“Good morning, Admiral,” the rear admiral said. “I have Captain Lenson here with me.”
“Thanks, Sly. You have his billet taken care of?”
“I sent one of my staff captains over. Temporary fill.” The rear admiral hesitated. Cleared his throat. “Pending the outcome of the inquiry.”
“Right. Morning, Captain Lenson.” A curt nod.
Dan said, “Good morning, Admiral Ogawa.”
Ogawa handed whatever he’d been reading to someone off-camera and turned his attention their way. Responding to some unseen signal, the enlisted man set his keyboard aside and glided out, easing the door shut on them.
Ogawa opened. “Dan, I’m sorry to see you in this position. As far as I’m concerned, Savo’s answered all bells. Nick said you could turn her around, and you did. And the night action — we’re going to have to look at that in detail, but it seems plain the other side fired first. And after that, you fought your ship effectively. Despite a very unfortunate … incident with your exec. Which is also going to be looked at in detail, by the NCIS.”
On the screen, Ogawa’s look turned frostier. “But your other actions, your decision to intercept a friendly TBM, then offering a tow to a defeated enemy … I admit to grave doubts. Especially as to the former. My JAG here looked over your orders. I grant you, a literal interpretation supports the action. But there have been repercussions. A formal diplomatic protest.”
Dan didn’t say anything. Maybe he could have. Ogawa had paused, after all — for an explanation, an apology? To hear any extenuating circumstances? If that was what he was waiting for, Dan didn’t have one. He’d shot down an Israeli retaliatory strike. If the repercussions and protests were from Tel Aviv, then that was far above both their pay grades. A matter for the national security adviser, the State Department, the West Wing.
… The West Wing. He cleared his throat. “Sir, you may know this, but we had an executive branch staffer on board during that action. Mr. Adam Ammermann.”
Ogawa turned his head slightly, as if to listen to someone off-screen. He nodded. “We’re aware of Mr. Ammermann’s presence aboard. Are you saying he ordered, or perhaps advised, you to intercept that launch?”
“Ah, no sir. No. In fact, he counseled against it.”
“Oh.” The admiral’s face fell. Grasping, no doubt, that Dan had just foreclosed the Navy’s chance of offloading any blame onto the administration. “You’re certain of that?”
“Yes sir.”
“Then why bring his name up? I’m not sure I understand what you’re driving at, Captain. Surely you can’t be proposing he shares responsibility.”
“No sir, I didn’t mean that. The decision was entirely mine. Just pointing out that he was aboard and in CIC when it was made. If what happened was wrong, I take full responsibility.” He gave it a beat, then added, “If the decision was correct … he was still in CIC.”
Ogawa nodded slowly, and Dan watched him process the point. He’d phrased it subtly, but one didn’t make admiral without being able to read between the lines. Ogawa cocked an ear again to whoever was speaking to him off-camera; shook his head, and leaned forward again. “Well, let’s not be too hasty. Either way. The fact is — do you know Bankey Talmadge?”
“Senator Talmadge? My wife does,” Dan said cautiously. “She used to work for him, for the Armed Services Committee staff, before she went to the SecDef’s office—”
“I see. Well, he’s adumbrated what he calls the ‘Lenson Doctrine.’” Ogawa made a distasteful face. “Defined roughly as follows: that if a U.S. theater commander finds himself in a position to stop the delivery of a weapon of mass destruction, even if by someone the U.S. is not at war with, even by an ally … he has not only the legal right, but a moral obligation to do so.”
“That’s … a significant departure from current doctrine,” said Iron Sky, from beside Dan.
“No shit, Sly! It also imposes a much higher threshold of requirement. Which I’m not at all sure we’re ready to step up to. Certainly not with the force level we currently have.
“But the point is, right now, the issue’s in play. This senator’s even talking about calling him — Lenson, I mean — to testify. And the CNO’s weighed in too.”
“The CNO? On which side?”
“Not on any side, but it’s been … oh, made plain to me that if they’re even thinking of adding this to our mission requirements, there’s going to have to be a concomitant increase in operating funding. We may have to bring forward the conversion of the Burke-class Aegis suite to full ballistic missile defense capability.”
The flag officers fell silent. Dan sat quietly too, trying to sort through considerable anger. That it was Senator Talmadge defending him made it perfectly clear. Blair was riding to the rescue. Pulling strings behind the scene, to bump the question up to where it couldn’t be handled just as a Navy issue. Or, put another way, to where the Navy could see pitching what he’d done as a way to increase its funding.
“So, on this end,” Iron Sky prompted.
“Right. On your end, we can’t exactly hose your captain for doing what might very soon become doctrine. Whether or not we think he exceeded his rules of engagement. And I need Savo Island in the Arabian Sea. Back at state one readiness.”
Dan lifted his head. No one had mentioned this. “The IO, sir?”
“Possibly … or even farther east.” Ogawa leaned again, listened to the murmured voice, nodded. “We have two carrier groups tied up at the north end of the Gulf. In view of … other current developments, we definitely need a TBMD-capable unit on station close to Iran and Pakistan.”
Dan put his surprise to one side. “Sir, our readiness is significantly degraded. Savo’s magazines are empty. We need stores, fuel, and repairs. We’re down one DPD, need chassis and parts. We need a software patch on ALIS. Plus, we had significant fire and water damage to the aft vertical launch system. We managed to jury-rig those last two Block 4s back in operation, but—”
“I read your opreps, Captain.” Ogawa sounded more tired than annoyed, but annoyance was there too. “Your next stop’ll be Crete. A contractor team, a new VLS cell, and a full rearm of Block 4A Standards are en route to NSA Suda Bay. What else do you need?”
He was trying to think. But the fog of fatigue, the red hissing whirlwind, made it hard to concentrate. “Uh, some outside training assistance — a casualty assistance team — a personnel augment. A new XO — no, actually I’d like permission to fleet up my ops officer to exec. A replacement sonar chief. I need a medical team, too, there’s something—”
“Put it in a message. I want you back at full mission readiness as soon as possible. Report daily. I’m not making any promises, Lenson. None. At all. But as of right now … Sly, this is your call, really. But it might be advisable to suspend his court of inquiry, pending further developments.”
“Yes sir,” Iron Sky said. “My thoughts too. Consider it done. Restore to command?”
“He never left it. But the court isn’t called off, either. Only postponed. Due to operational commitments.”
Which meant, Dan understood, that he still might face the green table one day soon, depending on which way the debate went on intercept doctrine. As well as whether someone might have to be thrown to the wolves, to placate the Israelis.