The Peacekeepers. Books 1 - 3.

by Ricky Sides

  Pol averted his face from the screen as the first Marauder began to rape the woman who screamed pitiably and fought back as best she could, but five men held her down. One held each limb and another held her head down.

  Robert managed to break one rope holding him and scrambled to untie himself but three men moved in and clubbed him savagely with the stocks of their rifles. One broke out some of Robert’s teeth and the beaten man sagged in place as new ropes secured his body.

  The woman’s pitiful moaning grated on the nerves of the three men present and Pol saw his friend Pete turn away and raise his hand to his own face. When the first man finished another took his place and Pol suspected that the scene would have been repeated many times but the woman freed her head and bit the man’s throat so savagely that she ripped it open. Tom screamed in anger then and walked toward the woman. Lina spit blood and bits of the man’s throat on Tom’s boots.

  “I had planned to give you an easy death woman, but for what you have done I intend to make you suffer. You are hereby declared the property of the king. You will serve the pleasure of my loyal men for years to come,” Tom said leering at Lina.

  “Men have tried that before. They are all dead,” Lina said defiantly.

  “Take her to the castle,” Tom ordered several of his men. “Have her cleaned up and taken to my room. Tell the doctor I said to make her docile and willing.”

  Robert went berserk then. With a massive effort, he broke the rope that bound him to the steel pole. He kicked his two guards and wrapped his rope bound hands around one guard’s head. Robert wrenched his hands violently to one side and broke the man’s neck. He was lunging toward the other when a pistol shot hit him in the side and he fell to the ground beside Lina. He reached out toward her bloodstained hand as more shots rang out. The scene ended with Robert’s tied hands quivering and then lying still an inch from his wife’s fingers. Lina’s grief stricken voice was pleading with Robert to stay with her and not die.

  There was a moment of silence and then Tom was once more centered in the screen. “As you can see, we take trespassing seriously. Stay out of our territory. There will be no further warnings.”

  The screen went blank at that point.

  “Poor Jim,” Pol said softly. “She is a friend as was Robert.”

  “It was all I could do to keep him from heading out for Kansas alone,” Pete said solemnly.

  “Surely he would not do such a thing!” Pol said amazed at such a notion.

  “Oh yes indeed he would,” Pete contradicted Pol. “This became personal for Jim when he saw the video. He doesn’t think he has the right to involve us.”

  “That’s ridiculous. We are all peacekeepers. I’ll go to Kansas today if he wishes,” Pol said without a moment’s hesitation.

  “So will I!” said the door guard vehemently. Then he said, “If you folks need to play that again, let me know first please. I think I’ll call for a replacement in that case.”

  “No, Sergeant, that won’t be necessary,” Pol said. “We understand now, Pete. Rest assured everything will be ready in a month, no matter what it takes.”

  “Good, Pol,” Pete said softly. “Because a month is all I think I can make Jim wait.”

  “How did we receive the message?” Pol asked.

  “A guy drove it here. Drove right up to the front gate and said he had a message for the leaders of the peacekeepers. He handed the disk over to a guard and left,” Pete explained.

  “Why were Robert and Lina in Kansas, Pete?” asked Pol fearful that they had gone there seeking some of the items, that he had requested.

  “They were just cutting through the state on their way to Missouri to pick up some supplies from a military base there,” Pete lied smoothly. The council had discussed it with Patricia and all felt that Pol would be devastated by a sense of guilt that they had been in Kansas seeking some of the electronics that Pol needed in his work. It wasn’t Pol’s fault. No one had known that Kansas had been taken over by Tom Whitmore.

  Chapter 27

  That day five of the base fighters departed with copies of the warning from Tom that they were to deliver personally to ranking members of the peacekeepers in every state. Some of the pilots had multiple stops they’d have to make. Patricia asked if she should edit out the more graphic scenes, but Jim had been adamant that the video be sent in its original format so that everyone would know precisely what they were up against. He sent orders that no peacekeepers were to venture into the state of Kansas until they were ready for the confrontation. All peacekeeper bases were to broadcast a warning with their radios and through their community contacts that Kansas was a state to avoid in the immediate future. The peacekeeper trucking fleet was advised of what had happened and ordered to stay clear of Kansas. The truckers were furious because Lina and Robert were well liked by the other drivers.

  A radio conference between the leaders of each peacekeeper base was scheduled and conducted. That conference outlined the stopgap measures that the peacekeepers would take until they were ready for a confrontation with the would-be King of Kansas. The peacekeepers were to man blockades ten miles from the Kansas state lines. They were to turn back anyone trying to get into Kansas, and anyone trying to get out needed to be searched to ensure that they were innocents. If they encountered any of Tom’s men on scavenging runs, they were to deal with that problem in an appropriate manner. The plans for the final assault on the stronghold were still being formulated. The base leaders were to send what assistance they could spare but were under orders not to leave their bases and or assets vulnerable.

  Pol worked diligently for the next week completing the drones. He worked tirelessly, driven by the images of the doomed couple in the hands of Tom Whitmore and his cronies. Sometimes during the nights, he would wake and the memory of their fate would drive him from his cot in his workshop and he would work for hours before becoming tired enough that he thought he could sleep for a while.

  Pol also supervised the beginning stages of the construction of the new battleship. First, the airframe was assembled out of high-grade 7075 aluminum channel beams that skilled welders welded together. Each weld had to be examined carefully because welding that material was a difficult process. The welded areas had to be heat treated to bring the metal back up to its original strength. Measurements had to be taken during each stage of that process to ensure that the frame was adhering to the blueprint. This was a tedious process, but it was accomplished a bit ahead of schedule. Next, came the outer skin or hull of the ship, and then came the battery system followed by the inner bulkhead. Once these segments of the ship had been joined, a crew of electricians rigged the wiring that would send an electrical charge through the superstructure of the ship bonding the entire assemblage together seamlessly. Then the access and bomb bay doors were added and the electricians began the complex job of wiring the machine for all of the electronics, weapons systems, and the electromagnetic drives. That consumed five of the expected seven days and Pol found that they were now three days ahead of schedule.

  Next, the few maintenance lights were installed and then came the weapons systems. The forward laser was the most powerful that Pol had ever built. There were only sufficient components available to build the one unit of its type and it would draw so much energy that it would have to be judiciously utilized. The rear laser was a standard unit just slightly less powerful than the forward laser of the Peacekeeper. In addition to the new forward laser, Pol installed another that was easily a match for the forward laser on the flagship. The armorer, under Pol’s supervision, installed the miniguns since the armorer was more familiar with that weapon system. The peacekeepers had twenty-nine miniguns left from the supply they’d located in California while building the fighters and Pol planned to put some of those weapons to good use. The scientist ran the weight and energy computations numerous times and even had Patricia to verify his math before the miniguns were installed to ensure that he was correct in his assessment that the ship could h
andle the extra weight of additional weapons systems and the ammunition that fed them. His calculations were correct; therefore, two miniguns were installed both fore and aft. The guns would fire independently of each other, thus multiple targets could be attacked by four miniguns.

  Patricia began working on the operating systems for the battleship. She would set up the system that would require four different operators. Their consoles were already installed along the wall behind her communications station. One operator would actually fly the ship via remote control and handle the main forward laser as well as one of the miniguns. Another operator would handle the remaining forward laser gun and minigun. The third controller would handle one of the rear miniguns and the laser. The fourth operator would have an aft minigun and would serve as the bombardier. The firepower that the ship would be capable of unleashing was astounding.

  ***

  Men from the bases to which they would be attached picked up the standard drones and operating systems. These men were given several days of instruction as to setting up their consoles and operating the systems. By the fourth day, they were all considered proficient enough to be released for their trip back to their bases under heavy guard to prevent the loss of the deadly machines to Marauders.

  By the end of the third week the navigation, communications equipment, and synchronized engines had been installed in the battleship. On day twenty-three, a full five days ahead of schedule, the ship was ready for the testing, which was expected to take two days.

  ***

  Since the Texas peacekeeper airbase was closest to Kansas, they volunteered to fly patrols around the state to ensure that Tom’s warplanes stayed within the Kansas airspace. They were under strict orders not to cross into Kansas airspace and they adhered to those orders. Then came the day when Tom; emboldened by the lack of a response from the peacekeepers, arbitrarily decided that his airspace now extended fifty miles beyond the state lines and he ordered his pilots and drone operators to enforce that new boundary.

  Two of the Texas fighters were flying a routine patrol when they separated for a few minutes while one of the pilots flew west to check out a bright reflection. The pilot who remained fifteen miles from the border of Kansas was practicing a combat maneuver when two attack helicopters above him fired on him with their miniguns. The pilot felt the impacts of the bullets drumming on the fuselage of his fighter and he immediately sought to take evasive action. He radioed that he was under attack and his wingman turned about to return to his position at top speed.

  The pilot under attack felt the impacts of the bullets drumming on his fighter again. This time he saw the bullets hitting the nose of his fighter and walking up toward his canopy windshield. He turned tightly increasing the throttle in a dangerously tight turn. The attack helicopters saw him struggling with the maneuver and fired again hoping to spook the pilot into a fatal error. As the pilot came out of the turn, his cockpit canopy came directly under the hail of bullets from two miniguns. The glass of the canopy was able to withstand single hits but this was a veritable rain of bullets that caused stresses on the canopy that it could not cope with and the bullet resistant canopy cracked in three places. The pilot’s eyes widened in shock as he saw what had happened and a moment later three bullets lanced through the weakened glass striking him in the upper arm, forearm, and the lower portion of his chest. The pilot managed to turn his aircraft south and descend slowly as he eased off the throttle. He was a dead man and he knew it, but his wingman was close now and if he could land the plane, his wingman could guard it while a recovery team got to the site to recover the incredibly resilient fighter.

  The wingman flew toward his wing mate at five hundred miles per hour. As he approached, he saw the two attack helicopters moving in to try to take out his friend’s fighter that was oddly drifting down gently toward the ground. The pilot rushed his shot and his laser flashed several feet in front of the choppers. The enemy pilots seeing that decided it was better to take their victory and run rather than try to take on the fighters at their preferred altitude.

  The pilot let the helicopters flee back over the border. He was more concerned about his friend in the damaged fighter than he was in retaliating at that point in time. Hovering near he saw that his friend wasn’t moving and his fighter was still descending gently and moving south at little more than five miles per hour. He radioed his base and learned that several more planes had left immediately after the initial radio message from the pilot under attack. The fighters were flying at top speed to join the distressed pair of pilots.

  At Base 1, Jim and Pete were having a meeting in Pete’s office when word of that disaster came to them from Texas. Tom had expanded his airspace overnight and two attack helicopters had shot one of their fighters up. Somehow, that dead pilot had managed to get his plane down on the ground safely, though his wingman had been forced to land and jump aboard the fighter to kill the power system while others flew air cover because the fighter was still trying to ease forward at about five miles per hour. The Texans were mad as hell. One of the nineteen pilots from flight school not selected for a seat in a fighter had already been contacted to act as a replacement pilot and the Texans had cleaned out the blood and spent bullets, replaced the canopy, and was asking for permission to raid the Kansas air base the next day. They were told they’d have an answer to that request the next morning.

  Tim asked Pol if there was any reason that more of the cockpit of the fighters couldn’t be covered with the alloy leaving a smaller portion of the cockpit exposed to deadly fire. Pol left with Tim to get some measurements of the cockpit of one of the fighters and Pol worked out the means to fuse a section of the alloy to the rear half of the surface of the canopy frame with items the Texans would also have on their base. California and Texas air bases were both advised of the retrofitting. California was asked to send all of their planes to the Texas air base for retrofitting the next day.

  Jim, Pete, Tim, and Pol went to see the pilots who came to attention as the men entered their barracks. Jim explained what had happened to the Texas pilot and most of the pilots bowed their heads in sorrow. The dead pilot had been well respected by the other pilots.

  Jim had his brother and Pol explain the retrofitting process that they were going to put into action and then Jim asked for volunteers to carry the materials needed for the Texas and California squadrons to Texas the next day. Namid, who was visiting the other pilots, was the first to step forward. The rest of the squadron followed her instantly. “Thank you, pilots. You can get them there much faster than the Peacekeeper and they’ll have you to show them how it’s done. After that refitting, there will be a raid on the airfield at Salina Kansas. We can’t let this unprovoked attack go unanswered. It’s strictly volunteer though and…,” Jim stopped as all of the pilots stepped forward again. “Thank you all,” Jim said smiling. “Namid, we’ll need you to be our eyes on that mission. Try to get us as much video of the immediate area in and around the stronghold as you can. That information will be critical in the planning of the final assault.” He paused and Namid nodded her understanding. Jim turned to face all of the pilots again and said, “Now if you would get to your planes, Pol and his assistants will show you how to do the retrofitting so that you can show the other pilots tomorrow.”

  ***

  In Kansas, the two pilots who’d scored a kill on the Texas based fighter were enjoying celebrity status as they briefed the other helicopter pilots and the drone operators. “Their canopies are their weak point,” one of the pilots advised. “The metal the fighters are made of appears to be bulletproof, and the canopies are bullet resistant, but a good burst in one section cracks it open like an egg.”

  “They fly low and I mean really low. The max altitude I saw them at was maybe five hundred feet so that may be their ceiling cap,” the other pilot erroneously observed.

  “No they were at six hundred feet,” the other pilot argued even more inaccurately, “So the Stingers will work if they are at their ma
x altitude, but remember firing at them below six hundred feet will waste a missile.”

  “Why is that pilot?” asked Tom who was attending the briefing.

  “Sir, the stinger missile system has a six hundred foot minimum rating,” The pilot explained.

  “That’s your highness pilot,” Tom said with his eyes narrowing dangerously.

  The pilot, realizing his slip said, “My apologies sire. I meant no disrespect.”

  “Apology accepted,” Tom said. He was pleased by the use of the word sire and decided he would begin to point out when that word would be appropriate as well. “So below six hundred feet the missiles won’t work?” he asked for clarification.

  “That is essentially correct sire,” the pilot responded. “Therefore we have to be careful about using the missiles otherwise they may just seek out our own friendly forces.”

  “Just use your altimeters for an accurate gauge of their altitude,” Tom said solving the matter immediately.

  “Sire, if we descend to their flight level we will find it difficult if not impossible to take them out with our miniguns,” the pilot explained.

  “You won’t have to do that if the missiles work, pilot,” Tom said overruling the man and glaring at him with his hand on the butt of his pistol.

  “Okay, we’ll try it your way, your majesty,” the man said. He wasn’t going to argue with the homicidal maniac. The man made him nervous in moments like these. He had the suspicion that Tom was hoping that he would continue to argue with him so that he would have an excuse to kill him. He decided at that moment that if things went bad in the confrontation with the peacekeepers he’d just bug out with the chopper and fly until he was low on fuel. He’d fly as far away from Tom Whitmore as he could, and then he’d start over somewhere nice and quiet.