The Submariner

By Zarek Dragon

Jake told you about Chen and how I felt responsible. I can't think of anything different that I could have done, but I still felt bad. More for the family that he left than him, but Jake was right. Kirk had warned everyone, and I told him more than once to stay in the Shark. I even informed him that the water pressure would kill him almost instantly. I wrote up my incident report stating all of the facts and took it to Kirk. He read the report and asked if I truly believe what I wrote. I responded, fully confident in my answer, "Yes Sir, I do. As much as Chen's death pains me, Daniels helped me to realize that I couldn't have controlled Chen's actions. You had warned the entire crew and I ordered Chen to stay in the Shark. His death is a direct result of insubordination. I feel sorry for his spouse and their unborn baby, but I am not at fault."

Will looked at me and smiled, "That being the case, you may return to duty, effective immediately."

"Thank you, sir," I replied. I was originally scheduled to have the watch in the engine room, so I headed there and relieved Ernie. I told him that the Captain told me that I could return to duty and he was to report to wherever he would have been had he not been covering my watch.

Once the ordeal of dealing with Chen's death had settled down, we went to open the Shark he had been using. The hatch opened with a lot of force. When Chen left the shark, he had left it open and it filled with water. But, water wasn't the only thing that emerged; there was a mean-looking weird fish in there as well. Dr. Chambers told me that it was called a scaly dragon fish. Let me tell you, even if we could handle the water pressure, I would be leery about being in the ocean close to these fish. It started snapping at anything that got even remotely close to it.

Two research team members were able to capture it and put it in a tank, but it wasn't easy. The thing shredded the net they were using. I'm glad that the tank they put it in was designed for large fish. It kept ramming the side of the tank, trying to get at us, I think. My name may be Drage, and I may like dragons, but this thing just looked mean.

There was minor damage to the Shark from the rock slide, but the water that was inside, as well as that monster fish, did some serious damage. The water might not have done so much damage had the inside not been thrashed by Puff the Scaly Dragon Fish. The electronics were trashed, so we decided to disassemble it to use as spare parts. Fortunately, we have seven more Sharks at our disposal.

I don't know if it worked out that way, or if Kirk planned it, but he had me at the Conn when the next research team members went out. We sent two Sharks out at a time, telling them to stay away from any rock walls if possible. They were reminded of what happened to Chen when the wall gave way. Ernie looked at me when I reminded them and asked if I was alright. I guess I must have shown some pain on my face. "Yeah, thanks for caring. It's just that I feel bad for Chen's family. And while I know it wasn't my fault, I lost a crew member while I was in charge. I never want to feel that pain again if I can help it."

The Sharks had been out for several minutes when the radar station reported, "Sir, there is a large bio mass heading towards the Sharks."

"How large?" I asked. "Can you tell what it is?"

He answered, "Not yet, sir, but it's almost half the size of this sub. It could probably swallow a Shark whole."

I ordered, "Keep an eye on it. If it gets too close to the Sharks, fire a torpedo at it. I will not lose another crewmember."

"Aye, aye, sir" the crewman replied.

Captain Kirk walked onto the bridge, "What's the status?"

I informed Will, "Sir, two Sharks are out collecting specimens and a large bio mass seems to be approaching them. We are targeting the bio as a precaution to protect the crewmembers in the Sharks. If that thing gets too close to the Sharks, I plan to send a torpedo up its a…"

"And if that causes it to attack the sub instead?" Kirk asked.

I looked Kirk in the eye, and confidently answered, "We do have the ability to electrify the hull. I don't want to kill that thing if I don't have to, but I will protect those serving under me."

"Very good, this is your show, I will be here if you need advice," Kirk stated, giving me a smile.

"Sir," the crewman manning the radar said, "You may not believe this, but that large bio mass appears to be a giant shrimp."

"That big," I joked, "I would hardly call him a shrimp." Everyone laughed. When the giant shrimp moved away from the Sharks, I told the torpedo room to stand down.

Will stood up and said, "Excellent work, Lieutenant. Your watch is over in an hour and then it's mine again. Would you like for me to take over now or do you wish to wait for the Sharks to come back aboard?"

I spoke into the mike, "Sharks, how much longer will you be?"

"We are on our way in, Sir. Did you see that Giant shrimp? It looked like it was headed right for us!" the research member responded.  I could detect a little nervousness in his voice.

I told him, "We saw it on radar. We had torpedoes locked onto it just in case it started getting too close to you."

"That's good to know. We are entering the launch tubes now," the research team member informed me.

Kirk said, "Excellent work, I relieve you of command, go get some well-earned shuteye."

"Aye, aye, Sir, I am relieved," I returned.  Being relieved from my shift, I headed for the space I share with Jake. I sat for a few minutes contemplating what I wanted to do, sleep or wait for Jake to get off his watch. I decided that either way, I didn't want to be dressed and started removing my uniform. I was down to my skivvies, about to remove them when the door opened. Jake walked in and smiled. I grabbed him and planted a kiss on that handsome face.

As I kissed my handsome lover, I started removing his uniform and he didn't stop me. By the time we stopped kissing, I had us both down to our skivvies. That was when he stopped me. "Before we go any further," he said, "you should know; Ernie offered to take the next watch in the engine room. Kirk approved it so long as you didn't have a problem with it."

"My watch?" I was surprised to say the least.

Jake nodded and smiled, "Yes, so we both have the next two watches off but Kirk did say that we better get some sleep and not have too much fun. You'll have the Conn and I'll be in the engine room when we go back on."

I gave Jake a kiss before saying, "I definitely will appreciate the time off to spend with you, but how much time is Ernie putting in?"

Jake must not have liked my kiss because he returned it, along with giving me some tongue. Then answered, "He's off right now and Kirk has asked someone else to cover for him to give us time together. Don't worry, no one is working themselves to death for us to have time together."

"In that case," I said, "I will definitely enjoy this time with you. Who knows when we'll get it again before heading home."

We both removed our skivvies and climbed into my rack. I won't go into detail as to what we did. I know some of you like the details and others don't. As to what we did, let's just say that as a submariner, Jake knows how to go very deep. And he did a good job massaging my prostate. After that, we went to sleep.

I was asleep on my stomach when Jake woke me up. I'll leave you to guess how he did it, but his poking my stomach made me realize that I was hungry. After Jake shot his load in me, we got dressed. I stopped at the head before we made our way to the ward room.

Captain Kirk was sitting there eating as we walked in. "I swear; I could have sworn I told you not to have too much fun. The helm had trouble keeping a steady bubble," he gave us a smile and told us to sit. "I was talking to Mr. Frederick before I came to eat. I told him that I wanted to put both of you in for another promotion."

"Already?" Both Jake and I were surprised.

"That's part of the beauty of this not being the US Navy. I can promote as I see fit, and with no time requirements," Kirk responded. "Mr. Frederick told me to let him know what ranks I want to make you. I can promote you up as high as the rank of Commander if I wish. Zarek, as the head of the engine room, I really would like for you to be the third in command. And eventually my XO. In order to do that, you need to become a Commander. Jake, you know I like you a lot but if I made you both Commanders, some people might have a problem. I foresee enough problems just because I'll be promoting Zarek so high."

"I understand, Sir," Jake stated. I could tell that he was happy for me, but I know he had to be hurting. "If it helps stifle any problems, you don't have to promote me."

"I'm glad you feel that way, but you didn't let me finish," Will admonished my love. "I am promoting you, but to Lieutenant Commander. I may still hear some grumbles, but I think that you both have proven how much you care about the crew and this boat. You have proven your loyalty and respect to me, so I think these promotions are appropriate and well earned."

Now Jake had a big smile on his face as he spoke, "Yes Sir, and thank you. I would have foregone a promotion to help you, though."

Will grinned, "And that's one of the reasons you deserve it. When I feel that Zarek is ready to be my XO, you will have the engine room and be promoted to Commander. I also want to start having you on Conn watches to prepare you to be third in command, but that can wait until our next voyage."

"Aye, aye, Sir," Jake replied. I don't know if I make Jake as happy as he is right now, but if you ask him, he might say happier. We ate our meal and then I went to relieve the XO at the Conn while Jake went to the engine room. I think knowing the Captain's plans made Jake better at tuning the engines. I swear they seemed to purr better than normal.

We spent several months in the Mariana Trench. Having lost track of how many, I was surprised to find out, we were there for four months, going as deep into the Challenger Depth as we dared. At times, the noise of the stress on the hull was almost unbearable.

The research team collected a lot of data and finally, we headed back towards the States. Surprisingly, we didn't head for the complex, instead, Kirk had us head towards an island, running at 150 feet below the surface. Looking at the chart, I thought we would run into the island, but there was a massive cave. Kirk laughed at the looks of our faces when everyone realized we were inside the island and he ordered us to surface.

Once surfaced, we discovered a dock with Mr. Frederick standing on it. "Welcome to my island," Franklin greeted us. As we disembarked, he instructed us to take the stairs up to his castle. I don't know if he bought it this way or had it built, but the castle reminded me of something from medieval times, except it wasn't drafty, and it does have electricity. We also got to meet Mrs. Frederick. She is a very lovely and attractive lady, especially for her age. No, she isn't really that old, she comes across as maybe late twenties, maybe early thirties. Being, I am nineteen, I think we were heading for the Trench when that happened, anyway, that seems old to me. I know, I know… I had a birthday and didn't tell you about it. If it makes you feel any better, I didn't tell anyone when my birthday was, not even Jake. Captain Kirk may have seen it in my file, but he never mentioned it.

Mrs. Frederick showed us to our rooms since we would be spending a few nights while Franklin downloaded all of the data, compared it to what was transmitted, and looked for ways to make transmitting while we are at sea more efficient. The castle was massive and had fifty bedrooms. The crewmen slept four to a space, Officers slept two, except Kirk, who had his own room.

While we were enjoying the hospitality of Franklin and his wife, Captain Kirk offered us a tour of the research facility, including the small shipyard where a new sub is being built. Kirk says that the new sub will be capable of going to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Her hull will be the same thickness as the Ohio Class, but the metal is lighter. He won't tell us what type of metal they are using as it's classified. While the sub has been in the works for ten months, it doesn't look like much has been done. Kirk explained that with using this synthetic metal, the process is taking longer than usual. "Notice, the hull is the same thickness as the HY-100 steel used in the US Navy's sub, but this synthetic metal is maybe twenty times stronger. While the sub we are using has a test depth of about 240 meters, this new sub could possibly reach a test depth of 1500 meters."

"Sir," one of the crewmen asked, "if its hull is twenty times stronger, shouldn't it be able to go twenty times deeper?"

"That's a valid question," Kirk replied. "When discussing the test depth, we are referring to about 2/3 the estimated crush depth for US subs. There is a formula used to calculate that crush depth and the hull strength is only a part of it. Yes, logic does dictate that it SHOULD be able to go down twenty times deeper, and perhaps it can, but with this being a 'new' metal, we are being very conservative."

I was curious, "What's the max depth any sub has gone so far?"

"If you are talking submersibles," Kirk answered, "the Challenger has gone to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, which is 10,994 meters. However, if you are talking just subs, the USS Seawolf class has a crush depth of 730 meters while the Russian Akula class, using a titanium hull, is 1000 meters. Our test depth will be deeper than that of the Akula class's crush depth."

"So, we will have the only sub capable of going that deep? I'm impressed," Jake stated.

"The scary part of that is, if we have any issues that deep, no one will be able to rescue us. You'll also notice that this sub is wider than the Ohio Class. While it will have the same displacement, the Ohio class has four decks. This sub will only have three decks. The Engine Room will consist of all three decks in the aft section of the boat. The entire lower deck forward of the engine room will be the research labs. The middle deck will house the mess deck and sleeping spaces. The bow of the middle deck will house the torpedo room. The upper deck will then be the various compartments for operations. Conn will be forward with an actual view portal. And I mean, this will be a view portal the height of the command center, from deck to overhead and bulkhead to bulkhead."

Jake asked, "Three decks for the engine? Is it that massive?"

Kirk chuckled, "No, the middle deck will house twin nuclear reactor engines. Frederick liked the twin props of the Typhoon. The upper deck will house the reactor cooling unit as well as the various units for generating drinking water and breathable air. The lower deck will house two magnetohydrodynamic drives. It won't be very fast, but leaves virtually no telltale signs it is in use. I believe five knots is their top speed, and they don't use props."

I commented, "Hopefully, we'll never need to, but if we need go undetected, we can move silently, and the slow speed will make it harder for anyone to notice us."

Kirk nodded his head, "That is the idea."

I had to ask, "Sir, going back to your description of the new sub, how thick does the glass need to be to withstand the pressure we will face?"

Kirk shook his head, "I have no idea, probably too thick to actually see through. This synthetic metal can be made transparent. It's actually stronger if it is, but we didn't want a see-through sub. Could you imagine taking a shower and watching a fish stare at you?" We all laughed. Then he added, "That is how we will have our 'window' so to speak. Mr. Frederick is hoping that the new sub will be completed within another year. A skeleton crew made of members from both teams will take her out the first time. As long as we have enough volunteers, I won't force anyone to go. I will be the CO of that cruise."

I spoke up first, "I volunteer, Sir."

Jake said, "Yes Sir, you can count me in, as well." I don't know if Jake really wanted to go or if he just volunteered so he could be with me, but I gave him a smile.

Kirk looked at us and announced, "Excellent, Drage will be XO on the cruise since the XO is Navy and no Navy personnel will be on that cruise. Daniels, you will be the Chief Engineer." He winked at Jake when announced that and then continued, "Anyone else wishing to be a part of the cruise, please leave word with the receptionist at the main complex." With that, we finished discussing some of the plans for the new sub and then retired for the evening.

Over the next few days, while waiting for Franklin to finish his downloads and analyses of all the data, some members enjoyed the pool, Jake and I went horseback riding, took a helicopter ride around the island, and enjoyed a game of tennis. If I owned or lived on this island, I don't know if I would ever leave it.

I hope you enjoy the story and that it draws you in, wanting more. If you have any suggestions or concerns, don’t hesitate to email me.  Thoughts and suggestions are always welcomed and may or may not be implemented. Concerns will be considered and addressed as much as possible, please contact me at Zarek A Dragon.  Please let me know that you read it on The Story Lovers' Website.