Chapter3. Coverage
"Reporting sir, Ensign Elrond, Brazilian Expeditionary Force, reporting for duty!" Elrond called out as he stood outside the door of Commodore Neo Jackson of the U.S. Fourth Fleet. This was what John had told Elrond when he left Italy first, and Commodore Jackson wanted to talk to Elrond before he arrived on duty.
"Come in!" A dignified voice came from inside the door.
Elrond straightened his military bearing once more and reached out to push open the door to the room, only to see a tall, blonde, middle-aged, burly man in his mid-fifties sitting behind a wide desk inside the door looking up at him.
Elrond walked up to the desk in standard military posture snapping a salute and said, "Your Excellency General, Ensign Elrond reports to you!"
At this moment Elrond's heart is still very nervous, for the first time in two lifetimes to see such a big officer, although John said that General Jackson is very good to get along with, but that's because he has a good father, and he can just be a third-rate small country of the small soldiers, and the status of the colonial servant army is not much difference. A bad performance might just send himself straight to the corner.
"I heard John say you saved his life right?" Brigadier General Jackson asked directly, not letting Elrond sit down.
"Reporting to the General, yes." Elrond, worried about saying more than he should, could only answer what was asked.
"Have you always been familiar with him?" Hearing Brigadier General Jackson ask this, Elrond understood that he was wondering if he had an ulterior motive for saving John.
"Reporting to the General, I didn't know him before I saved him, I woke up in a ward with him before I realized it was him I saved, and I've been slowly getting familiar with him."
Brigadier General Jackson, who had been staring at Elrond's expression, sort of let go of his doubts when he heard Elrond's answer.
"I've heard from your officers that you've performed very valiantly at the front lines, so why do you want to be transferred to the Naval Logistics Department?" Commodore Jackson once again threw out the question in his mind, obviously suspecting that Elrond had asked John to transfer him to the logistics department because of his fear of death.
"Reporting to the general, mainly because of this injury, it makes me always have sudden fainting spells, John was worried that my body would be dangerous in a combat unit, so he recommended me to your command." Elrond also can't say that John is to repay the favor of saving his life, in the battlefield everyone is originally the relationship between you save me and I save you, if because of a favor of saving his life, he has to transfer his benefactor to the logistics department, this may make General Jackson feel that John is not mature enough, of course Elrond feels that John is not mature in the first place, but the more immature he is the more advantageous it is to Elrond that's all.
"And do you still experience these sudden fainting spells?" Jackson obviously didn't want to have someone under his command who would faint at any time either.
"Reporting to the General, I don't know about that, I haven't had any fainting spells for three days now. Personally, I feel that my health is fine now and I'm ready to work." Elrond didn't want to be returned to the hospital to continue lying around.
"Okay! Make sure you report any physical problems you know?" Jackson was also worried that Elrond would get John in trouble with him if he had any physical problems with himself.
"Understood General!" Elrond also can't tell Jackson, now the body is so good that it can beat a cow to death, I don't know if it's the aftermath of crossing over, the whole person's physical quality is at least a turn over compared to the original, and the original body is about to show a thin body is now starting to appear more and more obvious muscles. Spirit is even better, Elrond think at least three or four days without sleep can adhere to.
"Then tell me what you know about yourself, and I'll set you up with a job." Brigadier General Jackson decided to accept this connection into the service after all.
"Reporting to the Admiral, I know English, French, Portuguese, Chinese, and can do some basic oral communication in Spanish and Italian. With naval related skills I am able to handle the shipping duties of a large transportation vessel." Elrond's ability to speak so many languages was, of course, a wealth of knowledge from his two lifetimes. And the shipping job of a large transportation vessel was even more of an old skill from his last life, of course the ships nowadays were certainly not as advanced as their ocean-going container freighters, but piloting a ship across the oceans without relying on automation was also a necessary skill for their crews. And more than twenty years of ocean sailing skills were enough to rival the best captains of this era.
Elrond's answer clearly surprised Commodore Jackson: "Aren't you the son of a Brazilian farmer? How come you know so many languages and navigation."
Obviously Brigadier General Jackson had done his research on Elrond's background, and it was unexpected that his answer was quite different from what Brigadier General Jackson had learned, but Elrond couldn't say that it was his own skills from his previous life either! After considering it for a long time, he could only weakly reply, "Uhm! Reporting to the General, I learned all of this on my own, my dream before I joined the army was to own a ship of my own, I wanted to sail it to my homeland of China."
"Okay! Looks like I'm going to have to assign you another job. You will first go to the transport ship Charles Joss at the docks and report to Major Raquel Cross! Their transports will be returning to the United States soon, and I'll ask Major Cross to give you a test, and if you can pass it with flying colors, then I'll allocate one of our captured transports to your Brazilian Expeditionary Navy for you to captain, fulfilling your dream of being a captain. How's that?" Commodore Jackson was pleased to hear that Elrond was confident that he could handle the shipping duties of an ocean-going transport ship.
For the commander of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force, General Mascareus di Moraes, had approached Brigadier General Jackson on several occasions with the hope of arranging for a transport ship for the Brazilian Navy, so that the Brazilian Expeditionary Force could open its own separate Expeditionary Force-Brazilian routes to transport the wounded and the fallen back to the Brazilian mainland.
There were just a lot of captured transports on hand now, but none of the captains on hand that could be trusted were willing to work for the Brazilians alone, and the Commodore of the captured ships wasn't prepared to sell them to traders at a low price. If Elrond was really as capable of captaining an ocean-going transport as he himself said he was, wouldn't it be like trying to doze off and having a pillow sent to you.
"Aye! His Excellency the General! Thank you for your cultivation, my subordinate will never let you down." Elrond was simply ecstatic to hear that passing the test would allow him to be allocated a warship directly to the Brazilian Navy to captain. Now at this time of the year, although the transport convoys would be regularly attacked by the German Navy's submarine force, every time they sailed they were actually escorted by a naval fleet.
And with Elrond's rank and qualifications, he shouldn't be given large transports either, and small transports can't be a major target for the Germans.
Soon Elrond was following the messenger, arranged by Commodore Jackson, with his own transfer orders. Arrived at the Navy Pier in Naples.
It was actually not far from the Naval Hospital, except that it was the naval ships that were moored near the Naval Hospital, whereas where Elrond was now was a mooring belonging to a transportation vessel.
The transport Charles Joss in front of us was obviously a Liberty Ship with no more than two years of service age, and the Liberty Ship was actually a very familiar type of ship to Elrond because it was so well known that it was constructed from 1941, and as of 1945, when Germany was defeated and surrendered, more than 2,700 ships had been built by eighteen U.S. shipyards.
I don't know if this is the improved Victory ship, Elrond still hope to board the Victory ship, because the initial Liberty ship only has an old steam engine for power, the speed is only poor eleven knots, the German submarine speed to seventeen knots, so if the German submarine is found, it will not be able to escape. The Victory Wheel has improved its power on the basis of the Liberty Wheel, and its speed can reach eighteen knots, so at least it won't be caught by the German submarines, and its life will be more secure.
Of course the freighters were armed, with six anti-aircraft guns and one anti-submarine gun per freighter, which was just a mind-saver; if they did encounter the Kriegsmarine, they would surely still have to rely on the convoys.
Passing through the crowd of people who were using lifting equipment to move supplies, Elrond followed the messenger through the gangway to board the freighter, which was about to sail back to the United States to transport strategic supplies.