by Ricky Sides
“You’d better hope you can, Bill. Otherwise, when this is over, you’re going to need a lot of body bags for peacekeepers,” Pete stated soberly.
Turning to Jim, Pete asked, “Are you still determined to fight with the ground troops?”
“Yes I am,” Jim assured Pete. “My crew has been extensively trained. They know what to do in most scenarios. My engineer, Max Cunnings, will be in charge. He’s the best man to take over in this scenario because he’ll be constantly aware of the need to conserve power.”
“Then we’ll stay close to each other. If one of us falls, the other can step up and handle any emergency that crops up,” Pete said.
“I still say I want to fight with you two,” Bill stated. “But I know you’re right. We need at least one experienced captain up in the sky with a bird’s eye view of the changing conditions on the ground.”
“Yes, and if this goes badly, I want you in the Constitution to attempt to rescue the survivors. We’ll send them to that rally point we discussed yesterday. In that event, I’d use the APCs to cover the emergency pickup, but you’ll be in the captain’s chair, and you’ll have access to information I don’t have at the moment. Just do what you think is right, Bill,” Jim said. He added, “You have my utmost trust. Seriously, Bill, I can’t think of another captain I’d rather have handling this mission.”
“I couldn’t have said that better,” Pete said.
“Captain, we have incoming vehicles. Make that a lot of incoming vehicles,” Holly Baxter’s voice announced over the intercom.
Bill got up and toggled a switch on the wall, activating the radio. “Holly, are they friend or foe?”
“Sir, they are being led by the Tennessee peacekeepers. They say they are here to volunteer and that along the way they encountered others with the same idea,” Holly explained.
Have the volunteers form up behind the wall,” Pete instructed Bill. “Jim, I guess you and I really should get outside and see what’s happening.”
The two council members left while Holly was still briefing Bill.
Jim and Pete were on their way to the cargo bay when Bill came within sight of them. “Jim! Jim wait!” he shouted.
Jim stopped and waited for Bill. While he waited for him to get to them, Jim heard Holly on the intercom as she summoned Doctor Dean and his nurse Edith to the cargo bay.
“We’d better clear the isle. The infirmary is just behind us,” Pete stated, just as confused by what was transpiring as was Jim. They had just put their backs to the wall of the corridor, when the doctor and his nurse rushed into the hall and raced past them.
***
When Lina’s fighter hit the surface of the water, she was already attempting to open her cockpit canopy. However, the centrifugal force of her spin made accomplishing that simple task impossible. She had just managed to throw it back when the damaged nose of her aircraft caught in the water, flipping the fighter upside down.
The force of the impact with the water, combined with her forward momentum to wrench the canopy out of her hand, snapping it backwards and shearing it off the fighter, dislocating her shoulder in the process. Reaching up to her safety harness with her good arm, she released it as the cold water flowed inside from both the opened canopy and the damaged nose of the aircraft. She felt vibrations through the airframe and recognized it as impact vibrations. As she struggled with one arm to exit the cockpit, she saw the unmistakable bullet trail slam down through the water near her face.
Kicking free of the fighter as it sank, Lina swam desperately for the bottom of the river. As she swam, she saw more of the bubbly bullet trails as they slashed into the water near her.
Lina struggled as best she could. She was primarily driving her body forward with her legs and feet. Her injured arm trailed uselessly alongside her. A few moments into her swim, Lina entered a strong current, which swept her downriver at a faster pace. Above her, Lina saw the dark hulls of ships sweeping past her. Knowing that she was in the grip of a strong undertow, she began to struggle to break free of the current.
Lina was running out of air when she broke free of the current and swam for the surface as fast as she could. Unfortunately, she broke the surface directly in the path of a small fishing boat that was part of the pirate flotilla. She blew out sharply, and then took a deep breath as she dove and swam for the bottom again. This time, she knew approximately, where she’d find the current, which had thus far helped her escape the vicinity of the pirates. Within moments, she was being swept toward the bay.
Keeping her eyes on the surface, she observed the enemy hulls as they raced past her. She was growing lightheaded from lack of oxygen when she thought she’d seen the last of the enemy move beyond her position. Swimming harder than she had ever swum in her life, Lina kicked desperately for the surface. Just as her head emerged from the water, a piece of floating debris from the battle slammed into the back of her head. It lacerated her scalp and almost rendered her unconscious.
“Over here, pilot!” she heard someone shout. Looking downriver, Lina saw a partially submerged ship that had fallen victim to the battle. She saw two men on the listing deck of the ship. Both were wearing peacekeeper flight gear. She swam as best she could, but the men saw she was injured and she would miss the ship by several yards as the current swept her toward the bay.
One of the pilots had located a donut shaped flotation device with an attached rope. He threw that within reach, and Lina managed to grasp it with her good arm. Then the two men hauled her aboard the ship with them. The three pilots made their way across the sloping deck toward the wheelhouse. At the insistence of one of the men who was concerned about pirate stragglers, they entered the interior.
“You’re bleeding,” observed one of the men.
“Yeah, well it’s ok, hon. I don’t have any communicable blood borne diseases,” Lina quipped.
“Wow, you’re cracking jokes at a time like this, Lina?” the man asked in response.
“Quiet you two! I think I hear a boat coming near us,” the other man stated.
Lina’s eyes widened as she listened. “That’s no boat. That’s the Valiant!” she said.
The three peacekeepers raced across the room to the door as best they could on the tilted deck, but by the time they reached the open deck, the Valiant was disappearing from sight as it headed for the bay in the search for surviving pilots.
“Maybe they’ll come back this way when they finish their search,” Lina stated.
However, the Valiant flew a land route as it headed for the capital. The three pilots waited there for an hour before deciding that if they wanted to be rescued they’d better do something to get themselves noticed.
Working together, they located some oil and paper, and one of the men chopped pieces of wood free of the deck with an axe he found mounted on the wall in the wheelhouse. Using her survival knife, Lina sliced open the seat cushion of one of the chairs in the wheelhouse. Using just one hand, she managed to draw out the foam padding, which would produce an abundance of thick black smoke. They located a fifty-gallon drum in the engine room. It had been filled with oily rags the engineer had discarded. Removing the oily rags from the drum, they carried it to the deck and leveled it with pieces of wood. Returning to the engine room, they carried all of the oily rags back to the deck and piled them near the drum. They built the fire, and once it was burning well, they added oily rags a few at a time along with pieces of the seat cushion.
The sharp list of the deck made these simple preparations more difficult than they would have otherwise been. The bodies of the crew served as a macabre witness to the struggle of the peacekeeper pilots.
An hour after they got their fire going, the Tennessee peacekeeper APC pilot spotted the smoke from their signal fire as he was flying to the capital. Operating on standing orders to investigate any fire, he moved out over the river to locate the source of the flames. Spotting the ship, he cautiously approached. “You folks need a ride?” he asked when he recognized the
three excited people on the deck as peacekeeper pilots. The crew opened the door and the pilot gently nudged the APC into position for the pilots to leap into the peacekeeper aircraft.
***
What’s wrong, Bill?” asked Jim as the captain of the Constitution joined them in the hallway of his ship.
“I didn’t want you to be shocked by their arrival. The Tennessee peacekeepers picked up three pilots on the way in from the south. Lina is among them, but she’s been injured. They are bringing her here for medical treatment,” Bill explained.
Jim grabbed Bill’s forearms in his hands. A smile crossed his face, but he asked, “Are you sure Bill?”
“That’s what they are telling us. I had Holly double check the name!” Bill explained. He had to shout because Jim had turned and was running through the ship.
“We’d better find Evan,” Pete said. “He’ll need to be informed that Lina’s alive.”
“Should we verify it’s really her first, Pete?” asked Bill.
“Probably, but my gut is telling me that this is true. Lina is one hell of a warrior. If anyone could survive her ordeal, she’d manage.”
Jim found Lina being examined by the doctor and his nurse. Edith was taking her vitals at the time, and her eyes widened in alarm when Lina’s heartbeat rate accelerated. “Doctor, the patient’s heart rhythm just increased dramatically,” she reported dutifully.
“That’s because I just saw my man. Give us a minute you two,” Lina said as Jim walked rapidly to her stretcher.
“Lina, are you alright?!” he asked.
Reaching for Jim with her good arm, Lina said, “No, but I will be as soon as they set my shoulder and sew up my head. Now come here and kiss me, Jim. Then we’ll play along with the doctor and let him patch me up.”
Jim knelt beside her stretcher and kissed her gently, but Lina would have none of that. She snaked her good arm around his neck and kissed him passionately. Jim thought that was just like Lina! She survived an ordeal that would kill most people and bounced back, as if she had taken a spill and skinned a knee. Then Jim felt her body begin to shake. Placing her mouth beside his ear, she whispered, “Oh, Jim, I was so scared. I thought sure I’d drown, get hit by one of the bullets, or run down by one of the ships.”
Jim knew that for Lina to make such an admission, she had to have been terrified. “You’re safe now. That’s what matters.”
Holding her for another moment, Jim said, “I thought I’d lost you, Lina.”
“Frankly, love, I thought you’d lost me too, but I didn’t wait so long for you just to lose you in a few days. I wasn’t just fighting for my life. I was fighting for you, and that gave me the strength I needed to survive.”
Jim responded with another kiss, and then he said, “I’m glad you made it.”
Jim would have said more, but Evan’s voice interrupted him. “Lina! You’re alive!” Evan said. He was standing behind Jim, having just run the length of the ship.
Jim stood up and stepped aside so that Evan could see Lina. “I sure am, sweetheart,” Lina responded. She reached out for Evan’s hand and he grasped it.
“All right people, I’m sorry to break up the reunion, but she’s bleeding and we need to see to her wounds,” Edith said.
“I’ll visit you in the infirmary later, Lina,” Evan promised as he stepped aside.
“And I’ll see you when I can, Lina, but the Constitution is about to take off for its assignment, and I have to get to the ground defenses,” Jim explained.
“I remember the battle plan, Jim. You take care of yourself. I’ll be fine in this ship, so don’t get distracted worrying about me. You just watch your back out there,” Lina cautioned.
“I will,” he promised as the nurse gently turned Lina’s face away so that she could examine the wound.
“Jim, I’d better get to the defenses. You can stay with her. I can handle the defenses,” Pete volunteered.
“Jim’s got a job to do, Pete. I’ll be fine. This is nothing compared to some of the wounds I’ve had in the past, but I’m not looking forward to having the shoulder reset. That is a new experience for me,” Lina explained gamely.
“Young lady, if you don’t hold still I’m going to have to sedate you,” Edith said as she tried her best to clean the wound on the squirming woman’s head.
For a moment, an expression of intense anger flashed in Lina’s eyes. Seeing that look on her face, Edith said, “I was just kidding, Lina.”
Lina visibly relaxed and said, “I know, Edith. It’s not your fault that that’s what the doctor said to me in Kansas.” She was of course referring to her period of captivity, during which the doctor had been ordered by Tom to keep her sedated so that she couldn’t kill the guards. He had also had it done to make her docile during the rape sessions she had endured at his hands.
“Let’s get her to the infirmary so we can tend the wounds properly,” Doctor Dean said. He added, “What that man did to you was despicable, Lina. No one here would do such a thing.”
“I know, Doc. I’m just touchy when it comes to sedation,” Lina explained.
“We’ll use a local anesthetic. You needn’t be put under for this treatment, but when we set the shoulder, you may wish you had been,” the doctor responded.
Jim pulled Evan aside. He gave him a quick hug and said, “I’ve got to go, Son. You check in on her later and send me a message updating me as to her condition.”
“I will, Dad. I’m so happy she’s safe,” Evan said.
“So am I, Son. Take care of her till I get to see you two again,” Jim instructed.
“Lisa and I can keep her company. We don’t have drones to fly,” he explained.
Jim stayed in the cargo bay until the doctor had Lina removed. He said goodbye to Evan and walked down the cargo bay ramp with Pete. He found the Tennessee APC pilot waiting for them at the foot of the ramp.
“Admiral, I’ve been waiting for you. I wanted to know if you are aware that several drones are alongside the riverbank about a mile from the spot where I picked up the pilots.”
“You’re the pilot who picked them up?” asked Jim.
“Yes, sir, I’m Sergeant Basset, but I was just following protocols. Anyone would have done the same thing,” the man said trying to depreciate the value of his deed.
Jim reached out and shook the man’s hand. Then he pulled him into a bear hug. “Thank you. Thank you so much for bringing her back to me,” he said.
“You mean Lina, Admiral?” the pilot asked.
“Yes, I mean my wife, Lina,” Jim stated.
“I didn’t know you had married her, Sir, but I was happy to help out the pilots,” he explained.
“You mentioned drones?” asked Pete.
“Yes, sir. I saw several. There must have been eight or ten of the round drones sitting on the riverbank and floating in the shallows alongside the bank,” the sergeant replied.
“Lieutenant, get your APC back out there. Avoid the enemy at all costs, retrieve those drones and get them back here to the Constitution,” Pete ordered.
“Yes, sir, I will, but that’s sergeant, sir,” the man explained.
“Not anymore. You just rescued three downed pilots and found some badly needed assets we’d thought lost to us. For that kind of service, you deserve the rank of lieutenant,” Pete said smiling.
“Yes, sir! I’m on it!” the pilot said happily. He saluted, and then sprinted away toward his APC.
“If we can repair a few of those drones, they will really be an asset in the fight to come,” Pete stated.
“So will the volunteers who just arrived. Should we go meet them?” Jim asked.
“Yes, we should. The armada will be here soon. We need to see what assets they brought with them and assign them their positions for the battle to come,” Pete agreed.
Jim and Pete soon stood facing a group of nearly one hundred volunteers from Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. The majority of the volunteers were from Tennessee, and most
of those were peacekeepers. The rest were citizens who had heard about the impending invasion and decided to volunteer to help defend the capital. Many were former police officers and military combat veterans. All were well armed. An inspection of their weapons revealed that they were in good condition and ready for service.
The volunteers were assigned positions based on their experience. The peacekeepers would fill in gaps on the wall, as would the combat veterans. The former police officers would join the partially trained recruits in guarding the rear. All understood that within a very short time the enemy would arrive.
Chapter 19
“Helm, take us in nice and slow. I want to try to approach them without being noticed. Gunner, be ready to attack on my signal. Communications, let the Constitution and Valiant know that we are about to attack the enemy flank. They may want to coordinate their attack with ours,” Captain Wilcox ordered.
The captain heard the responses from his crewmembers, but he was concentrating on the enemy ahead. He was certain he had seen a munitions ship among the armada earlier in the day. Now, he was seeking that ship before they reached Washington where it would resupply the munitions of the fleet.
He finally spotted the ship he was looking for as they drew within effective firing range of the enemy armada. Standing up, he moved to stand behind the gunner. “See the ship riding low in the water to the right? I mean the one with the crane on deck,” he clarified.
“If you mean the one beside the fishing boat, then yes, Captain. I see the ship,” responded Gunny.
“That’s a munitions ship. We have to take it out now before it gets closer to the city. When she goes up, she might take a good portion of the city with her if we let them get too close. Make that your first target. It must be destroyed at all costs,” ordered the captain.
“I can take her from here if you like, Captain,” responded the gunner.