David Golemon - Leviathan

The first officer paused at the large hatchway, then slowly turned.

"I will never question your orders, Captain. However, you're countermanding everything you laid out before we sailed. I am wondering if maybe you're not telling me something — your health, the sessions with the doctor? And why is Sergeant Tyler present at most of these appointments?"

The face never turned from the window, but he could see that the captain's eyes were closed and she was biting her lower lip. For the life of him, he could swear she was in conflict deep within herself.

"I… I don't recall meeting with the…"

The words stopped as she turned and made her way back to the large chair, signaling an end to his questioning.

"I will report on the attack as soon as we have long-range damage assessment, Captain."

He waited for a response, but when none came he slowly left the private control room.

As the captain sat with eyes closed, she tried to remember the last medical session with the ship's surgeon, but she couldn't recall anything through the pain of her current headache. She remembered the early morning visits to the sickbay to check on Colonel Collins — those moments were clear, as she remembered forming her plans. If these other sessions had happened, why was Sergeant Tyler present? If he was, she must get an explanation as to why.

Niles heard the knock on the door just as Henri Farbeaux stepped from the bathroom, looked at him, and saw he made no move to answer it. He tossed the towel he was drying his hands on over his shoulder and opened the door.

"Excuse me, gentlemen. Our captain has asked that you join the first officer in the command center," a young-faced officer said, stepping aside and allowing the senator, Alice, and Virginia to step by him. "The others are ready to go, as you can see."

Niles, resplendent in his issued red jumpsuit, walked past Farbeaux and out into the companionway.

"Colonel?"

"I think I'll stay."

The officer kept his politeness. "The captain has informed us since you are an uninvited guest onboard, you are highly expendable, so please, Colonel, come with us."

Henri smiled, pulled his jumper top up, and bowed. "Your power of persuasion has moved me. I must thank your captain in person."

"You'll have that chance very soon, sir." The officer closed the door, the polite smile gone when he knew they could not see.

As they were shown to a rail overlooking the control center — the very brain of Leviathan —they were stunned. With the dimensions of a basketball court, it coursed with a pulse that was electric. At least sixty technicians operated stations that were unrecognizable to anyone but a science-fiction aficionado. There were large-screen monitors and 3-D displays of their surroundings. The tech stations were bathed in dim lighting of greens, blues, and reds. Sonar stations, weapons, environmental control — but that was as far as Niles and his knowledge went. The other stations were as much a mystery to him as the origins of this vessel. There were holograms showing the status of missilelike weapons and torpedoes. An even larger hologram, which showed the distinctive shape of Leviathan as she sliced through the sea underneath the surface, took up what they thought was the navigation platform. The navigation console was like a cartoon, animated and accurate in every detail.

"Officer of the deck, we are at station precisely three hundred miles offshore of Venezuela. We have multiple surface contacts. Air search is negative at this time," a female operator called out.

As they watched, they saw the first officer for the first time. The man was of normal height, maybe six feet, one inch. His hair was blond and he was clean-shaven. His uniform was impeccably starched, and it wasn't a jumpsuit. His attire was tan, almost as if he were serving in the U.S. Navy. He didn't sit in the large command chair that sat upon a raised platform, but stood at its side with his arm resting on the pedestal above as he studied the hologram of Leviathan and its surrounding waters in a five-hundred-mile circle.

"Very well. Long-range sonar, what do we have off the Scottish coast?"

Niles turned to a brown-suited Senator Lee, somewhat jealous that he and Alice were accorded the comfort of civilian clothes. Lee even had his customary bowtie.

"They have a sonar suite that can operate that far?"

"I suspect we may be in for a lot of surprises, Niles, my boy," Lee answered.

"We are picking up the power plant noises of the HMS Monmouth and her sister frigate Somerset; one Type 45 destroyer, HMS Daring; and one Type 42, HMS Birmingham . Two other destroyers have yet to join the convoy. We also have the prop signatures of VLCS tankers— Exxon Gale, Palace Guard, Texaco Sky , and the Shell Madrid . Propeller depth indicates fully loaded oil bunkers."

"Thank you. Weapons, give me a status report, please." The first officer bowed his head and closed his eyes as he listened to the reports.

"Torpedo tubes one through ten loaded with standard Mark eighty-nines. Standard war shot with delayed sonar activation; their computers are active in the tubes and tracking. Vertical tubes ten through fifteen are hot with type-forty Vengeance cruise missiles, and outer doors are ready at your discretion."

"Very well. Diving officer, make your depth three hundred; slow speed to five knots."

"Aye, chief of the boat, slow to five knots; make your attack depth three hundred."

The command was relayed to the helmsman and planesman sitting in airlinelike pilot seats. They wore strange-looking helmets that covered their entire heads as they watched their virtual-reality displays that were invisible to all others, followed their orders, and made their speed and depth adjustments. Leviathan started a climb toward the surface.

"Goddamn it, they're attacking two different convoys," Niles said, stepping forward.

Farbeaux quickly grabbed Niles by the arm and stayed him.

"Mr. Director, if they are forced to shoot you, a stray bullet may very well strike me, and that just would not do."

Niles closed his eyes and nodded, getting Farbeaux's meaning and intent. He was placing the others in jeopardy, and Henri pointed that fact out using his dry wit. Sarah nodded once in thanks, and Farbeaux looked at her intently.

"Officer of the deck, we are at station. IP is achieved."

"Thank you, helm. Weapons, you are free to launch forward tubes one through ten. Give me a full spread and let me know when the weapons have achieved station keeping."

"Aye." The weapons officer turned a key in his large console and then pushed the brightly illuminated buttons lining its top, one at a time, until they were all green.

Lee, Farbeaux, Virginia, and Lee all noticed that when it came to the launching of weapons, the crew of Leviathan used the old-fashioned, hands-on way, rather than trusting the holographic imagery technology.

"Tubes one through ten are empty, and torpedoes are free of the boat. All are traveling hot, straight, and normal." The weapons officer watched the large hologram in front of him. The small torpedoes (at least compared to the size of Leviathan) were seen traveling away from the red depiction of the submarine. "Weapons have stopped dead in the water and have gone to passive search. We have achieved station keeping for delayed-attack profile." The torpedoes floated in the water and were now arrayed like an open fan, just sitting there.

"Thank you, Mr. Hunter. You have permission to fire vertical tubes. You are weapons-free." The first officer lowered his head, brought his right hand to his chin, and waited. When the weapons officer reported all tubes and weapons were launched, the first officer chanced a look into the gallery fifty feet above the control center. He looked at each accusing face in the semidarkness above him, then just as quickly looked away.