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.
Barns spoke up, "Hit the subs first with low insertions of those torpedoes. Assign two to each sub. As advanced as those new helos and torps are they will never see the helicopters coming and the torpedoes will not miss. Then you only have to worry about the surface ships."
Redbeard acknowledged and pulled in the choppers to land while Red reduced speed for open air, top deck operations.
One of the LTs then looked at the boys, "Keep us informed, please."
0o0
The onboard bots were already working with the maintenance personnel to haul ten of the ship's compliment of advanced torpedoes up to the top deck and affix them to the undercarriages of the helicopters. The attack helos got two each and the transport helo got six. This load out maximized both systems and Redbeard was updating their software real time to direct and synchronize their attacks.
When they were launched by the helicopters, their onboard systems would then be on their own, following the battle plan laid out by Redbeard but able to make adjustments on the fly should the plans go awry.
During this time, the Embassy maintained course, giving no signs the Russian fleet could interpret as signals the ship was gearing up for battle. The helicopters launched and vectored to preset locations to release the torpedoes so each submarine would be hit near simultaneously.
The choppers hovered just feet above the waves as they released their futuristic weapons. The torpedoes barely making a sound as they entered the water and made their way towards where the enemy subs would be.
The helicopters released their attachment harnesses into the sea to regain full stealth and slowly rose up to 30,000 feet which gave them the tactical advantage they needed to coordinate their surprise attack.
0o0
Redbeard relayed, "Wez just a waitn fer the torps ta be inta p'sition."
Red and the entire crew held their breaths, along with the rest of the family at the Craigg castle.
0o0
HL slowly set his guided missile frigates in a picket line between his fleet and the Russians. F-35's were being loaded out with air-to-air missiles to assist in knocking down Russian missiles if it became necessary. He was in CIC and irritable as a wet hen. He kept repeating to himself that her suicide was not his fault. But he would be damned if he wouldn't help out once the shooting started. He could always claim he was defending a U.S. Embassy under assault.
0o0
The commander of the Russian fleet was smirking. This fancy Embassy was no match for his fleet. The ship seemed totally unaware of their impending doom. Suddenly, his sonar operator shouted a warning.
"Captain! We have 10 torpedoes in the water in formations of two each. But they are not attacking the surface fleet!"
"Battle Stations! Sonar! Where did they come from? Are there American submarines attacking us?"
"Sir! There were no reports or sounds to indicate any American submarines or the launch of any torpedoes! They have an acoustic signature unlike any we have ever recorded and just seemed to all come to life at once from different vectors! They are traveling at super high speeds and may be tracking our submarines!"
Just then, three different silos of the ship's advanced hypersonic missiles exploded, rocking the ship.