To Sail a Darkling Sea btr-2

by John Ringo

  “Yes, Sergeant Major.”

  “Go ahead and load then open fire,” the Sergeant Major said. He wanted to observe her technique.

  “Open fire, aye, Sergeant Major,” Olga said. She charged the weapon then took careful aim. There was a crack and one of the infected stumbled. It didn’t go down, though, so she fired again. That time it went down.

  “Bloody five five six,” the Sergeant Major muttered.

  “Lieutenant Smith, Faith that is, calls these things Barbie guns,” Olga said, taking another shot.

  The Sergeant Major looked through the Aimpoint scope and considered his shots. He knew he shouldn’t do it, but he went for a headshot. Fortunately, he hit.

  “Very nice,” Olga said. “I’m not quite that good.”

  “Luck,” Barney said. “And about twenty-four years experience.”

  He picked out another that wasn’t moving much and dropped it with another head shot. That seemed to be working, the range was no more than forty meters and Lieutenant Smith was keeping the boat comfortably steady. He fired again.

  “Okay, I know I hit that one in the bloody head,” he said, just as the infected dropped.

  “Barbie guns,” Olga said. She was just using two or three rounds in the body to drop hers.

  “They shouldn’t be able to survive being shot in the bloody head,” Barney said. “Not even for a few seconds.”

  In less than ten minutes from when the boat had entered the marina entrance, all the infected were down. More than half of them from headshots from the sergeant major.

  “Position is clear, ma’am,” the Sergeant Major called.

  “Roger, Sergeant Major,” Sophia said. “I’m going to move into the turning area for the conference. Might as well be comfortable.”

  * * *

  “We still have infected leaking into the area,” Lieutenant Chen said. “But the presence is down. Sergeant Major, aware that this is your first such operation, would you prefer to suggest an action plan or have Lieutenant Smith present hers?”

  “I’d rather the Lieutenant present hers, sir,” Sergeant Major Barney said. “I do have thoughts but it is my first time on such an operation and I would like to have the Lieutenant’s insights.”

  “Sophia?” Chen said.

  “The primary purpose of this mission is the recovery of the ocean capable yachts,” Sophia said. “Most of those are tied up along the breakwater. As such, I would suggest putting in a primary security team at the base of the breakwater, probably with a 240 and some rifle support, then go through and clear and remove any infected from the yachts. If we place a gunboat alongside one of the yachts, oriented to fire parallel to the breakwater, they can support if there is a heavy response by infected. If there are still too many, have inflatables in place to support the retreat of the security team. I would recommend the Sergeant Major primarily be with that machine-gun and rifle security team. That’s the point that is most likely to have major infected response and Anarchy was our only person fully qualified with the 240. He trained Rusty on it so I’d suggest Rusty as the gunner. I’d suggest the Guppy as the support boat with the Chief onboard to maintain control of the fire from the gunboat. Leave all the Guppy’s gunners aboard, the ground team taken from the Wet Debt and the other boats with security. For the defense team I suggest use most of the Wet Debt crew. For the clearance team… Olga and I can handle that.”

  “Sergeant Major?” Lieutenant Chen said. “Comments?”

  “I think the overall plan is good, sir,” the Sergeant Major said. “However, the Lieutenant should not be involved in active clearance with respect, ma’am.”

  “Light clearance like this isn’t hard, Sergeant Major,” Sophia said. “But it is adrenaline pumping. And when you have adrenaline pumping, you get ADs. It takes a steady nerve. Olga, despite her apparent flightiness, is pretty steady. I’ve done it plenty of times. Rusty has done it some. The rest of them aren’t experienced at it.”

  “Choose someone else, Lieutenant,” Lieutenant Chen said.

  “Yu?” Sophia said. Then: “To be clear, Seaman Recruit Leo Yu from your boat, sir.”

  “Yu is a good steady hand,” Chen said, nodding.

  “Better him than Steinholtz, that’s for sure,” Sophia said.

  “Two Seaman Recruits,” the Sergeant Major said, frowning.

  “What we tend to have is Seaman Recruits, Sergeant Major,” Lieutenant Chen pointed out. “And they haven’t been through recruit training. There hasn’t been time. For an example, our schedule calls for cutting out the vessels, clearing this town, recovering survivors and making it to the next town by no more than twenty-three hundred hours, local, so as to start the next party and attract the infected. And so on and so forth.”

  “You have to have some time for training, sir,” the Sergeant Major said.

  “Tell that to the Commodore, Sergeant Major,” Chen said. “Who, in fact, agrees. And also notes that if we’d taken time for training, we might never have found you. Or me. Or any of the security specialists, seamen, etcetera. We’re not going to be able to clear the entire Canary Islands before we leave. We know there are more liners tied up alongside in This more or less is training.”

  “Understood, sir,” the Sergeant Major said, frowning. “Well, then, we’ll have to hope for the best and plan for the worst I suppose, sir.”

  “That’s the spirit, Sergeant Major,” Sophia said, smiling tightly. “What’s the worst that could happen? A zombie apocalypse?”

  * * *

  “Where do you want to land?”

  The inflatable was crewed by another bloody twelve-year-old. And a nervous one at that. Everyone was nervous which wasn’t enjoyable for Sergeant Major Barney. Nervous troops did tend to AD. He had a vision of one of these bloody ponzers shooting out one of the bloody pontoons and them all going in the drink. Because there were, yes, sharks. They seemed to be following the bloody boat.

  “On this end,” Barney said.

  “Why here?” Steinholtz asked. “It’s a long damn walk down that pier.”

  “Because I bloody well said ‘land here,’ Seaman Recruit!” Barney boomed. “Is that good enough for you, Seaman Recruit or would you like a bloody valentine with it?”

  “Sure, sure,” Steinholtz said.

  “Quit looking so nervous, you lot,” Barney said, shaking his head. “We’ve got a bloody damned gunboat backing us up, we’ve got a bloody Singer and so far there aren’t any bloody zombies to shoot. This isn’t taking down a Taliban stronghold. We’re picking up some yachts from a bloody marina. I won’t say this will be a walk in Hyde Park but take a bloody breath, follow orders and we’ll all come back heroes. Right? Right. Just pull the bloody boat up to the damned pier if you will, Coxswain!”

  “Yes, sir, Sergeant Major,” the driver said.

  “And would people quit calling the Chief and I ‘sir’?” the Sergeant Major said, shaking his head. “The Chief and I work for a living.”

  “But… you call a Chief sir, Sergeant Major,” Yu said. “Don’t you?”

  “What?” Barney said. “Since when?”

  “Isn’t that like a Master Chief?” Yu said. “And the Master Chief in Halo always was called ‘sir.’ ”

  “What?” the Sergeant Major said. “What the bloody hell is Halo?”

  “The video game, Sergeant Major,” Olga said, clearly trying not to laugh.

  “DOES THIS LOOK LIKE A BLOODY VIDEO GAME TO YOU, SEAMAN RECRUIT?”

  “Well, now that you mention it… ” Olga said, trying to keep a straight face.

  The sergeant major just held his hands to the sky and growled.

  The yachts that were the target were tied to a narrow pier separated from the breakwater by a stretch of water about ten feet wide. There were bridges from the pier to the breakwater, which had a road on top of it, at regular intervals.

  The Sergeant Major stepped ashore first and caught the tossed line from Olga. He held it in one hand as the group got out of the inflat
able then tossed it back into the boat. This was only part of the “security team.” The rest were in the second inflatable with the Lieutenant.

  “SR Zelenova on point,” Barney said. “Up to the first bridge then Zelenova and Yu break off and the rest up on the breakwater.”

  They got to the first bridge and Olga continued down the pier followed by Steinholtz.

  “Steinholtz,” Barney snapped. “Get up on the breakwater,” he said, pointing.

  “By myself?” Steinholtz said.

  “Oh, God Lord,” the Sergeant Major snapped. “We’re all bloody following you! That’s what point means you bloody poofter! Cross the bloody bridge! It’s not exactly the Rubicon!”

  “What?” Steinholtz said.

  “Just cross the bloody bridge! It’s not as if there are zombies! The road is bloody clear!”

  “Actually, there are, Sergeant Major,” Olga said, pointing. A lone infected had finally found its way to the flock of seagulls feasting on the dead and was now loping down the breakwater. It had a ways to go to get to the group and was still better than two hundred meters away. “Well, one.”

  “Can I shoot ’im?” Steinholtz said, racking a round into his weapon.

  “Oh, let’s just wait here and let Steinholtz try to shoot the bloody zombie,” Sergeant Major Barney said, crossing his arms over his weapon. “Go ahead, Steinholtz. Try to shoot the bloody zombie. Why not? We’ve all day.”

  Steinholtz raised his weapon and started firing. And firing. And firing.

  The zombie had slowed. Not because it had been hit, but because it was emaciated and clearly out of energy. If it even noticed the group it wasn’t apparent. And it definitely didn’t notice the fire.

  “Steinholtz,” the Sergeant Major said, pushing through the group and placing his hand on the weapon. “Before you run out of bullets, we’ll just cross the bridge, shall we?”

  “But its… ” The infected was still more than a hundred meters away but he was clearly unhappy getting near it.

  “Cross the bridge, Steinholtz,” Barney said, giving him a light push. “We’re going to have a demonstration of why one doesn’t attempt to fire from a rocking platform if one has a solid platform available.”

  He got the reluctant former security guard to cross the bridge then got him down in the prone position on the dirt road of the breakwater. The zombie had closed to maybe seventy-five yards and was starting to speed up with fresh meat so close.

  “Now, take a deep breath and shoot the zombie in the chest, Steinholtz,” Sergeant Major Barney said. “One round only.”

  Steinholtz fired. And missed.

  “Oh, good Lord. You missed that shot? Try it again. You’re jerking your trigger. Slow squeeze, Steinholtz… ”

  This time the Seaman Recruit managed to hit the infected. The zombie was nearly dead from dehydration and malnutrition and it dropped with one round.

  “I got it!” Steinholtz said.

  “At under fifty yards with a gun capable of aimed fire at four hundred,” the Sergeant Major said. “We’re clearly going to have to work on marksmanship.”

  “I’m better with a pistol,” Steinholtz said, starting to stand up.

  “I did not give you permission to get up, Seaman Recruit Steinholtz,” Sergeant Major Barney said. “While you’re down there, you can give me twenty push-ups for your inability to follow the simplest orders. And a one and a two… ”

  CHAPTER 25

  The young recruit is silly-’e thinks o’ suicide;

  ‘E’s lost ’is gutter-devil; ’e ’asn’t got ’is pride;

  But day by day they kicks ’im, which ’elps ’im on a bit,

  Till ’e finds ’isself one mornin’ with a full an’ proper kit.

  Gettin’ clear o’ dirtiness, gettin’ done with mess,

  Gettin’ shut o’ doin’ things rather-more-or-less;

  Not so fond of abby-nay, kul, nor hazar-ho,

  Learns to keep ’is rifle an’ ’isself jus’ so!

  Kipling, “The ’Eathen”

  “Having fun, Sergeant Major?” Sophia said. She’d brought her group up to the breakwater and was passing the Sergeant Major and the sweating Steinholtz.

  “Just getting a few things clear, ma’am,” Barney said. “Seaman Recruit Bennett has already set up the Singer. If you could keep an eye on things for a moment that would be excellent. Be up there in a trice.

  “I think I’ve got it under control, Sergeant Major,” Sophia said, grinning then keyed her radio. “Olga, what’s the status on the first yacht.”

  “Door’s locked to below,” Olga said. “Topside is clear. Engineer is working on the lock now.”

  “Can we spare some people, Sergeant Major?” Sophia asked.

  “One two-man team,” the Sergeant Major said. “Hill and Hadley unless you object, ma’am.”

  “That will do,” she said. “I’ll go get them.”

  “If I may, ma’am,” Barney said. “Seaman Recruit, get up off your face and run down to the security team. Get Hill and Hadley. Have them report back to the Lieutenant. Do you understand those orders?”

  “Yes, Sergeant Major,” Steinholtz said, getting to his feet.

  “What were your orders, Seaman Recruit Steinholtz?” Barney asked.

  “Go get Hill and Hadley?” Steinholtz said.

  “If I may, Sergeant Major?” Sophia said. “The way we do that in the Navy is that the correct response to a direction such as that is ‘Go and get Hill and Hadley, aye, Sergeant Major.’ ”

  “Really, ma’am?” Barney said.

  “Yes, it’s called a repeat back,” Sophia said. “Makes sure they got the order that you gave instead of what they heard.”

  “Well, in this case, that would make sense,” Sergeant Major Barney said. “Because what I told you to do was RUN and get Hill and Hadley, Seaman Recruit. So, here is the ‘direction.’ Run and get Hill and Hadley. Have them return to meet with the Lieutenant. Is that clear?”

  “Now what you say,” Sophia said, “is ‘Run to get Hill and Hadley, aye. Have them return to meet the Lieutenant, aye.’ ”

  “Run to get Hill and Hadley, aye,” Steinholtz said. “Have them return and meet you, aye.”

  “Go,” Sergeant Major Barney said, pointing. As Steinholtz started to trot down the breakwater he shook his head. “WHAT IS IT ABOUT RUN THAT WAS UNCLEAR, SEAMAN RECRUIT? Shall we promenade, ma’am?”

  “Oh, lets, Sergeant Major,” Sophia said.

  “I’d say arm in arm, ma’am, but people might talk,” the Sergeant Major said, strolling down the avenue. “What was it you wished Hill and Hadley for if I may inquire, ma’am?”

  “I thought they could check the boats topside while Olga and Yu wait on the mechanic,” Sophia said. “Then Olga and Yu can check below. When the doors are locked, there’s rarely an infected in the boat. At least, alive. Or survivors in a situation like this. But it’s a little less nerve wracking checking topside than below.”

  “Thank you for the explanation, ma’am,” the Sergeant Major said. “It makes a great deal of sense.”

  “Thank you, Sergeant Major,” Sophia said.

  “But if I may so detail them, ma’am?” the Sergeant Major said. “That is, in fact, what I am for.”

  “So I should have said ‘tell Hill and Hadley to check topside?’ ” Sophia asked.

  “Ma’am, you can run things any way you please,” Barney said. “You are the away team commander. However, if you wish some guidance, ma’am, you can tell me ‘Get a team to check the topside’ and I shall be pleased to manage the rest. That is, in fact, my purpose in this great endeavor. To take your directions and expand upon them with it is to be hoped intelligence and wisdom. Ma’am.”

  “Well, here come Hill and Hadley,” Sophia said as the two walked up.

  “You wanted something?” Hill asked.

  “Sergeant Major?” Sophia said.

  “First, when reporting to an officer you salute, especially under arms,” the Sergeant Ma
jor said. “The correct method of reporting is ‘Reporting as ordered, ma’am.’ With a salute. So, try that once more, with feeling.”

  “Reporting as ordered… uh… ” Hill said as he and Hadley saluted then dropped them.

  “You do not drop the salute until the officer salutes in reply,” Barney said. “Ma’am, if you would hold off on that until I complete this training evolution, please?”

  “As you say, Sergeant Major,” Sophia said.

  “So, salute again,” Barney said. “Then repeat after me, ‘Reporting as ordered, ma’am.’ ”

  “Reporting as ordered, ma’am,” Hill said, saluting.

  “Do I salute?” Hadley asked.

  “Technically, no,” Barney said. “But there is rarely such a thing as too much saluting. Now, ma’am, if you would return the salute, please?”

  “Roger,” Sophia said, saluting.

  Hill dropped his salute.

  “And you don’t drop your hand, Hill, until the Lieutenant drops hers,” Barney said. “So… back to saluting and now, ma’am, if you would drop yours. Thank you.”

  “Is there really a point to this?” Hadley asked.

  “First, never ever question one of my orders when we are in the midst of an evolution,” Barney said. “Do you understand that, Seaman Recruit?”

  “Sure,” Hadley said.

  “Seaman Recruit, are you familiar with the term, ‘front leaning rest’ position?”

  “No,” Hadley said.

  “That is the push-up position,” Barney said. “Assume it. Arms extended.”

  “Seriously?” Hadley said.

  Barney darted forward, at an angle opposite the security specialist’s weapon barrel and shoved his face into Hadley’s.

  “GET DOWN ON YOUR FACE NOW, RECRUIT!” he screamed. “DOWN, DOWN, DOWN!”

  Hadley got down.

  “Repeat after me, Recruit,” Barney said, kneeling down so his face was by the recruit’s ear. “I WILL COMPLY WITH THE ORDERS GIVEN AND NOT ASK STUPID BLOODY QUESTIONS!”