ORDER OF BATTLE, PANAMA Part 44 Of GODZILLA AND QUEST NOTES: PK stands for "Probability of Kill." Jonny Sawicki, Christi= na Bennett, and Desir=E9 Pattersen are real life Questors. Howard AFB Panama 21 April, 1998 0700 "Desir=E9? Hey, Des!" "Why, it's Christina Bennett!" Lieutenant Pattersen replied. "How = goes your excursion' del Pac=EDfico?" "Maravillosamente!" Chriss laughed. "I hear you're up for a DFC, c= ampeona?" "Si, mi amiga. I just did what I had to, and the Admiral is all gu= shy over it." "Oh, really? I heard that you saved your ship." "Oh, God! It was awful!" "You have time for a Coke, or something? I'd kind'a like to hear a= bout it." "C'mon, Chriss!" Desir=E9 objected. "Hey, we're friends." "Oh, all right. I got about half an hour to give." The two pilots were in fact on their way to the Howard AFB flight = line, but their jaygees were pre-flighting their helicopters, and that meant th= at this pair of officers didn't have to. There was a snack bar near the cont= rol point for the line, and that's where Chriss bought them sodas. They then grabbed a pair of bar stools. "Let's hear it, amiga." "Not much to tell," Des replied. "REUBEN JAMES was part of a three= ship set that was guarding the gap between Umboi Island and Long Island in Vit= iaz Straight. One of the Southern Cell heavies made a run on the ship, and wh= en it rose over it, I fed it two Mighty Mav's." "You 'fed it?'" "it was opening it's maw so that it could blow fire all over the J= AMES. Both my shots went right down it's throat." "C'mon, now!" Chriss laughed. "I'm serious. The weapons were television guided, and I targeted t= he damn thing's head. It just happened to open wide at the right time." "And then what happened?" "The Mavs blew its head off, and it collapsed in a heap just as th= e ship ran out from underneath it." "I love it! You always were a frosty shag nastie." "Gracias, mi amiga." "Si!" Chriss then became somber. "I tell you, we had it worse up n= orth." "Oh?" "You know I'm with the SAMUEL B. ROBERTS, right?" "Yep," Des replied. "We were working with RUSSELL and HAYES, guarding St. Georges Chan= nel. We picked up an odd anomaly and dipped on it. It turned out to be about t= wo dozen small targets. They ripped the transducer right off the end of the = line of RUSSELL's helo." "You find 'em again?" "No. They just up and disappeared on us. We think that they may be= the ones that NIMITZ and VINSON are after." "They're after several major animals, Chrissy. You said that you d= ipped on imps." "I know. HAYES and two destroyers are sweeping around trying to reacquire them." "Great. Trying ain't good enough, amiga." "Not with these things, no." "Well, what orders have you got for this afternoon?" "Same as you have: back up the Apaches guarding Panama City." "You sound like you'd rather be doing something else." "Yeah. My captain has been on me for being too zealous." "So you want to nail one of the things, huh? Tell you what: You an= d I will no doubt be operating together. If one comes our way, it's yours." "I haven't been to school for firing Mavericks yet, Des." "Oh, c'mon! It's cut and dried, and fairly simple." "Just tell me you trust me." "Hey, I trust you. Besides, I'll be around in case you miss." Chriss had to grin at that. "Well, we'd better get going. I'm supposed to deliver dispatches t= o REUBEN JAMES, and I expect that what you have is the same for ROBERTS." "Yep, except I have to stop by CONNIE on my way back here. I'm sup= posed to pick up an observer." "Well no wonder you feel mistrusted." "Yeah. What's your call sign, by the way?" "It's still Dark Woman." "Really? I have to go by Robin." "Robin from ROBERTS. That doesn't sound so bad." "I manage to live with it." "Keep it that way. Let's get a move on, now." And they were soon o= n the way to their ships." U.S.S. CONSTELLATION Operating Outside The Gulf Of Panama 21 April, 1998 1000 Local Time "Lieutenant Dubryne?" Jordan caught her on her way to her squadron= 's ready room. "Hello, Dr. Carpentier." "I had hoped to see you at the preliminary brief last night. I was= told that you had a BARCAP, though." "Yes, over the Peninsula de Azuero." "How are you?" "Oh, much better. I sure miss Ryan, though." "How long had you flown with him?" "Not long. He was just a real good guy. Fun, and easy to ride behi= nd." "I wrote to his family. Everyone at Carpentier Lab signed it." "They'd appreciate that. Were you able to tell them about the lab?= " "You know, I could have. I was short in explaining it to them, preferring instead to host them when and if they decide to see where he d= ied." "Yes, such a letter is often best left short." "I hope that they'll come." "If they do, the lab will heal them." "You really think so?" "No, Doctor. I KNOW so." The two walked a way in silence. Barbra finally broke it. "How is = Trace?" "Gallagher? He's fine. Why do you ask?" "It's private," she smiled. Jordan stopped dead in his tracks. "What's this?" he asked. "He showed me the lab, since you were so busy with the animal that= we killed there." "And you say that the story of that day is private?" "Umm, hmm." "Lieutenant, you were there only a day. Are you saying that the tw= o of you hit it off in that short time?" "'All the way over the wall,' in his exact words. We both grew up = in Boulder, and as it turns out not far apart. He's a few years older than I= am, but I actually know his parents." "Unbelievable! Will you see one another again?" "I don't know. I have two years left before I'm able to leave the = navy." They arrived at the ready room right as Patti was about to lead th= eir C/O in. Commander Dave Rinehart was the skipper of VF 2, CONNIE's lone To= mcat squadron. "Lieutenant, why are you running late?" "I'm afraid that it's because of me, Commander," Jordan admitted. = "I feel obliged to make sure that she's feeling better after what happened a= t Rendova." "I see. ...Barb, get in and be seated." "Yes, sir." Lieutenant Dubryne then went in and found her place in= the ready room. "Well, Doc. Are you all set?" "At your convenience, Commander." "Commander Stiles," Rinehart prompted. Patti stepped around the corner and called the room to attention. = She then followed her C/O and Jordan to the front. The Boss then took the pod= ium and ordered his people to be seated. He then took a few moments to review= his notes, then finally looked up and began... "Before we start this morning, I want each and every one of you to= know that we're cherry picking the first flight. Most of you have very little,= or absolutely no ground attack experience. The problem with that is this: We= 've been provided with no more than enough new weapons to fully arm four Tomc= ats for this day's mission. All of you know how much is riding on this, and I= 'm sure you all realize that every weapon needs to find a target. To that ef= fect, the first flight will be comprised of the following officers: Commander S= tiles will lead, and Lieutenant Dubryne will RIO for her. Lieutenant Lyday will= fly the second ship, and Lieutenant Clapham will RIO for him. Lieutenant Cong= er will fly the third ship with Lieutenant Forsythe as his RIO. Lieutenants Rhoder and Shawver will man the forth ship. As for the other two flights,= the X/O will lead the third, and I'll lead the second. The Commander then explained the pilot alignment for those two flights. He then gave the pod= ium over to Patti, who keyed her digital projector so that the screen behind = her showed the region of the Gulf of Panama. "People, this is Bullseye: the elimination of the Western South American menace. The cell is comprised of eleven major creatures and twen= ty two minor creatures. Make no mistake about it: We are here to eradicate t= his threat, not just to validate the weapons that Dugway has sent. "We will be operating three, four plane flights under the call sig= n of Torero. VF 11 will be operating similarly from the LINCOLN under the call= sign of Matador. VFA 151 will follow us under the call sign of Florete. VFA 11= 5 will follow VF 11 under the call sign of Sable. VFA 137 and VFA 25 will s= tand by." Patti referred to the map behind her. "We will be operating on an = axis of from Chiman to the east, to Punta Chame to the west. Our holding area = will be Chiman, and the holding area for the LINCOLN will be Chame. The relief fighters will hold over Isla Del Rey. They will be free to attack on what= ever axis they must, and as a result, they have priority of fire. If you hear = them call in hot, get the hell out fast. Central tactical control will come from a single Hawkeye, call sig= n Mago. "As it was done in Vitiaz Straight, the DESRONs will drive the tar= gets towards the shallows using ASROCS and regular torpedoes. In addition, the= re are three attack submarines that are armed with wire guided torpedoes tha= t have the new warheads. Because we need those torps to hit, we have to gui= de them by wire. Only the subs can do that." Someone had a question. "How is it that the torpedoes will do any damage? They're slow, and they have no penetrating ability." "The word is that these fish are just coming out from behind the b= lack curtain. There's no telling what they can do, but I'm sure that BUORD wou= ldn't have sent them if they didn't think that they could work. We'll know righ= t away, because the subs are going to fire first. "Let me stress that only Torero 1 and Matador 1 will be armed with= the new weapons. That's thirty-two SLAMERs and and equal number of Mavericks. Consequently, neither Torero 1, nor Matador 1 will return to the ship unt= il all of their weapons are expended. They will stay on target until all wea= pons are used, or they run out of fuel, or they kill every available target. S= o they should be prepared to take their fuel in the air." "That's our setup. The drier details are in the packets for your k= nee boards. "Most of us have no idea as to where the minor creatures will appe= ar. We've got the usual TR-1 support overhead, and the water's pretty shallow. Conversely, the water's also pretty warm. So we'll have to see how good t= hat the tracking will be. If the targets show up on land, the helicopters wil= l take them on. Same rule as at Seattle applies: If it's more than half out= of the water, the helos have priority of fire. The ship guard helos will be operating as they did at Vitiaz Straight: If a target gets within a ships length of one of our destroyers, it's helicopter game. "The air force will be running A-10s out of Howard AFB, and they'= ll support the land ops. Still, as always, be prepared to answer calls for support. VFA 137 and VFA 25 will probably receive those calls, but be rea= dy just the same. "Dr. Carpentier, do you have anything to add?" "Only that the new SLAMERS have a lower PK than do the new Maveric= ks. Also, be really clear about your target calls, and listen carefully to th= e calls of your friends. It must not happen that more than two of the new SLAMMERs strike a single creature. If you waste them, you'll end up makin= g more Maverick passes than you otherwise might. "Remember that a single Maverick should kill ANY creature. "Terero 1 and Matador 1 can go a long way towards making this a gr= eat day. They are carrying forty-four of our most effective weapons against thirty-three targets. However, you will notice that given the kill ratio = of new SLAMMERS to major creatures, the beasts have the advantage in that we= need twenty-two SLAMMERs, and we only have sixteen. You are therefore all but guaranteed to have to make at least a few Maverick passes. At that, use y= our best tactics and crew coordination. Remember that three of your shipmates= were lost at Vitiaz Straight because they did not. "Commander..." Patti took over once more. "Questions?" There were a few, though they were all quickly answered. Commander Rinehart then finished the brief. "This will be an action filled day. people. Keep your SA up, and y= ou'll see it turn into tomorrow. "Let's kill 'em all." And to that, they stepped for their airplanes. Christ Hospital Cincinnati, Ohio 21 April, 1998 1300 Local Time Professor Ava Goyle was a resident psychologist. As a result, she = was not overly burdened by a schedule of appointments with outpatients. This = left her able to spend more time on her most critical cases. Since she only ha= d one such case at the moment, that being Jessie, she met her husband and littl= e sister for lunch, and then all three arrived upstairs at Christ Hospital. Ava's sister, Angela, was a young girl. She was therefore somewhat inexperienced in the social graces... something that was clearly evident = in the way that she treated the first person she saw as she got off of the elevator on Jessie's floor. "You look like Jonny Quest." "I do?" Jonny replied. Ava just grinned and let it play out. "He's a cartoon character. I'm a big fan of his." "What's that like?" Jonny smiled and asked. "We have a mailing list of Jonny Quest fans. We write stories and = have all kinds of fun." "I should join that," Jonny replied. "Actually, you should play Jonny in our live action film. One of o= ur guys is actually writing a script for it." "I'd love to play Jonny. My dad won't let me, though." "Why not?" "He believes that Jonny Quest's REAL adventures are too terrible t= o be seen." "I don't think I like him!" "Angela," Ava gently chided her sister. "You apologize for that, t= his instant." "I'm sorry," Angela said in a sad voice. "I forgive you," Jonny answered. He actually had tears rolling dow= n around his Wildey smile. "My little sister, Angela," Ava said. "Hi, Angela." "Hello." "And my husband, Dr. Jonathon Sawicki." "Dr. Sawicki." "Jonny." "Hey! You even have the same name as Jonny Quest!" Angela exclaime= d. "Yes," Jonny again smiled. "Are you also a psychologist, Dr. Sowic= ki?" "No, I am a pediatric neurosurgeon at Children's Hospital here in Cincinnati. But like my lady, I too have a patient here at Christ Hospita= l." "Is it a serious case?" Jonny carefully asked. "Yes. The little boy was brought here after a car accident. We sav= ed his life, but=97 Well, car ejections are the worst things that I see." Ava spoke again. "Is Jessie awake, Jonny?" "No, she's asleep." "Good. I need to observe her at that and prepare all of you for th= e possibility of her nightmares." "I'm sure she'll have them." Ava stopped and examined Jonny, clinically. YOU, YOUNG MAN, ARE AL= SO A BIT UNWELL, she noticed. "Is something wrong?" Jonny asked. "Possibly. Tell me: Are your spirits usually higher than they seem= to be at this time?" "As a matter of fact, yes." "Perhaps you should not go to India with your father." "Oh, I'd have to." "Why?" "Because=97" Jonny came up short. He could not say that he had to = go because he always did, nor could he be sure that his father would need hi= m in India. "Jonny, I believe that your concern for Jessie has you dispirited. However, I'm sure you will choose to go with your father, since he will b= e going in harm's way." "I guess I've fallen between your actual rock and a hard place." "Yes. I would council you to go, though you must never doubt that Jessie will once again be herself, or that she loves you." "Does it show so much?" Jonny asked. "Estella wrote a great deal about Jessie. She could not do so with= out revealing a great deal about you. I can see certain things by way of that= , yes." "We shared our first real kisses just a month ago, Professor. I'm afraid that what's happened to her will change how she feels." "That is a distinct possibility, and one that will bear out in tim= e. For now, you must be strong. Have you kissed her since she became reactiv= e?" "Once on the forehead." "Did she recognize you, and recoil from you?" "No." "Good. There is hope in that." Jonny smiled. "Ah, that looks better." "You're a magician!" "Why, thank-you. Shall we see her now?" "Absolutely." Race was sleeping on a sofa in Jessie's room, so Benton was taking= his news from the federal side of the law enforcement cooperative that was ke= eping the vigil over Jessie and the other victims of the battle in Kentucky. "Dr. Quest?" "Yes?" "We just received word that the first shots have been fired off of= Panama." "Thank-you." The DIA man then left. "Here we go, Dani," Benton said. For the life of him, he could not summon a smile for her. The matter of the effectiveness of the Dugway ven= om was that critical. She could not smile herself, though she did the next best thing. S= he sat beside him, crossed her arms on his lap, and laid her head on top. He= in turn stroked her hair. Jonny came in behind them and saw that. He grinned and left to loo= k for Hadji, preferring not to disturb what little tranquility that his father = was feeling at the moment. It was a good thing, that. More bad news was forthcoming. End Part 44 Jagle ******************************************************************** * The Jonny Quest mailinglist jq@edc.ml.org * ******************************************************************** * To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to: majordomo@edc.ml.org * * with the message: unsubscribe jq subject is ignored * ********************************************************************