Condition Zero, page 23
part #6 of The Earth Saga Series
“But you will try to question them before killing them?” Keegan asked.
“Doc, twenty vehicles are rolling up here. If they want a fight, I’m sure we can manage not to kill one or two of them.” He gave Keegan a final push into the ship and closed the hatch.
It took a moment for Keegan’s eyes to readjust to the dim lighting inside the craft, but once he had, he scooted himself back to his seat and sat down and started scanning the monitors. He was getting five feeds. One from the ship camera, one from 76er, and one each from both the Blue Team operators and a fifth feed from the drone that had been launched towards downtown, but was now tracking the convoy that was heading in their direction. Keegan knew that it wouldn’t take them long to reach the Heritage East area. It was just going to be a question of how long it would take them to find the ship.
Bishop and his flock had heeded the advice of Ken and were scurrying off as fast as their feet could carry them. It was clear to Keegan that they knew enough about the inhabitants of downtown to stay away from them.
Rechecking the drone footage, it was evident that the convoy of vehicles had taken the Paseo del Norte Boulevard exit, and was now travelling due east, straight towards their location.
Outside the ship, Tom and Ken were taking up positions facing opposite directions down Quintana, while the Sentinel had taken up a spot at the top of Wallace. Assuming the approaching vehicles found the ship, they’d run into the barrel of a gun anyway they came.
Looking back at the drone feed, Keegan could tell that the vehicles had slowed down, and had turned off del Norte, half turning down Barstow, the other half down Ventura. The intersection of Ventura with Paseo del Norte was less than a kilometre away. They were getting close. When the wave of vehicles that was rolling down Ventura hit Palomas, some of them turned left, while the rest continued straight. When Quintana came up next, four cars turned left, the rest carried on straight.
“We’ve got four vehicles approaching. Going to come to you first, Tom.” Keegan said over the net.
“I see the same footage you are, Doc.” Tom said.
“Moving to your position.” Ken said.
Keegan watched the image from the PJs helmet as he rushed past the ship.
“How do you want to play this?” Tom asked.
Ken waited for a moment to respond, then lowered his weapon. “We give them the benefit of the doubt.”
“How human of you.” Tom said.
“76er, move into the middle of the road, facing north on Quintana.” Ken ordered. “When the vehicles come into sight, disable them. No casualties.”
Keegan watched the ten-foot tall grey machine move from Wallace to Quintana rapidly, and take a position several metres in front of the two TSG operators.
Keegan redirected his attention back to the monitors and felt a wave of heat come over him. He might have been secured inside the ship, but something about the situation made him nervous, more nervous than riding on a tank into battle in Kansas. Something about being home and watching the events outside unfold on a monitor made him slightly uncomfortable.
Checking the drone footage, he counted down the seconds in his head until the first of the four vehicles roared into view, and when they did, they must have had the shock of their lives. The first vehicle, a big Ford pick-up, instead of staying on the road, veered off into Rotary Park, kicking dirt and grass up into the air.
The second vehicle to appear slammed on its breaks hard and skidded to a halt, the third car crashed into the rear of the second, while the fourth swerved around the pair of crashed vehicles and accelerated forward.
76er responded instantly once the first vehicle had come into view. A single blast from its massive energy cannon at three of the target engines put them out of action quickly, except for the third car whose engine was buried in the rear of the second.
Each vehicle responded differently to being hit. The Ford in Rotary Park came to a sudden halt when the front of the vehicle was vapourised. The second car was shoved backwards ten metres, and the fourth car lost control, and veered to its right, crashing into the tree on the front lawn of the house across Wallace from Keegan’s home.
“How many?” Ken asked.
“Two pax in the park.” 76er answered. “Seven targets to our front. Three in the yard.”
“This is Ken Tyler of the Terran Strike Group.” The external microphone on Ken’s armour boomed across the area. “Come out of your vehicles with your hands up.”
There was a delay of movement until the front passenger door of the second car that had appeared opened slowly, and a tall white male in a mix of civilian attire and military gear stepped from the car.
“How dare you fire at me! Fucker!”
The figure was almost foaming at the mouth. Eyes blood-shot, his right hand gripped around a pistol.
“I am Colonel Maddox!”
“Tom, you’re the ex-army guy. You reckon this guy is a Colonel?” Ken asked.
“Doubtful.” Tom replied.
Inside the ship, Keegan had his eyes locked on the screens to his front. He studied the look of the man who had emerged from the car. He was wearing desert combat boots, blue jeans, and a camouflage smock with the full-bird of a Colonel in the middle of his chest. He also had a bandolier of belt ammunition slung across his chest.
“Who are you!” Maddox demanded, taking a few steps from the car as the other occupants started to stir.
“Ken Tyler. Terran Strike Group.”
“What’s your rank?” Maddox demanded.
“I was an E6.” Ken replied.
“And I’m an O6!” Maddox roared. “And you fired at me.”
“Ken.”
“Go Tom.”
“I’m seeing US issued weapons on all these guys, and check out the Colonel’s driver.” Tom said.
Keegan followed the image from Ken’s helmet as it focused on the female driver of the car the hysterical Colonel had emerged.
“You’ve got to be shitting me.” Ken said.
“Ears?” Keegan said dryly.
“I think the time of conversation is coming to a close.” Ken said on the secure network. “So, Colonel.” He took a few steps towards the crashed cars. “What’s the name of the West Point stadium?”
“What?” Maddox barked. “I don’t have to answer a lowly E fucking 6!” Maddox waved his arms around. “I control this town. All of it! And if you want to leave here alive, you’ll do as I say.”
“Don’t want to take a guess at the name of the stadium?” Ken asked, still walking towards Maddox. “Unless of course, you’re an ROTC man or an OCS kind of guy.” Ken stopped five metres from Maddox. “But from what I’m seeing, you don’t strike me as officer material.”
“Ken.” Keegan whispered into his communicator. “There is a guy in the truck with a really big gun.” Keegan’s eyes went wide, staring at the .50 calibre machine gun.
“Harmless.” Ken replied, then focused back on Maddox. “So, what happened? The world switched off and you, what?” Ken took another step towards Maddox. “You all ex-military? National Guard?” Ken pointed his left finger from car to car. “I see lots of issue weapons, and some not so standard uniforms.”
“Fuck you!” Maddox shouted.
“I’ve known a lot of angry full-birds in my day, but none of them looked like you or talked like you.” Ken said. “And I think that you’re much too young.”
Without another word, Maddox quickly brought up his right hand, pistol still clenched tightly, and pointed it at Ken’s helmet and pulled the trigger. The single 9mm round shot out of the weapons at close to four-hundred metres per second and slammed into the middle of the helmet's forehead before falling harmlessly to the ground.
“That was unwise.” Ken said.
Without saying another word, Ken took two rapid paces towards Maddox, and punched him in the face, his fist driving through the flesh, bone, then brain matter, then out of the left-hand side of what was Maddox’s skull. The body didn’t even jerk, it just slumped to the ground.
Keegan couldn’t see the strike, the enhancements given to the TSG made them too fast for his eyes to track, but he was able to see Maddox’s corpse fall to the ground.
“Oh shit.” He whispered.
The Ford that was in Rotary Park was the first to respond. The .50 calibre machine gun in the bed of the truck opened fire wildly at first, sending rounds in the general direction of Ken and Tom, but instead into the third car, which was still wedged into the back of the second, cutting to ribbons the three occupants that hadn’t emerged yet.
Ken brought his rifle up, turned to his right, and opened fire towards the truck. Two bolts of energy raced towards the Ford, hitting the gunner in the chest, blasting a hole through his body, while the second shot vaporised his head. Not waiting for the other occupant to move, Ken fired two more rounds at the female sat in the cab, killing her instantly.
Ken dealt with the three occupants from the car on the lawn, cutting them down while they were still trying to bring their weapons to bear, leaving only the three other occupants of the vehicle from which Maddox had emerged alive. They were motionless, frozen in fear.
“Don’t move!” Ken shouted, stepping towards the car. “Tom, left side.” He instructed and continued to move towards the car cautiously.
Keegan watched as the pair approached the vehicle, but noticed that the sound of gun-fire must have attracted the sixteen other cars that had emerged from downtown because they were all now converging on Rotary Park.
“We’ve got a lot more company on the way.” Keegan said.
“Thanks, Doc.” Ken said. “76er, any vehicle approaching this location gets one warning shot. If they fail to stop, destroy the vehicles.”
Reaching the car, Ken kept the barrel of his rifle trained on the female sat in the front of the car, while Tom went around the rear of the vehicle.
“Out!” Ken ordered.
Putting his hand on the doors window-sill, Ken jerked it back sharply, ripping the door from the car, before tossing it into Rotary Park. Reaching inside the car, he placed his hand on the back of the neck of the woman with the ear necklace, and pulled her from the vehicle, and lead her back towards the ship.
“Doc, open up.” Ken said.
Inside the ship, Keegan moved towards the hatch and opened it.
Stopping next to the open hatch, Ken flipped up his helmets blast shield before ripping the ear necklace from the woman.
“Who are you?” He demanded.
“Joan Givens.” The woman replied, trembling slightly.
“Okay, Joan Givens, where did you get the weapons and were did Maddox get the uniform?”
“From our armoury.” Givens replied.
“Armoury?” Keegan asked with a confused look on his face.
“We’re all part of the same National Guard unit.” Givens replied.
“And your rank?” Ken demanded.
“Specialist.”
“And his?” Ken pointed back to Maddox’s body.”
“Corporal.” Givens answered.
“A fucking E4.” Ken said under his breath. “And the rest of your buddies?” Ken looked towards the car.
“About the same rank.” Givens replied.
“What happened here?” Keegan asked. “What happened in Albuquerque?”
Givens shook her head. “I can’t remember.” She said with little effort.
“Are you on drugs?” Ken asked, shoving the female into the ship. “If you don’t want to talk to us, maybe one of your friends does.”
Givens looked up from the street and locked eyes with Ken. “It all started when the power died.”
“Go on.” Ken pressed.
“When the power went, we all reported to our armouries.” Givens said. “And after that, we went to the mayor's office.”
“Downtown?” Keegan asked.
Givens nodded.
“Then what happened?” Ken asked.
“Our colonel wanted to assume command of the city, but the chief of police refused to go with it, and somehow a shootout started.”
“Between the police and the army?” Keegan asked, his jaw wide open.
“Yeah.” Givens answered. “That’s when the colonel got killed.”
“And what about the police?” Ken asked.
“We killed them.”
“All of them?”
Givens nodded.
“And then what?”
“Everything got a little crazy. People were trying to leave town.” Givens said. “When more Guard units arrived, they joined us, and we took over the town.”
“And what about the ears?” Ken pointed at the necklace that was on the ground.
“I killed them.” Givens replied.
“Why?” Keegan asked.
“To prove myself.” She replied.
Before Ken could ask another question, 76er opened fire with his heavy cannon.
Keegan found the noise almost deafening.
“Contact.” Tom said casually over the net.
“Children.” Keegan blurted out. “Do you have any children at the university campus?”
Givens looked at Keegan, then at Ken. “Fuck you!” She said, her nerves finally under control.
Shaking his head, Ken lowered the blast shield on his helmet, and grabbed Givens by the back of the neck, and dragged her over to where Tom had the other occupants of the car laying face down in the street.
“Get down.” Ken ordered. “76er, prepare to exfil.” Ken pulled his pistol from its holster. “Are there any children at your complex downtown?”
“Fuck you!” Givens repeated.
Ken shot her in the back of the head.
“One down, two to go.” He said, putting the pistol behind the head of the next female lying next to Givens’s body. “Children? Are you holding children?”
“Yes!” The female barked.
“Where?”
“I think the mayor's office building.” She said.
“How many kids?”
“I don’t know. Less than one hundred.”
“You’re sure they’re in the mayors building downtown?” Ken asked.
By this point, Tom and 76er were laying down heavy fire towards a group of cars that had just arrived.
“Yes.” The female shouted.
“What about hostages at the university?”
“Yes.” She replied.
“Thank you.” Ken shot her in the back of the head, then executed of the third female.
“Tom, 76er, let’s get out of here.”
The ship was in the air less than one minute later. There were no survivors from the twenty vehicles that had departed the university campus.
“How do you want to play this?” Tom asked once the ship was moving towards downtown.
Ken hesitated before responding. “If these psychos have hostages at the university campus, we need to do what we can before going for the kids at the mayor's office.”
“You think the mayor’s office is the base of power?” Keegan asked.
“Good chance.” Ken replied.
“And you believed that woman?”
“I believe that she thinks that is where the kids are kept, and that’s the best we’ve got to work with for now.” Ken replied.
There was silence in the fast raider as it skimmed above the city of Albuquerque towards the downtown area. Keegan’s mind was racing, half of the time thinking about his kid, the other half of the time thinking about the brutality he had just witnessed. When he had been in Kansas, he hadn’t seen a single member of the Coalition forces executed. Ken had just murdered in cold blood several members of what was once the National Guard, and he wasn’t so much thinking about the logic behind eliminating such a minimal threat, but the brutal manner in which it was carried out.
“Doc, when we get to the stadium, we’re going to step out with 76er, and see what’s on the ground.” Ken said.
“You want me to just sit in the ship?” Keegan asked.
“Yeah, I’m going to remotely operate the ship while on the ground and use it as a support platform.” Ken replied.
“Okay.”
Looking to his screens, he noted that the images from Ken and Tom’s helmets were displaying the interior of the shuttle, while the outside camera was giving him a picture of the baseball field and a clear view of the crucified victims. Keegan could clearly tell that some of those on the cross were still alive, while at the same time figures on the ground were rushing about, some armed.
“76er, put us over the outfield at fifty-metres.” Ken ordered.
Keegan continued to watch the figures on the ground scurry around, then saw the first muzzle flash. Looking up, he tried to hear the shots, but the ship was soundproof, and whatever sized bullet they were firing at the vessel had no effect.
“Side hatch opening.” Tom said.
“76er, get on the ground and release anyone alive on the crucifixes.” Ken ordered.
“Doc, don’t worry, you’re safe.” Ken said.
Before Keegan could reply, an alarm inside the ship went off, before it violently shifted to the left.
“Assholes are firing LAWs us!” Ken yelled. “Doc you strapped in?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m off. Just hold on.”
Keegan turned around to see that he was alone in the ship, with the only exterior light rapidly extinguished once the hatch slammed shut, when it did, the lighting dimmed even more, and in place of the images that Keegan had been seeing, weapons and targeting information was suddenly displayed, along with a forward-looking image that had a large X in the centre, and two smaller X’s floating near the sides of the screen.
“AI.” It was Ken’s voice over the net. “Take control of the ship and engage all hostiles with lethal force.”
“Oh shit.” Keegan whispered.
The fast raider was still hovering above the middle of the outfield, but once the AI had taken control and initiated defensive protocols, the ship backed away slightly from the grand-stands, its thrusters keeping the ship perfectly level with the ground, and within seconds, target locks were made on fifteen targets that were carrying weapons in the four-story crescent-shaped grandstands.
