[MantiBrutalis]

As experienced by captain Georg Braun, 7th March 1941, 05:08, U-104 “Lucky Halibut”, 500km northwest of Madeira.

Yet again babysitting this useless guy. I just can’t trust his skills anymore, I am responsible for this entire boat and its every single sailor. I can’t let him kill us all. I even listen through the hydrophones myself half the time, just to be sure. But there is not a single ship around here. We need to find something. I hope the BdU lets us sail somewhere else or this patrol could be a waste of time.

“Take her up. We need fresh air,” I order while going back to the control room.
Exciting whisper stops me before I get there: “Wait! Contact, 135. Slow.”
I hastily return to Max’s side while ordering to maintain our depth and take one of the headphones for myself. 5 seconds… 10 seconds…

“But I don’t hear –“ I start to speak just to be interrupted.
“Shh! The waves. You can hear it for a few seconds when it dips lower in the waves,” he whispers with his eyes closed.

I close my eyes too, but it doesn’t help. I don’t hear anything. I open my eyes again and watch Max’s hand indicating the engines rotations. Four times… Then nothing for a few seconds. Then again, five more engine revs and nothing. I can see his hands, yet I don’t hear anything. But he seems sure of it.

I start to leave, when Max adds: “It is quite far away. But I am sure it is there.”

Let’s test his skills then: “Full ahead, surface the boat. Course 250.”