Battleship

Raikes was as scared as she’d ever been; Hopper could see that in her eyes. But, being the professional that she was—not to mention priding herself on being a total badass—she was shoving that fear down and away so it didn’t interfere with what she needed to do.

She hauled Hopper bodily onto the ship and shouted at Beast, “Let’s get the hell out of here!”

Beast nodded and fired up the engine. It, however, didn’t cooperate. All he got was a series of loud clicks; the ignition wouldn’t fire. The RHIB simply floated there, having no more control over its fate than any piece of flotsam.

Suddenly the water churned even more violently and there was a distant roar from far below. Raikes and Beast exchanged looks and she mouthed a question: Submarine?

Beast shrugged helplessly. “Bigger,” he said aloud. “Way bigger…”

The roar drew closer and closer, the water displacement causing the RHIB to bob so violently that it was nearly capsized. Hopper tried to get to his feet and fell over, still woozy. “Stay down!” Raikes called to him.

“Not a problem!” he said, and lay flat on his back as the RHIB was flung around helplessly in the water.

The roaring continued, like a vast behemoth was rising from below. His mind flashed to old stories by H. P. Lovecraft. Tales of a monstrous creature that had resided on the ocean floor, waiting to be summoned by its modern-day acolytes so it could surface and bring annihilation to the puny humans running around like insects. He wondered bleakly if there was any chance those stories were somehow based on ancient myths that were, in turn, based on truth. This would be a sucky time to find out.

The roar was deafening now, as if gigantic lions were about to rise up and swallow them. And then, a short distance from the three hapless officers, something began to emerge. They couldn’t make it out at first, and when they could, they still didn’t fully understand. Or at least they didn’t want to, because no one knew better the man- made, oceangoing vessels of this world. Whatever the hell it was they were seeing, it wasn’t remotely man-made.

As the water fell away in vast sheets, it quickly became clear it wasn’t just one thing surfacing—it was three. Three monstrous ships, like nothing that any of the John Paul Jones crewmen had ever seen. Like nothing that any human had ever seen. They weren’t identical; there were variations, with fins or other accoutrements projecting from them in different places. But they were all long and flat and lethal-looking—like scorpions—jagged, with industrial sheathing that was a combination of dark green and gunmetal gray. There were projections beneath them that were similar to pontoons one saw on planes designed for water landings. In this case, though, they were far more stylized and added to the overall look of these vessels—each of which was the length of two football fields—as being like gigantic insects poised to pounce.

They reminded Hopper of some prototype designs he’d seen some friends of his in R&D messing around with. They’d been designated STNGR-14s; the R&D boys called them “stingers.” Seemed as good a name as any to use as reference.

The water displacement resulting from their emergence caused a massive maelstrom to circle beneath them. The sailors in the RHIB hung on desperately, hoping that the whirlpool would subside before they were drawn into it and sucked down to certain death.

* * *

There was stunned silence on the bridge of the Sampson.

Oh my God, oh my God, what the living hell, oh my God, went through Stone’s mind. None of the men on the bridge, however, were at all aware of his inner turmoil. His face impassive, his voice calm, he said, “Query them.” When Sinclair at communications just sat there, frozen, staring uncomprehendingly at the sight before them, Stone added a sharp, no-nonsense prod of, “Now!”

But Sinclair was still having trouble wrapping his mind around what was being presented to him. “But… what the hell—?”

“I know, sailor,” said Stone, allowing for his comm officer’s obvious shock. It was the only indication Stone gave that he was as stunned by this unknown technology as anyone else on the bridge. “But we don’t have the luxury. Do it how you’ve been trained to.”

“Yes, sir,” said Sinclair, nodding. He operated the controls before him, trying to boost the signal as he said, “Uh… craft… please identify. Repeat, craft, please identify. This is the USS Sampson, of the U.S. Navy, please identify your origin.”

Stone braced himself, wondering what sort of language was going to come through the board. He was destined to be disappointed, as after long moments Sinclair looked toward Stone and shook his head. “I’m trying all channels, sir. Translating into all known codes and languages. But the transmitter is still down. They could be trying to talk our ears off right now and we wouldn’t be hearing a thing.”

Considering they were the source of the electromagnetic pulse, the EMP, that had crashed the communications network, Stone suspected that he was already reading their intentions loud and clear. “Sound general quarters.” In response to his order, a klaxon immediately started to echo throughout the ship. At least that’s working, he thought grimly, and then continued, “Have we got intraship?”

“I’m hoping to have it in a few min—”

“We don’t have time. Grab a walkie-talkie so I can stay in touch with you and haul ass down to weapons. Tell them we’re going hot.”

Sinclair wanted to make sure that Stone had just said what he thought he said. “Sir? Did I hear you right —?”

“Yes, you did, Ensign. Heat up the guns.”

“Which guns, sir?”

Stone considered it and then said grimly, “All of them.”

The RHIB had not capsized. Hopper believed that alone to be something of a miracle considering the amount of chop they’d had to deal with. Once they managed to stay afloat, he braced himself for the huge ships to open fire the moment they surfaced. Nothing of the sort happened. Instead they simply floated there as if their presence was the most normal thing in the world. Hopper was grateful for that, since it gave him the few minutes he needed to pull himself together after the massive jolt he’d received.

Beast was elbow deep in the engines, trying to figure out how the hell to get them up and running. He was obviously having zero success on that score. He looked at Hopper, grease staining his face. “Whatever fried you must have got the electrical system too,” said Beast.

Suddenly five long, sharp blasts sounded across the water. They looked toward the destroyers floating a distance away, and Raikes said grimly, “That was the Sampson, wasn’t it?” It was hard to be sure since the echo effect across the open water made determining the source uncertain. But Hopper nodded, making no attempt to keep the concern off his face. “Yeah.”

“They’re warning these guys,” she said, nodding toward the vessels positioned about a hundred yards away, “that they’re going to open fire if they don’t retreat or respond.”

“Uh-huh.”

“They do know we’re not exactly at a safe distance if the missiles start flying, right?”

“I’m sure hoping so…”

That was when the alien ships responded.

As if they were dinosaurs bellowing a defiant challenge to an oncoming threat, the stingers shrieked back at the Sampson, unleashing an unholy noise that sounded primal and terrifying. Hopper and his crew grabbed their ears, collapsing to the deck of the RHIB and writhing in pain. Hopper was sure that if the noise kept up, his brains were going to liquefy and spill out his ears.

Then the sound abruptly stopped, as the foremost of the stingers leaped forward. It didn’t glide across the water; it actually leaped, like an insect. It vaulted through the air and wound up landing between the Sampson and the vast, incomprehensible structure that Hopper and his crew had been sent to investigate.

It’s protecting it. Whatever this thing is, the stinger’s protecting it. And it’ll do whatever it takes.