“And if not?” he asked, under his breath.
“Then a sea road for their souls,” Ky said, words she was surprised to remember. “We’ll speak the words and sing them home.”
He nodded. “That we will, Admiral. And it’s cold, that’s one good thing.”
“Master Sergeant!” That was a yell from the raft. “There’s no com equipment aboard! No navigation beacons, nothing! No optics, either.”
“Not anything? Sure you’re looking in the right pocket?”
“Yessir! Just where you said, and we looked in the others, too.”
“Where would that have been stowed?” Ky asked.
“Sidewall, number seven pocket,” Marek said. “Should be a transponder, a two-way com for surface, a satellite phone, a GPS.” He looked around. “If they were taken out at the station—there wasn’t much time to unpack and repack—some of that stuff could be in other lockers here.” Without waiting for Ky to say anything, he turned to the others. “Lanca, Hazarika, check every starboard compartment for any com or nav gear, anything electronic—it’s not in that raft, probably not in any of them. Droshinski, Riyahn, same for portside. The rest of you—when I launch the second raft, you’ll go into that one. I’ll send down the spare raft; get it lashed down on the opposite side from the entrance, to weight that side. Then we’ll send down the medic, the wounded, and the deaders.”
“Master Sergeant, either my aide or I should be in that raft—” Ky pointed out the hatch. “I think she should go next.” A little separation would do neither of them any harm.
“We’ll want Tech Lundin in with the injured.” Marek’s brow furrowed. “With respect, Admiral, I think it would be best if you went on in the first raft, and Commander Bentik went in the next. I’ll be last out, so I can loose the mooring lines—if we cut ’em from the rafts, we lose that rope and we might want it.”
Ky nodded. “I agree with the assignment, but I’d prefer to stay until we’ve got the wounded out.”
“I understand, Admiral, but with respect, I want you aboard that raft to ensure that when I’m in the water hanging on to that line, someone’ll pull me in and not cut it.”
“You think we have a saboteur here—?”
“Don’t you?” He gave her a long look.
“It’s a possibility and no time to sort it out here. Right.” She liked the obvious competence of this man, so similar to other good senior NCOs she’d known. She signaled and Jen came closer. “I’m going down now, to board this raft. You’ll be the officer in charge of the next.”
“I don’t know what to do! You can’t leave me with these—” Jen’s voice rose. Ky took her arm and moved her aside.
“Jen, you’re the only other officer aboard. We need an officer in each raft so if one goes down there’s still an officer in the group. I know this isn’t what you were trained for, but you do know procedures.”
Jen took a deep breath, pressing her lips together. “They’re strangers,” she said finally. “I don’t know any of them.”
“I don’t know them, either. But I do know you, and you can do this,” Ky said. “They’re just people; you’re good at managing people.”
“What—what do I need to do, then? I don’t—I don’t know what orders to give.”
“You’ll have Sergeant Chok—” Ky consulted her implant. “He’s from Hylan Reef; he’ll have more knowledge of seamanship than you, and I imagine—” She turned to look. “Sergeant Chok—”
“Yes, sir.” He came over, easily balancing on the lurching module, a stocky man Ky guessed to be about her own age. Dark hair, brown eyes, skin a shade or so lighter than hers.
“Do you have small-boat or raft experience?”
“Yes, sir; my family has a fish farm. We use inflatables quite a bit.”
“Commander Bentik will be in the raft with you. Her background is different.”
Chok smiled and nodded to Jen. “Commander, these rafts are very sturdy. Bigger than the ones I learned in, but I have had training with this type. Anything I can do, be sure I will do to keep the raft and you safe.”
“Very well, Sergeant,” Jen said. Stiff, but no longer sounding panicky.
“We’ll want the two rafts connected by a line,” Ky said. “Getting separated would worse than halve our chances of survival.”
“Where can we go?” Jen asked.
“Right now, where the wind and water take us. That land to the north, Miksland, is uninhabited and inhospitable but if we can’t get into a northward current that will carry us past it, we’ll have to make for it and stop there—at least for a while.”
Jen shivered. Ky couldn’t afford more time trying to help her aide. She had everyone to think of. She said nothing, and after a moment Jen said, “Yes, Admiral. I hope—I hope you believe I will do my best.”
“Of course you will,” Ky said, despite the conviction that Jen’s best in the matter of organizing receptions and office staff was not going to be meaningful in this crisis. She watched as Jen moved carefully away from her and over to Marek. His nod to Jen was cordial, but he was watching Ky.
“Ready?” he asked. “I’ll give you Go when we’re at the best part of the wave. Grab on hard when you get to the raft.”
Ky moved to the hatch. The weather had not improved; wind blew harder, and the distant land had disappeared in rain and windblown spume.
“Go!” Marek said. Ky threw herself onto the slide, startled at the feel of the water shifting and heaving underneath as she slid down. The wet wind felt icy cold; her face stiffened under it. But she smacked safely into the raft, grabbing the ropes just below the entrance, and struggled to get her feet on the rope ladder. Hands from above grabbed her p-suit, pulling her up and finally over the inflated side into the raft. She rolled over, pushed herself back to the side, and looked around. The canopy was up, the struts firm, holding even when spray landed on it. The raft floor was already wet, from the water people had brought in with them, and someone had thrown up; she could smell it from here.
Across from her, one of the spare rafts in its container was lashed firmly to that side, holding it down, but the people in this raft were clustered too near the entrance along with the extra supplies. They stared at her, some pale, clearly nauseated. Her implant provided names, ratings, and a home location, but no more. “Spread out,” she said. They’d been told that, while still in the module, several times. “Take some of these supplies with you. Weigh down the perimeter.” After a moment, they did so.
She remembered her own first time in a life raft, on a day out sailing with her father. It had been warm, the sun pouring down making the raft fabric hot enough to burn. Still, she’d thought it was fun, that first time, something new, an adventure. Nothing like this; she lurched to the side as a wave heaved them up, higher than the shuttle hatch, and their tether dragged them back down.
Out the canopy opening she got her first good look at the passenger module. It was three-quarters the length of the whole shuttle and half as tall, riding on six long bright-orange, sausage-like inflated tubes, each larger than one of the rafts. She couldn’t tell if all were equally inflated, because the module leaned one way and another as the waves passed underneath. She could see Marek in the hatch, Jen beside him, and others moving around.
Even with one raft already in the water, it seemed to take a very long time before the next raft launched. Ky watched what she could see through the hatch for a short time, then turned back to those in her own raft. Her implant provided the names: Staff Sergeant Kurin, Sergeants Cosper and McLenard, Corporals Lakhani, Yamini, and Inyatta. Tech Betange, who was going on compassionate leave, Gurton and Kamat, both Specialists, and Ennisay, Private. Frightened faces looked back at her, uncertain.