“Great.” Captain Weaver shot them a wry grin, his tone sarcastic. “I’ll get right on figuring out how to kill that thing with a single hit. I imagine a tactical nuke would do the job nicely. Don’t suppose you brought one onboard with you?”
The two women clearly didn’t appreciate his dark humor.
“This is nothing to joke about, Captain,” Cheryl told him. “The fate of the very world perhaps is in your hands.”
“No pressure,” Captain Weaver chuckled darkly. “No pressure at all.”
“You’d best be getting back to the bridge.” Dr. Hall laid a hand on his shoulder. “You’ve got to kill this thing, Captain. You’re the only one who can in time and you know it.”
“Right then.” Captain Weaver nodded and gently removed Dr. Hall’s hand. “Ladies,” he said in parting and left the medical bay. As he walked along the corridor towards the lift that would take him to the bridge, his mind reeled at the staggering magnitude of the task ahead of him. He hoped Ennis would have an idea as for how to kill the Kraken in a single hit because he sure as Hades didn’t.
Captain Weaver stepped onto the bridge, looking around at his crew as he did so.
“Captain on the bridge!” Mr. Smith snapped as he entered.
Ennis leaped out of his command chair, surrendering it to him.
Captain Weaver plopped in the chair and sighed.
“Sir?” Ennis asked. “Is everything okay?”
“No.” Captain Weaver shook his head. He knew his crew was one of the best in the fleet. He trusted them with his life on a daily basis. It just made sense to fill them all in on what lay ahead of them and he did so in short order. When he was done, Ennis was staring at him.
“Killing that thing in a single hit is a pretty dang tall order, sir,” Ennis said, echoing his own thoughts.
“I know,” Captain Weaver replied, “but it sounds like it’s up to us to do it. Even if the long-range comms were working, it’s unlikely any help would arrive in time. If we don’t find a means of stopping this thing, it’s game over for us all.” He said the last part in his best Bill Paxton voice.
“Don’t you think that’s a touch dramatic?” Ennis said.
“You’ve seen those things move about out of the water,” Captain Weaver reminded his XO. “Can you imagine the effect creatures like that will have on fishing, shipping, small coastal towns? My God, man, we’re really talking about the end of the world as we know it if that thing and its spawn aren’t stopped.”
Ennis stared at him in silence. It was Smith who spoke up.
“I think I have an idea, sir,” Smith said, getting up from the weapons station, “but you’re not going to like it.”
“I’m listening,” Captain Weaver said.
“We’ve seen how the Kraken deals with ships the size of the Braxton, sir.” Smith spun around in his seat to look at him. “That thing… It comes right in and latches onto its target. Its tactic has been to crush the ship it is engaged with and then drag it underwater. What if we had a surprise waiting for it when it tried that against us?”
Captain Weaver stared at Smith. “Are you suggesting we sacrifice this ship to destroy that thing, Mr. Smith?”
“It’s the only way I can think of killing it, Captain,” Mr. Smith said honestly. “We have seen that normal tactics don’t work. We just don’t have the firepower to kill it in a single hit any other way.”
“He’s right,” Ennis reluctantly admitted. “It may very well be the only means of stopping that thing.”
“I’m not arguing that it wouldn’t work,” Captain Weaver replied with a sigh. “But allow me to remind you that the waters are teeming with the lesser squids. If we lure the Kraken in and blow the ship to kill it, what about them? The lifeboats aren’t equipped for combat. Any crew who don’t stay aboard will be left at their mercy.”
“Not necessarily,” Ennis said. “If the big one dies, the others may scatter. Its death might break them and send them running.”
“That’s a pretty risky gamble to take,” Captain Weaver complained.
“I don’t see how we have another choice, sir.” Ennis shrugged. “Not if you really intend to try to kill the thing.”
Captain Weaver thought it over and then nodded. “Mr. Smith, how long will it take to rig this ship for what you have in mind?”
“With enough manpower to help, maybe an hour?” Smith answered.
“Be about it then. Pull as many crewmen as you need to assist,” Captain Weaver ordered. “Ennis, relieve him in the meantime.”
“Yes, sir,” Ennis replied, taking over the weapons station for Smith as the younger officer left the bridge.
“Lancaster?” Captain Weaver called out.
The sonar tech snapped to attention at his station. “Sir!”
“Any sign of the Kraken as yet?” Captain Weaver asked.
“None, sir,” Lancaster reported. “I’m picking up a large number of the lesser squid creatures in pursuit of us though. They’re hanging back for now but keeping their speed constant with our own.”
“I want to know the second there is any change,” Captain Weaver ordered him.
The Braxton had maintained action stations since the last engagement with the squids and the death of DESRON 2. Captain Weaver knew they were as ready as they could be should the Kraken show itself given their situation, except for putting in places the charges needed for Mr. Smith’s plan. Lord willing, the Kraken would give the weapons officer the time to get everything in place before the monster showed itself again.
“Maintain current course and speed. We need to keep as much distance as we can from those things until Mr. Smith is ready.” Captain Weaver leaned back in his chair. “And somebody get me a bloody cup of coffee!”
Lieutenant Commander Kim Unger had taken charge of the Braxton’s onboard marines and security personnel. She knew it was up to her and her men to keep the ship from being overrun by the lesser squid creatures should they move in ahead of the Kraken itself. All of the ship’s entrances to its interior had been welded shut except for one passageway onto its primary deck, and those doors were now closed with two soldiers carrying SAWs in place to defend it. The rest of her men were spread out all along the sides of the Braxton, heavily armed and their eyes fixed on the waves for any sign of trouble.
Her second-in-command, Henson, came running over to where she stood at the portside railing.
“Ma’am,” he shouted. “We’ve got reports of the squids moving in from both aft and starboard.”
Unger blinked in surprise. She hadn’t expected the squids to come calling already. “Have the men engage them at will.”
As soon as she gave the order, a soldier a few yards up the deck from her shouted, “Contact from starboard!”
Lieutenant Commander Unger whirled back towards the water. What she saw there nearly made her freeze despite her years of experience and training. There were squid creatures everywhere among the waves, far too many of them to count at a glance. She jerked her rifle up, bracing it against her shoulder as she took aim at the monsters. Her first burst ripped the central mass of one of the things apart. Black blood swirled in the water around where its corpse floated, jostled about by the current. She took aim at another but didn’t pull the trigger. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed movement below her and to her right on the Braxton’s lower hull. The squid creatures had already reached the ship and were emerging from the water to climb its sides. She twisted her body to get a shot at one of the monsters already in the process of racing up the side of the ship like some sort of deranged spider on speed. Its tentacles lashed out, their spear-like tips thrusting into the metal of the Braxton’s hull as it used them to pull itself upwards. Lieutenant Commander Unger took aim at one the squids that was halfway up the side of the ship and put a burst of rounds into it. The squid creature gave a horrid, high-pitched shriek of pain and died where it was. Its body dangled from the side of the Braxton as the tentacles impaling the ship’s hull held its corpse in place above the waves.