“Well, sir, that’s a point I hadn’t considered,” Sophia said, seriously. “We could use a bigger support boat for the Division, sir.”
“There is salvaging and grand theft, boat, Lieutenant,” Chen said, shaking his head. “I think your father has been teaching you bad manners.”
“Such as stealing a five-hundred-million-pound cruise liner, Lieutenant?” Staff Officer Kyle said.
“Point,” Chen said. “Officer Villa, you’re the only surviving government official we’ve found. Your call.”
“It is a very nice boat… ” Villa said, musingly, rubbing his chin and letting the Lieutenant sweat. “But the government of Spain willingly cedes this fine boat to the United States Navy in thanks for the clearance of its towns on the island of San Sebastian De La Gomera. And, besides, there are others… ”
“Approved,” Chen said. “Mission orders. Division One is to rendezvous with ‘Mechanical Clearance Division One,’ whatever that means, in Santa Cruz de la Tenerife harbor in two days.”
“You are going to try to clear Tenerife?” Kyle said. “Good luck. It’s not a big city but it is a city, not a small town.”
The island of Tenerife was clearly visible from Gomera, the massive Teide volcano, nearly high as Mauna Loa, reared up above the snow-line in the distance. Given the basically tropical nature of the islands, the snow-capped mountain was quite a sight.
“We’re just providing support and possibly doing a landing depending on conditions,” Chen said. “At least, that’s what I got. But we’ll be pulling out tomorrow when the recovery teams are supposed to arrive. Is there anything that absolutely needs to be done between now then?”
“There are more weapons and ammunition coming with the support ships?” Villa asked.
“There are,” Chen said. “M4 rifles and an ammo supply. Do you have anyone who can use them?”
“There are two former soldiers among the survivors here,” Villa said. “I know them. They are trustworthy. We can ensure the security of La Playa. I would prefer to be here but it is… large for such a small force. And there are some of the people from the cruise ship who wish to stay as well… ”
“The… I don’t know what you’d call it, sir, but we’d call it a ‘strip mall’ by the ferry dock would make a very solid defensible position,” Januscheitis said. “The upper stories could easily be used as quarters. The downstairs has a bit of glass, but that’s reinforcible easily. And as you ensure the clearance you could probably spread out. Just the little strip center by the Marina Society or whatever would be plenty of room for the time being. Or the ferry building. Again, good defensible position if you board up those ground floor windows.”
“I’d arm up everybody,” Faith said. “You’ll need to think in terms of defense from the infecteds for a while. And it’s hard to know when one will turn up. Just three people out of fifty is… I mean, give them some basic training then I’d arm up everybody.”
“There are problems,” Villa said, shrugging. “I will keep your advice in mind.”
“Where you set up and how you set up is up to you and your people,” Chen said. “We can do one more sweep of Gomera before we leave. After that… up to you.”
“How long will the support teams remain?” Villa asked.
“They’re here primarily to get the Boadicea up and running again,” Chen said. “They may be able to offer some additional support. But, frankly, you’ve got three towns full of supplies and materials to draw upon, as well as plenty of functioning boats to fall back on or just live aboard. I think you can make it.”
* * *
“Tell me we’re not going to try to clear this bitch, ma’am,” Januscheitis said as the Bella Senorita came around a cape with a big volcanic cone and into sight of the main city. It sprawled for miles along the shoreline and up the sides of the volcanic mountains.
“Oh, I dunno,” Faith said. “It might be fun. If we could get some of those tanks off the Iwo… ”
* * *
“Okay, this is a new one,” Sophia said.
The supply ship was similar to the Grace Tan except for being smaller. The back was low, almost flush to the water, with a high forward bridge. There was a large crane on the back deck and two mostly standard cargo containers. The “mostly standard” was belied by a cluster of spikes on top and both ends. There appeared to be lights and some sort of motor, center on the top.
“We bringing zombie supplies?” Faith asked.
The ship had backed up to a pier and, keeping a fair distance, deployed the crane to pick up one of the containers. It lofted it over to the pier and set it down then lifted and repositioned until one end was jutting slightly off the pier.
The crane detached and pulled back to the boat. A moment after that, both sets of doors on the container popped open. From the distance they could hear some sort of announcement as the lights on top started rotating. Between the announcements there was a loud “whoop” of a siren.
“That’s gonna bring ’em but… ” Faith said as a zombie came snuffling down the pier. It examined the container and circled around it before entering. A moment later, a shredded body came flying out the end over the harbor, still somewhat alive. Sharks and squawking seagulls quickly closed in.
“That’s gotta smart,” Faith said.
“Oh,” Sophia said, shaking her head. “I see Da’s bloody-mindedness at work.”
“I was thinking maybe artillery or claymores,” Januscheitis said. “That’s… ”
“Simple and effective,” Sophia said as another zombie came squirting out. “By tomorrow this bit of the harbor will be chock full of dead zombie bodies.”
“And sharks,” Faith said. “Don’t forget the sharks.”
“Senorita, LitClearDivOne, over.”
“Senorita,” Sophia replied.
“Got a bit of an issue in the north harbor. Head on up here. We’re discussing it with Squadron right now.”
“Moving out,” Sophia said.
* * *
“Oh, no,” Faith said. “No, no, no, no… ”
The Tenerife harbor was fairly large for such a small city. And the south harbor had had several large ships tied alongside. Those ships had blocked a full view of the north harbor. Which had a cruise ship terminal. And three cruise ships tied up alongside, one of them a “supermax” like the Voyage Under Stars. One of the others was about the size of the Boadicea and the other somewhere in between. They were all big.
“There’s no way they’d expect us to clear all those,” Januscheitis said.
“Bet you a dollar,” Faith said, picking up the radio. “DivOne, Ground Clearance Officer.”
“Shewolf,” Chen said, cautiously. “What do you think?”
“First, we’ll need to somehow block the pier,” Faith said. “We’re going to head into the harbor and examine that. Then we’ll determine the… Break… Need a word. Not possibility. Think it’s got a z in it.”
“Feasibility?” Sophia said, rolling her eyes.
“Once we’ve looked at blocking the pier from access by the infected, we’ll determine the feasibility of doing an entry and clearance. But this is an all-hands evolution. Over.”
“Roger. I’m on the horn with Squadron on that subject. They were aware of these ships and were discussing it. What about moving the mechanicals over? Over.”
“Stand by,” Faith said, thinking. “My first response to that is they’ll draw too many infected. I think we might be able to do this sort of on the quiet. Maybe.”
“I’d agree, ma’am,” Januscheitis said.
“Negative on the mechanicals, Division. They’ll tend to draw too many infected. Keep them in the south harbor is my recommendation. Possibly they’ll act as a… distraction, keep some of the city infected off us. This is something that we really should bring Squadron or Marine Higher in on, but that’s my recommendation. Over.”