Authors: David Capps
The Pentagon, Washington, D.C.
Vice Admiral Billingsly checked on the storm building in the Pacific Ocean as soon as he arrived in his office. It was now officially Tropical Storm Loretta and was moving to the north. China was clearly guiding and building what would certainly become a full-blown hurricane. The prevailing westerly winds would normally push the disturbance toward the coast and the cooler water flowing down from Alaska would ordinarily suck energy out of the system. Neither of those things was happening. China was heating the atmosphere above the counter-clockwise rotating low pressure area while tightly controlling the dip in the jet stream that wrapped the intensifying depression on three sides. The only direction the weather system could move was directly north. The combination of heat and the left-hand circulation of upper level air guaranteed a very violent and devastating outcome.
The Secretary of Defense had called a general staff meeting for 0800 this morning. Billingsly checked his watch. His update from the NRO would have to wait. He walked through the network of halls inside the Pentagon. Because they were all laid out in the basic five-sided pattern with connecting cross-halls at regular locations, it was easy to lose track of exactly where you were in what amounted to an over-sized maze. After a while, every hall started to look like every other hall. Billingsly’s mind was focused on the storm in the Pacific Ocean. When he went to enter the conference room, he found the door locked. He stepped back and checked the room number. He had taken a wrong turn somewhere. He was in the “C” ring. The conference room was in the “D” ring. He hurried, but still entered the meeting several minutes late. The Secretary of Defense glared at him as Billingsly quietly took a seat.
“Because of these factors, the situation with China has become critical,” the Secretary of Defense continued. “I am thus issuing a stand down order for everything having to do with anything Chinese. You are to give Chinese ships and aircraft a wide berth. This applies to civilian as well as military craft and vessels. If they come into your area, you are to move away from them. Do not approach, do not attempt to contact. Any questions?”
“Yes,” the Secretary of the Navy said. “What about other countries? Russia, for example.”
“What exactly do you have in mind?”
“We have a covert intrusion into our Pacific waters by a Russian-built submarine. Currently, two of our subs are tasked with locating this intruder and determining its purpose and actions. Those two subs are currently operating too deep to receive general communications. Eventually they will come up for a communications check. Do you want those two subs specifically notified of the stand down order?”
The Secretary of Defense thought for a moment. “The order applies to anything Chinese. At this time I don’t see a problem with continuing the hunt for a Russian sub intruding into our waters. Let the orders for those two subs stand as they are.”
“What about covert operations?” Billingsly asked.
“All covert operations that involve China or anything with a Chinese interest are hereby ordered to stand down. You are to immediately abort any covert action currently under way if it involves anything Chinese.”
Billingsly didn’t like it, but he nodded in recognition of the order.
This means China gets a free ride to do whatever it wants. This storm is going to get ugly, and then it’s going to get dangerous. Very dangerous.
It was looking less and less like he would actually be able to do anything.
Dolphin Beach, Oregon
Willa felt compelled to go over the evacuation plan again and again in her mind. The one weak part of the plan had been the seniors of Dolphin Beach. Elderly people would have trouble getting out of their homes in time and they would have a hard time walking up the hill to Highway 101. Not that
she
was elderly. At 52 she was still hanging on to middle age; but what about those who were 62, or 72, or into their 80’s or 90’s? Dolphin Beach certainly had its share of older people. How would they fare in an emergency?
Willa began spending her time locating the older people of Dolphin Beach and talking to their younger neighbors, encouraging the younger people to look after the safety of their older neighbors. The effect had been to draw people closer together, which Willa saw as an essential function of community leadership. She had talked extensively about the possibility of the earthquake and tsunami with her friends, all of whom recommended she just stop going over it. They had their evacuation plan done. There wasn’t anything else to do. She needed to let it go.
But she couldn’t. Something in her heart kept bringing her back to the evacuation plan. The video of the destruction of Dolphin beach replayed in her mind every day. She even considered another evacuation practice, but she knew that would only hand the election in November to Frank. It wasn’t his election to win because the people of Dolphin Beach liked her and the local economy was thriving. No, Chief Dolan was right: It was her election to lose. One major screw up and she could become the shortest term mayor in the history of Dolphin Beach.
She knocked on one more door and talked to one more family next door to yet another elderly couple. It was a tedious process, but she felt driven to talk to everyone living next to an elderly person. One more week and she would have talked to everyone.
That evening Willa watched the nightly news and the report of the new storm in the Pacific. Storms that moved up the coast usually weakened as they encountered cooler water in the northern latitudes, but this one was still building. It was now Hurricane Loretta with sustained winds of 80 MPH, and threatened to bring clouds and heavy rain to the area, something that would put a damper on the tourist trade for Dolphin Beach. With every room currently booked, cancellations would give Frank another excuse to attack her job as mayor. You couldn’t control the weather, she knew, but that wouldn’t stop Frank from blaming her for the loss to the Dolphin Beach economy.
Still, there was sunshine and warmth and the tourists were happy. She would just have to wait and see how this storm would affect Dolphin Beach.
U.S.S. Massachusetts, Pacific Ocean, Off the Coast of California
There was a gentle knock on the Captain’s cabin door.
“Enter.”
“It’s been seven hours and still no contact with the ghost sub, Sir,” Silverton said. Jacobs was just buttoning the cuffs on his shirt and was ready to join his crew in the hunt.
“That means our ghost sub turned north instead of south. Bring us to flank speed. We’ve got a lot of catching up to do,” Jacobs said.
“Aye-aye, Sir. Flank speed it is,” Silverton replied.
Over the centuries nautical tradition had built its own language and way of doing things, where floors were decks, walls were bulkheads, the bow was the front of the ship and the stern was the back. Port was the left side of the ship and starboard was the right side. Speed varied from ship to ship with dead slow being the minimum speed and flank being the fastest the ship could travel. Flank also referred to the side of the ship.
“With our pumpjet propulsor system instead of a prop, we aren’t going to make much noise, and we’re going to be coming up on the ghost sub’s baffles, so tell sonar to be extra alert. I don’t want them to know we’re around,” Jacobs said. Turbulence in the water caused by the propeller, or in this case a pumpjet propulsor, obscured the sounds coming from the back of the submarine referred to as the baffles. The sonar dome was placed at the very front of the sub to isolate it from the propulsion unit noise.
“Absolutely, Sir. I get what you told me on my first day as XO. Submarines are a lot like cats – stealthy, quiet and deadly, but they’re both predator and prey. I won’t lose sight of that.”
“You better not,” Jacobs replied. “The day you think you are only a predator and not prey is the day you die, along with the other 159 other souls on this boat.”
The two entered the control center where Silverton issued the new orders for flank speed. That would bring them up to 38 knots with the hope of catching up with the ghost sub. Submarines on patrol periodically turned to the side and stopped to clear their baffles, allowing the flank, or side-mounted sonar arrays to listen for any sound that would indicate they were being followed. For the time being, the
Massachusetts
would forego clearing their baffles in an attempt to catch the ghost sub.
“I’ll take it from here,” Jacobs said quietly. “Go get some sleep. You’re going to need it.”
“Aye-aye, Sir,” Silverton replied. “Captain has the con,” he announced as he left the control center and headed for his cabin.
Communications on a Navy vessel follow a particular protocol, since most of the main sections of the vessel share a common communications system. Anyone using the communication system would call out the name of the department or section he or she wanted to contact, first to get their attention, followed by one’s own department, and then the information or order is given. To minimize miscommunications, orders are repeated back to verify what was heard. Con was short for the control center, and the helm controlled the direction, depth and speed of the submarine.
After six hours of running at flank speed Jacobs issued new orders. “Helm, reduce speed to sixteen knots and bring us up to 500 feet.”
“Sixteen knots and 500 feet, aye-aye, Sir,” the helmsman answered. Eight minutes later the helmsman spoke, “At 500 feet, Sir.”
Jacobs put on his headset. “Sonar, con, what have you got?”
“Con, sonar, sounds of heavy weather topside, three commercial freighters, and eighteen fishing boats, no other threats on the screen, Sir.”
“Very well,” Jacobs replied. “Helm take us down to 1500 feet.”
“Fifteen hundred feet, aye-aye, Sir.”
Ocean water cools off at a significant rate, once the sunlight cannot penetrate deeper. Between the lower temperature and the increasing density created by the weight of the water above, the change creates a layer that modifies the sound-carrying characteristics of the ocean. That layer is known as a thermocline. It acts as a blanket to dampen and reflect sonar pulses, or pings as they are called, from surface ships. This makes finding a submarine much more difficult for a ship on the surface. The reverse also holds true. For a sub
below
the thermocline, it is more difficult to hear surface ships that might be looking it.
Ten minutes later the helmsman announced, “At 1500 feet, Sir.”
“Make your heading 210 degrees and stop to clear baffles,” Jacobs ordered. Clearing baffles was the practice of turning to the right or the left, coming to a complete stop, and using the sensitive side – or flank – mounted hydrophones to listen for anything that may be behind the sub.
“Heading 210 degrees, pulsejet stopped, Sir.”
“Sonar, con, anything?”
“Con, Sonar, nothing around us.”
“Helm, ahead at flank speed, heading 300 degrees.”
Where the hell are you?
Jacobs wondered.
Washington, D.C.
Senator Bechtel met with Bob Schwartz in the coffee shop on H Street.
“You followed the money?”
“Yes, and I think I’ve found your smoking gun,” he said.
“So what is it?” she asked anxiously.
“First let me give you a little background so you have some context for what I’ve found. On the 10
th
of December, 1976, The U.N. General Assembly adopted the U.N. Weather Weapons Treaty, which prohibits modification of the environment for a hostile use in order to eliminate dangers to mankind. The treaty prohibits the use of techniques having widespread, long-lasting or severe effects as the means of destruction. Article two defines Environmental Modification Techniques as any technique for changing, through deliberate manipulation of natural processes, the dynamics, composition or structure of the earth, including its biota, lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere, or of outer space.”
“Okay,” Bechtel said. “Did we sign it?”
“Yep, May 18
th
, 1977.”
“So…”
“The HAARP facility in Gakona, Alaska was allowed as peaceful research.”
“That facility has been phased out. It’s no longer functional,” Bechtel replied. She looked at the expression on Bob’s face. “There’s a big ‘but’ coming, isn’t there?”
“There is,” he replied.
“How much money, and where?” she asked.
“Eighty-five billion over two years was spent for a new facility in Alaska. HAARP had 180 antennas. The new facility is 100 times the size. It’s called the Active Auroral Antenna Array, A4 for short, and it’s a joint operation by the Air Force and the Navy, just as HAARP was, only this time there’s no civilian component.”
She leaned back in her chair. “Your physics guy said the HAARP facility didn’t have enough power to generate an earthquake. Does the new facility have that level of power?”
“By several times over,” Bob replied.
“So the earthquake in China?”
Bob shrugged his shoulders. “No proof.”
But China’s response speaks for itself
, she thought.
They obviously believe we caused the earthquake, and if that’s the case, China’s reaction makes a lot more sense now. My only question is exactly when do they consider the score settled, and what is it going to cost us until it is?
* * *
Senator Elizabeth Bechtel paced an oval around her desk in her office.
So we attacked China in a covert operation. The Chinese believe the earthquake was created by us. We will be attacked in return, but it will look like a natural disaster. But where, and when, and what form of disaster will it be? Someone in this country ordered that attack. Someone carried out that attack and used the A4 facility in Alaska to do it. Who would do that, and why.
She stopped in front of her window and stared at the White House. Then it hit her. There was one person who had to be in the middle of all of it:
Billingsly.