Surface Commander Hoffman’s head whipped about at the sound of Robinson’s voice.
His XO, Shooter, was already racing towards the sonar station. Surface Commander Hoffman saw Shooter quickly double check the data from sonar before saying, “It’s the big one that Captain Weaver mentioned, sir. There’s no doubt about it. It appears to be on approaching the Bonime at ramming speed!”
“Order all ships to take the new contact with guns!” Surface Commander Hoffman shouted from his command chair.
“The Rigel is reporting that she’s been overrun like we have, sir!” Shooter shouted back at him. “The squids have penetrated her interior and Captain Travis is requesting immediate assistance!”
“Tell him he’s just going to have to hold on,” Surface Commander Hoffman growled, still waiting to hear the sound of the ships of DESRON 2 bringing their main guns to bear on the approaching giant monster. It was the Bonime that fired first. Her main guns thundered and CIWS flashed, sending orange tracer rounds slashing across the waves. The Hercules joined the Rigel, blasting away at the approaching contact with everything she had. The Braxton was the last to start firing, but even she added her firepower towards the inbound contact.
“Why aren’t we firing?” Surface Commander Hoffman screamed at his weapons officer, Rickman.
“Main power has gone offline, sir!” Rickman shouted. “Even the CWIS is down!”
“God help us!” Surface Commander Hoffman heard Shooter wailing as the entrance doors to the bridge crashed inward, knocked from their frame to clatter onto the floor.
Surface Commander Hoffman stared into the almost glowing red eyes of the first squid creature that came through the broken doorway. There were two security officers on the bridge. They moved toward the thing to engage it, drawing the weapons holstered on their hips. The pistols cracked over and over as they poured fire into the monster. It shrieked a series of high-pitched wails as they peppered its body with bullet holes that leaked black blood before the monster finally flopped over onto the floor. Unfortunately, there were dozens more creatures coming through the doorway behind it. They entered the bridge, spreading out as they did so, their tentacles lashing outwards toward anyone unlucky enough to be near them. Surface Commander Hoffman watched Rickman die, the spear-like tip of a tentacle driving its way home into his right eye and out the backside of his skull.
Having no weapon, all Surface Commander Hoffman could do was retreat towards the bridge’s window. Shooter had taken to carrying a sidearm since the threat of the squid creatures had become known. The XO moved himself to stand between Surface Commander Hoffman and the advancing mass of squids that killed the bridge crew one by one as they closed in on the two of them.
“It’s been an honor serving with you, sir!” Shooter cried out as his pistol bucked in his hands as he fired repeatedly into the central body of the closest squid creature. To his credit, Shooter killed the thing before the others swarmed over him and the XO vanished from Surface Commander Hoffman’s sight beneath a writhing mass of tentacles.
Surface Commander Hoffman heard the bridge’s window behind him shatter. Shards of glass rained over him as several tentacles latched onto his body and pulled him apart limb from limb. He barely had time to scream before death claimed him.
Captain Henry Newman sat in his command chair on the bridge of the Bonime. His knuckles were white from the pressure of his grip on its arms.
“Multiple direct hits!” his weapons officer, Stark, reported.
“No change in the contact’s course,” Winn, the sonar tech, called from her station. “It hasn’t even slowed down, sir.”
There was no room in DESRON 2’s formation, much less time, for the Bonime to engage in evasive maneuvers.
“Keep firing!” Captain Newman ordered. He stood up to peer out the bridge’s forward window. He could see the contact speeding through the waves towards his ship. It left streams of black blood in its wake as fire, from all the ships of the DESRON that could, continued to slam into it. Nothing could take that much damage and keep coming, Captain Newman thought, but if anything, whatever was beneath the waves had increased its speed.
An explosion to starboard drew his attention away from the inbound contact. It came from the direction of the Rigel. He looked to see a second explosion shake the Rigel. Squid-like creatures swarmed all over the battleship’s sides and deck. He had overheard enough of the transmission between the Rigel and the Mitchell to know that the things were inside her as well. The creatures or the Rigel’s crew in their desperate fight to hold the things off must have hit something vital within the ship. Still more explosions ripped all along the length of the Rigel. Captain Newman knew she was lost and his own ship would soon be joining her. None of the squid creatures had attacked the deck of the Bonime and Captain Newman knew why. The big one had claimed her for its own, and the smaller squid creatures were smart enough to stay out of the thing’s way.
“Contact status?” Captain Newman snapped at Winn.
“Impact in seventy seconds!” Winn answered.
“Stark?” Captain Newman said.
“Still hitting it with everything we have, sir.” The fear in Stark’s voice was clear. Captain Newman knew everything they had wasn’t going to be enough. The thing closing on them was just too massive.
“Impact in five… four… three…” Winn started counting down.
There was nothing Captain Newman could do but hope the Bonime could survive the hit.
“Impact!” Winn shouted but nothing happened.
Captain Newman’s heart had skipped a beat at Winn’s warning. He breathed a sigh of relief before the confusion and panic overtook him.
“Where did it go?” he heard his XO, Bryson, yelling at Winn.
Winn was frantically checking the sonar data. “I don’t know, sir,” she said at first and then swung her head sharply in Bryson’s direction. “It’s gone under, sir! It’s directly below us!”
“What the…?” Bryson started.
The Bonime lurched upwards out of the water as something smashed into its lower hull. The Bonime dropped back into the water with a massive splash. The impact knocked Captain Newman into his command chair. He was lucky compared to Bryson and many of the others. Bryson was sent flying into weapons station. Stark narrowly avoided being crushed by Bryson as the big man’s body flew passed him. The screens of the weapons station shattered as Bryson struck them and then bounced to roll across the floor of the bridge, leaving a trail of blood in his wake.
A power surge rippled through the bridge’s systems. The comm. station erupted in a shower of sparks and flames. Ross, the comm. officer, wailed as she leaped up from her seat, her arms and hair on fire. A nearby crewman grabbed her, knocking her to the floor, as he shrugged off his jacket, trying to use it to smother the flames cooking her flesh.
“Medic!” several of the injured bridge crew screamed as they rushed to attend those who had been hurt by the impact.
“Winn!” Captain Newman shouted. “The contact?”
“Still beneath us, sir!” she told him. “I’m not getting a clear reading on it though. I think it may have somehow attached itself to us!”