Home sweet home
"You have control, X.O. Take her into dock." Ordered Captain Hunter
'Aye sir, I have control." The Executive Officer started giving commands below. Captain Hunter looked up from the conning tower of his Lurker. This was the best part. He could just admire everything he had helped gain. Slowly, out of the fog the harbor entrance appeared, then some patrolling Skeeters, and finally, the arm fleet. It was a welcome sight. His boat was badly damaged. Three weeks at sea had proved tiring for the crew, especially as his sub was level one. Still, he'd got twelve kills, and half were level two ships.
"We didn't do badly at all,'' he thought. His sub cruised past the harbor gate, with its silent Punishers and Sentinels. A single captured Gaat Gun lay on one of the piers, looking very out of place in the middle of an arm stronghold such as this. His sub moved further on through the array of naval units. Three Executioners passed his lurker, casting dark shadows over him. A squadron of Hawks shot across from left to right, followed by an airforce of Lancets, Phoenixes and Brawlers, gray silhouettes in the fog above the boat.
Far off in the distance, he saw a rocket fly vertically into the air, its flaming exhaust lighting up the sunset. Hunter froze. Was the Core attacking? The rocket changed trajectory, and disappeared behind the harbour wall. Seconds later, the missile hit its target. Clouds of smoke rose skywards, followed by a light rise in the wind, which carried the smell of hypergolic propellant, then a faint rumble. He waited for the proximity alarm to ring throughout the base. From below, he heard the crew preparing to face the enemy. Then a computerized voice boomed a message through the speaker system, "There is no need to be alarmed. A Ranger missile ship is test firing." The crew was relived. But it was a scary reminder of what was to come. Hunter didn't like to think about that too much.
A Construction Ship was busy using its acid-green nanolathe on an immense Warlord battleship further on into the harbour. Slowly, its hull plating materialized out of the flowing green wash. His sub turned to port, and a shipyard appeared. A whirring noise started, and the outline of a Crusader flashed up. The Lurker slowed down, and eased into dock. Three loud bangs signified the sub was safely in dock. A squad of Peewees clanked noisily along the pier next to the boat.
"Well Mr. Green, it's been a long tour of duty." Mortimer Green was the boat's executive officer, a young man, who had come fresh from cloning, and had matured a lot from the fresh-faced cadet Hunter had received just three short weeks ago. But then, so had everyone. The battle had been tough, with both sides taking heavy losses. But Arm had prevailed on Hydross. Just. Now, the core threat would have to be neutralized once and for all. It wasn't going to be easy.
"Sure has, sir. We did a good job."
"For a level one sub, we did superbly. 12 kills and two were unaided." Hunter was very proud of his boat and crew, and he didn't mind showing it.
"It's just lucky we had you as Captain sir."
"You won't have me anymore. You're the Captain now. Keep her safe for me."
"I'll do that sir. Good luck." Hunter thought the X.O looked quite nervous. He couldn't blame him.
"Same to you." replied Hunter.
Captain Hunter waited for the gangway to be extended, then saluted his XO. He walked off the gangway into his Jeffy. His chauffeur drove him off to the naval headquarters to receive his command. All around him, brown and white suited personnel hurried down narrow passageways and along asphalt lanes, carrying all manner of equipment in standard issue boxes. The whole port was alive with excitement and a good amount of fear for the coming battle. Hunter still wondered why he was being transferred. There was no need for him to. He was perfectly capable of handling a Lurker. He'd better not be getting promoted. Admiral was just another word for desk job. He was already missing his ship. Hunter's scout turned into a large courtyard where he departed his vehicle, and strode up the gritted path to the massive newly nanolathed headquarters of Arm Naval Command. The huge automatic doors, large enough to allow a commander through, whirred open, and Hunter entered. Walking straight to the lift, its mind-reading circuits found his floor, and quickly whisked him to the top of the building.
"Captain Hunter, reporting as ordered sir."
"Sit down there, Mr. Hunter," replied an aging admiral Immerson. Hunter knew he was looking at a seasoned war veteran, who had commanded massive war fleets all across the galaxy. If Immerson was briefing him, his mission must be very important, possibly vital. That didn't make him feel any better.
Hunter sat in the cold, hard metal chair of the new office that admiral Immerson had claimed. Framed pictures of smoking core wrecks, hulk transports, ranger missile ships and all manner of naval craft adorned the paneled walls. He was handed a situation report. His eyes quickly darted over the relevant information, as the admiral began his briefing.
"As you can see, our commander recently captured a leviathan sub that ran aground on the other side of the island. We now know the leviathan submarine represents a grave threat to our forces on Hydross. Recently, a single one wiped out an entire squadron of four lurkers. It's going to be your job to disable the threat until we build up our forces to attack the core fleet in force."
The admiral got up and walked over to the digitized map of Hydross on his wall. He pressed three buttons, and he outlined the mission.
"You'll take the captured leviathan, and sail to the supposed location of the core base. Don't arouse too much attention, just concentrate on getting to their base. Once there, take out the advanced shipyard. That should be enough to allow us to get to full strength before the core forces attack. I don't need to tell you, this mission will be extremely dangerous. If you don't want it, you don't have to take it. There's a command waiting on a piranha."
Hunter eyed the map. The core base was just over two thousand kilometers south. If the plan went topsides, he'd have to run for a while. Still, he thought, it was possibly the only way that they were going to win on Hydross. Why not go for it?
"I'll take the mission Sir." He answered, with a degree of apprehension.
"Good man Hunter. You've been ordered to get under way at 0700 hours. Start covering the equator around sections ten through fifteen. Get going Captain. And Captain, good luck."
'I'll need it.' thought Hunter. Twelve ships had been lost in section ten...
Four hours later, Hunter's personal Jeffy drew up in front of the leviathan. The rain was pouring down on the boat, glinting in the light from a nearby sonar station. Hunter addressed the assembled crew.
"Welcome to the ball, gentlemen. From seven o'clock, we are officially part of the Core navy. Apart from the fact that we aren't gonna be patterned."
Hunter waited for the laughter to subside, and then he called the executive officer, to start the Arm navy chant. This was shouted before every mission, and he couldn't remember a time when it hadn't been that way.
"Mr. Clarke!"
"Yessir!" The X.O was stock-still as he barked out the words.
"You're aware why we're here aren't you, Mr. Clarke!"
"Very aware sir!"
"It's a proud cause isn't it?"
"Very proud sir!"
"It's to save fine people!"
"Very fine people, Sir!"
"Who live on an outstanding planet!"
"OUTSTANDING, Sir!"
"In the greatest galaxy in the entire universe!"
The speech was reaching a peak, and Hunter could almost feel the pride of the men below.
"In the entire universe, Sir!"
"And what's that cause, Mr. Clarke?"
"Freedom Sir!"
"And what do we say?"
The whole crew joined in the chant. The noise filed every hole and crevasse on the base. If the core forces could hear it, they'd know they were in for something big.
"For freedom! Arm freedom!"
"Chief of the boat, dismiss the crew."
"Dismiss the crew, aye sir. Department heads, ready for departure, crew-FALL OUT!"
The crew of the leviathan ran up the gangway into the sub. Whilst in the mixture of shouting and laughing, they all dreaded something, Hunter knew it. They were going to war.
An hour later, the Leviathan was cruising south, with an escort of two crusaders. Again, Hunter was on the conning tower, admiring the view. The sun was slowly rising, shading the early morning clouds with pinks and oranges. Birds wheeled around the ship, looking for the odd morsel of food that may be dropped. They weren't going to get any. He finally decided it was time to submerge the ship. He hated it. Going from the warm morning air and the spectacular sunrise, to the cold, sterilized air of the ship, and the green murky waters of Hydross. But, he had to do it. Turning on his communication suite, he dialed up the two crusaders that were sailing with him. Two faces appeared on his holo-monitor.
"Captain Richards, Captain Shamus, Thank you for the service. We're submerging now. You may return to base."
"Good luck Captain." said Richards.
"Good luck Hunter. Catch you on the flip side." came a reply from Shamus. The two Crusaders swung away from the Leviathan. They were alone.
"X.O, take her down." The captain climbed down the ladder to the main bridge. Above, the X.O prepared to take the ship down.
"Lookouts, clear the bridge" he ordered. The three lookouts tucked their holo-binoculars away, and dropped into the ship.
"Helm, five degrees down bubble." The huge foreplanes of the sub dragged the bow into the water. Clarke took one last look at the sunrise, and entered the ship.
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Tossed salads and scrambled eggs
Five days later, the leviathan was cruising south. Lieutenant Freeman was in sonar. The last few days had been uneventful, but he was still cautious, and it was just as well. Sipping his coffee, he heard a faint sonar echo to port. Examining it closer, a red blob appeared on his monitor, with some scary information. This is how it went:
Class: Shark (Core L2 sub)
No: 4
Allegiance: Core
Dist: 5 km
Bearing: 265
Heading: 314
Threat: High
Recommend: Ultra-quiet, Arm torpedoes
Evasion depth: 1207 ft
Evasion hdg: 134
Freeman quickly called control with the information. His mike was shaking as he scanned and read back he necessary information.
"Conn, sonar, four shark class submarines at two-six-five degrees, range five kilometers. Recommend rigging for ultra-quiet and arming torpedoes. Best depth and heading for evasion, 1207 feet at one-three-four degrees."
At the conn, things started happening. The crew knew exactly what to do, as they had done it many times before. Hunter started giving orders:
"Rig for ultra-quiet, arm torpedo tubes one and four. Make normal one-third turns, come about to one-three-four degrees, make your depth 1207 feet, smartly." The helm officer gingerly eased his control stick forwards. The engine tone changed as the drives slipped into quiet mode.
Freeman, down in sonar, spotted the Sharks turning to port. He picked up the mike, dropped it, and then picked it up again. Shaking, he shouted into the microphone:
"Conn, sonar, I think they've spotted us! They're turning toward!"
The four Sharks streaked through the water. They could go a lot faster than the Leviathan. But they also died a lot easier. They opened their torpedo hatches. Bubbles of gas blurted out of the tubes and torpedoes screamed towards the Leviathan. Hunter's personal war had begun.
"Conn, sonar, four torpedoes in the water bearing two-four-one!"
On the bridge, Hunter acted quickly:
"All ahead flank! Right full rudder! Target the lead sub!" A green box appeared on the bridge sonar screen around the lead shark. Four red blips drew slowly closer to Hunter's sub.
"Lead is targeted, Sir. Tubes ready to fire!"
"Fire one and four!"
"Fire one and four, tubes fired electrically, sir!"
The lights blinked off, then on again, as electricity was shunted to the launchers. Two torpedoes streaked from the hatches.
"Conn, sonar, four torpedoes inbound two-hundred meters, closing fast!"
"Deploy countermeasures! Rudder amidships! Sound the collision alarm!"
An alarm blared throughout the boat. The crew hung on to whatever was nearby. From small holes, canisters of compressed gas created trails of bubbles, hopefully providing a more tempting target. The four torpedoes continued on their course. As they neared the leviathan, they tracked towards the bubbling canisters, and they exploded three hundred meters away. A slight shockwave tipped the boat, and Hunter wondered how much the leviathan could take.
"Conn, sonar, all four torpedoes neutralized!"
"Sonar, Conn give me exact ranging and speed on our weapons."
"Range three hundred meters at fifty knots!"
"Ready to arm torpedoes, sir!" reported the weapons officer. Hunter could see his hand poised over the blinking button. If he armed the torpedoes at the right time, the Shark wouldn't have time to react. The torpedoes, not being armed, went right past the Shark's countermeasures.
"Arm torpedoes one and four... now!" ordered Hunter.
"Torpedoes locked on the Shark!" The green box turned red.
The crew of the Shark had a split second to evade the torpedoes. They didn't take it. Hunter's timing was impeccable The first torpedo narrowly missed, but the second slammed into the hull, and exploded, ripping the attack sub apart. A compression wave ballooned out from the Shark's reactor, and caught its neighbour. The second boat shuddered sickeningly, before it too exploded, sending out more debris into the ocean.
"You got two of them Sir! The other two have moved outside sonar range."
"They know we're coming. Let's get in and get out. Fast. Full speed to the core."
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To the end...
The Leviathans' sonar saw the shipyard. Hunter saw two smaller red dots next to the large contact of the shipyard. They were torpedo launchers that protected it. As the shipyard came into torpedo range, Hunter remembered the sub had an unbearably slow rate of turn, (the arm sailors had nicknamed the boat the 'Swimming Goliath') and he would definitely take some damage, but it couldn't be helped. He could run, and probably make it outside of their torpedo and sonar range before they fired too many torpedoes. He hoped.
"In torpedo range, sir"
"Fire all tubes!" Four torpedoes were fired from the wings of the Leviathan. The boat shuddered in their wake.
"All tubes fired. Torpedoes on remote guidance." The torpedoes would guide themselves to the target. Hunter wondered if the core tracking systems were up to the task. Nonetheless...
"Get us out of here!" The pilot slammed the control stick to the left. Twin rudders on the back fought against the wash from the engines. The leviathan turned agonizingly slowly to the left. The torpedo launchers managed to get two torpedoes away, before the lumbering sub crawled out of range.
"Conn, sonar torpedoes in the water, bearing one-two eight, one three-seven!"
"We're not gonna outrun 'em! Brace for impact" Hunter held tight onto his chair. A bead of sweat clinged to his brow.
The two torpedoes impacted against the engine housing. Two fireballs erupted out of the hull, and the sub shuddered and rocked. Smoke poured out of the rear of the gargantuan boat. Sparks flew from a nearby computer console, and a thin line of smoke rose from the blackened panels. Debris snarled in the engines, and the drives wheezed in and out of life, before they finally gave out. The boat slowly sank through the water.
"Propulsion, Conn, restore engines as soon as possible." Ordered Hunter over the intercom. A faint voice answered back.
"Conn, propulsion, restoring engines as soon as possible, aye sir!"
Hunter eyed the depth gauge. It read two thousand five hundred feet. The ocean floor was at four thousand. Doing some quick mental arithmetic, he estimated they would hit the bottom in four minutes. He started his stopwatch.
Three and a half minutes later, the crew in propulsion were still battling to clear out the last piece of debris from the engines. The drives were revved to full power to push it out into the ocean. Slowly, it buckled under the strain, and there was an unbearable creaking noise, which resounded throughout the boat, with a loud bang, the piece of metal was dislodged. The enormous fusion drives slowed the descent. The massive sub eased itself onto the seabed. It could still take some punishment. 'Incredible machine' thought Hunter. Any lurker would have gone down long before now.
"Get us out of here. Chief of the boat, make your depth one-five-zero feet, full power to the drives. Helm, plot a course for home." A chorus of 'aye sir' followed, and the boat raised itself up off the seabed, and away.
But it wasn't over. Sonar reported two piranhas on intercept, no doubt ready to avenge their comrades' death. They closed in slowly on Hunters' sub. They were just outside torpedo range, when Hunter heard two splashes through the hull.
"Report!"
"Torpedoes sir, from bombers. I don't know which side though sir." Stuttered the weapons officer, in an obvious predicament. If they turned, the attack subs would catch them. If they remained on course, the torpedoes could turn out to be Core...
"Steady as she goes."
"But sir..." came a cry from the weapons station.
"Steady course, zero-one-zero degrees. Understood?" shouted Hunter.
"Aye sir."
A new threat had appeared for the core subs. Two torpedoes shot through the water beside the Leviathan. Both struck their targets at the same time. The blackened wreckage of the piranhas drifted for a while, before settling on the seabed, sending up clouds of sand. Two lancets streaked off into the distance. The smoking leviathan surfaced, and limped for home.