“Again!” Ennis snapped at Smith, leaning forward on the edge of the command chair.
The Braxton’s heavy guns fired once more, churning the water with a second round of explosions.
“Contact is changing course and breaking off, sir!” Lancaster shouted.
Ennis slumped back into the command chair. “Did we hurt it?”
“No way to know for sure, sir,” Lancaster said, “but from the looks of things, we did.”
Ennis agreed with that assessment. The blackness in the water had to be the thing’s blood. He knew the squid creatures bled black. The tentacle that had risen up in the wake of the explosions looked very similar to those of the smaller squid creatures. At the very least, they had given the monster pause. Ennis didn’t doubt that it would be back, but for now, the volleys from the guns had driven it off.
Captain Weaver had been right to set an intercept course for the nearby DESRON. Ennis didn’t relish the idea of facing that thing alone. His gut told him that the monster could make short work of the Braxton anytime it felt like it.
Ennis hit the internal intercom button and hailed engineering. “Chief, I understand you guys are doing the best you can down there, but we really need more speed. Do whatever it takes to make that happen.”
Surface Commander Hoffman sat in his command chair reading over the report his XO, Shooter, had brought him. The USS Braxton was in route to their position. Hoffman frowned. Captain Weaver had always struck him as a competent and rational man. The two of them had met several times over the years. He wondered what had happened to Captain Weaver and the Braxton,because what the ship’s XO had claimed upon contacting DESRON 2 surely couldn’t be true. The Braxton’s XO had told Hoffman’s comm. officer that the ship was under attack by a newly discovered species of squid-like creatures they had encountered while responding to a distress call from a civilian research facility known as Platform Alpha One. There had been no further word from the Braxton since that time, but the Mitchell’s long-range sensors pegged the ship as still on course and approaching DESRON 2’s position at maximum military speed. Hoffman had brought the four ships of DESRON 2 to alert status. His flagship, the Mitchell, was at the center of the DESRON’s formation. The Rigel and Hercules flanked her with the Bonime bringing up the formation’s rear.
There was nothing in the information that his XO had pulled on Platform Alpha One to indicate that any illegal genetic or bio-weapon research had been taking place at the facility. Everything about it checked out on paper. It appeared in every way to be the research and exploration station that the Braxton’s XO had reported it being. Hoffman rubbed at his cheeks with his fingers, thinking over the situation. Part of him had worried that the facility had been working on something that might have affected its own crew and then the crew of the Braxton. A neural agent or toxin causing a delusional state made more sense than the claims of being attacked by monsters from the depths. This was real life, not some B-grade horror film.
“It’s all rather strange, isn’t it, sir?” Shooter asked, walking up to stand beside the command chair, a mug of tea in his hand.
Surface Commander Hoffman nodded. “If it were anyone but Weaver out there, I would have laughed it all off as some kind of joke.”
“I know,” Shooter said. “I’ve met Captain Weaver too. Never seemed the sort to screw around to me.”
“So what in the devil is going on then?” Hoffman asked. “Are we really supposed to believe that there are monsters tough enough to put a U.S. Navy battleship on the run out there?”
“The Braxton should reach our position within the hour, sir, so I guess we’ll find out soon enough.” Shooter shrugged and slurped at his tea.
“What about the storm?” Surface Commander Hoffman asked.
“It’s cleared the area, sir,” Shooter told him. “However, we’re still having trouble with the long-range comm. systems. I’ve got our best techs on figuring out what’s going on with it.”
“Good.” Hoffman smiled. Shooter was the type of XO that every captain prayed they would get assigned to their command. He took the initiative and got things done, well and right.
“The entire DESRON is on alert too just as you ordered,” Shooter added. “If the Braxton is bringing trouble with her, we’ll be ready for it.”
Hoffman chuckled. “Monsters.” He said the word like the joke it had to be. “Weaver will have to the luckiest captain alive to keep his command after this. Even if he does, he’ll never live this mess down.”
“Aye, sir,” Shooter agreed, “unless there are really monsters after him of course.”
“Don’t tell me you believe that crap,” Hoffman laughed. As steady as Captain Weaver had seemed the times they had met, even the best men could snap. Hoffman had to admit to himself that a part of him truly believed Weaver’s claims but it was so much easier to laugh at it all.
“As you may recall, sir,” Shooter said, “I have an interest in marine biology myself. The depths of the Earth’s oceans are less explored than space. There have been a lot of strange and mind-boggling lifeforms discovered in its depths over the years. Who’s to say that the folks aboard Platform Alpha One didn’t find something more than they bargained for in their exploration efforts?”
“Ugly-looking fish, bizarre coral formations, weird fungal light on the ocean floor? That type of stuff I’ll buy, Shooter, but monsters? Even coming from someone like Captain Weaver, that still just seems too unlikely. The Braxton is a fully armed and combat operational battleship Shooter. There shouldn’t be anything alive out there under the waves that could really be a threat to her.”
“Ennis claimed these squid creatures can move about out of the water,” Shooter told him. “That they boarded ships by climbing their hulls. It would take one heck of a mutation to create creatures like that, sir.”
Surface Commander Hoffman grunted, leaning forward in his chair. He looked over at Shooter, shaking his head. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Captain Weaver entered the Braxton’s medical bay. Both of the women from Platform Alpha One were resting there with Dr. Hall looking after them. Neither of the women had suffered anything more than a bit of exposure and some cuts and bruises. Specialist Robbie from Larson’s strike team was there too. Robbie hopped from the chair he was sitting in, coming to attention as he entered the room.
“At ease, son,” Captain Weaver told him.
“Did the others make it, sir?” Robbie asked.
Captain Weaver shook his head. “Your CO, Larson, and the man from the platform were both killed by the creatures before they could make it aboard.”
“What about Hawks?” the young specialist demanded.
“He’s fine, son. Hawks and the rest of your unit led the defense of this ship as those things, squids, whatever they are, tried to board us. Beat them back pretty good too from what I have heard.”
“Good to know, sir,” Robbie said with a grin.
Captain Weaver had been keeping track of what was going on by listening in on Ennis through the comm. piece he wore inside his right ear. He kindly motioned the young specialist from his path and continued on to where the two women from the platform sat.
“Don’t press them too hard,” Dr. Hall instructed him. “They’ve been through a lot in the last bit.”
Ignoring Dr. Hall’s comment, Captain Weaver moved to stand in front of the two women. “I hear one of you is the captain of Platform Alpha One.”