by Charles Lamb
Ivan looked up to see an enormous craft pass overhead, on a southerly course. Ivan turned to Alexi, but he was already looking up in awe as well. While far too high to make out many details, Ivan could see one marking very clearly across the bottom of one of the huge center sections.
He could also tell that the craft in the sky was far larger than any of the ships in the bay. If he had to guess, he would say it was several kilometers long and moved silently. Moving at a considerable speed, it was soon lost over the southern horizon.
“What now?” Ivan heard Alexi ask.
“Indeed,” he thought to himself as he remembered where he had seen that symbol before. Suddenly, whatever was sitting at the bottom of the lake was far less important.
----*----
Brian was on edge as he watched the display showing their progress on the route to China. Gently bringing the ship from its orbit in space, they had successfully entered the atmosphere and were now on a southerly course. With large portions of the superstructure unused to the drag air placed on them, he kept their speed down to a reasonable rate.
Having just crossed the Sea of Japan, they were slowing further for their grand entrance over China. They had crossed over Russia a tad lower than he had originally planned, but atmospheric conditions provided for calmer air at that altitude. While he was sure ALICE had considered turbulence in her calculations, Brian wasn’t taking any chances in overstressing the ship.
As if a reminder of taking no chances, Brian had asked ALICE-3 to perform a little task before they left orbit. Because his mission was to impress the Chinese, he had her bots paint the underside of one of the hangar sections with a symbol large enough to be seen from great heights. Unlike Jake, Brian had no single service preferences. He chose an easily recognizable icon that left no doubt, in who they were dealing with.
----*----
Jake and Colonel Banks had relocated to the command center, vacating the hated office for the familiarity of the common room. Banks was impressed with the holograph images as they were projected in the open space two stories tall. The analysts flipped between sources, providing a running commentary on the situation.
In typical SAS fashion, Banks had offered to have a pair of teams placed where they could observe the entire event in Hong Kong. Not wanting to dissuade the Brits from participating, Jake had placed the troops on a fast transport and dropped them under the cover of darkness. Mixed in the holographic displays were their camera feeds from positions taken overlooking the ad hoc Chinese military compounds.
----*----
Major Chao had managed to create order out of chaos. As the highest-ranking officer left in Hong Kong, he had been the one to pick up the pieces after the explosion at HQ. He had never personally agreed with the General Huang’s insistence that the command staff remains close to him at all times. Even with the staff spread out in multiple buildings, that single explosion had removed everyone above the rank of major in one blow.
While he never voiced his opinion to anyone, ever, he felt validated in his belief. That, however, was of little use in dealing with the shattered morale of his men. With the general’s family secreted away to an unknown location before this campaign, there was now no one to inherit his position. The general’s only son, was barely into the double-digit years, so Chao had to revert to fear to get the men under control. Driving them to prepare for a secondary assault had given them focus, if for nothing more than self-preservation.
Once he had restored a semblance of military discipline, Chao had investigated the bombing personally. He had been flooded with questions he couldn’t answer, concerning how and why the general had been killed. As the top remaining officer, there had been rumors that he himself had planted the bomb in a coup attempt.
The lack of a follow up attack had done little to dissuade a small but growing number of officers from dismissing the rumor. To help support the findings of the investigation, whatever they might be, Chao had selected men of varying rank to participate.
It took very little understanding of blast dynamics to see what had happened in the square. From the debris patterns and directions, one could easily understand how the pressure wave patterns converged on the exact spot where the foreign aircraft had once stood. In less than a day, the entire team had concluded that it was the aircraft that caused the explosion, without Chao’s input. For some unspecified reason, the craft had detonated, and that had devastated the area for hundreds of meters in every direction.
As there was no flame or heat involved, they had surmised that the initial pressure was so immense, it caused those standing nearby to literally come apart. The human fragments recovered in the cleanup supported this finding.
With that behind him and the rumors quieted, the major was preparing for a meeting of his staff, when he heard a commotion outside his tent. Stepping outside, into what was once known as Kowloon Park, he could see everyone looking skyward and pointing. Following their gaze, he gasped in surprise, but quickly recovered as he watched a ship of such huge proportions that either end was lost from view.
It was moving slowly and at no more than a thousand meters in elevation, making it appear as if it might strike one of the surrounding buildings. As it paused, settling in one place at the center of the city, Chao’s vision settled on one particular section of the craft. The symbol there confirmed that General Huang was the architect of his own destruction.
----*----
Brian stopped the carrier over the square where this mess started. So far, they had not taken any ground fire, but he had the ship’s weapons and shields ready. He was still very uneasy having the carrier this far into the atmosphere, and wanted to get this over and done with quickly.
He checked his readouts at the command console one more time, and once he was satisfied all was as it should be, he opened the communications line.
“Ok Jake, we are in position alpha. Ready when you are,” He announced.
----*----
Jake was standing near the communications station in the command center’s first tier. As he scanned the images in the center of the room, he had to smile. One of the images included an SAS team’s contribution, giving everyone a ground view of the carrier hovering above Hong Kong. Brian had evidently taken upon himself to insure the identity of the craft hovering over the Chinese was well identified.
The smile faded quickly though, as he considered how Banks might take the message it delivered. A quick glance in Banks direction returned a slight relief, as he appeared more concerned about the images containing the Chinese than the one with the ship hovering above. Jake made a mental note to bring the subject up at the next staff meeting. In the meantime, he had a solution to his immediate dilemma.
“OK, let’s introduce ourselves,” Jake announced to the room while giving the man at the communications station the high sign.
----*----
Major Chao had managed to get the attention of several of his subordinates, sending them to gather his staff officers. As the ship above had made no hostile moves, he still had hope that he could negotiate with the Americans. The giant American flag emblazoned across one entire section of the ship was the exact duplicate of the patches worn by the five captives General Huang had taken.
Chao was not present when the General had ordered the leader of the group tortured, however, he was positive the following explosion was retribution for the act. His investigation of the explosion had also included the conclusion that the remaining four had been rescued in the confusion. The trail of bullet-ridden bodies’ left clear evidence of planning and precision.
Just as the last of his staff officers arrived, Chao turned to enter his tent. Suddenly, from above, he heard a voice in clear Mandarin.
“This is Colonel Thomas of the United States and Colonel Banks of the United Kingdom. We made a peaceful attempt at establishing relations with you, only to be viciously attacked. The man who made that decision has been eliminated. Should you wish to open a dialog, ignite the gre
en smoke grenades we are dropping in the square.”
From his position, Chao couldn’t see anything drop in the square, but he turned, leading a procession toward the location.
----*----
Jake saw Banks turn to him as he made the announcement. A look of confusion and then satisfaction crossed his face, only to be replaced with the usual poker face the man projected. After he finished, they all watched as the satchel containing the green smoke grenades gently dropped from the carrier. As he started to turn away from the displays, heading to talk to Banks more privately, Patti spoke up.
“Jake look,” she said while pointing to the overall view of Hong Kong.
From all over the area, green smoke started to rise.
----*----
Major Chao never made it to the square. Once he cleared the trees in the park, he could see the green smoke rising in all directions. There was only a moment’s irritation, as he had intended on popping smoke as soon as he was able. He did privately acknowledge that not everyone shared the notion that he was in charge.
Chapter 18
Ivan left his three companions by the holes at the mine. While the lake was under suspicion as well, the holes were definite proof something was going on. He would leave them there to monitor. His current focus was the giant American ship he had seen passing high overhead. While he was unsure if the two were related, he was positive he needed to get back to updating the circle.
He discovered he needn’t have rushed back, however, as the entire bay was abuzz with the sighting of the ship. Most everyone had recognized the American flag painted across one section; so it wasn’t a mystery of who it was passing overhead. The circle, rather a Rada due to the possible threat, was a mass of opinions and conversations. The Ataman had called in the Starshina from the surrounding stanitsas to confer.
What seem to be undecided was what to do about the information. As was always the case in these matters, there were those in the clan that felt no need to concern themselves with outsiders, content to deal with their day-to-day survival. Others, like Ivan, dreamt of days gone by where Cossacks explored, learned, and thrived. He wanted to be more than just a border guard, stagnant and mired in the ruins of a past civilization.
He was also a student of history. He was aware of the popular misconception that the Americans were the enemy. They were not the enemy, they were the competition. That rivalry had not always been friendly, but at no time in their history had they engaged in direct conflict. Lives had been lost on both sides for sure, but that was more the fault of inept politicians and power brokers, than military strategists or necessity of conflict.
To Ivan, the path was clear. They needed to take one of the ships they had been caring for and sail to the coast of America. There they could reestablish themselves as warriors and work with the Americans in whatever they had going.
It had been established long ago that the attack on earth had come from space. Those survivors from that time that had relayed stories of worldwide devastation. As with his people, it was only those far removed from the cities and military bases that had survived the onslaught.
The ship Ivan had seen bore no resemblance to anything recorded in the pre-attack books. Therefore, he had to assume the Americans had somehow recovered and progressed. Supposing they had mastered space flight, then they had gained the ability to fight back. If true, then he wished for him and the men and women here to join them in that fight.
There was much retribution to be extracted from what had happened to the motherland, repayment for the cowardly, faceless attack from the sky. His one concern was, if the new Americans were worthy of honor and respect. There had been far too many decades of politics and struggles in the old world to waste lives now. They would not spend the lives of good men and women blindly following a warlord or power hungry leaders across the sea.
As he stood watching the commotion around him and waiting for his turn to speak, he knew it was going to be a long night.
----*----
Jake was in uncharted waters with the Chinese. With their initial interactions not so amicable, he was hesitant to turn anything over to others for negotiation. Sandy was definitely off the table as a representative, as she was still under mild sedation and constant observation. Becky had taken her to Texas with her, to remove her from the reminders the activities in Nevada provided.
While he had no desire to set up shop in China, Jake seriously doubted he could leave them unsupervised for any length of time. The good news was ALICE had confirmed that they had radioed a stand down order to all units. The analysts in Patti’s group visually confirmed that all locations ceased any movement, and were camped from Hong Kong to Hanoi.
Banks had offered a suggestion, that rather than traveling to the Chinese, they transport the Chinese leadership to Nevada. He could personally attest that the show of technology and firepower could be overwhelming. Jake smiled at the veiled admission from the otherwise stoic Brit. While he missed Sara desperately, he was enjoying the assistance and companionship the Colonel provided. Sometimes there was no substitute for age and wisdom.
----*----
Major Chao had watched the massive American ship lift straight up and head west over China. He was sure the objective was to show the rest of the late General Huang’s forces the response to his miscalculations.
He was currently in conversations with others in the shattered command, west of him. The Americans kindly relayed all their radio transmissions, assisting in forming the delegation that would be transported to the negotiation site. He held no delusions that they were not listening to every word.
While he was the ranking officer in Hong Kong, he was not the most senior officer left in the army. That distinction was given to a Lieutenant Colonel Zan at the far end in Hanoi. Zan was distantly related to Huang, and in the middle of berating Chao, reminding the major he had no right to agree to negotiate with the Americans.
Chao had to contain his laughter as he listened to Zan’s tirade evaporate, replaced with the chaos only the hovering American ship could incite. After a brief pause of silence, Chao heard the Lieutenant Colonel suggest two other officers for the delegation before signing off.
----*----
Sara sat in the quarters provided here in the London facility, sorting through all the reports in her inbox. The terminal she was working on being one of the many installed by the Americans, expanding the ALICE network. Her quarters, while quite comfortable by any standards, still were not home.
She had a certain sense of satisfaction as she reviewed the information on Kola and the South Dakota facility. Affirming her suspicions, she found files provided by ALICE-1 confirming her current state was maneuvered by Kola to up the number of Jake’s offspring. The message was addressed “for your eyes only” to Sara, and she took it as an apology. Sara was starting to understand Jake’s feelings about being manipulated.
She felt great sympathy and sorrow for Sandy, wishing she were in a position to help the girl. ALICE’s analysis of her psychological state didn’t reflect a quick recovery. She was happy to see Becky stepping up to help her close friend.
Before shutting down, Sara shot Jake a quick note, sharing the excitement in London over the SAS participation in China and her desire to come home.
----*----
Brian was extremely relieved to have the carrier back in orbit, safe and sound. The trip into the atmosphere had been a great training exercise, but one he had no desire to repeat any time soon. While he enjoyed commanding a spaceship, he had a greater respect for the on-board ALICE systems. They were the safety net that protected you from a fatal mistake.
With a ship this size, Brian had no desire to take her into battle manned by humans alone. Working with ALICE-3 on the battleship had proven their value. Once settled in place, he checked in with the ALICE’s who were acting as orbital management, and then attempted to verify when Kola was to be installed. The reply was a “To Be Determined.”
----*----
Jake and Colonel Banks were standing in the hangar bay as the patrol craft lowered through the opening and settled on the hangar floor nearby. Rather than a standard transport, the men had agreed that a more military look was needed to impress the Chinese. Lining either side of the approach between the two men and the patrol craft was an honor guard.
Made up of Marines, the arriving dignitary honor guard was in full battle armor and carrying weapons that resembled small cannons. As the ramp dropped and the five Chinese officers descended, the honor guard snapped to present arms in one crisp move, making all five jump. That brought a slight chuckle from Banks. All five had been permitted to retain their sidearms as a sign of good faith. Even so, everyone not in battle armor wore the bulletproof undersuit as a precaution.
Jake had handpicked each person for the honor guard, particularly for a towering presence in their battle armor. With faceplates in mirror mode and body armor in blackout, it gave the group a mechanically menacing appearance. Jake watched as the five Officers cautiously continued along the path the Marines bordered.
ALICE had briefed both Jake and Banks, as the Chinese formed their delegation. The Lieutenant Colonel at its head was named Zan, and apparently was related to the deceased General in some fashion. Behind him were three Majors and a Captain, all from units spread across eastern China. One of the Majors was named Chao and was in command in Hong Kong when they agreed to talk.
The five stepped up to face Jake and Banks, with the man Jake took to be Zan stepping forward. As he watched, all five bowed, however Jake noted Zan barely bent at the waist while the other four provided a much deeper bend. ALICE had instructed both Banks and Jake with a quick primer on Asian culture, explaining the significance of the bow.
