Armageddon, page 8
part #9 of Col Sec Series
He led the team on towards Boerkamp’s office.
“Nice to see they got this place back together again,” Cowboy said. Guardian knew he was just trying to take everyone’s mind off the impending dressing down they were facing. Since no one commented he knew it hadn’t worked. It was a nice try though and he silently commended him for the effort, but it was a moot point as he saw the office ahead. They had arrived.
Boerkamp, as expected, was seated at his desk and, as expected, was not glad to see them as was evident by his scowl.
“Have you any idea the shit storm I had to face just to get your asses out of there?” he said by way of greeting.
“The bombs were there but we were too late, they’d been moved by the time we arrived, we think by submarine. As we arrived Hacker looked at the schematics of the island and the entire facility and he noticed submarine pens deep below the surface large enough to accommodate at least four military vessels or scores of smaller ones. We aren’t sure where they moved them to but we think we may have a lead. The company, Geo-Dyne Industries is owned by several shell companies but if you track them back far enough you get to the Haskin family. We think they are involved somehow,” Guardian said blurting it all out in one long stream of words. He wanted to get it said before the Colonel had the chance to interrupt him.
“Wait, what?” Boerkamp said, as he leaned forward his eyes going wide in surprise.
Not sure how to proceed, Guardian said, “Which part?”
“What you just said, all of it,” Boerkamp said.
Guardian saw this as a chance to elaborate and show that they had been working rather than screwing up. “We traced where the mini nuke came from, it was an order obtained from said company but when we tried to see if the stockpile was still on the premises we were stonewalled. On our way back here I had Hacker delve deeper into Geo-Dyne’s details and it seems that it has backers that desperately want to remain hidden, including the Haskin family.”
“The Haskin family you say, are you certain about this?” the Colonel asked his brow furrowing. Guardian could tell he was working something out, connecting the dots to something they were, as yet, not party to.
He glanced at Hacker who continued the narrative. “They concealed it well, in fact I almost overlooked it, but it’s definitely there, the connection between Geo-Dyne Industries and the Haskin family. They are not just silent partners either, they have controlling interests, which means they have a say in the day-to-day side of things, sir.”
Guardian saw the Colonel taking it all in, saw him work out all the ramifications of this new information as he decided what to do next.
“Okay, this actually ties in with something else that has been going on,” he said finally. Looking like he had come to a decision he said, “Wait one moment, I want to bring Matt Hawk in on this.”
Before anything else could be done a communication came through to his office. Guardian saw the look of horror on the Colonel’s face as he listened.
Operating a screen behind him Boerkamp brought up a live feed of what was happening on the report he had just received.
Guardian’s eyes immediately went to the screen followed by those of the team who he knew had seen the change in the Colonel too. What they all saw knocked them back on their heels.
The screen showed a feed from an orbiting satellite over a city in ruins. Buildings had been destroyed, flattened really, for an area of around five miles. Smoke hovered over the ruins immediately where the destruction was centred. From this view it was impossible to see how many had died but it must have been in the thousands. The area beyond that showed various signs of devastation as some buildings remained standing. It was a familiar scene to Washington DC when the Quantum bomb detonated there recently. The horror they all witnessed then was still implanted in their memories for this not to have an effect.
The room was plunged into silence as they watched the satellite feed coldly yet silently report the situation.
Hellcat finally broke the silence. “It’s started.”
13
Kurt and Zara followed Matt into the office.
They had seen the news report of the bombing and then had been summoned in to see Boerkamp.
When Kurt saw Guardian there he smiled briefly.
“Nice to see you, Tony,” he said.
“Pity it’s under these circumstances,” replied Guardian.
Kurt nodded then turned his attention to the Colonel.
“Where’s Jake and the rest of the Wildfire Team?” he asked noticing their absence.
Boerkamp looked up at him, “They’re on their way, they can catch up when they get here.”
Kurt settled down to listen. Finally they had something to do, a chance at leaving the base. He felt guilty though that the end of his incarceration had come at such a price. He knew Zara felt the same, they shared more than just their abilities; he was tuned into her emotions like no other. It was almost like the sharing of their blood had shared more than that, something deeper.
The sound of the Colonel’s voice brought him back to the here and now.
“As you are all aware, a bomb has been detonated in the heart of Deneb Prime, the capital city of Harton. We now think this may be linked to the incident on Potera recently.”
“How so, I read the report? Good work by the way, Tony, but how is this linked to that?” Kurt asked.
Guardian turned to him. “Hacker did some follow-up work after we left. He found who supplied Vosu with the mini nuke. Apparently there was a stockpile of the damn things at Sub Nautica but by the time we got there they had been moved.”
“Quite, now we think this may have been one of them,” Boerkamp said, taking control of the briefing once more.
“Has anyone taken responsibility for this bombing yet?” Zara asked.
“Too early to tell, this only happened an hour ago,” the Colonel replied dourly.
“What else have we to go on then?” Kurt asked. He saw the Colonel glance at Matt and Guardian.
“What am I missing here?” he asked.
“We think there’s a connection, it’s a tenuous one at best, but we think it’ll hold,” Guardian started.
“Go on,” Kurt urged, he could tell by Tony’s hesitance that this connection was going to be a big deal.
“The Haskin family can be tied to Geo-Dyne Industries who owned Sub Nautica where the Quantum bombs were being manufactured, and not in some obscure way either, in the day-to-day affairs. They are hip deep in this shit,” Guardian finally brought himself to say.
Kurt looked at Guardian then at Boerkamp; he could see they were waiting for his reaction. Not sure what they expected of him so he just said, “Okay, what’s next?”
CONFEDERATION COUNCIL HQ, Geneva.
James Franklin sat in his office in the large building on the third floor reserved for the Council members.
He had just watched the report of the incident on Deneb Prime and, unlike everyone else who had watched, he felt a smile spreading across his aquiline features.
A career politician he had worked his way up from a lowly assistant to his status now, that of Council member who, one day soon, wanted to be the President. He had help throughout his career both financial and otherwise from certain powerful families who comprised the organisation that had worked tirelessly behind the scenes for centuries to steer power in the direction they wanted. These families had kept to the shadows guiding those in power with subtle moves that had gone unnoticed. Recently though events had transpired to change their ways of doing things. Not content now to sit and wait for the right time to act, they deemed now was the time to step out from the shadows and become the force they had always wanted to be. After witnessing the disastrous events played out both in New York and Washington they could wait no longer.
Watching the destruction of the city on the news report he knew it had started. Now it was time to play his part.
He would soon get the call, being a member of the Council he was invited to attend all the security meetings where he would sit and dutifully agree with the President’s views. This time would be different though. He had been instructed to make his own voice heard, to voice his own concerns about the safety of the Confederation and its people in direct opposition to the President. All carefully rehearsed, he would say the words with absolute conviction, almost as if they had been his own. He was but a puppet, this he knew, but he didn’t care. The power he would have at his fingertips and the wealth that came with it was all he cared about so he would play his part in this play.
He felt the tingle of a call coming through his NI.
“Yes, Mister President,” he said, “I’m on my way.”
14
Area 15
Captain Jake Riley was the leader of the Wildfire Team, which consisted of Mack Cooper, Joseph Vance and Angelina Torres all recipients of a variation of the serum that had changed Kurt Stryder into the super soldier he was today.
Their strength and stamina had been enhanced along with their other physical senses to above normal standards. They could not heal as fast as Kurt, which was something they had held back on, as it had seemed to only work on Kurt.
The Pulsar, the starship which had been put at their disposal to be used as a mobile base but which was rather more a home from home to some of them, arrived in orbit around Earth from manoeuvres they had been undertaking near Jupiter. The forward section could detach enabling the team to land on the surface of any given planet, which they frequently did.
“Okay Artie, you can wait here for us, I’ve got a feeling we’ll be moving again pretty soon,” Jake said as the hatch opened after landing, allowing them to leave.
“I will await your further instructions, sir,” replied the ship’s AI. Its full name was Artificial Intelligence Integrated Control Module but they had all considered that too much of a mouthful so they shortened it to Artie.
“This brings back memories,” Vance said as they all walked towards the elevator that would take them below ground.
“I’ll say,” confirmed Cooper.
“What’s the matter Gina, not feeling nostalgic for the old place?” Vance asked.
Torres gave him a sideways glance, “Are you kidding me? We were here like what, a few months ago? To hear you two talk, you’d think we hadn’t been here in years.”
“She has a point guys, it’s not like we’ve been away for a while,” Jake added.
“There you go you two, spoiling the moment,” Vance said.
“Have you noticed too, they do that a lot?” Cooper added.
“Yeah, I noticed.”
“Those two are the ultimate buzz kills.”
“You can say that again buddy.”
“Okay, if you two have quite finished, let’s get down there. I think we have work to do,” Jake interrupted.
“See what I mean?” Vance said.
“I see it buddy, buzz kills the pair of them,” Cooper added.
Torres just rolled her eyes, “I give up with you two.”
The journey to the base was continued in silence as they all wondered what they would be faced with. The report of the bombing had of course been relayed to them prior to their recall, so they knew why; they just didn’t know what they were expected to do next.
They entered the office to be greeted by what seemed like the whole Initiative. After quick greetings all round Jake asked, “Okay Colonel, what’s the op?”
Before the Colonel could respond an alarm sounded.
“What the fuck’s that?” Jake asked the question that was on everyone’s mind.
“It’s the intruder alarm,” Boerkamp explained, but Jake saw there was something else, even the Colonel looked confused.
“This is something more though, we haven’t been breached,” Boerkamp added.
The screens behind them all lit up then went dark. A shape appeared in the centre of each screen as they were all shown the same feed. A dim shape in the form of a face but hidden sufficiently so it couldn’t be recognised. This face then began to speak in a distorted voice so it too couldn’t be recognised.
“Now that I have all your attention we shall begin,” the voice said. “This broadcast is being seen by the Security Council simultaneously so there will be no need to confer with them, they will see exactly what you see and hear. Take note, we the New Order, take full responsibility for the explosion that occurred recently on Deneb Prime. This will not be the last of this kind unless you exceed to our demands. We will detonate another device similar to that one every hour if our demands are not met. We will demonstrate that it will be extremely unwise to doubt our veracity. This galaxy is in chaos and we are here to take control.”
As soon as the last word was uttered the screens went blank then returned to their normal performance.
All eyes turned from the screens and looked at the Colonel. Jake saw his face was as white as a sheet.
“Okay, so now we know at least,” Jake said, trying to kickstart the conversation.
“All we know is they call themselves the New Order and that they plan on taking control of the galaxy and have more bombs to force us into relinquishing it to them,” Boerkamp answered.
“It’s a start though, we can go on from here,” Jake said hopefully.
“We know one other thing, too,” Kurt said.
Everyone turned to him waiting for him to elaborate and Jake saw the look in his eyes.
“To demonstrate their veracity, they are going to detonate another bomb,” he said.
15
Io Space Docks
The small craft silently drifted to a stop outside the perimeter of the security barrier.
A small team of soldiers dressed in dark evo-suits evacuated the craft and silently made their way towards the space docks. Powered by thruster packs the soldiers glided through the security barrier that was tuned to pick up objects larger than two metres square.
Two of the four-man team carried a small object between them. Slowly, so that the motion detectors didn’t pick them up, they floated towards the centre of the docks. No one saw them attach the object to a ship’s hull before returning to their craft.
DEEP SPACE RESEARCH Station Four
A starship dropped out of a hyperspace window as it approached the station. It was the scheduled relief for the crew stationed there, their tour of duty had come to an end and were returning to Earth.
As the ship neared the station a lone figure emerged from a hatch in the hull of the craft and separated from the larger vessel. Using a thruster pack on the back of their evo-suit the figure floated towards the hull of the station where it attached an object to it by magnetic clamps. Once their mission had been accomplished the figure returned to the starship, which by that time had docked with the station. Unseen by anyone on the starship or the station the figure re-entered the starship via the hatch they had left by and returned to their hiding place ready for the return trip to Earth.
CONFEDERATION HQ, GENEVA.
The Situation Room was silent. All the occupants had listened to the message that had suddenly interrupted the urgent meeting with stunned expressions. All with the exception of James Franklin, he had watched in silent satisfaction.
He had known it was coming, but to see it in action and the effect it had on everyone present was astounding. He was a part of something truly wonderful here but no one must ever find out. When faces turned in his direction, he made sure his expression mirrored that of their own, stunned amazement and horror.
“Thoughts people, I want opinions, ideas anything. General Gemmell what do we know of this New Order?” President Takagi said once he regained some composure. Franklin could see he was visibly shaken by the message. Like the true professional he was though he soon took command of the situation.
“Nothing I’m afraid Mister President, they seem to have come out of nowhere,” the General replied.
This was Franklin’s chance. “I find that hard to believe General, aren’t you in charge of Col Sec, and doesn’t that stand for Colonial Security? It seems to me that you’re not keeping the Confederation very secure by allowing atrocities of this nature to transpire with no knowledge of the perpetrators. Tell me, General, what do you know?” he said pointedly.
He could tell that his comments had caught everyone off guard, most of all the General himself. He had only been in charge a short time and it was clear he was still catching up to everything his predecessor had set in place.
“As you are well aware, Mister Franklin, the Confederation is a huge construct that covers a lot of space. We are working around the clock to ensure we put the best use of the intel we have available. The problem is how vast the Confederation has become, we simply cannot be everywhere at the same time, we don’t have the manpower. Eventually some things will slip through,” Gemmell replied.
Franklin jumped on this, “Like they did earlier on Deneb Prime, or closer to home in Washington DC?”
“These are isolated incidents that were unavoidable,” Gemmell argued.
“Unavoidable you say, grossly negligent I say. You heard the threat, these are not isolated incidents, the New Order plans on detonating more bombs, one every hour and I bet you have no idea where either. Well, General, do you?”
“That’s enough Franklin, the General is under a lot of pressure and he only just took over the reins of Col Sec,” Takagi intervened.
“Thank you, Mister President, but I can handle this, you wouldn’t have picked me for the job otherwise,” Gemmell said.
“Can you, General, you haven’t given this council any answers to any of my questions,” Franklin continued.
“That’s because I haven’t been given the chance to get a word in. You certainly are living up to the politician’s reputation of loving the sound of their own voice and I don’t confuse that with actually being interested in hearing what I have to say.”
“What have you got to say, General, so far you’ve come up with nothing significant to add to this discussion, in fact your whole organisation seems as inept as you do at this moment. I feel this administration has run its course and for the sake of the rest of us and the entire Confederation you should all stand down,” Franklin demanded.
