by Andy Farman
“Tough shit people, you are all going home, as are myself, the other instructors and the schools staff included”. There were puzzled expressions amongst the students and their instructors, who were at the rear.
“I do not know what is going on so don’t bother to ask. Those of you who require travel warrants, and that will be all of the students, the Duty Student will collect them from the Orderly Room at 0930hrs and distribute them. You will return all Course equipment to the stores, clean, by 1145hrs.” He looked at the puzzled expressions on the faces of all before him, including ‘Fanny M’.
“I want all kit outside ready to go, bedding stripped, sheets, pillow cases and mattress covers laid out, lockers open, wash house and rooms cleaned, ready for inspection by 1415hrs...Do you all understand?” Pausing to look at them all for a second before reminding them there was an officer on parade, Senior Lieutenant Bordenko, and barked.
“Dis…miss!” The students turned to the right and saluted before they hurried away chattering to one another about whatever the hell was going on.
As the instructors began to approach to ask questions Colin called out to a bemused Lt Bordenko to please wait, he told the instructors to wait in the WO and Sgt's Mess where he would brief them on what he did know in ten minutes.
Colin went over to Nikoli Bordenko and saluted.
“Sir, our Ministry of Defence has ordered that you and all the other visiting Russian service personnel with British units be detained prior to repatriation back to Russia. I am to escort you to the Officers Mess where an Officer will accompany you to your room whilst you pack. He will remain with you until your escort arrives from the RMP, that won’t be for a couple of hours’ yet.” Nikoli looked bewildered.
“Does this have any connection with this facility closing, Colin?” After looking about to ensure there was no one in earshot to hear him address an Officer by first name, he led Nikoli toward the Officers Mess.
“Fanny mate, I haven’t heard much more than I told the lads, but I do know that the Queen has signed the War Order which permits the calling up of reservists, so I would have to guess that it’s all connected.” Nikoli was deep in thought for a moment.
“I have a cousin, second cousin actually and we are not too well acquainted. I believe there was bad blood between our Grandmothers” he offered in explanation.
“But he is in London, the deputy military attaché” Nikoli stopped as the Mess came into sight.
“If I could be permitted to telephone the Embassy then perhaps I could tell you more?” Colin smiled and shook his head.
“As it may well be that our countries are going to be at odds I have to say no fucking way. The lines would probably be tapped and I’d get in the shit.” Colin removed his beret before entering the Officers Mess and stood inside the entrance.
“I cannot see it coming to a shooting match, but you take care of yourself sir,” he said earnestly.
“You Para’s think the whole deal is jumping out of an aeroplane, and once you land you stand around looking butch and expecting the press to be there. That’s why Para’s are so piss easy to spot, they are the only items of ‘shrubbery’ presenting their best profile,” he added smiling. It was a favourite dig of his at the airborne brethren and had used it often on Nikoli over the past six weeks. An officer was approaching from the dining room and Nikoli told Colin.
“Fuck off and shag a sheep Sarn’t Major,” smilingly referring to the unofficial nickname other units had for Colin's regiment. They shook hands firmly as Nikoli’s new escort arrived and then went their separate ways.
As Colin made his way toward the WOs and Sgt’s Mess an unmarked car with Army index plates drove past him from the direction of the Guardroom. Inside were a uniformed Royal Military Police captain of the female variety and an RMP staff sergeant. Colin looked at his watch and hoped he would make as good time back to London as they had coming up.
The rest of the morning was a busy one. Not only had the instructors to supervise the student’s cleaning and return of kit to the stores and the hand-over of the accommodation, they had their own to do also.
Colin was having a sandwich and a mug of tea in the Mess at NAAFI break when a Mess waiter passed him a message. Going to the entrance Colin saw an RMP lieutenant and sergeant waiting. Halting at attention before the RMP lieutenant he noticed the officer was looking vexed.
“Sir, company sarn’t major Probert…you sent for me sir?”
“CSM…you escorted Lt Bordenko to the officers Mess after muster parade, is that correct?” he was asked.
“Is there a problem sir?”
The officer ignored the question.
“Did he say anything to you on the way?”
Colin immediately thought the Russian had managed to ring his cousin.
“Sir, he said he wanted to ring the Russian Embassy, his cousin is the deputy military attaché he said. I told him he couldn’t, sir.” As the RMP was still looking troubled, Colin added.
“I’m sure his escort can sort out any queries if you call them.”
“That’s just it CSM,” the lieutenant replied,
“We are his escort!”
Fort Hood, Texas: Same time
The wash bays at Fort Hood were in constant use as the AFVs and other vehicles of the curtailed Exercise ‘Cherokee Lance’ washed away the dirt and grime collected off the Texas countryside.
The smallest self-contained unit in the present make-up of things in a modern western army is the Company or Squadron. Dual redundancy is a fairly modern buzzword that means common sense in reality. In military personnel terms it means that at least two ranks below should be capable of taking over the more senior role. This morning that was in temporary evidence as there was not an officer in sight. Whilst the commissioned officers were being briefed, the warrant and non-commissioned ranks were cracking on with the job, and as usual making a generally better job of it
Officers only stay in one job for a while before moving on, they are the jack of whatever trade they had performed. NCOs on the other hand spent longer in each role; they are the masters at knowing what needs to be done and the short cuts to get there quickest.
Sgt Rebecca Hemmings, REME, stepped back from her armoured recovery vehicle and tossed the bass broom she had been using on those hard to shift stains. Her detachment had replaced two engine packs during the exercise and she had a feeling that the defective items would be needed sooner rather than later. She wanted get the packs into their mobile workshop soonest, before everyone was fallen out to their beds. It would save a couple of hours’ in the long run. She was tightening a section of cam, camouflage net, where the wire tie securing it had come undone when a hand brushed away a lock of hair that had escaped from under her beret.
M/Sgt Bart Kopak had been light heartedly pursuing Becky since the Brits had arrived, with limited success. It was not that Becky didn’t like Bart but she was married to a Petty Officer aboard HMS Cuchullainn, first of the Hero class destroyers. Their married quarters down the road at Catterick camp was frequently absent one of them, but that did not make their marriage any less secure. Becky knew her husband would keep his trousers on in Singapore and Manila during his present voyage and she would do the same. Kopak however, was apparently persistent if nothing else.
“Does Mrs Kopak know you act like this?” Swatting away his hand, she was tired, dirty and in no mood to be tactful. Bart had not meant it to seem a predatory act. He intended to ask her if she wanted to join himself and his buddies at a local watering hole the next day, the errant lock of hair had seemed very becoming. If he hadn’t been so tired himself he would not have allowed the impulse to become action. Before he could explain that the only Mrs Kopak in his immediate family was his mother, there were two thuds behind him as two members of Becky’s section jumped down from their vehicle. Not liking what they had heard in Becky’s angry retort they were prepared to give whoever was responsible a kicking.
Becky saw the look in Bart’s ey
es and realised that he had not intended to cause upset. The arrival of her two soldiers, whose entrance was only lacking capes and underpants worn over blue tights, made her step toward them with both hands raised.
“Whoa guys…just a misunderstanding!” As her would-be rescuers gave Bart warning stares and departed, Becky turned to Bart.
“Look, I am flattered by the attention but I am married, happily, and not interested Bart.”
He looked down at her hands.
“You don’t wear any ring’s Becky.”
She pulled on the cord around her neck and fished out her I.D tags. A tiny velvet bag was strung on the same cord.
“I’m a mechanical engineer Bart, at best they would get damaged and at worst I’d lose a finger,” she explained before tucking them back out of sight.
“I was just going to ask if you and your mates wanted to join my guys and hoist a few tomorrow.” Bart’s use of the rather English term ‘mates’ made her smile. It was rather like a well brought up person trying to say ‘fuck’ for the first time and sound cool.
“If we can get the time we will be there, no promises though and just a pint or two, ok?”
“OK!” Bart replied, “Just a brew or two, see you there”, and left smiling.
HMS Hood, north Pacific: 1037hrs, 27th March
“New contact, bearing 327’, range 14600 yards captain” the sonar department reported. The Hood had been using a fast moving container ship to mask any noise she made on her way north. Two hours’ previously they had come up to periscope depth to investigate a Chinese trawler that was barely making seaway yet not trawling, despite abundant fish nearby. The captain intended to inform the Admiralty tonight that he suspected the innocent looking ship was acting as a covert picket; she had definitely been towing some form of array. Under an awning on her deck had sat what looked very much like a second array being worked on. Photographs taken through the periscope had been examined and showed it looked scarily similar to their own. The submarines captain did not know it but had the picket ship not strayed over a Russian mud bank, uncharted on their Chinese charts, he would never have been alerted to their presence. Striking the bank had damaged the array and the mud churned up by the picket in its recovery of it had clogged its copied Prairie Masker system’s intakes, rendering the trawler detectable.
“Captain, classify new contact as Sierra four, Haizhou class destroyer.” Purchased from Russia where it was known as a Sovremenny class. 4,480 tons, top speed of 32.7 knots, two RBU-1000 ASW launchers, MG335 sonar on the bow and her own ASW helicopter. Although a multi-role surface combat ship she was a sub hunter to be respected thought Hood’s captain.
“New contact bearing 322’, range 17000 yards, Captain”. Looking up at the plot being updated constantly, they had detected the Haizhou, a Chinese warship, departing the Russian Sea of Okhotsk and heading north. By rights this new contact should be either another PLAN vessel or a merchanter.
“Captain, classify new target as Sierra five, Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier, sir.” Curiouser and curiouser thought the captain. “Captain, four new contacts, bearing from 321’ to 333’, mixed ranges, nearest 17400 yards”. The ships were all being masked from the submarine by the island chain of the Kuril’Skiye Ostrova until they emerged from the channel between the two northern most clusters. According to the latest intelligence reports the Kuznetsov was supposed to be in port at Arkhangel.
Picking up the handset beside him he asked them to confirm Sierra fives classification.
“Sir, we double checked before informing you, classification is confirmed sir.” Replacing the receiver he turned to his Number One, “Well bugger me ‘Jimmy the One’” calling his First Lieutenant by the age old ratings nickname.
“Either someone dug a canal from the Barents Sea without telling me or someone has screwed up big time.”
White House situation room: 1900hrs
The same old faces were present from the previous meeting, all looked slightly more rested, however there was more tension present in the air.
The notes passed to the Russian and Chinese Embassy’s had so far not been responded to by either Government. The United States Ambassador in Moscow had gone to the Kremlin to seek an audience with the Russian Premier and been kept waiting for seven hours’. Finally he had been seen by a junior minister and left angered by the man's insulting remarks regarding the American accusations. As there was apparently no hope of resolving the matter quietly a special session of the UN Security Council had been called and the USA had publicly accused the Russian Federation of assisting international terrorists with nuclear weapons. The Russian delegate had sat in defiant silence throughout. Faced with the old cold war response of the Russians and the high tech attack on her intelligence satellites the United States and NATO had gone onto a war footing. This was as much in the hope that the act would bring Russia to its senses as it was to prepare for possible hostilities. It was not to be though as evidently long term subversive operations had that morning seen distinctly unfriendly parties replacing the democratically elected heads of government in the Czech Republic, Rumania, Latvia, Estonia, Hungary and The Ukraine in violent coups. In Poland, Belorussia and Lithuania, fighting was still going on after abortive coup d'état’s in those countries. International news agencies in Russia had been raided and all foreign journalists detained. A roundup of all foreign nationals had begun; however, emails from individuals had made it out with the news and alerted of a mass call up of reservists. There was silence now as the international phone system had been shut down.
The Iron Curtain was again erect.
General Shaw had informed the president of the receipt, via the British Admiralty, of HMS Hood’s contact report. The Kuznetsov accompanied by two Russian cruisers, the Velikiy and Nakhimov, three Haizhou/Sovremenny destroyers, either Russian or Chinese. Two Udaloy destroyers, nine Krival-1 frigates and five at-sea replenishment ships. HMS Hood had been unable to properly identify each ship due to the appearance of an Alfa class Russian hunter killer submarine and at least one suspected diesel boat. At about the same time as the submarines had been detected seaward of the Hood, sonar buoys had started being dropped by aircraft. Although confident that he was undetected and the other fellows were just being cautious, her captain had elected for caution also and slipped back to shadow at a distance but still inside the covert picket ship screen.
The USS Commanche would be in the last known area of the new Chinese carrier in 24hrs. As that was where the ships reported by Hood were also apparently heading, there would be two very capable vessels available for offensive operations if necessary against those two groups. General Shaw went on to add that the Royal Navy also had three surface warships in the Pacific waving the flag for the British armaments industry. The brand new Invincible class small carrier HMS Prince of Wales, with her Harriers, a squadron sized Royal Marine detachment, Merlin helicopters and the new naval variant of the Apache gunship. The equally new multi-role destroyer HMS Cuchullainn and the frigate HMS Malta along with an oiler and replenishment ship. The Admiralty understandably wanted to recall the ships soonest but Washington had requested that they remain in the area for the time being, at least until China could be confirmed as not being actively allied to the Russian aggressive moves. The Admiralty had responded by stating, quite reasonably, that as the US Seventh Fleet was over twice the size as the entire Royal Navy, they were hardly going to appreciably boost the available firepower in the Pacific. They would be sorely needed in the Atlantic if it came to a shooting war. Britain’s PM had predictably over-ruled the Admirals, mistaking largess for statesmanship so the ships were now attached to Seventh Fleet. The Brits were to make all speed to Japan to top up their magazines and generally replenish. They would also join with a US Aegis cruiser and additional destroyer and frigate’s to augment their screen before heading north.
North Korea was reported to be quiet and no sabre rattling present there. Its young leader’s ego was a casualty of recent threa
ts to invade the south and use nuclear weapons, because he had been called on it and lost a lot of face when the US Military had responded with a ‘Are you feeling lucky, punk?’ General Shaw saw no reason to reinforce at this time. In the Pacific, homeland and Europe, the general recommended all forces disperse when possible to minimise pre-emptive damage by the terrorist threat. As yet the London device was the only solid evidence that there were 99 other such weapons out there, but he wanted to minimise risk.
The National Guard had been federalised and the first reservists were reporting in. The federalised merchant shipping was arriving in port and as soon as possible the general wanted to implement the pre-set loading plan of war stores for Europe. Although only at division strength the US forces in Germany still had two armoured divisions and one mechanised divisions worth of pre-positioned equipment and the airlift had begun to move out the troops to man them.
NSA reported that the subversive program at large in their satellite Intel system had been identified, however it appeared to be booby trapped by a virus which would activate if the program were deleted or isolated and bypassed. It could be purged from the system but it would take time. On the positive side, federal warrants had been issued for the apprehension of two NSA employee’s currently at large having failed to turn up for work. The NSA director added ruefully that both were Chinese American citizens and both had access and opportunity to insert the program, which they now believed to have been in operation for the past 28 months. He added that it was a highly sophisticated piece of work that overlaid harmless images in critical areas. They did not yet know which areas of the globe were affected but so far it appeared that only relatively small areas had been disguised by the program to prevent prying eyes from learning what was really going on.