Blackmail

87 PENTAGON

The president took a sip of lukewarm coffee, keeping his eyes fixed on the thirty-foot-diameter screen at the far end of the Current Action Center as red and blue symbols moved slowly across the display. The tension and silence of the first few hours had been replaced by the murmur of quiet conversations, loosened ties, and unbuttoned shirt collars as the men and women around the table monitored the battle’s progress.

A few hours earlier, USS Roosevelt’s air wing, with the assistance of the task force’s combat air patrol, had shot down all Indian aircraft aloft. After refueling and rearming her F/A-18s, Roosevelt had joined forces with the remaining task force aircraft, finishing off Pyotr Velikiy and Kuznetsov. Turning their attention back to the Indian Navy, a one-hundred-plus aircraft assault was en route toward the Indian aircraft carriers, which were retreating rapidly toward shore with their destroyer and frigate escorts. A single strike likely wouldn’t sink the three carriers, but it would bloody their noses.

Now that the outcome of the battle was clear, the president turned to his advisors.

“What’s the next step in the Indian Ocean?” he asked McVeigh.

“We’ll pull the task force back temporarily while we continue repairs on all four carriers. Hopefully we can get Eisenhower and Bush back up without a shipyard visit. We’ve got shipyard tiger teams waiting in Diego Garcia, plus four replacement air wings, stripped from the aircraft carriers in the repair yards, on their way. Once all five carriers are operational and their air wings are at full strength again, we’ll engage the remaining Russian submarines.”

“What’s the status of the two submarine forces?” the president asked.

McVeigh deferred to Admiral Brian Rettman, the Chief of Naval Operations, who answered, “It’s difficult to say this early, as submarines don’t communicate during battle. By doctrine, they stay at optimal search depth and speed until the conflict is over or have previous orders directing them to report in at a specific time.” Admiral Rettman glanced at the clock. “In another two hours, whoever survived will report in, as long as there are no hostile contacts in their operating area.

“As far as the Russian submarines go, it’s also difficult to say. We know how many lightweight and heavyweight torpedoes exploded, but we don’t know which submarines were sunk — ours or theirs — or how many of the lightweight torpedoes were expended on the same target. There haven’t been any subsurface missile attacks against our carriers in the last few hours, so it looks like we’ve sunk all eleven guided missile submarines, either before or after they launched.

“Russian attack submarines continue to probe our ASW defenses, so it looks like there’s a fair number of those left. We have insufficient numbers of MH-60 Romeo helicopters to cover the Bravo sectors, but they’re being augmented by P-8As monitoring via sonobuoy fields they’ve dropped. However, they’re running low on sonobuoys.”

When Admiral Rettman finished, McVeigh followed up. “As I mentioned, we’ll pull the task force back and refit with additional ASW assets and supplies, then engage the remaining Russian attack submarines. Depending on how plan B goes.”

“Are we ready?” the president asked.

“Yes, Mr. President. All we’re waiting for is your authorization.”

The president replied, “Proceed with the next phase.”