Below, Cahill heard the door open and the steps of the translator joining him on the bridge. Keeping his eyes on the monitors, he saw the Mark 45 cannon rotate towards the Goliath, but its barrel froze in a harmless direction while clouds of smoke rose from its punctured housing.
“Port gunner, shift to the after Phalanx!” he said. “Starboard gunner stay on the after Phalanx!”
As Cahill thought he’d bested the Hydra, its rear close-in weapon system erupted, and he heard echoes of shredded metal inside his ship. To his relief, he saw a solitary railgun shot puncture and silence the final threat to his ship.
Then his railguns fell silent.
“Weapons bays, report status!”
He heard a high-pitched voice.
“This is starboard weapons bay. My life just flashed in front of me. I’m unharmed, but I think a hundred rounds hit the cannon.”
“I’m glad you’re okay. How bad’s your cannon?”
“It’s out of commission. I don’t know what all’s been hit yet, but a lot of rounds came through and hit a lot of shit, Terry.”
“Very well. What about the port weapon?”
The next voice sounded more calm.
“I’m out of commission, too, but I don’t think I got hit as bad. One of us hit that Phalanx and stopped it as it was swinging at me. All the damage on the port cannon is on the capacitor.”
“Can it be repaired?” Cahill asked.
“No way. It’s Swiss cheese.”
“This is going to make negotiations with the Hydra rough,” Walker said. “Do you think you can bluff your way through?”
“Maybe. But maybe I don’t have to.”
He projected his voice to the microphone.
“Starboard weapons bay, how’s your capacitor?”
“Untouched. All damage is to the cannon.”
Cahill turned to Walker.
“Head aft, grab the biggest spare cables you can find, and cross-connect the capacitors. Get guys working on both sides of the ship and have them mate the connection in the tunnel.”
“That could work. Each cannon has a spare cable, and they’re long. I think we’ve also got some battery cables that can bear the load and close the gap.”
“Get going.”
“How long do I have?”
“As long as I can stall His Majesty, Captain Floros of the Hellenic Navy. He may need a demonstration at some point to verify that I’m the only one left with a usable cannon.”
As Walker sprang down the stairs, Cahill reached for several icons. First, he energized his phased-array radar system to give him a view of nearby threats, and he was relieved to find none. He then opened a satellite communication to Renard, who offered a quick greeting and then promised to remain silent until needed. Finally, he opened a high-frequency voice line to the Hydra.
As the frigate sailed by him, he told his translator to hail it, and he heard an extended, angered response.
“If you can get a word in edgewise, tell the Hydra to stop or else I’ll test how far me cannons can bore holes from its engine room to its bow.”
When the Greek rant ceased, the translator relayed the message. After a hesitation, the voice Cahill recognized as belonging to Floros took on a suspicious tone.
“He says he destroyed your cannons with his Phalanx.”
“Tell him, I concede damage to me starboard cannon, but I would prefer to avoid inflicting further damage upon him to prove him wrong about the port cannon. I have one cannon to his zero.”
During another challenging Greek exchange, Cahill surfaced the entire ship and shifted his propulsion to the gas turbines. Huge volumes of air swooshed through the ducts that fed the engines. Unsure how the damage to his bow would slow him, he was ready to test his speed against that of the frigate.
The translator updated him.
“He says your ship is damaged and he can outrun you until he is outside minimum range for his torpedoes.”
Cahill tapped a key to bring the Goliath to fifteen knots. He watched his port bow undulate in the swells and ignored the warnings from the port MESMA plant that complained of shaking.
“Tell him I have good enough speed to make that a difficult endeavor and that even if he succeeds, my torpedoes are bigger than his. Much bigger. Emphasize that.”
A Greek exchange.
“He says that you only have three torpedoes, and he has a task force that will come and kill you if you attack him.”
“Tell him I agree and might even let him choose which ships I sink in addition to the Hydra, which will enjoy the first cracked keel and bone-crushing shockwave through its decks.”
While awaiting the translation, Cahill heard Walker’s voice over the loudspeaker.
“Go ahead, Liam. What’s your status?”
“I need at least fifteen more minutes. This is laborious work just connecting the cables, and then I’ve got men trying to override the charging circuit logic to let the starboard capacitor power the port cannon. We’re just as apt to blow up our capacitor as we are to use it to power the starboard cannon, changing things this fast.”
“Keep working,” Cahill said. “I’ll let you know if we need to risk firing. Don’t try anything risky until I order it.”
The response and translation came.
“Captain Floros has ordered the entire task force to surround our position, but he’s agreed to slow while you state your intent.”
“Tell him I intend to tie up to him and have him tow me out of the Aegean Sea.”
Another Greek exchange.
“He wants to know why he has to tie you and tow you.”
“It’s so that his mates don’t launch any weapons at me. They’ll have as much chance as hitting him with missiles or torpedoes if they do.”
A final Greek exchange.
“He’s not promising you an escort out of the Aegean until he hears from his admiralty, but he agrees to begin towing you away. He says he agrees to tie you up since it’s the only way he’s guaranteed to know where your rotten ship’s located at all times. He said to come to five knots, and he’ll tie you to his stern.”
Slowing the Goliath to five knots, Cahill wondered if he’d missed a detail. Renard would have to finalize the negotiated exit, but he trusted his boss in that element.
Just as he considered the Frenchman’s role, he heard his voice from the console.
“That was well executed,” Renard said.
Cahill verified the high-frequency voice line was off.
“You know that I don’t have me port cannon up yet.”
“I heard. Still, you will eventually, while he won’t have anything to shoot at you. However, the rest of the task force will as soon as the assets move into position.”
“But I’ve got me choice of three ships I can sink, and when Liam has the port cannon working, I can cripple the engine rooms of any combatant that tries to get in cannon range of me. I believe that gives you enough leverage to talk me out of this mess?”
The Frenchman’s face lit up.
“Indeed it does,” Renard said. “And I’m almost saddened that you made it too easy for me.”
CHAPTER 23
Jake leaned his hips against the plotting table.
“I love happy endings.”
“Don’t we all,” Henri said.
“I don’t like this eight-knot escort speed, though. It’s too fast for my tastes. I can’t hear everything I want, and we still don’t know where all the Greek submarines are.”
“Pierre had to concede their staying submerged to get his other demands met. I’d call it a minor detail in an otherwise resounding victory.”
Jake reached for a railing as the deck pitched.