Shadow Tyrants

SIXTY-THREE

“We are tracking a missile launch!” one of the flight engineers yelled.

Mallik leaped to his feet. “ETA?”

“Less than two minutes. Coming from the west.”

It had to be an attack by the approaching ship. Mallik whirled on the flight director. “Do we have a Vajra satellite over that area?”

Kapoor gave him an astonished look. “Yes, but—”

“Turn it on and target that region.”

“That might—”

Mallik snapped his fingers, and the guards raised their weapons. “Do it!” He knew the risks of activating it so close to the launch site.

Kapoor nodded and typed on his keyboard.

“Ninety seconds to impact,” the engineer said.

“Vajra activating,” Kapoor said.

Mallik waited for the mission control electronics to go down, but all the computers continued to operate.

The man observing the radar return said, “The missile splashed down.”

Mallik breathed a sigh of relief.

“How long will the satellite be in range?” he asked.

“An hour,” Kapoor said. “Long enough to launch Satellite 20.”

“Good. Now, radio the Maurya and tell the captain to destroy that cargo ship.”

The ever-present hum of the Oregon’s engines went silent.

“Did the missile make it?” Juan asked Murph.

“I don’t think so. Just before everything went black, I saw its trajectory wobbling. Vajra must have disabled its guidance chip.”

Juan had taken a chance that there wasn’t a Vajra satellite overhead or that Mallik wouldn’t have the time or guts to use it so close to his own command ship. The bet hadn’t paid off.

He turned to Max and said, “So Plan A didn’t work. Time for Plan B. Are your mods complete?”

Max answered by raising crossed fingers on both hands.

“Then you all know what to do.” Juan took the radio and binoculars sitting on the arm of his command chair and sprinted out of the room along with Murph and Eric. Linda took the conn while Max stayed at his engineering station.

The minimal lighting and quiet halls were eerie as they made their way up to the deck. Once they got into the shoddy fake interior of the ship, the three of them separated. Juan’s destination was the bridge.

Knowing that the Oregon’s computers might be rendered inoperable by Vajra, Max had spent every waking moment since they left the Suez finishing the modifications he’d begun when they first saw the weapon’s power. Every single system on the Oregon was computer-operated, so bypassing them had been a herculean task.

Juan would call his orders over their simplified radios while Max and Linda would operate steering and propulsion from the op center. They still had electric power throughout the ship from their batteries, so Max could adjust thruster speed while Linda steered them by hand. Max claimed that he could get a burst from the magnetohydrodynamic main engines for a very short time in an emergency, but they would melt down from a lack of coolant if they ran for longer than a few seconds.

Their weapons were another story. Control of the guns, torpedoes, and missiles were all normally done by computer. No amount of modification could affect the guidance chips on any of the missiles, so the Exocets and anti-aircraft missiles were now useless.

The Gatling guns, however, just needed electricity for rotation, elevation, ammunition feed, and firing. They’d only had time to modify one of the three Gatling guns, so Juan had made sure to maneuver the Oregon so that the modified gun was facing the approaching Maurya. Murph would use a simple joystick from his position on deck to control the Gatling and would eyeball the tracer fire to aim it. The 120mm cannon had been similarly modified.

At the same time, Eric would be operating the torpedoes. Since they ran close to the surface, it was possible that they would also be affected by Vajra and wouldn’t be able to utilize their homing sonars. Their chemically fueled propulsion wouldn’t be affected, however, and Eric would be able to guide them by the wires they trailed behind them. Each of them had been fitted with flags that would jut above the surface of the water so Eric could see them after launch.

When he got to the bridge, Juan said into the radio, “Everyone in position?”

They all acknowledged they were ready.

Juan raised the binoculars and saw the frigate plowing toward them at top speed five miles out. They were still out of gun range.

Two puffs of steam jetted from tubes on the Maurya’s deck followed by twin splashes next to the ship.

Juan spoke into the radio again. “Prepare for evasive maneuvers. We have torpedoes in the water.”