Ma-tek
02-02-2005, 23:30
CGSN-551, somewhere in the Antarctic Ocean
Silent as a whistle, he thought to himself. Silent as a whistle.
The contact had been 'sighted' about an hour ago, a heat signature where one oughtn't to have been. Now the CGSN-551 - a new Wrath of Rijaak-class nuclear submarine with an equally new (and, it was whispered, experimental) integral fast reactor of classified variety (although one didn't need a geiger counter to know it was a nuclear reactor) - was being tracked by that heat signature.
Some nations still used very archaic submarines, but this was not archaic. Nor was the boat they were being followed by; it was far more silent, in fact, than the 551. Annoyingly silent.
No electromagnetic signature, either, which was alarming to a degree that was utterly indescribable. Momentous displacement was also very low - in fact, Lieutenant Commander Rallick-Rihad suspected strongly that they were being followed by a submarinal attack fighter. He hoped it wasn't a full-blown war boat; if someone had such a boat, then the world was in trouble.
Very much in trouble.
He shook his head. It had to be a fighter. No submarine could be this silent, and mask an EM sig; that was straight-out impossible. Water reacted to magnetic fields rather drastically, if one were watching carefully enough; even the slightest kink in shielding gave off an 'image' one could see fairly easily (if one were looking in the right direction!); batteries, reactors, anything electric would give you away in a microsecond. If sensor resolution was high enough - and the 551 had better eyes than any other boat in the fleet.
No doubt they were looking in the right direction, either. Absolutely no doubt. The heat signature had been utterly and completely obvious; frighteningly obvious, when this silence was considered.
Where are you, you devious little bastard, he mused silently. Such language he would never permit out loud - not ever. But in his own mind, he often swore like a trooper. It was somehow relaxing.
He sighed, very quietly. His lips moved without sound - talking was strictly forbidden aboard this boat - and the message was relayed directly (via subdermal implant) into the ear of his SensOps officer. The Lt. Commander stirred in the Nest slightly.
"We still can't. Not a whisper," came the wholly expected response.
He sighed again, this time silently - just a puff of air, nobody would notice it. More quiet than footsteps, to be sure, he mused. His mind wandered somewhat - he doubted the 'enemy' would open fire, but being tracked by any other ship was infuriating. After all - the Navy in which he served had not been defeated in war for well over three hundred years. To be faced with the prospect that there might well be a worthy adversary out there (such as Whispering Voices had managed to state quite clearly at the Battle of the Channel)...
Well, it was annoying.
Very...very...very annoying.
[OOC: If you want to be that 'echo', feel free. If you're not FT, there'll need to be a damned good reason why the boat wouldn't see you. Something really really clever, preferably...
I already have some ideas, so if nobody chips in yet, I can keep up the one-sided thing for a while.]
Silent as a whistle, he thought to himself. Silent as a whistle.
The contact had been 'sighted' about an hour ago, a heat signature where one oughtn't to have been. Now the CGSN-551 - a new Wrath of Rijaak-class nuclear submarine with an equally new (and, it was whispered, experimental) integral fast reactor of classified variety (although one didn't need a geiger counter to know it was a nuclear reactor) - was being tracked by that heat signature.
Some nations still used very archaic submarines, but this was not archaic. Nor was the boat they were being followed by; it was far more silent, in fact, than the 551. Annoyingly silent.
No electromagnetic signature, either, which was alarming to a degree that was utterly indescribable. Momentous displacement was also very low - in fact, Lieutenant Commander Rallick-Rihad suspected strongly that they were being followed by a submarinal attack fighter. He hoped it wasn't a full-blown war boat; if someone had such a boat, then the world was in trouble.
Very much in trouble.
He shook his head. It had to be a fighter. No submarine could be this silent, and mask an EM sig; that was straight-out impossible. Water reacted to magnetic fields rather drastically, if one were watching carefully enough; even the slightest kink in shielding gave off an 'image' one could see fairly easily (if one were looking in the right direction!); batteries, reactors, anything electric would give you away in a microsecond. If sensor resolution was high enough - and the 551 had better eyes than any other boat in the fleet.
No doubt they were looking in the right direction, either. Absolutely no doubt. The heat signature had been utterly and completely obvious; frighteningly obvious, when this silence was considered.
Where are you, you devious little bastard, he mused silently. Such language he would never permit out loud - not ever. But in his own mind, he often swore like a trooper. It was somehow relaxing.
He sighed, very quietly. His lips moved without sound - talking was strictly forbidden aboard this boat - and the message was relayed directly (via subdermal implant) into the ear of his SensOps officer. The Lt. Commander stirred in the Nest slightly.
"We still can't. Not a whisper," came the wholly expected response.
He sighed again, this time silently - just a puff of air, nobody would notice it. More quiet than footsteps, to be sure, he mused. His mind wandered somewhat - he doubted the 'enemy' would open fire, but being tracked by any other ship was infuriating. After all - the Navy in which he served had not been defeated in war for well over three hundred years. To be faced with the prospect that there might well be a worthy adversary out there (such as Whispering Voices had managed to state quite clearly at the Battle of the Channel)...
Well, it was annoying.
Very...very...very annoying.
[OOC: If you want to be that 'echo', feel free. If you're not FT, there'll need to be a damned good reason why the boat wouldn't see you. Something really really clever, preferably...
I already have some ideas, so if nobody chips in yet, I can keep up the one-sided thing for a while.]