John Ringo - Islands of Rage and Hope

“What?” Faith yelled.

“Gurkhas!” Januscheitis shouted. “They’re Gurkhas!” He leaned over and tapped the lieutenant’s kukri.

“Oh,” Faith said, walking down the ramp.

One thing that her da had told her, years ago, was that Gurkhas did not like just anyone carrying a kukri. You had to earn it. In their opinion.

“Oh…crap!”

“Lieutenant Faith Smith, United States Marine Corps,” Faith said, saluting the captain. He wasn’t the prince. From his rank tabs, he was the guard unit commander. “Captain Whiteshead, I guess?”

“Yes, Lieutenant,” Whiteshead said, returning the salute. “Although shouldn’t it be ‘I presume’?”

“I’m not sure, sir,” Faith said. “I speak American and Australian, sir, but I’m still working on British. We ready to get unloaded? And are you planning on leaving a contingent?”

“Yes, we are, Lieutenant,” Whiteshead said, clearly bemused by the reply. “And we’re prepared to unload immediately.”

“Gunny!” Faith bellowed, turning around. “Hook in and get those stores moved!”

“Aye, aye, ma’am!” Gunny Sands said. “Start unpacking, Marines!”

A line of civilians and military, mostly the Gurkhas, started unloading the food, a combination of MREs, “humanitarian service packs” and canned rations.

“What’s your preference for moving out your personnel, sir?” Faith said, waving to get away from the still cycling helo.

“We’d prefer to load the women and children, first,” Whiteshead said. “Along with a small military contingent. Then the rest of the men and the soldiers who are going out.”

“Oorah, sir,” Faith said. “How many you got? We couldn’t get a good count from the satellites. We only have occasional overhead and there’s been weather.”

“One hundred twenty-three,” Whiteshead said. “That are going out.”

“Any notable medical conditions other than pregnancy?” Faith said, making a note. “We’ve got a pretty good medic on the ship.”

“We’ve lost most of those,” Whiteshead said, then paused. “Lieutenant, may I inquire…”

“In another month I’m legal to marry in Arkansas,” Faith said, looking up and grinning. “Thirteen is the answer, sir. Almost fourteen. I always get that question about now.”

“Bloody hell,” Whiteshead said.

“Tell you how bad it is,” Faith said. “I’m number…six, I think, in the chain of command of the Marine Corps. Another bad day and I’m the commandant. If you’re going out you’ll meet the rest of the Marine Corps in the ship.”

“Did you bring a helo carrier?” Whiteshead asked.

“Civilian oil platform supply ship,” Faith said, making a note and not looking up. “The Grace Tan . And another support ship and a big yacht for the evacuees. The only LHA we know the location of is the Iwo Jima, and we don’t have enough people to man it. Most of the Marines came from the Iwo or Gitmo. We’re holding Gitmo right now. Took it last month. Stand by, sir.

“Kodiak Ops, Kodiak Ops, Shewolf, over. Okay, Louisville it is. Count is one twenty-three, say again, one-two-three, coming out. No major medical. Malnourishment as usual. Three sorties should do it….Roger. You going to be able to get up on retrans any time soon? Roger…Shewolf, out.

“Okay, sir, you’re good to go. Look like the gunny’s got the bird unloaded. Let’s get to loading… Oh, hello,” she finished as the prince walked up.

“Captain Wales,” Captain Whiteshead said. “Lieutenant Faith Smith, United States Marine Corps.”

“Thank you for coming to our assistance,” Harry said, flashing a smile.

“No problem,” Faith said, shaking hands. “So far I’ve rescued a princess on a tower and a whole bunch of people who think they’re important. You’re my first prince so I can check that off on my bucket list. I’m hoping you’re going out. We need helo pilots.”

“That is the plan,” Prince Harry said, looking slightly confused for a moment. The response was, again, not what anyone would anticipate. The gunny had dubbed his reaction FEWSS: First Encounter With Seawolf Syndrome. “Lieutenant, is there any plan to pick up other survivors? We are sure there are some…”

“Right now, no, sir,” Faith said. “We’ve got one other mission planned which is to raid a research center for some vaccine production materials. That’s planned for tomorrow. Then, as far as I know, we’re going to float back to Gitmo. The priority right now is get the vaccine production up and get the sub crews vaccinated so we can get some trained personnel. You’ll have to take up any further rescue ops with the colonel or higher, sir.”

“I…understand,” Harry said. “Did you happen to see…”

“Saw some on the way in, sir,” Faith said. “Could you give me a second? I’ve got to coordinate with the gunny on the extract, sir.”

“Of course,” Harry said. “Mission comes first.”

“Excuse me, sirs,” Faith said, walking back to the bird.

“Is she as young as she appears?” Harry asked as soon as she was out of earshot.

“Thirteen,” Whiteshead said. “Month shy of fourteen. And number six in the Marine chain of command. Which sort of covers how bad it is, sir. They’re operating off of a civilian boat. No Navy platforms survived.”

“Bloody hell,” Harry said, shaking his head.

“Gunny,” Faith said.

“Ma’am,” Gunny Sands said. “Last of this lift is onboard. They even had them chalked for a 53.”

“Good to hear,” Faith said. “Let’s get clear…Gunny, moment of your time?” she said, as they cleared the bird to let it lift off.

“Ma’am?”

“Could you please handle interacting with the prince?” Faith asked.

“I… can, ma’am,” Gunny Sands said. “But it would normally be the platoon leader’s job.”

“I had to go all Marine or I was going to babble,” Faith said.

“If you would like the recommendation of your gunnery sergeant, ma’am,” Sands said, trying not to smile, “stay all Marine.”

“I wanted to meet him, now I’m trying not to act like a brain-dead cheerleader,” Faith said, grinning tightly. “I don’t do this well. Where’s some infected to shoot?”

“Tomorrow, ma’am,” Gunny Sands said. “All you can wish for, unless I miss my guess.”

“Oorah,” Faith said, walking back over to the two officers. “Thanks for having them chalked up.”

The Gurkha guards were busy getting the rations stored in the White Tower and the Marines were getting names of the evacuees. All was in order so she sort of had to make small talk.

“Not a problem,” Captain Whiteshead said. “We assumed it would be Marines or Navy coming in so it would probably be Super Stallions, according to Captain Wales.”

“So what’s with the Captain Wales, thing?” Faith asked.

“Captain Mountbatten-Windsor sounds sort of pompous, don’t you think?” Harry asked, grinning.

“I dunno,” Faith said. “Is it your name?”

“Yes?” Harry said.

“Then it’s just your name,” Faith said.

“May I inquire why you carry a kukri, Lieutenant?” Captain Whiteshead said to fill in the pause.

“’Cause they’re good for cutting off the hands of infected that grab me,” Faith said. “Good for necks, too. Either direction.”

“Have you had much of an…opportunity…?” Captain Wales asked.

“There’s kind of a video that covers that,” Faith said. “Sir. How many people are you holding back? I’m asking for two reasons. One, is it enough to hold the perimeter, and two, we could use more troops. We sort of shanghaied some Dutch Marines from Statia but there’s a big fucking world to clear.”