1CHAPTER 1: DAS BOOT
It was a usual morning in Surabaya, one of the largest cities in Indonesia. Due to the movement of the tectonic plates, half the region of the city was submerged. At first, it was a major issue. Many major roads were submerged causing massive traffic jam. Peoples who worked in Public Transportation forced to stop their working activity thanks to that. But now with the evolution of water transportation the problem soon solved.
Meanwhile, the port was crowded as usual. Several fishing vessel has gone for fishing while the cargo and cruise ships sailed away to and fro. Water bus and train transported their passengers to their destination places. The rest of the ships, both civilians and militaries alike were docked. One particular ship was a submarine. A German built Improved Type 209-class submarine to be exact.
The sub was painted in dark grey color with several blue linings on its body. There was number 'S401' on its hull along with word 'Cakra' on the bow. There were also a lot of sailors either boarding it or loading supplies on it. All of the sailors were in their third year class in SMK Taruna AL Surabaya or Navy Cadet High school of Surabaya. They were the students in the submarine specialist department and the soon to be member of the Golden Shark, a submariner corps in the Indonesian Navy.
One particular sailor, a sixteen years old boy stood on the piers, watching the submarine calmly. His black colored semi-short crew cut hair and brown eyes was closed by his white navy cap. What makes him different from the other sailor were his officer saber on his waist and his rank insignia; three chevrons above three inverted arcs. After he finished watching the ship, he turned around and walked away. Occasionally, several sailors he passed quickly saluted him. He saluted them back before they continue their activity.
Then a group of four boys approached him along with a German Shepard dog. Unlike the other boys, they only wore the Indonesian Navy grey 'Sailing Camouflage' instead of Dress Uniform. "Kapten!"
The boy turned around to see all the four of them saluted him. He then saluted back. "At ease!" The four of them lowered their hand.
One of them approached the captain. "It has been a long time, Surya," The VBSS unit leader, Faisal Perdanakusuma said, shaking his hand before hug him.
"Yeah, you too Faisal," The captain, Surya Nur Hikari replied before releasing him. He then shook the other VBSS members' hands before looking to the Shepard. "Well, I know all about the Golden Shark VBSS unit, but I've never heard of a dog setting foot on a sub."
"Well, sir, this is not just a dog, this is Nigger," One of them, an Eastern Indonesian boy, Paul Rambe said as he patted the dog. He is known as the team heavy weapon specialist.
"And he is a mean, first-class operator," the other member continued. This time from the team's designated marksman, a Balinese boy named I Gede Bayu Wardhana and also the youngest and shortest of the unit.
Surya smiled as he watched Nigger 'stood in attention' with his tails swaying. "By the way, who the hell give his a name like that?"
The last member answered. "Well, the owner is a nigga, so-" Before he finished, Paul slapped the back of his head. "Ouch! What the fuck, man?" The second in command and the most laid back member of the unit, Erwin Hendradiningrat whined.
"Can you stop being a racist? Beta tidak suka![1]" Paul yelled angrily.
"Hey, hey, stop it! The Captain is watching!" Faisal shouted, glaring on his two men. "Sorry for my men impoliteness, sir. I promise I'll discipline them later," He looked back to his men, smiling innocently as some sort of dark aura emitted from him.
The three boys quickly cowered in fears while the captain just laughed nervously. "You don't need to do that, Faisal. And please drop the 'sir', for a while," He said before adjusting his officer cap. "Well, you guys should put your baggage on your quarter. We are going to weigh anchor at twenty hundred hours. Better get yourselves prepared."
"Siap!" The four of them said in unison while Nigger barked once before they walked to their quarter.
After they left, Surya returned his attention to his new ship, leaning on the rail. His last one, KRI Pasopati, a Soviet built Whiskey-class submarine was currently being refitted for better sonars and weapons. Thanks to that ship, he had tons of experience commanding a sub. She also made him to become one of the best captains in his school. Even the Indonesian Navy Special Force, the KOPASKA invited him to join them but he declined it, saying become a submariner is his dream.
Someone then approached the captain and leaned on the rail beside him. "Surya, what do you think of our new ship?" He said. It was Yudistira Hartono or usually called 'Yudi', Surya's Executive Officer and his close friend since he entered the school. "Me? I prefer the Pasopati. This German Engineering thing is too digitals for me."
"Well, I don't care about it. As long as it has functional sonar, some torpedoes, and can submerge I'm okay with it. Beside our mission is to test our new locally made submarine launched missiles," He motioned to the crews who entered the missiles' capsule.
"Well you know what, I still don't have an idea why they choose a bunch of school boys like us to do this weapons test. I mean there are a lot of more experienced sailors in the Navy."
"Our job is to follow order and not questioning it," The Captain said in stern tone. "If you ask, maybe it's because our class is the so-called the best since the corps created."
Both of them silently watched the Irian, a Sverdlov-class cruiser and the Indonesian Blue Mermaid's largest warship set sail along with her escorts. The ship was indeed going for training since 2 Japanese Destroyer, the Inazuma and Ikazuchi sailed alongside them. They were also accompanied by the Navy frigate, the Oswald Siahaan.
After seeing the guided missile frigate, Yudi broke the silent within them. "I wonder if they will give us some Yakhonts, It'll be fucking awesome," Yudi chuckled.
"I doubt they will, we are still students and they think we will go all happy trigger if they gave us something as OP like that," Surya turned to see his XO. "Let's check our supplies, shall we?"
"Aye Aye," Both of them then walked side by side to the supply warehouse.
"By the way, have you got rid of that Hammer and Sickle paint on your Makarov replica box?"
"Like hell I would. The MP understand it is intended to be Russian symbol not PKI[2]."
"Huh, damn Slavaboo."
Several months later, the Cakra arrived on their weapons test site, the Arctic Ocean. Sailing far away from home is one of the traditions for the Golden Shark's cadets before they graduate. Of course, the ship was at EMCON Alpha to keep their positions from being tracked.
Inside the submarine, two members of the VBSS team, Bayu and Erwin manned a U-Skipper, a dual-seat water vehicle that could move underwater. Due to its capability and size, it's become the best way of transportation for submarine. After the U-Skipper detached from the stern hatch, Bayu tied a rope to a piece of floating metal before giving a thumb up to the sailors on the sail and sailed away from the ship.
On top of the sail, Surya watched the whole ice covered waters of North Pole with his binocular, seeing the U-Skipper taking more distance from the outer deck of the conning tower.
"Cold this morning, tovarisch captain," the COB(Chief of the Boat) of the Cakra, a white haired Russo-Indonesian named Dimitri Rizki Hidayat commented.
"Um," Surya replied. "It's cold..." He noticed several North Pole animals like penguins standing on the iceberg not far from the sub. Those creatures curiously eyed the strange floating tube on the water. The captain smiled as he exhaled deeply. "...and hard."
Then Erwin reported. "Commando Post, this is Alpha. We are in position, going to drop the payload! How copy?"
"Solid Copy, Alpha! Get to safe distance and observe the target, over?" Dimitri replied before nodded to the captain. "It's time sir."
"Indeed," He said before both of them climbed down the hatch.
The surfaced submarine then submerged after the Ballast tanks was flooded and the diving planes tilt downward.
"Set depth to 50 meters, dive dive!" The Helmsman, Tatang Kurniawan said.
Surya walked to his command seat in the center of the Command Center. As he took his seat as he noticed Yudi shivered. "It's fucking cold. I should have taken that Computer Based Test back at Homeland," He said, clutching his jacket tightly.
"Well then XO, let's see if we can get your frozen ass back to Surabaya," Surya said before turning to the chief weapons officer. "Ari, our Skipper just dropped the target for our final missile test. Target 2 meters long, a meter wide, and in the icy water there's no heat signature. Let's find it and kill it."
"Yes sir, with pleasure," Ari Kusuma, the chief weapons officer replied, turning to his console.
"Scanning for target. Target Acquired. Kill Track Sierra 1-7, bearing 0-4-3," Hengki Setiawan, a carefree Chinese descended Sonar Officer said as he zoomed in toward the target.
"F-FCS, k-kill track..." The shy, newly transferred Fire Control Specialist, Anggi Nugroho stuttered.
"It's okay, keep your mind calm," Ari told the boy who sat beside him, tapping his shoulder.
"Okay..." Anggi nodded. "FCS, kill track Sierra 1-7," He said, carefully locking the target on.
"NUB(New Useless Bitch)," Hengki chuckled.
Inside the Torpedo room, one of the boys supervised the torpedo tubes. "Tube 1 flooded, outer door opened, ready to fire!" The Machinist Mates, Weapons, Aditya Pranata or known just as Adit said.
Opening the safety glasses of the launch button, Anggi nervously pressed his finger on it.
A water-tight launched capsule fired from the torpedo tube. It launched upward, toward the surface. On leaving the water, the capsule ejected and the missile's motor ignited. It then launched itself on its target.
"Missile away! 3 minutes to impact," Hengki announced. Surya watched the missile flying toward its target through the radar. Every second, it inched closer to the target until detonation.
"Conn, Sonar, loud explosion from the bearing of Sierra 1-7," Erich said. Surya then stood up from his seat and made his way to his communication officer.
"Comm, get me Alpha please," He ordered.
"Yes sir," The Radio Officer, Erich Hermanto replied before connecting to the Alpha team.
Surya grabbed the intercoms and spoke. "Alpha, this is Commando Post, gimme SITREP over?"
After several seconds, comes Bayu's reply. "This is Alpha, target confirmed kill."
"Roger that, RTB now! Over," Surya placed back the intercoms.
Outside, on the surface of the cold water of arctic, a U-Skipper manned by Bayu and Erwin floated some kilometers away from the target. However, the said target now has reduced to rubbles by the firepower of the experimental missile. The exploded warheads also created a mushroom cloud of the ices debris.
Erwin exclaimed as he saw everything through his binocular. "Wow, that's some fearsome firepower."
"Yeah, let's get back to the sub buddy," Bayu said, dropping the intercoms back to its place and speed up back to the Cakra.
"I wonder when we are going to do this it on a real ship," Erwin said.
"What?! Hey, watch your mouth dude, your words can be your pray, you heard me?" Bayu said angrily.
Erwin sighed. He knows his friend is some kind of people who always stick to religion and believe the myth their parents told them. Not that Erwin doesn't believe them, but he always think logically first. "What do you mean, coeg[3]?! I never hoped to fire it on a warship full of peoples but to a retired, empty ship! It's just you being too paranoid."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever..."
Surya turned on the PA system and began speaking. "Good morning everyone, this is the captain speaking," Everyone in the boat listened on what their CO said. "After two very challenging weeks here in the Arctic Circle, we've just passed our final test, and I'm proud to say that you did it with flying colors. I'm asking the Ministry of Defense if we can break radio silence to make calls and mails. Bravo Zulu to each one of you, enjoy your success because we are going home."
"Yeah!" All of the crews onboard cheered and clapped their hands, celebrating their success. They all began to thinking of throwing a party once they back to the homeland. However, it was going to wait because...
"That's a negative, Captain. The mission is updated, over," Said the man on the other side of the intercom.
Of course, Surya was shocked after he heard it. "Updated? Why?" After hearing his captain reply, the blonde radio operator turned his attention on Surya. While he can't hear what the instructor from the school said, he knew it wasn't a good news because the captain clutching his headset all the time.
"Maintain radio silence and head for rally point at coordinate..." Surya listened intently as his instructor mentioned the coordinates. "The US submarine North Dakota will be there, follow their instruction. Refrain on contacting another ship, keep yourself hidden until you reach the rally point, you're trained for that."
"With respect sir, we aren't the part of the navy yet, why are-" Before he finished, he cut him off.
"You are already one and that's an order. Do your duty for your country sailor," He finally ended as he ended the transmission.
"Transmission terminated, sir," Erich said.
Surya put off the headset, harshly dropped it in annoyance. The captain turned to the COB who stood beside him. "Demit[4], inform every senior officers to gather in Executive Dining Room at fourteen hundred. We are going to have a meeting there," He said, calling him by the nickname which only a few peoples dare to call him that.
"Harasho," Dimitri replied before exiting the conn.
Surya then leaned on his chair. "Can the day get even worse than this?" He thought.
Some info:
[1] Lit means 'I don't like it' or 'I hate it' in Eastern Indonesian dialect.
[2] The acronym of 'Partai Komunis Indonesian'(Indonesian Communist Party). A Communist political party which active during Indonesian Old Order in 1945 – 1965. Their coup d'etat(still mystery) is the main reason why the Indonesian hate communist and become 'hammer and sickle'-phobia.
[3] A nickname for close friends like 'bro' or 'dude' from Javanese word 'Jancoeg'(which is a cursing word).
[4] Lit in Javanese means Ghost or in Indonesian 'Setan'. In English it might not be a harsh word but in Indonesian, don't ever call anyone that)
There we go the first chapter of the 'The Silent Hunter'. Oh, for the introduction, maybe it doesn't going to be needed 'coz my background isn't too important. I'm just another fucking weaboo who loves military, kawaii girls, Idol, Big O, and write fanfiction(s).
At first, I was going to merge this chapter with the chapter 2, so we can get right in the action scene and met the Haifuri main casts(or at least one of them), but I'm going to returned to my hometown tomorrow. I will update this story once I return, along with my other story.
This chapter take place at several weeks before the Haifuri which they will meet the Harekaze soon enough. Well, unlike the girls who are fighting for their lives and friends, the boys had their own missions. By the way, I doesn't intended to make this story to be some kind of nationalistic jingoistic propaganda, everyone is going to be portrayed in fair. I've write Strike Witches and Kancolle fanfic about an improved Arleigh Burkhe-class destroyer and now I'm trying to write something about submarine. My knowledge about the submarine might be false(I'm not a goddamn Tom Clancy), but of course I know about warships(I've played several simulator games and watch movies where I got a lot of references) including ASW, ASuW, and AAW(maybe the latter doesn't going to be needed a lot because as far as I know there are only UAVs in Haifuri).
By the way, the way to pronounced Indonesian names is the same like Japanese names. Actually it's a bit hard for me to decide their names. If you read my Strike Witches story, you will know about some of the crews.
About the new introduced vehicle, the U-Skipper is basically what I think about DSRV in 'The Hunt for Red October' but with futuristic design similar to dual-seat Skipper the Harekaze crews used. Instead of entirely covered by metals, the half top-side of the U-Skipper was covered by Bullet and Water Resistant glass like aircraft cockpit. It also has a small hole under it where it can be attached on submarine hatch where the crews can enter it while the sub submerged. At first, I'm thinking to base it on SDV but since the Type-209 submarine doesn't fit to be fitted with dry deck shelter, i turned it down.
Hope you noticed the references all of the references from the titles and dialogues. Oh, and please check out Nameless Slinger's 'Haifuri – Contact!', it's another cool Haifuri fanfic about sub.
Don't forget to subs- Uh nevermind, Prost!