Code of Honor

58

Thirty-eight minutes after Calliope made her most recent jump, the KC-135 adjusted course slightly more eastward, in the direction of the Marshall Islands. The tail boom was extended again, and an approaching F-35 Lightning pilot began to speak with the crew of the Stratotanker. At the same time, the aircraft began a series of handshakes via data-link. Calliope instantly calculated the range of the strike fighter, read the list of weapons stores, and then waited to see how much fuel was transferred. She read, but did not care, that this F-35 was piloted by a USMC Major Goodloe “Oh” Schmidt. What did interest her, and cause her to spool up, was that this particular F-35’s onboard radio logs showed it had recently communicated with the USS Makin Island. Chatter from other aircraft going to and from the nearby ship filled the radio.

Calliope understood English commands, but the words were superfluous. Her language was raw data, and right now, the data showed that her target was almost within reach.

A millisecond later, while Major Schmidt’s F-35 Lightning was still in the process of taking on fuel, Calliope jumped, deleting herself from the Stratotanker’s systems, as if she were never there.