Tiger's Claw

SKY MASTERS INC. CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS, NORTHERN NEVADA INDUSTRIAL AIRPORT

THAT SAME TIME

“That is great news, Mr. President,” Patrick said. He had returned to Battle Mountain a day earlier to supervise the last of the XB-1s completing refurbishment and preparing to deploy. He was sitting in his office in the main hangar of Sky Masters Inc., which overlooked the final assembly area for the refurbished planes, talking with the president of the United States through his secure subcutaneous transceiver system. Through the large soundproof picture window behind him in his office he could see an XB-1 Excalibur at the head of the line closest to the hangar doors ready to be rolled outside, and an XF-111 SuperVark, a refurbished F-111G Aardvark medium supersonic bomber, was right behind it, still with a small knot of technicians around it finishing details. Like the B-1 bomber, the F-111 bomber was a swing-wing supersonic design, but it was originally intended to operate off aircraft carriers. Finally rejected by the Navy as being too big and cumbersome for carrier duty, the F-111 served an exemplary role in the U.S. Air Force as a medium and strategic bomber and electronic warfare platform, dropping 40 percent of the guided munitions in Operation Desert Storm before being retired shortly thereafter.

“I’ll schedule a meeting with the company president and ask her to go to the board and the shareholders and find out, sir,” Patrick said. “I’m looking at Excalibur number ten just rolling off the line, and we’re putting the finishing touches on the second refurbished XF-111 bomber.”

“That’s the one I was thinking about, the other swing-wing plane, right?”

“Yes, sir,” Patrick said. “It doesn’t have the long legs or payload of the XB-1, but it’s better than anything else in the Pacific right now.”

“Be in a position to put a few together to send out to Guam.”

“Yes, sir,” Patrick said. “I was watching the address by Foreign Minister Tang and General Zu. I guess they really believe they can dictate terms in the South China Sea.”

“Most everyone in the White House seems to think China won’t follow through,” Phoenix said. “I’m not so sure. Pacific Command came up with a plan to fortify the defenses around Guam and our other Pacific bases in the region, and I’ve ordered that implemented as well. With all of China’s saber-rattling going on, I think Congress will come up with the extra money. But no matter how belligerent China seems to be getting, somebody will squawk when we start talking about raiding their piggy bank.”

“If you’d like me to talk with the folks in Congress, sir, let me know,” Patrick said. “I’ve been out of uniform for a while now, but if you think it’ll help, I’ll be there.”

“You’ve been out of uniform but not out of the news, my friend,” the president said. “Everyone around here still winces when they hear your name. But a lot of people still admire and respect you—like me. We might have you come back and do just that.”

“Thank you, sir,” Patrick said. “I’ll even bring one of the Excaliburs. They have a jump seat—we can even offer congressmen and staffers some rides.”

“What about me?” the president asked. “I remember when President Martindale said he wanted to be the first sitting president to go into space. I nearly dropped my teeth when he said that. But I’d like to fly low-level in one of your monstrosities. The First Lady would kill me, but I’d sure like to do it.”

“I can be at Andrews in four hours, sir—just say the word.”

“I think we both have enough work to do without going off on joy rides,” the president said. “But when all this is over with, I might take you up on that. Later.” And the connection was terminated.

“Kylie, ask Dr. Oglethorpe to come and see me,” Patrick called to his assistant. “And get me an appointment with Dr. Kaddiri for as soon as possible.” The first call he made was to Tom Hoffman. “I just spoke with President Phoenix,” he said. “He wants more Excaliburs and maybe even some XF-111 SuperVarks, but he doesn’t have the money and asked if our company can kick in for a few more until they get funding. I’ll have to go to the company board and find out how much money we can get advanced to us for more planes and training until the funds from Washington show.”

“Excellent, General,” Hoffman said. “I’ll call my next group of pilots and techs and get them started. They’ve already been doing academics, so I can have them headed out your way in a few weeks for flight, simulator, and hands-on maintenance training.”

“Bring them out as soon as you can, Tom.”

“Yes, sir!”

While Patrick was speaking to Hoffman, Linus Oglethorpe arrived in Patrick’s office. Oglethorpe was always amazed and amused to watch Patrick talking in midair with no phone or Bluetooth headset in sight. When he was done speaking with Hoffman, Patrick turned to him. “The president wants more Excaliburs and maybe even SuperVarks,” he said. Linus punched the air in triumph. “However, he doesn’t have the money, so I’m going to ask Helen to kick in. Where are we with the next batch of airframes?”

“We’ve received two from AMARG this past week, Patrick,” Linus said. “Both are in the stage-two inspection hangar ready to start detailed structural inspections. One airframe down at Davis-Monthan did not pass the stage-one inspection, and another is questionable, so you may assume we’re down to twenty. The rest have all completed stage-one inspections and are awaiting their train ride up here. We’ve identified forty-three F-111G and FB-111 airframes that are ready for stage-one inspections.”

“Great. I’m going to meet with Helen, hopefully soon, to see if we can get some advanced funds to start, and I’ll let you know when we can start shipping them up here.” Dr. Helen Kaddiri was the longtime president and chairman of the board for Sky Masters Inc. With multiple doctorates in both business and engineering, the exotic, almond-eyed woman from Calcutta, India, started out in the company as one of founder Jonathan Masters’s assistants. Helen’s resentment at having to work for the boyish, immature, free-spirited Jon Masters propelled her to quickly move her way up the corporate ladder just to get away from him, and she eventually became company president. “I don’t want to wait around for Washington to send contracts and money.”

“We shall be like sprinters in the starting blocks at the Olympics, waiting for you to fire the starter’s pistol, old chap,” Linus said excitedly. “We shall be ready!”