Chapter 55 - Depth Charge
The realization hit the bridge like a kinetic round.
Martha didn't want a battle; she wanted a capture. Every move she had made—the fake financial laundering through Arthur, the distraction with Kevin's debts, the rogue submarine breach off Norfolk—had been designed to lure the *Nathan James* out into isolated waters where she could isolate me from the fleet.
"Vampire! Vampire! Vampire!" Chen screamed.
From the dorsal deck of the massive *Aegis-Null*, two short-range sonic disabling harpoons erupted with a hiss of compressed gas. They weren't explosive warheads; they were tactical electromagnetic grapples designed to pierce the superstructure and flood the destroyer's grid with high-voltage disruption currents.
"Port side CIWS, fire!" I bellowed.
The twenty-millimeter Phalanx cannon on our port side roared to life, unleashing a stream of four thousand rounds per minute. The first harpoon was shredded into glowing shrapnel mid-air, raining fire into the waves. But the second harpoon struck our aft missile deck with an ear-splitting crunch of tearing steel.
A blinding web of blue electrical energy spider-webbed across our hull. The remaining auxiliary screens sparked and died. The deck lights popped in rapid succession, plunging the ship once again into the eerie red glow of battle lanterns.
"They've breached the stern!" Martinez reported, checking the tactical damage board. "High-voltage tethers are holding us fast! They're reeling us in!"
"Not while I have breath in my lungs," I said, unholstering my service sidearm and chambering a round with a sharp, metallic snap. "Martinez, you have the conn. Keep the five-inch gun trained on her bridge structure. If their main hatches cycle for an offensive missile launch, you fire point-blank, nuclear risk be damned."
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"Captain, where are you going?" Martinez asked, his eyes wide.
"She wants the key?" I said, pulling on a tactical vest and grabbing a battle comms headset. "Then I’m going to deliver it to her face-to-face. Security Team Alpha, form up on the starboard boat deck! We are counter-boarding that ghost!"
