Charles Taylor - First Salvo

As the minutes passed, more cruise missiles appeared on radar, emanating from numerous flights of Soviet Backfire bombers. What was now evolving was nothing more than the doctrine they had been trained to respond to — that of the first salvo. When the Russians attacked a battle group, they intended to fill the air with missiles, which was no different from saturation bombing forty years ago. It was a simple theory — some of the missiles would be intercepted, some would get through the defenses, and some would impact on vital targets. The Soviet objective was first to destroy the aircraft carrier, the major weapon of the battle group, then hit the AEGIS command ship, in this case Yorktown. That would destroy the nerve center of the battle group. After that, they could relax and take out the stragglers one by one.

At an expected, given point, the computer took over.

There was no way man could respond to the saturation attack, to the decoys, the electronic countermeasures, the countercountermeasures — to the doctrine of the first salvo.

He watched the screen as battle casualties were indicated, both Soviet and American. None of the enemy’s bombers would return to base, but that was of little concern to the Soviets. Attrition was part of the first salvo theory. On the other hand, not all the missiles were being intercepted either. The minutes and seconds to impact were displayed coldly and efficiently. The carrier took one hit forward, but it did not impair her ability to launch aircraft. Moments later, a second and then a third made it through. The carrier’s flight deck was now incapable of recovering aircraft. There was heavy damage to engineering spaces. Its max speed was now eighteen knots.

One or two destroyers and cruisers were hit and sunk and now Yorktown was hit! Her after launcher was knocked out, there were fires in emergency steering, but her electronics were still functioning.

Carleton had been through these exercises before, but none of them had been so realistic. Before, they had always been in trainers, where they knew that soon the lights would be turned up and an evaluation would be conducted by their instructor. This time, however, he was at sea. There was the familiar ship’s hum in the air and the deck rolled gently under them, but a computer controlled the entire exercise. It struck him that the computer did no better than the instructors on shore. Both of them made sure the battle group was inoperable before the exercise was over. This was a little more realistic in that Russian Backfire bombers were actually a hundred or so miles away from the ship, and the computer had brought a sense of realism that a shore-bound trainer simply couldn’t provide.

Carleton heaved his bulk out of the soft chair and stretched again. Soon the coordinator from the staff would be over to evaluate the exercise. Anything they could imagine to improve the battle group defense would be considered, anything at all. Intelligence estimates left them with no more than two days — three at the most — to iron out any mistakes, dream up any viable tactic, anything that might be more effective when the first salvo became a reality.

With a deep sigh, Cobb settled heavily on the edge of the cistern, carefully folded his dirt-smeared handkerchief, and mechanically mopped his brow and the back of his neck. There was an unpleasant sting of sweat and sunburn. The conditioning from his few days of toil in the California vineyard reminded him that a field hand’s skin was often tanned and wrinkled by the sun. That little touch was something that had never entered his mind until just then. Plunked down by General Keradin’s favorite vines, he realized that this simple part of his careful disguise could easily give him away.

The day had been long and hot. There was little air movement. Now, as the sun began to set, he felt a light, cooling breeze from the north. The really cool nights of fall were maybe four weeks off, but there was a definite change in the weather. And the grapes seemed to reflect it. They were plump and juicy, ripe for the picking. Those of prime interest to Cobb and Keradin were almost ready. In some instances, as he’d pointed out earlier in the day, those benefiting from the full rays of the day-long sun were just about perfect.

He picked up a wooden bucket and poured cooling water over his head. Shaking it from his hair, he let the rest run down his back. He was so immersed in the cooling sensation that he failed to notice someone approaching until a long shadow stretched before him.

“Hello,” the girl said in Russian. “I haven’t seen you around the vineyards before.” She was relatively short and well built, like many of the peasants he’d seen in the fields that day. Her long, rough skirt and her blouse were similar to the others. A colorful scarf covered most of her blonde hair. Her face glistened with perspiration, little droplets beading on her upper lip. High cheekbones set off the loveliest blue eyes Cobb thought he’d ever seen.

“Hello,” he muttered in reply, mopping the back of his neck. There was no time to become acquainted. Besides, he felt insecure enough that he didn’t want to become involved in extensive conversations.

“Is there any water left in your bucket?” she asked.

Cobb shook his head, tipping it upside down to show it was empty.

“It’s very hot. May I use it, please?”

He nodded, rising from the cistern and extending it in her direction. She waited hesitantly, then reached out to take it from him. Perhaps she had hoped he might dip it for her. The friendly smile remained on her face, though now it reflected slight disappointment.

There was no need for such rudeness on his part. It was a perfect way to attract attention. He smiled back. “Here,” he said, lifting the wooden cover. “Let me get some for you.” He took the bucket back and dipped it half full.

“Thank you,” she murmured, raising the bucket to her lips. Her smile was most pleasant, Cobb thought, unlike the dull, sour faces he’d noticed most of the day. “Um, that tastes good.” After drinking her fill, she knelt beside the cistern, bringing water out of the bucket with her hands and rinsing her face in a much more ladylike manner than he would have expected.

“Yes, it is,” he replied. “At the end of the day, a nice relaxing shower…” He stopped. Not only did he not want to talk, but he was sure few peasants in this area had any idea what a shower was.

She looked up at him from where she was kneeling with an amused smile on her face. She was really quite pretty, he realized. The blue eyes above the high cheekbones twinkled when she smiled. “You are not from around here, are you?”

He shook his head. “Georgia — near Kutaisi,” he answered, referring to the republic and city at the eastern end of the Black Sea.

She looked him up and down, still smiling, then rose slightly to sit on the cistern. “And not a field hand I should expect, at least not if you’re used to showers after a day in the fields.”

Cobb cursed himself for saying the wrong thing to the wrong person. “I was sent to a school once, to study the grapes. They had modern conveniences there.” He grinned back at her. Perhaps it was a good idea to talk with her, to learn as much as he could from someone who seemed to have a knowledge of the area but was more sophisticated than the average peasant. “You’re right. A lot of men had no idea how to use them. Some of us learned and grew to like them. Others dipped water out of the toilets.”

She laughed at that. “I’ve seen the same thing myself.” Then she looked at him more quizzically, tilting her head to one side. “But you don’t talk as if you are from Georgia, either. We have had others from there before.”