by Nick Cook
‘The things one learns on your missions,’ Tom said, raising his eyebrows.
We heard Niki snort over the comm link. ‘Isn’t that the truth?’
I snorted and switched my attention back to the countdown marker, which had now ticked passed three klicks. It was then, without any warning, that an eerie sound passed through the cockpit, rising and falling in a haunting note.
Mike sat up straight. ‘Is that a micro mind calling out?’
‘No, gorgeous, that’s actually whale song,’ Lucy chimed in. ‘Looking at the passive sonar data, I’d say it’s a blue whale and we’re not picking just one up either. There seems to be a large pod of them down here with us.’
‘Seriously, at this depth?’ Mike said.
‘Actually they are just above you at around three hundred metres, which is still very impressive,’ Lucy replied. ‘However, according to a Wikipedia entry I just checked, the record for a deep dive goes to a Cuvier’s beaked whale. It had a satellite tag on it, which showed that the whale managed to dive to a depth of two-thousand metres at one point.’
Jack whistled. ‘Now that’s seriously impressive.’
Everyone fell silent again as Tom manoeuvred us beneath the whales swimming leisurely above. The creatures were vast, absolutely dwarfing our not exactly small X-craft.
The whales began calling again to each other, the sound bringing tears to my eyes. It was so intensely beautiful. There were younger whales in the pod too, keeping close to their mothers. How anyone could hunt these wonderful creatures was beyond me. Some things were very wrong in our world and that was definitely one of them.
The pod moved past us and swam away with gentle and powerful flicks of their huge tails. No wonder people like Leon and Carlos had dedicated so much of their lives to being down here, when you got see astonishing sights like that.
‘On my goodness, I’ve never seen anything quite so incredible,’ Tom said quietly.
When I glanced at him I caught him wiping away a tear. That deeply touched me more than anything. The guy was normally all business and laser sharp focus on getting the job done, I’d never seen a softer side to him. He was always something of a loner, even at Eden.
I made a mental note that I really needed to put some effort into getting to know Tom better. There was obviously a lot more to him than a man who was just married to his job.
A large shallow valley, where the marker for the underwater site was located, was slowly coming into view. Unfortunately, it was too dark for us to physically see it yet. We wouldn’t even have known about it if it weren’t for the vague shapes representing the pyramid and circular structures on Lucy’s overlaid data.
We had closed in to less than two klicks when suddenly a cone of light appeared from somewhere inside the valley and shot upwards into the sea. The beam locked onto Alvarez’s submersible, which was descending towards the middle of the valley.
‘Okay, the fact that they have a spotlight down here suggests some sort of Overseer facility,’ Tom said.
I nodded. ‘I agree. We should creep in as quietly as possible—’
But before I could finish my sentence, a loud, warbling alarm cut off my words.
A pulsating red marker appeared straight ahead of us at the edge of the valley.
Ruby stared at her screens. ‘Crap, we seem to have just triggered some sort of acoustic listening device.’
‘Damn it, this has to be similar to what we ran into back at the rune site,’ I replied.
Erin’s voice cut in over the link. ‘I don’t understand. How can they detect our ships when we are fully stealthed?’
‘As effective as your ship’s systems are, the new impeller drive system isn’t completely silent,’ Lucy replied.
‘Then kill all our motors right now, Tom and Erin,’ I said.
‘Affirmative, Commander,’ Erin responded.
Tom drew the throttle back to a neutral position. We slid to a dead stop as Artemis did the same alongside us.
Jack stared into the distance. ‘Do you think they’re going to send someone to check out the contact?’
‘I certainly would if I was responsible for guarding a site and I picked up an unexpected hello,’ Ruby said.
‘The Overseers hijacking an unarmed ship is one thing, but seriously, what can they even do to us down here? We’re talking about two underwater flying saucers that pack a serious military punch.’ Jack said.
The phrase him and his big mouth had just leapt into my mind when at that moment the HUD went crazy. A massive, pulsing, red triangular symbol was dead ahead, glaring enemy contact detected for us all to see.
My blood froze. ‘What are we looking at here, Ruby?’
‘Not sure. Our systems are barely getting a lock on whatever it is.’
‘Damn it! Lucy, can you help us?’
‘Hang on, processing all available incoming data and…oh no, that’s really not good.’
My blood grew even colder. ‘Care to elaborate?’
In answer, a small rectangular box appeared and grew larger to fill half of the virtual cockpit. Within it we could just see a slight distortion in the water. Then lots of data points began to appear all over the vague shape, growing denser by the moment until a large submarine became visible.
’That’s not that Yasen-class, hunter-killer Russian sub?’ Tom said, his face tense.
‘Afraid so, and with the same active camouflage system that the Zumwalt destroyer has been fitted with,’ Lucy said.
‘It looks like another of the Overseers’ special book projects,’ Tom said, peering at the enhanced image.
‘Should I open fire, Commander?’ Ruby said, her hand already on the weapons control panel.
Shit, I don’t know, I wanted to say. But instead I forced my mind to come up with an answer. ‘They can’t actually detect us with their sonar equipment can they, Lucy?’
‘No, because our gravity field is masking our signature. However, that underwater mic will pick up on any noise you make inside this cockpit that radiates out through the hull. So, like in all those old sub movies you humans love, where they are being hunted down by a minesweeper, you need to be absolutely quiet for the next few minutes unless you want them to detect your presence.’
That made perfect tactical sense to me, but the other urgent question was whether or not we engaged the threat. Do that and we would blow any element of stealth that we had. And all eyes, even Tom’s, were looking at me for the answer to that particular riddle.
‘What are your orders, Commander?’ Erin said, her voice strained.
My eyes started scanning the ocean bed. Just to our right was a dark ravine under a towering pinnacle of rock. Maybe there was a way we could still escape detection…
’Tom, can you drift us down into there?’ I said, pointing towards the ravine.
‘If I adjust our REV drive’s lift to act like the equivalent of a ballast tank, then it shouldn’t be a problem.’
I nodded. ‘Okay, then do it. I need everyone to keep completely quiet until we’re out of danger. If we’re lucky, that sub will pass right over us and write it off as a false contact. Erin, follow Tom’s lead.’
‘Understood,’ she replied.
With gentle adjustments using the REV drive, Tom began to angle us down towards the shadowed cover of the ravine, with Artemis tucked in behind.
The fine stream of bubbles trailed from both craft as we watched the distance indicator to the enemy sub tick down to a thousand metres.
‘Torpedo ports are already open on that damned Yasen sub. They’re not taking any chances,’ Ruby whispered, as we dropped lower and began to enter the ravine.
‘Hopefully, that’s just standard combat procedure until they’ve checked out the contact,’ Tom replied.
‘Okay, but just in case, Artemis and Ariel be ready to open fire on my orders,’ I whispered.
‘Roger that,’ Daryl replied from onboard our sister craft.
Ruby toggled several icons that lit
up red, before taking hold of the targeting joystick.
The darkness of the ravine began to envelop us as we dropped into it. Artemis was only twenty metres or so above us and was also about to enter. The distant beating of the enemy’s propeller grew steadily louder as we descended into cover.
Tom was calmly focused on his flight screens as he made small, delicate movements to the REV drive control. He began to slow our descent as the rocky walls slid past Ariel.
I was just starting to think we were going to be okay when a grinding sound came from above. My gaze shot up to see that Artemis had caught the lip of the ravine, sending boulders dropping through the water around us.
And that was all it took to give us away.
‘That Yasen has just launched a torpedo! Five seconds to impact, Commander!’ Ruby said, her knuckles pure white as she clenched the joystick.
’Then get us out of here and engage!’ I shouted.
Tom was already reacting, speeding up the thrusters to maximum as he increased the lift. We shot out of the ravine like a startled rabbit bolting from its burrow.
I looked back to see the Artemis still emerging from the ravine… just as the sub’s torpedo streamed out of the gloom and slammed into the towering finger of rock above the X103.
My stomach clenched as with a huge shockwave, an explosion boiled out from the impact, ripping through the rock edifice. In slow motion it began to crumple in on itself, collapsing downward into the path of the rising X103. Then I lost sight of the ship as the missile’s shockwave slammed into us and spun Ariel around.
Tom quickly compensated, bringing us to a total stop as the flight deck gyros protested, fighting to keep it level.
On the virtual cockpit, there was another burst of bubbles from the nose of the enemy sub as it turned directly towards us.
‘Second torpedo away!’ Ruby said, her voice suddenly way too calm.
‘Take it out!’ I shouted.
‘Already on it.’
Thudding sounds came from above and below us as a trail of flechette rounds raced out from our miniguns, straight into the path of the torpedo speeding towards us. The steel darts scythed through the torpedo and it exploded with a bright flash, the roar of its destruction echoing through Ariel as another shockwave slammed into us.
‘Permission to fire Spearfish torpedoes, Commander,’ Ruby said, her eyes steel.
‘Do it!’ I said, any sense of detachment gone. Despite the crew I knew had to be on that sub, this had fast become a kill or be killed scenario.
Tom looped us back around. Jack and Mike tightened their seat harnesses as Ariel’s hull spun around us, although our stabilised deck remained level during the extreme manoeuvre.
‘Spearfish locked and away,’ Ruby said.
The missile leapt from our weapons port and tore straight towards the Russian sub, which had begun to turn, its rudder at maximum, propellers churning hard through the water leaving a vortex in their wake. But the sub was far too close to avoid being hit and it was certainly way too slow in this underwater dance of death. The Spearfish effortlessly adjusted its own path to compensate and slammed straight into the side of the enemy craft.
With a deafening roar, audible even through the hull of our craft, a vast hole opened up in the side of the Yasen sub as air exploded from it in a torrent of bubbles. Then it seemed to crumple in on itself as the incredible pressure of the water tore it apart. The stern broke away first, small flashes of fire spitting from it as the two sections began to sink towards their watery grave at the bottom of the ocean.
I barely had to time to register the truly shocking loss of life before my attention snapped back to Artemis. The X103 still hadn’t emerged from the ravine, into which huge boulders continued to fall.
My heart clenched into a ball. ‘Erin, please tell me you guys are okay.’
‘No…’ Erin replied, her voice flat. ‘We have a partial hull breach and Daryl has been crushed to death by a beam.’
I exchanged a shocked look with the others, almost too numb to fully comprehend what she’d just told me. ‘What about you? Are you okay, Erin?’
‘Trapped under the same beam. Also, although the REV drive is still online, Artemis is taking on water fast and the escape hatches are jammed shut under the rock fall. I’m afraid my mission is over, Commander.’
I clenched my hands into fists. ‘No it’s not, do you hear me? I need you on my next mission. You hang in there and that’s a bloody order.’
We all heard Erin take a shuddering breath. ’Roger that,’ she replied.
I turned to the others. ‘What the hell are we going to do?’
Tom muted the comms, his face drawn. ‘I don’t know, but whatever it is we need to do it fast before she drowns.’
I stared at the column of bubbles rising from the ravine as nausea swirled through me. What on earth could we do at these kinds of depths? If I didn’t come up with an answer to that right now, another one of our own would lose their lives.
Chapter Eighteen
A large stream of frothing water was now rising from the hull of Artemis as we looked down at it from our virtual cockpit. Its Chameleon system was clearly offline too as it had become visible beneath the mound of boulders that had partly trapped it in the ravine.
My mind was whirling, desperately trying to come up with a plan to save Erin before it was too late.
Niki’s voice cut in over the comm. ‘That Zumwalt destroyer has just opened its missile hatches.’
Tom shot me a worried look. ‘Those ships have vertical launch torpedoes and you can guarantee they will know we’re down here by now.’
‘Permission to open fire on that ship, Lauren?’ Niki asked.
My stomach knotted. ‘But that will give away your presence,’ I said.
‘I think we’re long past that point. This has become a battle for survival,’ Jack said, his expression drawn.
‘Yep, a damned torpedo has just launched and is arcing over, ready to enter the water,’ Niki shouted. ‘Permission to fire on it, Commander?’
It seemed the decision had been made for me. ‘Take it out, Niki!’ I replied.
‘Roger that.’
Over the speakers we heard the rattle of the Pangolin’s miniguns opening up.
An explosion appeared above the surface of the ocean, the intense bright light briefly illuminating the gloom around us, casting sharp shadows across the ravine before fading again.
‘Okay, that certainly got their attention,’ Niki said. ‘But now we’re coming under heavy anti-aircraft fire from that damned destroyer.’
‘Has your Chameleon system failed?’ I said.
‘No, they’re just concentrating their fire on where we were when our miniguns started getting busy. Thankfully, thanks to swift thinking on the part of my pilot, that’s two miles away from our current position.’
I felt a surge of relief. ‘In that case keep moving around the sky like your arse is on fire and take out any more of those bloody torpedoes as they launch them.’
‘On it. I’m throwing the X103’s miniguns into the mix too. Between the two ships we should be more than able to deal with any threat from that Zumwalt.’
‘Okay, but we just need cover until we can rescue Erin,’ I said. ‘After that, fall back.’
‘Understood.’
I returned my attention to the others in the cockpit and killed the comms channel so Erin couldn’t hear the next bit of our conversation. ‘Okay, we need a plan to save Erin and fast. Does anyone have any ideas? I’ve got nothing.’
‘The first problem is that we haven’t got the kind of advanced pressure suits we need to operate at these depths and even if we did, I’m not sure how we could get into the ship with those boulders on top of its hatch,’ Jack said.
‘What about the new WASPs, would they be powerful enough to clear the debris away so Artemis can get out of there?’ Mike asked.
‘Nothing like, I’m afraid,’ Ruby replied. ‘Looking at the specs, thei
r new propulsion system is designed for manoeuvring and has nowhere near the power to clear those boulders. Also, I hate to point it out but our X103s aren’t fitted with an airlock, which is going to make a rescue almost impossible.’
I tried to fight the panic rising in me. ‘Shit. There must be something we can do to save her?’
‘Actually there is,’ Lucy’s voice said, as her avatar popped up. ‘I’ve been running the numbers and if you can get Ariel close enough then I can extend part of her gravity field in a bulge. Utilising that, together with Ariel’s auxiliary pumps to increase cabin pressure, I can effectively create an underwater passageway clear of water from your ramp to Artemis’s top hatch.’
‘You mean we could literally drop down on Artemis and clear the rubble by hand?’ I asked.
‘I can’t see why not,’ Lucy said.
Fresh hope burned through me. ‘I could seriously hug you right now, Lucy, if you were here in person.’
She beamed at me. ‘Hold that thought for later. Meanwhile, I’ll run the necessary alterations to your REV drive’s gravity field. It will take me a few minutes to code a patch in though.’
‘As fast as you can, Lucy.’ I pressed the comms button. ‘Erin, we have a plan and we’re coming for you.’
‘What are you going to do?’ Erin called out over the radio link, the noise of rushing water audible in the background.
‘Something batshit crazy, as you’d expect from our team,’ Mike said.
‘Right…’ Erin replied.
I nodded towards Tom. ‘Okay, take us in as close as possible. Everyone else get ready to form a rescue party.’
‘On it, Lauren,’ Tom replied.
With a gentle nudge of our thrusters, Tom began to manoeuvre us closer. As Ariel descended back towards the ravine, bursts of light kept illuminating the ocean – the continuing cover fire that Thor was dishing out against the Zumwalt’s torpedoes.
Jack looked towards the silent firework display happening on the surface. ‘It looks like Niki and his crew are doing one hell of a job up there.’