Operation Hail Storm

by Brett Arquette

  No one said anything, which Hail took that they were in agreement with him.

  “I think we need to attach a wings package to the micro-drone,” Hail suggested.

  “OK,” Rugmon said in an indifferent tone. “We have a few wing packages that will work with the mods you want on the micro-drone.”

  “So what amount of time are we looking at? When will you have the entire drop package ready to go?” Renner asked Rugmon.

  The man in the lab coat contemplated it before he answered. He looked at the ceiling. Hail thought that was funny. Kara thought it was weird.

  He finally looked at Renner. “Eighteen hours.”

  “I will give you twenty-four hours, so don’t work your crew to death,” Hail told him.

  Rugmon simply nodded his head. His face remained slack and impassive.

  Kara thought someone should check to see if Rugmon was still breathing.

  “No frills on the micro-drone,” Hail told Rugmon. “Just a camera, a magnet and a pico-drone. We need this thing as light as possible. Put as much battery as you can fit on it because we won’t know how far it has to fly until it’s party time.”

  Rugmon nodded again.

  “When the Huan Yue gets to the dock, what are your thoughts?” Renner asked Hail.

  “I’m expecting that a big truck with lots of lights on its roof is going to pick up the part. So, we need to fly the drone from the ship to the top of the truck and not be seen.”

  Mercier commented. “Statistically, there is a lot that can go wrong with this plan. Statistically, there is a lot more that can go wrong with the plan, than can go right,” he corrected himself.

  Hail said, “If I remember correctly, you said the exact same thing about the plan to kill Kim.”

  “The statistics are even worse with this plan. We don’t know what the weather is going to be like, but we do know that the Huan Yue is moving at twelve knots. So, we’re looking at a minimum of thirteen mile per hour winds while trying to set the drone down on top of the Huan Yue.”

  “Yeah, I understand that,” Hail said. “That’s why our pilots train endlessly on this stuff. They’ve landed micro-drones in heavier winds than that using the wing package.”

  Mercier was still not convinced, but he knew that once Hail had made up his mind it was a done deal.

  “What do you think, Renner?” Hail asked.

  “It is not outside of our operational limitations.”

  Kara laughed and then said, “I’m sorry.”

  Hail looked at her and said, “No, please. What are your thoughts?”

  Kara laughed again and said, “I think you guys are out of your minds, if I can be so bold. Let me break down what I understand you want to do. OK, you want to drop a toy light tied to wings to a ship doing twelve knots in the middle of the ocean, at night. Doesn’t that sound like science fiction to you?”

  “We do science here,” Renner said. “not science fiction.”

  “It still seems like a lot of rich kids playing with expensive children’s toys,” Kara stated, knowing the seriousness of the mission and not ashamed to state her feelings.

  “Well, yes, it is pretty much exactly how you stated it,” Hail said. “But as Renner said, our aircraft might be smaller, but they essentially work exactly the way larger military versions work. You can fly anything as long as it’s aerodynamic and has control surfaces that can effectively be manipulated.”

  Kara shook her head as if she had failed to make her point. She looked frustrated.

  “You look upset,” Hail told her. “Do you have any other questions you would like to ask?”

  “Sure,” Kara said without hesitation. “How do you plan to drop this tiny drone onto a ship in the middle of the night?”

  “A mother drone,” Hail said confidently.

  “Of course,” Kara cried out sarcastically. “What else would you use to drop a micro-drone other than a mother drone?”

  “We could have used a mini-drone to release the micro-drone,” Rugmon piped up. “But the mini-drone doesn’t have enough flight time and it would be lost to the sea. I hate losing my drones.”

  Kara looked at that man as if he had the word dumb-ass tattooed on his forehead.

  She looked at the group and shook her head in total disappointment.

  “I don’t have anything else to ask,” she said harshly.

  “OK, then,” Hail said, appearing not to have a care in the world. “Let’s proceed.”

  “So, if the Hail Nucleus is in theater, then we can launch Queen from the Hail Nucleus,” Hail stated.

  He waited to see if there were any objections.

  “We should have at least two, maybe even three backup micro-drones in case we have problems. I think Kara has me spooked,” said Renner.

  Hail asked Rugmon, “Is that possible?”

  The mellow man answered, “Making the first one is hard. Making copies is easy.”

  “I take that as a yes,” Hail responded.

  “What’s the role of the Hail Laser?” asked Mercier.

  Hail thought for a moment, “I don’t think we need it. I didn’t realize we had as much time as I believe we possess.”

  Renner said, “It’s still a good idea to move the Hail Laser closer in and get it on station.”

  “Agreed,” Hail replied.

  Hail looked around the room. He noticed Terry Garber looking bored. She hadn’t said anything or been asked anything the entire meeting.

  “I’m sorry, Terry,’ Hail said. “I promise you will get your hands wet during our next meeting. That’s when things are going to need to go BOOM.”

  The woman shrugged and checked her watch.

  Hail thought that was a funny thing to do. Terry Garber might be the only person he knew that still wore a watch.

  “All right, we will call this meeting adjourned until we can get more intelligence updates. Also, Renner, please update your pilots, and let’s create a simulator exercise that will recreate what we discussed. Make sure to get them all into the booth. I want our pilots to be able to land a toy light on a fishing trawler during a hurricane by the time we’re ready to go.”

  “Will do,” Renner said.

  Hail looked at the CIA woman. She had been on an emotional rollercoaster since the beginning of the meeting. Initially, her attitude had been gracious and helpful. As the meeting progressed and she discovered what they did and how they did it, her mood turned skeptical and suspicious. Then as the specifics of the mission had played out, her mood took another sharp turn to that of confrontational and combative. And now, as Hail looked at Kara Ramey, she simply looked tired.

  As everyone stood and started heading toward the door, Hail asked her, “How are you feeling?”

  Kara looked up at him and sniffed once defiantly.

  “Either all of you are geniuses, or I’m in a frickin’ nut house. That’s how I’m feeling.”

  Hail smiled and nodded understandingly.

  “I can see why you think that. It’s certainly a lot to absorb.”

  He let some dead air stand between the two for a moment to see what Kara would say. When she said nothing, Hail suggested, “Why don’t we go find you some clothes, and then I’ll show you to your stateroom. You can get some rest, and then I’ll show you around the ship.”

  Kara said nothing, but she appeared to be softening a little.

  “Does that sound good?” Hail asked as if he was speaking to a spoiled child.

  “OK,” Kara said, getting up slowly from her chair.

  Hail stood and walked over to the heavy metal door that was still standing open. He gestured for Kara to step through. She gestured back for Hail to step through first because she didn’t know where she was going, so Hail stepped through, turned right and began walking toward the nearest stairs. The door automatically closed behind them with a clang.

  Kara noticed that they were headed lower into the ship. The big bold numbers that were painted at the head of each staircase were going d
own. When they got to the number 9, Hail turned left and walked down a metal hallway that looked like all the others on the ship. The hallway terminated at yet another metal door.

  Hail opened the door partially and turned to Kara and said, “I think you’ll like this.”

  He motioned for her to step through.

  Once on the other side, the first thing Kara noticed was color. Before she had walked through that door, she had felt as if she had been walking through the bland Sahara Desert with its endless white sand covering white hills. Everything on the inside of the ship was white. But as she stepped through the bulkhead doorway, she had entered a new dimension in color.

  “You have got to be kidding me?” she beamed.

  Kara had just entered the Hail Nucleus’ shopping mall.

  Each time Hail had the opportunity to show off the ship’s shopping mall, he felt a little like Willy Wonka showing off his chocolate factory. He had spent a great deal of money on this luxury. During the ship’s construction, this large two-story space had been created by eliminating a large section of deck eight. In its place, a second level of stores and a balcony looked down on the stores on the bottom floor of deck nine.

  Kara walked into the middle of the mall, and the first thing she noticed was the creamy marble-tiled floor. Up until that point, all the floors she had seen on the Hail Nucleus had been dull metal. She kept walking toward the center of the mall. Every twenty yards, she passed a large planter that had an assortment of palm trees and bright colorful bushes and flowers. She noticed that none of the vegetation was real. They served their purpose with the palms stretching toward the open second floor ceiling as if they were yearning for sunlight. Once Kara reached what she thought was the center of the space, she turned slowly to inventory the mall. She was standing in the middle of a massive oblong mall. At least she considered it massive since it was located in the middle of a cargo ship.

  There were shops on the bottom floor and shops on the top floor.

  “This is truly unbelievable,” she said, still smiling.

  Hail smiled back, “I thought you would like it.”

  The first store Kara saw was a Banana Republic. The store looked high class with large plate glass windows supported by thick black aluminum beams. Displayed in the windows were headless mannequins wearing the latest colorful fashions. Through the windows, she could see inside the store and it appeared to be fully stocked.

  To the right of the Banana Republic was a store called Denim & Soul. All of the mannequins in the front window of this store were wearing denim pants and shirts and jackets. Adjacent to that store was a Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream store and Kara identified a 7-11, a Bebe fashion store, a high-end Coach New York store, a Sunglass Hut—and that was just on one side of the mall. Kara kept reading the names of the establishments.

  Now she was really smiling.

  “Who in their right mind would do something like this?” she asked Hail.

  “I would change that question to who in their right mind wouldn’t do something like this, if they had the money.” Hail responded.

  “There’s nobody here,” Kara noticed.

  “Everyone is in school, teaching school or training for the new mission. Morning is not a popular time at the mall. But this place really gets jumping after school is out.”

  “But why?” Kara asked. “Why go to all this trouble and expense?”

  “I thought that we already went over this while we were in the restaurant,” Hail said.

  “But this?” Kara said, swinging her arm around in a wide swipe. “Don’t you think this is over the top?”

  “Not at all,” Hail told her. “In most cases, we make port at some of the poorest countries in the world. For safety reasons, I would prefer my crew to stay on board. Many of these countries have internal strife, civil wars, power grabs and their people are suffering. We’re not talking an overnight stay in the Cayman Islands. It’s more like coming to shore at the little island in Apocalypse Now. Most of the time, if we leave the ship for any reason we’re forced to travel with an armed contingent, and we’re backed up by my drones that keep an eye on us. But even in the less turbulent countries, I wouldn’t allow my kids to get off the ship. Kidnappings, hostages–all that nasty stuff is present even in areas that you think are safe. So that’s why I created a good-ole American mall where all the crew can go and have fun and be safe.”

  Kara was speechless.

  Hail added, “Hey, I get everything at wholesale, so it’s not as bad as you think.”

  “Does your crew buy stuff? Do they have money? Who works at these stores? Who stocks them? Who—” and Kara stopped, realizing that she was rambling.

  “Wow, that was a lot of questions,” Hail said. “Let’s see. Yes, my crew is paid in Hail dollars each week so the kids learn the meaning of money. If not, and all of this was free, they would simply fill their rooms with piles of stuff they don’t need. So, the answer to your first question is, ‘Yes, they buy stuff,’ but if it starts getting out of hand then we cut them off. As for your question about who stocks the stores and works the registers, all the kids are required to work in the stores a certain number of hours per week. We think it teaches them responsibility, and even though we live inside the ship in a fantasy world, I want them to understand how the real world works outside these metal walls.”

  Hail waited for Kara to ask more questions. When she didn’t, he asked her, “Do you have any more questions?”

  “Yeah,” she laughed, “Who is working here right now so I can buy some stuff? I don’t think this body stocking defines my style.”

  “I’ll tell you what. Since you don’t have any Hail dollars, why don’t you just walk around a little and steal some stuff. I promise I won’t send the Hail mall cops after you.”

  Kara looked pleased.

  “That will work,” she said. “And what are you going to do during those ten hours?”

  Hail laughed and said, “I have business things I need to take care of, so how about I meet you back here in an hour or so and help you carry your bags to your room?”

  “Two hours,” Kara said. Then she noticed something on the second floor. “A movie theater too?” she asked, pointing up at the marquee on the second floor.

  “Didn’t I tell you we had a movie theater?”

  Kara thought for a moment and said, “I think you did. I just didn’t believe you.”

  “All righty then,” Hail replied. “Have fun and I will see you shortly.”

  Hail left the mall, stepped back into the hallway, withdrew his phone and called Renner.

  Renner answered on the first ring.

  “Can you meet me in security? I’m headed there now,” Hail asked.

  “No problem,” Renner replied.

  Hail clicked off and put his phone back in his pocket. Then he set a course for the ship’s security center. Four decks and three minutes later, Hail walked into the room. Renner was already there waiting for him.

  Kara’s purse, clothes, phone charger and cable, iPhone, some makeup and her compact were sitting on a table.

  “Let’s run this down again including the meeting,” Hail told Renner.

  Renner said, “Like I told you before, the compact, phone and phone charger are all communication devices and have been modified. Her clothes and the purse are clean.”

  “So how did she do at the meeting?” Hail asked.

  “From our perspective she failed. I’m sure from her boss’ perspective, she succeeded.”

  Renner directed Hail’s attention toward a computer monitor. On the screen were two audio sign waves. The line on each of the channels danced up and down erratically, indicating an audio signal was present.

  “When you asked her to mute the phone, she did, but for only four seconds. Then she unmuted the phone. That’s what we see here on the second channel, which is the bidirectional send,” Renner pointed at a jagged line on the screen. “If she had muted the phone we would see nothing on this channel. It
would look like a heart patient that had died. Flat line.”

  Hail seemed upset.

  Renner asked him, “Come on. The woman is CIA. She has no allegiance to us. Did you really expect her to pass that test and keep the phone muted?”

  Hail sighed and said, “I hoped she would have. I wanted to start this partnership out with a basis of trust. Now, out of the five items she carried aboard, three of them are CIA spy devices. I would have expected more trust, but then you know me. Mr. Gullible.”

  “Yeah, being a good guy sucks,” Renner joked, but there was a measure of sincerity in his words.

  Both men were silent as Hail decided what he wanted to do.

  “Do we have a method of recording all the data that leaves her phone?”

  “Sure,” Renner said without hesitation. “Just like your phone, we would have to install a TCP/IP stack and proxy that routes her calls over our ship’s VOIP network. That signal can then be routed to our cellphone transmitter/receiver on deck. As you correctly told the CIA woman, since we’re in an iron tub that’s the only way to communicate if you are making a call to the mainland from inside the ship. However, even if she were on the deck, her phone is set up to connect to a CIA satellite. But we will intercept her call and connect her to the world via our satellite. We have her phone number, her MAC ID, and she is riding our network, so we simply rip the data stream as it goes by and store it on our servers.”

  Renner finished and waited for Hail to respond.

  “What about the ping that is being emitted from her phone giving away our position?” Hail asked. “Is there any way to kill that?”

  Renner nodded and said, “Sure. On land her voice traffic and Internet would go through cell towers. The CIA would know where she was by identifying the position of the cell tower. But out here, in the middle of the ocean, all of her Internet traffic goes through our Wi-Fi, our switches, our routers and our firewall. The blip is a common stream of data. All we have to do is packet sniff that stream and cut it out before it hits our Internet uplink.”