The Peacekeepers. Books 1 - 3.

by Ricky Sides

  Chapter 19

  In the headquarters radio room, Patricia was installing a new computer that could be used by the staff to pull up data that was all too often being requested by the new bases. This terminal would be linked to a massive server she’d built. That server housed the complete peacekeeper database, which was a replica of everything stored aboard the prototype ship, though the technology utilized to house that data was inferior to that of the ship. As the peacekeepers gathered information, they added this to the database in the server she’d built for the base.

  While she was setting up the new computer, she heard the radio activate as someone on the other end said, “Peacekeeper base, this is the Jonesboro base. We are under attack. Repeat we are under attack by unknown assailants,” the voice said in a voice that sounded stressed, but still under control.

  The operator immediately responded, “Jonesboro base, this is Peacekeeper base. Please give me a status report.” The radio operator turned to Patricia and said, “Lieutenant, please get Pete in here.” He then activated the recorder to record the incoming call.

  Patricia darted from the room turned right and followed the line of offices to Pete’s office. Inside, Pete and Jim were going over some plans. She burst into the room and said, “The radio operator wants you, Pete. Jonesboro base is under attack.”

  Pete thrust himself out of his chair and was out the door in a rush. Jim was right on his heels. Patricia followed the two of them back to the radio room. She arrived just as the radioman said, “I just lost Jonesboro base.”

  “Play back the tape,” Pete ordered.

  “Peacekeeper base, several vehicles entered town and headed straight for our base. Men inside the vehicles opened fire on two peacekeepers outside the office, killing one. The other managed to get inside, but he is shot up pretty bad. They are apparently laying siege to us. No one has rushed us yet, but every attempt to exit the building has drawn heavy fire. We estimate the enemy numbers to be…,” the man’s voice broke off at that point.

  “Patricia, sound the alert siren,” Jim said referring to a special siren that informed the crew of the Peacekeeper that they were to report to the ship for duty immediately.

  Pete asked, “Do we have other peacekeeper bases that could reach Jonesboro before us?”

  “Yes, sir. Ruston, Louisiana, has a new base but they are green. Still into their first thirty days,” the radio operator explained.

  “Radio them, get the senior trainer on the line for me,” Pete said rapidly. Turning to Jim he said, “Let’s send the experienced trainer team and any of the new recruits with the nerve to volunteer. They can get there sooner and may make a difference. We will still want to go of course.”

  “Do it. I’ll be at the ship,” Jim said and ran out of the room to get to the Peacekeeper.

  As Jim ran toward the hanger, he saw the Peacekeeper emerging and then she settled to the ground. Both doors had opened by the time he could arrive. Looking toward the living quarters and the bunker complex, he saw men and women converging on the ship. The strike team sprinted to the back ramp and entered the ship. Sergeant Wilcox and Bill Young both stopped beside Jim and he gave them the information that he had available. He asked Bill to go inside, and if Tim hadn’t already done so he wanted him to plot the fastest course possible to get to the Jonesboro base, but warned that they had to be fighting capable when they arrived. Bill snapped a salute and left. Turning to the sergeant, Jim said, “You’d best see to your ammunition supplies. This trip we’ll use a lot. And secure the battle bikes extra well for this trip. I can guarantee a rough ride, so warn the men accordingly.”

  “Yes, Captain,” Sergeant Wilcox said and sprinted for the cargo bay door.

  Moments later, a squad of ten additional men ran toward the ship. They stopped near Jim and the sergeant with them stepped forward to address him. “Captain, we were ordered to report to the ship for a mission,” the man said in excitement. Many of the peacekeepers dreamed of a chance to go on a mission in the ship, and Jim was well aware of that fact. These ten men were heavily laden with their weapons and ammunition.

  “Sergeant, take your men and board through the cargo room door. Report to Sergeant Wilcox. He is in charge of strike teams for the ship. And welcome aboard men,” Jim said.

  The new detachment had just disappeared inside the ship when Pete came on the run. Stopping beside Jim he asked, “Is everyone aboard?”

  “Yes, you’re the last to arrive,” Jim said and then he asked, “How many went to Jonesboro from the new base?”

  “All of them,” Pete answered.

  “Good men then,” Jim responded and both men wasted no time boarding.

  Anticipating the orders, Patricia’s voice sounded over the intercom warning all personnel to clear the cargo bay door which was about to close. Ten seconds later, Tim pushed the button that closed the door.

  Before the door had even sealed the ship was lifting and turning on its axis. It kept lifting until it reached full altitude and Tim said, “Water warning, Patricia.”

  She dutifully sounded a rough ride alert and added that this entire trip was likely to be one bump after another as their navigator strove to make best possible speed. A moment later the ship flew over the lake and dropped a foot as the computer made adjustments to compensate but the shortcut over the lake saved precious minutes.

  The flight to Jonesboro was one that no one aboard would ever forget. It was wild. It was bumpy. However, it was fast.

  ***

  The Peacekeeper detachment from Ruston, Louisiana, a city north of Jonesboro, arrived on the outskirts of Jonesboro and moved in cautiously. They heard the sound of the battle long before they actually saw the fighting. The experienced peacekeepers among their ranks issued the orders and the green recruits obeyed, knowing that these men and women knew much more about such engagements than they did. Soon they closed in on the enemy from the rear. The officers gave the recruits time to pick their targets and sight carefully and then they opened fire. The withering fire being directed at their backs caused the Marauders to bolt and run for cover. The element of surprise had been in the favor of the new peacekeeper element. Soon the door to the headquarters opened and several of the Jonesboro peacekeepers joined in a pitched battle against the Marauders who they forced back street by street to the outskirts of town. Then the Marauder’s own reinforcements arrived in the form of several truckloads of men.

  The experienced peacekeepers ordered the rest to fall back to the peacekeeper vehicles in which they had arrived. They loaded up all personnel and drove around the streets with the locals directing them until they could approach the enemy column from the rear. They fought a pitched battle from their vehicles as they sought to drive the outlaw Marauders from the city either killing or wounding scores but not without paying a heavy price. Several peacekeepers had been killed and many more were wounded.

  The peacekeepers broke off the engagement and went back to the headquarters building. The leader of the relief element sent a final message that they were retreating into the Jonesboro base with their dead and wounded. They were now low on ammunition and could no longer fight in an open pitched battle. He informed Patricia that the enemy was killing wounded peacekeepers when they ran out of ammunition. He received a message from Patricia that their ETA was about one hour and they were to hold up inside as best they could.

  ***

  Jim and Pete went back into the cargo bay to address the peacekeepers there. They briefed the assembled fighting men on what they’d learned about the enemy and the battle as it had progressed to this point. Jim informed the strike team members that they were a go to utilize the battle bikes in this engagement. Each man was warned to expect no quarter because the enemy was killing wounded peacekeepers, if they could reach them. Pete told them to give no quarter saying, “These men are attacking heavily armed peacekeeper elements. What chance would civilians have against such Marauders?”

  Jim asked Sergeant Wilcox if the new ten-man
element had been issued radios and told the operating procedures and was assured that all of the men were now competent with the communications gear. He reminded the new men to turn in the gear when the mission was over as they had a limited supply.

  Turning grim, Jim said, “We’ll be making a strafing run at the enemy when we get to town. We will then come about and the navigator will reduce speed. Watch the lights carefully men. And all of you need to be aware that the wounded peacekeeper, who was killed, had run out of ammo. Don’t let that happen to you,” he said and noted that several men immediately went to the ammo storage compartment to get more ammunition.

  “When do we arrive in the city, sir?” asked Sergeant Wilcox. As if on cue, Patricia’s voice came over the intercom with a five-minute warning. Then she said, “Navigation asks if he is to assume gunner duty on the initial pass,” she seemed to be enjoying some private joke.

  “Oh, hell no!” Pete exclaimed and sprinted back up the hall, causing Jim and Sergeant Wilcox to laugh. Both knew about the ongoing joke between Tim and Pete about who could shoot the most accurately with the weapons systems of the Peacekeeper.

  ***

  The Marauder leaders of the three combined gangs who had merged to raid the Jonesboro base were having a meeting beside a van, well out of the line of fire of the headquarters building. They were discussing the use of incendiary devices. In this case, the devices were simple Molotov cocktails. There was disagreement concerning the use of such incendiaries because doing so would ruin much of the equipment such as the firearms carried by the peacekeepers. Two of the leaders wanted those weapons and equipment. The remaining leader couldn’t care less about that gear. He just wanted to end the engagement and leave before more reinforcements could show up.

  They were still debating the matter when the Peacekeeper appeared at the end of the street and flew through the air at an altitude of about twenty feet right up the street toward them. The ship came toward them at about forty miles per hour. Lasers flashed and struck men and vehicles as the Marauders began to fire at the ship with wild abandon. The leaders saw the belly gun activate as several men directly beneath the ship fired straight up at it in the hopes of penetrating the hull there. Those men were burned alive in the searing heat of the beam, which was traveling too fast to ruin the surface of the road.

  A few moments later, the ship had flown past the leaders of the gangs who still stared stupidly at the vessel. It proceeded down the street and spun about on its axis, lowering toward the ground as it did so. For a moment, the leaders thought that the vehicle would land and they would have a chance to capture the machine, but the ship stopped descending about three feet off the ground and proceeded toward them at a leisurely rate of speed. A moment later, they saw four motorcycles approaching. The bikes darted around the ship and closed ranks, opening fire on the Marauders as they did so. The leaders saw their men being mowed down by machinegun fire. Then the first of the Marauder trucks blew up as a rocket slammed into its side spewing the men in the back of the truck into the air, many of them alight with burning fuel from the ruptured fuel tank.

  Next, the Marauders saw about a dozen men running around the front of the ship, which was momentarily pausing in its advance. These men moved into position taking cover and pouring fire into the backs of the Marauders who were firing wildly at the backs of the motorcyclists who’d just punched through them. In moments, a dozen of the marauders were cut down. The leaders gave the order to retreat and many tried to do so, only to find themselves cut off from retreat by the motorcyclists on one end of the street and the ship and men at the other end. Finally, the men began to throw down their weapons and raise their hands. They were shot anyway.

  One of the leaders, a man named Sam, stepped out into the roadway shaking his fist at the Peacekeeper ship now close enough for him to see the occupants in the control cabin. “You can’t do this to us! We have our rights!” he shouted shaking his fist again.

  Pete’s voice came over the Peacekeeper’s public address system then. He said, “You have the right to remain silent.” A laser flashed out and struck the man in the head.

  The Peacekeepers who’d been pinned down in the headquarters rushed outside at that moment. Some fought with nothing but bayonets because they were totally out of ammunition, but they took the fight to the remaining Marauders. Clem was among them and Jim was glad to see that the big man had survived the battle.

  They took no prisoners. It took an hour to mop up the last of the Marauders but they were all routed out and dealt with in an appropriate manner.

  ***

  Maggie, Lacey, and every medic available all had their hands full treating the numerous wounds inflicted on the peacekeepers during the battle. Most of the wounds were flesh wounds. The Marauders who’d shot them where they lay had overrun the majority of the seriously wounded.

  The peacekeepers remained in the city of Jonesboro for two days during which time they helped the city contingent of peacekeepers bury their dead in the public cemetery. Pete went to the local tombstone cutters and ordered the three tombstones for the three local recruits who’d been killed and told him what to inscribe on each stone. He traded the man six cases of whiskey for the stones, which were inscribed with their names, date of birth, date of death, the word “Peacekeeper,” and the slogan, “Some gave all.” The three peacekeepers were given a full military style burial, complete with a twenty-one gun salute and a fly by that was executed by the Peacekeeper.

  The rest of the time there, they spent loading the other dead Peacekeepers who were to be buried at their home base and carting the dead Marauders to the edge of town where their bodies were cremated without ceremony by the ship. They gave their disabled vehicles to the local scrap yard on the condition that they would relocate them as soon as possible to the scrap yard. The peacekeepers of Jonesboro impounded the operational vehicles as restitution for the deaths and damage done to their base and the peacekeeper team from the nearby city Ruston, who had their vehicles destroyed in the attack. All serviceable weapons were distributed between the three peacekeeper elements.

  They used the additional time to repair the radio antenna, which had been damaged in the attack and to upgrade some of their other electronic equipment.

  On the day that they were to depart for their own base, five men showed up asking to be permitted to train to replace the dead men of their community. They were asked if they knew what this entailed and responded that they did. They were welcomed aboard and the ship headed back to the base at a more leisurely pace than their flight to the city.

  In the weeks that followed, word got around about the attempt by several large gangs of Marauders to take out a small peacekeeper base in a sleepy little town, only to find themselves hopelessly outmatched and outgunned. As the rumor spread, the truth was stretched as is usually the case in such matters. Soon, instead of two relief elements arriving to aid the base it was a dozen. Instead of four battle bikes, it was a score. Instead of one peacekeeper ship, there were three. These rumors aided the peacekeepers so they didn’t mind. Word went out once more among the criminal element that it was best to avoid all towns with a peacekeeper presence. Just leave the town quietly and find a town that doesn’t have peacekeepers, was the advice most often given, when one Marauder asked others how to deal with the peacekeepers.

  Chapter 20

  It was in late fall when the stranger arrived at the peacekeeper base located outside Athens. He was a lanky man in his forties who wore glasses, seemed well educated, and was of East Indian descent. He was admitted at the gate when he said he knew Patricia Huxley and was looking for her. The guards phoned ahead and Patricia was waiting when the man arrived at the command bunker. “Pol!” she said and rushed to hug the lanky man when he got out of his car.

  Tim, who was standing nearby, walked over to greet the man about whom he had heard so much. Patricia introduced him as her husband and Tim said, “I’ve heard so much about you, sir. It’s good to finally get to meet you
.”

  “And it is good to meet the man who finally captured Patricia’s elusive heart, my friend,” the newcomer said in response.

  Jim had just walked up to join them and Patricia said, “Jim, this is Pol Bleakman. Pol was on the staff that worked on the Peacekeeper and specialized in the propulsion system.”

  “Dr. Bleakman, it’s good to meet you, sir. I can attest to the success of your work, as can we all,” Jim said in appreciation of the man’s contributions to the ship.

  “Please, call me Pol. I always hated formalities. They do nothing but waste time better spent on work,” he said warmly.

  “Pol, forgive me for asking this, but why aren’t you dead? I thought that all of the developers died during the earthquake,” Patricia stated.

  “I might say the same about you my dear, Patricia,” he said with a smile, but then he explained, “I was being transported to the bunker, but some crazy man ran a stop sign and slammed into the car in which I was being transported. I woke up the next morning in a hospital and the world had gone to hell. The other men survived, but I never saw them again. I presume they went to be with their families. By the time I got out of the hospital, I couldn’t locate anyone. Society, as we knew it, had collapsed. I knew something was going on because the staff at the hospital seemed very thin and the last day I was there no meals were served.”

  Looking anxiously at Patricia he asked, “Did anyone else survive? I mean the staff of course,” he explained.