"Get our drones up!"  Do snapped.  "We need telemetry.  Call the northern islands. Warn them we've received an atomic attack and to be cautious, and to send us what they can spare."
      The officer on the computer cleared his throat.  "Yes?"  Do snapped. 
     "The radiation burst would've been so intense, sir, that anyone outside on the base would've been killed instantly.  Anybody in surface structures will have received a lethal dose of radiation, and will now be dying.  Those in deeper shelters will probably have survived.  There is no fallout.  It is all going out to sea, so the base is not contaminated.  Sir, recordings show that a civilian aircraft, a passenger plane, that had been fully loaded at the airport veered off course and was in the position where the detonation occurred.  I do not think any of our forces fired on it.  The premature detonation was most likely a malfunction."
     "They put it in a fully loaded passenger plane?"  Do moaned.  "Keep signaling the base.  Tell them to get their weapons systems up and running.   I am sure the enemy will follow up the attack."
     "Affirmative, sir!"  West snapped.  "Drones are up and functioning.  We've found The Cleveland, sir.  It's a short distance behind us, underwater.  She must've rolled over and gone under when the shock wave hit her.  Should we drop a boat to look for survivors?"
     "Negative!"  Do remarked.  "Try to reach someone ashore and have them send boats.  Our priority is to defend the base.
     "And we're going to have to," West continued.  "We count a hundred ships moving out from the coast, virtually every warship they've got, and anything else that will float!"
     "A hundred to one?"  Do moaned.  "Not very good odds, Mr. West!  Not very good odds at all!"
     "No, sir!"  West answered.  "A couple of their destroyers are very good.  The rest are antiques, but if they get close they could be a problem."
     "Then they shall not get close!"  Do answered.  "Get us into position.  Damn!  Everything on the island was hardened against an electronic pulse from a nuclear burst.  Why aren't they answering?"
     "There could be very few left to answer, sir," West answered. 
    Do stared at the operations screen and shook his head.  They would get into position and do what they could, but the odds were definitely against them.

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