"Why do I always get myself in these situations?!" Oregon thought to herself. Not for the first time she ranted and raved at Mr. Murphy for how often his stupid laws always kicked her in the ass! This time it was a Kilo that threatened not just her but two other ships as well. Civilians. One, a tanker was in the most danger and Oregon couldn't protect her without taking hits herself. Her reinforced hull could manage a torpedo but two or three would finish her! "Aggie Johnson." She radioed the tanker. "There's a torpedo coming in towards you 10 o-clock." There was a pause as Aggie presumably processed what she just heard. "Copy." was her short and clipped reply. Even from this distance Oregon could see her fear as she moved her rudder back and forth, making evasive maneuvers. It was good for morale but against a modern guided torpedo gesture was useless.

"Okay, okay..." Oregon took a deep breath, knowing what she had to do. She turned her attentions to the pair of torpedoes in her bow. They weren't hers. She had um, 'confiscated' them earlier to use as evidence that the Iranians were buying Svhivals from the Russians. The plan had been to offload them onto a US submarine but the rules had changed. Now these 'whales' as they were called, were her only hope. She readied the port side one, slowed to 20 knots and opened her bow doors and fired. She marveled at its speed. The Svhival was a marvel of engineering. Oregon couldn't hold its origin against it too much to grant it that! It streaked along at over 200 knots, helped by a phenomenon known as super-cavitation, where the water basically boiled around it creating a makeshift airpocket that reduced the resistance to allow the torpedo to reach these fantastic speeds.

The timing was critical. Oregon's torpedo was set to strike the Kilo exactly when Aggie's torpedo would hit. But Oregon had one last trick to play. Not even the Iranians, as crazy as they were would be nuts enough to fire multiple torpedoes into crowded waters without guide wires. Her plan was to prematurely detonate her torpedo close enough to the Kilo to cut the guide wires without sinking the sub. She would love to, don't get her wrong but doing so would cause an even larger international incident than she'd already created today and she was in no mood to entertain Langston Overholt's rants!

The calculations were complex but Oregon had it nailed down to a fine art by now. Years of experience had taught her to become a rudimentary genius in combat. With her torpedo 50 yards from the Kilo and the submarine's a mere 70 yards from Aggie, Oregon detonated the Svhival. When there was no explosion on Aggie, Oregon breathed a sigh of relief knowing her plan had worked. Aggie looked relieved as well! She looked at Oregon with a grateful smile which the freighter returned. "How did you know?" She asked. "Find me again and I'll tell you." Oregon replied in a sly tone. Aggie could only pout as the seemingly dilapidated freighter steamed away at a speed that Aggie couldn't hope to match! It left the tanker with many questions but also with a feeling of hope that she'd see the mysterious ship again...