Inside the other jumper, Alice was still trying to raise Zelda, while Dorothy was in contact with G2, ordering the A.I. to send a Mayday to the colony and to prepare to move the station if any of those rods were pointed in its direction. As they were powering away from Earth, the impacts from the projectiles were slacking off as the connected jumpers zig-zagged out of the path of the remaining projectiles. Dorothy extended their shields to cover the damaged ship.
“Their radio must have been hit,” Alice said when Dorothy was done bringing G2 up to date.
“Yeah, that’s what I figured. You heard her say Clarice is dead?”
“Maybe she’s mistaken,” Alice hoped.
“I just hope she’s all right. The damn jumper looks like a pincushion. The shields must have been overloaded right from the start. It must have been hit by a dozen of those things to have taken them down so quickly. Ten minutes to the station. G2?”
“Yes, Dorothy. How may I be of assistance?”
“Evacuate the hanger and prepare for emergency restoration of the atmosphere once both jumpers clear the door. Also, shut off the artificial gravity for the hanger deck, I grabbed the other jumper with the magnetic skids. Alice will align and orient it, then you may slowly restore the gravity.”
“Understood. Pumping out the atmosphere, two minutes until completion. Artificial gravity is off for the hanger deck. Standing by.”
Dorothy approached the space station, which G2 had oriented so the hanger door was facing away from the planet. When Dorothy was just outside the hanger entrance she slowed to under a foot per second. She turned the jumpers sideways so she could bring them both inside at once. When the two ships were stationary, Alice released the magnetic skids and with the tractor, nudged the other jumper so its own skids were aligned with the deck, as Dorothy rolled their ship into the same orientation.
“Okay, G2. Slowly bring the gravity up, get us on the deck and get the air back in here!”
The two jumpers drifted to the deck as the hanger door sealed and G2 flooded the compartment with air.
Dorothy and Alice jumped out of their ship and ran over to the other jumper.
“Holy shit!” Alice exclaimed as Dorothy was trying to get the airlock open, but it wouldn’t budge.
“There couldn’t have been any air in there,” said Alice, running to the tool lockers to find anything they could use to pry open the airlock door.
“Grab a sledgehammer, too,” Dorothy said.
When Alice returned with two pry bars and a small sledge, they saw there was no way to pry open the door.
“The viewport, it’s already broken!” Dorothy said, running around to the front of the jumper. “Push that crate over here.”
There were four projectiles sticking out of the hardened material. Dorothy climbed up and started wiggling one of the rods back and forth to get it loose from the shattered viewport.
“Holy shit, these things are heavy!” she grunted.
“They’re depleted uranium and weigh about a hundred kilograms according to Peanut’s report, be careful.”
“I can’t be careful, what if Zelda is hurt?”
“Getting yourself hurt isn’t going to do her any good.”
“Go to hell, Alice—I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it, I’m just worried. Look out!” Dorothy exclaimed as one of the rods clattered to the deck.
“I know. I’m worried too.”
“If I can get these other two pulled out and can bust some of the sharper edges, I can just about crawl inside. Back up, here’s another one.”
“G2?”
“Yes, Alice. How may I be of assistance?”
“Are there any more of those rods inbound?”
“Negative.”
“Thank you, that will be all.”
“Got it! Look out, here comes the last one,” Dorothy said, letting the last rod fall to the deck, she had to pull it from Clarice’s torso. “Hand me the sledge and stand back.”
Seconds later pieces of the viewport were cascading down to the deck as Dorothy kept smashing the edges, enlarging the hole. The sledge fell to the floor as Dorothy wiggled through the hole.
“How’s Zelda?” Alice asked anxiously.
Dorothy was silent for a moment, then called out, “She’s gone. Hang on, I’m coming out.”
When she reached the ground, she hugged Alice, sobbing. After a moment, Dorothy pulled back and wiped tears from her eyes.
“They’re both dead. Clarice was hit with one of the rods and Zelda suffocated when her suit was punctured. The whole interior is torn up, there’s no way the airlock is going to open without destroying the interior door. We lost too much today,” she said, then turned to leave the hanger. When she reached the operations deck she called out, “G2?”
“Yes, Dorothy. How may I be of assistance?”
“Voice message to be sent immediately to Ops back at the colony.”
“Recording.”
“Status report. The launch was unsuccessful. We have casualties. Clarice and Zelda are dead, one jumper appears to be beyond repair. The jumper was hit by over a dozen of the railgun projectiles simultaneously, but the station hasn’t been fired on. Please advise upon receipt and send reinforcements and a ship to carry Clarice, Zelda, and the destroyed jumper home. Dorothy out.”
“Sent. Is there anything else I may assist you with, Dorothy?”
“No, that will be all.”
Alice poked her head into the command deck and let Dorothy know that she would be inspecting the other jumper for any damage.
“I’ll give you a hand,” began Dorothy.
“Not necessary. Why don’t you type up a report to send back and when you’re done, I’m sure we’ll have some guidance on what to do from Ops,” Alice suggested.
* * *
“Colonel?” President Wilcox called out to the ranking officer in the bunker.
“Ma’am?”
“What the hell is going on up there?” she said, pointing to the erratic track of the spacecraft that grabbed the rocket, then let it fall into the ocean.
Just then the phone rang next to Slade.
“Slade here. WHAT? How did you hear this? No, I’ll tell her. Find out everything you can and call me back. Thanks,” he said, then hung up.
“What’s going on?” the President asked.
Slade gestured her closer and softly said, “Archer nearly shot down that spaceship.”
“How the fuck did he do that?”
“Cooper doesn’t know, he’s gathering intel as we speak. But he said it was with all the railguns at once. That’s all he had right now.”
Wilcox banged her fist on the table. “Where is he right now?”
“Cooper thinks he’s still in the Pentagon, in the command center,” Slade replied.
“Son of a bitch. Even if I send a detail over there to pick him up, those nitwits will just deny them access.”
“I do have an idea. It’s risky, but it’s so unexpected that it might work.”
“Spit it out, Nate. I’m not in the mood.”
“As Commander in Chief, you could go over there yourself,” he suggested
Wilcox motioned to her personal agent to join them at the table. “Tanya, how many agents can you scare up right now?”
“For what purpose?”
“I want a protective detail and those S.W.A.T. guys in their truck. I want to go over to the Pentagon and take the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs into custody.”
Agent Tanya Miller busted out in a huge grin, “Hell yeah—Sorry, I mean I believe we can roll in under ten minutes, ma’am.”
Wilcox chuckled, “Things been too quiet around here for you, Tanya?”
“Yes, ma’am. I mean, no ma’am. But if it is the will of the President, then it shall be done,” she replied then moved off to whisper into her sleeve mic.
Everyone in the room saw the defense condition indicator change from three back down to fiv
e.
“You’d better hurry in case he has somewhere he wants to hurry off to,” Slade advised.
“Agent Miller, are we clear down here?” Wilcox asked.
“Yes, ma’am. Your chariot awaits. We can leave as soon as you’re ready.”
When she and Slade exited the White House, Slade laughed. “Looks like you all are loaded for bear.”
“Just taking reasonable precautions. Ma’am, our destination is on ‘close hold.’ only the drivers and the motorcycle escort know our destination. Unfortunately, once we leave the grounds, D.C. Metro will know where we’re going, as will the police force in Arlington. Your entourage is not exactly stealthy, but we should be there in no time.”
“Thank you, Tanya,” Wilcox replied as she and Slade got into her limo.
The trip took less than fifteen minutes. As the motorcade pulled up to the driveway onto the property, there was some momentary confusion about the unscheduled visit by POTUS.
Once inside the building, President Wilcox, Chief of Staff Slade and a contingent of ten Secret Service agents, two in suits, the rest armed to the teeth wearing tactical gear, proceeded to the chairman’s office.
When they burst through the door, the chairman’s secretary jumped up, ready to call for reinforcements to escort out whomever it was who had the temerity to barge in unannounced. When he saw who it was, the colonel straightened up and saluted.
“Madam President, how may I be of assistance?”
“Just don’t get in my way. Is the Chairman inside?”
“Yes, ma’am. He just arrived.”
“Then buzz us in,” she ordered.
When the door opened, General Archer was shocked to see who it was.
“Madam Pre—"
“Save it. Agent Miller, gentlemen, take him into custody.”
Agent Miller pulled a card from her pocket and read. “You have the right to remain silent, if you should you give up the right, anything you say can be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be assigned to you. Do you understand these rights I have just read you?”
“Yeah, just get on with it,” Archer snarled. He then turned to the President and shouted, “And just what am I being charged with?”
“Really? How about attempted murder? Or maybe treason is more like it,” she said, bringing the room to a standstill. “You had better hope you didn’t injure anyone on that colonial spaceship, Wilber, because if you did, I’d just as soon turn you over to them and let them decide your fate. Get this waste of skin out of here and on the way out take your time so as many people see him as possible.”
Agent Miller, once she secured the General’s hands behind him, turned him over to the tactical team.
President Wilcox turned to Slade and Agent Miller, “Why is it always the military?”
Agent Miller replied, “The hammer theory.”
“Everything to them looks like a nail?” Slade asked.
“Correct, sir,” Miller said, smiling.
“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Wilcox said, turning to leave. Right outside the office door she was flanked by four additional agents to escort her out of the building.
* * *
“Christopher?”
“Yes, Genesis. What’s up?”
“You are requested to go to Ops immediately,” replied the A.I.
“Something go wrong with the launch?” he asked hurrying through the corridors and taking the stairs.
“Chuck suggests you wait until you arrive.”
“Very well,” Christopher said, now running full speed as people flattened to the walls of the corridors to let him by.
When he skidded into Ops, he quickly made his way to the knot of people huddled together around one of the communications consoles. Seeing him arrive Chuck said, “Chris is here, run it from the beginning.”
The comm tech restarted the message:
“Status report. The
launch was
unsuccessful. We have
casualties. Clarice and
Zelda are dead, one
jumper appears to be
beyond repair. The
jumper was hit by over
a dozen of the railgun
projectiles
simultaneously, but
the base hasn’t been
fired on. Please advise
upon receipt and send
reinforcements and a
ship to carry Clarice,
Zelda and the
destroyed jumper
home. Dorothy out.”
The room was silent, then Chuck said, “This is a mess. Tell you what, why don’t you let Margaret and the rest of the council know we’re setting out on a rescue mission. I’ll get Doc Long and an engineering team together. How many jumpers do you figure?” Chuck was trying to engage Christopher’s analytical side to try to keep his anger under control.
“Let’s get six of the newly modified jumpers provisioned up and ready to go. I want a replacement crew for the station so we can get Dorothy and Alice back here. I’ll have Peanut get a small repair crew together, maybe four of his engineers. Someone contact Angela and let her know we need six combat-trained pilots and two ferry pilots, tell her to keep Ben off this mission. Have someone get hold of Pat and let her know I need a bag packed for this mission.”
“Whoa there, brother! Who said you were going?” Chuck stopped when he saw the look on Christopher’s face. “Okay, no biggie. You go bring the council up to speed, I’ll get the mission provisioned and ready to go.”
Christopher quickly headed out of Ops to the council’s office. On the way he had Genesis summon Lucius to the council chambers.
Chuck turned to the Ops team, “Make that eight jumpers, and make sure Angela and the rest know that they’re to protect Chris with their lives. Anyone not on board with that can stay behind without prejudice. See if you can get unmarried pilots with no kids. Genesis?”
“Yes, Chuck. How may I be of assistance?”
“Get Peanut on the horn.”
“Yes, Chuck?”
“We need a small repair crew for the Earth station. They were attacked and two of our people are dead.”
“WHAT?”
“Yeah, hold on, I’m on my way.” He turned to the Ops team and was waved off by the officer of the day, “We’ve got this.”
When Chuck arrived in Peanut’s department, he was surprised to see everyone just standing there, waiting for him. Peanut gave Chuck a hug.
“What’s going on?” Peanut asked, pulling back.
“One of the jumpers got shot up with those railguns. The estimate is that over a dozen of the rods hit the jumper at once and overpowered the shields. Clarice and Zelda were killed,” Chuck reported, as the others gasped.
“Who’s riding herd on Chris?” Peanut asked quietly.
“He’s reporting to the council. I don’t think he exactly knows what he’s going to do, but Angela’s leading a squadron of eight upgraded jumpers to the station. I want you all to think about what we need to bring to make sure our people are safe in the future,” he said, gesturing.
One of Peanut’s people said, “We should send the reinforced whale to bring the damaged shuttle back.”
“Sad to say, but we should also send something to bring our people back in as well,” said another.
“Yeah, I didn’t even think about that. Good call. Doc Long is probably coming along too,” said Chuck.
“One of the psychologists should tag along, one who’s up on PTSD,” said Peanut, making notes on his datapad. “Check with Angela to see if including the whale is okay with her,” he added.
“Good enough. You need anything else?” asked Chuck.
“No, we got this,” said Peanut, turning to get things moving. Just as Chuck was about to exit the department, Peanut shouted, “Did Chris say when he’s taking off?”
“Not yet, but I know he wants to get to Alice and Dorothy as soon as possible. If I hear I’ll call.”
When Angela arrived in Ops, she already had a bag packed and had sent her spacesuit to the hanger. She held out her datapad to Gene, the assigned mission commander.
“Here’s the rest of the pilots I’d like on the mission,” she said tapping the datapad to the console’s transfer port. When the names appeared on the screen, Gene requested that the A.I. contact each pilot to find out their availability. Everyone replied that they were ready to go. Then Gene sent them Angela’s equipment list to bring everything to the hanger. Meanwhile the deck crew was busy inspecting the eight shuttles, performing flight prep for the mission.
“Angela? I have a request here from Peanut, he wants to bring a whale along to return the damaged jumper and the crew’s remains,” said Gene.
“That’s a great idea. Tell him it’s approved. Also let him know that whatever he thinks we’re going to need for repairs or upgrades should be stowed in the whale, too. Do me a favor and order someone to stow and anchor a small freezer in the whale’s hold. We can stow the crew’s remains there for the trip back. Please have someone take my bag to the command jumper and let everyone know Chris is riding with me.”
Angela dashed off to the council’s office and found Christopher and Patricia closeted with the council and Lucius. When she poked her head in the door, Margaret and Lucius waved her inside.
“Thanks for stopping by. We’re discussing what kind of responses we might make for the killing of our people,” said Margaret by way of introduction.
“And what have you already discussed?” Angela asked.
“Making an example by destroying the White House. Taking out every installation where they have a railgun deployed. More examples along those lines,” Lucius replied.
“We’re trying to avoid any loss of life, because we don’t want to slide down the slippery slope of an eye for an eye,” Phillip added.
“And what did you suggest?” she asked Christopher.
“I haven’t made any suggestion,” he said quietly, sending a chill up Angela’s spine as she saw Patricia give an almost imperceptible shake of her head.
Quarantine Page 37