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SEA OF SHADOWS 259
“Miller Time,” the pilot said. “You know … the old beer commercials
…”
Lieutenant (jg) Schramm shrugged. “Must have been before my time,
boss.”
The pilot raised an eyebrow. “It all becomes clear, now. You’re the
brilliant young Jedi apprentice, and I’m the toothless old codger who must
educate you in the ways of the Force.”
“I don’t know about the toothless part,” the copilot said, “but the rest of
it sounds dead on the money.”
“Uh … sir?” the SENSO said. “I hate to interrupt all that official pilot
talk, but I think I’m getting a sniff on the third submarine.”
The pilot stared over his right shoulder. “Get out of town, kid.”
“I’m not joking, sir. Buoys three and four are coming up hot. I’ve got
narrowband tonals consistent with a Type 212 diesel submarine. I think
the other member of this wolfpack is about to crash the barrier.”
“You’re not shitting me?”
The SENSO’s eyes were locked on his display. “No, sir. This guy is
getting stronger all the time.”
The pilot looked over at his copilot. “You wouldn’t happen to have a
spare torpedo in your pocket, would you?”
“Afraid not.”
“Damn it!” the pilot said. “Make the call to the SAU Commander.
Tell him we’ve got another sub in our sights, and we are fresh out of
torpedoes!”
USS Towers:
Chief McPherson listened to Firewalker’s contact report and shook her
head. Ingraham was the only unit left that was capable of engaging the
sub. But the frigate was not equipped with ASROC. Ingraham would
have to close the submarine to within a few thousand yards and conduct a
torpedo attack using her over-the-side torpedo tubes. An iffy proposition
at best. The last place a surface ship wanted to be was within weapons
range of a hostile submarine.
The chief stared at the dark screen of the powerless CDRT as if it still
had the capacity to show her something. If she’d been in Commander
Culkins’ shoes, she would have launched Gunslinger Four-One. Of
course, the launch itself would take about five minutes. Add to that
another ten minutes for the helo to get into attack position. Fifteen
minutes minimum before the helo would be able to engage the submarine.