Chapter 15: "Déjà Vu"
24 January 2024 – UEO seaQuest Sea Trials, Day 5
They were in the channel and heading for open water at over thirty knots, about as fast as they could travel without Pearl Harbor Port Control issuing the maritime version of a speeding ticket. After the fireworks of their maintenance day—Katie was still getting calls from the shoreside supply organization about the reign of terror Ben had poured down upon their heads after that fiasco—Day 4 of trials had gone fairly well, and seaQuest had tested almost all of her emergency systems with fewer than expected glitches. Of course, one of the problems had been a refusal of the emergency life support systems to kick in following a simulated computer failure, but Lonnie had managed to figure that one out after drawing parallels to the solar power station her father ran. The young ensign was clearly Brad Williams' favorite engineer, now, and Katie felt that she deserved the distinction.
Even Clayton hadn't found much to yell at her about for that one, which was a far cry from the incident on Day 3 that had almost left Lonnie crying, and had left Katie hauling the Chief Engineer away from the senior inspector before Williams could indicate his physical displeasure with the way Clayton chose to bully members of the crew. Fortunately, Brody had turned up to distract Clayton at just the right time, cementing the beginnings of a real friendship between the Weapons Officer and the Chief Engineer that Katie was glad to see.
Speaking of people I am glad to see, Clayton is still not one of them, she grumbled to herself. At the moment, Clayton was busy harassing Morgan over at sonar while Miguel looked on, so Katie felt safe in leaning over quietly to speak to the captain.
"I'm going to kill him if he doesn't let up soon," she whispered. She would never have admitted something like that to any other CO, but Katie had worked under Bridger long enough to know that his body language was screaming the same thing. The entire crew was united in their hatred of Captain Clayton—if the old hands had thought he was bad the last time he'd been aboard seaQuest, that was nothing compared to his antics this time.
"Calmly, Commander," he answered in the same undertone. "We only have to deal with him for four more days, and then I will cheerfully tell him to get the hell off my boat."
"Is it too much to ask that you'll also tell him to never come back?" she asked hopefully. Joking about Clayton didn't mitigate the damage the jerk had done, but at least it kept her from tearing his head off. I never thought someone would make Oliver Hudson look nice and cuddly, but Clayton does that rather well.
Bridger chuckled. "Not if he keeps going like this, it won't be."
"Ortiz can handle him," Katie felt obligated to point out, almost relishing the words. "He's a Warrant Officer. He's supposed to be obnoxious." And crusty. And self-sufficient. She couldn't wait to hear what Miguel said if Clayton tried to pick on one of the sonar people.
"At least he's not Lucas, you mean?"
"He didn't do so badly, all things considered," she answered, smiling despite the tension that was still making her neck knot up. "I was actually rather impressed."
Bridger laughed softly. "So was I. Speaking of which, I think it's time to get some training time in for the young lad, don't you?"
"We are on trials, Captain."
Of course, she knew by now that once Bridger had an idea in his head, there was no getting it out, so there was really no point in objecting. Still, Katie felt that she ought to try—even if giving Lucas some driving time was a good idea, she could only imagine what chaos Clayton could wreak on the kid's self confidence if he stuck his nose into this evolution. Under normal circumstances, it was damn near impossible to intimidate Lucas, but when he wasn't too sure of himself…
"Don't worry," the captain replied, going right to the heart of her concerns. "Between you and me, I think we can fight Clayton off."
"Sounds like a fun way to spend the morning, sir."
He laughed again. "You bet it is."
Sometimes, Bridger's sense of humor really made Katie want to kick his head in. But that definitely wasn't something she should say—not even to a captain as tolerant as Nathan Bridger. Besides, I get the feeling that his toleration is being pushed to the limit by this asshole, Katie thought, glancing at Clayton again. I'd be surprised if his temper manages to stay in check for three more days. Four, if you count today. She'd already seen Bridger lose it at Clayton once, and was almost looking forward to seeing that again…but not if the crew had to watch. She knew that the captain hated to lose his temper, and he especially hated to let it happen in front of their sailors.
"Do you want to coach him, or do you want me to?" Katie asked instead of voicing her thoughts.
"I'll do it. I think it's time for you to get with Brody and start checking out the fire control system—it'll be good training for him," the captain added. "He's been pretty good in the simulator, but I'd rather he not push the wrong buttons when we actually get to today's live fire testing."
"Do you ever stop thinking about training, sir?" It wasn't an aspect of Nathan Bridger she'd really noticed on the last seaQuest, or at least not consciously. Now that Katie thought about it, she remembered an awful lot of situations where Bridger had quietly encouraged cross-training and professional development.
"Not these days, no," Bridger replied, his smile vanishing. Now, however, Katie was pretty sure that his serious expression was not caused by the annoyance named Captain Clayton; Bridger was probably thinking ahead to what lay beyond sea trials. The crew had been so wrapped up in getting the boat ready for sea that they hadn't had time to think about what happened once seaQuest was ready.
Katie had done a (near) wartime deployment on Torsk, and she'd be lying if she said that a nasty part of her wasn't looking forward to doing the same thing on the world's most advanced submarine. Yet, at the same time she was not looking forward to the possibility of losing another boat, or other friends and colleagues. She wasn't afraid to do what needed to be done, but Katie was fully aware of what it might cost.
Meeting her captain's gaze, she knew that he was, too, and that the responsibility making sure seaQuest and her crew were ready weighed even harder upon him.
"Captain, Navigator, we are one hour out from the UEO SOSUS line," the disembodied voice reported over the communications circuit.
"On my way."
Two minutes later, the captain walked onto the bridge of AMS Spectre, the newest and most powerful submarine in the arsenal of the Macronesian Alliance. The boat was running silently, leading an entire fleet of submarines towards UEO waters. In fact, they had crossed the invisible border not long before; the SOSUS line was far enough inside UEO territory that the idiots still assumed they were keeping its existence a secret.
It's time to make good my promise to President Bourne, the captain thought dispassionately, studying the electronic navigation display. First Johnston Atoll, and then Pearl. Stassi probably thought that the promise had been just that much hyperbole, but the captain was glad to have him along for the ride. Under normal circumstances, carting a general around on a submarine would have been less than desirable, but this way Stassi would finally learn to appreciate the submarine force.
Besides, Stassi was currently riding with Phantom, and he had absolutely no tactical command in the coming battle. Battle. Ha. As if these cowards will manage to put up much of a fight at all.
"ETA to Point X-Ray is nineteen minutes. Distance to turn sixteen nautical miles. The fleet remains at EMCON, no enemy presence in the area," the OOD reported.
"Very well."
Spectre's crew was the best the Macronesian Navy had to offer, the brightest and the most innovative. Over the last six months, they had become the best trained, too. There was no warship in the world that could stand up to them, a fact that the UEO would discover before long.
"Are Phantom and Wraith running silent?" the captain asked.
"Completely," the sonar chief replied promptly. "Even knowing what to look for, I can only track them intermittently. Once we slow, no one will find us."
"Excellent." Silent at over 80 knots. Even seaQuest drew attention at that speed. The UEO won't know what hit them when we cross the SOSUS line.
In fact, they won't know what hit them until long after that, because there's no way for them to hear us coming. Resisting the urge to gloat was hard.
Intelligence said that Atlantis was one of the few boats in the target area, and the captain hoped that was the case. Spectre had some unfinished business with their old friend, and today was an excellent day to finish that.
"All right, people. Today's supposed to be an easy day, so let's not overly complicate things, shall we?" Jonathan said to his bridge crew, and watched tired smiles reward him for the remark.
"Course to new OPAREA laid in, Captain," the OOD informed him, and Jonathan checked the nearby chart out of habit. He trusted his team—he had a damned good one, after all—but trust, then verify was a mantra he lived by. Everything was in order, and the course checked out. Not that he'd expected anything else.
"I'll get out of your hair then, Paul," Jonathan said with a smile, turning to leave the bridge. "XO, will you join me in the wardroom?"
Mark followed him in silence; he was probably the only member of the crew aside from Jonathan who wasn't happy about their new orders. On the surface, their new assignment was a nice one—patrol the waters just south of Johnston Atoll, provide assistance to local settlements as required, and catch up on some much needed training. Of course, Jonathan had already been training his crew to death over the last few weeks, so everyone on board correctly interpreted their orders to mean that they were in for a bit of a break. After all, they wouldn't be patrolling the Macronesian border this time, which indicated some nice time off.
Unfortunately, Jonathan had shown Mark the eyes-only message that was making him so grouchy. It didn't change their orders a bit—Atlantis probably was actually in for some time off—but it did make every other aspect of their lives more complicated.
Jonathan barely managed to wait until the wardroom door was shut before he slapped the hardcopy of the message down on the table. Hard.
"Can you believe this crap?" As a CO, he shouldn't let himself lose control like this, but everyone had to talk to someone, and there wasn't an Old Man program on Atlantis. His XO was the closest thing to a confidant he had, and he trusted Mark. Besides, Mark had earned that trust.
"You want an honest answer, boss?"
"Not really, no." Jonathan sank into a chair, glaring at the message.
A state of tension exists between the Alliance of Macronesia and the UEO, the stupid piece of paper said, stating the obvious. Units of the UEO Navy are to be advised that incidents have occurred and submarines have been sunk.
It was possibly the singularly most useless document Jonathan had ever read in his life. UEO units are advised that Macronesian submarines may open fire without warning. In such cases, all possible means to defend your unit are authorized, up to and including the use of deadly force. However, the current rules of engagement remain in effect, and UEO units are not authorized to fire upon any Macronesian forces unless first fired upon.
Disciplined restraint is required of all units operating on or near the border with the Alliance of Macronesia. Aggressive action on the part of Alliance submarines should not be tolerated, and any units seeking to cross the border should be dissuaded with all means short of deadly force.
"Did a lawyer write this thing?" he finally asked, gesturing angrily at the message. "It says nothing while covering everyone's rear end at the same time."
Mark snorted. "I bet they did have a JAG write it, actually."
"Just as long as they don't sue me with it when this war—or not-war, or whatever we're calling it these days—is over."
"You think they'll come in this deep, sir?" Mark asked after a moment, and Jonathan sighed, this time without the anger. Now he just felt tired.
"I wish I didn't."
"Mr. Wolenczak."
The captain's voice made Lucas' head snap up from where he'd been looking at the engineering readouts over Lonnie's shoulder. As much as he'd have preferred to hole up in his stateroom and catch a nap after getting up shortly after four that morning, Lucas knew that he had a large number of qualifications to complete in order to become an official submariner—a point that Chris Schafer made to him on a rather constant basis, even if they were on better terms, now. Engineering was only one of several areas in which he needed to learn the Navy's way of doing business, and he was determined to get his "dolphins" in record time.
"Yes, sir?" he asked, startled. His first thought was to protest that he hadn't been in the way, and that he was trying to learn something useful, but Lucas quashed that reflex. After all, Bridger might not think he was causing a problem, and it was best not to make assumptions like that with that jerk Clayton lurking and waiting to yell at him. Not far away, the walrus was practically drooling at the thought.
"Why don't you come on down here and take the conn?" the captain asked, sounding so casual that it took a moment for the words to sink in.
"Me?" Tell me my voice didn't just squeak like that.
"Yes, you." But it was Bridger's smile more than the order that brought him down off of the upper level of the bridge to join the captain where he stood near Chief Carleton.
"Are you sure this is such a good idea, Captain?" he asked in an undertone, hoping the UEO inspector couldn't hear him. "This is a twelve billion dollar submarine that I've never driven before."
Bridger chuckled. "Relax, Lucas. I'm not going to give you the keys and then go hit my rack."
"I hope not, Captain," Lucas said, feeling sixteen again. At least I managed not to squeak again. He had not known he could still be so reassured by Bridger's easy confidence.
"Still, I think it's time for you to take the wheel for a bit, metaphorically speaking," Bridger continued, squeezing his shoulder briefly. "So, let's start with you taking the conn from Mr. Schafer here—after all, I already know that Chris can drive."
The last part was directed more towards Schafer than Lucas, who shot him an unreadable look. For once, Schafer didn't seem to want to prove that he was better at something than Lucas—but maybe he knew he was better at this, so he didn't feel the need to gloat.
The thought didn't make him feel much better. He wasn't used to being second best, and certainly not to Chris Schafer. That alone steeled his resolve. If he can do it, then so can I. Besides, the captain thinks I can do this, and even Captain Clayton isn't protesting, so it must be okay.
Bridger nodded, and Schafer announced: "Attention on the bridge. This is Lieutenant Schafer. Lieutenant J.G. Wolenczak has the conn."
He knew what to say here, at least. Lucas remembered hearing the words said on the last seaQuest, no matter how informal the crew could be back then. Many Navy traditions had gone out the window on board the research version of seaQuest, but this one had seemed to stick. Still, he had to swallow before he could make his voice come out loudly enough for everyone on the bridge to hear.
"This is Lieutenant J.G. Wolenczak. I have the conn."
"Helm, aye," Chief Carleton answered immediately.
The sixteen year old in him desperately wanted to turn to the captain and ask Did I do that right? Unfortunately, as an officer, acting like a child on the bridge was discouraged. Bridger, however, gave him another encouraging nod as Schafer headed back towards where Tim currently sat at the communications console.
"Now what?" he asked Bridger in an undertone, trying not to sound desperate. Everyone else on the bridge seemed to think that nothing big was going on, but Lucas had never done this before, and he didn't like uncertainty.
"Well, now we've exited the channel, and we're in the open waters southwest of Hawaii. You can see on the navigational display where our operations area for today is designated—we have to go farther out than the last few days so that we can fire live torpedoes," the captain explained. "So, we need to come left to about two-zero-nine to reach the OPAREA, and adjust our speed to make sure we get there on time."
Knowing that they needed to be in the live-fire OPAREA within the hour, Lucas did some quick math in his head. "So, we need to make about 120 knots."
"Exactly."
"How do I do that?" He hated having to ask, but Lucas knew that he couldn't just walk up to Chief Carleton and say, Go that way and Do it at 120 knots. He'd learned during his first tour that nothing in the Navy was that simple.
"Did they go over standard commands at OCS?" Bridger asked, reading his expression.
"Some, but something tells me that what they were talking about doesn't completely apply to seaQuest."
"Yes and no. Standard commands are used in the Navy for a few very important reasons, most importantly so that when under pressure and stress, every command is given the same way, every time, and no misunderstandings take place. Make sense?"
Lucas nodded.
"Every boat in the Navy adjusts standard commands to fit their own maneuvering characteristics, and seaQuest is no different. However, we follow the same basic principle. For example: although we don't actually have traditional screws or rudders, we still use 'rudder' orders to direct the water jets, except when we are doing water jet specific maneuvers," the captain explained.
"So, we still use things like left full rudder." It was like learning another language, and Lucas had never felt any particular inclination to learn anything aside from programming codes. Those at least made sense.
"Exactly. We use several standard rudder commands to control the jets, and we use the same sort of commands to control the amount and direction of water pouring through the jets, which we call throttle control…"
Lucas absorbed the lecture as it went on. He understood the principle of water jets well enough. It was just simple fluid dynamics, after all. The problems started coming up when he thought too hard about how they worked. To get the boat to turn starboard, the body of the jet itself would turn right physically—but the water coming out of it would be aimed to the left, pushing the boat forward in the direction they wanted to go. His instinct was to tell someone which way the water should be going, instead of the boat, but the controls didn't work like that, which meant the helmsmen would do the opposite of what he wanted if Lucas tried to direct the water.
Finally, he felt ready to give an actual order—and he even understood what he was saying, which was rather nice. "Left standard rudder, steady course two-zero-nine," Lucas told Chief Carleton, unable to stop himself from glancing at Bridger and waiting for a nod of affirmation.
"Left standard rudder, steady course two-zero-nine, aye," Carleton replied immediately. Lucas was a bit weirded out by the requirement for the diving officer to repeat back every order he gave, but he did understand that it was to prevent misunderstandings. After a moment, the chief reported: "My rudder is left fifteen degrees, coming to course two-zero-nine."
Lucas nodded absently, and a moment passed before Carleton spoke again, his voice still dispassionate.
"Conning officer, my rudder is left fifteen degrees, coming to course two-zero-nine."
"Very well," Bridger prompted him in an undertone when Lucas swung to look at him in confusion.
"Very well," Lucas repeated, feeling his face flush red. Carleton seemed satisfied, though, which he supposed was good. Then he remembered that he had to give a speed order, too—Who's idea was it to make driving a submarine so damn complicated, anyway? Frowning thoughtfully, Lucas took a moment to make sure that he had the right orders in mind. He took a deep breath, and then added: "All engines ahead two-thirds, make turns for…125 knots."
"All engines ahead two-thirds, make turns for 125 knots, aye." Carleton sounded a lot more confident than Lucas did, for obvious reasons, but at least he wasn't giving Lucas that expectant look anymore. "Sir, all engines are ahead full, making turns for 125 knots."
"Very well." This time, at least, he remembered to say it. Still, he couldn't help but turn to the captain and ask quietly: "Is it always this…I dunno, mechanical?"
"Usually, yeah," Bridger replied, clearly trying not to smile as he leaned against the navigation table. "When you do it right."
From engineering, Lonnie was shooting Lucas a sympathetic look, and it suddenly hit him that she'd probably had to endure this same learning process not long ago on Torsk. He made a mental note to ask her how she'd managed to keep all the various commands straight; Lucas might be a genius, but he was more than willing to use every resource available to him.
"I guess I'll just get used to it, then."
The rest of the trip to the testing area went off without incident, and they arrived in their designated patch of water on schedule. Lucas was feeling pretty good by then; he'd had to give a few more orders for slight course corrections, and he was now managing to slow seaQuest with only minor coaching from Bridger. It helped, of course, that the captain had handed him a cheat sheet with the sub's maneuvering characteristics listed on it. Lucas was pretty certain that he could memorize the standard commands easily enough, but remembering which speeds corresponded with which engine order (of which there were eighteen different ones to remember, when he included those for going astern) threatened to give him a headache. How anyone could memorize these mystified him.
Still, he was doing okay, and even managed to turn seaQuest onto her new course of zero-one-zero without much help. Lucas had managed to accidentally say "right fifteen degrees rudder" instead of "right standard rudder," but Chief Carleton had managed to correct him subtly enough, so he was feeling pretty good about himself.
Tim's sudden announcement, however, almost made him jump out of his skin.
"Captain, I'm getting reports over Navy Red that an unknown number of Macronesian subs have crossed the SOSUS line northwest of Johnston Atoll, moving at high speed."
Lucas' head jerked around to stare at the captain. Very few people knew that the UEO had recently installed a top secret Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) about 150 miles from Johnston Atoll Naval Station, just on the UEO side of the border with Macronesia. Its purpose was to provide early warning of any undersea attack aimed at UEO colonies or naval stations…and apparently it had done just that.
The entire bridge fell silent, and everyone was looking at the captain.
"How many boats do we have in the vicinity of JANS?" Bridger asked after a moment. Though his voice was level, something in his tone made Lucas start crunching the numbers in his head. A quick glance at the navigation table told him that they were almost 450 nautical miles away from Johnston Atoll, and sneaking a peak at the maneuvering cheat sheet in his hand, Lucas calculated that seaQuest could get there in just over an hour and a half traveling at full speed.
Tim turned back after a moment of listening, and Lucas belatedly noticed Schafer sitting by his side, intent on the console in front of him. "The last ships attached to the naval station were towed out a week ago, Captain, heading towards Pearl for repairs. I'm getting reports of one sub moving to assist…I think only Atlantis is in range, sir."
"That's Captain Ford's boat," Lucas said before he could stop himself. Bridger nodded thoughtfully.
"So it is."
Silence reigned again as a minute ticked by, and then another. Even Captain Clayton was quiet, and no one seemed to know what to say until Tim broke it again.
"SOSUS reports that the Macronesians seem to be headed for Alfin Ridge, the southernmost settlement in the string surrounding Johnston Atoll. Atlantis is moving to intercept. She should beat them there, but not by much."
Lucas burned to punch up information on Alfin Ridge, but he was the conning officer and couldn't leave his assigned station by the helm. Instead, it was Schafer who supplied:
"Alfin Ridge. Settled December 2016, last reported population in excess of eight thousand. Primary purpose is mining of silver and other minerals from the nearby undersea mountains, but also provides support to the base at Johnston Atoll."
"Thank you, Chris," Bridger said absently, his eyes on the navigation table. Watching him, Lucas could practically see the numbers whirling in the captain's mind. Under other circumstances, he would have volunteered the conclusions he had already come to, but he knew that Bridger was thinking about a lot more than just time-distance equations; he was thinking about the still-not-commissioned submarine they were in the process of testing out.
"Preliminary analysis from SOSUS indicates at least fifteen enemy submarines crossing the line, sir." Tim's voice had grown quiet, and the tension on the bridge grew thick enough to cut with a knife.
Fifteen to one odds. Everyone knew what that meant for Atlantis. Standing back at the XO's station, Commander Hitchcock almost looked ill. As Lucas met the eyes of the old seaQuest hands one by one, he could see the same dread filling their faces. Captain Ford was one of their own, and…
You can't face odds like that, Commander, Lucas thought desperately, feeling a rock forming in the pit of his stomach. You know that! Don't do it. Just don't. You can't win, no matter what you do, so please don't die trying. He wanted to go punch up a vidlink and tell Ford that, but Lucas felt rooted to the spot. Would anyone tell Ford not to do it, or would the selfish UEO just let him die trying to save innocents they were too cowardly to go to war to protect?
A long moment passed, and then Tim spoke up again:
"Atlantis reports ETA at Alfin Ridge of forty-five minutes. She's calling for assistance from any boats within radio range."
When Lucas turned to look at him again, he was surprised to see Captain Bridger smile.
"Anyone else getting a strange sense of déjà vu?" the captain asked with a chuckle.
A/N: We'll try not to leave you for so long on the cliffhanger this time, so stay tuned for Chapter 16 "The Slings and Arrows of Outrageous Fortune", in which Hudson makes an appearance, Ford takes on impossible odds, and another old friend from Season 1 joins the party at Johnston Atoll.