Voyage of the Devilfish

“Officer of the Deck,” Pacino called, “change course to zero four five. Get the XO and Navigator up here now.” As Pacino waited, doubt crept into his mind. Could the deployment info be for real? Why would Novskoyy be surfaced in the first place? He pushed away the thought and concentrated on his confrontation with Novskoyy. He could approach the OMEGA while it was surfaced at the polynya, hover beneath and do a vertical surfacing… but instead of breaking through the ice hit the OMEGA. But if the OMEGA had its engines shut down it might take an hour for it to get under way from the polynya. And the OMEGA, quiet even in open ocean, would be quieter than the ice around her if her engines were not running. So he might never find her at the polynya. And a sub that big could take a helluva wallop without being damaged. To wake her up would take a crash violent enough to damage Devilfish herself… Was this mission survivable? Rapier and Christman having arrived at Conn, Pacino let them read the flash message together.

“We’ve got to find this bastard. Skipper,” Rapier said.

“And hammer him,” from Christman.

“Don’t forget, gentlemen,” Pacino said, “we don’t have a weapons-release authorization here. We can shoot only if he shoots first.” Rapier shook his head. “COMSUBLANT said the Rules of Engagement no longer apply. We don’t need to wait—”

“No, XO, he also said use methods short of weapon release. He said to use our initiative. And that is what we’re going to do…”

CHAPTER 13

THURSDAY, 16 DECEMBER

MOSCOW

THE KREMLIN, DEFENSE MINISTRY SUBWING

HEARING ROOM FOUR

Colonel Ivan Dretzski studied his notes for the final remaining minutes before the hearing on the Northern Fleet’s deployment to the Atlantic was called to order. Its purpose was to determine why the fleet had sailed without permission from Moscow, and what to do about it. The room looked like a Russian version of a Senate hearing room. On the back wall, perhaps four meters tall, the faded outline of the old hammer and sickle showed, its shape indicated by the contrast of the dirty wall with the clean spot where the symbol of the Soviet Union had once hung. He thought about Novskoyy being convinced that it was the agents of the United States that had brought down the USSR. Maybe Novskoyy was right in opposing America’s military forces, but not about the rest… Russia’s problem wasn’t McDonald’s hamburgers in Red Square. Its economy had collapsed. Without oil exports it was a poor agrarian country. Ever since he had agreed to Novskoyy’s plan, under duress — hell, threat — its flaws nagged at him, and now seemed magnified with the admiral at sea. His rhetoric and powerful personality weren’t there to melt away doubts. In the cold light of logic, the plan seemed extreme to the point of risking a nuclear war. Trust and arms control and reduction were the better way…

As the members filed in, Dretzski fought against his doubts. America was the glavny protivnik, the main adversary. That was ingrained in him, never mind what seemed to be the case. He was a military man. The military was at deathly risk. His country was still at risk… America’s nuclear weapons were still the issue. Plus its still vast defense organization. Billiondollar Stealth fighters, two-billiondollar submarines, million-dollar cruise missiles, billions of dollars of space-based weapons systems. Novskoyy was a risk taker, but he could also be right… The members took their seats at the slightly elevated panel in front of Dretzski’s table, their panel forming a horseshoe-shape in front of him.