Kristen nodded her assurance as she heard the clear sound of the captain exercising on his Versaclimber on the other side of the door. “At least he’s still awake,” she commented anxiously.
“I’d have preferred him sleeping rather than killing himself on that infernal machine,” Graves muttered as he knocked.
They heard the protesting machine slow down and come to a stop before hearing Brodie’s curt, “Enter.”
Graves opened the door and stuck his head in. “Sorry to trouble you, Skipper,” he apologized.
“No sweat, whatcha got, Jason?”
Graves opened the door the rest of the way and jerked a thumb toward Kristen who was still in the passageway. “Lieutenant Whitaker said it’s important.”
Brodie was covered in a thin film of sweat and breathing heavily. Assuming she was here about the incident in the bathroom, he said, “Lieutenant, if this is about what happened a little while ago in…”
Kristen shook her head. “No, sir, that’s nothing…” she said in a rush, wanting to assure him she wasn’t troubling his rest period over what had occurred in the shower. She then blurted out, “I need to see those photographs,” she told him. “The satellite images from the briefing,” she explained almost frantically. “It’s important.”
Graves’ eyes opened incredulously. “Lieutenant?”
However Brodie stopped him in mid-sentence with a calm wave of his hand. “It’s all right, Jason.” He exhaled deeply and asked her, “Why?”
Kristen was certain she was right, but needed the photographs before she could prove it to herself. She had to see with her own eyes again to make certain she hadn’t imagined it. She was literally trembling with nervous energy. “Captain, I can’t explain. You would never believe me.”
“I seriously doubt it.” Brodie shook his head in disagreement as he turned away from the door and stepped over to his wall safe.
Kristen stepped through the door, feeling the disapproving eye of Graves on her. He clearly thought this was a lark, and he didn’t like it.
“Have a seat,” Brodie offered and opened the safe.
She did as instructed and waited while he removed several files before removing a thick, codename-classified file with the name RED SPARROW on the jacket. He opened it and removed only the pictures from inside the file, leaving the rest of the contents undisclosed for the moment. He then set the photographs in front of her. There were at least forty in all.
“All right, what’s this all this about?” Brodie asked, looking down at her, his chest still heaving from the workout.
Kristen pulled her gold-rimmed glasses from her pocket, a bit self-conscious for some reason now as she pulled them on, having never before cared what anyone thought of her needing glasses. “I’ll find it in a minute, Captain,” she offered and began going through the photographs, glancing at each one. Some she stared at for only a brief second before tossing them onto a growing discard pile.
Graves sat backward in a chair, resting his arms on its back and exchanging curious looks with Brodie. Kristen did her best to ignore them and stopped on one photograph. Her eyes squinted tight as she studied it closely. Brodie opened a drawer containing some office supplies, pulled out a magnifying glass, and offered it to her. Kristen took it without saying a word and resumed studying the photographs. She continued discarding those she found of no value, carefully setting aside those she felt she could use to prove her case. Brodie took a seat across from her, leaned his head back against the bulkhead and said no more. It took nearly ten minutes for Kristen to find the necessary six photographs needed. Once ready, she looked up, but saw that Brodie was asleep, his head resting against the corner of the bulkhead.
She was excited now and anxious to explain but hesitated, glancing at Graves who still glared at her angrily. But Graves understood her hesitation to awaken their captain, so he spoke to Brodie, “Sean?”
Brodie’s eyes opened and he sat up, looking at Kristen. “All right, Lieutenant,” he replied calmly, but clearly with a slight edge in his voice. He was tired, bone tired and had no interest in playing games.
“Gentlemen, I’m sorry. But I couldn’t be a hundred percent certain until I saw the images again. Ever since the briefing you gave us two weeks ago, I’ve been driving myself crazy trying to piece this all together. But I think I’ve finally got it.”
“Cut to the chase, Kristen.” Graves ordered, his patience wearing a bit thin.
She hesitated, still not certain they would believe her but then stated, “The two new Russian boats, the Borei and the Gagarin,” she stated positively. “They’re using a hybrid nuclear and hydrogen fuel cell drive system.”
Graves looked at her blankly, not certain he heard correctly. Brodie was also looking at her with some skepticism. “Are you speculating here, Kris?” Brodie asked her in all seriousness, the mask of command slipping away and the man beneath coming to the surface.
“Well,” she admitted, “I could be wrong, but it’s the only thing that makes sense, and I think I can prove it.” She could see Graves thought she might be a bit off her rocker but was encouraged when Brodie nodded and motioned for her to proceed. “During my senior year at the Academy, I was part of the Trident Scholars program. My capstone project involved the possibility of combining the endurance and raw power of a nuclear reactor with the unmatched stealth of a hydrogen fuel cell plant in a single hull,” she explained. She decided not to mention the fact that when her final report was submitted, it was snatched up by Director of Naval Reactors, including her laptop’s hard drive, and all of her notes. Everything was locked away before her research mentor had even finished reading half the final paper.
Graves shook his head. “I’m not following.”
She turned to him and explained, “Sir, we’ve been able to eliminate virtually every noise on a submarine, or dampen them to the point they’re so slight they’re virtually undetectable. But no matter what we do, the nuclear reactor makes noise. The cooling pumps, the high-pressure steam rushing through miles of pipes, condensation plants dripping… we can’t make a nuke boat any quieter than we already have because these items must—must—always be running.”
“Okay, so what about the hydrogen fuel cell?” Graves asked.
“Hydrogen fuel cells have been used for years,” she explained. “I mean we went to the moon with them in our spacecraft because they’re so simple and incredibly reliable. There are no moving parts in a hydrogen fuel cell. Simply put, there is liquid hydrogen and oxygen, each stored in separate pressurized containment vessels. Each vessel discharges the liquid which turns into gas the second it’s released from the high-pressure environment. The hydrogen and oxygen gases then meet in the fuel cell which is just a series of slender electrochemical conversion devices, each with an anode side and a cathode side. The hydrogen acts as the fuel on the anode side, and the oxygen provides the oxidizing agent on the other. The result is electricity; clean and abundant energy with no moving parts. The electricity can then be used to power the submarine and run an extremely quiet electric motor to drive the boat.”
“Don’t the Germans have a boat using this?” Graves asked her.
“Their Type 212,” Brodie answered for her as he shook his head to force his fatigue aside while she continued.
“I had to study the German power plant as part of my project. They’re able to run on their fuel cells for three weeks submerged,” she explained. “And while using the fuel cells, they’re quieter than any boat we have. The only by product of a fuel cell is water and a small amount of heat contained within the boat to keep the crew warm.”