“Captain, tubes one and two ready in all respects,” Doug O’Malley announced, his rapid-fire words spilling out even faster than usual. “Mark 48 ADCAPs. Tubes flooded and outer doors open.”

Glass nodded and glanced over at the red-haired young lieutenant commander. With Brian Edwards being attended to down in the makeshift emergency room, O’Malley had stepped up to become the fire control coordinator. The engineer seemed to be handling the increased pressure well. It would have been better to have him face this predicament in a series of drills, but that was not a luxury they would have. Besides, there was nothing like a baptism by fire to bring out the best in a man. Somehow, looking at the young officer, Glass knew he would do his best. That’s all he could ask.

“Very well, Eng. Have tubes three and four flooded and made fully ready.”

Toledo could flood all four torpedo tubes at once, but she could only have the outer doors open on two tubes at a time. Normally this was all that was necessary. In most cases, they would have just one of the million-dollar ADCAP fish in the water at any given time. Occasionally, the skipper might shoot a pair, but that was only if the target was large. With two doors open, the team was able to guide both torpedoes, using hair-thin copper wires that trailed out behind the torpedoes. Once the door was shut, the wire was cut, leaving the fish on its own.

With two frigates and a destroyer up there on the surface, any fight today would be a melee. Glass knew he would have to shoot his way out. There would be weapons, ships, and confusion all over the place. An underwater dogfight was no place to worry about checking out torpedoes or flooding tubes.

While he had a few moments to breathe, Glass figured it was a good time to tell his team what he planned. He sucked in a deep breath. “Attention in the attack center. We are going to fight our way out of this fjord. We will engage any hostile surface ship that we encounter. The Udaloy will be the primary target. The Grishas will be secondary targets.”

Glass looked over to see Master Chief Zillich in his usual position, leaning out of the sonar room door. He had a determined look on his face as he listened to his skipper with one ear and to his headset with the other.

“Tube one will be the first fired weapon,” Glass continued. “Tube two will be the backup. As soon as each weapon is running normally, cut the wire and shut the outer door on the tube.”

Pat Durand nodded and spoke into a sound-powered phone. Glass knew that the team down in the torpedo room would be ready to shoot. Ready to reload another ADCAP into the empty tube once the first had been sent on its way.