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Episode 097 |
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“As I gaze upon the sea! All
the old romantic legends, All
my dreams, Come
back to me.” Henry The helicopter hovered over the edge of the land like a
trepedatious angel. Til dropped over the left side as Sarah dropped over
the right, both with their machine guns ready. They landed, the guns instantly scanning
over the surrounding area. The others
leapt down the few feet to the slick rocks, gathering close to the two
standing figures. Beneath the chopper,
a small, densely packed bundle from beneath the frame. As the last of the team landed, the helicopter began to
lift. Lisa glanced over her shoulder
to watch it disappear into the low Atlantic clouds, the sound of its rotors
fading into the crashing surf just inches from her heels. The immediate area was made of coral and rock. The rough land was harsh and unforgiving
but it headed almost a mile into the distance before the first hills were
evident. The rock seemed black and
featureless up close, but in the distance, it took on array of almost-normal
colors. Sarah glanced over at Til and pointed forward with her
fingers. He nodded and the two began
to rush forward. Nearly running, they
both made no sound. Behind them,
Isaiah and Irene followed, Isaiah carrying his large rifle. He dashed up a small vertical outcropping
and dropped low. He laid his rifle
down and then draped his sniper’s net over himself and Irene. Even watching him the whole time, the
moment Isaiah laid down under the net, Lisa lost sight of him. Alex stood, visually considering the seemingly desolate
area. “Looks kind of like ‘Craters of
the Moon’,” he said to himself. He
reached under his helmet and hit the call button. “Sarah, see anything?” “More of the same,” her voice came back. “There’s a spot up ahead that looks pretty
good for camp. I’m going to check it
out. Til’ll shadow me.” “Alright,” Alex nodded.
He looked at the others, then moved down over the water. He stared down into the sharp drop off,
then over to Eliot. “You and Lisa, get
the stuff and start towards Sarah’s supposed camp site.” He moved towards Emma and crouched down
besides her. “Got anything?” She looked at the island pensively, as if not having
heard him over the surf. She finally lifted
her hand. “Here’s “Irene, Emma, Lisa,” Alex said, pointing towards the
northern-most tent. “Isaiah, Eliot,
myself,” he said, to the south-western tent.
“Jason, Sarah, Til,” he finished, pointing to the final tent in the
triangle. In the small half-cave set
in the side of a rocky hill, the group of nine stood together in the center
of the circle formed by the domed tents. “First
off, we establish a perimeter,” Sarah began.
“Isaiah, you and Til get on some perimeter defenses. I’ll join in a few moments after Alex and I
have checked in. Emma, Jason, you two are
to begin your evaluation of this place.
You both say this island is bursting with power. I want you to identify it as best you can.” “Lisa,
Eliot, Irene,” Alex said. “You three
are to head out on a quick recon.
Nothing serious. Don’t get out
of sight of the base, but check at least five hundred yards in every
direction. Try to be back in an hour
or so.” “Big brother,” Sarah said into the transponder the size
of a small engine. “Big brother, this
is little sheep. Repeat, this is
little sheep. We are at John’s
house. I say again, we are at John’s
house, over.” “Little sheep,” came a female’s voice. “Transmission received. Be advised.
New mission protocols. Initiate
command protocols Alpha-Niner-Seven.
Repeat, initiate command protocols Alpha-Niner-Seven. Maintain radio silence following this
transmission, over.” Sarah looked worried at Alex. He reached into his bag and pulled out a
handful of small plastic cards. He
chose one with ‘A97’ written across the front. He snapped it open and took out the small
strip of paper inside. “Target has
been deemed potentially hostile until determined otherwise,” Alex read
quickly. “Reconnaissance team is
provided 48 hours from time of mission initiation to assess threat level and
evacuate.” He looked at Sarah. “They’ve got to be kidding.” “That or they’re not telling us something,” said Sarah
before turning back to the transponder.
“Big brother, requesting mission confirmation. Repeat, requesting mission confirmation.” “ Sarah looked away and scoffed angrily. “Initiating command protocols,” she said
bitterly into the receiver, “over.” “It’s pretty simple,” Eliot explained, walking with
Irene and Lisa, his hands held across the butt of his machine gun, its body
clipped to his combat harness. “Assif
is the operations chief. He’s like the
head boss.” He looked back at Lisa and
Irene, both of them listening as they navigated the pocket-marked
terrain. “Next in charge is
Sarah. She’s what’s got what’s called
‘command authority’. That means, in
field, she has ultimate authority.
That’s kind of why things got a little hairy when Alex ordered the
mission abort when that knight showed up.
Technically, he didn’t have the authority to do that.” “So Sarah out-ranks Alex?” Lisa asked. “By a marginal degree,” Irene explained. “It’s kind of like a first lieutenant and a
second lieutenant. They’re kind of
technically the same rank, but one is higher than the other.” “But Sarah’s a civilian, isn’t she?” Eliot’s head bobbed from side to side as he considered
how to answer that. “Yeeeeeeeah,” he
uttered slowly. “That’s kind of sticky
because she’s got a tremendous paramilitary…”
His hand flew up, his fist clinched. Lisa and Irene both dropped into a crouch, their
machine guns ready. Eliot dropped down
as well, his gun held out. He looked
through the scope into the distance, studying the textured edge of their
sight. For a moment, none of them
moved. “What’d you see?” Irene asked. “I’m not sure,” Eliot whispered, still using his
scope. “I think what I saw was…” His voice trailed again for a second, then
he lowered his gun and reached under his helmet, activating his
earpiece. “Home base,” he said
quietly. “I just saw movement up ahead
of us. I think there may be…” A pigeon flew into the air. Eliot’s
head dropped. He pointed at Irene who
was trying desperately not to laugh.
“Not a word.” |
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