After Red signed off, HL looked to his coms officer and sighed, having made a decision, "Get me the Embassy back on the coms."
Red was right in the middle of a bone crunching climax from her Pet when HL called back. "Red, Captain of the Truman is back on the line."
Red held her finger up for a few seconds as she pushed through her climax, muttering to herself about his timing, "Yes, HL, what can we assist you with? Over." She responded, slightly out of breath and very frazzled as she winked approvingly to her pet and blew her a kiss.
"Red, Hillibrand here again. Thought it might be worth mentioning you have a Russian naval fleet that has vectored towards you. Over."
"Oh? With hostile intentions you think? Over."
"Our intelligence says they are out to sink you, yes."
With that the CIC AI called out, "Man ye battle stations ye swabbies!" and brought the full might of the Embassy online.
HL continued, "The battle group consists of 5 Project 20385 Russian missile frigates (armed with 8 Zircon mach 9 anti-ship/cruise missiles, 64 SAMs, and 8 torpedo tubes each), five Project 667 diesel-electric submarines (with 10 kalibr class anti-ship missiles and 6 torpedo tubes each), four Project 1164 Atlant cruisers (with 16 P-1000 Vulcan anti-ship supersonic cruise missiles, 64 surface to air missiles, and 10 torpedoes each), and two Project 1155 Udaloy-class destroyers (with 8 anti-ship missiles, 64 SAM missiles, and 8 torpedo launchers each) among other more short range arms. Over"
Red whistled, "Okay, so we are facing up to 170 ship killing missiles with varying ranges out to 1,000 kilometers (555 miles) and a shit load of SAMs. Over."
HL replied, "That is about the size of it. You are already in range of their Zircons and P-1000 anti-ship missiles. We can respond if you are fired upon, but with that many missiles it is going to be difficult to ensure your safety if you are focus fired upon, even with our entire fleet engaging. Over"
Red called out into the air of the bridge, "What do you say, CIC, can we handle them?"
CIC answered, "Me only concern Cap'n Red be thar nuclear capable Zircons. Wes kin knock em out o' the sky but if'n one o' them splodes a nuc' things get dicey. Cap'n Red, if'n ya wanna engage thar arses, I sugest a s'prise attack."
HL heard the AI and exclaimed, "RED! Taking on a whole Russian battle group with just your ship is suicide!"
"CIC calculate the chance of an annihilation of the Russian fleet with zero casualties on our end with an initial surprise attack on those Zircons."
"Cap'n Red! Me figures a 99% chance we sink em all, aargh!"
Red chuckled into her coms with HL, "Just sit back and watch what this baby can do, HL. I strongly suggest you gear up for a massive rescue operation as we are going to sink all eleven surface ships and all five subs. Get your underwater assets out of the way. Don't want a friendly fire incident on our hands. Over."
HL whispered to his coms officer to warn off the sub trailing the Russian fleet, "Red! You can't take on the whole Russian battle group! Over!"
0o0
"Captain! We got flash traffic from the Truman!"
Barnacle Bill took the missive and read it. It torqued his jaw. He had spent the better part of two days getting into a strategic position with the Reds and now he was being ordered to immediately disengage and clear the area.
"Helm! Full stop! Quietly lower us to the bottom, XO."
Helm repeated and acted on the order and the XO had the diving officer slowly open the valves and put them on the sea floor.
"Sonar, Con. Listen for those Russian subs. If any of them are close to us, advise so we can disengage."
"Con, Sonar: Eye Eye, Captain. Ears out looking for subs and will advise if one draws close."
0o0
Red laughed, "Get your airborne surveillance up and recording, HL. This will be something the Defense department will want to see. Out."
"CIC why did you not inform me of the fleet?"
"Sorry, Cap'n Red. There's been no chatter 'bout 'em bein' hostile. HL musta had personal intel on em ah missed. 'At suggests a coms system Cheech 'n Chong needs ta infiltrate. Red? Could yah call me by name? I likes tha name Redbeard."
"What's your battle plan, Redbeard."
Red had a short discussion with the CIC AI and they came up with a very good battle plan. Before they went to war with Russia, however, she had one of the bots contact Harry.
0o0
We had just landed at DC and Izzy's private landing strip and were about to get into our limousines when Cheech called an emergency meeting. "Harry, it seems Red has decided to declare war on a Russian fleet off of the west coast of Cuba that has orders to sink the Embassy."
My eyes got big, "What the fuck! What is the situation, Red?"
"Sorry, Harry, we ran into the Truman and HL gave us a heads up about this Russian battle group having orders to sink us. We could outrun them, but eventually we would have to fight them anyway, so the CIC AI and I have come up with a battle plan that has a 99% chance of destroying the entire fleet with no losses on our end using the element of surprise."
I just shook my head, "So much for staying out of trouble, eh?"
Red replied, "I tried! Damn Russians had to fuck it up!"
"Okay, hash out your battle plan for me and the family."
We went over the battle plan and Chong added, "Redbeard has the exact positions of those subs and the choppers can take them out with under slung torpedoes."
"Redbeard?" I asked.
Chong laughed, "The CIC AI has decided his name is Redbeard the pirate. Says he was inspired by Red's name."
I shook my head and Dad just laughed.