Sabredancing with the Dead

by SabreKai

Fellow travels across the Pacific to visit an old girlfriend teaching at Fujimi High. They just get settled in to chat in the teachers' lounge when all hell breaks loose. Two OCs, Probably meet up with the gang later in the story.

36. Chapter 36

Sabre Dancing with the Dead Ch 36

Tokonosu, April 25 20xx

Day 21.

09:30

Wolf woke up feeling great. Yesterday, they'd taken great steps to get the research mission up and running. They had the wheels, the water, some heavy duty wrecking equipment, decent intel and the cooperation of a gungho General and his equally gungho troops. A few more details to sort out, and they would be good to go. Kat had taken off already and left him to sleep. So, he'd have to holler for someone to come pick him up, but what the hell. Things were going well, so slacking off a bit was AOK by him. He stretched and settled back to snooze.

That lasted a whole 5 minutes when he felt the dinghy bounce off the hull.

"Ok, Ok I'm up already" he hollered as he climbed out of the bunk and went to put on his pants. Good thing he'd worn shorts last night. Saya banged on the hatch and then stuck her head in.

"Kat told me to tell you "to get your butt out of bed and come get breakfast". This she said, with a perfectly straight face. At least for 10 seconds, before she broke out in laughter at the look on his face. Seconds later, Kohta was standing in the cockpit beside her, with a big grin on his face too. Wolf glared at the pair of them, but Kohta just put on the innocent and said. "Hey, don' t blame us, Kat was very insistent that we deliver the message as given. Anyway, Saburo and Shinji are waiting on you. I gather a run over to the Takagi shipping compound is in order?"

"Yeah. I need to talk to Capt. Nishizawa, and see if we can borrow his motor launch. I have to arrange to transport some JSDF guys over here, so they are with us when we head out." Wolf replied, pulling on his shoes. Standing up, he looked around, picked up the musette bag he used to carry his day by day gear and headed up the companion way. Once there, he turned round, and dropped the hatch boards in place, then locked the boat. That done, he turned to the two teens and said "Lets go".

He was a bit surprised that they had come across in the 18 foot row boat, but Kohta took the oars, Saya took the tiller and off they went. The two worked well together and chatted with him as they crossed the basin to the dinghy dock. Coming alongside was done much better than the first time they'd done it and he commented on it. Saya explained that the policy of learning as much about as many things as they all could was a sound idea and they had been taking the rowboat out when they had time.

That said, both of them told him they'd spoken with Shizuka about how she'd started to learn to sail, and said they were both amazed at how enthused she was about it. They both decided they wanted to learn too.

"Saya, Kohta, I'd be happy to teach you both. It's a useful skill for all sorts of reasons, and I can tell you, it's about the most relaxing way to travel I've found. We've got more than a few small boats that will do well to train you on, and as I said last night, once we move to the island, I expect sailing is going to be one of our favorite forms of relaxation."

Climbing out of the rowboat, Wolf headed to the dining area, and Saya and Kohta waved as they moved on to another task. As he watched them go, he reflected on the fact that those two seemed to be getting more attuned to each other. Kohta and Saya had handled both missions as crew for the APC quite well, and Shinji spoke well of both of them. Even Saya seemed to be backing off of putting Kohta down every time he spoke. "Fingers crossed for ya buddy!"

Wolf walked up the ramp and over to the covered eating area. The crew was clearing up from the morning run and Kat walked over with a tray for him as he sat down. Breakfast was fish, rice and some pickled veggies. He dug in, thinking in passing, that breakfasts in Japan were actually pretty good. He'd heard about the English having kippers for breakfast, but this wasn't half bad. As he munched, Kat came back with a couple of cups. One was glorious coffee, courtesy of Capt Nishizawa. He'd heard Wolf grumbling about not having any coffee, and miraculously a case of beans showed up on the dock a couple of days later when the motor launch came over to trade for fish with the crowd next door. Wolf made a note to himself to thank the Captain profusely when he went over to the Takagi wharf later.

Kat sipped her tea, and spoke. "So how are we looking for the University?"

"I had a quick pow wow with Shinji and Saburo before we headed to the boat last night. From what I see, we are just about there. The General will organize a team and we'll have to go get them. We can do it in one trip if Capt Nishizawa will loan us the motor launch, otherwise I'll have to organize a convoy of boats to get to the island or the shipyard to get them. I'm not sure which yet, as the General hasn't radioed in yet. In the mean time how about we go over to the ship and visit? You seemed to get along famously with his wife and daughter."

"Yeah, that would be nice, to get away from here for a bit. I've not been out of the compound since we got here. But I was thinking of taking a walk up the path along the cliff wall. No one has seen any sign of life from up there and the view must be pretty spectacular with the leaves all coming in now." She mused.

"OK. But take one of the kids with you if you do. And carry the Star with ya. We can always go visit some other time." as he paused to take a swig of coffee.

"Aside from that, how are you doing? Got anything you want to talk about? How is Mrs. Ukita doing?" He asked.

"She's accepted that her husband is gone. But she is all alone now, and in a bad spot. We are all keeping an eye out for her. Even little Kirito is helping her. I came out the door from the club just after you 3 took off for the island. I noticed Mrs Ukita sitting alone, quietly crying. I went to go to her but Kirito came round the corner and saw her crying. He walked up to her and called her obaasan, and said not to cry. He would take care of her. That she was not alone as long as he lived. Mrs Ukita looked at him and wiped her eyes, then she hugged him and he put his arms around her. He's been shadowing her ever since."

"Damn, that's like something out of a fairy tale. God knows none of the kids I ever knew would do such a thing. Remind me to be even nicer the young fella." Wolf grinned at her.

Kat smiled at him, sipped some more tea and asked him what the day's plan was.

"First things first, over to Takagi to talk to Capt Nishizawa. Wally can get me on the radio if the General has got his end organized. If the launch is a go, we head over to collect the troops. If not, I come back here, and go talk to Yamato. See who besides Shinji and I have sailing skills. Speaking of which, do you feel you could get a boat from here to the island and back with a couple of bodies to help?" He questioned.

"Not with any confidence. But there has to be some sailors in this crowd. I see some bodies coming off of one or two sailboats in the morning. Yamato will know for sure who."

OK Kat, I'm off to organize the trip to Takagi. See you in a bit." With that he swallowed the last of his coffee, picked up the tray and took it to the washing station to add to the pile. As he turned towards the far end of the yard where Shinji was running a crew setting up loads for the various vehicles, he waved to her. She waved back and headed over to get things going for the noon meal.

Shinji looked up as he approached, and waved. He spoke as Wolf got near enough, wishing him a good morning.

"You are ready to head over to Takagi then?"

"Yes, best get that done soonest. I expect the General will be getting his people lined up and ready to go, right smartly. He's a pretty gungho fella." Wolf nodded.

"Indeed. He has a reputation as a real hard charger. He's been at the top of the curve on just about every course he took, has advanced through the ranks quite quickly and from what I heard as this mess fell apart, he was one of the few field commanders to keep it together, and withdraw in good order, saving his people as best he could while getting the maximum number of civilians out of harm's way." Shinji commented, not having served with him but knowing several people who had and had nothing but the utmost loyalty to the man.

Turning to the people working around him, he waved Kohta, and Saya over. They sauntered over, and gathered round the Sergeant.

"You two are going on a little trip over to the Takagi Warehouse. Wolf needs to have a word with Capt. Nishizawa, so draw arms, and get ready to take one of the APCs over there. If things work out, you'll be leaving Wolf there, he'll bring back the launch. Once he releases you, head back here and I'll have another job for you. Understood?"

Both nodded and said "Hai", and Shinji passed the armory key to Kohta. They headed off to the container, and drew the arms and ammo. Kohta got together with the wall watch, to let them know they'd be leaving, then ran back to Shinji to hand over the key. By the time he got back to the gate, the wall crew had checked for critters and turned on the nixie half way up the block. 20 minutes later they were aboard the APC and Saya was getting it started.

The run up the road to the Takagi wharf was uneventful, and while there were a few deaders wandering round, they were of no concern. Saya pulled up alongside the ship, with the back end of the APC under the gangway. It was just a short jump up to get on it and then up to the ship. As Wolf looked up, he saw Capt Nishizawa coming down from the bridge. The Captain's young daughter waved at him from the bridge wing. He grinned back and waved.

"Permission to come aboard, Captain?"

"Granted. Welcome Wolf, what can I do for you?"

"I came to talk to you about the research mission. Planning is going very well, but we need your assistance if it's possible." Wolf replied.

"Certainly. Let's go down to the mess hall, and grab some coffee."

The Captain lead the way back into the bridge structure, and then into the mess hall. The space was well lit with large ports along the forward wall of the bridge and partially down the sides. It was located in the forward section of the structure, and took up the full width of the bridge. The morning sun was still low enough to shine in through the ports and gave the place a nice warm feeling. Capt Nishizawa led him to a table, and a galley attendant came up to see what they wanted. Wolf immediately asked for a cup of coffee, while the Captain had him bring him some tea.

Taking a sip of tea and sitting back in his seat, the Captain looked at Wolf and asked "So what can we do for the mission?"

"Before I get into that, I'd like to say thank you for the coffee beans. I thought I'd never taste coffee again. Thanks for that." Wolf stopped and thought for a moment, and then got right to the hear of the matter, and asked if they could borrow the motor launch.

"I know its an imposition but we have to move about 20 men and their gear over from the island to the club, so when we are ready to go, we have the right people to operated the engineering tanks and what not. The General I was speaking to, is going to radio back with the details of where and when to pick them up. I thought the launch could do it in one run, so here I am, asking to borrow it."

Nishizawa immediately spoke. "Unfortunately I can't help with that. At least not until we find out why the launch won't run. I believe I mentioned that my Chief Engineer was away from the ship when this disaster started, so I am trying to make do with the people I have, none of whom have any great understanding of how a diesel works… Until we get it fixed we are not able to do much of anything."

"OK, that sucks, Captain. What are the symptoms? Will it turn over? Start and die? How was it running before it died? Hot perhaps?" Wold quizzed him.

"You know something about diesels, Wolf?"

"Yeah, I did the entire drive on my boat myself, and had to learn a lot about them to make sure I got it put in correctly and plumbed up right. Turned out I did OK, she started up right away and runs like a watch. Mind you, it was a brand new engine." Wolf explained.

"If it's something simple, I can fix it. If not then I'd suggest we get one of the guys from the fishing harbor over. They all do their own maintenance and know diesels inside and out."

The Captain finished his tea, Wolf gulped back the last of the coffee and they both headed out the door to the starboard side gangway. The launch was tied to the platform at the base and there was one man aboard, apparently looking at the problem. Nishizawa spoke to him, and He got up from the now exposed diesel and stepped back with a nod. The Captain turned to Wolf and showed him the fuel tank, the filters and the plumbing running from tank to engine and back again. Looking at the engine, first thing Wolf did was to check the oil and coolant levels. Not likely to be the cause but once you learned the process for trouble shooting, you always did it the same to make sure every thing was OK.

Wolf asked the Captain to spin the engine over. This he did, it turned easily but not even a chug or burp. So, starting at the tank, Wolf began to trouble shoot the problem. He checked the level, which was just about full. He left the cap off of the tank and had it spun once more. No joy.

Next, he got a bucket and put it under the tank filter. The first thing he did was to check for water or crud in the fuel. The clear fuel bowel on the bottom of the filter was good, no water or sediment. Disconnecting the hose to the engine, he worked the primer lever and saw that fuel was coming out of the hose. He reconnected it to the engine's filter. Loosening the vent there, he worked that primer. Soon fuel bubbled out of the vent and he tightened it again.

Turning to the Captain, he wound his finger over his head and the engine spun once more. This time it coughed some.

Moving on to the injectors, he loosened each in turn and worked the primer lever once more. As fuel came out at the injector, he locked that down and moved on to the next one. It took him about 10 minutes to get this far, and all the injectors were now showing fuel. Again with the wind up finger.

The Captain turned the starter and it chugged, started and died.

Wolf asked him, "Where is your throttle set at?"

The Captain double checked the setting, it was in the normal start position.

"Ok, check the manual kill control." This Nishizawa did, and it was in the run position, the engine was not being shut off by that manual control.

"Give it a bit more throttle and spin it again." Again the engine started, ran for a moment and then died.

Wolf sighed. "Ok, Sorry Captain, this is beyond my experience. We'll have to see about getting a guy over from the fishing boats."

Nishizawa instructed his crewman to replace all the access panels, and he and Wolf turned and climbed back up to the deck of the container ship. As they came to the top, they found the two Fujimi students chatting with the captain's daughter.

"No luck with the boat?" Kohta asked.

"Nope, time for plan B.' Wolf replied.

"Plan B?" Nishizawa asked.

"Plan B is getting some sailors together, taking some boats from the club over to the island and bringing the troops back that way."

"How many people do you have that can sail, Wolf?"

"Well, There is Shinji, myself and one other at the club. In a pinch we could do it, single hand the boats but it would be easier with a few more hands." was the reply.

"My bosun and I both sail." He turned as his daughter shook his shoulder. He looked at her, and spoke quickly. Turning back towards Wolf, "My daughter Keiko, is also a good hand at sailing. Will that be enough to handle the task?" Nishizawa told him.

"I think that would be fine. You and your daughter can handle one boat, I'll put your bosun with Shinji and I'll take these two." as he gestured towards Kohta and Saya. "They told me this morning that they wanted to learn… Might as well get them started."

"Kohta, go down to the APC and check in. See if the General has called back yet." He told the teenage boy.

"Captain, while he's doing that, I suggest you and Keiko get some gear together and get ready. We have several boats that are more than adequate for the job, so you'll need some clothes, and some drinks and food for say 3 meals. I'm not sure when we will be going, that's up to the General, but he's a real hard charger, so I'd be surprised if he hasn't got his end organized already."

Nishizawa told his daughter to get their gear together, while he organized some food. As they were doing that, Kohta came back up the gangway.

"Wolf, the General has put together his team, and they are at two locations, some at the airport, the rest of them are at the ship yard. He said that there are 14 at the airport, and the rest, 8 of them, are at the shipyard. They have their gear together and are ready to go."

"Ok, you and Saya are with me. Capt Nishizawa and Keiko will handle the second boat, and we'll go to the airport. Shinji and the bosun can take care of the lot at the shipyard."

A few minutes later, the Captain and Keiko returned with a couple of duffle bags. The bosun appeared a couple of minutes later. "We're ready when you are. I've left my 2nd officer in charge. He'll take care of things while we're gone."

"Good enough Captain, the troops are ready to be picked up. So lets get moving."

Collecting their gear and some canned coffee for Wolf, the 5 of them headed down the gangway and climbed down into the APC. With a roar of the diesel, the APC turned around and headed back to the club compound.

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Obaasan: Grandmother.

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 other than those listed below are (So far) my own.

Komuro Tadashi

Miyamoto Rei

Miyamoto Tadashi

Miyamoto Kiriko

Busujima Saeko

Takagi Saya

Hirano Kouta

Marikawa Shizuka

Marasato Alice

Minami Rika

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

Anyone interested in following the progress on the real life Sabre Dance is welcome to visit my builder's blog. Just search for Sabre dancing. You'll find it. Currently, the welding in the main cabin and galley is done. At the moment its painting the frames prior to fitting the plywood panels. This is the cheap crap wood from Home Depot. I'll use the panels as patterns for the mahogany ply wood when I get it all done. On the other hand, a couple of people have suggested why bother, seal the crap wood and a coat of gloss white will do just fine. Give the price of mahogany ply, (a 2ft by 4ft piece cost me $85) I may just do that.