John Ringo - Against the Tide

“You did mention morning breath,” Edmund replied.

“Have an apple.”

“Good morning, seaman,” Edmund said, striding down to the docks. “Have an apple,” he added, tossing one to the surprised messenger. “They’re good for you.”

“Morning, sir,” Ensign Destrang said, nervously.

“Morning, Destrang,” Edmund replied, smiling at him. “What’ve you got?”

“Lieutenant Asfaw asked to talk to you, sir,” Destrang replied, gesturing at the mer.

“Did you get a chair or something, Asfaw?” Edmund asked.

“Yes, sir, thank you,” the mer replied. There were also more mer in the basin, swimming around below. “The engineers poured a sort of underwater pier for us. Very handy. As are the additional listeners.”

“And what was it you wanted to talk about?” Edmund asked, snagging a chair.

“Well…” Asfaw looked around nervously but then shrugged. “We, the mer that is, aren’t doing much good in this war, sir.”

“I think your reconnaissance, not to mention your weather monitoring and communications uses, are invaluable,” Edmund said, frowning. “Don’t get the idea we don’t need you.”

“No, sir, not that,” Asfaw said. “It’s just… we can’t attack anything. Except the orca and ixchitl. And even then we kept getting told that recon is more important than fighting orca. But with the orca around, we can’t recon . We want to help . Or, I guess, help more.”

“There were some experiments with boring,” Edmund said. “Didn’t work very well. And mines are out for all the same damned reasons.”

“I was wondering,” Asfaw said. “Well, I mean, sometimes the message traffic is light and all I can do is sit in the water and watch the occasional fish, sir. So I have a lot of time to wonder. Maybe if the queen could permit a bit of power we could make some sort of biological? A fast wood-worm or something that dissolves hulls?”

“If it got loose it would be the death of maritime traffic,” Edmund said, rubbing his jaw. “No, protocols would prevent it reproducing if it was that dangerous. But maybe…” Edmund glanced at the sun and sneezed. “I’m going to be talking to Evan in a couple of hours. I’ll bring it up with him. Maybe he or one of his engineer buddies can come up with something.”

“What about the orcas?” the lieutenant asked.

“You’ll have to run that one by me again,” Edmund said. “I’ll admit I’m a bit tired. Why can’t you attack the orcas?”

“Our orders are to avoid contact. We’re supposed to be recon forces is what they keep saying. But we can’t always avoid contact and Jason thinks we can get rid of some of the damned orca and ixchitl, if we can just get the support.”

“That’s it?” Edmund asked. “What kind of support?”

“Nothing more than we’re getting, really,” the mer admitted. “Some more weapons, maybe some support ships. But we’ll probably take more casualties.”

Edmund considered it for a moment and then nodded. “Tell Jason he has my permission to implement a plan to begin reducing the orca and ixchitl. But if he’s taking high levels of casualties, that is if he’s losing more than he’s killing, he’s to desist. Got it?”

“Yes, sir! Thank you, sir,” Asfaw replied.

“Don’t thank me, son,” Edmund sighed. “You’re just putting yourself in the way of more trouble.”

“Trouble, sir.” Chief Brooks sighed, collapsing in the chair across from Herzer.

Herzer looked out the window where one of the petty officers was conducting a class on knots.

“No riots,” Herzer chuckled. “Even over the food.”

“No, not so far, sir,” Brooks replied. “It’s a sexual harassment complaint.”

“Bloody hell.” Herzer sighed, leaning back. “Who?”

“Seaman, seawoman not to point too fine of a point on it, Regilio and Petty Officer Lenice.”

“Tell,” Herzer replied, rubbing his eyes.

“He was counseling her on her attitude, which is, frankly, crappy. She accused him of soliciting sex.”

“Did he follow the two man rule?” Herzer asked, not looking up.

“No, sir, he didn’t,” Brooks replied. “He said that he wanted to bring it up without a witness so she would have less of a tendency to back talk. Because then he’d have to get strictly official.”

“Send him back to the fleet,” Herzer said, dropping his hands and picking up a piece of paperwork.

“He’s one of the best instructors we have, sir,” Brooks argued.

“Not if he makes that simple an error,” Herzer said, looking up angrily and tossing the note back down on his desk. “I agree with his reasoning . But he can not put himself in that sort of a position with half-trained recruits. Recruits that don’t realize how serious the accusation is. Or how the accusation is going to haunt them for quite some time. How many people are automatically going to question… what was her name?”

“Regilio, sir.”

“Pamela,” Herzer replied, nodding with that reminder. “In the intel tech program. Good math scores. Red hair. Yes, bit of an attitude. Just about the last person up The Mast every morning.”

“That would be her,” Brooks sighed.

“People are going to know about it, people are going to talk,” Herzer said. “Lenice has been with the Fleet for a couple of years. Spotless record. No previous indication of tendency to use his rank for sex. So she’s automatically going to be viewed with suspicion. Even if he did, in fact, proposition her or try to force her to have sex. Which was why, Chief Brooks, he is going back to the fleet. Today. With a notation in his record that he is unsuitable for training cadre. And you’d better thoroughly brief his replacement. Am I making myself clear?”

“Clear, sir,” Brooks said, standing up. “Will that be all?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Herzer replied, picking up the paperwork again. “I’d rather it was riots. Oh, and pass this around. Don’t let anyone think this is an easy way back to the fleet. The next time this comes up, I’m coming down like the hammer of hell. All the bells and whistles. They do not want to make this mistake again. We don’t have the bodies to spare.”

“Good afternoon, Skipper Karcher,” Edmund said, waving at a chair. “Have a seat.”

“Good afternoon, sir,” Karcher replied, sitting down carefully. She had already had a look around the tent and was clearly surprised by its Spartan nature.

“Given that the headquarters was burned to the ground, I thought that we could use temporary accommodations,” Edmund said, noting the glances.

“Yes, sir,” Karcher replied. She had her captain’s hat in her lap and was working the brow with the thumbs of both hands.

“How’s your ship?” Edmund asked, smiling.

“Fine, sir,” Karcher said. “In all conditions ready for sea.”

“This isn’t an inquisition, Karcher.” Talbot chuckled. “I heard about your recommended change for the Silverdrake landings. It’s being implemented throughout the fleet.”

“One of my seamen came up with it, sir,” Karcher said. “Seaman Fink.”

“Good man?” Edmund asked.

“Woman, sir, and yes, she’s pretty good. She’s applied for dragon-rider training.”

Edmund pulled a sheet of paper over to him and scribbled on it.

“Approved,” Edmund said. “As long as you do.” He handed the sheet across to her. “What’s your XO like?”

“Good man, sir,” Karcher replied. “Better than me at celestial navigation. Getting there at general boat handling skills. I mean, he’s a good sailor, sir.”