Barracuda: Final Bearing

“Captain, I think I can do this!” McKilley nearly shouted in triumph. The only problem, Phillips thought, was that by now it was probably too late. The torpedoes in pursuit of the Barracuda were catching up — the detonation of the first-fired Vortex came then, the noise rumbling through the hull, marking the death of the Destiny submarine.

“XO,” Phillips ordered Whatney, “get ready to recommend a detonation point for the next Vortex so we can put a blast zone around the Nagasaki torpedoes homing on the Barracuda. And bear in mind it would be nice if we could avoid putting a friendly submarine on the bottom.”

“Aye, Captain.”

“Attention in the firecontrol team, we’re taking an active bearing and range to the Barracuda so we can put a Vortex out there that can screw up the Nagasakis following her. Carry on.”

“Captain, Sonar,” from Gambini. “We’re ready.”

“Go active, Master Chief.”

“Active, aye sir.”

The BSY-2 sonar suite was configured so that the spherical array in the nose cone could transmit an active pulse out into the water. The array was capable of putting out so much sonic power that water would actually boil on the surface of the fiberglass nose cone when the pulse went out. Gambini hit the cover of the active key, the switch configured so that no one could just accidentally hit the key, then punched the key. The pulse went out, not as deafening as a torpedo launch or a Vortex ignition, but loud, the sound reverberating throughout the ship. The pulse traveled through the water, going south and reaching out to the USS Barracuda, still running from two Nagasaki torpedoes. The pulse hit the hull of the Seawolfclass submarine, which was wrapped in tiles, anechoic coating especially designed to avoid returning an active sonar pulse. But like any kind of shielding it did not make a return pulse impossible, it simply lowered the intensity of the return pulse.

The listening spherical array of the BSY-2, quiet since the pulse, strained to listen for the return. Unfortunately the sea around her returned the sound, some from the waves overhead, some from bubbles in the water, a pulse coming back from the Nagasakis, one from the Barracuda, many from the biological content of the water.

In sonar, Gambini tried to correlate the active return signals the BSY-2 had collected to the passive listening set and the towed array’s narrowband detect of the Seawolfclass ship. There were all three indications at the bearing he knew to be the Barracuda. The range cursor on that one ping return, just a blob on the video screen, read a distance of 7.8 nautical miles.

“Conn, Sonar, range to Barracuda is sixteen thousand yards.”

“Go, XO,” Phillips ordered. “Come on, come on!”

“Aye, sir, recommended Vortex detonation at bearing one seven five, range twelve thousand yards.”

“Weps, one seven five, twelve thousand yards.”

“That’s too close. Captain,” McKilley objected. “The blast zone will kill the Barracuda.”

“So will the Nagasakis. Enter the god damned bearing and range.”

“Aye, aye, sir.”

“Firing point procedures, phantom target. Vortex unit eight.”

Phillips collected his reports and ordered the Vortex to fire. The ignition again blasted his ears, and as the missile left the ship, he said a silent prayer for the Barracuda.

SS-810 WINGED SERPENT

“Second Captain is reinitialized, sir.”

“Open tube doors thirteen and fourteen, programmed to the bearing of the launch of that weapon. Get them out on the bearing now, immediate enable, safety interlocks off.”

“Yes sir,” Mazdai said, flashing through the software displays of the weapon-control consoles of the Second Captain. “Ready to fire.”

“Tube thirteen, fire.”

“Thirteen away.”

“Tube fourteen, fire.”

“Fourteen away.”

“Excellent.”

USS BARRACUDA

The ship continued on its run from the Nagasaki torpedoes.

Pacino and Paully looked at each other. It was grim, the same scenario that Pacino had put Bruce Phillips through.