Fighting Her Father's War: The FIghting Tomcats

by M. L. Maki

  Lori ‘Sass’ Givens asks, “Didn’t your mom hug you enough?”

  Book glares at her, “Shut up, airman.”

  AD1 Gellar says, “She has a point, what’s your issue with women?”

  Chief White opens the office door and stops, listening.

  Book says, “Look, women have a place in our society. They make meals and they make babies. On a ship they’re little more than a distraction. Hunt is impossible. She was bad enough as a division officer, she’ll be horrible as XO.”

  Gellar, his back to the officer door, says, “Sir, you’re way out of line, and you need to go.”

  Sam walks in from hangar bay 3, carrying an empty duffel bag, and stops.

  Givens says, “Sir, why can’t you just leave it alone? You’ve been riding our Lieutenant since she came on board. She’s alright, and she’s a kick ass pilot. It’s you that has a problem, sir, not her.”

  Book, face red, tenses up and raises a hand, and Gellar grabs it. White steps out from behind Gellar, “Let him go, Bobby.” Then steps close to Book, “Sir, Get. Out. Of. My. Space,” pushing him toward the door.

  Book sees Hunt and stops. Behind him Gellar says, “Sir, don’t make me finish what Swede started.”

  Sam, looking Book in the eyes, “That won’t be necessary, AD1. Lieutenant Carleton, what are you doing here?”

  Seeing Hunt, Gellar tips his ball cap way back on his head, and grins, “Don’t mind him, ma’am, he was just leaving. And Carleton, don’t go away mad, just go away.”

  Book stares at Hunt, his mouth and hands clenched tight, and walks past her as Gellar and Cervella high five.

  Sam turns to White, “What was that all about, Chief?”

  “Something has to be done about Carleton. He was down here trying to stir up trouble. Bobby and I sent him packing.”

  “I see.”

  Gellar says, “Joe asked him if he had mommy problems, and Sass asked him if he needed a hug.”

  She presses her lips together, suppressing a smile, “Okay.”

  White asks,” You down here to clear out your desk?”

  “Yes, I am. Could I have some help, Chief? I’d appreciate it. Oh, and all you miscreants, thank you.” White follows her into the office. She sits down and looks up at him.

  White, leaning against the door jamb says, “A lot to take in, huh?”

  “Yes, yes, it’s a shocker. You know, Chief, I’ve been working with Captain Klindt, right?”

  “Yeah sure, why?”

  “We’re going to need equipment built as soon as possible. I’ve recommended Senior Chief Cassidy to set up the manufacture of new F-14 engines.”

  “A good choice, he helped build them before. No need to apologize to me about it. I’m where I want to be.”

  “Thank you, Chief.”

  “So, when is he going to leave?”

  “Don’t know yet. First, we have to make contact with Admiral Nimitz. I guess, he’ll decide.”

  “You know, his LPO is pretty green. Should we send him Gellar? He’s ready for an anchor.”

  “I’ll think on it. Bobby handles the girls well. The Tomcatters are still all male.” She begins clearing her stuff off the desk and putting it the duffle.

  “Okay, ma’am, but I whip their guy into shape or move ‘Socks’ into the LPO spot. Besides, I need to stick around to train Ensign Walker. You know, for some reason, he thinks he’s in charge.”

  She grins, “If we give them Bobby, I want one of their stars in exchange.”

  “Thatta girl, already thinking like your managing the Yankees.?”

  CHITOSE AIR BASE, JAPAN, 1232, 27 DECEMBER, 1941

  Lt. Kenzo Koizumi climbs stiffly from the staff car. Only the last few miles of the roads on north Honshu were improved. A staff lieutenant salutes, “Your belongings remain in the car. Please, come with me. I am Lt. Nishimura, Colonel Nagasawa’s staff adjutant.” He take Koizumi through the side door of a large concrete hangar, “He wishes for you to see this first.” Nishimura turns a switch and the hangar blazes with light from strange rectangular fixtures. In the center of the hangar is a huge aircraft. It’s angular in design, with two vertical stabilizers and a cavernous engine intake on each side of the cockpit. Beneath the wings hang rockets bigger than any he’s ever seen.

  Koizumi asks, “What is this? It is different from the American planes I fought, but obviously of the same general type?”

  “It is a F-15 Eagle, a jet fighter plane.”

  “With these, we can crush the Americans and destroy their navy. How many do we have?”

  “Forty-two of this type and some of another type, unfortunately, we have few pilots to fly them. It is why you are here.”

  Koizumi bows, “I will bring honor to the Emperor and my family.”

  USS DOLPHIN CONTROL ROOM, 1410, 27 DECEMBER, 1941

  Lt. Rainer and Lt. JG Porter look over a chart. The rhythmic thump of the diesel sounds through the ship as they run on the surface. Porter says, “Sir, I’m not sure the ice cream they sent over is any good. It says it expires July, 1991.”

  “It’s fine, Brian. Those ships are from the future.”

  “Sir, isn’t that impossible?”

  “It used to be impossible for men to sail beneath the sea, but here we are.”

  ADMIRAL’S CONFERENCE ROOM, 1430 27 DECEMBER

  Admiral Ren greets Captain Johnson and Captain Tenzar with a handshake, “That was fine work with the submarine, Captain. Damn fine work. Please, have a seat.” He pushes a call button, “Will, coffee and cookies, please.” The steward comes in with a tray, serves them, and leaves, closing the door. “The brain trust William set up has done very well, however, there’s another situation I feel should not leave this room.”

  Both captains say, “Yes, sir.”

  “We need to discuss the special devices which must not be confirmed or denied.”

  Johnson looks at Tenzar and back to Ren, “We can’t use them without presidential authority, sir. That hasn’t changed.”

  Ren rocks back in his chair, waving his hand, “Of course not. I’m of half of mind to toss them over the side.”

  Johnson says, “If the president found out we did that, there would be hell to pay.”

  “I know, Will. But, if we let everyone know they are available, Tokyo may be ashes. We can’t go down that path again.”

  Tenzar asks, “Who has to know?”

  The three men look at each other, and Ren replies, “We’ll have to tell Roosevelt, anything else would be treason.”

  Johnson says, “I agree. Only him, and brief him in completely on the consequences. Do we have any video or still photography of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?”

  Tenzar answers, “I do. I use them for training.”

  Ren says, “Okay, I’ll have my staff put something together.” He lowers his head for a moment, then looks up, “We could probably end the war in a few minutes over Tokyo, but…” He looks each of them in the eye, “but we have an opportunity do things better than we did in our own history. I’ll not waste this opportunity, gentlemen. I won’t.”

  CHAPTER 33

  BLACK KNIGHT READY ROOM, 1442, 27 DECEMBER, 1941

  Sam is at the ready room door when Thud walks up, “Hey, Spike, did you talk to all the people you were supposed to?”

  “Yeah, just finished with Chief Dobson. He was my last one, you?”

  “Yeah, who’s Chief Dobson?”

  “Power plant chief for the Eightballers, anyway, I have to set up my office.”

  “Oh yeah, congratulations.”

  Sam rolls her eyes and walks in, Thud following.”

  Lt. JG John ‘Gunner” Harden, a black pilot from Chicago says, “Hey, Spike, you’re almost on. Why don’t you sit a bit and watch your gun footage.”

  “What?”

  “They put together a video of all gun camera footage from PI. It’s Swede right now. See his name at the bottom of the screen? They’re doing it by flight rank, so you should be next.”

&n
bsp; “Oh,” she drops her duffle in her new office and comes out to join the others. ‘Johnny’ Walker tosses her a bag of popcorn.

  Gandhi says, “See that maneuver Swede, my back aches just watching it.” The others laugh as they watch Swede roll his F-14 and pull violently out to line up a shot. Then, it shows them rolling and diving to avoid SM-1s.

  Holtz asks, “Was that the Horne?”

  Swede answers, “Yes, sir, nearly a boo-boo.” The film pauses and whites letters on a black background say:

  Friendly fire is not friendly and is not okay.

  It will not be tolerated.

  Admiral Ren

  The last footage shows him shooting down a Kate. Then the screen comes up with the Black Knight logo showing Swede and Gandhi’s kills: 17 air to air, and two destroyers. Sam sitting with Puck thinks, this is a performance review. Oh God, did I fuck anything up? It will all be up there.

  The next screen shows the Black Knight logo and Spike and Puck’s names and flight number. The tape shows the few seconds before and after each kill. Where other pilots were often jerky, wobbling onto their target, the footage from Spike’s plane shows her smoothly pulling into each sight picture, shooting, then pulling through to avoid debris. The room gets quiet. As she fires each missile, they see her rotate and follow each missile in to make sure it hits. After a bit, Johnny says, “This is almost boring. Anyone need more popcorn?” A couple of guys raise their hands and Johnny tosses each a bag.

  Swede leans over to Gandhi, “Damn, she’s good.”

  Hearing him, Sam turns red. Am I that good? I so look up to Swede.

  Then the footage of her diving on the cruiser comes up. They see the tracers reach out and hit the center of the ship. First, there is a small explosion, then a huge one as she pulls out of the dive. The screen pauses as the ship explodes and text appears, “16 rounds of 20mm and by, by cruiser.”

  ENS Tyler ‘Stinky’ Lewis, RIO for Lt. JG Lorne ‘Jedi’ Luke of Knight 916, says loudly, “No fucking way! How the hell did you do that?”

  Puck calmly says, “Know your enemy, or better yet, make friends with Thud.”

  Sam laughs, and Thud turns red. Speedy says, “Thud figured out they use liquid oxygen in their torpedoes.”

  Lewis says, “Damn. Well, next time, let us in on the secrets, okay?”

  The next footage is a destroyer being blown in two the same way. There’s a pause, then, “Third Flight and fleet attack.” It shows her shooting two destroyers in a row with AIM-7 missiles and guns. Next is the attack by the bombers. After a few scenes, it shows her pull up into a tight barrel roll, the gun camera passes Swede’s plane and briefly lines up on a Zero, and a handful of rounds disintegrates the Japanese fighter. Gunner says, “Holy shit, that has to be a sustained nine g’s.”

  Puck says, “My eye balls fell out my asshole.”

  The footage shows her slewing around to miss the debris. Then, the scene repeats in slow motion, pausing as the rounds impact the Zero. Text comes up, “Let’s see this again from another view.” The footage is repeated from the vantage point of a F/A-18 gun camera. It shows clearly the Zero’s attempt to fire on the belly of Swede’s plane and her aggressive maneuver to shoot it down. Swede turns around and looks at her, “Thank you, Sam, for saving my sorry ass.”

  Gandhi says, “Um, our sorry asses.”

  Sam says, “You’re welcome,” thinking, I like these guys. They’re my brothers.

  The footage continues, showing her attacks on the bombers. Then it shows a clear image of the two missiles launched from the USS Horne. Again:

  Friendly fire is not friendly and is not okay.

  It will not be tolerated.

  Admiral Ren

  The footage shows the destruction of the final Kate bomber. Then the Black Knight logo comes up, “Lt. Samantha ‘Spike’ Hunt/Lt. JG Eric ‘Puck’ Hawke – 22 air to air kills, 1 light cruiser, and 3 destroyers; the squadron, air group, and national ace of aces.”

  Sam’s faces turns a deep red and lowers her face into her hands as the squadron erupts in cheers. Puck leans down, “You okay?”

  “Yeah, but did they have to do that?”

  “You are that good.”

  “You are that good, too.”

  Packs says, “XO, you’re making me a believer. That was outstanding.”

  CAG OFFICE

  ‘Book’ Carleton and ‘Dixie’ Lee are watching the same video with the air group staff. Dixie says, “My God, that’s flying.”

  Book says, “She’s just showing off.”

  Dixie turns and looks at him, “You still don’t get it, do you?”

  Book sits up straight, “Yes, sir, I do. I just don’t like it.”

  “You best learn to like it.”

  USS LONG BEACH, CAPTAIN’S CONFERENCE ROOM, 1510, 29 DECEMBER, 1941

  Captain Tenzar and Captain Klindt are going over paperwork and sipping coffee. Tenzar says, “This is going to leave us shorthanded.”

  “I agree, but there just isn’t any other way. Have you found a submariner?”

  “Yes, MMC Keven Holloway He served eleven years in fast attacks, then courtesy of a kidney stone, he came to Long Beach.”

  Klindt says, “Lt. Warren can handle a lot of the organizing, but he isn’t a NAVSEA 08.”

  “I know, it has to be one of us. You want it?”

  “No, not really, you’re welcome to it.”

  Tenzar asks, “If I take it, who will take command here?”

  “Is your XO ready for command?”

  “I don’t want to give it up. You take the Godfather Nuke job.”

  “Klindt says, “What about Rickover?”

  “He’s only a lieutenant commander right now, and besides, do you really want to work for him?”

  “I don’t want to deny you your chance at command, so I guess it’s me,” Klindt sighs.

  Tenzar says, “Rock, paper, scissors?” Loser is NAVSEA-08.”

  “Nah, I got it. Just remember, when you’re out having fun, I’ll be stuck in Washington arguing with congressmen.”

  FLIGHT DECK, CARL VINSON, 300 MILES SOUTH OF HAWAII, 2200, 2 JANUARY 1942

  The SH-3 Sea Knights are already spooling up as the sixteen SEALS cross the flight deck with their gear to board. Chris ‘Broke Dick’ Langley says, “Damn, this is the craziest, swimming in with our dress whites in a bag.”

  HM1 Larry ‘Munchkin’ Shockley, the platoon corpsman, says, “Not as crazy as Korea.”

  ET3 Gerry ‘Meat’ Monahan asks, “What happened in Korea?”

  RM2 Lawrence ‘BJ’ Carbone says, “Our last LT swam us into North Korea by accident. Abdul is a god in comparison.”

  Meat asks, “So, what happened?”

  Larry leans toward him, shouting over the engine and rotor noise, as they take off, “We died, of course.”

  FIVE MILES FROM KAENA POINT, NORTWHEST OF OAHU, 0030, 3 JANUARY, 1942

  The blacked out helos fly a few feet over the dark ocean. The pilot of the lead chopper, CDR David ‘Yankee’ Crocker, watches his altitude closely as his co-pilot, Lt. JG Aron ‘Egg” Eagan, navigates and watches the other instruments. Egg says, “One mile out, open doors.” The flight engineer, AW3 Harry ‘Nuts’ Rodney, begins slapping SEALS on the back. First, they push out a deflated boat from each side, then drop out of the chopper, falling five feet to the ocean below. As the helicopters bank and fly away, the SEAL team inflates their boats, test the engines, then, using hand signals, navigate their way around to the west short of the island.

  THREE MILES NORTHWEST OF OAHU

  The black rubber boats ride very low in the water, each with eight men lying down to keep a low profile. The electric motors make a quiet buzz as they cut through the water. Coming around Ka’ena point, Lt. Issa sees a destroyer escort only a few miles away. Looking through his NOGs, he can see look outs on the deck of the DE, and motions the boats to stop. Moving through tropical water stirs up bioluminescent plankton, and when the motors stop, the glowing green water s
lowly turns black again.

  Once the patrol vessel passes and it’s clear, Issa gives the hand signal to continue. When they reach the surf zone west of Makakilo Ridge, they stop the motors and drift, watching for movement on the rocky shore. Off to the south, the beacon light of EWA Marine Corps Air Station is only a few miles away. Not seeing any movement, they work the boats through the surf onto Kahe beach, and as the boats hit the sand, the SEALS leap out, lifting the boats and carrying them ashore. A short distance in, using trees for cover, they bury the deflated boats. The only interruption a passing truck on the nearby road.

  Then they cross the road in bounds, and start up Makakilo Ridge. On its flank, the team splits up, ENS Russell ‘Triage’ Jeremy taking his team up into the hills to set up a landing zone further north. Lt. Issa leads his team east along the hill. Voices travel at night, so all communication is done by touch and hand signals. No one needs to be told what to do, as this maneuver is straight out of the SEAL playbook.

  After an hour, Issa raises his hand, signaling everyone to stop. He kneels and pulls out a map. BM1 Paul ‘Grunt’ Bruce lays a poncho over himself and Issa, and using a red pin light and compass, they check their position. Light, map, and poncho are put away in under ten seconds. Issa stands, points out their direction, motioning the point man to continue. A bit over an hour later, they leave the hills and enter the Dole plantation on the flats. Here there is very little cover, but it can’t be helped, so they move at a fast pace, walking on field access roads.

  In another hour, they’ve made it to the road connecting Wheeler Army Air Field with Pearl Harbor. A few hundred yards from the road, they kneel and study the situation. It’s still only 0330, but the road is busy. Issa times the traffic, smiling as he sees his guys spread out in a tactical watch position, then he motions them back together. “To much traffic to cross the road and we’re wasting time. Grunt, Munchkin, Broke Dick, and Meat, get changed.”

  Broke Dick asks, “This soon, sir?”

  “Yeah, Broke Dick, we’re going to hitch a ride.”

  The four men strip nude and wash down the water from their canteens. Broke Dick says quietly, “Hey, Meat, will you wash my back?”