FVN Chapter 177: Killing it Part 2
Chapter 177: Killing it Part 2
"It’s retreating."
Captain Weber immediately stepped closer toward the sonar display.
"Direction?"
"Descending southwest," the sonar operator answered quickly. "Speed decreasing, but it’s still moving."
The captain stared at the tactical map silently for a second.
The creature was badly wounded.
That much was obvious.
But wounded did not mean dead.
And if they allowed something that massive to escape into deeper water, there was no guarantee they would ever find it again. Worse, it might recover. It might adapt. It might return later and attack Subic Bay itself.
Captain Weber had already seen enough of the infected to understand one basic truth.
If something survived long enough, it usually became worse.
He grabbed the communications line immediately.
"Fleet command, this is Weber. Hostile contact attempting retreat. Recommend immediate pursuit and kill confirmation."
Above the surface, the lead destroyer received the transmission inside its Combat Information Center.
The destroyer captain stood near the tactical display while officers worked rapidly across their consoles. Outside, the ocean still burned from earlier missile strikes. Black blood floated across the surface in thick patches, spreading around severed tentacles and chunks of torn flesh.
One officer looked toward the captain.
"Sir, submarine reports hostile contact is diving southwest."
Another officer quickly added, "If it reaches deeper water, our tracking will degrade."
The destroyer captain didn’t hesitate.
"All ships press the attack."
"Aye, Captain."
The order moved through the small fleet immediately.
Two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers adjusted course across the dark waters of the Philippine Sea while the cruiser behind them accelerated to maintain firing position. Their radars continued sweeping, but the main concern now was below the surface. Sonar crews shifted between active and passive modes while combat systems linked every available sensor into one shared tactical picture.
The creature was no longer just a target.
It was a threat to the fleet, to the submarine, and possibly to every coastal settlement humanity might try to rebuild.
On the lead destroyer’s flight deck, the SH-60 Seahawk lifted off again with its rotors beating hard against the sea air.
WHUP.
WHUP.
WHUP.
The helicopter climbed above the destroyer and banked toward the projected path of the retreating monster. Beneath its fuselage, it carried lightweight torpedoes designed for submarine warfare, but tonight nobody cared that the target was not a submarine.
If it moved underwater and could be killed by explosives, they would use anything that worked.
Inside the Seahawk, the tactical systems operator leaned over his display.
"Dipping sonar ready."
The pilot nodded while keeping the helicopter steady above the dark sea.
"Deploy."
A sonar transducer lowered from the helicopter into the ocean, hanging beneath the aircraft on a cable. Once submerged, it began scanning the water below, sending pulses through the sea and listening for the returning echoes.
PING.
The sound traveled downward.
Seconds later, the return came back.
The operator stiffened.
"Contact confirmed. Large biological mass. Bearing two-one-four. Depth ninety meters and descending."
The pilot immediately transmitted back to the fleet.
"Seahawk One to destroyer lead. Contact reacquired. Target descending southwest. Still within weapons range."
"Copy Seahawk One. Stand by for coordinated strike."
Beneath the surface, Captain Weber’s submarine moved carefully away from the creature’s direct path. The vessel had already taken several punishing blows. Outer plating had been deformed. One sonar array had partial damage. Section seven had contained minor flooding, but nobody onboard wanted to test the hull again.
Inside the command compartment, red battle lighting washed over tense faces.
"Contact range?" Weber asked.
The sonar operator adjusted his headset.
"Opening slightly. It’s trying to disengage."
"Depth?"
"Passing one hundred twenty meters."
"Weapons status?"
The weapons officer answered immediately.
"Tube three ready. Tube four ready. Tube two expended. Tube one expended. Wire guidance on both remaining fish is functional."
Captain Weber nodded once.
"Load firing solution. We’ll coordinate with surface assets."
"Aye, Captain."
The tactical display updated with incoming data from the destroyers and the Seahawk. Their systems combined active sonar returns, passive tracking, and estimated biological movement patterns into a constantly shifting target solution.
It was imperfect.
The creature did not move like a vessel.
It had no engine.
No propeller.
No fixed course.
Its movements were irregular because it was alive.
But now it was wounded.
And wounded things made mistakes.
Captain Weber leaned slightly toward the display.
"Target its central mass. Avoid tentacles unless they threaten the fleet."
The weapons officer nodded.
"Solution updating."
Above them, the cruiser opened the next phase of the attack.
"VLS cells hot."
"Fire ASROC pattern two."
Several RUM-139 anti-submarine rockets launched from the cruiser’s vertical launch system, shooting upward into the night before arcing toward the sea ahead of the retreating creature.
The rockets separated mid-flight and delivered torpedoes into the water.
Splash.
Splash.
Splash.
The torpedoes activated beneath the surface and began hunting.
Inside the lead destroyer, sonar operators tracked the weapons as they entered the engagement zone.
"Torpedoes active."
"Target is maneuvering."
"Creature increasing speed."
The monster sensed them.
Or maybe it felt the vibration.
Whatever the reason, the creature suddenly changed direction with frightening speed despite its injuries.
The torpedoes adjusted course.
One missed and detonated against the deep water after losing proximity.
The second struck a trailing tentacle.
BOOOOM.
The underwater explosion pushed a massive dome of water upward at the surface. Seconds later, a torn chunk of flesh floated up through black foam and blood.
The third torpedo drove deeper.
Then hit.
BOOOOOOM.
The explosion was larger this time.
On sonar, the creature’s entire shape distorted from the blast.
Inside the submarine, several crew members gripped their consoles as the shockwave reached them.
"Good hit!" the sonar operator shouted.
Captain Weber did not celebrate.
"Status of target?"
"Still moving, sir. Slower, but still moving."
Weber’s jaw tightened.
"Then we finish it."
He looked toward the weapons officer.
"Fire tube three."
"Aye, Captain. Firing tube three."
CLUNK.
WHOOSH.
The heavyweight torpedo launched from the submarine and accelerated through the dark water. Unlike the air-dropped weapons, this one was much larger and carried a heavier warhead. It was built to kill warships by breaking hulls open through shock and pressure effects.
The torpedo ran on guidance commands from the submarine, its wire trailing behind as the weapons officer adjusted the attack path.
"Fish running hot, straight, and normal."
The sonar display showed the weapon closing.
The creature tried to dive again.
"Correcting course," the weapons officer said.
The torpedo shifted.
The distance closed rapidly.
"Impact in five."
Everyone inside the command compartment went quiet.
"Four."
"Three."
"Two."
"One."
BOOOOOOOM.
The detonation struck near the creature’s lower body.
The sound that came afterward was not just an explosion.
It was a roar.
A deep, distorted, monstrous sound that traveled through the water and into the submarine hull. Several crew members looked up instinctively as if the creature were inside the room with them.
"Target surfacing again!" the sonar operator shouted.
Above the water, the sea erupted.
The gigantic cephalopod creature burst upward in a violent explosion of black blood, seawater, and torn flesh. Its massive body heaved above the surface, half of it shredded from torpedo impacts. Several tentacles hung limp. Others thrashed wildly, slamming into the ocean with enough force to throw white spray high into the air.
The destroyers immediately opened fire.
"Main gun, rapid fire!"
The Mark 45 five-inch naval gun on the lead destroyer thundered.
BOOM.
BOOM.
BOOM.
High explosive shells screamed across the sea and slammed into the exposed creature. Each impact tore open more of its rotting armored flesh. The second destroyer joined seconds later, its own naval gun firing in controlled rapid bursts.
The cruiser launched another pair of anti-ship missiles.
Harpoon missiles skimmed low over the water, their engines screaming as they raced toward the exposed monster.
One struck near its central body.
BOOOOM.
The explosion ripped open a large section of tissue and sprayed black blood across the ocean.
The second missile slammed into the base of a tentacle.
BOOOOM.
The appendage twisted violently before tearing loose and crashing into the sea.
The creature roared again.
This time the sound was weaker.
But it still fought.
One remaining tentacle lashed toward the lead destroyer.
"Brace for impact!"
The destroyer turned hard, but the tentacle still clipped the stern section. Metal groaned as the impact crushed railing and damaged several exposed deck systems.
"Damage report!"
"Minor structural damage aft! No critical flooding!"
The captain pointed toward the tactical display.
"Keep firing. Do not let it submerge."
Machine guns along the ship’s deck opened fire, their rounds mostly insignificant against the creature’s size but useful against exposed tissue and smaller growths crawling across its wounds. CIWS systems tracked movement automatically but held fire to avoid wasting ammunition on thrashing water unless tentacles came too close.
The Seahawk moved in next.
"Seahawk One, torpedo away."
A lightweight torpedo dropped from the helicopter and splashed into the water beside the creature. It activated and dove beneath the monster, seeking the largest acoustic return.
Seconds later, it detonated directly underneath.
BOOOOM.
The entire creature lifted slightly from the force of the blast.
For a moment, it seemed like the ocean itself had punched upward.
The monster’s body sagged afterward.
Inside the submarine, Captain Weber watched the sonar return begin to lose shape.
"Target movement degrading."
"Still alive?"
"Yes, sir. But it’s barely maneuvering."
Weber looked at the weapons officer.
"Tube four."
The officer understood.
"Tube four ready."
"Fire."
The final heavyweight torpedo launched.
It raced through the water beneath the battlefield while the surface ships continued pounding the creature from above. Shells exploded across its body. Missiles tore chunks out of its flesh. Black blood spread wider and wider until the ocean around it looked like ink.
"Final torpedo closing," the weapons officer said.
The creature made one last attempt to dive.
But it was too slow.
Too damaged.
The torpedo struck directly beneath its central mass.
BOOOOOOOOOOM.
The underwater blast ripped through the creature from below.
A massive column of water erupted upward, carrying pieces of flesh, shattered armored growths, and torn tentacle fragments into the air. The roar that followed was long and broken, fading into a low rumble that vibrated across the sea.
Then the creature collapsed.
Its massive body floated heavily on the surface, twitching once.
Then again.
Then it stopped.
The tentacles gradually sank around it.
Black blood continued spreading across the sea while steam and smoke rose from the burning wounds.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Not on the destroyers.
Not in the cruiser.
Not inside the submarine.
Everyone waited for movement.
None came.
Inside Captain Weber’s submarine, the sonar operator slowly removed one side of his headset.
"Captain..."
Weber turned toward him.
"Report."
The operator stared at his screen for another second before answering.
"Target movement has ceased."
Captain Weber walked closer to the display.
"Confirm."
The sonar team ran another scan.
Active pulse.
Passive read.
Thermal return.
No meaningful movement.
The creature was dead.
The captain finally exhaled slowly.
"Fleet command, this is Weber. Hostile marine contact neutralized. Repeat, hostile marine contact neutralized."
Above the surface, the lead destroyer captain received the confirmation and looked through the bridge windows toward the floating corpse.
Even dead, the thing looked terrifying.
A mountain of mutated flesh drifting in the Philippine Sea.
Then he transmitted back to Subic.
"Naval task group confirms kill."
Back in Subic Bay, Adrian stood inside the naval operations center as the report came through.
Ryan let out a breath he had been holding.
"They got it."
Adrian did not smile.
He stared at the live feed showing the enormous corpse floating on the ocean surface.
"One monster," he said quietly.
Ryan looked toward him.
"What?"
Adrian’s eyes remained fixed on the screen.
"That was one monster."
The room became quiet after that.
Because everyone understood what he meant.
They had just used submarines, destroyers, a cruiser, helicopters, missiles, naval guns, and torpedoes to kill one sea-based infected creature.
And the ocean was vast.
Too vast.
Adrian folded his arms slowly.
"Bring the body back if possible. If not, collect tissue samples and burn what remains."
"Yes, sir."