Sea of Shadows eBook - Navy Thriller.com

SEA OF SHADOWS 255
CIC was a shambles. Captain Bowie climbed to his feet. His ears were
still ringing, and a gash across the left side of his forehead leaked blood
across his face and into his eyes. He clamped his left hand over the
laceration and used his right hand to wipe the blood from his eyes as best
he could. He blinked and strained to see in the near darkness. “TAO!”
Lieutenant Nylander’s voice came from behind him. “Here, sir!”
The captain turned to see the Tactical Action Officer struggling to get
to his feet. The lieutenant winced and clutched at his right knee. Then he
stood with a visible effort, holding on to the edge of a console for support.
“Establish comms with CCS. I need damage reports, casualty reports,
and a report on the status of damage-control efforts. I want to know how
long before we can make way and how long before we can fight.”
“Aye-aye, sir!”
The captain reached for his comm-set and then realized that he had lost
it. He looked around and selected a face at random. “Surface!”
“Yes, sir!”
“See if we can go out over Navy Red. If we can’t fight, maybe we can
still run this show from the sidelines.”
“Aye-aye, sir.”
A minute later, the Surface Radar Officer made his report. “The HF
transmitters are out, Captain. We can hear, but we can’t transmit. The
techs are working on it now, but we don’t have an ETR yet.”
The captain nodded. “Very well.”
A very young and timid voice asked. “Captain? Are we going to sink,
sir?”
The captain made no move to locate the owner of the voice. The young
man was scared, and he had every right to be. There was no sense in
singling him out. “No, son,” the captain said. “We are not going to sink.
We’re going to kill those bastards. Every goddamned one of them.”
USS Ingraham:
Ingraham’s first SM-2 reached its intercept point with one of the
Vipers bound for Benfold, and a distant flash in the sky told the story.
Radar confirmed the kill a second later. “Splash one!” the Weapons
Control Officer shouted. Then, a few seconds later, “Splash two! Splash
three!” He clenched his fists and waved them in the air. “We got ’em
all!” He let go with a loud wolf whistle. “And that … ladies and
gentlemen … is how it is done!” The CIC crew began to cheer.