“Our fighters report downing one unidentified aircraft,” the tactical action officer reported. “But now our fighters are surrounded by Turkish and Ukrainian interceptors, and one of our fighters has been shot down. Our fighters are greatly outnumbered.”
“Turkish interceptors?” the captain retorted. “What are Turkish interceptors doing flying over Ukraine?”
“They call themselves the Black Sea Alliance,” the executive officer replied. “The aircraft are flying both flags. They prohibited Russian aircraft from entering their airspace, and they shot down one of our planes.”
“My God, are they insane? What is this Black Sea Alliance? What in hell is going on here? How many fighters are up there?”
“There are at least six up there, outnumbering them two to one — MiG-29s and F-16s. They have forced our fighters to withdraw.”
“Is Novorossiysk sending more fighters?” the captain asked.
“Negative,” the TAO replied. “They were pursuing an unidentified aircraft when they entered Ukrainian airspace, but that aircraft has disappeared over Ukraine. There is no longer any justification for overflying Ukrainian airspace, so no more aircraft will be launched.”
“What about helping us?” the captain shouted. “We need helicopter-capable warships out here to launch an assault on the terrorists holding that tanker.”
“The frigate Ladny is two and a half hours out,” the executive officer said. “They are switching their ASW helicopter with an armed attack helicopter to assist in an armed assault on the tanker. Three Border Patrol Type 206MP missile hydrofoil patrol boats are also en route, about seventy minutes out.”
“Barely enough time,” the captain muttered. “How long until the tanker crosses into Turkish waters?”
“Should be within Turkish treaty waters in ten minutes on present course and speed.”
The captain shrugged. “No matter. We won’t let a little thing like lines on a map stop us. Notify me when the hydrofoils come into range and the Ka-27 is refueled, and we’ll try another assault on the tanker. How long until we get back within gun range?”
“Fifteen minutes.”
“We’ll try a couple shots on the superstructure and perhaps convince them to give themselves up,” the captain said. “Notify me when we get within extreme gun range.”
It was the weirdest chase anyone had ever seen — two massive ships, separated by just a few miles, with one pursuing the other at barely the speed of a brisk bicycle ride. With aircraft, Captain Boriskov thought, everything happens so fast; with maritime warfare, everything happens so slow. But soon they were within maximum range of the forward AK-130, and the big twin-barreled gun opened fire. Two 70-pound high-explosive shells impacted the superstructure just a few seconds apart, ripping huge holes in the living spaces. A second two-round volley hit the bridge itself. A small fire started in the living and engineering spaces from the first blast.
“This is the Ustinov,” a voice came on the radio. “Congratulations on your shooting — you have managed to destroy the bridge. I don’t think we can control the ship well enough from the auxiliary control station. But I wouldn’t fire any more rounds at the superstructure. We have sent the Ustinov’s crew into those spaces. Hit us again, and you’ll be killing your fellow Russians.”
“Cease fire, cease fire,” the captain said, looking on with his repeater of the telescopic low-light optronic gun sight. “This is Captain Boriskov of the Russian Federation Navy destroyer Besstrashny,” the skipper responded on the radio in English. “What kind of cowards put hostages in harm’s way? You should release the crew into lifeboats. This is between you and me.”
“I think we will leave the crew where they are for now-they’re safe as long as you stop firing into our superstructure.”
“Who are you? What do you want?”
“Never mind who I am,” Patrick McLanahan responded. “We wish to send Comrade Pavel Kazakov a little message: if he flies his little stealth toy any more, he and all of his partners and business associates will suffer.”
“What stealth toy? What are you talking about?”
“Pavel Kazakov has been involved in a campaign of terror and mayhem throughout Europe,” Patrick went on. “He has been responsible for creating enough fear and destruction within the Balkans that the international community was forced to respond by sending Russian peacekeepers into otherwise peaceful countries. But all this has been created specifically so the Russian army can protect Kazakov’s new pipeline.”
“You claim the Russian Army is in league with Pavel Kazakov? Ridiculous.”
“President Sen’kov, Colonel-General Zhurbenko, and many others in the Russian military high command are on Kazakov’s payroll,” Patrick replied. “If they weren’t enticed by Kazakov’s money, Kazakov sent his Metyor-179 stealth fighter-bomber in to attack. Kazakov has killed thousands in order to create enough fear to convince others to go along.”
“What proof do you have of all this?”
“We have sent a tape recording of conversations between Kazakov, Metyor Aerospace Director Fursenko, Chief of the General Staff Zhurbenko, and Russian National Security Advisor Yejsk, to the world’s major media outlets, discussing this plan,” Patrick said. “Zhurbenko and Yejsk agree to mobilize the Russian army in response to the terror created by Kazakov and his stealth warplane, specifically so Russian troops could occupy and control foreign territory that Kazakov needed to build his pipeline across the Balkans from the Black Sea to the Adriatic Sea. By tonight, the whole world will have heard this tape.
“How do we know this tape is authentic? How do we know any of this is real?”
“Because we have also included a tape recording of President Sen’kov of Russia discussing the matter with President Thorn of the United States,” Patrick radioed. “Sen’kov agreed to let two captured American pilots free in exchange for Thorn agreeing not to reveal the contents of the tape. The Russian government eventually leaked the information on the two captured Americans and their aircraft shot down over Russia.”
“So President Thomas Thorn was involved in this as well?”
“President Thorn’s goal was the release of his captured fliers,” McLanahan replied. “Sen’kov’s goal was not to have embarrassing intelligence information leak out on how he was going to go along with crime boss and drug dealer Kazakov in taking over the Balkans in order to share in the profits of a one-hundred-million-dollar-per-day oil venture. If Thorn is guilty of anything, it is of trusting Sen’kov. Sen’kov is guilty of collusion with Pavel Kazakov.”
“Well, this is a very interesting fairy tale,” Boriskov said. But he was worried. For the past several months, this is exactly what most of the Russian military forces had been doing: protecting Pavel Kazakov’s business interests. He and many of his fellow officers had been wondering about the grand scheme, although it seemed to be a lucrative deal for everyone. Perhaps that was the reason: Sen’kov, Zhurbenko, and others in Moscow were getting kickbacks from Kazakov, in exchange for providing protection for his oil enterprise. Now the Russian Navy had become his unwitting bodyguards, too. “What do you intend to do with the tanker?”
“We intend this to be a down payment on the very large bill Kazakov owes to the people of the Balkans,” Patrick replied, “especially the people of Kukes, Struga, Ohrid, Resen, and those who died in the NATO E-3 AWACS radar plane and the Turkish F-16 shot down over the Black Sea by his marauding stealth fighter. This tanker and its cargo represent a half-billion-dollar investment for Pavel Kazakov. We are going to send it to the bottom of the Black Sea.”