“Mike, wish I could help,” replied the country’s top military spook. “Tell your skipper the cloud cover he sees over the island has been there for three days. It’s been playing havoc with the visual imagery. As you already know, the oblique angles and definition that we need for this makes even the millimeter wave radar imagery unusable. Visual spectrum photography is the only thing that will get us the info that we need. He is going to have to go with what he has or abort the mission.”
“Mike, Jack, this is General Schwartz,” the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs interjected. “What is the estimate if we don’t get the imagery? Do you recommend that we still go or abort?”
Mike O’Flanagan replied, “General, I want to leave that decision to the on-scene commander. I think that we have learned enough times that trying to micro-manage an operation from Pearl or the Pentagon ends up FUBAR. I know the Skipper out there and he is one tenacious son of a bitch. If this mission can be done, he will get it done. On the other hand, he is no fool. If the mission can’t be done or the risks are too high, he is not afraid to say so and high-tail it out of there.”
Jack Pequot chimed in, “I have to agree with Mike. Leave it up to the on-scene commander. NRO will continue to try to get the imagery and pass it to SAN FRANCISCO. On the last KH-11 pass, SIGINT concurred exactly with what the Skipper reported. A low frequency surface search radar and a SHF frequency air search, both located on the mountaintop. No PHOTINT, of course. The next pass is at zero-five-seventeen. Maybe we’ll get lucky then. I know that the SEALs won’t have a picture, but, at least we can tell them what to expect.”
“Thanks Mike, Jack,” growled the General. “We will play it your way. Just make damn sure that this works and that we get out with no egg on our face. Now there are some new developments that we have to discuss.”
He proceeded to explain that things were happening much faster than they had previously expected. CIA resources were talking of delivery with in the next two days. Once the pathogen was off Nusa Funata, it would be almost impossible to contain.
“Mike,” Schwartz concluded, “you had better tell your boy on-scene that he has a job to do by himself. Otherwise we’ll have to vaporize that place, hostages and all.”
21 Jun 2000, 0235LT (20 Jun, 1935Z)
The periscope stand 21MC squawked. Hunter instinctively reached out and grabbed it without taking his eye from the periscope.
It was Chief Tyler. “Skipper, high priority off-line eyes only traffic coming in from SUBPAC. Request you come to radio."
Hunter answered, “Be there in a second, Chief. Set up the off-line crypto. XO, take charge in control. Call me in radio if anything happens. Hope this is the intel update.”
Hunter stepped out of the control room and through the aft door, ducking around the ESGN gyros hanging from the overhead before stepping through the cypher-locked door into the combined radio/ESM space.
In the forward half of the cramped, narrow space the Electronics Technicians were bent over a series of small screens, watching and listening intently for any sign that SAN FRANCISCO was at risk of detection.
The after half of the space was dedicated to radio communications. The bulkheads of the whole space were covered with a multitude of black boxes connected by a myriad of multi-colored wires and cables. Many of the “black boxes” were actually painted red, indicating that the signal being passed through them was encrypted.
Every inch of available space was used. Even the narrow passageway, barely the width of a man’s shoulders, was filled with bench lockers that doubled as both storage for immediately needed parts and manuals as well as seats for the watch-standers.
Hunter stepped into the crowded space and took a seat in front of a small, strangely shaped typewriter like device on a retractable shelf, now fully extended. After entering his special memorized password, he turned to Chief Tyler and said, “Alright Chief, pass the “Eyes Only” message over here.”
The radioman chief pressed a few buttons and the garble of the encrypted message was passed electronically to the little box. Almost immediately a clear text message began to appear from the high-speed printer at the Commander’s feet.
TOP SECRET, GOLDEN DAWN, Special Handling required
EYES-ONLY: CO USS SAN FRANCISCO
From: COMSUBPAC
To: CO, USS SAN FRANCISCO
Subj: Intel Estimate and Mission Tasking
BT
1. Intel Estimate:
1.1. No further photo imagery available beyond what you hold due to heavy cloud cover over objective. SIGINT receipt and analysis for period 0017LT to 0321LT concurs with your estimate.
1.2. Reliable national assets provide following:
1.2.1. Estimate that production completion and delivery within next two days.
1.2.2. Hostages still held under heavy guard at unknown location on island.
1.2.3. Estimate battalion strength resistance with heavy weapons and some armor.
1.2.4. Possible anti-ship and anti-aircraft missile launchers sited at lat: 06:35.151S long: 116:15.145E
1.2.5. No sign of alertment but security forces on high state of readiness. Anticipate that this is due to pending delivery.
2. Revised Mission Tasking:
2.1. Stopping delivery and destruction of product is of highest national priority. Take what ever actions
