Vortex New Episode Posted !

[Brag]

Previous installments, including this one are posted on:
http://www.freewebs.com/kielman/

The low overcast began to break and splotches of sunlight speckled the Bay. The manning the rail detail had been dismissed the moment U-57 sailed past the Tirpitz and saluted the pennant of the senior officer afloat. Two men with a pressure hose finished washing the foredeck and moved aft.
Heissler removed his leather jacket and tossed it down the hatch. "Finally it's beginning to feel like spring," he said flapping his arms as if they were wings. "After lunch, I will open our orders and one of the world's greatest mysteries will be revealed. Did they give you sealed orders in the Spanish Navy?"
"The Chilean Navy, Herr Kaleun. Only during exercises once or twice a year."
"You have traveled a long way to get yourself into trouble."
Goss was tired of being on the defensive about his origins. Until they got back he would be in close proximity to the captain and his fellow officers. There would be neither privacy nor a way of avoiding people. "In Berlin and Flensburg I told everyone I did it to fulfill my duty as a German. It worked well with Admiralty and BDU staff. I don't think a true sailor would believe that rot."
"Ach. That gets more interesting. During one of our elegant dinners you will have to tell us." Heissler lifted his glasses and scanned ahead of the boat.
A Dutch tanker escorted by a destroyer were entering the bay.
Guss glanced through the UZO, the vorpostenboot leading them past the minefield was 500 meters ahead and U-57 on the precisely same heading.
"We're lucky. I managed to bribe Personnel and replace the goulash burner I inherited with this boat with a cook from the Hamburg Amerika Line." Heissler chuckled. "If one has to go to war, may as well do it in style."
"That must have been some coup."
"Heh. It's essential to have friends in high places."
Goss spotted a dot on the horizon. "U-boat ten degrees off the port bow."
"That would be Lehman, bagged 35,000 tons."

* * *

The Vorpostenboot signaled, "Bon Voyage & good hunting and headed back to harbor. Heissler saluted in his peculiar way, as if fanning his face.
An almost imperceptible swell lifted the bow and it settled back with a wooshing sound. Goss smiled, this was his favorite moment, being greeted by the open sea. Here and there the odd whitecap gave the sea a sparkling effect. Yes, yes! I'm a sailor again. Goss contained the almost overpowering exuberance.
Heissler glanced at his watch. "Heading three five zero. You have the con."
"Three five zero, Herr Kaleun."
Somewhat clumsily, like a bear, the captain vanished down the hatch.
Goss hung his leather jacket on the engine room voice pipe and placed his elbow on the port gunwale. The sun gave a pleasant warmth to his shoulders and the sea breeze cooled his chest. It was difficult to imagine more pleasant circumstances for going to sea. A pleasant journey to war. The notion sounded ridiculous and he chuckled to himself. To starboard, a cargo schooner was entering the bay. A Dane, probably loaded with hams. Goss liked sailing ships, even before his guardamarina cruise on the barque Esmeralda, he had signed up on a schooner for a couple of voyages to the Juan Fernandez Islands while on vacation. The pay was miserly but on the return passage to the mainland, they ate lobster on every meal, including breakfast.
Funny how his mindset had changed. In Chile, he had considered non-Navy sailors as some sort of lower form of life. Now, when he was in a different navy he realized that he had been a snob. He followed the Danish schooner with his gaze, envying them for visiting a different port every few nights.
His gaze rested on the bow of his ship. Unseen, but there, four torpedoes sat ready to create untold mayhem. This was no longer practice. The next ship that came in sight, they might have to sink it. Faced with this reality, a uncomfortable shiver traveled his spine.