Syren's Song
Page 27
His problem now was the board of directors. He had invested in two major projects that had failed. He could not fail a third time and retain his position. Fortunately, his scientists were already exploring a new weapon that would change the face of naval warfare in the twenty-first century and catapult the Chinese navy to its rightful place as the undisputed hegemonic force in the world.
He turned back to his glass desktop and looked one more time at the nugget of hafnium as he closed the lid of the velvet-lined black box.
Ullapool
Syren still had two weeks before reporting for patrol duty in the Gulf of Aden. Stark advised the authorities in Yemen that the ship would arrive at the agreed-upon time. Meanwhile, Syren slowly glided back to Scotland and Highland Maritime’s island off Ullapool, where she would resupply and Jay would have time to work on some of the ship’s modifications. The rain was driving hard off the coast of Scotland, but Olivia Harrison had expertly piloted Royal Navy ships in far worse weather.
Doc was satisfied that Connor’s back was healing properly, though Stark still hadn’t decided how to explain it all to Maggie. It would work out or it wouldn’t. She would understand that he had done what he had to do, or she wouldn’t. He would do his best to convince her that she mattered more to him than any other person on earth—and then wait and see what happened. He knew she would see the scars—how could she not—but she would never ask about them. He looked again at her framed picture knowing he was now only hours away from seeing that red ponytail. He picked up a half-full pill bottle, looked at it for a moment, then tossed it into the waste can and reached for her family’s sgian dubh. Without thinking he unsheathed it, and reddish-brown flakes of dried blood fell on his desk. In the weeks since he had been taken prisoner, he still hadn’t cleaned the dagger of the blood.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Just as John Donne wrote that “no man is an island unto himself,” no author writes without learning about the world through the friends, acquaintances, and colleagues with whom we all travel in life. I am indebted to the following people who supplied answers or put me on the right path.
For information about EMPs I turned to a friend and fellow officer, Cdr. James “Milhouse” Calpin, USNR, who discussed the effects of a possible EMP rocket. When I wanted a rare earth element, “Big Al” Zalewski, a real Youper, narrowed it down to hafnium. Although hafnium does not exist in the state discussed in the book, interesting work was done on it by then-captain Hyman Rickover at Clinton Laboratories in 1947. Readers seeking more information may be interested in U.S. patent number 5,160,482, “Zirconium-Hafnium Separation and Purification Process” and “Applications of Liquid Anion Exchangers for the Separation of Zirconium and Hafnium,” by Manjusha Karve and Srhipad Khopkar; “Separation of Hafnium from Zirconium and Their Determination: Separation by Anion-Exchange,” by Lawrence Machlan and John Hague; and “Corrosion of Hafnium and Hafnium Alloys,” by D. R. Holmes and A. T. I. Wah Chang. “Big Al” also helped me understand more about mines.
Although the Breakers in this book is a fictional place, readers can learn about a real breakers in Bangladesh in the May 2014 issue of National Geographic magazine. Other sources included the November 24, 2014, issue of Atlantic magazine. There are also several excellent documentaries on this subject.
Lucien Gauthier worked with me in war-gaming one of the scenarios in the book. Greg Harris and Whit Hauprich read an early version and, as they did with The Aden Effect, offered helpful suggestions. Cdr. Josh Brooks also lent his expert advice.
Don Preul, ship model curator at the Naval Academy Museum, showed me an early model of FSF-1, Sea Fighter. I was intrigued by the ship’s design and capabilities and was even more convinced that this ought to be the ship commanded by Connor Stark when I spoke to two experts. I am deeply indebted to Vice Adm. Jay Cohen, USN (Ret.), the former chief of naval research who conceptualized, designed, and built this ship. I am also very grateful to Cdr. Brandon Bryan, Sea Fighter’s first CO. Our discussions helped me understand some of the realities of the ship, her capabilities, and small details. The Navy is very fortunate to have had these two officers. If I have deviated from their specifications, it was either in the interest of the story or because I simply got something wrong.
My thanks also go to Cdr. Paul Povlock, professor at the Naval War College, who spoke to my maritime security and irregular warfare class at the Naval Academy several years ago about his research on the Tamil Sea Tigers. I recommend his paper in Small Wars Journal, “A Guerilla War at Sea: The Sri Lankan Civil War.”
As always, I appreciate the outstanding work of those at the Naval Institute Press—Rick Russell, Claire Noble, Adam Nettina, Mindy Conner, Emily Bakely, and Judy Heise—as well as other U.S. Naval Institute staff. I am especially grateful to Mary Ripley, the “Borg Queen.”
Mary LeFon is a gracious woman, and she kindly allowed me to continue in this book with the USS LeFon. As I noted in The Aden Effect’s acknowledgments, I named the fictional Navy destroyer after her late husband, Capt. Carroll “Lex” LeFon, a military blogger and superb writer who blogged as “Neptunus Lex.” The ship’s name is a tribute to his talent and character. For strength, for courage.
NOTES
Readers will struggle to find Mount Iranamadu on any map of Sri Lanka. This is fiction, and I needed a little leeway with geography. In the original draft the mine was set at Mount Ritigala, but that range is too far south for the purposes of the storyline. The same is true of the Mullaitivu Breakers, which is actually based on similar breakers in Bangladesh and India. For more information on these, watch National Geographic’s Where Ships Go to Die.
Jay Warren’s UAV has several sensors on board. In one scene the sensor is able to detect the cairngorm quartz crystal on Stark’s sgian dubh. In reality, the UAV’s fly-by would be a problem because of the size and weight of a transmitter and detector, the maximum payload, communications, electrical power, drag from outboard sensors, response time, etc. But as with much of “science fiction” technology, it’s likely just a matter of time before these are all resolved.
With the publication of The Aden Effect I held an online contest. I would name two characters in the book after the winners. Jay Warren and Melanie Arden won with the best photos of readers with a copy of the book. Neither character in any way resembles the real Jay and Melanie.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Claude Berube has taught at the United States Naval Academy, worked at the Office of Naval Intelligence and the U.S. Senate, and served as an officer in the Navy Reserve deployed overseas. He has been a fellow with both the Brookings Institution and the Heritage Foundation. He is the author of three nonfiction books and the Connor Stark novels.
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