John Ringo - Islands of Rage and Hope

“Go ahead, Ensign,” General Brice said.

“Once hard clearance is complete on most of these towns, my…Navy crews can generally sweep for the materials, ma’am,” Sophia said. “Marines could then potentially do what they can about cruise liners? While we’re doing that?”

“Can they clear hospitals , Lieutenant Commander Chen?” General Brice asked.

“Getting there, ma’am,” Chen replied. “If they’re in the same condition as the one here…yes.”

“Take that on a case by case basis,” General Brice said. “Priorities are as stated. The sub and ISS crews are not going to last forever. And, sorry, they have more critical skills than the average cruisegoer. You do not clear liners, which takes forever, at the expense of the mission. Captain Smith?”

“Are you looking for my concurrence, General?” Steve said. “I concur. And we can roll the light boat flotillas at any time. Marines have been rearmed and while the Gitmo Marines haven’t had much down time, I’m sure they can roll at any time.”

“Mission is to secure vaccine materials and other medical supplies from small islands in the Caribbean, focusing on the Leeward Islands,” General Brice said. “Supplemental but priority mission to clear an island, Anguilla is our suggestion, to recover the ISS capsule and the personnel. Which will require a quarantine facility as well. Force structure and commander shall be designated by squadron commander. Mission may engage in rescue, including hard clearance rescue, so long as it does not interfere or degrade primary mission. Mission commander can use discretion on target size. Wolf?”

“Light boat Wings,” Steve said. “All five. Supported by the Grace Tan and Money for Nothing . Marine force can use the bunks on the Grace Tan . Overall Command, Colonel Hamilton. Critical personnel, Mr. Walker, who is already in the light boat flotilla, and Ensign Smith, ditto. Lieutenant Fontana will remain with the squadron to begin establishing conditions for the coming baby wave, which we need to keep in mind. Try to leave refugees either in place or centralized on one island. We’ve spare weapons from one place or another and mission commander can arm refugees with said weapons and ammo for defense against the infected as he sees fit. Questions?”

“Operation name,” Isham said, looking at his notes. He looked up and shrugged. “It’s a military thing, right?”

“It’s a military thing, yes,” General Brice said, smiling slightly.

“Operation Leeward Sweep,” Steve said, shrugging. “Not like we need to keep it secret or anything. Although…” He paused in thought. “We do need to keep the ISS thing secure.”

“Sir?” Hamilton said, frowning.

“General Brice withheld the information about the ISS due to morale concerns,” Steve said. “Given that six plus billion people just died, that we lost the people on the ISS is just a blip. Knowing that they could get back was what was withheld with the cover of ‘they already came back.’ That morale issue remains. We’ll have to do all the preparations without explaining why. Give orders. Do not inform your personnel, until the last possible moment, of the purpose. They should get a chance to see it inbound. But there’s a good possibility that some aspect of this, besides the final landing, may fail. If it fails before it comes into sight, call it a drill and carry on. Understood?”

“We’ll get it done, sir,” Colonel Hamilton said.

“However, time is awasting and we need to get started.”

“At this point I think the better is the enemy of the good,” Steve said. “General?”

“Concur,” Brice said. “Good luck. SAC is out.”

“I’m not sure what I’m going to tell my people,” Sophia said. “Going to get a lot of questions.”

“Leave that up to me, ma’am,” the sergeant major growled. “Of course, you may have to sit on Seaman Apprentice Zelenova.”

“Olga I can manage,” Sophia said.

“Any issues, Lieutenant Smith?” Steve asked.

“No, sir,” Faith barked. “We will proceed in a gung ho manner, Captain. Or my Marines will regret the day they were born, sir. Personally looking forward to a stroll in the dark.”

“Oorah,” Walker said, stifling a chuckle.

“Remember that the better is the enemy of the good in this,” Smith said, standing up. “Meeting adjourned.”

“St. Croix…maybe,” Faith muttered, looking at the screen. “St. Martin, no God-damned way…”

“Busy, Sis?” Sophia asked, tapping on the open office hatch.

“Colonel Hamilton has me figuring out which islands we’re going to conquer,” Faith said, snarling. “Since they’re on the way, he had me add in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. First of all I have to figure out where all these damn medical schools are, then figure out, by eyeball, if I think they’re clearable. Then I’ve got to figure out how much ammo and supplies we’re going to need!”

“Which is what I’ve got to do,” Sophia said. “Figure out how much fifty we’re going to need. My suggestion of ‘why not just fill the gunboats with double that on the Grace ’ was not taken well. Anyway, I need to know what the targets are so I can submit a requisition for ammo that, coincidentally, is ‘fill up the gunboats with double that on the Grace. ’”

“So hurry up?” Faith snapped.

“No,” Sophia said, sighing. “This is called ‘coordination.’ We’re supposed to work together.”

“Oh, joy,” Faith said.

“Can I suggest a shortcut?” Sophia said.

“Think you’re smarter than I am, as usual?” Faith said, then winced. “Sorry, Soph. I know you’re smarter than I am. I just hate this paperwork crap. I agree with you. Just take all the ammo and food we can load and figure out the rest later. But if you think you know which islands to clear…?”

“It’s not that,” Sophia said. “Just… You think Nevis is clearable?”

“Yes,” Faith said. “The towns aren’t all that big. I’m sort of worried about Zylons infiltrating behind us, but…yeah. Not even tough.”

“Bring up a spreadsheet,” Sophia said, pulling up a chair. “Now, you said St. Croix, maybe. St. Martin?”

“No damned way,” Faith said. “Or…it looks like it would just take a hell of a long time and ammo…”

“Right, you got population and area of those islands…?”

“I hate you, Sis,” Faith said about thirty minutes later. “I really do.”

The answer lay in the combination of population density and area. Even with an intensely populated island, which none of them were, it was possible to clear one if the area of the island wasn’t too great and the building structures weren’t overlarge. Really it was just a matter of finding the population density and maximum population. Which boiled down to “Nevis, yes, St. Martin, no.” Various other islands fell into similar categories with a few in the “maybe” column.

“I hate you, too, Faith,” Sophia said, smiling. “Want the really bad part?”

“What?” Faith asked.

“Hang on…” Sophia said, going to the main menu. A couple of seconds later a video screen came up. “Hi, COB!”

“Hello, Ensign Smith,” the COB of the Alexandria replied. “Am I finally getting a chance to meet your sister?”

“That you are, COB,” Sophia said. “Lieutenant Faith Smith, Chief Petty Officer James LeRoy, Chief of Boat of the Alexandria .”

“Pleasure to meet with you, Chief,” Faith said, nodding at the video screen.

“Same to you, Lieutenant,” the troll-like chief said, his face creaking into what might have been a smile. “You and your sister have been real morale boosters when we needed it. So to what do I owe the pleasure, ma’ams?”