“The problem has been, well, obvious…”
“A sufficiently large area sufficiently clear of infected,” Colonel Hamilton said.
“Which has people there to help them and people with vaccine,” General Brice said. “There’s an ironic aspect to this. The initial Dragon was similar to the early U.S. space missions: it was designed to land at sea and be picked up by boats. The one that was sent up as an emergency resupply and rescue vehicle was their ground landing prototype. Even if things got bad, they envisioned that someone, somewhere, would hold the land and, of course, there was no way that they could get help in an apocalypse at sea.”
“Oh, God,” Sophia said, holding her hand over her mouth and trying not to laugh.
“Yes, Ensign,” Brice said drily. “They’ve been up there for months watching the squadron build and cursing their luck. Some of those night sky videos, they provided.”
“How accurately can they land?” Walker asked.
“Much more than Soyuz, apparently,” Brice said. “They say they think they can hit the driving range on the golf course. Assuming that an untested prototype works. I’m saying secure the whole thing and set a perimeter to stay out from under—well, an untested prototype space-to-ground landing vehicle that has some pretty serious rockets it uses to land.”
“Shelley,” Walker said, shaking his head. “You’re overthinking it.”
“Oh?” Brice said. “Sorry; oh, sir?”
“Quit that,” Walker said, smiling. “There is exactly zero we can do to support the landing. It’s going to land just fine or it’s not. And if it’s off a bit, we’ll have troops under very powerful rockets. Last, sorry, General, there is no way that this number of personnel can secure that large a perimeter. So we back off. We stay onboard the ships. We let her land. Then we go back ashore and get them out.”
“Oh, please let it land safely,” Sophia said, holding her hands in prayer. “I so don’t want to run the vaccine program.”
“Thought you’d like to hear that, Seawolf,” Brice said.
“Does it matter if they hit, well, scrub on the way down?” Walker asked. He was looking at the island on a laptop.
“I’d have to ask them,” Brice said. “I’m sure a tree or large rock would ruin their day, and the slope of the LZ is obviously important. Why?”
“The golf course is on the narrow part of the island,” Walker said. “If they land in the water, I assume that’s pretty much all she wrote. If they can handle scrub, the eastern end of the island is much broader, has a relatively low area that is mostly scrub with several large fields. Why not there? For that matter, there’s an airfield.”
“I was thinking in terms of securing a perimeter, sir,” Brice admitted. “If we’re not going to…I’ll get with them. We have a very limited remaining link—dit/dash code, believe it or not—or I’d have them in on this conversation.”
“Then the order to them is shoot for anywhere on Anguilla,” Walker said. “And we’ll come get them. Or, rather, two charming young ladies will come get them while Marines and Navy landing personnel hold the perimeter. Do not open the hatch until they get ‘shave and a haircut.’ Infected are attracted to light and sound signatures and whoa is this going to be a doozy…If that meets with your approval, Colonel, Captain, General.”
The colonel, captain and general looked at each other for a moment.
“Looks like a good outline,” Captain Smith said after a moment. “Questions, comments, concerns.”
“Fire, sirs, ma’am,” Faith said. “The whole area’s already burned but it’s grown back.” She’d been looking at the satellite images as well.
“Good point,” Colonel Hamilton said. “The area is very dry. The rocket motor is going to cause a fire. Possibly a large one. The area has already been swept by them several times.”
“Question, ma’am,” Sophia said, raising her hand.
“Go, Ensign,” Brice said.
“Why not Gitmo?” Sophia asked. “It has a golf course.”
“Not as flat,” Brice said. “Gitmo is surrounded by rather steep hills in case you haven’t noticed. Anguilla is not flat but it is flatter. Essentially it’s an atoll. It appears to be the best island which is closest and also has a medical school so you can do two missions with one clearance. Also do we really want to drop a prototype rocket on our only land base? We’ve been gaming this for a while, Ensign. The decision was made in favor of not possibly destroying Gitmo even if we lost the ISS crew. There are no good choices in this world these days only less bad ones. Fire.”
“Look for a fire truck?” Sophia said, shrugging. “There should be one somewhere on the island.”
“Assuming we can get to it,” Walker said. “We’ll have to have the truck near the landing point for the roll out. But, honestly, most of this is going to have to be done on the fly.”
“How long until they are completely gone, ma’am?” Hamilton asked.
“Depends on the heat exchanger,” Brice said. “They have air for another two weeks, water for about a month. They’re out of food and have been for a week and on very short rations before then. But they are down to one heat exchanger which means they hit nearly a hundred and fifty degrees on the interior every time they fly through the sun zone. That goes out and they bake to death on their next pass. In the meantime, it’s bake, freeze, bake, freeze…”
“So as soon as possible it is,” Hamilton said. “Point of order…Mr. Walker’s exact position is somewhat ambiguous…”
“And it will remain that way for the time being,” Brice said. “Absent Mr. Walker wanting to take over this mission?”
“Pass,” Walker said. “Accompany, yes. Help? Absolutely. Among other things, we will be unable to perform the operation without the support of some of the pregnant women and at least one baby doctor along is going to be necessary. I recommend putting it under Colonel Hamilton. We don’t have an equivalent Naval officer of rank other than Captain Smith. I suppose we could put Lieutenant Commander Isham in charge.”
“Oh, hell, no,” Isham said, laughing. “I just make sure the paperwork is straight.”
“Which was my plan,” Steve said. “Very well. Mission of the task force is to begin clearance and sweep operations of the Leeward Islands beginning with the island of Anguilla with first mission being recovery of the astronauts. Details of clearance of that island to be determined when you get there. We’re pretty good at snap-kicking but I think we’ll need to look at how you’re going to be supported and supplied before you leave. So, despite the time issues and the problems of the ISS crew, plan for leaving in three or four days. Any questions?”
“Is it an opportune time to discuss the wider mission, sir?” Hamilton asked.
“How difficult do you think it will be to sweep the minor islands, Colonel?” Steve asked.
“Seriously, Da?” Faith said with a snort, then clapped her hand over her mouth.