Islands of Rage and Hope (eARC) (13 page)

"Yes, sir," Faith said.

"I'll see you tomorrow at the officers' call, Lieutenant," Hamilton said. "Type it up, put it on the server. If there are any issues we'll cover them tomorrow. Oh, and this time don't run it past Staff Sergeant Januscheitis first."

"Yes, sir," Faith said, gulping.

"Zero nine hundred," Hamilton said, waving at his forehead. "Be there."

"Congratulations on your clearance of Guantanamo, Captain," General Brice said.

"Thank you, ma'am," Steve said in a puzzled tone. "I think the congratulations should go to Captain Wilkes, however. It was his plan and execution, General. And we're still a bit up in the air over where to get materials for the vaccine. We're considering a sweep of the Leeward Islands."

"Which is critical," Brice said. "But they're going to need to hold in place rather than start the sweep. Or perhaps start it but not for that primary reason."

"Ma'am?" Steve said, cautiously. "Something you haven't been telling me?"

"Many things, Steve," Brice said, sighing. "Many things. But not 'keeping secrets' from you. You said, 'don't joggle my elbow.' By the same token...Captain, I'm looking at the
world
here. And there is nothing you can do for most of the world. We know where five of our supercarriers are that were at sea. Four are aground, one is sunk. Because it would be idiotic, I don't say 'Captain, would you mind going to the Seychelles and clearing the
Carl Vinson
?' You don't need the stress of knowing. Sorry to bring that up."

"I understand, ma'am," Steve said, nodding. "I would if it was even vaguely conceivable. What does that have to do with Gitmo?"

"Nothing," Brice said. "In the same way, I decided not to say 'clearing hell out of a small island is really important and really time critical because...' Let me just say that there is good news and better news. The good news is that we've found you an MD
and
a world-class microbiologist."

"Where, General?" Steve asked curiously. "Walker?"

"No," Brice said, chuckling. "His expertise is more in taking lives. The better news is that you've now created a condition in which she and her colleagues might be able to land."

"Okay," Steve said. "I'm going to admit to total confusion, ma'am."

"Those current videos we sent of the night sky," Brice said. "They didn't
all
come from satellites..."

"...on Abatiku atoll. If there is anyone listening. Please, we're barely holding on..."

From:
Collected Radio Transmissions of The Fall

University of the South Press 2053

"Change of agenda for the meeting," Steve said, pulling up a satellite shot of an island. All of the officers as well as Walker, Gunny Sands, Sergeant Major Barney and Chief Schmidt were present. General Brice and Dr. Dobson were attending via satellite video. "Marines and some presently unspecified Naval forces will head down to the Leeward Islands. Part of that will be to sweep for any remaining medical supplies, textbooks and so on. Part of it will be other missions. Which is the primary focus of this meeting. First, the good news. We now have a
possibility
of getting not only a microbiologist but several mechanical engineers, a former SEAL and, will wonders never cease, an MD."

"Where?" Walker asked.

"Well, that is in part up to Colonel Hamilton," Steve said. "General Brice?"

"We've been looking at this mission for some time," General Brice said. "Mission is to thoroughly clear a small island--our suggestion on that is Anguilla in the British Leeward Islands--and then secure a golf course on that island."

"General," Walker said, "with the forces that we have, securing a golf course would be functionally impossible."

"It's not a suggestion, sir," Brice said, sir. "It's more of a desperation move. And it's not exactly 'secure the golf-course.' It's 'secure the
island
with
focus
on the golf course.' We're just hoping that the Dragon can hit an
island
."

"Dragon?" Faith said excitedly. "They're real?"

"The ISS resupply vessel?" Sophia asked. "I didn't think they were personnel rated."

"Oh," Faith said. "Rats, I was hoping...Oooh, astronauts?"

"The ISS," Colonel Hamilton said, shaking his head.

"Oh, bloody hell," Sergeant Major Barney said.

"I thought it was evacuated, ma'am," Faith said. "That was what we'd been told, ma'am."

"Which was true for values of true, Lieutenant," Brice said. "When it was impossible to return the full crew, we were holding off on mentioning that there were still five on the station. Just before the Fall, a prototype Dragon crew vehicle was shot up to the station with, well, as much in the way of supplies and parts as they could fit. But the decision was made for the crew to remain in space. The crews have reduced immune systems, along with dozens of other physical problems. Dropping them into the middle of a plague was not a good idea. Everyone hoped that...we'd be able to keep things under control. Get a handle on the Plague.
Three
returned on a Soyuz. What happened to them, and one of them was an American mission specialist, we don't know. But five are still trapped on the station. The Dragon has never been tested for human reentry. It has been
refitted
for it, but... They're out of time, materials, air and their last heat exchanger is about to fail. When it does, the ISS will turn into an oven. A really, really hot one.

"The problem has been, well, obvious..."

"A sufficiently large area sufficiently clear of infected," Colonel Hamilton said.

"Which has people there to help them and people with
vaccine
," General Brice said. "There's an ironic aspect to this. The initial Dragon was similar to the early U.S. space missions: it was designed to land at sea and be picked up by boats. The one that was sent up as an emergency resupply and rescue vehicle was their
ground
landing prototype. Even if things got bad, they envisioned that someone, somewhere, would hold the land and, of course, there was no way that they could get help in an apocalypse at
sea
."

"Oh, God," Sophia said, holding her hand over her mouth and trying not to laugh.

"Yes, Ensign," Brice said drily. "They've been up there for
months
watching the squadron build and cursing their luck. Some of those night sky videos, they provided."

"How accurately can they land?" Walker asked.

"Much more than Soyuz, apparently," Brice said. "They say they think they can hit the driving range on the golf course. Assuming that an untested prototype works. I'm saying secure the whole thing and set a perimeter to stay out from under--well, an untested prototype space-to-ground landing vehicle that has some pretty serious rockets it uses to land."

"Shelley," Walker said, shaking his head. "You're overthinking it."

"Oh?" Brice said. "Sorry; oh, sir?"

"Quit that," Walker said, smiling. "There is exactly zero we can do to support the landing. It's going to land just fine or it's not. And if it's off a bit, we'll have troops under very powerful rockets. Last, sorry, General, there is no way that this number of personnel can secure that large a perimeter. So we back off. We stay onboard the ships. We let her land. Then we go back ashore and get them out."

"Oh,
please
let it land safely," Sophia said, holding her hands in prayer. "I so don't want to run the vaccine program."

"Thought you'd like to hear that, Seawolf," Brice said.

"Does it matter if they hit, well, scrub on the way down?" Walker asked. He was looking at the island on a laptop.

"I'd have to ask them," Brice said. "I'm sure a tree or large rock would ruin their day, and the slope of the LZ is obviously important. Why?"

"The golf course is on the narrow part of the island," Walker said. "If they land in the water, I assume that's pretty much all she wrote. If they can handle scrub, the eastern end of the island is much broader, has a relatively low area that is mostly scrub with several large fields. Why not there? For that matter, there's an airfield."

"I was thinking in terms of securing a perimeter, sir," Brice admitted. "If we're not going to...I'll get with them. We have a very limited remaining link--dit/dash code, believe it or not--or I'd have them in on this conversation."

"Then the order to them is shoot for
anywhere
on Anguilla," Walker said. "And we'll come get them. Or, rather, two charming young ladies will come get them while Marines and Navy landing personnel hold the perimeter. Do not open the hatch until they get 'shave and a haircut.' Infected are attracted to light and sound signatures and whoa is this going to be a
doozy
...If that meets with your approval, Colonel, Captain, General."

The colonel, captain and general looked at each other for a moment.

"Looks like a good outline," Captain Smith said after a moment. "Questions, comments, concerns."

"Fire, sirs, ma'am," Faith said. "The whole area's already burned but it's grown back." She'd been looking at the satellite images as well.

"Good point," Colonel Hamilton said. "The area is very dry. The rocket motor is going to cause a fire. Possibly a large one. The area has already been swept by them several times."

"Question, ma'am," Sophia said, raising her hand.

"Go, Ensign," Brice said.

"Why not Gitmo?" Sophia asked. "It has a golf course."

"Not as flat," Brice said. "Gitmo is surrounded by rather steep hills in case you haven't noticed. Anguilla is not
flat
but it is flatter. Essentially it's an atoll. It appears to be the best island which is closest and also has a medical school so you can do two missions with one clearance. Also do we really want to drop a prototype rocket on our only land base? We've been gaming this for a while, Ensign. The decision was made in favor of not possibly destroying Gitmo even if we lost the ISS crew. There are no good choices in this world these days only less bad ones. Fire."

"Look for a fire truck?" Sophia said, shrugging. "There should be one somewhere on the island."

"Assuming we can get to it," Walker said. "We'll have to have the truck near the landing point for the roll out. But, honestly, most of this is going to have to be done on the fly."

"How long until they are completely gone, ma'am?" Hamilton asked.

"Depends on the heat exchanger," Brice said. "They have air for another two weeks, water for about a month. They're out of food and have been for a week and on very short rations before then. But they are down to one heat exchanger which means they hit nearly a hundred and fifty degrees on the interior every time they fly through the sun zone. That goes out and they bake to death on their next pass. In the meantime, it's bake, freeze, bake, freeze..."

"So as soon as possible it is," Hamilton said. "Point of order...Mr. Walker's exact position is somewhat ambiguous..."

"And it will remain that way for the time being," Brice said. "Absent Mr. Walker wanting to take over this mission?"

"Pass," Walker said. "Accompany, yes. Help? Absolutely. Among other things, we will be unable to perform the operation without the support of some of the pregnant women and at least one baby doctor along is going to be necessary. I
recommend
putting it under Colonel Hamilton. We don't have an equivalent Naval officer of rank other than Captain Smith. I suppose we could put Lieutenant Commander Isham in charge."

"Oh, hell, no," Isham said, laughing. "I just make sure the paperwork is straight."

"Which was my plan," Steve said. "Very well. Mission of the task force is to begin clearance and sweep operations of the Leeward Islands beginning with the island of Anguilla with first mission being recovery of the astronauts. Details of clearance of that island to be determined when you get there. We're pretty good at snap-kicking but I think we'll need to look at how you're going to be supported and supplied before you leave. So, despite the time issues and the problems of the ISS crew, plan for leaving in three or four days. Any questions?"

"Is it an opportune time to discuss the wider mission, sir?" Hamilton asked.

"How difficult do you think it will be to sweep the minor islands, Colonel?" Steve asked.

"Seriously, Da?" Faith said with a snort, then clapped her hand over her mouth.

"My subordinate seems to think it would be a walk to just clear them all," Colonel Hamilton said drily. "Lieutenant Smith?"

"Looking at the maps, these are going to be as easy to clear as the Canaries or easier," Faith said, shrugging. "These are small islands, small towns. Smaller than the Canary towns in most cases. Some of the
islands
are the size of Corillo. With the additional Marines, even without the ones that have been drawn off for helo work, we can blow through these like Michael Moore eating a bag of Oreos..."

Colonel Hamilton did a facepalm as most of the rest of the conference clearly tried not to laugh. The exception was Dr. Dobson who looked momentarily offended, realized the group he was dealing with and composed his features. Faith didn't seem to notice as she scrolled around on her screen.

"Some of them are just too big," Faith said, still ignoring the meeting. "I'm not sure, right now, which are possible and which aren't..."

"Which task I'll assign you," Hamilton said. "Determining which are doable and which aren't. To answer the captain's question."

"Here's the real bitch, sir," Faith said, still poking at the computer. "How recent are these shots?"

"Post-Plague," General Brice said.

"Any way I can bring
this
up on the plasma, ma'am?" Faith asked.

"You're locked in," a voice said. What Faith was looking at came up on the plasma.

"Oh...damnit!" Steve snarled.

"Every big harbor I was looking at had cruise ships," Faith said, looking up. "Those we
can't
blow through. And they're all, or mostly, big islands. Do we ignore them?"

"Primary mission is rescue the ISS crew," General Brice said tightly. "Secondary mission is find materials to produce vaccine. The survivors are going to have enough supplies to hold out until we have time to clear them, or...they are not."

"Input?" Sophia said.

"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?"