“Sitting ducks,” Remy said.
“That’s the plan,” Jake said.
“What about the carrier escorts?” Remy asked. “Destroyers, cruisers, frigates?”
“The Chinese hope to avoid them and get to the prize in the center. Our plan is for the escorts to avoid the Chinese submarines to allow the illusion of this hope coming to fruition. Same thing with the Reagan’s escort submarines. The Chinese will think themselves lucky in having avoided the escort ships until death strikes them from above from aircraft.”
“That’s why the North Korean Romeo is last in the line,” Remy said. “So, it’s likely to survive and be found.”
“That’s probable.”
Jake felt appreciation for the plan growing around the table in the animated gestures of the French and Taiwanese crew.
“Then what about sinking the Romeo?” Remy asked.
“For some reason, the Chinese wanted their Kilo to be close to that Romeo. So, that means we have to be close to it — too close to have an aircraft attack it for risk of friendly fire hitting us.”
“Then what, Jake?”
Jake looked up to make sure everyone at the table knew why he had returned to command them.
“Because this will be open-ocean warfare with another submarine,” he said. “We’ll have to take the Romeo down ourselves.”
CHAPTER 28
Lieutenant Commander Dao Chan extended the printout from East Sea Fleet headquarters.
“Come see this, Gao.”
His executive officer slid around the navigation table and read the message.
“I understand your excitement, sir.”
“This is our call to action,” Chan said. “It’s the call for every submarine within reach of the Reagan. Each of us is ordered to take station and loiter in wait of the American carrier. Each of us has permission to launch weapons. This is magnificent!”
“Agreed, sir. Shall I set a course to our loiter area?”
Chan checked the chart and crunched numbers in his mind. His stolen ship could reach its destination in the allotted thirty-six hours.
“Plan for eight knots average speed, south, to reach our loiter area. Take us there, Gao.”
Gao acknowledged, and Chan walked aft with a jump drive carrying the latest radio traffic his Romeo had sniffed while snorkeling.
When he arrived in the engineering spaces, he found his cryptology expert with puffiness around his eyes.
“How’s your energy?” Chan asked. “Are you rested?”
“I’m fine, sir,” Park said. “I have the engine room team wake me whenever we go to snorkel depth just in case you have a download for me.”
“Excellent. Where’s your assistant?”
“He’s coming, sir.”
“What’s the status of finding our potential rescue ship? Any luck?”
“Nothing, sir. I’m breaking the encryption schemes of the ones you tell me to look at, but nothing’s coming up.”
“The fleet is notorious for withholding orders until the final hour,” Chan said. “That’s prudent, and I’m probably being paranoid by asking you to do this.”
Chan realized he had uttered his assuring words for himself more so than for Park.
“Perhaps, sir, but I’m happy to keep looking.”
“I appreciate it.”
Chan started walking away.
“Oh, sir? I have some insight into the other submarines in our area.”
“Yes? Go ahead.”
“The only one with a third layer of encryption is Kilo hull three-six-six. The others don’t include a third layer, at least not in the messages you’ve given me.”
“Really? Have you deciphered the Kilo’s message?”
“Yes, I have. But there was nothing to report because it was empty, like a placeholder. Just a message header, a long string of zeros, probably to retain a minimal or predetermined message length, followed by a cyclic redundancy check on the backend.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means there’s a communications channel for the fleet to send something private to someone on the Kilo, but they’re not using it. At least not yet.”
Chan frowned and stroked his jaw.
“The commanding officer aboard the Kilo is the senior officer among those in the Philippine Sea. He may be privy to privileged data.”
“Will he also be the closest to us? You once asked me to prioritize my third-layer encryption hacking by geographic proximity. Given that the Kilo is the only one using a third-layer, I’ll focus on it, but I’ll also see if the fleet invokes a third layer on the others as we intercept message traffic.”
“Agreed,” Chan said. “The closest is in fact the Kilo, hull three-six-six. The next closet is Song hull three-two-two, then Song hull three-two-four.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Keep up the good work, Park, and I’ll have you out of the navy within days of our triumphant return.”
A sardonic grin overtook the young sailor’s face.
“That’s all I ever wanted.”
A day later, Chan felt assured. Mere hours separated him from his starting position in his legendary ambush. Uncaring that the Taiwanese had established an impassable line between him and his home, he trusted that carrying out his mission would earn him both a safe return and recognition.
After returning from snorkel depth, he paid another visit to his encryption ace in the engineering spaces. He watched Park study computer screens as decryption algorithms unraveled messages sent from the East Sea Fleet to nearly two dozen surface vessels in the Philippine Sea.
“Nothing yet, sir.” Park said.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed,” Chan said. “But we must keep our faith. The rescue ship could be any vessel in the area. In fact, there could be multiple potential rescue ships, and the fleet may be awaiting the outcome of the battle to determine which one will meet us.”
“It’s all possible, sir.”
“I may be able to get you one more download before we begin our mission.”
“That might help, sir.”
“I’m going to get some sleep, Park,” Chan said. “I recommend you do the same.”
In his chamber, Chan dreamt.
His mind’s eye hopped between parallel simultaneous realities. In one dimension, Chan commanded his stolen submarine, evaluating data on the navigation chart. In the other dimension, he watched the Reagan shape-shift from formed metal to a living dragon.
The dragon shot across the water’s surface, outpacing torpedoes in its wake. Fireballs shot from its mouth and plunged into the water. Seeing the world again from the navigation chart, Chan watched the dragon’s belched fury transform into super-cavitating torpedoes, inverted triangles of red with speed-leader lines targeting the other submarines of his wolf pack.
Time blinked, and the blitzing torpedoes eradicated his comrades. Alone against the dragon, he launched his ship’s weapons toward it.
As he prayed for success against the supernatural, he heard alarms announce incoming weapons. A glance at the chart confirmed a betrayal. Instead of retaliating against the enemy dragon, every ship in his team had shot their weapons at him.
He ordered his lethargic submarine to escape, but his perspective returned to the parallel dimension above the Reagan. The monster opened its mouth and inhaled water, swallowing the sea with infinite power and capacity. Despite its pathetic flank-speed fleeing, Chan’s Romeo flowed backwards in the current.