Beachhead: A page turning military thriller (The Aggressor Series Book 2) by FX Holden

Author:FX Holden [Holden, FX]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-06-15T16:00:00+00:00

Commander Gary McDonald was tired of running.

The damned Chinese underwater drone, because they’d decided that was what it had to be, was stuck to their tail a mile back, pinging them mercilessly. Every few minutes it disappeared off their sensors until, with irritating inevitability, it reappeared.

“Got a sonar signature now,” his sensor officer said. “Chinese PASS type.”

“Meaning what?” McDonald growled.

“They use it on two systems,” the woman said, “air-dropped buoys or autonomous drones. This has to be a drone, which means it has to surface to communicate our position to aircraft overhead.”

“Why aren’t they attacking then?”

There had been no follow-up to the first attack. The Chinese depth charges had shaken them badly, the worst damage being to their air-cooling system, which they’d had to take offline. They had clean air, but it was getting warmer and warmer by the minute. There had also been damage to their bow propulsor baffles, but not bad enough to impact their speed or maneuverability. The superficial damage made them louder at high speeds, but they were still mission capable.

“Called off because we are in Palau waters?” his XO said hopefully. “Think they’ve scared us off maybe.”

McDonald drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. If the Chinese aircraft that had attacked him planned to attack again, they would surely have done it by now. Too much time had passed since the attack, time they’d wasted trying to evade the drone behind them which, it turned out, was actually no threat.

No immediate threat.

“Helm, take us up to missile-launch depth and hover,” McDonald said. “Weapons, update the target plot assuming Fujian has been making a steady speed on a westerly bearing. Give me a solution on a shot down the projected bearing.”

“Aye, Captain. How many do you …?”

McDonald considered. They weren’t inside the ring of frigates this time. They weren’t even inside the destroyer perimeter. Any missile they fired would only get through to the carrier if they were very, very lucky.

But they might never get another shot.

“Ten missiles. Full VLS salvo, followed by torpedo-tube-launched Tomahawks please. We are not likely to get a better chance than this, people.”

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