Navy Whore Ch. 04

Thank you to Tigerssman for all his help.

***

Things were not going well for the Allies; their ships were scuttled in port, making landings impossible. Their troops retreating, the commanders could not find room to regroup. The enemies' soldiers were better than the Ally soldiers.

Lee could only look at Global Hawk's images with dismay, "TURN IT OFF!" Lee could no longer be on The Firebrand; she had to go to DC where the joint chiefs were. Congress declared war on several countries.

Lyle's wife couldn't be calm. Lyle had almost five years left for his sea rotation. The wives on base banded around Maria and baby Hope. Maria wasn't used to military life. None of the families had experienced something like this. There was a command structure in place to help Maria.

The wives had as big of a leadership role as the men, maybe more. The wives were not going to let Maria fall through the cracks.

Lee looked around the room with disgust. "Gentlemen, Please! Do I need to remind you that you are the heads of our military, not squabbling school children? Loved ones are dying out there, and you are in here covering your ass, so your branch doesn't get the blame."

"Yes, we were all surprised by the speed of the attacks. The world is looking to us now, and the enemy wants to know if we are a Paper Tiger or one that has a backbone. If we send the wrong signal, we might as well surrender now."

"Now, does anyone have any ideas as to where we can put a defensive force? It looks like they are massing troops in Belarus."

"Australia can't help, they are just hanging on."

"What if we put a head-on juggernaut in Estonia, a unified wall, land, sea, and air?"

"That's a suicide mission!"

"The longer we do nothing, the more troops they will have there. Can Spain, France, and the UK help out?"

"Lee's right, we need a beachhead somewhere soon; it will be a long slog. In theory, we could go through Estonia. What about you Lee?"

"I am sorry gentlemen, I can't help much. I am going all in, a naval blockade around half of Australia. They can't shoot in both directions at the same time, and they won't be able to resupply, our drones will see to that. Global Hawk will be our eye in the sky. They don't have that advantage."

Soon a cogent plan was in place and implemented. Finally, the US decided to do something.

Lee knew that it was a risky gamble; those amounts of resources would leave some of the US undefended. The Allies needed a win, somewhere, anywhere. Fighting on multiple fronts will slow enemy advances.

Lee canceled all leaves.

Captain Kathy and Captain Lesly could not believe their orders, a naval blockade around Australia. Had Lee gone nuts?

When The Firebrand and The Phoenix arrived, it was an impressive sight. It seemed every allied nation that had a ship with a gun on it was there, and more were coming every day.

Without advanced intelligence, the naval blockade was a surprise to the enemy. Lee pressed her advantage by launching several Predator drones, their target, the enemy's flagship carrier.

The enemy flagship could now do very little; their planes couldn't fly due to the air support that the Allies could bear against them. The drones were unmanned, and it was impossible to stop every Hellfire. The flagship disappeared in mere minutes, into the inky sea.

Knocking out their command and control will cause disarray in their fleet. For the first time, The Firebrand and The Phoenix parted ways, their job was to seal the flanks. Norma Rae was working overtime; she and Chin Lee worked together to send out communications to all the allied ships.

The Australian army and air force were to retreat and regroup to gain numbers. They were going to take back their country!

In Belarus, winter had set in, the coldest and wettest in living memory. Forces on both sides ground to a halt. The snow was waist-deep and still falling, this was now trench warfare. Neither force could resupply, opposing armies could shoot anything out of the air.

Mother nature forces were stronger than any army, so as the temperatures dropped, so did the use of weapons of war. Over the millennia, she took on all the most powerful armies and prevailed.

Captain Kathy was getting a crash course on how to use her assets. There were several more battleship battle groups than carrier strike groups. The Phoenix was protected.

Hope heard The Comfort was on its way, but she had no offensive weapons on her. She stayed more than a half day's sail away.

The Firebrand and The Phoenix were so close to the action it made evasive maneuvers difficult. The Phoenix strike group received more firepower against it as it was not the flagship. Therefore, the Captain was not as seasoned. She had survived many near misses, and the launchers were mobile, so the fighters could not find them.

Even Global Hawk had inherent delays.

The enemy followed the Aussies right to their regrouping area.

Lee's gambit had failed; the troops in Belarus couldn't do anything. The blockade had not tilted the conflict. If the enemy entirely controlled the island, there would be a mass slaughter. The Phoenix most likely would be lost because of unrelenting pounding.

Kathy was all too aware of the threat. "Did they put those fires on aft out yet?"

"Not yet, Captain. They are working on it; that one almost penetrated the deck."

"I will be damned if they sink my ship. They can court-martial me later. I want a scorched earth policy on their front line. Send the GPS locations of anything we can blow up and scatter through to the bombers and fighters. Have all ships in this area concentrate fire on the port. Ships to start at 20:00 hours, fighters and bombers to start 08:00 hours."

"Those sons of bitches are not going to hide on me."

"Captain, we may hit our allies."

"I am willing to risk that. They need relief. If we sit here we will go down. Let's drive these assholes into the desert with no water."

Lee was reading the communications to all ships near Kathy. "What the hell is she playing at?"

"Kathy is getting tired of being shelled, so she is going all-in with everything they have. She will disobey any direct order to stop. You did say she was to seal the flank."

"If she is successful have The Firebrand follow suit. I want these mother fuckers pinned down twenty miles into the outback."

The tracer shells made the night, day. It came from every ship on the horizon. There was chaos at the port, explosions causing thick plumes of smoke.

At 06:00 the pilots got their briefings. At 08:00 they launched and fired at everything they could lock onto, including several mobile launchers. The forests were ablaze; the wildfires consumed all.

Now, there was a natural defensive wall; no one could breach the fires, and all forward locations the enemy had in the forests were gone. The flames would burn for weeks.

The fighters took out most of the transport and artillery the enemy had; they will come back to mop up. The enemy headed to the hills where the Australians had the high ground and the artillery. The Army set up a line to get crossfire angles.

The next wave of fighters flew low and strafed the enemy with gunfire.

Then it was The Firebrands' turn, as Norma Rae was typing out the message to all ships she said, "This is for all my friends you have killed you dirty S. O. B's." She finished the transmission with USA! USA! USA!

Captain Lesly was even more ruthless than Kathy was. She let her subs join in the launching of missiles with her Marines and her gunships followed the bombardment. The Marines were to make it through the forest and go northward.

After checking with the Australians, Kathy and her force pulled out and let her allies liberate their land. She sailed north, her drones leading the way. Captain Kathy forgot what her job was. All the destroyers, frigates and other anti-submarine warfare ships had left the area.

The enemy regrouped and had its submarines surface as well as manning boats in the harbor. Kathy was now the hunted, but she was only looking for ships in front of her, not behind her.

On the west side of the country, Captain Lesly was holding her flank. The Firebrand pounded the enemy day and night and continuing to add ground troops.

When the Marines arrived at the other side of the forest, they dug in. Food and water were close to them. They sent handheld drones and Osprey tilt-wing helicopters to check enemy strongholds.

Sporadic gunfire could be heard from the V-22's as the drones redirected their flight path.

The Marines did not want to make the same mistake they did in WWII when they used flamethrowers as the island jumped. They had a new toy, one that burned so bright it blinded everyone inside, and so hot it started to melt the rock, releasing toxic gasses.

The battleship battle groups were trailing Kathy's armada. The subs had caught up to them, and three battleships were targets. The order to Abandon Ship was given almost immediately. Kathy let the enemy have multiple free shots at high-value targets.

The battle raged for twenty-four hours straight; Kathy never left her post. The Ensign ordered Hope to the bridge. "Captain, as a Chief medical NCO, I can order you to stand down and have you get a solid eight hours of sleep. You are no use to us in this condition. I am asking nicely, don't force me to get Doc involved and make this a more formal matter." Two Marines escorted Kathy off the bridge and into her cabin; she could barely stand up.

Even with the loss of several of the battleships, Kathy had more firepower. The forces were so close together that launching planes would be hazardous. Once the tide of the battle had tipped, the enemy retreated before more concentrated firepower reigned down upon them.

Lee was watching the Global Hawk intel while the Marine mortars were pounding enemy strongholds. The Marines knew the desert of The Outback would break the back of the enemy, so they stayed near food and water and forced the enemy to sprint to safer ground.

Lee was elated; today she was going to promote Kathy for her idea for hitting the port. Kathy was to get her star and a medal. All her comrades were to watch the ceremony.

"Captain Kathy front and center."

Kathy interrupted Lee before she could speak again, "Permission to speak freely Fleet Admiral!"

Lee knew because of Kathy's rudeness and abrasive tone this would not end well.

"I refuse to accept any hunks of metal or promotions; I will throw any you give me overboard. The fact of the matter is that I had a direct order to seal off that flank in a blockade. I disobeyed that order by blowing up everything in sight."

"I then took all my assets and abandoned the flank, leaving the entire strike force open for destruction.That is the textbook definition of dereliction of duty. Hundreds died due to my lack of judgment."

"I am sure this whole conversation will be considered insubordination to a superior officer. Here is my sidearm, I don't believe I am of sound mind to carry it. As such, at this moment I resign all commissions."

Lee motioned to two MP's to take Kathy away in handcuffs. "Kathy will not needing this sidearm anymore, please return to the armory and deregister Kathy's name from it."

Jim said, "Lee, can't you do anything?"

"Jim, she had a psychotic break, yet she counts all the deaths as blood on her hands with a flashback to when she was an Ensign."

"Anyone who thought about suicide enough to think about handing their gun in before they put a high velocity round in their skull is not fit for duty."

"I can get away with the bombing of the port but leaving the flank wide open when the slightest bit of intel could wipe out our entire fleet is too much. I will have to court-martial her in some way."

"So, Captain, you better not let your superiors find out you are late on the first day on the job."

"Wh-at? Oh crap." Jim ran down the corridor on his way to the bridge.

Two MP's guarded Kathy's door. Soon they heard the lock turn and then furniture move around, a chair under the doorknob.

Kathy was proud of the job she did barricading the door.

After Hope picked up the third untouched platter of food, she banged on Kathy's door, "Kathy, you have to eat."

"Go away Hope. I know your game, lure me outside with food then pounce on me and drug me up."

"Sorry Lee, she is a no go. She just said, "I was trying to lure her out with food, pounce on her and drug her up."

"And what was your plan?"

Hope smiled, "I was going to lure her out the door with food, pounce on Kathy and drug her up."

"Well, at least we are all caught up with our cops and robbers shows."

"What are we going to do Lee? She is dehydrating with every bathroom visit and every time she exhales."

"You have not figured that out yet? I guess that is why I have these stars on my lapel. We are going to wait until she is asleep, then we are going to blow the whole fucking door off its hinges. Then you swoop in and drug her up."

"She already has some items that are blocking the door, so that will minimize the blast."

Hope chuckled, "I think that could work."

That night, Lee affixed the explosives to all the hinges and locks. Lee told everyone to wait ten seconds after the blast for the shrapnel to settle down. It worked like a charm, everything that was forming the barricade muffled most of the explosion. The heavy door fell.

Kathy was in a daze, so it was easy for Hope to sedate her. Kathy had lost a lot of weight. Hope put on the restraints while the Doc inserted a feeding tube.

Hope asked, "Why did she do it Doc?"

"There was a sneak attack on The Firebrand, two shells hit the bridge, several were dead, and Captain Lesly was bleeding out. Kathy was the only officer left standing, she called in the counter-strike. She saved Captain Lesly's life with a direct transfusion. The Firebrand was disabled; they were a sitting duck."

"Kathy received a silver star, while her friends died at sea. She blamed herself for that. When the battleships went down, Kathy froze, you had to get her off the bridge. When she heard of the promotion for seeing so many people die, she had a break."

"Now Lee can't even reinstate her, because she resigned all commissions. Kathy made it plural so that Lee couldn't do that. You will have to find some of her civilian clothes. The only out Lee has, uniform-wise, is a PO 1, as you are the CPO."

Hope said, "I am the medical CPO, surely an aircraft carrier can have several of them. Kathy must have had a field of experience when she was an Ensign."

" I will talk to Lee about it. Her court-martial will tear The Firebrand, and The Phoenix apart. It will be hard on Lee as Kathy didn't have her break until the battleships went down, before that she was of sound mind. Kathy was the first one Lee mentored."

Captain Lesly was very distressed, so she subconsciously looked at the scar on her arm, where Kathy saved her life.

The court-martial proceeded through the system, the court date was set in three months. The Jag officer asked the judge if Kathy could be placed in a halfway house to start treatments for her PTSD.

"Granted"

The Jag officer was upbeat, showing Kathy to want to cooperate may lead to a reduced sentence.

As the trial started the judge asked, "How do you plead Captain Kathy?"

Kathy's lawyer stood and said, "She pleads not guilty your honor."

Kathy stood up and said, "Your honor, CPO Kathy pleads guilty. I violated a direct order by leaving the flank open, and the port was not secure, hundreds died as a result of my poor judgment. This silver star you gave me when I was an Ensign is a curse, a reminder of a decision I made when I ordered that counterstrike."

"In chambers, everyone!"

Once in chambers, the judge said, "So Kathy, when did you start feeling like this about your silver star?"

"Ever since I got it, your honor. I hate it. I talked to Fleet Admiral Lee about it one time. I also took a picture of it and put it on a dartboard. I pounded the darts into it."

"Your honor, if I have always felt this way, was I ever officer material?"

It was a No win question. "Well the Academy thought so, and Fleet Admiral Lee thinks very highly of you."

"I love my country, your honor. I just think sometimes being a seaman shuffling papers from one basket to another would be more of my calling."

"Why did you resign your commissions?"

"I was going to either commit suicide or get court-martialed; either way I would not have a commission. You can keep the star. I will not be going to any naval occasions where I would need to wear it."

"Well CPO Kathy, all the paperwork has been processed for you to be a Rear Admiral. Could we make a compromise that you would take the commission of running a base on land, if we make the concession that you do not need to wear any of the medals you earned, and you would remain a one-star Admiral? You would be a pencil pusher."

"That would give you better pay and benefits and the only major decision you need to make is where you are going to eat that day. We could pick a base near where you would like to get treatment for your PTSD."

"Are your smaller bases normally run by lower-ranking officers?"

"Yes, normally."

"I accept if I get a list of those bases. I want to run them jointly so there is no disruption in the running of the base."

After doing a computer search for Naval bases, Kathy called Lee. "Hi Lee, it is Kathy. Would it be possible to jointly run Mayport? I know it is a huge base, but I can't get carriers out of my blood. I don't intend to make any changes, because it is working fine as it is."

At the first sit down meeting with the commander, Kathy said, "Let me clear up any misunderstandings, I do not plan on coming in here with a bunch of ideas that have been tried and failed. Your superiors have given you glowing reviews while running this base."

"How about you let me settle into this job, then I can take some of your onerous jobs to make this an even better base. Please call me Kathy and you do not need to salute me all day, my arm gets tired returning a salute from everyone on the base."

During an early morning jog through the base, Kathy saw some recruits and decided to stop by and check in on them.

"Attention, Admiral on deck."

"How are they doing Chief?"

"We just started week two ma'am, but they will be ready."

Kathy inspected the recruits. Her message was simple, "When I graduated the Academy as an Ensign I had the honor to be in the same class as Fleet Admiral Lee when she became a Rear Admiral, and I had the privilege to serve with her on The Firebrand. You are new to the Navy, so it is a perfect time for you to pick how to serve your country to the best of your abilities. The Navy is chock-full of specialties you can advance in. Maybe you and your friends might want to advance together," Kathy said to the recruits.

"Chief, let me know if there are any exceptional recruits, I happen to know The Firebrand is low on personnel. Fleet Admiral Lee only takes the best."

"Recruits, I was in the hospital when I was visited by a Seaman Recruit, on liberty, one day after boot camp. She kicked my ass to get me where I needed to get to. She impressed Doc so much she was working on patients during a Mass Trauma event. She is now the medical CPO aboard The Phoenix, the twin carrier of The Firebrand."

Kathy was settling in; she was taking more jobs from the commander. The stress level was going down and the respect level for both was going up. It made for a better working environment.

Occasionally, Kathy would go out on sea training of a new carrier. She made herself scarce on the bridge so the captain would take control of her crew. The feeling was invigorating.

At first, the captains thought she was there to second guess every move they made; Kathy never did that. She let the captains learn from their mistakes. Word got around, despite her rank, Kathy was one of them.