"I don't want to find out by accident again that there's something like a SASAL warship nearby, Mr. Sinclair!"
Paul took a moment to be grateful he wasn't being chewed out face to face. Not that I should be happy about that, because it means the Captain's so ticked off he's ripping me up in public. What now? Say that SASAL ship isn't really "nearby"? Try to explain again that I was just about to call the bridge? He doesn't want an explanation. I screwed up. Just get it over with. "Yes, sir. It won't happen again, sir."
"It'd better not." The click of the communications circuit cutting off sounded unnaturally loud to Paul.
He leaned back from his console and took a deep breath. His own Combat watch standers were concentrating on their displays, trying to pretend they hadn't heard or noticed anything. Paul took another slow breath to ensure his voice was under control. "Who's monitoring the long range situation?"
Petty Officer Third Class Divalo raised his hand. "Me, sir."
"I should've been notified about that SASAL ship, Divalo."
"Yes, sir. I, uh…"
"That's in the standing watch instructions, right?"
"Yes, sir."
Paul felt anger flooding him and fought it down. Don't scream at him. Divalo's a pretty good sailor. He just screwed up this time. And I'm responsible when he does. He glanced over at where Divalo was hunched in front of his display, his face grim. He's unhappy already. Make sure he remembers the lesson and not me screaming at him. "Next time keep me informed, Petty Officer Divalo. When in doubt, let me know. That way neither one of us will get chewed out."
"Yes, sir. I will, sir. I'm sorry, sir."
"Let's just make sure we don't surprise the captain again. He doesn't like that."
Divalo smiled nervously at the understatement. "No, sir. Don't worry, sir."
"I won't." The hell I won't. But Divalo's not a habitual screw-up. He deserves a second chance. "I want you to work up some possible positions for that SASAL ship at the time the exercise is scheduled to begin. I especially want to know how close he could be if he headed directly this way at speed. I also want to know how far away he'll be if he continues along that transit lane. Then give me a picture of the area of space he could be in if he does something in between those two extremes. Understand?"
Divalo nodded several times, his face intent with concentration. "Aye, aye, sir. I'll have it to you real quick, Mr. Sinclair."
"Run it by Chief Imari first so she'll know what's going on, too." I'm glad I thought of that. Hey, I could've failed to inform the chain of command above and below me at the same time. "Make sure it looks clean because we'll be forwarding the picture to the captain."
"Aye, aye, sir."
Paul unstrapped and pulled himself out of Combat. Halfway to the wardroom, he passed Randy Diego. "Paul? Commander Garcia's looking for you."
"Did he say what about?"
"No. But he didn't look happy."
Wonderful. Now Garcia probably wants to chew me out for not telling him or the captain about the SASAL ship. Might as well get it over with. "Thanks, Randy." Paul went looking for Garcia.
"So," Lieutenant Sindh murmured, "how's your butt this morning?"
"Tender," Paul muttered back as he settled into the junior officer of the deck's chair and tugged at the straps. "After Garcia finished ripping into me he passed me off to the XO so Kwan could take some bites out of me. At least Hayes seems in a better mood today."
"That's because you warned him last night this might happen." Sindh indicated the maneuvering display, where the SASAL warship loomed far closer than it should've been if it had stayed inside the traffic lane. "I guess the South Asians want a real close look at our show."
"Yeah. I checked out the Tamerlane 's position in Combat before coming to the bridge. If he wants to, he could be right on top of us when we start our little multinational ballet."
"You sure?" Sindh ran some quick calculations herself. "That's not good. It's going to be hairy enough dancing around those foreign ships without worrying about that SASAL goon hanging around."
"At least we've got-"
Paul was interrupted by the bosun mate of the watch yelling out, "Captain's on the bridge!"
Hayes went straight to his chair on one side of the bridge and strapped in before looking toward Paul and Sonya Sindh. "Looks like you were right about the son of a gun, Paul. Good work."
"Thank you, sir." Alright. I'm "Paul" again instead of Mr. Sinclair.
"What if this guy tries to mess with our exercise? Do we use standard rules of engagement for foreign encounters?"
Sindh flicked a glance at Paul, who gave her a surreptitous thumbs-up back. "No, sir. Fleet's issued specific guidance for SASAL encounters during this period."
Hayes grinned. "Do you know them?"
"Yes, sir." Studied the hell out of them last night after Kwan and Garcia finished reading me the riot act. No way I was going to be caught flat-footed again this soon. "They're more restrictive than the usual rules of engagement."
"Damn. Well, hopefully he'll keep his distance and we won't need them." Commander Kwan entered the bridge and strapped into his own chair. "Hey, XO, we got company."
Kwan nodded, then gave Paul a glare. "Yes, sir."
"Okay, Sonya, Paul, let's get this show on the road."
The XO heard Hayes' tone and reference to Paul by his first name, gave Paul another less-hostile look, then focused on the displays near his chair. "Who's running Combat with Sinclair up here?"
Paul answered immediately. "Commander Garcia, sir."
Kwan nodded. "Good."
I'm glad you think so. My sailors aren't too happy about it.
They spent the next hour conducting communications checks with the foreign ships. The Brits sounded calm to the point of being relaxed, the Franco-German ship kept trying to pretend no one board spoke English, and the Russian Federation ship seemed so jovial that Captain Hayes wondered aloud if they'd been sampling their vodka rations already this morning.
Finally, the ships began their first planned maneuver. Paul found himself unusually nervous as the bosun sounded out his warning. "All hands prepare for extended maneuvering period beginning in five minutes. Secure all objects and materials. Undertake no task that cannot be completed prior to maneuvering."
Precisely five minutes later the Michaelson 's thrusters fired, shoving everyone onboard to one side. Paul and Sonya watched as the Michaelson 's maneuvering systems handled the job automatically, swinging the ship onto a new heading before the main drive cut in and slammed the crew back against their restraints. The stars spun on the visual display in front of Paul, where bright symbols superimposed on the blackness of space told him the positions of the Maury and the three foreign warships. On the maneuvering displays, the vectors of the five ships began pushing them into the shape of a huge pentagon with sides two hundred kilometers long.
"Bridge, this is Combat. The SASAL ship is up to something."
Every head on the bridge jerked over to check out the vector on the SASAL ship. It had lengthened and shifted, marking maneuvering and main drive firing by the Tamerlane. Captain Hayes, his face stressed by the force of the Michaelson 's acceleration, slapped his communications controls. "I want to know what he's doing the instant we have a reasonable estimate."
"Yes, sir. Preliminary system estimates put him heading this way."
Hayes glared toward Paul. "What can we do, Paul?"
"The rules of engagement say we should warn them off using all available means."
"Comms, get on the air to the Tamerlane and tell them to get the hell out of here. Feel free to be that blunt. Send it simultaneously using lasers on visual frequencies. Paul, what if he doesn't respond?"
Paul grimaced, knowing the captain wouldn't like what Paul was about to say. "Avoid confrontation, sir."