“Sir, they have three types, all about the same size from eighty feet to one-eighty-nine. The middle one can do seventy knots. It’s called the Aist, type one-two-three-two-point-one. Has a crew of ten, and can carry two medium tanks and two hundred troops. Range is a hundred and twenty miles at fifty knots.”
The commander reached for his phone. “That’s the picture, Admiral,” the watch commander from the CDC said. “Figured you’d want to know. The craft has turned just south of Golovnino, and is circling about a half mile offshore.”
“Thanks, Commander,” said the admiral in his quarters. “Let me know what it does next. This is no violation of our agreement with the Russians, but it’s a little pushy of them. They’re telling the little general in there that they can move in with two tanks and two hundred men anytime they want to. The hovercraft is not exactly a quiet ship.”
“Roger that, sir.”
Kenner hung up and he told Captain Olson about the call. Then the admiral took off his shoes and stretched out on a couch in his cabin.
“What worries me as much as anything is that damned OSCAR. What is a Russian submarine doing in our backyard? They have eleven of them, and the intel says five are based in the Pacific. What are they doing here?”
“We could ask Admiral Rostow,” Captain Olson said.
They both laughed. “He won’t even admit that he knows one is in the Pacific,” Admiral Kenner said.
“You know what’s missing in this whole damn scenario?” Captain Olson asked. “Where the hell is the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force? Their damn Navy? I know they have over forty destroyers, sixteen submarines, and seventeen or eighteen frigates. They could put quite a screen around this damn island. Last time I checked they had almost forty-seven thousand men in their Navy. They have all kinds of smaller craft including LCIs and LCMs and patrol craft. All of their ships have the latest and best missiles and torpedoes. So why the fuck are they sitting in port, and we’re out here on the damn firing line?”
“About time you thought of that, Irving. I had a signal on that the first day we took our orders. The Japanese Diet, their legislature, pressured the Prime Minister into ordering that none of the Self Defense Forces be used to solve this little problem. They said it wasn’t self-defense, so technically the forces could not be used.
“What it came down to was that the Japanese didn’t want their own forces shooting and killing each other. They said it could lead to a civil war.”
“So the Japs, the Japanese, just don’t want to be shooting their own people. It certainly wouldn’t lead to a civil war, that’s for sure.
Damn, sounds like a thin excuse so we would have to come yank their fucking chestnuts out of the fire again.”
A steward brought in coffee and each officer took a cup.
“Find out from TFCC what’s happening to that hovercraft,” Admiral Kenner said. “You might send one of your CAP planes down to take a closer look.”
Captain Olson went to the phone, and in a few minutes came back with the information. “From what our F-14’s say, the hovercraft probably isn’t loaded. The loaded speed is about fifty knots. It’s on a milk run, a display-only show of force.”
“Let’s hope it stays that way.” The admiral sat up, put on his shoes, and tied them. “I’ve changed my mind ‘ that damn OSCAR. I better get down to the ASW module. I want to see what’s happening with that Russian sub. If he’s anywhere around, I want to know about it.”
Five minutes later in the ASW module, the Admiral learned that they had no new data on the OSCAR.
“Seems she just fades away when she wants to, Admiral. She does keep us checking, and maybe that’s the purpose.”
The admiral nodded. “Get me on the horn with any new data on it.”
Back in the CDC the Admiral watched the movement of the hovercraft.
It circled a while, then drifted, moved back just off shore of the town, and circled again.
“Put a Seahawk out there and take a close look at him,” Admiral Kenner said. It just might chase him away. If he’s got no men or tanks, it’s got to be a show. Let’s give him a show and tell of our own.”
“Just a fly over, Admiral?” The Watch Commander asked.
“Right, let them know we’re here. Then have the chopper fly over and check out the damage of that Russian missile. Don’t get too low and encourage any ground fire, but make a look-see.”
“Aye, aye, Admiral.”
The HH-60H Seahawk took off six minutes later and kept in contact with the carrier. At 147 knots it didn’t take the Seahawk long to get over the hovercraft. “Hawk One to Home Base.”
“Go, Hawk One. What’s happening?”
“Nothing. The eight or ten crewmen we see are waving at us, like they’re on a picnic.”
“Any sign of troops or arms?”
“Nothing. The boat is covered on top. Now something is going on.
Yes, they’re turning back north and heading up the coast. Their watch must be over. What now, Home Base?”
Admiral Kenner motioned to the man with the radio.
“Tell him to do a fly-over of the town down there. Make an estimate of the damage that the Russian missile did. Keep him high enough so he doesn’t antagonize the locals.”
The message went out to the chopper, and they saw on the radar monitor that the Seahawk had swung toward shore. “Home Base, Hawk One here.”
“Go, Hawk One.”
“Approaching the island at about three thousand feet. Doesn’t seem to be many people on the streets. Not many streets. From the looks of it, the missile didn’t explode right off. It must have slid down a street before it went off near a dock. Two buildings flattened. A couple more set on fire, but the locals have the fires mostly out.
Don’t see any bodies lying around. Figure they have been taken away by now. That’s about it, Home Base.”
“Roger that, Hawk One. Come on home before we get in any trouble.”
“Yes, sir. On our way.”
Admiral Kenner rubbed his face with one hand. “What the hell is Admiral Rostow trying to do? Is he showing off his hardware for our benefit? Is he trying to scare this Jap general? Sure as hell would like to split a bottle of vodka with him and get this all worked out.”
By 2000, Murdock had the SEALs back in their ready room. They all had seen the EAR weapons and knew how they worked.
“We betting our asses on these things, Cap?” Bill Bradford asked.
“Yes and no,” Murdock said. “We’re betting that they work. If the first two or three targets don’t go down, we’ll stash the EARs and go in with our usual firepower. Then we go with the idea of wounding and putting out of action the Self Defense soldiers, rather then simply wasting them. Which is going to be tougher. It’ll be shooting for legs rather than heads or torsos.”
“Lots of luck,” Jaybird said. They laughed.
“So, I’m going to assign the new weapons. We’ve got twelve of them. Bradford, you’ve got enough to pack with the fifty and your rifle. The two machine gunners are also off the hook, and Jaybird. The rest of us will have the EARS. Any questions?”
“We have any word yet about going?” Washington asked.
“Not so you could write home about it,” Murdock said. “My gut feeling is that we’ll be going in with first dark tomorrow night.”
“By IBS like we planned?” Ed Dewitt asked.
Murdock shook his head. “Who knows? That’s what we laid out for the admiral. They should have some kind of amphibious craft out here that can get us into a mile offshore.”
“Must be an amphib ship with a task force this size,” Dewitt said.
“I’ll ask the admiral,” Murdock said. “Check over your gear again.
Let’s be ready to move in an hour in case we get the word tonight.”