Sabre Dancing with the Dead Ch 26

Tokonosu, April 22 20xx

Day 11.

1301

Having finished lunch, Shinji gathered up the kids from Fujimi and walked over to the gate. The APCs were on the other side, so they would be going out onto the street. He had stationed a couple of watchers armed with crossbows on the platform, and they nodded when he pointed outside and asked if it were clear. He noticed the kids had picked up the weapons they'd come into the club with, and didn't seem to be too worried about going outside. Kohta had asked to carry his sniper rifle, and Shinji had one of the assault rifles. He didn't think they'd need anymore than that, as they would not be getting out of the 8 wheeled transports.

Two other men operated the gate, and when it was wide enough to slip through, the 6 of them left and headed to the nearest APC. Once everyone was beside the machine he started teaching, using a low voice. There were no critters in visual range but why tempt fate. The two lookouts up top would stay there until they were all aboard and ready to start the actual driver training.

"OK, this is the Type 96 armored personnel carrier. It is powered by a 6 cylinder diesel, putting out 360 horse power. It weighs 14,600 kilos at full load. The crew consists of the commander/gunner and a driver and it has space in the back for 8 fully armed infantrymen. Access is via the drop down rear hatch you saw as we approached, and the upper deck hatches you can see if you are tall enough. From what I've been told of the mission to the library, we'll be getting a lot of use out of those upper hatches. Critters can't climb. At least we haven't seen any doing so. When we go out, we'll keep the back buttoned up and deploy from the roof. Questions so far?"

No one had any at this point, so he continued.

"Driving this APC is simple as long as you pay attention. The two front sets of wheels steer, the steering is power operated and the transmission is an automatic. The hardest part is driving it when you have to have your head below the armor. There are 3 periscopes, and they take some getting used to. But for most driving you will be able to see over the coaming, and have fairly good vision. Backing up is a whole other story, you have to have a guide behind you. Rear vision is lousy." he paused.

The kids were now walking round the vehicle, checking out the ports, the tires, hopping up to try and get a look at the roof. Kohta was studiously checking out the M2 mounted on the commander's cupola. He glanced round at the others parked nearby and noted that a couple of them had the 40mm automatic grenade launcher mounted instead of the M2. Sweet.

Shinji let them look around for a few minutes and then showed them how to climb up via the front foot holds. Of course Kohta immediately did so and was checking out the M2.

"Kohta, do not touch that machine gun until I have given you the training. Look all you want but keep your hands off it. OK?' Shinji told him in a loud voice. Kohta hung his head sheepishly and said "Hai". The others all had a good chuckle. A military Otaku, with a new toy to play with. They didn't mind. Kohta had bailed their butts out of a lot of jams with his knowledge.

"OK, I've given it some thought about how we're going to do this mission. We will be taking 2 APCs on this jaunt, and I will command the lead unit. I will take one of you as driver, and 6 volunteers. The 2nd unit will be commanded by Kohta… (Kohta's face just about split from the grin he now had) if he proves himself to me. His driver will be one of you. That leaves two of you in the back, plus 4 volunteers. Questions?"

The teens all shook their heads.

Shinji looked at them. "OK who wants to be first to give it a try? We will be going up and around a few blocks, and swap out drivers as each of you get the hang of it."

Kohta looked like he was going to put up his hand but Saya beat him to it by saying she'd give it a try. Shinji had the rest of them open up the squad compartment and climb in, then he turned to Saya and showed her how to climb down into the driver's position. Once she'd settled in, he methodically pointed out all the instruments, switches and levers. It didn't take long before she said she had them, so he had her start the engine, and monitor the engine gauges until they stabilized at the proper readings.

"OK, the temperature and pressure are where you said they should be. We have about of a tank of fuel. The rear ramp shows up and locked. What now?" Saya asked, looking up at the Sergeant.

"Well, have you check the steering for full movement and position?"

"Um. No." With that she turned the steering wheel from lock to lock, and then back to the center position. She looked out over the coaming to check which way the thing was going to move. Sure she was ready now, she looked up again. "Good. Now how about you take off the parking brake, put the transmission into drive 1, and feed it some gas. Gradually, so it starts off slow."

Saya released the parking brake, put the transmission into low drive and eased down on the gas pedal. With barely any jerk, the 14 tonne vehicle started to move east along the road that paralleled the ridge line on the south side of the city. Shinji sat up on top of the hull and watched as she maneuvered around the few vehicles that were abandoned in this part of the city. He instructed her on when to shift the transmission, and had her stop and start several times. Once he felt she was confident, he turned to the squad compartment and called down to have them all buckle up. "I'm going to have Saya do some aggressive driving and braking. So hang on to the hand holds."

The kids down below just looked at each other and cringed.

"OK Saya, take it up to about 35 kilometers an hour or so and when I say so, continue a slalom, from side to side around the stalled cars. They are spaced far enough apart that you should be able to do this easily. Then, when I tell you, I want you to come to a rapid stop. Hit the brakes as hard as you can. OK?"

"I'll try." She said, not removing her eyes from the road. She gradually increased the speed, swerving round the cars and small trucks along the route. When Shinji told her to brake, she hit the brakes as hard as she could. They were in the middle of a turn, and the big vehicle started to slide a bit. Without thinking about it, Saya turned the wheel into the slide and eased off the brake. The APC came to a stop.

Shinji looked down at the teen, who looked back up at him, question on her face. He smiled at her and gave her the thumbs up. She'd done alright the first time, without any instructions. "OK Saya, nicely done. Now get us back up to speed and try it a few more times." He had her practice for another 15 minutes, as they headed East up the one road, crossed over and came back down the next street over.

When they got back to the club gate, Shinji had Saya shut down the vehicle and climb out of the driver's compartment. Overall, she'd done well and he told her so, along with a few pointers that would improve the girl's ability to handle the big box on wheels.

"OK, Rei, you're up." The carrot topped girl climbed out of the squad compartment and stood back while Saya dropping down. Shinji carried out the same instruction session with Rei, and they moved up the road again, towards the hill that Fujimi High sat on. Over the course of the afternoon, he gave all 5 of the teens at least a half hour at the wheel. As they moved up and down the road, they pulled a trail of critters with them. Once they got up to speed, the mass of dead fell behind and wandered off 'til the next circuit. A few of them wandered into the path of the APC as it rolled along, and disappeared under the bow. Both Takashi and Saeko seemed to get a kick out of purposely running them down. Kohta just took it all in stride, and drove as if he'd been doing it all his life. He whipped the heavy vehicle back and forth across the street, never once hitting a stalled car, unlike the others had done at least once.

As the day started towards evening he had them park the APC outside the gate and shut down. Shinji waved at the watchers, and one of them hit the horn switch. It was a very mild day, and they all sat on the roof of the APC, with their feet dangling into the squad compartment. The teens chatted about their driving and picked Shinji's brain while they waited a half hour for the creepies to stagger up the road. Finally they disembarked and entered the compound. No pain, no strain and above all, no surprises. Shinji had already decided who were going to be the primary drivers, and their backups.

Once they were inside and the gate had been cranked shut, he took the teens aside, and with a large scale map of Tokonosu in hand, had them plot the locations of the missing parents, as far as they knew. That done, he sat with them and figured out the best routes and alternates. He picked their brains as to the conditions they'd seen as they left the school, hoping to pick up their parents. The APCs would not be able to push through any road blockages, unlike the now dead Komatsu. Normally they would have engineering vehicles to take care of things like that but not now. As they worked on planning the trip, Shinji kept thinking about the crash bumper Wolf had created for his run down from Fujimi. He began to wonder if it might be possible to modify one of the APCs with a similar bumper. He decide to ask Wolf at dinner. He also contemplated a trip back to the JSDF base, to see about engineering vehicles, which would be especially handy for the run to the University.

Having accomplished what he'd set out to do that day, he released the kids to get cleaned up for dinner. They wandered off into the club house, and he set off to talk to Wolf about welding a bumper on the 8 wheelers. He found the sailor sitting with Saburo and Kat, discussing various things they figured should get done in the next couple of weeks.

Shinji got himself some water, and sat with the group, listening to the various ideas. At a break in the conversation, he first reported that he was ready to go in the morning with the Fujimi kids, and then he brought up the bumper idea. Wolf thought about it for a while. Then he spoke.

"We could do it but it would take some time. What I did at the school was a lot easier because I had the gear and materials on hand to do the job. We no longer have electricity to run the arc welding machines. Now that isn't as big a problem as you'd think, but we don't have any half inch steel sheet, nor the structural forms to build up the supports. If we are going to do it, we'd have to run missions to welding suppliers for gas and cutting torches, and a mess of DC welding rods. We would need a bunch of batteries and somehow to charge them up as we drain them. We'd also need to get hold of some half inch steel plate, at least 24 inches wide and about 1.5 times the width of an APC. I take it that the hull is steel?"

"Back in a minute." Shinji said as he got up to get the phone book. He came back and started flipping through pages 'til he found a steel supplier. "There is one just north of us, about half way between Takagi's warehouse and the base. I remember passing it on the way to and from work." Next he dug up info on welding shops. "We seem to be lucky today. Here's one listed almost beside the steel place. We can do this in one trip I think," and he paused. "Ummm… just how heavy is that steel going to be?"

Wolf took pencil and paper, did some fast math. "Based on the number I remember from rebuilding Sabre Dance, you're looking at about 21 lbs. per square foot. So 24 square feet for both blades, figure just over 500 lbs. Add in the support structure and I'd say you are looking at around 700 to 750 lbs. for each APC."

"Well that's not going to work very well as a simple go fetch mission." Shinji replied. He thought about it some more and finally reached a conclusion. Logically, to do this would require a trip to the welding place to get the gas and the torches. Then they'd have to go to the steel yard and clear it, secure it and then spend the time to find the right plate and cut out the chunks needed. THEN they'd have to get the stuff back to the compound and figure how to handle the heavy plates and hold them into position until they could be welded.

"OK, looks like we have another mission. We need to go back to the base to get some trucks and trailers for the run to the University anyway. I say we grab a couple of engineering vehicles. They will punch through any road jam or debris from collapsed buildings with ease."

The others looked at him like he'd grown a second head. He just grinned. Then the dinner bell rang. He took his dinner and went over to the kids.

"We are good to go for tomorrow morning. I think you all did a good job today, and learned what you needed without too much trouble. That said, be ready at 0800 tomorrow. We'll skip breakfast, I have Kat making us some rations. I'll assign the groups tomorrow. Questions?"

The kids looked at each other. No one had any, so Shinji bid them good night and went to sit with Rei. He talked with her for a while, and then said good night and headed to his boat after dropping off the trays. The other kids also headed off to their boats. Rei lagged behind them, back to her lonely existence.