“There,” Faith said, spotting it again. “You can see the chutes…”
“Drift is in predicted track,” the compliance tech said. “I think. Sorry, General, not precisely my area of expertise.”
“At this point we just have to wait and hope,” Brice said. “The reentry worked and the parachutes worked. That’s better than we had any reason to expect.”
Commander Luallin had slaved the camera to the radar track and now widened the field of view, trying to get some perspective. He looked at the radar track and frowned.
“I think it’s going to miss,” he said. “Certainly the primary LZ.”
“It’s going to be close, sir,” the COB said.
“In this case, a miss is truly as good as a mile,” Luallin said.
“Oh, shit,” Faith muttered. “Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit…”
The main chutes had deployed at four thousand feet with the capsule well over the island. But the strong tropical wind had it moving northwest at a high rate of speed.
Straight at the flotilla.
“That thing’s got rockets on it,” Faith said. “If they fire over us…”
“Won’t, ma’am,” Smitty said as the capsule continued to descend rapidly. “Where was the LZ?”
“By that pond in The Valley,” Faith said.
“Not going there, ma’am,” Smitty said. “I think it’s going to hit by the airport…”
The dimly perceived capsule dropped from view and there was a massive fire signature as yellow-orange flames and smoke poured into the predawn darkness.
“Rockets fired,” Smitty said. “That’s a good sign.”
“I think the Dragon has landed,” Colonel Hamilton said.
“All personnel,” the tannoy boomed. “Stand by…” There was a crackle of static.
“Hello?” an unfamiliar voice said. “Anyone listening? We’re down in one piece…”
“Dragon, this is Omaha. Good to hear your voices again. We’re sending in a rescue party as soon as we’re sure the fires are under control.”
“Roger, Omaha. We’ll just lie here, then. Gravity is taking a little getting used to.”
“Subs, go to closed frequency. Omaha, out.”
“And that is that,” Hamilton said, looking into the darkness. “I don’t even see any fires, yet.” He touched his radio key. “Omaha, this is Kodiak Force Commander. Request direct contact, Dragon crew. We need to touch base…”
“This platform is pretty bare bones,” Mission Commander Ollie Daniels said. “Not that I’m complaining or anything. But we’ve only got walking around bottles. We’ll need air in about forty minutes or have to pop the hatch. According to Doc Gordie and Doc Riz, while we’re immune compromised, very slight contamination shouldn’t harm us. And the blast zone should have cleared contaminants from this immediate AO.”
He sounded remarkably calm for a guy who was depending on people he didn’t know to save him from a plague in a zombie apocalypse.
“We’re doing all we can to make ‘slight’ contamination equal zero,” Colonel Hamilton said. “But roger on the air situation. We’ll go ahead and punch our force now rather than waiting for daylight.”
“Suit up,” Hamilton said, looking at Walker. “You’re going to have to figure out a procedure when you get there.”
“We’ve got spare plastic, tape and tubing in the second five-ton,” Walker said. “We’ll kludge something up. I’m putting the ensign, Decker and Condrey in the sterile five-ton. Decker and Condrey are…used to handling human bodies even if the conditions are difficult. I’ll remain on the outside to handle setting up the transfer system.”
“That makes a tremendous amount of sense,” Hamilton said. “But why am I not surprised. Good luck.”
“Holy crap,” Faith said. “There it is.”
The capsule had clearly once been bright white. It was now mildly fire scorched. But the Space X logo was brightly noticeable on the side. It also was bigger than she’d expected. It was nearly three stories tall or so it seemed. The hatch was more than a tall man’s height off the ground. And there was no convenient ladder.
The capsule was canted at a slight angle on a hill near the airport. The scrub around it was on fire but the fire seemed to be burning out by itself.
“Stop here,” Walker said as they approached the spacecraft. “Marine units, deploy and get those fires out. Navy decon teams, stand by.”
“Grab the fire extinguishers,” Faith yelled, baling out of the front of the five-ton. The back was packed with Marines and the Navy away team. “We need to get these fires out. But I think the fire truck was overkill…”
The sea grape and tantan in the area had apparently had some recent watering as the fires were only smoldering. The Marines spread out with heavy-duty extinguishers and had the ones that threatened the approach out in minutes.
“Sir, we have the approach fires out but the ground is still hot,” Faith said. “Not sure what to do about that unless we go try to find the fire truck.”
“Keep putting the fires out, Shewolf,” Walker said, clambering out of the front of the five-ton. He was wearing a moon suit and had a hard time watching his step. “Don’t worry about the hot ground. Ensure that we’ve got security. These fires are sure to draw any remaining infected and I don’t want blood contaminating this environment.”
“Aye, aye, sir,” Faith replied.
“Decon teams,” Walker continued. “Set up east of the septic five-ton. Sterile five-ton will remain in place until we’ve got the situation under control.”
“Roger, sir,” Sophia replied.
“I’ll just sit here in the darkness, then,” she added sotto voce.
Decker, Condrey and she were in the back of the “sterile” five-ton. Five-tons have a canvas top and “rear closure” system with a drop tailgate. The tailgate was up and the canvas “rear closure system” was in place, making the interior dark as a cave. In addition, the entire interior had been covered in plastic and sealed to a fare-thee-well. If they hadn’t had air bottles they would have used up the oxygen on the interior.
“What was that, ma’am?” Decker asked, sitting on the personnel bench at the position of attention. Which was tough with a fire fighter’s silver suit.
“Just proud to be here, Staff Sergeant,” Sophia said loudly.
“Put it right there,” Sergeant Major Barney said, pointing to a spot next to the “septic” five-ton.
“Roger, Sergeant Major,” Hadley said, laying down the child’s tub.
“Wait,” Barney said. “Hold it up. Get the water into it while it’s off the ground at first. The ground is hot. If it burns through the tub, you are all in the shitter.”
“Aye, aye, Sergeant Major!” Seaman Apprentice Yu, said, pouring a five-gallon can of water into the tub. Olga walked up with a bleach bottle in either hand and added to it. She, too, was wearing a moon suit. When there was water on the bottom, Hadley set it down.
“Take off the bloody caps,” Sergeant Major Barney said. “You’re not filling canteens…”
“That’s enough,” Walker said as Yu poured another five gallon bucket of bleach water over his suit. “All septic personnel back away. Sterile five-ton.”
“Sir?” Sophia replied as there was a shot in the darkness.
“Stand by, security team?”
“One infected,” Faith said. “Down. Well away from the capsule. Situation still clear, sir.”