To Sail a Darkling Sea

of food and water. I… maintained discipline… ”

“I’ll ignore the pauses,” Galloway said, smiling thinly. “If you’re wondering about the question of ‘what happened in the compartment’… ”

“I’m wondering about the whole thing, Mister Under Secretary,” Pellerin said. “From my perspective, I’m looking at some people in ill-fitting uniforms on a computer. You could all be sitting in the bowels of this ship for all I know. And, yes, I saw a sub on the surface and a couple of people in Coast Guard uniform. But… ”

“You’re suspicious,” Huskey said. “Okay. You saw a sub. How many subs would it take to convince you that Mister Galloway is, functionally, the Acting President and that I and Commander Freeman continue to control all military personnel who are in contact? Because, Lieutenant, that’s the reality. As is the reality that we’re still in a cleft stick. Which we need Wolf Squadron to pull us out of and thus we need Wolf.”

Januscheitis tapped the Navy Lieutenant on the shoulder and waved for some screen time.

“You have input, Staff Sergeant?” Pellerin said, coldly.

“How many subs are there around here, sirs?” Januscheitis asked. “Can you say? With due respect?”

“Not many, frankly,” Huskey replied. “Most of them are in position… elsewhere. Or deep. But are most of the attack boats in the Atlantic around Wolf Squadron? Yes. No reason for them not to be. There is not much else going on. The rest are generally maintaining security for our boomers-such as this one-and providing security to the extent they can for certain coastal installations. What is it going to take for you to recognize that you have a chain of command again, short as it is, Lieutenant?”

“Sir, I… ” Pellerin said then paused as the compartment door opened.

“I was told I should be present for this, sir,” the Marine Gunny said. He was skinny as a rail and his eyes were glossy but his back was still ramrod straight. “Gunnery Sergeant Tommy J. Sands, sir, reporting for duty.”

“Gunny Sands,” Januscheitis said, breathing a sigh of relief. “Jesus.”

“No, a Gunny,” Sands said, walking over and shaking his hand. “But I can see where people get confused. Janu,” he said, clapping him on the back. “Good to see you made it.”

“Thank you, Gunnery Sergeant,” Januscheitis said. He was clearly trying not to cry.

“Get your shit together, Marine,” Sands said. “Sorry, sirs. Old home week.”

“Not a problem, Gunny,” Pellerin said. “We are discussing… We are discussing the CV of persons who are allegedly the remaining chain of command. I am not dismissing that, sirs, it’s just… ”

“I guess caution is in order,” Galloway said, drily. “Gunnery Sergeant, if you’d care to join us.”

“Yes, sir?” Sands said. Januscheitis was already up and waved him to the seat. “And we’re meeting with…?”

“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