Short Fiction Complete by William C. Dietz

Author:William C. Dietz [Dietz, William C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2025-06-09T00:00:00+00:00

The meeting in Colonel Wilson’s office was a sober affair as Company Sergeant Major Crowley handed the recently received telegraph slip to Landry, who read the message aloud. “To all British forces: The French heavy cruiser Indomptable and her escorts crossed Ohio River sixteen June and are headed south. Repeated attempts to block the raiders have failed. Stop at all costs. Signed, General Benedict Arnold.”

Landry looked up at the faces around him, all of which belonged to senior non-commissioned officers. The prospect of a southbound battle group was bad enough. But theIndomptable? That was an unmitigated disaster. Landry, like every other officer who had read about the behemoth in the Military Gazette, knew her to be the most powerful ship in North America. It was said that the British government had been working to produce three vessels of comparable size when Boston had been overrun and all of the partially completed cruisers had fallen into French hands.

So the simple fact was that if the Indomptable was on the way to take and secure the Cumberland Gap, then there was nothing to stop them barring the miraculous appearance of Admiral Haines and his land fleet, which Landry knew was extremely unlikely to say the least. But an attempt had to be made, so like it or not he would install the steam cannons to either side of the gap and attempt to slow the Frenchies down. Work would begin right then—and continue day and night until completed.

Such were Landry’s thoughts when the door banged open and a disheveled Captain Samms lurched into the room. He was a big man with ginger colored hair, a spray of freckles across his nose, and pouty lips. “Landry?” the officer demanded, and he waved a bottle. “There you are! Pretending to be a colonel. Damn your presumption, sir. I am in command here and you will answer to me.”

So saying, Samms slammed the bottle down onto the desk with such force that the cork shot two feet into the air before falling to the floor. As Landry watched the stopper a wild idea entered his mind, took root, and immediately began to grow.

Meanwhile Samms, who mistook the moment of silence as an act of insubordination, frowned sternly. “Speak, damn you! Or be arrested.”

Company Sergeant Major Crowley was six-two and weighed two-hundred and fifty pounds. So when his pistol butt struck the back of Samms’ head, the blow packed plenty of authority. The supply officer went down as if pole axed. “Sorry, sir,” Crowley said with a straight face. “It appears that the Captain tripped and fell.”

Landry smiled grimly. “So it would seem. Please detail a couple of men to carry Mr. Samms to his quarters. And have the medical orderly look at him. Once that effort is complete rouse every man we have. Engineers, clerks, and cooks. In short anyone who can swing a pick or handle a shovel. We have defenses to construct and damned little time in which to get the job done.”

Crowley and the other noncoms came to attention.

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