Code of Honor

65

Major Schmidt took off first, light on fuel. It was an hour before sunset, cooling slightly. Makin Island had a helpful fifteen-knot wind on her bow, and was making an additional twenty-two. These factors, combined with the airplane’s lift fan, helped Schmidt into the air with the weight of his weapons stores before he fell off the end of the eight-hundred-foot LHD. The mission was a short one, so he’d have enough fuel to perform a vertical landing. There was no other choice.

Major Black took off next with even less fuel on board to make up for the 2,500 pounds of the long-range anti-ship missile in the weapons bay of his aircraft.

Calliope located the AGM-158C LRASM as soon as she had access to Skeet Black’s weapons-stores computer. The missile registered as present in the weapons bay, but she was not able to make the jump until the aircraft actively communicated with the missile at the time of launch. The difference between that final jump and all her previous jumps prior to hitching a ride on Major Schmidt’s F-35 was that this time, Calliope did not delete herself. Her main target was the LRASM, but in order to complete that task unimpeded, she would still have tasks to complete on the jets.