“So this was just a training ex for the Captain,” said Castillo bitterly.
“No, sir, it wasn’t just that, but sometimes you have to take the good with the bad.” The cob hesitated. “Sometimes a man can make all the right calls, and the world still screws him.”
Castillo raised his binoculars. “You’re just full of all kinds of cheerful, Cob.”
“Sir, it’s my job to keep an eye on the crew for you.”
Castillo was startled to hear ferocity in the Cob’s voice. He looked over at Washington. Some terrible emotion twisted the man’s features.
“Captain, there’s not a boy down below who wouldn’t do anything you asked him to, who wouldn’t follow anywhere you led. You’re not a failure to them.” Fiercely: “You’re not a failure to any of us.”
Castillo suddenly remembered Seaman Cole grinning at him and for the second time that day he felt overpowering emotion washing through him.
“Thank you, Senior Chief,” said Castillo softly.
“I just thought you should know,” the cob said gruffly.
The two men passed the next few minutes in silence. Green came back up and Castillo turned the deck over to him, but he didn’t go below. Instead he stayed on the bridge, binoculars in his hand, watching the movements of the Russian fleet. Castillo was so tired that his body hurt, but the cold wind was bracing, the white-capped blue of the sea was beautiful, and the sun was warm on his face.
He was on the bridge of his submarine.
And, right then, there was nowhere else in the world he’d rather be.
ABOUT HENRY MARTIN
Henry Martin is a former naval officer who served on both submarines and surface ships and a writer whose work has appeared in markets as diverse as Interzone, Polyphony, On Spec, and several original DAW anthologies under the name Steven Mohan, Jr. His work has won honorable mention in the Year's Best Science Fiction and the Year's Best Fantasy and Fiction.
His work can be found online at Amazon.com.