The Consolidation of The Thistle

By J Tripp

nation building is what leywood seems to end up doing inorder to make his own plans work. jack goes to the caribbean and branches out to argentina when they have another scrap only this time its a renegade general who jack has to hunt down and then the nazis and zionists keep his intelligence people busy until a conspiracy of nastiness is uncovered for the dragons to sort.
after his last long leave while still an active service admiral jack takes the dragons to the mediterranean for a little leave and finish up building another outpost on a greek island in the ionian sea.
jack returns to london where his queen informs him she wants him on a shore job and out of the firing line. Secretly happy patricia organizes a grand ball to celebrate and the admiral settles down with his wife and daughters to a desk job. "just for now my boy"

• Language: English
• Publisher: J Tripp
• Release date: Dec 23, 2012

J Tripp

Born in England 1944 and educated in Canada it took me 60 years to begin writing but I finally did it. I'm a veteran of the Royal Canadian Navy as well as the Royal Australian Navy and a keen sailing enthusiast. I took up the pen when an accident at work disbled me but nothing can crush the human spirit.

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The Consolidation of The Thistle

By John Tripp

Copyright 2012 John Tripp

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No Life Like It

Book six: The Consolidation of The Thistle

Our hero Jack Leywood has been playing at nation building here and there. The Queen has rewarded the Dragons with their own medal for their part in the re-joining of Australia to the Commonwealth and the beginning of control of the cocaine lords of South America. Now he must do battle with the Neo-Nazis and Zionist hit squads of Argentina out for vengeance for war crimes of WWII.

To cover for that a group of military politicians plots to steal the Falklands Islands from the United Kingdom right out from under Prime Minister Thatcher’s government. Jack struggles with his own particular Argentine war chewing nails over foreign policy and waging secret and desperate war over the oil fields of the Falklands Shelf.

You won’t want to miss this one where Jack scores well in the secret war line and the Dragons save a lot of lives at sea in their guise as Venezuelan sailors.

Chapter One: The Admiral’s Mistake

The family reunion my ever so patient Aunt Vivian put together was a huge success and Patti and I got that much closer to my family as we learned the various identities formed around the very different people. My Uncle Bob was the historian we all never thought about and had anecdotes on everyone’s life which he read out at the gala feast the Casino laid on for the occasion.

I had never spent so much time with any of my uncles apart from Bob my dad’s kid brother. He teased me a lot but my Uncle Fred had pressed coins into my hand saying,

Go and get yourself something Jack. He sat there gazing about him not fully taking it all in while his wife gaily chatted with all and sundry. I had tried several approaches and got close only down in Puff IIs engine room…

Say Uncle Fred, are you interested in aircraft at all? I know you were in the RCAF during the war but I don’t have a clue what you did. Uncle Howard was into B25s he said so I’m going over to the airfield this morning with him, want to come along?

We got out of the electric truck on the ramp in front of my hangar and the crew chief was there already grinning, he shook my uncle’s hand and grinned as we walked…

Good morning Chief Craddock I trust your smile means that all of our old dears are up to it today? We’ll take the Mitchell up and would you be kind enough to co-pilot? My uncle Howard here was an observer-gunner but there’s no turret for him to stand in so he’ll be on the navigator’s chair.

Right sir, Freddy and I go back y’know t’ th’ war and Hawkers test field. I twigged why he was grinning and climbed into the co-pilot’s chair. The others were climbing the stair into the rear compartment behind the wing roots’ massive spars where two waist gunners would have had their action station there were now twelve jump seats and plenty of windows with the huge bubbles of the original plane replaced by four smaller windows on the starboard side and the sliding door access on the port side.

I took the microphone and talked to the uncles and cousins…

Good morning this is your captain speaking. Please remain seated throughout the flight unless you are using the facilities, the bags are under your seat on the right. Here we go…

Dragon slayer you are clear to take off, no wind today Jefé, two squadrons of Hawks are exercising in area Bravo and the range is clear as you requested. I ran the engines up to the red line and tested the brakes running through the check list. A strange voice on the intercom, my uncle!

Both engines on three quarter boost and twenty inches of manifold pressure. Oil is good, going on both wing tanks now. Back in the office Jack this is one beautiful aircraft anyone who knew them would wonder where you managed to buy a new one. A call on the radio from the range to inform us of the target release imminent. The crew began chatter on the intercom as I slipped into the bomb aimer’s seat,

Chief you got the aircraft, I’m swapping seats with Uncle Howard… you got the stick now? Ok uncle Howard see the weapons selector switch on that little flat panel, hit the top one, that’s our Vulcan cannon… I’ll go back and here the weapon is armed on ball ammo for the first run Chief take her down.

Aye aye sir. Attacking target now. The aircraft began a pop-up and swoop maneuver which my uncle remembered and he took the stick literally aiming the plane at the target,

Weapons has the stick… firing. Rrrrriiippp a line of destruction cut the floating raft into shreds and the chief soared away from the target area using the energy built up in the dive on the target. Under the floor in the rear a rumble told us of the bomb bay doors opening and we circled the target as I gave it the numbers and the chief realized he had the stick for a torpedo run.

Ok chief plaster it!

Roger. The plane took a steep aileron turn bringing us down within ten feet of the wave tops and he waited for the right swell and hit the pickle. The fish swam good and hit the raft dead center as my Uncle Howard went bananas in the right hand seat. Uncle Fred liked planes he sat there behind the main spar looking out the window and enjoyed the sensation of hurtling through the air and the sounds of the weapons seeing the individual parts in his mind organizing them as each thing played its part.

When the props stopped spinning we all deplaned and Uncle Fred asked to see the shops. We entered the chief’s domain and Uncle Fred became animated by the familiar things…

Ohh you have a ‘Jug’ but that’s not the original engine is it Jack? I admitted that we had been messing about with different engines since they fished it out of the lake after I had been shot down in it. The Chief and Mac were rebuilding the plane and had got to which engine might be best for it and not tied down by navy rules or any other form of aviation authority they had opted to try a Pratt and Whitney R2800 radial engine almost twice the horsepower of the original and no bigger in size.

It’s your lucky day Uncle Fred because we’re going to test the engine mounts this morning aren’t we chief? My airplane’s owner was a crusty old Chief Aircraft Technician with twenty five years in the navy wrenching everything from Corsairs, Furies, Skyhawks and Harriers to Phantoms and his mate another senior Royal Australian Air Force Sergeant we pressed in Melbourne. They smiled at me and we rolled the fighter out on the ramp where she’d not stood for almost a year and a half. Mac plugged the starter cart in at the back of the engine bay port side where you had to crouch behind the landing gear to get at it nice safety feature I thought.

Sergeant Burgess ran the engine up to half boost on the ramp watching the gauges very carefully while Mac and the chief shouted various things and reached inside with a screwdriver from time to time until the rumble began to sound more like a steady roar. The engine slowly backed down to idle speed with the odd crackle from a pipe when a spark of metal dust lit the rich mixture the old feeling hit me.

A familiar hand pressed itself into mine,

Hello sailor I brought you some coffee because I see the chief has been too busy to brew some. How is the new engine, it’s certainly loud! My uncle Fred appeared next to Mac brandishing a long screwdriver and shouted in his ear followed by nodding. He waved for the chief to raise the revs and Uncle Fred plunged in and within two minutes the whole thing was a lot quieter.

Mac and he retreated from the plane and we all listened to the muted roar of twenty-four hundred horsepower. The plane began rolling out onto the taxi lane the Sergeant poking around organizing everything before nodding and heading up to the top of the take-off apron zig zagging to the end and a brief word with the tower.

The huge five bladed prop almost looked as if it wasn’t turning but we could see the exhaust gasses surrounding the wavering shape and suddenly it shot down the field about a thousand feet and went airborne. The Sergeant reported that in his opinion the plane was a rocket and needed a G-suit to appreciate it better but he wasn’t ready to come down and change so he would put it through its two thirds power trials.

We watched him putting it through its paces and sat in the shade drinking coffee,

When are we going to sail Jack? Do I have time for some shopping in Caracas and for that matter do you have time for some shopping lover? I remembered what we were heading into and thought her ideas sound so we talked about going into town for a day or so and picking up some toiletries and extra underwear for our trip to England and back to Flotta to join the ship.

For crew we had the pick of many and decided we’d take a shipful and lessen the burden for Aer Lingus. The Thunderbolt returned and we gathered round to help Sergeant Burgess’ peel his cheeks from the cockpit screen and my Uncle Fred showed up in a G-suit toting a helmet,

You always wondered what I did in the Air Force Jack, I was a test pilot and from what I see here you may have solved a critical problem of laminar flow over the wing root at stall speed with the simple addition of another blade on the prop. With such a prime example as most of your aircraft are we should be able to almost break the sound barrier with your ‘Jug’.

Chief Craddock had known my uncle during the war and even worked with him on the Fury project which resulted in the development of the Bristol Centaurus engine which currently powered all of our Furies. He re-covered the engine and tightened down the dzutz fasteners for the right airflow required at full power and Uncle Fred took off…

Aunt Ellen noticed when her man was gone a longer time than usual and she called her sister Marion,

Meenah, where do you think all the men are? The eldest after dad my Aunt Marion was the undisputed leader of the Leywood girls who had terrorized the male population around Yorkton during the war. All three had married men from other towns and even countries because Uncle John, who was married to my aunt Eileen was Ukrainian by birth and fled the Nazis to settle in Saskatchewan with his elder parents and brother, Nick.

All three men had labored in the bomber command’s training base north of town although John’s wartime contribution could be said to be cleanup. He cleaned up all the papers after the meetings and filed them all day Saturday when there was no school learning how to run the business of air war. Howard, married to Marion ‘Meenah’; was a crew chief with a bunch of rowdy corporals under him and Fred was always quietly contemplating the next flight and making accurate notes about how his planes performed…

The truck let them out by the hangar and I saw Patti’s quick look of guilt having left them to fend for themselves…

Hey darling they’re all old enough to look after themselves. They coulda married clerks or tax collectors eh. The three aunts took up position at the edge of the ramp and Aunt Ellen asked me,

Where is your uncle Fred Jack? The plane went by at four feet while Uncle Fred checked out the altimeter and took out a mining claim and then roared out over the sea gradually gaining altitude.

Suddenly the aircraft shot straight up like it had been fired from a mortar, we heard him on the speakers in the crew shack…

Little torky we might have to wind another turn on a new Hamilton but I’m climbing at sixty percent about forty thou per. Very nice aircraft trim tabs are too small but adequate and it stalls at ninety five degrees at sixty percent if I touch the boost and yes we’re climbing straight up now and nowhere near stall, amazing. She gave a little Oh! shook her head of tight blond curls and took a seat on a chair in the shade accepting a glass of lemonade from Aciela now nearly legal niece to a woman who thought that children were too icky to have one.

The plane came down and he greased a three-point landing and taxied up,

Old home week Jack! That was grand and how nice to be here with some of the old crowd too. Tell me son is there any real estate on these islands? Your Aunt and I could do with a change of scene and this is my kind of change. The last thirty years of taking tickets and coming home quietly after the train got in faded when Uncle Fred smelt avgas and I approved.

See Marie Vargas in the Casino Uncle Fred and welcome to Las Falcones!

Will I be allowed on the airfield normally Jack or will I have to lease a hangar? I’m going to be looking for a project you see… I caught the chief’s eye and he winked nodding slightly so I put my foot right in it,

Well Uncle Fred you qualify for permanent visitor’s status but of course this is Chief Craddock’s domain where even my holy writ does not run. He’ll undoubtedly let you know if you’re underfoot but if what I just observed is a present day level I’d hire you just for show. The older men smiled, I had found another kindred soul to help with the never-ending search for the perfect plane.

The forklift slid into the hangar next door and loaded a long box then, turning it headed for the hangar where we were taking our ease and chatting about aircraft. Two handlers rolled the hangar doors right back to allow passage for the big crate, another fork lift arrived with more crates followed by another. I rose and signed for the delivery,

Here you are Uncle Fred. A project, the Cessna Dragonfly a first class jet trainer and low level attack aircraft easily better than Jet Provost or Tudor and standard twin controls. Enjoy. He gawped, hired just like that with a house to move into and a wife who might be sent shopping, yes that would please her. Aunt Ellen saw what she remembered from the high school dance where they first met, the strong silent airman, thick RAF pattern moustache, dependable, virile and well off but firmly addicted to old planes. He wandered inside calling for Sergeant Burgess…

Patti dragged her off,

We’ll go shopping in Caracas and Jack will come and translate it will be such fun Aunt Ellen. I’ll commandeer this truck and we’ll go change honey we’ll wait by the pad darling.

Right then, I’m off to Caracas apparently. Anyone need anything we’ll be going to the Super-Mercado for soap and things for the trip down south and while I think of it Chief do you have arctic gear? I loved teasing the old chief he tolerated me.

I topped off the tanks in my H60 Lockheed Loach and wound it up carefully there’s a few sharks in the water between Las Falcones and Venezuela. I set it down quietly on our pad next to the tennis courts and the two women emerged from the shade in flight coveralls and donning helmets. I gestured for Alejandro to join us and he piled into the back and helped my aunt get her belts done up then popped his helmet on.

We are clear in the passenger compartment Jefé, the ground is clear all around. I took us up and rotated to the left rising above the channel between my island and the main island then steering east toward Caracas.

I reported in to Caracas control and followed the stream around and entered the airspace feet dry over Maiquetia and three of our fast yachts Alejandro was describing all this to my fascinated aunt who had only ever been in three planes in her life and all of them to come down here to her new home. I set down behind the embassy and we went in to be squashed by Abuela Fradé and a hearty welcome from Enriqué who kissed my aunt’s wrist as only Spanish aristocrats can and she blushed Freddie was never that gallant!

I left them to it and rushed down to the clamoring stallion in his box,

Hello old boy, yes I know it’s been a while. I missed you too and we’ll go for a ride later yeah? I fondled his mane and fetched fresh water and oats. Major Morro showed up,

"Jola amigo como este usted?" He grinned, a perfect groom the major often came by and kept the horses exercised and sometimes took them on the string with the regimental nags. I itched to go for a canter but families require you to be part of them…

"Jasta l’liego caro." I nuzzled him and scratched his ear before running back to the house and duty. My wife was in her house, she loved them all but this one was very French provincial and suited her duties as British Ambassador to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. My former offices had been converted for Enriqué to use as the Naval Attache for the Dragons and head of education in the academy on Las Falcones.

Hey amigo where’s your chopper, not down for repairs is it eh?

No Juan I have loaned it to Colonel Rodriguez for the day so he may properly show his wife her rancho. You are not upset surely? I shook my head vigorously I kept an open hand with Martin and his friends who so nicely arranged for things like Hawkwing’s and Habañero’s exercise and feeding etc. just to name one thing.

As to his employment Enriqué could keep his own hours with the school operating so efficiently did it perform and most of his duties kept him in Caracas anyway. We needed a car and he made a couple of calls and a very nice 54 Cadillac showed up complete with armed driver and motorcycle escort.

He opened the door for my aunt who simpered at the extra-nice manners and got in. I gave the driver our first destination and the car rolled out of the drive. My aunt was all over the place pointing at the colorful houses and exclaiming over each little square as we drove through. The driver was charmed to learn of my aunt’s admiration of his city and we pulled up in front of the Super-Mercado.

She and Patti went around getting things and periodically I would be required for an opinion or bearer while they did what they knew best, get good deals like anyone else would. A pleasant afternoon and we rolled in the gate just before sunset and hungry then I remembered my horse and ran back to the paddock and rode around bareback for half an hour while we played and ran around like two dusty boys and I put him into his stall one happy pony.

Patti sniffed as I entered the kitchen,

First he turns to crime and now its horses! Carmelita Fradé was grinning, she knew Patti was kidding and I remembered when I turned to crime. I kissed my wife covered in horse but she couldn’t have cared less it was me to quote her. I galloped off to shower and change taking ten minutes to prepare for dinner and poured myself a scotch as the Lynx from Falcones arrived bringing the others and we crowded in to dinner.

Johnno was telling me who was coming back with us and who was staying on Las Falcones working on the ‘Gambler now fitting out as a bona-fide Hydrographic Research vessel and mother ship for a fleet of smaller boats outfitted with sonic thumpers to hunt for pockets where oil might be found. As a result of Randy Thorn’s new sonar designs and ongoing research for more penetrating forms of sonar he had discovered deep mapping with sonar impulses delivered by a transducer on the ocean floor. The new boats would plot a line of soundings and then lower its device to the bottom and repeat the process until they had a complete map of substrata.

Mom and Charlie had gone down to Port Stephens on West Falkland and bought some shore property to establish a ways and store equipment as well as salvage the iron left from the whaling station abandoned a hundred years earlier. From their yacht the Chief’s Pride they had surveyed the harbor and seen the proposed drilling site already and now they awaited Jerry and the tugs and barges to begin building the new pier at Port Stephens.

The Gorgon was currently posted on South Georgia and in the general area between the islands and operating on the shelf mapping every yard within the international limit. The Moonlight Gambler was in the final stages of outfitting and would soon make her journey down to the Falklands to join Gorgon and establish a base camp at Port Stephens and start tying everything together while the rig was being anchored in place.

It seemed that all was smoothly coming together and we could now set sail for England via Bermuda and I called the harbor to get everyone’s gear aboard and we played cards for a couple hours then Patti and I and some others had ourselves flown back to Las Falcones. Somehow my Aunt Ellen didn’t make the flight and there was a call from Abuela Fradé,

"Your Tia Juan she needs some time to think do you understand how that is no? She has found our life here so different that she does not wish to return. You do not need to fear for her amigo because you know I would treat her as my own daughter but you will have to tell her husband Si?" Gracias Amiga! I turned to my lady and frowned,

My aunt has decided to stay in Caracas! According to Abuela she is confused by the difference in lifestyles and I think Enriqué rather fancies her so… Patti nodded and added her bit from the New Year’s party…

She was comic at the hen night blushing like a virg… She shook her head at me and wiped her hands,

It’s you Leywoods you’re all virgins with weird morals and sweet tempers and artistic natures. Fred is too pragmatic, a bit like Mac and once he sees what a doll she is he’ll be howling for her to come home you’ll see.

I went across to the new house that my uncle had signed for and the door was open. He was sitting in the open window frame looking out to sea…

I’ve spoken to Ellen Jack. She called to tell me what the other lady wanted you to say, she’s staying in Caracas. I nodded perfectly out of my depth and he clapped on to my shoulder,

It’s not your problem Jack, I still want the job and you know this is a chance to re-make myself and show her I’m just as much a man as any of these here Venezuelans. I’ll show her that I’m as good as I ever was and if that ain’t enough well heck there’s a whole lot of airplanes there to fix, my kind of heaven Jack.

I slept pretty well that night and we boarded the Northern Dragon at ten o’clock and quietly got underway. Going through my locker I found Dog asleep on my balaclava like usual and Patti’s cold gear hanging next to mine and ruffled the cat’s fur. He was a little blue because Mac had got the first flight out when we landed on Las Falcones and gone to Sydney without so much as a bye bye kitty. He followed me out to the cockpit and sniffed overside and blinked at me,

‘We’re off to kips then skipper?’

Yes Dog we’re going home to England and you can run in the field with Albert.

"Meeowerrr?" Right then must be time for cream eh? Down he went to the galley and I checked my course and realized you only need to check your course once or twice a day not every ten minutes and went below. Iron mike made these kinds of days a lot easier because you didn’t spend your entire watch leaning over while clinging to the wheel. The ship was making a good twelve knots on the port tack.

That’s when the starboard rail is often just at the water’s edge and the helmsman must brace to their left and hold the wheel as the ship leans into the tack as much as fifteen to twenty degrees. Iron mike does all that for you while you supervise basically.

For the reader: The term Iron Mike refers to a very primitive autopilot which minded the helm and engine revs in power yachts but was an excellent help on long tacks. The sailing version worked off a staysl rigged over the helm’s center of influence.

Dog had cream in his gymbal mounted dish which Santa Claws brought him and I took kye to buoy my spirits for the rest of the watch on deck. It was a grey misty thick nor-wester we were tacking across to leave the Caribbean at Puerto Rico before going on the other tack into Bermuda. Normal weather for January and we fully expected to get some nasty stuff for part of the journey. I sat in the corner of the cuddy seat with the furry stoker on my lap and counted the miles till late afternoon when Dave Mason swapped places plopping the cat in his lap.

Down below the crew sat doing sailorly things like reading and writing. Some made knotwork things or as in Marc and Nicole’s case, marquetry for decoration or gifts. Violet bubbled and her shipmate Angelié snored in their little hammocks slung beside the skylights. I ducked into my cabin to find Johnno getting a thrashing at chess from Jim while Patti painted in her workbook. Patti had taken up watercolor and was doing very well making little color sketches of daily things but her likenesses were striking. It was the skylights that we all needed for enough light to do whatever we do like me in my journal making notes and writing out reports fair for submission.

We took tincture in the name of the Queen God Bless her and then another for good measure while Patti found some music on the radio and got out the cards in preparation to exact revenge for Johnno’s last long winning streak. The game got genially underway and it wasn’t long before Patti was taking almost every trick and Johnno quipped,

And you can stop being so satisfied under your breath! Forcing her to blow the shuffle flinging cards everywhere. He was adept at rescuing the situation and rallied somewhat until my luck began and I took a complete rubber which he shrugged off as,

Beginner’s luck Jack that’s what that was pour us another will you Marie. He continued to wax positive as we took three more games then went happily off to bed saying as he swerved through the saloon,

We’ll be better tomorrow Marie they only just won this time… Patti laughed and said,

You are a scream Larry goodnight Marie.

I came on deck to a calm ten foot swell and light airs so we had most of the laundry up and played around in the rigging finding our muscles again. We ran on the forecourses; main royal and top with three jibs and the massive mizzen and mizzen top gaff sail with its attendant driver. We were making a good honest ten knots and sliding through the water almost quietly on the starboard tack for Ireland Island on Bermuda. Dog approved of the weather and stretched out across the red chair maybe hoping for a little fun when someone tried to sit down but we all knew about his kittenhood trick and anyway it was the red chair supposedly reserved for the captain.

He did strike once we all could remember when Babette and Randy got wed and Alice was aboard. She had a habit of just shoving Dog off when she wanted to sit down; to her he was just le chat and had no purrsonality. She was wrong and Dog nailed her as she drew up a chair to sit just before her daughter was about to get married. She sat on a shredded derriere and tried not to squirm as the scratches caused by razor sharp claws began to sting when the warmth of the bright June day caused perspiration to run into the open wounds.

It did make Alice more careful about where she sat on any of our ships and one look at him and she would sidle across the ship to give him room. Our Dog had his own very nice purrsonality and we liked him very much for it and so if he nailed someone we laughed because they probably had it coming.

We passed our morning with the daily things like Dog’s little jokes and Craig’s inevitable cry of,

Up spirits, dinner in fifteen minutes. The appearance of one of our fast yachts was not a usual occasion however and we wondered who and what until they made the secret signal and came alongside. Corbet had come to call and bringing secret orders so secret that they couldn’t be trusted to the radio?

"Ami I had to meet like this because what I am going to tell you can’t be heard by anyone else t’connue? The Argentines have conducted a secret deal with France for a hundred Exocet missiles and we know that of course Britain does not have the close in weapons in general service but I am giving you these frequencies Jean and you will know what to do with them and I hope to save many lives old friend." He passed me a small child’s notebook and I put it in my tunic and shook hands before going back up on deck where nearly everyone was skylarking in the rosy weather.

I must go Jean, Lady Patricia my excuses Madame. He went over the side and the St. Croix blasted off for Guadeloupe. Poor Gustave he must have been very embarrassed after our long association and then to betray his nation’s secrets! I made my mind up to pay more attention to which units were serving where and get a list of submarines knowing ours wouldn’t show up. For reasons we all understood neither Gorgon or sister sub Medusa existed outside the Dragon organization nor currently that they lay on the surface in a secluded bay a few miles to the south of Port Stephen. I wondered about French subs tailing us for their piece of mind or nosiness and made a note to talk to Charles about that.

Dave let’s start trailing that passive sonar from now on eh. I want the Vulcan mount on deck and all the stinger batteries checked. Geoff will you make a bunch of chaff rockets up please and then help Dave with the portable Rascal launcher. The crew went efficiently to action stations and we got an echo on our sonar almost as we finished the preparations for this.

It was my stupid belief that we were about to be boarded from an Argentine sub but I wasn’t going, they were. The big black hull came right up almost alongside so I put the helm down and TiJean and Geoff stepped aboard, Jim tossed them a couple crow bars and we waited four minutes while they drained the conning tower and opened a deck hatch.

TiJean put the curve of his bar in the hinge and tossed in a gas grenade and three stuns then carefully closed and barred that hatch and ran to the conning tower where Geoff waited for them to open the hatch. Bang they burst the hatch and shoved out a couple MP5s firing all over but hitting nothing as the two dropped a handful of gas and stun grenades creating a sonic hell inside the pressure hull. Then they jammed the tower hatch down and stepped back aboard leaving a small device attached to the hull quietly humming. We let go and sheared off a hundred yards cocking the Vulcan.

About five minutes later a charge went off blowing the hatch from the conning tower and the crew abandoned ship going straight over the side. We motored over and threw them four self-inflating 20-man life rafts and asked the obvious officer if they were all out. He nodded and we cut them loose and dropped a four pound chunk of semtex down the hatch with a five minute fuse backing quickly and motoring over between the sub and its crew before the charge put their boat on the bottom.

"Señores, de los dragones consideramos su acto hoy un acto de piratería en alta mar. Pero elegimos de sobra sus vidas donde sabemos con habría sido diferente. No es una buena idea para hacer la guerra con nosotros así que indicar a su comandante que es derecho de cordero frío donde sienta amigos, adios."

(Señores, we of the Dragons consider your act today an act of piracy on the high seas. But we choose to spare your lives where we know with you it would have been different. It is not a good idea to make war with us so tell your commander that he is cold mutton right where he sits amigos, farewell.)

I called my step-father,

Hey there young feller you must be just about in Bermuda? I told him how I thought that he should go home the other way tonight and he twigged,

Yeah I’ll jest reset the iron mike won’t I mate? He chuckled and I knew my mom and her man would be safe in Port Stanley with the two subs and twenty marines.

We entered Ireland Island and went right alongside to fill our water tanks and I used the red phone knowing it would be secure…

Yes Mum it is strange to use the thing in reverse but I needed a clear and untapped line. We fended off a submarine attack yesterday and set them adrift without their boat. On the hydrophone we were able to record the captain giving his orders to kill even the children… Oh yes Mum fear not they have started something they will regret of that you may be assured Mum.

She was very supportive even to offering to give the Argentine government a bell. I figured we could probably give them a few headaches along the way and she’d not need to bother but I was cautious when I reminded her that they’d been surveying the islands.

We had the port captain aboard and gave him a nice time slipping in the small hours before dawn under engines and were far away by the time the sun rose over the harbor. Our duty became plain they must have known we had the frequencies or else why attack for our little scuffle with their secret agents?

I called ahead and told Catharine to get all Dragons not on duty or deployment up to Flotta, send up all aircraft and fast yachts to Scapa Flow under strict A/S watch and I meant strict. Using our secret code for the first time I had Iris contact the world Dragon network and put them all on alert, we were now on a war footing with Argentina.

We arrived in Hook basin where the ship was evacuated for the airfield and we boarded the pre-packed Caribou aircraft for our base on Flotta. At the field on Flotta we came down and pulled up on the ramp then deplaned and marched straight down to the carrier. This time we all wore fatigues and the kids were lined up with Ma Lam and her daughters and the other wives not fighting to wave goodbye and steamed for the south Atlantic. As the convoy hit the gap at Point Mura the northern tip of Hoy, we had all captains aboard by helicopter and I briefed them on what was up to now.

Ladies and gentlemen thank you for getting all your ships prepared in record time. First let me tell you what has occurred. The French navy has back-channeled some very important frequencies which E/W tells me are what’s needed to turn away an Exocet and you all know how tenacious they are. I have instigated the secret code because we’ve had an unprecedented attack and it signals some measure of desperation on the part of the Argentine fleet. We will need to be very vigilant on our radar and sonar with one hand on the Spike launcher as we make our way down. As yet they haven’t invaded or approached anyone at Port Stephens as far as we know. Charles Skaggs is on site waiting for his tug and barge train with unit one aboard. There are twenty assault troops on the island for back-up if things were to get hairy and both of our subs are in the vicinity. While we are in theater we will control the air even if we have to take one of their fields from them to do it and we will establish air superiority as soon as we can launch aircraft. That’s it for now no signals to be made with any unidentified ships or aircraft and all our communications in first series day code page one.

In my escort I now had four fast yachts; Adder, Asp, Talon and Peregrine. A couple of support craft including the RFA Royal Flotta 1 and RFA Archer with two hundred assault troops and land attack equipment. Already down there we had Hook and Firebreath with Scylla and Medusa fast yachts all newly armed from Hook’s extensive magazines.

I knew that air power was the ultimate answer and knew because of the numbers of missiles they already had and how many they had ordered.

As soon as ever I could I meant to deploy a pair of CF40x fighters and a Buccaneer buddy tanker to go and see where they had all their aircraft deployed and peg down their aircraft carrier. Wherever that puppy was she was going down just as soon as I could draw a bead on her.

Down on West Falkland Island my mother was taking a walk on the beach when she spotted the rubber raft full of men and ran to the boat alerting Charlie. He leveled his binoculars at the men in the raft…

Modern weapons, night sights and goggles, body armor, these aren’t the nice young boys in front of the recruiting office love I think I’ll just get us to sea and see if I can’t keep us out of range of anything long enough to draw them off for the others to get to high ground.

The ship backed quickly out of its berth and wheeled around in the bay facing the commando raft and Charlie pressed the action alarm. Inside the ship it was normal due to the wonders of compressed gas insulation and good synthetic rubber and silicon dampers. Outside the scream of the action alarm went on an on because the commandos were too stupid to realize they were covered and should divest themselves of arms.

The big one in the front had enough of the noise and went to shoot out the speaker he saw on the bridge wall. The ship detected a threat and a hidden mini-gun suddenly deployed and spewed a couple thousand rounds until all movement ceased and the rubber raft was just shreds on the choppy waves in the harbor. Then the box of mines they had went up under water sending a huge waterspout up and washing the anchors to the bows.

The lieutenant in charge of the troops hunkered down ashore called in and received word that all was well on board and to stay put because there would be more before too long. Charlie switched the sonar to the bridge so he could examine its tracks and see if he could spot the submarine that the commandos had come from.

It had to be somewhere around Dyke island in order to get a boat launched and manned and not be spotted. Sure enough there it was, the conning tower only half above the surface running fast toward the harbor entry. No submarine can outstrip a fast yacht and when they arrived at the harbor mouth they found a yacht in the way. The sub skipper thought,

I’ll give you a heart attack you silly old man…

Before he could give an order the older man on the yacht’s bridge had pointed a plastic looking rod at him and he was swept away in a hail of lead from two mini-guns which so badly damaged the main hatch it couldn’t be closed and half full of the headless captain. The two vessels nudged slightly together and there was a clonk sound and within two minutes the entire crew had evacuated themselves violently through every orifice and lay writhing in their own efluvia until the weapon’s spring wound down.

They left the sub drifting in the entrance and steamed south looking for any more subs or a sign of any aircraft with the boat in automatic defense. ‘Those kids know their business’ Charlie thought ‘I wish Jerry coulda seen that sub get taken out with a zip-gun.’ He didn’t want to know about the slump mine which rendered the sub useless and the crew as well.

Crikey Anne we’ve done more in two minutes than two MTBs! whatever that mine was it certainly emptied the sub pretty fast and now they’re heading for the shore in their rubber boats… They’re rounding them up on shore and off to the compound won’t they be surprised?

The radio had some good news, our people in Port Stephen had come under attack and triumphed putting the crew of a disabled submarine in the POW camp. Lieutenant Borski reported the prisoners secure and the island locked down.

We are owning this island Ivanovitch Dragon. So we’d need more men on the cape to keep our interests safe until we could move the prisoners and we’d need enough to attack the other island if push came to shove.

I called Martin and explained what was going on and where we were at the time…

I will make some calls Juan and see if I can get a field in Chile and go in and take out those southern airfields or if tankers could be available? I looked at the plot; we were just about three thousand miles from Las Falcones…

I’ll send two Buccaneers Martin, they’ll be on Falcones in four hours and ready with buddy tanks for two aircraft each and we’ll send them to Ascension on a ‘training’ mission afterward to fill up and join again north of the area… could work. We would talk and of course we didn’t know what flattops might be floating around with nothing better to do…

Brian and the rest gathered in the OPS to kick around what was best to do and I saw we were just too far yet we needed to be within two thousand miles to be effective above the level of nuisance. The radio room brought good news though apparently Bonnie Dick was operating west of Diego Garcia did we need intelligence or fuel?

We steamed steadily southward at best speed the carrier’s boilers pushed for every ounce of steam and stokers doubled up on watch to mind the shaft bearings now getting a serious workout. In the armory sailors sat around yarning and polishing each round they were snapping into belts and magazines. Magazines for the assault rifles were taped together in threes tripling the ammunition for the man on the ground and everything cleaned and polished like it was Admiral’s inspection. Little things like loose buttons and frayed laces were seen to and pockets stuffed with survival gear which we all carried on webbing harnesses along with grenades, lumi-strips for Flir marking, bandages and pistol ammo tied up loose in a condom and a flash charge capable of blowing up a truck or taking off a hatch.

Martin did something we didn’t expect, he sent an envoy to Buenos Aires to ask the Generalissimo why his navy was operating in the waters so near to British territory and got the same cold shoulder that Harry Putterman got when he inquired. Admiral Velasquez was an old war horse and understood the stiff face that his contemporaries in Buenos Aires were exhibiting and he placed a call to the General on his private line and told him what he suspected…

Martin amigo, these things are never as they appear. It is the people who need strong leadership, someone to tell them what to do to rescue our country from economic disaster. We have decided to increase the army to twice its current size and instigate military service to do it; this will be good for the youth who are too busy complaining of poor education. I understand you have good connections with the British Ambassador in Caracas amigo, is she as beautiful as they say you lucky dog?

Martin curbed his tendency to anger over the comment and reminded the Argentinian leader that legally the Falklands Islands were not part of the country’s original charter from Spain and of course the war with England had nulled any charter with a combatant. Even before the instigation of the United Nations the League of Nations had declared the Falklands islands and South Georgia to be British possessions…

You think to second-guess the British? Amigo dispossess yourself of that foolish notion immediately and think how you may live to regret a war with one of the most powerful nations on Earth. You see if you land there the people will look at it as an invasion and seek to drive your troops off and then the Royal Navy will come to the South Atlantic and sink your ships and shoot down all of your planes and you’ll be lucky if they don’t send bombers to flatten a city.

Paulo I have been to England and seen their Bomber Command with acres of Vulcan bombers capable of flying completely undetected and one plane can deliver eleven and a half thousand kilos of bombs. Of course if you manage to pull the lion’s tail she might order a Redbeard just for you and that would be such a waste Paulo I urge you to re-think this amigo, adios. (Redbeard was an atomic weapon capable of wiping a city the size of Buenos Aires off the map without a trace remaining)

Mid Atlantic the red phone in the form of Safenet interrupted our quiet hurried passage,

Safenet Sir John, the Prime Minister… I picked up the handset, Mrs. Thatcher was not in my usual loop but it was completely understandable in the instance with Argentina poised to leap and our task force the only RN presence…

Good afternoon Sir John I hope you are well today? The purpose of this call is to beg, no, request that you intercede on your nation’s behalf. I understand that all of your ships are personally owned and that you are in a lease agreement with the navy? Will you undertake this mission for me?

Ma’am you are talking to a man already on a mission. We are just about to cross the equator and have many of our assets in place to foil any attempts made on our territory. My company, Thistle Petroleum is involved in a drilling operation down there and we’ve been keeping watch. Fear not Prime Minister we’re on the job.

She rang off her duty done. I could just see old ‘Smearface’ trying to get her to enact the war measures act to take my ships from me and reminded myself it had been too long since I called on My Lord Polderton to inquire after his acne. Lord Bolton was on the horn next to lift my spirits with a yarn from the House.

They were meeting in extra-ordinary to discuss the current shortage of fleet units to cover the problems blossoming in the South Atlantic. The Argentine had blocked the harbors to English registered vessels making the trip around the Horn to Chile that much longer. Some of our bottoms were needing fueling at sea, something civilian sailors weren’t trained to do and the area was so huge an aircraft carrier was needed for protection to British shipping.

Old Polderton got up and practically demanded we take your ships from you and enact the ‘War Measures Act’ to take your fleet. The house waited until he was in full rant and asked him if he was done because Lady Patricia Leywood-Charteris had left her veto with the speaker in case he tried that. He chuckled with the memory of it and commented,

Your name for him has surfaced now and he’s known as ‘Smearface’ behind his back. If he wasn’t so funny he’d be embarrassing Jack we all wish he’d just retire and give up his attempts to ruin you… What I just said! D’you think he’s behind all the problems with Irving?

Lord Bolton was quiet a long while and for a minute I thought something was wrong with our connection and he breathed a sigh…

I’m going to put NIS on him Jack to see what turns up hey, we’ll let you know. Give my love to your wife. He was gone and I ran the whole phone call by Patti and TiJean for their edification and because I was just as capable of adding two plus two as the next man and could easily jump to the wrong conclusion, I called Beverly because he might have some clear ideas,

I’m a bit concerned myself Jack so we’ll put a tag on him and everything he does and keep you in the loop… I told him of the Prime Minister’s call and Martin’s message about the Argentine’s intent…

Thank you very much for that Jack fills in a few blanks. What are your immediate plans?

I told him of my plan to work with the ‘Bonny Dick’ and run a couple of Buccaneers with buddy tanks like air borne gas stations along with our Greyhound which the Air Fitters assured me was fast becoming a tanker.

We were quickly entering operational waters and we kept the recognizance patrols up 24/7 and often got visits from passing naval flights happy to drink for free and exchange naughtical gossip. Pinky showed up in his Phantom toting extra tanks and Violet in the back seat as we passed St. Paul’s rocks. His IFF caused a stir before we realized he didn’t know that we were in action stations until Violet radioed the ship,

Terrier this is Fireball you copy?

Yes Commander Putterman we have you five by. Mirror lights are on for you flight deck is clear over.

Roger Fireball is burning in. Thump and a Phantom F4-G sporting a cartoon lady sailor with red hair and the title, ‘Fireballs’ moved up to the fuel bowser and we ran to greet our Violet and her husband…

Ah wuz glad to see the ship we were burnin’ the reserve when I seen your beacon. Sorry I didn’t know you wuz in war time mode.

We’ve had reports of Argentine intervention of citizens on West Falkland and the Marines in Stanley report movement across the harbor. We’ve sent Hook and Firebreath to see about that but I’m real concerned to find the ex-Warrior, their carrier eh. They call it Indeperidencia now apparently but she’s the sister ship to us and therefore we know her strengths and weaknesses, now all we have to do is find her and render her useless. Shouldn’t be too hard.

He laughed and we entered my suite to find ladies covering most of the furniture as they all caught up on the navy’s second most important commodity, gossip. Straight by and into my office where we could put our feet up and accept scotch from Johnno.

Have you looked at the new carrier design ideas yet? Apparently we’re going to dispense with the catapult cause’ it wrenches the airframes. Now we’re goin’ to fly off of a ski-jump. Visions of the comic things that suggested rose in our minds. Charlie and I had discussed the very idea once tossing it aside when he showed me how it would have to look in order to work. He took a piece of cardboard from a shoebox and cut the top into the rough shape of an aircraft carrier’s bow section. Next he carefully cut down the centerline and folded the starboard side up in a curl over the bows…

There now just sell that to the Admiralty! There were already keels being laid for these ships and I prayed sincerely not to get drafted to one for any remote reason. Although the ships looked like someone had attacked them with a tin opener the first reports on fixed wing flights were excellent and the good old Harrier became the aircraft of choice after Sea Hawks.

As we were enjoying my scotch the flight deck got a surprise when the receive aircraft alarm went and four of Martin’s CF40x aircraft alit bringing our compliment of attack aircraft up to eight. Now we were all within reach I could put up our tankers and fill the blank spots with fuel stops. Paul was in when I called the office to speak with Catharine…

Hello Jack I’m assuming operation Umbrella is a go? We’ve got word from Australia and they’ve put the Melbourne at our disposal. You should hear from Admiral Walker any time now and I’ve loaded those other aircraft on the barge for you, they’ll get off-loaded on Las Falcones. The RAF was flabbergasted when I told them about Umbrella, over the moon really and they’ll be sending some crews down today. (Umbrella was the brain-child of Madge and Laurel who thought it up one day while working on the ship’s files. Basically it was a never-ending stream of tankers refueling each other but a constant air-borne gas station.)

Almost ready for battle our strength was building, the only weakness was the small force of marines at Stanley and Lieutenant Borski’s few in Port Stephens we chewed that one over for a while until the Safenet put us all out of our misery.

Good day young Hawk, I understand you are about to chastise the wicked Argentine destroyers of young innocent children. To augment such an endeavor I have ordered my son to deploy his Immortals at the town called Stanley! May Allah bless your work O Hawk of God. Now may I speak with the delightful woman you so happily married?

I passed Patti the handset, my grin must’ve pushed the door open because Dinty appeared to take glasses away and collect gossip.

Dinty you can tell the crew that King Fahd has sent a battalion of Immortals to Stanley and on your way bid Iris to inform the commander there else he open fire on them. Better yet get him on the horn for me. We partied a bit and faint hurrahs were detected in the bowels of the ship for old mates were going to be in the tulzie right alongside.

Sir John, Sergeant Major McLeay for you…

McLeay keep your eyes peeled for a C-17 at fifteen thousand feet coming from your two hundred. The King of Saudi Arabia sends his Immortals for cards and other barracks entertainment ETA about eighteen hundred hours. Have you seen my mother at all or her husband the sea junk man? There were muffled voices and Charlie came on,

They overran the town last night Jack and we took the men and came over here and put our ship under Sarn’t Major McLeay’s command. He says Farouk’s inbound hey and yer mum is busy cleaning weapons and winding bandages with all the other women here. Take good care Jack and we’ll be seein’ ye. That meant that West Falkland was already occupied and we were fast approaching operational range inside the enemy’s comfort zone.

Launch the Hawkeyes and Buccaneers Brian and let’s get lined up for a little demo for them eh. We need to get up and keep a sharp eye folks, double up the radar and sonar watches and when the AWACS folks are gone put up a couple Trackers to make a high level sweep. Put the ship in condition one-alpha and get the cooks to begin snack production.

Busy messengers ran about efficiently as the ship wound up to full attack getting closer and closer… reports began to pour in,

Immortals have landed sir.

Vulcans are re-fueling in alpha section sir. I glanced at the radar display on the plot board now a vertical plastic screen with all pertinent information displayed while individual operators watched their own separate screen following each part and each participant closely.

Super Etenards approaching in sector delta announce air alert to Stanley. I stuck my oar in…

Send two stealth fighters to take the Etenards out on their way in to home field in plain view, got it? Patti went by in a G-suit, this flight called for our best so she and Ranulph would plant the first horrible surprises we had planned for the Argentine military. She kissed me blatantly in front of everyone in OPS…

We’ll be back before you know it honey. She left in a lot of hooting and fake kiss blowing with Ranulph and next thing we knew she was gone…

The time dragged by and the reports from Ari weren’t uplifting. The enemy had tried to force a land assault right up the beach from the bay capturing the airfield which the Immortals kept under constant mortar bombardment. Besides their own medical problems the Argentine forces had withdrawn leaving fifty men dying and horribly wounded. My mother asked for a medic drop soonest with as much morphine as we could send.

The advancing paratroops of the Argentine forces