by KA Hopkins
The sudden halt destroyed the entire drive system. It ripped the transmission clutches from their mounts, damaged the steam turbines, the reduction gearing, driveshaft and thrust blocks. Of all the damage, the bending of the drive shaft was the worst as it caused the water tight seal between the propeller and stern thrust blocks to crack, allowing a high pressure stream of near freezing water to enter the drive train room. The water was under such pressure at 800 feet, it cut through the protective metal casing around the electrical circuits for the compartment - within seconds main lighting was lost, plunging the compartment into coal black darkness. Red emergency overhead lighting came on, as water began to flood the compartment.
The Propulsion NCO on duty, without waiting for orders, started an emergency shutdown to cut reactor steam to the steam turbines, but the damage was done. The thirty-six inch diameter drive shaft was severely bent - repairs required the services of a dry dock.
The propulsion NCO kept a cool head despite being plunged into near total darkness when the power failed. He managed to find the ship interphone, “bridge, engine room, catastrophic failure of the propeller has damaged the entire drive train, we have uncontrolled flooding in the compartment, no chance of restoring propulsion at sea!” His status report was perfect, short and concise, outlining the problem, assessment and resolution in only a few seconds. He then ordered everyone out of the section. The weight of the rising water flooding the compartment put the boat into a thirty degree stern-low attitude that forced him to close the watertight hatch from the flooded side. He hoped his sacrifice was worth it.
Without seeking any other damage reports, the Captain ordered, “emergency blow all tanks.” The chief of the watch reached up and hit the emergency blow activator in the ballast control panel, blasting large amounts of compressed air into all ballast tanks. If the displaced water in the ballast tanks was not greater than the water in the flooded compartment (around 2700 tons or fifteen percent of the total ship mass), Big Lou would never again see sunlight.
The emergency ascent caused Big Lou, all 560 feet of her, to pop half her length out of the water like a mythical sea creature, and then crash back into the ocean, slowly rolling side-to-side with the gentle ocean swell. A similar scene unfolded twenty-four times around the globe. Not all sub crews were so well trained; four subs failed to blow in time, sunk to crush depth and were lost with all hands aboard.
The Captain’s nonstop drills and training paid off. From explosion to emergency blow activation took under thirty seconds; the 800 feet emergency ascent took less than a minute-and-a-half. Thanks to the quick actions of the crew, flooding was minimized in the damaged drive train compartment. Much to the surprise of the propulsion NCO, he was still alive; wet and nearly frozen, but very much alive.
With the sub on the surface, Captain Roper deployed the emergency distress beacon which a passing military satellite picked up and notified COMSUBPAC of the accident. On a secure communications channel, he requested ocean class salvage tugs and a sub tender, avoiding the normal VHF distress marine band. It was bad enough that the pride of the USA SSBN fleet was crippled and on the surface, but if a Russian or Chinese vessel was the first to render assistance, it would only add insult to injury.
With the boat on the surface, a crew member un-dogged the top hatch and climbed into the surface conning tower, to provide top-side watch. He was quickly followed by Captain Roper and his officer of the watch. It was a good day to be on the surface, sunny, warm, with only a small ocean chop of three to five feet. Looking back over the stern of the boat, Captain Roper could see damage to the vertical tail, which was bent almost ninety degrees to one side. He radioed down to an officer of the watch, “Damage report, causality report, get the injured medical assistance and if they are still in once piece, get me the ship’s divers up here ASAP.”
During the time it took to find and have Mother drop RAVs on the boomers at sea, operators paid visits to the U.S. Navy boomer submarine bases at: Kings Bay, GA, Bangor, WA and their counterpart bases in Russia, the UK, France, and China. Since the Wallys could independently find their targets, the QRF team did not bother getting any closer than fifty miles to the bases, which meant the base security teams had no indication of a pending attack.
The Wallys swam around the sub pens for weeks without being noticed. Upon receiving the attack order they needed only a few minutes to swim to the subs from their hiding places and attach themselves to each of the propellers. Waterproof adhesive that set in seconds extruded from their bellies securely attaching the mechanical fish to the propeller blades. The secure bond channeled the explosion, concentrating the blast wave shearing the blades from the propeller hub. The only boomers missed were the ones in dry dock; but when a boomer is in dry dock, the missiles are removed so there is no possibility of a missile launch.
The mission was an outstanding success. No superpower on Earth could now launch a preemptive or retaliatory submarine nuclear attack. Boomers that managed to find replacement propellers and go out on patrol, no matter how radical the patrol routes, quickly needed a tow home. Mother and Guide easily tracked them down and destroyed their drive systems within fifty miles of their home ports. After damaging two boomers repaired just days before, the superpowers got the hint and very quietly, without any press releases, restricted all boomers to their home ports. We now had the superpowers’ full attention. They had absolutely no intelligence or knowledge of any credible group capable of or claiming responsibility for the attacks. Unlike terrorist groups we had no intention of seeking the media limelight.
Using a nuclear weapon to wipe out the senior management of NSA and disabling all of the boomers sent a loud and clear message. It scared the everliving crap out of the Global Elite, putting them into full panic mode. They had no idea what to do, having had everything their own way for so long.
It was quite the opposite reaction with the supreme commander of all alien forces on Earth.
Chapter 26 - Bad news for the thirteen families
Dracos have common names, but they only use them in the most informal of situations. They prefer to use their titles for anything formal, which included all daily activities in their society. The head of the Draco Earth acquisition and pacification force was called His Glorious Supreme Pan-Galactic Leader. The full title was always used, no abbreviations were allowed, which made talking with any Draco a long and labored effort - it’s a good thing they did not like casual conversation much. Since we were already well on our way to the top of everyone’s shit list (or soon would be, once they figured out who we were) how much more trouble could we get in by insulting the head of the most powerful alien race in this sector of space? I referred to him as Old Lizard Face.
Old Lizard Face was thousands of years old. His race had long ago cracked the challenges of aging, giving his species near immortality. Living forever sounds great at first, but it does have its drawbacks. Boredom and apathy are real concerns - having such long lives doesn’t motivate one to get anything done quickly. Innovation was unheard of in Draco society; the old technology and traditional ways were always considered the best. Their birthrate was near zero, which was to be expected given how antisocial and bad tempered Dracos are - even amongst their own species.
Without the establishment of new trade routes and the conquest of new alien races to run their empire, the Draco would quickly die out as they had long ago lost the ability to do much of anything for themselves. No Draco would ever consider working at anything that resembled a service or blue collar job. Their society was heavily dependent upon slave races to run all public services and provide advances in mathematics, engineering, physics, chemistry and manufacturing. The only area of Draco society that showed any great innovation was their military, which was stronger than the next ten most powerful alien species put together. It had to be, as the Draco Empire was under the constant threat of war over expanding trade routes and disputed planets needed to provide the raw resources to feed their empire.
&nb
sp; Old Lizard Face had spent 150 years on Earth. Soon, the pacification operation would be complete and he could get off this miserable rock with its variable weather and abundant moisture. Only in places like Death Valley or the deserts of the Middle East did Earth have a climate worthy of a Draco.
Earth was his fourth mission assignment. Up to this point his career had been brilliant. With Earth conquered, he could look forward to a senior role back home, giving him immense power and status. Never before had he failed to deliver a planet and its population ahead of schedule, completely subservient to the Draco Empire. He was not about to fail now.
Sitting in his office, surrounded by status screens with the details of the various alien operations ongoing on Earth, he was not impressed with the latest reports. Nor was he angry, as unchecked anger (a common trait with his species) too easily clouded his judgment. Anger, while helpful in a fight to overcome and suppress fear, had no place in determining long term strategy. Cold hard logic and critical thinking was what he required.
He skimmed the reports of the missing alien scout ships, the accidental nuclear explosion that killed the top management of NSA; noted the resultant loss of control over the NSA facilities and the disabling of all nuclear ballistic missile submarines in a single coordinated worldwide attack. One event may be bad luck, two coincidence, but all of them together - not possible. Someone on Earth was actively using advanced technology, perhaps alien technology, to disrupt his carefully formulated plans.
Pressing the call button on his personal communicator, permanently bonded to his arm, a holographic image of his Second-in-Command appeared - a tall white Gray. The tall white Grays were from the same planet as the shorter Grays but were superior in every aspect. Before their planet had obtained space travel, the tall Grays had conquered their world and enslaved their shorter cousins. As a result, the tall Grays were gifted administrators - thanks to 75,000 years of slavery. When their planet was assimilated into the Draco Empire they had no trouble adapting, and in short order became an integral part of Draco society with considerable influence on day-to-day Draco affairs. Being slaves of the Draco had its benefits - no other race in the galaxy dare threaten the Grays.
Like all tall Grays, the Second-in-Command was exceedingly good at his job. He often demonstrated critical thinking and great initiative when most short Grays had none. As usual he was at his desk, well after everyone else had gone off duty. Old Lizard Face addressed the holographic image hovering above his desk, “It’s time for a meeting with our Earth collaborators. I want to see them tomorrow morning.”
“Glorious Supreme Pan-galactic Leader, the Earthlings need weeks to arrange their schedules for a full day meeting.”
“Please impress upon them that they serve at my pleasure. I expect to see all of them at 6 a.m. in our California facility.”
“As you command.”
The next day, the heads of the thirteen most powerful families in the world were present at the alien California facility. Between them their net worth was in the trillions of dollars, yet the average person on the street probably had never heard of their names. The families represented the true world power. Through thousands of proxies in industry and government, they directly or indirectly controlled banks, politicians, dictators, most major corporations and every country’s nuclear weapons. They had their fingers in every country’s economy, with the exception of a few independents, where they had instigated civil wars to effect regime change and bring them under their influence. Nothing of significance happened anywhere in the world that was not controlled and prearranged by those sitting around the table.
They were all powerful compared to their fellow man, yet they had been summoned out of the blue, without prior notice, many having to fly all night to make the early morning meeting. The irony was not lost on them, being summoned like children to sit before the real ultimate power on Earth.
While none of them were happy to be there, they knew better than to display anything but deference to the most senior Draco on Earth standing at the head of the table. Everyone locked their eyes to the table top, as looking a Draco in the eye was considered a sign of great disrespect. Being summoned outside of the normally scheduled meetings was never good. They had excellent reason to be afraid.
Without preamble, His Glorious Supreme Pan-galactic Leader started the meeting: “I have summoned you today to personally tell you how disenchanted I am. Due to your incompetence, someone is interfering with the pacification and surrender of Earth to the great Draco Empire. What do you plan do about it?”
None of the family heads around the table were fooled by the smooth delivery and calm tone of the Draco’s words. His calm demeanor spelled infinitely more danger than if he had been shouting profanities at them.
Knowing that silence was not an option, the Chairman of the families stood up as the elected speaker for the group. Still staring at the table, he spoke with great deference. “We have discussed these matters amongst ourselves and have no indication as to whom or which organizations are behind these events. We can only surmise that they’re very well led, have access to advanced technology and are large in numbers, with substantial resources backing them. Our numerous investigations have come up with no leads of any kind. Unfortunately we’re at a dead end.” The Chairman struggled to keep fear from affecting his voice.
Old Lizard Face slowly walked around the table and stopped behind the Chairman; with a single blow to the back of the head, he knocked the Chairman face down onto the floor, jumped onto his back, extended the fighting claws in his feet and proceeded in a fluid motion to rip the Chairman from butt cheek to the base of his neck. The initial wounds, though bloody, did not immediately kill the Chairman; he tried desperately to crawl away from the attack, but Old Lizard Face was relentless. Before the Chairman could bleed out, Old Lizard Face redistributed his weight, leaving one foot in the middle of the Chairman’s back. He grabbed a leg with both arms and tore it from the body, then repeated his actions with the Chairman’s other limbs and finally his head, the violence of the attacked sprayed blood over the remaining twelve Family heads. After a small pause for effect, Old Lizard Face tossed the head, legs and arms onto the middle of the table, leaving the shredded torso to stain the sandstone floor. During the whole ordeal the Draco had not made a sound.
Old Lizard Face looked around the table at each of the twelve family heads; all were various shades of green, stunned at seeing one of the most powerful human beings in the world torn apart like a rabbit set upon by a pack of dogs. “I want to make it clear who you should be afraid of. I called you here, not to listen to excuses, but to hear how you plan to deal with and eliminate whoever is behind this.”
The Deputy Chairman of the great families stood up and to his credit, did not show any sign of fear, trying hard not to get any more of the last Chairman on his suit than he already had. He spoke with authority, in a strong clear voice, “Your Glorious Supreme Pan-galactic Leader. It’s true we’re at a loss - no one has claimed responsibility, nothing was flagged on the intelligence networks, there are no reported abnormal military movements, nor are any of the terrorist groups we control active. These actions can only be the work of a group that’s new and completely independent of known organizations. Having examined the available evidence, no linkage between the events has yet been found. We will continue searching, redoubling our efforts until we find the perpetrators.”
Old Lizard Face hearing essentially the same excuse as before, did something quite unexpected.
“If your current investigations do not provide sufficient clues, I suggest you give your people more incentive to supply information. Offer a twenty million dollar reward for information leading to the capture or killing of the culprits. Your species seems to respond well to large amounts of money.
I don’t care what it costs each of you personally, or how much effort it takes. I expect you to examine every single piece of information in all of your organizations for the past two years, no matter ho
w insignificant or trivial it may seem. You would do well to remember there are consequences to failing, a small detail the old Chairman seemed to have forgotten. You have two weeks… now get out of my sight.”
With the meeting over, the heads of the great families quickly exited the conference room, more than a little relieved to get away from what was left of the former Chairman. The attack on one of their most respected members left everyone in a state of shock - no one dared openly discuss what had just happened.
Chapter 27 - Making it personal
The thirteen Families assigned the considerable resources at their disposal, employing thousands of personnel to search all available evidence. With their resources, it was only a matter of time before they came across the mismatched snatch records, our visit to Bob the fixer, the evidence of our trip to the Moon and the fact that a scout ship on a shakedown cruise was not responding to communication hails. Through correlating many small seemingly unrelated pieces of information, a specific point in time was pin-pointed, when events started to go statistically wrong. The investigators did not know how my family was involved, but they knew from their records that my family was delivered to the alien experimental labs and was now terminated - the red flag being, the local news had not reported my family missing. It was an insignificant lead that normally would have been ignored as an accounting error, but per Old Lizard Face's directives the lead was highlighted and sent up the chain-of-command.