"Rising Flames"
Chapter One - "Tinder Box"
Author: CdnJAGScribe
E-mail:
Rating: M
Classification:
Spoilers: NCIS-LA
Summary: [Animal/Meg - TV Show Timeline].After the Naval Review Board, Meg and her husband briefly go over their lives as well as what had happened to their friends, before a news of a tragic event precipitates a world wide conflict that plunges everyone into a World War III.
DISCLAIMER: The characters Harm Rabb, Jr., Sarah "Mac" Mackenzie, Meg Austin, AJ Chegwidden, Bud Roberts, Harriet Sims-Roberts et al. belong (in concept if not name) to CBS/Bellisarius. Animal and all OC charactersare the property of the author. No profit is being made from this story, nor is any infringement intended. The characters from Top Gun
Author's Note: Just because Harm and Mac tanked their careers, doesn't mean everyone did. ~smirk~ Why Harm will not be getting stars unlike what Mac mused. You turn down a command billet, you've tanked your career. This is what happens in the real Navy. You go where they want you to go.
Also there has always been a subtle stick-it-to-the-Britishattitude of Americans especially amongst the military even though they work cooperatively in most unified operations. And as such I'm trying to capture a sense of what it must have been like between Field Marshal Montgomery who was technically equivalent to a US five-star and Dwight D. Eisenhower and then to be challenged by a four-star general George S. Patton. There will be a bit of a rivalry between the British Fleet Admiral and Animal. As a Canadian, I'm forced to roll my eyes at all this.
Chapter One - Tinder Box
1702 ZULU; JAG HEADQUARTERS , NAVY YARD, WASHINGTON DC,
VADM Megan Renee Austin-Nakamura strode through the doors acknowledging the salutes of her subordinates, "As you were!" She said brusquely. Her husband was on her six, his own uniform bearing one more stripe than hers.
When they were safe in the JAG's office - Meg's own office within her command she turned to look at her husband. "He was supposed to make admiral. In fact he should have been JAG." She looked pensively out the window. "Whatever happened to a promising career for him?"
"Love makes people do strange things." Admiral Toshio "Animal" Nakamura said. "He had to follow the coin toss that he and Mac had. Bud even said that he stated let fate decide. Well that pretty much decided that he wouldn't go any further. In fact he went back to O-5, took him three years to get back into contention for O-6 and by that time he was hit by Up or Out."
"He had a promising career." Meg sighed. "It's really too bad." She'd always been subordinate to Harm as a serving officer within JAG. when she'd gone back to Weapons in 1995 as a Lieutenant being promoted soon after clearing Harms name after he'd gotten arrested by NCIS's Agent Turque, her career flourished, she received an early promotion to Lieutenant Commander. She'd been deep-selected two years before zone which meant she had to wait two years before she made O-4 pay.
Those were a few tight years made easier because she'd met and married her husband the same year she got deep-selected. He was a full-commander O-5 and had enough pay to carry them through. Since projects were classified, she'd had to give up her position in Weapons; can't let classified information slip to a spouse during pillow-talk. Meg had been promoted to full commander in 2002 and she had followed her husband around in spousal co-location serving as an XO in a JAG RLSO.
She'd been promoted to O-6 in 2007 taking command at JAG-RLSO Southwest , the position being an O-6 command, at Naval Station San Diego when her husband got command of Naval Air Forces as Commander Naval Air Forces at NAS North Island . But having satisfied time-in-rank, she was eligible for her pay. In 2012, she was promoted to RDML and head of Legal Research Division which also targeted cyber-crime within the Navy and was assigned back to Headquarters and became the DJAG as she got her RADM rank when her husband became the COMSECONDFLT at the end of 2015 in December of that year
Meg was promoted to Vice-Admiral in 2017 and took over as JAG and a potential CNO slot would be opening up in 2018 as his career wound up in 2020 unless the situation in the Baltics heated up again which it looked as though it might.
And this was the year that the damned ISIS group carried out a lot of attacks.
Middle of June and it was hot; yet the damned Naval Review Board had required blues. Meg looked over at her husband of twenty one years as he commented. "We've been through a lot, haven't we?" Luckily she had a spare summer whites uniform in her office. She also kept one of her husband's service whites uniforms in there as well.
"Yeah, we have..." Meg said quietly as she glanced at her beloved. He had streaks of white in his sixty year old hair. "Maybe we should change over into our service whites because these damned blues are way too hot for this weather." Animal nodded. As they quickly changed over Meg got a call on her phone. "Crap." She swore as she picked up. "Vice-Admiral Austin-Nakamura!" She paused, her eyes widened, "Are you kidding, sir? ISIS operatives detonated a bomb. Where. Islamabad? A vacuum bomb like our MOABs? Oh, my God. 15,000 casualties? Yes, sir, we'll be there." She hung up the phone turned to Animal as they finished changing and informed him, her voice tense."They want us both back at the Pentagon. The vacuum bomb; a fuel-air mixture bomb could be just about as powerful as detonating a tactical nuclear device. They're gaining in technology and dangerousness."
Isis had taken to politics in several different countries, Arabic speaking countries such as Turkey, Syria, Yemen, UAE, Libya, Morocco and Kuwait had managed to gain political control only now ISIS was no longer calling themselves ISIS. They were calling themselves the Arab Reunification Party - ARP. Their goal was to reunite the Arab world under the fundamentalist tenets of the Quran but in order to make their policies appealing they were moderating their message and that was dangerous because if they were more appealing to the masses, more Arab countries would fall under their sway and more would be swayed to radicalism and thus would start a full-scale war with the West once they got a hold of military weapons like fighter jets, naval ships and tanks. It would play into their dreams of glorious jihad.
Plus the fact that if they had the backing of Iran and Iraq they would end up on the road to weapons of mass destruction. Lord help the rest of the world if they got their hands on missile technology and the key to nuclear weapons technology. A key player in this would be Pakistan who had already achieved nuclear weapons as they were sitting right next door to the India who also had nuclear weapons and they were Muslim. In fact. Bin Laden had been eliminated in Pakistan so Pakistan was not in good odor with the United States. They were on a good behavior watch-list and were kept on a short leash before even thinking of supplying them with Western weapons.
Animal noted that his uniform was crisply maintained, by his wife and the Medal of Honor ribbon was always a nice crisp sky blue with five white stars and it hung with his wife's spare uniforms in her office clothes closet. The ribbons on some of his other uniforms were kind of a faded sky blue and he was certain that certain runs of that ribbon fabric were varied in color. Meg however managed to track down stores and get a few of the vivid sky blue ribbons for his dress uniforms and for the uniforms that she designated for use when he had to go to the Pentagon or during public appearances. Thanks to his wife's resourcefulness, Animal always looked presentable, considering his and her busy schedule. The fact that his beloved Meg took time out of her busy schedule to make sure he was kept in good uniforms made him love her more than he could already.
1930 ZULU; PENTAGON, E-RING, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY, WASHINGTON, DC
The couple hurried through the Pentagon corridors, resplendent in their white service uniform, heading towards the SECNAV's office. The SECNAV was a four year politically appointed post so Republican Senator from the great state of Texas and former RADM Mike Metcalf, USN (ret.) callsign Viper.
The former Rear Admiral (upper half) nodded to Animal. "Good afternoon, Admiral, good to see you, Animal." RADM Mike Metcalf was Animal's Battlegroup Commander on his last cruise in 1996. RDML Mike Metcalf had coordinated the overseeing flights over the Bosnian regions and kept the battlegroup in the area when the Bosnians started firing on each other. The Black Aces couldn't shoot back unless they were fired upon but of course the then-Rear Admiral (lower half) had planned a deceptive enticement. Animal would run a TARPS mission at 7,000 AGL. through the Carpathian Mountains. And the Serbs had bit the bullet, they'd fired on Animal's TARPS bird and it was all-out war. His usual back-seater hadn't been trained on TARPS so he'd had to fly with Wrench who was qualified and Wrench managed to get clear crisp shots as Animal was jinking away from the Triple-A. Then they'd hit it with GBU-86s along with targeting the sites with LANTIRN on a following mission inside of five hours. Triangulated with a satellite image of the area, they could tell if there had been movement by the Triple-A platforms and hit the new location with ease.
"It's good to see you too, sir." Animal said acknowledging Sen. Metcalf's obvious position as Secretary of the Navy; an obvious appointment as he like Sen. John Lehman was a former Naval Officer and Naval Aviator instead of being completely oblivious as most civilian appointments were.
"Admiral, as you know, we have a very tenuous situation. Islamabad was hit with a vacuum bomb." The SECNAV indicated as he showed them a map on the projector. "This section along Abeyd-Asam Street and Khalid Wali Avenue. There was an explosion as the fuel-air bomb went off. There's structures flattened three-quarters of a mile wide and the casualties at last count were thirty-five thousand people and the number is rising. The scary part of it is that it is a weapon of mass destruction that these terrorists can cook up in their own back yard labs. Set off a few in the different neighborhoods across the city and there would be casualties in the hundreds of thousands. If you can't breathe because all the air has been sucked into a flammable mixture; you're dead. If you get injured by the blast wave, you're dead. It's a terror weapon."
"It's the same as the MOABs we drop out of our planes, only they put theirs on wheels and drive it into place incognito if that's what you're telling me they did."
"That's exactly what they did, Admiral Nakamura." Animal looked up to see a gray-haired man step in to the room; aquiline nose, and hard steel-blue eyes and a sharp angular jawline complemented his features.
"Gibbs, you ever think about retiring?"
"Not really." was his curt reply.
Meg saw her husband stiffen up in the presence of the senior NCIS agent. His friend and her former JAG investigative partner, Harmon Rabb, had nearly gotten railroaded into a murder charge by this very man. They had accused him of the murder of a JAG Lieutenant by the name of Lieutenant Loren Singer. Harm's first-degree murder charge but all was certain until Gibbs had an inkling that something wasn't right about the whole pattern of evidence they'd found up to that point and told the whole crew to look it over one more time. Animal still was wary of the NCIS senior special agent and thus both the NCIS agent and Animal were pretty frosty with each other - neither was sure about the other. Two alpha males circling each other each looking for a weak point they could utilize on the other.
"All the animosity between the Russians and us may end up having to be tabled..." NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs said, "the Russians just found out that the sub that launched a nuclear torpedo against our battle-group that failed to detonate, had a couple other crew on board. The bodies recovered showed three men of middle Eastern origin who weren't supposed to be there and and several Azerbaijani crew members who had somehow enlisted in the Russian Navy incognito. The Politburo didn't sanction this attack on Second Fleet and are backpedaling."
Meg narrowed her eyes,"So what does that have to do with the Judge Advocate General command, Gibbs?"
"JAG has always been a big help in the past with this sort of investigation. Vice-Admiral. Don't know if your predecessor told you but they've been quite helpful in ensuring we have cooperation. "
"Well the lead investigator on all those situations is flying F/A-18Fs off the deck of the USS Allegiance, Gibbs, under my chain of command as the COMSECONDFLEET." Animal set his jaw in a gritted, unpleased expression. "He's the XO of the boat and technically should be chained to a chair, but you ever try to tell Rabb to do something?"
SECNAV Metcalf snorted, "I heard about his exploits from Nelson and Sheffield. I hear he's a handful; much like Captain Mitchell. Maverick was a handful when I was CO at Topgun. Set the hard deck at Angels 10. Guy technically digs a hole going after Lieutenant Commander Hetherly. Guy was a cowboy. I hear he still flies hard but has tempered his style. He should have had four stars by now but I hear he got tagged with up or out. So he's just riding a chair at NSAWC serving out his time in uniform because NSAWC doesn't want to drop an asset like him. He can teach others and be mentoring other instructors."
"That's the way it should be done. The guys who have the balls to do what needs to be done technically should be the ones leading." Animal growled, "The rules may be the rules, but sometimes, the situation goes beyond the limits of the rules. Then you need the guys willing to break the rules to get the job done."
Animal looked over at the SECNAV and at Gibbs, "The ones that will still stay within the Geneva Convention of Rules of Warfare that is. I don't want Rabb being boots on the ground..." He said with some finality, "...when the damned Russians finally figure out which fucking country sent them on this stupid expedition of insanity. He's staying where I'm telling him to stay. Go find Mackenzie and Webb! Let them go down. Conmand Master Chief Yeoman Coates will probably be able to help me in that. She generally keeps track of who she served with, so, Gibbs, whatever happened to Gunnery Sergeant Galindez. I knew he worked a few field operations with you guys?"
"Went back to the Corps, after his in-country squeeze got blown away by Kabir, to become a Master Gunnery Sergeant. Admiral. He just didn't want to be boots-on-the-ground afterwards."
SECNAV said, "Admiral, the current CNO plans to vacate and we've just gone to the UN to form an Allied Command that will bring together every one to act against the ARP in the different countries affected. With this explosion, we've seen what they intend to do. The British have already reinstated their Fleet Admiral position from WWII. I think their aim is to gain control of the Allied Command. We suggested the idea to the UN Security Commission. I'd say we take control rather than the British; the President had asked me to find someone capable enough to take over full Allied Supreme Commander position and he's going to get the Secretary of Foreign Affairs to insist that we get control since we came up with the idea. This position has never been in use since WWII and neither has the rank. You'll be the first to wear it since Chester Nimitz and you are going to be Supreme Allied Commander for the Joint Task Force that will take the war to the enemy."
At this Meg's jaw dropped open as she looked at her husband.
"I presume that the Supreme Allied Commander is responsible for the Allied push against the Arab Reunification Party?" Her husband asked as he looked over at the SECNAV who had dropped this shocking bit of news.
The out-going Chief of Naval Operations Joanne Pruette stepped into the room, "Afternoon." She looked over at Animal, "Thanks for coming,"
"Well I wasn't expecting this."
"Ordinarily the President would in his role of administering his duties as Commander in Chief, however with the outbreak of hostilities between the Russians and us, understandably he's tied up." CNO Pruette said. "I couldn't think of a better officer to fill my shoes than you, Admiral Nakamura." She then turned to Meg, "Ordinarily, I'd be hesitant to put a JAG who is married to such on the command staff of the Supreme Allied Commander as it goes against the UCMJ, but you are aware that these are strange times and as such we need the most capable officers and matrimonial status no longer matters. We are fighting against an enemy that does not care about anyone other than furthering their own twisted idea of what family and relationships should be... Admiral Toshio Nakamura;" the CNO stated, "under the authorization conveyed upon me by the President of the United States to invoke his power as Commander-in-Chief under Congressional mandate, I am here to administer the oath of office. Step forward; Front and Center." Animal snapped to attention and marched over to Admiral Pruette; stopping in front of her. When he came to attention in front of her, she said, "Attention to Orders; raise your right hand. I..."
"I, Toshio Masahiro Nakamura, do solemnly swear that I will protect and defend the Consitution of the United States from all enemies foreign and domestic; that I bear true allegiance to the same, that I will truly, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, faithfully execute the duties of the office on which I am about to enter, so help me, God." Meg noticed that his voice was firm, proud and she knew for a fact that he was staunchly loyal as an American citizen and a loyal officer in the Navy of the United States of America.
"Congratulations, Fleet Admiral Nakamura. You are the first to wear this rank since Chester Nimitz and since the office of the Chief of Naval Operations has gone to the most senior and high ranking officer in the United States Navy, I stand ready to be relieved, sir."
"I relieve you, Ma'am." Animal said, then leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "Isn't it great? No more meetings with angry senators about budget overruns? Aren't you relieved?" He gave Admiral Pruette a wicked grin as he snapped back to attention as Admiral Pruette burst out laughing as SECNAV Metcalf looked over at the former CNO with raised inquisitive eyebrows expecting an explanation. He chuckled wryly when he got told what Animal had whispered in her ear.
Animal been handed a pair of Fleet Admiral Boards. He could order them directly from the Uniform Supplier as he was currently the only five-star fleet admiral in the US Navy. Meg and the SECNAV slipped off his Admiral's boards and put the Fleet Admiral's boards on. The five silver stars formed a pentagonal shape with the top-most point of the pentagon being the point of the fifth star. Each five-pointed star was linked to each other by one arm of another five-pointed star. The top most head of the apex five-pointed star ended up pointing towards the neck of the wearer of the shoulder-boards.
"Fleet Admiral Nakamura..." Admiral Pruette said to him when the boards were placed on his shoulders, "I believe two minutes allowed for a PDA."
Animal grinned at her then turned to Meg whose eyes were brimming with pride for him. He extended his arms and Vice-Admiral Megan Renee Austin-Nakamura, her own golden shoulder-boards with three stars, stepped into his embrace, with her lips meeting his in a tender kiss.
"Congratulations, my love." She whispered. She didn't want to let go but the PDA only allowed for two minutes. Then stepping back she snapped to attention and said formally. "Congratulations, sir!" The Stars and Stripes reporter was here to cover the whole news-story and snapped pictures of both the kiss and the formal address. As the PDA was usually a part of every promotion ceremony, it was certainly well-known to other military personnel and thus would not bring a hue and cry about seeing a picture of two wedded admirals embracing and kissing since it was well known that the JAG was married to COMSECONDFLT who was now the new CNO.
After that burst of pride over his promotion, Animal realized something and he paled. "Oh shoot!" He muttered putting his head in his hands.
Meg and Joanne looked at him in consternation, "What?" They asked.
Animal looked up at them with a long-suffering look, "Well, I guess I'm going to have to have the unenviable task of telling Command Master Chief Yeoman Jennifer Coates that we are moving lock, stock and barrel back to Washington DC." Animal informed her.
Meg and Joanne looked at each other and nodded. They both knew Jen had just managed to scrape together enough to buy a fairly decent condo in Norfolk, close to Norfolk Naval Station. Oh she was going to be majorly pissed off.
Animal continued muttering laconically, "This may be the shortest Fleet Admiralcy in history."
"Oh, it can't be that bad..." SECNAV Metcalf said looking over at the newly minted Fleet Admiral "an O-11 scared of an E-9?"
Animal gave Viper a morose look, then picked up his cell-phone putting it on hands-free and laying it down.
"Command Master Chief Coates!" Jen's brusque command NCO voice barked.
"Command Master Chief. The meeting is over and I have some bad news,"
"Sir? How bad could it be?"
"Bad" Animal said. Pruette, SECNAV, Gibbs and Meg looked at each other. "I just got the post for CNO."
"Well...that doesn't sound so bad, sir..." Coates' voice sounded cheerful.
"The post wasn't the bad part..." Animal explained silently inferring the logistics of what that entailed.
It sunk in, "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME?! Sir! They want our asses in WASHINGTON?! 24/7?!" Animal winced and SECNAV Metcalf pulled his head back from the general location of the phone.
Animal favored those in the Pentagon office with him with an I am so dead look. SECNAV Metcalf grinned at him with a better you than me...
"If you don't mind, sir...I'm going to hang up, have a melt-down and then call my realtor." Coates muttered caustically.
"OK, Jen..." Animal tried to say as penitently as possible. He was absolutely certain that his yeoman was most definitely not happy about the whole deal.
"I'll see you and the Vice Admiral when you get back from DC, sir." Animal had his helo pilot cooling his heels at the Pentagon helo pad. . There was a helo pad on base which was active. Meg was already making arrangements to have the Navy Yard pickup their vehicle at the Pentagon since they would be flying directly home to Norfolk. It was a long ride to Norfolk.
But Animal's Cessna 172 was moored over there at Chambers Field as a rather quick way to get to work and then there would be a flight back home to DC. Even during the winter months his eyesight was still good enough to get in his Cessna and fly it back home.
With access to the Office of the CNO he could technically, call upon the helo to take him and his wife to work and not have to move in from Norfolk to DC, but that wouldn't be proper and it would be improper use of military funds and equipment on personal transportation.
He looked over at the SECNAV, "Sir, what is the next part of the agenda."
"In this current situation, your wife's staff command goes up one rank. So she is authorized to put on four stars. Her subordinate commands will also go up one rank. The RLSOs however will remain O-6 positions. The rest of the staff commands go up one rank as well in the national command positions except at the regional. positions. All promotions in a time of global war are merit-based. FADM Nakamura. Staff officers that do not see combat will still continue as time-in-rank based. Promotions will favor merit and heroism on the field of battle."
"Aye-Aye, sir."
"I'm not gonna sit here and blow sunshine up your ass, Fleet Admiral. This is going to be a tough one. We may, like WWII, need the Russians on our side. This time we're not fighting the Germans or the Japanese. It's everybody against Islamic fundamentalism. That's going to be the war. Anybody that doesn't want their female family and friends to have wear an abaya and one of them hoods all over the place will need to pick up a gun and prepare to fight." SECNAV Metcalf stated staunchly. His salt and pepper hair and mustache was now mostly salt. The lines on his face were much deeper and he wore glasses and he looked at Animal with a taciturn serious look. "Those fundamentalists that advocate their jihads against the West need to be eradicated. They think we're vermin; we need to start thinking about them like that."
Meg said, "Sir, that's not a stance that will win you re-election."
SECNAV Metcalf looked at her, "Vice-Admiral, re-election isn't in my sights, when this whole thing blows over, if it blows over, I want to be on my ranch and enjoying the rest of my days. I've had enough of Washington politics. This ol'warhorse doesn't like being harnessed. I'm gonna go home and ride the range for awhile and enjoy my time left. But while I'm in the Office of the Secretary of the Navy; if I don't treat the threats from the ARP seriously, people at home are going to die in the thousands if not hundreds of thousands."
That was definitely Viper talking there, Animal thought, he'd always been a straight-shooter and didn't like the circular bullshit going on within the Capitol. He much preferred the Pentagon and talking with his fellow straight shooting line officers. Viper had been a good A-4F, F-4 and F-14 aviator and NFWS adversary tactics instructor as well as commanding officer of the Topgun school. Animal had gone through Topgun after he'd tallied three: an F-15J, a MiG 29 and an Su-27.
McDonnell Douglas, now merged with Boeing was not too happy about that in 1990. They'd said the F-15J was being piloted by an inferior pilot inferring that a JASDF pilot was not as good as a Western pilot until they found out that his adversary was a Japanese-American naval aviator and that it was a battle that had lasted 26 seconds in total between the time that Animal engaged and by the time he'd sent a Sidewinder up the F-15J's starboard burner can.
Needless to say, the fallout from Boeing's rep saying this was massive. They'd had to retract the statement.
And that had prompted the Air Force to challenge the Navy to a similar duel, no live missiles, just TACTS to see just how lethal the F-14 was against the F-15. Animal vs. the F-15 with the Boeing rep flying in the backseat of an F-15D two-seater. against a fully charged up and ready to go crew of Animal and Scooter in their F-14A. The F-15D's pilot was a Red Flag instructor well versed in the art of adversary combat tactics and ready to fly fangs out. The battle lasted 23 seconds. The first kill shot tracked straight up the F-15D's port burner can. The second engagement lasted 17sec. Animal elected not to get into the phone booth and lobbed a Sparrow shot in his direction after he locked the guy up with his AWG-9. The Red Flag pilot flying his F-15D didn't even see the missile coming. The third and final engagement lasted 48 seconds. Animal started from a defensive position with the F-15D on his tail in an apparent re-enactment of the engagement that got him his first ever kill. And the same result, the F-15D pilot and the tech-rep got killed thus proving the old adage that the longer a fight goes, the less likely you're going to survive the fight.
It had been soundly proven that the F-14 was truly the winner in that engagement. Even a Western pilot couldn't stand up to Animal in an F-14. US Navy training and on top of that he had to land on an aircraft carrier afterwards in the fight over Japanese soil.
What was even more satisfying to Animal was seeing the Boeing rep empty his stomach contents all over the ground. Rumor had it that he couldn't keep down anything for a week.
The Japanese had tucked their heads and were penitent after learning their lesson for a second time to not get uppity. They'd been beaten decisively, American warplanes had gotten seven kills in that brief conflict, a number that later became eight when the news of Animal's F-2A shoot-down. Of course their hackles were raised when they found out who they considered a Nikkei had been one of the American "navy pilots" who had shot down one of their top F-15J aircraft in a fight that had only lasted 26 seconds from start to finish with the American warplane in a defensive position at the outset and that he'd tallied twice against the JASDF; one each of what was considered their top two aircraft. In total 2 F-2A's, 1 F-15J, 3 F-1s and 1 F-4EJ. Animal didn't count that F-2A in his personal kill tally and always said his kill count was three but it was later found out that the US Navy had counted it and that his official tally according to the United States Navy was one Mitsubishi-built Boeing F-15J Eagle; one Mitsubishi F-2A Japanese Falcon; one Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 29 Fulcrum; and one Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker. That was really going to piss the Japanese off but well, so it goes.
It was that fact that Animal had tallied that made him somewhat of a celebrity at Topgun and many of the instructors wanted to go one on one with him to see if the tactics they were teaching actually translated to the aerial combat arena. Animal was there to learn and he conducted himself accordingly. Making sure that he learned aspects of one vs one, one vs two and one vs. multiples.
The MiG 29 and Su-27 were both equipped with fire and forget BVR Archer missiles which were dangerous missiles. The US had not put out a true fire and forget mid-range air-air missile. Currently F-14s could only carry the AIM-7 Sparrow and that one was a pain in the ass because one had to keep the AWG-9 lit on the target until it hit.
Unfortunately, it happened that if one had a two or three vs multiples you could get overwhelmed by odds firing a cold-nose missile: if it had its own radar or heat-seeking nose it would keep going after the target or was only going to get thrown off by a decoy flare. And most times the missile hit regardless of how many flares were dropped.
With the speed of fifth-gen fighters and super-cruise BVR could be closed to knife-fight in an instant and thus end up with his medium-range missiles being entirely ineffective. If the missiles had active radars of their own then they would be truly fire and forget. And the F/A-18F's truly needed actual BVR medium range missiles. The AIM 120 was supposed to do that for the Navy and Air Force but they were only starting to get the missiles with any regularity. Who knew what the Navy would be up against out there.
"So we watch to see what happens with the results of the Russian investigation into the matter. If they find ARP propaganda, that's who we'll target and this time it won't be a military attack with only reprisal in mind, it needs to be a full scale war. The Islamic Fundamentalists want jihad, we'll bring it to them." Gibbs explained further.
The NCIS Special Agent looked to the Fleet Admiral, "We'll need to move you in quickly in about three to five days. Hopefully we'll have that amount of time. The problem is that I don't think we have that time. Everything is primed to go off in the Middle East and we're concerned about the ARP's little offshoot of islamic fundamentalist radicals that still call themselves ISIS. The ones that are pulling off shit like this to draw focus away from the Arab Reunification Party is doing. It's their little task within the organizational structure of the Arab Reunification Party. We want our military leadership structure in place to lead the Allied response to these radicals and to cement our leadership at the top of the Allied command structure. If we don't the majority of our allies are not going to be able to communicate with the systems that we have in place. Our system is more widespread in terms of technological usage within our weapons systems and in terms of logistics. I don't know all the ins and outs but communication is going to be key."
"Gotcha on that one, Gibbs..." Animal looked over at the former CNO, "Joanne can you send me a 411 on the info for my perusal tonight so I can begin to formulate an attack plan of action so that I'm able to get us in key strategic position to take over as Supreme Allied Commander when we go to make a strike on the ARP." Animal grinned, "I trust our NATO allies will fall in line pretty quickly, with the exception of the former Warsaw Pact, and the Chinese and Russians are going to be a barrel of monkeys to work with in combatting the Islamist threat. I can see my days are going to be fun." He said sardonically. He looked over at Meg who was looking wryly over at her husband. "Where is Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie, the Under-Secretary of State's Marine Liaison? I need someone with legal knowledge and an in with the Marine Corps. Joanne, does Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie report to the Commandant of the Marine Corps as well?"
Joanne Pruette smiled as she looked over at Animal who was taking over. She knew she'd made the right choice. "General Barrett will be available and yes, Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie, as Marine Liaison at the Pentagon reports to him, sir!" She acknowledged that Animal was now of higher rank than she.
2235 ZULU; PENTAGON, E-RING, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY, WASHINGTON, DC
"Sir, I have had the Marines on full expeditionary alert posture for the last month and a half, sir!" General James Eric Barrett stood at attention as he made his assertion to the Fleet Admiral, "They're ready to go at your command, sir." He looked surprised to see a full five-star admiral, brand new gold thread shoulder-boards on shoulder with the five stars in a pentagon.
"Jim, it's going to be a hell of a situation." the fleet admiral said. "A lot of good men are going to die. But we need to stop the radicals from taking over the Middle East. We didn't see this coming; that the rats would be smart enough to take the political route rather than continue to blow up random places and take hostages. And the fact that they're moderating their message to get through to the masses and make their position more appealing is more than what anyone expected out of a bunch of disorganized radicals." Animal stared out the window. "Your Marines are going into the battle of their lives."
"Well, sir, Chesty once said that...uh...well..." Jim looked at his Fleet Admiral who himself was of Asian American descent.
Animal grinned at him, "Yeah, I know, the Japs have us surrounded at the rear, the flanks and the front, c'mon boys that means we got 'em cornered. Let's go kill some Japs." He nodded, "The quote's quite apt for this situation. Let's make that we're ready to burn'em out if we have to. They'd do the same if the shoe were on the other foot."
"Sir, Yes, Sir."
"The Geneva Convention's rules of war states that we are not to make use of horrible weapons." Animal grinned, "I don't think that putting JDAM fins and guidance on a CBU-63 Incendiary bomb and shoving them down the rat hole in a mountain range in the Peshawar to burn out those radicalized goat-herders is going to constitute a war crime. They brought the first strike against innocent civilians during 9/11." Animal mused, standing by the window. There were nods around the room. Even the SECNAV as a former line-officer knew the necessity of what would appear to be horrifying to civilian minds. "It's time for all-out warfare with no holds barred. Just think of what would happen if any of them got a hold of one of our loved ones." He looked over at Meg who had a horrified look on her face at the very thought of one of them laying a hand on her.
The only person she allowed within her personal space was Tosh. Even Harm expressly knew that two feet around her was the limit for friends. Only her husband or her children were allowed to come within that two foot perimeter. Meg looked back at him with understanding that Tosh was about to bring a type of war against the Islamists that had never been seen before in the annals of brutality. Cold, calculated and efficient. For every notch the Islamists raised in terror, Tosh would go one step further; it meant the safety and security of the free world. That was why the President of the United States had wanted him in the position. Meg pondered just how much that load of responsibility of carrying the war to the enemy was going to weigh on him and hoped that she would be able to bolster him both personally as well as professionally.
The President himself had unleashed a tirade of words against the Arab Reunification Party as well as a side-slap at the Democratic Party of the United States on national TV as a terrorist organization an hour earlier and they'd tuned in. I have indicated to Congress and they know this, that the Arab Reunification Party is a bunch of terrorist thugs in suits trying to make their message more palatable to the masses, I warned them. I will absolutely appoint the person who I think will get the job done. And I have been vindicated. Because these terrorist thugs have detonated a vacuum bomb in Islamabad. I knew they were planning something and here it is. Now they will suffer the consequences.
Animal thought to himself that the President's address to the nation in this will peg everyone in uniform as a right-wing war-mongering psychotic but well, he was going to do his duty and do what had to be done.
2255 ZULU
"Get the British Fleet Admiral on the phone. Joanne." Animal said as they got in an enlisted tech from IT to come in and set up a direct vid-link to the British Admiralty and their Home Office.
"Good afternoon, there..." the British fleet admiral looked over disguising his surprise at seeing fleet admiral shoulder-boards on Animal's collar.
"Fleet Admiral Buckley-Hetherington , what a pleasant surprise. How is the British fleet doing?" Animal knew that he'd thrown the British a nice vicious curve-ball. Especially when they were expecting someone of European descent to perhaps be matched with them.
" Quite well," the British Fleet Admiral was staring at Animal's rack and at his naval Aviator wings on the image screen of his TV wondering what was going on. "Fleet Admiral Nakamura, I wasn't expecting your call,"
"You mean you weren't expecting the President to put someone like me in the position?" Animal gave him a wry faux humble expression.
"No, no, of course not, I'm assured that he'd pick the most capable person for the position, after all, we are fighting a common enemy." FADM Alistair Buckley-Hetherington appeared to back-pedal.
"That's true. Perhaps considering my considerable experience undertaking military operations against these Islamists, that perhaps we might try to work hand in hand. Would that be palatable to you, Fleet Admiral?" Animal asked politely but with a firm note of iron will in his voice brooking no dissension."
"Fleet Admiral Nakamura, I believe that your experience would be very beneficial to our mutual alliance of nations."
"Well, the United States Navy as well as its other branches of military service are always quite ready to take the fight to the enemy so perhaps it might be of use to do a number of missions together under the auspices of working together to transfer working knowledge..." Animal implied that his greater knowledge in having dealt militarily in the Middle East in both air and surface combatants against ISIS would be primarily the reason why he would lead the Allied response to anything the Arab Reunification Party and its subsidiary of ISIS would throw at them. "Would that work with you? Fleet Admiral Buckley-Hetherington?"
The British Fleet Admiral backed down. He knew that the Japanese-American fleet admiral had the greater experience in dealing with fleet operations against the Islamic threat and thus he had been out-matched from the start. The Royal Navy had hoped that his Duchy estate had the clout to impress the UN Security Council to give them the position of Supreme Allied Commander but the Americans had pulled their Trumpcard and brought out a MOH recipient, combat-veteran, battle-hardened with years of experience fighting the Islamists in the Middle East admiral of Japanese descent and plugged him into the Fleet Admiral rank used for the first time since WWII. The British had been outmaneuvered again. "Of course, of course, Fleet Admiral Nakamura, we look forward to gleaning the plentiful knowledge and experience you have in dealing with these Islamists."
The British Fleet Admiral appeared as though he'd swallowed an especially sour lemon.
Animal grinned, "Fleet Admiral Buckley-Hetherington, it was very nice to make your acquaintance finally. Perhaps we can talk more when I make it to 7 North Audley and we see each other in person." Yet again another zinger directed as General of the Army and later US President Dwight D. Eisenhower had used it as his personal headquarters to conduct operations as Supreme Allied Commander and that was a sore point for some of the British nobility.
"That would be quite wonderful, Fleet Admiral Nakamura." His expression thought anything but. They signed off with mindless pleasantries.
SECNAV applauded, "Tastefully done...Fleet Admiral."
"We need our allies, sir, but I didn't miss the disrespect so I challenged him on it." Animal replied. "This is going to be a helluva war and we need everybody in order to be able to make it through the ensuing battles with the least number of casualties." He looked pensive. "I think we've pretty much done what we can do today, let's call it an evening and see about making sure that we get our ducks in a row as far as getting the CNO's office squared away. I'm sure my helo aviator has dug a trench in the Pentagon helo pad waiting for me. Hopefully he got something to eat. So Meg and I will be heading back."
"Safe journeys, sir." The rest said.
"Safe journeys, Animal" Viper gripped his shoulder and shook his hand.
"Thanks, Viper...damned good to see its you in the chair as SECNAV. Always needed someone with Navy knowledge sitting in the seat." Animal gripped his long-time friend and now SECNAV's hand.
2310 ZULU
The exit from the office was a circus. Any military officer that saw the Fleet Admiral did a double-take. The last time the Fleet Admiral rank had been last used was during WWII and the Cold War as Curtis Lemay of the USAAF later the USAF, General of the Army Douglas MacArthur and Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz were some of those who had worn the five stars; as the US Marine Corps was considered a department and subsidiary setvice within the Department of the Navy (the Continental Marines were a part of the US Navy during the Revolutionary War); no Marines would ever wear a five-star rank.
Now Toshio Nakamura was joining the ranks of five-stars in a situation that appeared to be much like what would be a global conflict unlike any one had imagined possible. When nation-states came into effect such as the Arab Reunification Party which had managed to take over several Middle Eastern States, it was essentially an Arab Coalition against the West.
"Sir!" Another surprised Vice-Admiral walked past as he took another look at the five-star encrusted shoulder-boards worn by Animal.
"Vice-Admiral." Having received the promotion orders and certificate in a nice protective Navy logo- embossed leather folder that he was currently holding in the crook of his left arm, he grinned as the vice-admiral scurried away. "Good heavens, it's a bloody gauntlet." He commented to his wife as they headed down the corridors of military power. There were so many stares from admirals and lower that had never seen the US fleet admiral rank worn by an active naval officer before and rightfully so. The President had the right to invoke the activation of the O-11 position at any time during a grave time of global war.
This would most certainly be considered a state of global war with the ARP actually assuming the role of heads of state of various Middle Eastern countries. They stated that they wanted to peaceably coexist however their political manifesto and their Jihadi manifesto did not align at all with what they stated was their end goal. Their Jihadi manifesto was that they wanted to bring all nations under Allah and that they would use whatever means to make that come to fruition.
Animal was not willing to allow that to happen.
2325 ZULU
When they reached the helo, grabbing cranials and putting their admirals caps in the netting, they harnessed in and got ready for the ride back to Norfolk. It wouldn't be dark until well after eight-thirty Animal thought to himself. He'd been train in night-flying under all conditions. He would have to pack up his office and so would Jen. And advise his XO Vice-Admiral Tom Kazansky to take command until the position was finalized. That meant a boat-load of meetings tomorrow in the Pentagon, his and Jen's new place of work.
0055 ZULU; NAVAL STATION NORFOLK HELO PAD; NAVAL STATION NORFOLK, NORFOLK, VA
"Sir, I'll wait for you," Lieutenant Commander Abdul JafarKasimir looked up at the former COMSECONDFLT and now brand new CNO and Fleet Admiral.
"Jafar, thanks."
"You got it, sir. " the CH-60S naval aviator grinned at him. It would be a late night as Animal was expecting Jen to be mighty pissed off at having to sell her home only a year after moving into it.
Jen was waiting for the both of them. She'd evidently composed herself and was surprised to see her Commanding officer wearing Fleet Admiral boards.
"Congratulations, sir..." she said.
"The promotion doesn't take away the sting of having to uproot you again, Jen." Animal said.
"Sir, it was just the shock of receiving that news so soon. It's because of the impending war, isn't it?"
"Yes, Jen..." Animal couldn't lie to his faithful yeoman.
"Understood, sir...I just finished packing up my office and your office. And I presume I'll be packing up my things in my office and heading up to DC shortly?"
"They've given us seventy-two hours, Jen." That brought another deep breath from Jen.
"Well I guess I'd better load up the vehicle and get cracking."
"Jen, other than your absolute valuables,"Let the Navy movers move the stuff to DC. I need you functional."
"OK, Sir, I will and I'll just assign them anything that I don't particularly care about what condition it arrives in.
"If you can let me know which ones are the boxes which my valuables my mementos, that is..."
"Sir, your flight helmets and squadron memorabilia are all in several boxes. The flight helmets ate in individual boxes wrapped in bubble-wrap and marked. And the other memorabilia have also been marked down and individually wrapped in bubble-wrap as well."
"Thank you, Jen."
"You're welcome, sir." Jen replied as she grabbed her things.
"Are you alright? Jen?" Meg asked.
Jen looked at her. "Ma'am, I wish I could say I was, but I don't know if I'm more upset over losing my home to this war or the uncertainty of what's going to happen to all of us."
Meg nodded, she was feeling the same way with the exception that Meg and Animal had a home in DC and he flew home every afternoon which only took about an hour and a half as opposed to four hours one way. If he could afford a HondaJet it would be much faster. But Animal didn't have millions. He was only making now $211,200.00 out of which the US Government chopped it down to $114,048.00. Even when he first started out he'd put $700.00 of his pay into savings every month. Their house was pretty sizeable and they did have a bank account with investments of over $3.6M however the problem was that it cost a lot to maintain a business jet and thus it would bean anchor.
If they won the full amount of a $346M lottery which would leave them after taxes at $186,840,000. They'd still have to pay taxes on the interest $8,594,640 leaving them only $4,641,105.60/yr after investment which left them an income of over $386,758.80 a month. But nothing ever came off of relying solely on hope.
Chambers Field had a detachment there from NAS Oceana and helos could land there as well. Animal's Cessna 172 was parked there it had been fueled up and ready to go. Loading his memorabilia into the aircraft after the CH-60S dropped them off, he learned to enjoy the walk around again looking over every single thing on the aircraft and getting it ready to fly. The tiedowns were removed and loaded onto the plane so that they could be utilized at the next airport. The flashlight was brought out to use with the underside of the aircraft. Animal preferred the new LED flashlights which produced a higher lumens of brightness which also allowed him to see aircraft defects better. Checking the leading edge of both wings to make sure there was nothing that could disrupt airflow and interrupt its generation of lift. Then he checked to see if there was any leakage of oil or hydraulic fluid which would cause serious problems for their flight. He didn't particularly feel like having to ditch tonight or take a walk in a forest where under a log could be coiled a big Eastern Diamondback. After all both he and his wife were making the trip this time so he did a leisurely check making sure every rivet was in place and nothing looked the slightest bit loose. When he was satisfied he filed the flight plan for their flight to NAF Washington and told Meg they were ready to mount up. She gave him a loving smirk as the two admirals made sure that their combined luggage wasn't above the maximum payload of the Cessna 172.
0235 ZULU; CHAMBERS FIELD, NAVSTA NORFOLK, NORFOLK, VA
"OK..." Animal read off the checklist out loud as he checked his instruments. He was rated for IFR flight rules and since the sun was going down he had filed an IFR flight plan from Chambers Field to Naval Air Facility Washington.
"November Charlie Three Six Four Delta, Chambers Tower, executing run-up at hold."
"Roger that, Three Six Four Delta, you are run up at hold. Hold tight for a Navy P-3 executing a touch and go."
"Roger Chambers Tower. Holding for P-3 executing touch and go." Animal and Meg could feel the vibrations from the four big turbo-props as the aircraft executed a nice lumbering three point touch down and then rotated back into the air.
"Three Six Four Delta, hold. making sure that the runway is clear of wingtip turbulence."
"Roger that. Tower." Wingtip vortices from a large aircraft such as the P-3 could wreak havoc with a take-off from a small prop aircraft like Animal's Cessna 172. He preferred the nose wheel over the tail-dragger Cessna 152.
"Three Six Four Delta, you are cleared to depart. You have a good night, Fleet Admiral."
"Chambers Field Tower. Three Six Four Delta departing. IFR direct NAF Washington." Animal taxied onto the runway and pushed the throttle in as the prop noise increased. NAF Washington got his flight plan noting a civilian registered light aircraft direct from one naval facility to their own flown by a naval aviator admiral.
At 75 knots Animal rotated the nose ten degrees nose up and the 172 went light on its main-mounts. "And we are wheels off the ground..." Animal grinned at Meg.
Periodically he made radio calls to different controllers and notified him of their heading and altitude. Meg quietly took in the view of the lights coming on in the darkening sky.
"Do you miss it?" She asked.
"You mean the flying combat aircraft off the deck of carriers and I guess just the atmosphere of excitement in being in bag and speed-jeans pushing Mach two point four with my hair on fire? I'd be lying if I said I didn't but nowadays, I know my time's passed and I don't have the reflexes I need any more to yank and bank a front line F/A-18F off the deck day in and day out. Even Harm rarely flies. Just enough to get his hazard pay. Once in a while I get the urge when I see an airshow or look up and see the Naval Air Demonstration Team doing their maneuvers for a crowd and I think back to the days when I was young and spry and was able to go up and kick ass." All the while Animal was talking his eyes were scanning the gauges. At night one's senses could trick you; tell you that you were inverted when you weren't and it was an extremely dangerous situation to get into you could end up going into a spin. The only way to survive a night flight was watching your instruments religiously.
Eventually about an hour and a half in, "November Charlie Three Six Four Delta, NAF Washington Tower. We have you on radar at one seven zero degrees adjust to two four zero to line up with the main runway. You are cleared to land."
"Three Six Four Delta, NAF Tpwer, radar contact one seven zero turning to two four zero, main runway, cleared to land." Animal acknowledged. He adjusted his heading with the aid of his instruments and brought the nose into line with the main runway at NAF Washington. And about three minutes later his wheels were chirping on the main runway while a pair of Hornets were waiting for him to depart the runway exit before they lined up on the runway. They were probably wondering what idiot landed a civil registered light plane at a naval facility.
0338 ZULU; NAF WASHINGTON; WASHINGTON DC.
"Good evening, Adm-oh...Fleet Admiral?" The enlisted AM3 gulped as he looked to see two admirals. One a five-star golden-shoulder-boards and a auburn haired three-star were exiting the Cessna 172. He also noted the Naval Aviator wings on the five-star and the top-most ribbon on his rack. "Sir, let me get you a cart to take you from here to the main building. So that you can get a rental then the mess is just to the left."
"Do you read minds for a living, AM3?" Meg asked, "I was just about to ask that." She said with a cheery smile.
"Ma'am, forgive my forwardness but I figured it being this late that you would be fine with some assistance to the main building instead of having to walk out to the tarmac several times bringing boxes in. And also that you two must be famished, sir, ma'am."
"No offence taken and we quite appreciate the quick thinking, AM3" Animal grinned at him. As the cart came to a stop over by the airplane and the AM3 onboard the cart hurriedly jumped out to help the Fleet Admiral with tying down his airplane. They were off in a corner to be certain so that they weren't in the way of taxiing Navy aircraft. Quickly tying up the aircraft, they were on their way back to the main building where they were able to get a rental car.
"You two ate your dinner?" Meg was on the phone to Katie confirming that Katie and Jamie ate the leftovers from last night. Jamie was home from his first year of university, "OK Dad and I will be home in a while, we haven't eaten yet so we were going to eat at the mess. It might be about 01:35 AM by the time we get home. You should be asleep, you have final exams to study for even if it is the weekend. ." Meg rolled her eyes looking over at her husband. "She's still not asleep," she mouthed to her husband as she covered the mouthpiece.
"She's gotta learn from her consequences." Animal replied. "If she goes to sleep exhausted and flunks an exam it might motivate her to get a proper night's sleep and teach her that in order to do well she has to get a good night's sleep."
Meg nodded. Sometimes all the coaxing in the world didn't replace a good ol'fashioned failure to impart a lesson. "OK...Katie, you can wait until Mom and Dad get home but don't blame me if you're exhausted."
After getting off the phone with Katie; Meg and Animal hurried to the Mess. Animal looked at his watch 11:15 LOCAL
0415 ZULU; NAVAL AIR FACILITY WASHINGTON MESSHALL, WASHINGTON DC
"Yeah, Thank goodness today's a weekend," Meg muttered.
"Luckily for me, they don't want my ass in the office till Tuesday. I have to make sure I have everything organized by then."
0505 ZULU; MEG AND ANIMAL'S PENTHOUSE, WASHINGTON, DC
"Remind me when I thought that flying back with you from Chambers Field was a good idea?" Meg groaned as the both of them staggered in the door carrying the last of the memorabilia that Animal brought home from the Norfolk office.
"Uh-huh..." was all that her exhausted husband could manage.
"I need to hit myself in the head with a frying pan if I come up with any more of those bright ideas." She rolled her eyes. "I don't know how you used to be able to fly two combat missions over Serbia and then just six hours later hop back into your Tomcat and fly a four or five hour combat patrol."
"Can't do it any more..." Evidently Katie and Jamie had both gone to sleep since they were exhausted and Animal grinned. "I think Katie and Jamie were so tired they conked out.
"She's got to crank out a good solid grade point average to contend if she plans to go to the Naval Academy like Uncle Harm." Meg said. "She loves her hockey, but she knows that's too sort a career-path unless she wants to go into public speaking.
Animal nodded. Academics was important to the Nakamura family. And Katie was athletic as opposed to academic but her grades to her credit were at least a solid B+ but she was going to have to crank out A's if she wanted to have a shot at the Academy on merit though as a Medal recipient's daughter, her place in the Academy was assured. Animal wanted to also make sure that she would have been able to get in just on merit alone.
If one was the offspring of a Vietnam veteran MIA/KIA or of a Medal of Honor recipient, you had a slot at the Naval Academy and there also were slots available on meritorious academics but those had exceedingly high standards of academics like Harvard or any of the Ivy League Universities.
Since it was so late Animal and Meg went directly upstairs and headed off to bed. Shedding clothes, they curled up together under the sheets letting their closeness sooth them to sleep.