Salvo Island
Leader-Commander Axton Tambor rode in the back of an armored 4x4. The roads of Salvo Island were always busy. They passed by a group of marching soldiers and then later a trio of flatbed trucks hauling various pieces of machinery. It was a picture-perfect tropical day on the Archipelago. The sun was shining through light clouds. He thought it a shame that he would be spending most of it underground. The convoy, consisting of three 4x4s, came to a stop at a checkpoint after turning off the main road. All members riding within the convoy were verified before proceeding, even Tambor. The convoy proceeded into a valley topped with razor wire and fortified guard towers. The valley wasn't long. They reached the end in a matter of minutes. At the base of a mountain was a large concrete tunnel, jutting forth from the rock. Sentry guns of all calibers were mounted around the perimeter. As they approached, the guns tracked the three vehicles. A military checkpoint with raised steel barriers forced the convoy to stop in an enclosed pen. A man in heavy armor, toting a heavy machinegun, stood in their path. Upon stopping, the lead vehicle was approached by a guard with a rifle, finger on the trigger. Additional guards used mirrors to sweep the undercarriages. In a nearby structure, even more watched them through a thermal camera. There was a quick exchange of paperwork and the first vehicle was let through. Tambor's vehicle pulled up.
He rolled down his window and the guard greeted him. "Good morning, sir."
"Morning, Rifle." Tambor replied and presented his identification. The soldier ran it through his small device and a light blinked green.
"Have a good day, Leader-Commander." The soldier waved them forward, then snapped to a salute.
Once all vehicles were through, the two escorting 4x4s pulled off to the side while Tambor's proceeded into the tunnel. There was an alarm and a flashing orange light, and a massive set of blast doors opened ahead of them. The vehicle pulled forward onto a raised metal elevator. Once securely in place, the blast doors closed and a second set opened beneath them. The elevator descended along a deep concrete shaft. The ride was so long that the driver had time to get out and check his vehicle. They were several hundred feet below sea-level by the time the elevator came to a stop. A third set of blast doors opened for the vehicle to drive through.
They were now in a massive subterranean complex. The walls were made of thick concrete. Sentry guns and guards oversaw everything from elevated positions. Fortified pre-fab structures were lined up in rows. The Rifle's here all wore nondescript black armor with no markings on them. Tambor exited the 4x4 with his assistant and two guards. They proceeded through another checkpoint, this one requiring a retinal scan. They entered another elevator that took them down a short distance. They were now at the heart of "The Pit", the Terra Vanguards maximum security prison complex.
Tambor's personal guards remained by the elevator while two of the black-clad prison guards escorted him and his assistant down a long hall with rows of heavy doors on either side. Finally, they stopped at a door midway down the hall. The prison guards stood on either side and used specialized keys to unlock the door. The Leader-Commander handed his cover to his assistant. He checked the magazine on his sidearm and placed it back in its holster. One of the prison guards held out a taser for him, but he dismissed it.
"You're taking risks, again." His assistant, Lieutenant Camilla, told him. She was a head shorter than him, and stood ramrod straight. She clutched a tablet to her chest.
"I won't be long." Tambor waved away her concerns. "Only one person will be exiting this cell."
"As your advisor, I must protest these loose interrogations. You're being reckless." She admonished him. "We can't lose you."
"I appreciate your concern." Tambor smiled warmly. "But if the Vanguard is to be successful, then we must know our enemy. The reward is worth the risk." He nodded to the guards. "Open the door."
There was hiss as a vacuum seal was released and the door slid to the side. They shut immediately after Tambor entered.
The cell was expansive and the ceiling extended a dozen feet high. The only light came from a dim halogen bulb recessed into the ceiling. When Tambor approached the center of the cell, a control panel emerged from the ground. He pressed a button and set of doors opened in the ground in front of him.
A black obelisk rose from the confined space. A woman was bound to it by chains engraved with holy symbols from every religion. Her hands and legs were bound together in a rubber sheath. Tambor was face-to-face with Queen Persephone Sanguis, The Dark Royal, Vampiric queen of the East India Clan. Apprehended by the Vanguard in Peru, completely by accident.
She spoke, "Ah, if it isn't the Centurion of the Apocalypse." Her head rose to look at him. Her voice was sharp like knives. "Finally come to show your face after finally recognizing the impotence of your wardens."
Tambor flinched, more out of annoyance at her words, than discomfort at her voice. "Yes, my interrogators say you keep calling me that. But what does it mean?"
"We are all the tools of him." She smiled, coyly. "From the humblest rat to the most ruthless merchant, we all have our roles to play. It speaks volumes about you, Centurion... that you do not know your role."
"Who is 'him'?"
"The one in the sky, you have seen him."
"I do not serve, that thing. I serve mankind and the preservation of it's destiny." Tambor withdrew a picture from his uniform pocket. He showed it to Persephone. She seemed to recognize it. "Count Toten. Personal friend of yours, I understand. We found him in southern Mexico, preying on the blood of the innocent." Tambor used a lighter to set the photo aflame and dropped it to the deck. "He was vaporized in an airstrike. Never saw it coming. Did he play his role?"
"Most assuredly." She answered.
Tambor sneered, "Whatever you think you can achieve, you will not succeed. We will burn your kind from the face of this world, vampire. Blast it if necessary. If you know anything about the Black Sun you will tell me."
"His machinations are already begun. You cannot hope to stand against him, Centurion."
Her cryptic words vexed him. The Leader-Commander withdrew his sidearm and pressed it next to Queen Persephone's head, such that the barrel was pointing upward with the ejection port against her ear. He discharged the weapon and a round embedded itself in the Kevlar-lined overhead. The gunshot reverberated loudly in the small metal room. Persephone recoiled in pain from the sensory overload. Tambor did not flinch.
"I command the most powerful fighting force humanity has ever seen. It is designed solely to fight you, and any other malignance that dares to crawl from the dark. You, they, IT... Cannot stand against me."
The Queen laughed while recovering from the pain, "And it will all melt nonetheless. Speaking of which, you may want to check on your war pigs in the Pacific. Their blood will soon be on your hands."
Tambor didn't show it, but he was taken aback by this. How could she know?
"That's right." the Queen continued. "Doom, Centurion. Doom for all hu-" she was cut short by Tambor shooting her in the head. The .45 ACP round didn't kill her, but it broke skin and caused her to bleed. The Queen laughed as Tambor pressed a button on the control panel. She was plunged back into her solitary confinement.
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"You didn't kill her?" Camilla raised an eyebrow at him after he left the room. "So you got what you were looking for?"
"Far from it, Lieutenant. But she will prove useful. Review our containment procedures. She displayed some form of clairvoyance. I'd prefer our operational security not be held at risk. Inform project Helsing that she is theirs for experimentation." Tambor answered. Camilla nodded affirmative.
"Give me a status update." He asked.
Camilla referenced her tablet. "The troops on Tinian are in contact. They were ambushed while investigating the USNS Able. Sky-Captain Van Kilmer reports that they discovered a Russian sailor aboard the Able. He says he knows what happened to Stormfiend. The 123rd Freikorps, 'The Shark Eaters', is working to extract him to the Cry Havoc. There's also a complication. The Russians are no longer denying their missing submarine and the Pacific Fleet has sortied from Vladivostok. Signals intelligence reports they are bound for the Marianas."
"That's gonna be a lot of firepower in a small area." Tambor commented.
Camilla continued, "Also, Commander Periscope has requested your presence in the command tower. He reports significant findings."
"Very well. Sky-Captain Van Kilmer can handle herself, and Tycho knows his standing orders if they have to negotiate with a Russian or American fleet. Let's go meet Periscope."
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USNS Able. Island of Tinian.
Mike Perelli didn't have time to think, only react. As soon as they removed the Russian from the radio room, the floor gave out. There was a roar and gnashing of teeth. The steel floor beneath the radio room was eviscerated in a flurry of sparks. A writhing mass beneath it sent forth wicked tentacles that swallowed the sailors inside, placing them into a great maw. Perelli and Heerman stumbled backwards into the CIC, trying to escape the collapsing deck. The creature below was ravenous. A massive clawed hand, scaly like a fish but monstrously be muscled, reached out and grasped at the deck where they were once standing. It was twice the size of a man. The Russian was promptly bodyguarded by Kinger.
Chief Rifle Scrimps radioed command. "This is Delta. Contact! Contact! We are under attack by an unknown entity. We have high-value package and require EXFIL. How copy?"
Lying on their backs, Heerman and Perelli opened fire at the claw. Perelli observed his rounds bounce right off. Heerman's tungsten buckshot did the same. They realized the futility and focused on escape.
The creature below was obscured by smoke and debris, but it was obvious it was massive. It was attempting to escape the deck below, but it was hindered by the strength of the thick structural frames surrounding it. Scrimps told his team, "Squad, retreat! Make tracks back the way we came!"
Scrimps and Kinger led. Kinger pulled the Russian tight like a bodyguard and urged him forward. Perelli and Heerman pulled up the rear. They raced out into the passageway. The creature roared. It was high-pitch and reverberated through the stricken ship's hull. The deck vibrated and shook, indicating the creature's movement beneath them. As they ran, the deck bulged beneath and behind them. As they came up on the passageway full of dead sailors, Scrimps ordered a halt. Kinger continued on with the Russian but Scrimps, Perelli and Heerman stopped to prime grenades. A total of six grenades were thrown down into the hatch that Perelli had indicated previously. There was a rapid series of explosions and the creature bellowed. They had successfully headed it off. But their grenades did no damage. The creature burst forth from the deck. Finally, they got a good look at it. It was massive and grotesque. It had two massive arms ending in 3-toed claws. It had no neck, where it's shoulders joined was a massive circular mouth ringed with thousands of knife-like teeth. It did not have any eyes. It's torso was long and serpentine, but it had multiple articulating tales that snaked along the bulkhead. Its movements were clumsy, as if it had not learned how to walk.
The deck gave out and they were all thrown to the ground. Debris, human remains and casings slid down the deck towards the creature. Try as it might, the courier dog was unable to maintain a grip on the deck and slid down the deck. It was crushed underneath the creature. Such was the incline, that Perelli had to latch onto a railing to keep from sliding down into the creatures maw. Heerman was not so lucky. He was too close to the creature and a tentacle latched onto him. He dropped his shotgun and stabbed his combat knife into the tentacle. The creature brought it's clawed arm down onto him. Rifle Second-Class Heerman was smashed into a red pulp. Nothing remained of him. Back on Cry Havoc, his vitals blinked red "KIA".
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Perelli couldn't wield his rifle while dangling from the railing, so he withdrew his sidearm and emptied the mag into the creatures maw. As he did, he saw multiple primed grenades roll past him. He looked up to see Kinger and Scrimps emptying their bandoliers. Explosions rocked the passageway as the grenades detonated in quick succession. With the creature distracted, Perelli climbed up the railing onto a more level part of the deck.
Scrimps shouted to Kinger, "Get the Ivan out of here! We'll hold it off."
She turned and pulled the Russian behind her. The man was oddly passive, watching the carnage unfold.
Perelli swapped to an armor-piercing magazine. He and Scrimps saturated the creature with a barrage of automatic fire, but it was recovering quickly. It surged up towards them. they turned to run, but it's tentacles whipped at them, grabbing Scrimps around the waste and Perelli by the leg. Both grabbed onto whatever they could to resist their pull. For Perelli it was a mount for a fire extinguisher, for Scrimps a broken railing. The rail bent and the bolts fastening it in place were sheered. Perelli and Scrimps shared a look. Neither could see the others face, but their ballistic visors met for a moment before Scrimps was wrenched down into the creatures mouth.
Perelli was alone now, and likely next. He kicked at the tentacle to no avail. He was in agony, as he could feel the muscle and bone in his leg being stretched to their limit by the strong tentacle.
Suddenly there was a muffled explosion. The creature shuddered. It belched a jet of flame and smoke. It recoiled and Perelli was released. He realized Chief Rifle Scrimps had detonated the last of his grenades while inside the creature. His vitals blinked red "KIA". This was Perelli's chance. He slipped the tentacle's grip and limped up the inclined deck. The creature wasn't dead yet. He made it to the door and out onto the main deck. The bright sunlight temporarily blinded him. He was greeted by the sight of a VTOL Foxhound lifting off of the deck; Kinger and the Russian in it's crew compartment.
Perelli ran forward until he found an adequate pile of steel rubble to cover behind. The sea monster burst forth from the superstructure. A gunship swooped in behind Perelli. It gunner sighted the creature and opened fire with the nose-mounted 30mm. Heavy cannon shells impacted the creature, causing it to hesitate. The pilot fishtailed the aircraft so that the door gunner could get in on the action. The rotary cannon spun up and belched BRRRRRRTT! as they laid fire down onto the monster. The side door slid open and the crew chief rolled out a rope ladder for Perelli.
Someone shouted at him over comms. "Get out of there! They're lasing that thing for a bombing run. That whole ship is about to be turned to scrap."
Perelli ran as fast as he could for the rope ladder. Cannon shells as big as his hand rained down around him and clanged onto the deck. The pilot didn't wait for him to come aboard. As soon as Perelli gripped the rungs, the gunship lurched away from the ship. Seconds later, strike-aircraft made a low pass over the ship, they dropped two 2000lb guided bombs. The accuracy was pinpoint. The monster was incinerated in a ball of fire. As was much of the Able. The concussive blast buffeted the Foxhound as it flew away. It nearly blew Perelli right off of the ladder.
Perelli started climbing the ladder, but as he faced out to sea, he saw an impossible sight. The water around the beach appeared to be boiling. At first, he thought it was his eyes playing tricks. It was fish of all kinds, in their thousands, jumping from the water. Like tuna escaping a shark. No birds flew in to feed on the easy prey. The water erupted upwards as a mountainous shape rose from the ocean. It was hard-skinned and had barnacles growing all over it. It had massive legs that dragged it onto the beach. More and more of it emerged from the water. It was impossibly big. Almost the size of the sky-carrier. Everywhere it stepped, it left deep furrows that quickly filled with sea water. It had legs all along its body. An array of dozens of tentacles whipped back and forth along it's back. It's mouth was circular, similarly to the creature that had just been vaporized aboard the Able. It opened it's maw and two massive crab-like claws unfolded from the fleshy interior.
It had emerged right in front of the Foxhound. The pilot slammed the stick hard left and narrowly evaded hitting the top of one of the creatures legs. From his spot on the ladder, Perelli came close enough that he could almost touch it's fishy skin. He heard a flurry of radio traffic being sent back and forth.
"What the hell is that?!"
"It's massive."
"Sonar never detected it!"
"Clear the air! All units maintain comm discipline!"
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Aboard Cry Havoc the entire bridge crew watched in awe. Sky-Captain Van Kilmer and Captain Korr as well. The two had previously been arguing about Kilmer's order to destroy the Able. Now they watched in shock as an even bigger creature, no doubt related to the one Havoc's aircrews had just killed, emerged from the Pacific.
The Sky-Captain recovered. She slammed her hand down onto the armrest of her bridge chair and stood up. "Captain has the conn!" She shouted. "Sound general quarters!"
"Aye, Captain has the conn." The Officer of the Deck affirmed.
An alarm sounded throughout the ship. "General Quarters! General Quarters! All hands man your battlestations!" Followed by an urgent klaxon.
The whole ship was thrown into a flurry of activity. Additional watch stations were manned and turnovers took place as the highly trained personnel took up their assigned stations. Blast shields lowered over the windows on the bridge. The lights were switched to red and a malevolent atmosphere took hold over the darkened space. Weapon's systems were brought online. Anti-aircraft batteries were aligned skyward. Missile batteries were warmed up. The reactor output tripled. In the hangar, pilots raced to their aircraft. All manner of munitions, from bombs to rockets, were raised up on elevators into the bomb bays of the waiting jets. Damage control crews took station with their emergency gear. A flurry of reports were sent to the bridge, indicating various stations manned and ready. Lights on a board lit up green with every station that did.
"Helm, come to course true North. Make your altitude... 1,000 feet." Kilmer ordered. "Weaponeer, run out the guns."
"Aye, Captain!" reported all stations. The carrier pitched and rolled slightly as it descended to it's new altitude and course.
The naval guns were kept recessed into the hull during normal flight. Their long barrels were sheathed into a faring atop each turret that improved aerodynamics. When the guns were run out, they rose into position. The barrels were released from their constraints and elevated threateningly. Cry Havoc had 18 of the 16-inch hole-punchers.
"Do we deploy the airwing, Ma'am?" Asked the air marshal.
"Negative, that'll take too long. We'll hit that thing with the cannons."
The ship steadied on it's new altitude and course. The carrier appeared to be hovering right over the ocean. Even this high up, it's engines churned the waters below.
Perelli was pulled aboard by the Foxhound's crew chief. Once aboard, he got in contact with Kinger, learning that she and the VIP made it to the carrier. His Foxhound was on course for the Havoc as well, but it's flight path was suddenly diverted. Perelli asked the crew chief, "Where are we going?"
The crew chief replied, "We have to divert. The Havoc's preparing a gun run."
Perelli watched the ship's immense form as the turrets swiveled into position.
Several reports were made to the Sky-Captain,
"Solution ready."
"Weapons ready."
"Guns ready."
"Let slip the dogs of war!" Kilmer commanded
An alarm buzzer sounded three times throughout the ship. On the third alarm, the guns opened fire. The sky-carrier was rocked by the recoil of a staggered broadside. The guns fired three at a time to minimize shock throwing the ship off course. Still, loose items were thrown from their place as the recoil of the 16-inch guns buffeted the ship. The projectiles, a special type of semi-guided armor-piercing high-explosive, flew for several seconds before reaching their target. The sea monster on the beach had begun to tear into the shattered form of the Able just before impact. The rounds slammed into the side of the great beast. Every impact sent visible shockwaves that blew down nearby trees and rocked the entire island. The cannons kept firing. In the turrets, gun captains supervised autoloaders that ensured a high rate of fire. Perelli observed the bombardment. Whole swathes of jungle were torn asunder. The creature didn't budge from the impact.
After several minutes of sustained fire, the Cry Havoc ceased her onslaught. When the smoke cleared, the creature could be seen with not a scratch on it.
There was a brief pause. Shooting stars lifted off from the deck of the sky-carrier; the ejection boosters of dozens of anti-ship missiles being launched from their silos. The missiles shot straight up before tipping over and igniting their main engines. Propellant smoke filled the sky as the missiles, which carried 1-ton of explosive weight, accelerated towards their target. The missiles entered hypersonic cruise right before slamming into the monster, creating a one-two explosion where they broke the sound barrier right before making impact. One after another, they pounded the behemoth. Perelli could feel it in his teeth.
This seemed to at least enrage the beast. It bellowed and continued moving inland.
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The interrogation room was a very standard affair. A small table in a small black room, with a single lamp to provide light and a one-way glass window to one side. Yuri Anatoli had been quickly moved to the room for holding after being brought onboard. The poor man was bewildered beyond belief. He did not speak English, which everyone on board spoke. Shortly after being placed in the room, he could feel that the carrier had ascended and was moving quickly in an indeterminate direction. On the bright side, he had been given a full medical check and meal. He now sat at the table in the interrogation room with a bottle of water before him.
A man entered. He wore the fatigues of the Vanguard, but did not have a unit patch or a nametape to identify him. He had slicked back hair and a 5 o'clock shadow. He looked tired.
The mystery man sat down opposite of Yuri.
"Good evening." the man said in Russian, his accent was distinctly eastern European. One of the former Yugoslavs, Yuri guessed. "I am agent Kutuzov. I'm with the Terra Vanguard."
Yuri immediately figured the name a fake.
The man continued. "In exchange for your cooperation-"
"I will cooperate." Yuri interrupted him in Russian.
Agent Kutuzov didn't skip a beat. "What part of the Russian armed forces are you with?"
"Pacific Fleet. 11th submarine division."
"What ship?"
"The RN Gepard. Akula class."
The interrogator seemed to already know his previous answer, but he spoke this one slowly. "What was your mission?"
Yuri answered. "We were tracking the American spy ship known as 'Able'".
"Where is your submarine?"
"At the bottom of the Marianas trench." Yuri sighed. "With all of her crew."
The agent raised an eyebrow, "Except for you? How did you get aboard the Able?"
"We attempted to perform a constructive kill on the American. That is where you do everything you would do if you were to sink an enemy vessel. Except fire the torpedo. However, we ran into an issue. As we got close, suddenly all background sonar noise went silent. You know, fish, whales, crabs on the ocean floor. It was as if they weren't even there. We verified our sonar equipment to verify that it was not malfunctioning. But it was perfectly fine. I have never seen anything like it." Yuri inhaled. "That was when we heard it. It was unlike anything."
"What was it?"
"I do not know. It did not sound like any of God's creatures. It was on us before we could even estimate range. Like, one moment it was not there, the next it was." Yuri made hand gestures to illustrate what he was saying. "It plucked us from the water like a fish. It grabbed on to our hull and squeezed. The captain ordered an emergency main ballast tank blow to put us on the surface. We thought maybe we had been caught up in the American's towed array. Such was not the case. The ship rose to the surface. There was significant damage to the pressure hull and we were slowly taking on water. The American was maybe one kilometer from us when we surfaced. Naturally, we refused help. How shameful it would be." those words seemed sarcastic. "I was terrified. the crew was terrified. Seasoned veterans the lot of us. But we saw that it was not the American who we had hit. The Captain recognized we could not repair the Gepard's wounds, so he ordered an abandon ship. I was topside, waiting on a life raft to be inflated. That was when I saw it. It had surfaced next to us. It was the size of an island. It appeared to be a writhing mass at first. Then we realized that there was something crawling along it's skin. I did not believe it at first, but I have had time to comprehend."
"What did you comprehend?"
"They were it's children." Yuri let that statement hang.
"It's offspring?" Agent Kutuzov said, incredulous.
"They were just like that small thing you encountered on the Able. They descended on us. There was nothing we could do, we had no guns available. The Kalash's were locked away down below. They invaded our ship, they ate our crew, ALIVE!."
"Then the able helped you?"
"No, you did." He gestured to Kutuzov. "Your submarine, we were not even aware of her presence, launched torpedoes. They impacted the monster. I was thrown into the sea. I thought I was dead. But one of the Able's boats rescued me. It was a battle. I know it was your submarine because I watched. your sub was forced to surface several times to evade the monster. They did not inform you?"
Agent Kutuzov shook his head.
"They dueled. Explosions erupted from underwater detonations as your torpedoes impacted the creature. I saw a great many of the corpses of it's young float to the surface." Yuri paused. "Eventually, it stopped. No more explosion's. Parts, bits of stuff, and oil floated to the surface." Yuri placed the Vanguard patch on the table in front of Kutuzov. "That is where I got that."
"So then the Able..."
"Was next." Yuri answered. "The beast dragged her ashore and let loose more of her spawn. I think you know what happened after that."
Agent Kutuzov maintained his neutral expression, like he had been trained to, but Yuri could tell he was perturbed. The interrogator glanced at the one-way window.
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Sky-Captain Victoria Van Kilmer, stood at the head of a table in her briefing room. Before her were seated the line officers of Cry Havoc.
"Word has come down from on High." she announced. "Our mission is now, officially, to destroy the sea monster that sank the Gepard, Stormfiend and Able. All means, with the exception of nuclear detonation, are authorized. We also need to account for the possibility that it could have more more spawn with it." She pointed to a map of Tinian on a display behind her. "Our first priority is to evacuate the civilian populace. Thankfully, the creature is moving slow and the entire civilian populace is to the south. The mission to kill the creature is dubbed, 'Operation Caligula'. Additionally, the creature will be known henceforth as Master-1. The spawn, if encountered, will be known by codeword 'Clinger'. The evacuation will be 'Operation Runner.'
"We will deploy the garrison. The Shark Eaters, the airwing and the Rock Punchers will engage the creature on land." there were murmurs at this. "I know, they will not have much room to maneuver. So the Foxhound's will need to be at their best to keep our boys mobile. They will distract the creature and slow it down while the civilians are evacuated."
"What of the Russian fleet?" someone asked.
"The Over-Commander is negotiating to get them in the fight. As it stands, there are 2,500 people on the island, more than we can handle and more than the local fishing dhows can hold. He wants to enlist them in the evacuation. The Americans are also helping. They have sortied B-52s to Guam, and they have a submarine on the way. We'll fit them into our bombardment rotation."
"Sounds like an excellent opportunity to foster international cooperation." Her XO said wryly.
"Indeed. Ops has sent you all a copy of the bombardment rotation. Operations Caligula and Runner start now. Let's go, gentlemen."