GsB II: Acorns and Ergot.
Chapter 7: Friends and Old War Ships

Rose is sitting at the bar, peering disappointedly at the empty mug that once held apple cider when Annie Oakland sits next to her.

"Hey Annie! I hear you are joining the team. Welcome!", she says. Before more can be said, her cell phone erupts into the tune of 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.' Rose answers it.

"Hey Charlie! Yeah? You did? Great! Thanks! No that's not a problem. We have another addition to the team. Yeah Annie's joining. You can arrange accommodations right? Sweet! Yeah, we're just waiting for Fernando to give us the word. Yeah, see you when we get there. Bye!"

She hangs up and grins at Hondo who is a few stools away at the bar.

"What was that?", he asks

"I got Charlie to load your Bronco and my Land Rover onto the Enterprise. Looks like we are set to go whenever we get the word."

Rose sees Midnight enter the Café, she waves at him, "Midnight, come here, we need to talk."

'Why does Rose need to talk to me?' Midnight wonders, 'Did anyone spread rumors or what?' He sits down with her, "What's up, Rose?"

"A lot," she replies, "It started again. We received intel about an attack on Tammy and Bink in Italy. We need to intervene again. And we want you to join our team."

"C'mon, Rose, I'm not a Blue Helmet nor an RAS member. Doing occasional Rescue Ranger work every once in a while is already a lot for me. Why should I do?", Midnight replies.

"First: You've been part of the team on our first mission. Second: We might need another pilot, and Gio Pinings plane is still stored aboard the USS Enterprise. Third: We need every hand we can get. And fourth: You're safer when you're with us, for they know you've been on the first mission, they were actually after you, they know you've turned Miss Conijn around, and they might find you here and make you pay for what you did.", Rose points out.

"I see, and I guess that's enough to convince me.", Midnight concedes

The passage of the Suez Canal generally took one day. The canal had a speed limit of 8 knots, so that the wakes generats by the massive ships the canal was capable of accommodating wouldn't erode the walls.

For Captain Dixon Dixon, the Commanding Officer of the US Navy battleship USS Texas, that meant a long day for the crew to relax. No more drilling, no more constant lookout in the Persian Gulf. No, now they were heading for the Mediterranean Sea. Again.

Scarcely six months had passed since Texas had last been deployed to help with the crisis in Italy. The ship had acted as little more than a show of American strength in the region, as there were some situations that a battleship was less than useless. Such as covert ops missions, a 75,000 ton battleship didn't exactly scream 'subtle.'

Still the Navy wanted her around. Something new was happening, though the vulpine captain didn't know what.

The Ticonderoga-class AEGIS cruiser USS San Jacinto was making the canal passage with the Texas, leading the battleship through the canal. Commanded by a friend of Dixon's, Captain Linda Hale, the cruiser was Texas's anti-aircraft escort. There once was a time, ironically, when the Texas provided her own AA protection, literally bristling with 20mm and 40mm AA weapons. But times had changed. Aircraft had gotten heavier and faster, and the guns had become obsolete and been removed.

But yet the old gray lady still proved useful to the Navy and especially the Marine Corps. Acting as a giant armored artillery battery, she was the best friend of a Marine storming a beach, and a powerful deterrent to enemies of the United States who had any amount of coastline. While the aircraft carriers got all of the glory, the Texas was just as capable, if not more so, of projecting American power abroad.

So Captain Dixon wonders why, yet again, his command was being sent to the Mediterranean Sea, especially after the last time they had been sent there. More than likely, it was another show of American presence in the region. Texas would be making port calls in several Italian cities, so it could be construed as a show of support for the "new", government, after the old, corrupt one had come toppling down.

Whatever the case, by the end of the day, the Texas and the San Jacinto would be out of the Suez Canal, and from there it was just about a few days steaming at a comfortable pace to their first stop: Rome.