He had a thought. Jon Ward had taught him a trick years before on a Spadefish training mission when the “enemy” seemed to be coming at them from all angles.

“All stop,” he ordered. “Hover at nine-one-zero feet.”

Doug O’Malley looked at his skipper, a quizzical expression on his face. Jerry Perez appeared to be on the verge of a stroke. Glass smiled.

“Relax, gentlemen. Those fish out there are looking for a moving target. We’re going to do our best impression of a rock on the bottom.” He looked over at the ballast control panel and saw that the signal ejectors were reloaded and ready to go again. “Master Chief, shoot both signal ejectors.”

The two evasion devices floated upward, enveloping Toledo in a shower of noise.

“Incoming weapons bearing two-six-five, still active.”

Glass listened to the report, but his mind was elsewhere. He needed to get the reactor back so they could fight on. He grabbed the 7MC microphone. “Maneuvering, Captain. Report cause of scram and status of recovery.”

“Captain, Engineering Officer of the Watch,” the 7MC blared back. “Commencing fast recovery start-up. Scram was caused by the shock from the explosion. Popped open a scram breaker. Starboard turbine generator will be available when the reactor is back online. Port turbine generator is out of commission until the output breaker is replaced.”

Not as bad as Glass had expected. The reactor would be critical, making power again in a couple of minutes. One of the turbine generators would be available to make electricity, but the other one would not be available until the electricians could repair the breaker. At least the main engines weren’t affected. Toledo could still run at sixty percent of her flank speed.

Still, for right now, sitting here was the best plan.

“Incoming weapons still bearing two-six-five. Still in active search.”

Zillich was tracking the Russian torpedoes’ relentless run directly at them. Thankfully, the underwater bloodhounds were still sniffing around. They had not locked on to the sub. At least not yet.

A sudden loud explosion hammered the hull. It was not as bad as the torpedoes a few minutes before. Still, it was hard enough to kick more dust out of the overhead.

Glass looked at the sonar traces. Both incoming weapons were still there. So were the Russian ships. It had to have been one of Toledo’s weapons.

Zillich answered Glass’s unspoken question, and it was not what Captain Glass wanted to hear.

“Explosion on the bearing to the Udaloy. Looks like our first shots went past him and hit the cliffs on the other side.”

“Damn! What about the others?”

Zillich held up his hand and said, “Just a second, Skipper. Inbound weapons passing overhead. Still in active search.”

Everyone in the control room could hear the high-pitched whine of the Russian torpedoes. They grew louder for a moment. Then they started to fade.

“Best bearing to the Russian torpedoes zero-eight-two. Torpedoes opening.”