Moosehill Militia (Book 1): INFECTED (12 page)

Her orders were to rendezvous with The Expeditionary Strike Group consisting of the USS Bataan, a Wasp-class Amphibious Assault ship with Captain Edward Cherry as acting Commander of the Bataan Expeditionary Strike Group, USS San Antonio a lead ship in the San Antonio Class of Amphibious transport dock and the USS Oak Hill a Harpers Ferry Class dock landing ship. Also in the Amphibious Strike group as escorts are the USS Normandy a Ticonderoga Class guided missile cruiser and two Arleigh Burke class destroyers, the USS Stout and the USS Mahan also the Virginia class Submarines USS John Warner and the USS North Dakota. Various other ships were also ordered to Sortie from Norfolk and other naval bases on the East Coast and join Admiral Rin’s Command.

Aki was aware of the growing tension in the Naval Command, and Government in general. Final orders were supposed to be transmitted in six days and followed to the letter, all would be explained at that time she was told by COMLANTFLT. In the meantime both Battle Groups were taking this opportunity to war game each other as Bataan Expeditionary Strike Group approached.

Aki was aware that whatever was going on was not limited to the Atlantic. Battle Groups out of the West coast and Hawaii were also sortieing into the Pacific, and she did not have the specifics of those groups but imagined the same scenario that they were experiencing. She would learn what was going on soon enough.

“Commodore.” Her Intel officer approached her. “Yes Lieutenant Commander.” She replied while looking out the forward raked windows on her bridge. Commodore Intel has been picking up Signet, Signal intelligence, that other countries are sortieing ships and fleets. The Brits, French, Canadians. Pretty much everyone with a Navy that’s capable of leaving port. Also we are picking up chatter from them about a large Solar Flare that is being predicted for next week. Some of the Intel from foreign sources is saying that wide spread power loss is predicted. Think in terms of and EMP event, an Electromagnetic pulse such as a nuclear detonation would produce.”

“Thank you Lt. Commander,” she responded. Now this makes much more sense and she could prepare the fleet. Aki judged. She now could prepare an Operations Order for the fleet, which she would be in command of, once the two battle groups combined with whatever other ships were sortied from there naval bases. She informed the ship’s Captain, Captain Donovan Sharp that she would be in quarters working on orders for the fleet. He acknowledged. The Commodore left the bridge heading for her quarters.

***

Two hours into her sleep the General Quarters Alarm started clanging and her bedside phone went off too. She picked up her phone first. “Commodore we have an unknown subsurface contact approximately two miles off our port side. Passive towed array sonar picked it up a few minutes ago.” The Captains Bridge informed her.

“Thank you I’ll be on the Flag Bridge in five mikes.” The Commodore replied jumping out of bed and dressing in a working uniform quickly.

On the Flag Bridge, the Commodore walked in and the duty officer yelled, “Attention on deck.” “As you were.” Before anyone could half rise, Commodore Rin replied.

“Speak to me, what’s the bridge saying?” She said to the duty officer.

“Ma’am, the duty officer is saying that the USS Truxtun put out there towed sonar array and almost immediate picked up electrical signals in the fifty hertz range from a subsurface contact. The electrical signals is showing it to be Russian possibly there Akula class. She’s an Attack submarine speed of 35 knots and a depth limit of two thousand feet, she has four 533mm torpedo tubes, with 28 torpedoes and four 650mm torpedo tubes, with 12 torpedoes. The Akula’s also have surface to air missiles in her sail and the Kalibr cruise missiles.”

“Thank you Lieutenant very informative.” She replied.

Commodore Rin picked up her phone to the bridge and spoke with Captain Donovan Sharp.

“Captain what immediate actions are you taken?” she asked him bluntly.

“Ma’am I'm launching two Seahawk antisubmarine helicopters and redeploying both DDG’s between the Bush and the possible target. Both DDG’s will launch helicopters also. They’re all armed with the Mark 46 torpedoes or the Mk-54s.

“If the sub makes any moves we’ll be able to blow it out of the water easy enough.” She also ordered Comms to patch the Truxtun’s CIC to the flag bridge.

Aboard the USS Truxtun Captain Billy Carpenter in CIC in the Command chair had all stations fully maned. The Arleigh Burke class destroyer cruised along at twenty knots his Seahawk anti-submarine helo was ready to launch any minute. They alerted the USS Bush and they were launching Helo’s also.

“Sir, I’m getting a change in aspect, the Doppler shift has the sub turning into us with a blade rate putting her speed at twenty four knots, and also she’s showing less cavitation on her props, possibly going deeper. Much deeper and we could lose her under the deep sound channel. Under a thousand feet she’s going to be hard to maintain contact especially if the sub slows down.” Sonar Tech first class Drew Connors told the Skipper.

“Are you sure of the classification on that sub, it couldn’t be one of our own?” The Captain asked him.

“No way Skipper. The electrical signal itself shows us its eastern block and nuclear, the turbine to blade ratios has it pegged as a Russian Akula class. I’d bet my shorts on it, sir. Sorry didn’t mean that last…”

“That’s okay Connors, I’m just glad you caught it. Comms, send the following message to the Flag. “Actively holding contact on Akula class Russian submarine confidence is high, class identifiers showing. Contact increasing speed and depth changing heading to intercept task force. Intend to engage if contact passes one thousand meters unless otherwise instructed.”

“Get that off ASAP.” He told Comms.

“Yes sir.” Communications replied.

“Range.” The skipper asked.

Drew checked his instruments and in a few seconds. “Twenty seven hundred yards Skipper.” He said.

“Sir, all crew at general quarters. Torpedo crews standing by.” The XO of the Truxtun told the Captain. Captain Carpenter nodded he understood.

“Twenty one hundred yards to target, speed twenty seven knots. Depth around a thousand feet.” Drew called out.

“Helicopters are away from us, and the Roosevelt Sir.” XO notified him.

On board the USS Bush Flag Bridge the crew was tense listening to the drama unfold on the Truxtun. The audio from the CIC was being piped in to the Flag Bridge and the Ships Bridge. Commodore Rin listened just like the rest, why she thought, is that Russian sub for all intent, on an attack run to her task force. The Captain of that sub must be aware there on a suicide run. Sure they might get a torpedo's off but then there dead. She thought. She didn’t want a shooting war with the Russians even though they have been acutely aggressive for the last few years. You’d think Putin had gone crazy or something, running his economy into the ground building up his military to cold war status. No one can figure him out.

She debated with herself, let’s see what he does. Commodore Rin picked up her phone to the bridge. “Captain Order all units to max speed of our slowest unit heading 270 degrees true. ASAP.” She told Captain Sharp. He’s a good Skipper she thought he’s been her Flag Captain for a year and half now and they have learned to operate efficiently together.

On board K-335 the Gepard Akula class III submarine. Captain Yurii Zacharov asked his sonar man.” Have the Americans moved?”

“I believe they are starting to Captain… Yes I see and aspect change and there rpm’s are speeding up indicating a speed increase.” The sonar man stated.

Captain Zacharov leaned back with a small smile. “Good I don’t want them witnessing our destruction of these varmint.” Turn us around and pick up the Chinese where there course would put them now. Have we heard from the Motherland yet?” No Sir, the Communications Officer told him.

Yurii was tense, his last order was to stay at sea, because some kind of virus was mutating people. They suspected it was a Chinese biological attack. All Russian ships were to put to sea. Orders were transmitted in code to him and he suppose any other Russian forces, to engage Chinese forces acting out of their regular patrol routines, if they can do so undetected.

Yurii thought a Chinese sub in the mid-Atlantic was sure out of the ordinary. For that matter the U.S. Carrier Task Force was behaving oddly too. He wondered what in the world was going on.

The K-335 sped onward at twenty five knots in the depths of the Atlantic and didn’t slow down until they were approaching the last known area of the Chinese Type 093 nuclear attack submarine.

Commodore Rin on board the USS Bush Flag Bridge, still listening to the feed from the USS Truxtun’s CIC heard the sonar man Drew Connor inform his Captain that there was another aspect change in the target and the submarine was now on a reverse course leaving their area at twenty five knots, range five thousand yards and increasing.

Strange, acknowledged the Commodore. It’s as if the Russian wanted to be noticed and to move us, and with his reversing course and heading back the way he came… Captain Sharp.” She called on her direct phone to the bridge. “Send one of your Seahawks to listen back along that subs course. Not too close, be discreet. I wonder what else is out there that the Russian didn’t won’t us knowing about.”

Four hours later the Seahawk was back on the flight deck of the Bush and another one was out in the general direction of the Russian listening and acting as a picket. The Sonar specialist went over the taps meticulously and their final conclusion was that the Russians attacked and sunk a possible Chinese type 93 Submarine. Confidence is medium due to the long range of the detection.

Commodore Rin was as puzzled as ever when so informed.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Day-2

Day-2

Mike walked into The Mohan Manor conference room planning what he was going to say in his head. Mac and several others, including Jack Majors and Dave Maddox both police officers in the town of Leicester and former Marine noncoms who now worked for Mike at the Mohan Group as security specialists. In reality they each commanded a company of mechanized infantry. In each company they were allotted thirteen of the M113A2 and four refurbished Hummers and a mixture of an additional SUV’s and trucks as a scout section. There are four M113A2’s per platoon with three platoons. The company commander uses an additional M113A2. The senior Platoon leader acts as the XO, for a total company strength of around one hundred and twenty four plus men. Another company will maintain base security along with regular security forces that are not armored. They will be mobile with Hummers, SUV's and trucks.

“Jack, Dave I want your men ready to go on an hour response time. Everyone’s talking about this Solar Flare. Its being down played in the media, but I have it from good sources in the military that the navy has sortied every ship that was ready to deploy and ground forces are on high alert. These same sources say the President is going to address the nation tomorrow at nine in the morning. How are your company's doing? All their families are in?”

Jack replied. “About thirty percent have family they brought in. Around two hundred and fifty dependents, most of these guys and girls are young enough they don’t have family's yet or in most cases how do they explain to their parents or siblings what’s about to happen or believe it. No, where not going to see an influx of people till the shit hits the fan. Right now we have about twelve hundred on base. We can handle up to five thousand or so and Oddie and your cousin Bob Aucoin are rushing to get those extra Opus factories and living quarter into the ground for back up or whatever you need them for. Bob also has excavation crews working around the clock putting in the inner fence and ditch starting in the more exposed area around the airport on the north side and working their way back this way.” Jack said.

“Mike I know you just got in from Washington talking to some of your friends and sources.” Mac said. “We have things under control everything we planned is in. Our last C-130 that was on a cargo run should be here overnight, so Mohan Air Transportation is on hold until further notice. Most of our pilots are in quarters too, about fifty pilots, with another forty in training. All twenty Huey's are up and capable, the three Blackhawk’s are a go and the three Chinooks are in and also mission capable. All our contacts and friends in the area are on notice and waiting for something to happen. Truthfully I’m surprised we’ve gotten away with everything we’ve done without the Alphabet Soup agency's coming down on our necks.”

“Let’s just say I’ve greased the wheels with some of the politicians and we have been given some time. Plus I think or friend Agent Milton probably has his hands full with other issues now. The higher ups in the Government and Science communities are really worried. By tomorrow morning I want all Command operations moved into the Hill. How’s our resident doctor and nurses doing?” Mike asked. “Doctor Dougie.” Mac laughed. He’s fine, Doctor Douglas hardly seems competent enough. He’s a little confused on why he’s here in an underground bunker, although he was very impressed with the facility's we set up one hundred beds three operating room and all that goes along with it. The nurses are all dependents of employees and seem satisfied enough.” Okay we have a plan in place, let’s button up everything not in use, tighten up security, try and get as many of our people and dependents onto the base. Let’s move people.”