“Forward ten knots.” He’d leave a wake, but there was no choice. USS Stonewall Jackson made her way toward the open sea, and when he judged the time was right he’d dive.
Nathan waited.
“Flood forward one half, down bubble ten, dive to periscope depth. Open and trim vents fore and aft. Make for depth.”
The boat dived below the surface. It was time to head out of the lagoon.
“Planesman, come to 30 degrees. Speed 15 knots.”
“Thirty at 15, aye sir.” After five minutes he decided it was time. He looked over at her. She was visible in the dull red light, apart from the headset, she could be plying her trade in a red light zone.
“Kaminski, I’m going to do two 360 pop ups, get a satellite position fix.”
“Aye sir.”
Nathan set the controls on his Conn station. The periscope rose above the surface, did two brief 360 scans, and withdrew below the surface.
“You get a fix?”
“Yes sir, I’m adding it to the chart now.”
He looked at the scans, they were in night vision mode. He zoomed in, and the frigate was visible behind them. He zoomed in again.
“Weaps, take a look at my view. What’s its type, and what does the dummies guide say?”
“Sir, it’s a Jiangkai II class. I’ll look up its threat profile.” It only took him a minute to find the info he needed. “MGK-335 active/passive sonar. SJG-206 towed array sonar. Armament; Yu-8 ASROC equivalent system. Yu 7 ASW torpedoes. Type 87 ASROC equivalent. Ka-28 Helix helicopter.”
Nathan frowned. “So, she’s a pretty heavy hitter then. Kaminski, get me a course to E1.”
She performed some calculations. “Sir, I recommend ten knots, due to reef proximity. Three minutes at 45, then four minutes at one eight zero.”
“Planesman, do it.”
“Three minutes at 45, then four minutes at one eight zero. Ten knots. Aye sir.” The planesman carried out the courses, and the boat leaned hard to the right on the course change.
“In position sir.”
“Reverse full.” Nathan waited twenty seconds. “Reverse off. Revs for three forward. Come to zero degrees. Then all stop.”
The boat was at rest, just outside the reef at the northeast corner. They were at the Exfil position; it was all up to Innes and Alves now.
INNES LISTENED TO THE prop somewhere out in the blackness. Thrum, thrum, thrum. It was getting closer. Underwater sound travels too fast for your ears to gauge the direction it was coming from. It was just out there. He’d seen the tanker and the frigate in the harbour. It sounded more like a warship than a tanker; the prop was faster.
Now, what would Commander Blake do? Innes knew how shallow it was in here. He could stay or go. Innes decided that he’d probably go, the mission came first and if the boat was discovered, that was it. But he may have stayed. He decided to make for the Exfil position but still sweep with the mini-echo locators just in case. He made a sign to Alves with crossed arms; Exfil. Alves nodded. The two men soon came across another of the blasted wire trips, they’d have to get past it first. Take your time, Innes told himself, nice and slow.
Then it was one of the crossed types. Another 50 feet and no trip wires. Thank God they were through. Two hundred yards, and Innes signalled a stop. They both switched on their mini-echo locators and swept back and forth to the left and centre of the channel. The LCD display showed no return. They pressed on. It was black out there, they just followed the slope of the wall to the right, the only sound the hiss and pop of the rebreathers.
They stopped another three times to search for the boat, but there was no sign of it. They’d need a bearing to make the swim out of the lagoon, they knew the approximate course, but it was best to get a bearing. Alves gave a thumbs up signal, Innes nodded and they ascended, surfacing in the dark. Out here nobody would see them, and Innes and Alves both took bearings. Alves pulled out his mouthpiece. “Twenty five.” Innes nodded. They descended and followed the bearing. Innes set his timer. After six minutes Alves tapped him on the shoulder, and he pointed out into the darkness, Innes couldn’t see anything. He made a shrug with his hands. Alves placed his hand on top of his head with fingers pointing upwards.
Oh, right, he’d seen a shark. Just after, two Grey Reef sharks made a pass by them. Innes knew what to do. He knew they could sense fear somehow. It was time for some bluff and intimidation. He got Alves’s attention, pointed at the sharks and made a chopping motion with his hand. Both divers swam after the sharks as fast as they could and the sharks disappeared but reappeared thirty seconds later. Innes knew this was a game of bluff. The divers changed direction and swam directly for them again, this had to work, he suppressed his fear as best he could, the sharks sped off into the black. The two divers resumed their course, checking for the sharks from time to time. Innes knew that Sharks could be intimidated; to the shark, a diver is an unknown large creature. If this creature shows no fear and appears threatening, they’d often back down. Innes had seen it before, Sharks have the mentality of a dangerous chicken, they’re more cautious than most people think. After twelve minutes, they should be about there. It was time to ascend to check and get a new bearing. At the surface, Innes took his mouthpiece out. “Eighty for five minutes.” Alves nodded, and when they got to the spot, they surfaced again. They were now outside the lagoon at the northeast tip of the reef. The plan was that every three minutes the boat would raise her periscope and flash twice, facing north, away from the base. The divers would get her location and return aboard. Innes looked to the north, there was the bulk of the frigate making its way slowly west. He knew that was unwelcome, the boat would know by sonar that the frigate was there and wouldn’t flash from the periscope. Somebody may see it. Damn. They used the mini-echo locators, no contact. It got worse as the unmistakable sound of helicopter blades clattered their way over. It was the ship’s Ka-28 Helix ASW aircraft. It was just visible against the sky. About a mile away it slowed, lowered, and let down its dipping sonar. Oh fuck, thought Innes. If the boat’s down there the Helix may detect it and the boat would be forced to leave the area. The two men watched helplessly as the Helix hovered.
“Sonar. We have faint sounds just over a mile west northwest. It’s a Helix hovering; I’ve heard similar sounds from our birds. He’ll be lowering his dipping sonar, sir.”
“Flood fore and aft two thirds. Open and trim vents fore and aft. Make for depth. We’ll sink to the bottom, it’s fairly shallow here.”
They all felt the hull bottom, stern first.
“Let’s hope he doesn’t go active and ping.” What a bastard, why here? He was taking a risk, but it was a risk to head away with a spinning prop.
INNES SAW THE HELIX raising its dipping sonar and it flew off to the west. He removed his mouthpiece. “Could be a rooky being given some night training.” Alves nodded. The two divers waited, the frigate was further away to the west now. Around seven minutes later Alves saw it. Two flashes. He pointed and took a bearing. The two men swam for the location. There again. Innes swept with his mini-echo locater, it was 30 yards away. The two men submerged and switched on their helmet lights. There it was! It was a swim towards it, then into the sail, close the hatch. Knock out the signal. Soon the water started to drain away. There was no need for decompression. The bottom hatch swung open and they climbed down.