Joint Base Lewis-McChord was alive with activity. Nashville was too airsick to dwell on specifics, but when the cruiser had stumbled out of the Navy helicopter she'd been swarmed by people. The bustle of officers and airmen, coupled with the storm of noise that assaulted her senses, the Light Cruiser found herself focusing entirely on her headache. She nodded when she thought someone was speaking to her, and followed the people who motioned for her to follow. When Nashville had truly regained her senses, she was inside, a solid wall between her and the noise outside, and an Airman showing her to a nearby water cooler.
"Where's Lieutenant Murray?" Nashville asked, gladly accepting a paper cup from her escort. The Spook had been with her on the flight over, but he'd disappeared in the chaos between their landing and now.
"Debriefing General Hudson, sir." The young man replied, accepting the now-empty cup and refilling it. "He's formed a plan for dealing with the Abyssal, but he wants a Navy perspective on it. He would have called you in too, if…" He nodded towards the airfield, offering the refilled cup.
Nashville sighed, staring into her cup of water.
"How long ago was that?"
"About two, three minutes?" The Airman replied, speaking up again as the Brooklyn grimaced. "Permission to speak freely?"
"Granted." She replied, fairly sure it wasn't necessary.
"Every ship gets airsick, and it was a rough ride here. Nobody blames you for a headache." That wasn't entirely true, as carriers seemed to handle it just fine, but Nashville didn't feel like correcting him.
"Not good enough." Nashville mumbled, downing the cup in one swig.
"I'm sorry?"
"Not good enough." She repeated, handing the cup back to the man. "That was my first gun battle with another ship, you know? I spent all war swatting aircraft and cleaning islands, but I never found a surface ship to shoot at. Lord knows I tried."
Maybe it was the airsickness. Maybe she hadn't had enough sleep between now and Bikini. Maybe it was the knowledge she'd probably never meet this random zoomie again and didn't give a fuck about his opinion, but for some reason she felt the words keep coming.
"Now, my first target waves her carrier-sized ass at me from point blank, and I can't hit the broad side of a barn." She was being hard on herself, but there wasn't any regulation about being rational when you were venting. "Christ, some flagship I am. What'll Honolulu think? What the hell am I going to tell Phoenix or Boise, when they return?"
Of course, the Airman stayed silent. The rhetorical question hung in the air for a few seconds, before he finally pointed at Nashville's cup.
"Want me to-"
"Just grab me one of those." She cut the man off, waving at the deep blue jug atop the reservoir. "It'll save you some time."
The briefing room was practically empty. With only seven officers crammed into the front row, a smaller office probably would have worked just as well.
"Gentlemen, I guess you have suspicions as to why I called this briefing."
After NORTHCOM had been alerted to the situation in the Olympic Peninsula, they had dropped the issue in Lieutenant General Garrett Hudson's lap. Since the start of the war, the military base's duties had drastically changed, growing from a logistical command to a more strategically-oriented one.
A map of the eastern pacific was projected behind the general, highlighting his arm as he pointed towards the ocean.
"Three days ago, at 1421, a Fishing Trawler was boarded by a Wo-Class Abyssal." Sweeping his hand across the wall, the General continued. "Using the trawler's crew as hostages, the Wo-Class Abyssal approached the mainland, and after a short gunfight made landfall on the Olympic Peninsula. She's since disappeared into the forest park, and our job is going to be finding her.
"That leads to our first mission concern: with La Palma still fresh on the public's mind, news of a Wo in the Olympic Peninsula could cause as much damage as the Abyssal itself. Worst case, we're looking at mass panic in Seattle, Vancouver, and Portland. Not only would the chaos and congestion hinder our attempts to find this abyssal, there is a good chance we'll see an interruption in the efforts to to supply 7th Fleet and our Asian allies. This is not considering any consequences that may happen should our unwelcome visitor execute her plans."
Shame bloomed in Nashville's gut. Not only was her failure a disgrace to the navy and her class, but even if the monster starved to death in the forest people could die from the magnitude of their screw-up.
"I believe you all understand the importance of discretion. We're going to contain the Abyssal in the Olympic Peninsula, we're going to track her down, we're going to neutralize her, and we're going to do it in such a manner that it won't alert the public. Failure in any of these objectives is not an option.
"Thankfully, we have just the tool set to deal with her. Major General Manning's 7th infantry is here in full force right now, and should be able to establish a perimeter between Aberdeen and Kamilche. The highway will provide a vegetation-free line your men can monitor, while there's plenty of light pollution to assist your NV gear. If your infantry get eyes on the Alpha-Sierra, report it and trail the creature."
Nashville couldn't recognize the 7th's CO, but considering everyone else's glances, she could figure it out. The General was a surprisingly gruff man, his bald drawing attention to a scar that trailed down behind his ear. A lot of senior officers hadn't survived the opening stages of the Abyssal war, and if Nashville had to make a guess she'd think the grunt had almost joined that number.
"With the Navy and the 7th keeping her in the Olympic Peninsula, Colonel Walton's men will land at the Abyssal's last known location." Hudson continued. "Walton, how is the 2nd Ranger Battalion?"
The Ranger Colonel was about the same age as Murray, by far the youngest army officer in the room. Nashville had the suspicion the soldier hadn't held his position a year ago.
"I've got enough men for a manhunt, sir."
"Good." General Hudson nodded. "If anyone determines the location of the Abyssal, they're to avoid contact and call it in. Dealing with the Abyssal will be USS Nashville's job.
"Getting our Light Cruiser to the location of the Alpha Sierra will take time, however, and I'm told a Wo-Class has more horsepower than a Brooklyn, so as she's en route we'll be engaging her via aircraft. That's what the 190th is for. Major?"
Nashville had heard of the 190th fighter wing before, but she wasn't sure where. She felt herself sitting up somewhat as Major Goodwin spoke.
"The 190th has six 'hogs stationed at McCord. We could have two up constantly, but we can't hold that operational pace for long. We should be able to suppress her guns and keep her busy, but an A-10 isn't going to kill a Wo, especially on the ground."
Oh… one of the A-10 squadrons. Even though she'd only been in the modern world for a few months, she'd heard plenty about them. With its redundant equipment, titanium cockpit, and a gun that could cut a destroyer in half, the Warthog was one of the only airframes in the UN's inventory that could dive into abyssal AA screens and be expected to fly back out. Of course, that meant they'd been atritted to almost nothing by this point in the war. While the majority off the 190th was probably stationed elsewhere, the Light Cruiser would bet calling Major Goodwin's unit a 'fighter squadron' would be generous.
"It'll be good enough. I've been told the Navy has two alert-5 Hornets loaded with thermobarics at Whidbey Island. When Nashville has landed, they'll strike the Alpha-Sierra. The shock should stun the Abyssal while Nashville detains them. We take our first live Abyssal captive, the press gets some good news to offset the bad, and Japan gets its supplies on time."
So the fate of Washington, the next convoy, and the reputation of the military would boil down to a fistfight between shell-shocked Fleet Carrier and an airsick Light Cruiser. Lovely.
"Any questions?" General Hudson asked, before pointing at the Ranger. "Go ahead."
"You said this Abyssal took hostages?" Colonel Walton asked, before turning his attention to Murray. "Have Abyssals ever done that before?"
The spook shook his head. "As far as we're aware, this is a first."
That reminded her. Nashville brought a hand up, dropping it once Hudson nodded to her.
"We've seen her use civilians as a shield before. What is our plan if we find our abyssal in an urban area like Port Angeles?"
"If the Abyssal enters an urban location, we'll get a battleship from the navy. They tell me they couldn't afford to spare one on a weeks-long search, but if she's about to cause trouble in a town, you'll have plenty of backup." General Hudson replied. "Obviously we'll be calling off the air strikes as well.
"Any more questions?"
Silence hung in the briefing room for a few seconds.
"Dismissed. I want an estimation of when you all can deploy ASAP. Good hunting."
This was originally supposed to be a part of the next chapter, but I couldn't make it particularly funny and since it's mostly there to answer questions about the military response, I figured it would work best as an interlude. Hopefully I made it work better with some Nashville characterization and a bit of exposition about the rest of the world. A good portion of the next bit is already done, so expect it over the weekend.
Big thanks to those pointing out any errors I've been making (typos, technical mistakes, etc).