Chapter 3
by 
mally01
What was on the side?
Cave and a revelation.
Captain Bhanoa ordered a full stop and to have the Unison engage its hover mode just one hundred feet from the cave entrance. Once the Unison had come to a stop she order the remote underwater drone deployed to check out the cave while asking for depths. She was informed by the diving officer that they were at two hundred feet from the surface and they had two hundred feet beneath the keel. The remote operator reported that the drone had been deployed and the sonar operator confirmed he had the drone on his screen heading for the cave.
The images started coming back and they could just make out the swimming fish as the drone passed the bow of the submarine and dropped a few feet to line up with the cave. Being this high up there was no sedimentary disturbance to obscure the view as the drone approached the mount. As the mount started to rise the operator adjusted the drone to climb following the contour and its tiny motor stirred up a little sediment. As it found the cave entrance it took sonar measurements and they could see that the cave was natural and about eighty feet wide sixty feet high.
The drone entered the cave and its lights came on as the sensors adjusted to the darkness and on the screen back in Unison Capt Bhanoa could see the natural hewn sides of the cave but also noticed that there were some bare patches. It looked as if the patches had been created by man-made means. As the drone went further the operator had to increase the thrust to counter the current and still, the cave looked unending. Suddenly the drone picked up a shard of light that could not naturally be here so the operator raised the drone and it popped above the waterline and sent back its images.
Captain Bhanos was amazed to see a crumbling dock and gantry cranes but what really got her attention was the U boat tied up at the dock. She could make out that the hatches were open and as the drone got nearer she could make out the faded number on the conning tower U1226. As the drone got nearer the radiation alarm activated and the operator pulled it back from the U boat and the alarm stopped. Captain Bhanoa called the signals officer and dictated a message to be sent to the admiralty and ordered the diving officer to raise the Unison to communications depth.
" From H.M.S Unison Captain Bhanoa commanding.
To Commodore Submarine Services Admiral Bryant.
Have discovered an underwater cave at 56°30′N 20°00′W. Deployed our underwater drone to investigate and found the cave to be natural. Drone entered the cave and discovered what seems to be a world war two base. See attached video footage but we seemed to have discovered the final resting place of U1226. As the drone neared the Uboat the radiation alarm went off so we pulled the drone back. We await further orders."
Captain Bhanoa nodded and said to encode and transmit the message. She went back to the screen to survey the dock area just as her first officer joined her and looked at the image. Captain Bhanoa turned over command to the OOD and asked her first officer to join her in her cabin. When they entered the captain flicked the lock and they started to kiss and fondle each other messing up their uniforms. They collapsed on the bed in a passionate kiss while life went on as normal outside. They could only wait for a reply from Whitehall but the mystery was intriguing.