_____________________________________________________
BONCHANCE
_____________________________________________________
It had been nineteen days since they had left, dropping off a tight beam repeater periodically, or rather, hiding them in trees, and their last report was about heavy snowfall as they moved into a portion of the map that used to be called Wyoming. Now, I was heading up to the OP twice a day to check the weather moving in.
“Good morning!” I said to Michael as I walked over to the telemetry station and accessed the latest readings. The ‘software’ built into the telemetry could make a good approximation of incoming weather for several days in advance by monitoring trends. Apparently, the fact that the satellite could measure the effects of the high altitude winds by cloud patterns assisted as well.
“Good morning to you!” he replied and yawned.
“How’s Lloyd working out?” I asked. Gerard and Michael were training some more individuals to work in the OP, as what Mara called ‘watchstanders’.
“He’ll do fine. He needs some more training before we’ll let him near the drones.”
“Unlike either one of us who got grabbed and basically shoved into the seat.”
“True enough,” he laughed. “But at least I started out on a console and not through the remote helmet system.”
“That was an exciting ride,” I agreed.
“How goes your impersonation of a mole?”
The tunnels are done. I just need to get the outer door made for the south, and then we can break through. The west just needs the security doors. Then, we can start pulling supplies inside. The thing that’s slowing us down is raw materials, and with the winter and the lack of a rail line, we’re not getting anything from Rice or points east. So, for now, the tunnel project is over, even though we do have a Howler with a full load of munitions parked inside that the Duchess flew through the spoil removal tunnel….just in case.”
“Are you that certain trouble is coming?”
“Very.”
He shrugged, “Then I am very glad we have the Duchess and you here,” he turned back to watch the monitors.
I glanced through the weather predictions and called Mara, “A storm is on the way, a large one.”
“Everyone should be set for food and fuel.”
“Peter and Fran made certain of it.”
“I’ll be up in the OP shortly.”
When she arrived, I was reading documentation regarding the ICA systems. I could not hope to understand how they worked, but I wanted to know how to fix one if it got damaged.
“Homework?”
“I like to learn.”
“I’ve noticed,” she said as she sat down at the table next to me. The main screen was showing the weather plot. “That one looks bad.”
“It might be, and it should be hitting us in an hour or so.. Did you know the telemetry had been passively recording weather events for its entire period of stand-by?”
“What? No…I hadn’t.”
“Well, it had, and now it apparently can use all that historical information to assist in the predictions.”
She looked at the console, “I’m almost surprised they didn’t stuff a full ASI into this facility.”
“How did they build one of these?” I asked. “And stock one without having personnel.”
“They were built in one of a few underground auto-factories that were set up right before the rocks started coming down. I had mentioned that we knew things were going to hell, didn’t I? We had more than a few years and people like me who managed to find out intel up in the Orbitals before it started. It took time for them to prep, too.
Now, we were already building the tunnelers, which we were using for road building and aquifers and other civil engineering things, and used them to dig the regular bunkers under cover of other projects, while we were also using a lot of the factories to build the furnishings and equipment and everything else that goes into them We also had a large stockpile of useful stuff. Now, those were the base bunkers, the big ones that were built before the rocks. And the war went on, and the factories kept building, and then it was getting really bad, so Ceedo command came up with this Last Stand concept. We knew we were going to die, so why not? We had the resources, and most of the stuff was automatically built and not going to be used anyway. We were desperate.
So this was after we Kesslered the hell out of recon sats and were using portable ASAT launchers to knock down their eyes as fast as they could put them up, so they were having a hell of a time watching what we were doing on the ground. So we sent convoys out with a bunch of vehicles, including construction teams and supply trucks. The tunnelers would dig a staging cave where all the vehicles would be hidden, and then they’d dig the warehouse out first, then the rest of the bunker. You’ve seen how fast they dig.
As soon as things were dug, the construction crew would run all the prefabbed parts and systems together, set the place in stand-by mode and then haul ass to the next site, meeting up with a fresh batch of supply trucks while the empties headed back to the factories to reload. Then, the bunker would wait for the personnel to be sent to it. They were only going to have a cadre of thirty or so…”
“Plus you.”
“Well, yes,” she smiled, “plus an avatar. Thirty or so, and we would be recruiting partisans when the Hi-Siders started moving in. That’s why all the light weaponry and vests and helmets, and the extra coveralls and boots, too. These were going to be a network of resistance strongpoints after all.”
“But then the Pox.”
“And apparently a bunch of sore losers in orbit that decided to go rock crazy…to be honest, I really don’t think anybody actually won.”
“I’d agree with that.”
“Milady! Milord! I have something!”
We both got up and went over to Michael, who was staring at his screen.
“This indicator,” he tapped the screen where an amber space was flashing.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
ENCRYPTED SIGNAL INTERCEPT
NO KEY AVAILABLE
“What does that mean?”
“Old World technology, “ I replied, “and under somebody else’s control.” I looked at Mara for more information.
“They’re using commsets like ours,” she said, “but with a different scramble key. They can’t understand us, and we can’t understand them…we can pick up each other’s signals if we’re lucky and slash or the other guy is sloppy.”
“Do we have anything they could spot?” I asked.
“Helmets, earbeads, and data glasses are all very short range without a repeater. No Guts are out, and the drones are all set to tight beam,” I think we’re safe unless they get a lot closer.
“Repeaters…What about Clea and Katrina if they call in?”
“Relax, Bonchance. Those are tight beam, too. They’re not going to be spotted unless they stick an antenna right between two of the repeaters, and they’re moving in from far too north for that; judging from the RDF reading,” she tapped an area, and now a graph appeared, “I’m no ELINT goddess, but I do know the basics, kind of… Signal strength is increasing, which means they’re moving straight in our direction. For that much jump in that short a time, that’s a vehicle rig on a fast mover of some kind.”
“Like a Howler?” I asked.
“Possibly. They aren’t the only air vehicle the Old World had, though,” she tapped the screen again, “Signal has stopped, but I have it, so it will calculate the rate of closure every time it broadcasts again. Michael?”
“Yes, milady.”
She pointed at one of the side screens; “When this flashes and starts giving numbers, let me or Bonchance know immediately. Also, if this lights up...” she pointed at a space marked ‘RWR’. “If that lights up, ground all the drones as fast as possible, and let us know even faster than immediately. That means someone is using radar. Bonchance, come with me.”
We headed down to SURFACE and put on our long coats. I had gloves and a scarf, and Mara didn’t bother; it wasn’t as if this level of cold would bother her.
“Where are we going?” I asked as she fished one of the radio detectors out of a locker in the garage.
“If we can have tight beam, so can they. What is the likelihood they have someone in or near the village?”
“A spy? We’d do it.”
We jogged down the road through the falling snow and into the village and headed for the militia headquarters. Cal was there and looked up as we entered, “What is it?”
Mara quickly said, “Potential Old World threat. Get patrols out and sweep to the northwest, bearing 330 Degrees. You’re looking for an individual with a radio; it should have an odd-looking antenna. Start near the buildings and fan out. Don’t use any Old World gear.”
He nodded and took off.
“Are you armed?” she asked me.
“Since I started working with you? Constantly,” I showed her my revolver in its holster.
We left the building, and she handed me the detector. “Let’s head a kilometer out that way,” she pointed to the southwest, “then head straight north across the fields. Keep an eye on the signal meter, and I’ll switch to thermal,” she tapped next to her right eye.
“If there’s a spotter, they’ll be trying to evade Cal and his men, not us.”
“Exactly.”
Moving across the cold and frozen fields, the swirling snow would hide us somewhat. But we still were cautious. We had gone about three-quarters of a kilometer north when there was a faint buzz from the detector.
“I have something,” I said just as I heard.
“Milady, milord…They’re transmitting again!”
“Thank you, Master Michael,” Mara replied. “Rate of closure?”
“Ummm, 125 Kay Pee Aitch Estimated.”
“Very slow for a Howler or any aircraft you would want to fly in this weather,” Mara said in a puzzled tone. “On the RDF, is there an estimated altitude or just a bearing?”
“It says Clutter Interference.”
“So if that’s a flyer, it’s traveling very low to the ground…Ah! I got it. A ground vehicle with a drone used as a repeater to deal with the radio horizon.” She looked at me, “Which direction did the detector indicate?”
“That way,” I pointed.
Moving softly, we headed back in the direction of the town.
“Can you see them?”
“Not on thermal…” she sounded puzzled. “Wait a moment; circle right, past that copse.”
I did that, and I saw a glimpse of a straight line; you don’t normally find straight lines and right angles in nature, up on a tree branch.
“I have something,” I whispered, knowing the earbead would pick it up.
“Moving left,” was her response. I hooked the detector to my belt and, drawing my revolver, pulled the hammer back before moving forward in a crouch. As I drew closer, I could see some of Cal’s people heading this way and heard, “…Ghost to Hitter 6, there’s activity. Looks like a patrol..four men…long arms…”
As he was speaking, I was looking for the source of the voice; looking up, I saw the odd shape I had noticed earlier, which had to be the antenna, and followed the thin cable down to where it simply vanished?
It immediately dawned on me that he was about to reveal that he was being searched for, which would beg the question, how did we know to look for him? Before he could say another word, I shot the antenna in the boxy portion at the base. At this range, even I couldn’t miss, and it exploded into fragments.
Where the cable had vanished, there was the sudden sensation of the ground separating and flickering as a man in New World clothing but with a pair of data glasses and carrying an odd-looking short-barreled rifle sprang up from the ground and spinning around, saw me and immediately fired.
His weapon did not make the sound of a gunshot or even the strange sound of an Old World suppressor but uttered a series of hissing cracks, and I was slammed by multiple impacts on the chest as I was flung backward. As I fell over, I fired again, this time at his legs. He yelped as the heavy bullet striking his calf knocked him off balance, and he was collapsing to the ground while trying to raise his weapon at me when Mara leaped on top of him and drove him face-first into the dirt with a nasty thump.
“Are you all right?” she asked in that terrifyingly calm voice she only used in battle.
I coughed as I got to my feet, “Vest. Like I mentioned about being armed, since I started working with you, I wear it constantly.”
She nodded and hoisted the man up while I retrieved his pack, his weapon, a radio transceiver such as Malcolm had, along with a very thick and odd-looking blanket.
“Sniper camo,” Mara said, her voice returning to normal. “Active optical concealment and also a damn good insulator. That’s why I couldn’t spot him.” She looked at the weapon I was holding, “A K84? I was not expecting something like that.”
“Like what?”
“That’s a coil submachinegun…it uses electromagnets to fire steel slugs, very high rate of fire, not chemical propellent…it’s an Orbital weapon.”
“He’s a Hiver?” I asked right before the militia could arrive.
“I don’t know, but he has their gear,” she replied right as Cal arrived with a squad. “Captain Galway, take this man to the residence, secure him, and strip him; oh, and check his ears carefully.”
“Yes, milady.”
I looked at the equipment I picked up, “Duchess, would this radio have the key they were using?”
“It would…P-107,” she took the radio from me, “Michael, go to the master comms console. Go to the security authorization section. Key Load…” As she was speaking, we were trotting back to the ridge and the bunker.
By the time we had arrived back in the OP, she had finished instructing Michael on what to do, and he was listening to, “…Ghost, this is Hunter 6! Respond! Ghost!”
“They’ve been doing this since I finished loading the key, milady,” Michael said.
“What will they do now?” I asked as I reloaded my revolver.
“They suddenly lost contact with their spotter, and they don’t know why or how…It could be that he was caught or killed, or it could be the weather,” the snow was coming down much heavier now, “or simple equipment failure,” Mara said after a moment. “So many possibilities for him to weigh in…” She stepped over to one of the consoles and began setting something.
“What are you doing?”
“Broadcasting intermittent static on their frequency.”
“Making them think it’s an equipment failure?”
“Hopefully.”
“Ghost! We’re getting something from you. Keep keying if you can hear this. ETA forty-five minutes.”
“Nice of them to tell us when they’re arriving,” I said. “How do we want to greet them?”
“It would be nice to capture them.” She smiled, “Bonchance, get Cal and Simon in on this. Michael, I’m going to show you the Electronic Warfare section now. We are going to need to make sure they cannot call for help.”