About two thirds of the way to the middle the captain ordered, "Course one-eight-seven. Take us past the island." The boat began a slow veer to port.
* * *
There was a single trixie, bright green and red quasi-feathers clear against the blue sky, circling the tree-crowned island as it passed astern to the left. Almost immediately, the waves, which had been practically non-existent, grew to a height of a couple of feet. A medium yacht would have noticed them; on the Meg they had no real effect.
A small yacht, its passengers engaged in fishing just at the mouth of the bay, sheltered behind the small island, saw the sail of the Meg pass by about half a mile away. The passengers, sport fisherman from the Federated States, to all appearances, waved at Chu, which wave he returned.
Chu then disappeared into the hull of the Meg. A few minutes later, the sail began to sink into the waves.
Fort Muddville, Balboa, Terra Nova
Though built around a large infantry brigade, Janier's command included both air and naval components, as well as some foreign detachments. As such, the brigade staff was a joint-combined staff. As such, each staff section contained officers, warrants, and non-commissioned officers from the other services, and some from other states in the Tauran Union. Lieutenant de Vaisseau—Lieutenant of the Line—Surcouf was the Gallic senior naval type on de Villepin's intelligence staff.
Surcouf shook his head, wonderingly.
"What's that?" asked de Villepin.
"Oh, the latest little Balboan submarine just left the pen at Puerto Lindo," the lieutenant answered. "A test run, I suppose, since it's brand new. Our people doing observation aboard the yacht just waved it out. I honestly don't know why those people even bother; the things are so outrageously noisy that we could find this one, or any of its siblings, any time we like. Seems like such a waste of money and manpower."
"Think we should dispatch the southern frigate"—there was a frigate at each terminus of the Transitway—"to track it?" de Villepin asked.
Surcouf thought about it for a moment before answering, "No . . . no, sir, I think not. If Ney tracks it they'll know they're easily spotted. Then they might actually start thinking about and then fix the problem with the noisemakers they think of as water jets. Better this way, I think. Big surprise for the Balboans if it ever comes to a fight."
"Fair enough," de Villepin agreed. "What's Charlemagne's progress?"
"Four days sailing; then she'll be here."
De Villepin nodded, then said, "It's kind of odd, isn't it, that the locals aren't reacting to the approach of the carrier. It's not like it's a secret. And one would think that it would at least alarm them some, cause some limited mobilization. But nothing. Not even an increase in telephone traffic."
"I agree it's odd, sir. But who can understand these people, anyway?"
Maybe nobody, de Villepin thought. I wish I could, though.
SdL Megalodon, Shimmering Sea, Terra Nova
The string across the open was noticeably bowed. The depth meter read six hundred meters. Location was roughly sixty miles out in the Shimmering Sea. The crew was alternately sleeping, or snacking, or playing games at their battle stations, while waiting for the clock to run. A small buoy on a wire linked the Meg with the surface, receiving the Global Locating System signal while Chu and company listened for any code words that would indicate a change in plans.
"Time, skipper," announced Guillermo Aleman.
"Retrieve the buoy," Chu said.
* * *
On the surface the captain of the tender that always accompanied test runs noted the time. "They'll be taking off soon," he muttered.
Glancing over his chart, the tender's captain gave the order, "Turn on the clicker simulator. Set course for Point Bravo. Speed, six knots." He smiled, thinking, Just exactly as if we were still following the sub around.
* * *
It took about three minutes for the small electric motor to bring the buoy back to its station atop the sail, which also closed the tiny doors above it as the buoy settled. The motor, itself, was contained in and shielded by the sail. It was essentially a silent process.
"Tender's taking off, skipper," sonar announced. "Heading generally to Point Bravo at . . . call it six knots. She's engaged her clicker."
Chu gave the order, "Ensure the clicker's off. Sailing stations. Boys, let's go link up with Orca at the rendezvous point."
Fort Muddville, Balboa, Terra Nova
Surcouf stood in front of a wall-mounted map on which the course of the Charlemagne battle group was plotted. There was another plot, too, on the map. This was the plot of the second Balboan submarine which had sortied the night prior. The second plot was on an intercept course with the first. Still a third plot showed the course of the Gallic Navy frigate, the Michael Ney. Ney was shadowing the sub at a considerable distance. Then again, because of the sub's apparently appalling internal workings, shadowing at a distance was easy.
"Why did you sortie the frigate for this?" de Villepin asked. "I thought you said . . ."
"Yes, sir," Surcouf interrupted. "I did. But this one"—he tapped the map—"this one is heading for the battle group. I figured that sending the frigate out now would not be suspicious, since we would want to escort the Charlemagne in, anyway. But I am suspicious. I think they intend to try to get through the screen."
"If they try and we intercept, won't that alert them that they're noisy."
Surcouf looked worried. "Yes, sir, it would. I'm still thinking about how to warn them off without letting them know they're so easy to track."
De Villepin thought about that briefly, then asked, "How common would it be for the submarine escorting Charlemagne to separate itself from the battle group and then try to penetrate the screen?"
Surcouf rocked his head a bit from side to side, thinking. He finally answered, "Not uncommon. Though the submarine with a battle group usually takes point by as much as fifty kilometers, they do—situation permitting—sometimes test their own defenses. Good practice for the submariners, too."
"How hard to vector that escort sub close enough to the Balboan that active sonar would pick both up?"
"Only a little more difficult. A submarine would almost never use active sonar. Surface ships do . . . at least for some purposes and under some circumstances. Diamant is Charlemagne's escort. If they're hunting her, they might well use active . . ."
De Villepin caught Surcouf's hesitation. "Yes?"
"We also sometimes go to active targeting sonar in the wake of an attack."
De Villepin looked appalled. "I didn't mean we should have the escort sub actually fire on the carrier."
"No, no, sir. We do simulated firings, basically we shoot a blast of water and air out the torpedo tubes."
"Let's try that, then."
"There is a problem, though, sir," Surcouf mentioned.
"What's that?"
"Well, sir, pinging a submarine with sonar on firing mode, rather than a general search, is rarely done except by prior arrangement. It's almost an act of war. It's certainly considered a threat. Submariners start filling torpedo tubes and calculating firing solutions when they get pinged by targeting sonar from a ship or another submarine. They've been known to open fire, even in times of peace, though that is never officially admitted to by the parties concerned. Never."