Fourth Vector Ch. 01

"Commander Easterbrook, you are needed at headquarters at once. I'm to escort you there," said Settler without the usual pomposity. It even looked like a certain level of fear was hidden behind his eyes.

Jack sprung to his feet. "Right away, Lieutenant. Has something happened?"

"Yes, sir. Last night there was action with the Occitanians again. The Commodore will fill you in on all the news."

"Let's get moving then," he said before turning to Kim. "Get word to Luke of where I'll be and then send a message to theTiger and theDestiny as well. Have all three ships put on readiness to sail at once."

"Aye, sir," said Kim with a salute as she hurried to the radio.

Jack followed Settler out of the bridge and across the railing toward the plank. The morning was still calm, especially compared to the previous one, but Jack found himself scanning the horizon for enemy warships as they made their way to the dock. Fortunately, the harbor and its surroundings were empty of any foreign ships but it still didn't shake the bad feeling in the pit of Jack's stomach.

The walk over to headquarters went by quickly and this time they made their way to the second floor instead of the third. Settler threw open the doors to a command center and beckoned Jack inside. The first thing Jack could see was a large map of the entire island in front of him. The map had been marked with two, large X's—one over the town of Quiller's Cove and the other just out past the harbor.

Two sets of eyes locked on him right away. The first was that of Commodore Lucas who waved him forward with a gentle nod of the head. Jack didn't recognize the other man.

"Jack, thank you for coming so quickly," said Lucas before starting a salute. "I'm not sure if you know Lt. Grover Burbank but he's a commander of one of the patrol boats here."

"Lt. Burbank," said Jack with a nod, saluting the patrol boat commander as well. "What's going on, sir? Your deputy told me there was action with the Occitanians last night."

Lucas's eyes looked over to Burbank before settling on Jack. "I'll let Lt. Burbank tell that story if you don't mind, Jack."

"Well, Lt. Commander Easterbrook, last night my boat was on patrol duty of the harbor," started Burbank before removing his service cap. "About two hours into the patrol, we started to pick up a couple blips on the radar. At first I thought the crew was just a little jump after the attack from yesterday so we didn't think much of it. But the blips started happening more frequently, so we turned on the spotlight around midnight and sailed out past the jetty."

"As soon as we got past the jetty, our radar just about went dead. After a circle of the entire bay, our spotlight was able to make out a torpedo launch that was coming directly at the ship—"

"Wait a second," said Jack while holding up his hand. "A torpedo? You're sure it wasn't just a large fish or something?"

Burbank gulped. "I'm positive, sir. There was no doubt. Anyway, we narrowly managed to avoid being hit. After the torpedo missed us, I followed the wake to find a periscope watching us just a short distance away."

"A periscope? You don't mean . . ."

"That's right, sir. An Occitanian submarine right here in the bay."

"And brave enough to launch a torpedo the morning after an attack," said Lucas.

"What happened next?"

"We sunk her, sir. With depth charges. She tried to dive on us but we launched explosives right above her. She didn't have a chance."

"At least we got the sub. Any survivors?"

"There's six right now. Five of them will live, one's still being treated. One died just after we reached the shore. The rest didn't survive the explosion."

"We threw them in brig downstairs," interrupted Lucas.

"I'm sure the Occitanians aren't going to like this. Sooner or later, that submarine is going to fail to report."

"It's already happened, Jack," said Lucas as he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. He gave it to Jack to read.

ATTN: COMMANDING OFFICER JAVAN BASE

WE KNOW THAT YOU SUNK ONE OF OUR SUBMARINES. YOU HAVE SIX HOURS TO RELEASE TO US THE MEN RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ACT AND ANY SURVIVORS OR FACE DIRE CONSEQUENCES.

COMMODORE ALPHONSE BAPTISTE

15TH CRUISER SQUADRON

OCCITANIAN CONFEDERACY

Jack crumbled the note in disgust before turning his attention back to Lucas. "The balls on them. They attack us and then expect us to give up our own men?"

"It looks to me like they've already decided on the dire consequences part," said Lucas.

"When was this sent over to us?"

"It came over right before dawn. We've had it for about an hour now."

Jack looked down at his watch. Their deadline would expire exactly at eleven o'clock this morning.

"What are my orders, Commodore?"

"A lot has changed in the last twenty-four hours, Jack. I have already radioed this back to the Admiralty and received a transmission from Bancroft himself just fifteen minute ago. No declarations of war have been made, but they are allowing us to shoot on sight any hostile Occitanian vessels.

"I don't suppose these new events countermand my orders from yesterday?" Jack asked.

Lucas shook his head. "Negative. You're still going in. But now you'll have to watch your back for the Occitanians as well as the Fourthies."

Jack chuckled. "This mission keeps getting better and better."

"I'll send your regards to Bancroft," said Lucas with a smirk.

At that moment, the door to the command center was opened from the outside and an out of breath Settler came rushing in.

"Settler, what's wrong?"

"Sir, we've picked up enemy ships on the radar! Two of them at a distance of just fifteen miles from the base!"

Both Jack and Lucas sprung from their seats to follow the deputy back to the radar room. Sure enough, Settler pointed out two blips just due west of the harbor.

"Those look like the two cruisers that shelled us yesterday. And the two that followed my squadron out here," said Jack.

"That they are. The only question is are we going to wait here like sitting ducks for them to attack again?"

"Like hell we are," said Jack before turning to fix Lucas with a stare. "Let me take the task force out to meet them."

"Are you sure, Jack? Those are powerful warships waiting out there for you."

"Sir? The blips are gone," said Settler while pointing back to the screen. Jack and Lucas looked again to confirm and sure enough, the radar was clear.

"Where the hell did they go?" Lucas asked out loud.

"They didn't just disappear. Let me go after that position, sir. This is nothing that theDestiny and her twelve inch guns can't handle. Besides, I have several men to avenge from yesterday."

Lucas thought about it for a moment and then finally nodded. "Do it. Pour some lead into those sons of bitches."

Jack saluted his officer and headed to the door without any further words. Right before he crossed the threshold, Lucas called out to him. "Jack, keep your radio on. And for god's sake, don't let them get away."

Jack nodded before practically sprinting out of headquarters, making his way quickly to the dock. Once he arrived, he was pleased to see the hustle of sailors from all three ships readying for action. He was thankful for Kim having gotten the word out to the rest of the ships as he heard the engines roaring on theValiant andDestiny nearby.

Jack rushed up the plank of theDestiny and headed toward the bridge. As he hurried up the stairs to get to the command station, he nearly bumped right into Abigail as she stood right outside the door.

"Oh, Commander Easterbrook, what a pleasant surprise," she said with a smile before noticing the serious look on his face. "What's wrong, Jack?"

"Occitanians on the horizon. Fifteen miles away. We're going after them."

Abigail's face hardened and she nodded. "Say no more. Let's go into the bridge."

Jack followed her inside the bridge where a flurry of activity was already ongoing. Jack had to take a second to look around, marveling at how big the bridge was compared to theValiant. It was almost double the size and it sat much higher on the superstructure so that the view out the front window was much better. It was a hell of an upgrade compared to his previous accommodations.

After a low whistle from Abigail, they all stopped to look in her direction.

"Crew, this is Commander Jack Easterbrook, the new commanding officer of Task Force 21. I'll make the necessary introductions later but first, we need to get out the harbor on a course due west as soon as possible," said Abigail.

"We're on it, ma'am," announced a short-haired brunette carrying a radio.

"Thank you, Stephanie," said Abigail with a short nod before turning back to Jack. He didn't wait for her to begin speaking.

"Attention all. Like Lt. Commander Wainwright said, I'll be your new commanding officer. Last night one of our patrol boats encountered and sank an Occitanian submarine trying to sink it. We just received an ultimatum from them to surrender the men responsible or we'll face dire consequences. Now I don't know about all of you, but after yesterday I'm in the mood to strike back at those bastards for what they did to our base. What about you?"

A small round of clapping erupting from the crew before falling silent when Jack began to speak again.

"We know they're out there and rather than wait for them to come to us at the moment of their choosing, we're going to sneak up on them and give them our own form of deliverance."

At that moment, the ship lurched to life as it pushed out from the dock into the harbor. Abigail passed over to Jack a pair of binoculars, and together they walked over to the front window of the bridge.

"Lt. Burns, please radio to theValiant and theTiger to follow in our wake," said Abigail, turning attention to a middle-aged man near the rear of the bridge.

"Aye, ma'am!"

Soon enough, theDestiny began to inch forward, picking up speed slowly as she worked to clear the harbor and get out past the jetty. Jack looked over to the dock and was pleased to see theValiant pushing out while theTiger was already moving forward to slot in right behind them.

Once clear of the jetty, theTiger positioned itself on the rear port side of theDestiny while theValiant took the starboard side.

The first time this task force has sailed together and hopefully not the last, thought Jack. It brought a grim smile to his lips at being in charge of such a unit. If there was any force that could bring the Occitanians to justice, this was the one.

They made good speed getting out of the bay and heading on a course due west. As the whole task force cruised at a speed of twenty-four knots, it took them just over a half hour to reach the point that the radar had identified as being the last spot of the Occitanian cruisers.

Once they were right over target, both Jack and Abigail scanned the horizon for anything that might prove to be the enemy.

"This sector is clear," said Jack before moving to the other side of the ship. "No smoke, no silhouettes. Nothing."

"As is the east side, Jack. It's quiet over here," said Abigail before putting down her binoculars.

"Where could they have gone," Jack whispered to himself.

"You don't think they lost their nerve, do you?

Jack shook his head. "Maybe if they hadn't shelled the base already. But they've already committed acts of war. I don't expect them to pull back now."

"Do you think they might be sucking us into a trap?"

"I don't know."

Abigail chewed on her lip. "Well, we really only have two options. Either we keep heading west in hopes that we'll find them or steam back toward the base in case they've double-backed back that way."

"I don't want to get too far from the base. Without us there, they're practically defenseless."

She turned to look at him. "What are our orders then, sir?"

Jack looked back out to the horizon. If it were him in charge of the Occitanian cruisers, what would he do? What could be the point of drawing them out here from the base just to disappear from sight? It's almost like they wanted him to come away from the—

"Shit, turn the ships around!" Jack yelled. "We have to get back as soon as possible. They lured us out here to get us away from the base! They want to shell it again without the possibility of us hitting back."

Abigail's face paled as she began to issue orders back to her crew as well as to the other ships. The rudder swung and soon the ship went into a hard turn to port. On either side, theValiant and theTiger completed the same move as well so the entire task force moved as one unit.

After the turn was completed, they were back on their way but at that moment Jack's radio creaked out a message that seemed to confirm his worst fear.

"Commander Easterbrook, return to base. We're under attack!"

The garbled message was followed by the sound of guns on the horizon in the direction they'd just come from.

"Increase speed to thirty-two knots. We need to get back as soon as possible!"

Jack knew that thirty-two knots was the top speed of theValiant and one that she wouldn't be able to sustain for very long but they needed to make all possible haste back to Quiller's Cove. Even the boilers on theDestiny started to scream at the high speed, but the ship cut through the water in a breakneck pace.

On the bridge, Jack kept his binoculars perched against his face watching the horizon. He could just barely make out the landmass of the island in front of him and the closer he sailed, the worse it got. Only seven miles away, he could make out smoke coming from the town. Five miles out, he could make out the silhouettes of the two Occitanian cruisers. He would need to get closer before he could even think about firing fromDestiny's guns.

Finally close enough, he turned to Abigail. "What is the name of your weapons division officer?"

"Lt. Kyle Abrams," she said, pointing to the younger man with dark hair on the bridge.

"Lt. Abrams, I need the forward turrets loaded and ready to fire."

"Yes, sir, right away. Thirty seconds and they'll be loaded with ordnance."

Jack looked back at the horizon. He could clearly see the base now including the enemy cruisers and worse of all, they could now see him. It wasn't ten seconds later that the closer one fired a salvo directly at them, splashing into the water a good two hundred yards short of the bow.

Jack turned to Abigail. "I want to engage both of them at the same time. I can't leave one to deal with us while the other fires on the town."

Abigail's brow scrunched in confusion. "What are you suggesting?"

"I want us to sail hard to port so we can fire a proper broadside against them. Let the two forward turrets fix on the further cruiser and the rear turret on the closer one. Let's radio over to theValiant to take the closer cruiser as well. I want theTiger to zigzag over in that direction and prepare to let slip a few torpedoes."

Abigail nodded and began to radio the commands over to her crew and to the other ships. The ship started pulling hard to the left and Jack watched as the six stunning twelve inch guns in the two forward turrets started to raise and fix on a point just above the horizon.

"Lt. Abrams, are we ready to fire?"

"All three turrets locked and loaded, sir!"

"On my orders then. Three, two, one, FIRE!"

Abrams radioed the order and the cruiser fired a mighty broadside as every one of the guns opened up in an incredible display of fire and brimstone. Jack watched as the ordnance from each of the nine guns sailed up into the sky before coming crashing down on the enemy ships. The salvos from the forward turrets of theDestiny splashed near enough to the further cruiser but not enough to do some damage. The closer ship wasn't as lucky.

"HIT! Hit on the closer cruiser!" Abigail shouted.

Jack looked over at the cruiser to see fire and smoke bellowing from the cruiser's rear turret. The guns looked to have been blown off the entire platform. Meanwhile, the salvo from theValiant appeared to fall just short of the mark, splashing in the water in front of the cruiser.

"At least one turret is out of action," said Jack before turning back to look at Abrams. "How long until we're reloaded?"

"Forty-five more seconds, sir!"

"Now let's see what they do," said Jack as he waited for them to respond. Through his binoculars he could make out the turrets of the further cruiser swinging into his direction while the closer one seemed to focus more on theValiant.

Several tense seconds went by before the roaring of the guns beckoned across the bay as both cruisers fired near simultaneously. Jack watched them arc up into the sky as they headed in his direction. Bracing himself against the railing, he watched them sail down where several shots just overshot them and exploded in the water just beyond the ship. It was a miss, but a closer miss than the first shot.

He looked over at theValiant to see a spark of fire and his stomach dropped. One of those shots had struck the superstructure of the ship but didn't appear to be too damaging.

"How long now, Abrams?"

"Ten seconds, sir!"

Jack turned to look at Abigail. "We have to make this one count."

She nodded and several seconds later, he heard Abrams open up. "Locked and loaded, sir!"

"FIRE!" Jack roared.

The mighty guns opened up once more and sent a fresh volley toward their prey. They seemed to be on a near perfect trajectory and as Jack watched the ordnance dance across the horizon, he held his breath waiting for the hits.

In a flash, the further cruiser exploded in a fireball as the shots hit their mark. Several explosive blasts sent fire and heavy, black smoke bursting from the Occitanian vessel. The size of one of the fireballs rose several hundred feet in the air.

"Holy shit, what did we hit?" Abigail asked, watching the scene.

"We must have hit their weapons room. That whole explosion wasn't due to just our guns alone."

Yet another explosion rocked the enemy ship in the seconds after and soon it was almost completely obstructed from view due to the smoke. Jack switched over to observe the other cruiser and was pleased to see another fire on the vessel's superstructure. He could even barely make out the crew as they worked to put out the fires. Soon enough, the closer cruiser executed a turn to starboard and started to flee the bay.

"Don't let that son of a bitch get away. Prepare to fire another salvo," Jack ordered, turning back to Abrams.

"Twenty-five seconds, sir, and we'll be ready."

Jack hazarded another glance at the cruiser on fire and was pleased to see the ship was already listing hard to port. What sailors hadn't been blown to bits from the blast were soon struggling to stay on the deck as the ship started to roll over.

"She's going to capsize," said Jack as he watched the events unfold.

Before Abigail could respond, he heard Abrams roar again. "Ready to fire, sir!"

"Fire now, Abrams!"

The ferocious volley from theDestiny's guns opened up but largely came crashing down in the waters surrounding the fleeing cruiser. Soon enough, the cruiser escaped out of the bay and disappeared into the horizon. A small trail of smoke followed in the air above it until it eventually fell out of view.

"Jack, should we chase it?"

Jack looked back to the base and then to other enemy cruiser. The Occitanian vessel was nearly capsized by this point and out of action. He could see enemy sailors trying to climb onto her hull to stay out of the water."