Free Iron Gray Sea: Destroyermen by Taylor Anderson Page B

least would be dead by now if we hadn’t become friends. We’ve been through a hell of a lot together, side by side, so you’ll have to excuse me if I’m sort of fond of the little guys. These ’Cats . . .” He paused and shook his head. “We just like each other. It’s hard to explain. They had their ways and we had ours, but compared to the fix we were all in together, the differences that cause separate drinking fountains back home just never mattered, see? We—us and them—never let it matter much, and when trouble came up over various things, it got squared away fast.” He chuckled. “Eventually, the little differences started going away. You’ve probably noticed how many of our ways most of them have taken on, particularly Navy and Marine ’Cats, and most of us probably seem a little weird to you too. I think, in all the ways that matter, we were a lot alike to start with.”
    He stopped again, and his smile turned downward. “One thing we have in common is that we’ve got ourselves one hell of a war. I’ve seen things . . . done things. . . .” He gestured helplessly at the others. “All of us have . . . . I’m sorry, sir, you just had to be here. This war is downright modern now compared to what it was. We’ve got guns and steamships and airplanes, for crying out loud, but it started with spears! I’ve heard it got pretty old-fashioned against the Japs in the Philippines, so maybe you can imagine a little of what I’m talking about, but this is a real war, a big war, and it’s mean as hell. It’s also for the whole enchilada: we win or die. It’s that simple.”
    “What Commander Letts is getting at, Commander Herring,” Ben Mallory interjected, “is that despite the fact that Captain Reddy’s done his best to uphold the traditions and organization of the Navy here, for a lot of reasons, you really don’t want to make a fuss about your seniority. That can only cause distractions that might cost lives. Right now, you’re not senior to anybody. Captain Reddy might see it different because that’s the kind of guy he is, but you won’t find another soul who thinks this is still your Navy. The U.S. Navy on this world belongs to Captain Reddy.”
    “I see,” Herring replied thoughtfully. “Do you agree with . . . Colonel Mallory’s assessment, Mr. Letts?”
    “I do, and as he said, I think you’ll find the sentiment universal.”
    “What will become of us, then? What if we decide this isn’t our war?” Herring actually chuckled. “If this isn’t my Navy, then its suspension of discharges for the duration can hardly apply.” The growing tension ebbed a notch.
    “That’s true. We’d love to have you—we need you—as long as you’ve got your heads straight about the setup around here. But your old oath doesn’t bind you, not to us. Captain Reddy made that clear when he asked the guys—all the humans in military service—to voluntarily reaffirm their oaths.” Letts eyed Herring closely, then glanced at the others. “Nobody backed out. This is a good cause, Commander. And what else would we do?”
    “Forgive me for asking, but what exactly is your cause . . . besides survival?”
    Alan suddenly realized that wasn’t a bad question.
    “Well . . . it started out as just survival, but it’s way beyond that now. Believe it or not, this isn’t a bad setup. Lots of growing pains, but we’re trying to build a kind of, well, republic, I guess, along the lines of the constitution we all swore to defend. I know it seems weird, and it is weird to the ’Cats. Some of their ‘states’ are those aircraft carrier–size ships.” He shrugged. “I guess if something as small as Rhode Island could be a state back home . . . Anyway, it’s kind of screwy, but in the end I guess we’re fighting for the same things we always have. Freedom, security, the principles we stand for . . . and each other.”
    Herring was silent a long moment. He too was looking