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    War Fish
    War Fish
    War Fish
    Ebook29 pages22 minutes

    War Fish

    By Terry Mixon

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    About this ebook

    A Military Science Fiction Short Story

    People thought war would end once mankind made it into space. Idiots. Once the fighting started, subspace ships took the brunt, sinking ships from hiding. Deadly dangerous work.

    When the USS Flasher surprised an enemy task force, Ray Honeycutt knew they might die, but they could strike a blow to end the war, if they sank that carrier. If they were smart and lucky. Could they do it and live?

    -----

    EXCERPT:

    "Bogey One has dropped out of supralight right on target," Zucker said.

    Honeycutt trained the periscope in the direction of the lead ship and waited for the data to reach the scope. Unlike subspace waves, normal space data was limited to the speed of light so it took thirty-three seconds to reach him. That was why they dove before the bogey could've emerged. Now he could look all he liked, but there was no visual evidence of the sub for him to catch.

    When the ship appeared in his scope, he centered it and increased the magnification. The image of the ship snapped into focus and confirmed the XO's guess—definitely a Shogunate destroyer.

    "Confirmed visual," he said. "The XO must be psychic. One tin can sniffing around before the convoy drops out of supralight. ETA on the convoy?"

    "Two minutes," Zucker said.

    "Helm, assume they'll follow in Bogey One's tracks and see if you can nudge us into a more favorable shooting setup that leaves us some evasion options. You bet your ass there'll be more than that one tin can riding her on a convoy that size."

    "On it, Skipper."

    The seconds seemed to creep by like cold molasses while they waited for the convoy to drop out of supralight. He chided himself for his impatience, but it didn't help. Hell, in a normal situation they might have to stalk the convoy for days just to get a shot, if they were even able to manage one. He'd seen some juicy targets slip by because he couldn't generate a decent setup and that always sucked.

    "The convoy has dropped into normal space," Zucker finally reported, breaking the silence and raising the tension in the air. "Sixteen additional targets designated Bogeys Two through Seventeen. They all emerged at the same location as Bogey One and appear to be following his course."

    Honeycutt tapped his foot and waited for the speed of light data to come in so he could see exactly what they would be dealing with today. The electric sense of excitement that he could feel amongst his shipmates made his heart race.

    As the ships started popping up visually, he zeroed in on each one to make an ID. A cold knife seemed to dig into his guts. He hadn't expected this.

    Zucker's voice came across cool and professional, undercut with excitement. "Identifications are coming in. Six destroyers, four light cruisers, four heavy cruisers, two battlecruisers, and one carrier."

    "Holy crap," Gorman muttered. "That's not a convoy; it's a carrier task force!"

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMcKee Publishing
    Release dateJun 2, 2013
    ISBN9781502288318
    War Fish

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      Book preview

      War Fish - Terry Mixon

      War Fish

      Author’s note: The inspiration for this story came from the book of the same name written by Captain George Grider USN (retired) and Lydel Sims in 1958, and honors the men of the US Navy Submarine Service. Their bravery and sacrifice during World War II stands as a monument to what it means to be heroes. Fifty-two submarines were lost during the war and too many of those brave souls lie in unmarked watery graves because of their valor.

      They were giants.

      Historical note: The USS Flasher (named after a type of fish) sank over one hundred thousand tons of Japanese shipping during WWII, the most of any submarine in the US Navy. The ship and her crew sank twenty-one enemy vessels during six war patrols, including two destroyers and a light cruiser.

      The Flasher survived, earning battle stars for each patrol, and brought her crew home safely. She received the Presidential Unit Citation for heroism for her brilliant successes during her third, fourth, and fifth patrols. The conning tower from the USS Flasher stands on display at the WWII National Submarine Memorial – East, in Groton, CT.

      Lieutenant Commander Ray Honeycutt put his shoulder to the recalcitrant subspace torpedo and heaved. Sweat beaded on his forehead and his uniform sleeve tore under the strain, but the torpedo refused to budge, stuck halfway into one of the two stern torpedo tubes. Dammit. That was his second best uniform, too.

      He wiped his forehead with his torn sleeve. Maybe we can get it loose if we all get in here. Be careful it doesn’t pop out and crush you against the bulkhead.

      The other three men squeezed into the aft torpedo room. Twice as many men would have been better, but there just wasn’t room. Heavy metal racks holding torpedoes lined the walls leaving barely enough room to load one into a sling and force it over to one of the tubes.

      The tightly cramped aft torpedo room had

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