CHAPTER 6
Major Lewis strode quickly through a fluorescent-lit whitewashed tunnel in the underground military complex at NORAD. Beneath the arched ceiling of heavily reinforced concrete, her footsteps rang out on the cold pavement and echoed around her. Her movements were as sharp as the creases in her blue Air Force uniform. Other soldiers and staff in gray jump suits hurried past her on foot or in electric carts, carrying out their tasks in a rush of activity. The echoes of a hundred footsteps and the whine of the motors conveyed a sense of the frantic haste with which NORAD was being readied—for what? Uncertain that any amount of military preparations would make a difference in this conflict, she quickened her pace still further.
She turned and passed through a doorway, shooting a quick salute to the two helmeted, machine gun-bearing guards flanking it. Entering NORAD’s main command center, she approached a small group of men and women clustered around General Davis and staring at a computer screen. They were discussing the map that glowed on the display in front of them, a map of their own location and the vicinity around Colorado Springs. General Davis nodded as she joined the group.
“I hope you’ve got some good news for us, Major.”
She hesitated, clearing her throat. “At the risk of sounding impertinent, sir, I have good news and bad news.”
General Davis glanced around the assembly of command center officers for a moment before responding. He couldn’t get over this god-awful lack of seniority at such a life-and-death meeting. There was an Army lieutenant colonel, an Air Force major, two lieutenants from the Navy, and a Marine captain. This was all the brass, if you could call it that, he had been able to scrape up from within NORAD. From outside, God only knew if they would ever see another officer. And Davis was concerned about how demoralized these young officers might be, so he opted to start with the positive.
“First the good news.”
Lewis nodded. “We’re getting some responses to our radio broadcasts. We’ve been sending on every band we can manage with the equipment that’s left to us and it seems like there are plenty of units out in the field.”
“That’s good to hear. Any with combat capabilities?”
“Basically just small equipment so far, sir. There are vehicle radios by the dozens, some CB radios and a couple of ham operators.”
“But nothing big like an intact military installation or an airport somewhere?”
“Negative, sir. And that’s where the bad news comes in.”
Davis glanced again at the young officers gathered around him. They had their warrior faces on but he worried about fear lurking behind the tough façades. Just the same, he had to ask the next question.
“And the bad news is—?”
“There’s not much battle hardware left out there. The military units that have checked in have been hit about as heavily as Fort Carson. The people were spared but their heavy equipment has been fried.”
Davis again scanned the faces. He knew they were all, to a man or woman, fighting a hopeless feeling in their guts like the one that hadn’t stopped gnawing at his own intestines.
“Okay,” he began, and then stopped. He realized that his first job was somehow to inspire confidence if he was going to take charge of anything more than a surrender. He cleared his throat.
“You’ve been called together here because you are the ranking officers present with me in this facility. Given the way things have gone in the last twenty-four hours, you might even be the ranking officers in your entire services. We don’t know. Some of you have heard a lot about what has been going on, others only a little. Given the amount of destruction out there, we are forced to assume we are the ultimate authorities in the U.S. military. We will operate that way until we receive orders from a higher authority, which may be never. But I can tell you one thing. We are going to prevail. Understood?”
Davis scanned the faces around him nodding in stoic agreement. Even the idea that there may be no higher command left, so earthshaking in its import, got barely a sniff from any of them. Good. It was a time for toughness. He addressed Lewis again.
“And in the bad news category, what more can you tell us about the incoming bogeys?”
“Not much additional, sir, but we’ve got confirmation from people on the ground in Montana that these are some sort of large transport, definitely of an alien design. That’s all we know for certain.”
Davis spread his hands wide, as if about to deliver a sermon.
“So folks, there you have it. First thing that happens today is we’re hit by a death ray from space and now we’ve got an invasion on our hands. As you know, we weren’t exactly ready for this. It’s like Pearl Harbor or 911 all over again, but it’s on a worldwide scale this time. From what we’ve heard, we can assume just about every military target and every communication system on earth has been hit by this energy beam. The loss of military effectiveness has been pretty complete, whether we’re talking U.S. or foreign forces. My guess is, whoever is up at Phaeon has been cataloging targets over the last two years since the Recon One astronauts disappeared. And now that they’ve opened fire, they’re knocking out assets throughout the world.”
“As to our situation here, we’ve been hammered on too, but as you know this is the world’s most impenetrable fortress. We’ve got a whole mountain overhead. So far, it has served us well.”
He pointed at the map on the screen.
“What I want from you people now is a plan of action. We’ll start with local defense as an immediate priority. Given that Fort Carson is out of action, we’re going to need to defend this base ourselves. Meanwhile, Major Lewis, you’ll keep patching together a communications grid. Once we get ourselves organized we’re going to start developing a plan for taking this battle back to the enemy. Now first of all, we need some clues as to how soon there might be a land threat to this facility. Holly, what can you tell us about the progress of the invasion force?”
“We’re starting to get some information from ground observers. There are ten or eleven bogeys on the ground so far, sir.”
“In what locations?”
“All in Montana.”
“Montana?” Davis stared blankly at her for a moment. “I could understand Washington D.C. or here, but why are they concentrating on Montana?”
“Don’t know, sir. We’ve got a pretty good network of small units organized up there. National Guard, police—”
“Where in Montana?”
“At Fort Peck Reservoir, according to a couple of guardsmen on the scene.”
“Reservoir?”
“Yes, sir. The bogeys are landing on water, most of them. They’re amphibious gliders according to the observers. Big gliders.”
“And disembarking what? Have they seen what’s on board?”
“No, sir. They are too far away for a clear view.”
“Well, tell them to get closer. And, would it be possible to get a video feed from them? Some pictures?”
“Might be possible. We’ll have to work on it.”
“Well, do so. Now, what was that about most of them? Have some come down elsewhere?”
“Two have gone down somewhere in southern Montana. We’re not quite sure where yet. Just anecdotal reports.”
“Well, follow up on that too, will you? I don’t get this Montana thing. Why there?”
He asked this last question to the group but neither Lewis nor any of the others had anything to offer. Seething with frustration, he drew in a measured breath. “Fine then, let’s get some defenses up around this rat’s nest before they come in after us. And Holly, tell me immediately if you find something I can use to fight back.”
Dinosaur Wars: Earthfall Page 8
