The ’Cats roared and stomped their feet. Even Captain Lelaa grinned. Irvin covered his eyes with his hand and even Shinya stared hard at something else in the compartment. Sandra glared at Lelaa. As the senior naval officer, she should’ve at least tried to keep a straight face. Sandra realized she should have let Laumer do the grilling, but while now a genuine hero, the submariner and current exec of Maaka-Kakja, was still a little in awe of Silva-and most of the “original” human members of the Alliance. He had a tendency to overcompensate for that, and Sandra hadn’t known if he’d be too harsh or too lenient on Dennis. When the tumult died away, she persisted.
“Mr. Riggs is not a Jap-or Grik-spy! He’s acting chief of staff to the most powerful figure in the Alliance. You can’t pick and choose which of his orders to obey!”
“I can when they come over the wireless! Shoot, they might’ve been fake! Captain Reddy’s orders came face-to-face, an’ his orders trump Riggs any day. Always follow the last, highest-up orders you get; that’s my motto!”
“But… Captain Reddy confirmed the orders!” Sandra said adamantly. Silva was already shaking his head.
“Over wireless. Which he’s too busy to go over every little housekeep-in’ chore in the Alliance, an’ old ‘Gap Sparks’ Palmer probably gapped it up.” He shrugged. “Wire the Skipper again, get him to personally ex-voke his standin’ orders to me, an’ I’ll go to Baalkpan, meek as a sheep.”
“You know, he’s probably right about the confirmation,” Shinya said, surprising everyone. “A ream of routine requests was sent to Walker, once the relay was in place and communications were reestablished. All were granted.”
Sandra looked at Shinya, as startled as the others. She rounded back on Silva. “How long did it take you to figure all this out?” she demanded. “If you’d pulled this before the ‘Buzzard’ left Manila, you might’ve gotten away with it.” She paused. “Come to that, how did you get back to Manila in time to sail with us? We all saw you get on the plane!”
“Dee-vine providencilva exclaimed piously, casting his one eye to the overhead. “You personally ordered me on the plane, an’ I got on. Wouldn’t never disobey a direct, face-to-face order. Beyond that?” He shrugged and his twisted grin spread. “I’ve always been mortally fearful o’ flyin’. I guess, combined with that an’ all the other things I had to say, I must’a been miracled aboard!”
“Only to be discovered once it’s too late to fly you back to Maa-ni-la, and Walker has steamed beyond wireless reach yet again,” Shinya observed dryly.
“Is that so?” Silva asked innocently. He glanced at Diania, standing away from Lelaa’s “wardroom table,” ready to refill Sandra’s water cup if asked. The small woman was staring at him with barely restrained fury. “I do apologize for startlin’ your girl there, by the way,” he said. “I was whoopin’ some empty grain sacks off me when all of a sudden, there she was! Scared me half to death!”
There were chuckles, and Diania’s dark face darkened further.
Lelaa cleared her throat. “Regardless of Walker ’s position, this task force is currently steaming under blacked? Blanketed… communications to prevent discovery by the mysterious Jaap destroyer, the whereabouts of which is still unknown… but perhaps you considered that as well?” she pondered aloud, contemplating the big man looming before her. She shook her head, blinking. “Until Captain Reddy can be consulted, to resolve this matter, Mr. Silva will cease berthing in the forward hold, and will be entered as a chief gunner’s mate in the ship’s rolls.” She looked hard at Dennis. “Work with the gun’s crews; they’re all ‘green,’ I think you say? Behave yourself, or you’ll be returned to the hold-in irons!”
“Aye, aye, Cap’n Lelaa!” Silva said. “Gunnery’ll be up to snuff directly!”
Lelaa paced the offset bridge, surveying her domain. “Tex” Sheider had the watch, and she was free to simply enjoy her ship, and honestly, her position. It hadn’t been that long since the biggest thing she’d commanded was a medium-size fishing felucca. It had been her Home, her life. When the war came, she’d been given a razeed Grik prize, a Navy “corvette,” or “DE.” She’d loved USS Simms, but when she was destroyed by Billingsley, and Lelaa herself joined Sandra and the others in captivity, she’d never expected to command anything again, even if she survived. She certainly hadn’t expected to command something like Maaka-Kakja, the largest, most powerful, and advanced vessel likely ever built on this entire world. She loved it.
On the bridge, she was surrounded by an assortment of devices she’d once have considered miraculous or magical, and was amazed that she’d almost begun to take them for granted. What was more, she understood them, and People, Mi-Anaaka, operated them with growing precision and practiced ease despite their inexperience compared to other “carrier” crews. Much of that was due to Maaka-Kakja ’s veteran teachers. The still-weak Orrin Reddy was doing his best to help organize the air wing, and though he wasn’t very communicative, Gilbert Yeager taught engineering by example extremely well. Now I have Dennis Silva, Lelaa thought somewhat smugly, to shape my gun’s crews. Things couldn’t be much better from her perspective.
As the sun faded aft, quickly plunging the sea into darkness, she blinked her trust at Tex and stepped out on the starboard bridgewing. The oilers were out there, churning doggedly alongside through the calming sea as the wind continued to lay. They were venturing more canvas now, to ease the burden on their engines and bunkers, and the sails flashed from purple-gold to gray. Soon, darkened as they were, the ships would be invisible to all but Lemurian eyes, and she welcomed the cover of night. Danger lurked in the darkness; even her people’s vision had its limits. Sleeping, wallowing mountain fish, with their blue-black bodies, could become virtually invisible against the black sea and sky. But oddly, the massive beasts appeared to actually avoid Maaka-Kakja -a courtesy they didn’t always extend even to her huge sailing cousins. Tex proposed that Maaka-Kakja ’s size, combined with her massive pounding screw and-to the sound-sensitive behemoths-thunderous, machinery noises, might actually frighten them. Lelaa didn’t know, but the oilers had orders to stay as close to her as they dared. So far, it was well.
What concerned her more, and made her prefer the uncertain night, was the rogue Japanese destroyer and its reputedly incredibly malevolent “Long Lance” torpedoes. She’d never seen torpedoes before, even though she knew Walker and Mahan had carried the things. One still existed in Baalkpan, a damaged “condemned” specimen from the other world, but she hadn’t been to see it. Someone had said there should be a few aboard Amagi ’s dwindling corpse, but she didn’t know if they’d been recovered. Bernie Sandison made no secret of his efforts to make some and Captain Reddy would love to have them, but in truth, they terrified Lelaa. She hated the very idea of torpedoes. She’d been wholly convinced by the Jaap Okada, that mighty as Maaka-Kakja was, she had no defense against them. She suspected the rogue destroyer was far away, but if by chance it wasn’t, Lelaa-Tal-Cleraan embraced the darkness that might protect her ship-her new Home-from the puny vision of any bad hu-maans lurking nearby… and their torpedoes.
Strange music reached her ears from two decks below, from the vestigial “battlement” where Maaka-Kakja ’s 5.5-inch guns were situated around her “island.” The battlement provided a high, unobstructed gun platform, and plenty of space for defenders too. It sometimes served as a social gathering place for off-duty crew away from the hot engineering spaces and hazards of the flight and hangar decks. The amusements there could sometimes distract those on duty, but over time, that concern ebbed away. Those on watch were allowed to listen, but woe was he or she caught watching. Few ever were. This was their Home too, and just as wing runners or watchers remained vigilant during amusements on the sailing Homes, they did the same on Maaka-Kakja. Lelaa wasn’t officially on duty now, so she listened-and watched.