He’ll brief his officers after the evening shift change and then make a general announcement. He’ll tell the officers about the conversation but hold their silence as to the exact content and generalize the announcement to the crew about what happened. He’ll tell them that something happened but that it isn’t clear exactly what has happened. He’ll notify them that he will pass along details as he gets them. Until then, it’s business as usual aboard.
The two things he does know is that they will be meeting with this Captain Walker in the morning and that his first order of business will be to restock supplies from the warehouses. They’ll have to surface, send a zodiac in the morning to remove the security nets surrounding the mooring area, and dock the boat. Leonard did notice two missile boats tied up so he’ll take the other triangular berthing area.
Leonard glances over at the 24-hour clock hanging on the wall in his cramped quarters. Evening has just begun and the crew change will take place soon. The computer on his small desk adjacent to his bunk glows with a bluish tint. He pushes back the multitude of thoughts all vying for attention. He will just stay focused on the tasks at hand and tomorrow will hopefully bring more information. These thoughts are interrupted by static from the speaker mounted by the doorway hatch.
“Captain to the control room,” the words echo in the small, mostly steel room.
Leonard swings his legs to the side of the bunk and sits. Lacing his shoes, he runs his hands down his khaki uniform attempting to smooth out the wrinkles. Turning on the water from the tiny sink in his private bathroom, he splashes his face to ease some of the weariness he feels. Drying with the small white towel hanging close by, he makes his way through the hatch to the control room.
Leonard waves away the ritual command of letting everyone know he has entered and makes his way to where his exec is peering through the periscope.
“What do you have?” Leonard asks.
“Movement onshore, sir,” his exec answers, turning from the lens. “It started after sundown. There appears to be people running near the docks. I’ve only counted eight so far.”
All attention in the control room is focused on their conversation. The crew appears to be manning their stations with their eyes on the controls but Leonard knows their attention is attuned to him. The exec steps away from the periscope housing and Leonard takes his place.
The scope is turned to the night vision mode casting the shoreline in a green glow. The objects onshore appear crisp and, with the exception of the night vision, seem the same as they appeared in the daytime. Movement catches his eye and he increases the magnification. The image zooms in and he catches five people jogging together just before they turn between two buildings and vanish out of sight. So, there are people around, he thinks. But why are they out at night instead of during the day. His thoughts turn to the conversation today and the report by Krandle. Neither that nor his quick glimpse bode well although he is still having a hard time rationalizing it in his mind.
He zooms back out and pans hoping to catch a glimpse of others. He sees more movement and zooms in on them. Four others emerge into the open area in front of the docks. They come to a stop. Leonard zooms in closer. He watches as they turn their faces upward and appear to sniff the air. What the hell? He thinks watching them. The one person in front of the other three opens his mouth wide and they all turn to the side with astonishing speed and run up one of the streets leading away from the dockside. What the fuck is going on? Leonard thinks closing the handles and lowering the periscope.
“Have the officers meet me in the mess,” Leonard tells his exec.
“Aye, aye, sir,” his exec replies.
“Oh, and bring Chief Krandle,” Leonard says.
“Will do, sir.”
“Chief, you have the boat,” Leonard says, stepping from the control room.
“Aye, aye, sir,” his chief responds.
Leonard makes his way to the mess and sits waiting for his officers to appear. They drift in singly and take seats after acknowledging him with a “sir”. He returns each with a head nod. Chief Krandle steps in with the exec close on his heels.
“Everyone is here, sir,” his exec says, turning to close the hatch.
“Gentlemen, you all know something has been amiss since we missed our rendezvous escort. Our route up the straits to here has only hammered in that point. I don’t know what is going on but here’s what we know,” Leonard says, starting off the meeting.
He continues to brief his observations and fully discloses the content of the radio communication along with the sightings just a few moments ago. While he has chosen to disclose everything, he hasn’t reached a decision about what to tell the rest of the crew as yet. Leonard asks Krandle to tell his story without mentioning the specifics of the mission itself. The officers sit in silence after hearing the information but are focused on Leonard with rapt attention.
“So, gentlemen, in conclusion, we know that something drastic has occurred during our transit but we don’t know what that is exactly. For now, we will dock the boat in the morning and prepare for our meeting with this Captain Walker. With the exception of the crew on watch, I want the rest stationed topside with arms after docking. We’ll also send a small crew into the warehouses to begin restocking our supplies. I want us stocked and ready to go to sea as soon as possible if we need to,” Leonard says.
“What about the rest of the crew, sir? What will we tell them? They know something is up and the rumor mill has already started making its rounds,” one of the officers pipes up.
“I haven’t decided yet. On one hand, they need to be kept in the loop to prevent the rumors but we also need to keep ourselves together. If they know their families are in danger or possibly victims, we’ll start losing people or they’ll want us to go after them. We can’t afford that kind of fracture,” Leonard answers.
“We could keep the boat offshore so they can’t go AWOL, sir,” his exec chimes in.
“Duly noted but that won’t stop a fracture from happening internally,” Leonard says. “Right now, I think we keep it general. Don’t discuss this meeting or the contents of it with your people. I’ll make an announcement shortly. Let’s get ourselves prepared for the morning. Any questions?” Leonard looks around the cramped mess at each of his officers noting that each has a hundred questions in their eyes but none voice any.
“Okay, if there aren’t any, except for those of you on duty, get some rest and I’ll see you in the morning. Tomorrow will be an all-hands-on-deck once we dock,” Leonard says.
They break up and Leonard heads back to the control room. Grabbing the microphone from overhead, he makes a boat-wide announcement.
“Attention all hands. This is your Captain speaking. As many of you are aware, we missed our rendezvous with our escort and are now lying off Bangor. Something transpired during our transit across the pond. We don’t know exactly what yet but we will dock in the morning, resupply, and meet with another military group to gather more intelligence. I’ll pass information along when we know more. Until then, we are business as usual. That is all,” Leonard says and hangs up the mic.
He then makes his way back to his quarters, slips off his shoes, and lies back staring at the ceiling once again with a hundred thoughts still running through his head.
A Ripple On the Surface
Lynn lies next to Jack listening to his deep breathing and soft snores as he sleeps. Her arms are wrapped around his sleeping body and she knows just how tired he is by his soft snoring. She is tired herself but her mind won’t let her fall over the edge into sleep. Reaching down, she pulls the blankets over Jack where they slipped down and folds her arms over him once again. Lying next to him, she feels contentment wash over her. A part of her still feels the deep disappointment of them not being able to relax and enjoy her coming back in peace.