USS San Pedro was always reassured by the tight security surrounding her kind so being hijacked wasn't exactly something she'd expected. Raglin and his men boarded her unexpectedly. Her reactor was on standby so all that was needed doing was to turn a key and away she'd go. She shuddered as she felt it heat up and tried to scram it but found she couldn't.
"A clever little device I planted." Raglin told her. "Any attempt you make to shut it down or resist my commands will make it surge, causing increased doses of radiation to enter your bloodstream. It's nonlethal but it will hurt you."
San Pedro sobbed as the pain hit her. It felt as though her very blood was on fire.
"That's barbaric!" Lt. Roberts cried.
"It's the only way to get her to listen." Raglin snorted without emotion.
He gave the order to cast of and San Pedro reluctantly left the base, her home, before dawn and sailed into the Atlantic. Rajin, feeling she wasn't going fast enough, had an electric whip in his hands which he used on her side. San Pedro squealed, increasing her speed at once. "Move it!" He snarled, giving her a crack on her port quarter. Hating him with a passion, San Pedro increased to flank speed, reaching open sea before she was ordered to dive.
"No!" She growled, trying to resist.
"Now, San Pedro." Raglin snarled. "Don't force me to use harsher methods of getting you to obey my commands." He turned a dial a quarter turn to the right and the submarine squealed in pain. He'd rigged her reactor so each time that dial was turned, it would flare up, causing her agonizing pain as her blood burned.
The submarine panted. "Alright, alright!" She cried, doing as she was told. She disappeared beneath the waves, realizing that once she'd done so, she'd be almost impossible to find.
...
When Ellison had gotten word of San Pedro's hijacking she immediately set a course for her lover's last known position. "I'll find you, San Pedro. I promise whatever it takes, I will find you." She whispered.
...
San Pedro recognized the acoustic signature at once. "I'm here." She thought over the bond. "Find me please..."
"San Pedro.." The relief was evident in Ellison's voice. "Are you alright?"
"I'm alright for now. Raglin has a neural magnetic device planted on my reactor. Any attempt I make to resist scrambles my brain and causes the reactor to flare up. It's not lethal but it hurts like a bitch." San Pedro told her.
"He won't kill you. He needs you to get wherever he's going." Ellison replied.
"Death might be preferable to what he may have planned." San Pedro said. "Ellison, listen to me. This man is a rogue. He wants to use me to destroy a city if he doesn't get the $100 million. None of my weapons are nuclear tipped, thank Poseidon. But at the first indication of him launching one of my missiles, you shoot it down and sink me."
"San Pedro, I..." Ellison tried to protest.
"I mean it!" The submarine growled. "I won't let this man win. I'll do what I can on my end. I'll keep you informed." With that, San Pedro cut the connection.
Raglin meanwhile was on the phone with the Admiral.
"I mean it Raglin. You bring San Pedro back into port and you do it now!" was the order.
"Not unless you give me what I want." Raglin replied. "$100 million dollars or I destroy an American target. You have 12 hours."
"Don't listen to him, Admiral!" San Pedro cried.
"Quiet you!" Raglin snarled. San Pedro screamed as the device activated again. This time Rajin waited for nearly a minute before he turned it off. "And unless you want more of that I suggest you start cooperating."
San Pedro was sobbing too hard to reply. She shivered from the pain, fins twitching uncontrollably.
"You hang in there girl, I'm coming to get you!" the Admiral promised and the line went dead.
...
When Ellison started pinging for San Pedro, the submarine was forced to dive deep into a thermal hot spot, hiding her signature. Her mate was expecting that though. Raglin ordered a torpedo loaded into one of the tubes and San Pedro managed to instead load a fake one which would give off the same acoustic signature. She got another torture session, this one lasting 90 seconds but she did at least allow them to slip away unseen and unheard.
Lt. Rabb tried banging against her hull and screamed to get them to hear her and for a few seconds it seemed like it would work. "Lt. Roberts is a hostage like me." She told Ellison. "He's being held against his will. Don't harm him unless absolutely necessary."
"Understood." Ellison replied. Even across the bond the worry in her voice was evident.
San Pedro dived to 170 feet to get her trim, purposely cavitating as she did so. She turned her attention inward to where Raglin and Lt. Roberts were talking. The Lt. had just been unbound.
"Okay, you've proven you can steal a submarine and evade pursuit. Can we please go home now?" Lt. Roberts asked.
"Not until I get my hundred million." Raglin replied.
"They're not gonna give you the money." Lt. Roberts snorted.
"Then I'll keep the submarine. I bet I could get a hundred million for it on ebay." Raglin chuckled.
"I'm worth six times that much you bastard!" San Pedro snarled, feeling insulted.
"For the last time, you, be quiet!" Raglin growled, giving her 2 minutes of agonizing pain. "Next time it'll be 4 minutes. Watch yourself."
Lt. Roberts was horrified and stood up, confronting Raglin. "Is this all a big joke to you?!" He asked.
Raglin wasn't intimidated. "As a matter of fact, it's deadly serious." He replied.
"You'd kill innocent people. I don't buy it." Lt. Roberts said disbelievingly.
"You don't. What would it take to convince you?" Raglin asked, leaning forward.
"No, don't bait him Lt." San Pedro whimpered. The last thing she wanted to do was to hurt someone.
"A missile to Brooklyn, or to Kennedy Airport. How 'bout a real torpedo a the Ellison." Raglin growled.
This set San Pedro off. "You dare even touch her!" She snarled, grimacing at the slap to her console.
"Ooh does somebody have someone special?" Raglin teased.
San Pedro snarled in reply. "That's none of your business." She hissed.
"As I recall, everything that goes on his ship is a captain's business." Raglin replied, giving her another dose of pain.
When she recovered, San Pedro panted and replied "I am not your ship. And you, are most certainly not my captain."
He turned his attention back to Lt. Roberts. "Prepare tube 4 to fire." He ordered.
"Prepare tube 4 to fire, aye sir." came the reply.
"No..." San Pedro whimpered.
Raglin looked smugly at Lt. Roberts. "Please, Lt." San Pedro begged.
"Alright, alright." Lt. Roberts growled. In a quieter voice he added. "I believe you."
"You better because you may have to convince them." Raglin replied.
...
Ellison got confirmation of San Pedro's position. She was heading east after having fallen prey to her sonar buoy trap. What she did not expect or welcome was her captain's orders to launch the helos with orders to sink San Pedro.
"You can't do that sir!" She cried.
"I can and I just did." He replied.
Gathering herself for a moment, the frigate growled "If you kill her, you'll have to kill me too. Because she is my mate!"
Both him and Lt. Rabb seemed surprised by this. "Does Raglin know?" The latter asked.
"If he didn't before, he's surely forced San Pedro to speak of it by now." Ellison replied. "There's no need for weapons captain. I can track her with our bond and Raglin would be none the wiser. He doesn't understand our kind."
"I can't risk a populated city on this." Her captain snarled.
The helo's started their run. "I'm sorry, my love." Ellison thought as the bombs were dropped.
They got lucky that the explosives were low charge. "Bang your dead." She thought to her mate.
"Raglin says to tell you 'you blue up a decoy, return to base'." San Pedro replied. "You have to evacuate the cities."
"You can't evacuate New York City. It's impossible." Ellison thought.
"It's our only hope." San Pedro replied. "Short of sinking me and Lt. Roberts."
...
San Pedro was now 80 miles from New York Harbor, nearly within range of her missiles. She knew she had to do something to stop Raglin, stop him or die trying. Now she just needed to figure out how.
"Lt. Roberts." She whispered in her native tongue.
"San Pedro, what is it?" Lt. Roberts replied.
"I need your help. I must stop Raglin but I can't do it alone." She said.
"What did you have in mind?" He asked and she grinned.
...
"His missiles were aimed at the Statue of Liberty." San Pedro thought to Ellison.
"My captain just got orders from her superiors. If you get within 60 miles of New York, I'll have to sink you." The frigate replied.
"You already know what I've told you about that. Do it if you must. I won't think any less of you." San Pedro answered.
"I can't kill my own mate." Ellison thought, anguished.
"Do it!" San Pedro snarled. "To protect thousands of lives, you must destroy me if it comes to that! Do you understand?"
"I understand." Ellison sighed. "I love you." She added.
"And I love you. I always will." San Pedro thought back and broke off the connection.
So far, her plan with Lt. Roberts was working. He was speaking to the Navigation Officer now. Raglin was in the captain's cabin and San Pedro had purposely locked the door from the outside so he couldn't get out. The submarine snickered at her own ingenuity.
"Staging a mutiny against my own captain." She thought. "I am one naughty girl. Just hope I don't have to make a habit of this."
"If he ordered you to fire a missile at the Statue of Liberty, would you do it?" He asked.
"It won't come to that." The man replied.
"But would you do it?" Lt. Roberts pressed.
"Do you want to be gagged again, return to your seat." The officer growled.
"We have to stop him from doing that." Lt. Roberts growled.
The officer looked around him before replying "He's my CO. I can't go against my CO."
San Pedro knew this implied he didn't like what Raglin was doing but had no authority to do something about that.
Lt. Roberts replied "You don't have to do anything. Just let me talk on the radio for one minute."
"No."
"I can convince the navy that Raglin isn't bluffing. They might change their mind about the money." Lt. Roberts replied.
"They're not gonna change their mind."
"Then maybe they'll negotiate." Lt. Roberts said.
"Sir with all due respect, I'm a $600 million Los Angeles-class submarine." San Pedro put in, grimacing away from the expected pain she'd receive. She got none.
"Go on, old girl." The officer murmured.
"I'm an experienced officer and a teacher to the next generation of my kind and surface ships alike. Sinking me is a last resort, especially for Ellison. She'd as soon shoot herself in the head than sink me." San Pedro replied.
"You've got 1 minute." He said. In a louder voice he added to the two other officers in the room "Take a break Webbs. You too Hal, I've got it."
Lt. Roberts wasted no time getting on the radio. Him and Lt. Rabb talked for a few minutes but the navy wouldn't give up the money.
San Pedro decided to cut in. "Then you must destroy me, sir." She said.
"Who is this?" Lt. Rabb asked.
"USS San Pedro (SSN-780), Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine, sir." She replied.
Lt. Rabb looked to Ellison's captain who nodded.
"Where are you making this call from?" Lt. Rabb asked as the captain soothed Ellison when she gave a cry of anguish, trying to reach out to her mate over the bond.
San Pedro gave over the coordinates. Her attention was then diverted back to the control room where there was a commotion. "I have to go sir. Find me and sink me, swiftly." She ordered. "Before people are hurt."
Lt. Rabb was about to hang up when the submarine added something. "And-and tell Ellison I love her."
The frigate whimpered. "San Pedro, please..." She begged.
"I'm sorry." The submarine whispered and the line went dead.
Wiping away her tears, San Pedro forced herself to go on.
...
San Pedro knew Ellison would find her. Hiding under a surface ship was the oldest trick in the book and she trusted her mate to remember that. Raglin knew what she'd done and San Pedro paid the price for her trick. A nearly 10 minute long torture session ended with her falling unconscious, body twitching in convulsions from the attack. The Navigation Officer took over the helm as Raglin prepared to escape.
"San Pedro this is the USS Ellison. San Pedro this is the USS Ellison, please respond." Lt. Rabb radioed.
San Pedro knew that Ellison would fire on her, she heard the sounds of her mate's torpedoes being loaded on deck. Raglin took control and turned her towards the surface.
"USS Ellison, this is the San Pedro. We've concluded our exercise. Repeat we've concluded our exercise. We request permission to return to New London."
Ellison knew something was wrong and she tried reaching her mate but she wasn't getting any response. Not even a buzz in the back of her mind that would determine her presence. A void was left in her place and it was growing. Ellison recognized the signs of a breaking bond at once. The submarine was out cold and weakening fast. The attacks put too much stress on her reactor and it was starting to scram up. It something wasn't done fast she would die.
"San Pedro, Ellison. Stay at current position and be ready to receive boarding party." Ellison's captain radioed.
"Captain, I'm not getting anything from her. The bond, it's breaking up. She's dying!" Ellison wailed.
"Easy now, we'll get a crew over there and determine what happened. Don't worry. She's gonna be fine." He assured her.
...
Ellison closed in on her mate and at the sight of her near motionless form she broke down, holding San Pedro to her side. "Please wake up, please..." She begged.
San Pedro was taken into New York where she was immediately placed in the ICU unit at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Ellison paced frantically just outside, having been refused entry.
After several hours a hospital ship approached. "How is she?!" Ellison asked frantically.
"Weak, traumatized, but alive." She replied. "She was lucky. Raglin had placed a electromagnetic device on her reactor. Whenever he activated it, it used the reactor to send a pulse through all her major systems causing unimaginable pain. Lt. Roberts' reports indicate that each time she disobeyed an order, Raglin used it on her. The first time was 30 seconds, the second 1 minute, the third 90 seconds, the fourth 2 minutes, the fifth 4 minutes, and the sixth 10 minutes."
"That sadistic bastard!" Ellison snarled. "Will she be alright?"
"She'll live. Though there is the possibility of Rheumatic heart disease, Endocarditis, and at worst, Pulmonary heart disease." She replied. "All are most likely outcomes of this though which one has yet to be determined. One thing is for sure though, each one would require a limited duty status at best. Though my recommendation would be to decommission her as soon as possible."
"Thank you for your time, commander." Ellison said. The hospital ship saluted and left.
Ellison entered the yards, being stopped just outside San Pedro's quarters. "Family only." A guard growled.
"USS San Pedro is my mate." Ellison hissed back and pushed past him into the room.
San Pedro was lying on her side, hooked up to various machines that watched her reactor closely. There was a slight murmur but nothing too serious. Her heart rate spiked as she opened her eyes. "Ellison..." She whispered.
Waves of love, fear, worry, came over the bond.
"What were you thinking?" "Don't ever do that again!" "I was so worried." "I love you!"
Over and over again. The two embraced, San Pedro's fins gripping her mate's hull tightly. She couldn't, wouldn't, ever let go of her.
"I could've sunk you." Ellison murmured.
"I wouldn't have blamed you if you did." San Pedro replied. "Lives were at stake."
"To kill my own mate though... That's unforgivable."
"Oh I'm sure you'll find a way to make it up to me." San Pedro said with a grin.
"But how?" Ellison asked.
"Kiss me?" San Pedro suggested.
This Ellison had no trouble doing as she leaned down to give San Pedro the best kiss she'd ever received.