Volcano Incoming

My eyes took a moment to adjust to the blue light in Combat but I didn't wait for them to do so as I turned and approached the radar console and put my hand on my fellow operator's shoulder.
“What have we got?”
He yawned and removed his headset, letting me place it on my head as he indicated the screen and I followed his finger with my eyes.
“We've got three Tarnegian gunships in the area, one of them is along the Tarneg coastline just south of the North-South border and the other two are down south around Batsu Island.”
“Anything else?”
“Nah, lots of oil rigs, some fishing ships but nothing else, Air Side isn't reporting any air targets and there aren't any merchants in the area.”
I pointed to three circles north of us. “What's that?”
“Oh, that's the Timber Wolf, they've been up there all morning conducting flight ops. Ghost Rider is providing shotgun and Gargoyle is riding tail.”
“Copy that, we're still conducting maritime security for the Balalaika Straits?”
“Yep, we're transitting north now towards Embir.”
“Alright, well that's not too bad then,” I tapped his shoulder again. “I've got it.”
He nodded, sliding out of the chair and letting me take his place.
“This is Petty Officer Eiderot,” I said into the mic. “I assume the duties and responsibilities as ROS.”
“TACO aye.”
“Surface aye.”
“Air aye.”
After the affirmations from the other supervisors I checked on my team, both my plotters had been relieved while one of my radar operators was still waiting on his relief.
“Everyone get enough sleep?” I asked with a chuckle.
The groans I got in response answered that question easily enough and I smiled. Our schedule as operators was rough, we only got eight hours of downtime before going back on for another eight hours. It wasn't for the faint of heart certainly. I cycled my comms channel.
“Port, Starboard, Aft lookouts, ROS, comms check.”
“Port lookout read you loud and clear.”
“Starboard lookout loud and clear.”
I waited a moment and called again.
“Aft, ROS, comms check.”
With still no response I returned to the other lookouts.
“Port, ROS, is Aft manned?”
“Yeah, I don't know if they have comms though.”
“Copy that, do me a favor and talk to Boats, see if you can stand down and go check on Aft.”
“Port copies, going offline.”
I noted the status of Port and Aft's failure to reply on comms in my log.
“Starboard, ROS, I need a full sector sweep, start on your side and the move to port.”
“Uh, I see some lights on the horizon but nothing close...there's a big cluster out west that I think is a city on the coast.”
“That's affirmative,” I said as I looked at the geoplot. “That should be Harenal.”
“Copy, nothing else. Moving to port.”
Port was much the same, it was pretty standard at night for the lookouts not to see much more than lights. A few minutes later the wayward Aft lookout came on comms and apologized for not checking in before giving his sector check. With that accomplished I returned my attention to the radar screen. The next two hours passed in much the same way, with random bits of banter taking place to break up the monotony as we asked the random questions that bored sailors often do. Moving into the second hour however the CO came over the 1MC.
“Good evening Gray Dragons, I need all ears on the 1MC for a moment. We've just received a message from Fleet Forces that Embir has launched an attack on Embirlund. The Gray Dragon has been ordered to proceed north through the straits and position ourselves off the Embir coastline to provide missile support for Coalition forces. Timber Wolf will be moving further east while they prepare to conduct air strikes on Embirean targets. I know I can rely on each and every one of you to do your jobs, this is what we've trained for. Let's get it done.”
The CO's voice ended and Combat became a buzz of activity as we prepared to go to war. I relayed orders from Surface to my operations team and switched my sweeps to long range as I ordered my other operators to assume responsibility for the closer ranges. This would be my first time going into a live fire situation aboard a warship. I'd tracked a submarine before, shadowing it from another sub but never had I been on a surface ship readying itself for a fight. Whether I was ready or not, my movements were automatic as I went through the drilled procedures to bring my station and operators to combat readiness.
That was when Air cut into our preparation as her voice echoed over the net.
“We are detecting aircraft taking off from Embir, EW is classifying them as MiG-29s and Su-24s.”
My mind went into analysis mode, I couldn't see the planes yet on my radar because it was a surface scanning radar but I would see their missiles if they launched. Embir had the air superiority variant of the Fulcrum so the MiG-29s weren't a real threat to us unless they wanted to try strafing us—sucidal at the best of times. However the Su-24s were an exclusive surface attack platform. There was no doubt as to what their target would be.
“Alright everyone,” I said over the net. “Here they come, let's get ready. How soon until we clear the straits?”
“Thirteen minutes,” my north plotter reported.
“Copy,” I switched nets. “TACO, we will be clear of the straits in minus thirteen minutes.”
“TACO aye.”
I focused on my screen, watching for the signs of the hostile fighters. Air put trackers on screen which appeared on my console even though I had no picture on the fighters. It would at least let me know how far away they were. Right now they were at twenty-three nautical miles and closing. I did a quick mental check, weapons range for the Su-24 was thirteen nautical miles.
“Surface, ROS, are we getting air support from Timber Wolf?”
Besides me Surface shrugged. “Not yet, they're still maneuvering and recovering their aircraft.”
I nodded, great, just great. A carrier that couldn't get its fighters over us in time to chase off the bad guys heading right for us. Awesome. I looked back to my screen and watched as the range between us and the fighters ticked down. When the range hit fifteen nautical miles I began sweating, why hadn't we fired yet? From what I could see we had good track on the fighters so why hadn't we sent them running? Then I realized the obvious: they hadn't lit us up yet. We had to wait until they showed confirmed hostile intent. Great.
“Volcano!”
The shout was so loud that I heard it over the net and in Combat. I jumped, the fighters hadn't lit us up, how had they launched a missile?
“Surface launch detected, three cruise missiles launched from Embirean shore batteries!”
The TACO's voice came over the net in a rush.
“Track those launches and launch Tomahawks when you have a solution. Mount 6-1 and 6-2 target incoming cruise missiles, bring Phalanx online. Prepare to fire counter-missiles.”
The fire controllers responded with affirmatives as I watched my screen, seeing a swarm of mini letter 'M's go flying out from our ship towards the incoming missiles. I wasn't religious, but I found myself praying that they hit. My prayers were answered a moment later.
“Missiles down, I hold hits on all three cruise missiles.”
My elation at the declaration was shortlived.
“Volcano volcano!”
“Su-24s have launched missiles!”
“Acquire and engage fighters with Stalwarts!”  TACO said. “Mount 6-1 and 6-2 engage incoming missiles. Surface, best course for chaff?”
I touched my screen and did the calculations, calling it out over the net.
“Surface recommends coming right to 137.”
“Strike concurs, we can launch once we complete the turn.”
“Bridge, TACO come right to course 137.”
“Bridge aye.”
Hearing Strike's voice amidst all the others was reassuring, it meant we were getting ready to launch Tomahawks at the shore based launchers. Hopefully we nailed them before they fired again. Suddenly the ship rocked violently as multiple roars sounded as the six-inch guns opened fire. The missiles were getting close. I swallowed as we began to turn. Then I heard the buzzsaw sound of the port side Phalanx and realized I'd forgotten something.
“All lookouts this is ROS, get inside now!”
“This is Boats, they're already inside the pilothouse.”
I breathed a sigh of relief, I could have gotten someone killed just then. Thankfully Boats had been looking out for their guys.
“Fire chaff.” TACO ordered.
I watched as the series of clouds appeared on screen that indicated our chaff had launched as my radar was interrupted by the disrupting shroud. Hopefully it was enough to fool the missiles. I tensed, gripping my console as the seconds ticked by. I swear I heard the shrieking wail of a missile pass above me but that might have just been my imagination. After several tense seconds the results came in.
“Hard kill on five missiles, soft kill on three.”
I let my breath out. We'd survived that attack.
“Turn complete, Strike requesting permission to launch Tomahawks.”
“Launch.” TACO ordered.
Again the ship shuddered as our own cruise missiles left their silos and roared towards the coast. I saw the big 'T' on each of them on my screen, watching as they sailed towards their targets.
“North Tarneg has scrambled fighters. We have two flights of F-4s and F-20s inbound, the Phantoms are moving to engage the Embirean fighters, the F-20s are requesting permission to assume CAP over our position.”
“Permission granted.” TACO said. “Strike inform me when those missiles hit. Bridge, bring us back to course 087 and proceed to strike box.”
“Bridge copies, 087 to strike box.”
I let my breath out as the allied fighters appeared on my radar. Hopefully they'd keep the hostiles off us until Timber Wolf could get its fighters down here, but they were still over a hundred nautical miles away. Besides me Surface smiled.
“Get some, am I right?”
I nodded, smiling despite my nerves.
“Yeah, no kidding.”