for likely places they would gather. I didn’t see any likely caves or large buildings, but they could hole up anywhere. I decided to look at the larger maps, so I took my notes to the map room so I could pull up better images.
Walking in the map room, I saw the yeoman had set a cart with coffee and snacks in here. I also saw Roger already looking at the maps. I should have known he would know about my plan. We thought too much alike.
"What's up man, should've know you were here. What all have you heard so far?" I asked him, setting my notes out. I warmed up the projector so we could see the big map on the wall.
"Not much. I know the bridges are gone, or sealed up. I know you want to get started on phase two as soon as possible. I figure you would look for gathering spots first, so I've been searching the maps, but I haven't found any place that just screams 'infected den'. How was your fishing trip?" he asked.
"It was, relaxing. Caught a nice amount, but did see some infected down the river though." I replied.
"No problems I’m assuming. Anyways, if Ethan will let us use the apartments as a lead point, we can hit just about the entire peninsula systematically in one day trips. I also noticed that while it's overgrown as all hell, the farmland is still growing whatever was planted last, so it should be ready to use fairly quickly. Also, we got plenty of wood for firewood thanks to that last storm. I assume we are keeping the base operational too, right?"
"Of course. I know some are going to consider this place home, and will not want to give it up. I'm kinda partial to its advantages too, to be honest. I'm hoping to expand the wall to the south to enclose the southern bridge from the peninsula. That would give us plenty of space to grow, and allow for safe ground travel. It's not a priority though."
"So when do we start? I know the Leyte Gulf and Port Royal should both be back soon, but we do have several ships that could be ready soon."
"I set some orders in motion already. I've ordered a 48 hour leave for the Port Royal crew upon their return, then the Royal is set to be refueled and outfitted for the mission. They should be back in dock around 8 tonight, then I have a meeting scheduled to go over the plan. Comms was supposed to be getting new pictures of the area and sending them down here. Ethan's group has decided to join us, and allow us to use the apartments as a forward base to start the process. Depending on how thick the infected presence is, we should be able to clear it completely by thanksgiving." I told him. We had the big map up by then, and started planning out sectors to clear them out by.
"That looks like a good start. I'm assuming the meeting you have planned will work out some details, like how big are the teams, what skill sets should be there, etc.?" he asked me.
"Of course, I'm not just sending anyone. The volunteers from the bridge mission, all of them this time, will be going. I want recon teams of no less than five, and search teams of no less than ten. The faster this goes, the sooner we get off this ship and back to life on land. As much as I enjoy it, I know Michelle, Jeff, most of the people on board are never going to adapt to sea life. You and I may make good pirates, but that's a scant few that will want to stay on board."
"True. It would be better if one of those smaller ships was a nuke; me and you could have a lot of fun sailing around in a cruiser, or destroyer, playing pirate."
"Well, after this is done, maybe admiral's prerogative will be to take the Nimitz for a stroll every so often. Or the OKC, I wouldn't mind a little submarine
Walking in the map room, I saw the yeoman had set a cart with coffee and snacks in here. I also saw Roger already looking at the maps. I should have known he would know about my plan. We thought too much alike.
"What's up man, should've know you were here. What all have you heard so far?" I asked him, setting my notes out. I warmed up the projector so we could see the big map on the wall.
"Not much. I know the bridges are gone, or sealed up. I know you want to get started on phase two as soon as possible. I figure you would look for gathering spots first, so I've been searching the maps, but I haven't found any place that just screams 'infected den'. How was your fishing trip?" he asked.
"It was, relaxing. Caught a nice amount, but did see some infected down the river though." I replied.
"No problems I’m assuming. Anyways, if Ethan will let us use the apartments as a lead point, we can hit just about the entire peninsula systematically in one day trips. I also noticed that while it's overgrown as all hell, the farmland is still growing whatever was planted last, so it should be ready to use fairly quickly. Also, we got plenty of wood for firewood thanks to that last storm. I assume we are keeping the base operational too, right?"
"Of course. I know some are going to consider this place home, and will not want to give it up. I'm kinda partial to its advantages too, to be honest. I'm hoping to expand the wall to the south to enclose the southern bridge from the peninsula. That would give us plenty of space to grow, and allow for safe ground travel. It's not a priority though."
"So when do we start? I know the Leyte Gulf and Port Royal should both be back soon, but we do have several ships that could be ready soon."
"I set some orders in motion already. I've ordered a 48 hour leave for the Port Royal crew upon their return, then the Royal is set to be refueled and outfitted for the mission. They should be back in dock around 8 tonight, then I have a meeting scheduled to go over the plan. Comms was supposed to be getting new pictures of the area and sending them down here. Ethan's group has decided to join us, and allow us to use the apartments as a forward base to start the process. Depending on how thick the infected presence is, we should be able to clear it completely by thanksgiving." I told him. We had the big map up by then, and started planning out sectors to clear them out by.
"That looks like a good start. I'm assuming the meeting you have planned will work out some details, like how big are the teams, what skill sets should be there, etc.?" he asked me.
"Of course, I'm not just sending anyone. The volunteers from the bridge mission, all of them this time, will be going. I want recon teams of no less than five, and search teams of no less than ten. The faster this goes, the sooner we get off this ship and back to life on land. As much as I enjoy it, I know Michelle, Jeff, most of the people on board are never going to adapt to sea life. You and I may make good pirates, but that's a scant few that will want to stay on board."
"True. It would be better if one of those smaller ships was a nuke; me and you could have a lot of fun sailing around in a cruiser, or destroyer, playing pirate."
"Well, after this is done, maybe admiral's prerogative will be to take the Nimitz for a stroll every so often. Or the OKC, I wouldn't mind a little submarine
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