“50 Kilometers.”
“Any of the support group have them targeted yet?”
“Not yet, 30 Kilometers.”
“Almost in range of the cannons,” she said to herself.
“20 kilometers.”
Suddenly the noise increased dramatically and the ship shuddered as the cannons began spewing out rounds in hopes of hitting the incoming missiles.
“10 and closing.”
“5.”
“One splashed,” the voice said excitedly.
“Two dow...”
A huge explosion erupted followed almost immediately by a second one. The huge ship shuddered and was almost lifted out of the water. Personnel, planes, and equipment were thrown from the deck. Fire billowed out of two gigantic holes in the ship. The carrier shuddered one more time and started to lose way.
Ordinance began to cook off and secondary explosions could be felt as throughout the ship.
“Admiral DC reports taking on water below the water line near the number one elevator. Fires in decks below. Reactors are off line. Both SCRAMED when the second missile hit. We are dead in the water.”
“I want the escorts to find that damn sub and sink it. Send every helo we have after the son of a bitch. Find it and kill it.”
“Aye Admiral.”
***
“Two hits sir.”
“Damage?”
“Severe. I doubt she will be able to stay afloat.”
“Our situation?”
“They are sending everything they have for us. The first wave should arrive in five minutes.”
“Helos dropping sonic buoys yet?”
“Just getting in position. Probably the first one will enter the water in one minute or less.”
“Alright. Stay on this course. I don’t want to hear as much as a sneeze from anyone,” he ordered.
“I don’t think that will be a problem Skipper,” the Chief of the boat said.
***
“Three-Fiver bogies inbound.”
“Tell them to hit the burners and climb,” Colonel Fox ordered.
“Roger,” the ATC replied.
“Light 'em and hit the ceiling,” the air traffic controller relayed to the pilots.
Colonel Fox had waited to launch his planes until the Truman’s air wing had gotten into formation. It took a considerable amount of wasted fuel before they were finally ready to start their attack. By waiting the extra time, his fighters would have the advantage of being able to engage longer. Once launched he had them fly nap of the earth to keep their presence unknown for as long as possible. Of course the minute they hit the afterburners and started to climb they would no longer be a surprise.
“Bogies at fifty miles and closing.”
“We are CAVU and ready to engage,” the lead pilot reported.
“Roger ceiling and visibility unlimited. You are free to engage any bandits. Good luck and God speed.”
“Roger. Going tactical.”
“Give them hell,” Colonel Fox said, leaning in and pressing the microphone button.
“Will do Colonel.”
It was all dependent on the skill of the pilots at this point. Nothing Fox could do would change the outcome. He flipped on the overhead speaker so he could hear the pilots and they engaged the enemy.
“Lock on.”
“Shit, he is trying for my six.”
“Fox one, fox two.”
Mangler, he is at five, I’m taking the shot as he crosses.”
“Splash one.”
“Heater away.”
“Highboy, jinx left, jinx left.”
“Shit, Icecube’s punching out.”
“Splash one.”
The chatter went on for what seemed like hours but was only a short time in reality. Several of the carrier's aircraft managed to get through the fighting and unload their bombs.
Colonel Fox could feel the ground shaking as the bombs found their targets. He could hear the guns as they strafed the planes and buildings.
“Lots of knife-fights,” the ATC said.
“The F-16s have the advantage in those situations,” the Colonel said.
“Yahoo. Got the sucker,” someone yelled over the speaker.
“Padlock, padlock. Fox one, fox two.”
“Alright. Splash another one.”
Only a few more bombs fell before he could hear the change in his pilots' voices. They were still on the adrenalin high and spooled up but were more controlled now.
“They are bugging out,” came over the speaker.
“Noting but dots,” another added.
“Tell them that they are to RTB and refuel and rearm. They may try again. They are to be on alert 10,” the Colonel said.
“All craft, return to base. Rearm and remain at alert 10,” the air traffic controller told the pilots.
“Roger. RTB, alert 10.”
“Colonel sends a Sierra Hotel.”
“Most excellent.”
CHAPTER FIFTY
Colonel Fox had lost six aircraft. Four pilots had been located and were being picked up. The others were unaccounted for at this time. The carrier group had lost sixteen planes and three others were limping back. Eight of their pilots had been recovered.
The government forces lost the USS Truman when she sank three hours later. Most of the crew who had not been killed in the initial attack had been recovered by the other ships on station.
Despite the efforts of the Anti-Submarine hunters the USS Annapolis SSN 760 had managed to remain undetected and slipped away as the carrier was sinking. The noise of the sinking ship gave them all the cover they needed to slip away.
Damage to the runways was minimal and only a few buildings had been rendered useless. They would have repairs made on the main runway before the night was out. One plane crashed on landing. The pilot had been wounded and just wasn’t able to hang on any longer. Seventeen ground crew had been killed and forty-one injured.
***
It had begun. Americans were officially killing other Americans in an act of war. Lines were being drawn and states and the population in general would soon be forced to choose sides. This was just the first volley.
In 1861, April 12th, at 4:30 a.m. the first shot of the Civil War was fired at Fort Sumter, in South Carolina. For the next four years war raged in America and nearly 680,000 people died in some of the most vicious and bloody fighting in our country's history.
During the first Civil War an average of 600 Americans lost their lives every single day. More Americans died during that time than during World War I, World War II, Vietnam and Korea combined.
Now the nation was poised to fight a second Civil War. The first shots had been fired, American lives had been lost. Many more would follow.
THE SECOND CIVIL WAR
BOOK II
A NATION AT WAR
Marshall W. Huffman did not begin writing until after he retired from teaching. He decided to start with a trilogy based on a cataclysmic event. Marshall’s first trilogy is THE EVENT and consists of THE END, THE BEGINNING, and THE REVELATION. With THE EVENTS success he decided to write a second trilogy that is a frightening look at the events that could lead to THE SECOND CIVIL WAR. It is made up of: Book I – A NATION DIVIDED; BOOK II – A NATION AT WAR; BOOK III – A NATION HEALING.
He has also published a series of books entitled: the ANGIE BARTONI CASE FILES with a central cast of characters. In addition, he has two another series entitled: THE NORRIS FILES with its own set of central characters and THE LOGAN FILES. He enjoys writing mysteries, techno-thrillers, and Sci-Fi. His other Sci-Fi books THE BRINK – DEEP FLIGHT and CLOSE PROXIMITY are intense techno-thrillers with Sci-Fi intertwined. He finished BLACKSTAR and it just went on sale. His latest addition CHIMERA is a look at what could well happen if we don’t stop twisting science in perverted way.
Marshall was born in Bainbridge, Georgia and grew up in Indiana. After spending eight years in the Navy, he attended Ball State University, earni
ng a B.S. degree in Business.
During and after college, he was involved in the restaurant business and spent the next twenty-five years in all types of venues, eventually owing his own fine dining restaurant. After years of long hours, he decided on a career change. He attended Eastern Illinois University earning a MBA. Eastern Illinois University asked him to teach in the hospitality management program. He was recruited from Eastern to Parkland College and soon took over as the Program Director for the Hospitality Program. During his tenure there, he became a chef and had a television show called Cooking around the World with Chef Marshall and taught a series of Gourmet cooking classes for Continuing Education as well.
Professor Huffman retired from teaching along with his wife, Dr. Susan Huffman, to the Tampa Bay Florida area.
You can find his other books under: MARSHALL HUFFMAN at Amazon.com. or CreatSpace under MWHuffman.
A NATION DIVIDED - THE SECOND CIVIL WAR (The Second Civil War - BOOK I 1) Page 19