John Ringo - Emerald Sea

As he came on watch he picked up another jug of herbal tea and some mugs and stuck his head in the wardroom on his way to the quarterdeck. Commander Mbeki was standing at the rear of the wardroom table, just turning away from, apparently, contemplating the forward bulkhead.

“Get you anything, sir?” Joel asked, holding up the jug and mugs. “Nice shot of herbal tea for a cold night?”

“Thank you, Joel, I’d like that,” Mbeki said, his face wooden.

“You okay, sir?” the steward replied, frowning. “You look pretty down.”

“I’m fine, seaman,” the commander replied, taking the mug that was poured for him. “Just wish this storm would abate.”

“Well, if wishes were fishes, sir,” Joel replied with a patented young and stupid grin. “Storms don’t listen to wishes is my experience. You just ride with ’em or turn into ’em and ride ’em out.”

“You’ve sailed before?” the commander asked, surprised.

“Sailed small fishing boats in Flora, sir,” Joel said, taking a mug of tea for himself. “Then took a packet up the coast and joined the Navy. Seemed like the right thing to do.”

“What did you do before?” the commander asked. He didn’t have to say “before the Fall.” “Before” was always the same, before the world came apart.

“Mostly sailed,” Joel said, shrugging his shoulders.

“Family?” the commander asked, sitting down.

Joel paused and then nodded. “Wife and daughter, sir. Miriam, I’d guess she was home in Briton. We had a place on the coast. My daughter… she was visiting friends in Ropasa. Near the Lore.” He shrugged. “I try not to think about it. No more than, oh, a hundred times a day.”

Mbeki nodded sadly. “Don’t tell anyone that, if you take my advice.”

“That I think about it?” Joel asked.

“Where they were,” Mbeki said, his face hard. “You really don’t want New Destiny finding out. Trust me on that.”

“I will, sir,” the steward said, mentally filing the datum. And the face. And the body posture. And the radiating anger. “I surely will.”

Finally, on the fourth day after they had left the bay, Herzer emerged in the morning to a strong, cold north wind and beautiful clear skies. The seas were rough but he’d acquired some of the knack for moving on the pitching deck and he made his way down to the dragon deck gathering no more than two new bruises on the way.

“It’s a good day to fly,” Vickie said as he came down the ladder. She and Koo were engaged in feeding the wyverns and they, too, seemed to think it was a good day to fly since they kept looking up from their feed and cawing at the overhead.

“If you can get off the ship,” Herzer said. “And back on. If you thought the water was cold before…”

“What’s it like?” Jerry asked. “I still haven’t been topside.”

“Cold,” Herzer said, opening his coat in the warmth of the stables. “Windy. Really windy.”

“I’m willing to give it a try,” Joanna rumbled, from forward. She had moved down after the first night when all the stores possible had been moved aft and the dragon deck cleaned up. Now she stretched to the limit possible and rustled her wings irritably. “And if I’ve got to hit the water, I can handle the cold.”

“I’ll go see Commander Mbeki,” Jerry said, shrugging into a fur-lined jacket.

“See if you can at least get the hatch open,” Joanna said. “I’m tired of being cooped up down here.”

Herzer and Jerry made their way aft to the quarterdeck where Commander Mbeki was striding up and down, reveling in the breeze.

“Good morning, sir,” Jerry said.

“Morning, Mr. Riadou,” the commander replied. “I suppose you want to see about getting off the ship?”

“Commander Gramlich does, sir,” the warrant officer replied. “She feels that even if she can’t land, she can make a water landing and hoist herself aboard.”

“And a joyful moment that will be,” the XO said with a grin. “The skipper is taking a much needed nap; he was up through most of the storm. I have the con, but generally evolutions like air operations would mean his presence.”

“I understand, sir,” Jerry replied. “The commander requested that at least the main hatch be opened so she can get on deck and stretch her wings.”

“That I can comply with,” the commander said after a moment. “And I would suspect that by this afternoon the wind will have moderated somewhat and the skipper will be awake. We might be able to commence air operations then.”

“Thank you, sir,” the warrant officer replied. “I’ll go see about getting the hatch removed.”

The commander was as good as his word. By the time Herzer was finishing his lunch he heard the command “All hands, prepare to come about!” followed shortly by “Prepare for air operations!”

By the time he got on deck, Joanna was on the catapult. The ship had been turned with the wind off what he now knew to be her port bow. Jerry was on the launch lever and Evan was fussing with the new launching mechanism. The detachable balk of timber had been removed and a fixed device had replaced it. Joanna had shown that she could release in time and they were trying the less wasteful system for the first time.

“Are you ready, yet, Mr. Mayerle?” Commander Mbeki called impatiently. The primary flight operations had been moved to a new station on the rear-mast, high enough that it could see to the rear of the ship but low enough that it wasn’t in the way of the sails. From that perch the commander could see both incoming dragons and the launching catapult.

“Ready, sir,” Evan replied with a wave.

“Commence launching operation,” the commander called.

Jerry looked at Joanna, then leaned into the lever. The combination of the cold air, which Herzer had learned was also denser, the strong wind and the rapid rate of movement of the ship caused the dragon to practically leap into the air.

Joanna ascended rapidly and Herzer hurried to his landing station. But when he got there, Vickie was already in the station.

“You’re late,” she said with a grin. She held up the flags and pointed them at the dragon as Joanna came around into the landing pattern.

It was clear that Joanna was having a hard time with the crosswind. She nearly made it on the first try but was blown off course by the effect of the sails at the last moment and banked off as Vickie gave her a wave off. Herzer could tell that it troubled the rider as well and he patted Vickie on the shoulder.

“You’re doing fine,” he said, realizing with a start that he had far more experience at this than she.

“Do you want to take over?” she asked, uncertainly. “This is pretty rough conditions.” That landing the greater dragon was far harder than the wyverns she didn’t have to add.

“No, you’re doing fine,” Herzer said. “She can either land or she can’t. If she can’t, she goes for a swim.”

The second time the dragon almost made it but was too low on her approach. The wave off was late and frantic and the dragon almost caught a wingtip again but managed to recover and stagger into the sky.

“That time you were late,” Herzer said, neutrally. “And it was clear that she wasn’t going to be regaining the altitude she needed. Don’t be afraid to wave off, even Joanna. Better a wave off than a crash into the ship. Remember, you’re her eyes in this.”

“I’ll remember,” Vickie said miserably and pointed at the dragon again.

The third time the dragon was high, but Vickie got her on glide path at the end. However, on final a wave lifted the rear of the ship and Joanna had to beat her wings frantically to clear the rear of the ship. She did, however, make it onto the platform, well forward, nearly pitching off the end.