‘He would’ve needed to be in sensor range, though, to know if we got caught.’
‘Ah, that’s true I suppose.’
‘Has he seen us yet?’
‘I don’t think so, he hasn’t moved, but then he is still quite a way off,’ Sophie replied still staring at her monitor. ‘That is, of course, if it is him.’
‘I thought you just said it was?’ Ash joined in the conversation between bites.
‘Well, who else would it be?’ Simon asked.
‘No, I didn’t, Ash; there’s a sub there, but it’s too far away to tell; well, without making them aware of us anyway.’
‘So, we have an unknown sub, some distance away, that looks suspicious, which could be the Requin?’ Ben summarised the situation.
‘That’s about it.’
‘Right.’
Ben looked over at Duncan who grinned at him, ‘Planning time?’
‘Planning time.’
‘Oh hell,’ Ash groaned.
‘At least it won’t involve bubble dragons this time,’ Zhe mock consoled him with a grin, sending the rest of the group into peals of laughter once again.
***
‘This is definitely a bad plan,’ Ash groused from the weapons con. where he was getting everything prepped ready for the assault with Blue and Simon.
‘Quit your moaning, unless you have a better plan in that head of yours,’ Blue told him without even turning to look at him.
Ash was prevented from giving his pithy comeback by Ben’s appearance in the hatchway. ‘You ready, Ash?’ he asked his reluctant crewman.
‘Hmph, as ready as I’m going to be for this fool plan.’
‘Then let’s get kitted up.’ Ben showed no signs of being perturbed by Ash’s reluctance.
‘Still don’t see why Simon can’t do this,’ Ash continued his moaning, while collecting his own personal gear.
‘Because he is the one that’ll have to patch you up afterwards,’ Blue responded cheerfully before either Simon or Ben could get a word in.
‘Please, Blue, some optimism here. Besides, Ash, I thought you enjoyed getting in the thick of things,’ Ben said before disappearing into the dive bay.
‘He does have a point, Ash,’ Simon helpfully pointed out.
‘You wait till he turns that logic of his on you,’ Ash responded ominously.
‘I know I shall always have your support, Ash.’
‘Hmph.’
‘Ash! We need to get moving.’ Ben’s head appeared around the hatch.
‘I’m coming!’
After Ash did finally leave the weapons con., Simon turned to Blue with a grin, ‘I certainly don’t envy the captain on this one.’
‘Yeah, especially with Ash tagging along,’ Blue agreed with a grin of his own. ‘Now, come and help me get this sorted, before the captain requires us to come out with all guns blazing.’
***
‘Dunc, you ready up there?’ Ben called through the comm. to the control room, while he and Ash finished kitting themselves out in the dive bay.
‘We’re good to go here; you ready for your little swim?’
‘Ash can’t wait.’
‘Like hell I can’t!’ Ash’s indignant response was met with laughter from both ends of the comm.
‘Right, Captain, I’ve got us in as close as possible; any closer and we run the risk of being seen before we want to be,’ Sophie cut in with the serious stuff.
‘Once you’re free and clear, we’ll create merry hell to distract him.’
‘Thanks Dunc.’
‘And do try not to get caught in the cross fire; we need you to be alive and fighting fit when you board the sub,’ Duncan’s jovial tone did very little to disguise his very real fear that this plan was going to end in tragedy.
‘We’ll keep clear, Dunc, and signal you once we’re on board,’ Ben told him seriously.
‘Good luck then.’
‘Same to you. We’ll dive in five minutes,’ Ben ended the transmission.
‘You really think this is going to work?’ Ash asked quietly as they made the final checks on their air tanks and suits. He hoped Hans’ late mercenaries’ suits were going to live up to Simon’s praise of them, although neither of them had realised they’d be put into use quite so soon.
‘It almost scuppered us, and Marius isn’t as smart as we are,’ Ben told him with a grin, although Ash’s frown caused him to add, ‘Seriously, Ash, this will work. I wouldn’t ask you to do it otherwise.’
‘Hmph, I’d probably volunteer anyway,’ Ash muttered.
‘That’s the spirit, Ash,’ Ben said clapping him on the back. ‘Right, we good?’
‘All checked and ready to go.’
‘Then let’s get to it,’ Ben declared, closing the hatch and setting the bay to flood.
***
‘Does he really think this will succeed?’ Melanie asked from her seat in the control room.
‘Don’t you?’ Zhe shot back, a little defensively.
Melanie gave Zhe a somewhat-contemptuous look before turning her attention to Duncan, to whom she felt she'd addressed the original question.
‘We all believe it’ll work,’ he told her, ‘that’s why we sail with each other. There’s no point getting on a boat with people you don’t trust; you’ll disappear into the blue and never come back.’
‘So it’s blind faith then,’ Melanie pressed.
‘Faith, yes; blind, no. Ben has a wonderful ability to pull off the craziest of plans, and he wouldn’t take us into anything where he couldn’t see our way clear to the other side,’ he explained.
‘You don’t take enough credit,’ Zhe chipped in, ‘without you, all of you, backing him he’s still only one man.’
Duncan nodded in acknowledgement, ‘As the lady says, it’s teamwork.’
‘Well that’s a nice little pep rally you’ve got going on up there, but how about we just get on with it all,’ Blue chimed in over the comm. – things were getting a little too philosophical and sappy for him.
Duncan laughed, ‘We need to give them time to get clear, Blue, so keep a steady hand for now.’
‘Another ten minutes, then we make our dramatic entrance,’ Sophie confirmed from the controls.
‘Do you reckon you can wait that long, Blue?’ Duncan joked, which Blue decided not to dignify with an answer.
The ten minutes, as it turned out, went surprisingly fast. An unusual occurrence given the type of situation, but Duncan attributed it to the fact he really didn’t like the part of the plan that required him to start firing while Ben and Ash were still in the water.
‘Okay then, everyone ready?’ Duncan asked, taking a deep breath and, after hearing a chorus of affirmatives, he gave the order to Sophie to move them out of their hiding place and into view.
‘And now we see if Marius has read the script,’ Blue was heard to mutter as everyone on the Coelacanth held their breath, waiting for Marius’ reaction to their opening gambit.
‘He’s taken the bait!’ Sophie crowed. ‘He’s turned to starboard!’
‘Follow it up then, Soph, and, Blue, let’s give him a spray across the nose; make it close enough to be with intent now,’ Duncan gave the orders from the control room.
‘You’ve got it, Dunc.’
‘Melanie, how are our divers doing? Have you still got a trace on them?’ He turned to Mel, who had taken over tracking duty from her sister the moment they had moved to engage Marius.
‘They’re out of the firing line and almost coming up on the Requin,’ she reported, not daring to take her eyes off the screen in case she missed something. She had a strong sense that she wouldn’t be easily forgiven.
‘Good.’ Duncan allowed himself a brief moment of relief that they were out of the firing line before turning back to the c
rew. ‘Right, Blue, time for merry hell to commence,’ Duncan gave the order for all guns to fire.
‘Roger that, all guns a blazing.’
‘Incoming! Brace!’ Zhe yelled from her station on the scope as Marius returned fire and the Coelacanth rocked to port.
Fortunately, Marius’ pilot still hadn’t got them into optimum firing position and, with Sophie at the controls of the Coelacanth, she was leading them on a merry dance. Still, the impact wave from where the torpedo had struck the trench wall was enough to knock the unwary off their feet.
‘Blue, hull integrity?’ Duncan demanded.
‘Still holding at one hundred percent; didn’t even dent us, Dunc,’ Blue reassured over the comm.
‘Soph, see to it that he doesn’t; Ben’ll have my head if I dent her,’ Duncan said with a grin, knowing full well that she already had more dents than any man could count.
‘For you, Dunc, I’ll do my best, as you’ve got such a pretty head,’ Sophie joined in the joke, resulting in chuckles throughout the control room, which served to ease the tension slightly.
‘Blue, where’s my next volley?’
‘I’ve got two men doing a five-man job down here; it’ll come when it’s bloody well good and ready!’
‘Blue!’
‘There! It’s gone!’ Blue shouted back and sure enough another volley was let loose, which showered the sub with rubble from the trench wall.
‘Now don’t damage her too much, Blue,’ Duncan chided.
‘Shoot at her… don’t hit her; make up your bleeding mind man!’
‘They’re on the Requin,’ Mel’s voice cut into the argument with the good news.
‘You certain?’ Duncan asked, coming over to her station to check.
‘Yes,’ she replied tersely.
‘Good.’
‘Brace!’ Zhe yelled for a second time.
‘Damn it, Soph! That was closer!’ Duncan exclaimed as he grabbed the back of Mel’s chair to stay upright this time.
‘You do realise that I’m trying to wage a mock battle over here, don’t you? It’s not easy darting in and out of range in a one-hundred-foot submarine!’ Sophie retorted.
***
While Sophie was attempting to wage her mock battle, Ben and Ash found themselves on the other side in a very real battle.
‘You know how you said, “well, that was easy” as we surfaced in the dive bay?’ Ash asked Ben between hails of bullets.
‘You know, I do remember saying something along those lines,’ Ben agreed amiably.
‘Well, I wish you bloody hadn’t! Or if that is too much to ask, wait until we’re free and clear!’
‘Right you are, Ash; next time I shall attempt to contain my optimism.’
‘Ha! Optimism! Tempting fate is what you do!’ And it was true, for no sooner had the words left Ben’s lips as they stripped out of the dive suits, which were slightly cumbersome now they were no longer in the water, than the dive-bay hatch was wrenched open and a bullet embedded itself in Ash’s air tank. Diving for what little cover they could find, they, of course, returned fire. However, this left the hatch wide open and their gear out in the open.
‘Well, any more plans cooking over there?’ Ash asked.
‘Don’t suppose you can reach the EMP grenades?’
Ash looked over to their mound of gear on the floor in front of the hatch; it was closer to him than Ben, but not by much.
‘Not unless I want to lose a leg,’ Ash called back, having decided that the only way would be to hook his leg around the strap of the bag and pull it towards him, but that would leave his leg out in the open for too long to avoid being shot.
‘Right.’ Ben glanced around for another solution, but none were forthcoming; their best chance lay in getting to the grenades.
‘Any other ideas?’ Ash called again.
‘Yeah and you’re going to hate it,’ Ben called back, but before Ash could ask anything further he yelled, ‘Cover me!’ and dove at the pile of gear. Pushing himself off the back wall, he grasped the strap as he fell into a forward roll and came to a stop at Ash’s feet, with blood running down the side of his face.
‘You maniac!’ Ash shrieked. ‘What were you thinking?’ he demanded, frantically searching for something to stem the bleeding.
‘Grenades,’ Ben slurred, waving vaguely in the direction of the bag that Ash was now rifling through.
‘Yeah, I got that. Here,’ he said thrusting a gauze pad at him, ‘Put this on the wound.’ He watched him out of the corner of his eye, while selecting a couple of the grenades, to make sure that Ben actually put the gauze against the wound. Once he was satisfied that Ben was doing as he was told, he turned and lobbed the grenades through the open hatch, paused for a beat to let them register the grenade, and, in the moment of silence that followed their realisation, grabbed the hatch and swung it closed.
‘Let me look,’ he said, tilting Ben’s head and gently pulling back the gauze so he could see the injury.
‘It’s fine,’ Ben told him in a slightly clearer voice.
‘Yeah, of course it is; you only got hit by a bullet during your little stunt.’
‘Grazed,’ Ben corrected, ‘if it’d hit clean I’d be dead.’
‘It’s a bloody miracle you aren’t,’ Ash huffed, searching for some clean gauze and tape as he heard the telltale thump of bodies hitting the deck outside the dive bay.
‘Where'd this lot come from, anyway?’ Ben asked gesturing to the medical kit, which Ash was using to clean him up.
‘Simon insisted – knowing your kind of plans.’
‘Ah, good ole Doc Crippen.’
‘Yeah, sometimes I think he’s the only one with any bloody sense on that damn boat.’
‘Right, how’s it feeling?’ Ash asked, having done his best with the field dressing.
‘Fine.’
‘Ben.’
‘All right, things are moving a bit, I’ve got a headache the size of Abantos and shit…’ he broke off as the whole sub lurched to the side, ‘Okay, things are a lot worse than I thought,’ he said opening and closing his eyes as if that would help.
‘Relax that was the sub not you.’
‘Oh, good, for a minute there I really thought I was going,’ Ben grinned.
‘Going? You’ve gone!’
‘Thanks Ash.’
‘Hmph, can you stand?’ Ash asked instead, taking a step back to see if he could do it unaided.
‘Yeah.’ Ben was a bit unsteady, but he was upright.
‘Good job you’ve got a thick skull is all I can say,’ Ash commented. ‘What now?’ he asked as they quickly sorted out their gear. Ben picked up his customary sabre, and they both reloaded their guns and stowed the extra ammo in easy to reach places, while the rest of the gear got divided between the two bags.
‘We open the door,’ Ben told him with a grin as he finished stacking the dive suits and air tanks at the back of the bay.
‘Wonderful. At least your plans can’t get any crazier, I suppose, even with a head injury.’
‘That’s the spirit, Ash, come on,’ Ben said as he stepped cautiously out onto the gangway as there was no response to the door creeping open.
‘Coelacanth this is Ash, we have boarded and are continuing with the boss’ crazy-arse plans,’ Ash made a quick report through his reinstated comm. before moving out into the gangway.
‘This is Coelacanth; understood, Ash. Have fun,’ Duncan’s voice came back down the line with obvious tones of relief.
‘We'd better tie them up as we go.’ Ben gestured to the six bodies that littered the gangway, they all were out cold, but there was no telling when they’d come around or what state they’d be in. ‘How many grenades did you throw?’ he asked, pulling the rope from his bag.
‘Two.’
‘
Ah, that explains it. Well, let’s make it quick.’
***
‘Ah, Marius, what a lovely little boat you have here,’ Ben announced his presence, in his usual cavalier fashion, from the entry into the control room, which currently housed Marius and his pilot.
‘You’re a hard man to kill, Daniels.’
Ben grinned and executed a half bow in Marius’ direction, but the aim of his gun never wavered.
‘Although it looks like you might have overestimated your abilities this time.’
‘I really hope you’re not referring to those six chaps, now making a twitching mass down on the dive-bay floor,’ Ben replied.
‘Perhaps, but how do you know that I have only six crew?’
‘I don’t.’ Ben shrugged. ‘But my crew will find the rest.’
‘Before or after you collapse?’ Marius enquired smugly, ‘Oh, don’t think I hadn’t noticed you using the wall to prop yourself up there, Daniels, or that you’re holding your gun in your left hand. Mess up your right, too, did they?’
‘Well, aren’t you observant today, in which case you can hardly fail to notice that my gun is pointed directly at you.’
‘But for how much longer? Till you pass out?’ Marius goaded. ‘If you were going to shoot me, you’d have done it already.’
‘I never took to shooting a man in the back,’ Ben responded.
‘Then are we going to draw and go down in a hail of bullets? You’ve been reading too much of the old world,’ Marius continued to mock him as he edged to the far side of the control room.
‘Don’t think that—’ Ben stopped mid-sentence to further brace himself in the hatchway as the sub rolled. It seemed that the pilot, unaware of Marius’ own attempts to draw Ben out and grab his own gun, had made plans of his own to assist his boss. Doubtless, he intended to wrong foot Ben, who, in a weakened condition, wouldn’t get his bearings as quickly as Marius and so would ultimately fail.
Unfortunately for the pilot, he missed the same detail Marius had: Ben wasn’t using the wall to hold him up, but had instead wedged himself in the hatchway to ward against further unexpected movement of the sub. Granted, he was assuming it would lurch to port or starboard and not execute a forty-five degree roll.
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