Silent Waters

Chapter 38

In the control room, Mako watched his crew as he tugged a Yankees cap out of his back pocket and pulled it on. He was ready for action.

Three of the men glanced over their shoulders at him, waiting for his orders. Paul Cavallaro, unaware of Mako’s intentions, continued to plot their course on the charts.

Mako marked the time on his watch before beginning to bark out orders faster than they could be acknowledged.

“Officer of the Deck, all ahead one third. Helm, turn for fifteen knots, right ten degrees rudder, steady course. Prepare to dive, depth six hundred feet. Officer of the Deck, give me tube status. Dive, helm.”

The deck inclined downward as the helmsman pushed the control yoke for the stern planes forward. As the depth was called out, he eased back on the yoke. The deck leveled off, and several in the control room moved quickly to monitor the additional stations that they were manning.

Mako stalked to the firing panel, where one of his men was trying to program the torpedoes.

“Nothing down there, sir. We’re shut down,” he said under his breath.

“The VLS?”

The man checked the monitor at the next station. “Also down, sir.”

“We don’t need it,” Mako said, stepping back onto the conn platform. He looked down at his watch again and saw Cavallaro as he moved into the Sonar Room.

“Conn? Sonar,” the officer called out the door. “Captain, we have company. There’s an approaching object. A small object.”

“Can you identify it? Is it a torpedo?”

“Negative on the torpedo, sir. But I can run it through the computer.”

“Negative, Lieutenant. That won’t be necessary.”

Mako smiled. They were right on schedule for their appointment.