John Ringo - Islands of Rage and Hope

“ Bella , Friday . Two aboard, day and a half off. Over.”

“ Business , clear, over?”

“Got it, Bella . Will do.”

“Okay,” Sophia said, turning around. She’d taken the belowdecks helm for the short conference and the crew were in the saloon directly behind. “You all get that?”

“Got it, Skipper,” Walker said.

“Tom, you probably want to get your head down?”

“I could use some sleep, yes,” Walker said.

“I’ll take first watch on the boat,” Sophia said. “You can be the second onboard. Rest of you can head out if you want. I need at least one of you back by midnight. Any questions?”

“There’s a market on the Bo , ma’am,” Batari said. “I could use some spices and condiments. Can I take some stuff to trade?”

“Go and look, first,” Celementina said. “I would like to go over to the Tan , too. For the same. Look and see what they have t’ey’re not giving up. We might still have some stuff t’ey want to trade. I can’ believe you gave up all my spares.”

“They don’t fit our boat,” Sophia pointed out.

“I could have used them to trade with t’ese other boats, Skip,” Celementina said. “I bet I find parts for t’e Friday .”

“Just don’t lose the offshore,” Walker said. “I guarantee that people are just taking off in those. If I may suggest, Skipper, one of us stay on the offshore. I can stay up, run people around. Then go back and get them at midnight. That’s plenty of sleep. Probably they can cadge rides around. Then tomorrow, if they’ve made any deals, we can close them. But that would leave just you onboard.”

“ Friday, Business, Bella, over,” Sophia said, keying the radio.

“ Business .”

“ Friday .”

“Have the second crewman take your people where they want to go. Pick-up will be at the Bo at midnight. If they want to go someplace else, they can catch a ride. Do not leave your dinghies or offshores tied up and unattended. Copy?”

“ Business . Why, over?”

“They go missing,” Sophia radioed.

“Got it.”

“ Friday , aye.”

“Okay,” Sophia said. “Any more questions or comments?”

“When are you going to the Bo , ma’am?” Walker asked.

“Not sure I am,” Sophia said, shrugging. “I’m good onboard. You can either head over on midwatch or you can head over tomorrow.”

“Do we have to be back by midnight?” Olga asked, pouting. “There may be interesting things going on afterwards. Parties don’t usually get really going until around eleven. And there might be handsome Marines aboard.”

“No,” Sophia said. “That’s when the boat’s coming to pick people up. If you stay overnight, we’ll run another boat over at oh-eight hundred. And I’m sure you can convince somebody to give you a ride.”

“I’m sure of that,” Olga said, brightening. “Oh, you meant on a Zodiac ? That could be fun.”

“ Bella Senorita , Squadron, looking for Bella Actual if aboard, over.”

The sun was slowly setting in the west and Sophia was thinking about getting some more clothes on. She’d been in her usual bikini. But the temperature hadn’t really dropped, yet.

“ Bella Actual,” Sophia replied. “Hi, Da.”

“You coming to the Bo , over?”

“Not today,” Sophia said. “Gave my crew some time off. Over.”

“Roger. Squadron out.”

“Well,” Sophia said. “That was abrupt. Love you, too, Da.”

Sophia had slipped into a track suit when the sun went down. She only had one Navy uniform and she saved that for when she needed it.

There were Zodiacs moving around from boat to boat all the time but one was headed her way. Since theirs was alongside it was either crew coming back early or somebody coming for a courtesy call.

“ Bella Senorita , Squadron Actual, over.”

“ Bella Actual, over,” Sophia replied.

“Mind if your mom and I come aboard?”

“Glad to have you,” Sophia said. “Sorry about not coming over to the Bo . I wanted to give my crew the time off.”

“Which is why you’re an ensign. We’re approaching in a Zod. Be there in a jiff.”

“I was planning on coming over tomorrow,” Sophia said, hugging her mother.

“You don’t want us on your boat?” Stacey teased. “Not keeping your room clean?”

“My boat is ready for inspection,” Sophia said. “My rack, not so much. And Batari is over on the Bo . So I’m going to have to cook.”

“I think I can remember how to find my way around a galley,” Stacey said.

“I need to head to the helm,” Sophia said. “I’d wake Thomas up but he’s been running since midwatch last night.”

“I’ll join you if you don’t mind,” Steve said.

“We see each other plenty,” Stacey said. “I think I see him more doing this than when we were home.”

Walker woke up at the sound of voices and slid his hand under the pillow. Then he heard the skipper laugh and went instantly back to sleep.

“How are things going?” Sophia asked, sitting down at the interior helm. The boat was on autopilot so all she had to do was be there for emergencies and to monitor the radio.

“As well as could be expected,” Steve said. “Better even. The night sky video has helped immensely with some building pressures from the Euro block.”

“That’s the second time I’ve heard about that video,” Sophia said. “Description?”

“Watch it,” Stacey said, laying out some sushi rolls. “It’s better if it’s not described. Then you’ll come back and watch it again.”

“We’d gotten a video from The Hole to show to our people,” Steve said. “It was powerful but I ran it past Zumwald as a cross check. He said let him have it and he’d get back to me. Came back a week later with a new one. And it was, yeah, better. But you do need to see it. I think it’s over the top. Most people don’t agree.”

“I suspect you’ll hate it,” Stacey said. “And not be able to keep from crying. Your cook left these in the fridge. What is the fish? It’s good.”

“Something we found under a raft,” Sophia said. “It looked like a triple tail but it wasn’t. I was sort of afraid of eating it but Batari just chopped it up.”

“Putting cooks on the small boats is making more sense,” Steve said. “But there’s a bunch of work to do on the large ships, too. And you really can’t have people trying to cook for themselves, there.”

“So what’s the problem with the Eurotrash?” Sophia asked, taking a sushi roll. The fish was still fresh and richer even than tuna.

“The Euros are, understandably, interested in when the squadron is going to put some ships over clearing Europe,” Steve said, shrugging. “I’m sure that when I do, Americans will ask why we’re not putting all our resources to the U.S. And China has officially requested aid.”

“Hell, we don’t even have a Pacific squadron clearing the West Coast,” Sophia said. “We’re not even clearing the East Coast.”

“We’re getting there,” Steve said. “Now that the tropical season is over we can work our way in. I’m looking at various concepts. We’ll do it. And Europe and, yeah, Asia. Somebody has to…” he added, rubbing his face.

“Da, it’s not all on you, you know,” Sophia said softly.

“No, it’s not,” Steve said. “It’s on all of us. But we’ll get it done. Well, we’ll get it more done. I want lights on. I want cities lit. Small cities, mind you. There’s not going to be many left of us on the land. But we’ll get it done. How is the clearance going?”