Chuck vs The Wayward Legionnaire
Book 2: Water.
Chapter 6: Getting that sinking feeling….
07th May. 2010. Mediterranean Sea, Undersea Base. 15. .
Carina Miller's eyes narrowed as she took in the form of one Chuck Bartowski, in the flesh, so to speak.
His physique was as chiselled as Vanderlaan's, the wetsuit that he wore clung to a musculature that bespoke of serious training, but it was the presence of the man that really irked her, the babbling nerd had disappeared, it was the mien of a man fully comfortable in himself staring back at her with an equanimity that really set her off!
A promise made to herself in the wake of Sarah Walker's tears in Burbank meant some retribution was past due….
Pissed, she stood to her full height and headed towards him like an arrow to a bullseye. "Hey….!", said a surprised Erik, disappointed at the sudden loss of skin-on-skin contact…
As she approached, Chuck's eyes seemed to darken, she almost paused… she'd seen that with Walker, Sarah's would turn an artic blue, Bartowski's were a stygian darkness, abyss darkness, his face set like stone, her fist lashed out, fast, the rage from dealing with Autokhthon lingering, adding some impetus… it didn't matter.
"You asshole, Bartowski! You hurt Sar...URK!"
Her clenched fist was palmed aside, a ridge hand slammed the inside of her elbow, folding it, and then her arm pushed up across her own throat and she was lifted in the air like a doll, her spine screaming as she was slammed against a bulkhead, hard, her voice died abruptly as an elbow leaned into her larynx with just effort force to make the cartilage creak in protest.
…..
…. Alert! DEA Agent Carina Miller, currently deployed to Intersect Team …. Orders unknown…. Assume hostile…. Danger to Robie/Bartowski host…. All responses to neutralise threat valid!...
….
"What the fuck, Robie!?" Erik cried. Robie's head whipped around, seeing the shock on Erik's face, he seemed to snap out of it, stepping back he dropped Carina, who hit the deck.
Shaken, she looked up at Chuck's face, he seemed torn. "I... I... I'm sorry…"
That was more like the nerd she remembered, Miller clutched her throat, "You hurt Sarah…" she croaked, Chuck looked at her again before shaking his head and walking away to Vanderlaan, he grabbed the bag off the console, it was a First Aid bag, making a spinning motion, Erik understood and complied, wincing, he peeled the wetsuit top off.
"…Jesus…", Robie muttered as he surveyed the damage, "…I hope it was worth it…"
"Absolutely.", answered Erik, his eyes fastened on Carina's again, she stood up, gingerly she moved around the console, putting some distance between herself and this … Robie… her eyes cast about, seeking a weapon.
When she looked back, Erik was staring at her with wide eyes, pausing briefly to face Bartowski who was mumbling something, she couldn't help herself, she inched closer, words became clearer…
"…. vicious maneater…. devour you, no problem!... always on the hunt… never satisfied… "
There was a thump on the glass of the moon pool, they all jumped as a 9 ft Mako sped by with the head of Lasky gripped between its jaws, they winced as a crunching noise could be heard as the biting power of the jaws crushed the skull in search of a delicate morsel… Bartowski continued…
"…. lucky to be alive …. Plenty of victims in their wake…. "
Carina rolled her eyes, "The damn sharks are no threat…"
"Miller, I was talking about you… and my …ex…", retorted Chuck, glaring at her, "...he's my friend…!" He inclined his head towards Vanderlaan.
Carina's jaw dropped, she noticed Erik looking at her again, there was a guardedness there she wasn't happy about. She felt uncomfortable and yet she wasn't sure why. This wasn't going the way she thought it would…
She tried again. "Sarah was going to run with you, she … she…" Carina couldn't bring herself to say the words, hell, it had been an eternity she let herself say anything other than fake endearments designed to draw a mark into her web of deceit.
Chuck looked at her, "She what? Cares for me?", he said harshly, "Funny, last image I have of her is with her tongue down another agent's throat, so no Carina, I doubt I hurt Walker at all…". His eyes were suddenly glassy," …not as much as she …" He turned back to Erik.
Carina's eyes widened in surprise, that was something she didn't know. She had lost control here; she wasn't so sure of her facts anymore…. could this have been a mission? There were too many variables…
Chuck composed himself, he indicated for her to turn around, she hesitated, impatiently, he handed Erik the First Aid kit and stepped away, towards the console. Not his job.
Sheepishly, Vanderlaan approached, he pulled some alcohol wipes and gauze from the bag, she took off the wetsuit, holding it to her chest as he started to treat her injuries.
An awkward silence filled the room, only broken by gasps of pain from Miller and murmured apologies from Erik until the bleep of a comms unit, Robie cursed under his breath and activated his link.
"Chen, we're nearly at launch depth Robie, you got that relay bypass ready? Looks like this lot are running their last tests…"
"Dammit, ok Philip, I'll …." Robie stopped short, he had reached the right console, unfortunately it was also the same one that Miller had damaged freeing herself and Erik!
"What the fuck?!" he exclaimed as he ran his hands over the ruined controls.
"Ehhh… we may have overdone things a bit…." Erik answered ruefully. "… sorry…"
"Sorry? SORRY? The fateof the world…." He paused, the other two watched as he assessed the situation.
"…ok… think…"
He looked at the ruined console again, the timer on the wall, it now read less than 30 minutes… a small light started flashing…
"Fuck it…" before the startled eyes of the other two he literally grabbed the side of the console and with a grunt tore the protective metal casing off the console! He dropped it to the side, the clang of metal-on-metal on the deck was loud, Miller reckoned it had weighed over two hundred pounds.
"Holy fuck!" gasped a stunned Carina Miller, "takes a bit of getting used to…," said a less surprised Erik.
Robie wasn't listening, his eyes were locked on the exposed innards, the Intersect was already relaying circuit diagram plans to his mind, his genius at electronics easily deciphered them as he sought to manually override the damage done and power up the relay, components were soon scattered around the floor.
Carina Miller had been around a fair number of technicians in her time, even some field analysists brought in by the CATS for the things they couldn't do, this was beyond even them, his speed was amazing, his movements sure, a man in his element, in a matter of moments Bartowski had the console operational. He hands shot over a jury-rigged keyboard, he watched impatiently until a sequence of lights flashed, Smiling grimly, he touched his comms.
"Sean, you should be able to hit the relay switch now!"
There was silence from the comms.
"Sean….?"
…..
Sean had been waiting for the call, as soon as he bent to hit the switch, the door to the room had opened and three guards had entered, almost immediately they spotted him.
"Bollox!" muttered the Irishman as he jumped to his feet. Chen wasn't keeping watch!
He looked at their expressionless faces, eerily illuminated by the trident pendants that hung around their necks.
"Can't we talk about this, lads?" He forced a grin on his face.
He may as well as have been talking to wax room dummies, they slowly advanced, fanning out, he watched them carefully, he couldn't let them encircle him. A bleep went off from his comms back under the console, unwillingly he glanced back and then they were on him.
They were strangely mechanical in their attacking style, one threw a fast punch at his head, another a kick at his chest. The timing was slightly off though, against a normal person it probably wouldn't have mattered, but Sean Murphy was NOT an ordinary man.
He was blindingly fast as he dropped, spinning on his axis, he swept the legs out from under the first attacker, using that momentum for a second spin, he used a Silat kick Erik had shown him to perform a kneeling, spinning hook kick to the fallen man's jaw, he grunted and shot across the floor unconscious.
Sean, still hunkered, pivoted, and using a flying tackle hit the second man hard, they crumpled to the deck, He moved rapidly up the man's body, doing a bit of ground and pound as he went, a few hard punches to the face was all he managed before a front kick blasted him in the side, he rolled with it as best he could, but it winded him and then the last man was on him….
….
Chuck had quickly run to another console, it was like the one in the security office, it was the work of seconds for him to call up the chamber where Sean was.
Erik had finished patching up Carina and they joined him, as the picture came into focus, they watched as the melee unfolded, Chuck pounded his fist on the console, he glared at Erik…
Chen chimed in on the comms again. "Shit! I'm closer, do you want me to go help Robie?"
Things were happening too fast, there was another bleep from the console, they had reached launch depth, console after console lit up.
Chuck felt like he used to, back in LA, useless, he needed… he needed to focus.
….
…. enhance brain production of Neuropeptide Y …. host is experiencing extreme agitation…. Observation mode accessed … prepare for new data for improvement….
In the brain of the host, Chuck Bartowski, in his cortex, hippocampus, hindbrain and hypothalamus, organic chemistry sprung into action… the production of the neuropeptides needed for a steady mind went into overdrive… saving Chuck Bartowski…. saving the Intersect…. it was all harnessed, his emotional state hardened…. saving them all became a directive… saving HER became an imperative… a need beyond his hurt… even his family and friends… subconsciously, she was all…. the AI was smashed into service at the needs of the man…. but it would…remember….
….
Carina Miller watched, but it was only later that she understood everything as he did, in that moment, then, time, was a luxury… right now only he could see the mission … what needed to be done… man/machine/ AI …. becoming one … ONE….
He acted….
His hands flew again over the controls, this time a different solution revealed new possibilities, he glanced at another console… FLASH! His mind's eye reviewed the contents of the memory banks he had assimilated earlier, the Intersect presenting the information, all connected for him to access, pointing a way to possible success…
…..
…Korean behavioural CONTROL device... advanced design is beyond recognised plans in memory files… work of Dr. Chunso Nu…. missing since 2002… contains satellite link … means for mass enslavement… Kim Jong ll abandoned project Mindstorm … cost overruns… Nu disappearance coincides Arginis Callidis massive infrastructure reinvestment… conclusion… Nu successful… project reality… staff of Callidis Industries are subjects for genetic modification program: New Atlantis… eel implantation… Dr. Karol Shiva research successful biochemical larval stasis growth retardation … with nuclear attack… reanimation of larval growth cycle activated via mind control … new species imminent … Destroy console!...
….
Thoughts became deeds...As Erik watched, Robie smashed a console… it seemed a senseless act… it HAD consequences….
…
Not so far away…... earlier…Mediterranean Sea….
Delon and the others watched a naval battle wind down. It had been a strange couple of hours. They'd watched as the ship was joined by the larger French Destroyer, once they arrived, the Surcouf joined the formation and they headed to the coordinates of the Italian patrol boats, within an hour they sighted the smoke, two large Ocean liners were stationary in the distance, smaller sleek craft shot back and forth, their forward batteries blazing as they laid down a protective shield between the liners and the Italian forces.
The Italian ships had been seriously damaged and, in the sea, floated the remains of a Harrier, brought down by a surface to air missile strike, the radar officer approached Guillaud, "Sir, two Orizzonte class destroyers from our Italian neighbours are also en route, the Andrea Doria and Caio Duilio and from the sounds of it the Italians are hopping mad!"
The French officers looked at one another, this was getting serious, from outside the Languedoc's and Courbet's main guns engaged the smaller craft that had started to approach them, the Italians had warned them of the impressive firepower the smaller craft possessed, it looked like his Naval colleagues had taken that on board.
He ordered his 2nd officer to start engaging the craft too. They'd have to figure this out as they went along. He ordered Delon and the others into life jackets and off the bridge, this was a navy operation now!
Ilsa Trinchina was annoyed, she demanded access to a radio, whatever was going on, given what was at stake, the possible involvement of a missing American spy and some French Legionnaires, the Director needed to know. Was this all connected? It was time to inform the higher ups!
Edouard knew the far reaching tenacles of the DGSE, it could be a career ending move, he was mindful of the fact it was on their orders that he was assisting in the first place.
"Ok Major, we'll let you contact your bosses, but right now, the safety of this crew and my ship comes first!" he snarled at her.
Ilsa wasn't stupid, she was pushing things in an already dangerous situation, she knew Guillaud was right, she had her victory, it would have to do…. for now….
….
Across from them, unbeknownst to the forces gathering, operations proceeded, the eerie calmness of the passengers would have been starling to behold as they descended into the bowels of the liners, there had been many modifications to the two vessels.
All the berths had been removed, from the two liners, the Argo and the Salaminia, storage areas had been transformed into staging areas for several smaller submersibles, the passengers queued in an orderly manner, one would have been fooled this was all commonplace, except for their expressionless faces and the glowing trident pendants they wore.
One by one they entered the smaller craft and the hatch closed, within minutes the hissing of the pressurisation system started and then there was a shudder as the casting off procedures concluded, they descended into the depths.
Below them New Atlantis awaited. …..
….
Back on the surface their departure hadn't been unnoticed, helicopters had dropped sonar buoys into the waters, the Anti-submarine Destroyer captain had taken no chances once his sonar operators detected the motors of the departing craft.
Puzzled, he and his operators could only speculate on the destination. He ordered them to keep him informed, the battle outside was still raging at that point, the sleek attacking ships had confounded the larger ships with their speed, pulling off nautical manoeuvres that had the experienced Naval officers astounded, nonetheless they had superior firepower, and it was starting to tell. Hit after hit was rapidly taking down the enemy force, that was when the comms unit practically overloaded with a squeal of feedback that had them all wincing and throwing off their headsets, abruptly as it started it stopped.
Within minutes they had restored normal communications again, was this a weapon…?
…..
No, it wasn't, Philip Chen jumped with shock as the command authority over the ballast system came online, as a bonus, the communications array also responded, he quickly uploaded the program Robie had left him, a bleep told him the message was out there, now they just had to hope somebody heard… somebody friendly…
He turned to the ballast controls…... he started the sequence, there was a series of whoomphs from inside the station, it rocked in the sea, a klaxon sounded, lights flickered, and the room started to tilt… it was working!
Now they just had to hope it was enough and that they could make it off in time, he shivered at the thoughts of implosion…
….
It had been a close call, Sean dragged himself to the side of the console, it had been a desperate battle, he had heard the comms sing out from where it had fallen to the deck during the melee.
The three men lay in various poses unconscious around the floor, looks like he needed to work on his multiple attacker skills, to be fair he normally carried a weapon. He groaned in pain as he pushed the switch, he was overjoyed as the relay lit up… he turned as he heard a new sound behind him … three more men had entered the area… he cursed silently…
…..
Chief Engineer Wolff was clinging to the side of his workstation in a state of shock, one minute everything had been proceeding as planned, he'd risen to the right depth, deployed the communications array. Checked the signal to the satellite was still broadcasting, finished his final tests and then chaos ensued…
Although there had been no sign of Lord Autokhthon or Lasky for some time, he followed his orders, the new dawn was nearly upon them, he smiled as he looked around the room at his fellow crew and scientists, they also smiled the same eerie, empty smile.
The piercing shriek that burst from the communications array console had them all tearing off their headsets, screaming in pain… wide eyed he raced over to see a massive power surge, it breached all their safeties, their signal had been corrupted!
He barely had time to process that when a series of implosions shook the structure sending him flying back towards his station as the deck tilted, he pushed himself upright and watched in horror as the angle of the launch platform started dropping from its stable position… -5… -10 …. -15… the degree of angle kept dropping… the implication was clear… they couldn't launch and if this continued… they were on a one-way trip to the bottom of the sea!
…..
08th May. 2010. Kyoto, Japan. 01:20 local time.
Akio Minoru had been pulling an all-nighter when his computer lit up, the data stream that followed had been almost too fast to follow, he decompiled and stared to read… in seconds his coffee had hit the floor and he desperately reached for his now ringing mobile as he tried to hack the French military…
He hit answer, Mateo Lopez's voice came through. "Is this a joke? Please tell me this is a joke!" he pleaded, Akio was in the middle of ringing Delon's mobile through his system, he quickly added a voice modulator...
"No joke my friend. If this is true, and it's Chuck, we're all in serious danger….!" He concentrated again; the mobile number was out of signal!
Mateo gulped. "What can I do?"
"Alert the others... and then help me contact Chuck's commanding office Delon. Only he can alert the necessary forces…."
Akio ran a trace on the Lt's phone, punching through communications systems he quickly found the reason, a ping showed he was offshore… on a boat… he ran a cross triangulation on the whereabouts of the origin of the message, his face nearly dropped when he realised Delon was within two hundred miles of the location of the signal that he now realised had been sent from under the sea!
Windows popped up on his screen, Mike, Sven and Dieter, Meike and Paul soon followed, he let Mateo answer their queries, their white faces registered the shock of the situation, Akio quickly accessed a French Military communications satellite, the traffic was busy, he quickly got up to speed, Meike ran a running translation of the French forces, they quickly ascertained the identity of the Surcouf.
They quickly hacked in, there was an outgoing call to the DGSE! There was no time for subtlety, he punched in….
…..
Major Ilsa Trinchina was shocked when the handset went momentarily dead and then….
"I need to speak with Lt. Delon. NOW!"
From behind her Delon recognised the voice modulator from the mountain mission. His eyebrows shot up in surprise, Ilsa turned at his sharp intake of breath, seeing his face she immediately handed him the handset, he indicated to the comms officer to use an open system.
"Lt. Delon, I have urgent news from John Robie…."
"You mean Chuck Bartowski, CIA/NSA agent." Delon cut across the disembodied voice, this one seemed different to the last one, even with the voice modulator he could sense a younger energy.
Across the world, Akio sat back in surprise, he glanced at the open windows on his screen, the others showed their shocked faces at Delon's announcement.
There was no time for denials, Akio had information to impart. Any deflections would muddy the waters, brutal honesty was required now.
"I won't ask how you found that out, but I'll say this, he was no agent, a victim of circumstance that forced him into indentured service to his government's Intelligence services. That aside, he's in trouble, there's a madman with nuclear weapons planning an attack on the world, now do we help him deal with this or watch the world burn?"
Around the comm station another set of white faces bloomed, Delon grimaced, "What's the situation?"
Akio quickly filled them in, around the bridge of the French naval ship, fearful faces turned towards the ensuing conversation.
Ilsa Trinchina and Maggie Koh were rocked by the revelations, Delon not so much, he should have guessed Robie…. Bartowski didn't run, if he did it was towards danger, the man was a positive magnet for trouble and now it looked yet again, like he was going to be the difference between life and death for them all.
Akio concluded his briefing, just then the radar operator called their attention to the attacking craft. They had stopped.
The combined Italian and French forces did not. They quickly took advantage, destroying the enemy ships.
Capitaine Guillaud broke off a conference with his peers to take a quick briefing.
Eyes widening in shock, he quickly organised boarding parties with the other captains to take the two liners into custody.
Already lookouts posted were reporting activity on the decks, people were milling about, seemingly confused, they weren't the only ones.
Guillaud couldn't believe his ears when the sunken city was brought up!
He contacted the Languedoc captain to see what had happened to the submersibles, at least now they had a destination to monitor.
Ilsa Trinchina approached him again, Delon in tow, "Capitaine, we need to contact our superiors, none of us are of sufficient rank to command here considering the situation…."
Guillaud knew she was right, the rest of the Italians had arrived, this would need coordination.
"Get me Naval Command…."
….
Aubagne, Legion HQ.…...….
Col. Sabut's office door shot open and General Bouquin entered, Sabut rose immediately, the ingrained habits taking over even before his conscious mind registered. "Mon General!"
Bouquin returned a hasty salute.
"Col. follow me to the comm centre. We have a National Emergency on our hands…"
Sabut grabbed his kepi, puzzled but obedient he complied, falling to step beside his superior his eyes widened as Bouquin explained…
"Mon Dieu…." He whispered in a shocked tone.
They quickly entered the secure section of the comms unit, already the faces of the French President and Defence Minister stared down at them, on a split screen they recognised the Naval Chief Admiral Mazur, and on another the DGSE director Andre Dewavrin. Nobody looked happy.
Courriere looked at the General, "Jules! What the hell is going on? Is this the work of this rogue American spy I'm hearing about? This Charles Bartowski/John Robie? Is he Fulcrum?"
Bouquin smarted, bad news travels fast he thought. He collected his thoughts.
"Sir, we only found this out yesterday, the DGSE operative informed Lt. Delon who in turn informed Col. Sabut and myself, I immediately ordered his arrest. Since then, we were awaiting the confirmation of this."
He paused.
"This new situation has taken precedence over everything; however, I would remind you that in the last affair, he was very instrumental in dealing with that situation and… if the reports are to be believed, heavily involved in the current crisis, these are not the actions of an enemy, sir. "
The president and his defence minister looked at each other. "Andre, you're the spy, what's your thoughts?"
Andre Dewavrin was delighted to have an advantage over Bouquin, but he put that aside to ponder the evidence.
"This is either some elaborate American deep cover operation, the purposes allude me, or we have a rogue agent hiding out in the Legion for God knows only what reason but judging by his actions determined to help our forces again in a desperate situation. If we manage to survive this…."
"What?" demanded Courriere impatiently.
"I was just thinking, he might be a valuable asset to acquire…"
Bouquin rejoined the conversation, "That's a conversation for another day Andre, right now we have a more immediate threat, what are your orders M'sieu President?"
The Défense minister turned to the Admiral, "Mazur, what's the current situation…?"
Mazur had been listening to somebody reporting offscreen, he raised a hand for quiet. The others were annoyed but waited, the Admiral issued an order to the unseen entity. His screen blanked.
"Gentleman this is a recording of a conversation that was received by the Surcouf a half hour ago…. If I may…"
The distorted, disembodied voice of Akio filled the room detailing the plot, Callidis had prepared. The stunned silence that followed echoed everyone's dismay. This was unprecedented! Training took over.
The President and Défense minister were quick to recognize the best they could do was contact the Italian authorities and inform them of the news they had received.
Besides, the location to the hidden city was only accessible from the Naples area, this was going to be strictly on their terms unless the French were invited, from the initial naval reports it didn't seem likely, the Italians would have a score to settle.
As if on cue a new screen opened with the newly elected Italian Prime Minister, Gianetto Lucciano, looking less than happy and surrounded by several of his ministers and military leaders.
The Italian Intelligence Agency chief (Agenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Esterna) Admiral Bruno Parisi was also seen on a separate monitor.
As tense as things were Lucciano was an able leader, a born politician and diplomat, he kept a tight rein on the proceedings.
"Mr. President, I wish to thank you for your assistance in this current situation, however…. "
Courriere initially warmed by Lucciano's tone, now braced himself.
"… we have had a disturbing report from our forces onsite that a Nuclear threat is eminent, can you clarify?"
Gerard's head dropped, "I'm afraid your sources are correct, Prime Minister…"
There were audible intakes of breath on the Italian side, a glare from Lucciano settled things down, "Can you explain that Mr. President."
"Certainly…" he had the audio from the conversation between Delon and the Ghosts replayed.
The faces listening on the other side told their own story.
His face showing his distress, Lucciano turned to his Defence Minister Alvaro Moretti, there was a huddled conversation. The Minister grabbed a phone.
"What are your plans Prime Minister, perhaps we can help each other, your country was of assistance to us during the Deux Alpes incident."
Lucciano mulled that over, this was bigger than both their nations. An extra hand wouldn't hurt.
"I've commanded extra forces into the area. Including a Naval Hospital ship. I'm dispatching land forces to the coordinates to the land entrance to this… New Atlantis…"
Mazur had grunted in approval at the news of the Hospital ship.
Courriere nodded in satisfaction too, "Prime Minister, General Bouquin could assist there by sending the 2nd Rep from Corsica to augment those forces, he has them already prepared."
The Prime Minister and his Military leaders glanced at one another, seeing no objections he nodded, "that would be appreciated, Mr. President."
Bouquin grabbed a phone.
Lucciano looked at Courriere again, "That leaves the men on the undersea platform…"
Courriere smiled, a taut smile. "I have good news on that front, it's the same men that were at Deux Alpes, I think their record speaks for itself…"
Some warmth returned to the face of Lucciano, smiles also arose on his people's faces.
"That is good news indeed, hopefully we can support them, before it's too late…."
….
Beneath the waves of the Mediterranean … Final approach New Atlantis….
Things had settled down; the initial wave of hysteria had quietened down. The young people that were on the submersibles had 'awoken' as Robie had disabled the mind control console, it was one is a chain, from the companies Callidis had owned to his base and finally New Atlantis.
With one down the spell had broken, for a lot of people that had meant a sudden awakening over a mile beneath the sea. For Chief Scientist Maria Ricci the return to reality had been abrupt and frightening. But she was a recognised figure in the company hierarchy, and she soon had taken control within the craft.
She recognised one of the Engineers in her section, Rocco Ferri, he was examining the controls. It didn't take him long to figure out what they were in, his announcement that they were in a submarine of some sort sent shockwaves through the group of over a hundred people.
Cries of disbelief were soon hushed by Ricci and Ferri. He quickly organised a team of fellow engineers and they soon realised that it was fully automated on a preprogrammed course.
Their eyes bugged at the depth gauge though, wisely he only shared that information with Ricci.
A muted voice suddenly came from some previously unnoticed speakers, it sounded odd… "prepare for docking, Odyssey-5…"
With no options in sight, Ricci asked everyone to return to their seats and buckle up.
Nervously they complied. With no outside viewports it was a tense few minutes as the craft slowly came to a halt, the pressure started to equalize, the craft moved slightly as the sound of something clamping on the hull could be heard, and finally by a set of heavy double door a set of green lights flashed.
"Docking secure, I guess." said Ferri. Still, he cautiously approached the doors, checking with one of his fellow engineers on the docking mechanism, they were fully aware of the disastrous effects a poor seal would have. Instant depressurisation, they'd be crushed before their minds would have a chance to register the fact.
Gingerly he turned the inner locks, with a small hiss the seal broke, and the door opened.
There was a gantry outside and he walked out onto it, he found he bounced a little, testing its strength. Nothing to worry about, it was well made.
He spun as he was hailed by a familiar voice, another Engineer, Marcello Sacco, stood in what appeared now to be a cavern of some sort, he walked further out along the gantry, the craft had shielded him from the vastness of the area, looking back he could see the enormous inner doors he guessed they had passed through to access the docking station.
He saw three other docking stations, each with a small crowd he guessed similar to his group, that meant there was about four to five hundred people present!
He quickly ran to the end of the platform, a small elevator quickly filled, and they dropped a couple of stories to ground level, he stepped out and ran across to Marcello.
"Ciao, what's going on? Last thing I remember was a night out with the crew and then, poof! I wake up here!"
Marcello nodded, "I went to bed early after a double shift, we were assigned the new commission in building 8, same story…." He waved his hands excitedly, in the Italian way.
Rocco went to ask something else when a large bank of lights came on behind them at the far end of the cavern, they were blindingly bright, after the dimmed light of the submersibles they all blinked rapidly.
"Hey! Che palle!" came from the mostly Italian contingent.
In the distance figures could be seen approaching, Rocco blinked furiously, he was annoyed but… there was something odd about them, they seemed very tall… and thin and they moved …strangely.
He strained his vision to make them out.
Then the screaming started….
….
Undersea base….
Robie huffed impatiently, he had set off as soon as the first ballast tanks blew, he had told the others to get to the escape pods. Chen had grumbled with the others but it too far for them to attempt a rescue. Even with the destruction of the mind control device, they had no idea what the outcome was.
The best option was to stick to the plan and escape amid the chaos.
He'd done a quick check of the surface using the sonar and found the French and Italian forces engaged with the two liners; some had broken off and were on an inception course with their position, his last act had been to damage the electronics systems that had hidden the base from sonar protection. It looks like it had been a success, the Ghosts must have relayed their coordinates.
Right about now he figured, everybody who had any surveillance nearby should be registering them loud and clear, especially after the tanks blew.
He was in a hurry to get to Sean, this was not helped by the Erik and Carina, the toil of the interrogations and fights had caught up to them. He could make faster progress on his own, but he needed to get them safe first, his mind reeled with the plans to the base, the Intersect provided the nearest location to one of the pods.
He signed as Erik slowed again, winded, Carina heard him and glared. He was starting to get a really uncomfortable feeling at the way she had become very protective about Vanderlaan, it was almost like….
He shook his head, grinning, that was an absurd thought, he remembered Echo Park …spies don't fall in love….
…
Carina Miller was in overdrive, her mind racing, right now she was trying to understand the opening of long closed, locked and keys thrown away without a backward glance, doors within herself, all courtesy of the very tall and dare she admit, very handsome man she was currently manhandling (though not the kind of manhandling she was used to….) down a series of corridors in a goddamn undersea base, loaded to the gills with nuclear weapons.
Chuckles had finally given her the foot notes on the crazy plan, himself and his friends had concocted, she had to give kudos, so far it had worked and as a bonus she was freed and on a path to safety she long given up on.
Still the icing on the cake now, would be the serving of Chuck Bartowski's head to the powers that be back in Washington. Whatever desire she had had to help Walker get her hands on Bartowski had been thrown out the window when she had been thrown against the wall earlier. Not that she was vindictive, but to be perfectly frank, this Robie… scared the shit out her.
A person with his capabilities out there was a frightening prospect. And she had her orders.
As they moved, she scoured the decks looking for a weapon that would give her an edge, so far things weren't looking good….
…
Robie took a quick peek around a corner, he tried his comms again. "Sean, can you hear me?"
Nothing. The others caught him up. "Stay here!" Erik started to protest but Robie was already gone, poking his head around the same corner he watched as Robie accessed another internal comm station, whatever he saw had him swearing under his breath as he spun around.
"Come on!" he beckoned.
"Some friend." moaned Miller. Erik shot her a glance, "We're ALL friends, he's worried. Nobody wants a repeat of the mountain…"
"Mountain? What do you mean?" asked a confused Miller.
Erik pushed her along after Robie, drawing a breath, he answered, "Our first mission, in France, we got captured in a mountain by some psycho bitch…. present company excluded…." Carina slapped him on his chest.
"….. and that spy crowd Fulcrum…."
Carina slammed to a halt so fast, Erik yelped as she stepped on his foot. "That was you?! … sorry…."
Erik grimaced but nodded, "Yeah, we'd be dead if Robie hadn't freed us and figured out a plan, still, we lost some people. Robie doesn't like losing people."
Carina pondered that in silence. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe….
They had reached an open area, Robie came running up again, "Here, get those doors open, I'll keep watch."
"is it a quicker way?" Erik asked. Carina already turned to a small panel, she examined it, if in doubt hit the green button, she grinned as the doors opened, it was a small dark room, she started to enter…
Erik yelled and there was a violent shove from behind and she fell further into the room, Vanderlaan fell on top of her.
"Get off me, you big lunk!"
"NO! Robie, you asshole!" he screamed as he caught on.
Erik rolled to his feet as the doors closed, there was a hissing sound, Carina looked around as emergency lights switched on. She groaned; this was an escape pod!
Erik was pounding on the doors, a see thru panel showed a forlorn Robie looking at his friend, he mouthed I'm sorry and his hands touched something on the panel. The doors sealed audibly.
Carina stood beside Erik looking at Bartowski, he shrugged as he met her eyes. Then was an explosive release and they were adrift, rising fast.
Her last glimpse of Chuck Bartowski was his rapidly diminishing form as he ran up the corridor away from the pod… and safety…
External lights turned on and as she stared out the panel she gasped as she took in the sheer size of the undersea base, she watched as other pods broke off and joined them on their voyage to the surface.
Erik joined her and as they watched the base lurched to one side and then dropped slowly out of sight, trailing a massive cloud of escaping air.
Erik lost it at that, he slid to the floor, "Robie you stupid bastard, you killed yourself and Sean…you killed yourselves…. oh fuck…." He trailed off. Tears ran freely down his face.
Carina was a mixed bag as she sat down beside him, she was happy to have survived… with him, possibly saved the world… she pulled Erik's head into her arms, she heard herself murmur something soothing, his arms wrapped around her and he clung to her, shaking, and to her astonishment she found she didn't really mind, not at all…. she …. liked it. But what was she going to tell Sarah? Heaven help her…what was she going to tell Sarah?
…..
Robie hadn't even thought about it as he saw Sean engaging more guards, his resolve set, and he instantly knew he had to get the other two out of the equation.
Miller would never let him go, as soon as they made the surface, if the French didn't get him, she'd send the balloon up and Beckman would unleash Casey and Walker.
It was a wild idea at first, he hated the thoughts of hurting Erik but if he pulled this off, Erik's reaction would convince Carina. He started to smile and then he felt his face freeze, in a moment of clarity he wondered how he could have thought of doing something like this, like them, callously disregarding the feelings of others, as long as the mission objectives were met.
Self-introspection later, he admonished himself, he saw what he needed to make the plan work, he just needed to make them think it was real...
They halted beside some doors….
Moments later he sprinted down the corridor, it wasn't his phenomenal speed that made his eyes water…...
….
Chief Engineer Wolf had been on a personal quest himself when the platform lost integrity, they'd stabilised at -28 degrees, the damage to the ballast tanks had been bad, unfortunately not quite as bad as Maksym and Krzysztof has planned.
He and his crew still tried to implement the plan Lord Autokhython had entrusted them with. They accessed the damage, immediately they noticed that a couple of the ballast tanks were still operational, his engineer's mind explored some possibilities.
Could they….? He smiled that beatific smile again, they all did, Lord Autokhython would be pleased with their ingenuity, as he had promised, believing in him had brought clarity, their trident pendants shone brightly as the subliminal programming they were subjected to, forced all other considerations out of their thoughts, focussing them on solutions no normal person would have considered without due regard to safety…. the plan was all.
Swiftly they set about their work, if they could overload the burden on the remaining two ballast tanks, perhaps it was possible to attain the right depth again and they could achieve their launch, their hands swept across their keyboards, sirens and operating system warnings were overridden.
It was an impressive result, Wolff smiled again as the rerouting of power set the undersea base on an irreversible course. He hit the command just as Robie smashed the mind control console…
He staggered slightly, the pendants on their necks winked out, for a moment there was silence, memories long since supressed were released, it took a while, but events quickly caught them up, who they were, what had been done to them and more importantly…. what they had just done…
It was with a look of horror that Wolff realised exactly what they had done, he tried desperately to undo the sequence, but they had overridden every safety feature.
He held his face in his hands, he had doomed the base, the power surge might work, but then again… he heard the hum of the generators as they spooled up. They weren't nuclear, Callidis had a fortune but even he couldn't get nuclear material without attracting official notice.
Wolff and his teams had customised the original design of the base with the newest technologies but even they had their limits and he had long since pushed past those….
Another klaxon went off… an automated voice began….
…POWER OVERLOAD EMMINENT…. ABANDON SHIP…...
His crew watched as he slowly turned towards them, he raised his face… "GO!", he screamed.
They ran…...
…
Sean gasped, he kicked out, but the other man held firm, his hands closed tighter around Sean's throat as another guard scrambled to hold his legs still.
It hadn't seemed too bad at first, the first fight had badly winded him, the guards had been disjointed in their attacks but the strange trance they seemed to be in, slowed them down, unfortunately it also seemed to prevent them from the effects of pain.
As the last of them hit the ground he had shot across the floor, he didn't even bother with the comms as he quickly hit the relay Robie had shown him, he smiled grimly as it lit up, success.
Then the far door opened, and another three guards entered.
They immediately saw the others and advanced into the room, seconds later they saw him. He groaned but got to his feet. Murphy's Law, he figured….
They came with that silent trancelike appearance towards him, he grabbed a heavy wrench off the deck and waited for the first attack.
As he watched suddenly the trident pendants, they all wore blinked out, they shook their heads, they looked puzzled around each other and the room…
For a moment Sean relaxed, they spoke in Greek to one another, he figured they were friends, one by one they stopped though, they looked again at the bodies of the other men on the deck as if seeing them for the first time.
One of them darted over to one of the fallen men and shook his body, Sean had an ominous feeling as the man released the body that fell back on the deck, he looked over at Sean. Anger filled his face, he jumped to his feet and started screaming something at him.
Sean gulped as the other two men also faced him. Their faces were hard, they glanced at one another and then it was on…
They moved fast and as a team, Sean put his back to a wall and waited, this was going to be a harder test of his skills and they were fresh to the fight. He tried diplomacy.
"Look lads, this is all one big misunderstanding…" he repeated himself in French and Polish. No joy, that exhausted the limits of his linguistic abilities, they quickened their pace.
Well, he thought, best defence is a good offense, he hurled the wrench into the face of the first one, it made a satisfying crunch and the man crumpled from view, unfortunately it gave the other man time to fire off a quick one two that rocked an already unsteady Sean back and then the third one arrived, a low kick shot into his stomach, and he folded.
As he tried to regain his footing, they got too close and he managed a sneaky punch to the inside of a knee, the resulting grunt of pain let him know it had been a good one, a second boot to his abdomen robbed him of his chance to gloat though, and then he felt the heavy weight of the other man land on him, and a struggle began.
He felt his strength ebb as the man managed to get his hands around his throat after landing a vicious punch to his face, Sean tried vainly to counter, but his breathing drew ragged, he tried a low kick, but the other man merely grunted again and doubled his efforts, then he felt the weight of another land on his trashing legs, and he knew it was game over.
He wasn't giving up with out a struggle, he freed a hand trying to hook an eye, but the other lowered his head, right into the path of a very large foot that nearly tore his head off on impact!
Sean gasped as another shadow fell over him and he twisted his head around to see a very angry looking Robie as he grabbed the other man off Sean and proceeded to smash him off a wall.
After a few close ups of the wall's surface, he went limp and Robie dropped him like an old newspaper.
Sean wheeled over to his attacker, who at this point had stopped seeing stars and was attempting to find his nose which Robie's boot had spread over a large portion of his face, it was a bloody ruin, Sean added insult to that, by drawing back his own foot and taking careful aim unleashed a barrage of kicks until he too, joined his pals in the land of Nod.
"Can't leave you alone for a moment before you start trying to hog all the fun!" snarked Robie as he sat down beside his friend. He had snagged the First Aid kit before he had left the control room.
He pulled out a few wipes, handing them to Sean who started to clean himself up.
"Har Har! Where's Prince Charming and the Princess of Dubious Pleasure?", he scowled.
"I'm afraid you'll have to forgo the satisfaction of a good arse reaming until we get out of here!"
"You let her go?" asked a surprised Sean.
"Had to get them out, otherwise I never would have made it here… in time…" He trailed off as he handed the other man some bandages for his ribs, Sean had run his fingers expertly over his body, he didn't think any were broken, but he wasn't ruling a fracture or two out. He gritted his teeth as he wound them tightly around his torso.
"Besides…" Robie continued, "…if she thinks I'm trapped down here or better yet…"
"Dead…", smiled Sean through a grimace, "…my God, that's positively inspired, we can still get you out of here and hopefully out of France, nobody will be any the wiser!"
"That's the idea…" Said Robie morosely, Sean heard the change in tone, he looked up at Robie. Well, it was Chuck now, he sighed.
"It's the best we can do for the moment mate, hopefully we can find a new identity for you in Ireland, at least you're loaded now… Chuck."
Chuck started at that, but he nodded in the affirmative anyway, Sean had a point, now they just had to find a way off this station. Just then klaxons started blaring, the noise was muted by the roaring of generators, both men stood.
"That doesn't sound right…" murmured Chuck, he ran to a console, some Piranha magic and he had the system display the current situation, he gasped as he realised what the crew had attempted.
"What's going on?" Sean asked, he had seen the colour drain for Chuck's face.
"They've attempted to correct the sabotage we committed, but they bypassed every safety to do so…" he pointed to some layouts on the screen. Sean could see warning signs and red flashing symbols all over the place.
"Is there anyway to abort?" he asked hopefully. Chuck shook his head, "They blew out most of the circuits from what I can see, and I wouldn't have the slightest clue where to start. Even with the help of the Intersect!" He moaned.
He grabbed Sean's arm. "We've got to get out of here…NOW!"
…..
Back on the surface, the many escape pods had bundled together, Philip Chen looked around, they had removeable covers on the tops of the pods, and he already had joined up with Antoine and Maksym and Krzysztof, they had been the first to make it to the surface.
He was worried though, there had been no sign of the others, regret filled him, all of sudden a plethora of pods bobbed to the surface, they opened, and a lot of stunned faces were looking around, some of them hailed him, he baulked at answering at first, but they seemed more confused about their circumstances than anything else.
Reluctantly, they agreed to start helping them out, another pod broke the surface and after a few moments the top drew back and he recognised the gorgeous redhead as she cautiously surveyed the situation, his heart jumped as Erik's head appeared beside her, but no Robie or Sean.
"Hey!" he yelled out, instantly their heads swivelled in his direction and Erik gave him a wave. Philip made sure his pod was broadcasting its emergency signal and then he was over the side swimming strongly toward the other two.
Clambering on board he winced as he took in the injuries the other two had sustained.
"You ok, Erik, Ms Miller?"
Carina had eyed the other man dubiously, his physique was as honed as Erik's, so she knew they were probably in the unit Erik had told her about.
"Yes, does everybody know my name?" she nudged Erik.
He reddened slightly, "Emm…", she hid her smile as he floundered.
"I'm Philip…". Carina nodded, "I heard you over the comms."
Erik found his voice. "Robie, kind of told us you were a friend…. of his ex…." His expression confirmed that wasn't all Bartowski had told them, she could guess the rest.
The concern was evident in his tone, his next question confirmed it.
"Where's Robie and Sean?"
Erik looked away, "Heroic moron tricked us and went after Sean himself, they're still down there!"
Chen's face dropped, Miller guessed Bartowski had done his usual routine and made lifelong friends.
She started to ask her own questions when a ships klaxon made them all jump, and they turned to see a small fleet approaching them.
"Looks like the Cavalry's arrived".
Philip nodded, "Robie's friends must have contacted Delon."
Carina's head whipped around at that piece of news; she pondered its significance. So Bartowski's hacker friends were providing overwatch, that was interesting and answered a few questions she guessed about how they missed Bartowski in Ireland.
They watched a small number of patrol boats get dropped over the side and make their way towards them.
Philip smiled, "Hopefully we can find some way of reaching the others", he said hopefully.
He waved at some French Navy seamen that approached their pod, they had recognised Philip's wetsuit as one of their own.
After a quick exchange, Philip and the others boarded the patrol boat, they headed for the nearest ship.
….
Unbeknownst to them the captains of the assembled fleet had already been in conference with their separate commands, as soon as they detected the massive undersea base, their orders had been clear.
Dispose of the threat by any means. Land forces would deal with the Sunken City by engaging what forces remained. By mounting an assault through the entrance near Naples. The naval part of the operation was top secure the nuclear weapons or destroy them.
Captain Guillard approached Delon and the others, "It's official, if we can't secure the base, we've been ordered to ensure its rendered inoperable …."
"What does that mean?" asked Maggie Koh, her voice laced with worry.
"Complete destruction of the target", Ilsa informed her, "It's the only way to be sure".
"But what about your men. Lt Delon?" she cried.
"They are Legionnaires. Grooms of Death…." He turned away, it was every officer's nightmare, the loss of men, but this was the Legion way. He just wished he hadn't liked them as much as he did, they were more than just 'his men'.
Ilsa went to leave the conference room, she had also attended the meeting, she had her orders and made her goodbyes.
Maggie looked at her, "Where are you going?" Ilsa looked around carefully before replying, "Rendezvous with a Submarine rescue ship, after… after I'm to join the salvage operation, the Russian missiles... they are a new type… Bulava, if our mutual friend's hacker's information is correct"
She didn't need to say more, there was a snort of disgust from Delon… it was spy shit.
The orders were given, hostage rescue then The Languedoc and Italian Frigate Grecale would depth charge the base, a naval undersea operation would use the combined forces to salvage the nuclear weapons at a later stage.
As plans went it was very ad hoc, Guillard knew it all hung on the hope that the men on board the base had disabled the weapons as they were about to disable the launch vehicle.
When the base popped up on sonar suddenly there had been gasps at the size of it. A drop of sonar buoys had further conformed the dimensions, there had been consternation back on land in the separate command centres.
A sea-based assault was ruled out immediately, it was still submerged! Inbound Submarines were a while off and they quickly realised they'd need specialised submersibles with universal docking ports just to attempt entry, then the unknown force size and defensive capabilities gave pause.
Almost immediately, Lucciano and Courriere issued commands that the base was to be contacted and instructed to surrender or face the consequences. They didn't realise that most of the crew had already abandoned ship, their demands went unanswered.
As they had approached the site an E-3 had assumed station relaying real time information back to command, they saw the pods as they surfaced. The fleet was informed, and the Italian Hospital ship Etna made haste. A DGSE ship, Alise, was also en route it was partnered with the Italian Submarine rescue ship Anteo.
The captains nominated the Andrea Doria as the command ship, they were in Italian waters, the Surcouf to second them, Guillard was honoured as the French liaison. He disappeared shortly after for the conference, only Trinchina had been allowed attend.
Then they arrived, rescue operations had begun, quickly the pods were emptied or towed out of the area, the two ships swung around and began their approach.
Delon and Koh stepped out onto the fore deck surrounding the bridge. They watched the patrol craft approach the ship; the rescued base personnel poured aboard to the waiting armed sailors who moved them towards designated areas.
Thery suddenly heard shouts from the lower decks, they peered over the railings and Maggie gasped as she recognised Philip and Erik with some statuesque redhead, Delon spotted Antoine and the two Ukrainians waving at him.
He sprinted for the steps with Koh on his heels, joy in both their hearts, he wondered if the others had made it too.
….
As they neared a French ship, Maksym tapped Philip on the shoulder, "I think they attack ship." Chen turned and saw the two navy ships start to swing about, he gasped, Robie and Sean were still missing!
He watched in horror as they started to prepare the depth charge launchers. Bigos grew very animated and started screaming something at Kovalenko in their language.
Maksym's eyes widened. He started shouting at the French sailors to get them on board as fast as possible. Whatever he said had an immediate impact and the patrol boat shot forward gunning it's engines towards a ship called the Surcouf.
They quickly hitched to the side, and everyone disembarked, as soon as they hit the deck, armed sailors escorted them to a fore deck that had been cordoned off, Maksym started shouting and pointing at something. Philip looked up and his jaw dropped as he saw Delon and Koh!
He started screaming their names, he nearly jumped for joy when they responded, he watched as they made their way down from the bridge.
He had barely time to open his mouth when Maggie Koh slammed into his arms, kissing him for all she was worth. He stumbled slightly as he opened his eyes, she smiled at him, then drew back and a resounding slap was heard across the deck.
"That's for scaring the life out of me!" She screamed. The stunned Philip barely had time to respond before she grabbed him close again for another deep kiss. "And that's for coming back to me…" she breathed at a slightly dazed Chen, rubbing his sore cheek.
An amused Carina hid her face before Erik's broad shoulders as a serious looking officer approached, she felt Erik stand to attention and salute. Philip did his best to as did three other men she just noticed that joined them, all wearing similar wetsuits to Chen.
"Sir, we need to stop the attack!" Erik began. Delon raised his hands, "It's a direct order from the top, Vanderlaan, where's Murphy and Robie… Bartowski…" He glanced around the area.
"You don't understand Lt. …" Maksym began, "… we have to stop the depth charges… all we did was stop launch, warheads are still armed! All twenty of them, multiple warheads!"
Delon's face whitened in shock, he could envisage the devastation, the tsunami alone in the enclosed Mediterranean would wipe out most coastal areas from Northern Africa to Spain! "And the others!"
"Still on board," said Erik. "They never made it off!"
Delon raced to an intercom system, he quickly raised the bridge, Guillard to his credit responded fast.
"What is it, Lt. Delon?"
Delon hastily explained, the other officer's eyebrows shot to the top of his forehead, "MON DIEU…!"
He sprinted to the comm station, the comms officer had already contacted the attacking ships, he screamed into the radio, "Stop the attack, STOP THE ATTACK!"
The sound of the depth charge launchers filled the air outside and he looked at horror at the splashes they made as they disappeared beneath the sea to their target….
….
Across the bay, at the landing coordinates Major Hubert Perrault folded his parachute as he watched the Legion air transports recede into the distance, some the Rep were still landing as he noticed a large convoy of Italian Military ARVs and troop transports approach.
A large Iveco ACM 80 pulled up beside and a large Italian officer jumped out and marched over to Perrault, they exchanged salutes, Perrault recognised the rank of Colonnello (Colonel) and he also recognised the unit flashes they were the 9th Paratroopers Assault Regm. He was in some exalted company.
"Col. Tomasso Bertelli. Major?" He acknowledged.
"Hubert Perrault. Where do you want me Col.? "
Tomasso smiled, they were off to a good start. He looked around, "Longo!" A man ran up and saluted. "Si Colonnello?"
"Where are we going?"
Longo quickly took a glance at a GPS and pointed to an outcropping a kilometre ahead.
"Mount up Major!" The French officer signalled his unit to board the carriers and they were off.
Minutes later they all jumped down, forming up into units, carefully they approached the cavern opening, advance scouts had already reported back no guards or surveillance of any sort.
For a moment the two officers wondered if their information was correct, it was Bertelli who first noticed the ground was more flattened than usual. Bending down he waved aside some mountain grasses and grunted with satisfaction. Perrault saw what he had noticed. Heavy tire tracks, this area had seen some traffic.
Thay advanced towards the opening, it was pitch dark inside, they quickly donned their IR and stepped inside, it only took few minutes before the advance party summoned them over.
The two men were surprised to see a number of shunters parked up side by side and in the distance, they could make out the outlines of a number of shipping containers stacked high.
The blue company logo of Neptune holding a Trident conformed they were in the right place; it was an easy job to follow the tracks to a seemingly large wall of rocks.
The sounds of Generators firing up reached their ears and they took off their googles just as the chamber lit up with banks of hidden lights.
They approached the wall, the tracks seemed to disappear under the wall. They smiled at each other. It took another few minutes before they found the hydraulic controls and it was with some satisfaction they watched a s the false wall slowly opened to a rumble of gears.
Beyond they gasped, a set of large lifts had been installed. They ran over, Bertelli found the controls, dismantled, he summoned a combat engineer specialist, Perrault did the same, they quickly examined the controls and set to work.
The two officers let them at it.
"Well Major, at least we don't have to climb down." Perrault nodded. "They'll know we're coming…" The Col. smiled, "I never mentioned the men" Perrault grinned. They made their plans…
….
The two men dashed through the Undersea base, the screaming of overloading generators and alarms filled their ears.
"Where to Chuck?" Sean gasped as he regained his breath. Chuck was already tapping away at a wall console.
Chuck eyed a large 4 painted on the deck wall, "One deck up…. according to the system, there's a pod on that level…"
A large shockwave sent the two of them flying and implosion after implosion could be heard from the sea outside.
"Jesus Christ! They're depth charging us!"
There was a loud groan of gears locking, and the generators gave up the ghost of trying to raise the base to launch depth, Wolff's desperate plan had failed, the deck shifted ominously and suddenly the sound of rushing water and buckling metal could be heard.
Lights flickered and the two men stared in shock at one another, the deck lurched, and they slammed into a bulkhead, wide-eyed Chuck grabbed Sean and pulled him through an open entrance, spinning the handwheel as fast they could as they did, they heard the water splashing against the far side.
"What the hell do we do now?" Sean asked.
For once Chuck was at a loss….
…
Back on the Surcouf, Guillard acknowledged the attack had been halted, he quickly joined Delon and the others at the Sonar station.
Delon met his eyes and shook his head.
They had avoided catastrophe, but the return signal was clear, the base was sinking…...
…