SSN

    That was not good news. Not only did it mean that Cheyenne would have more enemy submarines to watch out for, but it also meant that Li Peng was committed to this war. Cheyenne's past successes notwithstanding, it was going to take a tremendous effort to bring this conflict to an end.

    Mack didn't have time to mull that over much before the briefing officer started explaining Cheyenne's next assignment. In preparation for eventually moving President Jiang from Taiwan to mainland China, Cheyenne would have to ensure that the waters around Taiwan were sanitized of General Yu's SSNs.

    That didn't sound so bad, but then the briefing officer went on to the details. Much of China was behind President Jiang-and that included most of its navy. Because of this, Mack's superiors were presuming that Yu's SSNs were the only remaining hostile Chinese submarines in the area, which meant that any other submarines Cheyenne detected were off limits for attacks. Unless, of course, Cheyenne was attacked first.

    Mack didn't like that at all. These attack constraints were like those he had received during his transit from Ballast Point to Pearl Harbor, when Cheyenne had encountered the out-of-area Han and had to wait until she was fired upon. But Mack didn't have the chance to object before the CTF 74 admiral arrived with President Jiang and his heavies.

    "Good morning, Mack," the admiral said. "I presume you are aware of 'our' problem, General Yu."

    Mack nodded, but didn't say anything.

    "Captain Mackey," the Chinese president said, "we do have some good news to offer. Yu and Li Peng have had a falling-out over the general's actions. Li Peng has renounced Yu's authority and has ordered him arrested.

    In addition, Li and I are once again communicating with each other-cautiously, I might add-but we are closer to negotiations.

    Mack nodded again, but remained silent.

    "You are a hero, Captain," President Jiang went on, "but watch your 180. I must leave now, for the roach coach is on the pier with its gedunks."

    Mack blinked at that, caught off guard by Jiang's use of U.S. Navy and submarine lingo. The president laughed, obviously pleased with Mack's reaction, then shook his hand and left the conference room, escorted by his heavies.

    Mack wanted to get under way before dark, so once President Jiang had left the CTF 74 admiral told the briefing officer to finish what had not been covered.

    According to naval intelligence, General Yu had been supplying the diesel fuel to several of the Romeo, Ming, and Kilo submarine bases-and he'd been supplying it for free. This had naturally won some converts for Yu, which meant that Mack could not discount the possibility of diesel submarines present in the area. Nevertheless, the briefing officer emphasized, CINCPACFLTs orders were that Captain Mackey would have to bide his time, ensuring that any submarine contacts he planned to attack were the Akulas unless fired upon by any other class.

    So far, Mack had not been pleased with the nature of this briefing, and he had been even less pleased with the information he had gained. And it was about to get even worse.

    In addition to the Akulas and the diesels, the briefing officer said as he neared the end of his presentation, there was a new wrinkle as well. At least one Hainan class attack craft fitted out as a mine layer was active in comms last week, paired with an old Romeo at Zhanjiang Naval Base, the headquarters of the Chinese South Sea Fleet. The old Romeo-which was the Chinese-built version, six feet longer and with eight torpedo tubes-was rumored to be outfitted with twenty-eight mines instead of fourteen torpedoes. To make matters worse, a Pothead radar, probably the Hainan, and a "Snoop Plate" radar, maybe the Romeo, had been tracking up the coast from Mandarin Bay. They had turned to the east near Hong Kong before being lost two days ago.

    Mack was glad when the briefing came to an end. He'd had enough bad news for one day. Unfortunately, there was more to come.

    When he got back to Cheyenne, Mack learned from the 'combat systems officer that, against Mack's expressed instructions, McKee was still restricting Cheyenne's torpedo loads. It didn't help to learn that McKee was doing this for all the right reasons. Bremerton, a pre-VLS boat, and Columbia, a 6881 like Cheyenne, also had to be supplied. The arrival of Portsmouth and Pasadena in two weeks from the Atlantic Fleet would only serve to add to the strain.

    Politics again. Mack thought. The shift in the traditional "60-40 split" of submarines, 60 percent for COM-SUBLANT and 40 percent for COMSUBPAC, had obviously preceded the equivalent transfer of torpedoes to PACFLT. Now only twenty Mk 48 ADCAP were on board Cheyenne, and some might have to be used for long distance off-board minefield sensing before Mack would decide to use MIDAS, the short-range under-ice and mine-detection sonar mounted on the sail.