Chapter 34: Precious Time

USS McCain- US Fleet

English Channel- Europe

3 Hours and 2 Minutes After Contact…

The McCain, treading water for about an hour or more, stuck to its current course to the new rendezvous point, where they were to meet with the rest of the US and NATO fleet. The grey destroyer road along the calm waves of the English Channel, the bright sun beaming down onto them as the ship and water started glimmer. The blue sky was almost clear, where almost no clouds were above. The calm sound of the English Channel calmed down the crew after their engagements, giving them a sense of security as there was not even one more contact to spot. The crewmen still manned their stations, ready for any attack what so ever, if Xana's ships were to appear over the horizon or worse… from under the water.

Mark, Lacy, Andy, Yumi, and Ulrich were in the bridge, overlooking the ocean as the ship cautiously moved through the light waves. Birds flew overhead as the ship continued onward. The shield was visible if they were to look up, the waves of energy like the waves of water that was slightly bumping into the destroyer. All was quiet. But, too quiet.

Mark, with his binoculars, looked ahead of him, searching for any signs of Xana's ships. Mark and Lacy was hanging out with McKenzie over by the comm link, chatting and relaxing. Ulrich and Yumi, however, were by themselves, sitting in seats that belonged to some of the crewmen before they went below decks to rest up.

"Where did Xana's ships go?" Yumi asked Ulrich. Ulrich was as puzzled as anybody on the bridge.

"I don't even know." Ulrich replied. "May be their hiding."

"But, why?" Yumi asked.

"He may be waiting for us to fall into a trap or something'." Ulrich said, throwing out a random guess about what Xana might do. Both of them never seen this kind of behavior before. They never have seen him strike first and then leave.

"What ever he's doing, though, I don't like it one bit." Yumi told Ulrich. "I have a feeling he'll show up." Mark then lowered his binoculars. He had seen none of Xana's ships at all. Ever since they disappeared, none of them decided to pop up from the water or even fall into the water and burst from underwater. He overheard Yumi and Ulrich, then closing his eyes. 'Maybe their right,' Mark thought. 'It might be a trap.'

"McKenzie, anything from the fleet yet?" Mark asked. McKenzie bolted up from his leaning position.

"Negative, sir." McKenzie replied.

"Damn it." Mark said. As he looked over the horizon, he saw a system of weird towers forming, the tall black structures sitting still. Mark quickly raised his binoculars and then zoomed in to see what they were. Mark was left speechless.

"Holy shit." Mark said. "What is that?"

"Lemme see." Andy said, taking the binoculars from Mark and then looking at the tall, black towers in the water, running all the way from England to France. Andy was as stunned as Mark."What the hell is that?" Andy asked Mark.

"I don't know." Mark replied. "But, we're not sticking around to find out."

"Yes, sir." Andy replied, reversing the full engine output to reverse the ship and to turn around. Ulrich and Yumi stood up.

"What's going on?" Yumi asked, looking out the windows.

"I don't know." Mark replied. "That's why we're not going to find out." As the ship started get farther from the towers, some sort of blue light started to form at the center of the line of towers. The rest were transferring some sort of energy to the center tower, which was taller than the rest of the other towers. The taller, black tower in the center then shot up a huge ray of blue energy, then hitting the current shield. The ray was creating huge waves of energy to reinforce the shield or something of the sort. The heavy sound of the laser beam could be heard from the ship as the ray continued to shine brightly and transmit energy to the shield.

"Holy crap." Mark said, his jaw hanging open. "What are they doing?" Mark then turned to McKenzie. "Contact the fleet, now!"

"Aye, sir." McKenzie said, then leaving the bridge to contact the fleet. As he left, Yumi and Ulrich stood next to Mark. Yumi then turned on her phone and dialed in Jeremy's number. It was ringing.

"Who are you calling?" Mark asked.

"Jeremy." Yumi replied.

"Can he help us?" Mark asked.

"Yeah." Yumi told Mark. The phone got through to Jeremy.

"Yumi, is that you?" Jeremy asked over the phone."Yeah, it's me." Yumi replied. "Listen, we have a huge problem here." Jeremy sighed.

"What's the issue?" Jeremy asked.

"There is a collecting of towers blocking our way and it seems that… it's transmitting some sort of energy." Yumi explained to Jeremy, surprised.

"Let me scan for it." Jeremy said. Then, there was a short silence over the phone.

"I can't believe it." Jeremy told her. "The towers are there."

"Can you find out what they do?" Yumi asked Jeremy.

"Well, I can try." Jeremy told her. "However, it might take some time."

"Just do it." Yumi told him.

"Okay, I might have the information tonight." Jeremy said.

"Alright, talk to you later." Yumi replied.

"Bye." Jeremy said, then hanging up the phone. Yumi hung up hers and then put it into her pocket.

"What's Jeremy doing?" Ulrich asked Yumi.

"He's looking for what that ray does." Yumi explained. Mark looked to Yumi.

"Is there any other way that he can help us?" Mark asked Yumi.

"I'll ask him when he calls back tonight." Yumi told Mark.

"Tonight?" Mark asked.

"Yup, tonight." she told Mark. As they were about to continue their conversation, McKenzie entered the bridge.

"Mark, we got a problem." McKenzie advised Mark. They followed McKenzie down into CIC, overlooking the map of the area. McKenzie picked up the pencil and drew a line across the English Channel, highlighting the area where the towers are.

"The towers are here, blocking our main route." McKenzie said. "We have to move all the way around and then move through the waters between England and Scotland. Then we move around Ireland and then get to the rendezvous."

"The shield is that long?" Mark asked.

"It didn't block some water routes on the other side." McKenzie answered. "So, we'll take those routes.""Alright." Mark replied. "Andy, get the ship topside and get this ship over to the other side quickly. We're heading down south to go around."

"Aye, sir." Andy replied. Yumi and Ulrich stood behind Mark, looking over the map as well.

"Mark, how long would it take?" Ulrich asked.

"It may take until tonight to just reach the area to the south." Mark replied.

"I hope we get there in time." Ulrich said.

"I hope the fleet may be there by the time we do." Mark told Ulrich.