Operation Hail Storm

‎Washington, D.C. ― The White House Situation Room

It’s no secret that the White House has a special high-tech room that’s called the Situation Room. During many critical operations that had been conducted over the years, several presidents had been photographed looking very tense as they watched the military operation play out over live video feeds. The Wiki on the White House Situation Room read, The White House Situation Room is a 5,525-square-foot (513.3 m2)[1] conference room and intelligence management center in the basement of the West Wing of the White House. It is run by the National Security Council staff for the use of the President of the United States and his advisors (including the National Security Advisor, the Homeland Security Advisor and the White House Chief of Staff) to monitor and deal with crises at home and abroad and to conduct secure communications with outside (often overseas) persons. The Situation Room is equipped with secure, advanced communications equipment for the President to maintain command and control of U.S. forces around the world. And everyone knows the Wiki never lies.

Jarret Pepper’s phone played a tune and he looked to see who was calling.

“This is Pepper,” he said.

“Hi Jarret, this is Kara.”

Of course Pepper knew this because of the caller ID, but it was protocol for each caller to announce themselves.

“Are we on a speaker?” Pepper asked.

“No, I’m up on deck and it’s just me. What’s going on there?” Kara asked.

“I’m in the situation room with a dozen others watching and waiting?” Pepper said.

Kara thought that was strange since it was pitch-black in North Korean and therefore there was nothing to watch.

“What are you watching and why are you in the situation room?” Kara asked.

“Not much right now,” Pepper responded. He almost sounded a little sad. “We’re waiting to see a dark spot in your area get much brighter.”

“Well, it won’t be much longer,” Kara said. “Hail has already launched a drone that is flying toward the warehouse right now.”

“That’s good. Do you know the approximate time the strike will happen?” Pepper asked.

Kara thought about all the planning sessions she had attended in Hail’s conference room. There were so many moving parts to this mission that she doubted if she fully understood all the elements. She certainly didn’t want to open a door with Pepper unless she felt fully qualified to walk through it, and at that moment she didn’t feel like getting into the nuts and bolts of the operation.

So instead of a long answer, she decided on, “Mission time is planned around zero-three-hundred, but it’s more complicated than a simple drone strike. Hail wants to get inside and get out without any signs of ever being there.”

“And how the hell does he plan to do that?” Pepper asked.

He asked as if he didn’t believe it was possible. But maybe there was more to it than that. Maybe Pepper thought that she was lying to him.

Kara answered with a constricted response.

“It’s too complicated and without being an expert in all the wizardry that is going on down here, I can tell you that they are using only drones and it appears there is a lot that can go wrong.”

The line was silent for a moment.

Kara said nothing.

Pepper wasn’t talking which meant that Pepper was thinking.

Kara surmised that he was preparing to share some important information with her. Something was going on at the White House. The President’s entire cabinet was staring at a dark spot on a video monitor. She sensed that Hail’s mission wouldn’t garner that sort of attention unless there was another element she was missing.

“I don’t see how this will affect Hail’s mission, but we have developed a backup plan in case he fails,” Pepper confessed.

And to Kara, it sounded like a confession. It sounded like Pepper was telling her a dirty little secret that, given the choice; he would be just as happy to keep to himself. But since others knew, Pepper had decided that he would confess his sin to her as well.

Kara said nothing at first. She was wondering if she even wanted to know the specifics about the backup plan. If Pepper was right and it wouldn’t affect Hail’s primary mission, then why did she even need to know about it? And if she knew, then she would have to decide if she would share it with Hail. That was a lot of drama she didn’t need on her plate right now.

Instead of starting with the how, Kara decided to test the waters with the why.

“Why do you need a backup plan?” She asked.

Pepper appeared to be expecting the how question and took a moment to change gears.

“If we have intelligence on the exact location of all the missile parts and Hail’s mission fails, then we might not get another opportunity to destroy them.”

Kara thought that logic was pretty sound, so she decided to ask the how question.

“How do you plan to do it? A Predator strike?”

Pepper responded almost giddily, “No, none in the area. We are using a single jet fighter. One sortie with one load. It should be more than enough to do the job.”

“I thought we were trying to avoid a US strike on the North Korean target?”

“Not really,” Pepper corrected her. “We are trying to avoid a number of jets hitting a number of warehouses. That’s messy. One jet hitting a single warehouse full of ICBM parts; that might be something that the North Korean’s may not even want to talk about, once it’s over. Regardless of the political fallout or the cost, those missiles have to be destroyed.”

Kara had to ask one more question.

“When is this supposed to happen? What time?”

“Four-hundred-hours your time and of course that’s if Hail doesn’t get the job done before that time.”

If Kara remembered correctly, Hail’s strike was scheduled for three in the morning. Certainly not much wiggle room if Hail’s operation was running late. It didn’t matter one way or another to Kara if Hail blew up the missiles or Washington’s airstrike did the job, but she didn’t know if Hail would feel that same way.

“Is this confidential information or can I share it with Hail?” Kara asked.

Pepper thought for a moment and responded, “If you think Hail needs to know, then you can tell him. Otherwise, what’s the purpose? It’s not like he has people on the ground. Either he gets the job done or we will.”

“Understood,” Kara said.

Pepper added, “We are watching the warehouse on the video, but give me a call if it goes boom so we have verbal confirmation.”

“Will do,” Kara said.

A pause and then Pepper asked, “How are you doing, Kara?”

His question sounded distant and expressionless, like Pepper thought it was his job to ask such questions even though he really didn’t care.

“I’m fine. I will give you a call one way or the other.” Kara said flatly.

“Sound’s good. Keep up the good work. Goodbye,” Pepper said.

Kara said nothing. In the dark, she watched the icons on her phone change as the transmission was terminated. She left the shelter of the massive radioactive containment vessels and walked out on to the running track and rested her arms on the ship’s railing. The night was bright. A full moon was out shining so brightly that Kara thought it resembled a mini sun. Somewhere in the bright night, Queen was on its way to do bad things. At least bad things to the North Koreans. Good things if you were on the other side of the explosions that would soon follow.

The sea was still and except for the air flowing past her from the four-knot forward speed of the ship, there was no wind at all.