Chapter Eleven
Lee gathered his knees under him and pushed up into a sitting position, squinting to focus into a dark Control Room, absent of even the red emergency lights; the odd angle of the deck confirming that the large submarine was on the bottom. He made his way to his feet, feeling along until he reached the chart table and found the mic hanging from its station.
"Engineering, I need power ASAP," he ordered.
"Emergency power in approximately two minutes, Sir," Lt. O'Brien replied.
"Very well," Lee replied, hearing the occasional cough and moan from various corners of the Control Room. "Listen up, men. Power will be restored soon. Sound off if you're able."
"Kowalski… Rodriguez… Phillips… Patterson…" the roll-call continued as Lee rummaged under the chart table for a flashlight. The roll-call completed with one crewman in particular blatantly missing. Finding the flashlight, he turned it on training the light on the deck and helping crewman to their stations as he made his way across the control room. His light landed on the khaki uniform of his first officer as Lee dropped to a knee beside him.
"Chip," he called just as emergency power was restored. A red light bathed the XO's face; his eyes were open, though squinting in pain, a protective hand held over his left side with blood oozing between his splayed fingers.
"Busted… a… rib on the island," he said in between shallow breaths.
"Don't move," Lee ordered, "compound fracture," explaining both the injury and his need to lie still. "Kowalski," he called to the sonar operator who was also a trained combat medic.
Kowalski knelt beside the downed officer. "I've got him, Sir," he reassured.
"Did you verify the hit before we went down?" Lee asked as the sonar operator administered first aid.
"Aye Sir; a direct hit. It's in a million pieces on the ocean floor."
"I can verify that, Skipper," Pat added from behind, reporting as the hydrophone operator.
"What about the flying sub?" Seaview's Captain inquired.
"I don't know, Sir. I didn't see before getting knocked off my chair," Ski replied with an apologetic shrug.
Lee had a lot of pots in the fire and had to see to his duty; he squeezed Chip's arm then stood, leaving his best friend in the hands of the able crewman and headed for the mic.
"Damage Control, report."
"Flooding between frames 35 and 37, Sir. We're shoring up now."
"Very well, keep me apprised of your progress."
"Lower compartment flooding. All personnel accounted for."
"Very well, seal the hatch," Lee ordered.
"Reactor offline, Sir. We're initiating a cold start; estimate power in 30 minutes."
"Very well," he replied, knowing there was no way around the time required to conduct a cold start on the nuclear reactor.
Several more reports came in, all detailing a battle-scarred vessel which the trained crew was handling in stride. Regardless, he wouldn't let his guard down, not until power was restored and he raised Seaview from the bottom; only then could he launch a rescue operation for the flying sub.
# # # # #
"Man, oh man," Sharkey said, rubbing the back of his head. "That was some ride. I sure thought we were gonners!"
"We would have been if Seaview hadn't of gotten those torpedoes off before going down," Harry replied, flipping switches and watching satisfactorily as the flying sub responded.
"Would you look at that," Sharkey interjected incredulously, staring at the severed tentacle strewn across the seabed out FS1's window. A sudden flinch of the appendage caused him to jump back deep into his seat.
"Relax, Chief. Just reflexive movement from the nervous system," Harry explained calmly.
"Are you sure, Sir?"
"Yes, I'm sure," Harry responded in a chuckle, his light mood fueled by surviving their near death experience, having targeted the squid's brain and temporarily diverting its attention from Seaview. After releasing the larger submarine, however, it focused its attack on the source of it pain, wrapping its second feeder tentacle around the flying sub and pulling it toward its massive, powerful beak. Thankfully, a direct hit from Seaview's torpedoes destroyed the creature before they became squid food, severing the tentacle when the shockwave tore the limb from its disintegrating body. The entire experience released a rather euphoric feeling in both men upon the realization that they were still in one piece; a feeling that was only tempered by the fact that they didn't know Seaview's fate yet.
"Anything you say, Sir," Sharkey replied, having full faith in the Admiral but keeping an appraising eye on the flinching appendage… just in case.
"She's fully operational. Let's get back to Seaview," Harry said, raising the yellow manta-like sub from the bottom and banking a turn as he added power. Like Sharkey, he was concerned about Seaview, though neither one voiced it out loud. He had briefly witnessed the boat's uncontrolled descent to the bottom, though he didn't know if it had been the result of the creature's frantic thrashing or the subsequent shock wave from the torpedoes hitting their target at close range. At any rate, he didn't intend to let unfounded fear rule over him. Seaview was a good vessel, and she had a good captain; if anyone could ensure the safety of the world's most technologically advanced submarine, it was Lee Crane.
# # # # #
"Contact, two degrees off the starboard bow," Kowalski reported, having returned to his station after the corpsman arrived.
"Biologic?" Lee inquired, making his way over to see for himself.
"Negative; I'm not reading a transponder, but it sure profiles like the flying sub," he added with a grin.
Lee studied it himself, then reached for the spare hydrophones and listened, smiling when he had confirmed for himself. "It's the flying sub all right."
"Captain Crane to the radio shack."
Lee turned and headed for Sparks' domain. Upon arrival, he was handed a headset as the Communication Officer spoke.
"It's FS1," he explained, "I've got weak reception, but I think I can boost the transceiver for you," he added, making adjustments and fine tuning.
"Admiral, this is Seaview. Do you copy?"
A scratchy and barely audible reply greeted him.
"Lee, I see you're still on the bottom. What's your situation?"
"Nice to hear your voice, Admiral. We took on water, but DC should have us tight and dry before long. We're in the middle of a cold start on the Reactor, we estimate another twenty minutes. We should be off the bottom soon and ready to receive you."
"Good…" he heard with rather scratchy reception. "That should give us enough time to…"
Lee frowned when the rest of the transmission was lost.
"Try again, Sir," Sparks said, making another adjustment.
"Admiral, say again. Give you enough time for what?"
This time a crackle joined the scratchy message, but the reception was garbled and completely inaudible.
"Keep at it, Sparks," he instructed and headed back to sonar, noting the flying sub's trajectory as it moved away from Seaview. It only took a moment for him to realize what Harry was up to. "Monitor FS1's progress," he told Kowalski. "Their radio was damaged; sing out if anything looks off."
"What's going on?" Chip inquired from the deck; with the compound fracture so close to his lung, the corpsman had suggested not moving him until power was restored in order to prevent further injury moving about in a darkened submarine.
Lee knelt beside his first officer, grateful to see him awake. "Unless I miss my guess, he's going after the evidence."
"Evidence?" Chip inquired, furrowing his brow in question.
"The twelfth sensor," he replied, understanding that though the first officer had been fully briefed on the matter, the pain medication that the corpsman injected had apparently left Chip a bit fuzzy on the details.
"Oh yeah," he replied, his eyes fluttering closed and sounding more like a little boy falling asleep during a bedtime story than anything right now. "I forgot about that…"
Lee dipped his head, indulging in a small grin that faded quickly. He stood, leaving his friend in the corpsman's care and headed to the chart table, contemplating the Admiral's decision. Like his first officer, the twelfth sensor had been the last thing on his mind, far behind getting his sub off the bottom and getting a clearer picture of both his crew and boat's condition. Leave it to Harry to be thinking of the next step in their mission; determining who was responsible for opening the fissure and just what they hoped to gain from it.
# # # # #
"Begging the Admiral's pardon, Sir," Sharkey started rather sheepishly, using a formality their relationship didn't usually require but deciding it was necessary this time around. "But just how is this sensor going to tell us who opened the fissure anyway?"
"It won't likely tell us who opened the fissure, but if the components have been tampered with, it will prove an outside source was involved," Harry answered matter-of-factly.
"But how is proving that someone fiddled with the sensor outputs going to help us nab them?"
Harry took in Sharkey's confusion in a side-glance laced with a tight-lipped grin. "Whoever opened the fissure went to a lot of trouble to intercept the sensor readings for a reason. While, it's very likely that the primary reason was to hide the quakes from NIMR to prevent us from investigating, it's also likely they were monitoring the tremors for their own purposes."
"Ah," Sharkey said in understanding then frowned when he realized that he was still as confused as ever. "Their own purposes, Sir?"
Harry scanned the flight controls, easily dividing piloting the flying sub with the conversation. "The fissure was opened for a purpose; one the perpetrators didn't want known. If they wanted their actions kept a secret, it follows that they needed the fissure opened for more than a single action of collecting samples."
"You mean they wanted to be able to come back and get more samples whenever they wanted," Sharkey said, snapping his fingers when the light bulb finally went off in his head.
"Precisely, otherwise they would have opened the fissure, got what they came for, and then high-tailed it out of here without looking back," Harry added, having already privately studied the situation to make this deduction.
Sharkey nodded, smiling widely when he finally understood. His smile began to fade however, when he suddenly realized something. "But Admiral, once we retrieve the sensor and it stops transmitting data… won't they know something's wrong?"
"That's a very real possibility," Harry replied, pursing his lips shrewdly, an indication that he had already considered the fact and was working on a solution.
Sharkey cleared his throat, moving on when the Admiral didn't elaborate further. "Sensor dead ahead, Sir."
# # # # #
Lee stood at the deck hatch waiting for the "all clear" as water pumped from the flying sub's berth. There was a much needed sense of normalcy in the Control Room as full power had been restored and the great submarine had been raised from the sea bed. Chip was currently being treated in sickbay, along with the other injured crewmen, and DC had reported that repairs were sufficient to get underway. Though their mission to destroy the sea monster had been successful, Seaview hadn't escaped unscathed; she was seaworthy but needed to surface to effect repairs properly. With the flying sub's radio still inoperable, he had yet to speak to Harry, and was more than pleased when FS1 returned and berthed without incident.
"All green, Skipper," Kowalski reported from his station.
"Very well, crack the hatch, Ron."
The brawny red-clad seaman turned the wheel and raised the heavy deck hatch, revealing the auburn hair of Admiral Nelson climbing up the ladder. Lee almost sighed out loud when Harry and Sharkey climbed out, apparently no worse for the wear for their part in battling the mutant squid.
"Welcome back, Admiral," he said with an unashamed grin.
"Thank you, Lee, it's good to be back," Harry replied, handing the sensor off to Sharkey. "Chief, take this to my lab and stow it securely. I'll be there shortly."
"Aye Sir."
"The twelfth sensor?" Lee stated more than asked at the device Sharkey carried. "You know, Admiral, going off without a radio wasn't the best idea, Sir," he admonished lightly, adding a small smile to say that though he didn't approve, he did understand.
"It was a necessity," Harry said simply, scanning the Control Room. "What's the damage?" he asked, moving on to more important matters.
"She's seaworthy, but I need to take her topside for repairs," Lee answered, willing to let the whole thing drop with what was said.
"Sonar and underwater detection?" Harry probed, obviously going somewhere with his inquiry.
"Seaview's completely operational, Admiral, but we've got some band aids in place that can't be dealt with at depth."
"I want to talk to you about that… but not here. Meet me in the lab and I'll explain everything."
Lee wasn't sure he liked the sound of that, but would rather discuss their options in private. "Aye Sir, I'll be there shortly."
"Very well, and Lee," he said pausing, "well done," he added, proud of both Seaview and her Captain for destroying the sea monster.
"Thank you, Sir," he replied graciously as Admiral Nelson headed to his laboratory.
Lee watched for only a moment before returning to the Chart Table.
"You have the Conn, Mr. O'Brien, prepare to surface but wait for my order."
"Aye, Skipper."
"And get a detail on the flying sub. I want her checked out from stem to stern."
"I already have a detail assigned, Sir," Bobby assured, taking his duty as acting-Exec very seriously, and intending on taking whatever pressure he could off Seaview's Captain.
"Very well," he answered with an approving nod for the young officer stepping up to the plate with the XO flat on his back. "I'll be in the lab if you need me."
# # # # #
Lee entered the lab finding Harry hunched over the sensor. He had apparently already dismissed Sharkey and they were alone.
"Admiral?"
"Oh Lee, come in."
"Have you found anything?" Lee inquired, pulling a stool over and sitting down wearily. It was the first time he'd been off his feet in hours and he didn't realize how tired he was until just now.
"Exactly what we were looking for," Harry confirmed, using a pen to point to a small device within the sensor's electronics. "This is the unit intercepting the information and redistributing the false data. See how it leads to two outputs?" he explained. "This one feeds information to NIMR, this one…" he pointed to the wire, "feeds real output to someone else," he said, raising a brow at the mystery of just who that "someone" was and just as important, what they hoped to gain. "And now that the device has been removed, they'll have to send a sub to investigate," he added.
Lee stood and started pacing. "Seaview is in no condition for another battle. We took significant casualties, Jamie treated and released over a dozen crewmen, but he's got four in sickbay with more serious injuries, including Chip. I need to take her topside, Admiral," he argued passionately.
Harry rubbed the back of his neck. "I just assumed Chip was tending other duties," he admitted regarding the Exec's absence from the Control Room, "how is he?"
Lee stopped pacing and faced the Admiral. "He'll be okay. He busted a rib, a compound fracture that was pressing against his lung. He's out of commission for a few days at least; more, if Jamie has his way."
"Lee, we have to move on this. Whoever opened that fissure went to a lot of trouble to keep their tracks covered. It was a well-planned, well-funded effort," Harry argued.
"I can't put Seaview in another battle in her current condition," he said, standing firm on his conviction.
"I'm not suggesting that," Harry countered with a raised hand in the air. "I'm suggesting a different approach… a more proactive one."
Lee squinted, following the Admiral's line of thinking completely, but not yet convinced. "We don't even know where to begin looking!" he argued.
"I think we do," Harry differed. "This lead was hard wired to the cable," he said, returning to the sensor, "which means that if they are, indeed, intercepting data and not just tampering with it, then all we have to do is follow the cable…"
"…back to the relay station," Lee finished, referring to the island where the cable ended and where the feed was picked up by satellite and transmitted to NIMR. "Suppose you're right," he said after a moment of reflection. "But Seaview is still in no shape to intercept a submarine."
"We can use that," Harry countered. "We take Seaview topside to affect repairs while announcing to the world that the squid has been destroyed and we make no mention of the discrepancy in the tremor readings. There's a very good chance that whoever is behind this will assume that the twelfth sensor was damaged during the battle. With Seaview verifiably on the surface, they may very well feel their position is still safe and give us the time we need to investigate."
"You're talking about taking a small team to the island with FS1," he stated flatly, easily deducing Harry's plan.
"Lee, we have to find out what these mystery people are up to. No one puts this amount of resources and intrigue into a science experiment without an end-goal," the admiral argued passionately.
Lee reached to rub his forehead, carefully avoiding the bandage. He knew the Admiral was right about getting to the bottom of just who opened the fissure and why, but the battle with the squid had left him short-handed with some of his best men out of commission. It was bad enough having Chip and Riley flat on their backs, but Harry was talking about taking a team to the island and that would mean draining his resources for Seaview all the more. He bit his bottom lip in thought realizing that he couldn't afford to take his go-to team of Kowalski, Patterson, Ron and Sharkey, to the island; not when Seaview was still licking her wounds. He made his decision and raised his eyes to meet Harry's.
"I'll make the order to surface; O'Brien already has a detail working on FS1, but we go to the island on one condition."
Harry raised an eyebrow in question.
"Just you and me and one other man to stay with the flying sub."
Harry nodded his approval, acknowledging the wisdom of Lee's decision and knowing that the two ONI-trained operatives were up to the task.
"Very well, Captain," he said not one to like ultimatums, then added a small smile to take the sting out of his reply.
Lee responded with a tired but sincere smile, their relationship well-able to withstand the sometimes necessary frank discussions that resulted when his duty as Captain of Seaview seemed to clash with Harry's plans, brilliant as they often were.
With that settled, he headed to the mic hanging on the wall. "Mr. O'Brien, this is the Captain; surface."