“It’ll be tight but that sounds about right,” Lynn answers.
“What about the search for other survivors in the area?” Drescoll asks.
“We’ll have to do that as time permits,” I reply.
“I still want to talk about housing. I know we have a lot to do and I have a lot to figure out but I just want to make sure we don’t lose this in the process,” Bannerman says.
“That will be quite the undertaking depending on what we want. There are plumbing, electrical, defense, and a myriad of other things to think about and design,” Frank says.
“True. But we need to keep that in mind as we’re close to being overcrowded if not already,” Bannerman says.
“Okay. What do you say we start on what’s on our list and revisit this later? We can discuss that when we have a better idea of what resources we’re going to be using for the tasks at hand,” I say.
“How do we want to present this to the others? If at all?” Greg asks
“I think we lay it out straight up. It’s best if they know what we’re dealing with and it will provide a little motivation,” Lynn answers. “We can tell them at our nightly training session.”
“I think you’re right,” I say. “Everyone else agree?” The group nods their agreement.
“Okay, brief your teams and we’ll tell everyone else tonight,” I add.
“Sounds good. I better get started on this. With Frank’s help, it’s still going to take me all day to figure this out,” Bannerman says.
With that, we break up. I still have the cold feeling in my gut but feel better now that we have a workable plan. Any thought that we can create a totally secure area is gone though. We’ll have to be eternally vigilant as who knows what capabilities the night runners will eventually have. We need to stay one step ahead if not two. I take Red Team and we begin looking at the systems together. Tomorrow we’ll head back up and begin studying in the aircraft itself.
The next several days are a flurry of activity. Red Team, Craig, myself and five others spend the time studying and going through dry runs. The water tower is brought over in parts and starts going up. The wall crews finish with the maintenance areas and begin on the inner wall. Assigned crews start on the towers and fortifying the barns, stables, and pens. Additional cameras are located and put into place with a mass of cabling run in underground conduits. Teams locate mines and holes are dug around the wall perimeter. We place additional claymores at the entrances and loading dock, angling them outward and drilling small holes in the outer wall for the wires. I expect an attack each night and am surprised each morning when we find things the same. So far, the night runners have left us alone and, with each passing day, the knot in my gut lessens to a degree.
After considerable time studying the AC-130 weapon systems in detail and going through a lot of dry runs, I feel we have a good grasp of the systems and their workings. We are working well as a team and find the necessary coordination between flying and the deployment of weapons. It’s time for a live fire exercise. We’ll use one the Fort Lewis ranges and test all of the guns. I don’t want to use too much ammo for test firing as we don’t have an unlimited supply. It’s going to take quite a bit to clear the area around us. Fort Lewis does have a ready supply but again, it’s not unlimited.
Flying over the brown fields, we pick out a target and coordinate our circle. It’s basically setting up and turning a consistent circle around a point, either around a force you are defending or the target itself. The gunners in the battle management center identify targets or an area of suppression and place their weapons on it. The type of weapon deployed depends on the target itself. We’ll be using the 105mm howitzer for the buildings. The 40mm and 25mm will be used for targets identified as night runners. We’ll be running at night to try and catch them in the open so we’ll be using thermal imaging for the most part.
I circle over the target we picked out. Craig sits in the co-pilot seat with Bri between us at her usual flight engineer station. Robert is in the back in charge of fire control coordinating the guns and targets. I would have done that task and had Robert up in front flying but he developed a knack for coordinating while we were training. I knew he had tremendous capabilities but he has continually surprised me with the actual extent of them.
I hear Robert on the intercom coordinate for target identification and acquisition and verify the howitzer is up and armed. The heavy projectile is launched downward. A large puff of dust blows skyward as the 105mm impacts the ground and detonates. He’s right on target. I visualize the loaders in back hefting another round from the weapons rack and reloading.
We fire the howitzer at a couple of other targets with the same result. Robert coordinates and brings the 40mm online and we pick another target. The steady chunk of the autocannon begins and I see smaller puffs of dirt launch skyward around the target completely obscuring the area. We practice with the 25mm and I watch as a stream of fire reaches downward and strikes the ground. These are stationary targets and we’ll have to learn to lead any moving ones we encounter but overall, I’m pleased with the results. At least we won’t have to worry about return fire. Maybe I should change that. With regards to what we’ve learned about the increase in night runner abilities, my thinking changes to I hope we won’t have to worry about return fire.
We land and debrief our activities. There’s not much said as we succeeded in putting rounds on target and our confidence is high. I notice Robert has deep sweat marks under his arms and looks drained. I give him a pat on the shoulder and a nicely done. He just looks at me with tired eyes and nods. After commending the rest of the crew, we refill the weapon racks and refuel before heading back.
I tell the group at our meeting that night that we’re ready to begin operations to clear the area the following night. Bannerman fills us in on our status which is basically a recap of the previous days with each day showing further progress on the inner wall, watch towers, water tower, and fortifying the animal buildings. Mines have been laid around a lot of the perimeter and the claymores set around the building. The skylights on the vehicle storage buildings are mostly complete and he has started crews working on erecting an overhang on the perimeter walls. He notes that we will only be able to put the overhang around the inner compound as he doesn’t think we’ll have enough materials to cover the full four miles of wall. Lynn reports that the training for the next group in both phase one and two is coming along nicely and the groups should be finished soon.
I rest for most of the next day along with the crew of the Spooky. We plan to head out tonight. We pour over maps of the area with Frank and make plans for our route and identify buildings to level. There are a lot of strip malls in the area which will require a lot of work for the 105mm howitzer. We draw large circles around the identified gas stations as we will still draw on these for fuel. We’ll especially leave the ones close to us out of the picture as we don’t want to cause a large smoking hole in the ground so close. Also noted is the library but that is outside of the range we are looking to clear, at least for now. The earlier burns have taken care of a majority of the houses and buildings in the area but there are plenty of stores and office buildings that need to be eliminated.
Evening draws close and we ready ourselves for the drive north. We have enough fuel to stay aloft for the night and we do have the aircraft to stay in if we decide to land. I brief the crew that we’ll search for night runners on the prowl before starting on the buildings and walk toward the entrance with the others in tow. The orange glow of the late afternoon streams through the doors. That should indicate I should be walking in rather than out but it feels good to be striking back instead of reacting. Our whole time until now has been a reactionary one and scraping for our very survival. Tonight, we get to hit back. Tonight we get to be on the offensive instead of hunkering down on the defensive. It may be only for tonight but at least we get that. I see Lynn waiting by the door. I nod at the others as they pass by and stop.