John Ringo - To Sail a Darkling Sea

“The stores were stockpiled in the embarkation area. Most of them were in non-metallic containers so the infected were able to… access them. This led to high levels of infected in the embarkation area. The watertight doors between the embarkation area and the atrium on Deck Five were all open. Continued infiltration of infected into the embarkation area led to a decision to commence clearance for the purposes of finding the entries and securing them.

“Infected subjects were found in all areas up to Deck Five. There were indications that there is a significant infected presence above and below Deck Five as well as on Deck Four, the embarkation level. Primary watertight doors leading to the embarkation area were closed and partially secured. The doors don’t have manual dogs on them, it’s some sort of electronic locking mechanism, so the best we could do was jam them shut.

“On the other two liners we started by finding and shutting the doors, first, then entering with technical personnel to get the embarkation hatches switched around.” She paused and her lips worked for a second. “By midnight, all embarkation areas were converted to water-side entry. Significant infected levels, in excess of the Boadicea , were found on all vessels. No evidence of survivors. However, penetration was limited to embarkation areas and immediate surroundings.

“I would like to commend Mister Gregory Dougherty, engineering mate from the Garcia , on his ex… emplary actions in getting the doors switched around often under conditions of some threat. That concludes my report.”

She sat down quickly.

“I know that you have the word ‘exemplary’ in your vocabulary, Lieutenant,” Steve said, drily. “But that really didn’t sound like your writing.”

“Staff Sergeant Januscheitis has been training me on… military report writing, sir,” Faith replied. “But in this case, yes, the Staff Sergeant pretty much wrote the report, sir. We got the doors configured by midnight. We were still picking out and clearing infected on the pier at one. There were a bunch of the little bastards. The Staff Sergeant and I worked on the report last night but I think I passed out around four. The Staff Sergeant shoved the report into my hands on the way to the meeting, sir. I really don’t know what I’d do without the Staff Sergeant, sir.”

“So you’re working on, what, two hours sleep?” Steve said. “Remember the thing about no more than twelve hour’s clearance a day, Lieutenant?”

“That would be on me, sir,” Chen said. “We were trying to prepare for the arrival of the Squadron. I wanted things to be in place so you could begin clearance ops without issue.”

“And it just took longer than we’d thought, sir,” Faith said, shrugging. “I didn’t go into detail on getting the doors configured. We had to have a generator to run them. And every time we cranked the generator, we’d find we’d missed a damn hatch and, hello, here come a bunch of fricking zombies! Then Greg would dive for cover while we fought out way through the infected to the hatch we’d missed and get it closed. Or hatches in one case. So it just took a long time.”

“You’re off duty until tomorrow morning after this meeting,” Steve said. “As are the rest of the members of your team. We have sufficient Marines for this clearance and I’m not going to have you or your team clearing in your condition.”

“Yes, sir,” Faith said. “I can still clear, sir. Meetings not so good but I can clear in my sleep. But for my team I thank you. They really busted their… butts yesterday. Sir.”

“Before Lieutenant Smith leaves, any questions? Captain Wilkes.”

“Any intel on the ships other than ‘there’s lots of infected,’ Lieutenant?” Wilkes asked.

“We found a security point on the supermax, sir,” Faith said, tapping the report. “There are the usual brochure maps and one detail map that covers the non-passenger areas, sir. We also recovered several keycards, one of them a senior purser. They give access to some areas. We found one door we couldn’t open but… That’s as far as we got, sir.”

“Numbers?” Wilkes said. “Useful intelligence?”

“I’ll cover that, Captain,” Captain Smith said. “For your general information on clearance of a large ship, you can never determine numbers of survivors or infected until you open a hatch , Captain. Infected only need water. They’ll eat each other if there’s no other food source. If there are reserves of water, you can expect infected. So when you analyze the map, assume infected in any area with fresh water sources. Survivors are generally, not always, found in areas with food storage below the fresh-water tanks. Otherwise, your guess is as good as anyone’s.”

“Look out for the spa,” Faith said, muzzily. “There’s a spa listed. Spas aren’t good. You get in the scrum in spas.”

“Translated as use a large force for spa clearance which I and Lieutenant Fontana can cover,” Steve said. “Lieutenant, you’re dismissed until tomorrow morning. Have your team ready for clearance ops by 0800 hours tomorrow. Understood?”

“Aye, aye, sir,” Faith said.

“Your gear should already have been moved over here. Ask Mrs. Bailey where it’s at.”

“Yes, sir,” Faith said.

“That means you can get up and leave, Faith,” Steve said, shooing her. “Go.”

“Roger,” Faith said, standing up. “See you tomorrow.”

* * *

“As to ‘useful intelligence,’ Captain,” Steve said. “The fact that the Lieutenant’s team was able to get us full deck plans is a blessing. We might be able to make a rational guess where survivors are located and we’ll concentrate on that at first.”

“I was not meaning to imply any lack of confidence in the Lieutenant, sir,” Wilkes said, tightly.

“Captain, your lack of confidence in my daughter is writ large,” Steve said, chuckling. “You don’t care for her being a Marine officer. I get that. For that matter, you don’t like that I’m an instant Navy Captain and your boss. Get that as well. When you’ve had some experience clearing a large vessel, you can, as the Gunnery Sergeant did, revisit your calculation. It is experiential. You may retain your opinion or modify it. I really don’t care which as long as it doesn’t interfere with the mission. Now, we’re going to pull out those blueprints the Lieutenant’s team found and try to go at this with an actual plan for a change… ”

* * *

“Captain, a moment of your time?” Lieutenant Chen said as the meeting broke up.

“Sure, Lieutenant,” Steve said. “What’s up.”

“I… I do not have Captain Wilkes’ issues with Lieutenant Smith,” Chen said. “Either Smith. I’ve found them both to be extremely competent especially given their age. They’re… I’m not blowing smoke, sir, when I say they’re a real credit to you and your wife, sir.”

“They’re… ” Steve said then shrugged. “It’s both a very proud papa and a trying to be dispassionate observer who agrees. Their achievements speak for themselves. I take it, though, that there has been an issue?”

“There was, sir,” Chen said, reluctantly. “Any good officer knows that there are things to overlook. For example, there are shall we say ‘special stores’ on the boats… ”

“Given that there’s no real pay to be seen on the horizon, I’ve ignored the fact that boats like Sophia’s are turning into floating treasure galleons,” Steve said. “And as for the booze… I was once told by an officer I admired that there’s no point in giving an order you know won’t be obeyed. But if you want me to discuss it with Sophia… ”

“I’m going to do that, sir,” Chen said. “But that’s not the issue, sir. Sir, in the middle of the battle yesterday, Faith went dress shopping.”