In extremis

“Unknown vessel in vicinity of twenty-eight degrees, forty-two minutes north, fifty degrees, forty-five minutes east, course 190, speed 5 knots, this is a United States Navy warship ten miles off your port bow. I am engaged in flight operations and restricted in my ability to maneuver. Request you contact me on this frequency and alter your course to the southeast to maintain a safe distance, over.”

Down on the flight deck, the CO and his problematic wingman sat in their turning fighters thinking their private thoughts.

Of the drama playing itself out in slow motion on the bridge, they had no knowledge.