The Longboats

I kissed Yngvildr as I started to leave and she shook her head away from me.

“You know I don’t like that! Why do you keep doing it?” She said, frowning but with a slight smile.

“Because I know you really like it but will never admit it!” I said with a smile as I left. I kissed my two children on their heads as I went through the door to the Great Hall for our monthly meeting of representatives.

As I left our house I could see the Great Hall down the partially cobble stoned street that was still being built and thought of the five years that have passed since we first arrived. It was a small Viking settlement with mud streets, no drainage and defiantly no telegraph poles and lines running along the sides of the street. Our Corpsman, who we called Doc, had introduced an entirely different style of clothing that looked more from the late eighteen hundreds than anything modern. Even I had taken on this clothing and a hat that looked much like a bowler. Our society didn’t even resemble what they were five years ago.

The Great Hall (which once belonged to the king) I donated to the people after I had become the king and we now use it as our meeting house or gathering place for everyone in our country. I had introduced a voting system throughout the country to elect members of their own province to represent them at all meetings. They would bring grievances, complaints or anything they wanted to speak to me about and present them at these meetings once each month. We would discuss the matter among ourselves and decide what to do if anything. Today was no different than last month with all representatives present and waiting in the Great Hall for me to arrive.

As I walked through the large double door I noticed there were more people than normal which would herald something was important to all present that they wanted to discuss. I took my seat at the head of the long table and they sat and became silent with all eyes on Sigmund (he was a Staff Sergeant in the Danish Marines and took over when his lieutenant was killed...now a chief of a local province). He stood with a piece of paper in his hand.

“Gunny...I have in my hand a telegram I received from Germany last night. It tells me of a Greek advance eastward towards Russia as well as towards us. They were stopped at our border forts after a skirmish” Sigmund said as he sat down.

“Sounds like a probe to me, what do you think, Sigmund?” I asked as he looked around at the others.

“I agree. I think they are testing our capabilities before they attack in mass.” He said as grumbling started across the table.

“So do I and by them turning east gives them reasonable time to assess what they had done to our forts.” I paused. “What damage was done there anyway?” I asked the Skipper, who was the minister of defense.

“I only just received the report from the south this morning and I still can’t authenticate its nature ...but! It says they encountered a Greek unit, about a battalion size, firing warning shots from the batteries’ over their heads. They stopped; turning south east they camped on overlooking hills inside Greek territory.” He paused looking at me. “The next morning they attempted again to enter our frontier but more warning shots were fired and they retreated again.” He looked up. “End of message.”

A man stood up quickly and yelled.

“That’s the SIXTH time they have tried our patients in a week!” Grumbling arose from the table and I had to stand and hold my hands up to quiet them.

“Please! I know your honor is at stake but do we want to renew this war with the Greeks? Remember what we had to sacrifice last time and look at how we have progressed since then in our time of peace.” I said and waited for them to sit back down.

After a few moments of quiet I turned to Jackson who was a Staff Sergeant and, being black, stood out among the others but he was in charge of our military branch, much like the Commandant of the Marine Corps.

“Jackson. How are we on our newest weapons? Do you have a report?” I asked.

“Yes,” he stood up holding a piece of paper and read. “We still have the bolt action rifles in the manufacturing line and are producing them at a rate of three a day. We have, on hand, two thousand five hundred and thirty-two in the armory. As for our automatic weapons, that is still being experimented on, so....nothing on them as yet.” He paused, dropping the hand that held the paper. “Snow and Hennison both are working on it but it’s a long process they said. They are still using your forty five caliber pistol, trying to replicate its function into a machine gun.”

Snow was a Staff Sergeant of weapons platoon and Corporal Hennison did antique gun repair in his father’s shop most of his life. Both were in charge of armories throughout the kingdom and had them working all in unison on the same projects. I wanted them to start working on bolt action rifles since Hennison made the break through on metallic cartridges a few years ago. However, creating bolt action rifles were not as easy as making flintlocks and percussion cap muskets.

“That’s fine, Jackson. What about the new artillery from up north? Any word on that?” I asked.

“I checked on them two days ago and the work is still progressing. The new artillery will work with the brass ammunition as breach loaders and have a firing capacity of fifteen rounds a minute.....at maximum speed.”

“Good. How many can we expect and when?” I asked, pouring myself some mead.

“We are looking at maybe five coming off the production line next week, then one every four or five days after that.” He said then sat down.

I drank the mead then looked at our agriculture minister, who was Sigrun, my close friend I had made when I arrived here.

“Our trains are bringing coal up from Germany for our steam planets and rail road but we need to speed it up a bit more. Can we afford to trade more with them to get more coal?” I asked Sigrun.

“That should not be a problem. The Germans always need more of everything and are willing to trade for it. We have more than enough for ourselves.” He said.

“And how goes the farming with the new steam driven tractors?”

“WOW!” He said with a smile. “With the help of your Marine farmers we have been able to planet more than we have room for!” He said with a smile.

He discussed the production rate at doubling next year so our exports to central Europe will double as well. We were becoming the richest nation in central Europe with the advent of our steam engines. Also the livestock population increased with the planting of feed only crops. Now all we had to do is keep the Greeks from encroaching on our land as well as Europe. If they entered Central Europe our trade would come to a complete stop. I had sent emissaries to England to see who and what was there but they had not returned within the week I gave them. The trip should have been quick as they used one of our new steam equipped schooners we had built which got up to twenty five knots with sail and steam both.

We did not have a standing army as the Greeks but we did have a well-trained militia which was basically how the Norse operated. They would come together as one unit if and when attacked and bear the brunt of any war. I used this in forming our own militia and equipping them with our most modern weapons and those weapons were the bolt action Mouser copies. Our metallic ammunition still used black powder because neither I, nor anyone else knew how to make smokeless powder, but it worked the same just a lot of white smoke. I also had uniforms made for all persons that were in the militia in the closest color of Marine Corps Green simply because it was a type of brownish/green and would blend in perfectly with our surroundings. Also I liked the color. A hat went with it and that was created by Hennison, patterned after the American Civil War forage cap. It was cheap to produce and functioned well. The ranking was based on the Marine Corps rank structure and had the same red chevron on the sleeves as well as the officer rank insignia of brass or silver on the collars.

Doc Roberts had created a huge medical system for this society and held classes for public information in sanitation and basic health care. He also created a school for medical students as well as another school for corpsman or medics for the militia. A building was built for the main hospital here in Skavateland with several smaller ones for outlying provinces where his students lived. He told me he was very lucky to have brought his medical book in the field with him that fateful day five years ago because it has information he needed to teach these people with. He even created a microscope, something he had complained about not having for years. We were jumping forward in history and I wondered if it was too fast but seeing these people embrace their new surroundings was enough to know they could.

Now we had to deal with the Greeks again, like we did five years earlier and possibly go to war very soon.

“Skipper?” I asked, leaning on the table.

“How many times have the Greeks attacked our outpost and what casualties have we had with them recently?”

“They have attacked six times in the last week,” he flipped over some pages in his note book. “Seven times in the last two months. It seems they are increasing their attempts at our defenses but we have had no casualties.”

Since we had no standing army, our militia took turns on the border with the Germans, Saxons and French for one month at a time from each province.

“Whose turn is it for duty this month?” I asked as he flipped more pages.

“Hakon, in the northern province.” He said.

“Ralf.....are those Parrot guns out there still in good shape? And when do we get our new guns with metallic rounds soon?” I asked.

“The Parrots are fine and the new guns are on the firing line now but only three of them. And something else, Gunny. Every time we put something into production, our spies in Greece tell us the Greeks have the same damn thing three to six months later!” He paused to take a breath. “Their spies are all over us in here!”

“Damn it!” I said. “How are we going to get rid of these spies?” I asked all in the room. “Any suggestions?”

“I may have an idea,” the Skipper said. “But I need to speak to you in private about it.” I nodded then looked around the room.

“Any ideas how to get the Germans to pick ONE leader yet?” The Germans still ran a feudal society and refuse to pick just one leader with all the chiefs of every province wanting to be the sole king.

“Not yet,” Someone said.

“Did you tell them about voting?” I asked as I leaned back in my chair.

“Yes we did and...well.....they all voted for their own chief!” Laughter broke out.

“Basically, they do what we tell them needs to be done. So in a sense WE are controlling them.” Yngvildr said as she leaned forward.

I shook my head.

“Well. We will need to tighten up on them because I think the Greeks are preparing to attack us and soon.” I scanned the room for any reaction. Most took a deep breath but some of the older warriors had a slight smile on their faces.

“Now I need your input on the flag I asked for last meeting. We need something to distinguish us from the bad guys on the battle field. What do we have so far?” I asked, changing the subject.

Several members slid their paper towards me with drawings on it for our countries flag. There were dragons, Thors hammer, Odin’s spear ‘Gungnir’ and several others that would be difficult to see at any distance. Then I saw one with nothing but a Viking long boat on it in full sail. I held it up and it caught everyone’s eye immediately with slight smiles and nods.

“I think I like this one on a light blue field and fifteen white stars circling it for each province we have in our country.” I waited for their reaction and they all liked it.

“Vote?” I asked and all raised their hands.

“Passed! This will be our flag we fly in every province and battle line.” I stood then continued. “I want each of you to create your own province flag to flay alongside our country flag. It will give you your own identity.”

“Gunny!” someone asked. “King Oswald of Saxony sent a message asking for more rifles. He said he has more volunteers for his militia but not enough rifles.”

“Ask him how his armory is operating. He should be able to produce enough for them but if not I will contact him.” I said. “And ....” I thought for a second. “If we have any Sharps rifles left, send those to him.”

“OH!” I stood upright as I nearly forgot one thing. “I want to know how many troops we have if we had to go to war right now! AND....how long will it take to muster them here?” I looked at the Skipper and he nodded.

“Anything else?” I asked. “Just make sure we keep a tight lid on those out posts. We do NOT want to be surprised by the Greeks walking in on us.”

After I left the table the mead and ale was poured into all cups and horns then passed around with excited talking among all the leaders. I walked outside with Yngvildr and as we walked down the cobble stoned street into the dirt part of it, I saw Scott, who was a Lance Corporal in our Marine rifle company and he was dragging a small wagon with glass parts in it.

“Scott! What in the world are you doing?” I asked as Yngvildr leaned over the small wagon to see what it was.

“Well. I’ve been trying to make a damn light bulb but it just will NOT cooperate with me.” He wiped the sweat from his brow. “These are the leftovers of my last try.” He sighed deeply.

“Well. Keep trying and sooner or later you’ll find it out.” He continued to drag the small wagon away to the dump.

Hennison came running up the dirt part of the road with something in his hand. He stopped in front of me out of breath and leaning over with his hands on his knees for a few seconds, then handed me something wrapped in a rag.

“Here!” He took a deep breath. “I’ve been looking all over for you.”

I unwrapped it and saw a pistol that resembled a forty-five caliber automatic but was longer than our original with a slimmer barrel which made it look like a cross between a Luger and the forty-five.

“I just took it off the assembly line and fired it a few times. It works GREAT!” He said with a smile as he breathed deeply.

“Come on!” He said as he turned and started walking away. We followed him outside town when he stopped and pointed to a tree.

“Go ahead. Try it!” He said with a smile.

I aimed and pulled the trigger, firing it six times into the tree making a neat solid hole in one spot.

“Amazing!” I said as I looked it over then pulled the magazine out of the bottom. “What caliber?”

“Forty-five.....I guess.” He laughed. “No real way of telling what caliber but as long as they are all the same.” I nodded.

“Good work. How many can I count on?” I asked as Yngvildr took it and reloaded the magazine, then fired it into the same tree with most of her shots going wide.

“I like the rifle better,” she said as she removed the magazine and gave it back to me.

“I have a part of the armory set aside for these as side arms for artillery, machine gunners, officers and NCOs. They should be going full steam and we can get about one every day.” He said as I slapped him on his back.

“Great job, Hennison. I count on you Devil Dog.” (Devil Dog is what Marines call each other) He smiled and walked back to the armory.

“Listen!” Yngvildr said with her head cocked as she looked at the ground. We could hear music coming from town behind us and I knew what it was as soon as I heard it...Blue Grass!

“That’s ‘Old Dan Tucker’!” I said with a smile.

“Well...let’s go then.” Yngvildr said and was off at a quick pace.

We came around the dirt road onto the cobble stones and saw a large group standing around the corner of a newly built tavern with several Marines sitting on the steps playing the music and singing the words to the song. Most people were tapping their feet while some were clapping their hands with smiles on their faces. I recognized one of the Marines as PFC Markus who was one of the Marines that did Civil War reenacting back home and was playing what looked similar to a fiddle. Others played flutes and one had the drum with still another had a newly made banjo. When they had finished I applauded with everyone else and had a broad smile.

“Hay Gunny!” Markus said as he stood up. “Like the music?” he asked with a broad smile.

“You bet I do.” I looked around at all the happy faces. “These people have never heard Blue Grass before. Do you know any other songs?”

“I know a LOT of’em from that era and so do my buddies here.” He motioned at the other Marines there but I saw two locals with his band.

“I have an idea, Markus. May be you can think of this for a while for me.” I stood next to him. “I’d like you to create a band for the militia. Play for the troops when they are not in battle. It’ll keep their mind clear and help them relax.”

“Sounds good to me, Gunny. I’ll need to get more musicians for that though.” He paused in thought

“OK....I’ll see you have the time to get them together.” I said then we walked to the Great Hall again.

Just as we got to the door of the Great Hall a messenger ran up to me with a piece of paper in his hand.

“We got a message from the coast that our ship has returned from England with good news!” I took the telegraph and saw that the captain of the ship made contact with the English and he is on the next train to Skavateland to brief me. It says good news and that was it.

“Anything good?” Yngvildr asked.

“Well, yes. It says good news but we’ll have to wait until the captain gets back to tell us.” I said then entered the Great hall.

“It’ll be a few hours before he gets here. How about something to eat.” I asked as I saw my two little ones running up to us from the back room where they were being watched over. The woman I hired to watch our children was originally from France when she was taken by the Greeks as a slave but she was freed when we won the battle of the Valley of Death. Her age was somewhere in the late twenties and we paid her well to watch our children.

As I sat and started to eat a runner burst into the Hall with a telegram.

“GUNNY!” He was out of breath and his face was ashen.

“The Greeks have attacked Berlin from the east and they say they are holding out but not for long.”

“By the GODS!” I said as I stood reading the telegram. “Run! Go get the Skipper and Sigrun.”

The runner left at a run and Yngvildr sat there holding our two children. I looked at her face and it held a stern look of defiance.

“I think the time has come, Yngvildr. You’ll have to recall the Hardcore.” She nodded then called the sitter to take the children back to the room as she got up to leave.

“Yngvildr.....” She looked at me with a nod, knowing what I was trying to say but failed to do so.

“I know. But if it’s war they want, we will have to go the full measure this time to rid ourselves of them.” She said.

The Skipper and Sigrun came in to the Great Hall at a trot then stopped at the door way to just look at me with furrowed brows.

“A telegram from Berlin! They are under attack by the Greeks and say they can’t hold out much longer.” I said as I stood there helpless.

The two looked at each other with wide eyes, not wanting to go to war but knowing it would eventually be upon us.

“Sound recall, Skipper. Sigrun! Get in touch with Ralf and have him get his artillery ready. OH!” I took a few steps toward them. “Send someone to find Snow and Hennison and inform them to set the work hours to twenty-four hours until further notice. We will need every weapon we can get.” The nodded, turned and ran out the door into the street.

As I walked to the door to take one last look at our town and see how much it had grown I noticed an elderly man in a brown suit, a bowler hat and a cane walk casually up the street. His long beard flowed in the morning breeze as he looked at me with one eye, tipped his hat with a smile, then turned down a side street at a leisurely pace.

“I know that man!” I said to myself and I heard a voice behind me.

“Who is it?” Sara, our baby sitter stood behind me.

“It’s......” I turned and saw her but decided not to say who it was. I really didn’t think she would understand so I walked out to the street to try to find him but he was gone.

Just then I heard the steam whistle blowing the emergency signal from our largest steam planet in the town and it echoed among the buildings causing people to panic at first. After the initial blast, they came to realize they each had a job to accomplish and ran for their assigned place in an emergency. I heard yelling and cursing as wagons were being pulled to wear houses to be loaded for war and people running to their houses to don their uniforms and gather their weapons. We were a well-organized people and understood that life or death depends on each other.

I waited at the door way of the Great Hall for reports of how we were progressing from each unit and commander. I saw our infantry gathering down the street in formation with men and women falling into their companies and platoons, their new bolt action rifles on their shoulders with the new leather and canvas cartridge pouches on belts. Officers yelled commands while the NCOs, with their red chevrons on their sleeves, barked out the orders to the troops.

A runner came to me with another telegram, saluted, then stood at attention. I thought, briefly, of how I told Jackson to form a ‘boot camp’ to train these people in the form of our own training. They had the brother hood all ready but what they needed was discipline and this man showed that.

“To: Commander of Norse

From: Commander, Berlin

Subject: Capitulation of Berlin. Our forces have retreated east towards your main line of defense. Awaiting orders.

Signed: Commander, German forces”

“Any reply, sir?” The soldier asked.

“Yes.” I thought for a second then turned to go look at a map on the long table. I saw our lines were on the Elbe River near the town of Havelberg. I wrote a message on a piece of paper telling him to fall back to that town and take a defensive position and await further orders.

Handing the paper to the runner, he saluted and was off.

I need to get our ships to the coast of England and set up a blockade at its narrowest part of the channel for any Greeks that may try an end around move. I called on a runner to get my Naval officer to report to me. Within a few minutes Hagan arrived at the table.

“I need you to take our ships here,” I pointed to the narrow area in the English channel. “Set up a blockade and watch for Greeks.” I looked at him closely.

“All the ships have the mountain howitzers mounted, right?” I asked.

“Yes. All are on the new carriages for naval guns as you showed us.”

“How many ships do we have sea worthy for this?” I asked.

“Seven schooners, all steam driven with sail and guns, sir.” He said.

“Good.” I shook his hand. “Don’t forget to check in with that wireless you have on board every few hours. I want to keep an eye on an end run from these Greeks. And....Good luck!”

He smiled, nodded and left in a hurry.

I heard the train whistle from the station on the other side of town that would be bringing the ship’s captain back from England with good news. I started running towards the train station and had to dodge groups of soldiers with their packs and rifles as they hurriedly went to find their unit. Men, women and children were scurrying about trying to get ready for anything that came their way. I saw wagons parked at ware houses loading up food stores and others for ammunition with other teams of horses pulling artillery through the cobble stoned streets.

Turning a corner of the street I saw the train station and it was packed with soldiers in formation on both sides of it waiting for orders to board. The ship’s captain had just jumped from the train when I came up the stairs onto the platform, he was plainly visible in his Naval uniform. He saw me and saluted then removed his dark blue visor cap and tucked it under his arm then stood looking around with wide eyes.

“What’s happening?” He asked me.

“The Greeks just took Berlin!” I said as I grabbed his arm and pulled him inside the small station building.

“We are at war with the Greeks. They attacked Berlin, over running it and their commander is asking for our assistance.”

The captain rubbed his bearded chin, shaking his head with worried eyes.

“I spoke to several kings in England and I found out most of the people there are refugees from Rome.” He paused, still looking around at the activity.

“Their kings want to join us in the fight against the Greeks. Apparently they want their country back.” He said flatly.

“Did you make contact with any of the Romans or just the local kings?” I asked.

“NO! I spoke to the Romans also. They fled the country after the Greeks over ran them and barely got out alive, so they say.” He looked at me, still frowning.

“Are we mobilizing?” He asked as he scanned the busy platform.

“Yes.” I said then stood in front of him to get his attention. “I already got with Hagan to take the fleet to the narrowest part of the English Channel and set up a blockade and wait for the Greeks. AND...To make contact by wireless every few hours to give us a situation report.” He nodded.

“What else did you find out from the Romans?” I had to speak louder because of the noise of troops in the area.

“They have been hearing of us from over there and they know what we have done to modernize our country and they want in!” I said with a smile.

“Trade?” I asked. “Or war?”

“Both I would assume. They did say they would send troops if we went to war and I guess by the looks of THIS we are at war!” He scanned the platform again at the troops.

“They really are trained well, Gunny.” He turned his head back and forth watching the soldiers either getting in formation or boarding the train.

“Yes. We did a fine job with them. And now I hope it pays off when we meet the Greeks in the field of battle.”

“I’ll get back to the coast but I think I’ll have to take a horse to get there.” He looked at me.

“Seems the train has been commandeered.” He said.

“I know. We need to shuttle the troop’s south east to a town called Havelberg. That’s where the Germans are retreating to. If we use the train we can be in place in a few days.” I put my hand on the captains’ shoulder and looked him in his eyes. “We’ll have to talk to those in England but not now.”

“To Valhalla!” I said.

“To Valhalla.” He said with a smile and went off to try to find a spare horse to get back to the coast with.