The Persian Paradox (USS MULLIGAN, #2) / USS MULLIGAN (ePub)

"The Persian Paradox" is the sequel to "Old Salts, New Navy." Don DeFreese is now the Commanding Officer of the fictional USS Mulligan, one of the Navy's newest destroyers. The ship, having miraculously survived a near impact with a large meteorite the year before, is fresh out of overhaul, with its sophisticated Aegis Combat System fully operational.

As a ballistic missile defense ship, the Mulligan is part of a carrier strike group headed for the Mediterranean and Black Sea, with the ship acting as an air defense unit for the strike group during the transit. Shortly after inchopping to the Sixth Fleet, the Mulligan is dispatched to monitor Russian naval activity near the Libyan capital of Tripoli, and encounters Russian technology that threatens to neutralize its sophisticated Aegis systems.

As a result, the ship is detoured to Sicily to accommodate a visit from the Commander of the Navy's Sixth Fleet, Vice Admiral Jennifer Franklin herself. After debriefing the Admiral, and her staff, the Mulligan, along with an older destroyer, are dispatched to scout foreign shipping engaged in arms smuggling into Syria.

Iranian Commander Tehrani, the CO of the IS Bahadur, a newly commissioned destroyer, is also in the Mediterranean, and, unknown to Captain DeFreese, seeks to exact revenge over the death of his father at the hands of the US Navy during operation 'Praying Mantis,' when Tehrani was but a teenager.

Meanwhile, moderate elements of the Iranian regime are trying to engage the US State Department in constructing a bilateral approach to easing US sanctions, in exchange for unrestricted nuclear program transparency.

How these three narratives unfold will keep the reader turning pages late into the night.