"I'm afraid I can't do that, sir."
"Why not?"
"He is not about to be detained, and I am not about to let him win this battle without the shedding of American blood."
"Ivan, this is no time—-"
"This is bigger than both of us, General. They must know at the very beginning that they will be resisted every step of the way."
"Colonel, it is pointless to die like this."
"Sorry, Helmut. I have much work to do. Save as many as you can." He gestured to the chief scientist, and the screen went blank. He turned to Masaryk. "Is Hayes unloading yet?"
"Just starting now, sir." They both watched as perhaps a dozen of the monolithic carrier's twenty chutes were lowered and the first wave of fighters, mingled with other, larger ships, came streaming off. "If that's the Dreadnought….."
"It is."
"They say she holds over three hundred vessels—-cruisers and battleships among them. Twice the size of our entire fleet."