Chapter 192
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 192
Chapter Title: Under the Black Water (10)
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Winter, returning to the boat, spotted Joanna on the deck. She was positioned at the mounted heavy machine gun, intending to provide cover fire from this side. Had she been like that the whole time he was gone? He appreciated the gesture, but it had been dangerous. If Melville had come back, she wouldn't have stood a chance. To her, it was a completely unknown enemy.
Fortunately, there was no sign of the sea monster approaching. Winter and Kowalski hurried aboard.
Joanna greeted them with deep relief.
"I'm so glad you're both safe."
"I told you to go inside and wait. What if something had happened?"
"Then I suppose I'd die doing what needed to be done."
Joanna accepted the light reprimand with calm indifference. There was a considerable sense of debt in her demeanor. She had more than enough motivation beyond that. After feeling that emotion, Winter brought up something else.
"Agent Kowalski was Team Leader Chadwick's collaborator. I thought you should know in advance."
"I suspected as much, but it turns out I was right."
Her reaction wasn't particularly surprised. She had likely guessed the same as Winter. Kowalski, on the other hand, looked flustered.
As they entered the cabin, Talbot, Tucker, and Kelly lit up with joy at the reunion. Turning his back on their heartfelt greetings, Winter raised the emergency ax toward the locked weapons locker inside. Clang! The agents flinched at the sound of the lock breaking. He hadn't used gunfire to break it because he was worried about ricochets.
Kowalski was the only one without a weapon now. Winter, who had grabbed a grenade launcher, gestured to her.
"Pick something you're familiar with. You might need to defend yourself."
"I-Is that okay?"
"What could you possibly do? You don't even have the confidence to survive without me."
It was a complex judgment. If it weren't for the tears he'd seen from Kowalski in the operations room, Winter would have devoted far more caution. Her twisted patriotism might have overridden her survival instinct.
Even if that were the case, harming Winter would be an entirely different matter.
As the subtle conversation flowed, the other agents seemed to grasp the context. They had heard meaningful words about Chadwick earlier. Agent Kelly stepped in to shield Kowalski.
"We'll make sure it's not something the lieutenant has to worry about."
"I'd appreciate that."
Even as she said that, her posture subtly kept Kowalski in check, suggesting that Kelly, and Agent Tucker as well, seemed free of suspicion. It was too early to be certain. In any case, they had been saved by Winter and were in a position to unilaterally rely on him until dawn.
"Agent Talbot. Come to the cockpit, please. Winter, could you handle the machine gun?"
The request came from Joanna up front.
"I'm not confident with driving the boat... How about I take the gun instead?"
Joanna pressed Talbot, who was hesitating.
"There's no time for debate! Do you want to get caught in the Pequod's sinking? All you need to handle is the throttle lever. Just keep an eye on the gauges otherwise—heading and radar. I'll handle the steering!"
*If you're more confident in shooting than Winter, I'll change my mind!* That one line allowed no further argument. From Joanna's perspective, Talbot was the most reliable agent available.
Since one axis of Mexican drug smuggling was maritime routes, Joanna apparently had steering experience. How skilled she was remained questionable, but there were no other options right now.
"Don't we have anything to do?"
At Agent Tucker's question, Joanna looked at Winter from beyond the door, and Winter shook his head. Dragging them onto the deck would be fortunate if they just didn't get flung off the pitching hull.
"No. Stay here. Fighting is my role. We also need someone to handle any flooding."
"Flooding...? Would that even happen?"
"Who knows."
This boat, a Coast Guard patrol vessel (47FT MLB) modified for special purposes, had an aluminum hull. It lacked the toughness to withstand the monster's steel-biting teeth. As long as they kept moving, the risk was low, but anything above zero required preparation.
Emerging into the cockpit, Joanna started the engine. On the right console of the helm, she pressed a pair of green buttons and pushed up the two levers controlling the twin engines' output. Power surged, lighting up the entire boat, but in the current situation, the lights were nothing more than bait to attract the monsters.
Sharing the same thought, Joanna pressed a button on the upper console. The cockpit immediately darkened. It was the dimmer switch for covert nighttime operations.
In the pitch black, only the glow of electronic gauges flickered. Among them, Winter recognized the low, insistent red alert. Collision warning. The Japanese-made precision navigation equipment was alerting to five vessels ahead on the current course that posed collision risks.
Rowdy from the start. Joanna wrenched the wheel.
Bracing against the surging inertia, Winter issued orders before heading to the deck.
"It'll be tough, but full speed ahead—no stopping! Make it hard for them to attack!"
"Got it! I'll do my best."
Even after the turn, the collision warning persisted. The cockpit's forward magnetic compass twitched erratically. The magnetic and electronic compasses pointed in different directions. The latter, receiving satellite signals, was accurate. The magnetic needle's confusion was due to the massive ships rampaging beyond the fog, their overwhelming steel hulls distorting nearby magnetic fields.
"I'll tune the radio frequency! We might have to trust Winter's instincts over the instruments!"
Joanna's shout already showed her daunted by the wildly flickering gauges. GPS coordinates, even military-grade, had at least a 5-meter margin of error. A situation where they might need to thread through that 5-meter gap. Winter checked the receiver status, nodded, then opened the door and stepped out.
With speed building, the deck wind was fierce. Trash collided relentlessly, and the hull bucked violently through the waves. At just 20 tons, prioritizing high speed meant stability was virtually nonexistent.
Gripping the heavy machine gun, Winter hesitated before adjusting his technique.
*'Now I need 「Heavy Weapons Proficiency」.'*
The efficiency of 「Personal Firearms Proficiency」 on the heavy machine gun (M2HB) was only 30%. The 8-round grenade launcher fared better at 60%. Even that allowed expert-level operation, but if Melvilles swarmed, it would quickly become precarious. There were people to protect.
His abilities kept skewing toward combat. He needed to handle diverse situations and environments. Separate from efforts to prevent worldview collapse, he had to prepare for the aftermath of lost order.
Putting aside regrets, Winter exhausted all available experience resources. He acquired 「Heavy Weapons Proficiency」 at the cusp of expert level. And reinforced 「Personal Firearms Proficiency」. On a high-speed craft veering wildly, fixed-gun fire needed to hit within the first three rounds.
The speedboat circled the Pequod's buoyed bow on its side. Now visible on the opposite side, through the fallen nets, drifted a submarine with its hatch open but no crew in sight.
Behind it, a ship of at least 50,000 tons was sinking. Already, half its bow was submerged.
*'That one collided with the Pequod.'*
If not for that ship, Winter and Joanna would have failed to escape. Despite their best efforts, like detonating the trickster's corpse, survival came down to luck. A worldview of unrelenting misfortune.
The leaked oil smell thickened.
Spotting three white wakes approaching through the oil slick, Winter signaled evasion to the cockpit and aligned the heavy machine gun's sights.
Boom-boom-boom! Boom-boom-boom-boom!
Flashing muzzle blasts. The heavy machine gun's roar up close was like an explosion. The thunder echoed across the foggy sea. Seven large-caliber rounds smashed waves and plunged into the water. Impact points right in front of the monsters' heads. Misses. But deliberate ones.
*'They're still inexperienced.'*
The newly appeared special variants would be immature in many ways.
As expected, the white foam trails veered sharply. Traces vanishing into the fog beyond the waves. They didn't know that even large-caliber rounds couldn't harm them through water. Underwater drag, tough skin against rifle fire, streamlined bodies. How far could that hold?
Even Winter needed time to adapt each time his skill level changed.
Whoooosh—
A massive movement approached. Winter aimed the grenade launcher with one hand. Target: the oil-slicked sea they'd passed. Thump! The incendiary round, boosted by both heavy and personal firearms proficiencies, converged precisely on the line Winter envisioned.
Bang! Whoosh—
The sea ignited. Fierce heatwinds swept the thick sea fog, and the shockwave hit Winter dozens of meters away. The speedboat's bow dipped into the water from the push. Naturally, Winter behind it was drenched head to toe in foul seawater.
*Hopefully this disrupts their 「Search」 for a bit...*
「Crisis Detection」 sharply warned his nerves. Winter reflexively raised a hand. Evade, evade!
[*Hold on tight!*]
Joanna's sharp warning blared over the receiver. Where the fog cleared, half-sunken fishing boats burst forth. Had radar missed them? Or were there too many to matter?
Sharp evasive maneuvers—left, then right—buckled Winter's knees. The violent turns generated g-forces of inertia. Without superhuman 「Movement」 correction, he'd have flown over the rail.
Whoooosh! Vroooom—!
Differing ship's horns blared from both sides ahead. Whiiiine! Twin engines revved up. Gripping the gun handles on his knees, Winter glanced back to see Joanna grimacing as she shoved the levers. Talbot stared wide-eyed at the gray darkness ahead. Infrared spotlights pierced the fog, revealing faint red as anti-corrosion paint on a massive freighter and cruise ship.
Overwhelming masses bore down from both sides, dominating his senses.
Crunch-crunch—
Bows grazing past below, the speedboat threaded the narrowing channel.
Winter instinctively twisted. Crack! A sharp fragment from above embedded where his foot had been. Smaller pieces rained down, pattering on his helmet. Multiple stinging cuts. Minor bleeding added to his right arm.
The final heavy metal chunk required a fist deflection. Weight that numbed bone and wrist. Even ballistic armor tore. A bit deeper, and it'd have mangled his fingers.
[*You okay?!*]
"Yeah, no problem! Focus on driving!"
Kicking a deck shard aside and looking aft, the flames clearing fog still showed the Pequod in view. Even without obstacles, Golden Gate was nearly 40 kilometers away.
[*Lieutenant! And Supervisor Gibson! This is Kowalski! I have something to tell you!*]
A new voice cut into the radio net. Using the cabin radio, apparently.
"What's up!"
Boom-boom-boom! Three large-caliber rounds chased off the fishy monsters. Simultaneously, evading a boat's stern jutting like a reef, the hull leaped over a wave. Ack! Static-mixed groan from Kowalski—probably bumped something. Not seriously hurt, as her message followed right away.
[*You need to clear the bay by 04:30 at the latest to be safe!*]
"Is that when the nuke hits?!"
[*Not certain, but possible!*]
Winter started to ask her reasoning but stopped. If she said so, it was so. No reason for empty words. Details later.
He checked his watch. Current time: 1:42 AM. Less than three hours to Kowalski's deadline. Plenty if straight shot out, but unrealistic.
============================ Author's Note ============================
#47FT MLB
One note on historical accuracy. The boat in the story originally lacks a .50 cal heavy machine gun mount. Up on the 1.5 deck above the cockpit, under the radar mast, there's only a light machine gun mount (MK16 Mod-8 Stand).
But it's not that it can't handle the weight. Even much smaller 8-ton Defender boats operate heavy machine guns... In the story, it's set up with a new mount on the forward deck for fire support.
I'll upload part of the cockpit console from the manual for story reference. Might help while reading.
#Q&A
Q. Gliese581: @(Strategy) In the previous Q&A, you mentioned post-mortem guarantee grade S exists. Is S the highest? Handling state secrets suggests S-grade requires connections to politics, influence, state power beyond just wealth or deposits?
A. Yes and no. In this era, wealth is power.
Q. Siroki: @Joanna keeps steadily putting Winter in dangerous spots. He's a soldier, not even from her organization, yet she tells him about secret experiments so he has no choice but to go along, and this chapter she mentions the distress signal... Knowing his personality, why bother telling him? Sharing guilt? Pushing decisions to avoid responsibility? Bluntly, "I can't, you handle it." When was she ever conscientious...? Seems like a master key holder poking around everywhere. Results were good, but... really hate her.
A. Heh. Fair feeling. Like after Walking Dead S2: Clementine! Help here! Clementine! Take that guy out! Clementine! How could you... What are you doing to a 12-year-old...
Anyway, Winter's a hero. In this case, head knows it's impossible, but... what if? Heroes embody hope.
Don't hate her too much. :)
Q. Carpice: @Grrr sounds of innocence charging! So take this innocence-filled coupon! And inject our Winter with super soldier serum! He's becoming America's boss!
A. Winter's already superhuman. As popular as the boss, with as many pinning hopes on him.