1633

My God, he thought. Who would ever have thought Simpson could actually make me feel better about something?

He glanced at Jesse. The head of the Air Force was scowling slightly, but it was simply a thoughtful expression, not a hostile one.

'What about your schedule?' Jesse asked. 'Last I heard, you were still predicting that you couldn't have them completed until next spring.'

'We can do somewhat better than that,' Simpson told him. 'But not without some prioritizing. My existing estimates were based on completing all four of them, but I can get two of them-Constitution and United States-launched within six to eight weeks. This is September; call it mid- November, and I can have them in the water. I can only do that if I pull the crews off of the other two, though, and I'll need not just Nat Davis but Ollie Reardon and Greg Ferrara up here, as well. It's going to take an all-out effort to get them launched that quickly, and I'll need the best mechanics and machinists we've got to deal with any unforeseen problems.'

'What sort of problems?' Mike asked.

'If I could tell you that, they'd hardly be 'unforeseen,' now would they?' Simpson replied, with an acidity Mike found oddly comforting, under the circumstances. Then the admiral relented-slightly, at least.

'We've done our best to test the machinery as we went along, but there's no way to really know what problems we may or may not have until we actually get the ships into the water. And although Mr. Ferrara and I have checked our estimates as rigorously as we can, we can't absolutely predict how they're going to handle or what their actual top speeds are going to be. It may turn out that we have to make some last-minute modifications to the steering arrangements, for example. If we do, I'll need the best technical people we've got to deal with them promptly. And I'll need them here, not in Grantville.'

'All right, I can see that,' Mike acknowledged. 'But even if you get them launched that quickly, and even if there are no technical problems at all, you've still got to get them down the river to the North Sea. Are you certain you can do it?'

'I'll get them down the river,' Simpson said flatly.

'What about these wehrluecken? We still don't have agreements for all of them.'

'Fuck agreements.' The harsh-voiced obscenity startled Mike, and Simpson laughed without humor at his expression. 'I said I'll get them down the river,' he said. 'I didn't say it would be pretty. But there's a time for diplomacy and negotiation, Mr. President, and there's a time to be direct. I'm willing to go on working for voluntary agreements right up to the last minute. But if we don't get them, then I'll by God blast my way right through any fucking wehrlueck in my way!'

Mike blinked, then darted a glance at Eddie. The young man's expression surprised Mike more than a little. He looked just as determined as Simpson. Even more surprisingly-and importantly-his entire manner radiated agreement. And confidence. Whether Simpson really could pull it off or not, Eddie thought he could. Out of the corner of his eye, Mike saw Jesse smiling coldly. Apparently, he did too.

Mike felt a moment's amusement, then. He suspected that his top military officers sometimes found his diplomatic and political subtleties a bit frustrating. Whatever differences there might be between John Simpson and Jesse Wood, after all-or Frank Jackson-they had all at one time been officers or soldiers in the world's most powerful military. The prospect of-for once, dammit-just blasting through the crap must have a certain appeal to them.

For that matter, once he thought about it, Mike found the prospect had an undeniable charm. He knew all about Freiherr von Bleckede and his obstructions over his precious little wehrlueck. Bleckede was a fine sample of the German petty aristocracy at its worst. Mike allowed himself a moment's pleasant reverie, imagining the expression on the good baron's face after Simpson's ironclads…

He shook it off.

'That still leaves Hamburg,' he observed. 'They've been hesitant to sign on with us from the beginning because of how close to Denmark they are. They don't have any particular love for Christian IV. In fact, they've been all but at war with him themselves for the past two or three years. But everybody in the region knows that sooner or later Christian and Gustavus are going to have it out to decide who's top dog in the Baltic, and they haven't wanted to get caught in the crossfire. Now that France and England and Spain are obviously signing up with Denmark and the Dutch are completely out of the equation, Hamburg's authorities are going to be even more unwilling to openly support Sweden in any way. Especially with Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar's army perched in Alsace, French troops even closer, and the Spanish-from what Becky can tell-rolling into the eastern Netherlands.'

'With all due respect, that's your problem, Mr. President,' Simpson said with a tight smile. His eyes locked with Mike's. 'It comes with winning elections, I believe,' the admiral added.

Mike felt himself smiling back thinly. 'I believe you're right,' he agreed. 'And I promise we'll give it our best shot. All the same, I doubt that anyone is going to be able to talk them into just letting you sail through their harbor.'

'Well, if Porter could run his gunboats past Vicksburg, I can run mine through Hamburg if I have to.' There was an undeniable edge of arrogance in Simpson's voice, but to his own surprise, Mike found the other's flat confidence immensely reassuring. He looked over at Jesse and saw the cold smile was still there. That, too, was reassuring.

'But by your best estimate, it's going to be six weeks before you can be ready to start,' he pointed out.

'No,' Simpson corrected. 'I said it would take six to eight weeks to get them launched. I'll need at least one more week, probably two, to get any problems worked out and the crews sufficiently familiarized with them. Especially if I'm going to be taking them into the North Sea!'

'All right,' Mike accepted the correction. 'Two and a half months, then. How long will it take you to get them to Luebeck or Wismar once you're ready to go?'

'Um.' Simpson leaned back in his chair and looked thoughtful. 'It's roughly a hundred and fifty miles from here to Hamburg, as the river flows, and another fifty from there to the sea. Then up around the Skaw…' He rubbed his chin, then shrugged. 'Call it six hundred and seventy-five miles from Hamburg to Luebeck.'

He sat back up and focused on Mike.

'I estimate that it should take us somewhere between three and ten days to get down the river itself. It depends on a lot of factors, including how much rain we get over the next few months, given how shallow parts of the river are between here and Hamburg. Once we get to sea, we should be able to make Luebeck within another three days, maximum. So take a worst-case estimate and say the entire trip will take two weeks.'

'That makes a total of three months,' Mike said. 'Late December, at best, then.'

'At best,' Simpson agreed. 'And while we're thinking about timetables, let's not forget that December gets us well into winter and that the Baltic sees a lot of ice in winter. I'm not sure what sort of icing conditions we can expect, either. From last winter's numbers, though, I don't expect it to be good.'

He paused, and Mike nodded. Average temperatures in the 17 th century were lower than in the 21 st, and the previous winter had been colder than any of the up- timers had expected.

'There's no reason to expect this winter to be any warmer,' Simpson continued, 'and ice is the reason Baltic shipping is so extremely seasonal in this century. It's entirely possible that by the time we can get them to sea, the ice situation will be too bad for us to operate in the Baltic. By the same token, however, if we can't operate there, then sure as hell no sail-powered navy's going to be able to, either. So if winter shuts us down, it'll also shut the other side down. And by the time the spring thaw sets in, I damned well know we'll be ready to go after them.'

'I see,' Mike said, then frowned. 'Either way, though, December is a long time to expect Gustavus to hold out in Luebeck. Especially if the Danes and this League of Ostend have complete control of Mecklenburg Bay for the next couple of months. Possibly even the entire Baltic; the western part of it, at least. And it sounds from his message like the only way he can get a garrison into Luebeck soon enough to do any good would be to strip it away from Wismar and the Stralsund Peninsula.'

'Of course he will.' Simpson sounded almost as if he were surprised Mike felt any need to comment on something so obvious. 'He has to find the troops for Luebeck somewhere-where else could he look?' The admiral shook his head. 'From my last information on his deployments, he ought to be able to scrape up enough additional troops to hold Wismar, at least. Probably have to just write off Stralsund and Rostock, though, at least for now. He can always take them back later, assuming we survive, but hanging onto Luebeck and Wismar will split the Danes' attention. If he thinks he can do it, it's certainly worth trying. But if he reduces Wismar's garrison to cover Luebeck, we're going to have to do something to keep the enemy from just walking in and taking it away before he can shift in fresh troops to cover it. He's pretty much got to hold on to Wismar. With Luebeck invested in a siege, and Rostock and Stralsund in enemy hands, Wismar would be his only good outlet on the Baltic.'

'Do something? Like what?' Mike asked.

Simpson glanced at Jesse. 'Colonel Wood will have to speak for the Air Force. As for the Navy, I've been thinking about that ever since you radioed that you were coming. And I had Lieutenant Cantrell do some resource analysis for me. He tells me that there are several speedboats in Grantville, including a couple of good-sized launches and at least one cockpit cabin cruiser. He also informs me that there are at least two or three people who scuba dive as a hobby. And he reminds me that Mr. Ferrara and his rocket club have been working on a ship-launched surface-to-surface missile for us.'

The admiral gave his youthful lieutenant a long, sharp look, then turned back to Mike.

'If we commit those resources to Wismar with orders to hit and run, try and keep the French and the Danes off balance, they ought to be able to disrupt enemy naval operations to at least some degree. Long enough for Gustavus to bring in fresh troops, at least. And I assume that General Jackson ought to be able to provide at least a few surprises for them on the land front, as well.'

For the first time, Jesse spoke up.

'We can commit the two Belles to it, too, if we can get some kind of airfield ready in or near Wismar. The X-2s, unfortunately, won't be ready in time, no matter how much we try to rush things.

'That'll mean delaying flight training for the new batch of pilots, but… Depending on the circumstances, I might take one or two of the first group with Hans and me. There's no point in me staying back in Grantville when our only functioning aircraft is on the Baltic coast. And the truth is my original pilot group-especially the best of them, like Hans and Woody-are actually at the point where the experience would do them good. Assuming, of course, they survive the experience at all.'

The Air Force colonel's face was grim.

'This is going to be a bitch, don't think it won't, especially this time of the year. As it happens, I've flown a lot in Germany and some around the Baltic. But not in the simple machines we've got. We'll be able to fly on the days between the passage of succeeding storm fronts-of which there will be an increasing number as winter approaches. Then subtract some of the calm days because of fog, which is frequent on the coast.'

He gave Simpson a hard stare; Simpson returned it, after an instant, with a curt nod. Mike realized he was witness to a little inter-service… not 'rivalry,' precisely. More like a mutual demand for respect.

Apparently satisfied with Simpson's response, Jesse continued. 'Here's how it is. You can take off in clear weather and not be able to return two hours later. Or it might be clear for days on end. As a best guess, I'd say we'd have at least marginally VFR weather about one-third of the time. On the other days, it would be asking for