John Ringo - Islands of Rage and Hope

“Out of four thousand plus survivors we have one guy with a masters in mechanical engineering,” Steve said. “Zero MDs, zero SEALs and, really importantly, zero microbiologists. To say that I was surprised when I was informed of this mission is an understatement. I’ll add when I was told who we were rescuing, I was overjoyed . I’m obviously hoping that you’re all interested in helping out.”

“We are,” Commander Daniels said. “We’ve been having some difficulty adjusting to current realities. Even seeing all the lights turning off couldn’t quite prepare us for how bad it is.”

“I fully recognize, and even understand, Dr. Shelley’s reported discomfort with the vaccine program,” Steve said. “I don’t even have an issue with it. Given her many areas of training and education, there are other areas where she can contribute tremendously. I’ve given the order that it’s simply not a subject for discussion. She should make her own decisions on it. And until we can secure the rest of the production materials, the question is moot. Not why I’m here to talk with you. I’m not even really here to see you, particularly. Could have done that over the video screen. There were some issues to address with the Marines having to do with clearance ops and some other conversations I’d like to have. Dr. Price, I understand you’ve been reviewing the obstetrics issues.”

“I have,” Dr. Price said, smiling wryly. “OB was one field I’d never even considered as an MD. But…guess it’s time to be a baby doctor.”

“I’d like you to discuss with Dr. Chen at the CDC and Mr. Walker the viability of setting up an…assembly line, if you will, for C-sections on mothers who are likely to have complications or are already experiencing complications,” Steve said. “Among a thousand things we haven’t found and need is countercontraction medication. But it seems likely that going ahead and pulling the kids would make more sense than waiting until we’ve got complications in childbirth. We’re going to have enough of those as it is. We’ll probably need the assembly line prepared when the tidal wave hits to handle the complications, then.”

“I’d…have to review what literature there is available,” Dr. Price said. “And discuss it with Dr. Chen.”

“Of course,” Steve said. “It’s something that I’m leaving up entirely to the medical team. My knowledge of obstetrics begins and ends with standing by my wife going ‘Breathe, honey, breathe,’” he added with a grin. “Twice.”

“That certainly seemed to have turned out well enough, sir,” Commander Daniels said.

“Indeed,” Steve said, sighing slightly. “Mr. Lyons.”

“Sir?” Lyons said.

“I can always use a mechanical engineer,” Steve said. “I’m honestly not sure whether I need a mechanical engineer or a SEAL more. We’re going to crack the boats at some point and many of their engineering officers can at least hum the tune. So I suppose the answer is ‘a SEAL.’”

“If you’re asking would I prefer to shoot zombies or run a CAD program, sir, the answer is ‘kill zombies,’ sir,” Lyons said, smiling. “Take me a while to get back in shape, but I’m your man, sir.”

“Take a reactivation?” Steve asked.

“Absolutely, sir,” Lyons said.

“Consider yourself reactivated as of now, Lieutenant,” Steve said. “As to getting back in shape… Really think that’s an issue?”

“No, sir,” Lyons said. “Looking forward to it.”

“Biggest problem will be time,” Steve said, shaking his head. “As in: There is never enough. You may have to just hit the gun rack when you’re marginally cleared and get back to SEAL shape as time permits. Colonel Kuznetsov.”

“Sir?” the assistant commander said.

“Had my first face to face talk with Colonel Ushakov about you and Mr. Matveev,” Steve said. “We’re trying to get him up on the video conference here. There is an issue with it since it has to go through the Hole and there are incompatibility issues. His take is what you want to do is up to you given that, like the Hole, he’s trapped for the time being. I understand you are a rotary wing pilot as well as fixed.”

“Yes, sir,” Kuznetsov said.

“I have a crying need for rotary wing pilots,” Steve said. “You have the usual problem of being a foreign national, but I’d be more than happy to give you the functional position of, say, captain as opposed to colonel if you’d take it. The problem with colonel is that your pilot in command, at least initially, would be a Marine captain. However, I’d have you as an instructor pilot rather rapidly. I need a lot of helos and a lot of helo pilots for land clearance eventually. The plan is to set up a helo training site in the Keys when we’ve cleared them. The focus would be on cargo and heavy utility helos.”

“I would be comfortable with that, sir,” Kuznetsov said, frowning. “The situation would be…strange, but I am sure I can work with your Marines. If they are willing to work with me.”

“Colonel, without any sarcasm whatsoever, this is a zombie apocalypse,” Steve said, smiling. “You’re simply suffering a bit of cognitive dissonance. I was a digger in the Australian paras and now am a U.S. Navy captain and Commander Atlantic Fleet. Which is composed of a group of civilian boats and not one single pre-Plague Navy platform with the exception of the subs. Asking a Russian colonel and cosmonaut to take a dip in position to Navy lieutenant, which is what the position would be, and then not even having it be an actual rank since I still cannot so appoint a foreign national, is not even in the top ten weird items in my last week . Part of why I can do this job so effectively is that I just ignore the cognitive dissonance and look at the situation as it actually is.

“For example: I know that if you’re put in a position and given any rank, no matter how odd it might be legally, the people you’ll be working with are so untrained on military basics that they’ll salute, or more often not, and just follow the orders as long as they make any sense whatsoever. When they don’t is when it gets to be a problem,” he added with a sigh.

“I’ve got a person who is technically a civilian, given that he’s a retired British sergeant major, as my official NCOIC of my U.S. Navy landing parties. And his people call him ‘Sergeant Major’ without even realizing that sergeant major is not a Navy NCO position. They assume it’s what you call a chief that is a master-at-arms. Sometimes they still refer to him as ‘sir’ and he’s pretty much given up telling them not to. Because in the game ‘Halo,’ the master chief is referred to as ‘sir’ and that’s as much training as most of them have in military protocol,” he added with a grin.

“Cognitive dissonance is a common feature of this universe,” he continued. “The meme is a Zombie Apocalypse Moment, a ZAM or zammie. The ability to rapidly overcome the cognitive dissonance is sort of the definition of competence in this universe. Those people who can, and are otherwise fairly competent, are gems. Those who are stuck in pre-Plague mindsets and have an impossible time getting their brains around zammies, no matter how competent, are only barely useful.

“I’m hoping that all of you will be gems,” Captain Smith concluded. “But if you’re simply good, that is fine as well. Heck, if you decide you want nothing to do with us… This island is functionally cleared and we’ll be glad to give you some guns for self-protection. If you can keep the ISS going for six months without any support I’m sure you can survive, and it’s a nice little place. Up to you each individually. And with that I bid you adieu.”