Counter Poised (32 page)

Chapter 42

“Captain, we’ve got trouble!”

Not again.
George looked up from the navigation plot.

Lieutenant Johnson had just returned from another reconnaissance mission. George had slowed the
Louisiana
as they approached the ninth island in the Kermandec chain to launch Johnson’s reconnaissance mission toward the island and into the region beyond.

“What have you got, Lieutenant?”

Lieutenant Johnson, usually quiet and reserved, was bursting with excitement. Words tumbled out of his mouth almost too fast to understand. “Sir, we searched ahead all the way to the ninth island. We were there just about dawn, and we heard it clear as a bell!”

“Slow down, Lieutenant. You heard
what
?”

“Oh, sorry, Captain. Seaman Teague was on the sonar, and he heard a diesel boat that had been running on the surface during the night, and then they dived and went quiet. Well,
pretty
quiet…but not quiet enough! We were close enough to record the entire transition. As soon as Seaman Teague gets down here with the tape, we can analyze it in the
Louisiana
’s sonar computer. We should be able to get a positive ID on her, sir.”

“Good job, Lieutenant. Remind me to put in a good word for you next time I see the admiral.”

They all laughed. “Thank you, sir,” Lieutenant Johnson joked. “But at this point, I don’t think any number of good words would put me in good stead with any admiral!”

Just then, Seaman Teague ran into the control room with the tape. The XO grabbed the tape and handed it over to Petty Officer MacKenzie. “Run this through for analysis, Mac. We need an answer right now.”

“Aye-aye, sir.”

MacKenzie loaded the tape into the sonar computer and began to run it through for audio analysis. It didn’t take long. Within a minute the computer display showed, “
Kilo
-class SS.”

“Whoa,” said the captain. “Who could that be way out here? Chinese? North Korean?”

“Those would be my guesses,” said the XO. “Most likely another Chinese boat coming to take the place of the one we disabled.”

Within another minute the type class had been narrowed down to a specific submarine: “
Yunes
. Nationality: Iran.”

The crew was stunned.

The captain and XO stood side-by-side studying the computer display. “What’s an Iranian
Kilo
doing way out here in the middle of the Pacific?” mused the captain. “This makes no sense. Iranian submarines rarely leave port, and when they do, they’re almost always used for coastal patrol in the Persian Gulf. What do you make of it, XO?”

“It’s highly unusual, but certainly not impossible for an Iranian
Kilo
to be out here,” responded the XO. They do have transoceanic range. I’m just surprised the Iranians would have the training and the logistics necessary to pull this off.”

“Let’s say that they do. You know, there
is
a theory that an Iranian
Kilo
, in fact the
Yunes
, has made a transoceanic voyage once before. The question, then, is why is she out here now?”

The XO looked at George, well aware of the evidence pointing to the
Yunes
as the submarine that delivered the nuclear warhead used in Washington DC. “Maybe they were sent out to stop
us
. If they believe we’re headed for the Indian Ocean to wipe out the Muslim world, that puts them squarely in the crosshairs.”

“Could be,” replied the captain thoughtfully. “It would make sense to send out their most capable submarine and crew as a first line of defense. Right?”

“Right.”

The captain met eyes with the XO, and in that instant they could read each other’s minds.

George made his decision. “Well they’re sitting between us and Kermandec Number Nine, so we’ve got to take them out. XO, this one is yours. You and MacKenzie are launching at midnight! That will give us a few more hours to close on their position, and the shorter range will give you more loiter time on station.”

“Aye-aye, sir. We’ll brief and make the preparations!”

The XO and MacKenzie started out of the control room. The captain called after them down the passageway, “XO, load the sub-fighter with
armor-piercing
rockets. We can’t afford to have the
Yunes
bobbing on the surface radioing our position to the world. She’s too close to the final transfer point. I want the
Yunes
put on the bottom. Understood?”

“Yes, sir! Perfectly clear!”

Chapter 43

The
Yunes

The captain and XO stood in the Yunes’s tiny, cramped control room. The captain was putting on a foul weather jacket and raising the hood in preparation for going aloft to join the officer of the deck (OOD) and the lookout on the bridge at the top of the Iranian submarine’s sail.

“Captain, we are halfway across the Pacific. We are making good time. In another week, we will reach the coast of South America. We can then sail north in shallower waters until we reach our rendezvous point off Southern California.”

“That is good. Has there been any indication that the Americans are aware of our deployment?”

“They know that we deployed, Captain. But there is no indication they know where we are. By deviating to the south we have avoided their underwater listening posts. We should be able to deliver the nuclear weapon to the al-Qaeda operatives on schedule for the destruction of Los Angeles.”

“It is a privilege to serve Allah in this glorious way. It was quite frustrating to serve merely as a decoy when the North Koreans delivered the weapon used in Washington DC. Now we have the opportunity to show that Allah will crush the unbelievers.”

“Yes, Captain, it is truly an honor.”

“I must go aloft to supervise preparations for the dive. Make preparations below.”

“Yes, Captain.”

SF-1

The XO and MacKenzie glided silently through the South Pacific waters in SF-1.

“How are your systems working, Mac?”

“Excellent, XO. Everything is up.”

“Good. Keep an ear out for the
Yunes
. They’re probably the bastards that delivered the DC nuke. I’m planning a little special treat for her.”

“Special treat, sir?”

“Well, based on our calculations, we should find her just before dawn. She’ll still be running on the surface using her diesels, so she shouldn’t be very difficult to find.”

“Yes, sir. I expect to pick her up from twenty or more miles away.”

“True, and that makes our job very easy. The thing I don’t like about this scenario is that most of her crew will still be asleep. Now you can call me twisted or anything else you want, but I don’t like the fact that that these bastards are going to die in their sleep. I’d rather they die all tensed up.”

“I am with you on that one, XO. Either you’re
not
twisted or we both
are
!”

“Good man, MacKenzie.”

“So what’s the plan?”

“Have you ever heard of
thumping
someone?”

“No, sir.”

“Well it’s a fighter-pilot practical joke, and it goes something like this. Many times when flying off the carrier, a fighter—we’ll just call him Mad Dog—has to conserve fuel in order to stay airborne until his designated landing time. To conserve fuel he slows down and flies at
max conserve
airspeed—let’s just say about two hundred and fifty knots.”

“Okay.”

“Now when one of Mad Dog’s buddies with plenty of fuel looks down from above and spots him flying at max conserve airspeed, he decides, ‘Hey, there’s Mad Dog down there at max conserve. I gonna go thump him!’ The buddy then dives from high and behind poor Mad Dog to achieve five hundred knots or more, and he flies directly under Mad Dog—just a few feet below him. Once past the nose of Mad Dog’s aircraft, the buddy pulls back hard on the stick, blasting up in front of Mad Dog just in front of his windscreen. Mad Dog, flying along at max boredom, suddenly sees nothing but
jet
for an instant and then flies through his buddy’s jet wash and gets tossed around in his cockpit. He just got thumped!”

“That’s cool! So what do you have in mind, XO?”

“I want to do something that will wake up everybody on the

Yunes
and give the OOD a heart attack. And then I want to kill them all.”

The
Yunes

The captain climbed up through the hatch and joined the OOD and lookout on the bridge. In the east, the dawn, rosy fingered, was upon them. In the increasing light, the stars were disappearing and the horizon was becoming visible.

“All is well, Captain. We have not spotted any traffic this night. In fact, no traffic has been seen since we passed the Kermandec Islands yesterday.”

“Good. We should be able to make this passage undetected, Allah willing. It is now time to make preparations to dive. I have the conn.”

“Yes, Captain.” The OOD called below, “The captain has the conn.”

“You two go ahead and start down, I will follow.”

The lookout started down when suddenly, there was a tremendous roar! Just beyond the bow of the submarine an object arose from the depths at tremendous speed and flew into the air! A jet of water spewed from its tail deafening the captain and the OOD. As the object nosed over and reentered the water, the waterjet blasted the bridge, knocking the astonished captain and OOD off their feet!

Regaining his composure, the captain grabbed the nearest headset and shouted, “General Quarters! General Quarters! All hands man your battle stations!”

Alarms began ringing throughout the
Yunes
.

“Get below!” the captain ordered the dazed OOD, who immediately scrambled down the ladder.

“Dive! Dive! Emergency dive!” the captain yelled into the headset. He scanned the sea around the
Yunes
, but there was no sign of the roaring object that had blasted its way into their otherwise boring morning. The captain closed the hatch to the sail and climbed down the ladder to the control room.

When the captain arrived below, the control room was in total chaos! In a state of panic, the OOD was excitedly telling everyone Allah had cursed this mission and had sent a giant dragon from the deep to destroy them.

“Believe me,” the OOD was telling them. “I saw it with my own eyes. It spewed us with water and knocked us down!”

People shouted, “The vengeance of Allah is upon us!” and dropped to the deck in submission.

“Stop! Listen to me!” the captain shouted. “It was not a dragon. It was a machine. It was an enemy submarine contrived by the infidels. We must dive and attack it. Everyone get to your battle stations!”

The crew began to rise and return to their stations.

“No!” yelled the OOD. “It was not like a submarine. It was too small for a submarine and it was too fast. And it flew through the air! Submarines do not fly! It was evil and it will destroy us! Allah is angry!”

Once again the crew began to panic. The captain reached under his foul weather jacket and pulled out the pistol he always carried. Taking aim, he shot the OOD through the heart!

The chaos and panic immediately stopped.

“We are on a mission ordained by Allah. That does not mean there will not be obstacles. We have an enemy to defeat. Man your battle stations and we will defeat the infidels.”

Solemnly, the crew returned to their battle stations, stepping over the lifeless body of the OOD.

“Dive! Dive!” the captain ordered.

The
Yunes
began to submerge.

“Load torpedo tubes one and two.”

“Passing two hundred feet, Captain,” reported the diving officer.

The
Yunes
shuddered as an explosion was heard aft.

“Damage Control, report!” yelled the captain.

“Flooding in the battery compartment, port side!” came the answer.

“Damage control team to the battery compartment!” ordered the captain.

The XO turned to the captain. “Shall we continue our dive, Captain? If the batteries become flooded we will have no power. We should return to the surface so that we can use the diesels.”

The captain was uncertain. Continuing the dive could be fatal, but returning to the surface would make them useless against the enemy submarine.

The
Yunes
shuddered again as another explosion was heard aft.

This time, the call came without asking. “Flooding in the battery compartment,
starboard
side!”

“Surface!” yelled the captain.

“We have lost power to the engines, Captain! The batteries have shorted out!” reported the XO.

“Blow emergency ballast!”

“The port and starboard ballast tanks have been destroyed!”

A tremendous explosion in the control room knocked everyone to the deck. Once again, there was total panic. Water blasted in through a gaping hole on the starboard side. The lights went out.