Eric Brown - The Kraken Rises

“Take the contact behind with guns, Mr. Grant,” Captain Nicholson ordered, “and let’s send that thing back to whatever depths of Hell it came from.”

“With pleasure, sir,” Grant replied with a grin.

The Hercules came about in the water, slowing her speed. She faced the oncoming Kraken as she brought her guns to bear on the monster. The CIWS sprang to life first, spraying the waves with a virtual wall of lead. It thundered as it spat burst after burst. Her massive Mark 7 guns fired next, followed by her secondary batteries. Bullets ripped the surface of the ocean as sixteen-inch, armor-piercing shells followed them into the depths. Great geysers of black-tinted water splashed upwards as the shells hit their target and exploded. It was as if Hell itself had opened up in waves above and around the Kraken. Still, the great beast came onward without so much as slowing its speed.

“Keep firing!” Captain Nicholson ordered Grant. “Empty everything we have into that bastard!”

The Hercules continued its barrage as the Kraken drew ever closer to her.

“The Kraken has increased its speed to forty-five knots!” Keogh shouted.

That’s ramming speed , Captain Nicholson thought but said nothing aloud. Most of his crew would surely come to the same conclusion. “Mr. Grant, target the Kraken’s main body.”

“I have been, sir,” Grant rasped.

“I think the thing is using its lesser tentacles as shields, sir,” Keogh yelled.

“Any change in course?” Captain Nicholson demanded to know.

“None, sir,” Keogh answered him. “Impact in less than one minute.”

“Evasive maneuvers!” Captain Nicholson ordered his helmsman. “Engines at full!”

“She’s almost through our kill zone, sir,” Grant told him. “Once that thing clears it, only the CIWS will be able to keep firing.”

“The Kraken has cleared the kill zone, sir,” Keogh shouted. “It’s increased speed again to forty-eight knots!”

Captain Nicholson blinked at Keogh’s report of the Kraken’s speed. Surely he had to have heard the sonar tech wrong; nothing that big could move that fast through the waves.

The Hercules ’ main guns fell silent as her CIWS thundered on.

“Dear God,” Grant stammered. “How is that monster still alive?”

Captain Nicholson had no answer. The amount of damage the Kraken had to have taken was staggering and surreal. By all rights, even accounting for the thing’s size, it should be dead or at least reeling from the amount of fire Grant had poured into it.

“Impact in five seconds, sir,” Keogh shouted and started counting down. “Four…Three…”

Captain Nicholson looked about the bridge at his crew. He took pride in the fact that even with death bearing down on them, they stayed at their stations.

“Impact!” Keogh wailed as the Kraken struck the Hercules . The ship was hurled upwards out of the water even as her aft section was folded inward like the hood of a car meeting an immovable object at high speed.

Captain Nicholson was flung from his chair to the floor of the bridge. He heard Mr. Malkin grunt as the man’s ribs were shattered, his chest hurled into the helm. Malkin toppled sideways from his chair to land next to where Captain Nicholson rested on his aching hands and knees.

A power surge shot through the Hercules ’ systems, blowing out just about every station on the bridge. Keogh died instantly as the sonar station blew apart in an explosion of flames and shrapnel. Grant threw himself away from the weapons station, narrowly avoiding the same fate.

The Hercules flopped back into the water, tossing her bridge officers about like ragged dolls, Captain Nicholson among them. Captain Nicholson had been trying to get back on his feet as the ship went down. Halfway up, he was hurled across the bridge to smash into the forward wall beneath the bridge window. His right shoulder took the brunt of the impact as he tried to brace himself. Captain Nicholson howled in pain as the shoulder was not only dislocated, but most of the bones inside it were crushed. Still, Captain Nicholson counted himself as lucky as he watched a crewman who was on fire rolling about on the floor of the bridge near its entrance.

“Grant!” Captain Nicholson yelled, stumbling to his feet. He clutched his shattered shoulder with his good hand, fighting not to black out from the pain.

His XO had made his way to the engineering console. “Rerouting weapon control now, sir!”

“Damage reports coming in from all over the ship, Captain,” another crewman with shouted at him. The woman was using a handheld radio to communicate with the rest to the ship. Now that was quick thinking , Captain Nicholson admitted.

The Hercules shook again as the Kraken heaved a part of itself up onto the ship’s forward deck. The giant beast’s weight dragged the bow of the ship downward. Captain Nicholson grabbed the helm to keep his footing as the floor of the bridge titled. The helmsman, Malkin, looked up at him, his lips smeared with blood. “Hang in there, son,” Captain Nicholson said, trying to comfort Malkin as he stepped over him, heading for the engineering station to join Grant there.

The rising body of the Kraken blocked out the starlight coming in through the bridge’s forward window. The monster’s burning yellow eyes were the only light that could be seen through it. Night had fallen as the battle raged on.

“I’ve got main gun control,” Grant told him. “At least of the few guns we have left.”

“Point blank to that thing’s face,” Captain Nicholson ordered.

“You know the blast will get us too,” Grant said.

“We’re dead anyway,” Captain Nicholson replied. “Just do it.”

“Yes, sir,” Grant nodded.

Two of the Hercules ’ remaining 16-inch guns that were still functional swiveled on their mounts towards the Kraken as Grant guided them and locked them onto their target.

“It was an honor serving with you, sir,” Grant said.

“The honor was mine,” Captain Nicholson said, smiling at him. “Fire!”

The guns spat high-explosive shells directly into the Kraken. The ensuing explosion blew a good portion of the Hercules apart beneath the Kraken as they detonated. The massive beast released the Hercules , slipping into the waves as it leaked black blood from its freshly dealt wounds. Secondary explosions ripped along the length of the ship blowing bits of it skyward as smoke rolled from the blazing fires that danced on its deck. As the Hercules sank, Captain Nicholson and Grant’s bodies floated in the water that had come, racing into the bridge through its shattered forward window.

“The Hercules is gone, sir,” Ennis reported.

Captain Weaver slumped in his command chair, feeling an odd mixture of grief and anger.

Smith, Watkins, Lancaster, and the rest of the Braxton ’s bridge crew appeared to take the news just as hard. Miller, who had just taken over at the comm. station, ran the fingers of her right hand over her forehead, brushing hair from her eyes as she glanced over at him.

“Captain,” Miller said to him, “the two doctors we brought aboard from the platform want to speak with you ASAP.”

Captain Weaver nodded at Miller. “Tell them I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“There’s no sign of the Kraken, sir,” Lancaster told him. “And we’ve put some distance between us and the lesser squid creatures.”

“Thank you, Lancaster,” Captain Weaver replied. “Mr. Ennis, you have command.”

“Yes, sir,” Ennis snapped, almost saluting him. Captain Weaver knew the stress was getting to them all.