Admiral. No fighter pilot worth his salt could.”
Hot Rock was out of earshot, braced at attention, the concern deepening on his face. Lobo was also standing stiffly at attention, her eyes focused on something no one else could see. Batman started to wonder what she saw, then forced himself back on track.
“Suppose you were right this time,” he said, his voice colder than an arctic sea. “Suppose you were. What about next time? You get away with this, you’ll think you’ve got a double-oh-seven license to kill in the sky. Wars aren’t fought like that, lady. And the sooner you figure that out, the sooner I’ll reconsider letting you fly off my carrier.”
“Sir — ” Lobo began. Batman cut her off.
“You and Hot Rock are grounded. Your RIOs too, for not having the good sense to talk you out of this. When you find a way to convince me to trust you again, I’ll reconsider.”
“But — ”
“Get the hell out of my sight, Commander. Now.” There was no mistaking the menace in Batman’s voice. “Do you have any idea how serious a situation we’re facing? Any idea of what happens outside your own little cockpits? Do you know what this all means for the United States? You couldn’t possibly, otherwise I would not be having to take time to deal with your disobedience of a direct order. That’s the kind of conduct that gets people killed. Now, if we’re clear on what I mean, I need to get back to the war.”
The full force of her predicament sunk in with Lobo. The color drained out of her face. “Aye-aye, sir,” she said quietly, and then executed a perfect about-face. She walked over to Hot Rock, spoke a few words, and then the two of them walked to the island and inside the skin of the ship.
Batman watched them go. How’d I do, old friend? I had to take them off the sked for a few days. Now the ball’s in their court to figure out how to convince me to let them fly again. Shouldn’t be that tough for a couple of pilots who can trick a MiG into flying out over the water, can it? Sound fair to you?
NINE
Petty Officer Tanner walked forward until he found Captain Henry, who was deep in discussion with the two flag officers. He waited a polite distance away until the Coast Guard officer acknowledged him.
“Yes, Petty Officer Tanner?”
“The engines, sir — they’ve been rode hard and put away wet. I need about three days to get them in proper shape, sir. Been run low on oil for way too long and they’re a filthy mess.”
Captain Henry nodded, waiting. Tanner knew the score just as well as he did.
“But I can keep ’em running for a while longer, sir. Ninety percent sure of that — they’ll get us out to the carrier, probably,” Tanner continued.
“That’ll do, then,” Henry said. “It’ll have to do.”
“Yes, sir. When would you be wanting to get under way?”
“As soon as we can.”
“Fifteen minutes, then, sir. Long enough to warm ’em up and make sure we’re not going to bust apart as soon as we clear the harbor.”
“Very well.” Henry turned his attention back to the flag officers. “Fifteen minutes, General, Admiral.”
General Haynes’s eyes were still fixed on Tanner’s back as the man walked back aft. “Good man, that.”
Henry nodded. “That’s the thing about the Coast Guard. They get responsibility early. Tanner, there — he’s already been in command of one of our smaller rescue ships. He can anticipate what’s on my mind because he’s been there himself. By the time he makes chief and senior chief, he’ll be looking at command of a larger vessel or of a shore station.”
General Haynes merely nodded, but he was clearly impressed. “Fifteen minutes, he said?”
Henry chuckled. “I’m willing to bet it’s closer to ten. Tanner always builds in some slack time.”
The throaty roar of the diesel engines thrumming under their feet increased in both volume and pitch. There was a slight unevenness to the rhythm, a protesting, grinding noise that worried Henry. He could see that both General Haynes and Admiral Magruder heard it as well.
“Things break when they sit,” Tombstone noted.
“If Tanner says he can get us there, he means it,” Henry noted.
Just then, Tanner’s head popped up from a hatch located on the forward deck. He shouted to be heard over the noise pouring out of the compartment behind him. “You hear it, right, sir? May settle down some as we run, may not. It’s not good, though. A cracked head and bad seals.”
“You still think we can get there?” Henry asked.
“Eighty percent now, sir.”
Henry nodded. “Good enough,” he said, his voice grim and decisive. “Under the circumstances, it’s a lot better odds than those ships still at the pier had.”