The Lotus Eaters

Fort Muddville, Balboa, Terra Nova

Surcouf stood in front of a wall-mounted map on which the course of the Charlemagne battle group was plotted. There was another plot, too, on the map. This was the plot of the second Balboan submarine which had sortied the night prior. The second plot was on an intercept course with the first. Still a third plot showed the course of the Gallic Navy frigate, the Michael Ney. Ney was shadowing the sub at a considerable distance. Then again, because of the sub's apparently appalling internal workings, shadowing at a distance was easy.

"Why did you sortie the frigate for this?" de Villepin asked. "I thought you said . . ."

"Yes, sir," Surcouf interrupted. "I did. But this one"—he tapped the map—"this one is heading for the battle group. I figured that sending the frigate out now would not be suspicious, since we would want to escort the Charlemagne in, anyway. But I am suspicious. I think they intend to try to get through the screen."

"If they try and we intercept, won't that alert them that they're noisy."

Surcouf looked worried. "Yes, sir, it would. I'm still thinking about how to warn them off without letting them know they're so easy to track."

De Villepin thought about that briefly, then asked, "How common would it be for the submarine escorting Charlemagne to separate itself from the battle group and then try to penetrate the screen?"

Surcouf rocked his head a bit from side to side, thinking. He finally answered, "Not uncommon. Though the submarine with a battle group usually takes point by as much as fifty kilometers, they do—situation permitting—sometimes test their own defenses. Good practice for the submariners, too."

"How hard to vector that escort sub close enough to the Balboan that active sonar would pick both up?"

"Only a little more difficult. A submarine would almost never use active sonar. Surface ships do . . . at least for some purposes and under some circumstances. Diamant is Charlemagne's escort. If they're hunting her, they might well use active . . ."

De Villepin caught Surcouf's hesitation. "Yes?"

"We also sometimes go to active targeting sonar in the wake of an attack."

De Villepin looked appalled. "I didn't mean we should have the escort sub actually fire on the carrier."

"No, no, sir. We do simulated firings, basically we shoot a blast of water and air out the torpedo tubes."

"Let's try that, then."

"There is a problem, though, sir," Surcouf mentioned.

"What's that?"

"Well, sir, pinging a submarine with sonar on firing mode, rather than a general search, is rarely done except by prior arrangement. It's almost an act of war. It's certainly considered a threat. Submariners start filling torpedo tubes and calculating firing solutions when they get pinged by targeting sonar from a ship or another submarine. They've been known to open fire, even in times of peace, though that is never officially admitted to by the parties concerned. Never."