by Ricky Sides
“Death to all peacekeepers is what the message said,” Captain Wilcox intoned in a somber voice. “Remember that slogan the Warlord left on the wall,” he said in closing, and then he thanked the people present for listening to him and returned to his place in the audience.
Jim stepped forward again. “Captain Wilcox’s briefing has no doubt caused many of you to have questions and comments that you’d like to make. I ask that you hold them until after the rest of the briefing. Captain Young, would you please come and brief us on your mission?” asked Jim.
Bill walked up and stood before the assembly. Wasting no time on pleasantries, he said, “We took the Constitution on a search of the eastern half of the country. I’m happy to say that most of our bases to the east are relatively untouched. After hearing the Houston and Dallas bases had been occupied, I half expected to find the Atlanta base had similarly been taken due to its proximity to a large population center, but that didn’t turn out to be the case. That’s probably because someone placed quarantine warning signs on all of the gates advising that the disease had been present there and had forced the peacekeepers to abandon it. I think that may have scared people away from that base.”
As to the city itself, we found evidence of survivors. Just how many is anybody’s guess. Like many other cities, large sections had apparently been burned out by the population in an attempt to stop the spread of the plague.” Hesitating briefly, Bill continued, “The smaller cities were mostly burned out husks. Like Captain Wilcox and the crew of the Arizona, we found a couple of cities, which appeared abandoned. Likewise, there were doors and windows left ajar, and signs of abandoned pets that had died of starvation, thirst, and exposure.”
“We also had this encounter in North Carolina,” Bill explained, and then he nodded to Patricia, who played the video of the encounter at the house with the men in the flying van. When the man in the van shouted the same slogan that Captain Wilcox’s team had filmed on the wall of the complex in Washington State, every peacekeeper present knew that it couldn’t be a coincidence. It was highly unlikely, given the fact that the identical messages were encountered almost three thousand miles apart.
Bill went on to explain that the men in the van had been seeking women to take captive. He informed the audience that the people they had rescued had tested as free of the disease as had the bodies of the men killed in the van that had been tested to see if they could have transmitted the disease to their victims. Therefore, with no risk to his ship, he had opted to transport them to a new home.
“Wasn’t that a lot of trouble to go to for a few strangers?” asked someone from the audience.
“Maybe, but there aren’t many people left,” Bill stated in a deadpan voice. “It’s different now. I guess you’d have to see it yourself to understand me. There just aren’t many people left. I doubt there are enough left to handle the burying of the dead. So yeah, I helped those four people.”
“Of course you did, Bill, and you followed the safety protocols to the letter,” Jim stated, thus letting the peacekeepers present know that he supported what Bill had done.
Bill nodded and stepped away to resume his place in the audience.
After consulting his notes briefly, Jim said, “Just before we went into isolation, Captain Young tried to trace down a rogue group that was posing as peacekeepers and evacuating people in a modified ship of the APC class. They were supposedly taking them to safe havens, but they stopped a short distance from the communities where they picked the people up and killed everyone except the younger women and men. We think it likely that this group has drawn in marauders who linked up with them. Since they are obviously attempting to discredit peacekeepers, there may be a connection between them and this Warlord character. Furthermore, since the incident in North Carolina involved the attempted murder of men and the abduction of women, we feel it is possible that there is a connection between those men and the people Captain Young was tracking just before we went into isolation.”
“The purpose of informing you about all this is to let you know that we may be facing a highly mobile group that is out to discredit us and will attack us on sight, despite the odds. That makes them very dangerous,” Jim stated unequivocally.
He let the assembly ponder that for a few moments, and then he said, “In a few days, we’ll begin to try to reclaim our bases. The Washington State Base is heavily damaged, but we feel the normal contingent will be able to deal with the issues there. The Houston and Dallas bases are another matter. Those bases are almost hopelessly contaminated. It is the opinion of our medical staff that attempting to remove those bodies for cremation can’t be done without exposing our people to the disease. There are simply too many bodies and too much contaminated material in the area,” Jim said, pausing to let the assembly digest that information.
“So we are just going to abandon the bases?” asked Commander Finch.
“That’s what we need to discuss at this point, Commander. In order to make informed decisions, I’ve asked Maggie to brief us on the inherent problems associated with the cleanup operations.”
Maggie walked up and stood before the assembly. Getting right to the point, she said, “The bodies of the dead can still transmit the disease, as well as their clothing, and any and all of the materials in the makeshift camp that they had set up on the bases. The decaying process has caused bodily fluids to soak into the ground, so even the dirt is contaminated. You’ll have to work in contamination gear. Even those of our forces who used the vaccine will have to do so, because the plague is just one of the diseases that can be spread by contact with the bodies. Hepatitis B and C, HIV, and Tuberculosis are just a few of the other health risks. There are others.”
“Also, there is a distinct possibility that the ground water in the area has been contaminated,” Maggie added.
“We can test the water,” Commander Finch said.
“That’s true, but, here’s the thing. The water you test today may analyze fine, but what happens when heavy rains soak through the contaminated soil, eventually reaching the water table? I’ll tell you what happens. Your water supply is compromised.”
“So you’re saying we can’t clean up and reopen the bases?” asked Commander Finch.
“No. For health reasons, we have to clean up the bases, at least to the extent of disposing of the dead, as well as all of the materials in the camp, but if you want to use the two bases again, you’ll have to do more than that. You’ll have to bring in earth moving equipment and remove several feet of the soil and replace it with uncontaminated soil.”
“We can do that. It’ll take time, but we can do it,” replied the commander.
“To what end, Commander?” asked the tenacious doctor.
“We’d do it to restore the bases.”
“But the populations of those cities no longer exist, although I’m sure there were a few survivors. So I ask again, to what end?”
“We’re Texans, Doctor. Our ancestors have been rebuilding and repopulating that land for hundreds of years. We’ll recruit Texans from all over the state if we have to, but we’ll reclaim that region of the state.”
“I see that you have set your mind to doing just that, and I applaud the strength of your will. In that case, you’ll need this,” Maggie said and extended a set of thick folders for both Texas base commanders.
The men got up and walked forward to take the folders.
“Contained in those folders is all of the logistical information you’ll need for starting the cleanup operations. Pol and I wrote them up for you. They list the heavy equipment, chemical supplies, safety gear, and a host of other things you’ll need. There are also recommendations as to how to dispose of a body safely, manpower needs and the logistical supply lines you need to establish.”
“Thank you, Doctor. This will be very helpful,” Commander Finch stated.
Maggie smiled at the man and said, “We didn’t think Texans would let this stop them from rebuilding.”
; “Damned right. We routinely do the difficult. The impossible just takes us a little longer,” stated the commander of the Dallas base.
Chapter 2
William Bannister, now known as The Warlord, surveyed the work on the base with growing dissatisfaction. “Why are you more than a week behind?” he asked the nervous overseer when he had completed the tour.
“I am working the men as hard as I dare. If I work them any harder, they’ll start dropping like flies. As it is, I’m losing ten or eleven every week to sheer exhaustion.”
“If they are working so hard on the digging, then why is there so little progress to show for their efforts?” enquired the Warlord.
“It’s the rock. We hit a vein of incredibly hard rock and that’s slowing us down to two feet a day. The men are using hammers and chisels to break it free, but it’s a slow process.”
“Then use the dynamite I brought the last time I was here.”
“We tried, but the man who said he knew how to use it safely was incompetent. He blew himself up the second day, along with three other workers. I tried letting his assistant carry on with the explosives, but he blew himself up fifteen minutes later, and he took another three men with him.”
“I see. Then I’ll just have to find an experienced explosives man for you. Meanwhile, work the men harder. I want this base ready soon. We can’t expect the peacekeepers to remain in seclusion forever.”
“The slaves will die. They are already weak from poor diet, but it will be as you say.”
“I’ll order the men to stop killing all the males they encounter. I’ll soon have another group of slaves to do the digging for you. Just make the slaves you have last three days. By then, I’ll have another group here for you.”
“Thank you. I think I can do that. And when the new men arrive, what do you want me to do with the current sorry lot?”
“Cut out their rations and work them until they drop. Permit them to eat their own dead, if they like, but give them no food beyond that.”
The overseer laughed. “You really hate Americans, don’t you?”
“No. I don’t hate all Americans, but I do hate peacekeepers. These men performed contract work for the peacekeepers at the base we raided. They were partially responsible for making my enemies strong. That’s why I decided to use them to make us strong.”
The Warlord walked out of the office and looked at the impressive base that was three-quarters built. He had carefully chosen a location that would make an attack by the enemy as difficult as possible.
The base was situated in a U-shaped canyon. Bannister stood at the entrance to the main base fortifications, which were eighty feet up and deep inside the back wall of the canyon. A natural cave, accessible at ground level, was situated to his right. His men had expanded the cave to create living quarters and a mess hall of sorts. There were no external stairways leading to the fortified command position. Instead, it was connected to the mess hall cave by a steep passageway, which ended behind the overseer’s office.
Gun positions ringed the walls of the canyon at varying levels. Some were natural caves, but other positions had been carved out of the face of the rock in roughly seven-foot square shapes. A widely ranging assortment of weapons was contained in those niches. There were heavy machineguns, light machineguns, rocket propelled grenades, and more than a few shoulder-fired rockets. There were also several sniper positions. Men were transported to those positions in stolen police vans, which the Warlord’s people had acquired in Atlanta. The guards would enter the rear compartment and exit the vans once the pilots had them backed firmly against the ledges. The men they were replacing would then enter the vans and ride down to ground level.
Those vans were also used to transport men to the prisoner cave, situated fifty feet up the sheer left wall of the bowl. The women they captured were kept in a similar cavern so that escape was impossible. After one woman jumped to her death, rather than live as a sex slave to the air pirates, the Warlord had ordered armed guards stationed at the entrance to prevent any further loss of the valuable women. Most of the women were kept for the use of the pirates, but some were sold to men who had no qualms about buying their women. Those men paid with anything the pirates found valuable. That changed as they obtained sufficient quantities of weapons and food supplies. Now, they would trade only for electronic components needed to construct the lasers that they were attempting to build from the schematics in the stolen peacekeeper computer.
That project was progressing painfully slowly. They had managed to outfit their stolen, converted APCs with the lasers, but they lacked the technical skills needed to make targeting anything more than a fixed line of sight position. The Warlord knew that, before they could truly challenge the peacekeepers, they would have to correct that shortcoming, as well as acquire the more powerful laser weapons.
On the floor of the bowl, Banister stared proudly at the assembled collection of flying vehicles his growing group had acquired during the absence of the peacekeepers. Encouraged by the ease with which they had managed to steal the converted APC in Atlanta, he had returned to that city and taken another three of the public transit vehicles. That same week, he successfully raided the Washington State peacekeeper base. They had also managed to acquire several of the tractor-trailer versions of Detroit’s new flying autos that independent truckers had struggled to purchase from the manufacturers.
Those trucks were useful when they went on their raids, and raid they did. Unafraid of the plague, because they had managed to steal enough vaccine to ensure immunity, the air pirates pillaged the stricken cities at will.
There were also a large number of cars, trucks, and vans that the pirates had managed to steal over the months. They had raided virtually unopposed by organized resistance. The one time they had been soundly defeated and driven away was when they had entered Michigan with the intentions of raiding the auto factories themselves. There they encountered private security forces that Bob Reager had arranged to hire in the absence of the peacekeepers. Those forces had been equipped with a small fleet of modified flying APCs that were heavily armed and armored. They could also fly at twice the altitude and speed of the pirate fleet, which made it difficult for the pirates to target them, yet easy for the security forces to attack the Warlord’s forces with impunity. The pirate forces had been lucky to escape that battle with most of their vehicles still operable.
The mouth of the canyon was protected by several of the guard post platforms they had taken from the western base they had raided. Those boxlike enclosures were tethered to the ground, and served as the first line of defense for the pirate base.
Three of the guard platforms were utilized as crude elevators at the base. William Banister stepped aboard one of them and the operator smoothly descended to the ground.
Photo by Robert L McCullough Noël Baba’s Fotos, Weatherford, TX
Stepping out of the boxlike affair, the Warlord signaled his men, who were standing nearby with their weapons. They fell in behind their leader and boarded their APC for the raid he had planned.
Photo by Robert L McCullough Noël Baba’s Fotos, Weatherford, TX
***
In the flight bay of the Damroyal, Pol consulted the schematics for the new ship he had in mind. “It should work,” Pol muttered to himself as he glanced at the first generation drone-sized scale model of the ship.
“Of course, it will work. Have you ever designed a ship that wouldn’t?” asked Tim.
“Actually, yes I have, my friend,” Pol replied as he glanced at his friend.
“I don’t recall that.”
“That is because it never went past this stage of development. If a scale model won’t function within expected perimeters, then the concept won’t work.”
“Oh yeah? What did you try that failed?” Tim asked curiously, causing Pol to sigh. He knew he shouldn’t have mentioned it, because now he would have to tell him, or else Tim would never stop pestering him for the information.
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sp; “I wanted to try a pyramid-shaped design,” he admitted.
“Why?”
“I would rather not say. You’d think me altogether unprofessional,” Pol hedged, turning a bit red in embarrassment.
Tim laughed in response, but when he saw that Pol wasn’t amused, he stopped laughing and said, “I’m sorry, Pol, but you’re probably the most professionally behaved man I’ve ever met. For you to think I’d consider you unprofessional is just, well, laughable.”
“Thank you, my friend. I believe that is the nicest thing you ever said to me.”
“Now out with it. Why’d you want to build the pyramid ship?”
Pol smiled broadly, and said, “Because it would be so funny to fly it to New Mexico, where our friends, the sky watchers, reside.”
Tim blinked and stared at Pol incredulously and then he began to laugh.
“I knew that’s how you’d react,” Pol complained with a frown.
“I’m sorry. I just never knew you had it in you, buddy. I’ll tell you what. You build it, and I’ll fly it there for you. It doesn’t have to be a full-sized ship. In fact, you could just modify a guard shack. I’ll ferry it there on top of the Peacekeeper and just let it drift around.”
Photo by Robert L McCullough Noël Baba’s Fotos, Weatherford, TX
Pol smiled at the thought. “They would be so excited. We could even add the theme music from that movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Imagine those five notes blaring out at them.”
Tim guffawed with laughter again. “My god, Pol! I never knew you were such a practical joker at heart.”