by Ricky Sides
Chapter 15
The guards at the air pirate base saw the three flying houses coming toward them and alerted the Warlord, who was eating his evening meal at the time. “It’s about time,” Bannister said irritably. “I want to see Giovanni the moment they land. He’d better have a good reason for being so late and not answering the radio calls. Tell him I said to get here first thing. He can eat and grab a woman later.”
“I’ll tell him what you said,” the guard replied, and then he left to go out into the bowl and await the landing of the houses.
However, the houses didn’t land. In fact, they stopped a full quarter mile from the base and just hovered there in the sky.
Twenty minutes passed as the Warlord finished eating. Wondering what was keeping Giovanni; Banister angrily got to his feet and walked out into the bowl. He saw a group of guards staring at the houses, which, he noted in the afternoon twilight, had stopped short of the base. “What the problem?” he demanded of the guards when he reached them.
“We don’t know, sir,” replied one of the guards. “They just stopped out there. We haven’t seen anyone come outside either.”
“Take a truck. Put some men in the back and go see what the hell is going on with them,” ordered the Warlord.
***
Photo by Robert L McCullough Noël Baba’s Fotos, Weatherford, TX
The west side of the mountain bowl where the air pirates had established their base had a grade of about forty-five degrees. Evan had ordered his pilot to fly the ship up that grade so that they could approach the top of the cliff unobserved. There was only one problem. There was a fifty-foot wide gorge in the mountain that they would have to cross, and when they did, they would be clearly visible to anyone in the bowl who happened to be looking in their direction.
The Athens took advantage of the distraction, provided by the appearance of the flying houses, and flew across the gorge while the raiders were distracted. Next, the ship flew up and over the top of the cliff in the back of the bowl. The pilot flew the ship just feet above the surface of the top of the cliff. He kept the big vessel far enough from the edge that the people on the ground inside the bowl couldn’t see it.
“I think I see the ventilation holes, sir,” the pilot reported.
“Good. Get us within fifty yards of the shafts and land,” Evan said. Turning to the communications officer, he added, “When we land, tell the strike team they are to proceed with their mission.”
“Captain, we’re down,” the pilot reported.
“I think that is the smoothest landing you’ve managed yet. Congratulations, Corporal.”
“Thank you, sir,” the corporal said, pleased that the captain had noticed.
“The strike team leader says that they have deployed, sir,” the communications officer stated.
“Thank you. Get me Hawk on the radio.”
Less than a minute later, the radio operator confirmed that the captain could now communicate with the squadron leader. “Give me some good news,” Evan said hopefully.
“I wish I could, sir, but the birds we were hoping to see aren’t at the location.”
“Well, keep a sharp eye out for them. Maybe they are off elsewhere feeding at the moment.”
“Will do. I’ll send you a picture if I see one.”
Evan and the squadron leader were speaking in a prearranged code because it was possible that the enemy had broken their encryption. The squadron leader had just told Evan that the stolen aircraft weren’t in the bowl, and Evan had cautioned him to maintain a careful watch because the three fighters could be out on a mission. If that were the case, they could return at any moment. Evan’s plan was to have his squadron destroy the enemy fighters the moment the fighting started.
Hawk and two of the other fighter pilots had taken positions overlooking the bowl from which they could launch preemptive attacks on the enemy aircraft. If the enemy pilots had mastered the targeting system, then those stolen aircraft would be the most dangerous threat. Their lasers were more powerful than the smaller drone units that they had learned to manufacture, and the air raiders had yet to master the flexible targeting system of the peacekeeper aircraft.
In the Athens, Evan asked, “Is there any word from Sergeant Maroney yet?”
“No, sir, but I was about to inform you that the engineer just called to report that the winches are functioning well.”
“Thank you. That’s good news,” Evan stated. He hated having to wait in the ship. He would much rather have been with one of the teams being winched down to contact the prisoners.
“They had no problems identifying the correct shafts?” Evan asked.
“Specialist Sparks said that they found the pear-shaped shaft easily enough. The heart-shaped shaft was a bit more difficult, but they found it. The support frames are handling the weight well, and the high speed winches are performing as well as he thought they would.”
***
Ralph slid down the rough stone of the shaft, activating his night vision goggles as he went. He had entered the pear shaped entrance, which was supposedly the one that led to the women’s confinement area.
The prisoner had explained that the shaft dropped at a steep angle for about sixty feet before leveling out to form a tunnel. Ralph thought it had to be close to a seventy-five degree angle, which wasn’t quite straight down, but it didn’t miss it by much. It was roughly round in shape, and varied from three to about four feet in diameter.
When he reached the leveled out section, Ralph used his radio to signal the operator to stop. He disconnected his harness from the cable and signaled for it to be taken back up in order to lower the next man. One by one, his team of four men descended into the bowels of the mountain to attempt a rescue.
Ralph knew that Harvey was leading the rest of the strike force on a similar mission in the other shaft, but he didn’t dare use his radio to check on that team for fear that the enemy might intercept the conversation. Even using them to signal the winch men to start and stop the winches was a risk, but the risk couldn’t be avoided.
Checking to see that all of the men were ready, Ralph nodded in satisfaction, and then he pointed down the horizontal tunnel that they needed to traverse next. That passageway ranged from about four feet in height to just under five. As far as Ralph could see through the passage, it was roughly oblong in shape, and appeared to vary in width from four to seven feet.
The strike team leader took point and moved out with his men behind him. He followed the passageway for a good ten minutes before he finally saw light at the end of the tunnel. Switching off the night vision goggles, he waited a moment for his eyes to adjust, and then he moved out once more.
Ralph got down on his stomach and crawled the last few feet. Looking out into the compartment, he saw a chamber about seventy feet in diameter that had a low ceiling. Numerous makeshift pallets were on the floor where several prisoners slept. Other women stood here and there in the room talking softly. There were no men in sight, but there were several screened off sections from which Ralph heard the sounds of what he thought was heavy breathing.
Glancing over the edge, Ralph saw that the floor of the chamber was only about six feet below the edge of the tunnel. Now, the only thing that stood between the team and the prisoners was the heavy metal grate.
Now came the first tough part of the mission. Ralph had to get that grate open and it was padlocked. He glanced around the chamber, saw no one was looking in his direction, and then he pulled a pair of bolt cutters from the bag he had carried with him on the mission. Ralph had one of the other men come up beside him. That man would hold the chain to prevent it from falling to the floor of the chamber and betraying their presence.
It was hard work with the short handled bolt cutters, but Ralph managed to cut through a link of the chain, and his partner threaded it through the grating, making a minimum of noise as he pulled into the passageway and laid it on the floor beside him.
Ralph pushed open the door. His p
artner covered the sergeant as he turned his body around and exited the tunnel feet first. Landing lightly on his feet, Ralph stepped away from the drop zone and drew his pistol. He covered the rest of his men as they entered the chamber.
The sergeant watched John carefully. He was happy to see that the peacekeeper was behaving in a professional manner. He had almost left him in the ship, because he was afraid the man might snap in the slave quarters, but so far, John had shown no inclination to go off half-cocked. Now came the moment of truth. The area where the tunnel ended at the chamber was considerably darker than the rest of the chamber. However, the moment the men stepped into the light to reach the partitioned sections, they would be illuminated for all to see.
Glancing to the right, Ralph saw the exterior entrance to the slave quarters. It was about forty feet away. There were no visible guards, but he couldn’t rule out the possibility that some might be in the makeshift elevator.
Taking a deep breath, the strike team leader walked into the light casually, as if he belonged in the room. The women saw him and the rest of his team as they stepped forward. Those who were standing moved to their crude pallets and sat down. Ralph thought that they were hoping to escape the selection process of the men. Most lowered their faces. They apparently thought that he and his men were raiders.
Their reaction suited Ralph’s purpose. The men moved past the women and lined up beside the four partitioned off sections. When they were all ready, they entered the little alcoves simultaneously. There were a couple of surprised shouts, but those were soon stilled by the silenced weapons of the team.
When Ralph entered the alcove, he saw a raider atop one of the women. The man raised his upper body and turned his head to face Ralph, who shot him between the eyes. “Get dressed. We’re here to rescue you,” Ralph said to the woman after he pulled the body of the raider off her. He could see that she had been crying. “Be as quiet as you can. We have a long way to go before you’re safe,” he added.
When he exited the alcove, Ralph saw John holding a weeping Karen in his arms. He saw that someone had wrapped a blanket around the woman and assumed that she had been rescued from one of the alcoves. “Get her dressed, Private,” Ralph said to John. “We have to get out of here before we’re discovered.”
The next forty minutes seemed to last an eternity to Ralph. He was certain that they would be located before they could get all of the prisoners pulled up through the ventilation shaft, but they eventually managed. Then his men began to get transported out. Ralph was the last man to be pulled out of the shaft.
***
While Ralph and Harvey led the strike teams on the rescue mission, Evan was watching the commotion in the air raider camp as they discovered that there was no one inside the houses. He knew they would be puzzled as to how the flying homes had arrived. The truth was simple. The ten drone operators of the Athens had used their drones to push them to the area. The operation had been carefully timed to coincide with the growing darkness. When the raiders sent a party to examine the houses, the drones had been flown away in the darkness because Evan’s plan called for the enemy to remain unaware of the presence of the peacekeepers until they had successfully completed the rescue mission, unless the enemy fighters were present. Those air assets were considered so dangerous that they would be attacked the moment they were spotted coming into the area.
Twenty minutes elapsed as the air raiders sought to bring the houses the rest of the way to the base. Evan smiled in satisfaction, because he knew there was no way they would be able to fly the ships using their control interface. The engineer had disabled those flight controls, so the raiders would need to hook tethers to the houses and tow them to their base. All of that took time, and served as a distraction, which was what Evan wanted to accomplish.
Disabling the flight controls wasn’t the only precaution they had taken. Gene had also all but depleted the batteries of the houses in case it became necessary to permit the air raiders to hook them up to the base defenses while the rescue was in progress. The last thing Evan wanted to do was to engage in a shooting war while the strike team was trying to get the people they were rescuing inside the ship.
“Captain, the cook just reported that the first of the prisoners are coming in now. He says they look half starved and some of them are in obvious need of medical treatment.”
“Send Doctor Sanchez and her assistants to the cargo bay,” Evan instructed the communications officer.
Evan wanted to go aft and see the progress being made, but he didn’t dare leave the control room at that critical moment. He needed to be there in case things changed so that he could authorize the appropriate response.
As if to emphasize the importance of his presence, the communications officer said, “Sir, Hawk says the three birds he has been hoping to see just flew into view.” A moment later, she added, “He says they are breaking off their approach and executing a spiral search pattern. He is asking permission to engage at the right moment.”
“Tell him to hold off as long as possible, so that the recovery teams can complete their mission with the least possible complications, but keep those birds from harming the ground personnel.”
Now it became a race against time. Their discovery by the spiraling enemy fighters was inevitable.
“Message sent, sir.”
“Good, now contact the two team leaders. Tell them discovery is imminent. Advise them to get those eggs in the basket,” Evan stated, again referring to the code they had worked out for messages.
He stared out the window as he sometimes did when formulating plans. Seconds elapsed as the communications officer relayed the messages to the team leaders. “Captain, both teams reported that they are going as fast as they can. The women are all out and inside the ship, but the strike team is still being retrieved. Most of the male prisoners are now inside the ship. There are three remaining with the team in the ventilation shaft. They are estimating ten to twelve minutes needed to complete the extraction.”
“Then we’ll just have to give them the time they need,” Evan responded. “Thank you for the report.”
Turning to the drone operators, he said, “Attack the houses. When the enemy fighters respond, lead them a few miles away from the base and then turn on them.”
Evan then contacted Hawk and advised him to take his wingman and circle around the mountain. His mission was to take out the enemy fighters that would be engaging the drones.
Just when he thought everything was going to turn out well, one of the remaining fighter pilots reported that there was some sort of a commotion ensuing in the bowl. He sent a video feed of what was transpiring. It soon became apparent to Evan that the enemy was now aware that the prisoners had escaped. He watched as a band of men entered one of the makeshift elevators and rode it to the entrance to the cave he had been informed contained the female prisoners.
“Inform team two that they had better hurry. The enemy is aware that the women have escaped, and they are certain to check on the men next,” ordered Evan.
***
In the dark confines of the shaft, Harvey looked grimly at the four men who had accompanied him on the mission and informed them of what he had just learned.
“Someone’s coming down the shaft,” reported one of the men.
“What? That’s not supposed to happen,” Harvey stated in surprise.
A moment later, a pair of boots appeared as Ralph was lowered into the shaft. He disconnected his harness from the cable and said, “Medic, you’re needed at the ship to assist with the injured former prisoners. The medical staff is overwhelmed. I’m relieving you, so get topside and report to the cargo bay for triage duty.”
As Harvey attached the cable to his harness, Ralph grabbed the stun grenade off his web belt. “I may need this,” he explained as Harvey tugged three times on the cable to let the winch operator know to begin the extraction.
“Good luck, guys,” Harvey said as the winch began to pull him up the shaft.
/> Ralph turned and went the few yards to the first turn in the passageway. Unlike the one to the women’s confinement area, which was relatively straight, the passage in this section made several sharp turns. From his position there, he could see the men being extracted. He could also turn his head and look down the next length of the tunnel until it turned again about fifteen yards away.
The strike team leader was determined to buy them the time they needed. Both he and Harvey had carried a stun grenade with them when they had begun the mission. He didn’t like the prospect of using it in the confines of the passageway, but he would if that was what it took to get his team to safety.
The minutes ticked by slowly as other members of the team were extracted. Soon, only Ralph and one man remained in the subterranean passage. Ralph saw a flicker of light on the wall of the tunnel and knew that someone was following it to the extraction point. He pulled the pin from the stun grenade, but held the spoon in place. He motioned for the other man to remain quiet.
“I’m going up, Sergeant,” the corporal whispered as he tugged on the cable.
Ralph looked around in time to see the man begin his ascent. He knew it would be two to three minutes before the cable would be lowered to retrieve him. It was going to be a long wait, because he could already hear voices as the light grew brighter.
The strike team leader waited until he was almost certain the advancing men had to be just around the turn, and then he released the spoon of the stun grenade and tossed it toward the corner.
Ralph heard startled exclamations from the enemy as he ducked back around the turn. The grenade detonated as he was making his way back to the extraction point. The explosion was louder than he had expected, and he heard a rumbling sound that scared the hell out of him, because he thought the passageway was collapsing. Then he was enveloped by a plume of dust, which went racing through the ventilation shaft.