“Here, here.” Said Ojoe. And we raised our glasses again.
“Still… The danger remains.”
We all looked in silence at Commander Torney as he uttered that remark in his grave voice.
Most of the officers I had served with a few years back had been promoted or been transferred. Commander Zell, for instance, was now a Captain of a ship of the First. Captain Simmas had retired from the Navy for health reasons. Others had been placed in the convoys. Commander Tumm, the N-Chief, for one, was now First Officer of the Taurus, navigating behind the Magnar at that exact moment. The only senior officer from those days still aboard the flag-ship on the Equinox was Commander Torney, the Q. Still the same solemn officer with a glum forehead.
As the Q. sniffed after his sentence, Orrey raised his eyebrow and said:
“The danger remains, Mr.Torney? What on heavens do you mean?”
“Well, Captain, I believe that the Admiral has every confidence in the Universe that the 2nd Fleet can defeat the Vüurkorps and I also believe we can barely do it. However…”
Orrey swallowed another sip.
“However?” He repeated.
“However the Silent is another matter, sir.”
Orrey sighed.
“Now, now…”
Monnier looked up.
“Thankfully, Mr.Torney, our Commander Iddo took care of that problem.” He put down his silverware. “With the information Mr Iddo brought us, we can deal with the Silent menace.”
Torney waved his head.
“I don’t think it is that easy, Admiral. You weren’t here, but Mr Iddo and Captain Orrey witnessed, as I myself witnessed, how a single Silent Boat very easily got the best of the Second Fleet some time back. We may be better prepared this time, but… hmmm… If the Fleet is injured, and badly injured for that matter, the menace will be entirely different. Don’t forget, please, we are leaving our repair ship, our supply ship and several of our minor ships behind, away from the battle. A better target there could never be.”
“This fleet…” Started the Admiral, lightly. But Torney interrupted.
“This fleet is in a bad situation, sir, either you admit it or not.”
I was about to intervene, irritated, but Orrey snapped in anger.
“That’s quite enough, Mr.Torney! You’re out of order!”
Torney lowered his narrow eyes and wiped his mouth with a napkin.
“Yes, sir.” He responded.
Monnier looked at his watch.
“In a couple of hours, I’m going to brief the officers on tomorrow’s battle. I would be glad if you could come, Commander Iddo. And anyone else here, of course.”
He was referring to the crew of the Arrabat. I said yes. And I looked at Ojoe and he said yes as well. Everyone else declined.
Dinner proceeded with everybody trying to ignore the unfortunate words from Torney. It was the last dinner for many of us, and we knew it. Someone suggested we should drink more fine wine, but the Admiral said he had the briefing to prepare, so he made a simple toast…
“To us all. To the Navy and to Webbur.”
And we all responded:
“To the Navy and to Webbur.”
And then we all retired.
*
I took Mira to her cabin. She wasn’t alright. She hadn’t spoken a word all night, and her smiles were hollow. And there was something between us. In the Arrabat it had felt familiar and warm to have her next to me again, my partner, again taking care of a ship, like we had in the Harvy, our baby, our family. But there had also been a significant level of discomfort. Like a cloud, a dark cloud of strangeness and weirdness between us. I could see it in her eyes right now, as I looked at her by the door of her cabin.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“I’ll come and stay with you after the briefing.”
“Don’t you need to rest?”
I took a step back.
“There will be a big battle tomorrow. You don’t want to be together?”
She hesitated.
“I…”
“Just sleep. Just stay together.”
She finally nodded.
“Okay.”
“It’s just…”
“I know. Yes. Come and stay with me.”
“If you don’t want to…”
“I do. Come and stay with me.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
It was like we didn’t know each other anymore. We had to go home. We had to talk, to be together in peace. We had to survive the next day. We had to… We had to… be happy. We deserved it.
*
I came across Kary Erbay before the meeting.
“Kary, you have a prisoner… You know, that one? The colonel with the lieutenant uniform?”
“Yes.”
“You know who he is?”
“Yes.”
I looked into his eyes. He knew. He knew everything.
“I want him.”
“No.”
“Kary…”
“No.”
“I need to have him.”
He sighed.
“Tell you what...” He said. “I’ll take care of him. I promise we won’t exchange him. The enemy won’t even be sure we have him. And when the time is right, I’ll give him to you. What do you say?”
I suddenly realised Kary Erbay had become one of my best friends.
*
The briefing room was full. Ojoe and I were there early and got seats in the back, next to Ploom. But soon, there were officers seating on the stairs or just standing against the wall. They weren’t only Magnar’s officers; there were many officers from the other ships as well. A couple of hundred people at least. All the Captains and senior officers were upfront in the first rows, of course.
“So what are we looking for, Byl?” Asked Ploom, surprisingly.
“You’re asking me?”
“You dined with the Admiral.”
“We didn’t talk about the battle.”
We had, actually. Monnier and Orrey had asked a lot of questions, especially about the Silent Boats. But if I told Ploom that, there would be no end to it.
“But what do you think?” He still asked. “What are we up against?”
“The 2nd Vüurkorps, of course. You probably know more about it than I do.”
“But what about the Silent Boats? How many are we fighting?”
I smiled.
“I’m guessing not many. And if they come, they’re in for a surprise.”
“They are? Tell me about it.”
Thankfully, at that moment Admiral Monnier showed up on stage with his staff.
“Attention!!” Master Sandars shouted.
Everyone got up and stood at attention.
“At ease.” Said Monnier, reaching the microphone. As everyone sat, he continued. “Gentlemen. As you may know by now, the 2nd Fleet will meet the 2nd Vüurkorps in about… how much? 10 hours. This will be a fierce battle, with a foe we know is tough and relentless. But as long as we stick to the plan and we perform at our best, we will prevail. Now, Commander Senner will lay it out, and you will be handed a file with data and your instructions. Please pay attention and study the information thoroughly. Mr Senner.”
Commander Senner, Monnier’s senior staff first officer, a medium fellow with short blond hair and a clean forehead, got up and approached the microphone.
“Lights, please.”
The lights dimmed, and the information holograms appeared.
“Gentlemen. As you know, the 2nd Fleet and the 2nd Vüurkorps have similar strength. You probably all know the enemy’s vessels by heart, but let me remind you of the general picture.”
The holograms showed pictures of each of the Axxian ships as well as pictures of the ships leaving port.
“Intelligence provided us with a fair assessment of the composition of the enemy’s fleet as it left port, confirming our assumptions. We will be facing a tough oppone
nt tomorrow. They have bigger ships, but we think we have better ones.”
Laughter and cheers filled the room. Senner smiled and continued.
“Well, at least we have more ships. The Vüurkorps will bring six battleships to our seven. They have more frigates, but we have more destroyers. If we do everything right, we can use our numbers to our advantage. We think it will all depend on position. If we can get into the right position at the right time, we will have fire superiority, and we will win. For that, we devised a strategy, a nerve-wracking strategy, I might add.”
“There, there, Mr Senner.” Cautioned the Admiral, with a smile.
Senner smiled and nodded and turned on a hologram with a graph.
*
2ND VÜURKORPS
BATTLESHIPS
ASSAUER……………….126 batteries
SARDAL KUO………….118 batteries
STEADIKA…………..…100 batteries
SHTORMDAL………..…86 batteries
HORTEICH…………….…78 batteries
PERDA GHAL……..……78 batteries
DESTROYERS
BAUHA…………..……….56 batteries
PIRKA……………..…..….52 batteries
JERIKA………………….….52 batteries
MUNCHIRA…………..….52 batteries
FRIGATES
VIVIK II……………….….38 batteries
KOREGH……………...….38 batteries
MIHMILA…………...…...32 batteries
KANDARIA…………...….32 batteries
GHOTUN……………….….28 batteries
MORGHAL………………..28 batteries
2ND FLEET
BATTLESHIPS
MAGNAR……………….120 batteries
HAYJAX.……………….106 batteries
MEGGO……….….….…92 batteries
TAURUS……..…………90 batteries
BENAVIDE…………..…74 batteries
ALBACK..………….……74 batteries
VIKER…….……..…..….70 batteries
DESTROYERS
SOREENO……………….58 batteries
KARK…………………….50 batteries
LION…………….……….50 batteries
DOLYMPH………...….50 batteries
BASK………………...…..48 batteries
MORY …….…….…..…..48 batteries
FRIGATES
CARBA………………..….32 batteries
FRIEL…...………...…..….32 batteries
VOYT……..………….…...32 batteries
OPERY…………..........….32 batteries
*
“This is what we’ll do. As I said, the enemy has bigger and heavier armoured ships. We also confirmed that Admiral Ghermer will be at the command. He’s a cautious man, conservative, disciplined, and very revered. He most likely will try to maintain his ships close together, in tight formation, trying to take advantage of their firepower and their effective barrages. And his captains will comply. That makes the Vüurkorps less flexible than the 2nd Fleet. We will engage the enemy head-on. Then, the Hayjax, the Meggo, the Soreeno and the Kark, named the Red Group, will turn port under the orders of Admiral Samnuy.” Senner pointed to the large man at the edge of the stage, who nodded. “If the enemy takes the bait, the Vüurkorps will follow this group, thinking this will turn into a classic line battle, side by side. However, our main group, the rest of the fleet, which we will call the Green Group commanded by Admiral Monnier, will separate and turn starboard at this point. The cohesion of the enemy’s fleet will hopefully make it difficult for them to react, and so the Green Group will steer clear of the enemy fire and go around the right. The Red Group will be in danger the whole time, suffering the wrath of the entire enemy fleet at this point, but if it is able to maintain a sufficient distance from most of their batteries, it will then be able to move in an arch towards the right, circling the enemy through the port side, and meeting the Green Group. If this succeeds, we will then engage the enemy in a victorious position, a classic t-crossing, in an open ambush. If we are able at the outset of this position to disable the Assauer and the Serdal Kuo, I believe we will have won the day.”
As Senner stopped talking, the room was quiet. I found I had a smile on my face. If this brilliant strategy worked, it would be a major victory. Senner became uncomfortable with the silence and turned to Monnier, who smiled. Senner finally faced the audience once more.
“Any questions? You were going to ask me something, weren’t you, Commander?”
Someone, a few rows in front of us, raised his voice.
“Yes, sir. First of all, let me congratulate you on your plan, sir.”
“Thank you, Commander.”
“I was going to ask about the S-Boats, sir. Do we know if there are any Silents in the area?”
“Yes, well… We think there might be two or three Silents in the area, but they will probably stay clear of the action. And after the battle, well, we’re not concerned about them then.”
“Why is that, sir?”
Monnier got up at this moment and replaced Senner.
“I will answer that. We know from intelligence that the Styllemarinne is now 70-unit strong. We learnt that 31 of these sharks are under maintenance and repairs in different Axxian docks. We also know that 25 were diverted to the Battle of Haitzia and at least one was taken by pirates on the Raven dwarf planet. I can also tell you that Commander Iddo over there, which some of you may know, and the courageous crew of his sloop Arrabat, were able to shoot down 5 more sharks.”
A wave of whispers was heard throughout the room. I looked at Ned and found he was equally uncomfortable. But then I became a bit irritated by what I was hearing.
“Five? I bet on the second count they’ll say it’s 15.” Whispered one.
“Bullshit…” Coughed another.
“They get away with that because the logs were lost with the ship.” Said yet another.
Of course, the logs of the Arrabat hadn’t been lost. I had recorded them and brought them with me. Still, they were classified and would be for decades. Ploom looked at me.
“Is this true?” He asked.
I twisted my lips.
“I can’t tell you; it’s classified. You’ll just have to take the Admiral’s word for it.”
Ploom was surprised by my evasive reply but suddenly smiled, very proud.
“I would also like to add…” Said the Admiral, and then waiting for the noise to subside. “That in the same operation, Commander Iddo was able to secure an enemy device that enables us to detect with a comfortable degree of certainty the location of Silent Boats. That’s how we know that of the eight remaining sharks, only two or three are in the vicinity. And that’s also why we are not concerned about them.”
The Admiral let the information sink in for a bit. The whispers continued. Then, suddenly, someone at the deep end of the room started clapping. And then more people started clapping, and pretty soon most of the room was clapping. Ned and I were looking at each other, eyes opened in shock. I saw the Admiral, Captain Orrey and Commander Senner clapping, so I decided to get up. Ned got up as well. We nodded left and right, thanking everyone.
Finally, the clapping subsided, and we sat down.
“Thank you very much, Mr Iddo.” Said the Admiral in the end before opening the floor to more questions. Still in shock, I heard Ploom whisper in my ear.
“Way to go, Byl. Way to go.”
*
I knocked on Mirany’s door, back in H1. She opened. She was ready for bed. I took off most of my clothes and lay next to her.
“All set?” She asked.
“Yes.” I told her the broad strokes of the plan. She nodded in approval.
Everything was quiet, for a moment. The whole ship was quiet. I squeezed her tenderly in my arms.
“I love you.” I said.
“I love you too.”
“All I want is to get you back to that little cabin by the lake.”
“I would like that.”
“Away from all this.”
“Yes. I’d like that.”
“To get to know each other again.”
She trembled.
“I’m sorry.” She said.
“For what?”
“I’m not the same woman I was before.”
“And I’m not the same man. Do you still want to be with me?”
“Yes. Do you still want to be with me?”
“Yes.”
She looked into my eyes. Sad, but relieved.
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
And we kissed. For a moment I could see a spot of light in the dark. A glimmer of hope. A sense of belonging. We could get it back. We could get everything back.
We just had to survive the next day.
*
The 20th day of the fourth month. I started the morning by making a round with Ned Ojoe. We visited all the crew of the Arrabat. We went to the infirmaries and talked to the injured and the doctors. Finally, we were satisfied that everyone was ready for what was coming.
We met Mirany, Steen, Dalto and Alzira for breakfast and then we went to the Hull 1’s Firing Command Center. Ploom was waiting for us there. That’s where we would witness the battle.
The H1-FCC was a glass compartment hanging from the top of the hull. A team of five officers manned the consoles in front, and Ploom sat on a high chair in the middle. Behind, there was a row of comfortable chairs for us visitors, where we could watch everything that was going on.
This was no place for someone with a fear of heights. The floor was very far away. Below us was the H1 Firing Deck, an immense hangar with ten massive batteries of High-Caliber-High-Explosive missiles. They stood side by side, with the two dozen strong firing team ready beside each. A battery had ten large tubes packed one on top of the other. Each also had two lifts to reload the tubes, one on each side, and two probe-launchers, which were basically smaller tubes. And six more even thinner tubes, for countermeasures. Behind the teams were two conveyor belts already with several cylinders on them, which were fresh missiles to reload the tubes. Others would be coming from the armoury, loaded on the conveyor belts, as they would be needed. In total, counting the officers on the FCC and the teams in the armouries, the firing personnel for each of Magnar’s hulls was made of about 700 people. It was massive! And Ploom was commanding them all.
Shark-Killer (The Dark Sea War Chronicles Book 3) Page 11
