Haze Gray 88
Taylor walked into the galley. Amy blinked "Uh, aren't you supposed to be driving?"
Taylor snorted "We got like fifteen hundred pilots to get through the rotation on these. They are all rotating, that's why the bird farms are all on a different plane each. Got half a squadron of crew doing pilot training. That's before the regular people who are multi engine qualified and work for us rotate in on the rest. All twenty-four Tradewinds we own are headed to Mare with us."
Leslie came up on the net "Regular Navy, Army, Marines, and Coast Guard, too. Though I don't get the Army. Wouldn't that be Airforce?"
Lisa snickered "The Army is calling them 'executive transport' the pet senators and congressmen for each service are squaring off. Barack is going to have to decide probably.
"The Airforce is going to try to dump the CAS mission and the A10 one to many times. Or already did. Nobody sees dogfights at forty thousand feet with targets a hundred and fifty miles away. Every news organization on the planet has stock footage A10's doing gun runs from both sides of the gun now. Much cooler than 'Fox One' fwwsssshhh."
Taylor nodded "Those things are great before the shops get a hold of them. After, well, it's a little ridiculous. Never be a pursuit plane but don't screw with them, last gunfighter with a serious gun."
Lisa chuckled "New and improved, now without that pesky ammo limit."
Taylor sipped her coffee and grinned. Amy snorted. "Full boiler room black. Navy stewards, what did you expect? Hey, how did we get these things doing four hundred knots? At thirty thousand feet?"
"Way more propeller than they needed? Worked T56s' making about ten grand each. Plus, the yard, so lighter. Oh, just emergency fuel too as we are running on natural gas, or really our version which includes methane off the digesters and gas from the refineries that isn't good for anything else, through portals. So, a combination of all that. As for the altitude, its more efficient and we are out of the weather, but not so high as to make the propfans struggle. Though those can allegedly go much higher." Taylor replied.
Amy watched her finish her coffee then led her back to the crew rest area. Leslie asked "Mile high club?" She smirked.
Lisa gaped "Come on you, cursing and now this? Island time just took all the starch out of your britches. What would Mr. Carmichael say?"
"'About time', probably." Leslie giggled.
Haze Gray
Taylor sat in her seat on the main deck later as they all worked the schedule and plan for Mare island. It was the last of hour of the six, nearly seven really, hour flight. She needed to be up on the flight deck in a few minutes. "The Tradewinds did spectacularly."
Tess nodded "And we got video of the entire flight from the drone fleet."
Vicky snorted "All on PHO from the wanker drones as well. Still crappy cameras."
Taylor shrugged "OK, let me go land this beast and park it then we can get busy. Long day still."
Kim nodded "Remember the Group of Five went to Washington but will catch up in a couple days. Hopefully we can have our stuff together by then."
Taylor looked at her tablet "And be ready to move too, this docking is going to be tricky. The winds going the wrong way." We may have to step off and get some lines on the beast.
Lucy waved her off "Just land, the cradle will find us, let it do the work. The Mare island yard modified them. California so hotrods? Huge generator with an Italian diesel that goes in Jeep Liberties running it. Thing is lighter and has more torque than a four BT plus there are millions of them in junk yards already, not because of the engine, the cars get wrecked a lot. Things get the cradles up to a respectable rate of knots. Land where you want. Well, within reason. After we unload, they will take the plane underhill."
Everyone looked at Tess. She sighed "Nearly three hundred hundred vertical meters of mountain with a freaking golf course on it and ammo bunkers in it. Why waste space?"
Crystal giggled "And we can train the kitten blimps in that elevator shaft."
Rachel nodded "Thought that calico was pregnant. Dogs got all protective of her and One o Three."
"Twelve decks up and what, five hundred down?" Amanda grinned.
Tess sighed "Fault zones. It's a bad place really. Now it's a bad place with a not insignificant bubble in it, but the layer cake is done. Makes the Brockton Bay one look tiny. I'm a little afraid an earthquake will pop it out of the ground and make it the tallest mountain in California." The girls goggled. "Well not really, but a sudden five thousand feet is going to be damn impressive."
Dinah nodded "Two percent chance all of the Bay Area population needs an Endbringer shelter though."
Taylor rose "Skinflint and the Admiral will fill it. If Noelle and her girls don't. We obviously need a mill of every description, a jillion acres of greenhouse under grow lights, a refinery that can supply the world and or a chemical works that will make the Germans cry. Or you know, both. Why there must be a million people looking for work in California alone.
"We can run vacuum trains and shoot people to work from Oklahoma probably."
Noelle chuckled and shrugged "Somewhere around four and a half or five million. Before the estimated eleven million illegal immigrants. Just in California. They would probably be happy to move. I hope. Not near as many invasive species, well fish. Japanese seaweed but it's got uses for food, our folks will have it in aqua culture in days. Knotweed, grass carp, mitten crab, some other things. We'll clean up that stuff. We are going to need some Coastal artillerymen."
Taylor blinked "Uh, they gave us the land, not the mission?"
Roxie, Rochelle, one of Lucy's girls, sent her the current update from the gun shops. "Sixteen-inch rifles, yard worked so mark eights sort of, about two a day, under contract. Broke the code on those. The more we practice the faster we get. Right now it's the material heating and cooling that's holding us up on the built-up guns. The mark nines will be autofrettage.
"Ammunition for them too. About a hundred rounds a day of AP and HC.
"The DWU has a team teaching revetment construction and installation. We are where they get their artillerymen for now. DoD is working on a tri service school. Which our crew will have to teach until they get people qualified.
"They started all that stuff about they needed guns and fire control from us to be able to hit abyssals again though."
Taylor sighed "There aren't any abyssals."
Amy shrugged and gave her a gentle shove with a foot "Leviathan isn't dead, neither is Ziz. Nobody knows what Behemoth is doing. Go drive."
Taylor walked off muttering. The girls all turned to Amy. Who blushed. That was a tactical error. She had been a bit languid and smiley for most of the flight after she and Taylor had reappeared. She deployed a distraction plan "How about Hunters Point and Alameda?"
Vicky rolled her eyes "You are so full of crap."
Tess nodded "An elevator up to either. We essential had to undermine the whole damn bay. All the bays."
Lisa rolled her eyes, "You were going to do it anyway."
Tess shrugged "It turned into a bit of a project. Three miners worth. They are still busy as hell. I'm eventually going to have to do something about the Yellowstone super volcano just to be completely safe."
Haze Gray
Taylor got the Tradewind down and sure enough the cradle came bouncing out on plane to meet them. Apparently anything could be hot-rodded. She shut down the engines and lifted the cargo door nose. The crew on the cradle took over from there. She looked around and got on the radio. People on the Vallejo shore of the Napa river were frozen watching. She knew what the next step of that was. Speedboats and helicopters.
She looked around and was impressed with the gigantic building covering the two largest dry docks. She grinned at the flight deck crew "Guess I know where we are headed." She got hey chuckles back and headed downstairs when the crew shooed her away and told her they would do post flight.
Down on the ramp she watched with the others as a seemingly endless stream of boats appeared from the building and started herding cradles with and without Tradewinds and gawkers.
She blinked at the party on the pier they were heading for. The governor, notable people, politicians, actors, and all the cameras. She put on sunglasses "Not a cloud in the sky, early afternoon, what's with the lights?"
Amy shrugged "No idea, we got cool sunglasses though."
Taylor looked at them all in said cool sunglasses and chuckled "Fine. OK, let's meet this guy."
"Let's let him meet the fleet." Lisa suggested.
Haze Gray
Barack watched the news as Vallejo got a fleet week. He laughed and laughed. The Californians tried to play it cool, but that was difficult with your jaw hanging open in surprise. He had every confidence they would be able to fake a cool front eventually though. It was after all, California.
Haze Gray
Jerry sighed sitting in the car on interstate eighty on the way to Sacramento. "It's like she's a Marine general. No give at all."
Anne smiled, an hour ride might be enough to get Jerry back on an even keel "As opposed to a sixteen-year-old awed with your august presence."
Jerry nodded. "Exactly! Those airplanes too. It's like nineteen forty-two. I expected to be able to take charge a bit in the building. She has never been here before, west of the Mississippi before really, but it was like she had grown up in that yard. That tour was amazing though. Where did she get all those workers?"
Anne arched a brow "Nineteen fifty-six maybe. Though those are going to have to be called Tradewind IIs. Those things are huge, and propfans? As to the workers, the workers Panacea and her girls were rebuilding, or the ones that speak Hey?"
"Those, yes. I don't think I managed to establish the supremacy of the state."
Anne laughed out loud "No, I don't think you did. Good effort though. I mean looking down a gun barrel you could walk in would have intimidated anyone much more than it did you. Plus, California is one of fifty states, not a republic."
Jerry shook his head "Those Carriers. I mean they were so there! Sweet girls but still. Not to mention the battleships."
"Sutter had a blast with the PT dogs though." Anne offered.
Jerry laughed "Those poor seagulls. I'll have to talk to CalEnviro."
"They just chased them on the pier Jerry. Not like what they do to them when they are on the water. I've seen video. Who can blame them, the things are poop machines and in the girl's case it would be on them?
"Who you need to talk to is the film industry, especially the adult film industry. I think we are going to lose the first few of those that come up with offers and won't take the first no for an answer." Anne offered.
Jerry smirked then frowned "Though they do make money. Yes, they are going to have to be spoken too. That underground city is amazing."
Anne frowned "And this 'jelly zone'?"
"In international waters and hella deep. Damn shame we won't be able to collect taxes on it, but the workers using the stuff it produces will make up for it.
"Kitzhaber is making a fortune off that one store, we got a base! And let's face it, we have some people who need jobs. That yard employed up to fifty thousand people during the war and put fifteen or twenty million dollars a month in the local economy just in wages at the end of the war. In forty-four even! It could be hundreds of millions now. Plus that is a yard a level and who knows how many levels!
"They don't seem to be having a problem with regulatory compliance. They already work for the EPA cleaning up superfund sites. Radioactive contamination as well. And they just want the drydocks."
"So them getting Alameda and Hunts Point is all part of your plan?" Anne asked.
"Ha! What plan. I'm damn sure going to take advantage though. Hadn't thought of them going underground like that. I mean its California! The weather is perfect! Who would want to live in a cave? Still they need workers, even if their 'crew' is teaching them.
"I talked to Lynch in New Hampshire, Brocton Bay has fifty four thousand people working in Brockton Bay and the surrounding area, the whole town has come to life and gone from a dying slum to a bustling, picturesque, highly ratable, seaside community, a naval shipyard, two even, a civilian yard, and the port went from zero to ten thousand TEU a month. They think its headed to a hundred thousand. They are out of workers though.
"Only for now apparently, there is a migration headed that way from the whole east coast. Her agents are out hiring and arranging moves. Which means the jobs are there. If she does the same here we might get percentage drops in that eleven percent unemployment rate.
"Maybe we can get her people to teach these others how to comply and still make money. I'm a bit tired of them leaving after their concessions dry up.
"Those are all union jobs so potentially democratic voters. New Hampshire was a red state. If she gets wages up enough so they don't have to raise taxes it will stay blue.
"She's gotten ten of those stores built damn near in a straight line across the county to that one of Kitzhaber's. Of course, that one in Memphis was a surprise, but then well, rail and river, plus road. North south and east west interstates and railroads. Memphis is open all to navigation all the time, even in low water. Farthest north point that is. All those states are headed toward the black and its only been months, weeks in some cases.
"As soon as they are finished, they go to full production with her folks from Hispaniola while hiring and training locals.
"Meanwhile all these convenience stores are getting contracts with her. Until she gets stores in every state, they will be competitive. Until she hires everyone, they will be hiring at least entry level people even then.
"The Governors who don't have a store are already offering concessions to be next. It's about the hiring.
"Obama got Homeland Security off its ass and all those United States of Hispaniola people have social security numbers, green cards, and pay taxes. I bet the Cubans will get fed through that system too. Damn right I am going to lobby Obama for her to have all the bases that aren't already improving the tax base. We should feed the illegals into it. Hey..." Anne chuckled.
Haze Gray
The girls and everyone else got in a tour of the layer cake. It was in fact one of every mill, plant, and works they had including a tannery. All state of the art and all having all their outputs, heat, and waste, completely used up somewhere. More completely than required even. CalEnviro and the CARB were both busy being amazed.
Taylor looked around "I didn't even know we had fired this all up." She looked around at the level they were on and blinked "Wait, is this a set of repair baths like the anime?"
Tammi shrugged "As soon as you and Ames get in there?"
Everyone looked at the two. Amy chuckled ruefully at Taylors shrug. Then they all headed for the locker room.
Haze Gray
The researchers got to watch a fully instrumented bath go from nothing to in fact repair docks as they metered virgin metal, minerals, acids, bases, and salts, into the baths.
Stefanie looked around through the steam rising off the bath "So we try the summoning thing and see if that works too?"
Mongrel shook her head flinging water off her hair everywhere "Not in here, I'll get smushed when you guys call the Dragon, Gray Ghost, or Sister Sara."
Taylor lay her head back on the edge of the bath and relaxed. She hadn't really realized how tense this little jaunt had been making her.
Haze Gray
Taylor looked at everyone and picked up to turns for half ahead. "OK just a turn around the Bay. Everyone stay sharp, there are all kinds of rocks and shoals on these charts. Especially down around San Francisco and we have to get through that bridge to get into San Francisco Bay.
"There is hardly any traffic, I guess it's all going to Long Beach? Speed and sail boats, but still, let's keep San Francisco traffic updated. And out of the channel it gets shallow damn fast and the last survey was our guys last week. So nice and slow and just out for a skate."
Leslie piped up "You are planning on having to go to full draft and flank Taylor?"
"No but with our luck? The Russian pacific squadron will show up."
Tess laughed "Not with Ziz out there. Every time they turn south, she starts ships moving that way. Apparently, she does not do freedom of the seas."
Meili snorted "After our governments stupidity? Good policy."
Taylor nodded skating along "Hey, how are we going to get you girls family's out?"
Meili chuckled "The LHDs are building a corps to take care of that. Quick mission, in and out, we just need to build some post Panamax container ships."
Ping grinned "Or jack the ones in Long Beach. They are just laid up there. Trouble at home. Most of the crews left as they were registered all over the place besides China and crewed from everywhere, those poor bastards were on slave wages.
"We got a container design for passenger service. Well a bunch of containers, A mess deck in containers, a sick bay, food storage, reefers, water makers, waste handling, laundry, classrooms, all of that. Forty footers but meh, they will load fine and a couple post panama ships could pick up everyone. Well, all our families. If we want to pull a Cuba special, we are going to need bigger boats. A lot of bigger boats.
"We can fly our guys back and get them started on moving people, just have to fly them to Europe first so it doesn't look suspicious with them coming from the Pacific. They can all be Wangs', Lis', and Zhangs', a bunch of them are already. We can make passports on Johnston if we get the right paper. We already have the stamps we need. Somebody brought the set off one of the carriers."
Kim frowned "Any neo panamax? I mean we could use those and from what I'm seeing we can buy these cheap. Check this brokerage site out. We need to get some surveyors to look these over. The yard can bring them up to standard. Looks like China is retrenching since they lost you guys and the government caught on fire, or whatever this is."
Lisa and Dinah put their heads together with her. Lucy came up on the net "Get us one of those big bastards and we can make it a floating yard and headquarters. We are never going to be able to run gunnery here like we do at home. Hmm maybe a bus over to Fort Cronkhite."
Bao nodded "One that goes whop whop whop whop." The others broke up giggling.
Lucy sighed "So where are you guys going? PHO already has you spotted, and the rush is on."
Brasslock spoke up "The ferry dock, Hog Island Oyster Co."
"Thus spake Zarathustra." Nebraska grinned. Taylor sighed as the squabbling got going immediately. The DE's joined in the mess happily. The dogs started barking and roaring around. Taylors seagull killer went off with a sustained burst and she flushed a brilliant red. The fleet broke up laughing. Taylor skated on ignoring them all. Something would have to be done about the way that thing sounded. A suppressor maybe.
