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Chapter 3:
If something can go wrong, it will, at the worst possible moment, Ed thought to himself as he listened to the dirge of SID reporting twelve UFO’s heading in. The interceptors had been launched but they wouldn’t get all of them.
“Trajectory termination?” asked Straker as he walked out of his office.
“It’s coming up sir, best guess right now is the North Atlantic,” said Ford.
“Damn, that’s too close, signal to all SHADO stations maximum security alert.”
“SHADO control to all stations, this is a maximum security alert, condition red!”
Virginia walked into the control room looking like she had been up all night. She walked over to where Ed was standing.
“What’s going on Ed?”
He looked over to her, “Our friends are back in force, the interceptors are almost in position for an attack.”
“Do we know where they are heading?” she asked concerned.
“Take a guess.”
“Oh my God. Can we warn them?”
“They should have received the message but they are under strict radio silence,” said Ed.
“How the hell did they find out what we are doing?” asked Ginny with both surprise and apprehension in her voice.
“The interceptors are launching their missiles,” said Ford.
Ed and Ginny watched the tactical display as the missiles from the interceptors merged with the targets. Four of the twelve blips disappeared from the screen.
“Moonbase confirms four targets destroyed,” said Ford. “Trajectory termination is the Atlantic Ocean, near the equator sir.”
“Are Sky One and Sky Two in the air?”
“Yes sir, they launched about two minutes ago.”
“How long before they hit the atmosphere?” asked Ed.
“Two minutes, sir.”
“Carlin and Waterman should get them,” added Ginny hopefully.
“Yes, unless they split up at the last minute,” said Ed.
Ten minutes later Carlin and Waterman were involved in a dogfight with four of the UFO’s. The aliens were using cooperative tactics they had never seen before.
“Lew, you’ve got one on your six! Pull up!”
Waterman pulled his jet into an aggressive vertical climb and kicked in his afterburners. When he had gained enough altitude he pulled an inverted loop and dove on the UFO that had been tailing him. He fired his missile, destroying the alien craft.
“Look out Pete; you’ve got one at four o’clock.”
Carlin executed a split S and the UFO flew by him. He narrowly missed the particle beam fired at him. He brought his jet around and closed on the UFO rapidly, firing his missiles as soon as he was in range. The UFO exploded in a ball of flame.
“The other two are bugging out Pete.”
“Where are the rest of them, Lew?”
Waterman checked his instruments, “They’re not on my scope, Colonel.”
“Alright let’s splash these two. I’ll take the one on the left.”
Carlin and Waterman made short work of the two remaining craft sending both of them to crashing into the sea.
“Sky One to SHADO control, we splashed four but the other craft did not engage. I don’t have them on my scope.”
In HQ Straker flipped up the mic, “Understood Peter, good shooting on the ones you got. I want you and Lew to start a search pattern for as long as fuel permits.”
“Understood sir, Sky One out.”
“What do we do now?” asked Ginny, her face lined with anxiety.
Ed looked at her knowingly, the worry in her voice echoing his own thoughts. “Pray that Skydiver Three is paying attention to their sonar equipment.”
Ginny watched him go back into his office swallowing a lump in her throat. She regretted, not for the first time, not telling her husband she was sorry.
Matt was awakened from a restless sleep by the intercom just before sunrise. Wiping the sleep out of his eyes he turned and saw Bob Patterson talking to the control room.
“What’s going on Bob?” Matt asked when he finished.
“HQ just put out a general alert, Four UFO’s just slipped through the defenses,” he said with more than a hint of concern in his voice.
Matt sat up pushing the covers back and swung his legs over the side of the bunk. He was not used to the cold floor on his bare feet. “Where did they lose track of them?”
“The central Atlantic, just north of the equator,” said Patterson.
“That’s too close for comfort.”
“My thoughts exactly, I’ll be in the control room.”
Matt quickly and deliberately dressed and walked out of the cabin. By the time he reached the control room, Patterson had already ordered a reduction in speed to allow his sonar to work at maximum efficiency.
He walked over to the sonar suite and watched the waterfall display. Matt picked up the extra set of headphones and listened intently to the water, his eyes almost closed as he focused on the sounds. A very faint noise could be heard and the sonar operator seemed to be concentrating intensely on the display. Grimacing with concern, Matt set the headphones down and walked over to the plotting table where Bob Patterson was working.
“Helm come to course two seven zero, make turns for five knots,” ordered the captain.
“Steer course two seven zero, making turns for five knots, aye, sir.”
“I think sonar has something,” said Matt, quietly.
“What makes you say that?”
There’s a very faint sound in the water, you can just about hear it, but it’s there.” He looked at the Captain with an expression of concern.
“Con, sonar, new contact, designate sierra two-five,” called out the sonar op.”
Bob looked at Matt with a wry grin, “I guess you were right,” he said as they turned to the sonar station.
“Sonar, tell me what you’ve got,” ordered the captain.
“Distant contact, appears to be submerged, bearing one eight zero true, speed, forty five knots, course three five zero, estimated range twenty thousand yards.”
“It’s heading this way, hell even a Russian Alfa isn’t that fast,” said Matt, shocked as he assimilated the information.
“Contact lost sir,” the sonar operation said as he turned to the captain with a puzzled look on his face.
“What?” said the captain.
“It just disappeared. One minute it was on the scope, and now it’s gone.”
“Helm rig for silent running, sonar, deploy the towed array.” His orders were sharp and brisk and the crew quickly responded.
Matt watched in silence as the crew followed their orders. The hair on the back of his neck was standing up and he didn’t know why.
Virginia was so engrossed in what she was doing that she didn’t notice her friend walk in until she smelled the aroma of fresh brewed coffee. She looked up as Jen handed her a cup of the steaming liquid.
“For me? Jen you’re a Godsend.” Ginny took a sip of the special blend that Jen always made.
“Ginny you looked like hell when I saw you in control earlier. Didn’t you get any sleep last night?”
“Not really,” she said shaking her head. “I tossed and turned all night long. I finally go up around three and came in here to get a jump on this work.”
“I noticed that you got the service channel up and running,” said Jen with a grin.
“Yes, and the other end is ringing, or it will be when Matt plugs everything in and turns it up.”
“You really want to talk to him don’t you?”
“I need to Jen. Matt was sweet enough to come back and say he was sorry even though I knew he was still upset over the whole matter. And I slammed the door in his face,” she said now in tears.
Jen had known Ginny for over five years and had been her friend for most of that time. They had become very close over the past couple of years and Jen had never seen her, this distressed. She went over to where Virginia was sitting and hugged her as Ginny let her pain out freely now. When Ginny had dumped all the grief she was holding she looked at Jen.
“Thanks, I needed a good cry,” she said wiping her eyes.
“Hey, what are friends for. Ginny, I’ve got to get back upstairs, are we still having lunch later?”
“Yeah, but I want to be back down here by twelve thirty. That’s when Skydiver three is supposed to dock with the dome.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t keep you from your honey,” she said with a smile as she headed for the door.
“Bye.”
“Con, sonar, contact reestablished, six thousand yards closing fast, target classified as a Type two alien craft, speed forty knots, course three four five, bearing one six five, true.”
“Fire control rig tubes one and two fully ready, helm all ahead full, sonar retract the towed array,” ordered that captain quickly.
Matt listened with disbelief, how the hell did he get so close undetected?
“Towed array retracted sir,” reported the sonar operator.
“Very well, helm, left full rudder, all ahead flank, come to course one seven zero.”
The maneuver left a huge knuckle in the water and brought Skydiver’s torpedo tubes to bear on the closing UFO. Matt knew it would take more than two torpedoes to destroy this type of craft. Would they have time to reload? He didn’t think so.
“Torpedoes ready sir”
“Launch torpedoes,” ordered the captain.
“Torpedoes away sir, running normally.”
“Reload both tubes, quickly!” shouted Patterson as he looked at his stopwatch waiting for the explosions.
“Con, sonar, target changing course, now heading one eight zero.”
The tension in the control room was so thick it could be cut with a knife Matt was thinking as he watched the battle unfold.
“Con, Fire control, tubes reloaded, sir.”
“Very well launch torpedoes, and reload both tubes.”
Two explosions resounded through the water, the reports penetrating the hull of the submarine.
“Sonar, report. Did we get it?” asked the captain.
“Negative sir, contact now on course three four zero, speed thirty knots, range three thousand yards, closing fast.”
“Brace for impact,” yelled the captain.
The UFO closed the distance to Skydiver rapidly passing by the second wave of torpedoes before they could arm themselves. The alien craft fired a particle beam hitting Skydiver amidships.
The explosion violently rocked the submarine and Captain Patterson lost his grip on the pole. He was thrown forward, the back of his head hitting the map table. He collapsed near the access tube door for Sky Three a pool of blood forming under his head.
“Reactor is down. Propulsion is out.”
“Emergency power!” yelled the XO. “Fire control, what’s the status of the torpedoes?”
“They’ve armed and they’re locked onto the alien ship. Time to impact, ten seconds.”
While the XO fought to save the ship Matt went to the captain’s side and checked his pulse. It was too late, Patterson was dead.
“I need a medic up here,” ordered the XO.
“Don’t bother, he’s gone,” said Matt heavily as another explosion rumbled through the hull of the ship, the two torpedoes and a larger secondary explosion that he knew was the alien craft.
“Target destroyed sir,” reported the sonar operator as her looked back at the XO.
The XO spoke into the phone and a few minutes later the corpsman and his assistant came into the control room. Matt watched in silence as two of the crew bagged the captain’s body and carried it below. Another good man gone, another widow made, he thought.
The reactor officer approached the XO and said, “The reactor scrammed when we were hit, sir. It will take about thirty minutes to get it restarted. Propulsion is still down; the engineer is still working on it. The starboard engine was hit and it might be a bit noisier than normal. He estimates about two hours to repair.”
“Can we still blow tanks and surface?”
“Yes sir, ballast control is still in good shape, we can maintain trim.”
“Very well, prepare to surface, let’s get a message off to HQ as to our status…”
“Belay those orders,” said Matt fiercely as he walked up to Connors.
“I beg your pardon Captain Hewett,” said the XO clearly miffed at having his authority questioned by someone he perceived as an upstart.
“Lieutenant Connors, I am officially informing you that I am assuming command of this vessel as of now, 07:42 hours. Duty officer you will note the change of command in the ships log. I have the deck and the con,” Matt ordered, with an authority in his voice no one on board, had heard before.
“Captain Hewett, this is against standard procedure,” Connors said emphatically. “I’m the assigned XO on this ship; if something happens to the captain the ship becomes my responsibility.”
“Yes Lieutenant and you were just about to violate a major mission order, or do you normally make a practice out of barking out orders without stopping to think?” asked Matt as he held the XO’s gaze.
“This mission is over! We can’t possibly continue with the ship in the condition it’s in.”
“Perhaps you’ve read a damage report that I haven’t. As I see it, we can be underway in a couple of hours,” Matt said very quietly. “Lieutenant, just so we understand each other, I’m in command of this vessel now, the decisions and responsibilities are mine, and mine alone and if you have a problem with this you may file a complaint with command upon our return.”
“Very well, sir. For the record, I strongly object to your actions and in my opinion they place this ship and crew in jeopardy, sir.”
“So noted. I want a detailed damage report in fifteen minutes. I’ll be in my cabin.”
“You didn’t waste any time, sir,” the XO shot back viciously.
Matt turned to face him, holding his anger in check.
“Lieutenant, I’m going to do you a favor and ignore that last statement as it was probably made out of grief over the loss of your CO. For your information I need to write a letter to his wife, unless you would like the task of doing that. If you make another comment like that I’ll have you in front of a court martial. Are we clear on that?”
“Clear as crystal, sir.”
“Carry on,” Matt said as he turned to walk to his cabin. “Helm, maintain trim, communications, maintain radio silence.”
“Yes sir,” came the chorus of replies.
Ed walked into the main computer room where Ginny was still busy setting up the interfacing for the new communications link. She didn’t notice him until he walked up to her console.
“Oh, hello Ed. I didn’t hear you come in,” she said apologetically.
“That’s alright; Jen said you were hard at it.”
“Yeah, I’m just trying to keep my mind off of other things.”
Ed sat down in the chair across from her. “Virginia, I’m sorry I didn’t let you speak with Matt before he left, I understand the two of you had words on the plane.”
“Did Jen tell you that?” she asked somewhat perturbed.
“You know better than that. No I heard it by other means.”
“Oh my God, the flight crew heard us?” she said as she blushed madly now.
“Let’s just say the two of you provided some interesting in-flight entertainment,” he said giving her a rare smile.
“How embarrassing, wait till Matt finds out.”
“Anyway I wasn’t being callous. I did have a reason for wanting them to leave right away.”
“I understand Ed,” she said sincerely.
“Lew Waterman got another one of those UFO’s off the coast of South America about an hour ago. It was a type two craft,” he said quietly.
“That still leaves three unaccounted for.”
“Yes it does,” he paused unsure how to continue.
Virginia had known Ed for years and she picked up on the fact that he was hiding something.
“Ed, what are you not telling me?” she asked her voice full of apprehension now.
“There was an explosion about two hours ago in the North Atlantic. The SOSUS network picked it up and it was roughly in the area where Skydiver Three should have been. We didn’t hear any hull collapse noises so we don’t think it was Skydiver, plus the rescue buoy was never deployed,” he said trying to minimize it.
“That doesn’t mean anything Ed, and you know it. But thanks for telling me yourself. I’d rather hear it from you than second hand in the control room.”
Virginia had reservations the day she was told that Matt was going on this mission and she couldn’t get the ill thoughts out of her mind.
“How are things with you and Jen?” she asked changing the subject.
Only the slightest of pauses before he answered told her that he was uncomfortable with the subject.
“Fine,” he said as lightly as he could manage.
Virginia didn’t press the subject. Even though Ed considered her his best friend, she was still a woman and she could see that he wasn’t at ease discussing Jen with her.
“She taught me to cha, cha,” he unexpectedly offered.
“Now I am jealous,” Ginny said with a broad grin briefly forgetting her problems. “Thanks Ed.”
“For what?” he asked innocently.
“For cheering me up.”
“Anytime, what are friends for?” he asked as he stood to leave.
“Are you sure you and Jen aren’t in cahoots?” she asked suspiciously.
“Of course not, why do you ask?”
“Because Jen just said the same thing to me not two hours ago.”
“Maybe you’re just lucky to be blessed with good friends,” Ed said as he was leaving. “I’ll let you know if I hear anything.”
“Thanks.”
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In Training (Read 3457 times)
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