SSN

    The officers discussed it among themselves, but no one came up with an answer that satisfied Mack. He filed the problem for the time being, but he intended to keep it in mind. Just as he'd shifted his tactics against the Chinese, so, too, would he take this into account the next time he went head-to-head with an Akula.

    As Cheyenne approached the time for coming shallow, sonar reported numerous merchant ship contacts and also reported contact lost on the three Akulas. Mack wasn't surprised, and at least they were still south of the banks where they didn't have to worry about the oil rigs.

    Biologies were also hindering the sonar search, and increasing the Russians' options. Running beneath and with the merchant ships was an old ploy, and one Mack wasn't about to fall for. He ordered sonar to conduct a careful tonal search on the bearings of the merchants and the biologies. A disturbance of previously undisturbed biologies could mean that a submarine was proceeding in their scattering layer.

    The search was painstaking, but it paid off. Sonar gained contact on one Akula as it entered shallow water-and none too soon. Cheyenne's towed array would have to be at least partially retrieved before she could enter the shallows without fear of damaging the array, and Mack couldn't risk that. He expected he would need it for future patrols, especially since neither Area nor McKee had replacement arrays for Cheyenne. If the runways at Cubi got fixed before the war was over, replacements would come in by airlift. Until then, Cheyenne couldn't risk the one she had.

    Mack ordered the TB-16 to short stay as Cheyenne ventured inside the one hundred fathom curve south of Bombay Reef in the Paracels. There would not be much time before the Akulas were safely in port, which meant that despite the Crazy Ivan or kamikaze Chinese maneuvers, a short-range attack was inevitable.

    Battle stations were manned once the range to the Akula closed to inside 15,000 yards. Almost immediately sonar reported transient noises, surfacing submarines bearing 345 and 350. Cheyenne was ready with two outer doors already open.

    "Snapshots, tubes one and two, bearings 345 and 350 respectively," Mack ordered. He had no idea what the Master Numbers were from the previous battle in deep water, but it didn't really matter. They would shoot now and reconstruct later.

    As with almost all snapshots, the Mk 48s would have to do their own thing in detecting, tracking, and sinking two of the Akulas, but Mack expected them to deliver. This would be just like sinking surface ships. The Russian submarines would increase speed after surfacing and, cavitating heavily, would never hear the torpedoes approaching in their baffles.

    No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy, Mack reminded himself. But there was an answer to that. If the only element of your plan is contact with the enemy, there's nothing to survive, and you've got a better chance of success.

    He was right. The two torpedoes, which had been set for shallow water, quickly acquired the Akulas. They detonated beneath their targets, rupturing the ballast tanks and sending the SSNs to settle to the bottom onto the coral reef.

    "Conn, sonar, we have explosions on the bearings of the torpedoes. Also have those same sounds of Christmas balls falling off a tree and breaking." Two of the Akulas were running aground on purpose after the explosions, hoping to keep their sails high enough out of the water that the crew could escape safely. Mack let them go. He didn't care about the Russian sailors. He cared only that the boats would be useless for the rest of the war.

    Cheyenne got to periscope depth in one hundred feet of water in time to see the third Akula passing safely over the horizon. Mack didn't mind the one getting away so much as he minded not being able to get closer to the grounded Akulas. He would have liked to give the crew a special movie that night-periscope videos of Russian submariners jumping ship.

    He smiled to himself as he gave the orders to take Cheyenne back out into deeper water. They'd have to settle for The Sound of Music, which was one of Mack's favorites. Or, he thought, his grin growing wider, maybe he'd give them a real treat and let them watch From Russia with Love.

10. Rescue

    Cheyenne's new orders came through on her floating wire communications antenna. Mack was still thinking about the fact that the Chinese had Akula II class SSNs, and wondering how many other surprises he would have to face before this war was over.

    One more, at least, he realized as he read over the new orders. At least one more.

    Mack called for a wardroom meeting in half an hour and then headed to his stateroom as he read over the orders again. He could have called the meeting immediately, but he wanted to thoroughly examine the details of these new orders.