Despite being in the middle of one of the most prolonged periods of relative peace throughout the world, the occupants of the PEOC were hard at work, and a tangible tension permeated the room.
The secretary of defense set her jaw firm and breathed deeply. It was a practiced state of serenity, without which, she probably would have resigned her position years ago.
The overhead LED lights had been dimmed, and the video feed transferred to one of the PEOC’s six large video monitors which continuously displayed an image of the Norwegian Sea. The water was dark and glossy in the minimal light, like shards of obsidian, as the crest of each wave gently collapsed, leaving the small ripples of whitewater in its wake.
The president stood up from across the table and looked straight at her. “What just happened to our video feed?”
“Nothing, Mr. President,” she replied. “It’s still in working order.”
“Then can you please tell me why in God’s name my submarine just disappeared?”
She swallowed, hard. “It looks like they’ve activated the Omega Cloak, sir.”
The president smacked the table with the latest situation report. “I know what it looks like. I thought I made myself quite clear after the British Dreamlifter went down. Surely, it was a dangerous time to test the device? The Omega Deep needed to utilize its array of high tech and expensive scouting equipment to locate the plane wreckage, not to continue testing.”
“Your directive was clear, Mr. President,” she confirmed.
The president’s eyes shifted toward Painter, his chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. “And?”
Painter spoke in a confident, measured rate, without hesitation. “We relayed information to Commander Dwight Bower, Mr. President. The mission was to be canceled and the submarine to join the search for the missing 747 Dreamlifter.”
The president’s eyes narrowed, darting between the secretary of defense and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, before finally setting angrily on her. “Are you suggesting he misunderstood my order?”
A flash of alarm lit the secretary’s intelligent, emerald eyes. “No. I’m afraid we’re worried he might have intentionally disobeyed it, sir.”
The Omega Deep moved slowly through the submerged chasm, like an ancient predator.
Commander Bower examined the bathymetric charts of the seafloor. The Omega Deep was currently tracking along a south to southwesterly direction through remnants of an ancient submerged valley. The basin was most likely the remnants of the breakup of the supercontinent Pangea which saw the supercontinent separated and fragmented into multiple continents more than 248 million years ago and the Permian mass extinction, which killed approximately 96 percent of all species on Earth.
The low area of land between higher cliffs was three miles wide and nearly half a mile deep. Omega Deep was currently at a depth of 300 feet, leaving a cool 500 feet below her keel. Coming off the main valley was a series of smaller vales, the remnants of tributaries that once flowed into the ancient river system.
Bower had taken the Omega Deep here to test her maneuverability in confined spaces with the cloaking device engaged. A rift in the rocky plates three miles wide appeared much smaller when you were threading a submarine of such immense length. Besides, this was the first time any of them had tried the new navigation system.
Traditional submarine navigation systems rely on inertial guidance that keeps track of the ship's motion from a fixed starting point by using gyroscopes, or through active sonar to map their surroundings using echolocation, like a bat. The Omega Deep was different. It was fitted with a series of digital video cameras providing real-time footage in a 360-degree arc in all directions around the vessel.
Inside the command center, this live-feed was projected onto a central dome, which allowed the crew inside to view their surroundings. In clear water, it appeared more like looking out a glass window.
At this depth, with limited ambient light, and poor visibility, the system used LIDAR — Light Detection and Ranging — as well as infrared night vision — the same sort of technology used by ground soldiers equipped with night vision goggles. Basically, a set of lights projected infrared light, so that even in pitch dark, the sensors could then detect their surroundings.
If needed, immensely high-powered LED lights were capable of illuminating the darkest abyss. Again, because most traditional submarines, particularly Navy submarines, don’t have any windows, producing light didn’t reveal their position to other predator submersibles.
Belinda Callaghan, one of his junior sonar technicians, said, “Sir, we have a contact approaching from 47 degrees north-northwest.”
Commander Bower felt a slight prickle in the hairs on the back of his neck. They were more than five hundred miles from any major land sources. “What have we got?”
“A submersible. Very small. No more than ten to fifteen feet in length. Shaped more like a miniature plane, flying underwater at a speed of twelve knots, sir.”
“Is it approaching from above the valley or within?”
“Within, sir.”
“Range?” Commander Bower asked.
“Three miles and closing,” she said.
“That’s close,” he observed, in a tone of displeasure. In the middle of a shipping lane, with hundreds of sounds, he could have forgiven her for not noticing it before now, but where they were, the high-pitched whine of the submersible’s twin engines should have been spotted immediately. “Where’s its surface ship?”
“There isn’t one, sir.”
“Impossible.” Bower glanced at the sonar operator’s monitor. “A small submersible like that needs a mothership out here. There’s no way it would have the range to make the journey by itself. Locate the mothership.”
Callaghan stood her ground. “There isn’t one, sir. The closest ship is the Antarctic Solace — and she’s nearly 200 miles away.”
That jolted Bower. “All right. If there’s no ship nearby, the mini-sub is attached to something. That means there’s another submarine prowling around here.”
“I’m on it, sir,” she confirmed, adjusting her sonar monitoring to target the small telltale signs of a large submarine running silent.
“Pilot, bring us to a full stop,” Bower commanded. “No reason to risk someone picking up our wake.”
The XO’s deep-set eyes were hooded with concern. “Should we increase our depth and put some more room beneath our keel just to be on the safe side?”
Bower turned to Callaghan. “What depth are you tracking the submersible at?”
She replied without hesitation. “Four hundred feet, sir.”
Bower nodded. “All right Mr. Halifax. That’s a hundred feet to spare. I’m happy to stay at this depth and let the sub pass beneath our keel.” Meeting his XO’s eyes, and valuing the man’s input, he asked, “What do you think?”
“Agreed, sir. Let’s sit it out and see what she does.”
“Very good.” Bower turned to the pilot and copilot. “Pilot, maintain all, stop.”
“Maintaining all, stop, sir.”
All eyes within the command center watched the large digital monitor, which displayed a synchronized image of the sonar screen. It counted down the distance of the approaching submersible. At first, it registered miles.
As it came closer, it recorded feet.
Despite the hull’s soundproofing, the crew became naturally silent.