Earthfall (Book 2): Earthfall 2 [The Mission Continues]

by Knight, Stephen

  Trees swayed a hundred feet away, and she glimpsed the big vehicle pushing past them. Birds exploded into the air, chirping their discontent as they took wing across the cloud-filled sky. It had rained again a few hours ago, but Amanda was warm and mostly dry thanks to the Mylar blanket she had wrapped around her. She watched as the SCEV rolled abreast of her position and came to a halt.

  On its side, right before the airlock doors: a big number five.

  Okay, let’s see if this is the good guys.

  The miniguns at the front and rear of the vehicle slewed toward her immediately and stopped. Amanda looked back at them, feeling rather puny and exposed. Facing down twelve barrels, her AR felt suddenly inadequate for the situation.

  The airlock door cycled open immediately, and a big, broad-shouldered black man bounded down the steps. He had his rifle shouldered, and he wore ballistic armor over his uniform and one of those helmets with the weird visor running across his eyes. Once his feet hit the dirt, he continued to advance toward her, walking slowly.

  “You’re a target, so don’t do anything stupid,” he said.

  “Not moving until you tell me to,” Amanda replied.

  The man continued to close on her position, stepping off to one side, his rifle oriented on her. She couldn’t see much of his face behind the visor and his radio headset’s boom microphone, but she had no doubt his eyes were locked on her. He was about Andrews’s height, but much more muscular. His uniform pulled tight around his upper arms and thighs. Despite this, he moved with a surety that left Amanda impressed. The dude was totally strack and knew what he was doing. Whereas Andrews had been almost deferential in his approach when meeting the people of Sherwood, this man was all business.

  “So we understand each other. That’s awesome. Stay right there while I check things out.”

  “You’re Jim Laird, right?”

  The man stopped short. “Who are you?”

  “Amanda Buchek. I’m from a town called Sherwood.”

  “Okay. Tell me more, Amanda Buchek. Like what you’re doing out here calling us on the radio and trying hard to use circumlocutions.”

  “Um ... circum what?”

  “I’ll give you a dictionary later. Why are you out here?”

  Amanda considered that. “It’s kind of complex. But I know Andrews, Mulligan, Eklund, and Winters. You are Captain Laird, right?”

  “I’m Jim Laird, yeah. Where’s Andrews and his crew?”

  “At Sherwood. Except for Eklund ... she was captured a few days ago.”

  Laird was silent for a long moment. “Captured by whom?”

  “By some people who are apparently using one of those”—Amanda nodded toward the SCEV behind Laird—”to take out every community in the area. They hit one called Beulah, but survivors warned us they were coming. We had a little time to prepare. Andrews thought his rig would be their primary target, so we have it hidden in a warehouse beneath a bunch of solar panels.”

  Laird nodded slowly. “Solar panels ... yeah, makes sense. They absorb energy. Good call.”

  “That was all Mulligan.”

  “Typical. Where’s Eklund now?”

  “I don’t know.” Amanda thought of something. “But I have her pack.”

  She started to point at Leona’s rucksack sitting a few feet away, but Laird tensed visibly and pulled his rifle tight against his shoulder.

  “Don’t move. I see the ruck. I’m going to give you some commands. Follow them directly, or I’ll shoot you. You follow what I’m saying?”

  Amanda nodded slowly. “Yes, Captain. I follow what you’re saying.”

  “Drop the mag from your rifle and eject the round in the breach. Then toss the rifle toward me. Do this very slowly.”

  Amanda removed the Mylar blanket and did as Laird instructed. When he told her to toss away her sidearm, she did that as well. She removed two knives as well for good measure. Laird was finally satisfied, then told her to get to her feet.

  “Now grab the rucksack and walk toward the rig,” he ordered.

  Amanda did that too, and she carried the ruck to the base of the airlock stairs. Laird ordered her into the airlock, and the doors closed behind her. She stood there for a few moments, waiting for the inner door to open. When it didn’t, she rapped her knuckles across it.

  “Hey, guys, I’m here,” she said. She knew the crew in the rig could see and hear her through the surveillance equipment in the airlock.

  “We know,” came a female voice over the speaker. “Sit tight.”

  Amanda sighed and stood in the small airlock for a good three minutes before the inner door slid open. She found herself looking at a locker directly across from the door, with a partial view of one of the two consoles in the compartment beyond.

  “All right, slowly come inside, hands where we can see them,” the woman said.

  Amanda held up her hands and stepped into the rig. The woman was to her left, and a dark-haired man was to her right. Both had pistols in their hands. Amanda lifted her hands higher. She already knew the woman was the executive officer, so she looked at her directly.

  “I don’t have anything on me,” she said. She looked around the rig quickly. “Huh. Looks newer than Andrews’s.”

  “It is.” The blond woman inclined her head toward the dining setup. “Have a seat.”

  Amanda stepped over to the dining area and slid onto the settee. She kept her hands on the table and in plain sight at all times.

  “You must be Jordello,” she said to the blond woman.

  “Yeah, my nametape says that.”

  “Nametape doesn’t say you like to go down on girls though, does it?”

  Kelly didn’t smile. “If you’re cruising for a date, you’ve picked a bad time.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I have my eye on someone else. Just passing on that I know some things about you that could have only come from the crew of SCEV Four.”

  “Sure. Of course, you could have tortured the hell out of them to get the info.”

  The airlock cycled, and Laird entered a moment later and hefted the rucksack. It was open, as he’d apparently gone through it before bringing it aboard. He looked at the man and woman in the compartment.

  “This is Eklund’s shit,” he said, dropping the ruck on the floor. He held up two thumb drives. “Looks like she was packing some intel with her.” Laird placed them on the counter in front of the command intelligence station and looked down at Amanda. “Okay. Tell us about yourself.”

  “Amanda Buchek, daughter of Stan Buchek. He’s pretty much the leader of Sherwood. Andrews, Mulligan, and Winters are there with their rig. Or at least, they were when I left.”

  Laird removed his helmet and disconnected his headset. He put them both on the stainless-steel serving counter opposite the dining area. Amanda raised her brows. He was damned good looking.

  “Wow. Captain, you might make me want to switch teams,” she said.

  Laird looked at her oddly. “What?”

  Kelly rolled her eyes. “I’ll fill you in on that later.”

  Laird was confused by the exchange, but pushed it aside. “Where was Eklund taken?”

  “North of here, about twenty miles or so. We were escorting her to the rendezvous site at the reservoir. By the way, don’t go up there. The enemy has a team there waiting for you.”

  Laird raised a brow. “With their rig?”

  Amanda shook her head. “No. A few military trucks. Lots of weapons though, including some that look like they’re of the anti-tank variety. And they have a drone, too.”

  “Okay. How did they know to set up there?”

  Amanda shrugged. “Got me. But they have Leona, so that might explain things.”

  Laird’s features clouded as he processed that. He turned away from Amanda and looked at the man standing behind him. “Cobar, get back to the cockpit.”

  “Okay.” The man holstered his pistol and turned toward the small room behind him. Laird looked back at Amanda.


  “So has your community been attacked?”

  “Yeah, but only with one missile. A demonstration. When I left, the enemy probably didn’t know about Andrews and his people, but they probably do now. Right?”

  “Listen, you need to bring us up to speed on the situation. How did you know where to find us?”

  “Andrews and the others told me you were coming up,” Amanda said. “They figured that since the people coming at us have a rig like yours that they took it from the same place they dropped you at, and that you’d be on your way up early. We were supposed to deliver Eklund to you, so she could brief you guys on the current circumstances. But she got caught, and I’m here instead.” She nodded toward Leona’s rucksack. “I grabbed that before escaping. Didn’t mean to, was going for my own, but didn’t have the time to sort shit out before I got taken down. Swung into that one and ran like hell. Found a bike and came down south where I thought I might intercept you guys. Started broadcasting on the radio, and here we are.”

  Kelly nodded at the thumb drives he had pulled out of Leona’s pack. “Jim. Let’s take a look at those.”

  Laird turned to the items and picked them up. He inserted them into a pair of data slots and watched as a pair of red LEDs flashed, then turned green.

  “What are you doing?” Amanda asked.

  “Virus scan and data integrity check,” Laird said. He pulled the units out of their slots and put them in other ones on the console. The big display came to life, revealing the community of Sherwood as seen from the air. It was the composite picture Amanda had seen earlier aboard SCEV Four, when she was going to assist Andrews and the others’ roll over to Beulah. It had been updated since then with some new data, some of which captured enemy fighters and their positions to the east of the town. Everything was marked with data tags, though some of them were indecipherable to Amanda.

  Text windows popped up, and she was able to read reports from both Andrews and Mulligan. They detailed in shorthand the happenings since their arrival in Sherwood, including identifying key players in the community’s pecking order. Amanda was initially pleased to see she made the list, but the color commentary indicated that she was potentially disruptive to the mission.

  Laird looked over at her. “Seems like the boys don’t really dig you that much, ma’am.”

  Amanda shrugged. “They’re dicks. What can I say?”

  Laird chortled at that.

  The notes also detailed the contact with the survivors from Beulah, and identified them as well. The initial list of demands, the missile attack and the resulting deaths were also covered. While Leona was dispatched to meet SCEV Five at the rendezvous, the remainder of the SCEV Four team would assist in the defense of Sherwood.

  “Check the note from Leona,” Kelly said, pointing at the screen. “Girl is always thinking.”

  Amanda looked at the note. “Why do you need a different encryption thingie?”

  “So we can communicate with Four without the bad guys being able to listen in,” Laird said. “We’re mobile, so we can transmit every now and then and give an update. They won’t be able to respond since they’re caught in place, but at least we can give them a pulse every now and then.” Laird reviewed the note again. “New ciphers and everything. Yeah, Lee really follows through on this shit.”

  “How’re we going to get her back?” Kelly asked.

  “Don’t know yet. Would like to get the sarmajor’s input on that, but that might not be possible.”

  “Andrews and Mulligan are really spooked about losing their ride,” Amanda said.

  She must have said that using the wrong tone of voice, because Handsome Man Laird turned and glared at her as if she had just committed the most grievous offense. She was learning a bit more about these people from the underground base in Kansas. They were more than willing to stand up to shit. At first she just thought it was the old dude, Mulligan. But then she saw Andrews get his back up, and even that sweetheart KC had a hard edge to her. Now Laird was giving her a death stare, just for talking some crap.

  “It’s a long walk back to Harmony,” Laird said. “Cut them some slack. Besides, you people might not be worth dying for. We already have a welfare society down in California. Having two of them just doesn’t sound very sexy.”

  “Heard about them,” Amanda said. “Some dude named Law and his little party of nut jobs. Cannibals, right?”

  Laird held her gaze for a moment, then smiled thinly. “Hey, everybody needs to eat.”

  Amanda smiled back. “Yeah, they do. But anyway—it’s bothering some of the folks at Sherwood, that Andrews won’t take his rig out and start sending hate at the bad guys. But maybe he has since I left. I don’t know.” She shrugged. “Just trying to give you guys some insight here.”

  “Ground truth is always appreciated,” Laird said. He put his hands on his hips and looked back at the displays. “Okay. Three items on the short list. Defend Sherwood, destroy the enemy rig, and find Leona.” He looked at Kelly. “Check my math here.”

  She nodded and ran a hand through her blond hair. “Sounds about right. We’re not bottled up, we can maneuver, and we can take some time to do recce runs while the enemy is fixated on Sherwood. Looks like you guys have a pretty credible wall there. What are those, shipping containers?”

  Amanda nodded. “About eight years ago, they started putting them in place. We’d get new ones from places like Spokane and Eugene and bring them back.”

  “How’d you do that?” Laird asked.

  “We have some equipment. Military trucks, mostly diesel. We make our own, and we can charge batteries and the like off of solar arrays.”

  “How are Spokane and Eugene?”

  “They’re graveyards,” Amanda said. “Just like Bend. After the superflu came through, everyone who was left alive pretty much died out.”

  “Superflu?” Kelly looked at her closely. “So there was a plague up here?”

  Amanda nodded. “Yes. Killed my mom.”

  “Let’s skip the history for the moment,” Laird said. “Amanda. How many enemy did you guys actually see?”

  “Only a few dozen at most,” she said. “The survivors from Beulah said there were a couple of hundred who attacked them.”

  “And how big was Beulah?”

  “What, population-wise?”

  “Yeah.”

  “A couple of hundred.”

  “And there are over a thousand in Sherwood,” Laird said, referring to the notes on the screen.

  “Yeah.”

  Laird pointed at the reports on the display. “Read these. Fill in the blanks. If you’re really from Sherwood, we need to know everything you do, only we don’t have decade to take it all in. Give me the bold face items, so we can figure out what we’re dealing with and who we have to kill.”

  “Yeah, sure,” Amanda said, “but I’ve—”

  Laird ignored her and turned to Kelly. “We need to launch drones and start at least an area survey. Batteries all charged?”

  “Yes, all good to go,” Kelly said.

  “All right. I want to send two of them to Andrews. Default passwords were changed, right?”

  “Correct. As you requested.”

  Laird laughed and clapped his hands. “Can’t wait to send that to them. Just the same, drop the password on a thumb drive that we can send over. Make sure it’s protected for SCEV Four only. We have their registry number? It was in the standup kit, right?”

  “Got it.”

  “Fantastic. One last thing,” Laird said. “Have Slattery find the default passwords for the enemy drones in the user manuals. I’m going to think that the enemy was too pressed for time to change them. Let’s surface those, and see what kind of mischief we can make. If those guys lose their eyes in the sky, they might rabbit.”

  “And then what?” Kelly asked.

  “They’re only real advantage here is that they control multiple drones. We pull that from them, and they’ll be blind. And then they’ll head out into the fie
ld, which is where we’ll be able to fry their post-apocalyptic asses with a couple of Hellfires.”

  Amanda saw Kelly smile then, a slow expression that spread across her face. “Dude, I fucking love working for you,” Kelly said to Laird.

  ***

  It took the better part of an hour including cross-examination from Laird and Kelly for Amanda to retell the portions of Sherwood’s history that might be most pertinent. As she answered their questions, she could see that the command staff of SCEV Five was a lot more cautious than even Andrews’s team. She came to know that they were in a rig that was largely untested, and while Laird and Kelly had seen action, their teammates had not. Essentially, SCEV Five had rolled into a situation it wasn’t really prepared for.

  But as she described the set of circumstances as she last knew them, she sensed that Laird was perhaps more willing to expose his vehicle to risk than Andrews had been. Not because he was stupid or impatient, but because he understood that with the freedom to maneuver came the ability to influence the cycle of events. For sure, the rig commander was mostly motivated by coming to the aid of his fellows from Harmony Base. But he also added the welfare of Sherwood to the equation. While Amanda might have felt more secure with the likes of Andrews and Mulligan calling the shots, she understood they would move slowly. Sensibly. But good common sense had died a tragic death when nuclear missiles streaked across the horizon and released their multiple reentry vehicles.

  She walked the two officers through the layout of Sherwood, including the location of SCEV Four in the warehouse that was displayed on the map. It was in the back, where it had been covered with the panels. Laird examined the building for a long moment, then noted the rear of the warehouse sat only thirty feet from an improved surface.

  “They can bug out quick by reversing through the wall,” he said.

  “Yeah,” Amanda said, though she hadn’t known that until the big captain pointed it out to her.

  “Tell me about the attack again,” Laird said, then he looked over at Kelly. “Do me a favor and call up our UAV scan of the area.”