Read Online Islands of Rage and Hope (eARC) by John Ringo - Free Book Online
Authors: John Ringo
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ensign was curled up at the helm of the boat, shivering slightly, sound asleep. He pulled a blanket out of a drybox and tucked it around her before heading below.
"Ma'am," Walker said, shaking the ensign's shoulder.
"Left, left, left!" Sophia said, sitting up. She rubbed her eyes and shook her head. "Fuck, I hate those..."
"Yes, ma'am," Walker said, handing her a cup of coffee. "They are a bitch and a half."
"Know any tricks to handling them?" Sophia said, sipping the coffee. She was gray in the predawn light.
"A few," Walker said. "They don't make them go away, just make them less horrible. If they work at all for you."
"Later, maybe," Sophia said. "What's up?"
"Starting unrep ops in thirty minutes," Walker said. "Most of the boats waiting are dry. We're actually not scheduled until eleven hundred if, as they said, we get in then. The Friday thinks it has enough to make it to this afternoon. They asked if we had inventories, I said yes. They didn't seem to believe me. Our first operation is passenger drop-off but we're to use the offshores and take them to the Boadicea . Boat is working fine, Batari is making breakfast."
"I swear to God, Walker, I can get Da to make you an instant chief petty officer, at the least," Sophia said.
"Oh, I'm not qualified to be a chief, ma'am," Walker said, grinning. "I don't have a coffee cup welded to my hand."
"Okay," Sophia said, looking around. "I'll get everybody to get their paks ready. Since we've got time until unrep, we'll get them fed first. That will take some of the strain off the rest of the squadron."
"Yes, ma'am," Walker said.
"Get some sleep, Tom," Sophia said. "You've earned it."
"I can keep going for quite a while, ma'am," Walker said. "And you're probably going to need help today."
" Sunk Investment , Sunk Investment ...What is it about 'come up to our port side' you don't understand? We have guns and we will use them. Over."
"Dry" turned out to be an understatement of the state of most of the boats in the ragged formation. During the night four had fallen out of formation when they had to shut their engines down and go to generator only to make it to morning. A smaller resupply ship, designed to support megayachts, had been running around behind the formation since dawn tracking them down and getting them fueled back up.
Two more were under tow having had "mechanicals" overnight. They were awaiting engineering survey crews from the Grace to determine if they could be repaired or would have to be abandoned.
And the resupply was not going quickly. The skippers and crews of the boats were rarely experienced and the little experience they did have was tooling around the ocean looking for survivors. Coming alongside a large ship for underway replenishment, not so much.
One thing that was holding things up was that there were some supplies to come off and some supplies to come on. Everyone was supposed to have an inventory of what was to come off and what was a critical resupply item. So far, few of the boats had had that. So as each came alongside there was an argument with the resupply crews about what needed to be onloaded and offloaded. The crews were particularly protective of their gathered liquor stores and virtually all of them wanted toilet paper and parts.
"Uh, Grace , our starboard side hull is sort of weak. We really need to come up to your starboard, over."
"Define 'weak,' Investment , over."
"We sort of have a leak there. The hull cracked when we were clearing another boat. We've got it glued with Aquaseal but it's still leaking. Bilge pump is handling it but I'd rather not come up to port if that's okay. Over."
"You're floating around on a cracked hull ?" TraffCon screamed. "Stand by for lifting operations. We'll take you aboard and check your hull. And you had better be serious or you're not going to be a skipper anymore. Switch to fifteen for lifting instructions. Jesus, people. Tell us stuff like this first , okay? Finally Friday , Finally
"Ma'am," Walker said, shaking the ensign's shoulder.
"Left, left, left!" Sophia said, sitting up. She rubbed her eyes and shook her head. "Fuck, I hate those..."
"Yes, ma'am," Walker said, handing her a cup of coffee. "They are a bitch and a half."
"Know any tricks to handling them?" Sophia said, sipping the coffee. She was gray in the predawn light.
"A few," Walker said. "They don't make them go away, just make them less horrible. If they work at all for you."
"Later, maybe," Sophia said. "What's up?"
"Starting unrep ops in thirty minutes," Walker said. "Most of the boats waiting are dry. We're actually not scheduled until eleven hundred if, as they said, we get in then. The Friday thinks it has enough to make it to this afternoon. They asked if we had inventories, I said yes. They didn't seem to believe me. Our first operation is passenger drop-off but we're to use the offshores and take them to the Boadicea . Boat is working fine, Batari is making breakfast."
"I swear to God, Walker, I can get Da to make you an instant chief petty officer, at the least," Sophia said.
"Oh, I'm not qualified to be a chief, ma'am," Walker said, grinning. "I don't have a coffee cup welded to my hand."
"Okay," Sophia said, looking around. "I'll get everybody to get their paks ready. Since we've got time until unrep, we'll get them fed first. That will take some of the strain off the rest of the squadron."
"Yes, ma'am," Walker said.
"Get some sleep, Tom," Sophia said. "You've earned it."
"I can keep going for quite a while, ma'am," Walker said. "And you're probably going to need help today."
" Sunk Investment , Sunk Investment ...What is it about 'come up to our port side' you don't understand? We have guns and we will use them. Over."
"Dry" turned out to be an understatement of the state of most of the boats in the ragged formation. During the night four had fallen out of formation when they had to shut their engines down and go to generator only to make it to morning. A smaller resupply ship, designed to support megayachts, had been running around behind the formation since dawn tracking them down and getting them fueled back up.
Two more were under tow having had "mechanicals" overnight. They were awaiting engineering survey crews from the Grace to determine if they could be repaired or would have to be abandoned.
And the resupply was not going quickly. The skippers and crews of the boats were rarely experienced and the little experience they did have was tooling around the ocean looking for survivors. Coming alongside a large ship for underway replenishment, not so much.
One thing that was holding things up was that there were some supplies to come off and some supplies to come on. Everyone was supposed to have an inventory of what was to come off and what was a critical resupply item. So far, few of the boats had had that. So as each came alongside there was an argument with the resupply crews about what needed to be onloaded and offloaded. The crews were particularly protective of their gathered liquor stores and virtually all of them wanted toilet paper and parts.
"Uh, Grace , our starboard side hull is sort of weak. We really need to come up to your starboard, over."
"Define 'weak,' Investment , over."
"We sort of have a leak there. The hull cracked when we were clearing another boat. We've got it glued with Aquaseal but it's still leaking. Bilge pump is handling it but I'd rather not come up to port if that's okay. Over."
"You're floating around on a cracked hull ?" TraffCon screamed. "Stand by for lifting operations. We'll take you aboard and check your hull. And you had better be serious or you're not going to be a skipper anymore. Switch to fifteen for lifting instructions. Jesus, people. Tell us stuff like this first , okay? Finally Friday , Finally
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