John Ringo - Islands of Rage and Hope

“It is… worse than I’d realized,” Harry said, looking at the torched landscape. “But there are survivors.”

“A few, sir,” Wilkes said, pointing to the side with his chin. “We’ve passed this group three times. I’m sure they’re getting annoyed.”

“Can we pick them up?” Harry asked.

“I’m going to request we be allowed to as a supplementary mission from the colonel, sir,” Wilkes said. “That one, at least. But not right now we can’t. From the looks of it, we’d have to winch someone down and then winch them back up. We can do it. We have the equipment. But it’s not part of the primary mission.”

“With a helo and some support we could pick up pretty much everyone,” Harry said. “Most of them had to access rooftops to survive.”

“Like Katrina,” Wilkes said, nodding. “I didn’t work it but I knew people who did. Marine Reserve picked up more people than the Coast Guard. But it would take a lot of support. You’d need somewhere to keep them, food, and…Lots of logistics, sir.”

“There is that,” Harry said, grinding his teeth. “But these are my people, Colonel. In a very real sense. It’s possible I’m their sovereign if the reports of Grandmum’s death are accurate. I need to do something.”

“Take that up with higher, sir,” Wilkes said, banking around. “It’s possible they’ll support it. Or give you support to support it. Until the subs are vaccinated, though, we’re sort of focused.”

“You cleared in the Caribbean,” Harry said.

“We were looking for vaccine materials, sir,” Wilkes said. “Give me a moment, would you? Winds are tricky…”

“Welcome aboard, Captain,” Colonel Hamilton said, shaking the prince’s hand. “We’re sort of crowded at the moment but we’ve got a room for you below. Although I’m sure you’d like to get some food in your belly…”

“We can do that,” Hamilton said, nodding. “The one group, at least. I’ll have Captain Wilkes schedule it for later this afternoon.”

“Is there any possibility of staying in the area to do more recovery?” Harry asked. “That’s an official question of the British government.”

He was sipping soup. They’d been on very short rations for a very long time, and as other survivors had, he needed something light to start.

“Our first and primary mission is recovering some supplies from the London Research Center,” Hamilton said carefully. “After that…it would be up to higher. But let me point out that what holds for London holds for every city in the world. There are survivors. There are survivors everywhere . With helos you can pick some of them up. But we only have two pilots, three with you, and one fully functioning helo. The other is ready for a test hop but…Logistics. Support. Especially for the helos. Do you have any other pilots?”

“No,” Harry said, frowning. “We have one more helo, though. I flew it in on my own. It’s tucked up against the wall in the Tower. Getting it fueled and supported, though…And it’s not very good for rescue. It’s a Lynx. Only a few people at a time.”

“That’s all you generally get, Captain,” Hamilton said. “Hang on. Sergeant.”

“Sir?” Sergeant Weisskopf said.

“Tell Captain Wilkes he’s authorized to pick up the survivors spotted on the way to the Tower,” Hamilton said. “Assuming the bird is still good. And he’ll need a detail with it. Take Januscheitis and his team.”

“Yes, sir,” Weisskopf said, leaving the compartment.

“Thank you, Colonel,” Harry said.

“It’s not outside our parameters,” Hamilton said, frowning. “There should be something we can do…I hate to do this. PFC!”

“Sir?”

“Get Shewolf and Seawolf in here,” Hamilton said.

“Shewolf was the young lieutenant we met at the Tower, sir?” Captain Whiteshead asked.

“And her sister, Sophia,” Hamilton said. “They are…green as grass and yet far more experienced at this than I am.”

“And…cold, sir?” Harry said. “She seemed very…flat.”

“Faith is…” Hamilton said. “You’ll have to see the introduction to Wolf Squadron video to even begin to comprehend either one of them. And it really doesn’t cover it.”

“You sent for me, sir?” Sophia said, sticking her head in the door.

“Grab a seat, Ensign,” Hamilton said. “Have you met Captain Whiteshead and Captain…Wales…?”

“Can the platform on the Social Alpha handle that other chopper?” Faith said as the conversation paused. She’d spent most of the last ten minutes sitting with her mouth shut, leaning on her hand.

“Yes,” Prince Harry said. “Probably.”

“Whatever,” Faith said. “Reinforce it. The Grace has got a machine shop. You can fly the helo off from there or at least support it.”

“That is a point,” Colonel Hamilton said. “Assuming we’re willing to give up the Social Alpha .”

“Dad will dump that ghost-ridden tug in a heartbeat, sir,” Faith said. “Trust me, he likes it about as much as I do. Eventually, you’ll need somewhere bigger to put people. And you need to be able to feed them.

“What you need is a cruise ship that’s not too wrecked. Bottom line, you want no more than one direction the infected can attack and if you can get out on water you’re golden. You’re going to need supplies. There are fricking boats alongside, wrecked, drifting, every way from Sunday. Salvage. You got supplies. Not sure about helo supplies. Don’t know about that. But you can do it. We can’t do it. You can do it. It’s just a matter of doing it.

“If we take a liner, we can show your Gurkhas and the new Dutch Marines the Wolf Way of Clearance Fu and get a liner for you to use at the same time. Of course, they take a bit of clean-up, but that’s the breaks. For ammo and even helo parts I’m sure we can get a shipment up to you from time to time. Or you can come back to Gitmo and do pretty much the same on the other side of the Atlantic. Up to you. Sirs.”

“Sounds like the first thing we need is a not-too-damaged liner,” Whiteshead said after a moment.

“Saw one alongside in some docks just upriver,” Faith said. “Of course, it’s alongside in a city. A really big city. But you can probably use it. You just got to do some serious scrumming to get the main hatches closed,” she ended with a feral grin.

“We don’t have gunboats to support you this time, Sis,” Sophia pointed out.

“Where’d we put them fifties?” Faith said. “We made the other ones right here on the Grace .”

“You are suggesting clearing a liner which is alongside , Lieutenant?” Hamilton asked. “Tied to a dock.”

“It’ll be easy compared to most of the stuff we’ve done, sir,” Faith said. “Among other things, this time I don’t have to climb over the side. We can slide down, sir.”

“I thought you didn’t like air-assault,” Sophia said.

“Beats climbing up into a scrum over shark-filled water,” Faith said. “Beats it all hollow.”

“I’d have to check on changing the mission orders,” Hamilton temporized. “And only after the main mission is complete.”

“Understood, Colonel,” Prince Harry said. “If it is possible… It would be a great aid to the British people.”

“We’ll look at the feasibility,” Hamilton said. “After the main mission is complete. Lieutenant, Ensign, get your final preparations for tomorrow’s mission done, then get some rack time. Tomorrow is not going to be a walk in the park. Even Washington Square.”

“You rang, Colonel?” Steve said. It was earlier in the day in Gitmo and while Hamilton had put off replying on the prince’s plan, he was interested in the answer as well.