Chapter 18 - Underway on Sea Trials
Forty-eight hours after the gate confrontation, the USS *Vanguard* slipped its moorings and stood out to sea.
The rumble of four massive gas turbine engines vibrated through the steel hull as the warship sliced through the choppy swells of the Virginia Capes, leaving a frothing white wake behind in the Atlantic. The gray coastline of North America slowly melted away into a thin, distant ribbon before disappearing beneath the blue horizon.
Inside the Combat Information Center, the operational tempo was relentless. We were running full-mission tactical scenarios designed to stress the warship's layered defense envelopes to absolute breaking point.
"Contact incoming, bearing zero-four-five, range sixty nautical miles, traveling at Mach two point four!" the air intercept controller called out, her fingers dancing across the console keyboard. "Profile matches high-speed anti-ship cruise missile simulator!"
I stood behind the central tactical overview console, headset locked over my ear. My pulse was steady, my mind processing four separate data streams simultaneously.
"Weapons, confirm Aegis auto-special engagement parameters," I commanded briskly. "Electronic Warfare, initiate active countermeasures on sector two. Decouple radar link and shift to backup phased array channel four to counter incoming electronic jamming."
"Aye, Commander!" the crew responded in unison.
The simulated incoming threat accelerated, closing the distance at terrifying speed. On the tactical plot, simulated decoy clouds deployed, deceptive chaff bloomed, and the warship's virtual SM-2 surface-to-air interceptors fired from the forward vertical launching system cells.
"Target intercepted! Splash one at twenty-five miles!" the tracking operator yelled out with a grin.
"Secondary contact down! Grid clear!"
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A wave of exhilaration swept through the compartment. Master Chief Vance looked over from the track supervisor console and gave me a sharp, respectful thumb-up.
"Flawless response, TAO," Captain Edwards, the ship’s Commanding Officer, announced from the command chair in the back of the room. "Whitaker, that’s the fastest target acquisition and neutralisation this crew has ever logged. You've forged this team into an iron fist."
