by Unknown
Colonel Leftin had placed his “troops” in various places along the way around the base and back to the tower. Once he arrived, he pulled out a similar set of explosives and wrapped them around one of three legs of the giant tower. It was the one that was in the direction of the fuel tanks and hanger facility. He was half way though it when an officer stepped up behind him.
“What’s going on here,” he demanded.
The Colonel turned and looked at the man, who was equal in rank to him – according to the uniform insignia. “I was ordered by General Brana to place this monitoring device on the leg of the tower. Evidently he wants to watch out for anyone who might be hanging around in this area,” the Colonel said as he finished the job. He was acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary.
The officer hadn’t heard a thing about any such monitoring. He examined the rope the man was using. It looked like some sort of synthetic rope. And the box tied to it had a small light on it. “I’ve never seen anything like this before,” the man said, still eyeing the box.
“Neither have I,” the colonel said truthfully. “But evidently he got the word that some of the soldiers had congregated here and were talking subversion. So I get told to put this thing up. He’s probably listening to what we say right now,” he Colonel added.
That got the proper reaction. The man turned deathly white and stammered out, “Of course. I shall watch out for this myself,” he said as he hastily turned and left the area.
Colonel Leftin chuckled as the man left. How can you be really loyal to a man you’re scared to death of, he thought to himself. Then he finished his job quickly as the alarms went off. He had been warned. Don’t be anywhere near this thing when it goes off.
Jim Ramey had no such encounters. He and one of the natives had walked straight up to the second tower and had placed the charge as he had told the other teams. After he had finished, the two men turned to see a soldier staring at them. It had just dawned on the soldier that something was amiss. He was beginning to raise his rifle when the native swung his arm up and puffed into the blowgun. He dart traveled unerringly and struck the soldier in the cheek. The man immediately threw up his hands to grasp at his face, dropping the rifle. Within seconds, the drug took effect and Ramey dragged his limp body behind the next building. The native looked at him in wonder. Why would he drag this soldier out of danger? Weren’t they all trying to kill the soldiers, he wondered. It was obvious to Ramey, from the look on the native’s face that he didn’t understand the finer points of civilized warfare.
“Let’s go,” Ramey said leading the native away from the tower.
Hadaie had a good vantage point to watch the furious response by the troops. He watched as several trucks pulled up and loaded with troops. From the headquarters building he saw two uniformed men jump into a large staff car and move toward the river and the breech in the fence. He also saw a man run toward the building Mike and Timothy were in. He jumped down the stairs and ran toward the building.
Corporal Tanea was at his place beside the door when the sergeant came in at a dead run. He recognized the sergeant at once and turned to greet him. The sergeant pulled his pistol. “The General says to kill them at once,” he said between breaths. “For what reason?” the corporal asked. The angry reply startled him.
“It’s not our place to ask what reason!” the sergeant screamed. “Stand aside!”
The corporal stood back and opened the door. The sergeant entered with his gun drawn and saw Mike and Timothy standing beside the window. As he raised his pistol to take aim, Corporal Tanea struck him from behind. He looked down on the man in disgust.
“There should always be a reason,” Tanea said. He was still standing there when Hadaie arrived at the door. Tanea turned to strike at him with his rifle when Mike yelled, “Hold on! He’s a friend!”
Hadaie also heard this and stopped from grabbing the man. The sounds of other men entering the building changed everything. Hadaie quickly stepped inside and shut the door.
“We have company,” Hadaie said.
Tanea looked around the room. “There are no ways out except through the hall,” he said.
Mike grinned at him. “Then we’ll have to make our own way,” he said pulling the curtains back. The window was open and already the bars were pushed partially out of the frame. “Hadaie, can you manage getting these things out of our way?” Mike asked.
Hadaie quickly crossed the room and with one shove, pushed the bars completely off the window. The men rapidly crawled out and found themselves between two buildings on a grassy walk.
“This way,” Hadaie said as they ran between the buildings with Mike carrying his son. They reached the opening and watched as yet another truck full of troops left for the break in the fence. Already the streets were generally deserted as the troops had been deployed. All that appeared now were men in different uniforms and what appeared to be staff personnel. They made their way to an open courtyard where Hadaie could see the tower. He pulled out the transmitter again and pressed the second button.
Colonel Leftin was watching from 50 meters away when the explosive charge erupted taking out three meters of the leg on either side of the charge. For a moment, the large tower seemed as strong and steady as ever. Then slowly he noticed the two broken ends of the leg coming closer together as the tower legs bent and then gave under the tremendous pressures of the equipment on its top. Further and further the glass topped dome fell towards the waiting fuel tanks.
As Leftin watched, the glass dome shattered itself on the roof of the hanger building with a loud crash, while the tower crushed the tanks in and rupturing the sides, spilling the volatile fuel all around the area. When the glass shattered, sparks and bolts of electricity shot out in all directions – some of them striking what was left of the fuel tanks. As a result, the shuttle fuel went up in a thunderous blast completely collapsing the hangar wall and surrounding buildings. Colonel Leftin and some of the natives with him were knocked flat by the explosion. He looked up to see a mushroom type cloud swirling up into the sky. All around him were men, equipment, pieces of buildings and all kinds of debris from the explosion. Fires were already spreading to some of the surrounding buildings. Chief Mogar was lying beside him. He looked over at the old man who was leaning over and shaking his head as if to clear it.
“I think it’s time to get out of here,” the Colonel said. They slowly pulled themselves up and signaled for the others to join them. Throughout the effort, the natives had been darting anyone that came within range. In the confusion, no one had noticed there were people lying around and not moving. The Colonel saw their truck beside one of the buildings. It seemed no worse for wear. They made their way over to it.
When Hadaie had activated the signal to down the trees, it had also activated a signal in the PBY. Josen and Panor jumped at the sound and rapidly pulled what few items were left in the camp into the Catalina. Within minutes, Josen was seated in the engineer’s station while Panor climbed into the pilot’s seat. Two switches later, the propeller began to turn on the Pratt and Whitney radial on the starboard side. When both were running normally, Josen jumped down and cut the line leading to a tree in the camp and the big plane began drifting back out into the lagoon under the power of the engines. Adding some right rudder, Panor steered the plane towards the channel.
Josen resumed his position in the engineer’s station and watched the temperatures reach their appropriate level and stay there. What he did not expect was for the engines to throttle back to idle. He checked all his instruments and saw no discrepancies. Then he jumped back down to check on his brother. When he made his way to the cockpit, he saw the reason.
They couldn’t enter the river. Blocking their passage was the largest ship either of them had ever seen making its own way upstream. The sides reached up above the top of the PBY and everything was painted a blue-gray. They could see men on her decks looking down at them and waving.
“What do we do?” Panor asked his brot
her.
“How the hell should I know,” Josen said staring at the ship towering above them. He looked to the right and left and determined they were halfway down the side of the ship. At the rate the ship was moving, it would be past them in just a moment. “Hang on here and then pass astern of her,” Josen said.
Panor looked toward the stern and saw more ships coming up river. Then he caught a glimpse of something above the main deck. It was huge, had a big housing behind it, and looked like a gun. He pointed toward it and motioned for Josen’s attention. Both sat in awe as the big ship steamed by. They were even more surprised to see Nacerian Marines looking down at them from the stern of the ship and an Orupean flag flying from the mast.
As the stern passed, Panor gunned both engines. Quickly speeding to their maximum rpm’s they jumped across the stern and turned to pass the big ship going up river.
The men on the ship had been told of “Mister Wilkes’ special craft,” so the appearance of the plane didn’t really surprise them. They saw the men in the cockpit and waved them on as the engines began to howl and the craft sped past the ship. They watched it go faster and faster. To a man they thought it was the fastest boat they had ever seen. Then, to their amazement, the “boat” lifted from the water and climbed into the sky. The wing tip floats rose to meet the ends of the wings and the plane banked to the right to follow the river. Onboard the ship, the captain silently wished he had one of his own.
Rokka had his own mission. He and some of the natives had commandeered another truck and had made their way to a large electric yard that distributed the electrical power throughout the base. They had selected a fuel truck for their part of the mission, and the natives had enjoyed the ride along the sides. The compound had its own guard, but after the explosion, he was none too eager to stand his post. At the appearance of the truck and the natives in uniform, he had run like a rabbit. Rokka opened the gate wide. While the others spread out and stood guard, Rokka had placed the last of the explosives and a detonator on the side of the truck. Then he opened the cab, stabbed and jammed the accelerator with a knife, wedging it to the floor and popped the clutch while aiming the rolling bomb at the densest part of the yard, filled with transformers and small control houses. Once the truck was aimed, he jumped from the cab and ran for his life.
Rokka need not have worried with the explosives. The truck struck between two of the largest transformers in the yard. Lightning flew in every direction causing more explosions and setting off all the fuel in the truck. Rokka and his men just kept running as the carnage behind them spread rapidly. Then every light on the base winked out.
General Brana had just arrived at a small knoll and was looking at his men as they first secured the area and then moved in on the trees, when the fuel tank explosion from the shield tower rocked the ground under them. He turned in horror to see the black mushroom cloud rise above his base. He quickly turned and scanned the area with his binoculars. His men were closing in… but closing in on what? He looked into the trees. There was nothing moving. It was then that he realized that it was just a diversion.
Screaming at his men to re-mount their trucks, he shouted orders for them to move back to the main part of the base. Colonel Kenta remained to clean the area up with a truckload of men while the General took personal command of the rest of the troops. They had moved off quickly and Kenta’s men were standing beside the big trees when, one by one, they began to drop. Kenta stood and watched as they fell to some hidden hand until he was the only one left. Then, slowly, the natives emerged from their hiding places followed by a Nacerian Marine. He was watching them as they came closer when he was distracted by the sound of large engines. He turned toward the river to see a blue object flying through the air. He noticed that there were large white stars painted on its side as it turned toward the base and flew overhead. Then he felt the dart as it entered his shoulder. Seconds later, he was blissfully asleep.
Mike and his party had been dodging debris and making their way around the flaming hangar toward the ramp. As they rounded the corner, they saw several of the shuttles leave the hangar and head into the afternoon sky. He cursed his luck. That fire should have burned through that hangar by now. What he hadn’t known was that a sprinkler system was fighting the flames and a fireproof wall was separating the two sides.
Then he heard the drone of the familiar engines and saw the PBY make a turn and lower the landing gear. It came in and the engines quieted as it set down at the far end of the ramp and taxied toward the reviewing stand. Mike, with Timothy in his arms, called for the others to run. They ran as fast as they could from their hiding place to where the Catalina was rolling to a stop. Already the blister was opening and Josen was lowering the ladder for them. All around them people were running around in confusion. But in one case, someone took a shot at them. Corporal Tanea stumbled and fell with a bullet hole in his left leg. Hadaie saw him fall and quickly picked the man up and continued to run.
On the plane, Josen saw the man go down and saw the soldiers crouching beside a building, firing on them. Desperately, he reached for the handles of the .50 caliber machine gun, sluing it around and aiming at the men. Then he reached up, chambered a round, and pulled the trigger.
The flame spat out of the end of the gun a good meter as the large caliber shells streaked toward the men. All around them the bullets tore through everything, riddling them with holes, and scaring everyone in the vicinity enough to run for their lives.
It had scared Josen most of all. He stood in disbelief at what the machine gun had done and he was shaking from the experience. The smoke was still coming out of the barrel when Mike and Timothy reached the plane. Josen reached down and took Timothy, yanking him into the plane as Mike jumped up the ladder. Hadaie then almost threw Tanea into the plane with them. Josen was just about to swing the gun on his new target when he saw his father and Ramey standing on the running board of the truck. Mike jumped back down to help him in as the truck swung beside the plane. Colonel Leftin was driving and Chief Mogar was sitting next to him.
“Quick, Colonel! Let’s get aboard!” Mike screamed over all the noise.
Colonel Leftin smiled and shook his head. “I have a little more business to attend to!” he called out over the engines and the fires. He pointed toward the river and Mike saw what he was talking about.
The ship had made its way to the docks beside Brana’s base. Mike could see the Marines climbing down from the side of the ship to the boats that would carry them ashore. Already the big guns were turning on their roller paths to take aim on the base and the rest of the occupants.
“You see, we felt we needed to clean up this mess, once and for all,” the Colonel said through his toothy grin. “You go on. I’ll pay you a visit when this is over,” he said. “Besides, I don’t think I could stand riding in that thing again,” he laughed.
Mike smiled and stuck out his hand. The Colonel took it firmly. “Thanks Marine. As our Marines would say – Sempre Fi!” Mike said. The Marine smiled broadly. He didn’t have any idea what Sempre Fi meant, but it had to be good. He gave a brief salute and gunned the engine. The truck took off toward the landing marines. Mike climbed back into the plane quickly. When the blister closed Panor gunned the engines again in an effort to take off. Through the Plexiglas on the opposite side of the plane, Mike saw trucks and a staff car getting closer. Somehow he knew that the General was leading the charge. He reached into the radio compartment and took out another transmitter and pressed the button.
Inside each of the pieces of equipment Mike had brought to Brana was a small device. Once activated, a small gram of explosive was set off destroying the equipment. In the case of the particle beam emitter, it caused an overload with the remaining energy in the chamber. Brana had just stopped his car and had walked in front of it when the emitter exploded in the back seat. He turned to watch his car erupt in flames behind him as the PBY increased speed and lifted off.
Mike was watching Brana as the plane l
eft the ground. The General was starting to move toward the remaining half of the hangar when Mike noticed two silver planes appear on the ramp at the far end of the runway.
Yeager looked at all the carnage already at the base. He called out over the radio. “Hey Pard. Looks like we’re a tad late.”
Anderson called back. “Well, let’s not miss out on what’s left,” he said watching the PBY climb over the base.
Yeager looked to his right opposite the river and saw the dark spots in the sky. “Tally-Ho! Three o’clock.” he called out. He then reached up and switched on the ignition. Within seconds, the big Rolls Royce Merlin was turning over without missing a beat.
“I see ‘em,” Anderson called out. Then he noticed the planes. “Hey Chuck. They got the name right,” he said seeing the name Glamorous Glenn III.
Yeager smiled as he saw his partner’s plane was named “Old Crow.” “I guess we’re home, pard’,” he said pulling his canopy shut. The men gunned the engines and sped down the runway, finally lifting off just before the ramp ended. The silver machines lifted into the air much quicker than the PBY before them.