by Ricky Sides
When the Athens was within twenty minutes of the Tennessee Ark site, Evan had Ralph summoned to the control room. He explained that he would appreciate it if the strike team leader would inform John Harrelson that they were about to land at the site where his former girlfriend, Karen, now lived with her family. He requested the Ralph clear him off any duty schedule for the duration of their stay, which he expected to be just a few hours.
“He’ll be happy to hear that. I heard him talking with some of the guys yesterday. He is excited about the prospects of seeing her, but half expects to learn that she has found someone else within her community.”
“That’s always a possibility. When we set them up, they had no way to know with certainty whether they’d ever see us again,” Evan conceded. Thinking about it for a moment, he added, “Ask a couple of your men he’s friendly with to sort of keep an eye on him. They should make sure he doesn’t get violent with the new guy, if there is one. Ask them to be discreet.”
“I think I know who to approach. I’ll see to it, Captain.”
“Good. Let’s not create an incident. By their charters, the community could demand justice.”
When Ralph left, Evan turned to the communications officer and said, “Send the standard message.”
“Aye, Captain,” the officer replied, and then he sent the message that friends and family were coming for dinner. That message would inform the community that a peacekeeper vessel was within fifteen minutes of arriving at the settlement. The standard reply was the bread is in the oven. That response usually took no more than a minute to reach the ship. This time, after a three-minute wait, the radio operator informed the captain that there had been no response.
“Send it again,” Evan ordered.
Three minutes later, when there was no response, Evan said, “Patch me into the intercom.”
“Done, sir,” the communications man replied a moment later.
“Strike team leader, the colony is not responding. Gear up for deployment now. We are less than ten minutes out.”
“Yes, Captain,” Ralph responded. In the background, Evan heard the sounds of men running and knew they would be rushing to get into their full combat gear.
“Corporal Dutton, see if you can’t get us there a little faster,” Evan ordered. He was beginning to have a bad feeling about this. All of the ark colonies maintained a careful watch of their sophisticated radio systems because any organized attack might begin with messages referencing the settlement.
“Decelerating for the final approach, Captain,” reported the pilot.
“Bring us to drone operational altitude.”
“Done, Captain,” the pilot reported twenty seconds later.
“Launch all drones,” Evan ordered.
“Drones away,” the drone tactical officer reported. “All ten are functioning properly,” he added.
“Send eight on ahead to scout the area. Reserve two to guard the bay door, but mind the airspace,” the captain ordered. “Helm, bring us to an altitude of four hundred feet.”
When the pilot confirmed the new altitude, Evan activated the intercom and said, “Hawk, you are a go to launch your fighter wing. Your orders are to be ready for anything. Stay near the Athens for the moment.”
“They are already in their birds, sir,” Ralph reported from the cargo bay. “Hawk just launched. Give us two minutes to clear the bay before executing hard turns,” Ralph instructed.
“Will do,” the pilot said so that the captain would know he had noted the instructions.
“Captain, you’d better take a look at the video feed from this drone,” the tactical officer reported, and then he ordered the other drones to back off and search the area around the settlement thoroughly.
“Damn,” Evan swore softly as he stared at the monitor. He walked over to the communications station and activated the intercom. “Doctor Sanchez, prep your medical team for emergency treatment.”
Turning to the communications officer, he said, “Get Hawk and two fighters to the settlement now. They are to begin a spiral search pattern, but do not fire unless they are fired upon. There may be friendlies on the ground in hiding.”
“What sort of medical situation are we going to be dealing with, Captain?” asked the doctor over the intercom.
“Mass casualties,” he responded. “Their condition at this point is unknown.”
“We’re on it, sir,” she responded.
“Sergeant, we’ll be there in moments. You should be ready for anything, and make it full hard gear.”
“We’re ready, sir,” Ralph said
“Communications, Contact the Valiant and the Peacekeeper. Tell them the Tennessee eggs are broken.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Captain, I think you should see this,” the tactical officer said.
Evan turned and walked at a rapid pace to stand beside the tactical officer, who was in turn standing behind a drone operator. On the monitor, Evan saw a man who had been tied to a pole that had been thrust into the ground. A short crossbar had been attached to the vertical shaft. It passed beneath the man’s arms to hold him upright. His hands were tied to his sides by a rope that wrapped around his waist and stomach. A sign had been fashioned out of a piece of wood and hung around his neck with a piece of rope. On the sign, painted a garish tone of red, was the slogan, “Death to all peacekeepers.”
“Sir, the Admiral just reported that we are to say nothing further on the radio, and that he is en route. The Peacekeeper is hailing us now. One moment please,” requested the radio operator.
Moments later, he said goodbye to the Peacekeeper, and then he said, “Captain Wilison of the Peacekeeper says that they are close, and will arrive within an hour.”
“Captain, we have a visual on the settlement,” the pilot informed Evan. Seconds later, he added, “Oh my god. It was a massacre.”
Evan already knew that. He had since the first drone images were brought to his attention. “Land beside the bodies, but be careful not to land on them.”
“Yes, Captain,” Corporal Dutton responded.
The moment that the cargo bay door touched the surface, Ralph and his team exited. He left two snipers to guard the door. They would be aided by two of the drones that were hovering near the entrance.
It seemed to Ralph that everywhere he looked, he saw bodies. “Medics, check for survivors,” he ordered. He then led his remaining team members in a search of the settlement buildings.
The storage building was completely empty of all supplies, but there were no people inside it. Next, they checked one of the two Quonset huts that served as living quarters. The building appeared to have been looted. Personal possessions of little value beyond the sentimental had been strewn about as the raiders searched for valuables.
Then they entered the remaining building that had been reserved as living quarters. They found it in disarray, as had been the case with the others.
“Document everything, but touch nothing in this building. Remember, they could have left traps,” Ralph ordered the man who was carrying a camera. “The rest of you get back outside and help the medics.”
Ralph had just exited that room when he heard shouting coming from the left. Looking in that direction, he saw Harvey motioning for some of the men to come to him. He was standing beside the man who was tied to the stake.
“This man’s alive!” Harvey shouted. “I need help to get him down!”
It took the combined efforts of several of the men to get the wounded man down off the stake. He had been tied in place with strong pieces of nylon rope. Once they had the hapless man tied to the stake, the raiders had then stabbed him in the left side and left him to die a slow and painful death.
Inside the Athens, Evan received Ralph’s report as the doctor tried to save the wounded man. “I assume he was a Tennessee peacekeeper, because he has a tattoo of the outline of the state of Tennessee with the word Peacekeeper inside it on his left forearm,” Ralph said in conclusion.
“That expl
ains the special plans they made for his death. They wanted to send a message,” Evan explained.
Ralph frowned and replied, “They succeeded. I’ll never forget the sight or the bodies they left behind.”
“Sir, the Peacekeeper is coming in for a landing. Their captain wants to meet with you for a briefing. He is requesting permission to come aboard ASAP,” stated the communications officer.
“I’ll be expecting him. Thank you,” Evan responded. He looked at Ralph and said, “Make certain the Captain is covered by security between the ships and increase the exterior guards at the bay door.”
“Yes, Captain,” Ralph replied and then he turned and hurried out of the control room.
***
“The Valiant is still three hours out. I’ll stay here with the bodies. You need to get the wounded man to the Damroyal. That’s probably the best medical facility in the country these days, and you have the fastest ship in the fleet,” Tim instructed. “For now, tell your crew to keep this quiet. We may have to evacuate the other colonies, and we don’t need a lot of radio chatter about the massacre until we have been able to get a handle on the situation.”
“I understand,” Evan stated. “Should I leave my fighter wing with you for backup?”
“No. I don’t think the raiders are still in the area, and Jim will probably want your ship involved in warning the other settlements so you’ll need your fighters to provide cover.”
“Under the circumstances, it would probably be best to evacuate them. I don’t understand how the raiders are finding the colonies. They were a closely guarded secret,” Evan observed thoughtfully.
“I don’t know, but you can bet that’s a question that your dad’s going to be asking too. You have a safe flight. I’m going to get Pol and Patricia to examine the communications gear. Maybe they can find an answer,” Tim said, and then he shook hands with Evan and left.
Evan recalled the strike force and the drones to the ship, and then he ordered the pilot to take them up to four hundred feet. Once the fighters landed and they had been secured, he ordered Corporal Dutton to set a course for the Damroyal at minimal acceleration because the doctor was working to save her patient and any sudden jolts could cost the man his life.
On the ground, Tim watched as the massive battleship left the area at a gentle rate of acceleration. He knew that inside the ship, Doctor Sanchez was working to stabilize the lone survivor they’d found at the settlement. It was vital the patient survive since he was the only witness who could provide a detailed account of what had transpired at the settlement. He was in critical condition and the doctor had warned both captains that the man would most likely die unless they got him to Maggie, who was still the best trauma care specialist in the fleet.
Beside Tim, Pol said, “Shall we see what we can learn from the communications equipment?”
“I’ve got Sergeant Thompson and a couple of his men checking the communications room now,” Tim responded.
“You think they left traps?” asked Pol.
“It wouldn’t surprise me,” Tim said.
Pol was about to reply when the door to one of the buildings opened and Sergeant David Thompson walked out with something small in his cupped hands. “Everyone, stay back,” shouted one of the men who had exited the building a step behind the strike team leader.
David walked away from the building into an open field. When he was a good two hundred feet from everyone else, he stopped and threw what he was holding as hard as he could and then he dove to the ground, covering his face and neck with his arms.
A loud explosion shattered the silence. Bits of debris rained down on the sergeant, but he was unharmed. Getting to his feet, he shouted, “Everyone who is not involved in the booby trap search, stop what you’re doing and go back aboard the Peacekeeper.” When the men were slow to respond to the order, he shouted louder as he said, “Now!”
The strike team leader approached Tim and said, “They placed a booby trap in the communications room. I have to assume that they may have also rigged traps in other places. The bodies would be a likely place.”
“Yes, that makes sense, but you’d think they would have placed a trap on or near the man they tied to the stake,” Pol interjected.
“Not if they wanted to ensure that we get the message they left on him,” Tim disagreed. “And someone went to a lot of trouble to leave that message.”
Turning to the sergeant, he said, “Check the communications room carefully. See if you can find a tape or log of the recent communications. We need to know how the raiders located this settlement, and I’m betting the communications room will give us at least a partial answer to that question. Patricia will need the communications computer too.”
“I’ll get on that as soon as you and Pol are back aboard the ship, sir,” David stated in a firm tone of voice.
“All right, Sergeant. Be careful in there,” Tim said, and then he headed back into the ship with Pol.
***
The Valiant settled to the ground beside the Peacekeeper as the sun was setting. When he exited his ship, Jim stared at the neat row of bodies that the strike team had cleared as being free of traps.
His brother walked down the ramp of his ship to greet him. “It’s a sad sight isn’t it?” Tim asked in a quiet tone of voice.
“Yes it is, and it was so senseless. There was no need for the raiders to kill most of these people. They were obviously noncombatants.”
“I know. Only nine of the twenty-seven bodies here is that of a former peacekeeper. The rest are old men and women. According to what we’ve learned based on the ark registry information, they were the oldest members of the settlement.”
Jim nodded his understanding. “It was like that when Bill was tracking our impersonators right before we went into seclusion too.” Jim turned to look inside the cargo bay of the Peacekeeper. “Have Patricia and Pol had any luck determining how the raiders found this colony?”
“They think they found something. They were telling me about it as you came in for a landing. I don’t know the details, but it had something to do with a distress call,” Tim explained.
“That sounds promising.”
“I think they found the answer. They were still working the problem when I came outside.”
“Does your team need help clearing the rest of the facility and the bodies? My guys are fresh.”
“I’ll ask,” Tim said.
“We’d be grateful for the assistance,” David responded to Tim’s question, so Jim had his strike team leader coordinate with the sergeant.
Once they entered the Peacekeeper, Jim felt a moment of nostalgia brought on by memories of his past aboard her. He walked the deck where once he had strolled with Lacey as they’d watched Evan scamper around in play, or paced with Pete as they discussed the latest crisis that they had to confront. They were gone now. Lacey and Pete were dead, and Evan had his own ship. Soon, he’d have his own child to watch over aboard that ship.
Tim saw the melancholy look in his brother’s eyes and wished there was something he could do to moderate Jim’s sadness, but he knew that there wasn’t. He dealt with it as well.
Cookie met the brothers outside his galley and handed each a strong cup of his coffee. Jim took his with a smile and thanked the cook for his thoughtfulness.
In the control room, they found Patricia and Pol still at work on the logbook and the computer that the strike team had recovered from the communications room. Sergeant Thompson had brought those items aboard the Peacekeeper for the scientists.
Pol was working on decoding the logbook. The radio operator’s entries were in a form of shorthand that Patricia had taught all of her trainees, who had in turn passed it down to theirs.
Patricia was working on the computer system that was integrated into the sophisticated radio equipment that each ark settlement had been given to ensure a line of communication was available during emergencies.
After greeting the two scientists, Jim asked, “
What have you got?”
“Nothing from the computer. It just logged the messages, and alerted the operator,” Patricia explained. “But Pol found the answers in the log book.”
Pol nodded and said, “Four days ago, the computer alerted the colony radio operator to a distress call going out on a channel. He switched the set to that channel. A man claiming that he was lost in a flying car with a low charge to its battery was requesting assistance. According to the log, the operator asked the man to describe his location, which was over a lake fifteen miles south of here.”
“The radio operator then gave the man directions to reach the settlement. When he arrived, he was fed while his car recharged and they gave him a detailed flight plan to get him back home to Nashville, Tennessee, which was where he claimed he lived.”
“He left without incident. That is all that the logs show, but I think it is obvious that the man was probably a scout for raiders who was looking for isolated groups that they could attack for their possessions and, apparently, slaves as well,” Pol explained.
“Did you warn the other ark sites?” Jim asked, alarmed that they might also fall for such a simple, but effective subterfuge.
“Coded, so that even if the enemy could break our encryption, they wouldn’t know what it meant,” Patricia acknowledged.
“I think we should warn them to ignore all distress signals not coming from a peacekeeper vessel,” Jim said.
“I do not like that idea, but I must confess that I can think of no better option,” Pol stated.
“Send it,” Tim said to Patricia. “I don’t like it either, but at this point, I see no reasonable alternative.”
“Should we evacuate the settlements to the Damroyal?” asked Pol.
“This is the second colony to come under attack by the raiders in a matter of days. Yes, I think we should,” Jim observed.
“They won’t like it. From what Evan learned during his visits, they are adjusting to their isolated communities and won’t want to give them up,” Tim observed.
“Then we can give them the facts and let them make informed decisions,” Jim said.