by Ricky Sides
“It’s the next generation ship,” Captain Wilcox explained. Then, thinking that a demonstration of some of the Arizona’s capabilities might be a deterrent, if the Admiral was being dishonest about their plans, Jack said, “Would you like to see a demonstration of the capabilities of the model?”
“Captain, we have been staring at nothing but the empty ocean for days. Yes, I would enjoy your demonstration.”
“Then if you would, please take your ship to maximum speed,” Jack requested. “And have your helmsman maintain a steady course for the purpose of our demonstration.”
“Of course,” the admiral confirmed that he would pass along the instructions. He knew that if the American vessel was going to attempt maneuvers, they needed to know what to expect from his ship.
“Match their course and speed, Pilot.”
“Aye, sir,” Namid said, grinning in anticipation. She had a hunch her husband was about to order her to show off the capabilities of the Arizona.
Moments later, the British ship had reached its top speed of three hundred thirty miles per hour. Jack realized that they had either tweaked the motors, or that the slightly more aerodynamic airframe accounted for the increase.
“Sound the hard acceleration warning,” Jack instructed. When the allotted time referenced in the warning had elapsed, he said, “Full speed ahead, Navigator.”
“Aye, Captain,” Namid responded, and then she thrust the throttle to wide open.
Aboard the British ship, the Admiral stared in shock as the Arizona left them behind as if they were standing still. A moment later, the ship disappeared from sight.
“Please stop and hover, Admiral. We’ll rejoin you in a couple of minutes,” Jack explained.
The admiral ordered his pilot to stop and hover in position. Two minutes later, he was surprised when he saw the Arizona break the surface and rise from the depths of the sea. Then he saw her begin to execute a series of maneuvers like an ocean going vessel on the surface of the sea. At one point, the American ship briefly leapt into the air to facilitate a radical turn, and then she landed on the surface of the ocean and resumed her surface navigation. Then, before his very eyes, the Royal Navy officer saw the ship submerge and disappear beneath the surface.
The admiral waited expectantly, and then he saw the Arizona burst from the sea and rise a hundred yards ahead of his vessel. The American shot upward like a high-speed elevator and didn’t stop until it had reached the altitude cap of one thousand feet.
“And some members of our government supported attacking these people,” the Admiral said shaking his head. “That ship alone could destroy half our fleet.”
Turning to his communications officer, he said, “I hope you got all of that on film.”
“We did, Admiral.”
“Good. The next time the opposition wants to attack America, I have evidence that should teach them the folly of such a course of action.”
However, Jack wasn’t finished with the demonstration. Next, he had a drone operator launch his drone and execute the radical maneuvers that were the pinnacle of Pol’s drone navigation achievements.
“If the fools who’d argued for the attack had had their way, we would have been slaughtered,” the Admiral observed dispassionately.
“Captain, I appreciate the demonstration. I think I understand your motivation in giving us one, and wish to thank you for the consideration.” Jack heard Admiral Banes say over the radio. “My compliments on your ship. Surely that model will soon replace the others among your fleet.”
“You should see the Damroyal, Admiral. At five hundred feet wide and twelve hundred feet long, that ship is the true marvel. We can land the rest of our fleet on her flight deck. The Athens is the newest ship in the fleet. She is a battleship, similar in design to the Constitution, but with improved aerodynamics and a few other capabilities,” Jack informed the admiral.
“A bit of a braggart, isn’t he sir?” the second in command said to the British admiral.
“A braggart you say?” the admiral queried. Shaking his head, he said, “No. The man is simply trying to avert a war between our peoples that we couldn’t possibly win. Naturally, he can’t assume I was being honest with him, anymore than I would make that assumption if our roles were reversed.”
Activating his radio again, Admiral Banes thanked Jack for his assistance with the cruise ship, and then he said goodbye.
“That went well,” Jack said, and then he congratulated everyone on a job well done.
***
“Sergeant Maroney, you are needed in the control room.” Ralph heard the communications officer say over the intercom.
“Get the rest of that gear squared away. I want everything ready in case we need to deploy,” Ralph instructed the men in the cargo bay, and then he headed for the corridor.
“I’m here, Captain,” he said as he strode into the control room.
“Good. You will be deploying. Watch the video at the communications station. It’s only a couple of minutes long.”
The moment the video began, Ralph understood why his team would need to be deployed rather than permit the drones to deal with the problem. The men in the video were moving away from the Ark settlement with numerous female prisoners mixed among them. Apparently, they had found a group of teenaged girls outside the shelters and taken them prisoner. As he watched the video, he saw one of the men point toward the drone and shout a warning. The man then pointed a pistol to the head of one of the girls and shouted a warning that if the drone was still there when he finished counting to three, then he would kill the girl.
“I ordered the drone out of the area at that point,” Evan stated. “Keep watching. There’s something else you need to see.”
Next, the video showed a thin trail snaking through a half-mile wide stretch of woods that bordered the settlement. Beyond those woods sat six cars and trucks that the raiders had flown into the area and parked beside a field of corn that the settlers had evidently planted. On the ground beside the grounded vehicles, lay the body of a guard, who had been left to watch over the raiders’ transports.
“The drone took him out. We’ll land beside the crop and let you boys out. Then we’ll get airborne and out of sight. Your best shot at freeing the hostages is probably going to be along the wooded trail, but that’s your specialty.”
“I agree. We can’t risk letting them get out into the open with their hostages. If they ever get in the vehicles, the odds against us successfully rescuing the prisoners go way up.”
“Remember, I’d like a prisoner or two, if possible, but the safety of the colonists and your team comes first.”
“Understood, Captain. We’ll do our best.”
“I know you will. Get aft. I’ll get us on the ground.”
Ralph ran to the cargo bay. He felt the ship tremble slightly and realized that they had just landed. “Eyes on the door!” he shouted as he entered the bay.
The strike force chambered a round and aimed at the opening as the door began to descend. Upon Ralph’s command, the entire strike team exited the ship.
Ralph briefed the men as the ship lifted off and flew away at a slow speed. It only took a few moments for them to understand what they were up against. “This should be a lot like the training missions we ran,” one of the men observed.
“Yeah, except this time the bad guys are using real bullets, and those are real people they have taken prisoner. Now pipe down and let’s get in the woods and get set up,” Ralph ordered.
The eleven man strike team went about forty yards into the woods and then they began to spread out along both sides the trail, finding places of concealment in the forest.
Ten minutes went by before Ralph heard the first of the raiders moving along the trail. “They’ll probably have one of those little robot things waiting when we leave the woods,” Ralph heard one of the men grumble as he moved along the trail.
A good twenty seconds elapsed as the men and their prisoners continued to file past
, but then they stopped coming.
While watching the video, Ralph had counted the number of people present in the group. He knew that the same number of people had just filed past his location. What he didn’t know was whether or not the raiders had left guards along the trail as they had moved out into the open to secure their prisoners. If that were the case, then he could step out onto the trail and find others coming up from behind him. Therefore, he waited several seconds after the last man walked by before moving to enter the trail and creep up behind the rear guard. He was just about to grab that man to subdue him when his entire unit attacked. They attacked the raiders from both sides of the woods, shooting most of the men in the heads with their silenced pistols. One peacekeeper had launched his body into a raider and was struggling with him on the ground. Ralph tackled the raider before him as the man raised his rifle to shoot the peacekeeper who was fighting with the other raider. The strike team leader landed atop his opponent and slammed the butt of his pistol into the back of the man’s head, hard.
Ralph hurried to reassure the terrified young women that they were peacekeepers who had come to rescue them. The strike team leader reported the successful completion of the mission and requested the return of the Athens. He had his men search the dead raiders for any documentation they might have carried on them, and then they returned to the clearing where they had entered the woods. Once there, he had his team search the vehicles for evidence.
Doctor Helen Sanchez was waiting in the cargo bay when the strike team escorted the women and their two prisoners inside. Once she was satisfied that the young women were not in need of her services, she turned her attention to the two prisoners. She frowned as she examined the head wounds on the man that Ralph had subdued. “A bit overzealous weren’t you, Sergeant?” she asked.
“It couldn’t be helped. He was sighting on John with a rifle at the time. He’s lucky I didn’t put a bullet in his head,” Ralph explained.
“I see,” she said in a noncommittal tone of voice.
***
“They steadfastly refused to answer any questions concerning their base or how they came to locate the Ark settlement,” Evan reported to Jim when they met for a briefing aboard the Athens. They were in the mess hall sitting at a corner table. “But then I separated them and waited for an hour before talking to one of the men. I told him the other man had already told me everything in exchange for his freedom and that we were preparing to execute him. He started talking then. He wanted the same deal and said he knew more than the other guy.”
“Once he talked, I used the information he gave me to assist in the interrogation of the other prisoner. He corroborated the first guy’s story. These guys were trying to join the group of air raiders. They were recruited by one of the members, but had to prove that they were worthy by attempting a raid on the Arkansas base, and supplying a half dozen young women captives.”
“But their raid on the base was a failure,” Jim interjected.
“That wouldn’t have mattered if they could have supplied the women. It’s public knowledge someone attempted the raid, and the recruiter just wanted proof they had the guts to try it,” Evan explained.
“They stumbled across the Ark settlement when they were running from the fighters and thought they’d found a secret peacekeeper base. They decided to try to raid it.”
“That was when they saw the girls who were out enjoying a picnic beside the small pond. They took them captive, but then we arrived and stopped them,” Evan explained.
“Do they know the location of the base?”
Evan shook his head. “Both men indicated that they were told they would be escorted to the base, if and when they were accepted, and that no one outside the air pirates ranks knew the location.”
“Air pirates? Is that what they call themselves?” Jim asked.
“Yes,” Evan replied. “I think they are made up of the Europeans that sailed with the armada we fought. Both of the men we captured thought their contact was Irish. They said he spoke with a heavy accent.”
“Congratulations, on a job well done, son,” Jim said.
“Thank you. My men deserve the credit. They carried out the mission flawlessly.”
“I’ll be sure to speak to them before I leave,” Jim promised.
Frowning, Evan said, “Will you be taking the prisoners off my hands?”
“No. We’ll turn them over to the colony for punishment. They have already contacted me and requested permission to administer justice on the men who raided their settlement.”
Evan’s frown deepened. “I’m not sure I like that, Dad.”
“I’m sure you don’t, but they have the right. This is their jurisdiction. You know they were granted charters to form their colony, and the charter spells out their right to police the area as they see fit within reason.”
“Is it reasonable for them to just execute the men?”
“What would you do if they had kidnapped your child or wife?”
“I know, but still...”
“They are well within their rights to execute the men, if they choose to do so, and they well may. However, it’s my understanding that they will give the men two options. They will be executed, or they can serve seven years indentured service for their crimes. At the end of their seven years of service, they will be released. By then, the community will be strong enough to deal with any potential threat they would pose.”
“That’s fair,” Evan stated.
“I think it’s foolish of them to offer the deal. The men will probably be more trouble than they are worth, and they will tie up as much manpower guarding them, as the raiders give back to the community. But they want to try it to see if it’s a viable alternative to execution. I can understand that desire. I’ve long wished that we had an option.”
Looking at his watch, Jim said, “I guess I’d better speak to your strike team and then we’ll turn the prisoners over to the colony officials. I need to get back on the hunt for the base.”
“There aren’t any new leads?” Evan inquired.
“Nothing that pans out. We thought we had a good lead with three of the Reager Industries flying houses. The customer ordered some custom electrical work. We arranged to track them to a remote area, and then converged on the location.” Jim paused in his narration, and then he shook his head in disgust. “Would you believe it was an RV trailer park out in the middle of nowhere? Well it was. They wanted the special hookups to link to each vehicle separately. They were wiring the links when we arrived.”
“Well, having a mobile power source for an RV camp sort of makes sense,” Evan stated. We’ll find them eventually. Something solid will turn up. It always does.”
“I know, but every moment lost gives the enemy time to strengthen their defensive position with laser emplacements.”
***
Photo by Robert L McCullough Noël Baba’s Fotos, Weatherford, TX
“Get those last electrical circuits disconnected so we can get underway,” Edward Giovanni, one of the Warlord’s trusted lieutenants, said to the men at the RV encampment. “The boss wants us to make good time tonight and set up again for the day tomorrow.”
“Will we hook up to the houses when we stop?” asked one of the men who was disconnecting the wiring.
“No. If the peacekeepers pay us another visit, we’ll just say we drove all night and were resting before beginning that task.”
“I doubt they’ll inspect us again. They seemed disgusted that they had found an RV camp,” the electrician stated with a grin, which indicated he found the discomfiture of the peacekeepers amusing.
“That was the plan,” Edward said. We’ll travel by night and park at sunup for a few days. If we see no sign of the peacekeepers, then we’ll head straight for the base.”
Chapter 11
Evan gave Corporal Dutton their next destination in the form of a set of coordinates. The pilot plotted his new heading and soon the Athens left the latest of the Ark settlements tha
t they had visited over a four-day period of time.
In the wake of the raid at the Arkansas base, the council had felt it prudent to check in on the settlements, despite the stories that the two prisoners had revealed. Those men, now indentured servants in Arkansas, could have lied about the way that they had located the colony. Therefore, exercising an abundance of caution, the council sent Evan and his ship to check on the colonies, inform them of the raid on one of the ark sites, and warn them to be vigilant. Evan was asked to go because the Constitution was chasing down a lead in West Virginia and the Arizona was still patrolling the Atlantic. That left Evan as the only captain available who had been to all of the sites. The secrecy orders had not changed, nor would they be altered, so long as the sky raiders were running amok.
Since he was going to be there anyway, Pol asked Evan to check to see that all of the buildings were functioning properly. The scientist specifically requested that he download copies of the operational logs for study. Those logs could potentially point to any problems that might arise with the power generation and usage. With winter on the way, none of the settlements could afford malfunctions or breakdowns. Evan was also advised to check with each settlement to ensure that they had adequate stores of food and medicine, as well as a safe and reliable water supply.
The peacekeeper council was taking no chances with the safety of the ark communities. Although they were no longer considered critical to the survival of the human race, they were still considered an important experiment in repopulating the nation. If these pilot programs worked, Jim and the rest of the council had tentative plans to begin other similar programs from the general population of survivors who were struggling for existence. They considered surviving this first winter a litmus test of sorts. If the colonies did well, then the plans would proceed in the spring.