“Boy thanks. You’re right. I am starting to feel a little more confident though. The first hour I didn’t take my eyes off the board. Once you get the feel for what everything should read, it’s not so bad,” Peter told him.
“We are going to make a submariner out of you yet,” Okeefer said, laughing.
“Doctor Farris. I have choppers in the air. I count six of them. They are dropping sonar buoys,” the sonar man reported.
“Is that unusual?” Peter asked Okeefer.
“Hell, I don’t know. A lot of choppers train out here. It could be an exercise of some kind.”
“What’s our depth?” Peter asked the control man.
“We’re at 65 feet. The bottom is falling away. Sand is below us at 90 feet.”
“Susan, could you put it up on the big screen?”
“Sure thing,” she said, flipping on the large display.
“Sir. The sonar has gone active. They are pinging. I don’t have any other contacts in the area.”
“I wish we were deeper and....”
“Sir. A chopper is directly overhead. It’s hovering over us.”
They must have spotted our shape from the air. In this shallow water it isn’t too hard to do,” the Lieutenant told Peter.
“Sir! Torpedo in the water. It’s going active.”
“Shit. Activate the camouflage. Take us to within ten feet of the floor and keep us there. Increase speed to 50 percent, come to heading 120. Go get the skipper immediately,” Okeefer ordered.
“Aye, Aye. 50 percent power, heading 120.”
“Get the skipper up here immediately,” Peter yelled back to one of the men.
“What is the torpedo doing?”
“Hunting. It hasn’t acquired us yet.”
“What’s going on?” Marcus said coming on to the Con a few moments later.
“Chopper just above us. It dropped a torpedo but it hasn’t acquired us yet.”
“What action did you take?”
“Increased speed to 50 percent, went to 10 feet from the bottom and changed course to 120 degrees,” Okeefer said.
“Well done. I see you activated the camouflage. We should have done that right off. My mistake. So who do we have up there?”
“Sonar. Give us a fix on the type of choppers.”
“HU-125’s sir. Six of them. They are all dropping sonar buoys.”
“HU-125’s. Definitely ours. I doubt it is an exercise. If I had to guess I would say they are probably looking for us,” Marcus told them.
“Why did they drop a torpedo on us?” Peter asked.
“For the same reason they tried to abduct us in Washington. They intend to stop us at any cost,” Marcus said.
“This is crazy. They are really trying to kill us,” Susan said.
“We are not dealing with normal people. I think they inten..”
“Two more torpedoes in the water. Make that three,” the sonar man interrupted.
“We need more room. Come to 155 degrees, 10 percent power,” Marcus quickly ordered, “We need more bottom.”
“How would that help?” Peter asked.
“More room to maneuver and thermal layers to hide under,” Marcus told him.
“Boy. We have a long way to go to get to deep water,” Okeefer said.
“No acquisition,” came the sonar man’s report.
“They can’t find us. The torpedoes can’t pick up the propulsion noise. They must have guessed our route and were sitting out here waiting for us to come along. That can only mean one thing. It has to be the work of Admiral Zoren. No one else even knows we exist let alone where we are headed. He wants to stop us even if it means blowing up the Chameleon with us onboard,” Marcus said.
“What now?”
“We will take a different route. They missed their chance for an easy kill,” Marcus told them, “We will take a route that will give us more water under us. We were lucky this time but I don’t want to depend on luck,” Marcus responded.
“Choppers moving away. Bearing 070 degrees, 5,000 yards.”
“They have lost us. Let’s just get out of here nice and easy. Admiral Zoren will be throwing a hissy fit. Those poor pilots are in for a real ragging when he gets hold of them,” Marcus said.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
- ABOARD THE HU-125 HELICOPTER -
“Gold leader. I have a visual on what appears to be the submarine we were told about. Either that or we have just found the world’s largest manta ray.”
“Roger. Wait one,” came back the reply.
The chopper continued to hover over the dark shape below.
“Fox two. You have permission to drop a Seawitch.”
“Copy. Permission to drop Seawitch.”
“Affirmative.”
A few seconds later, “Torpedo away.”
The pilot moved the chopper to the aft end of the object and brought the altitude to 1000 feet. He didn’t want to be too close when the torpedo hit. Suddenly the shape disappeared. One minute he was watching the dark shape and the next minute, it was gone. He looked over at his co-pilot. He shrugged his shoulders. They circled the area for several minutes before reporting in.
“Gold leader. The torpedo did not obtain acquisition. We have lost visual on the submarine.”
“Say again?”
“The torpedo did not acquire. We have lost visual.”
“Wait one. Fox 2, you are being joined by Fox 3 and Fox 5. You are to set up a triangulation vector and each drop one torpedo in the vicinity of your last sighting.”
“Copy gold leader,” the chopper pilot said.
“How in the hell did it just disappear like that?” the Co-pilot asked.
“They said it wasn’t like any other submarine. I guess we found out why,” the Pilot replied.
Within minutes the two other helicopters had joined Fox 2 at his position and unleashed the deadly torpedoes into the waiting sea. None were able to get a lock on the submarine. They searched until they had depleted their fuel. Finally the order to return to their ships came over the headset.
“It was worth a try. I knew it was a long shot. You are to proceed to point bravo as planned.”
“Aye, Aye Admiral.”
“Have the Key West surface. I will transfer my command to the sub.”
“Aye, Aye,” the Captain of the USS Henry Clay acknowledged.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
- THE CHAMELEON –
“Skipper they are breaking off. The choppers are moving off. Only one torpedo is still active. It’s headed out of range.”
“Good. Let me know when it dies,” Marcus said.
“Does this mean they have given up?” Peter asked.
“I don’t think so. The quick kill didn’t work so they have probably moved on to a backup plan. They have a fallback position some place between here and the trench. You can count on it,” Marcus offered.
“Can’t we do something about it?” Susan asked.
“We could. The problem is it would waste a lot of time trying to find where they are located. Even then it would probably mean we would have to sink a ship and I’m just not all that thrilled with killing sailors who have no idea how crazy the man calling the shots is,” Marcus responded.
“Once we hit deep water we will have a better chance won’t we?” Peter asked.
“Actually we will have the advantage. We can go deeper than they can and will be able to stay out of range. All we have to do is get there,” Luke said.
“Luke is right. Once we get deep enough, their sonar will be of no use. Their missiles won’t be able to reach that far down,” Marcus answered, “I’ll take the watch for now. Peter, you and the Okeefer get some rest. It’s going to get hairy from here on out.”
“I thought that was hairy already,” Peter replied looking over at Susan.
“Skipper, I don’t mind staying with you,” Okeefer said.
“Get some rest. You’re going to need it.”
Peter stayed for a few m
ore minutes. When he looked around, Susan was no longer in the control room. He talked to Luke for a few minutes and stopped and checked out the air handlers to make sure everything was functioning properly.
Okeefer had headed for his bunk but Peter decided to look in on Susan first. She was sound asleep.
He bent over and kissed her on the cheek. She stirred slightly but didn’t wake up. He felt guilty for letting her come along. She could have been killed. He felt responsible for her being in danger. They could have completed the mission without her but she wanted to be near him. She might very well pay for that with her life, he thought.
He looked at her sleeping and smiled. If they came through this she would definitely be worth settling down with. She wasn’t like anyone he had ever met before. Maybe that is what happened to his buddy Luke. He could definitely get serious about Susan. Only one stumbling block, they had to come through this alive.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
- USS KEY WEST SSN 772 -
Zoren’s plan called for the destroyer Henry Clay and two submarines to form a chain along the length of the Mariana Trench. While it was not an ideal situation, it was the best they could do with the number of ships that he had to work with and considering the circumstances.
The destroyer would steam around in the first trench since it had the least depth. The USS Honolulu, SSN-718, the second hunter-killer submarine would patrol the middle trench and the USS Key West would cover the biggest trench.
The destroyer would be readily detectable and was being used for bait as much as anything else. He was hoping its noise would help distract them.
The two hunter-killers had the best chance of locating and destroying the Chameleon. For now they were racing at full speed. He wanted to be on station and listening for her approach, if they could detect it.
“Get the sonar men up here,” the Admiral ordered.
A few minutes later the four sonar men were standing before the Admiral.
“Men, we must locate the Chameleon. We stand our best chance if we do that before she goes deep. This mission is vital to the security of our country. I want you to be on duty for just two hours at a time. I want you sharp. Any anomalies are to be reported at once. I don’t care if you think it was a whale farting, we want to know about it. The bad news is that there is no signature on file for the propulsion system on the DSV so the computers won’t do you a lot of good. It will take old fashioned detective work. Are there any questions?”
“Sir. Do you have any clue you could give us as to what she may sound like?”
“Not a clue. I know she uses ionized hydrogen propulsion, but I have no idea what that may sound like.”
“Does she even have screws?”
“As I understand it, no.”
The sonar men rolled their eyes as they glanced at one another.
“Does this DSV carry any offensive weapons?”
“Yes. She has two aft torpedo tubes and has the latest Mk 71’s on board. I don’t know how many.”
“But she will have to flood her tubes before firing just like the rest of us won’t she?”
“I honestly don’t know. I would suppose so. I haven’t heard anything about her defense capabilities.”
“How deep does she go?”
“In excess of 50,000 feet is the scuttlebutt that has been thrown around,” the Admiral informed them.
“50,000 feet. And we are supposed to find this sub and sink her?” one of the men asked.
“Sailor, you are to carry out your orders. I would appreciate it if you would do so without the editorial comments. Just do your job and we will get along fine,” the Admiral said, “Is that clear, sailor?”
“Aye, Aye sir.”
“Now let’s get to work and find that DSV. Dismissed,” the Admiral said.
After the men had departed the Captain said, “Admiral, these men will do their jobs. He was just making sure he understood what was going on.”
“They do not need or have to understand. Just obey. That goes for everyone aboard this vessel, including you Captain,” Zoren said curtly.
“Aye, Aye, Admiral,” the Captain said and returned to the routine of taking care of the sea detail.
The two submarines were on their assigned stations long before the Henry Clay was in position. It didn’t matter much anyway. She was just there to thrash around and make noise. Zoren was banking on the Chameleon picking up the ship and not listening for any other boats in the water.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
- USS CHAMELEON DSV-1 –
“Admiral,” Okeefer said. Marcus stirred and set up in his bunk.
“What is it?”
“We will be at the trench soon. We are just over an hour out. Sonar is picking up a surface ship. It’s faint but detectable. It appears to be one of ours. No signature matches yet. Too far off.”
“All right Chief. I’ll be up to the Con in a minute. Let me splash some water on my face first,” Marcus said.
Alan went back to the Con. Peter had been on watch for the last two hours and Alan had come up to see how it was going. Peter reported that everything was normal.
“Give me an update,” Marcus said when he reported to the control room.
“We are at 9,000 feet, 50 percent power, heading 340 degrees. We have three thermal layers above us at present. The surface ship is bearing 023 degrees at just over two miles. Her speed has been a steady 15 knots. Sonar will have a fix on her in a few minutes,” Peter told him.
“That’s pretty impressive. We will make an old salt out of you yet,” Marcus joked.
“Not on your bloody life. When this mission is over I’m never going near the ocean again. When I get home I’m going to sell my boat,” Peter taunted back.
“Slow to 30 percent,” Marcus said and slipped on the VGA glasses Dr. Long had invented, “Bring us to 12,000 feet and hold. Come to 320 degrees. I want to stay well south of the surface ship,” he said.
“Sir. The surface vessel is the Henry Clay, tin can,” the sonar man reported.
“Any other contacts?”
“Nothing, skipper.”
“Why would a lone destroyer be all the way out here? It doesn’t jibe,” the sonar man asked.
“My best guess it that we are supposed to detect it and be predisposed with it while an attack boat is looking around for us,” Marcus said.
“And then what?” Susan asked, joining them in the control room. As always Peter was struck by her looks and the way she carried herself. She was one tough cookie he decided. Luke joined them a couple of minutes later.
“Ah. Well you already know,” Marcus said, not looking at her.
“Nothing changes. Same ole same ole,” Luke said.
“We know they dropped several torpedoes and they intended to sink us,” Peter said, “Marcus thinks they will probably use a Hunter-Killer sub this time.”
“Great. They are trying to kill the messenger. I suppose it's still Zoren and his band of cutthroats.”
“That sounds about right. He is really the only one who could pull something like this off,” Marcus replied.
“Won’t the President stop him?”
“Don’t underestimate the power that Zoren has. He certainly has the power to get ships diverted to this area. He will have a small band of dedicated officers following him. I’m sure the President is doing all he can but I wouldn’t place a lot of faith in him stopping Zoren and his people. We need to look after ourselves,” Marcus said and added, “Luke would you take over the control board. Chief, I want you aft in the torpedo room. Make sure everything is ready if we need it.”
“Yes sir, Admiral.”
“Susan would you make a sweep of the boat and make sure nothing is out of place. I don’t want anything left out that might fall and make noise.”
“No problem,” she said and started off.
“Peter. You stay with me. It’s going to heat up real soon now.”
“I’ll be right here.”
�
�We will reach the trench in twenty minutes,” Luke reported.
“Looks like the bottom is at 14,550 feet,” Marcus said looking into the HUD in the glasses.
“14,554 feet,” corrected Luke.
Susan came back and reported that the sub was secure and everything was good to go.
“Come to 15 percent power. Heading 290 degrees,” he told Luke. Luke made the corrections.
“We are going to go straight into the third trench,” Marcus said.
“How do you know that’s the place?” Luke asked.
“It just popped into my head,” he said.
They were between the second and third trench.
“Turn to heading 195.”
“Sir. I have a faint contact I just picked up on our tow array. Bearing 280 degrees. It’s creeping along at 7 knots.”
“Distance?”
“10,000 yards and closing slowly.”
“Take us to 18,000 feet. Down 5 degrees if you would doctor,” Marcus told Luke.
“Contact is at 1,250 feet sir,” sonar reported.
“Zero percent power. Hold this depth. Range?”
“8,000 yards and closing. Still at 7 knots.”
They waited in silence.
“It’s the Key West, skipper,” the sonar man informed Marcus.
“Fast attack, hunter-killer,” he told the others.
“What does that mean to us?”
“A hunter-killer has one purpose. To hunt other subs down and destroy them. It is smaller than a FBM or Fleet Ballistic Missile and much more agile. Just because it is smaller doesn’t mean it isn’t just as lethal though. Fortunately for us they cannot even come close to matching us in terms of depth. Even their torpedoes are useless at this point.”
“Great,” Luke said.
“It’s turning. Clearing baffles,” sonar told the skipper.
“Clearing baffles?” Susan asked.
“Turning around to see if anyone is following. It’s one way of seeing if someone is trying to creep up behind you. It takes time. They have to pull in their trailing array first,” he explained.
“Increase speed to 20 percent. We are going to maneuver right up under her then we will match her speed. She is going to go right down the middle of the trench to the South and we can hide under her.”
THE BRINK - OPERATION DEEP FLIGHT Page 41
