his eyes. As soon as he did, he knew he shouldn’t have. He could feel sleep crawling over him, sapping his strength. He fought it, and reveled in it at the same time. He wanted to sleep, to surrender to it, to let himself go. But he told himself it wasn’t the time to sleep. For the commanding officer to be seen sleeping in the ready room was completely unacceptable.
The sound of the television in the front of the ready room coming to life made Caskey open his eyes. He saw the familiar face of the air wing intelligence officer, Lieutenant Commander Carroll Cousins, or Pinkie as he had called him since Pinkie was an ensign in VF-84 and Caskey was a lieutenant. He looked at his watch. Eight minutes too early for the brief. Something was up.
“Good morning,” Pinkie said. “No, I haven’t lost my watch, and yes, I do know it’s not time for the brief, but we’ve just received a message that CNN is going to carry a live report from Jakarta in one minute that will shed light on the events of the last twenty-four hours. We’re getting a good satellite feed, so we shouldn’t have any problem picking up…”
“Wart!” Caskey shouted to the duty officer. “Get onthe horn and make sure everybody catches this report.”
“Aye, aye, sir,” Wart said, turning toward the phone.
“Here we go,” Pinkie said, as the television was switched to CNN for ship-wide distribution.
The anchorwoman came on the screen and had the serious look that meant she had hard news, not to be confused with the clever knowing look which meant she had filler. “Good evening,” she said. It was evening in Washington, but morning in the Java Sea. “CNN has obtained an exclusive first communication from the group which claims to have sunk the Pacific Flyer . Early this morning Jakarta time a man on a motorbike dropped off a videotape at our local CNN office in Jakarta and sped away. The videotape had a note on the top in English that said: ‘From the FII—those who took the Pacific Flyer .’ There was no other writing with it and no way to trace its origin. The CNN engineers in Jakarta played the videotape and believe it is authentic and is indeed from the men who attacked the American ship yesterday. We are now going to show you the videotape in its entirety. This is a CNN exclusive.” She turned her head sideways to look at a monitor.
The image changed, and the focus became clear on a white male in his fifties. He was in a dingy room with his hands placed awkwardly flat on the wooden desk in front of him. He sat stiffly. He stared directly into the camera as he had obviously been instructed to do. His eyes appeared slightly swollen and his hair was unkempt. A voice came from offscreen. It spoke in English with a heavy accent as the speaker obviously read from something he had prepared.
“You Americans continue to believe that as long as you spread your Western poison around the world, the world will improve. You are wrong. The world is tired of your oppression and your self-serving attitude that whatever you want is what is best for the world, especially if it means you make money.
“No longer will the people of the world bow down toAmerican Imperialism. I am a freedom fighter, like George Washington. I represent the future of Indonesia and the world. We are the Front for an Islamic Indonesia. Through us this country will find its true greatness, by the Koran and obedience to its precepts in this Muslim country. Through us Indonesia will throw off military dictatorship, American support of the dictator, and America itself.
“We took over Pacific Flyer as a lesson to you Americans. You do not control us, nor can you buy us with your Commerce through Democracy. We want none of your commerce or your democracy.
“With America come corruption, prostitution, pornography, blasphemy, murder, and enslavement.”
Those watching thought he had finished, but then he started again. “We will not stand for any of it. First, we demand that
The sound of the television in the front of the ready room coming to life made Caskey open his eyes. He saw the familiar face of the air wing intelligence officer, Lieutenant Commander Carroll Cousins, or Pinkie as he had called him since Pinkie was an ensign in VF-84 and Caskey was a lieutenant. He looked at his watch. Eight minutes too early for the brief. Something was up.
“Good morning,” Pinkie said. “No, I haven’t lost my watch, and yes, I do know it’s not time for the brief, but we’ve just received a message that CNN is going to carry a live report from Jakarta in one minute that will shed light on the events of the last twenty-four hours. We’re getting a good satellite feed, so we shouldn’t have any problem picking up…”
“Wart!” Caskey shouted to the duty officer. “Get onthe horn and make sure everybody catches this report.”
“Aye, aye, sir,” Wart said, turning toward the phone.
“Here we go,” Pinkie said, as the television was switched to CNN for ship-wide distribution.
The anchorwoman came on the screen and had the serious look that meant she had hard news, not to be confused with the clever knowing look which meant she had filler. “Good evening,” she said. It was evening in Washington, but morning in the Java Sea. “CNN has obtained an exclusive first communication from the group which claims to have sunk the Pacific Flyer . Early this morning Jakarta time a man on a motorbike dropped off a videotape at our local CNN office in Jakarta and sped away. The videotape had a note on the top in English that said: ‘From the FII—those who took the Pacific Flyer .’ There was no other writing with it and no way to trace its origin. The CNN engineers in Jakarta played the videotape and believe it is authentic and is indeed from the men who attacked the American ship yesterday. We are now going to show you the videotape in its entirety. This is a CNN exclusive.” She turned her head sideways to look at a monitor.
The image changed, and the focus became clear on a white male in his fifties. He was in a dingy room with his hands placed awkwardly flat on the wooden desk in front of him. He sat stiffly. He stared directly into the camera as he had obviously been instructed to do. His eyes appeared slightly swollen and his hair was unkempt. A voice came from offscreen. It spoke in English with a heavy accent as the speaker obviously read from something he had prepared.
“You Americans continue to believe that as long as you spread your Western poison around the world, the world will improve. You are wrong. The world is tired of your oppression and your self-serving attitude that whatever you want is what is best for the world, especially if it means you make money.
“No longer will the people of the world bow down toAmerican Imperialism. I am a freedom fighter, like George Washington. I represent the future of Indonesia and the world. We are the Front for an Islamic Indonesia. Through us this country will find its true greatness, by the Koran and obedience to its precepts in this Muslim country. Through us Indonesia will throw off military dictatorship, American support of the dictator, and America itself.
“We took over Pacific Flyer as a lesson to you Americans. You do not control us, nor can you buy us with your Commerce through Democracy. We want none of your commerce or your democracy.
“With America come corruption, prostitution, pornography, blasphemy, murder, and enslavement.”
Those watching thought he had finished, but then he started again. “We will not stand for any of it. First, we demand that
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