“Colonel?” Clouseau responded. “Where are you? Is that passenger—”
Tessa interrupted him in a whisper. “I’m still with him. I managed to sneak away to speak with you. He hasn’t done anything to me. But it sounds like those robots have appeared?”
“Yes. About a dozen, I think.”
“Follow Angel’s plan,” Tessa ordered.
How does she know about that? She should have only just now gotten in contact with us... But Clouseau didn’t have time to think about it any longer.
“Have Team Golf on standby in G10, as well,” Tessa continued. “That will be the one gap in the net, and Corporal Yang is better cut out for that. And I’m sure the robots are craftier than you were expecting.”
Hearing Tessa sounding clear and confident for the first time that day, Clouseau decided to set all questions aside. He could think about all of that later; she was his commanding officer, and worth trusting in situations like these.
Tessa launched into a series of rapid-fire questions next: “How’s the hostage evacuation?”
“Almost completely finished,” he told her.
“Captain Harris?”
“Haven’t found him yet.”
“The vault?”
“Not through yet.”
“The de Danaan?”
Clouseau hesitated for a second. That was right—that was the next most urgent matter after the robots. “‘Three high-tech submarines approaching at fifty knots. They probably mean to sink us. Taking countermeasures now,’ they said. The XO is still in command.”
Like most of the members of the ground team, Clouseau didn’t know much about submarine combat, but it was obvious that the de Danaan was in danger. Besides that, it was three-on-one—this might be the greatest threat the mighty sub had ever faced. And in the past, the one who’d always gotten them out of trouble was the wunderkind, Teletha Testarossa. But she wasn’t aboard right now. She couldn’t issue orders or give advice.
It’s probably hopeless... Clouseau didn’t want to admit it, but with that unimpressive-looking XO in command, there was no way—
“We’ll just have to leave it to him,” Tessa said, with utmost calm.
“Yes, ma’am. But Colonel—”
“Clouseau-san,” she said, cutting him off. “Do you know what Lieutenant Colonel Mardukas was known as in his Royal Navy days?”
“No...”
“‘The Duke.’ His navigation was serene. His strategies were clear-headed. He’s a top-notch submariner and an unbeatable chess player. He was awarded countless medals for top-secret live combat missions,” Tessa told him. “There is no one in the field of underwater combat who doesn’t know the name ‘the Duke.’”
“Him?” Clouseau questioned incredulously. “The lieutenant colonel?”
“Did you think he was merely a fussy technician?” Tessa asked, her voice betraying some amusement despite the seriousness of their situation. “When he’s about to show his true skill, ‘the Duke’ has a certain habit... I’m afraid I’ve never witnessed it myself, but our crew might be seeing it at this very moment.”
Same Timeframe, Tuatha de Danaan
Richard Mardukas was indeed displaying his “habit” for the first time in six years. He pinched his hat brim with the fingers of his right hand and put his left hand on the back of his head. Then he slowly reversed the positions of his hands, rotating the cap 180 degrees.
He pressed a button. “Gentlemen. We are entering battle,” Richard Mardukas said, running his narrowed eyes over the screen. “The enemy believes that they are hunting us. We may be large and slow, indeed, but we will show them that it is they who are the prey. Our lady’s vessel is the true queen of death, and she reigns over these seas.” He paused a moment, and then called out, “FCO, report.”
“FCO! Loading of first and second ADSLMMs complete!”
“Load MAGROCs onto all MVLSes.”
“Aye, sir. Loading MAGROCs onto all MVLSes.”
“Maneuvering. New course, 2-0-5.”
“Aye, sir. Coming to course 2-0-5.”
“FCO. On my signal, open tubes one and two.”
“Aye, sir. Ready.”
“Maneuvering. Halt EMFC and reduce forward speed. Sonar, tell me when we’re cavitating.”
“Aye, sir.”
It felt like an esoteric chant that only they knew; a pre-battle ritual, performed by ancient priests. With their words, the sleeping giant around them began to hum with power.
A report came in from the sonar shack. “Con, sonar. I’ve got it. Estimating five seconds. Two, one... cavitating!”
“Open one and two.”
“Aye. Opening one and two.”
“XO. We’ll be in plain sight,” said the officer of the deck, Captain Goddard, nervously.
“We already were,” Mardukas told him dismissively. “Swim out one and two.”
“Aye. ADSLMM, fire one. Fire two.”
Mobile mines spat out from the de Danaan’s torpedo tubes. These were weapons designed to sail silently to pre-input coordinates and wait for the enemy there... but their speed was only twenty knots, one-third the speed of the enemy.
It was a good thing that the noise of the de Danaan’s high-speed cruising, caused by the stoppage of its electromagnetic flow control function, covered the sound of the smart mines’ launch... but their effective range was in the opposite direction of the route the enemies were taking.
“Hold course. In twenty seconds, activate the EMFC on Captain Dinh’s mark. Then decrease to one-third speed. Slow to twenty knots.”
“XO. But then the enemy could attack—” the navigation officer said.
“Hurry, Captain Dinh,” said Mardukas, cutting his subordinate off.
“Ah... aye, sir. EMFC, on my mark. 5, 4, 3... contact.”
“Contact. EMFC, activate,” the AMC officer replied. The electromagnetic flow control silenced the noise generated by the massive submarine’s passage through the water.
“Well done,” Mardukas commended him. “But the enemy can still see us. Sonar, keep an ear out.”
“Aye, sir.”
“New course 2-9-5. Make your depth 120. Twenty degrees up bubble.”
“Aye, sir. Course now 2-9-5. Make my depth 120. Twenty degrees up bubble.”
Mardukas gave orders, and his subordinates repeated them.
As he listened to the reports coming in, Mardukas spoke quietly, without so much as a smile. “Excellent. Gentlemen, don’t be overwhelmed by the enemy’s speed. Impatience leads to unforced errors. Enjoy this moment.”Pacific Chrysalis
Tessa finished her instructions to Clouseau and came out of the girls’ bathroom, when she found Sailor standing right there.
“Took you a while,” he said. She had expected him to lay into her, but his manner was strangely subdued.
They were currently on the lower deck
