Iron Gray Sea

CHAPTER 23

Enchanted Isles

March 22, 1944

Lord High Admiral Harvey Jenks entered Elizabeth Bay in the predawn darkness aboard his old Achilles, commanded by his former first lieutenant-now Captain-Grimsley. USS Mertz and USS Tindal followed him in. Elizabeth Bay, located on the southwest coast of Albermarl Island, was the largest anchorage in all the Enchanted Isles, and Elizabethtown, nestled on the north side of the bay between two great, looming peaks, was the capital of the far-flung outpost. As they approached the batteries guarding the harbor, all three frigates, or DDs, fired the green recognition rockets the leaflets dropped by the aviators told the defenders to expect, but a measure of tension lingered. The defenders had fired on the planes, after all, and they’d had no contact with other Imperial forces for months. They might even be suspicious that three ships had so easily evaded the Dom blockade. As for that, it had not been too difficult. The Doms were dedicated sailors, and the steamers had only to wait until they could pass to windward-but that might not be clear to the defenders. Jenks had added a greeting to Governor Sir Thomas Humphries in the leaflets, with a personal reference the man should understand and appreciate, but that was no guarantee. Sir Thomas might be dead.

Besides, a lot had been going on that night, and even now the northern sky pulsed with sharp, distant lights. The mountains of Albermarl blocked much of the show, but it looked as if one of the mountains itself had come to life. That happened sometimes, but Jenks knew that wasn’t the case now. At that moment, the bulk of Second Fleet was pummeling the Dom encampment and positions on the northern part of the island, and soon three thousand Lemurian troops and roughly the same number of Imperial Marines, all led by the enigmatic General Shinya, would launch what promised to be the largest amphibious assault of the war in the east-so far. Most of the visible flashes likely came from the mighty guns of the Second Fleet flagship, Maaka-Kakja, herself.

It was likely the defenders were unnerved by the distant spectacle, not knowing what it was, but there was no way Jenks could have warned them about it. Some of the leaflets might have fallen into enemy hands and the Allied invasion had to be a surprise.

The forts answered the signal with rockets of their own-instead of roundshot from their formidable guns-and Jenks’s tension ebbed a notch. Cannon suddenly lit the sea to the southwest, opening what should be a fairly one-sided mauling of the Dom blockade, and Jenks ordered several troop transports that had been hanging back to join the three DDs. Soon, the entire squadron passed beneath the quiet guns into the confines of the bay, and saw the greatfish oil lamps of Elizabethtown glowing dimly off Achilles ’ larboard bow. Another rocket arced, sputtering into the sky from the surface of the water just ahead.

“Picket boat,” Grimsley suggested, and Jenks nodded in the darkness.

“I shouldn’t wonder. Ring ‘steerageway only,’ and send ‘reduce speed’ to all ships. Stand by to heave to-we shall see what the picket has to say.”

“Very good, sir.”

Jenks hurried down from Achilles ’ flying bridge amidships, between the two great paddle boxes, and moved forward while Grimsley repeated his orders. Gun’s crews stood ready around their squat, heavy weapons, and the men brought their forefingers to their brows as he passed. Reaching the fo’c’sle, he found the Lemurian Marine captain Blas-Ma-Ar with several of her contingent who’d joined Achilles from Maaka-Kakja. One of Walker ’s Lemurian gunner’s mates was also there-Stumpy, he was called, because of some misfortune that had significantly shortened his tail. Jenks had kind of temporarily inherited him after the fierce running fight south of Saint Francis. Someone had to remain with him as a technical liaison, and Stumpy had volunteered. The ’Cat liked Jenks, and with all the Imperial backstabbing that had been going on, he also considered himself “on loan” as one of Jenks’s personal guards. Currently, Stumpy was poised by the American searchlight mounted at the bow. The light was powered by electrical generators spun by steam from Achilles ’ own boiler. It wasn’t as large as the lights on Walker, but Jenks remained amazed by the ingenious device.

“Ahd-mi-raal,” Blas greeted Jenks with a salute.

“Captain Blas. You are ready?”

“Of course, sur.” Blas and her mixed regiment of Lemurian and Imperial Marines, apportioned between the three DDs, would go ashore immediately, with Jenks to organize the landing and deployment of the Marines on the transports.

“Very well,” Jenks said, and turned to the short-tailed ’Cat near the light. “Do not blind them, Mr… Stumpy,” he cautioned. “Cast the beam above them, if you can.”

“Ay, sur,” Stumpy replied, and twisted a large switch.

A solid beam of light stabbed into the dark, humid air, the peripheral glow revealing a small cutter off the starboard bow. Men could be seen scrambling about excitedly on her deck, clearly startled by the blinding light.

“Ahoy the cutter!” cried Jenks through a speaking trumpet. “I am Lord High Admiral Jenks-perhaps better remembered here as Commodore. I command the Allied fleet here to relieve the Enchanted Isles at last! I beg to meet with Governor Sir Thomas Humphries!”

“Aye! Aye!” came a tinny voice in response. “Which we were sent ta meet ye-but could ye stysh that infernal light!”

“You may secure your searchlight, Mr. Stumpy,” Jenks said, then raised the trumpet to his lips again as the searing beam faded. “Make a light of your own,” he instructed the men on the cutter, “and we will follow you in. Be quick about it; there is no time to lose!”

Achilles, Mertz, and Tindal moved alongside the government docks, where their lines were secured by excited, willing hands. There was some confusion and considerable shouting back and forth between Tindal, Mertz, and the shore, since the two screw steamers didn’t need the long boom bumpers that Imperial side-wheelers required-and, of course, there was considerable surprise when Lemurian Marines began streaming ashore and demanding cooperation and assembly areas from stunned locals who’d never seen a Lemurian before. The ’Cats were accustomed to Imperials, and humans in general, so it was no big deal to them, and Jenks was relieved and impressed by the way they deflected a potentially tense time by simply and professionally carrying out their assigned tasks with occasional reassuring shouts of “Don’t worry about it, fellas. We’re on your side!” The mixture of well-fed, fresh-uniformed Imperial Marines helped, no doubt, but the long-suffering garrison of the Enchanted Isles was surprisingly willing to take them at their word and any fear that Elizabethtown was being invaded by “creatures” was short-lived.

“Admiral Jenks! Admiral Jenks!” came the excited shout of a thin man dressed in bedraggled civilian clothes, pressing his way through the disembarking troops with a small, wide-eyed escort of equally thin and somewhat shabby garrison regulars. “Sir Humphries’s factor for Admiral Harvey Jenks!”

“Here I am, sir,” Jenks said, striding down with Captain Blas, Stumpy, and some other officers in tow. Stumpy wore a Navy khaki kilt and T-shirt and still carried the ’03 Springfield he’d had since Saint Francis. Blas wore her blue Marine kilt and the new camouflage battle dress with the tie-dyed tunic and painted rhino-pig armor. Her black cartridge box and bright Baalkpan Arsenal musket were ready for business.

The civilian looked at her, his dark eyes stilled by wonder before fixing on Jenks. “Lord High Admiral!” he said, and bowed, removing the large tricorn from his head. “Your… astonishingly delivered message was received with great relief, sir, but I frankly confess a personal unpreparedness for the appearance of the allies you mentioned! I thank God for them, and no mistake, but they are not the only surprise. There would also seem to be a battle in the north…”

“Indeed. Where is Sir Humphries?” Jenks demanded.

“He awaits you yonder”-the man pointed-“beyond the press. He craves that you enlighten him further about your plans.”

“Take me to him, and I shall do so at once.”

“Of course.” There was just enough light upon the dockyards to see the factor’s expression change. “A word first, sir. The governor is… not the man he was. None of us are, I fear-our resources and resilience have nearly reached the bitter end. But Sir Humphries has suffered even more than most, for many reasons.”

Governor Sir Thomas Humphries had been a cheerful, corpulent man, devoted to his studies of the natural world, when last he and Harvey Jenks met. He’d been an effective governor of this tenuous outpost-in his spare time, he’d often joked-but in reality, there hadn’t been much for him to do, and the Enchanted Isles had been the perfect posting for a man of his interests. Seeing him now, Jenks realized Sir Humphries had changed as much as anything else he’d ever known before he met the Americans, before the war began. Where once Humphries would have been fascinated by the appearance of the Lemurians, now his eyes darted fretfully back and forth in the gloom. He was no longer overweight or cheerful either, and seemed to wear his former self like a baggy suit.

“Damn me, Jenks, it is you conducting this circus!” the diminished man managed, gazing about. “Thank God you’re here! Too late for so many, I’m afraid-my poor tortoises! — but here you are at last. The princess?”

“Safe, Sir Humphries.” It occurred to Jenks that the last the governor would have heard of him was his expedition to seek the lost princess, and there was no way he could know of all that transpired since. Some few ships had escaped the Enchanted Isles to report that the Doms were coming, but apparently no word had made it back until the leaflets were dropped. Well, this wasn’t the time to catch him up on everything.

“Thank heavens the dear child is safe,” Humphries continued. “I met her once, you know? I believe she was two or three. Couldn’t possibly remember me…” His voice trailed off; then he spoke with more energy. “I’ve read of these ape folk, of course, in the Founders’ logs. You’ve found them again, have you? However did you train them as troops?” He paused, scrutinizing Blas. “And females! Extraordinary!”

“Sir Humphries, I cannot even begin to tell you all that has occurred these last months in the time we have, but these”-he nodded at Blas and Stumpy-“are not ape folk; they are Mi-Anaaka, or Lemurians, and firm allies of the Empire against the bloody Doms. And honestly, sir, if anyone has been training troops, theirs have been training ours!”

“Extraordinary!” Humphries repeated. “Are there tortoises in their lands? There are none left here, you see, except for a very few I could not bear to see eaten. But the Doms have all the other islands, and the tortoises and other creatures that lived on them were different, unique!” His expression became desolate. “All gone, most likely.”

“A great tragedy, Sir Humphries,” Jenks said, “but we must look to the present for now.” The transports were coming alongside the dock. “You have noticed the battle in the north? Our troops are landing there as we speak under the command of a most able officer, but we must land more forces here to march to his relief as quickly as we can. The enemy will have turned to face him and may yet retain the advantage of numbers. If we strike quickly across the frontier you have maintained, we should catch the enemy in the rear, perhaps even while he is redeploying.”

“What remains of our garrison is in no condition for an attack,” the factor said doubtfully.

“I expected that,” Jenks agreed, “but if you shift all you have to face the enemy beachhead in the east, surely it can no longer threaten the city here. We will destroy it at our leisure. Once the sun is up, our aircraft-”

“Aircraft? You mean the flying machines that brought your note?” Humphries asked, seizing upon the unfamiliar word.

“Yes. A gift from our allies. They will bomb the enemy in the east and prevent resupply. Soon the Doms there will be in worse straits than you were.”

“Extraordinary,” Humphries muttered. His sunken eyes grew earnest. “Your… Lemooans. They will not eat any tortoises they stumble across? Perhaps a few others have survived?”

“You have my word, Sir Humphries,” Jenks said gently.

“Sir,” Blas said to Jenks, motioning at the transports. “Colonel Blair will soon be ashore.”

“Of course. You have duties. Good hunting, Captain, and God bless.”

“Thank you, sir, and may the Maker be with you.” Saluting the governor, Blas backed away, then darted through the jumble of forming companies.

“Extraordinary,” Humphries repeated again, watching Blas depart. “Such a polite little thing.”

Jenks smiled. “I assure you, sir, the enemy will not think so.”

Nancys started landing in Elizabeth Bay by early afternoon. Most of these were damaged to some degree, by ground fire or Grikbirds, but some were just low on fuel or out of ordnance. They gathered around a tender to be refueled and rearmed or hoisted out of the water for repairs. The citizens of Elizabethtown lined the shore, watching the strange machines come and go, as fascinated by the Nancys as they were the people who flew them. Supplies were landed on the dock to be distributed among the people. Guards stood around the bales and crates, but hungry as the people had to be, there was no rush, no misbehavior. The island had been relieved and there would be food. They could wait a little longer. The wind carried the sound of the great battle in the north, but the same wind swept the thunder of the closer battle in the east completely away. The only evidence of the fighting there was the quick return of aircraft that flew in that direction, and the steady trickle of wounded that wound back down the high-pass road.

“Doc’Selass,” daughter of CINCWEST Keje-Fris-Ar, flew down from the fighting in the north to tend the wounded in the city and take charge of the local hospital. There was the usual resistance by Imperial doctors, but when Jenks commanded that Selass, as personal physician to the Imperial family, be obeyed in all things medical, indignant obstructionism turned to skeptical observation-and soon enthusiastic cooperation. Human and Lemurian physiologies were strikingly similar, but Selass had grown quite familiar with the differences as well. She was far more qualified than any local physician, particularly when dealing with battle injuries, and when the curative powers of the Lemurian polta paste were explained-and confirmed by Selass’s Imperial assistants-her former rivals became willing students and helpers.

At nightfall, Jenks trotted up the steps of Government House with Admiral Lelaa-Tal-Cleraan and Orrin Reddy in tow. Lelaa matched Jenks’s energetic steps, even though her massive ship had been in the thick of the fight since before dawn. Maaka-Kakja ’s great guns and aircraft had pounded the surprised and horrified Doms in ways they’d never imagined. Maaka-Kakja had taken a few light hits herself, mostly by heavy roundshot dropped by Grikbirds-but new countermeasures rendered Grikbirds less of a threat to well-protected ships and aircraft than they’d been before.

Orrin was dragging a bit. He’d flown many sorties that day-before flying Lelaa here. He couldn’t stop yawning. Jenks had never even approached the front as the battle raged. Forming and sending troops forward had required all his efforts and he was just as tired as Orrin, but nervous energy kept him going.

Sir Humphries’s factor met the trio at the top of the stairs and led them inside to a sitting room where the governor sat hunched in a chair, a large brandy at his elbow. The garrison commander was seated beside him, his white tunic with red facings was stained and rumpled. Jenks glanced around. Frankly, he’d expected a larger reception. He bowed to the governor, and the garrison commander stood. The factor edged around the room to stand behind Sir Humphries, who remained seated, staring at the once-lush carpet at his feet.

“Sir,” Jenks began, looking at the sitting man. “May I present Admiral Lelaa-Tal-Cleraan, commander of the Naval element of Second Fleet?”

“How charming,” Humphries said softly. “Another Lemooan female! And a Naval officer, damn me!”

“And this is Orrin Reddy, Commander of Flight Operations. It was his aircraft you saw today-and that the enemy have learned to fear so much.”

“Indeed?” Humphries asked, a spark igniting behind rheumy eyes. “Flying machines might be of great use in locating tortoises!”

The garrison commander cleared his throat uncomfortably. “I am Colonel Alexander, and am most pleased to meet you all. As you may have gathered, the situation here had grown quite dire. Another mere week would have seen the end of us.” He cast a quick glance at the governor. “Many have suffered, in a variety of ways.”

Jenks looked at the man. “Then you will appreciate the honor it gives me to announce that Albermarl Island is secure and your suffering is over. General Shinya and Colonel Blair have pushed the remnants of the northern invasion force against the base of that smoldering hill on the northernmost point. It cannot escape and has no choice but to surrender or die.”

“The Doms’ll send ships! More men!” Sir Humphries barked desperately.

“No, sir,” Jenks gently assured. “Our air power has sunk or burned the bulk of the enemy fleet at Norwich Bay on King James Island. He has nothing left there to send.”

“But… what of the murderers to the east, just across the isle, that threaten us here in Elizabethtown?”

“We pounded ’em all day from the air, while the garrison”-Orrin nodded at Alexander-“kept ’em pinned on the beach with nowhere to go. It was like shootin’ fish in a barrel, poor bastards. They’re in the same boat as those up north: quit or croak.”

“They might slip men across under cover of darkness!” Humphries insisted.

“They could, a few,” Orrin agreed, “but then they’d be stuck too. If I was them, I’d try to pull my people out in the dark.” He paused. “But that’ll be tough. We control the strait between the islands, with DDs and searchlights-”

“DDs?”

“Frigates,” Jenks said. “Mr. Reddy is right. In a few days, there will not be a free-or live-Dom on Albermarl, and more of our troops and ships will be coming all the time. Soon, this island will fairly shudder beneath the weight of the force we will build to invade the Dominion itself and destroy the murderous threat it poses forever!”

“Extraordinary!” Humphries said with a trace of his old cheer at last. He peered intently at Orrin. “You are a… rider… of flying machines?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You have flown over this isle? And King James Island, perhaps?”

“Ah… yes, sir.” Orrin decided not to mention he’d been shot at the first time.

“Amazing! To see the world as a bird-or those horrible Dom dragons see it… I can only imagine.” He took a gulp of brandy, suddenly excited. “Did you happen to see any tortoises at all?”