by Lee Thomas
Waving Roger out, I told him to go find a sailor to help him find his own cabin to claim, and maybe take advantage of the time before the group showed up to shower and relax for a few minutes. He headed off to hopefully not get lost, and I headed back to the flight deck. Stepping out of the tower hatch, I turned right and went forward on the ship. The wind tugged at my shirt some, but it wasn’t too strong right now. I stopped near the edge, but not close enough to worry about falling over. The view from up here was not as much as I had hoped, but it was still pretty impressive.
The bay ran out to our left, and I knew it opened to the ocean just around the bend to the right, where the bridge/tunnel was that connected Norfolk to the Hampton Roads area, where I was stationed just north of here in Newport News. The pier ran out to the right, stretching out as far as I could see. The two carriers here were not lined up when they were docked. The Nimitz was pulled almost all the way forward, while the Jefferson was left back some, which meant any guards posted in the forward smoke pit or starboard anchor room would have a beautiful vantage point to see anyone or anything coming, well before we were spotted. The other escort ships, some cruisers, a couple of frigates and destroyers, plus the two submarines stretched out along the pier, all resting quietly to themselves.
Looking forward, I could see the base laid out in front of me. I couldn’t see as much as I would have liked to, but what I could see looked secure, no sign of infected anywhere. I made a mental note to myself to ask Lt. Levine if they had a map of the base, and/or the surrounding area.
It was almost peaceful, just standing there with nothing but the sound of the wind, the smell of salt from the ocean, the slap of the water on the hull, and I swear you could smell the metal of the ship. It was a mix of burnt rubber, jet fuel, and hot steel, all melded together in an undertone that you barely registered, and eventually tuned out. For just a few minutes, I could pretend there was nothing wrong with the world, and I was just on a wonderful vacation, enjoying a tour with an old friend.
After what seemed like a long time, but was probably only fifteen or so minutes in reality, I started back aft towards the tower. I ended up passing the tower, and walking all the way to the aft end of the flight deck, where the ramp was. The ramp was designed at the edge of the flight deck to give the planes something to hit that wasn’t a sharp, flat edge if they came in just a hair too low, or early. It sloped down pretty sharply, and wasn’t very long. One could easily fall of the ship there if you weren’t careful. I stood near the corner of the deck, near where the LSO’s platform would be. The LSO was the officer in charge of landing the planes. He, or she, talked to the pilots, calmed them if necessary, and informed them if they were centered on the bubble or not, which was a set of lights used to determine the angle of approach the plane was making. A center bubble was as near to perfect as you could get. A low bubble meant you were going to strike the ramp in the back, and a high bubble meant you were probably not going to catch a wire. The arresting wires were what stopped the planes, and had to be hooked by the pilots. If they were too high they wouldn’t get down low enough to hit one, or hit the deck too hard and possibly break a strut or blow a tire. The platform they stood on was just under the lip of the flight deck, where only their heads would be visible above the deck, for safety reasons.
I looked out over the water, and I could see the rest of Norfolk over the river behind us, and possibly the bridge the group would be coming over. The bay stretched out flat to my right, as I faced the back of the ship. I turned that direction to see several boats that had been cast adrift just floating out there in the middle of the water. I made a mental note to try to gather those boats at the pier if there was room. If my plan worked, and we could secure the entire base, a marina would prove useful for docking fishing ships in. Fish would probably be a big part of our food intake for quite a while. The water was mostly still, and calm. I knew just a short distance away was the ocean.
“Sir, Petty Officer Trainor is asking for you on the bridge.” I heard a voice behind me say. It was MCSN Quill, who I had just met.
“Thank you Seaman Quill, please tell him I will be right there.” I replied, nodding my head at him. Since we were on the flight deck, it constituted outside, so he saluted, turned, and left. I sighed, knowing that it would be a long battle to get them to stop saluting and saying ‘sir’.
I glanced back over the water and just listened to the sound of the wind and the water. I knew that as hard as it was keeping everyone together on the road, that was the easy part. The hard part was what was coming next, and no one else really knew it or understood it like I did. That was mostly because I hadn’t really fully explained it all to anyone else yet. I still wasn’t sure how most of them would take it. After just a minute or two more I turned and headed for the bridge. My hope was that the radio message had come in about the group hitting the base. It had been about four hours now and the sun would be setting soon.
“Captain on…” Mr. Crowe started to say until I raised my hand. He nodded and had the decency to at least look embarrassed. I looked at Petty Officer Trainor expectantly and raised my chin in question.
“Sir, I mean Sheldon, we got a radio message from someone named Jeff. He said he was with you, and he had just arrived at the gate you originally passed through. They were working on getting on the vehicles through, but had to park some of them off to the side and set snipers as a large group of infected started their way. I assumed that ‘infected’ is your groups’ term for the zombies. As of eight minutes ago they only had three RV’s left, he said, and the snipers were taking care of the infected. They were planning on moving abandoned cars back to block the entrance and then head this way. What do you want us to do?” Petty Officer Trainor reported, reading off a note.
“Make sure there are snipers at the forward smoke pit and the starboard anchor room, just in case any infected make it through the gate and manage to get onto the pier. I’m going to the hangar bay to get things ready to get them onboard. Let me know if they say anything else. Radio them back and tell them I said to get here ASAP, and to start clearing all vehicles of supplies once they do. I also need a team to meet me by elevator four to help get everything on board and manage people.” I told him. Once he acknowledged the order, I turned and headed down the stairwell towards the hangar bay. Petty Officer Crowe came on the 1MC, which is the ship intercom system, and passed the order for two separate work teams to meet in hangar bay three and report to me.
By the time I made it down to the hangar bay, there was already about twenty sailors gathered. I sent one man to the control room to open the door and lower the elevator. Once they had all showed up, I had thirty men and women, minus the one I sent to the control room.
“Alright, here’s the deal. My group is almost here, and the sun will also be setting soon. As soon as they show up, I need those stairs lowered and sailors on the pier to help bring supplies up. We have food, weapons, clothes, and various other things. For now, I want to bring everything in and pile it over there out of the way. Food can be taken straight to the galley.” I ordered, pointing to the far corner of the bay. Several of them said ‘Aye sir’ and nodded. “Once the supplies and people are all onboard, if there is still enough sunlight left, I want that portable crane over here loading the vehicles. Park them in bay two, as close together as possible. Some of my people are former military, so they should hop to and fall in just fine. Others are military families, but most of them have no military affiliation whatsoever, so please keep that in mind when dealing with them. I need five volunteers to act as tour guides to show them where the galley is, showers, and I believe Lt. Levine is arranging quarters, so they will need to be shown there as well. Volunteers?” I finished. More than five hands went up, but I picked the first five and had them stand just off to the side of the rest. The door finally started rumbling open, and as the gap widened I could see the elevator lowering as well.
“Sheldon, Jeff radioed that they just entered the pier. One ca
r held back to watch the gate and see if the blockade held the infected back, and it seems to be so far. He didn’t stay long, so he should have caught up by the time the last one gets through the pier gate.” Roger reported as he jogged up to us. I turned to him and waited for him to catch up to us. About that time the door clanged open and the elevator settled into position.
“Excellent. Alright, here we go. Get the stairs ready. I have snipers watching the pier in case any infected get through, so we don’t have to worry about watching our backs while we are doing this. I want all this done by sunset, so let’s hustle.” I told the sailors. I got nods, a few more ‘Aye, sir’s’, but they all looked serious. I led the way out onto the elevator, and we made room for the stairs to be pushed through and lowered onto the pier. They were a simple aluminum frame, lightweight enough that just a few men could lower it or lift it with ropes fairly easily, but sturdy enough to handle quite a few grown adults without risking collapse. Two minutes later the stairs were set and Jeff was pulling the rig around the corner and down the pier towards the lowered elevator. I went down the stairs, pointed at him, and off to his left to indicate I wanted him as far over that way as possible. He complied, and I waved to the first RV and directed them next to Jeff. The next RV I had come to the right of that one so it was three vehicles wide. The rest took the hint and parked accordingly. Since Jeff had room to pull up further beside the stairs, I moved him far enough to make the RV’s even. That put the end of the trailer almost even with the stairs. Before they had finished parking, the sailors were already moving to help unload people and supplies. I moved back to top of the elevator to address those who had already exited the vehicles.
“Alright people, listen to the sailors, I already gave them the orders, they know what to do. I want everyone to unload supplies and be totally onboard by sunset. Christy, Leni, I want you to get ten others to gather the children and get them inside first, that’s your priority. Michelle, get five people to help with food supplies. Tony, Vince, and Dave, you three are in charge of weapons. Two sailors will help you gather all weapons and get them secure. Everyone else, empty the RV you are in then start on the vehicle you are towing. I have snipers watching our backs, so don’t worry about that. Let’s move people, we have only about two hours until sunset.” I yelled to the group as they started exiting the vehicles. I knew a lot of them were tired from the trip, the lack of steady sleep, and the low amount and quality of food we had, but I needed them to understand we were on a time crunch for safety.
People started moving, gathering children together, doors slamming open, voices raised as people called for each other and the sailors organized themselves. It was chaos, but looking out over it, it was organized chaos. The ones I assigned to certain things started their tasks, and I could see Christy and Leni gathering the kids with a few others and herding them towards the stairs. Some of the kids were scared and starting to cry, but a couple of sailors stopped them and introduced themselves, talked to them for a minute, and they actually smiled and laughed before the sailors headed off to gather more supplies. I was glad to see that the sailors cared enough to take the time to ease the kids fear. It made me feel like this merging would go over well.
Glancing over at the rig, I could see two sailors being handed supplies from the trailer and handing them off to two others who were placing them into piles near the bottom of the stairs. A noise above me drew my attention upwards to see the mobile crane at the edge of the flight deck settling into position to lift the vehicles.
“Sir, the crane operator is set and ready, but is concerned about the semi. Are we separating them to lift?” a sailor came up to me and reported. As soon as she said that I kicked myself mentally for not thinking about that earlier.
“Yes, we are. The truck will go to the hangar bay with the rest of the vehicles, but for now let’s save space and put the trailer on the flight deck.” I ordered. The sailor saluted and with another ‘aye, sir’ turned and headed to relay that to the crane operator. I was really going to have to work on that saluting nonsense. Turning then, I waved to Jeff to let him know he was going to have separate the rig from the trailer. Seeming to understand my hand motions, he nodded back and headed for the cab. I stayed and watched the organized chaos for another few minutes, noting how efficient the sailors were in offloading the supplies. They already had four vehicles ready to lift in the space of about 30 minutes.
Informing the sailor on the sound powered phone that I could be reached on the bridge, I turned and headed for the stairwell. I jogged up the stairs as quickly as I could. There were a few things I wanted to check on and make sure bunks were prepared for everyone. Most of these people would be extremely stressed, tired, frustrated. I wanted to make sure everyone got fed and had a chance for showers before heading to bed.
“Captain, what can we do for you?” Petty Officer Crowe asked me as I stepped onto the bridge.
“I just wanted to check in and make sure the bunks are getting set for everyone. I spoke with Chief Smith and she assured me that there would be plenty of food available this evening, and I have tour guides set up to help show my people around and get them settled for the night. The weather is concerning me though. What’s the radar look like?” I asked, looking out through the windows at the clouds that were rolling in.
“Let me check.” Mr. Crowe said. He stepped over to the phone and picked it up. After what was probably only a few rings someone picked up and he asked my question. He listened for a minute, nodding while he listened. Then he hung up and turned to me.
“It appears there is a storm headed this way sir. We don’t have anyone who can really read it, but the programming gives us predictions. We have learned a little about it, and it doesn’t appear too bad.” he reported.
“Good, thank you. I would like to have a meeting at 0900 in ready room 5 with Lt. Levine, Ensign Harper, Chief Carter, and Lt. J.G. Daniel. I believe Mr. Levine already knows, not sure about the rest. Please let them know.” I told them. I knew I was going to have to make it start sounding like orders if I wanted to keep the sailors going smoothly. My biggest fear was that with the sailors here, it would be a rocky mesh with my group. Not very many of them had military experience, or the type of mindset for military strictness, and I didn’t want to run things like that anyways. It was critical to find a happy medium somewhere between civilian and military in order to mesh these two diverse groups of people into one large, effective unit. With finding people on the road, I had proven already it was possible.
Stepping back out onto the flight deck, I walked over to the edge and looked down at the pier for a birds’ eye view of what was going on. Sailors and civilians alike were lugging supplies onto the elevator, while another group was taking it into the hangar bay. It seemed to be efficient as they were already working on the last three vehicles. There was a team of six pulling the cars and trucks off the tow bars and then removing the tow bars so the RV’s could be lifted safely. Glancing over, I noticed Jeff had already pulled his rig forward off the trailer a little bit. There was a team, including Jeff, attaching chains to lifting points on the trailer to get it ready to lift. Things seemed to progressing well.
I looked up when the wind hit me a little stronger and saw the dark clouds headed this way. It appeared the storm was going to be intense, as I could see the lighting flashes in the clouds from here. The wind gusts worried me, as that could get hairy for the crane crew lifting the cars. Two of the RV’s had already been loaded and the third one was being moved up into position. The cars and trucks were being loaded by the second crane onto the forward elevator at the same time, and it appeared to be going quite quickly as well.
“Sir, Lt. Levine asked me to inform you that two bunkrooms have been made available for your people for the night, and towels have been laid out so everyone can have a chance at a shower if they want. Dinner is also being prepared as we speak, and should be about ready. Is there anything else that you require to be done this evening?” a sailor asked m
e. Petty Officer Reyes, by the name tag. He was a third class petty officer, but I was unfamiliar with the rating badge, so I made a note to look it up.
“No, that sounds sufficient for now. I just want this loading to be done by nightfall so everyone can be in and safe once dark hits. If there are any other sailors who like to volunteer to help, I’m sure it would be appreciated. Oh, yes, one more thing. I believe Mr. Levine said some would be available to show my people around the ship, learn how to read the designators. I don’t want to throw too much at them tonight, but someone to help them not get lost would be greatly appreciated. I will meet with the Lt. and others in the morning for detailed plans.” I responded, after thinking about it for a minute. The petty officer nodded and turned to head back inside. Glancing back down, I counted only three cars left, and five RV’s. Jeff’s truck and trailer were also still down there. Nobody was still moving in and out of the vehicles, so I assumed that meant all the supplies were loaded. I decided to head down to the hangar bay and check on that myself.
One thing I had noticed since showing up here was that ship was eerily quiet with so few men on board. As I made my way down the stairwell, I could hear voices echoing in the huge room. I stepped into bay 2 and had to weave my way around the cars that already been parked there. I could see a group of people rummaging through the pile of supplies, and as I got close I could see they were trying to pair personal belongings to individuals, while the general supplies such as food and medical stuff were being hauled off to their respective areas. Weapons were also being collected, but it appeared some of my guys were unwilling to give up their favorite one.