by Jan Domagala
He had them organised in seconds. Any injured men were placed in a position to relieve any pain and to keep them safe whilst the rest arranged themselves around the edges of the open areas ready to return fire.
It did not take long for any of them to realise that their position was hopeless. They were pinned down in a burning fusillade of a crashed plane. If the fires that were building inside didn’t finish them the clones waiting outside most certainly would.
Hermes allowed a cruel smile to cross his thin lips as he said, “Kill anything that moves.”
*****
Matt, Zara, Trent and the other marines had commandeered one of the helijets and were approaching Area 15 when they heard the thermabaric bomb detonate.
“Holy shit,” Zara said as she looked at Matt. His expression was as stern as the rest of them on board the small craft.
In the distance they could just make out the C230 carrying the Colonel with the reinforcements. When the plasma fire destroyed the engines and they all saw the massive plane go down with flames billowing out, Matt said, “Get us there, and fast.”
By the time the helijet was close enough to see the damage they knew the worst. They could all see the clones firing on the plane and the trapped soldiers inside.
“Shoot those muthafuckas,” Matt shouted with real venom in his voice.
The helijet opened fire with Gatling gun type pulse cannons mounted on the front of the craft. Pulsed plasma bolts chewed up the ground as the pilot fired on the clones. In seconds the cannons had targeted the soldiers attacking the downed plane and as the helijet manoeuvred around in the air the clones cover counted for nothing. They now were the targets for the withering fire from above and plasma bolts of high intensity destroyed them where they stood. Blood and gore covered the ground where the clones fell, victims to the fire from above and then it was over. Not one clone was left standing.
Matt had watched with a grim smile on his face, pleased finally to get some payback on those who had caused so much pain to his friends. When it was over he said, “Take us down now, we have to get those marines out of there before the entire plane goes up in smoke.”
Once the helijet was on the ground Matt said to Trent, “Make sure those bastards are all dead, Zara and I will give the Colonel a hand.”
“It’ll be our pleasure,” Trent said and he and what remained of his squad were off and running toward where the clones lay. They took no chances, they each had their Remm assault rifles up and ready to fire the second they saw any movement from any of the clones. They checked each body as they went covering each other just to prevent being caught out.
Matt and Zara sprinted over to the plane where the Colonel had already organised the evacuation of the wrecked plane. They had just gotten everyone out when a huge explosion ripped the rest of the plane apart. Flames from one of the many small fires had reached the fuel cells and ignited causing the explosion. A huge fireball reached out up into the sky spreading flames and shrapnel over the escaping bodies as the shockwave from the blast knocked them off their feet.
When it was over and they started to pick themselves up off the ground Zara looked at Matt and with a smile said, “Shit, that was close.”
He returned her smile simply nodded his head, unable to talk just yet as he was still recovering from the effects of the shockwave that pummelled him.
They quickly took inventory of their situation. There were several soldiers injured in the crash landing but nothing life threatening. Medical supplies on board the helijet would see to those well enough until they were taken to a hospital but the main concern was the Headquarters. They hadn’t reached it in time to prevent the thermabaric bomb going off. OMEGA had succeeded in their plan to destroy it.
The injured soldiers were put aboard the helijet with orders for them to be taken to the nearest base hospital. Matt used his NI to contact Sinclair.
“Sir Area 15 is secure but we couldn’t prevent the thermabaric bomb from detonating. I’m afraid until we get a team over here to inspect the damage there’s no way of knowing just how bad it is,” he said as he walked away from the rest of them to make the call.
“I’ll get a team assembled post haste Matt, in the meantime I will organise transport for you, Zara and the Colonel to return to our temporary base,” Sinclair replied.
“Where would that be sir?”
“Nellis Base, we’re coming in to land as we speak. I’ll set up our temporary base here then we can co-ordinate with Kurt and the rest of our forces.”
“We’ll be ready when they get here sir. I’ll leave Captain Trent in charge of the security of this place until he can be relieved,” Matt said then closed the call. He went back to the rest of them to inform them of the new orders.
“This is getting to be a habit, us being on the back foot against them, and it’s a habit I’m very keen to kick,” Zara said.
“Well maybe we can organise something when we’re all back at the new base. If we put all our minds to this we should come up with some kind of plan against these fuckers,” Matt said almost spitting the words out. He was incensed at how they had been attacked constantly with no sign of any way of fighting them. It was not what any of them were used to and they were all rattled by the constant battering they had all taken.
The war was not over though and although they may have lost a few battles they were still in the fight, and they were determined to remain in it until they had won.
35
The attack squadron of helijets and the troop carrier arrived at the Capitol Building and immediately opened fire. The helijets were a variant of the Apache attack helicopters from centuries before. It had four rotors that were the main engines with jets mounted alongside the side of the vehicle that could be rotated through a forty five degree arc for either forward or thrust or vertical lift off. In front of these engines were mounted missile pods that held Hellfire missiles and in front of the craft were pulse cannons. Each craft had a crew of three, pilot, co-pilot and weapons officer or gunner.
Each of the helijets opened up with a brace of Hellfire missiles first. Each missile slammed into the Capitol Building exploding on impact, six detonations that rocked the building to its core showering the surrounding area with chunks of debris.
The security staff had seen the attack craft approaching and the moment the Hellfire missiles were launched they moved everyone deep inside the building and closed the blast shields over all the doors and windows.
Another brace of missiles were fired from each helijet which caused more devastation to the walls of the Capitol Building. Pulse cannons began to fire, strafing the already damaged walls blowing holes through them. In a few short moments the outside of the Capitol Building were breached, holes appeared in them as the assault from the missiles and pulse cannons destroyed most of it.
The CH-555 Super Stallion landed on the front lawn of the Capitol Building and disgorged the troops that had been inside. Rover5’s led by the last of Wildes four new commanders, Hades, all armed with Remm assault rifles ran out across the lawn toward the almost destroyed building, intent on one thing, the destruction of the Defence Council.
*****
Inside the Capitol Building Colonel Gemmell had organised everyone to get down to the bunker deep underground. There was a contingent of marines who acted as escort to the party as they ran headlong down the corridor to the elevator at the far end. Two marines stood guard by the door as the Defence Council got in the small cubicle. The doors closed which heralded the start of journey down to the sub basement.
Another section of the marine contingent greeted the Defence Council as they arrived on the lower level of the Confederation Headquarters building. Captain Summers came forward as they all exited the elevator and said, “If you’ll follow me gentlemen.”
He led them down the corridor toward the huge ferrite double doors that loomed large at the end. The doors were so massive they filled the entire wall at the end of the corridor. On the door to the right w
as a panel that had a palm print reader on the front with an Iris reader just above. Summers reached the doors first and placed his right hand on the palm reader panel. A blue light bar ran up then down the length of the panel as it read the details of his palm. He then leant forward and placed his right eye against the Iris reader which scanned his eye. As he leant back again the computer voice told him that access had been granted.
“Old school or what,” said one of the marines as the massive doors swung open slowly. They could hear the huge motors working to move the massive weight of the doors
“You’d think that this place would have normal access via an NI,” commented another.
Gemmell turned in the doorway allowing the others to enter and he looked at the two marines who had spoken. He said, “This building dates back over six centuries. The bunker hasn’t been used in over four centuries so the security measures haven’t been updated yet. As you know the Confederation business was moved here after the attack in New York recently, we never expected another attack, not this soon anyway. The security may be old school but it works.”
“Yes sir,” replied the first marine.
“We never meant anything disrespectful sir,” added the second.
Gemmell nodded his head then said, “Hold this position soldiers, no one gets in here, right?”
The soldiers both saluted and marched off toward the opposite end of the corridor. Gemmell turned around and entered the bunker.
It was Spartan in decor. There were a few seats around the outside edge of the first room. At the rear were other rooms designated for various purposes, one was a kitchen for the preparation of food and drinks another was a bathroom.
Gemmell looked around at those present and saw fear on every face. President Takagi looked at him, trying his best to put on a calm exterior. “What are our chances Colonel?” he asked, his voice steady and calm.
Gemmell glanced at everyone trying to gauge their reaction before speaking. “This bunker was built from the best materials possible at the time sir. We are several hundred feet underground encased in steel walls over three feet thick. This place was built in the days when nuclear war was a possibility so adding all that together I would say that we should be okay until help arrives,” he said.
“And what if it doesn’t, arrive I mean?” asked Peter Brinkley, the Director of the Diplomatic Corp. He was a career diplomat and had never served in the military let alone been in combat. He was possible the most fearful one in the bunker and Gemmell knew he would be the one to break first should they spend any lengthy time down there.
“Think about this situation Peter for just one second,” Gemmell said calmly trying to ease him away from the terror he was facing. “We are in the Capitol Building during a Defence Council meeting. Our whole reason for being here is because of what is happening out there with Col Sec. As soon as they realise they can’t reach us they will be on their way here with help. There is no reason to worry,” he added walking over to the smaller man and placed his hand on his shoulder to ease him into one of the seats in an attempt to get him to relax.
Gemmell closed the doors to the bunker then and sealed them all in. The doors closed with a resounding thud followed by a whoosh as they were sealed airtight.
“We are now on our own energy and air supply, completely self contained,” he said hoping that would reassure them.
“What if they manage to cut off our supply, we’d suffocate,” Brinkley said voicing what had suddenly occurred to them all.
“Let’s just hope that does not happen then,” President Takagi said taking the lead.
They all took a seat and were quiet, lost in their own private thoughts.
36
“Our eta is less than one minute sir’s,” the Pulsar’s AI said.
“We should be in range by now, target the attack helijets and fire,” Jake said.
Everyone sat forward in their seats eager to get into the fight.
“Does that place have a safe room of any kind?” asked Kurt.
“The building is equipped with a bunker in the sub basement deep beneath the ground level sir. It dates back at least four centuries but it should still be serviceable,” Artie replied.
The Pulsar was equipped with a dazzling array of missiles and on the order given it fired three tenth generation Phoenix 94’s. Their advanced guidance systems enabled them to be fired from a long range and they would lock on to a variety of signals in the target ranging from electronic to infra red signatures. They were the epitome of the ‘fire and forget’ ordinance.
The trio of missiles sped through the air closing the distance between them and the target within seconds. The pilots of the helijets were warned of the threat through their onboard sensors and they began evasive manoeuvres, firstly ejecting chaff which the missiles were designed to recognise and ignore, and then pulling away from their station to gain higher airspace.
Before they had moved far enough away the missiles impacted on each craft blowing them all out of the sky. Blazing wreckage rained down on the lawn of the stately building causing minor fires and scattering the clones who were guarding the parked Super Stallion.
Before the explosions had finished reverberating around the sky above the Capitol Building the forward section of the Pulsar arrived and strafed the troops still there with her forward pulse cannons. Bodies were sent flying in all directions as they were targeted by the pulse cannons and before long no clone was left alive.
A Hellfire missile destroyed the Super Stallion blowing it up into a million pieces of fiery shrapnel.
Zip lines were thrown out of one of the hatch’s as the large craft hovered over the smoking ruin of the troop carrier. Kurt Stryder and the Wildfire Team were soon sliding down the lines toward the ground where they alighted with grace and power. They had their Remm assault rifles up to their shoulders ready to target the first threat they saw as they made their way to the buildings’ entrance.
*****
“How long do you think it would take for help to arrive?” asked Brinkley, his voice still a little shaky. He had gotten his fear under control somewhat but he was still obviously jittery.
Gemmell was dreading a question like this one. There was no clear cut answer that would appease those trapped inside with him. After some thought he finally said, “That’s something you know I can’t answer, it has too many variables. All we can hope is that help will arrive soon and be secure in the knowledge that we’ll be safe in here until they do.”
He hoped that would suffice but he doubted it.
“Our best response time is under ten minutes, depending upon the threat level. If the Constabulary responds it could take longer but if the threat level is sufficient to require a military response then the times drop again depending from which base the responders are dispatched from. As you know there is a communication blackout so we have no way of knowing if this attack has been reported to Col Sec but I’m sure that by now the media is all over this so whatever is going on outside will not be kept quiet any longer,” he said to elaborate when he saw that Brinkley was not satisfied with his first reply.
This seemed to calm the diplomat down a little as he realised that his worst fear would not present itself and help would be coming after all.
When he saw the tension ease from his face a little he glanced at the President who gave him a slight smile and a nod of his head to say ‘good job’.
As he glanced away he hoped that his words proved to be true.
*****
Kurt was the first to reach the front entrance to the building, his hyper accelerated senses working at their maximum. He knew what was at stake here and was pleased to, finally have a clear objective and to strike back at their enemy.
He stood at the entrance, his back against the wall as he waited for the rest to catch up. The Wildfire Team were capable of feats that were beyond normal humans but Kurt and now Zara were both far beyond what any of them could hope to achieve. Even so they reached the door
seconds after him and a quick glance all around and they knew what action to take.
Kurt allowed Jake to take command, after all he was the leader of the Team and he would gladly follow his orders.
A few hand signals and they were on the same page. Kurt would take point and go straight ahead; Jake and Torres would go right, Vance and Cooper, left.
They burst through the shattered doorway into the rubble strewn foyer blasting any clones they saw. Pulsed plasma bolts lit up the interior of the building as they made fast work of any resistance they met.
The interior of the building was littered with bodies of the marine contingent who had put up a valiant struggle to defend the President and the Defence Council members. They were simply over powered by sheer numbers though. This was evident by the number of Rover5’s still present.
Taking cover behind an overturned desk, Jake opened fire on a group of clones who were systematically searching every room they came to. As they exited the latest room the pulsed plasma bolts caught the first one high on his chest knocking him back into the nearest one to him. The others reacted with blindingly fast reflexes bringing up their own assault rifles and returning fire.
Torres and Vance fired on these Rover5’s from a flanking position cutting them down before they could retreat into the room for cover.
Kurt, Cooper and Vance found another group of Rover5’s doing the same in another corridor and using the same tactic made short work of these clones too.
As they made their way deeper into the damaged building they found more and more clones and after killing several more they realised they had wandered into a trap of sorts. They had entered a corridor and as they got half way down they were suddenly surrounded by at least ten clones all with assault rifles aimed at them.
