The emergency meeting of the U.N. assembly was most remarkable for the change in attitude which was evident. For the first time the Assembly acted as a world government with member nations speaking as partners in the crisis. The political posturing and self-serving rhetoric was superseded by the presence of The Visitor. The warring factions sealed their peace agreement which was accepted by the U.N. Response language to The Visitor's message was agreed upon by the entire Assembly with strong reservations expressed by the Russian delegation. The reply was almost as concise as the original message: "We welcome you in peace and have restored peace on earth." This message was broadcast from multiple centers in the appropriate regional language. The Visitor became silent.
In Russia the acceptance of the U.N. position was greeted with skepticism. A militant subgroup voted to protect the motherland from an apparent alien invasion. The majority, however, declined to change the stance of their U.N. delegation. One of the minority, was an admiral in the Russian Navy who unilaterally decided the majority was wrong and military action was necessary. A coded message was sent from his office to a relay station on the edge of the Arctic Ocean. This radio message was converted to a very low frequency sonic signal which spread across the Arctic Ocean. The message was received by special sonic receivers aboard a small nuclear submarine which did not officially exist. The message was transcribed and taken to the captain's cabin.
Captain Brezinski was completing her daily report before beginning her rest period, which was sorely needed. She and her crew had been on alert since the start of the hostilities. She commanded a select crew of volunteers aboard the top secret submarine "Sky Safe." She had accepted command of this boat knowing that she would be underway for at least five years with strict secrecy and isolation. She had been chosen based on her ability, and the fact that she had no remaining family to miss her. She had excelled at the academy proving her leadership ability to a hierarchy dominated entirely by males. Accepting this secret command allowed her to fulfill her goal of command, but the secrecy of the mission required that she disappear. Her death in a military flying accident had been dutifully reported to her hometown. She was given a new identity which would follow her at the completion of her tour of duty. Her accomplishment of being the first woman commander of a nuclear submarine was to remain a secret. Her crew was both male and female. All had volunteered and accepted the change in identity.
The knock on the door was soft and respectful. It was followed by a simple, "Captain." Captain Brezinski did not even look up from the report she was working on, she simply replied, "Enter." The young sailor opened the hatch and stepped over the raised threshold into the small room. He handed Captain Brezinski the message and stood by while she began deciphering the code. He could see the strain on the captain's face, and knew she was feeling the stress of being on alert as much as anyone else on board. Her face tightened significantly as she finished decoding the message. He knew the news was not good.
Captain Brezinski glanced at the clock and told him, "I want a command conference to convene in 20 minutes. I will brief the crew following." He wanted to ask what the news was but knew that he would have to wait. Captain Brezinski saw his anxiety and managed a small smile. She dismissed him with, "We have trained hard and will do as we must." She took several minutes to digest the meaning of the message. She and her crew had only a sketchy idea of the U.N. decision regarding The Visitor. She was now being ordered to attack with full deployment of her arsenal. She opened the command safe and removed the Code Book. She took her time decoding the identifier that was built into the message. The random appearing Code words were built into the message. The matching Code Book was secured and available only to her commanding officer. The correlation was complete which indicated the orders were genuine. Her decision was made.
Captain Brezinski opened the command conference and informed her officers of the orders. Planning was begun based on the orbital data that was provided. Her weapon's officer voiced his concern saying, "I am sure this alien spaceship will be well protected, and our weapons will be quite primitive in comparison to their defenses."
Captain Brezinski knew he was right about the defenses and was concerned about the consequences of their action. She kept these thoughts to herself. She said, "All we can do is our best to carry out our orders. It is not our responsibility to make the decision on how to protect our Motherland. We will proceed with our best effort." Their window of access to The Visitor's orbit was limited to a 30 minute opportunity every 72 hours. The next window would open in four hours. The weapon's officer requested a surface launch in order to allow for rapid sequential firing of their missiles. Each missile was equipped with a small cluster bomb of spent uranium. When exploded in the vicinity of a satellite the uranium fragments would impact with the force of a cannon ball shredding the minimally protected satellites. The small size of the fragments was irrelevant because of the great velocity involved. The trajectory had to be carefully planned so that the orbits of the fragments would decay before they contacted any of the Russian satellites. The proposed trajectory was supplied by the weapon's computer. The plan was for the rapid sequential firing in order to override the defense systems aboard The Visitor.
The submarine that Captain Brezinski commanded was a boat built for stealth, and it most resembled a giant hockey puck. The central missile launching unit was surrounded by quarter moon sections for propulsion and living quarters. The propulsion system was based on directed jet streams generated by electric motors. Maneuverability was limited and top speed was only 10 knots. Surrounding the circumference of the round ship was a slowly rotating faceted shield which absorbed and deflected sonic energy dramatically limiting its sonar image. Sound proofing and sound camouflage were used extensively making the ship almost silent. In order to avoid surface sonar, the ship was designed to assume a sharp angulation to bring the sonar shield in line with the surface. Everything on the submarine was gimbaled to compensate for this severe attitude shift. The submarine had no weapons aboard except for the missile launching system. They were completely dependent upon their stealth for survival. The crew had successfully avoided detection by both the U.S. and fellow Russian submarines.
The weapon's officer informed Captain Brezinski that he was ready, and navigation reported that they would break the surface just prior to launch time. She gave the command, "Prepare for missile launch." As the ship stabilized on the surface, the missile launchers were rotated into position and the count down begun. The launch of the first missile significantly distorted the stability of the ship, and several moments were required before the second missile could be launched. The entire battery of six small missiles was launched in a period of 20 minutes. As soon as the launches were completed Captain Brezinski ordered, "Dive to 500 meters and assume a course of 350 degrees." The ship slipped below the surface and began silently gliding to depth.
The rocket launches were noted by both Russian and American surveillance as well as by The Visitor. Communication channels became jammed with attempts to sort out what was going on. The Visitor began broadcasting a request to identify the incoming rockets, but both Russia and America denied knowledge of the rockets. The missiles exploded as programmed and their deadly cargo of shrapnel was released in line with The Visitor's orbit. The visiting ship began maneuvering to avoid the majority of the shrapnel swarm. Its defense consisted of avoidance and laser ablation of the incoming shrapnel. From the time of launch the attack was over within two hours. The Visitor began to retaliate by emitting a powerful electromagnetic laser which penetrated into the ocean at the point of missile launch. This beam of energy soon found Captain Brezinski and her ship. The electrical system began to malfunction immediately and control of the ship was lost.
Captain Brezinski ordered, "Shut down all systems and manually place the reactor in safe mode." The submarine was controlled enti
rely by a "fly by wire" computer system, and control was lost. She then made the decision to attempt escape by manually opening the water valves into the flotation chambers. As water rushed into the chambers, the submarine resumed its descent. The simple pressure instruments still functioned and depth could be reliably determined. As they descended through six hundred meters the strength of the laser appeared to be abating and Captain Brezinski felt some hope. The relief was temporary and the intensity of the beam increased again to the point the wiring began to oscillate. This produced a high pitch sound similar to the feedback sounds from a public address system. The volume of the sound increased to the point of pain. Even verbal communication became difficult. The control officer called out, "Passing through 800 meters and reaching critical depth." The dysfunction of the electrical and control systems had negated most warning devices. The depth limiting control was based on simple pressure switches and valves. The depth limiting system activated at 1000 meters as programmed, which prevented further descent and blocked their hope for escape.
Captain Brezinski made the decision to scuttle her ship rather than submit to capture. Her orders were specific that her mission was to remain secret even at the cost of her ship and crew. It was not a conscious decision but rather a decision of her training. Most of the crew had become incapacitated by the horrible noise. Captain Brezinski had to grab her maintenance officer and yell in his ear to make him understand her desire to flood the aft hull in order to continue their descent and hopefully escape. They made their way aft to the manual valve controls. As they began to open the valves, Captain Brezinski suddenly stopped and developed a blank expression as if she were having a Pettit Mall type of seizure. The maintenance officer tried to arouse her, but she was immobile for a few minutes. When she aroused spontaneously, Captain Brezinski canceled her order to flood the hull and instead ordered the maintenance officer to close all valves and to blow their ballast tanks. The maintenance officer nodded and began closing valves. The ballast water was ejected slowly which allowed for ascent of their ship.
As soon as the ship began ascending the energy from The Visitor decreased and the electrical noise began to moderate to a level that was tolerable. Control other than vertical was still lost. The ascent was slow and it required some time before the surface was broached. The submarine bobbed uncontrolled on the unusually quiet ocean surface. The energy intensity was still high enough that a static charge existed on everything. Communication was blocked from the submarine. The Visitor had requested assistance from the U.N. in retrieving the crew from Captain Brezinski's submarine. As Navy vessels from several countries steamed toward the helpless submarine, Captain Brezinski gave orders to rig a self-destructing system to scuttle their vessel after they were removed. She also reminded the crew of their vow of secrecy regarding their mission and their ship.
A French destroyer was the first ship to arrive at the site. As they approached the stricken submarine, they were amazed at the unusual configuration. The energy beam had narrowed almost to a point source, which limited its energy to the submarine. The U.N. ordered the French Captain to take onboard all crew members. Maritime flag symbols were used to communicate between the vessels. Life boats were lowered and used to transfer the crew from the submarine to the destroyer. The small crew transferred easily. Captain Brezinski was taken to the officer's mess where she met with the French Captain. Communication was difficult because of the language barrier. Both officers spoke enough English that they were able to establish the course of events. The French Captain offered to secure the submarine, but Captain Brezinski advised him, "My boat is being scuttled as we speak." The Captains arose together to look out the portal and saw the submarine begin to settle in the aft section. In a matter of a few minutes the ship began to slip below the surface. The energy beam switched off completely at that point. Captain Brezinski and her crew were treated as guests, not prisoners, but they knew they were being monitored.