Page 32 of Resolution
“I suggest a night descent, sir,” Ryan said. “We know the infected are sluggish at night and also the flames of whatever distraction we create will seem even more attractive to them.”
“Good idea.” Jeff was happy to have their support and input. The operation was going to be tricky but he was confident his team could bring it off. Ideally the APC’s would play a vital role in any assault on either the airfield or the alien complex but the timing of it all, with Melly’s life at stake, ruled them out. He’d leave them at the ranch as an extra layer of protection for the people left there.
When they reached the ranch he buzzed the house once and then landed as their comrades came running outside. “We found Melly,” he announced as he descended the ramp toward the small group. “And your friend Sandy,” he told Devora.
“Is she—are they okay?” Devora asked hesitantly.
“So far,” Jeff confirmed. “But time is running short. I’m going to hold a mission briefing in the team room in half an hour, attendance mandatory. Some of us will be leaving shortly thereafter. For now we’ll let Cody’s drones be our security perimeter so I expect full attendance at the meeting.” He strode past them and into the house, grabbing a cup of synthcaff in the kitchen from the pot Tamsyn kept constantly available and then made his way upstairs to his room. Closing the door, he sank onto the bed and sipped the hot beverage and tried to get himself under tight control. Finding Melly and then having to leave her in the hands of the enemy was gut wrenching. He had to focus on the mission now, specifically on the acquisition of the flyers, one step at a time. He had to be frosty. His men were an efficient unit and he had no doubts they could bring off the operation smoothly, barring any unforeseen circumstances, but it was his job as the leader to be fully engaged. Not to be distracted by worry over what was happening to the woman he loved. The only way to save her was to compartmentalize and do what he did best…
When he got to the briefing room, his team and the civilians were there as ordered. Cody gave him a thumbs up, which he knew meant the cyborg was monitoring the drone perimeter and if any threat materialized, he’d sound the alarm. All the adults were armed, which he’d insisted on when they arrived at the farm. Constant vigilance.
Buddy lay under Mike’s chair and Jenny sat on the floor behind Les and Devora, playing with a game with a handful of her action figures. Jeff made a mental note to watch his language. He wanted both of her parents in attendance, however, so unusual as it was, the toddler was about to sit in on a Special Forces operations briefing.
He walked to the front of the room. “As you probably know we did locate Melly at the alien facility and I was able to talk to her on the subaural com. She’s fine so far but there’s a deadline for when the guy in charge said she’d be drawn into the experiments.” He switched his gaze to Les and Devora. “Your friend Sandy is there as well, taking care of about thirty kids.”
There was a low buzz in the room as he mentioned the presence of the children.
Nodding, Jeff said, “Their presence complicates the takedown. We have to do our best to safeguard them in the middle of a combat situation.”
“What’s the plan, sir?” Trent asked.
“Go in with an air assault, use the element of surprise, take out their flyer while it’s on the ground. Eliminate the enemy, grab whatever data Cody can scrape, take Melly and the other hostages and bug out. Questions?”
There was silence.
Jeff chuckled. “Yeah, if only it could be that easy, right? The first part of my plan involves a trip to New Damarkal.”
His audience was attentive as he outlined his goal of acquiring several more military flyers and using them in the attack on the alien lab. His men asked tight, focused questions about the details of getting in and out of the abandoned military air base successfully and they game planned a number of contingencies.
“All right,” Jeff said when he was satisfied they had a solid lock on what they were going to do on this initial part of the overall campaign. “We’ll fly out of here in two hours.” He focused on Devora, Tamsyn and Mike. “You three okay with being left here on your own? Cody doesn’t see any infected within hundreds of miles and you’ll have the APC’s for any emergency.”
“We’ll be fine,” Tamsyn assured him, exchanging glances with Devora.
“I want to come with you,” Mike said. “She’s my sister.”
“I know you do and I admire your determination,” Jeff said. “I need you here though, to help guard the ranch, and Jenny and all our gear here. A military operation like this has a lot of moving parts and I have to slot each team member into the assignment he or she can best carry out, in support of everyone else.” Mike had proven himself more than once on the long, complicated journey from the Jericho family home but he was after all a minor and at this juncture Jeff couldn’t justify to himself taking the boy into full on combat.
* * *
Flying to New Damarkal was a lot faster than driving. They made the trip in a few hours, Zach at the controls. Everyone was geared up and ready as the flyer crossed the city limits. Nothing could be seen below but a few buildings on fire—the city was a dark mass. Even his enhanced night vision didn’t reveal much on the ground except devastation. There were no signs of humans and Jeff hoped the remnants of the uninfected population had cleared out and found somewhere safer to be. He expected there were more than a few people left, however, either unable to travel or too afraid to take the risk.
Infected were everywhere, gathered at the edges of the few fires and once Jeff saw five chasing a person in a hoodie but the prey ducked out of view into a collapsed building and Jeff silently wished them well.
Above the airfield now, Jeff rose and made his way to the ramp at the stern, checking the straps on his antigrav unit. The others followed him single file as he opened the portal and air rushed inside.
Go now, Zach said over the subaural com.
As he’d done hundreds of times before, on too many worlds to count, Jeff stepped off the ramp and began his controlled descent. He had no doubt the team was behind him, floating slowly down. Les had assured Jeff he was checked out on AG descent. Each team of two men had an assigned flyer to check out and Jeff was going to take overwatch. He was hoping to collect three flyers tonight but realistically there might be only one, or even none still flightworthy. It was a risk he had to take.
Landing smoothly, Jeff had his pulse rifle at the ready and provided cover for his men to set down. Cody had adapted two of his lighter drones to function as killers, silently driving into the head of an infected and zipping out the other side. After their first pass over the field, Cody had sent his duo on their mission, taking out the few infected lingering in the area with deadly efficiency.
Their flyer had moved on and as Jeff and the others sprinted toward the flyers parked on the flightline there was a huge boom and a shockwave as Zach launched a bomb into one of the leaning buildings well away from the base. The sound and flames should draw a large percentage of the infected in the city to the site, leaving Jeff and his men a precious window of time to operate freely at the airfield.
He took up his position beside flyer number one, getting a constant feed from Cody with data on their surroundings. He could focus on it or let it be in the background, depending on the situation. Now he was actually in the combat situation, Jeff was his usual clearheaded, cold as ice self. Thoughts of Melly were locked away and the only thing on his mind was their mission.
No joy, captain, Ryan reported. Someone in this bird turned, probably right as they were landing and there was a firefight. Not only are there dead bodies but the controls are all messed up, shot out.
He and Les joined Jeff on the heels of the discouraging report.
