“The acting CNO,” Huskey said. “Which is Commander Freeman on your screen, as well as the NCCC. Are you familiar with… ”
“I’m familiar with the Succession act, sir,” Sands said. “And the TS codicils, sir. Under Secretary… Galloway is it? Sir?”
“Yes, Gunny,” Galloway said, surprised.
“I heard since I got sprung that you was in the Hole, sir,” Sands said. “May I ask if there’s a Marine officer, sir?”
“Colonel Ellington,” Galloway said.
“So that’s where they stuffed that poor bastard,” Sands said, shaking his head.
“Colonel Ellington is… present, Gunnery Sergeant,” Galloway said, wincing.
“Sorry, sir,” Sands said as Ellington came up on the screen. “I never got a chance to say it, personally, sir, but I was real sorry to hear about your wife. She was one in a million, sir. They broke the mold.”
“Thanks, Tommy,” Ellington said. “What with everything that’s going on… ” He shook his head. “And I’d agree about the breaking the mold if it weren’t for the young lady doing clearance… ”
“Shewolf, sir?” Sands said, grinning. “That girl scares me.”
“You really have to see the video of her boarding the Voyage,” Ellington said. “Especially one with her comment about a ‘back-up plan.’”
“Bradburn from the Dallas literally fell out of his chair on that one,” Commander Huskey said.
“You know each other,” the NCCC said.
“The gunny was a security sergeant when I was a maintenance officer at Kings Bay, sir,” Ellington said.
“And I was stuck in the Pentagon when you were working in prolif, Mister Galloway,” Sands said. “I recognize you. I was over in Colonel Grant’s shop.”
“Lieutenant Pellerin,” Galloway said. “Does this satisfy your questions as to our validity?”
“Yes, sir,” Pellerin said. “Again, sir, no disrespect… ”
“Understood,” Galloway said. “So, turning the matter over to Commander Freeman again. Commander?”
“Situation as it stands,” Freeman said. “This was, apparently, the only headquarters uninfected by the Plague. There are no other US command posts responding. POTUS was unable to access NEACAP due to possible compromise of the pilots, headed to Mount Weather in a heavy ground convoy and was never heard from again. Similar story on the VPOTUS although VPOTUS was headed for Raven Mountain and there was a definite report her ground convoy was compromised. Mount Weather, which held a good bit of the Congress and Cabinet, was responding for a period of time then reported they were compromised and stopped responding. Raven Mountain, President of the Senate, other half of the cabinet, etcetera, simply went off the air. Boulder: compromised. Sunnyvale: compromised. I could go on but I won’t. We appear to be it.
“There are a number of uninfected submarines, the exact number is still classified, at sea. They have limited stores. All of the subs are fishing for their supper.”
“It’s really amazing what you can do with active if you don’t have to worry about being detected,” Commander Huskey said.
“To free the submarine crews, as well as our own facility someday, hopefully, as well as, well, save the world, will require vaccine,” Freeman continued. “There are two types of vaccine. One is made from vat-grown proteins. This is a very complicated process. The other requires certain materials and equipment that is unavailable at sea. At least, as far as we have been able to determine. Are you with me so far?”
“Yes, sir,” Pellerin said.
“The second type mostly requires the spine of a zombie, if I remember right, sir,” Sands said.
“What?” the, to this point silent, Marine Lieutenant said.
“That is correct, Gunny,” Freeman said. “Or any infected higher-order primate. The CDC and USAMRIID produced such vaccine from rhesus monkeys for their personnel as well as certain critical government officials. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough to get everybody that needed it. The way it is made is to separate the virus bodies from the spinal cord then irradiate them. The irradiation has to be extremely fine, more fine than can be done with a reactor. It takes either a radiation therapy machine or a certain type of dental x-ray machine. Also some specific lab equipment and materials. But with that and, yes, the spinal cord of an infected higher order primate, you have vaccine. And a bunch of other ‘stuff.’ ”
“Wolf had access to that type of vaccine prior to leaving the States,” Galloway said. “And someone close to him, we believe his wife, assisted in its production.”
“Oh,” Januscheitis muttered. “That had to be cold.”
“At this point, I’m not going to pass moral or legal judgment,” Galloway said then shrugged. “Given the… the way that the infected were ‘cared’ for was horrific. And it’s been shown that the virus does permanent damage. There is no ‘cure’ as such. CDC has confirmed that in animal testing. Using them as a source of vaccine would have been, in retrospect, a much better choice. But that is twenty-twenty hindsight and no-one was even willing to openly broach the idea prior to the Fall. The point is that not only does Wolf have the knowledge to produce the vaccine, he has a plan which may provide the equipment and materials. He also… has been and continues to be the main driving force of this rescue operation which is the only such rescue operation ongoing in the world. At least of its size.”
“This is it, sir?” Lieutenant Pellerin said. “Some small craft and a couple of ships?”
“That’s it, Lieutenant,” Huskey said. “Smith had the combination of being vaccinated and having a boat that was sufficiently stored, armed and safe to hold out until the Plague had run its course. There are one or two other small groups in other oceans but they are even smaller than what you’ve seen.”
“We just finished a long conversation with the admittedly fatigued commodore,” Galloway said. “Our conclusion was to give the commodore a US Navy Captaincy.”
“Sorry, sir,” Gunny Sands said. “A Captaincy, sir?”
“Yes, Gunnery Sergeant,” Galloway said. “That would, we are aware, put him in command of not only yourselves but all of the Navy commanders at sea. Mister Smith, pardon, Captain Smith, is fully aware that this is an ambiguous situation. The explanation for this decision is long. Would you like it?”
“I’m sorry, sir,” Pellerin said. “I would, sir.”
“Are you familiar with Wendell Fertig, Lieutenant?” Galloway asked.
“Oh,” Gunny Sands said, nodding. “That makes sense, now, sir.”
“No, sir,” Pellerin said, frowning. “Was he a Marine?”
“Fertig was, prior to World War Two, a civilian civil engineer in the Philippines,” Galloway said. “He was direct commissioned an Army captain shortly before the war broke out. He was rapidly promoted to major, definitely, and according to some reports to lieutenant colonel although the Army never confirmed that.
“After the fall of the Philippines to the Japanese, he began organizing guerillas. Recognizing that they would never follow a major or possibly lieutenant colonel, he styled himself a brigadier general. And it worked. By the time MacArthur landed, there were thirty thousand Filipinos under arms and MacArthur was greeted by a marching band.
“It was a matter of social values systems as well as competence. Various persons in history have styled themselves Generalissimo something or another. Fertig was, in fact, competent to organize and develop a guerilla movement. But he also needed the cachet of being a general, not a major. The entire thing was, as ‘Wolf Squadron’ is, a cult of personality. A barbarian band more than a military force. It is about getting lots of people to do stuff, quoting Wolf, ‘for no other reason than that I ask.’
“You are currently the senior Navy officer who is not essentially trapped. But no one knows who ‘Lieutenant Pellerin’ is. Everyone knows of Commodore Wolf. He did not style himself that way, by the way, the moniker was given to him by his captains. Which is sort of the point. With an actual captaincy, he has both his cult of personality and controlling legal authority. And he is the man with the plan who, thus far, has been succeeding. Thus the ‘competence’ part. I will not say that there are not questions and a degree of angst. Captain Smith, himself, expressed some negativity about the captaincy. Among other things, he expressed that he intends to continue to consider himself essentially acting in independent command. His exact words were ‘Okay, but don’t joggle my elbow.’ ”