//------------------------------//
// 1: The storm 
// Story: U-650 
// by BCCgb 
//------------------------------//

	"Captain! I have der allied convoy on the sonar, bearing of 2-4-0 degrees!" came the excited call from the sonar operator.  "Take us to periscope depth!" the captain ordered. With this order a sailor began to turn the dive-planes on the bow to ascend to periscope depth.

"At periscope Herr Captain!"

Captain Hochstetter walked over and gazed through the periscope. The clouds had closed in on the U-650 and the convoy. He could tell it was going to be a bad storm. Storms in the North Atlantic could get bad but Hochstetter knew this one would be worse then the rest they had encountered in the Atlantic on previous patrols. Then he saw the convoy, a group of about twenty cargo ships along with five destroyer escorts.

"Load torpedo tubes and stand by."

The men in the torpedo room quickly loaded the tubes then stood by to fire. Captain Hochstetter made some last second adjustments to the aiming.

"Fire torpedoes one and two!"

A whoosh could be heard throughout the U-Boat as the torpedo's fired. Hochstetter watched as the white trail the torpedo's left met with the side's of a destroyer and a cargo ship.

"Direct hit! One destroyer and one transport sunk! Reload tubes and prepare to fire again. Are tubes three and four ready?"

"Ja Captain!"

"Fire three on my mark.....................Fire three!"

Another whoosh was heard as a third torpedo left the sub. The torpedo hit a destroyer below its bow turret, detonating it's forward magazine full of high explosives. Hochstetter peered through the periscope aperture as rain begin to pelt the glass of the viewing device and lightning danced across the sky overhead.

"Bootsmann! Take us to 100 meters."

"Ja Herr Captain."

As the sub dove Hochstetter could hear the storm intensify. Even at 100 meters below the surface he could feel the U-Boat move with the raging ocean above them. 'This is not normal. At this depth the sub shouldn't be moving around like this' Hochstetter said in his head.

"Bootsmann! Take us to 150 meters."

"Ja Herr Captain."

Hochstetter ordered the submersible to level. Even at this depth he could feel the subtle, unnatural shift of the sea. The captain was well know in the Kreigsmarine for having a 'sixth sense' when it came to these strange occurrences. He was right when he had said the Bismarck could be sunk or when he said the allies would eventually capture a U-Boat and it's Enigma machine. He felt that something was going to happen this time that would end up with him and his crew in prison or sunk, or worse. To try and calm his nerves Hochstetter sat down to play cards with some men on the bridge. After several hours he felt the sub return to normal.

"Bootsmann! Surface the boat."

"Ja Herr Captain."

When the submarine broke the surface Hochstetter climbed outside. The storm had subsided and Captain Hochstetter saw a coastline in the distance. Peering through his binoculars he saw nothing but beaches and trees right up to the horizon.


As Rainbow Dash flew over the coast of the Equestrian Sea she saw a grey boat off in the distance, a boat that was far to big to be from Equestria.