off the Coast of Colombia
Tessa woke up in her bed, stretching and yawning the tiredness out of her body. She scanned her room and tried to figure out how she got there. Her memory was of crying in Melissa'a arms. She figured that she fell asleep and Melissa put in her bed. She checked her watch and it said 12 o' clock. Since her watch was to Greenwich mean time, it was 7 here. She went over to her personal desk and logged on. She saw that her inbox had some mail but decided not to check it immediately. She checked the news and found a reference to the action in the Andes. The headline stated "FARC dealt deadly blow" in the Bogota Times, while the Washington Post stated that evidence was mounting about more US 'advisors' in Colombia then allowd by law. She sometimes wondered about her home. 'Why can't those politicians see past there own noses?' she thought. Shaking her head, she scanned the in box. Most of the mail was about 'enhancing the sexual experience of women', but one came from her brother. It was the basic hello and how you doing one that recieved from him. Since she accepted the offer from Mithral, she grew apart from her brother. Especially since it was found out that Guaron had some ties to her brother. She tried to confront her brother, but was stymied by projects and other miscellanous reasons. It almost seemed that he didn't want to see her. That brought her thoughts to Souske. Just as she was fighting with feelings she heard the PA system come on.
*Alarm* "General Quarters! General Quarters! All hands to your battlestations. General Quarters! General Quarters! All hands to your battlestations! This not a drill!"
Tessa was running though the hallways to the bridge. She didn't care that she was wearing the same uniform from yesterday or that she slept in it. She entered the bridge and was greeted by the customnary 'Captain on bridge.' She saw all the bridge crew all ready do thier thing. Mardukas was standing in front of the command chair overseeing but not interfering the crew's operation.
"Mardukas, report." ordered Tessa as she came beside the XO (excutive officer).
"We have 24 missiles heading for the coast of Colombia from bearing 170. We have no clue where it came from or thier targets, captian." said the XO.
" Thier altiude right now is 100 meters above the surface of the sea, speed is 400 knots. Heading is from 40 to 60 degrees. If they continue thier current course, they'll hit Bogata, Medillin, and Cartegena in about 90 minutes." said radar station.
" When will they be at thier closest to us?" asked Tessa as Kalinin enetered the bridge.
"5 minutes, sir."
" I still have nothing on the sonar in that area, sir. I have all the know contacts on the board and nothing is in that area for two days. Not even a fishing trawler." came sonar.
"Fire Control, Get the Harpoons up and ready and configure then to intercept those missiles." said Tessa.
"Aye, Aye. Captain" as the Fire control was plotting the intercepts.
"Four minutes."
"Captain, the Harpoons are not suited for this work." said Mardukas.
"I know that but we don't have much choice. The Tomahawks don't have the target software the Harpoons do not the manuverability. For the Standards to be used we have to surface, and have a bad feeling that whoever launched those missiles is waiting for somebody to stop them, and pouncing." said Tessa.
"Three minutes."
" Harpoons ready, Captain. All tubes flodded."
"Sonar, I want you to watch for any response. Fire Control, Launch." ordered Tessa.
" Tubes 1, 2, 3 , 4, 5 , 6 launched. Reloading same tubes now. First flight of Harpoons have reached the surface. Getting feed from Harpoons, puting it up now." as six popups apperared on the tactical map. " Tubes Loaded. Tubes 1,2, 3,4,5,6 Launched. Tubes being reloaded." said the fire control officer.
Tessa and the rest of the bridge was tense as the squence of firing the missiles continued. She knew the probabilites of intercept was low, but she knew that a Sub was out there and it was waiting to pounce.
Just as the first flight of Harpoons was to engage, sonar squaked.
"I have multible missile launch, bearing 176. "
"I have four missiles inbound. 225 klicks and closing." said radar.
"First flight has secussfully engaged all six missiles. Second flight about to engage." said Fire Control.
"Those are Kitchen sub-launched criuse missiles, Captain. They're Russian make." said Mardukas as the last picture of one of the Harpoon intercepts.
"All 48 Harpoons have been launched, Captain." said Fire control.
'Unless we surface, we can't intercept any more. If I do, that submarine we can't find will launch.' thought Tessa.
" Second flight only hit 2 out of 6. The Kitchens are at thier closest approach."
"Con, dive plane 5 degrees. drop below the thermocline at 1,000." ordered Tessa.
The con repeated the order as he pushed the de Danaan down.
"None of the third flight intercepted thier targets. Forth flight engaging in 30 seconds."
" 250, and decending."
" Fouth flight hit 3 out of six. fifth flight engaging. Eighth flight having a hard time aquiring targets." said fire control.
"500, and decending." said con.
" I have a possible on the locations of the missile strikes, Captain." said another of the bridge bunnies.
" Go ahead" as she turned to see the guy.
"They're targeting any big radar installations in Colombia."
" I've got missile launch from the mainland, Captain." said radar.
"What?" said Tessa.
"Multiple missile launch from the Andes region of Colombia. Thasy are ballistic in trajectory. Com........."
"Emergency surface. Fire control track those Ballistic missisles and get the KKV( Kenetic Kill Vehicles) Standards ready for launch when we hit the surface." ordered Tessa as the de Danaan lifted to get as quickly to the surface.
She already knew what was going to be said next.
" Those ballistics are targeting North America, specifically the East Coast north of Hatteras." said radar.
"Oh, no" cried Tessa.
I'm sorry but I'm tired so later.
)
