Eric Brown: The Kraken Rises

“I’m listening,” Captain Weaver said.

“We’ve seen how the Kraken deals with ships the size of the Braxton , sir.” Smith spun around in his seat to look at him. “That thing… It comes right in and latches onto its target. Its tactic has been to crush the ship it is engaged with and then drag it underwater. What if we had a surprise waiting for it when it tried that against us?”

Captain Weaver stared at Smith. “Are you suggesting we sacrifice this ship to destroy that thing, Mr. Smith?”

“It’s the only way I can think of killing it, Captain,” Mr. Smith said honestly. “We have seen that normal tactics don’t work. We just don’t have the firepower to kill it in a single hit any other way.”

“He’s right,” Ennis reluctantly admitted. “It may very well be the only means of stopping that thing.”

“I’m not arguing that it wouldn’t work,” Captain Weaver replied with a sigh. “But allow me to remind you that the waters are teeming with the lesser squids. If we lure the Kraken in and blow the ship to kill it, what about them? The lifeboats aren’t equipped for combat. Any crew who don’t stay aboard will be left at their mercy.”

“Not necessarily,” Ennis said. “If the big one dies, the others may scatter. Its death might break them and send them running.”

“That’s a pretty risky gamble to take,” Captain Weaver complained.

“I don’t see how we have another choice, sir.” Ennis shrugged. “Not if you really intend to try to kill the thing.”

Captain Weaver thought it over and then nodded. “Mr. Smith, how long will it take to rig this ship for what you have in mind?”

“With enough manpower to help, maybe an hour?” Smith answered.

“Be about it then. Pull as many crewmen as you need to assist,” Captain Weaver ordered. “Ennis, relieve him in the meantime.”

“Yes, sir,” Ennis replied, taking over the weapons station for Smith as the younger officer left the bridge.

“Lancaster?” Captain Weaver called out.

The sonar tech snapped to attention at his station. “Sir!”

“Any sign of the Kraken as yet?” Captain Weaver asked.

“None, sir,” Lancaster reported. “I’m picking up a large number of the lesser squid creatures in pursuit of us though. They’re hanging back for now but keeping their speed constant with our own.”

“I want to know the second there is any change,” Captain Weaver ordered him.

The Braxton had maintained action stations since the last engagement with the squids and the death of DESRON 2. Captain Weaver knew they were as ready as they could be should the Kraken show itself given their situation, except for putting in places the charges needed for Mr. Smith’s plan. Lord willing, the Kraken would give the weapons officer the time to get everything in place before the monster showed itself again.

“Maintain current course and speed. We need to keep as much distance as we can from those things until Mr. Smith is ready.” Captain Weaver leaned back in his chair. “And somebody get me a bloody cup of coffee!”

Lieutenant Commander Kim Unger had taken charge of the Braxton ’s onboard marines and security personnel. She knew it was up to her and her men to keep the ship from being overrun by the lesser squid creatures should they move in ahead of the Kraken itself. All of the ship’s entrances to its interior had been welded shut except for one passageway onto its primary deck, and those doors were now closed with two soldiers carrying SAWs in place to defend it. The rest of her men were spread out all along the sides of the Braxton , heavily armed and their eyes fixed on the waves for any sign of trouble.

Her second-in-command, Henson, came running over to where she stood at the portside railing.

“Ma’am,” he shouted. “We’ve got reports of the squids moving in from both aft and starboard.”

Unger blinked in surprise. She hadn’t expected the squids to come calling already. “Have the men engage them at will.”

As soon as she gave the order, a soldier a few yards up the deck from her shouted, “Contact from starboard!”

Lieutenant Commander Unger whirled back towards the water. What she saw there nearly made her freeze despite her years of experience and training. There were squid creatures everywhere among the waves, far too many of them to count at a glance. She jerked her rifle up, bracing it against her shoulder as she took aim at the monsters. Her first burst ripped the central mass of one of the things apart. Black blood swirled in the water around where its corpse floated, jostled about by the current. She took aim at another but didn’t pull the trigger. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed movement below her and to her right on the Braxton ’s lower hull. The squid creatures had already reached the ship and were emerging from the water to climb its sides. She twisted her body to get a shot at one of the monsters already in the process of racing up the side of the ship like some sort of deranged spider on speed. Its tentacles lashed out, their spear-like tips thrusting into the metal of the Braxton ’s hull as it used them to pull itself upwards. Lieutenant Commander Unger took aim at one the squids that was halfway up the side of the ship and put a burst of rounds into it. The squid creature gave a horrid, high-pitched shriek of pain and died where it was. Its body dangled from the side of the Braxton as the tentacles impaling the ship’s hull held its corpse in place above the waves.

The first of the squids to reach the top of the Braxton ’s starboard side hurled itself up and over the railing at one of her men. The poor bastard never stood a chance against it. He turned, trying to bring his rifle into play, but the squid was just too fast. Before his rifle was halfway around towards it, one of the thing’s tentacles knocked his head from his shoulders in an explosion of blood. The man’s head went rolling across the Braxton ’s deck as his body toppled over. The man next to him fired into the squid, blowing it to pieces with a stream of automatic fire, only to die as another squid cleared the railing. It landed on his back, taking him to the deck below its madly writhing limbs. The man screamed as the creature’s tentacles gutted him where he lay. Red slicked, purple strands of his intestines were thrown from his body and sprawled over the deck around him.

Lieutenant Commander Unger was caught off guard as a squid came bounding over the railing near her. She narrowly avoided the thing’s tentacle that lashed outward towards her throat. The squid creature landed on the deck facing her. Leveling her rifle at its central mass, she sent it to help with a trio of quick bursts. It flopped over to lay still as black blood pooled about its corpse. She turned and started to yell an order at Henson only to find him dead. His cut-up and broken body rested on the deck a few feet away. Two of the squid creatures squatted like alien tripods over it, shoveling bits of his flesh and organs into their maws. Unger felt vomit and bile rise up in her throat, but she fought them down. If she bent over to puke up her last meal, the squids would tear her apart like they had her second-in-command. Cursing herself as she ran, Lieutenant Commander Unger abandoned her position and sprinted towards the only entrance left to the Braxton ’s interior deck. The ship’s CIWS had fallen silent. The squids must have taken it out somehow, but she had no time to check on it. Her life depended on her speed.

“Fall back!” she shouted as she raced towards the two troopers guarding the doorway ahead of her, being careful to stay out of their line of fire. The few men who were still alive on the part of the Braxton ’s deck she was on fell in behind her as her legs pumped beneath her. Her breath came in ragged gasps, her body pushed to its limits and then some.