Sea of Shadows eBook - Navy Thriller.com

176 JEFF EDWARDS
the fat stack of papers on his desk. “That was a great idea. Whatever
happened to it?”
Moody smiled. “Um … I believe that paper covers computer, sir.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
Moody held out the folder to the admiral. “You remember the rules,
sir. Rock smashes scissors. Scissors cut paper. Paper covers rock. Well,
somebody did a study, and it turns out that paper covers computer as
well.”
Admiral Rogers accepted the folder. “By extrapolation, I assume that
means that rock smashes computer.”
Moody pointed to the desk. “It certainly does, sir. Unfortunately, that
still leaves paper.”
The admiral sighed. “No way around it, I guess.” He opened the
folder. “What have you got here, Troy?”
“A SITREP from USS Antietam, sir.”
“I can see that,” the admiral said. “But I don’t feel like wading through
four pages of minutiae in search of whatever little nugget of wisdom you
found buried in there. Just give me the Reader’s Digest version.” He
closed the folder. “What’s going on with Antietam?”
“They’ve completed repairs to their starboard rudder nearly a week
ahead of schedule, sir. Barring problems during shakedown, they’re ready
to put to sea now. I know you’ve been trying to scare up a fourth ship for
your Search Attack Unit, sir. Looks like Antietam is going to be available
after all.”
The admiral nodded. “Excellent work, Troy. The CNO has been up
my ass for two days to come up with another ship.”
“So I understood, sir.”
“Good man. Now, get on the horn and tell the admin weenies to cut
steaming orders for Antietam.”
“Already done, sir. They won’t be final until you sign them, of course,
but I’ve taken the liberty of starting the ball rolling, just in case you
decided to assign Antietam to the SAU.”
The admiral nodded. “Excellent.”
“I didn’t think you’d want to waste any time,” Commander Moody
said. “Antietam still has to do a quick shakedown after her rudder repairs.
They’ll really have to drop the hammer to catch up. The SAU has a head
start, and those guys are hauling ass.”
Rogers looked at his chief of staff. “Whiley will catch ’em,” he said.
“He’s up for admiral after this tour, and he’s not going to pass up a chance
to play war hero. They can use the sprint south as their shakedown. Then,
if the rudder gives them any trouble, they can turn back to port and let the