Lethal Intentions, page 11
part #2 of Sub Surface Series
“Very well, Deck Officer, I want you to continue to search for the source of the transient and increase your frequency of maneuvers to check your baffles. There are many trawlers in these waters and that could have been the source. I know we transited under the polar ice cap and I doubt the Americans would follow us this far, but you can never be too sure.”
Captain 1st Rank Illy Krashenko walks out of the control room, confident that the K-407 is secure and has secretly transited to the Pacific Ocean without detection.
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USS NEW HAMPSHIRE Control 0147Z05DEC18
“Officer of the Deck, continue to open datum from the Russian and follow from 18K Yards. I want to ensure they do not continue to check their baffles. It seems they have been driving toward the open Pacific and haven’t done much to verify they aren’t being trailed.”
“I understand, open to 18K yards and continue to trail the Russian submarine. I agree Captain, they haven’t made many unscheduled turns and seem to follow the same turns every eight hours to check their baffles.”
“How’s Moyer?” the captain asks to check on the wellbeing of his watch standers.
“Doc reports he had to have nine stitches across his forehead. It isn’t going to be a pretty scar, but you know he’ll say something stupid like chicks dig scars, knowing Moyer.”
“Yeah, that one is a great watch stander and A-Ganger, but he got careless. Keep an eye on him because we all know how underway atmospheres can cause infections. I think he’ll make a great officer one day if he gets picked up for that program he applied for.” The captain turns and walks out of control.
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Wardroom After Watch Reconstruction 0229Z05DEC18
“How’s it going, Navigator?” the captain asks as he walks into the wardroom.
“It’s going great, Captain,” LCDR Damen Ripley replies as he stands over the offgoing watch team. “It’s been fairly straightforward now that we have trailed this boat for so long. The guys have the package prep down pat. We have gotten pretty good at capturing all the data, the recordings and any miscellaneous data from the K-407.”
“Are all the boxes are prepped and ready to transfer off the boat when we get a chance? I anticipate we will be relieved out here soon and can make our way into a port to transfer off all this.”
“Yes Sir, we have everything ready and boxed. Once we get an appropriate order and courier for the boxes, we can sign them over and transfer custody.”
Materials like this are handled as Top-Secret SCI material and handled accordingly. Couriers with proper clearances are dispatched to receive and transfer the materials to the nearest repository when the data packages are prepared and uploaded into secure servers to be analyzed by specialists in the field. Data tapes will be isolated to mask any background noises and the Russian ship will be broken down into component sounds for dissemination to every sonar stack in the fleet.
Noises will be classified, from every known machinery noise to those of shitters being flushed. Any available data will be passed out to aid boats in determining sounds coming from this and many other submarines of its class.
“Very well NAV, keep up the good work. I’m going to go aft and surprise the nukes on the midwatch, then hit the rack.”
CHAPTER 22
SSN 772 Sea of Japan 0221Z05DEC18
“Officer of the Deck, I hold blinking lights just below the surface aft of the ship,” the JOOD calls out to alert the OOD.
“My scope,” he replies as he takes the scope handles from the ensign.
LCDR Craig Norton, Weapons Officer on GREENEVILLE spins the scope directly aft and magnifies the sight picture to look just aft of the ship. He sees several blinking lights in the early morning light as they trail behind the boat.
“JOOD, take the scope, don’t fixate on those lights; keep up your safety searches,” Norton says as he steps away from the #2 scope and grabs for the phone to the CO’s stateroom.
The buzz of the phone disrupts the captain’s midwatch sleep as he rolls over and reaches for the phone.
“Captain,” he says groggily.
“Captain, we have indications we have caught fishing nets and have them trailing behind the ship. We have blinking lights behind us.”
“Very well, OOD, I’m on my way.”
The captain dresses quickly and heads out to control. He strides to the CONN quickly and takes the scope and trains it aft, looking at the blinking lights of the fishing net that is obviously marking the GREENEVILLE for anyone to see in the darkness.
“WEPS, do you have any indication of a net strike?” he asks?
“No, Captain, nothing on our watch over the last couple hours since MIDRATS.”
“Chief of the Watch, get the NAV to come to control. We need to plot a course to deeper water, so we can free ourselves from the net.”
“Yes, Captain,” the COW replies as he then details a messenger to go wake the NAV and have him come to control.
Within minutes, LCDR Terrence Holt flies into Control and heads for the NAVPLOT. He scans the chart for the right area and points out a deep and relatively traffic free spot about ten nautical miles from the current ship’s location. It will carry GREENEVILLE outside the twelve nautical mile boundary of North Korean waters and allow the procedure to clear nets.
“Captain, I recommend we open datum to this area. We should proceed deep and remain slow to prevent the nets from clanging on the hull until we reach this area”
The CO scans the chart and agrees with the recommendation.
“OOD, take the boat to 200 feet and maintain five knots as we transit to this area.” He points it out on the charts.
“Aye, Captain, I understand 200 feet and five knots,” the WEPS responds and begins directing actions from his team. GREENEVILLE transitions down from periscope depth and opens out into international waters.
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Open Waters 1146Z05DEC18
“Helm, all stop,” the WEPS calls his order to stop the boat and ready for extracting the nets.
The boat slowly comes to a dead stop in the waters. This is done to allow the net buoys to float up away from the boat and hopefully unhook themselves from the boat.
“JOOD, raise the number two scope,” he calls out to give the team a look at the net.
The JOOD twists the hydraulic ring above the periscope well to port hydraulic pressure to the ram that drives the #2 scope up and out of its well and upward toward the surface. As it comes up, he mechanically turns knobs and tests the early warning receiver to ensure the scope is ready for use.
After it fully raises, the sunlight filtering down from above provides enough illumination to see a fishing net slowly gliding toward the surface above as the buoys raise it above the boat. Once it is fully vertical, the boat is ready to move away from the net.
“Helm, all back one-third. Make turns for two knots astern,” the WEPS orders. The COW relays the order to make turns for two knots astern to maneuvering to back up the pre-briefed evolution. Slowly the boat responds, and the net frees itself from the boat as GREENEVILLE turns away from it and heads back toward its station to await Piranha.
GREENEVILLE clears the area of the net and returns to periscope depth to monitor communications and to launch the aerial reconnaissance vehicle the SEALS will use inland.
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GREENEVILLE Loitering Area 1800Z05DEC18
“TDU Space, control, report readiness for launch of the ISR Buoy,” the Chief of the Watch calls down over the sound-powered phones.
“TDU Space is ready for deployment,” the off going Chief of the Watch reports back to control. The off going COW is responsible for monitoring and conducting major evolutions, especially those that break rig for dive.
“Officer of the Deck, ready to launch the ISR Buoy,” the COW reports to the OOD in Control.
“Very well, Chief of the Watch. Launch the ISR Buoy.”
“Launch the ISR Buoy, aye sir.” The order is passed over the phones to the TDU space.
The TDU, or trash disposal unit, is the mechanism for discharging compressible trash and food waste off the ship. Waste is compressed into aluminum cylinders and weighted to sixty pounds heavier than normal to ensure the trash sinks to the depths of the ocean.
The Navy follows all guidelines to ensure harmful items aren’t dropped overboard and recycles as much as possible. The rules prevent discharge within established boundaries to land.
The TDU is an opening from inside the ship to the ocean and passes through the pressure hull. If the top and bottom doors were opened at the same time, uncontrollable flooding would occur, and the ship could be lost.
The TDU is flooded down and the ISR buoy, an engineered aerial reconnaissance drone, is ejected out the bottom of the boat. Upon exit, GREENEVILLE turns away to port and clears the area where the buoy will begin its ascent.
The canister for the buoy will descend 20 feet below the keel of the submarine, then it will slowly inflate its bladder to create positive buoyancy to rise to the surface.
The canister rises and breaks through the ocean surface as the bladder fully inflates to keep the buoy on the surface. Sensing dry air, the canister fires little charges that split the shell of the canister. As they fall open and away from the contents of the canister, the aerial drone senses the open space and immediately opens its wings.
The wings fold out as the canister fires another charge ejecting the drone upward. The motor for the drone, battery powered with a battery capable of sustaining 36 hours of flight due to a top solar cell that constantly charges from the sun, engages and the drone launches into the sky with wings fully open and the noise dampened propeller engaged and pushing thrust as it climbs to its preassigned reconnaissance height.
Immediately, its systems open secure links that require scrambled codes to log onto its cameras and flight controls.
Inland, the DEVGRU SEALS will log into the aerial drone and begin interfacing with its cameras that will provide intelligence real time.
CHAPTER 23
PIRANHA 1800Z05DEC18
After maneuvering the unit toward land and through the various fishing boats and vessels, Piranha reaches its destination and readies to put men ashore.
Rob trims the boat for neutral buoyancy and pressurizes the compartment to allow the divers’ hatch to open. After equalizing pressure, with the flick of a switch the bottom hatch slowly recedes into the hull and the internal pressure of the unit keeps the compartment from flooding.
“Man, I love doing this. I used to watch Jacques Cousteau do it as a little kid,” SOC Jamie Brown remarks as the waters ripple at the diver’s port.
“Any last questions?” Lance asks the SEALS as they ready to drop out the bottom of the LRSDV.
“None, okay. We will be mooring in this general area and will await signals from the team to reactivate and coordinate the rendezvous. We anticipate you will return to the water under darkness and we’ll be ready. In the event of any emergency, you all have the emergency beacon that will transmit the UHF codes necessary for us to receive and begin extraction.”
“Good luck, Team,” Rob calls out as the team begins sliding into the water. Equipment goes out the bottom including waterproof containers with explosives and their propulsion units.
As soon as the last team member exits, and all equipment is passed through the open floor hatch, the door slowly slides shut. The unit is depressurized, and Rob and Lance begin their checklist for bottom mooring.
As they maneuver out to the mooring location, hydraulic sleds push down out of the lower hull to ready the unit to sit on the sea bottom. Low light camera systems power on and help the operators determine the right location. Piranha wedges itself close to barriers that will prevent dredging or trawler activities from catching “the big one that got away”.
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Insertion Team 1930Z05DEC18
The team slowly slices through the currents and heads toward their predetermined location to go ashore. They’ve navigated through the myriad of small fishing boats as they make their way out into the water.
At five-thirty local time, the fishermen get ready for another day trying to catch food for their survival. None know of the Death Machine that swims below their flat-bottomed boats, content in their world of despair while trying to catch enough food for their immediate families and those of the village that can’t provide for themselves.
Under the last remaining cover of darkness, eight masked faces slowly rise out of the water and survey every quadrant of the land they will soon walk on. Weapons at the ready, they slowly come up out of the surf and head off into the dense jungle like coverage close to the shore line.
“Red, Miami, flank right. Zeke, you and Kevin flank left,” TD Warner orders as the rest of the team head off into the trees to take up scouting positions and begin their trek inland toward the missile launch site.
Each group rolls out into predetermined positions carrying their equipment and weapons. Swim gear is dropped into the bags they carried to prevent damage and buried in shallow dug holes for retrieval upon exfiltration.
“Jordan, you have point,” Warner says into their encrypted communications set.
“Yes, Sir,” Jordan responds as he heads up the hill toward their destination. Slowly he creeps through the tree line, eyes darting right and left to look for any sign of life.
He pauses at various intervals, raises a fist as the team behind him pauses to allow for listening to any sounds. Night vision goggles illuminate the darkness and any movement is rapidly picked up by team members. Echoes of “Deer right” or “Rabbit left” cascade through ear pieces as the team alerts the others of picked up movement.
Within an hour, the team takes up overwatch above the missile launch site and readies communications equipment. Claymores and trip wires are strung out in case an unsuspecting North Korean Army soldier happens to tour through this forest.
“Farmer” Brown pulls out binoculars, specially designed for the teams by Bushnell and are a variant of the Bushnell Legend Ultra HD platforms sold to the general public. He slowly scans the missile site and looks for any new detection hardware the North Koreans may have installed at the site since the last flyover by a military satellite. The NSA and Military assets have been steadily documenting ground activity at the site and passing the intelligence to the JSOC leadership for dissemination to the team.
“LT, no new detection concerns. I see no microwave detection systems and only rudimentary detection equipment. We will still be green to proceed.” Brown continues breaking down the defenses they will pass through to get to the fuel bunker that will be rigged for detonation to take out the missile and site.
“Roger that, Chief. Break out the ISR Comms link and take control of the drone that should be overhead,” Lt Warner replies as he opens the communications line back to JSOC.
“Atlantis, this is Trident,” he reports into the satellite communications gear as the equipment rapidly encrypts his voice, scrambles the audio packet and instantaneously sends it skyward to the satellite tasked with their use for the operation.
Within seconds, a radio operator and staff team member at JSOC receive the call out.
“Trident, this is Atlantis. Go ahead with your transmission,” the LT hears come back over the headset he wears for the comms unit.
“Atlantis, Arthur and Trident in position, we hold zero changes from brief material. Missile is not, I repeat not, in imminent danger of launch. We are making ready to take control of the onsite ISR drone for overwatch.” The code names were picked up from the trailers and commercials for the upcoming Aquaman DC Comics movie with Jason Mamoa due out around Christmas.
He continues, “Atlantis, recommend holding Lightning units off station and at the ready. We see no indication of need for immediate action at this location. Trident is good to go for mission.”
A Supersonic B1 Bomber and an aerial refueling tanker are off station in the Pacific Ocean, ready to streak into the North Korean air space should the SEAL team determine that launch is impending. Their prearranged code word has been drilled into every operator and any can grab the comms microphone and utter “LIGHTNING STRIKE” to get the bomber to bee-line to the launch site and lay waste to the site.
This is the last resort as it would become unmistakable that the Americans bombed the launch site and would cause diplomatic issues between the United States and many other Nation States.
“Roger that, Trident, continue mission and provide updates as necessary.” The JSOC teams begin converging into the conference room set aside for this operation.
“Roger understood and out,” Lt Warner replies as he removes the headset and powers down the comms unit. Homer, do you have control of the drone?”
