“You’re pushing the maximum range for a SeaHake torpedo,” Nang said. “That’s twenty-eight nautical miles per the manual. I can’t promise that you’ll hit anything, though. That’s an hour of run time, and the whole world will change position up there before the weapon gets there.”
“That’s fine,” Yoon said. “Leave that up to me and our data feed. There will be plenty of targets in the vicinity, and we’ll hit several. When this is done, fewer ships will remain to threaten us and the Gwansun.”
The display next to Nang showed the swarm of North Korean vessels buzzing around his countrymen’s submarine in response to a friendly vessel’s long-range rounds. With the bulk of the threat concentrated away from him, he felt safer. But he’d be damned if he’d sit idle and let his colleagues die in his stead without fighting back.
“Don’t mind me asking, sir. But are you sure you want to risk this? The noise of a launch, I mean?”
“This ship is designed for optimal quieting, including minimizing torpedo launch transient noise.”
“It’s still unnecessary noise.”
“I consider it necessary to retain my dignity. The Gwansun is risking everything for us. I will do what I can to assist it.”
“Okay, sir. I hope it works. Bearing and speed are set for each weapon in tubes one through four.”
“Report all the weapon settings.”
“All four weapons are set on bearing three-three-zero, speed twenty-five knots. Seekers will awake at twenty-two miles. Weapons are set in passive search mode. Nobody will hear them unless they drive right over an enemy submarine.”
“Are they set for surface mode?”
“Yes, sir. If the weapons happen to end up anywhere near the Gwansun, they’ll only engage surfaced vessels.”
“Very well. Do you have a qualified man on station in the torpedo room? There’s a lot of activity about to happen.”
“Seaman Hong is there, sir.”
“But is he qualified? Can he operate a torpedo tube, backhaul, and reload?”
“He’s the best we have who’s still alive. He’s not qualified yet, but he was close enough that I’ll trust him. He’s a bright kid.”
Yoon assumed that Nang embellished the youngster’s abilities, but he appreciated the optimism.
“Very well,” he said. “Shoot tube one.”
A pneumatic system whined from the torpedo room, and Yoon’s ears popped.
“Tube one, normal launch,” Nang said.
“Very well. Launch tube two.”
Minutes later, Yoon watched the icons of his four torpedoes moving towards the constellation of enemy warships.
“The weapons are going in the right direction, and at the right speeds,” he said.
“It appears so, sir. Depending what ship you target and how they all move around, you’ve got at least thirty minutes before you hit anything.”
“The longer the better. I want these to detonate as far from us as possible. I’ve still got wire control of all four of them, and I expect I’ll be able to guide them towards whatever target I need.”
“What if the wires break?”
“Then they hit what they hit,” Yoon said. “I’ll tend to them as long as I have the wires. Thanks for your help, but there’s not a lot of button pressing left to be done. I can handle it from here. Head to the torpedo room and help Seaman Hong with reloads. And remember, above all, to keep things quiet.”
Thirty minutes later, Yoon arched his back into the seat to lessen his stomach pain while relieving his armpits from their abrasions. He watched the icons representing enemy shipping slip across the screen as data from a floating antenna wire on the water’s surface carried the latest positional updates from his fleet to the Kim’s tactical system.
Over this shoulder, he saw Nang enter the control room.
“Tubes one through four are reloaded with SeaHake Mod 4 torpedoes, sir.”
“Very well. Good job keeping it quiet. There’s no sign that any enemy assets heard any of your work.”
“How close are we to taking out a target?”
“I could engage a target now if I wished, but there’s enough fuel left in the salvo to keep the weapons running longer.”
He felt Nang studying him.
“Have you gotten any sleep recently, sir?”
“I took a nap.”
“A nap. You mind if I ask how long?”
“A few hours.”
“You look like it was more like a few minutes. You sure you’re alright, sir?”
Fatigue’s fog covered Yoon’s mind, and he knew that he suffered from sleep deprivation.
“I don’t have much choice, senior chief. There’s nobody else who can keep this ship behaving like a weapon system.”
“It’s more important that we remain a quiet hole in the ocean. We’re doing fine with that.”
“You’re not trying to talk me out of using my torpedoes are you? They’re half way to finding targets.”
“Well, maybe. I mean, why give the enemy any reason to suspect that they’re hunting more than one submarine?”
“I’m not. The risky part is done. Given that we survived the launch noises and that no hostile submarines have backtracked our torpedoes back to us, we’ve already survived, and our ruse is assured. The victims will credit the Gwansun with the attack.”
“If you say so, sir. Then the only trick left is hitting four targets simultaneously, right? When you hit the first, the others start running away in random directions?”
“It’s a challenge to make the weapons arrive at the same time, though there is a measure of leeway that the torpedo can compensate for with its speed. But you’re right. If the detonations aren’t timed, the first explosion gives the other victims more time to flee.”
He visualized the four weapons branching out after the closest targets. If he accelerated two of them, he could synchronize the salvo’s timing on targets.
“Is that why the Gwansun is attacking only one ship at a time?” Nang asked. “That seems to be its pattern.”
“Probably. It needs to reposition itself frequently to avoid detection. That puts it at higher risk of breaking the wires to its torpedoes and gives it less time to coordinate salvo attacks.”
“I see. But we don’t have that problem, so to speak.”
“Right. Therefore, it’s our duty to start taking out some of the adversary. And I’ve just got it figured out. I’m going to shift torpedoes two and three to search mode now. They’ll speed up, and this should work out.”
“Anything I can do to help, sir?”
“Not really. Not here anyway. You can head to the engineering space and make sure the shaft isn’t sliding out the back of the ship.”
“I check it a few times an hour, just out of paranoia. I’ve also got a man back there at all times watching it.”
As he tapped keys to accelerate two of his torpedoes, Yoon thought of his next steps. His fleet had told him that a mysterious savior ship would pluck him from the sea and carry him home. He wanted to believe in his deliverance by deus ex machina, but pride and logic precluded his hopes in a fairy tale.
“Then maybe you can look at the shaft for another reason.”
“What’s on your mind?”
“I noticed that you were unusually reserved when I mentioned the latest iteration of our rescue plan.”
“Well, yes, sir. I’m half questioning if this underwater transport ship isn’t fake intelligence to test if someone hasn’t cracked our communications security. It’s just crazy. I told the guys, and nobody else believes such a ship exists.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Yoon said. “Of course, it’s possible, but I question the existence of such a ship, although the long-range rounds are an enigma. We have no cannon with such a range in our arsenal. Only railguns can reach that far with ballistic flight from a muzzle.”