Fatal Thunder: A Jerry Mitchell Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

Samant, who found it hard to make friends. Being a captain wasn’t supposed to be a popularity contest.
    As they sat, Samant asked, “Why are you meeting the admiral here and not at the headquarters building on INS Circars ? And on Sunday? Is this about Chakra ’s progress, or are they going to give you a third stripe, now that you’re in command?”
    “You haven’t heard, then?” Jain was surprised. “About the change in the refit schedule?”
    Samant, confused, shook his head. “I’ve been trying to focus on getting the program back on schedule and ignored all the bedlam. Bad as it is, I don’t see how it has much to do with what we’re doing.”
    “They cut our yard period short, Cap—I mean, sir. We’re to sail on April tenth.”
    “What?!” Samant was thunderstruck. He knew exactly what Chakra ’s status was, as of a week and a half ago. The tenth of next month? That is insane! “Why?”
    “I don’t know, sir. My main concern right now is getting Chakra ready for sea. It’s not just that the boat’s in pieces. I’ve got people on leave and in training, and if we’re going to sea, I’m already behind in arranging for torpedoes and stores…”
    “But you’re not going to ask why they’ve made the change?” Samant pressed.
    “I’ll let the officers with stars on their shoulders worry about why. I’ve got enough on my plate.”
    That didn’t sit right with Samant, but he held his peace. If Jain had asked him to go with him to meet with the admiral and demand an explanation, he would have gone, but Jain didn’t ask.
    They talked about other things: an upcoming memorial in June for the men lost on Arihant , some of whom they’d both known, and the progress, or lack of progress, of the war.
    It was time for Jain to leave, and Samant tried to put as much warmth into his farewell as he had into the greeting. He did wish Jain well, even if he was worried about Chakra ’s fortunes under his command. She wasn’t Samant’s boat anymore, and he had to get used to that.

 
    2
    CHAOS
    13 March 2017
    0845 Local Time
    Director General Naval Projects, Ship Building Centre
    Visakhapatnam, India
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    This is absurd! How in God’s name do those idiots expect me to do my job! Samant mentally shrieked. He impatiently erased the tangled lines on his production schedule and tried yet another approach. When he pushed his mechanical pencil down on the paper, the thin lead broke—again. And despite his forceful clicking of the eraser, nothing emerged from the narrow point. In utter frustration, Samant flung the mechanical pencil at the wall. Doesn’t anything in this office work as it’s supposed to?! He rubbed his eyes and yawned. He’d been at this fruitless exercise for over three hours. With a resigned sigh, Samant reached the inescapable conclusion that his program would be dead in the water for at least a month, and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.
    Soon after Jain’s visit, Samant received an e-mail from Vice Admiral Dhankhar’s chief of staff informing him of the temporary transfer of all his senior engineers and program managers to support the greatly accelerated INS Chakra refit. With only inexperienced junior engineers and naval architects left in the office, there was little hope of getting any meaningful work done. Those “children” needed adult supervision just to find the bathroom, let alone figure out the engine room layout for India’s next class of nuclear submarines. With frustration bubbling up inside him, Samant walked over and poured himself another cup of tea. Sipping the hot Earl Grey, he weighed his very limited set of options. He’d have to carefully word his response to the chief of staff on the impact the transfer would have on his project. It wouldn’t pay to be viewed as a complainer this early in his new assignment.
    His new, prestigious assignment. Bah! It was more like hell. Two weeks ago, he was the commanding officer of the hottest boat in the