Killswitch Chronicles- The Complete Anthology

by G. R. Carter

  With limited conversation, the group dispersed, splitting off to smaller clusters of fours and sixes with identical squadron patches. Sam walked to the corner of the hangar where a Raptor with dark green, gray and tan mottling sat. Contrasted against the drab colors, the upright tail held a silver and bright green shield. In the center section, a burnt red hawk with outstretched wings and talons stared back. A sword pommel rose out of the top of the shield, making the sign of the Cross, and the pointed end of the sword appeared from the bottom. Two golden lightning bolts bracketed the shield. Highlighting the absurdity of camouflaging the plane were bright hawk’s eyes and a sharp beak on the long-tapered cowling. No one could doubt who the warbird belonged to. Red Hawks loved their symbols.

  The engine compartment was open, someone half inside working on something. He grinned; the long auburn ponytail visible down the mechanic’s back would have been recognizable to him from a thousand feet up. He considered giving her a little pat on the backside, but Celeste Ford wasn’t one for distraction when working, even from her husband. Besides, she probably had a very sharp tool in her hand, so it was dangerous to surprise her.

  “I guess I shouldn’t ask what the highest-ranking Wizard in the Republic is doing tuning engines,” Sam laughed.

  There was no reply until finally she crouched underneath the cowling and turned around to face him. She didn’t smile, but she seldom did when there was business to attend to. “If the highest-ranking pilot in the Republic wouldn’t insist on playing flyboy, I wouldn’t have to worry about making sure his plane was in perfect condition.”

  Sam stared for a moment. She still took his breath away, both her beauty and her brains. Their connection was complete, though they were different in most ways. Something was unique this morning, though. He’d never seen her this nervous, even in the early days, when they were building the Republic’s first little air force. She was an assistant to her grandfather then, learning from the original Wizards as they modified whatever was on hand for the survival of their people. She worked on every project, doing the hard work others avoided. Natural talent and a drive to prove herself made her brain much more valuable than the machines she helped engineer. When her grandfather retired due to health, then passed on shortly thereafter, no one questioned the Founder when he named her the Chief Wizard.

  “Your brother is crazy. You know that, right?” she said.

  Sam’s mood changed at the accusation. “What would you have him do, C?” he replied. “Just let Evansville get wiped out like Mt. Horab? This has to stop somewhere.”

  “We don’t have the resources to fight everyone, Sam. We’re barely able to keep up with our growth now. Though I’d rather have everyone move here, where we can defend them, instead of having to go there to try. We’ve got millions of acres of open country that can be farmed. Let Hopkins have the place and they can move into the Republic.”

  “Why should they have to leave their own homes, just because a bully wants them to?”

  “Better that than killed! We can’t be the world’s police force!”

  “People have already been killed, a lot of people who just wanted to be left alone, who didn’t ask for this fight. We’re going to try and stop more death.”

  “You’re going to stop war by waging war? I think that’s been tried before. Don’t you remember our lessons on what got the United States into the wars of the Middle East? That’s what we’re facing. Endless wars…to prevent endless wars! For what?”

  “Alex and I have had this conversation a million times. I know you two have your differences, but do you really think he wants these conflicts? He’ll be the first to say, all he really wants to do is just farm and hang out with the kids. It’s ARK and Vincennes who picked this fight. But we have to show we’re willing to punch back, or else it will be the Okaw in their sights someday.”

  “I doubt that, but changing a Hamilton’s mind is harder than any task in the known universe. If that wasn’t the case, you wouldn’t be getting into this plane today,” she said as she looked away. Sam could tell she was upset, a rarity for his cool and confident spouse. “Don’t you dare get yourself killed, Sam Hamilton,” her voice scratched. “I’m just starting to get you trained the way I want you.”

  Sam took her in his arms and gave her a warm hug. “I’m pretty good at this, you know. If Essie can survive a night fight and an emergency landing, don’t you think I’ll be okay?”

  “This is different, Sam. You know it. Essie surprised ARK just as much they surprised Mt. Horab. This is Vincennes, on their turf. Hopkins is a viscous SOB, and smart. He’ll have traps and defenses waiting for you.” She wiped away the tears pooling in the corner of her eye. “I can’t believe Alex is dumb enough to lead the ground attack. It’s going to be viscous fighting…”

  “You gave him those Razorbacks and Super Snappers, there’s no weapon in the known world like that.”

  “‘Known’ is the key term! Hopkins will have thought of something to neutralize our advantages. I just wish I knew what it was so I could beat him to it!”

  “You’ll be the second—well, maybe third to know. I promise,” he smiled again.

  She punched him in the arm, hard. He tried not to wince, but the woman was strong. She turned to the Raptor and started her own briefing, desperate to take her mind off the danger her husband faced. “Four rockets on each side, you can fire them two at a time if you remember to flip the switches in the right order…” she turned back with a special look she reserved for alpha males when she needed them to really listen, “…don’t worry, they’re labeled that way. Other than that, the cannons are our new design. Two on each side instead of one. Just make sure you squeeze your shots, no long bursts. I’m still concerned about overheating the barrels. Field tests show you should be fine…”

  “But combat’s different,” he finished for her.

  She paused again at the sound of the hated word, then continued. “Stall speed is improved, so is rate of climb. One other thing: I’m not sure how banking will be affected by the rockets, none of the test pilots have been able to replicate your maneuvers.”

  “Thanks, sweetheart,” he said sincerely.

  “That’s not a compliment, you big airhead. You’re going to break one of these in half someday, the way you pitch it around. Just be careful playing Top Gun, okay?”

  “Roger, roger,” he replied with a mock salute.

  “Bells and fire, Sam! Will you take this seriously? Is this how you treat your ground crew normally?”

  “Yes.”

  She kept her eyes locked on his, nodding as if she had just discovered a secret to her husband’s mind. “That explains so much,” she said quietly. “Glad I came along this time.”

  He walked over and grabbed her in his arms. He didn’t care if everyone saw it, he wasn’t sure the next time he’d get to kiss his wife, and the one he gave her was long and warm.

  To his delight, he actually got a smile this time. “I certainly hope that’s not the way you normally treat your ground crew.”

  “Only when I’m really lonely,” he smirked.

  He tensed for another punch, but instead got another kiss. And a pat on his own backside from her. “Keep pushing it and you’re going to stay lonely. Now get over there and do your own preflight. You’re not the only airhead pilot I have to yell at tonight.”

  Chapter Seven

  US Highway 150

  South of Present-Day Sullivan, Indiana

  Vincennes Invasion – Night One

  Green light streams pierced the cloudless night sky, a brilliant show of natural fireworks still impressive two decades after they first appeared in the world’s atmosphere. Alex looked up briefly, then back at the moonlit road in front of him. Luminescent strips marked the rear of the vehicle twenty yards ahead, bright enough to catch the dim blue lights mounted to the front of each successive Red Hawk vehicle. Those same reflective markings matched those he was searching for on the north side of trees and posts along th
e road—a trail placed by advance scouts signifying not only the right roads, but also how far they were to their first objective.

  He spotted a bright number 3 shining back at him. He brought his head out of the night sky, and into the low red light of the crew compartment. “Three miles out from our turnoff to old route 41,” he said to his driver. Grayden Steinbrink said nothing, simply nodded and down shifted the multi-ton mass of steel.

  He turned and relayed the information to his adjunct, seated in an office-like arrangement in what was designed to serve as the holding area for the infantry attachment assigned to a Snapper. Instead of a squad of ten Red Hawk troopers like the other Snappers, Alex’s vehicle held radio equipment – heavily shielded and grounded to protect from the solar storms – and maps manned by four junior officers.

  Content that his route was clear and the maps were right, Alex returned to the gunner’s station at the top of the Snapper. A reflective arrow pointed left, towards an eastern turnoff. This was where 27 of his Super Snappers would break off from the main thrust, heading south to the eastern edge of the former town of Carlisle. Once there, they would turn onto Highway 58, swinging several miles out of their way to strike the Vincennes defenses on their eastern side. With luck, General Hopkins would have pointed all his heavy stuff up the divided four-lane they were headed south on right now. Alex planned on slashing through the weaker flanks, getting into the rear of the main Vincennes defense, and squeezing them in a vice with his heavier Challengers and Razorbacks.

  He could feel Valkyrie pick up speed. Up until now, the Snappers had kept their speed down. It was good practice in the dark to be careful on roads that hadn’t been maintained in fifteen years, but more importantly, Alex wanted to keep the whole column together as long as possible. He had no doubt Vincennes spies had already reported the Republic attack force’s movements. But the plan wasn’t to surprise them with an attack, it was to surprise them with where the attack would fall. The timing was intricate; he didn’t want the heavy armor to have to slug it out with Vincennes defenses too long. Scouts hadn’t been able to determine just exactly what Hopkins had left behind to defend his home city.

  Alex needed to get his much lighter and faster trucks to their main objective quickly to keep the heavies from being exposed too long. Subtlety could be sacrificed, now was the time for speed.

  The reflective strips were less frequent here, and the road seemed to close in around them. Years of no human maintenance left Mother Nature to reclaim what was hers. Within another decade, this road would probably be completely overgrown. Once the trash trees were replaced by their bigger cousins, and those were felled by weather and old age, it would be lost to the ages. But for now, all they had to deal with were bumps, and a lot of them. Each broken pavement piece and pothole sent a shock through the stiff suspension, vibrating through the metal and finally settling in the bodies of their occupants.

  “You missed one, Grayden,” Alex yelled down to his driver. “Just hit the next one twice and you’ll get your average back up.”

  His driver gave a little smirk, and continued on. There was no smooth area to drive on, and while the newly designed Super Snapper was vastly superior to its hodgepodge predecessors, there was still limited maneuverability to the ungainly beast. Grayden was the best driver in the Republic, a man whose family had been with the Hamiltons since the days right after the Reset. The Steinbrinks were mechanical geniuses, lending technical and real-world expertise to the development of the new vehicles. Some Steinbrinks—there were a lot of them now—became Land Lords with their own Fortress Farms. Some joined the Wizards, and others stayed with Alex and Sam Hamilton as their personal guards and engineers. The ties ran deep, deep enough for lifelong friends to give each other a ration of grief at every opportunity.

  Alex’s mood turned more serious as Grayden slowed to match the speed of the two Snappers at the head of the column. They shouldn’t be slowing down, not yet. A few miles remained yet before they reached Carlisle and made their turn down Highway 58. Slowing became stopping as Alex turned to the men in the crew compartment.

  “Rodriguez, get up there and find out what’s going on,” he shouted over the diesel engine’s rumble. “Keen, where are we at? Give me some landmarks.”

  “According to our last marker, we should be just about five miles from Carlisle. I’m guessing we’re right north of Bear Run bridge,” the young officer replied.

  “I want more than guesses, son. Figure it out,” Alex growled. Bridges worried every armored commander who ever lived, and Alex was no different. The lead Snapper kept enough of a lead to slow before reaching each one denoted on the maps, trying to keep from plunging into an open creek. This far past the Reset, nature was taking her toll on the metal and concrete structures that bridged the waterways intersecting the Midwest. Plus, the best way to stop an invasion was to cut off the routes in. Blown bridges were a useful obstacle to anyone playing defense. Alex had Wizards bring portable bridging equipment along for this scenario, but he hadn’t anticipated problems this far north. The confines of the narrow road they were on now meant limited chances to get the Wizards and their ungainly machines up to the front of the column.

  “Get me some alternate routes, either for getting the Wizards up to the front, or some way for us to get around to the east and south again to Highway 58,” he added.

  There was no reply, Keen simply went about the task.

  “Really think it’s Vincennes blocking us, boss?” Grayden asked.

  Alex nodded. “I knew it’d happen sooner or later. Just didn’t think it would this far north. I may break radio silence just to see how the main column is getting along.” Alex took off his helmet and ran his fingers back and forth through his short hair while he thought. “Got a bad feeling on this one. Like we’re about to get a trap sprung on us.”

  “I don’t like your feelings. They come true too often…I don’t ever remember these premonitions being about things like warm apple pie, or maybe us all getting a raise, just bad stuff,” Grayden said.

  Alex chuckled and nodded. Grayden was right, Alex’s gut feelings were legendary for detecting danger. But that didn’t mean he could do anything to stop it…it was just a little warning before.

  Rodriguez came jogging back. “It’s the bridge over Bear Run, Founder Hamilton. It’s been blown, still hot even,” he said, just slightly out of breath from the trot. “Looks like it went a little early, otherwise we would have been right on top of it when the blast went off.” The young man seemed shaken by the thought of explosives going off underneath his seat. Alex thought about chastising him for thinking solely of his own safety but stopped short. He couldn’t really blame him for not wanting to get blown up out here in the dark.

  Alex said nothing in reply, simply turned back to Keen. “Got anything yet?”

  “No, sir, we’re in a pretty remote area, even from the pre-Reset maps. I don’t see anything that would still be passable to get around. Looks like we’ll have to bridge it.”

  Alex muttered under his breath. Delays meant his element of surprise slipped away every second. This blown bridge also meant his adversary was now aware there were two columns. Hopkins was no fool, he could look at a map and figure out what Alex intended.

  “Okay, get back up to Berger’s Snapper,” he said, pointing up to the lead vehicle. “Have him proceed up to the bank, see if he can find a way to swim his vehicle across. Bypass the bridge.” Rodriguez turned and began the run back up to the front. “Stay with him until you find out,” he yelled to the man’s back, acknowledged with a wave.

  “Grayden, let’s see if we can turn off the road here, pull off enough to let the Wizards get through.”

  Without a word, Valkyrie’s driver pushed the throttle, gradually turning the steering bar and letting the beast slowly leave the relative safety of the pavement. The front tires sank a bit, and Alex felt the engine vibrations quiet for a moment. Satisfied that they wouldn’t sink completely, Grayden asked with a
simple look if he should push Valkyrie further out into the ocean of head high grass and weeds.

  THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

  Valkyrie shook violently, followed by what sounded like metal rain rattling against her armored skin. Alex flashed a look at Grayden, who shrugged and continued with his task.

  A moment later, THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! shook them again. Not quite so hard this time, and with just a scattering of clanks and clatters.

  “Incoming!” Alex shouted, realizing what the sounds meant. It’s a trap. His mind raced…What would Hopkins think I would do right now?

  “Founder Hamilton!” one of his junior officers shouted. “I’ve got priority requests. The road is under fire, we’ve got at least one Snapper out with a direct hit. They want to know which side of the road to pull off on…Founder Hamilton?”

  That’s it. He wants us there. In the fields off the road.

  “Negative!” Alex shouted back. “Stay on the road!”

  He leaned back and snatched the radio, leaving the younger man stunned by the quick reflexes of his leader. “Listen, everyone. Stay on the road! The fields are mined. Vincy wants us out there. We’re going forward on the pavement. Get as close to the creek up ahead as possible, they won’t have that zeroed in with mortars yet so you should be out of the kill zone. Then deploy infantry.”

  He turned to the maps. “Where would I place a fire base…?” he said to no one but himself. Thump! Thump! Thump! The shells were coming in more quickly now.

  Quickly he stabbed a finger at a large square just on the other side of the creek, just outside the town they were heading for. “Here! I should have known. I just didn’t think he’d make his stand this far north…”

  Alex keyed the mic again. “Attention all units, I mean all units. I want the Wabash Prison secured. Just across the creek. Forget the bridge. Razorbacks, swim the creek and hit that prison from the west. Snapper crews, deploy and hit the east. Squad leaders, stay off any and all clear paths going in. Expect this thing to have anti-personnel mines all over. Okay people, let’s go. The only safe direction is forward!”