USS ENTERPRISE

ATLANTIC OCEAN

Julia Bitrerlich looked at the coffee in her hand and she smelled it with an almost nostalgic look on her face. As she sat down she said, “boy, this sure takes me back.”

Indy had gotten himself a cup of the same coffee and there was nothing about it that made him want to sniff it. He could barely tolerate the taste but, at the moment, it was also not what caught his attention. Biterlich had said, “back?” She was just a kid! How far back could that be?

“Quantico, Doctor Jones,” Julia told him. “This coffee reminds me of when I was going through special warfare school at Quantico, four years ago.”

Indy sat down across the little galley table from her and he was still slightly confused, “same navy brand?”

“No,” Julia replied with an almost sassy look. Then she winked and said, “I was thinking more like this was the exact same pot of coffee from four years ago.”

Indy laughed, “well, you actually have a sense of humor. I hope Donovan doesn’t find out.” He kept on laughing even if the last statement were not really a joke.

It seemed as if Julia fully understood that as well, “what happened between you two? He makes the same little quips about you.”

That was equally deserving of a laugh that Indy trailed off by saying, “when you haul me to Alcatraz, then you can pull out the rubber hoses and find out.”

Julia leaned forward with a cute little smile and said, “I only use rubber hoses when I’m diving. For that I prefer to use…”

The annoying, and particularly loud, claxon drowned out all noise in the nearly empty galley. It was followed by a voice that was suppose to be an alarm but, instead, sounded alarmed, “now here this, general quarters, general quarters, this is not a drill.”

The few sailors in the galley were running for the door. The cook vanished back behind the counter. Indy was on his feet and he grabbed Julia’s hand, “let’s not get stuck in here. They’re about to start slamming doors on us.”

At first they ran for an open deck but, as it turned out, Indy’s worry was misplaced. The Big E was running on a skeleton crew and both he and Julia had to stop and actually help the sailors close off all of the water tight compartments. When they were done they found their way down to the hangar deck and one of the opened sides that looked out on the ocean. They found Trevor Grant standing by the chain railing and watching one of their two escort destroyers with a pair of binoculars. He finished reading the signal light message before he noticed his two companions.

Julia was the first to ask, “do you know what’s going on?”

“Unfortunately,” Grant replied. “An hour ago we received a communiqué that the Nazi’s had, in effect, put a bounty on the Enterprise. They’re sending every U-boat they have into the Atlantic to look for us.”

Indy looked out at the sea. He knew what side of the ship he was on. He knew it was late evening and the sky, from his point of view, was dark. That told him a few things like, for one, they were steaming north. For another, the view from the other side of the ship was probably still all red and gold from the sun set. Now he understood why their other escort destroyer was moving up quickly on it’s sister ship. It had been stationed on the other side of the carrier but, now, the Big E was perfectly silhouetted from this side. If the U-boats really were looking for them then this would be the danger zone over here.

After Indy verbalized his thoughts, Grant replied with a certain amount of calm, “not looking for. It would appear that at least one of them found us.” He pointed out ahead of the destroyers, “it’s very hard to see from here but, the destroyer was just signaling that they have a contact, surfaced, right over there somewhere.”

Now Julia was concerned, “surfaced?” She reached out and snatched the binoculars from Grant. She scanned the ocean but the growing darkness in the east made it impossible to really see much out there. She grunted in frustration, “did they say what the U-boat’s course was?”

“The destroyer did,” Grant replied, “apparently our Nazi friend is moving on a similar course to us.”

Indy mulled that one over. If that sub driver was planning on attacking he would be on an almost opposite course to the carrier. What the nazi’s appeared to be doing was riding along. Of course, the U-boat would not be able to do it for long since the American flotilla could increase speed and easily out run them. That left Indy wondering what the purpose of all this was. He put it out to his colleagues, “they were either following us submerged for a while and had to come up to recharge their batteries or…”

Julia handed the glasses back to Grant as she injected, “they’re about to fall behind and they want us to know they’re out there. It’s a good bet they’ve already radioed our position to every other sub in the Atlantic.” She began walking away at a quick pace. As almost an afterthought, she yelled back, “I’ve got to get to the bridge. You gentlemen excuse me.”

When she arrived on the bridge she found the activity level very hectic. Captain Pownall, with a tin hat on his head and flotation vest around he neck, was busy taking reports and issuing orders. For some reason, he appeared to expect Julia. When he saw her standing by the door, the Captain nodded for the Marine to let her in. When she joined him he said, “your message is in the radio room, back that way.”

What message was he talking about? Julia had no idea so she asked him what was really on her mind, “what’s the situation?”

Pownall had to remind himself that he had to use a different standard with his current compliment of cargo. Even if there had been a flag officer on board, he would have had sense enough not to badger the ships captain at a time like this. Civilians did not know any better and, unfortunately, Pownall was under orders to let them bother him at any time they pleased. Of course, Pownall chose to consider the unsaid part of his order and it was that this did not go as far as endangering his ship which, in turn, endangered his career. That was to say nothing of his life. Unfortunately, right now, the situation was not that bad so he had to treat this woman civilian as if she were his superior.

“If you must know Miss Bitrerlich,” Pownall told her, “we’re headed for Hampton Roads, those are my orders. We do, however, have several more destroyers and two light cruisers headed our way on an intercept course. They should be joining us in a few hours.”

Julia did not feel as safe as Pownall apparently was, so she asked, “what about our friend out there?” The captain developed a strange look on his face. It was obvious he was wondering how she knew about the U-boat. Julia told him, “you know, they do teach us, in the OSS, how to read signal lights.”

It was apparent that Pownall had not cared for her to know about the nazi boat. He waved the entire affair off, “those destroyers, out there, have several five inch guns trained on that boat. The Germans know it and that skipper would be a fool to so much as flinch. We’ve already warned them of our intentions. I have yet to see, Miss Bitrerlich, a Nazi sub driver that was stupid. To be quite frank with you, I’m more worried about the bastards we haven’t seen.”

“When you put it that way,” Julia replied.

Pownall just pointed to one of the doors at the back of the bridge and repeated himself, “radio room is down that corridor. Just talk with the Chief, he’ll square you away.”

The fact that they were headed back for port did not bother Julia as much as it might have. Just before all of this had begun, she had been told by Rickover that the electrical damage, from the first test, was extensive enough that he really needed to be in a repair yard. He also wanted to replace one of the ships generators. You could not exactly keep spare generators laying around since they were just too big. That had to be replaced in port and, so, they were headed back to Philly anyway.

Even the sighted U-boat did not bother her so much as the fact that, apparently, the Germans were sending everything they had at the Enterprise. Why they wanted to do it was not so important either. What truly disturbed Julia was the fact that they even knew to do it at all! Then she had to wonder if they really wanted to sink the Big E, or drive her off the water.

The Stargate might not have turned out to be a weapon like they had first thought but, now that they knew exactly what it did, Julia realized, it was even more important to keep Hitler from getting his grubby little hands on it. It had been obvious, at least to Julia, that the Nazi’s knew of the rings existence for at least a couple of years. They had tried to snatch it in Cairo and on the open sea. The American Intelligence establishment, namely Bill Donovan, didn’t believe that to be the case but, Julia did. Maybe now, Donovan would listen to her.

When she reached the radio room they did not let her in the door. Julia got the impression that it had less to do with security and more to do with the fact that the place was quite cramped. Real ships were not as roomy as the sets you saw in a Hollywood double feature. The Chief Petty Officer, who seemed to be the guy that really ran this room, finally paid her some attention and had a manila envelop ready for her. He handed it to her at the door and then seemed to forget all about her. Julia opened the folder, that was stamped Top Secret, and she read the decoded message inside. She gasped and mumbled, “oh my god. What are those idiots trying to do! Start another war!”