Wings of Steele - Flight of Freedom (Book2) (38 page)

Farther down the rabbit hole we go
, thought Jack. “OK, keep moving Bravo.”

By the time they had gotten to a point where they could start making out shapes of the buildings and terminal it had started to drizzle, a light rain pattering down on them. For a facility that would normally be operational around the clock no matter what the weather, teeming with life even in the middle of the night, it looked lifeless, dark, abandoned. In Jack's mind, the only thing that could make it look more so, would be tumbleweeds rolling across the unused runways. Charlie Squad was approaching from the most wide-open side of the facility and Jack was glad for the rain. If there
was
anybody watching, the rain would make it more difficult to be detected in all that open space. There was a rumbling in the distance that rolled on for a few seconds.

“
What the hellion was that?” came a whisper.

“
That's thunder, Private. You've never heard thunder before?”

“
No, sir. What's it from?”

“
So you've never seen lightning then, either..?”

“
No, sir, I was born and raised on a space station. I've never spent much time on a planet. What's lightning?”

Jack thought about the explanation his Aunt used to give him when he was a child, how the angels were bowling and whenever they got a strike, God would light fireworks to celebrate. He wasn't sure why that came to him and shook it off. “Uh, it's just something the weather does, Private. Don't worry about it. The thunder makes the noise and the lightning is the flashes of light you'll see.”

The rain was steady by the time they'd reached the field and runways, almost a downpour, the rain coming down on an angle, lightning flickering through the clouds. Crouched in the tall grass and bushes that edged the field, they paused, checking in with the other squads. Everyone was in position and as wide as the facility was, the teams were all dealing with the same conditions. Steele looked over at the squad's sniper who was carefully scanning the rooftops, tower and buildings across their side of the facility. It was certain the same actions were being executed by the other squads. Conferring and agreeing on the situation, the squads moved in, Charlie Squad carefully crossing the first runway.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

FREEDOM, VELORIAN ORBIT:
EMPTY NEST

Commander Walt Edgars was sitting in Jack's office on the Freedom, listening and watching the video conference intently, Alité sitting nearby on the couch. “Where did you set up your HQ, Mr. Steele?” asked the Admiral.

“We're in the control tower, Admiral. Its power systems are self-supported, unlike the rest of the port, and it's systems are autonomous. All we had to do was basically initiate the power and its computers came on-line... The tower is totally operational.”

“
But the rest of the port is still dark?”

“
Yes, sir. There are two neighboring towns and they're also without power so it seems to be a regional thing.”

“
What do the locals have to say..?”

“
We haven't come across a single living soul, Admiral. The entire area is completely deserted.”

Walt leaned forward, pipe in hand. “Any chance that the station rotoring into the ocean had anything to do with it?”

Jack accepted an e-Pad from off screen with a nod before turning back to the conference call. “We're about two-hundred miles inland, Walt, I hardly think so. At least not in a physical damage sort of way. Things here are pretty much just abandoned. Although we did see a harbor and town on the coast that was pretty much flattened...”

The Admiral waved his hand, “Yes, your shuttle pilots briefed us on the damage they saw.”

“Was there anything helpful on the data recordings from the Zulu?”

Walt sucked on his pipe, pulling the flame from his lighter down into the tobacco. “It wasn't visible on what we could see of the structure, but the sensors picked up burn residues suspended in the water around the wreck, which would indicate some kind of attack or possibly a catastrophic event, maybe a fire or explosion.”

“I don't understand how the thing could still be intact...”

“
It's not,” offered Alité. “The ocean there at its deepest, is about a mile deep. The station is,
or was
, two miles tall from tip to tip and about a mile across. For it to have a thousand feet sticking out of the ocean means it's crushed against the bottom.”

“
Is it possible it had a controlled descent, Admiral? I'm expecting it should have burned or broken up in the atmosphere...”

“
It
is
possible Mr. Steele,” volunteered Gantarro. “There are several factors that might account for it making it down relatively intact, deceleration, limited control, shield viability...”

“
I don't think,” interrupted the Admiral, “that the
how
is as important as the
why
. Why it came down is the question I want answered.”

“
Understood, sir,” replied Steele. “We will be heading to the capitol city tomorrow at first light. I am hoping you can send us additional Marines to maintain the port in our absence?”

“
Done. You'll have them in a few hours, Captain. Commander Edgars, can you handle those arrangements for us? I'm going to be a little busy updating the Directorate on what we've found so far.”

Walt Edgars puffed on his pipe, clouds of sweet aromatic smoke floating around him. “I'd be delighted, Admiral.”

■ ■ ■

Steele had just pushed away from the console in the administrator's office when the comm system chimed again, the UFW screen showing the silhouette of the Freedom and its designation number. He punched the button, and the screen flickered, making its video connection. “What did you forget Walt?” he asked looking away momentarily.

“Did you just call me
Walt?
Is there something wrong with your video..?”

“
Lisa?” His attention snapped back to the screen. “Are you on the Freedom?”

“
No, no,” she waved her hand, “they're relaying my signal...”

“
Oh,” he nodded, somewhat disappointed, still smiling, “It's good to see you, kiddo. So, hows things?”

“
Things are OK,” she shifted trying to look around him, seeing the darkness out the window behind him. “Where are you?”

“
On Veloria, Alité's home planet...”

“
I think that's where we're headed.”

Steele raised an eyebrow, “You're coming here? Why?”

“Well I think it has something to do with the company of Army engineers we picked up from Blackmount Station. We're escorting another ship that's carrying all their equipment.”

“
What kind of equipment?”

“
No idea, I didn't see any of it.” Lisa broke out in a huge smile. “But I did get a chance to walk around the station for a couple hours... Holy crap. Talk about culture shock,
my God...
”

Jack started laughing... “Yeah, it's an adjustment alright. So, are you getting used to it?”

“I guess you could say that. But not as good as Nina, she's got a girlfriend already.”

“
Really? That's nice... Wait, you meant boyfriend, right?”

Lisa just shook her head.
“Girlfriend,”
she said slowly.

Jack rubbed his forehead, “Yeeaaah, I don't even know how to respond to that.” He pushed back from the console. “But, I think this is a good stopping point, we have a ton of work to do here...”

“Wait, one more thing... I'm worried about mom and dad.”

“
Why...? he said suspiciously.

Lisa ran her fingers through her hair. “I don't know how I know; I just think they need our help...”

“You're starting to sound like mom.”

“
Don't even go there, Jack. But let's face it, they hunted you, they hounded me and Nina... if we go by their track record alone, those pricks are bound to pull the same shit with mom and dad.” She leaned forward, her voice lower, quieter, “They're not safe, I can feel it.”

Jack didn't have to ask who
they
was; he knew full well
they
were. The alphabet soup agencies. The government. Growing bolder, getting more invasive, constantly pushing to expand the limits of its power and influence, incrementally trampling the rights and freedoms of the people they swore to serve.
Dammit...

■ ■ ■

Warrant Officer Dayle Alaroot stood his carbine up in the corner before dropping himself heavily into a chair at the console. “Man, it is
humid
out on that concrete.” He pulled his helmet off and sat it on the console eyeing the dark haired Captain staring pensively out the big windows of the control tower. “Something wrong, Skipper?”

“
Huh?” Steele looked over at him, blinking his thoughts away.

“
You had a two-thousand-yard stare goin' on there,” he said, circling Jack's face in the air with his index finger. “Something wrong?”

“
Nah... yeah, well maybe. I don't know, I'm not sure.”

“
Good
committed answer,” Dayle kidded sarcastically, “you gonna stick with that?”

Steele cocked his head to one side and raised an eyebrow, “You always been a smart-ass, Dayle?”

“One of my life's great goals, sir. I'm a perfectionist; it takes a lot of practice...”

Jack couldn't help but crack a smile. “Well I think you can stop practicing, you've reached your ultimate goal of being a world-class pain in the ass.”

“Thanks, I appreciate you noticing.” He leaned back and crossed his arms. “So, out with it, what's got you buggin?”

“
You mean, other than the fact the station that's supposed to be in space is buried in the ocean and we haven't seen a sign of life since we've gotten here, save the birds..?”

“
Yeah, besides that...”

“
My sister's coming in on the
UFW77. They're bringing a company of Army Engineers and escorting a ship full of equipment from Blackmount.”

Dayle leaned forward putting his hands on his armored knees. “That should be a good thing... So what's the catch?”

“The women in my family have a thing...” said Jack, watching Dayle's curious expression. “They have this ability to know certain things, feel things. And despite the fact that nobody ever wants to acknowledge it, they're usually right.”

Dayle rubbed his forehead, “Hellion, Skipper, just spit it out already.”

“She's under the distinct impression that my folks might be in trouble.”

“
The whole sneaky government thing again?”

Jack inhaled deeply, letting it out slow. “Yeah. Like a dog with a bone.”

“That's some fucked up shit, Skipper,” said Dayle dropping his eyes. He looked back up, “We'll just have to go get them once we get this shit straightened out,” he thumbed over his shoulder indicating the world outside. “Maybe give your pompous bureaucrats a little schooling on manners.”

“
I appreciate that Dayle...”

“
Hey it's what we do. Give em a swift kick in the nads, get their attention. Inform them their behavior is unacceptable. If that doesn't work, we hurt them for real. Break their shit, take their toys away. Eventually they figure it out... they can't behave like assholes and expect everyone else to tolerate it.” He looked out the tower's slanted windows at the rest of the base then back at the captain. “I'm not saying we go out of our way to interfere, but it wouldn't be the first time we educated a government on proper behavior...”

“
That's a nice way of putting it...”

A Marine Private stepped through the doorway, standing rigid. “Sarge wants to know if you guys are just gonna sit up here in the cool air or actually come down and do some work... sir.”
Dayle turned around in his chair and stared at the private without saying a word. “Er,
sirs.”
Added the private. “Sorry, sirs,
not
my idea...”