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The Captain of the Ohio-class submarine, the USS Colorado, Marcus Chaplin is a man of principle, honor, and duty. When questionable orders arrive to fire a devastating nuclear strike on Pakistan, rather than blindly obey, Marcus questions the order, and ultimately refuses it, laying himself and his senior officers open to charges of mutiny and treason. But in that moment, Marcus embodies the core tenet of the US Navy’s Honor Concept: to “stand for that which is right.” Spurred by this intrinsic belief, Marcus leads his crew in blazing a new path – one marked with questions of loyalty, sacrifice, and what it means to be an American. As a man who has lost many dear to him in the service of country, Marcus’ personal journey is especially perilous. In him, we have a puzzle that could tip either way: Is he George Washington, leading a band of hopefuls away from a mad world; or is he Captain Kurtz from Apocalypse Now, a man ultimately corrupted by power, who led his people into a dark and inescapable vortex.
As XO of the Colorado and Marcus’ second in command, Sam Kendal is more pragmatist than philosopher. More man of action than sideline coach. But with a built in moral compass, some actions don’t come easy. In their many years together on the Conn of the Colorado, Marcus and Sam have developed an easy cadence, an effortless rhythm in piloting one of the most powerful weapons vessels in the world. In the weeks to come, as he tries to maintain the easy synch he’s shared with Marcus for so long, Sam will be pushed into places where there are no good and simple solutions. And if there’s one thing that can trump Sam’s allegiance to Marcus, it’s his commitment to his wife, Christine. For Sam, his loyalty and debt to Marcus is something he will continuously weigh against his love for Christine and his vision of a home that is rapidly shrinking on the horizon.
Lieutenant and Chief Navigator of the Colorado, Grace Shepard is among the first wave of female officers to serve on US submarines. Being a pioneer is never easy, and Grace’s commission is made more difficult by being tinged with nepotism. Grace’s father, Admiral Arthur Shepard, not only has an office at the Pentagon, he counts Marcus as a longtime friend. Grace has to endure the grumbling of the enlisted men, knowing that, on some level, their resentment is justified. Her only recourse is to earn the respect of the crew in her own right – stand on her own two feet without Daddy or Marcus propping her up. Grace’s proving ground presents itself sooner than expected – a baptism by gunfire from which she emerges wounded but victorious, and also quietly exhilarated. As she moves through this volatile emotional terrain, Grace will discover a hunger for leadership.
After an operation in Pakistan goes south, Navy Seal James King finds himself on a Zodiac in the middle of the Indian Ocean. With members of their team dead, and another gravely wounded, James and the Seals are on a short fuse by the time the Colorado picks them up. The trouble begins when Marcus questions the order to fire on Pakistan, and only worsens when the Colorado is in turn fired on by another US submarine. When his Seals Commander is killed in the sub action that follows, James finds himself the de facto leader of the team. But once his feet hit the sands of Sainte Marina, the only mission he’s interested in is to down as much booze as the island’s only bar can pour. His desire to obliterate the last 48 hours is made all the more palatable by Tani, the lovely Sainte Marina native behind the bar. James takes no orders from Marcus, saying that he doesn’t know what this operation is any more, but it sure as hell ain’t the Navy.
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A native of France and a citizen of the world, Sophie Girard is a trained scientist who happens to be employed by NATO in Sainte Marina when Marcus pulls up his nuclear submarine on the island’s shores. A deeply empathetic person, Sophie is troubled by the death and disruption that the Colorado has brought to Sainte Marina. Her time on the island has led to genuine bonds, among the native people and, more dangerously, the corrupt, self-proclaimed “mayor” of Sainte Marina’s two-road town, Soubourg. While initially reluctant to provide Marcus and Sam the benefit of her knowledge and connections, Sophie eventually concedes that she can do more good if she stays. Also swaying her decision to stay is her complicated relationship to Sam. She’s not used to being around honorable men and while there’s an attraction, ironically it’s that very honor – his unwavering devotion to his wife, Christine – that may keep him from ever reaching for Sophie.
As Sam’s wife for only two years, Christine Kendal has spent more days without her husband than with him. In many ways, they’re still in the honeymoon phase; the constant separations and reunions fueling the passionate romance between them. While marrying a Naval Officer during wartime has allowed her to retain and nurture her independent spirit, Christine can’t help but feel her life is in limbo. Before Sam left on this tour, she made him promise it would be his last. That he’d come home to her. That they’d start a family. Now with that dream cruelly ripped away, Christine is forced to find a steel inside herself she never knew she had: to defend her husband against accusations of treason; to fight, and possibly compromise herself, to clear his name.
Growing up in the killing fields of Liberia, Julian Serrat was born looking for ways to survive. Small of stature, but large of presence, Serrat learned early on how to command respect – by exploiting every loophole, extorting any mark, and cutting off the hands of anyone who steals from him. Serrat found his way to the island via the black market. Perfectly situated to serve as a way station, Sainte Marina provided the ideal home for Serrat – a strategic hub where money, drugs, and guns flowed to him with little effort, as well as a tropical paradise to feed his taste for all of life’s pleasures. Since the arrival of the NATO station, Serrat has made himself a little kingdom here, skimming cash and being the de facto boss of the town. Is the arrival of the Colorado a nuisance or an opportunity for him? Knowing Serrat, it will likely become the latter. One way or another.
A native of the island by blood, Tani Tumrenjak’s roots in Sainte Marina are more tangled than they might appear. Her father left the island as a young man, and met Tani’s mother in Australia where they lived for many years, before he decided to take his young family back to his home. Having spent her formative years in a more permissive Western culture, Tani had to adjust to the simpler ways of her father’s tribe. When her mother died (the result of the island’s lack of proper medical care) Tani rebelled. One foot in and one foot out, Tani runs the bar in town, hoping to make enough money to earn her a ticket back into the world. When the Colorado lands on her doorstep in the form of a handsome Navy Seal with a brick of cash, she’s more than willing to take both the Seal and the cash. While having a nuclear sub parked in the harbor of what used to be the middle of nowhere might unnerve anyone else, Tani takes it in stride. Hell, it might be the most exciting thing that will ever happen to her.
