The Cairo Rose is Chocolate Pink

IS CHOCOLATE PINK

By Bob Gabbert

http://www.bobgabbert.com

Publisher: Smashwords, Inc.

ISBN:

Copyright

Copyright © 2018 by Bob Gabbert

All rights reserved, except as permitted under the US Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission by the publisher.

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eBook Edition: June 2018

Characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

About the Book

What would you do if you were a Navy wing commander, and you encountered a UFO flying with you at 50,000 feet? You’re in the F-35C Lightening II, the latest and best US Navy, fighter jet. It’s designed to defeat any airplane in the skies, but the UFO can run circles around it. Luckily the ETs in the UFO appear to be peaceful. What if they saved your life when a Russian aircraft had you in its sights? Would you remain silent, or would you sing their praises and run the risk of being called a crackpot?

That is the decision facing Commander Gabriella Halsey in the skies over Syria. Gabi had no idea that her decision would not only put her Navy career in jeopardy, but it would also put her life in peril, not from the ETs or Russians, but from American patriots trying to control the information about her contact.

Ride along with Gabi as she flies to Paris at Mach 30 in an alien craft, and as she struggles to escape from a prison in the Groom Lake desert of Nevada. Discover the real meaning of: The Cairo Rose is Chocolate Pink.

Table of Contents

Title Page

About the Book

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

About the Author

Other Novels by Bob Gabbert

Chapter 1

The only clouds in the sky that day were cirrus clouds off to the east. The Navy Lieutenant Commander flying the F-35C Lightening II jet unconsciously noted that the clouds were ice crystals that formed above 20,000 feet. The training mission was over, and her trainee had already flown back to the USS Gerald R Ford, CVN-78.

Gabi made a leisurely turn just enjoying the day before she too would fly back to the carrier. She heard static and then, Strawberry, check out a high-speed bogey at angels 30 due east of you. We’ll vector you in.

Strawberry aye.

Strawberry was the call sign of Gabriella Halsey, because of her strawberry-blonde hair coloring. She got her call sign in primary flight school at Pensacola, Florida, where she went after graduating from the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. She was a very distant relative of Fleet Admiral William F (Bull) Halsey from World War II fame, and a long line of Halseys who had served in the US Navy.

The F-35C, she was flying, was the Navy’s newest jet, and like the Air Force’s F-22 Raptor, the F-35C could fly faster than the speed of sound without engaging afterburners in what was called super cruise.

Gabi checked her fuel gage and noted enough fuel for another half hour of flying as she turned the jet east and went to 800 knots (920 mph). She checked her heads-up display, but nothing was visible, and then she saw the sun reflected off something at about 50,000 feet. She turned the nose of her jet upward and flew toward the object.

Just then something darted by her plane so rapidly that she didn’t see what it was. He must have shot a missile at me, and all I have are training missiles. Gotta get out of here! She turned the aircraft hard over and began evasive maneuvers, juking the big jet left and right as she gained altitude.

Nothing showed up on her heads-up display. Her head turned in all directions as she frantically tried to see what was firing at her. Ford, where is it?

It’s gone. Did you see what it was?

No. I just saw the sun reflected off something for an instant. I’ve got a little fuel left; shall I search for it?

No. Air Boss says come home.

Just then something on the sea below caught her eye; the sea appeared to be boiling, over a large area and right in the middle of it was an oval shaped object. It’s hovering just above the sea. I’m going down and take a look. She pushed the nose of the big jet over and from 35,000 feet, she heading directly for the object at 900 knots (1,036 mph). As she shot through 20,000 feet, the object began to rise directly toward her.

He’s playing chicken with me! GOD! HE’S GOING TO HIT ME!

A microsecond before the two aircraft collided head on, the object slid to the left missing Gabi’s F-35C by inches.

Whoa! That was close!

Gabi! This is the Air Boss. You’re unarmed. Get out of there!

I want to see what this thing is; I’ve never seen maneuvers like that before.

She drew 7Gs (seven times her own weight with the pull of the turn) as she turned sharply to gain altitude again, and instantly she saw it almost standing still at 50,000 feet. She headed directly toward it.

When she passed 40,000 feet, the object began to move slowly to the left, she changed course to follow it, but it quickly moved back to the right.

This thing is playing with me. All right, let’s play. She slowed down to 300 knots (345 mph) and let the jet slide to the right. The object reversed and swung to the left. She swung with it. It gain altitude, she went with it. It dropped 10,000 feet; she dropped with it. It rotated around her jet. She rotated to keep the nose pointed at it. It dove toward the water; she dove with it, and then it suddenly stopped. She put on the air brakes to avoid colliding with the craft, and suddenly a voice in the cockpit said, Stall warning! Stall warning! She avoided the collision, but her airplane had lost lift and was falling. She put down the air brakes to avoid the stall, but it was too late.

The F-35C went into a flat spin as it fell toward the sea below. She had been flying for 17 years, so she didn’t panic. She pulled back on the stick to counter the stall spin and dropped the nose to gain speed and lift. Almost instantly the big jet began to fly correctly. She looked around for the object and saw on the heads-up display that it was behind her. She turned in the seat to see it, but it moved around her and stood off from her left wing by 50 feet.

The object seemed to change appearance depending on what was behind it, which made it difficult to see, but it was less than 100 feet away. It looked very much the shape of a Frisbee, but rather than round it was oval. There were no windows that she could see, but she raised her hand in a salute. The object responded by dipping from side to side as it moved sideways matching speed with hers.

She glanced at the fuel gage. Damn! I’m running low of fuel.

She raised her left hand and pointed at the fuel gage and waved to the craft. She lifted both hands in a wish-I-could-stay-longer gesture and slowly turned the jet in the direction of the carrier.

The craft stayed off her left wing until she was about 10 miles from the carrier, and then it got directly in front of her keeping its distance. She waved again and gestured to the craft and then to herself. The craft made a little dipping motion, and then shot upward at a blinding speed causing turbulence that made her jet shudder and bounce up and down.

She expanded the view on the heads-up display, but it was nowhere to be seen. She didn’t have enough fuel to look for it, so she called, Ford control, this is Strawberry entering the pattern. I’m low on fuel, so let’s do it the first time.

First time, aye. See the Air Boss upon landing. Don’t talk to anyone else!

Strawberry, call the ball, she heard the Landing Signal Officer say over the radio.

Strawberry has the ball.

The Fresnel landing system used on Navy aircraft carriers has a bright light that shines into a concave mirror. When the pilot is in the glide path for landing, a glowing round ball of light can be seen in the mirror. There is a row of horizontal lights and a row of vertical lights. When the pilot has the ball of light centered with the horizontal and vertical lights, the jet is perfectly lined up with the landing strip on the deck of the carrier.

The procedure may sound simple, but the sea is causing the ship to roll left and right and pitch up and down and all combinations of that movement at the same time, plus the ship is moving away from the pilot at 35 knots (40 mph).

Three very strong cables are stretched across the desk on the landing area. One of the cables will catch the tail hook of the aircraft and bring it to a stop in 350 feet, compared with 2,700 feet at an airport.

Gabi followed the ball all the way down until she was 100 feet from the deck. With her hand on the throttle, the instant she felt the wheels touched the deck, she shoved the throttle forward in case she missed the arresting wire or it broke, then the plane would have enough thrust to get airborne again. When she felt the tug of the wire, she pulled the throttle back to idle and came to a stop 30 feet from the edge of the angled flight deck.

She looked out at a yellow-shirt flight-deck director. The flight-deck director motioned for her to swing her plane to the right. She followed the flight-deck director to the middle aircraft elevator and eased the plane forward until the director gave her the cut sign. As she approached the elevator, she raised the canopy.

As soon as the plane came to a stop on the elevator, the sailor assigned to her plane as plane captain hooked a tiny ladder on the last built-in toe-step. She climbed down, and the plane captain helped her off with her helmet while other sailors secured the plane with wheel chocks.

She walked off the elevator and turned to watch as the huge elevator lowered her F-35C down to the hangar deck, where it would be thoroughly checked and fueled for the next flight. She headed for the personnel elevator that would take her high up in the island structure to meet with the Air Boss.

Chapter 2

Gabriella Louise Halsey was born and raised in the section of Bridgeport, Connecticut, known as St Mary’s By the Sea. The Navy and the sea were a part of her life from the beginning. Charles Halsey, her father, was a squadron commander flying the F-14 Tomcat in combat missions during the first Gulf War, and the second. After retiring from the Navy, he returned to St Mary’s By the Sea and acquired a fleet of fishing boats that plied Long Island Sound for lobster, horseshoe crab, bluefish, flounder, and others. Much to the chagrin of her mother, Gabi started going out with her father on the boats during summers when she was eight years old. When Gabi was 14, he made her skipper of the Gabi, a 70-foot trawler with a crew of four. When fall came, she reluctantly had to return to school, but anxiously awaited the first school holiday, so she could return to her ship once again.

Her nickname in high school was plug, because she was short—five-feet five-inches tall and 125 pounds—always tan, and very strong from working on the boats—more a boy than a girl most of her early life.

She would be the first to agree that she was no great beauty. In high school she had very few dates, because she was too aggressive for those wimpy boys. Some were turned off by her strawberry blonde hair and freckled fair skin, but to others her ready smile and the sparkle in her light blue eyes made her irresistible.

No person of the male persuasion was anything more than a friend or competitor until after she graduated from the US Naval Academy. She completed basic flight training at Pensacola, Florida, and then she was sent to Lemoore Naval Air Station in California, for flight training on the FA-18 Hornet. The Hornet had replaced the F-14 Tomcat as the Navy’s first line fighter and attack aircraft.

One of the flight instructors at Lemoore NAS was Lieutenant John Bixby, and for the first time in her life a man measured up the high standards set by her father and grandfather. They kept their romance secret until the end of flight training, but the day training ended, they flew to Las Vegas and got married in the Elvis Presley Wedding Chapel.

The location of their marriage may have been an omen, because a little more than a year later, they divorced. They were going in different directions with their careers. Gabi’s was just beginning, and John Bixby wanted out of the Navy. He resigned while she was on her first carrier cruise on the USS Nimitz, CVN-68. He wanted to be an attorney, so he went back to Altoona, Pennsylvania, where he grew up. He wanted to earn his law degree from nearby Penn State Law School and hang out his shingle to practice law in his hometown.

At the end of her first cruse, Gabi went on leave to Altoona to be with her husband, but Altoona, with its shuddered coalmines and reputation for having the largest railroad roundhouse in the world, was not enough to excite her. Less than two weeks later, she went home to St Mary’s By the Sea and went fishing with her father.

Ten days later, she went back to Altoona and spent a week with her husband discussing their future. She wanted him to move to Bridgeport, but he was a small-town man and loved the Allegheny Mountains.

She left for her next cruise, which was on the USS Harry S Truman, CVN-75, and midway through the cruise, she and Bixby agreed to get an uncontested divorce. She had her maiden name restored, and they said their goodbyes by email. After her failed marriage, she had lovers, but she was never again tempted to get married.

Rear Admiral Richard Halsey was her grandfather. In his younger days in the Navy, he flew F6F Grumman Hellcats off the USS Enterprise, CV-6 during World War II, and he commanded the USS Valley Forge, CV-45 during the Korean War. He retired to a small cottage overlooking Long Island Sound at Battery Point near where Gabi grew up. Even at 89, he took daily walks down to the beach and sat staring out to sea. When she was growing up, she frequently went with him, and as they sat there he spun tales about his exploits during the war and after.

It was he, more than her father, who inspired her to become a Navy pilot. He, her father, and her great-grandfather, Vice Admiral George Carter Halsey, all attended the US Naval Academy. It was only natural that she would attend the Academy as well. At 22, Ensign Gabriella Halsey walked out of the Naval Academy with an electrical engineering degree and left for primary flight school in Pensacola, Florida.

While attending the Naval Academy, one of her midshipman cruises was on board the USS Halsey, DDG-97. The Halsey was an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer that was named after Admiral William F (Bull) Halsey. He commanded a World War II carrier task force. He and Admiral Chester Nimitz were the senior Navy commanders in the Pacific during the war.

Later in her career, Gabi attended the Navy’s Top Gun school at the huge Fallon Naval Air Station in Nevada. After finishing at the top of her class, she became a Top Gun instructor for two years. Shortly after achieving the rank of lieutenant commander, she was the first woman to be given command of an F-35C squadron.

Chapter 3

Gabi watched the huge aircraft elevator take her jet down to the Hangar Deck. She turned and went to the elevator in the Island Structure on the flight deck and pressed the button for the 09 Level, which is where the Air Boss controls flight operations. The Air Boss was Commander Broadfoot. He had 20 years in the Navy and had flown every type of jet the Navy had during that period, including the F-35C. He was six-feet one-inch tall and stood straight with his radio mike in one hand, as he watched an FA-18 come in for a landing.

You wanted to see me, Air Boss? Gabi asked.

He turned, and then he handed the mike to his assistant. John, take over. Come with me, he said, as he went by her.

He took her to his office behind the Air Bridge. She stood at attention in front of his desk as he sat down. At ease. Tell me what you saw up there.

Should the Air Wing Commander be here, sir?

We’ll get to him later.

An Air Wing Commander is responsible for the entire air group that goes aboard an aircraft carrier for deployment. An air wing consists of up to 90 airplanes and helicopters, and the officers and crew that fly and support the aircraft.

The Air Boss is a