Summery:
When he returned from the sea and his maiden voyage the last thing the young Nimitz class aircraft carrier expected was a visit from high command of the US navy. He also didn't expect to be demoted, and put on trial for something he didn't do. When he is given one last chance to prove his loyalties, he desperately works to clear his name, but when the high command intercepts a message, supposedly from him to an enemy ship, the council calls for his return. His mentors, the USS Kitty Hawk, and USS Enterprise desperately try to negotiate for a deeper investigation. But the councils minds are made, the Flysenhower will be dismantled by weeks end.
On the day of his end, just as they inject the serum an explosion rocks the harbor. Just as all hope seems lost for the Nimitz Class Carrier, a young corsair with the help of a navy combat medic, bring forth new evidence, all pointing to one conclusion. Dwight was not the sender of the message. Someone on board was.
Dwight is rescued with in seconds of his death, but he's not off the hook yet. If he can prove that he was not reason for any of the incidents he will remain to start is new life as a warship. But if he fails, its over.
He's thrust into a world of death, betrayal, pain, hate, anger and love to try and prove his worth. With the help of his friends, new and old will he triumph over evil, or will he succumb to the cold grip of injustice?
The USS Dwight D. Flysenhower shifted impatiently. "What time is it?" He asked, glancing around the covered "dry" dock, though it wasn't dry at the moment, there was just enough water there for him to float a little ways. Allowing the large ship to to adjust the water in his ballast tanks, so he could tilt, just bearly enough for any of the crew to notice, but just enough for him to be able to peek through the door of the dry dock, which was currently blocking his view of the outside world.
"Twenty minutes later than the last time you asked." His captain said, rolling his eyes as he ordered the new crew to their positions, his captains uniform standing out among the masses of new crew members.
As soon as everyone was where they needed to be, the captain returned to command center. "You're nervous aren't you?" The captain asked, when he was out of earshot of the crew. This was the Flysenhower's first time on national television. And the first time America would see their newest carrier, and they way he could feel the ship shifting under his wheels told him that there was something bothering him.
The captain wasn't surprised, not only was this his first time on television, but his first time heading to the open ocean. He was christened a week ago, but the navy had had let only reporters in, no television crews. The same had gone for the Flysenhower's older brother, the flagship of the Nimitz Class Carriers, rightfully named the USS Nimitz. Why they had done that, was beyond any of them.
"I guess I'm a little nervous." He admitted. He was going to train on the open ocean with his new mentor, the USS Enterprise, in real combat, with real ammunition, getting shot at for real, no simulations, no pretend enemies with blank ammo and paint filled bombs. This was real.
Most of his new crew were rookies, and his air wing was also consisting of quite a few rookies. Thankfully, there were plenty of more experienced crew members and aircraft. But that didn't help much when the carrier itself was a rookie.
If that wasn't bad enough, the navy, and America expected him to make a little speech on tv, and if there was one thing he hated more than waiting, it was public speaking. Sure, he could give out orders, talk to his fleet, (That, during training had been a bunch of training vessels, the ones that had never seen actual combat, and where only there to train the new arrivals.) and talk to other members of the military, but talking to the public, was a whole different story. Or at least, that's what Dwight thought.
The truth was he'd never had any contact with civilians, and he truly didn't know much about what they wanted to hear. How was he supposed to make up a speech on the spot? What did they want him to say? Sure, he'd been forced to study speeches by famous people, like most civilian children did, but most of those where US Presidents, and well, that didn't help him all that much.
"Everythings gonna be fine, just tell them what they want to hear, than get the hell out of dodge, it's as easy as that." Rodney said, he had had some experience in real combat, but this was his first time as a captain, so both were a little anxious.
"The question is what do they want to hear?" The large ship said, glancing through the crack in the upper doors of the dry dock's cover, he couldn't see crowds, but they were there, not near by, a little ways away but he knew they were there.
"Just tell them that what everyone's been telling you for the first time that you could understand them, that you're the next generation of warship and you're gonna do everything in your power to end this war." The captain said, before turning and shouting a few orders, than returning his attention to the ship.
The way the Flysenhower listed, just barely, to the starboard told the captain that the young aircraft carrier wasn't so convinced.
"You'll do fine. It doesn't even have to be that long." Rodney said, as he watched the command center, everyone was busy, getting the ship, the crew and the instruments ready for their maiden voyage.
Dwight sighed. He was still worried, how was all this going to work? He was anything but combat ready, he was still pretty small compared to the rest of the carriers, he had yet to even reach the size of the current aircraft carriers, much less the large size that he was supposed to be! Sure, he was almost as big as the others, but he still felt so small...
"Dwight, we have five minutes, get ready, and we'll talk again later." Rodney said, turning to the crew and beginning final preparations. The dry dock doors began to open, letting the cold salt water in.
Dwight suppressed a shudder, then after checking for the all clear, fired up his engines, and waited.
Slowly, carefully the USS Dwight D. Flysenhower made his way out of the hanger, and to the dock, where the family of his crew, the reporters, film crews, and assorted important cars and planes and what ever not waited.
He forced himself to keep a clam face, making sure to look as professional as possible. If there was anytime to not be his clumsy self, it was now.
As he rounded the corner, the crowed cheered, the cameras pointed his way, and faces turned to look at him. Most of his crew stood on deck, saluting the crowd. He came to a stop as they had practiced, and waited. Rodney had told him they would tell him when to do his little speech. He wasn't looking forward to it. But as the ceremony ended, he still hadn't been notified. But he was careful not to get his hopes up.
When Rodney told him to head to the end of harbor, where his mentor waited, he breathed a silent sigh of relief. He must have changed their minds, and he was glad they did.
Slowly, he made his way to the mouth of the arbor, careful to watch where he was going in the shallow water.
Waiting there for him was the USS Enterprise, the most famous of the US Navy Carriers, and one of his mentors. The Enterprise looked over at him, then let a ghost of a smile across his lips. "You're late kido."
Dwight groaned. "I'm not a kid anymore." He complained. The USS Enterprise was the closest thing he had to a father, even though that was still pretty far fetched.
"I'm going to keep calling you kido 'till you're bigger than me." He said with a laughed.
Dwight made a face. "Would you PLEASE stop? You're embarrassing me."
The older warship smiled. "No can do kido, it's my job."
Dwight groaned again. This was going to be a long voyage.
Some long, really important, and really mind bogglingly boring author's notes:
I am completely aware that there were no Nimitz Class Carriers in world war two, but according to Disney, there were. So, in order the keep it as much like the movie Planes as possible, I've made some major changes to navy history in this story. I'll try to be as clear as possible. As I explain(or try to) my way of thinking for this story.
1. Dwight D. FLysenhower, in my story is not the same person as Dwight D. Eisenhower, who is in the story as well, he probably will only be mentioned. Eisenhower will still be mostly the same, and will end up as president, but that won't be mentioned. Just letting you know that because my other story, Tough Luck: War Stories of a Carrier had a few questions already about that.
2. Dwight won't look that much like a Modern Nimitz yet, same overall structure, but he won't be running on nuclear engines, or have a modern flight deck, just the same old wooden decks that the old carriers had. He will also be less high tech. This will all get upgraded eventually, but that will most likely not happen in this story.
3. Yes, this means that than everything between the Midway Class and the Kitty Hawk Class aircraft carriers does not exist. A necessary sacrifice to ensure the accuracy to the movie. This means, I will be replacing/merging the Kitty Hawk Class with the Essex Class Carriers. A huge difference I know, but I'll try to keep it from getting too confusing.
4. Dwight was built. In my cars/planes stories, I have decided to have it the way cars/planes/etc can be built, or born. The ones built would be the first generation, than they're kids would be second generation and so on. The cars/planes/etc who'se parents aren't the same kind of car, would be the dog equivalent of mutts. The others would be "purebreds". For our friends the aircraft carriers, they're all just built. I did this for several reasons, some of which you can guess, (it would be a little awkward to explain.). This is mainly do to the fact that around WW2, women didn't go off to war, so there would be no real need for female aircraft carriers, but in this story, I do have two. They're training ships, teaching the newest members how to land on carriers, and stuff like that. One will be the USS Dragonbane, who you may encounter in Tough Luck: War Stories of a Carrier, if you ever read it.
5. When the cars/planes etc are built/born they're small. Like human/animal/etc babies. So when it mentioned Dwight still be "small" they meant he wasn't fully grown, still smaller than a normal carrier. Later on, he'll reach about his mentor's size, but because the Nimitz carriers a bit bigger than the rest, he'll keep growing to he reaches that size.
6. And last but not least, I want you all to know that I am still learning. My stories are still evolving, and I haven't got much figured out. As the readers of Tough Luck: War Stories of a Carrier may have noticed, I'm making this stuff up as I go along. If I run in to a problem, I'll make something new up. When this happens, I'll try and let you know about it, if you have questions/comments please let me know!