'Torpedo room is ready,' Van Gelder said. 'Tubes six, seven, and eight prepared to shoot.'
'Fire six,' ter Horst said.
'Tube six fired,' Van Gelder said.
'Fire seven.'
'Tube seven fired.'
'Fire eight.'
'Tube eight fired.'
'All units operating properly,' the sonar chief said. 'Time to detonations?' ter Horst said.
'Nine minutes, Captain,' Van Gelder said, 'unless the weapons find the target sooner.'
'Torpedo in the water,' Sessions said. 'Another 65, Captain, bearing three four five, range about twelve thousand yards.'
'Torpedo course?' Jeffrey said.
'Zero six zero,' Sessions said.
'Well away from us,' Jeffrey said.
'Second torpedo in the water! Also a series-65…Torpedo course is zero nine zero, sir.'
'A spread?' Jeffrey said. 'He's using conventional warheads then, fanning them out with a passive sonar search.'
'We'll see,' Morse said. 'If I were him, I'd make them go active at ten thousand yards.'
'Third torpedo in the water,' Sessions said. 'This one's heading one two zero!'
'Coming toward us,' Jeffrey said. 'Phone Talker, relay to all hands. Repeat for emphasis, incoming torpedo, rig for ultraquiet, rig for depth charge.'
'Aye aye, sir,' the phone talker said.
'Sir,' Sessions said, 'most hostile contacts on our tactical plot appear to be changing course and heading Out to sea.'
Jeffrey glanced at the TMA. 'Good,' he said, 'we have them foxed. They must think we're further offshore than we really are.'
'Time to detonations?' ter Horst said.
'Four minutes, sir,' Van Gelder said.
'Signs of our quarry?'
'Nothing, Captain.'
'Wilson isn't stupid. If he runs or launches countermeasures too soon, he'll just draw more fire and make our own job easier.'
'Yes, sir,' Van Gelder said. He looked again at the tactical display. Every surface unit was fleeing for open water, heading away from the area where all the mines and torpedoes had been going off. Obviously someone in higher headquarters who knew ter Horst took his 'Stand Clear' very literally. But even at their maximum speed of sixteen knots, the little minesweepers were doomed.
'Watch carefully for a hole-in-ocean contact just before the sonar whiteout hits,' ter Horst said.
'Acknowledged, Captain,' Van Gelder said. He spoke with the sonar chief.
'If we localize Challenger as we destroy her,' ter Horst said, 'it'll speed up the salvage operations. Crypto gear and other good intel are time sensitive, you know.'
'Yes, Captain,' Van Gelder said.
'While we're waiting,' ter Horst said, 'reload tubes six through eight with nuclear torpedoes. Use deep- capable units now.'
'Third torpedo closing,' Sessions said. 'This one will pass us close to port.'
'Torpedo status?' Jeffrey said.
'Still in passive search mode, sir, still straight running.'
'Lying doggo was a good idea,' Morse said, almost whispering. 'They might not go active till they're past us.'
'Good,' Jeffrey said. 'On this sandy bottom we'd stand out like a billboard at close range, our sail and control surfaces especially, our active out-of-phase masking notwithstanding. We're deep enough the pressure's squashed our anechoic tiles to the point of uselessness.'
'Torpedo at closest point of approach now,' Sessions said. 'Range nine hundred yards.
'One minute to detonations,' Van Gelder said. 'Still no fresh datum on Challenger.'
'Very well, Number One,' ter Horst said.
'They've run for over fifteen thousand yards already,' Jeffrey said. 'What are they waiting for?'
'They may have overestimated how much ground we'd cover at top quiet speed,' Morse said. 'That's bad. It suggests Voortrekker's faster.'
'The torpedoes might be programmed for circular searches,' Jeffrey said. 'They'd loop back this way on active after a dash ahead to cut us off.'
'We'll see,' Morse said. 'If so, we'll be right in the search cone of the fish on one two zero.'
Jeffrey nodded. 'I—'
A dreadful concussion jarred the boat and a doomsday cacophony washed over Challenger.
'First torpedo had a nuclear warhead!' Sessions shouted as the deep bass roar went on and on.
The bubble pulses caught the sail, tilting Challenger to starboard. She stayed that way against the sand, listing six degrees.
A second volcanic boom went off, much closer, shaking Jeffrey to his bones. He tasted copper in his mouth — the gum at one capped tooth had started bleeding. More hard blows struck the ship, dwindling as the fireball throbbed and plummeted for the surface. Challenger listed ten degrees to starboard now.
'Both of those were one-KT explosions!' Sessions yelled.
'Third time's lucky,' Morse said.
'I told you,' Ilse said.
The third torpedo blew, pounding Jeffrey's core. Challenger slammed sideways, grinding across the bottom. All the nerves in Jeffrey's teeth felt on fire, and his left leg twisted painfully. Relentless reverb banged and banged, the ship listing more and more — fifteen degrees, twenty degrees, thirty degrees and rising. Jeffrey's eardrums hurt again, like at Umhlanga Rocks but worse, his tortured hearing assaulted by endless unearthly rumbling.
'Third torpedo has detonated!' Sessions shouted, sticking to procedure when it was barely possible to speak again. 'The range from us was seven thousand yards!' Jeffrey shook his head to clear his brain. He noticed Ilse and the crewmen in the CACC did the same, looking at each other wide-eyed, amazed to be alive. Jeffrey studied the automated damage control reports. Minor problems only. 'Hah! This boat's incredible!'
'There's a reason we named ours Dreadnought,' Morse yelled in Jeffrey's ear.
'You always use that for your first of types,' Jeffrey shouted, smiling, pitching his voice above the constant roaring from outside.
'At least we're consistent!' Morse yelled back.
'Chief of the Watch,' Jeffrey said as the decibel level and ugly vibrations diminished, ' lift us off the bottom.' Jeffrey turned to Lieutenant Bell. 'XO, have the engineer blow water through the sea pipes, clear out any sand we just picked up. And tell him not to worry about the noise.'
'Aye aye, Captain,' Bell said. He spoke to the phone talker, relaying Jeffrey's instructions.
'Sonar,' Jeffrey said, 'how's our bow cap?'
'Still there, Captain,' Sessions said.
'Wide-aperture arrays?'
'Minor dropouts in the complex, sir.'
'Can you compensate?'
'Affirmative, no substantial degradation, but our chin-mounted HF system is destroyed.'
'Projector and receiver both wiped off?' Jeffrey said. 'Not surprising. Chief of the Watch and Helmsman, how's the boat handling?'
'Normal in all respects,' COB said, studying his screens.
'Concur,' Meltzer said, testing his control wheel.
'That's the spirit,' Morse said to Jeffrey. 'You're their CO now in every way that matters. Let the crew just do their jobs.'
