Vice Admiral Anthony Rutherford stood on the bridge of the supercarrier USS George H.W. Bush, and glanced at the wristwatch that his sister Maria had given him long ago. This was the first time that he had worn it since the conclusion of the Syrian campaign within the eastern Mediterranean Sea nearly seventeen months prior, but his need to once again don the item was justified. That extremely successful campaign, which until recently had provided the Admiral with cause to believe that the death of Maria and her family were properly avenged, began on the first morning of 2027 in retribution against those who had viciously attacked the United States roughly seven weeks earlier. Based on the available intelligence of that timeframe, the Admiral and his superiors, who ordered him to attack, had been led to believe that Syria was guilty of the treachery. However more recent and reliable evidence had proven without a doubt that the action had been a grave mistake, as Syria was not the responsible party.

Tony Rutherford reflected back upon the multiple days of the campaign, and felt both embarrassed and somewhat responsible for the terrible pain which the fourth fleet, while under his command, had inflicted upon an innocent nation. Fortunately an opportunity to rectify those misguided attacks now lay before him, as the actual culprit of the November 2026 terrorist attacks had been positively identified.

When the first rays of early morning sunlight began to pour through multiple windows on the elevated bridge deck, Vice Admiral Rutherford was brought back to the present moment of Sunday the twenty-eighth of May. Then while turning his attention forward he smiled at the thought of what would soon transpire. While in the Mediterranean Sea he had been instructed to deliver a powerful punch upon infrastructure which would be felt for months or perhaps years, but his orders for this day and the upcoming weeks and months were quite different. With his fourth fleet task force and additional support vessels now positioned deep within the Gulf of Mexico, he lay just outside of what was deemed as the territorial waters of Texas. Based on their current position, it would be relatively easy for the Admiral to provide his current adversary with a hug. Of course that hug would not be gentle like the quick and welcoming embrace of old friends who had not seen each other for an extended period of time. No, this hug would be categorized as more of an extended tight squeeze similar to that of a constricting snake intent on the suffocation of its prey.