Blue Skies

by Ali Vali

  “It’s a miracle you were still single,” Aidan said before she gave in to Berkley’s touch. It was maddeningly slow, but she knew why. Like her, Berkley wanted to commit to memory every moment because there would be no more mornings like this until they returned.

  When it was done Aidan felt like an idiot when she started to cry, but Berkley held her without saying anything. Berkley’s humming in her ear was the last thing she remembered as she dozed off, and as promised, Berkley was there when she woke the second time.

  *

  The next afternoon they met Triton and Mary Beth in a café not far from the Norfolk Naval Station for their last meal on shore. They had planned the lunch so there’d be plenty of time to take a tour of the Jefferson with Aidan as their guide. Berkley enjoyed watching Triton inspect every nook and cranny as he made his way from stem to stern. As he ran his hands along the gray steel of the ship it was easy to see where Aidan had inherited her love of the open water at the helm of something like this.

  “Who’s your backseat for this, Cletus?” Triton asked as they stopped in front of Berkley’s plane.

  “Lieutenant Harvey Whittle, sir. He’s a little green, but I trust him with my ass up there. My father served with his dad years ago, so he comes from good stock as well.”

  “Just make sure you follow the advice I gave my daughter. You get back here in one piece. You owe me a dinner in New Orleans.”

  “What is it with owed meals and your family?” Berkley asked Aidan with a laugh.

  “Maybe it has to do with loving to spend time with you,” Aidan said in a whisper, not wanting any of the crew to overhear her.

  “I’m sure that has to be it.” Berkley smiled as she leaned back against the plane. “When we get back we’ll try our best to get together with my folks. I’m sure my dad will like getting to know you, Admiral.” She pointed to the stairs that would take them back to the deck and led the way up. When Aidan headed for the bridge Berkley put her hand on Triton’s shoulder to stop him. “I wanted to ask you a favor if I could.”

  “Ask away.”

  “Once we sail there won’t be any communications allowed. You might not have met my parents yet, but they know this drill, and I’d like you and your wife, if you’re inclined, to call them and keep in touch. I think my mother especially would appreciate hearing from your wife.”

  “I’d be glad to do that for you, Cletus. It’s what families do when things are tough.”

  “Thank you, sir.” She smiled and didn’t contradict him, and he smiled back as he put another unlit cigar in his mouth. “Now let me deliver you back to Aidan so you and Mrs. Sullivan can spend some time together. We have an hour before they clear the ship of visitors and another hour before we get going.”

  “You just remember to take care of Aidan and get back safe.” From the pocket of his jacket he pulled out something and kept it hidden in his fist. “Like your dad, I served, and my father gave me this before I left on my first tour. The pictures have changed over the years depending on which Sullivan was carrying it, and I thought it was time to put it back in service. For a long time it had a picture of my family in it, then I replaced it with one of Mary Beth, but this one has been my all-time favorite.” He opened his hand and in it sat what appeared to be an old watch.

  “Sir, I couldn’t let you part with that, especially if it’s a family heirloom. Aidan and I aren’t at that point yet.”

  With a press of the release on the side he opened it and Berkley saw it wasn’t a watch but a compass with a place on the other side for a picture. She hadn’t seen many of Aidan’s baby pictures, but the toddler in the picture with her hands on her hips and her head cocked to the side had to be her. “Damn if she couldn’t stop you in your tracks even when she was four. Always quick to steer me in the right direction, even if that was really my job.”

  “I’ve had that pose and that face directed at me on more than one occasion, and you’re right, it’ll stop you cold.”

  With one last look he closed the compass and pressed it into Berkley’s hand. “How about you keep it for a while? I’m positive you’ll take care of it and be proud to hand it off to the next generation. No matter where you think you are in this relationship, I’m betting on you. I see how you look at my daughter, and that means your heart realizes something that your head isn’t ready for.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’m as sure as Aidan. Use it to find your way home.” He opened it again and pointed to the picture. “The compass will point you in the right direction and the picture will remind you of the destination.”

  “Thank you so much, sir. I’ll take good care of it.”

  “Brought me luck when it counted. I’m sure it still has a lot of luck still left in it, and the salt in my blood tells me you’re going to need it.”

  “It’s going to be a little tricky, but I guess it’s time for the Navy to reap the benefit of the millions they’ve poured into my training,” Berkley said, slapping him on the back. “Come on. There’s a captain around here who I’m sure wants to give her dad a hug before she takes this thing out for a spin.”

  “You know something, Cletus?”

  “What’s that, sir?”

  “Aidan was right about you.”

  She laughed and couldn’t begin to imagine what he meant. “I wish that I had time to play twenty questions with you, so you’re going to have to explain that to me.”

  “When she first met you and she’d called home, she couldn’t stop talking about you.” Triton put his hand on her shoulder and Berkley stopped walking. “I finally called her on it, and she told me that no matter what came to pass I was really going to like you. The reason she said was because we’re a lot alike. I’ll have to get to know you better to see if that’s true, but she was dead on about the first part.”

  “The main part of us having something in common is we both care about her.”

  “I can see that, so make sure she sticks to her guns this time around.”

  “Aye aye, sir.”

  The bridge was fully staffed and they were at their stations getting ready for Aidan to order them away. For the moment, everyone was in their dress whites getting ready for the ceremony that the Secretary of the Navy was there to preside over. The Jefferson was the Navy’s future, and her captain was the woman who would sail them to it.

  Berkley stood back as Aidan bid her parents good-bye and accepted a hug from them before they disembarked. As the dignitaries started their long-winded speeches, she ducked back into the bridge and called her house.

  “Hi, Dad.”

  “Cletus, how’s it going?”

  “The talking heads have started and this is my last chance to call you. How is Mom holding up?”

  “She’s doing fine and talking with your sisters, so don’t worry about us. You have enough on your mind so keep it clear of things that are under control.”

  She laughed at her father’s ability to compartmentalize just about everything in his life. “I’ll try my best. Tell them that I love them and I’ll see them soon. I hate to cut this short, but Aidan’s giving me the look that means I have to go.”

  “I love you, Cletus, and you keep your ass in the air, you hear me?”

  “I hear you, and I love you too.”

  The ceremonies lasted about an hour and then the lines were cast off and Aidan sounded excited as she ordered the engines started. With the speed they were going to maintain, they’d be in position in twelve days. It could have been faster, but their orders were to be there on time but not to seem over-anxious. As soon as they were clear of the base everyone took the opportunity to change into their standard uniform so they could start their duties.

  Berkley called an hour-long meeting with her pilots to review again the terrain they’d be flying over and how best to approach their island targets. When they were done she took advantage of the clear day to take a jog with Harvey on deck. They had to work as a team and she wanted to relax him so that he’d b
e at the top of his game when she needed it the most.

  “Are you sure about this?” Harvey asked as they headed back to the mess hall.

  “Sure about what?”

  “That you want me with you on this. This is some serious shit and I’m not exactly the best qualified.”

  She stopped him while they were still outside and leaned against the rail so she could enjoy the smell of the salt water as long as she could before heading back to work. “Why do you think you landed at the Top Gun school?”

  “My father called in a few favors and they found me a slot. It’s not because I’m the best. I couldn’t fly and Dad thought this would be the next best thing for me to have some sort of aviation career.”

  “Let me let you in on a little secret,” she said as she moved closer to him. “No matter how much stroke your father thinks he has, no one just gets in because their old man makes a call. After you met Will you should’ve figured that out. You got in because of merit, but if you have one doubt then you have a couple of days to figure it out. If you flinch, it’s not just my ass you knock out of the sky, but yours as well, and I don’t know about you, but I really don’t want that to happen.”

  “I’m sure, ma’am. I just wanted you to be sure.”

  “If I had doubts about you, Whittle, I’d have left you back in Nevada. Just keep to your schedule so you get plenty of rest and everything will be fine. Whatever you do, don’t let someone like Blazer get into your head.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Off the Northwest Coast of North Korea

  “You are cleared for landing,” the man in the tower radioed to Jin as she circled the airstrip they’d built on shore close to where the plants were located. Her partner Yong was right that the area was remote, and from the air Jin could see where’d they’d conducted some of their underground testing. There were already signs of tree die-off.

  Yong radioed back since Jin was still studying the terrain from the cockpit. They made four more passes before she headed to the airstrip that had been finished the week before, complete with hangar. Until they were ordered elsewhere, they’d be working from there every day and living in the barracks set up right on the beach.

  “Welcome, Captain Umeko,” the ground crew member who’d rolled the ladder to her plane said as she opened the cockpit glass. The Russian fighter jets they flew were older, but smaller and faster than what the Americans had in their arsenal.

  Jin just nodded and stepped out to cold temperatures from the sea breeze. “Have our supplies arrived?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He bowed and almost appeared to be expecting a blow. “My humble apologies, ma’am, but we’ve had to place you and Lieutenant Nam in the same room due to accommodation shortages with the extra personnel the general has sent to the area.”

  “I guess we’ll have to make do then, won’t we?” Jin said as she glanced back to Yong. “Have the others arrived?”

  “Not for two days. General Lee left word that you’re to use the time to set up the schedules and flight patterns you’ll be utilizing.”

  Jin got into the front seat of the waiting jeep and wished not for the first time that her father would stay out of her life for good. “Of course he did. General Lee is nothing if not thorough.”

  The available quarters were as utilitarian as the government could make them, with two small cots and no windows. Thankfully, there was a small bathroom in the room so they wouldn’t have to share the communal showers down the hall. It was designed for sleep and hygiene and nothing more. To spend idle time here would be to lose one’s mind, and that’s how the Great Leader wanted it. Idle time was for powers like the evil Americans, not for the never-ending revolution.

  “Think they bugged the room?” Yong asked.

  “Want to chance it?” Jin asked in a way that put an end to any romantic notions. “This is a test from the general, so we have to show some restraint and do our duty to the best of our ability. If we pull this off and the Americans are dumb enough to try something, we’ll finally be out from his heel.”

  “We could be here for months, though.” Yong unpacked her bag and put her things away before starting on Jin’s.

  “I’m not made of stone, darling. We’ll manage something, just not here.” She whispered right into Yong’s ear just in case her father had put any kind of surveillance in the room. “Now that we’re settled let’s get back to the airstrip and get things going. I want to be prepared for whatever is coming.”

  “No one is in your league, so I wouldn’t worry about it,” Yong was quick to say.

  Jin laughed at the decisive defense and thought that while Yong was loyal in her bed, she still had a lot of the revolution’s ideology in her head. “If I thought like that I would’ve given this up by now. If they come they’ll send up some worthy adversaries, so we have our hands full, I’m sure.”

  And Jin hoped the chance would come. One of the things her father had taught her that had been worth retaining was to think ahead so that you stayed a step ahead of your opponents. If she could defeat the Americans on a stage where the world was watching, it would be the opportunity to escape from under her father’s heel, but she couldn’t be that lucky.

  “If there’s one person I agree with in all this, it’s Pom Su. The Americans wouldn’t dare carry out any kind of military option against us after they went into Iraq with hardly any backing. Considering the obstacles their military already faces because of that conflict, it would be suicidal to try.”

  The temperature had dropped as the sun started to set, and Jin pulled her uniform coat closed as they stepped outside. “You read the reports just like I did, and China and Japan, if pushed, will not side with our right to do what the Great Leader Kim Jong Il is doing.”

  “Jin, if anyone hears you say that—” Yong started.

  “I’ll be court-martialed?” Jin asked with a great deal of sarcasm. It wasn’t the first time Yong had given her such a warning, and it always made her think of something else her father told her constantly when she was going through her training. “Never trust anyone, no matter how close to you they seem.” It was the only other thing of any value he’d ever told her. “Are you the one who’ll tie my noose, darling?”

  “I would never betray you. You must realize that by now.”

  “Then take my grandfather’s wisdom to heart and think for yourself for once. Just because the government says something is so, does not make it fact. I think that holds true for any government out there, but more so here. Continue believing all the hype and it’ll get you far in the military, but you’ll only be a part of continuing the lies.”

  “I just worry about you and your beliefs. If you continue to defy so openly where you can be overheard, I’m afraid that they’ll take you somewhere that even your father won’t be able to find you.”

  With a pat to Yong’s back, Jin continued toward the jeep. “Given a choice, I’ll live my life the way the man who raised me taught me to live it, and his name wasn’t Pak Kwang Lee. My service isn’t a question. I’ll do that gladly, but my mind and heart will never belong to anyone but me. And I’ll share them with no one I think unworthy of them. If you can’t accept that, it’s best you tell me now before we waste any more time.”

  “Just like in the plane, I’ll always have your back, so you needn’t worry about me.”

  With her father’s warning still ringing in her head, Jin nodded. “Let’s just get started on what we were sent here to do.”

  *

  Onboard the USS Jefferson

  “Uh, now I remember why I detest boats,” Berkley said as she stretched for their usual afternoon run.

  The Jefferson was sailing through some rough seas that were common in the late summer and early autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Harvey was standing next to her, and the rest of the pilots were making their way along the corridor. They had decided to join Berkley and Harvey to pass the time after their daily meetings since there’d be no flying until they reached their de
stination.

  “If any of you falls off this damn thing, I’m not fishing you out,” Berkley warned as they stepped outside to a driving rain.

  “Explain to me again why we’re doing this here instead of the state-of-the-art gym they have inside,” Blazer said as he started blinking furiously.

  “Because we’re Navy men, Morris,” Killer explained with a roll of his eyes. “Getting wet should be essential to your everyday activities. Or did you miss that part of the program at the Academy?”

  “Quit your yapping and get running,” Berkley ordered.

  From the bridge Aidan put her binoculars down and shook her head at the crazy people on her deck. They skirted weather systems like the one they were in the middle of whenever possible, but with their tight timeline she had no choice but to sail through the worst of it.

  They’d been sailing for over twenty days, and watching Berkley run was one of the few times she’d actually seen her aside from meals. But even then the ace of naval aviation was surrounded by the other pilots on board trying to get a few minutes of Berkley’s time to talk and to ask her advice.

  “She certainly is easy to spot in a crowd,” Lieutenant Erika Gibson commented as she stood next to Aidan. “I haven’t gotten a feel for her, though.”

  “Do you think you need to?”

  “Permission to speak freely, ma’am.” She waited for Aidan to nod, which she did. “When you hear about military legends and then you actually get to meet them, they usually aren’t the shining stars the stories make them out to be. With the gravity of what we’re facing, I think we should’ve recruited someone with more combat experience than Commander Levine. There’s a long list of pilots with hundreds of hours over Iraq that we could have gone with.”

  “Don’t you mean I should have recruited someone better? Thank you for sharing your thoughts, but this might be a subject we’ll agree to disagree on. The commander has my full confidence, and not to slight the others you mentioned, but most of them learned their skills from the officer you see running out there. She’d probably argue with you about the legend title, but this is a different mission than what the pilots are doing in Iraq and Berkley’s more than qualified to carry it out.” She pointed out the window as the groups made another pass under the bridge. “She’s done more for the Navy than fly in Fallon, so I’m happy with my choice. If I didn’t feel that way I would’ve gone elsewhere.”