Sabre Dancing with the Dead Ch 32

Tokonosu, April 23 20xx

Day 20.

2230

The sentry led them to a small conference room on the 2nd floor of the terminal. As they walked the distance to their goal, they could see evidence of a deadly fight. On the way there, they didn't see many signs, only dead lying on the ground. But once they got into the terminal, they couldn't help but wonder at how people had survived at all. It was no more than two weeks since the assault force had landed to clear the island, but the signs of bloody combat and massive losses were everywhere. Blood literally drenched the floor in spots, mostly near doors leading farther into the terminal.

The stairwell was more of the same, the people defending had fought every step the deaders took upwards. Now that the place was pretty secure, they still hadn't had the time or inclination to mop up the gallons of blood. The bodies were gone, dragged out and piled, then torched with liberal doses of aviation fuel. All that remained were piles of ash, which was being loaded into a few dump trucks that somehow still ran. Wolf made a note to himself. Have the ashes saved, not dumped into the ocean. At least the deaders would partially help rectify the devastation by becoming fertilizer. He'd have to mention human waste as well.

Upon entering the conference room, they noted the man at the head of the table. Fairly young for a general, he had the weary eyes of someone who had been in the thick of it since the beginning. But they did not have the look of someone who had given up hope. Wolf could tell he'd do his damnedest to make sure the people around him survived and could rebuild. On either side of him were junior officers. They too had that same look of determination. These were the guys to be talking to.

After the introductions had been taken care of, General Matsuura Uchimoto

got right to the point. Refreshments were on the table, he waved his arm at them and started talking.

"Major Sagawa tells me you have a plan to secure intel that we will need to rebuild and you are looking for assistance. Please begin you brief."

Wolf looked around at his crew and began laying out the plan they'd made for the University mission.

Step by step, much as Kat had done, he laid out the situation, the solution (farming), the problems involved in that, and the plan to get the knowledge needed to give them a chance to succeed as farmers, and to gain a better medical standard than currently available. Taking a moment to take a drink of water, he moved on to the logistics of the mission as seen from their point of view, and what they had done so far to prep for the mission. He noted that they had a higher chance of success with a contingent of regular troops to assist but that they were prepared to go, regardless. All told, he talked for more than half an hour, before finishing.

Matsuura looked at the officers on either side. They nodded back.

"Captain Sakai, You had a hand in preparing this brief?"

Saburo nodded before speaking "Yes Sir, a very small part in it. Wolf determined the situation, and examined it over a period of a week. He was then assisted by his lady, Kat, who expanded on things Wolf had missed, and recruited the crew to help them collect all the information needed to have a fair chance at succeeding. They both collected the details, as much as possible, of the site layout. They presented the idea to us after putting most of it together."

"Gathering the vehicles and supplies needed to make this mission possible was handed off to Sgt Shimizu Shinji. Sgt. Shimizu organized the missions to the base in the center of the city and acquired the vehicles and supplies needed to protect our base and make the mission possible."

"How did you get attached to this group, Captain?" One of the other officers asked.

"I was flying an RF-4 over Tokonosu, doing recon, when my aircraft ate a bird. A lot of them actually. Both engines were scrap in seconds. I ejected as close to shore as possible, after pointing the aircraft out to sea. I landed on one of the small islands at the south end of the city and made my way to the club where we are all based. There I found other survivors, trapped inside the compound by wandering dead. Wolf managed to clear out the compound using a truck he'd used to get from the high school where Kat worked. He arrived in Japan only a week or so before, and his boat was moored in the club basin."

General Matsuura nodded, and looked at Wolf. "Perhaps you can tell us how you learned to put together a mission and it's logistics? I've never met a civilian who could even grasp the main parts of planning for such a thing, let alone going into such detail."

Wolf grinned at the officers and took another drink. Then he launched into his being a former "doomer", which had them puzzled. Saburo stepped in and explained what a doomer was, then Wolf continued with the tale of what he, Kat and their friends had being doing in the mid 80s when blowing the world to hell was a viable concern. Not to mention a fair bit of gaming in WWII simulations. As his and Kat's story of being doomers came out, first one of the officers started to grin. Then the General cracked a smile. By the time Wold wound down, they were all grinning at him.

"Interesting story, Wolf. Your past appears not to have been a waste of time. Mind you getting bit in the ass by a walking stiff, isn't what any of us had in mind for the end of the world as we know it." the general said.

Wolf looked at him quizzically.

"What? You thought you were the only one who prepared for the end of the world at one time or another? All of us on my side of the table went through the same birthing process. Personally, and my officers agree, that previous life is what allowed us to keep our heads when this cataclysm occurred. It allowed you and your lady to do the same, and take on the task of trying to keep others alive… you presented a very good brief. I agree that it is a mission too important to ignore."

Wolf and the others nodded, a smile on their faces.

"However, there are some gaps in the plan that need to be addressed. We will do so, and get this mission out of planning and into operational status. Can you stay for another day, to assist as we sort out the final details?" Matsuura asked.

Wolf looked at his people, they all nodded in the affirmative. He turned to the General, said OK and then asked for access to a radio so he could update the crowd at the compound.

By this time it was pushing midnight and they were starting to look half dead. Seeing this, the general led them to the comm center, and let Wolf make his call. As he finished giving Kat the update, and let her know they'd be staying til sometime tomorrow, the General gestured for the mike.

Wolf wondered but handed it over anyway

"Lady Kat, I am General Matsuuro Utchimoto. I just wanted to compliment you on an excellent briefing. If you ever want to join the military I'd be happy to have you on my staff. A pleasant good night to you."

Mike in hand again, Wolf and the others bid their crowd a good night and promised to contact again before they set sail back to the club.

Radio call done, the General handed them off to one of his staff officers and bid them good night. Following this officer they found themselves in a small room with several beds separated by movable partitions. Shizuka and Rika stepped to one side, while Wolf and Saburo made ready to crash on their side. The lighting was by kerosene lamps, so they were turned down to as low as possible and the four drifted off to sleep.

One of the officers from yesterday evenings briefing roused them at 0700 the next morning. Shizuka grumbled, as Rika shook her awake. Wolf wasn't too thrilled with only six and a half hours of sleep but, what the hell, lets get it done. The sooner the better. He had no idea what local planting seasons were but they'd have to prep the ground first, and that took time. They needed that information like YESTERDAY!

Instead of the conference room, they ended up in the airport operations center. The General was there, tea in hand, directing the days missions. Last night he'd told them that most of the terminal was now clear, but there were several sub-basements that his people were still working on. Very tight quarters, lots of hiding spaces a deader could be waiting. Wolf understood perfectly. They'd lost Dave Cross because they went into the bunker without proper precautions.

The General waved them over to a large scale map of Tokonosu. Wolf noted that their compound had been labeled on the map. The University was also labeled, most everything else was blank. There were several staff people sorting through photo takes from helos, or drones and piecing them together in sequence to show several routes from the JSDF Base and the compound to the University. No matter what, they would be crossing one or more bridges to get there. The photos of those bridges did not look promising. The map itself had far too many gaps, and the entire South East quadrant was blank.

"Good Morning" the General commented as he pointed them to a table with coffee, tea, juice and some buns of some sort. Wolf and the others picked up drinks and food, then walked over to where the staff was placing photos in sequence. So far, they had half decent coverage of the North West quadrant. This was because of the heavy air traffic between the Island Airport and the JSDF base in the ship yard. Points farther out and further south had not yet been covered. The only shots of the bridges appeared to be from the first couple of days of the disaster, fairly high altitude shots, which showed all the bridges with masses of vehicles. The tiny dots beside them must have been people fleeing or critters chasing them.

Wolf studied the maps and photos. It wasn't looking like luck was going to be on their side. Every bridge they had photos of was plugged up. From the JSDF shipyard base they would have to cross two bridges. The near one was plugged for sure, that they had photos for. The second one was up near the University and that one they had zip on. From the compound to the JSDF base in the shipyard seemed the simplest route for their part of the mission, making the link up. There was only one bridge to cross but a fair distance between them, some 12 kilometers on the coast road. Getting to the bridge from the compound would be fairly simple, they'd done the run to the main JSDF base to gather supplies and not run into too many deaders. Pushing on past the base shouldn't be much of a problem and that would get them to the first bridge they must cross.

Here also, there was a lack of photos. There was one long distance oblique shot that showed the bridge off in the distance but it was very small and difficult to make out any detail on. Assuming they could clear that hurdle, it was a straight run north to the shipyard. From there, two more bridges to be crossed. But they needed more photo recon.

He turned to the General, and asked what recon assets they had to use?

"Not many. I have no manned units, and only two drones survived the EMP burst." he replied. He gazed off into space, deep in thought for a moment.

"The drones are currently being used to work the clearing of the airfield. They won't be free for some time. However, We do have several small aircraft over on the south side of the field… Captain Sakai, are you able to

use one of those for your recon?"

Saburo looked at him, and replied immediately. "Yes sir, I don't' see why not. An RF-4 would be nice but beggars can't be choosers" he grinned. "We can do that assuming they will start up. Do we have any cameras?"

"That I can get for you. We have several that survived the EMP. I will assign one of my people to act as your observer.' the General said as he waved over on of his staff. He sent that man off to get the camera.

Wolf stepped in and told the General that he'd like to act as the observer. His mission, his responsibility.

Saburo agreed with him, and the General nodded. For a civilian, this Wolf character was quite the gutsy sonofabitch.

"I'll have my men take you out to the hanger area, and you can see if you can get one of them to fly. I will in the mean time continue on with clearing the airport. The sooner we get that done, the sooner I can start bringing in more supplies and manpower." the General declared. "If it proves to be impossible to get to the University by ground, then our next option is to use helicopters."

His staff officer returned with a couple of cameras. The General nodded for him to pass them on to Wolf. Then he told the officer to see that he and Saburo were taken to the private section of the airfield. The officer saluted and gestured for the two to follow him.

It turned out to be a good bit of a walk to the hangars.

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Author's notes: I don't own HOTD, or any of its characters. I just get to play in their universe. All characters in this story (So far) are my own. The following characters belong to HOTD owners.

Komuro Tadashi

Miyamoto Rei

Miyamoto Tadashi

Miyamoto ? ( I don't think her mothers name was ever mentioned)

Busujima Saeko

Takagi Saya

Hirano Kouta

Marikawa Shizuka

Marasato Alice

Minami Rika

Reviews gratefully accepted, as long as they are constructive and non-abusive.