Seconds counted now. If he could turn into the enemy's oncoming spread of torpedoes, perhaps he could get inside their arming radius… or sucker them with decoys. Perhaps… perhaps… perhaps…
The deck tilted sharply, and Hsing grabbed hold of the railing encircling the periscope station to remain upright. "Enemy torpedoes… range four hundred and closing!"
"Release countermeasures!"
"Countermeasures released."
"Enemy torpedoes closing, range six hundred… five hundred… "
Hsing thought of Ma Sanbao, the original Sinbad the Sailor. What had ever happened to him? The dynastic histories had no record of him after 1433 and the sudden, inward turning of the Ming Empire. Presumably he'd died or been murdered by his enemies, and yet there were persistent, half-mythical rumors that he'd made an eighth voyage, a voyage toward the east and the rising sun, to unknown lands beyond the Great Sea.
The destiny of nations, of whole peoples and civilizations, turned at times on such tiny details. The ancient Sanbao had come so close to reversing the tides of history; the China of the Mings might have discovered Europe and constructed a bridge to a future where the Middle Kingdom dominated its enemies and ruled in peace and harmony.
And the fortunes of the People's Republic might well ride upon the fate of a single submarine and the skill of her captain.
"Range two hundred… one hundred… "
And her captain's luck. Hsing Ma closed his eyes and prayed….
"Master Four-five has cut his wires!" Toynbee yelled. "His torpedoes are running free!"
Garrett closed his eyes. He was not a particularly religious man, and he doubted that God chose favorites in the squabbles among the tribes of humankind, but sometimes things came down to the point where prayer was the only available option. By forcing the enemy to cut his torpedo wires, Seawolf had just saved the Stennis, at least for the moment. If the Akula could avoid Seawolf's attack, however, the outcome of the ensuing, deadly duel would be anyone's guess. Seawolf had been created to counter Akula and her kind and had the tactical advantage, but the two were the most silent, most deadly hunter-killers of the world ocean. The ultrasilent Akula, the so-called Walker-class boat, could so easily vanish into silence and in her turn close on Sea-wolf for a final kill.
"Conn! Sonar! Change in target aspect! He's turning… releasing countermeasures…."
Garrett nodded. The enemy skipper was doing what he would have done… dogfighting his boat, trying to outmaneuver the torpedoes. He might be turning away, hoping to mask his retreat behind his decoy array… or he might be turning toward Seawolf's torpedoes in an attempt to get inside their arming range.
By offsetting the attack angles on two of his fish, Garrett had countered both possible maneuvers as best as he could, giving them the optimum chance of acquiring their target, no matter which way it turned.
A dull rumble sounded through the Seawolf.
"Conn! Sonar! We have an underwater explosion! Unit one hit Master Four-five!"
A second later another explosion sounded, followed moments later by a third.
Even without the help of sonar, the rumbling detonations were clearly audible in the control room. Moments later they could hear a deep, groaning, creaking noise… the mournful cry of a vessel's spine snapping, the death song of the other boat.
"Conn, Sonar! We got him!"
"What about his torpedoes?"
"None have acquired their target, sir. They're starting to circle."
But Seawolf was already sprinting away, moving at twenty knots… at thirty… at forty… and the fast-moving enemy torpedoes would have to circle far around before they had a chance of acquiring the American submarine.
Ahead, the Stennis battle group sailed on into the night, most of the six thousand men and women aboard her completely unaware of the drama that had unfolded astern.
And in Seawolf's control room, Commander Tom Garrett joined his crew in a wild and lusty cheer.
Inwardly, though, the sudden release of the building stress had left him feeling weak… almost depressed. He wondered about the enemy submarine's commander, about who he was, about what he'd been thinking. He'd come so close to scoring a kill on the Stennis. But for Seawolf's intervention…
Still, for all the complex technology of modern weapons, weapons platforms, sensors, and computers, combat was yet decided by luck and by the people who manned them. Battles — and the subsequent fates of nations and rival peoples — were not determined by robots. Not yet.
Garrett was fiercely proud of the Seawolves, the men under his command.
EPILOGUE
"You can't keep the Seawolf, of course," Rear Admiral Bainbridge told him gruffly. "You know that, don't you?"
"Yes, sir. I do."
He stood at attention in front of the admiral's desk, immaculate in his dress whites. Somewhere outside, in the San Diego Navy Yard, Seawolf was tied to a pier, as dock workers began replacing her temporary repairs with something more permanent.
Of course he couldn't keep her. Others were in line for that command… and more than likely, the affair of the Pittsburgh and the Chinese Kilo was still too well remembered at SUBRON 11.
"If it's any consolation to you, you've been put in for the Navy Cross. What you did out there was nothing short of spectacular."
"Thank you, sir. But my crew deserves most of the credit."
There was little else he could say. Besides, he wanted this agony over with, damn it. Kazuko had flown to Hawaii two days ago and was waiting to meet him at her hotel in Honolulu. All he needed to do now was complete his official mission debriefing with Bainbridge, and he would be free for five glorious days in a bit of well-deserved leave.
Hopefully, the hotel amenities would be a bit more pleasant than those in Hong Kong.
"So noted, Commander. So noted. You'll be pleased to know, by the way, that your efforts in the Strait of Formosa may have paid off in bigger ways than any of us imagined. Thanks to your dogfighting out there, the PLA lost all but three of her best attack boats. Their invasion fleet pulled back from Kinmen. The PLA troops that had already hit the beach there were killed or captured within hours. You might also be interested to know that the Taiwanese commando group left on the mainland tracked down those vehicle-mounted Silkworms and laser-targeted them for F/A-18 Hornets flying off the Stennis. Taiwan is now secure, and there are indications that Beijing is going to fold. You and Sea-wolf may just be responsible for winning the war."
"That is good news, sir."
"Hm. It gets better, son. We can't give you the Sea-wolf, but we have picked out a new assignment for you. If you want it."
"Thank you, sir." He closed his eyes. Was it going to be Adak after all? Or a desk job back in Washington or here at San Diego?
"I don't know what the hell someone was thinking,"
Bainbridge went on. "With your record… running into other submarines and destroyers, surfacing in hostile waters, I'd think the powers that be would be a bit leery of giving you a new command."