Chapter One - Part Three
Meg's Return (cont.)
1435hrs
PENTAGON
WASHINGTON DC
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I looked at Meg while I addressed the officers inclusively, “You’re well aware that I hate to run away from a fight...” then walked towards the bookshelf on the opposite side of the room. Looking at the brass horse on the shelf, I said, “...but a fight with nuclear weapons is a fight that we cannot win.” They were well aware of that.
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Just then the door opened, “Sir. I’m sorry, I’m late, the meeting with Secretary of State ran a lot longer than I planned.”
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“Just glad that you could join us, Colonel.” I replied still staring at the books on my shelf. “We will be leaving at oh-six-hundred hours from this helopad at the Pentagon, flying a direct route to Andrews, then from there, we will catch a C-17 from here to Abbotsford and then from there, we will convoy by vehicle to Sunset Valley.”
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Colonel Sarah Mackenzie came to the position of attention at the right hand side of Commander Burrows. I about-faced and walked back the way I had come, past Meg, past Harm and Commander Burrows. “It’s a good thing you showed up when you did, Colonel, I would have hated leaving you on the helopad.
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“Yes, sir.” she said staring straight ahead.
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“Ladies and Gentlemen, we’re at the brink of nuclear war. This means that we need to consolidate our forces and move out of the target area.” I stared out the window...wondering about the verdant courtyard that I was seeing out the window of my office. It would all be ashes “The SECNAV has given us our marching orders, we may or may not like those orders, but we will follow them...to the letter.” I paused then turned around to face them; walking towards them, I spoke, “If that means we live like rats in a hole hoping that we’ll be saved by being so far away from the target area, then we will do so.”
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I noticed that Captain Benton had finished up her duties at her computer and was now walking towards Colonel Mackenzie’s right hand side... “Finished setting up the travel plans, Captain?” I asked?
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“Yes, sir. Checked with METARS and had the C-17 bus-drivers file flight plans ADW direct to YXX, sir. We’ll be the only ones on that flight.”
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“Good. The less ears the better.” I looked over solemnly at my subordinate officers; my friends and soon-to-be bunkmates in a place that would hopefully keep us from becoming radioactive ashes strewn all over the landscape. “May God help us...all.”
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And that brought us to the present day...which landed us in the bunker at Sunset Valley awaiting the apocalypse hoping that through the grace of God that we would be saved.
1632 ZULU
SUNSET VALLEY, BC
CANADA
In the words of Vice Admiral Meg Austin
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What Tosh had said back in DC scared the living daylights out of me. I knew that Pinnacle existed, but had never had to give it a second thought. The threat of nuclear annihilation hanging over our heads was always the Sword of Damocles from the time that the Gadget had detonated at 5:32 in the morning at Alamagordo Bombing Range, New Mexico on July 16, 1945 and the countdown to us wiping ourselves off the face of the planet was set into motion.
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I’d always put my career first over anything else...and fancy that it took the threat of nuclear annihilation to make me have second thoughts about pursuing the rest of my career. Whether annihilation came to pass or not, I was starting to think that remaining single for the rest of my life was not something I’d ever hoped to contemplate and it was starting to look more and more unpalatable.
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Tosh and I had always seen each other as colleagues first and foremost. We’d first met when Harm and I were partners at JAG Headquarters and we were doing the due-diligence investigation for Tosh’s Medal of Honor. Just reading his citation was an eye-opening experience. I understood why Tosh had just said that he hated to run from a fight. He never did; but as he said Nuclear Weapons were a no-win situation and that we had to follow SECNAV’s orders. I got the feeling that he’d want to be on the flag bridge of a carrier standing stoically as a 5 MT nuclear warhead detonated decimating his fleet, defiant to the last.
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Seeing Harm in the room was a surprise. And the fact that he was still an O-6 was yet another suprise. It meant that somewhere along the line, he had a misstep. I guess he elected to serve till retirement at his current rank. I knew he probably felt the same jarring cognitive dissonance that I felt at our new disparity in rank. As a Vice-Admiral, I now had greater responsibilities than he did as a senior line officer. And Tosh had asked me to be his XO so now, I wielded power in the bunker as well and that probably wouldn’t go over too well with Harm. Besides...since he was in our direct chain of command, there was no chance with him...including the fact that I outranked him by three stars to his eagle.
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Jennifer Coates...Tosh’s Yeoman was now our Command Master Chief – the chief of enlisted personnel in the bunker and frankly, she wouldn’t have much to do until we started getting survivors when we were able to come out of our bunker. There really was no Navy as such as most of those assets would be vaporized however it can’t be said that the Navy won’t put up a good fight on land.
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But...as far as relationships in the bunker were going to be concerned, would the UCMJ stand the fires of nuclear annihilation? Or would prehistoric urges take over – the urge to procreate and form basic relationships. Were we officers upheld to a code of conduct that wasn’t even tenable in the aftermath of such a horrific war or were we just human beings at the end of all this? Human beings that had the basic urge to be with someone else...and to form a life-bond.
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I guess it all remained to be seen.
