Counter Poised (17 page)

Chapter 21

Early the next morning, Admiral Yates flew from COMSUBLANT to the new capital at Philadelphia to brief President Thornton, the cabinet, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the situation. His report stunned the assembled audience as he reported in quick succession:

• No one had seen the
Louisiana
get underway.

• The marine guards from the refit wharf were also missing, without any sign of a struggle.

• There was no evidence of forced entry anywhere around the perimeter of the Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, and the guards at the main entrance and back gate had not reported anything unusual.

• A couple of local fishermen may have seen the
Louisiana
in the exit channel, but they would have to be questioned further because they were apparently quite inebriated at the time.

• A marine contingent had rushed to the channel entrance at Amelia Island and fired at a dark object at sea, but there was no confirmation that it was the
Louisiana
or that they had inflicted any damage.

• P-3 anti-submarine warfare planes had been scrambled out of NAS Jacksonville but had failed to locate any submarines in the vicinity of the channel entrance.

• The
Louisiana
had simply disappeared with no warning and with approximately one-third of her crew missing.

By the time of the admiral’s briefing in Philadelphia, the
New York Times
had already issued a special edition with the news plastered on its front page. The headline covered the entire top half of the page:

GONE: 120 NUCLEAR WARHEADS MISSING! BALLISTIC MISSILE SUBMARINE FEARED HIJACKED!

The sub-headline read:

SUB DISAPPEARS FROM KINGS BAY DURING DEAD OF NIGHT

The news was devastating! No one at the
Times
had contemplated the effect the story would have on the civilian public. There was mass panic in every major city in the country. The roads were gridlocked as millions of people tried to get out of densely populated areas, which were seen as being likely targets for terrorists armed with long-range ballistic missiles. Hundreds died in the panic. There was looting and anarchy across the nation. The president declared martial law and mobilized reserve and National Guard units to restore law and order.

A subsequent story appearing the next day in the
Philadelphia Inquirer
disclosed it was the USS
Louisiana
that had gone missing from the tightly guarded Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay. The reporters speculated wildly as to what may have happened. Guesses ranged from terrorist paratroopers who had unexpectedly dropped in; to terrorist frogmen who swam undetected up the entire length of the Kings Bay entrance channel and overpowered the skeleton crew onboard; to a renegade crew who stole the submarine with the intent of seeking retribution against the Muslim world for the attack on Washington DC. There was even speculation that the disappearance had been secretly planned and orchestrated by the U.S. government as a way to strike back against the Muslim world without having to take responsibility.

The entire international community, NATO, and the UN became actively involved in the search for the missing submarine. All commercial and military ships were alerted and directed to notify their commanders immediately if a nuclear submarine was sighted. All available U.S., NATO, Russian, and Chinese attack submarines were deployed to find and, if necessary, destroy the USS
Louisiana
.

Chapter 22

August 18, USS
Louisiana

“XO, establish the first watch,” the captain ordered. “I want a meeting of the officers in the wardroom in ten minutes.”

“Aye-aye, sir.”

In the wardroom, the mood was lighthearted. There was a great sense of relief at having successfully made the run from Kings Bay to the open Atlantic. They had all known it would not be easy, but they had not anticipated just how close they would come to being destroyed.

The XO called the meeting to order. “Captain, we’re all here with the exception of engineering. With this downsized crew, we’re a little short-handed in M-Division.”

“I understand. I’ll talk to ‘Scotty’ later.”

They all laughed at the
Star Trek
reference. Captain Adams was always amazed at the extent to which technical people were followers of
Star Trek
, even this many years since the show had last aired. Most of these crewmembers weren’t even born when the
Enterprise
’s Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy, and Scotty said their farewells.

The captain picked up a microphone connected to the ship’s intercom system, so the entire crew could hear his remarks. “Crewmembers of the USS
Louisiana
, we have now crossed the line. There’s no going back. We have begun a new chapter of our lives and, God willing, a new chapter of peace on Earth.”

Within the wardroom, each man’s head dropped forward as the somber reality of their position hit them once again.

“Congratulations to all for a great run to the Atlantic! Super job by everyone onboard. The run out of Kings Bay is difficult even in daylight with a full crew. You should hold your heads up high for having accomplished it at night and in record time. I think you all know if we had been just a few minutes slower, it could have spelled disaster for the mission…and us. As it is, we had one crewman take a bullet in the arm. Seaman Hayes is recovering nicely in sick bay. Drop by and see him in your spare time.”

They all chuckled, knowing “spare time” was not a luxury any of them would have. Reading between the lines, the captain was saying, “Make time to visit Seaman Hayes.”

With an upbeat mood reset, the captain continued. “I want to congratulate all of you for making a very brave decision. Throughout history, there have been those who whined and wished for change, and there have been those who sacrificed to make it happen. You are the type of people who have been responsible for great events. In the days, months, and years ahead, there will no doubt be those who criticize us. Well, let them criticize. For our part, let us remember the good we are doing and the lives we are saving.”

A few of the junior officers looked around and jokingly pointed at their friends as if to say, “You? A hero? Fat chance!”

“We have a small crew, which means we are going to have to rely on each other to a much greater extent than ever before. Teamwork is key to making this mission a success. Each one of you has been hand-selected and is an essential member of the team. Each one of you must remember we cannot do it without you. Don’t let us down.”

The captain paused and then added, “I have asked Chaplain Lewis to say a prayer for this crew.”

Chaplain Lewis took the microphone and began, “Let us pray. Lord, we ask this day that you watch over us and give us strength: strength to carry out our plan, strength to start over and begin new lives, strength to remain vigilant for many years from those who will surely try to defeat us. We ask that you use the power of the Holy Spirit to enter the minds and hearts of terrorist leaders and the leaders of Islamic nations around the world to move them to heed our warning and stop these terrible murderous acts. In the end, if the terrorists ignore our warning, we pray that you give us the strength to carry out the ultimate retribution. We pray for this crew, for their safety, and for the USS
Louisiana
. May we become an instrument of peace in your hands. Amen.”

“Amen!”

“Thank you, Chaplain. Crew of the
Louisiana
—carry on!”

The captain turned off the intercom and addressed the officers in the wardroom. “Gentlemen, each of us have been selected to be a part of history. There is no doubt after today that we will be remembered—one way or another!”

A nervous laugh arose from the gathered officers.

“We may be vilified at first, but if we’re successful, we can put a stop to the killing and carnage perpetrated on the human race by a few power-mad individuals. For the rest of our lives, we’ll live in hiding, under aliases, not able to tell anybody who we really are. We have talked about this at length during your recruitment interviews. I called this meeting to discuss in more detail the purpose of the mission and its importance.”

“Thank you, Captain. We appreciate that,” said the XO.

“Now, I want this meeting to be a free flowing exchange of ideas. So speak freely. If there is anyone with doubts about our mission or his part in it, let’s get it out on the table and discuss it. To begin, I believe Lieutenant Johnson, our legal officer, has prepared some material for our review.”

Lieutenant Johnson opened his briefcase, pulled out two maps of the world, and laid them on the table.

“That’s right, Captain. I do have a few items I think will generate some discussion. The first is a world map showing the extent of Islam in 1750. I chose this point in time, because it predates both the American and the French revolutions, which brought the concepts of freedom and democracy to the Western world.”

“Lieutenant?” asked the ops officer.

“Yes, sir?”

“Why are you showing us maps nearly three hundred years old?”

“I’m getting to that, sir, if you will permit me…the second is a map showing the extent of Islam today, with shading indicating the percent Muslim population in all countries. A major difference between the two maps is that before 1750 Muslims expanded their influence primarily through military conquest. Therefore the first map represents what I would call core Muslim nations together with conquered territories. After the establishment of Western democracies and open societies, Muslims were free to immigrate to most areas of the world. Therefore, the second map shows the degree to which Muslims have peacefully infiltrated other countries around the world. So the darker a country is shaded, the greater the Muslim percentage of the total population.”

“Wow, that’s a pretty incredible graphic,” said Pappy.

“That’s right, XO. I think you can see that Muslims have infiltrated every Western democracy to some extent.”

“Yeah, it looks like some of these countries in Europe may be as much as ten percent Muslim, but look at their spread through Asia and the Far East! I never would have guessed Islam had spread like that.”

Lieutenant Johnson continued, “A basic flaw in democracies, no…not a
flaw
, but a
weakness
in the system, is that people can choose their own form of government. So over time, they are free to change it. It’s like the old saying about democracy being bound to fail because if you give people the right to vote, they’ll vote themselves so many entitlements, the government will go bankrupt.”

“And Lord knows we’ve become a nation that expects entitlements,” said the chaplain. “There’s a whole subculture in this country dedicated to getting as much free stuff from the government as possible.”

“That’s interesting, Chaplain, but not the point I was really trying to make. My point was, if you just think about it, democratic governments are bound to change over time. People change…the times change. In legal circles, if you listen to the so-called ‘strict constructionists,’ they’re always harping about the fact that our current laws and Supreme Court decisions are not consistent with the intent of the Founding Fathers. Well of course they aren’t! The Founding Fathers lived in a time when it was important to limit federal powers. They had just fought a revolution against a powerful central government. So the Constitution enumerated certain limited federal powers and reserved the rest of the powers for the states.”

“Well, times have certainly changed,” interjected the XO.

“That’s right. The Civil War did away with States’ rights for the most part, and the rest of the powers have gone to the federal government over the years because that’s what the people wanted. Today, whenever any need for government action arises, people’s first response is to demand that the federal government do something about it.”

The chaplain added, “It’s true the country has changed, but I think the country is changing now in ways no one ever anticipated, and one of the main reasons is the influx of Muslims. When the Founding Fathers talked about freedom of religion, the only thing they meant was, “Let me worship Jesus the way I want to and not the way you want me to.” They never anticipated the rise of a totally different religion that rejected the basic tenets of Christianity.”

“Yeah,” said the XO, “I guess in 1776 they never imagined Muslims, not to mention
radical
Muslims, would ever live in America.”

“That’s true, and the basic teachings of radical Islam are counter to freedom of religion. We’ve talked about the fact that people in much of the Muslim world don’t understand Western democracy, but
we
don’t really understand Islam either. We think countries like Iraq or Iran can have freedom of religion, but it’s not so. Muslims don’t tolerate other religions. Heck, the radicals don’t even tolerate other sects of Islam. Even the moderates don’t tolerate too much of other religions. For the fanatics, the radicals, it’s Islam or death. So the real problem is how do you peacefully coexist with people whose
religion
says kill everybody that’s different? Not just their political beliefs, but their
religion
?”

Lieutenant Johnson responded by asking, “Do you find it strange that Muslims only fall into two categories, moderates and fanatics? I mean, where are the
liberal
Muslims?”

“No, I don’t find it strange at all,” said the chaplain. “There are no liberal Muslims, and it all stems from the
Qur’an
. If you’ll, allow me to get on my soapbox for a moment…”

Pappy interjected, “You mean your pulpit, don’t you?”

They all laughed.

“No, XO, in this instance I mean my soapbox, because this is a personal opinion. My studies of the world’s religions, and my own reflections and meditations, have led me to several conclusions. The first is this: God’s message has always been love. It’s a unifying theme of religions throughout the history of mankind. Second, the problem God’s messengers have always had with writing a religious text has been that they screw it up!”

Everyone laughed. “Don’t sugarcoat it, Chaplain. Tell us what you
really
think!”

“No really, it can’t be helped. By necessity, each messenger has to interpret God’s spiritual messages, which come to him in
symbolic
form, in the context of the human life he or she is currently living. Mohammed dictated the
Qur’an
while he was engaged in a thirty-year war against tribal lords on the Arabian Peninsula. So, of course, his interpretations of God’s messages were warlike. They were tainted by his human experiences.”

“Yeah, that’s for sure,” said Lieutenant Johnson. “I’ve read a little of the
Qur’an
, and it seems like almost every syrah begins with a warning about the vengeance that God will wreak upon the infidels and the enemies of Islam, and it ends with a command that the infidels be cast out or forced to submit to Islam.”

The chaplain noted, “If you study it closely, you will find that the
Qur’an
uses the word ‘love’ primarily in the context of loving Allah. Elsewhere, it says to love your fellow Muslim, but in practically the next verse, it says to join together to vanquish the unbelievers. So in my opinion, God’s message of
universal
love was almost totally obliterated by Mohammed’s interpretations, and unfortunately, before his death, he proclaimed himself to be God’s
final
messenger.”

“So are you saying Mohammed, the revered Prophet of Islam, was a fraud?” asked Lieutenant Johnson.

“No! Absolutely not! For a person to be a fraud, they have to
intentionally
mislead someone. I have no doubt Mohammed, like all of God’s messengers, truly believed he was properly interpreting God’s symbolic spiritual messages.”

“Yet the end result is that all his warped interpretations have been studied by dozens of generations of Muslims as God’s final and greatest message to mankind. Right?” asked Lieutenant Johnson.

“That’s right, but don’t think Mohammed was alone in his misinterpretations of God’s messages. Remember, I said
all
of God’s messengers screw it up. There’s no religion that’s perfect—not even Christianity! In many ways, the
Bible
is a lot like the
Qur’an
. They both describe a reward-and-punishment type of religion that’s not very consistent with an all-loving god.”

“Why are you picking on Christians?” Pappy asked. “We’re not against Christians on this mission.”

“I’m not trying to pick on Christians, XO. I’m just trying to point out that Muslims are not alone in not having a perfect holy book. We’re not pointing fingers at the Muslims and saying, “My religion is right, and yours is wrong.” That’s been done since the beginning of time, and it has never furthered the progress of peace. We’re trying to be objective and recognize that
every
holy book has been flawed by its human interpreters.”