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.

37. Chapter 37

Sabre Dancing with the Dead Ch 37

Tokonosu, April 25 20xx

Day 21.

13:45

The APC pulled up to the compound gate and went silent. The wall watch switched on the nixie up the road and the deaders all toddled off to the pole, to gaze longingly (blind as bats, but they sure looked that way) at the noisemaker just out of reach. Wolf watched them from the back of the green and brown personnel carrier, and when they were a good distance away, gestured "over the side" and they jumped to the ground and entered the now open gate.

The five of them walked over to where Shinji was talking with the Air Force pilot and a couple of others, discussing the increasing number of deaders who seem to have come into their area. Not that the little buggers were giving them any problems but the critters had learned that there was food on the other side of the large immovable object they ran into when heading to the delightful sound that the normal day to day workings of the compound caused.

"What's up guys?" Wolf asked as they got up to them.

Shinji spoke first "Captain, Keiko, nice to see you again. I gather the launch is a bust then?"

Capt. Nishizawa nodded. "Unfortunately, yes. Literally."

Wolf added "Yeah, the diesel is kaput. I tried to get it running but whatever is causing it, is beyond my skill level. We'll need to get a fella from the fishing fleet to have a look see."

Saya looked at the two military people and spoke up. "Kohta and I are going with Wolf to collect the army people." She wasn't exactly unhappy about it, and was grinning from ear to ear.

Wolf smiled at the two teens, "She's right. I'm going to take both of these two as crew since they told me how much they wanted to learn to sail this morning. I figure might as well start them off on a simple trip. I can manage the boat on my own, so they can watch and learn." Wolf nodded.

"You don't want to wait 'til we can get a mechanic over to look at the launch?" Saburo asked him. "It would save a lot of time if we can get it going again."

"True, but it would be a waste of time if it turned out that it was something serious. We'd lose at least a couple of hours. We know the boats work, and I've checked the sailboats over for equipment and what not. So, we'll take 3 of them, and go collect the troops. Shinji, you and the bosun here will crew one, Capt. Nishizawa and Keiko the second, and I'll take these two.

Shinji nodded, accepting the logic. "I'll have to take one of the larger boats, my Umikaze is too small to carry 10 people and their gear."

"Agreed. You and the Bosun will be going to the shipyard to collect 8 guys, including Major Sagawa and his 2IC. The Captain will take one of the others and I'll take Sabre Dance. According to Wally, the general has 14 guys at the airport, so 7 each on ours. Plus what ever gear they are bringing, hopefully not too much."

"OK, I'll go get my gear together. When do we leave?" the sergeant asked.

"Just as soon as you can get your gear and pick a boat. Capt., you and Keiko go choose one as well. I'm going to take these two out to Sabre Dance and get ready to shove of. The wind isn't much so the sooner we get going, the sooner we get it done. We had a nice red sky last night and blue skies this morning. I'm sure you've heard the old saying, "Red sky at night, sailors' delight. Red sky at morning, sailors take warning."?

Both the Capt. and Shinji nodded.

"I checked the barometer before I left the boat this morning, and it was reading 30.05 inches. Roughly 1017 mb for you metric users. Looking at the clouds, we have about 4/10 tenths cumulus, so conditions should remain good for the day." Wolf continued.

Again, both skippers nodded. Capt. Nishizawa, with years of maritime service under his belt was quietly impressed. Wolf had a pretty good grasp of weather forecasting.

"But before you go, stop by the kitchen and see about some food and water. Kat will likely have it ready for you. Capt., you and Keiko have enough?"Wolf asked.

"Yes, our cook put together several meals and drinks for us. We are good to go."

"Right, lets do it." Wolf said, waving towards the basin.

With that the group split up. After a quick stop at the kitchen area to collect some food and water, Shinji had the bosun follow him down to Umikaze, so he could get his gear. That done, they walked farther down the dock to a good size sloop, about the same length as Sabre Dance, and headed out on the finger to check her out. Capt. Nishizawa and Keiko waved as they passed by, heading towards the next big one.

Shinji and the bosun climbed aboard and stowed their gear below. The bosun climbed up on deck to take the sail covers off, while Shinji checked to see if the engine would start. The key had not been found on this one, so someone had drilled a hole and put in another one taken from one of the trucks out on the street. He checked the oil and coolant, made sure the fuel line was open and that there was no crud in the fuel bowl. He tried the lights below, and found the battery was in good shape.

Climbing back into the cockpit, he set the throttle and turned the replacement key. A couple of coughs and the engine caught.

Over on a boat 3 down from Shinji, Nishizawa and Keiko were going through the same process. Turning to look at Sabre Dance, The Sergeant saw Wolf in the cockpit directing Saya and Kouta on getting under way. As he watched, the teens pulled the sail covers off, and Wolf turned and waved at him. Time to go. By this time the engine was nice and warm, so he had the bosun cast off, and slowly reversed out of the slip, turning 90º, until the nose was well clear. Putting her into forward he started down the fairway into the basin. Aboard SD, Kouta was up forward, getting the mooring free while Saya was in the cockpit getting ready to release the genoa and tend the sheets. Shinji turned and saw that the other boat was also under way, backing out into the fairway while Keiko pulled up and stowed the fenders.

Out in the basin, Wolf had Kouta slip the mooring, and let the boat drift back a bit before engaging the transmission. He headed out through the maze that made up the entrance, with Shinji and Nishizawa in line astern. It took them about 15 minutes to get clear of the entrance, and Wolf turned into the wind to let the kids hoist the sails. As the other two cleared the last marker, they too turned to windward and the sails billowed out. Turning onto the heading they needed, 00º, due North for Shinji, 300º for Nishizawa and himself, the 3 boats slowly separated. The wind was from the South West, so Shinji had it on the port quarter, while Nishizawa and Wolf were on a beam reach. Wolf figured it would take 3-4 hours to get to the airport. It was now1430.

Wolf sat back at the helm, looking at the sail trim and checking the sumlog. All was as it should be so he'd sent Saya below to get some note paper and pencils. Also a couple of small pieces of plywood they could use as knee boards while they worked. He had decided that the best way to teach them the boat and all its fine points was to have them make drawings of all the lines, winches, anchor, cleats, and the rest of it.

Once the pink haired teen had returned with the things he'd asked her to collect, he settled down to teach. The day was fair, sailing conditions just about ideal, even if the wind was on the low side to get Sabre Dance moving quickly. He looked to port, where Nishizawa and his daughter were already pulling ahead of him. To be expected, SD was a good 24,000 lbs, compared to the other boat's roughly 18,000 lbs. Her rig was also shorter, and carried less square footage than the other boat. It was going to be a slow trip, unless the wind picked up a good 10-15 knots. So be it. It was a nice day to be on the water and he had two eager young people to teach.

He turned to the two teens and started to explain what it was they were going to do first.

"I want both of you to look around the boat and make a drawing of everything on board, all the lines, all the blocks, the cleats, the tracks etc. Make two drawings, one as a side view, with the mast and all the standing rigging. Those are the cables that hold up the mast, front, back and sides. Show all the running rigging, which are the lines that control the sails. Make a top view, and mark all the cleats. These are the fittings the lines are tied off to, some on the mast, some on the coach roof, and some on deck. Make a note of the position of all the winches, on the mast, the cockpit coaming and the coach roof and which running rigging they are used for. Have a look at the anchor windlass up forward. Any questions?"

Both of them replied in the negative.

"Fair enough, have at it. Take your time, and make the drawings as neat as you can. You'll be keeping them for a long time, til you have everything down pat. This is mostly to teach you the terminology, as each boat will be different, but they all work the same way."

The two of them started off with the top view, and started moving about, making notations. Meanwhile, Wolf settled down to sailing. After a while, he called Kohta back and gave him a quick lesson on steering and the compass. Once the lad nodded that he was Ok with steering, Wolf went below and started up the stove and made some tea and a cup of coffee. He put the tea into a thermos, and left it in the holder on the galley counter top. The cup of coffee, he mixed up according to his tastes, (rum included) in a heavy cup with a lid, and then returned to the cockpit.

He passed Saya, sitting in the cockpit, knee board balanced as she drew the sketch. He glanced at her drawing as he passed, and was surprised at the proportions she'd given the drawing. She had a good eye. The length to beam ratio looked to be pretty much spot on. She'd already sketched in the cockpit well and seats, and added all the cleats around the aft end including the main sheet car and tackle. Not bad. He smiled at her as she glanced up at him and told them both to go get a cup of tea when they felt like it. He relieved Kohta at the helm, placed his cup in the holder and they carried on towards the airport.

He checked the sum log, and saw they were moving about 3 and a half to 4 knots. From the last trip back from the airport, he figured it would take about 3 more hours to get to the airport docks. He watched the teens make their drawings, watched Nishizawa gradually open up the distance between them, kept an eye out for anything they might hit and that was about it. He had the stereo turned up, and was playing his usual rock n roll. Getting the troops on board and back to the club would likely take them til later in the evening. Perhaps even as late as midnight if the winds died.

Just over 4 hours later, Sabre Dance pulled up to the main dock at the airport. Nishizawa and Keiko were tied up already and there were two groups of soldiers, with packs and rifles. The first group was climbing aboard Dolphin (Saya had told him the name of the boat), and stowing their gear below. In short order, the Captain had Keiko cast off, and they started back to the club.

As Sabre Dance approached the dock, the two kids had dug out the fenders and hung them over the side. Wolf brought her alongside, coming to a dead stop, less than a foot from the dock. His crew had taken the mooring lines in hand and were standing on the coaming, on the outside of the life lines. A short jump down to the dock and the boat was secured.

The General was standing on the dock talking with his people and turned to the boat once it was secured. Wolf told Kohta to go below, to take the packs and rifles that were handed down, and stow them up in the forward cabin, while Saya dealt with the troops and their seating. The day was fair, and warm, most of them opted to stay on deck and settled down on either side of the coach roof. Two of them perched on the seats attached to the stern rail.

General Uchimoto watched the boarding, and when his people were all on board he called out to Wolf.

"How long do you think it will take to get back to your perimeter?"

Wolf thought for a minute, then spoke. "About 4, maybe 5 hours. It'll be well after dark by the time we get back. The sun will be down by about 1900."

"Very good. Radio me when you get back there. When do you figure on moving out in the morning?" The General asked.

"Roger that, sir. I think 0800 will give us a good night's sleep before we leave so we'll be on our way now. Call you later." Wolf nodded as he snapped off a crude salute to the officer. Ushimoto returned the salute with a grin and turned to walk back to the Ops room.

Wolf turned to Kohta and Saya and had them get ready to cast off. They'd hoist sails once clear of the harbor entrance. He had the two kids untie the bow and stern lines, and get aboard. He'd had a line taken from the outboard stern cleat and looped around the dock bollard and back. Putting the engine into gear, he gradually increased power. The off center line came taut, and the thrust from the prop forced the bow to come hard left. As the bow swung past perpendicular to the dock, he had the trooper maintain the connection. As she swung farther down the fairway, he then had the trooper let the line go, and it pulled round the bollard and dropped into the water, with the soldier pulling it in and coiling it. They were clear and heading out.

The trip home was without incident, the troops sat quietly chatting among themselves and with Wolf and the kids. This time he let Saya take the helm while he took Kohta up on the coach roof to hoist the main sail. He had Saya head up wind til the main was up, then turn to 120º for the run home. As soon as they were on course, he took the helm back and had the two kids letting out the genoa and trimming the sails.

By the time Sabre Dance had motored into the club basin, Nishizawa and Shinji were both back. Major Sagawa had the troops well in hand, and they'd brought their rations with them, so Kat took care to add some extra to them. After dinner, the soldiers were taken out to various boats that were not being lived on, so they could spend a comfortable night. Wolf, Saburo, Shinji and Major Sagawa figured getting underway to the first bridge by 0800.

Everything was set, every conceivable problem had been identified and solutions found. The vehicles were all topped up, loads checked and the people assigned. They couldn't have been any readier than they were. Sitting on Go, each of them with their own fears and expectations.

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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 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. The painting is pretty much done on the starboard side. I had some trouble buying the epoxy sealer I used before, something about it being hazardous and only for contractor with license. Had to call around to get the regional sales guy's number. He sorted it out and I'm back in business. So the interior furniture will be set up starboard side first while I paint the port side. At least It's cooling down. Painting when it's 95-100F, dripping sweat all over everything isn't much fun. But we be getting there.