SSN

    Cheyenne's first patrol area was centered on a line drawn directly between the Spratly Islands and Cam Ranh Bay. Intel suspected that this was the route that Chinese supply ships were using in keeping the Spratly Islands' forces supplied and making the new airfield construction possible. Cheyenne was not authorized to attack these supply ships, just to collect intelligence on them. Washington could then use this information against the Vietnamese government for their collaboration with China.

    Just to the north of the patrol area, the bottom sloped steadily downward from 1,000 fathoms to over 2,200 fathoms. Mack welcomed this deep water, which would help Cheyenne and her Mk 48s. This would allow them to approach a target from deep below the layer without fear of detection by the shallower-running Alfa, which Mack suspected was lurking to the west of Cuarteron Reef.

    Although the Alfa's titanium hull would actually allow it to dive deeper than Cheyenne, Mack didn't expect it to do so. The Russians did not typically run deep, and he expected the Chinese, who were learning their Alfa handling techniques from the Russians that built her, to follow the same practices.

    Mack hoped that he was right. If he was, Cheyenne would be able to maintain the tactical advantage as long as possible. If he wasn't… well, then things could get very interesting very fast.

    It was nearing midnight. The captain had been relieved of his command duty officer responsibilities by the executive officer. The new section fire control tracking party had just settled in when the TB-23 thin line towed array gained tonal contact. These tonals were the same as those Cheyenne had recorded during her earlier encounter with the Chinese Alfa before he was lost in the shallow shoal water.

    As towed-array bearing ambiguity was being resolved, more tonals were detected, on different beams, to the east. These tonals were also the same as the Chinese Alfa.

    The executive officer knew that there was only one way to interpret the situation: clearly, there were two Alfas. As more data came in, he could tell that the easterly one was closer and was maintaining his distance, but the other Alfa was closing on Cheyenne's position. The fact that neither the conformal nor the spherical arrays had contact as of yet meant that both were easily beyond 60,000 yards away.

    The executive officer called the captain to the conn.

    Mack, as he always did, made his decisions quickly. In battle, he simply didn't have the luxury of mulling things over for long.

    Cheyenne would close on the Alfa to the west. Mack chose that option because he knew the first Alfa might have recorded some of Cheyenne's, signature, and by closing on the other Alfa first he would place the easterly Alfa in Cheyenne's baffles. This was, perhaps, not the best place for it to be, but it was the best option available to him. And it had the added benefit of allowing Cheyenne to take on the unsuspecting Alfa first.

    Battle stations were manned as soon as contact was gained on the conformal array at 40,000 yards.

    "Torpedo room, fire control, make tubes one and two ready in all respects, including opening the outer doors." As was Mack's habit, he instructed the executive officer to order the tubes readied before the range was so close that the Alfa would hear the evolution.

    Acknowledgment, as always, was immediate. "Make tubes one and two ready in all respects, including opening the outer doors, fire control, torpedo room, aye."

    The executive officer, acting in his role as fire-control officer, passed the acknowledgment on to Mack. "Captain, tubes one and two are ready in all respects. Both outer doors are open."

    "Very well, fire control," Mack answered.

    The Alfa was drawing right now, with contact on all sonar arrays. When the BSY-1 operator and the fire-control coordinator were satisfied with the TMA solution on Master 69, the Chinese Aifa class attack submarine, the captain ordered, "Firing point procedures, Master 69."

    His command was acknowledged and the combat systems officer at the BSY-1 reported the target course, speed, and range.

    "Sonar, conn, stand by."

    "Conn, sonar, standing by."

    "Match sonar bearings and shoot, tubes one and two."

    "Match sonar bearings and shoot, tubes one and two, aye."

    There was a short delay, and then the combat systems officer reported, "Tubes one and two fired electrically."

    "Conn, sonar, units from tubes one and two running hot, straight, and normal," said the sonar supervisor as the two torpedoes executed their wire-clearance maneuvers. They were running at a slower speed for now. Once they had acquired they would increase speed and come up from their deep search depth. When they breached the layer, the torpedoes would pitch up and complete their acceleration to attack speed.

    "Very well, sonar," Mack replied. "Time to acquisition?" he asked the combat systems officer.

    "Fifteen minutes, twenty seconds, Captain."