Sakira

by Robert blanton

  As the LX9 approached thirty knots, Catie pitched her up to 20 degrees. Two seconds later, her nose exited the water, and she started gliding along the surface. The engines were now taking in air instead of water; they superheated the air, and it came boiling out behind the LX9 as it really started to accelerate. Soon the LX9 was traveling well above her takeoff speed, and Catie pulled the yoke back and sent her into the sky. Five seconds later, Catie leveled her off and brought her back down to the deck. Now she was accelerating right above the ocean surface.

  “I assume ADI is stop-gapping you,” Blake said nervously.

  “Yes, I get to fly unless I exceed one of the safety limits,” Catie said. “If I hit one of the limits, ADI takes over and keeps us safe, but she can’t be as aggressive as I can.”

  “Good to know,” Blake gasped.

  “What’s going on up there?” Marc yelled over the intercom.

  “You all were strapped in, weren’t you?” Catie gasped.

  “Thankfully, yes,” Marc said. “How long do we have?”

  “We’ll be level for another eight minutes,” Catie said, “then we’ll have to land on the water again, and it’ll get bumpy until we slow down enough to sink.”

  “Okay, we’ll just stay strapped in,” Marc said. “Blake, you good?”

  “She’s got a good plan, just hang in there.”

  “Copy.”

  “How do we approach the Mea Huli?” Blake asked.

  “We’ll drop down into the water about one mile out,” Catie said. “We’re too low for radar, and with the hull absorbing light and EM, we’ll be practically invisible. Then we drop down to twenty meters and go diving.”

  “Okay.”

  “ADI, status on the Mea Huli?” Catie asked.

  “Cer Catie, the Mea Huli has started accelerating away from the marina.”

  “Time to intercept?”

  “The cutter is just turning toward the Mai Huli now,” ADI said. “Researching online, I have found that its top speed is specified at thirty-two knots, but I have also found references to a top speed of thirty-five knots.”

  “Use the thirty-five knots!”

  “That would give you fifteen minutes before Fred would need to execute the stop maneuver as instructed.”

  “Okay, give me Fred.”

  “Hey, they’re just starting to chase us. What’s the plan?” Fred asked.

  “Same as before,” Catie said. “ADI will transmit the coordinates where we want to meet, but essentially just keep heading southwest until you have to stop. We’ll adjust on our end as we get close.”

  “How are you getting here so fast?”

  “Later, Fred,” Blake cut in. “Let’s just let Catie’s plan play out.”

  “Okay, we’ve got about fifteen minutes on our end,” Fred replied.

  “That’s what we’re calculating as well,” Catie took back control of the conversation.

  The LX9 continued to accelerate until it reached the halfway point.

  “We’re going to decelerate now, everyone, hold on,” Catie announced over the comm. Then she extended the XJ9’s flaps and pitched its nose up 10 degrees to force the deceleration necessary to get slow enough to enter the water. As they slowed below the LX9’s 120-knot max surface speed, Catie set her down on the water. She let the LX9 skip along the surface of the water. It took ninety seconds before it slowed down enough to sink below the surface.

  “Okay, folks, we’re back to normal cruising speeds,” Catie announced. “We’ll be rendezvousing with the Mea Huli in four minutes. Did you copy, Fred?”

  “We copy,” Fred announced. “We’re just about to shut her down and turn as instructed. They’re getting close.”

  “You just need to stall them for a couple of minutes,” Catie said. “Tell them I challenged everyone to a race. They’ll expect that of a twelve-year-old.”

  “Yeah, as long as they don’t know you, they will,” Fred replied.

  “ADI, start flooding the cargo bay again.”

  “Yes, Cer Catie,” ADI said.

  “Okay, Uncle Blake. Let’s go back and get geared up. I’ve got the autopilot set to bring us to within half a mile of the Mea Huli. We’ll have to do the rest on the Seabobs.”

  “That’ll only take us a couple of minutes,” Blake said. “So, we have to chase you?”

  “Yeah,” Catie said. She slapped Blake on the chest and yelled, “You’re it.” She ran to the airlock and cycled through it. She ran through the cabin so she’d be the first through the second airlock to the cargo hold. “Liz, stall Uncle Blake for me, will you? Everyone, we’re doing a race on the Seabobs back to the Mea Huli. We should be stopping in about two minutes.” With that, she donned her rebreather and cycled through the lock.

  “Where’s that brat?” Blake snapped when he finally got through the airlock from the bridge. Catie had used her command override to put it in a self-test cycle just as she exited it. It had taken Blake a couple of minutes to figure out what she’d done and reset the airlock.

  “She’s probably on her Seabob heading out by now,” Liz said as she waited her turn at the airlock. Kal and Marc had already followed Catie into the hold, and the airlock was just about to open to admit Liz. Blake grabbed the handle to the airlock. “Hey, wait your turn,” Liz snapped, slapping his hand. “I’m next.”

  “That brat trapped me in the cockpit,” Blake complained.

  “So, she’s smarter than you,” Liz teased.

  “But I’m bigger,” Blake retorted. “Wait until I catch her.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  “Why have you boarded us?” Fred demanded of the officer from the Portuguese cutter.

  “I am Segundo-tenente Santoro. We are just doing a quick check to make sure everything is alright,” he said. “Tell me where Dr. McCormack is?”

  “I told you he is diving with his daughter. They’re doing some kind of race.”

  “Where is everyone else?”

  “Walter and Fatima are down below showering,” Fred said. “The others are all in the race.”

  “We did not see you …”

  “I win!” Catie yelled as she yanked her rebreather off and steered her Seabob over to the dive deck of the Mea Huli.

  “You cheated,” Blake shouted back as he pulled up beside her.

  “I did not, I just used tactics,” Catie shouted back.

  “Ah, here they are now,” Fred said.

  Marc, Liz, and Kal arrived at the dive platform at a more sedate pace, bringing their Seabobs to rest without bumping the Mea Huli.

  “We have guests,” Fred yelled down to Marc.

  “Oh,” Marc said. “Give me a minute, and I’ll be up.” He secured his Seabob with a line and then made his way up the ladder to the main deck. “To what do we owe this pleasure?”

  “Minister Sampalo was curious as to how you are doing,” the segundo-tenente said.

  “And you are?” Marc asked.

  “I am Segundo-tenente Santoro, of the Portuguese patrol boat, Guadiana,” he replied.

  “I’m happy to meet you, but Minister Sampalo assured me that the Portuguese government would not interfere with our efforts.”

  “We are not interfering,” the tenente said. “We are just checking in. The minister had indicated that he thought you would be very busy right now. Not racing and playing games.”

  “We’re still doing training and prep work,” Marc replied. “We gave the minister a two-year timeline. I’m surprised that he is so impatient.”

  “He is not impatient,” the tenente said. “Just curious and maybe a little anxious. Well, I will let him know that you are still training.”

  “Please do.”

  With that, the tenente boarded the small launch that had brought him and his aide over to the Mea Huli. They sped off back to his cutter.

  “I didn’t like that,” Blake said as he came up behind Marc.

  “I didn’t either. I’m wondering why anyone else is aware of what we’re doing,” Marc said
. “Do you think they have another leak?”

  “You can count on it,” Kal said. “There is just too much money on the table, or ocean floor to be precise.”

  “I suspect you’re right,” Marc said. “We’ll need to do some planning.”

  “Yes, we will,” Blake agreed.

  “Okay,” Fred interrupted. “How the hell did you guys get here so fast?”

  “Top secret,” Marc said. “Suffice it to say, Catie likes to go fast and is willing to actually study to make sure she can take any opportunity that presents itself.”

  “Is that really all you’re going to tell us,” Kal demanded.

  “Unless there is a reason you need to know more,” Marc said. “Are you still on the team?”

  “Sure, sure,” Kal said. “Even more so. I want to stay with you, so I get a chance to see how fast Catie can really go.”

  “Same here,” Liz said. “Nothing’s changed, except we have a lot more capability than we thought we had.”

  “Thanks, guys,” Marc said. “We’ll find a time to share more when it’s appropriate.”

  “Alright, we’ve got an extra four hours to indulge ourselves. I say we go back to the marina and have a nice meal at the most expensive restaurant we can find. Catie’s buying.”

  “Why am I buying?” Catie squawked.

  “You won the privilege with all your tactics,” Blake shot back.

  “Okay, just as long as you admit, I won.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  It was Tuesday the next week when the Chagas finally moved. “Wow!” Blake thought to himself as the big ship shifted. He turned the nozzle off and waved everyone away from the ship.

  Kal pumped his fist as he pushed himself off toward Liz. They did a high five when they met up.

  “What’s up with them?” Catie texted her father, touching her helmet to his so they could communicate. They were in the cargo hold waiting to rotate in.

  “I think she moved,” Marc texted back.

  “Woohoo,” Catie texted.

  Blake signaled for Willie to be sent out. They had been using Willie to scout out areas of the interior of the Chagas before sending someone in to spray foam. As Marc got Willie out of the hold and sent him off toward Blake, Liz and Kal made their way over to the LX9. Once Blake ensured that Willie’s tether was free and he could survey the area around the Chagas, he made his way back to the LX9 and cycled into the main cabin.

  “So, she moved,” Marc said when Blake exited the airlock.

  “She sure did,” Blake responded.

  “Why stop?” Catie asked. “Seems to me that we should get her floating by the end of the day.”

  “Hold your horses, Missy,” Blake said. “There’s a lot of suction where she’s settled into the silt. If we kept spraying foam in her, she might just pop free and pop to the surface before we could do anything.”

  “Ohh.”

  “We need to see if we can rock her free,” Blake continued. “Let’s get a couple of lines on her and use the LX9 to see if we can get her loose from the bottom. Then we can figure out how to balance her out.”

  “We’ve got lots of cannons to do that,” Catie said. The crew had collected fifteen cannons that had been strewn in the Chagas’s wake as she was sinking to the ocean floor.

  “I’m sure they’ll help,” Blake said. “I say we all rest for a couple of hours while we use Willie to look around her. Then we’ll go out and run a couple of lines and nudge her a bit.”

  “You’re the engineer,” Marc said. “Everyone, you heard him. Get some rest, we have some hard work ahead.”

  After two hours of rest, they all headed out and strung the lines to the Chagas. It took two hours to get the three lines in place the way Blake wanted them. Then Catie went to the bridge of the LX9 to do the nudging. They had strung a fiber-optic cable to Blake so he could maintain constant communication while they were trying to spring the Chagas free.

  “Okay, Catie,” Blake texted. “Just give the LX9 some buoyancy and see if we can gently nudge her.”

  Catie pumped some water out of the cargo hold to give the LX9 some lift. As it floated up, the line became taut, and the LX9 started to drift over toward the Chagas.

  “Let her keep drifting over,” Blake texted. “Just keep adding to the lift.”

  Catie continued to expel water from the hold. Soon the LX9 was directly over the Chagas, and the lines were tight.

  “Now apply the engines,” Blake continued to instruct Catie. “Keep the LX9 level, she’s going to want to sink a bit as you apply thrust, just let her. We’re not in any hurry here.”

  “Understood,” Catie replied as she started to apply thrust.

  “A little more… more… Cut!” Blake added.

  The Chagas lifted out of the silt and righted itself. She had about 30 degrees of list as her keel settled back on the bottom. “Alright,” Blake texted, “shut her down and don’t let the cables get tangled.”

  Catie set the LX9 down backing off from the Chagas, so the cables were straight, but not taut. Blake signaled everyone to re-board the LX9 as he made his way back over to it.

  “Okay, another survey with Willie,” Blake said once everyone was in the main cabin. “We’ll check out the main cargo holds now.” Up to this time, the crew had been adding foam in the gundeck, in some of the cabins, and in the bilge. They had been avoiding the main cargo hold.

  “Now we get to see what’s up with the cargo,” Blake said. “A lot of it might have settled back into place. We’ll add foam as we need to, but it would be nice if we could get her to a natural balance.”

  “We don’t want to be shifting the cargo around,” Marc said. “That could be dangerous.”

  “I know,” Blake replied. “Let’s just see what we have, might be able to do a little pushing with Willie to get things settled in. That’s it for the day. I’ll work with Willie for a while, but we won’t be going back out until tomorrow.”

  “Should we skip the rendezvous with the Mea Huli for tonight?” Marc asked.

  “I think so,” Blake replied. “We don’t want to have to undo the cables. And I’d like to keep a watch on her in case something shifts around on its own.”

  “Good plan. I’ll let Fred know.”

  Everybody was buzzing, hovering around Blake to watch the video feed from Willie. “Guys give me some room,” Blake snapped, frustrated at the constant hovering.

  “Hey, if you put your view up on the net, we can all watch from our own HUDs,” Catie told Blake.

  “Good idea,” he replied, giving the necessary commands.

  “He should have done that earlier,” Liz said as she settled on her seat. “This is much more comfortable.”

  “Yes, it is,” Kal agreed, “very inconsiderate of him.”

  “Enough from the peanut gallery,” Blake snapped back.

  “And so disagreeable,” Catie added with a giggle.

  “Do you think he still has foam in his ears. Maybe it’s causing him to be irritated all the time?” Liz whispered. She had to duck a punch from Catie, who was still a little protective of her uncle about the foam accident.

  “I heard that,” Blake said. “Just you remember, paybacks are hell.”

  Blake continued to operate Willie for four hours. He managed to shift some casks that were piled up against the side of the hull. They rolled down to settle in the bottom of the cargo space. There were a few other shifts in the Chagas, and by the time Blake was ready to call it a day, the Chagas was only listing at 10 degrees.

  “Great,” Blake declared. “Tomorrow, we put foam in the main cargo space until she’s floating. Then we’ll add cannon or two on the deck to get the list out of her. She should be ready to raise by Friday morning if all goes well.”

  “That’s nice,” Marc said as he bit his lip and nodded his head. “Friday morning.”

  “Do you have a plan for our navy friends?” Blake asked.

  “I think so,” Marc said. “We’ll have to see how it plays out. For
now, let’s eat and then get some sleep so we can get that baby ready to float.”

  It was Kal’s turn to cook, and he decided to go big as a celebration. He whipped up some pork BBQ and Hawaiian fried rice. Everyone was surprised when he produced a couple of bottles of wine to go with the meal.

  After dinner, Marc called Minister Sampalo. “Minister, I’m glad I caught you in your office. I was afraid you might have gone home.”

  “Not to worry, this is still early for me. I don’t usually leave the office until after seven,” Minister Sampalo said.

  “Long days.”

  “Not really, I just like to start a little late, then meet my wife here in the city for dinner. To what do I owe the pleasure of your call?”

  “We’re getting ready to raise the Chagas,” Marc said.

  “Oh, so you’re ready to start work on her. That’s good to hear.”

  “No, I mean, we’re ready to raise her,” Marc corrected. “We’ll need our escort tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow! That is certainly a surprise. A delightful surprise,” Minister Sampalo said.

  “I’m happy to hear that. Will you be able to have our escort ready?” Marc asked.

  “I’m sure I will. Admiral Santoro has assured me that it can be in your area within twelve hours. So, what time would you like it, and where would you want it to be?”

  “We’d like the escort to meet us at 14:30 hours at 38°01'02" N 22°11'58" W. We’re looking forward to having the Chagas on the surface. She is looking beautiful now,” Marc said.

  “And we are looking forward to seeing her as well,” the minister said. “I will be meeting you at port Delgada on Friday, then.”

  “We look forward to seeing you,” Marc said. “Good day.”

  “So, you’re setting them up to tip their hand early,” Blake asked.

  “Right,” Marc said. “I want to see who shows up at the rendezvous coordinates and where the Portuguese navy winds up.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  The next day the crew drove several corkscrew anchors into the ocean floor. They then anchored the Chagas to them to keep her from floating away. Then Blake, had them add the cannons. Each cannon was anchored with foam to stop it from rolling around. Then they added foam in the hold with each cannon until they reached neutral buoyancy. It took them all day to get the fifteen cannons loaded on the ship. By the time they were done, the main cargo hold was almost full of foam, and the Chagas was pulling at the lines holding her to the ocean floor. At 4:00 a.m., just before their regular break, Blake called a halt to the foaming efforts. He had the crew roll up all the hoses and return them to the LX9’s cargo hold. During the break, he explained the next phase of the operation.