One (7 December)

"Sir, lookouts report seeing pillars of smoke ... many pillars of smoke ..."

It had been a busy night for the USS Ward. She had detected and dropped on hostile contacts, only to be told by Fleet Headquarters that she was wasting ammunition.

Now, in the early gray dawn, they could see rising trails of what appeared to be white smoke, wreathing a gray shape that grew larger as they watched.

The standard formula for determining the speed of a ship from its smoke stack made no sense.

The Ward was still at battle stations. The Captain gave orders to intercept the phantom.

So the first modern ship to fire shots in the Second World War was also the first to see the shots fired by a less modern ship.

Optics revealed that it was a ship. Wickedly raked lines, far faster than any other naval vessel, leaving an actual vertical spray in her wake ... and she was flying the United States flag. But her silouhette looked like nothing in the fleet.

Her superstructure blinked frantic signals - but strangely slow and with errors. The signalmen read the signals as the lookout reported in a tone of wonder, "She's wearing the ensign _reversed_, sir!"

Upside down. A sign of extreme distress.

"SOS SOS SOS. AIR RAID PEARL HARBOR. THIS IS NOT DRILL. ADVISE ADMIRAL KIMMEL IMMEDIATELY. RECOMMEND FLEET SORTIE AND LAUNCH ALL AIRCRAFT AT ONCE. US NAVY WARSHIP ROOSEVELT, CAPTAIN STEWART COMMANDING. AIR RAID PEARL HARBOR. THIS IS NOT DRILL. SOS SOS SOS."

"Read me that message out loud. Maybe it will make more sense that way."

The signalman did.

_Roosevelt_? USS _Roosevelt_?

The Navy did not name ships for living men.

Then the strange ship fired something ... something fast and silver that left a contrail ... aimed directly north. She slewed briefly to port and fired several more, then took up her original course -- directly towards the Pearl Harbor mouth.

One of the second salvo went briefly west and dived into the water.

A huge massive explosion erupted at that spot.

The flasher message continued. The ham handed signalman on the strange ship seemed to have improved his fist.

"USS WARD YOU HAVE ENGAGED JAPANESE MIDGET SUBMARINES AND DESTROYED ONE. WE HAVE DESTROYED A SECOND. THREE UNACCOUNTED FOR, ALL ATTEMPTING TO ENTER OUTER CHANNEL. COMPLIMENTS TO LCDR OUTERBRIDGE. HAVE YOU NOTIFIED ADMIRAL KIMMEL INTERROGATIVE. CRITICAL YOU DO SO NOW. AIR RAID PEARL HARBOR, THIS IS NOT DRILL."

"Sir?"

Captain Outerbridge did not hesitate. Hundreds of years of navy history taught him that the one unforgivable sin was hesitation.

Even if it made no sense.

"Radio room, emergency message, all ships and stations, personal attention Admiral Kimmel Air raid Pearl Harbor, this is not drill. Repeat until acknowledged!"

Two (7 December)

Two (7 December)

Without tugs or pilot, at the speed of a fast motorcar, the alien ship entered the main channel. Obscenely, she wore the United States flag upside down from her superstructure.

She continued to leave a spray, a rooster tail, of water in her wake ... in a restricted depth and limited speed channel. Her helmsman must have balls of hammered brass.

Every few moments she fired a vertical trail from just forward of amidships. Smoke rockets? Distress signals? But they moved, and steered themselves.

The decks of the fleet were frantic with activity. Ships making steam, ships manning anti-aircraft guns, sailors getting back to their ships and to their stations.

The word of the day was "Air Raid Pearl Harbor. This is not drill!" By radio, by flashing lights, by message, by word of mouth.

The alien ship was close enough that the wail of her sirens could be heard echoing over the water.

A flight of aircraft appeared low over Ford Island. Low and slow and perfectly aimed at the battleships anchored side by side. Formidable ships but helpless targets with most of their crews ashore and boilers cold.

An enormous ripping sound, like a giant ripping a mountain in half with his hands, or God's own flatulence, echoed over the water from the alien ship.

A line of solid light touched each of the enemy aircraft, and they fell in flaming wreckage.

Then the alien ship fired a gun, an utterly ordinary five inch gun from her bow. But this gun kept firing, into the air, over and over again. Like a pom pom.

###

"Raid One closely engaged! Splashing torpedo bombers with CWIS!"

"TAO, I can't get a radar lock, most of these aircraft are too small!"

"Switch to infrared and prox fusing! Try to get them in clumps!"

"Jockey reports three enemy carriers on fire. Jockey is attacking."

"ELINT, do we have radio contact with the Fleet?"

"Negative, we can monitor voice traffic but we can't modulate and don't have current codes. We have to guess at their frequencies."

"Can you crash commercial AM?"

"Yes."

"Do it."

###

"Attention! Air raid Pearl Harbor, this is not drill! All military personnel return to your ships and units at once! Air raid Pearl Harbor, this is not drill! This is the real McCoy! Civilians take cover immediately!"