Sic Semper Tyrannis (2 page)

To the south he saw more of the same: a wide, grainy beach lined with pastel colored abandoned shops and restaurants.  Here and there, large apartment buildings or private residences dotted the palm tree-lined shore.  The main thoroughfare was completely empty.  There was no traffic—vehicle or pedestrian—that he could see in either direction.

Thunder rumbled overhead and reminded him that this place was not quite paradise.  Yet. 
This place will make a fine vacation spot for our weary troops when this business is all said and done.

Strogolev put on a large tanker’s helmet and adjusted the microphone stalk.  “Gregor.”

“
Yes, Major.”

“Have the rest of the men unload here and move inland, following my lead.  We’re going to commandeer that large building across the street—it has many brightly colored sea creatures painted on the side, do you see it?”

A pause, then: “
The sign reads ‘Surf Shop’, da?
”

“Da
,” replied Strogolev.   “We should be able to use that building as a rally point for the food and medical supplies.  I will lead the advance element and secure the area.  Inform me when the last of our forces have landed.  I want to move inland as soon as possible!”

“
Understood, Major
.”

Strogolev slapped the roof of the idling eight-wheeled BTR.  “Get this rusty pig moving!  We have work to do!”

ERIK PAUSED TO CATCH his breath and leaned on the cool metal railing. Wind whistled through the framework of the launch tower.  A sudden gust of cold Atlantic air sent shivers down his spine.

“Better view than back at the Freehold, huh?” asked Ted as he walked past.  He turned the corner and mounted the next flight of stairs.  “Come on, Lieutenant, that storm won’t wait much longer.”

Erik shoved off the handrail and plodded after his friend and Sergeant Pinner.  Erik was the largest man of the team, easily able to carry the weight of his weapons, gear, and his share of the surveillance equipment—and then some.  On any given day, he’d do better, he had to believe, than the fireplug of an Indian and his older ex-Marine commanding officer.  But
this
…climbing up countless stairs in a three hundred-fifty foot tall lightning rod, with a nasty storm barreling down on them from the ocean…this was no ordinary day.

He glanced down at the ground and their M-ATV looked like a toy car parked at the base of the tower.  “Would have been pretty easy to fend off the attack back home if we were in this thing…” he said between breaths.  “Instead of apartment buildings.”

Ted looked over his shoulder as he climbed the unending staircase.  “Well, we would have had the high ground, for sure.”  He paused and looked out over the expanse of green nature preserve and coastline that surrounded the launch complex.  “But, without walls, there’s no protection here at
all
.  Be easy for someone to just aim up from the ground and pick us off.”

“All the more reason to hurry up and get this over with,” said Pinner from the next landing.  A sheen of sweat glistened on his forehead.  “I don’t like heights,” he said as Erik grew close.  “And I don’t like how exposed we are.”

“Well,” replied Ted, “I have good news and bad news.”  He pulled out a GPS receiver from his pack and took a reading.  “Good news is, we’re high enough for the sensor array.”  He dropped the box-like duffel bag he had been carrying and stretched his back.

“And the…bad?” asked Erik, gasping as he reached the next landing.

“You get to take your Viking-ass up to the top and install the comms repeater.  We need line-of-sight for this to work and this is the tallest structure for a hundred miles.”

Erik frowned at Ted.  “You know, I remember the good old days when I was
your
boss.”

“Good luck,” said Ted.  He jerked his head towards the stairs.

“Yeah, yeah,” replied Erik.  He glanced up the stairs.  “Is it me or are we losing the light?”

“Some dark clouds,” observed Pinner gravely.  He was shaking his head.  “This storm’s gonna
suck
.  Feel the temperature drop?”

Ted was already unpacking the sensor array.  He looked up, “Hurry up, man, get that thing high as you can and bring the wires back down.  Sooner we’re on the ground, the better I’ll feel.”

Erik tightened the grip on his pack and trudged forward and upward into the darkening stairwell.  The echo of his bootsteps sank his spirits with each step. 

“How the hell did I get myself into this mess,” he muttered, partly to ease his nerves.  The wind howled more  as the storm approached the abandoned spaceport.  To his right, looking out over the vast expanse that was KSC, he could see the wind whipping through the low mangroves and pines that surrounded the launch complex. 

Just off shore, Erik could see the whitecaps that were proof the storm meant business.  Thunder rumbled through the launch tower, causing the metal to vibrate and almost hum with sonic energy.  It was a very unsettling sensation to feel a structure that massive
move
, even if it was on a minuscule scale.

Erik swallowed and put his shoulder into the weight on his back.  “Keep moving, Larsson,” he told himself.  “All you’re doing…” he grunted at the next landing and took a second to catch his breath.  “All you’re doing is walking up some stairs. Not like you’re being shot at or anything this time.”

Lightning split the sky and turned his world white.  Before his vision cleared, the most intense thunderclap of his life struck the tower and threatened to burst his ribcage.  “Okay, okay!” yelled Erik, holding onto the railing with shaking hands.  “I got the memo…holy
shit
that was loud.”

“Hurry up, Larsson!”

Erik barely heard Ted’s yell through the wind.  He shook wind-tossed red hair from his face and grimaced at the storm.  A quick glance up the stairs showed he was nearing the top, at last.  The Crew-Access Gantry arm was on the next floor.  He could see the large crane-like structure secured to the side of the tower.  Before the Troubles had started, there would have been a big rocket sitting on the pad far below, ready to tear into the sky on a column of smoke and fire, taking astronauts to the space station.

Now there was just him and the storm.

At the next landing, he was both relieved and scared to note that the stairs went no further.  There was some sort of closed shaft in the interior of the tower that appeared to go higher, but the access door was bolted shut and without a large wrench, there was no higher spot he could reach. Unless…

“Nope.  I am
not
climbing the outside of this thing.”  Erik shook his head at the notion and pulled the pack off his back with a sigh.  Strong or not, that thing was heavy and he was glad to be rid of the weight.  His legs were burning about as hot as his back and he was drenched in a cold sweat—thanks to the brisk wind off the ocean.

The radio on his belt broke squelch.  “
What’s the sitrep, Lieutenant?  I’m seeing some lightning strikes offshore…don’t want another—
” Ted’s tinny voice was cut off by another crash of thunder.

Erik opened the pack and pulled out the communications receiver in its olive-drab, government issue ABS plastic housing.  He snatched the radio from his belt and put it to his face, trying to shield it from the intensifying wind.  A splat of rain slapped him in the face. 

“I’m running out of time here, walk me through setting this thing up!”

“
Okay, okay…
” replied Ted’s voice.  “
Open the side pouch of the kit bag and pull out the big metal cable-tie looking things.  Best I could grab from the supply shack
.”

“Got ‘em!” Erik hollered into the roaring wind.

“
Strap that thing around a pole or something as high as you can reach.  Use the mini-drill to tighten the bolts
.”

Erik walked to the edge of the platform and tried not to look down at the dizzying landscape below.  He braced himself against the suddenly chilly wind and did as Ted suggested, then replied, “Okay!  It’s attached.”

“Good, now extend the whip antenna.  It’s okay if it flops around in the wind.
”

“Done!”

“
Now hook the thick cable from the pack to the bottom of the repeater and tighten it
.”

A light rain made his hands slick, but he was able to get the cable attached and secured.  “Okay,” he said, holding the radio sideways as he shielded his eyes.  “It’s ready.”  Thunder exploded in his ears and nearly drove him to the grated floor.  He staggered backwards and felt a momentary surge of panic-induced vertigo until his hand brushed a metal support. 
Well, that was pucker-factor nine…

“
Grab the cable and get your ass down here!  We’re out of time!
”

Erik didn’t bother to reply but threw the radio in the pack, gathered up the tools on the floor and stuffed everything in the backpack.   The wind-blasted rain stung his cheeks and hands as he descended the stairwell about as fast as he thought safe.  Even then, he slipped twice and nearly went ass-over-elbows down the darkened shaft.

“Took you long enough!” said Ted over the storm as Erik appeared on the landing where the others had been setting up their own equipment.  “Gimme the cable,” he said, hand outstretched.

Erik passed it over and wiped the rain from his face.  When Ted was finished hooking up the gear, he slapped the empty case shut and grabbed his rifle.   “That’s it, she’s powered up and the solar panels are deployed. When the storm clears, the batteries will recharge and we’ll be in business.  You getting a good feed?” he asked Pinner.

“Affirmative.  Signal is strong and clear.  I can see for miles…” the Indian said, hunched over a tablet computer, the glowing screen making his face look ghostly in the dim light.

“Great, let’s go.”

Erik did not vanquish his nerves until he shut the door to the M-ATV and relative quiet enveloped his abused senses.  The three men sat there in silence for a few moments, catching their breath and letting the water drip from their clothes.  Rain fell hard and loud on the sides of the armored vehicle.  Erik wondered how strong the would have to be to make an M-ATV shake.  

“Don’t ever ask me to do that again. 
Sir
,” said the Indian, staring straight ahead through the swamped windshield.  Erik could barely make out the dark shape that was the launch tower through the rain.  It was a hell of a storm.

The interior of the vehicle was lit up bright pink again as a bolt of lightning hit the tower.  Erik thought the thunder that chased that spooky pink light was going to bust even the thick, ballistic glass in the M-ATV.  He tensed instinctively when the sound made his chest rattle.

“No problem,” said Ted.  “Just get us back to the Visitor Center, Pinner.  Let’s see if we can get some rest and chow.”

MAJOR STROGOLEV SMILED AT the road sign.  “You see that sign?” he asked Gregor.

“I see
rain
.”

“Nyet
, look.  It says ‘Welcome to Canaveral’.”  He slapped his subordinate on the back.  “Do you not realize where we are?  Just north of here—the Americans call it The Cape
—
where they launched the Apollo missions of our grandfather’s time!”

“Of course, sir.”

“Gregor, you are insufferable!”  Strogolev keyed his microphone.  “Squad One, up front!  Bring your full complement of food and medicine for the Americans.”

“
At once, Major!”

“Sir…” started Gregor.

“Shush
, Gregor.  I am leaving you in charge.  I wish to see this fabled space center for myself.  I grew up a stone’s throw from Baikonur, did you know?  I would see with my own eyes what this famous American space port looks like—this place that dashed our hopes and dreams and helped to ruin the great Union.  It will only take a day.”

“But—”

“Gregor, don’t be such an old woman!  We have met no resistance and we aren’t going very far in this storm, anyway.  I will take Squad One with me.  We can do some scouting for American troops.”  He laughed.  “They have all fled, of course—once they heard
we
were here!”  Strogolev slapped Gregor on the shoulder again, eliciting a wince. 

“It will be
fine
.  I shall bring you back a souvenir!”

ERIK SQUINTED THROUGH THE darkness at the bulky building in front of them.  “Looks deserted,” he observed.

“Looks
great
,” said Pinner.

“All right, let’s go.  By the books.  Pinner, take point.”

Erik fell into line behind the wide shouldered Indian and double-checked that his
gladius
was still securely strapped to his pack.  His hand brushed the scabbard of the Roman short-sword absently and he felt his nerves calm almost immediately.

“You still carrying that pig-sticker?” asked Ted in a hushed voice as the three men cautiously entered the Visitor Center.  The front automatic doors were double-wide and stuck open, letting rain and trash collect in the entryway.