SSN - Tom Clancy [56]
Cheyenne was to deploy directly to the north of the Spratly Islands. A Chinese convoy was forming and would be heading south for the islands. Cheyenne's orders were to sink it. But not just yet.
Cheyenne had expended more than half the Mk 48s she was given. She had enough left on board to complete her current mission, but not enough to take out an entire convoy.
Feeling his earlier sense of pride in his crew turn to frustration at the loadouts he'd been given, Mack ordered Cheyenne to return to McKee. They'd come back, he knew, and deal with that convoy but not until they'd had the chance to rearm.
* * *
7. Target: Convoy
Mack was angry. Cheyenne had made it through her recent encounters unscathed, and was now safely moored alongside McKee, but the fact that Mack and his crew were alive was a tribute to their own superb training, not any reflection on the intelligence they had received. And that was what had Mack so angry. He didn't object to his orders. His job was to take his submarine and his crew into danger-into battle itself, if necessary-but he insisted on giving his men every chance to survive the conflict. That meant proper weaponry, reliable equipment, and accurate information. Cheyenne had supplied the first two components, but naval intelligence had dropped the ball on the third.
Mack had been around long enough to know that sometimes lousy intelligence happened. That was why it was called the "fog of war." But that didn't make him feel any better. Not when it was his submarine and his crew at risk because of someone else's mistake.
The one good thing that had come out of that mess- besides Cheyenne's performance-was the P4 message he held in his hand. The P4, or "personal for," message was an apology from USCINCPAC himself for the lousy intelligence Cheyenne had been provided before the last mission. Mack especially liked the part where the admiral had quoted the CNO (Chief of Naval Operations), currently the most senior officer in the Navy, as taking a personal interest in the intelligence fiasco.
He opened the message and read that part one more time.
The CNO had directed a reevaluation of procedures and decision-making personnel" within the naval intelligence chain of command. Mack smiled. That meant a lot of people were going to come under fire, and that was good. With luck, the next commanding officer and crew going into battle would be better prepared with accurate intelligence.
Especially since, Mack suspected, he knew who that next commanding officer was going to be. Cheyenne was still the best asset the U.S. Navy had in the area, at least for the kinds of missions that were being conducted, and Mack was pretty sure that they would be called upon again soon.
"Excuse me, Captain," the executive officer said. He had just climbed to the bridge and poked his head through the upper access hatch. "They're waiting for you on McK.ee. Sounds like something hot."
"Thank you," Mack said. "Any idea what's up?"
"Well, sir, judging from the latest intelligence " The executive officer let the sentence taper off as Mack shot him a hard look.
"Not funny."
"No, sir, not at all, but snafus do happen. I'm just glad that the crew was ready for the challenge."
Mack nodded and the executive officer continued, "From what I can gather from the intelligence officer on board McKee, the Chinese merchant convoy that was assembling off the south coast of China has decided to make a fast break for the Spratlys. My guess is somebody figures that we didn't make it out of that last scrap intact and they want to take advantage of that by trying to get some supplies through while there's no one around to stop them."
Mack nodded. That was a good reading of the situation. Except that the Chinese were wrong. Cheyenne had survived, and was, no doubt, about to be assigned to show the Chinese how wrong they were.
Captain Mackey was looking over the side of the bridge