Distant Thunders_ Destroyermen Part 9

Commencing: 0000, July 1, 1943, July 1, 1943, at: Baalkpan-formerly Balikpapan and ending: 1943 LIST OF OFFICERS.

Attached to and on board of the USS WALKER (DD-163), commanded by M.P. REDDY, Captain, USNR M.P. REDDY, Captain, USNR, during the period covered by this Logbook, with date of reporting for duty, detachment, transfer, or death, from 1 July 1943, to 31 July 1943 [image]

(This page to be sent to Bureau of Navigation monthly with Log sheets)

UNITED STATES SHIP WALKER (DD-163) Tuesday, Sept. 2, 1943 00-04 As before. No problems to report. Woke up pumping detail and inspection party so they could begin final preparations. As before. No problems to report. Woke up pumping detail and inspection party so they could begin final preparations.

Sonny Campeti, Lt. Cmdr. USN

04-08 As before. Pump boilers at full steam pressure despite leaks. Detail reports all in readiness. Inspection party discovered and repaired a faulty joint in the #4 main pipe. Split ends were the cause-like we have seen before. Inspection parties will continue to observe all joints throughout the operation. As before. Pump boilers at full steam pressure despite leaks. Detail reports all in readiness. Inspection party discovered and repaired a faulty joint in the #4 main pipe. Split ends were the cause-like we have seen before. Inspection parties will continue to observe all joints throughout the operation.

Bernard L. Sandison, Lt. Cmdr, USNR Sandison, Lt. Cmdr, USNR 08-12 As before. Weather clear. Water smooth on the bay. Slight easterly wind. Conditions optimum. 0800 mustered all hands and fed them at their stations. No absentees. Final visual inspection of all lines and seals. Heard reports from divisions. Lemurian Homes Humfra-Dar and Woor-Naa standing by to a.s.sist with ship-board pumps. Engaged primary pumps 0920. Observed first streams of water being expelled from dry dock basin. Engaged in brief verbal celebration. As before. Weather clear. Water smooth on the bay. Slight easterly wind. Conditions optimum. 0800 mustered all hands and fed them at their stations. No absentees. Final visual inspection of all lines and seals. Heard reports from divisions. Lemurian Homes Humfra-Dar and Woor-Naa standing by to a.s.sist with ship-board pumps. Engaged primary pumps 0920. Observed first streams of water being expelled from dry dock basin. Engaged in brief verbal celebration.

Brad McFarlane, Cmdr, USN

12-16 Not Not as before. 1350 observed slight reduction of water level around exposed superstructure of ship. Having difficulty controlling exuberance of all divisions. Self included. Large numbers of civilians have come down to the dock to observe. Detached Marines from other duties to make sure they did not interfere. No question of deliberate interference, just do not want them underfoot and causing distractions. Water flow is difficult to estimate but best guess is 6000 gpm. as before. 1350 observed slight reduction of water level around exposed superstructure of ship. Having difficulty controlling exuberance of all divisions. Self included. Large numbers of civilians have come down to the dock to observe. Detached Marines from other duties to make sure they did not interfere. No question of deliberate interference, just do not want them underfoot and causing distractions. Water flow is difficult to estimate but best guess is 6000 gpm.

Brad McFarlane, Cmdr, USN

16-20 Pumps steaming as before. (Great relief to use that phrase again.) Two minor casualties in the water pipes repaired. Pump engine running well and within Mr. McFarlane's expectations. Pumps steaming as before. (Great relief to use that phrase again.) Two minor casualties in the water pipes repaired. Pump engine running well and within Mr. McFarlane's expectations. Humfra-Dar Humfra-Dar has added her pumps to the operation. Water level dropping slowly still, but noticeably. His Excellency, Adar, High Chief of Baalkpan, appeared briefly at the dock to inspect the proceedings. Informed Cmdr. McFarlane that a celebration of thanksgiving and appreciation would commence at 1900. Celebration seems general already at 1700. Chief Laney took a banca boat out to the protruding aft mast of the ship and ran a new ensign up. Tattered remnants of the old ensign (there since the Battle of Baalkpan) were removed and carefully brought ash.o.r.e. Letts took them in his charge. has added her pumps to the operation. Water level dropping slowly still, but noticeably. His Excellency, Adar, High Chief of Baalkpan, appeared briefly at the dock to inspect the proceedings. Informed Cmdr. McFarlane that a celebration of thanksgiving and appreciation would commence at 1900. Celebration seems general already at 1700. Chief Laney took a banca boat out to the protruding aft mast of the ship and ran a new ensign up. Tattered remnants of the old ensign (there since the Battle of Baalkpan) were removed and carefully brought ash.o.r.e. Letts took them in his charge.

PERRY BRISTER, CMDR, USN.

20-24 Lights rigged. Water flow uninterrupted. No stoppages. Cmdr. McFarlane has allowed the hands to join the celebration by divisions. Inspection details to remain in place by rotation. A d.a.m.n good day. Lights rigged. Water flow uninterrupted. No stoppages. Cmdr. McFarlane has allowed the hands to join the celebration by divisions. Inspection details to remain in place by rotation. A d.a.m.n good day.

Steven P. Riggs, Cmdr., USN Approved: Examined: [image]

Riggs held a lighted Zippo so he could see, and Spanky signed his name by "Approved" at the bottom of the page. Then he handed the log to Letts, who signed beside "Examined." Before he closed the log on the previous day, Letts glanced up at the date and shook his head.

"Five days late for the 'year and a third,' but close enough, I guess."

"That's one of the reasons I pushed so hard to pull the plug yesterday. Give the guys something to celebrate so they wouldn't dwell on what we left behind. What we lost," Spanky replied.

Letts returned the log to Spanky, who handed it to Campeti, who had the watch again. They were all tired, but n.o.body n.o.body was going to oversee this operation but was going to oversee this operation but Walker Walker. Sandra Tucker had arrived, looking disheveled, but as anxious as they were for her first glimpse of the ship. Now she stood beside them, peering intently into the predawn gloom of the dry-dock basin at the still only vaguely defined shape.

They stood on what had once been the old fitting-out pier, but was now merely a walkway between ma.s.sive wooden cranes and equipment sheds. The skeletons of still more new warships rose on the other side of the basin, silhouetted against the new dawn. Until recently, when the dry dock neared completion, the new ships had remained the priority projects. Now, for just a few days, work on them would slow while a large percentage of the laborers concentrated on another task. Steam and smoke jetted from crude, noisy engines while 'Cat "snipes in training" crawled all over them, oiling every conceivable point of friction. Some spun the huge, amazingly efficient Lemurian-designed pumps, and others powered generators that ran electric pumps of human design. The jury was still out on which were better, but Spanky was pretty sure the 'Cat machines would last longer. Hoses pulsed and brown water coursed into the sea beyond the dry-dock wall.

Together, Sandra, Spanky, Alan, Campeti, and Bernie, a growing crowd of human and Lemurian sailors and Marines, sleepy civilian revelers, and finally, to no one's real surprise, Adar himself, watched the dawn gradually reveal what the ravages of seawater and battle had done to USS Walker Walker. Throughout the night, while most of her crew and the people of the city celebrated her raising, the water level in the dry dock had steadily dropped. Now she lay, with a slight list to port, where she'd settled after her fight with Amagi Amagi. Almost half of her upper hull was now exposed and every heart sank as they looked upon her.

A clear demarcation showed how much of the ship had remained above the surface when she sank. It was plain to see, about three-fourths of the way up her four slender funnels and about halfway up her aft mast. The forward mast was gone. Automatic weapons had riddled her bridge, but the line glared dark and glistening below her empty pilothouse windows like an angry, oily slash. Above it, the paint was blackened by fire and dark with rust. Below the line she looked . . . even worse.

An entirely new color had been created. Dark brown mixed with tan, with malignant yellow streaks for contrast. A fair amount of blackened green dangled here and there, where rotting vegetation festooned her. Angry red globs and smears were everywhere and of every different hue, as the rust that caused them dried. Slimy gray-black tar pooled and oozed, and covering all was a translucent rainbow slick of oil that had leaked from her ruptured bunkers. Hatches stood agape, revealing dank interiors. Tangled cables drooped down her side, and brackish water gushed from countless holes as the water level in the basin receded below that still inside the ship. Eel-like chopper fish squirmed like maggots on her deck, their vicious jaws gaping and snapping as their gills labored in the morning air. As primitive as they were, it might take them hours to die.

Walker was a corpse, Sandra thought, and they'd been nothing more than ghoulish grave robbers to expose her to the sun. Hot tears ran down her cheeks. Thank G.o.d Matthew wasn't there to see it. was a corpse, Sandra thought, and they'd been nothing more than ghoulish grave robbers to expose her to the sun. Hot tears ran down her cheeks. Thank G.o.d Matthew wasn't there to see it.

"Lord," Sandison murmured, "what are we going to do?"

Spanky patted his arm and sighed. "We're gonna fix her, Bernie."

The way Walker Walker rested looked almost normal by the time the first boats went across: listing slightly and a little low by the stern, but the water wasn't much higher than the greasy black boot topping. She was still full of water, however, and jets of varying intensity coursed from her many wounds. As a result, the volume of water the pumps displaced was reduced as the day wore on. If they emptied the basin more quickly than the ship could drain, they ran the risk of causing even more damage. But her crew was restless to get to work, and by early that afternoon, the first repair parties clamored up her slippery side and stood once more on her leaning deck. rested looked almost normal by the time the first boats went across: listing slightly and a little low by the stern, but the water wasn't much higher than the greasy black boot topping. She was still full of water, however, and jets of varying intensity coursed from her many wounds. As a result, the volume of water the pumps displaced was reduced as the day wore on. If they emptied the basin more quickly than the ship could drain, they ran the risk of causing even more damage. But her crew was restless to get to work, and by early that afternoon, the first repair parties clamored up her slippery side and stood once more on her leaning deck.

Spanky McFarlane put his hands on his skinny hips and stared hard in all directions, his lips grimly set. A short while before, he'd been Minister of Naval Engineering for an infant nation. Right now, for a time, he was Walker Walker's engineering officer again and nothing else. "All right, ladies," he said at last, as men and Lemurians squelched through the ooze, "we got work to do. Mr. Riggs? Take your party to the bridge. Charts, manuals, anything like that we might've missed before are the first priority. Easy does it. If there's anything left of that stuff, it'll go to pieces if you're not careful." He looked quickly around. "Campeti! Where's Mr. Sandison?"

Campeti gestured over his shoulder. "Went tearing a.s.s up to the bridge. We removed the gun director a long time ago 'cause we could get to the platform, but he wanted to see the torpedo directors. He was like a cat havin' kittens!" Campeti caught himself and looked quickly around. Some of the Lemurians were looking at him strangely. "Uh, no offense. Different kinda cats . . . Little b.u.g.g.e.rs . . ." He held his hands close together, but then his face clouded with embarra.s.sment. "Oh, just get to work, d.a.m.n it."

Spanky shook his head. "Well, until he gets back, or sends for you to help him, I want you to check the four-inch fifties and see if there's anything left of the machine guns on the amidships deckhouse. When you get through with that, put together a detail to salvage as many fire hoses as you can. We'll start rinsing the old girl off." He couldn't stop a grin. "Just think what the Bosun would say if he saw his decks in such a state."

Campeti almost giggled. In spite of the herculean task ahead of them, the spirits of those who'd come aboard were rising. Finally, after the long months of antic.i.p.ation and helplessness, of toil and labor on other projects, they could get to work on what mattered most to them them. It almost seemed as if they could sense something within the ship itself begin to stir as well. A renewed sense of purpose. A new lease on life.

"We wanna go down," grouched a reedy voice behind Spanky, and he turned to look at the pair standing there. It was Gilbert Yeager and the silken, gray-furred 'Cat named Tabby. He had to concentrate for an instant, because without Isak Rueben, the scene just didn't add up. Then he remembered Isak was the one they'd decided would accompany the AEF. Understanding complete, Spanky glared at Tabby when he saw she'd stripped almost completely, in the Lemurian way, to the point that all she wore was what looked like a skimpy little skirt. Despite her fine fur, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s appeared very human. It was distracting and annoying and she knew it. Sometimes Spanky harbored a secret, superst.i.tious sense that the presence of women (the nurses' first) aboard his ship was what had caused all their problems to start with. He'd finally allowed Tabby to stay in the firerooms at the captain's orders and because she was a d.a.m.n fine snipe. He'd broken one of his own cardinal rules, however: if something someone is doing bugs you, either make them stop, or pretend it doesn't bug you. In Tabby's case, he'd failed miserably in both respects. He couldn't-wouldn't now-make her go away, and there was no way he could pretend she didn't bug him.

"You're out of uniform, sailor!" he said harshly, almost plaintively. "Again!"

"Dirty work ahead, Chief," she replied with a creditable drawl. "We ain't got enough new uniforms yet to get 'em all scruffed up."

She even sounds like them now, Spanky thought uncomfortably. She was also the only creature alive that the Mice were actually nice to, in their way. As a result of their a.s.sociation, she'd begun to take on many of their less agreeable attributes. But she looked looked like a pinup in a catsuit. like a pinup in a catsuit.

"I don't give a good G.o.dd.a.m.n! You will will put on some clothes or I'll have you on report!" he bellowed. "We'll see if you can remember to . . ." He stopped and watched her slowly unroll a T-shirt she'd been holding behind her back. put on some clothes or I'll have you on report!" he bellowed. "We'll see if you can remember to . . ." He stopped and watched her slowly unroll a T-shirt she'd been holding behind her back.

"Aye-aye, Mr. McFaar-lane Mr. McFaar-lane. I'll throw somethin' on if it make you happy."

"You . . . !" He stopped. She'd done it to him again again! He whirled and pointed at the very deck access she'd pulled her companions from months before. "Down there. Let me know if the water's draining out of the aft fireroom! I want you to describe every single piece of equipment as it becomes visible!" He ignored them then, and began delegating other tasks to different details. The Mice shuffled away and ducked down the hatch. Once inside, out of earshot, Gilbert began to chuckle.

"I swear, Tabby, you keep waggin' yer b.o.o.bs at Spanky like that, one o' these days he's gonna bust a vessel-or grab hold of 'em! You know it drives him nuts. Just havin' wimmin aboard ship is enough to cause him fits-then you keep doin' that!"

"He still needs to laugh," Tabby replied. "I like to make him laugh and he will, later. He always does." Her eyes grew unfocused and she continued softly: "And maybe someday he will will grab 'em." She looked away, but Gilbert could tell she was blinking embarra.s.sment. grab 'em." She looked away, but Gilbert could tell she was blinking embarra.s.sment.

Jeez! Gilbert thought, stunned. Gilbert thought, stunned. Tabby's sweet on Spanky! Tabby's sweet on Spanky! "Yeah, well," he said, his chuckle now gone as he peered into the darkness below. The stench was unbearable and the water was still over the top of his beloved boilers. "Ain't much to laugh about right now. Look at this mess!" "Yeah, well," he said, his chuckle now gone as he peered into the darkness below. The stench was unbearable and the water was still over the top of his beloved boilers. "Ain't much to laugh about right now. Look at this mess!"

The oily water receded slowly, and purplish brown foam swirled and clung to everything as its support drained away. At some point, one of Walker Walker's own hoses snaked down through the trunk with a bellowed, "Slide it in!" and moments later, it began to pulse and throb. The drainage picked up. Another hose, new made, joined the first and was soon jolting and juddering alongside it. Gilbert no longer noticed the smell, and as the water went down, he carefully descended to the upper catwalk, creeping slowly so he wouldn't slip in the oily slurry. His beloved fireroom was a dreary sight in the gloom. He didn't dare make a light.

He suddenly remembered finding a dead, bloated cow out in a pasture when he was a kid. It was one of his ma's, and he'd been curious why it died. While he stood there staring at it, its hind legs started to move. At first, he thought he'd met a ghost cow, because there was no question it was dead. He started to run, but something stopped him. He'd never been scared of a live cow. What could a dead one do to him? With that certain mixture of horror and fascination only kids could conjure, he'd watched a medium-size possum come crawling out of the cow's a.s.s!

He'd pondered that occasionally over the years, that possum squirming around up in there. No matter how hungry he got after that, and there'd been some starving times during the Depression, he'd never eaten possum again. Now, looking at his fireroom, he suddenly imagined he knew what the inside of that old cow had looked like to that possum so long ago.

"Go get another hose, Tabby. A water hose!" he shouted. "Might as well rinse some of this s.h.i.t down while they're suckin' it out!"

The water came from the basin and wasn't by any means clean, but at least the pressure let him blow the worst of the goo away. Also, it didn't hurt that he'd exposed a little of the lighter paint and it grew brighter in the compartment as the sun hung overhead. Soon, he and Tabby were standing on the slimy deck plates. While he aimed the hose, she held it for him. A couple of times, they raised a plate and stuffed one of the drain hoses in the bilge.

"Gonna need some kind of detergent!" he shouted.

"We use wood ashes, make lye soap?"

"I dunno. Lye does goofy stuff. Not much aluminum down here, but there's zinc in bra.s.s and galvanize. Shoot lye on that and we get hydrogen gas! I doubt wood ashes'd be pure enough, but it might corrode the h.e.l.l out of stuff." Gilbert paused and wiped his face with his shirt. It was stiflingly hot. "I wish somebody'd raise those G.o.dd.a.m.n vents!" he roared. Almost as if they'd heard him-and maybe someone had-the grungy, nearly opaque skylight vents started going up. Soon, the fireroom was relatively bathed in light and at least a little air was getting in. A few more 'Cats soon came to join them. Gilbert felt mildly guilty. He knew everyone was busy, but h.e.l.l. He and Tabby turned the hose over to their relief and started to go topside for a much-needed drink. He paused.

"You know," he shouted over the gushing water, "speakin' of corrosion, there ain't much here. Not new, anyway. Maybe all this oily, slimy s.h.i.t did us a favor." He moved to one of the big Yarrow boilers, kicked the latch, and opened the door. A flood of black water gushed out all over him, knocking him down. Tabby picked him up, and together they peered inside.

"Ook," Gilbert said. He couldn't see much, but the firebricks were gone. Probably disintegrated when the cool water hit them. The lines looked okay, though, and even if a few had popped, he could fix that. New firebrick had been stockpiled long ago during their previous refits. He gently patted the old boiler. "Hey! We can hose her out! No need to get all black and sooty cleanin' her!"

Tabby looked at him. He was covered from head to foot with black, slimy ooze. She laughed aloud. Gilbert grinned too, realizing how ridiculous the statement was under the circ.u.mstances.

"Well, we can," he defended. "Mainly, though"-he patted the boiler again-"we can fix this."

It was nearly dusk and it had been a long, eventful, and mostly happy day in spite of their early misgivings. Faces grew somber a few times when the occasional bone was discovered and reverently removed. There weren't many, and those they found were deeply gnawed. There was no way to identify whose they were and it didn't really matter anyway. Courtney Bradford might have told them whether the bones were human or Lemurian, but it ultimately made no difference. Lemurians traditionally preferred to be burned, so their spirits might rise with the smoke and join those in the Heavens who'd gone before, but regardless how distasteful most Lemurians considered the human practice of burying their remains, many Lemurian "destroyermen" had requested burial like-and beside-their shipmates. Their clan.

All the bones were sent to join those of destroyermen already buried in the little cemetery at the Parade Ground in the center of the city, that lay in the returning shade of the Great Tree of Baalkpan. The tree, and the new leaves sprouting from it, was a symbol of hope that all might be made right in the end-not least because of the graves it sheltered with its mighty boughs.

After the grisly ch.o.r.e of removing the dead was complete, spirits rose again. Not because anyone had discovered that the task before them would be easier than they thought; if anything they were beginning to cope with the fact that it would be much harder. Absolutely everything would have to be painstakingly repaired, including all the little things they hadn't even thought of. But now at least the wondering was over. They knew what they had to do. It would be hard, but they could do it. Walker Walker would live again. would live again.

Alan leaned across a table erected under a colorful awning on the pier. A tired but upbeat Spanky was using a blueprint he'd hand-drawn from memory to describe some of the below-deck damage he'd seen.

"I was really surprised by how little silt there was in the turbines and boilers. The lube oil in the port reduction gear looks like peanut b.u.t.ter, though. Worn-out seals must have leaked." He shrugged. "Everything'll have to be taken apart piece by piece and cleaned, and the seals and gaskets will all have to be replaced-thank G.o.d we have plenty of gasket material! You really came through with that weird corklike stuff!"

Alan nodded self-consciously. "Yeah, well, like I said, Bradford discovered it. Some sort of tree in the northwestern marshes-where all those tar pits are. The trees draw the stuff up in their roots and deposit it in the lower outer layers of their trunks. Bradford says it protects them from insects."

"Whatever. It's good stuff. Mallory swears by it. He ran his little airplane motor for twenty hours straight the other day and never got a leak. He says it's kind of hard to take stuff apart apart after it's been heated up, though. It sort of glues things together. He's calling it the 'Letts Gasket' and says you ought to take out a patent, since you're the one who figured out the application." after it's been heated up, though. It sort of glues things together. He's calling it the 'Letts Gasket' and says you ought to take out a patent, since you're the one who figured out the application."

"I'll be sure to share my wealth with Courtney."

Adar had joined them, and when the laughter subsided, he addressed Alan. "What is a 'patent'?"

Alan looked at him and his expression turned serious. "Well, it's sort of a reward, I guess. It's a way people are rewarded for coming up with good ideas. Where we come from, laws protect those ideas from being used by other people. For example, if I invented a new gizmo-say the 'Letts gasket'-and got a patent on it, n.o.body else could swipe my idea and make the same thing without my permission. Usually, people would pay . . . or, ah, trade for permission."

Adar blinked concern. "Among our people there are clans or guilds that possess secret skills only they may pa.s.s on. That has caused many of my problems with the shipwrights. Is that much the same? Are you telling me you want permission to use your 'gaas-kets'?"

"No, Adar. It was a joke. 'My' gasket material is at everyone's disposal! I'm afraid we do need to have a long talk about that sort of thing when we get a chance, though."

Alan knew he was going to have to sit down with Adar one of these days and figure out some sort of financial system. Right now, everyone was highly motivated by the war effort and there was little grumbling about long hours, depletion of resources, and a somewhat lopsided distribution of labor and wealth. Before the war, Lemurian finance was based on an age-old, carefully refined, and fairly sophisticated barter system. Everything was worth exactly so much of something else. Even labor was valued in such a way. Some types of labor were worth more than others, but "wages" were still calculated by time-honored equivalent values. So much time in the shipyard, for example, was worth so many measures of gri-kakka oil, or grain, or seep. One length of fabric was worth so many weights of copper or fish, and so on. Obviously, people didn't carry their "wealth" around with them, or always even have possession of it, but everyone kept careful tabulations of who owed what to whom. To Alan, it was all profoundly confusing and inefficient, but he could see how it had worked for so long and, admittedly, well.

The problem was, right now there was an awful lot of activity and production under way and n.o.body was being "paid" anything. The situation struck a lot of the destroyermen as downright Stalinist, or at least mildly Red. With so much time ash.o.r.e to think about such things, there'd been increased grumbling over how many barrels of gri-kakka oil a month being in the U.S. Navy was worth. The guys were fed and their booze at the Busted Screw was free, but the time was approaching when they might want to buy buy something. Going back to the old barter system was almost impossible too, since no one had been keeping tabs for a long time now. They'd have to start all over from scratch, and Alan knew from experience how hard it was to clear the books when it came to trades and favors. something. Going back to the old barter system was almost impossible too, since no one had been keeping tabs for a long time now. They'd have to start all over from scratch, and Alan knew from experience how hard it was to clear the books when it came to trades and favors.

He'd been reluctant to approach Adar about the problem because the guy already had so much on his plate. There was the war, of course, and the question of what to do about Jenks. Sister Audry and the presence of the descendants of the "ancient tail-less ones" had him all stirred up about religious matters, and he was walking a tightrope while he tried to figure that out. All were serious matters, but the financial cloud beginning to loom had the potential to eclipse all those other concerns. Somehow, Alan and Adar had to make time for this talk. Soon.

Adar sighed. "Very well. I think I know what you mean and you are right. If we had been keeping track, the people's surplus-guarded by Nakja-Mur and now myself-would have been gone long ago. With everything else . . . I do not look forward to that talk, but I welcome your suggestions." He motioned to the ship in the deepening gloom. "What have you discovered . . . besides bones?" His tone was suddenly urgent. "Can you fix her? You do understand she has become something of a . . . talisman to my People. Younglings carve images-icons of her, almost like Sister Audry's saints. The good sister speaks of your Lux Mundi, ah, Jesu Christo, and I must give that issue much thought." He paused. "Perhaps very much was lost in translation long ago. In any event, right now Walker Walker is seen as the savior of my People-the People of Baalkpan and many others. Can you comprehend how important she has become to all of us?" is seen as the savior of my People-the People of Baalkpan and many others. Can you comprehend how important she has become to all of us?"

"Yeah," said Spanky, uncharacteristically quiet. "I wouldn't go runnin' around calling her a 'savior' or anything if I was you"-he glanced at Letts-"but we can d.a.m.n sure comprehend how important she is. Trust me."

CHAPTER 9.

The sky was perfect. There were just enough puffy clouds to provide an occasional respite from the overhead sun, and the blue was so pure and fresh from horizon to horizon that the contrast with the clouds was as sharp as a knife. Matt had spent a great deal of time staring at the sky over the last few days, since he now knew from experience that they were entering the stormy time of year. Currently, the sky meant them no harm and the sea retained that glorious, possibly unique purplish hue he found so difficult to describe. The steady cooling breeze blew up just enough chop to give it character. Gentle whitecaps magically appeared, sparkling under the sun, then vanished like unique little lives. Ahead lay the northeast coast of B'mbaado and the broad bay beyond. B'mbaado was not as thickly forested as Java, but from his perspective now, all Matt could see was a brilliant bluish green, turning golden at the top. If he lived to be a hundred, he'd never be able to reconcile the sheer, exotic, primordial beauty he beheld all around him with the savage lethality that lurked behind the mask.

Donaghey was an absolute joy, and he understood why Garrett loved her so. She and the other "first construction" frigates were built at the same time, but by the old methods. Unlike the new construction, there were subtle differences from one to the next. was an absolute joy, and he understood why Garrett loved her so. She and the other "first construction" frigates were built at the same time, but by the old methods. Unlike the new construction, there were subtle differences from one to the next. Tolson Tolson was a proud, stout ship and had a proud record too, but no matter what her crew did, she just didn't have was a proud, stout ship and had a proud record too, but no matter what her crew did, she just didn't have Donaghey Donaghey's speed and grace. Her bow was blunter, her beam a bit wider, her shear not as sharp. She was formed a little more like her Grik counterparts. Donaghey Donaghey's builders had made everything just a bit more extreme. The result was that the flagship of the 2nd Allied Expeditionary Force was also its fastest element, besides the feluccas, and she could outrun them with the wind abaft the beam.

Tolson cruised not far behind, but the steam frigates were in the distance, laboring to keep up. They were screened by the altered corvettes whose characteristics, as expected, were respectable, and Matt grinned to think how frustrated their skippers must be. The problem wasn't that the steamers were terribly slow; they weren't. They were faster than anything they'd seen of the Grik under any circ.u.mstances. They were much faster even than cruised not far behind, but the steam frigates were in the distance, laboring to keep up. They were screened by the altered corvettes whose characteristics, as expected, were respectable, and Matt grinned to think how frustrated their skippers must be. The problem wasn't that the steamers were terribly slow; they weren't. They were faster than anything they'd seen of the Grik under any circ.u.mstances. They were much faster even than Donaghey Donaghey when the wind was still. when the wind was still.

With a good wind, the steamers were faster-and far more economical-under sail, but their paddles and screws caused drag and there was nothing they could do about that. On one of the new ships, Nakja-Mur Nakja-Mur, they'd tried a solution attempted in the previous century. Her screw was designed to be raised and lowered by means of a complex system that had slowed her construction considerably. The scheme worked, after a fashion-and at least it hadn't failed catastrophically-but it didn't really do much for her speed. Even with the screw retracted, there was still the large, blunt sternpost to consider. She did steer better however. Jim Ellis complained that Dowden Dowden's steering was "mushy" unless she was under power.

The new engines hadn't really had a test yet. They'd gotten the ships under way and out in the Maka.s.sar Strait without anything flying apart, but since the discovery that they only slowed the ships while under sail, they'd been secured. Matt wished he'd been able to test them further while they were close to home, but what if he needed them later and they'd already failed? It was a balancing act of necessities. Eventually he would would need them. He just wished he knew whether he could count on them. need them. He just wished he knew whether he could count on them.

As usual, Matt and Greg Garrett were standing companionably silent on the quarterdeck. It was a custom they'd observed many times. Sometimes there just didn't need to be words. Matt knew Jim understood it too. The three of them had been through so much together, small talk was often not only superfluous, but distracting Safir Maraan and Lord Rolak ascended to the quarterdeck and caught their eyes. Matt smiled at them and waved them over. The B'mbaadan and Aryaalan troops were mostly on other ships, but Chack was aboard with most of his 2nd Marines. Rolak went where Matt went; he was still insistent on that, but Matt suspected Safir was aboard because of Chack. They weren't "officially" mated yet, but it was just a matter of time. Matt expected a formal announcement and ceremony to cap the liberation of B'mbaado.

"Cap-i-taan," Safir greeted him.

"My lord," said Rolak.

"Queen Protector, Lord Rolak," Matt replied. He looked at Rolak. "Feeling better?" The old warrior grimaced and blinked irritation.

"A glorious day and a beautiful ship!" said Safir. She'd grown almost giddy with excitement the closer they came to her home. With luck, it would be hers again. Hers and her people's.

"Indeed they are," Matt agreed. "And as for the ship, I think I love her!" he admitted.