Free Eden's War (A Distant Eden) by Lloyd Tackitt Page A

this operation looks like, how fast the boats can move and turn, what positions they’re best arrayed in. For ninety-eight percent of this war I’ll be out of harm’s way – after all, I can’t be everywhere at once. But in order to understand what needs to be done and how it needs to be done, I have to see this for myself. It’s also good for the morale of the fighting sailors to know they’re leader isn’t afraid to mix it up. They deserve the respect of a leader who takes the risks they’re taking. When it gets hard and tight out there, I want every sailor on every boat we have to know I am in that helicopter out in front of them. I want them to know they’re not sacrificial lambs. Remember Admiral, these are not naval warriors going out on the front line, their expertise isn’t combat, it was commerce. They don’t have the fighting background – they’ll need all the encouragement they can get.”
    As the helicopter lifted off, Adrian was immediately relieved of the sea sickness he’d been suffering since boarding the cruiser. Flying didn’t bother him in the least, even though the helicopter flight had more motion in more directions than the cruiser had. Moments after the naval chopper had reached altitude Adrian could see the layout of the explosive boat carriers, and only a mile away he saw the fleet of oil tankers. Between the two fleets he could see dozens of small boats moving rapidly towards the tankers. The war had started.
    “Fly over close to the tankers, I want to get a look at them up close.” Adrian instructed the pilot.
    “How close do you want to get sir?”
    “Close enough to make out faces.”
    “Yes sir, I’ll get you close enough to count pimples.” And so he did. Within minutes the chopper was circling around the foremost tanker close enough to clearly see startled faces. When several soldiers suddenly popped up on deck and began firing at the chopper with rifles the pilot calmly asked “Close enough sir?” He smiled. A bullet snipped through the aluminum skin on the chopper making a loud ping, punctuating his question.
    “Yep, I think that will do, go ahead and back off a bit, son. And move around to the stern of this boat, I want a good look at the rudder.”
    Adrian flipped a switch on the radio and was then able to broadcast to the American fleet on an open frequency. “Captains, I’ve been looking at the rudders of a couple of these ships. Because the ships are not carrying the weight they were designed for, they are riding high in the water. As the waves recede from below the stern, part of the rudder is temporarily exposed, and the propellers are near the surface. If you bring your torpedo boats around from behind and time the hit with the waves you may be able to disable their rudders, possibly even damage the props.
    “From directly behind though, the rudders will be a difficult target to hit, but if you come at them from the side you stand a better chance. Disabling their ability to steer is as good as, or maybe better than, sinking them. If we’re lucky, other ships will come to the rescue of a disabled ship to off-load their soldiers. On the other hand they may just sail on by; in either case a rudderless ship isn’t a threat to us.”
    “If you can’t get to the rudder you’ll have to try and breach the hull. Most of these tankers have double hulls. To sink one, you’ll have to not only flood the inner hull, but at least two of the inner tanks.
    “That means that you’ll have to breach the outer hull and then run another boat in through that breach to hit the inner hull and tank in at least two separate places, say about at quarter points along the length of the ship. Now, let’s see what you can do to their rudders.”

    Adrian watched closely as the first of the radio-controlled explosive packed boats rapidly approached the foremost tanker. The little boat looked like a mosquito next to an elephant. For the first time Adrian had deep doubts about the