The Pentagon, Washington, DC, 1520hrs EST
Harm was still in shock as he peered at his shoulders; the four stripes on his shoulders were attention-grabbing, at least to him; he also knew that it was unusual for a commander with only two years in grade to be deep-selected this early to O-6 and that was purely because of the mission that he and Animal had managed to accomplish. Taking out Sadik Fahd with the twenty-mike-mike and the ballistic missile carrying nuclear warheads with the Paveways (thanks to the British Tornados) was no mean feat. The simple fact that a confirmed terrorist was now off the market meant that a few more would rise to the surface and in turn would be eliminated.
Bush Junior's War on Terror was a war of attrition. Shock and Awe mainly meant moving granules of sand by means of explosive force. There were men and women now serving in the Middle East and Afghanistan, all wondering if they were going to be coming home any time soon. The warplanes dropping ordnance on Afghani hilltops were just moving rocks, now blown into smaller rocks, from one place to another – the rats just moved deeper into the hillside avoiding the blast effects.
Maegyn sat quietly as the meeting went on about the mission parameters. She watched as her husband argued articulately about the need for very little political interference in how the mission was executed. His job was to go in, root out those terrorists; bomb them back into the Stone Age (they weren't far enough away from that, even in modern times so it wouldn't take much to do so) and eliminate the leaders, provided they stuck their heads up out of their holes long enough for the decapitation strike to be effective.
She worried for the safety of her husband, as well as those who were actually flying the missions. Her husband was well enough away from the daily dangers of combat flying and would mostly be ensconced in the Operations Center of the Bird Farm, but knowing her husband as well as she did, she wouldn't be surprised if he decided to execute the initial Alpha Strike himself, just to get the overlay of the topography so that he could figure out just exactly what sort of ordnance to lay down on top of these rats with the successive strikes. Taking those kinds of risks was the thing that scared her most about her husband's leadership. She'd served with him (prior to their relationship being formalized), she'd flown with him and seen his take-charge attitude and she knew the risks that he was willing to take to accomplish the mission and that scared her. Not only was he taking his own life into his hands, if he chose to fly that initial mission, he was risking making his son fatherless.
"Vice Admiral Nakamura, I have to tell you that using the Mark 77 attached to guided ordnance is going to be a public relations nightmare." The President stated.
"With all due respect, Mr. President, with American lives on the line, I don't care if we fricassee them…" Animal retorted. "…or barbecue them." That brought a few smiles to the faces of the military personnel there; most of whom outranked Animal and they knew that the vice-admiral didn't mince words and pretty much tap-danced around the line between respect for public officials and contemptuous words. "Just so long as what tactics we use are effective and not diluted down with bureaucracy."…he paused for a long moment to let that sink in, then said, "…again…with all due respect…"
"Mr. President…" the White House Press Secretary interrupted, "If we use incendiary weapons against the Al Qaeda, we will turn public opinion against the war. Can you imagine what public opinion will look like if they see Afghani civilians burned to a crisp?"
"Civilians won't be burning to a crisp, Mr. Press Secretary, if we put a JDAM kit on the Mk.77 and shove it down the entrance of those Al Qaeda inhabited caves." Harm replied. "It'll be Al Qaeda roasting like a pizza in a stone-bake oven." It was pretty clear which of the meeting's participants were military and which were civilian. The military personnel had a "git'r done" look on their faces, while the civilians wore appalled looks. Understandably, selling the war to the civilians and making sure that it was palatable was primary on the main course for the politicians, but the military were the ones that had to fight the war and they were the ones who would die too if something went wrong.
"Captain, we had a hard sell trying to convince the Democrats that we had to go to war…that Saddam Hussein was harboring weapons of mass destruction." The Secretary of State leveled a look at both VADM Nakamura and Captain Rabb. "We know that Saddam has them, unfortunately, we just don't know where he's got them hidden."
"Mr. Secretary, when my men are rolling in on the targets; it doesn't matter just how palatable the war is to the general populace. If I don't do my job, my men die." Animal replied, fixating the Secretary of State with a direct stare. "If I have to burn them out of their holes; I'll drop Mk.77s on them. Otherwise, civilians will die on home soil. They've already tried to get a hold of a nuclear tipped intercontinental ballistic missile and they nearly succeeded. I'm sure you realize, just what the blast of an eight hundred fifty kiloton warhead over Washington DC could do to the area."
Knowing full well from countless COG studies that an eight hundred fifty kiloton warhead detonated over the White House could potentially cause over half a million casualties (including the President of the United States) as well as over eight hundred and twenty thousand injured, the Secretary of State went sheet white as Animal went on, "Mr. Secretary, we just barely stopped a missile from being launched at DC. Unfortunately, we don't have intel on whether those bastards have got another ace up their sleeves and whether we're going to have to take out yet another one. " He shot a pointed look at the DDCIA as if to let him know that he was on notice and that if he didn't deliver on the promise of getting him updated intel that Animal would take it out of the DDCIA's hide. "With all due respect, Mr. President, your election campaign in oh-four runs a distant second on my radar as opposed to making sure that we don't wake up glowing green the next morning because Hamid Hajji decided that he was going to drop a nuke in the middle of DC."
"Captain O'Bannon. What's your take on it; considering your current status as the Vice-Admiral's wife?" The Secretary of State asked Maegyn who looked straight back at him, not even once looking at her husband for confirmation or what the Secretary of State thought of as "guidance" from the "man of the house".
"I'm in agreement with him. If we don't take out these terrorists, we'll be fighting them on our own soil." That statement rang in the room, especially with the dead silence in the air. Everyone remembered all too well what happened on one September morning just two years earlier.
"Well, I think that just about wraps up anything that we need to consider…" the President trailed off. He looked rather annoyed at being upbraided by a mere Vice-Admiral, but he wasn't about to call the JAG. He knew all too well the situation that they were up against. And this Vice-Admiral had personally just stopped a nuke from being launched at DC and now the President was asking him to put himself on the front-line in the war against Al Qaeda to defend the United States from being attacked.
The CNO looked over at the Vice-Admiral. "I'll get in touch with you and with Captain Rabb, about your orders. Be ready to go."
"Thanks, CNO. I'm getting a warm fuzzy." Animal grinned back at Admiral Garner. "Can you make sure it's not a zero-dark thirty start?"
The CNO screwed up his face in a contemplative look, "Perhaps that could be arranged. But you know the needs of the Navy and all that…" he paused in his jocularity, "Just make sure your go-bag's ready to go with you accompanying it. We don't know what the response out of Al Qaeda's going to be and you'll want to have your battle group in place to counter it." All joking aside, the two knew when to stop the joking and get down to brass tacks.
"Aye-aye, sir."
"I trust that you'll be ready to go at a moment's notice, Captain Rabb?"
"Aye-aye, sir." Rabb snapped to attention giving the slight indication of a nod of assent.
The CNO nodded his head in affirmation, "Good" was all he said. And all the junior officers knew that was a dismissal. Their role in the meeting was over. Animal nodded to Maegyn and Harm and the three officers took their leave. Outside, Harm was met by Catherine who had a rather distressed look on her face. She knew what that meeting meant: that a long separation was in the cards for those that came out of the meeting.
She just said simply, "I knew that meeting means you're back at sea." Her calm demeanor belied the inner turmoil that she was feeling knowing that Harm could potentially be in danger. She didn't know what she was going to do without Harm by her side when she gave birth; because Harm could potentially be out in the Persian Gulf for well over six months. But a calming hand on her shoulder caused her to look around to see Maegyn smiling understandingly at her. And without words, Catherine knew that there were people there that she could rely on. And both Maegyn and she understood that they needed to rely on each other as their mates were going to be deployed out in harm's way. Just as her man and his friend, the vice-admiral were going to watch each other's backs to make sure that they got back safely to their respective mates. With that simple gesture; Catherine knew who was going to be there for her when the due date arrived in lieu of Harm.
"Unless there's a pressing need, I'm not going to let you go up." Animal said to Harm, his tone firm and unyielding, "You've got other things to worry about and I don't need an aviator without his head in the game." His countenance brooked no argument: NAVOPs was too dangerous to not be with it when it came to flying off the flat-tops. Harm was too keyed up about potentially missing Catherine's due date to care about the logistics of the situation or whether he would be able to get his hands on the controls of a Super Hornet. Catherine and the baby were all that mattered at this very moment and he would move heaven and earth if possible to make sure that he got back to them safe and his response was just a nod as he knew his superior felt the same way about getting back to Maegyn. "We're backing 3/3 Marines (3rd Battalion, Third Marine Division). They're fighting in Al Anbar and we're flying cover for their operations while the Marine fighter units will be covering the CAS mission – that's about all we know at this point. So once the 2nd Fleet arrives in the Gulf of Oman, we're going to be flying combat TARPS, full load-out. I need you and the boat CO to cover all the bases. You know my modus operandi"
Harm looked over at Animal. He knew what that meant. Animal was going up for the first TARPS mission when they got on station in the Gulf. It was his rule – No commander worth his salt would ask his men to do anything that he wouldn't do himself. So Animal was setting the tone by stating that despite the fact that he wore stars, he was flying that TARPS mission himself, come hell or high water.
In a cave, Helmand Province, Afghanistan
Abdur-Rashid Ahmad sat down on a mat covering the floor of the cave in which the high-commanders of the Al Qaeda were seated, placing his AK-74 to his side. "Mahmud Said Fahd…has been looking for weapons that will strike terror into the forces of the Great Satan, it will however take time and the right weapon. Fahd is getting impatient."
Ahmad Aziz Khoroushi nodded, his left hand stroking his beard as he looked pensively at the other leaders arrayed around him. "That has always been the weakness of the Fahd family; too hasty in their rash decisions. That is what got Sadik killed and Mahmud is showing the same signs. Perhaps we should offer him up to the Americans; make of him a target to keep them from finding out what our plans are."
Abd al-Rashid Tamid Ali looked over at Khoroushi with a measure of respect towards Khoroushi's higher rank within the organization. "Perhaps that may be the wisest course of action. If Mahmud is the focus of the Americans' attention, then they will not be looking for us."
"They have weapons that go into the ground and explode, which means that we are not safe from the Americans' weapons." Abdul Qahhar Akhtar stated as he looked around the room at the seated leaders.
Khoroushi looked at him with raised eyebrow. "Then we dig deeper." Surely the other leaders weren't weak-willed and would continue to fight the Americans, but the lack of confidence in his subordinates was greatly irritating him.
Akhtar continued pensively, "Not only do the Americans and their allies have troops on the ground; they are decimating our forces from the air. Every day, more of our people are killed." He looked around for support from those assembled in the cave. "They drop great bombs which kill many of our fighters. The Russian rockets are useless against them."
Khoroushi was fed up, "Silence, Akhtar. Perhaps your forces need to learn how to aim better then perhaps you will bring down the aircraft that you aim at." He snapped at the Al Qaeda subordinate, glaring at him as a warning to be silent or face consequences. He would not have Akhtar raising the fears of his subordinates as they were in a battle for supremacy in Helmand province. The American forces and their allies were patrolling the hills opposite their positions and further in the back, the Marines had artillery which was persistently targeting the entrance to the Al Qaeda entrenched positions. And periodically American aircraft would move rocks from one place to another courtesy of large bombs which caused dust to rain down in their caves. So everyone was on edge.
Tamid Ali looked at Khoroushi with a silent nod in his direction that he agreed with what Khoroushi had done. Akhtar was a coward and he would need to learn how to be brave against the Americans. It was either that or he would die and that would mean that without his inept leadership, his forces would be handed to a more competent commander. Ali thought that Khoroushi was a competent leader, a former imam, now mullah to the Al Qaeda, a territory commander that oversaw operations against the Americans. This whole war was starting to look much like the war from 1979 to 1989 except that instead of the Shuravi they were fighting the Americans and unlike the nine-year war that the Shuravi slunk away from, tail between their legs; the Americans in their first two years had managed to inflict more casualties on Al Qaeda than the Shuravi had done in nine years. However as far as they were aware, Khoroushi's defensive strategy was sound: the farther in, they dug, the more likely it would be that the only thing that the Americans' earth-digging bombs would do would be to scramble the rocks around the face of the cave entrance. Even their vaunted laser guided bombs did not have a great accuracy rating. Even if the bomb had a minimum error of five meters, they would still hit the rock around the entrance. The Americans could not put a bomb right through the entrance – there was no way that would happen, however it didn't prevent a chill from going up their spines at the thought of a bomb coming through the entrance and blowing up inside the cave structure.
Ali and Khoroushi knew that they did need to dig deeper into the mountain to prevent the pressure wave of an exploding bomb coming through the entrance from ripping their entire tunnel structure to pieces around them and thus their men needed to start digging even further into the hardened rock so they were able to provide protection to the higher ranking Al Qaeda members.
The Pentagon, Washington, DC, 1730hrs EST ( 1030 ZULU)
The four officers walked quietly towards the helipad. Harm pushed Mikey's stroller, getting familiarized with what he'd be doing after Catherine brought the little one into the world. He knew he'd bitten off quite a lot, taking on another man's off-spring as a surrogate father, but it felt right to him, the fact that he would be able to have a relationship based on mutual respect, love and caring for each other. As much as Catherine tried to give off the vibe that she was a tough, no-nonsense CIA lawyer, she really wasn't as tough as she thought she was. She was actually soft-hearted and the callous nature of the intelligence business was really starting to take a toll on her emotionally. Harm knew that despite their rocky start; that she was honest, caring and a loving person who, no matter how long she'd worked for the CIA, had not let their values leach on to hers.
The sun was getting lower but it was still high and bright enough that the sun wouldn't be near the horizon until around 2130hrs. Norfolk was just a short hop away by helo and there was plenty of daylight to burn. It would remain light until they touched skids at Chambers Field (Norfolk Naval Air Station).
"Keep your phone on, Harm…" Animal said. "I'll call once I get the green-light from the CNO, then it's going to be a get your ass down to Oceana soonest." Oceana was the Master Jet Base for the East Coast. A Master Jet Base was a naval air station with permanent basing and home-porting of carrier-based tactical jet squadrons (e.g., fighter, strike fighter, attack), carrier air wings, and the provision of one or more jet-capable naval outlying fields or auxiliary landing fields in relatively close proximity for use in concentrated field carrier landing practice (FCLP). And that was where the entirety of Carrier Air Wing 8 would depart from. They'd have a lot of fun considering how short of notice they had between the callout to the air wing and departure. It certainly had the makings of a goat-fuck operation. But theirs was not to reason why. All Animal knew was that the black-shoes would have to do their best to make flank speed and get their asses out in the Gulf of Oman so that the brown-shoes could start conducting strikes over Afghanistan. At least they would have plenty of ordnance in their magazine – just load'er up and send the Hornet off the pointy end of the boat.
"Aye-aye, sir." Harm replied as the vice-admiral nodded. Harm already knew the vice-admiral was thinking two steps ahead with regards to making sure that they were provisioned and ready to conduct war on the Taliban. As the Battle Group commander, he was tasked with making certain that all operations were conducted in a safe manner or at least as safe as they could make it in a time of war and that they conducted their war in a properly prescribed manner according to the Geneva Convention. It was like the Marquess of Queensberry rules in boxing – no punches below the belt. Hell, war never went the way that the Geneva Convention would like. Though one side would generally follow the Geneva Convention, you could bet dollars to donuts that the other side wouldn't give a shit about following the rules. That was pretty much the reason why war ended up happening in the first place. If the other side did care about rules, they'd be at the negotiating table trying to reason their way out of the conflict.
Harm looked over at Catherine who looked like she'd eaten a lemon, peel and all. It was unfortunate that he just got home from a dangerous mission and then they were going right back out again. Harm would be acting in a dual role as both Animal's chief-of-staff and the on-board senior legal officer (reporting back to RADM Chegwidden or whoever would replace him once the rear-admiral retired and according to what he'd heard from the one-woman grapevine (Legalman Two Coates) in the JAG office, the admiral had been asked, after the fiasco in Paraguay which had thrown a lot of mud on the appearance of Chegwidden's command ability, to quietly retire at the end of the year (in order to save the Navy a lot of embarrassment)). It would mean that the office would require a JAG pro tem until the Pentagon could slot in someone with legal command experience to head the office of the Judge Advocate General.
But those orders, sending Animal back out to sea and telling Harm to join him, were sending Harm out at the worst possible time, leaving poor Catherine high and dry as far as emotional support in her latter months of pregnancy. Animal's wife, Maegyn, who had her hands full taking care of Animal's and Maegyn's own offspring, Mikey, but who'd offered to be a sounding board and a help to Catherine, could only do so much in terms of being around to deal with Catherine's needs. Harm's mind spun at all the problems that could potentially crop up that he wouldn't be around to take care of. But as a naval officer, he was subject to following orders and he had to go where the orders sent him. The only thing that he could thank his lucky stars was that his friend was his commanding officer during the duration of time that he was attached to COMBATGRP2 and Animal, despite his taciturn reputation was compassionate to the needs of the men and women under his command. But even so, it had all the makings of a punishment detail. Of course it had to have come from Vice Admiral McMahon. He wondered just how many skids she greased to manage to get these orders drawn out for both he and Animal to suffer.
Animal was watching his friend and knew that he was having a tough time coming to grips with the news that he would be on deployment when his new wife was pregnant and not being able to be with her. "Gotta compartmentalize, shipmate. We got a job to do." But those tough words were belied by the compassionate look on Animal's face. "Make sure that your affairs are in order." He stated. Harm knew what he meant; making sure that all power of attorney for everything that needed to be done: bills and account access as well as dealing with insurance and other matters, were allowed to be handled by his spouse.
Harm knew that he'd be doing the same in handing off the affairs of the home and the upkeep to Maegyn. Maegyn was even more keenly aware of what needed to be done, as she had been a naval aviator and still kept her hours up. Even though she was reserve Navy, she was still subject to call-up and mother or not; Navy wife or not; there was still the off-chance that she could be given orders to mobilize, grab her flight gear and head back out to sea. Making sure that one's affairs were in order was a painstaking process and a rapid call-up like the one that they were experiencing now, was sure to stretch anyone's patience with the whole pre-deployment procedure process. There was a reason why single navy men and women opted to stay in quarters on-base; it saved the hassle of having to juggle prepayments for home mortgages, car payments, etc. prior to shipping out.
"Maegyn and I have to get back to Norfolk, I'm sure that you and Catherine have plenty of work to do to prepare for your deployment." Animal stated. Harm nodded in response. "OK…like I said, keep your phone on. I'll ring you when we get the call-up."
"Aye-aye, sir." Harm replied as he snapped to attention and brought his right hand up to his officer's cap brim in a salute. Animal leisurely returned the salute as he turned to his wife and nodded.
"I think we're done here…" he stated as Maegyn looked at him and grinned and they both turned to leave, Maegyn's hands on the stroller handles. Harm watched the admiral and his wife (and former wingman), push Mikey's stroller towards the waiting SH-60 Seahawk on the Pentagon's north helipad.
"Again, he's quite the force of nature…isn't he?" Catherine said to Harm as they watched the admiral help his wife with the putting the stroller in the Seahawk cargo net, then strapped themselves into the helo as the sun crept closer to the horizon.
"Yes, he is…" Harm admitted as he looked over at the helo and then went silent as he saluted the helo bearing his friend and his wife ramped up engines as the rotors started spinning. Like the admiral, he was a fixed wing naval aviator and he oft-wondered how these helos managed to get themselves in the air. He was positive that the same rules of physics that applied to a bumblebee being able to fly were the reason for helicopters being able to stay in the air…with one million parts all going in different directions. But he wasn't about to open his mouth about that to any rotor-head; he'd keep that opinion to himself. "I know a lot of his men and women under his command ask their detailers about staying on with the command. Unfortunately some of them have to be pried out in order so that they can progress in their careers and have to be counselled that staying under his command for far longer than necessary is not a situation that can be allowed to continue if they wanted to move ahead and gain rank. And even Vice-Admiral Nakamura has counselled a few of the people who were scared to move out of his command to do so since they needed to move upwards. It's up or out if one doesn't get selected for higher rank and he wants his men and women to succeed in their careers."
Catherine looked impressed, "He must be a good commander to inspire such loyalty in the ranks." The Seahawk had gone light on its landing gear and the increased sound of its lift-off prevented a reply from Harm until the Seahawk had reached an elevation that the sound didn't obscure what he was about to say.
"He is," Harm stated firmly as he looked at Catherine, "It's a rare commander who doesn't let rank go to his head. Animal has always maintained that he will never give an order that he wouldn't follow, ask an aviator to fly a mission that he wouldn't put himself at the top of the list to fly; in fact, he's demonstrated that several times by inking himself on a mission that was too dangerous for other aviators to fly and flown it himself."
Catherine made a note to mentally file that bit of information in the mental rolodex that she had going on in her head. File that under "dedicated to his job", she thought to herself. Harm certainly had an eclectic group of friends within the military and it certainly made sense for her to categorize them in order so that she could have a clear understanding of who it was that she was dealing with. It was that sense of organization that enabled her to be the top-notch lawyer that she was. She liked finding out about other people; all the better to assess their strengths and weaknesses that could potentially be utilized in a courtroom, however, in this case, she was more interested in how Harm viewed them and whether or not that could be a positive situation for the both of them. In this case she was certain of the benefits.
"I think we should head for home and get some rest…" Harm interrupted her internal tactical reverie. Catherine leaned into him for support. The baby had shifted her center of balance and she was rather unsteady on her feet. Harm noted that she had that characteristic pregnant waddle and dressed in that black suit with white blouse, she appeared rather like a penguin but that was an opinion that he kept to himself - he preferred to keep breathing. Pregnant women were known to be rather hostile to critiques on their mobility. He just reached out an arm for her to lean on which, for him, was the wiser course of action to take. When Harm and Catherine reached their vehicles, Harm looked over at her and asked, "Have you eaten?"
"Not recently…" was the reply.
"Well, then I think the first order of business should be to get some food in you, after all." He grinned that wide grin that made Catherine go weak at the knees, "You are eating for two…" Catherine's I'm not impressed smirk back made him grin even wider. "C'mon, my stomach's growling too."
Catherine's glare spoke of dire retribution. "It'd better have some meat on it or you're in trouble, buster." Her glower didn't do much as far as Harm's merriment was concerned; he was barely keeping himself from breaking into a fit of laughter.
"It must be my lot in life…" Harm said, heaving a big sigh as he looked up at the sky, "Everywhere I go, I run into meat-eaters."
"It must be…because I'm hankering for a big juicy burger with all the toppings." Catherine raised an eyebrow as if to dare Harm to continue on his vegetarian crusade; he wasn't one of those militant vegetarians. After all, he certainly was too laid-back to be constantly on everyone's case about eating vegetables.
"Beltway Burgers?" It was Mac's favorite place, but after all that he'd been through with Mac, it certainly wasn't his favorite any more. Frankly, it reminded him of her and he was trying to stay away from all the places that she frequented. He didn't know what had happened. But ever since Paraguay and her and Webb falling into the hands of Sadik, whether it was post-traumatic stress or what; she'd been snippy and short with him bordering on disrespect of a fellow officer. And it had taken the admiral to sit her down and let her know that she was treading a thin line and frankly, he had to order her to get counseling before she would actually do it: stubborn pride and the fact that she'd never been one to show weakness.
It was with some relief in his mind that Catherine suggested some place else and that someplace else was not going to impact his wallet terribly. Evidently Beltway Burger's offerings didn't tempt her much. Perhaps she was more used to the finer things: she was able to enjoy those with the salary that she was making with the Company, however, he was not much of a connoisseur of DC's offerings in terms of fine dining. It was far too expensive for an O-6 in the Navy, let alone the O-5 rank that he had been for the past four years. Fine dining would have to wait. And frankly, an O-8, which for all intents and purposes was the CO's rank in the Judge Advocate General Corps, would end up hard-pressed to enjoy such fare although there'd been noises down the pipeline about making the Judge Advocate General a three-star position in line with other major command positions. With the Company, Catherine was making a six figure salary that would make a four-star envious. Harm knew that her earning potential on the outside of working for the Firm was far above what he'd ever make in the Navy. Harm thought to himself; For the Good of the Service meant more things than civilians understood: take a pay-cut for love of country. Heavy thoughts to be thinking at this point in time but it was at times like these; that the disparity between his income and hers crept into his thoughts. And he was relieved that she suggested a place not much more expensive than your typical fast-food fare.
And to top it all off, Catherine grumbled darkly whilst tapping her right foot impatiently as he stood outside of his car thinking, "So…I'm getting hungry…Let's go…"