John Birmingham: Weapons of choice

MULTINATIONAL FORCE COMMANDERS

Anderson, Captain Daytona, USN. Commander, USS Leyte Gulf.

Francois, Captain Margie, USMC. Combat surgeon and chief medical officer, Multinational Force. (USS Kandahar.)

Halabi, Captain Karen, RN. Commander, British contingent; deputy commander, Multinational Force; commander, HMS Trident.

Jones, Colonel J. L., USMC. Commander, Eighty-second Marine Expeditionary Unit. (USS Kandahar.)

Judge, Commander Mike, USN. Executive officer, USS Hillary Clinton.

Kolhammer, Admiral Phillip, USN. Task force commander, USS Hillary Clinton.

Miyazaki, Sub-Lieutenant Maseo, JMSDF. Acting commander, JDS Siranui.

Moertopo, Lieutenant Ali, TNI-AL. Acting commander, KRI Sutanto.

Willet, Captain Jane, RAN. Commander, HMAS Havoc.

Windsor, His Royal Highness Captain Harry. Commander, British SAS contingent.

MULTINATIONAL FORCE PERSONNEL

Bukowski, Specialist Waylon, USMC. First Platoon, B Company. (USS Kandahar.)

Chen, Second Lieutenant Henry, USMC. Third Platoon, C Company. (USS Kandahar.)

Damiri, Sub-Lieutenant Usama, TNI-AL. Information systems officer, KRI Sutanto.

Hannon, Second Lieutenant Biff, USMC. First Platoon, B Company. (USS Kandahar.)

Harford, Flight Lieutenant Chris, USN. Helicopter pilot, USS Hillary Clinton.

Hayes, Flight Lieutenant Amanda, USN. Helicopter pilot, USS Hillary Clinton.

Ivanov, Major Pavel, Russian Federation Spetsnaz. On secondment to U.S. Navy SEALs. (USS Kandahar.)

Nguyen, Lieutenant Rachel, RAN. Close-In Weapons System operator. (HMAS Moreton Bay.) Seconded to History Working Group. (USS Hillary Clinton.)

Rogas, Chief Petty Officer Vincente, U.S. Navy SEALs. (USS Kandahar.)

Thieu, Lieutenant Edgar, USN. Media relations officer, USS Hillary Clinton.

MISCELLANEOUS

Duffy, Julia. New York Times feature writer. Embedded Eighty-second MEU.

Natoli, Rosanna. CNN researcher/producer. Embedded Eighty-second MEU.

Pope, Professor Manning. Project director, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

1942 ALLIED COMMANDERS

Churchill, Winston. Prime minister, Great Britain.

Curtin, John. Prime minister, Commonwealth of Australia.

Eisenhower, Brigadier General Dwight D. U.S. Army. Head of War Plans Division. Appointed commander of U.S. forces, European theater of operations, June 1942.

King, Admiral Ernest J., USN. Commander in chief of the U.S. Fleet and chief of naval operations.

MacArthur, General Douglas, U.S. Army. Commander, Allied Forces, South West Pacific Area. Headquartered Brisbane, Australia.

Marshall, General George C., U.S. Army. Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Nimitz, Admiral Chester, USN. Commander in chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet.

Roosevelt, President, Franklin D. Thirty-second president of the United States of America.

Spruance, Rear Admiral Raymond A., USN. Commander, Task Force Sixteen.

1942 ALLIED PERSONNEL

Black, Lieutenant Commander Daniel, USN. Assistant operations and planning chief to Admiral Spruance. (USS Enterprise.)

Curtis, Ensign Wally, USN. Assistant payroll clerk, USS Enterprise.

Davidson, Able Seaman James "Slim Jim," USS Astoria.

Evans, Lieutenant Commander Peter. Acting commander, USS Astoria.

Mohr, Chief Petty Officer Eddie, USS Astoria.

Molloy, Able Seaman Michael "Moose," USS Astoria.

Ryan, Warrant Officer Peter, New Guinea Volunteer Rifles. Patrol officer.

MISCELLANEOUS

Cherry, Detective Sergeant Lou, Honolulu PD, Homicide.

Einstein, Professor Albert, Nobel laureate.

AXIS HIGH COMMAND

JAPAN

Kakuta, Rear Admiral Kakuji, IJN. Commander, Second Carrier Striking Force. (HIJMS Ryujo.)

Yamamoto, Admiral Isoroku, IJN. Commander in chief, Combined Fleet. (HIJMS Yamamoto.)

GERMANY

Gobbels, Reichsminister Josef. German propaganda minister.

Himmler, Reichsfuhrer Heinrich. SS chief.

Hitler, Reichschancellor Adolf.

AXIS PERSONNEL

Brasch, Major Paul. Engineer.

Hidaka, Lieutenant Commander Jisaku, IJN. Chief of staff to Rear Admiral Kakuta. (HIJMS Ryujo.)

Skorzeny, Colonel Otto. Personal bodyguard to Adolf Hitler.

Steckel, Franz. SS-Obersturmfuhrer of the SD-Ausland, a lieutenant in the Nazi Party's foreign intelligence service.

SHIPS OF THE MULTINATIONAL FORCE

USS Hillary Clinton. George Bush-class supercarrier.

USS Kandahar. Bagdhad-class littoral assault ship.

USS Leyte Gulf. Nemesis-class stealth cruiser.

USS Garret. Cobb-class air warfare destroyer

USS Providence. Harper's Ferry-class amphibious landing dockship.

USS Kennebunkport. LPD 12 landing assault ship.

HMS Trident. Trident-class stealth destroyer (trimaran).

HMS Vanguard. Trident-class stealth destroyer (trimaran).

HMS Fearless. Aden-class helicopter assault ship.

HMAS Havoc. Savage-class attack submarine (conventional).

HMAS Moreton Bay. Jervis Bay-class troop-carrying catamaran.

HMAS Ipswich. Newcastle-class light littoral assault ship.

KRI Sutanto. Reconditioned Parchim-class frigate of the Indonesian navy (TNI-AL

KRI Nuku. Reconditioned Parchim-class frigate of the Indonesian navy (TNI-AL

Dessaix. Sartre-class stealth destroyer of the French navy.

EAST TIMOR, ZONE TIME: 0942 HOURS, 15 JANUARY 2021

The Caliphate spy, a Javanese carpenter known simply as Adil, resettled himself against a comfortable groove in the sandalwood tree. The small, shaded clearing in the hills overlooking Dili had been his home for three days. He shared it with an aged feral cat, which remained hidden throughout the day, and an irritable monkey, which occasionally tried to shit on his head. He had considered shooting the filthy animal, but his orders were explicit. He was to remain unnoticed as long as the crusaders were anchored off East Timor, observing their fleet and sending reports via microburst laser link, but only in the event of a "significant development."

He had seen nothing "significant" in seventy-two hours. The infidel ships were lying so far offshore they were often lost in haze and distance. Only when night fell did he have any real chance of seeing them, and even then they remained little more than a blurred constellation of twinkling, faraway lights. Such was their arrogance they didn't bother to cloak themselves in darkness.

Jets roared to and from the flight deck of their carrier twenty-four hours a day. In deepest night the fire of the launches appeared to Adil as though God Himself had lit a torch on the rim of the world.

Occasionally a helicopter would appear from the direction of the flotilla, beginning as a small, indistinct dot in the hot gray sky, taking on recognizable form only as the muffled drone of its engines clarified into a thudding, growling roar. From his hiding spot Adil could almost make out the faces of the infidels in the cabins of the fat metal birds. American, British, French, they all looked alike, cruel and overfed, a thought that reminded him of his own hunger.

He unwrapped the banana leaves from around a small rice cake, thanking Allah for the generosity of his masters. They had included a little dried fish in his rations for today, a rare treat.

Sometimes, when the sun climbed directly overhead and beat down with a slow fury, Adil's thoughts wandered. He cursed his weakness and begged God for the strength to carry out his duty, but it was hard. He had fallen asleep more than once. Nothing ever seemed to happen. There was plenty of movement down in Dili, which was infested with crusader forces from all over the Christian world, but Dili wasn't his concern. His sole responsibility was to watch those ships that were hiding in the shimmering haze on the far horizon.