As the sun rose the following morning, I found myself on the roof of the main lab, watching as the tramp steamer Percy slowly navigated the channel out of the atoll and back into open waters for its return run to Hawaii.

Down on the dock, last minute preparations were being made for the Global Explorer to depart on what I believed would be a fruitless exercise, however neither the Professor or Jim Murphy, the Global Explorers Captain disagreed that without proof of my theory being correct, we would be continuing to chase shadows.

None of this helped calm the nervous energy that everyone seemed to be infected with to some degree. And with ocean going operations becoming more frequent than usual combined with the last two operations seeing this new and unknown enemy appearing and causing violent destruction it only added to the nerves.

"You appear to be worried Captain?"

Turning, I see that both Akagi and Kaga have joined me on the roof, "I'm concerned," I admit, "We haven't had a great deal of luck in avoiding the chaos that this enemy is causing in the region."

"You doubt our abilities to crush them?" Kaga asks.

"No," I reply with a shake of my head, "Given the state of the battlefield I passed through when you took on the force that attacked Hawaii, I have no doubts that you can handle what they are throwing at you."

"But still, you are worried," Akagi adds.

"Yes," I say, "How far outnumbered were you that day? How large are their total forces? Where will they strike next? These are some of the questions that are running through my mind, and I can't answer them. I couldn't even begin to guess what they are up to."

"Do you think they will strike again so soon?" Akagi asks.

"I suppose that depends on what they are trying to achieve?" I guess, "If this was like conventional warfare, they would be off somewhere re-grouping after the pounding they took at your hands the other week. However, they appear to have hit back, just as strong, on the other side of the world less than a week later."

"That's not all that uncommon," Kaga states simply, "We operated several large-scale fleets during the early stages of the war in different areas."

"True," I concede, "However all of those fleets were located within the Pacific. It's not like you had a large-scale fleet in the Atlantic at the same time. That is part of what is worrying me the most. We don't know anything about how this enemy acts, where their forces are based or even what their goals are? If I can get answers to this, then maybe we have a chance."

"You said it yourself Captain," Kaga begins, "You have no naval training when it comes to combat. Why does any of that matter to you?"

"Most likely it's the not knowing," I admit, "The researcher in me doesn't like not knowing the answers."

"Are you sure that's all it is?" Kaga asks with a knowing smile.

"Truthfully, I take getting shot for pointing out a fact personally as well," I reply, "So getting back at whoever is responsible for that is certainly enough motivation to keep going."

"I will do anything for your sake Captain," Akagi says with a smile, "No matter the cost."

Unable to muster a reply to this, I simply watch on in silence as the Global Explorer backs away from the dock and turns towards the exit of the atoll and the calm waiting waters of the Pacific Ocean.


Down on the docks almost an hour after the Global Explorer had departed, I find all of the girls waiting. Placing a hastily packed sea bag at my feet, I speak up, "Okay, I know that we didn't have time to do a proper briefing for this, so I'll keep it simple."

"Firstly, Arizona," I continue looking in her direction, "You will be staying here at Midway for this one."

"Seriously," Pensacola pipes up from the back of the group.

"Yes, seriously," I reply, "I know the loss of some major firepower is not great for those of us that are going. However, given the unpredictable nature of the enemy, I cannot leave Midway defenceless."

"Are you expecting the enemy to attack here?" Arizona asks nervously.

"To be honest, I don't know what to expect from the enemy," I answer, "They've certainly shown that they are capable of striking at land-based targets, but they've also shown that they will attack anything that moves on the ocean as well."

"Wasn't this supposed to be a motivational briefing?" Eugen quips with a laugh.

"I'm just stating the facts," I reply, "We are probably just as likely to be attacked here at Midway as we are to be attacked out at sea. Hence the reason for having someone with the capability to shoot back, remain here."

"Besides," I add, "We have more than enough firepower to hold our own based on our last encounter with the enemy. With some luck, we will be in Darwin within two weeks and back here three weeks after that."

"You expect it to take longer to return?" Pensacola asks.

"Yes," I reply, "The barge that Bogue will be towing back from Darwin is only rated for twelve knots. And that's assuming the weather remains calm for the entire voyage."

"And why am I towing this barge back?" Bogue asks.

"Your hull is the best equipped for the role," I answer, "That and if we were to come across the enemy, the loss of airpower from not having your air group up in the air can be off set by both Akagi and Kaga sending additional reserves up."

"Have you decided on our formation and route to pick this barge up?" Eugen asks.

"For the formation, we will travel in a single line, Pensacola will lead, followed by Kaga, then Bogue," I reply, "Eugen, you'll bring up the rear. However, we will probably change the formation at some point, depending on what we encounter."

"As for the route," I continue, "It's more or less a straight run until we clear the Solomon Islands, then after navigating past Papua New Guinea, we turn west until we reach Darwin. We'll take the shortest route possible, whilst staying clear of the usual shipping lanes. Are there any other questions?"

"And who is the flagship for this operation?" Eugen asks.

"I've decided that Kaga will be the flagship," I reply, "The majority of the planning for how we will counter any encounters with the enemy is based on her input. That and between Kaga and Akagi they know the most direct route from here to Australia. I will still be aboard the Prinz Eugen however given as none of the other ships have a way to recharge any of the gear I need to keep in contact with the lab."


Several nights out from Midway, I was reviewing the reports I had the girls write up from the Pearl Harbour Air Raid and subsequent counter attack against the raiding forces. "I still don't see anything here that gives me any insight as to the enemies methods," I mutter aloud putting a report back onto the pile with the others.

"What are you trying to work out?" Kaga asks from the other side of the room.

"I'm reading through the reports from Pearl Harbour, hoping to find something in them that helps answer how the enemy is thinking and planning out their attacks," I answer looking up, "None of it is making any sense though."

"Have you tried to map it out on one of those charts you have?" Kaga asks walking over.

"Not yet," I reply shaking my head, before reaching for the mug of coffee I had brought up from the galley and taking a sip.

Pulling the pile of charts towards me, I scan through them until I find one covering the Hawaiian Islands, "Okay, so starting with Bogue's report first," I begin, "She said that one of her scout planes spotted some of the raiding aircraft here," I comment marking the position on the map, "And she says that they were flying on a south-west course," I finish tracing a line to indicate the flight path.

"That flight path takes them well clear of the main island," Kaga remarks, "Akagi was the first to see the first wave of aircraft above the naval base. And we both agree that they were here flying slightly east of south."

"Something like this?" I ask, tracing another line from this second position.

"Yes," Kaga agrees looking at the chart, "Meaning that they made a course change about here."

I circle the area of the map Kaga indicates, "Okay, so now we know how they arrived over Pearl Harbour, but still not from where."

"When we chased them back, after pushing them away from the harbour, my fighters flew this course," Kaga indicates marking a flight path from a point just outside the main harbour channel to an empty section of ocean to the north-west of Hawaii.

"And the enemy fleet was found here?" I ask.

"Yes," Kaga answers, "We kept them busy with our fighters whilst we launched our dive and torpedo bombers to attack them directly."

I study the various markings on the map for a moment, scratching my head as I tried to make sense of the chart. "What direction were the enemy ships heading when you first saw them?" I finally ask.

"They were heading south," Kaga replies, "However they turned to the west to begin to recover their aircraft."

"Any idea why?" I ask.

"I can't be certain about the enemy aircraft," Kaga begins, "But if they are similar to those that Akagi and I use then they would have to turn into the wind for launch and landing operations."

Turning to the laptop, I bring up the weather reports from the day of the attack. As I scan through the wind speed and direction recordings, I find that during the entire duration of the battle from the point of first contact and in the lead-up, that the wind direction had been blowing in from the west.

"Given the number of aircraft," I say looking up from the screen, "How long do you believe it would have taken to launch all of them?"

"Anywhere from an hour to ninety minutes," Kaga replies, "It would depend on their alert level, skill of the pilots, and weather conditions at the time each aircraft began its take-off run."

Quickly calculating these numbers, I place another mark on the chart and draw a line from it down to the first predicted flight path the enemy may have taken to Pearl Harbour.

As I finish making these marks on the chart, I hear the door leading to the bridge open and close behind me.

"Pensacola has taken over the watch for the night," I hear Akagi say, "There is no change in the weather from the last watch change, however the light has reached a point where it's impossible to conduct air patrols."

"We can only hope it stays this quiet," I comment in reply, "It's certainly helped us make good time." I add, checking our position using the global positioning software running on my laptop.

"I didn't know you were planning an air raid of your own on Pearl Harbour, Captain," Akagi says, looking at the chart in front of me from over my shoulder.

"I'm not," I reply, "This is all the reported sightings of the enemy and possible launch location from the enemy attack the other week."

"You recognize this sister?" Kaga asks with a tilt of her head.

"You should as well," Akagi replies looking across at Kaga, "It's almost the same plan we used for Operation AI."

"How much does this differ from the plans for Operation AI?" I ask.

"Well firstly," Akagi replies slowly, "We were positioned here," she explains tapping the chart, "Much further to the west, so our planes only had to fly south in order to make contact with the island chain before turning towards the target area."

Leaning back in the chair, I look at the chart once more.

"What are you thinking?" Kaga asks.

"Not thinking," I reply, "Realizing that I'm going to need to call in one hell of a huge favour to get some information that might be part of the answer as to what the enemy is currently up to."


The following morning, after breakfast I step out onto the main deck and punch in the number from memory into the satellite phone. Walking to the bow while waiting for the phone to find a signal to dial out.

'Jensen speaking,' a tired voice on the other end of the line says.

"Its Harrison," I say, "Sorry for the late call," I continue looking at my watch and realizing the time difference.

'Its alright,' the Admiral replies, 'I've been in meetings with Washington all day. Where abouts are you right now?'

"We are just entering the Solomon Sea," I reply.

'Any trouble so far?' Jensen asks.

"We haven't seen even so much as a fishing boat," I answer leaning forward on the railing, "But I don't know if that's a good thing or not yet." I add as I watch a squadron of scout aircraft launch from the deck of the Kaga in the near distance.

'I'd take it as a good sign,' Jensen says, 'Latest word going around, the British First Sea Lord is calling for a pre-emptive naval strike against Germany.'

"He does know that if he offers his opinion on why he believes the Germans are responsible for that attack, he's going to be laughed out of the building," I point out.

'He's gone further than that,' Jensen admits, 'Someone leaked the videos to the press. Now every social commentator is calling for answers.'

"Has there been a response from Germany?" I ask.

'Not yet,' Jensen replies, 'However the next sitting of the UN Council is this Friday. And everyone is expecting an answer given how much exposure this story is getting.'

"I'm guessing that the pressure is on for us to find the answers," I say.

'So far, no one knows of your involvement,' Jensen replies, 'But I'm sure that's not why you called.'

"No," I admit, "It's not. I think I've figured out part of the enemy's current strategy. But I need more data that I don't have access to."

'What do you need?' Jensen asks cautiously.

"I need the complete layout of the defence systems for Pearl Harbour," I say, "I need to know what weapons platforms are used, what the detection systems are and how they work, and where they are located."

'Are you insane!' Jensen exclaims, 'I can't give you that.'

"I know it's a lot to ask," I admit, "However I was going through the after-action reports yesterday, trying to figure out what they were up to. And it was pointed out to me that the navigation course the enemy aircraft took was an almost perfect match for the plans the Japanese made when they attacked in 1941."

'And how did you find that out?' Jensen asks.

"Did you forget already," I reply taking a deep breath, "Two members of my fleet were part of that attack."

'Yes, of course. You did mention that before,' Jensen replies after a pause, 'Look, I'll see what I can do. But I won't make any promises.'

"If it helps," I say, "I'm also trying to figure out how they were able to slip past completely undetected by the advanced warning systems."

'It doesn't,' Jensen admits, 'But a lot of others are asking those same questions, so there's a slim chance I can get you some of what you're asking for.'

"There's one more thing," I state.

'Of course, there is,' Jensen says with a sigh.

"I need either the complete after-action reports from the Royal Navy of the attack they faced," I explain, "That, or I need someone in their senior chain of command to get in contact with me and walk me through how they figured out the tactics they were facing."

'That I think I can manage for you,' Jensen confesses, 'The First Sea Lord seems willing to talk to anyone who will listen right now.'


It was several days later, when after waiting for the sun to rise, I catch the first sight of my homeland in over six years. Leaving command of navigating into the harbour to Bogue given we had gone through the charts the night before and she was confident she could reach the deep-water dock we had been informed the barge would be waiting I took the chance to scan the coastline.

"It must be good to see your home again," I hear Graf Spee comment.

"Technically speaking, I'm not home just yet," I answer, "My home is another three thousand kilometres in that direction," I add pointing off into the distance, "But you're right. It is good to see my home country once more. I just didn't expect it to be so soon or under the circumstances we find ourselves in."

"Are you expecting any trouble?" Graf Spee asks.

"Not from anyone in Darwin," I admit, "The Harbour Master is expecting our arrival and has reported that the barge is loaded and waiting for us to take it under tow. As for the enemy, who knows what they have planned."

"Is that why you had the others patrol off shore?" Bogue asks, walking across the flight deck to join us.

"It is," I reply, "The last few days have been far too quiet. We haven't even seen so much as a fishing boat."

"I like it when it's quiet," Bogue states, "Means I can watch more baseball without being disturbed."

"That may be so," I answer, "But we know that somewhere out there is an enemy that is not afraid to attack without warning. I'd like to avoid a repeat of the last time if possible."

We watch on in silence as the harbour slowly comes into view, and the details of the barge moored to the deep-water dock become clearer.

"No wonder the Professor had to get this thing loaded on a barge," I say, "There's no cargo ship afloat that would be capable of unloading that at Midway."

"Did the Professor say why he needed a generator this large?" Bogue asks.

"The lab team back at Midway are having troubles keeping the power levels stable to run both the scanners and the environmentally controlled lab chamber running when they run tests on the cubes we keep finding," I explain, "In ideal conditions the test chambers are kept at a cool twenty-six degrees. When we run the scanners at full power it raises the temperature by roughly ten to twenty degrees."

"That doesn't sound too bad," Bogue comments.

"Those are the normal operating conditions," I answer, "Scanning these cubes, given how dense the material they are constructed from is, combined with the large amounts of data each one seems to contain, the team have reported temperature spikes as high as three hundred degrees."

"Okay, maybe it is bad," Bogue replies.

"If it was only the high temperatures, we wouldn't be too concerned," I admit, "All of the equipment in that lab is the best money can buy. A lot of governments and even private companies contract work out to the Professor despite his reputation as being reckless."

"So, what are the concerns?" Graf Spee asks.

"The power fluctuations caused by the power drain as both the scanners and the environmental controls attempt to do what the programmers are asking are having what some of the teams are calling strange side effects," I explain, "One operator reported a weird black and red glow coming from within the room. Another reported hearing voices despite being alone in the control room, and a third claims to have seen visions of someone in the room."

"And this generator will put a stop to that?" Graf Spee asks.

"Probably not," I admit with a shrug, "We are all in uncharted waters as the say goes. The Professor is betting on this generator being able to produce the required power levels so we can stabilize the flow of power into the lab and not have an uncontrolled runaway where something fails and we can't shut down the equipment to prevent a catastrophic event."

"Do you believe that is possible?" Bogue asks.

"Given what I've seen from this project so far," I reply, "Anything could happen. All I can do is focus on the next logical step and see where that takes us."


"That sure is a strange looking ship you've got there Captain."

Finishing tying off the mooring rope I reply, "I take it you're the Harbour Master for the Port of Darwin?"

"Sure am," the man replies, "Names Tommy Hogg," he adds thrusting a hand out towards me.

Shaking his hand I say, "As for the ship, I take it you've never seen an aircraft carrier before?"

"I've seen those big suckers the Yanks use," Tommy answers, "This thing looks nothing like them though."

"Different class of carrier," I reply, "This one is designed for escort duties."

"And you're using it to tow a barge?" Tommy asks, "Don't make sense to me."

"No other choice," I answer, "If I used any of the other ships available it might scare the locals."

"You know we don't scare that easy here up north," Tommy replies, "Not with the local wildlife we have here."

"Save the tales for the tourists Tommy," I answer, "I know I've probably lost a bit of my accent being surrounded by Americans most of the time, but I call this country home when I'm not working."

"No kidding," Tommy says.

"Born and raised in Sydney," I answer, "And trust me when I say that some of the ships I have out there right now would not exactly entice a warm welcome."

As I say this the radio on my belt buzzes.

Unclipping it, I key the mic, "I hear you. What's up?"

'You've got company in bound,' I hear Kaga report.

"How many? And how far out?" I ask.

'Unknown,' Kaga replies, 'They slipped through our recon screens. We've launched everything we have in response. We are about twenty minutes from reaching the coast.'

"How far behind them are you?" I ask ignoring the strange looks I'm getting from Tommy.

'They are approximately five minutes ahead of us,' Kaga replies.

"Understood," I reply, "Do what you can."

Clipping the radio back to my belt, I yell up to Bogue, "We've got ten minutes to get underway."

"Trouble?" Bogue calls back.

"Kaga reports an unknown number of incoming aircraft," I call back, "Spee I need you to be ready to defend against possible enemy aircraft." I add looking to Graf Spee when she pokes her head over the side.

Turning to Tommy, "If you have access to an Air Raid Siren, I suggest you use it."

"Why?" Tommy asks.

"I believe history is going to repeat itself once more," I answer before turning and sprinting down the dock and racing up the boarding ramp onto the barge.