“Looks like the bottom five to ten levels have been completely collapsed under the weight of the ship.”
“Major, let’s hope the cargo is not in one of those levels. It will would take weeks with heavy equipment to access those decks.”
“What’s wrong? Don’t think the Russians will let us bring in a couple dozen heavy cranes?” Snap asked, with a chuckle.
“Lightning Squad, commence with landing procedures. Let’s put down fifty yards north of the largest segment of the ship, near the middle of the crash zone.”
“Roger Wilco,” Senior Master Sergeant Williams replied.
“Johnson, do you have control of the landing rover?” Neal asked.
“Yes Sir.”
“How far away is it?”
“Still descending, about 500 yards to the southwest.”
“Can you get it any closer? Time is of the essence, here.”
“Roger that,” Johnson replied.
Snap guided his FIGAS over the crash site again, this time looking for easy access points to the large ship. Snap was also looking for defensible positions in case the Russians arrived. The barren land was covered in icy snow. There were plenty of boulders and rock formations to hide behind, but that would offer no protection against a missile launched from a MiG-31.
“Bob, this is Snap. Could you take the EMP cannon and set up on the south west ridge? Taylor, you go with Bob. If it appears a Russian aircraft spots us through the optical stealth, try and take it out with the EMP cannon. Don’t shoot down a plane unless you suspect they have seen through our invisibility dome.”
“Roger that,” Taylor responded, as he steered his FIGAS unit toward the ridgeline.
Bob followed Taylor to the ridge overlooking the crash site, while the rest of the team landed near the center of the site. No one was injured in the landing and the men easily dismounted from the FIGAS units. As soon as Snap landed and freed himself from the fixed wing, he looked up at the sky to locate the rover that was slowly descending by parachute.
“Johnson, can you get that rover to land inside the trench? We don’t have time to carry it down here if it lands on the ridge.”
“Roger that,” Johnson said. Johnson was operating the flight controls to the parachute from the display on his left forearm. “There, that should do it, we cleared the ridge.”
The rover, the size of a small truck, could travel along a flat surface at 35 miles per hour. Rather than having tires, it had tank treads. The primary purpose of the rover was to transport the 2,150-pound Projected Invisibility Dome, but it was also carrying other equipment to assist in the recovery.
Snap, standing next to Johnson, said, “There it is,” as he pointed to the rover as it slammed into the earth. “Moore, Martin, go recover the rover.”
“I think I can guide it in from the controls on my display,” Johnson said, as he tapped the screen on his forearm.
“Johnson, no, let them go help recover it. It may be caught on a rock or something. They can help guide it in. We may not have time for any mistakes.”
“Major Slade, I just received the data download with instructions on how to set up the PID, I’m pretty sure I can handle this,” Jackson said.
“I just received an update; Russian fighters are 30 minutes out. We have to get this set up, now.”
Senior Master Sergeant Josh Miller ran up to Snap, holding a compact, laser range finder in his left hand. “We have a problem.”
“What’s that?”
“Well, the ship was originally 1,700 feet long and several hundred feet tall.”
“So, what’s the problem?”
“The debris field is over 3,000 feet long and 400 feet wide.”
“And, the punch line?” Snap asked.
“The PID only projects a holographic dome over 900 feet of space.”
“What the fuck, how did somebody miss that? General Byrd, are you still listening to this? This is going to be one short mission!” Snap yelled into his HUD.
“I’m still here. Calm down. We will think of something,” General Byrd reassured them from the comfort of the Moon Base.
“It better be quick. The Mig is 20 minutes out. They might just see us hanging out in their backyard and drop a bomb on us.”
“I have a tech here, and he is advising me that the dome can be reconfigured to be shaped more like a rectangle. This will cover more of the craft. You said the debris filed was 3,000 feet long and 400 feet wide?”
“Basically. There are some outliers, but most of the wreckage fits in those dimensions.”
“Okay, our models here are saying that we can recalibrate from a 900-foot dome to a 2,000-foot-long rectangle. That narrows the width to the 400 feet you need.”
“But it still leaves 1,000 feet of the wreckage exposed to the sky.” Snap said.
“I understand. We are going to have to make some tough decisions here in the next couple of minutes. You flew down from the sky, yes?”
“Of course.”
“Which means you saw exactly what the Russian pilot is going to see, correct?”
“Yes”
“Wrong, Major Slade. You knew what you were looking for, and you knew exactly where it was located. The Russian pilot has thousands of miles of land to search over for an unknown object.”
“I see your point, General. But still, this is a space ship, it kinda sticks out.”
“Okay, but what was the first thing you saw as you descended on the site?”
“The control tower, it sticks up higher than everything else,” Snap replied.
“Good, then what?”
“The largest intact section of the super structure, set in the middle of the wreckage.”
“Good, what was the last part you noticed?” the General asked.
“The smaller debris fields surrounding the three main pieces,” Snap said.
“There you go, set up the PID so that it covers the control tower, the large section of the super structure and anything else you can cover.”
“What then?”
“Sit tight and hope the Russian pilot, which is flying at over 900 miles per hour, misses it. Their analysts will see it eventually, but hopefully, it buys you a couple of hours without Russian paratroopers. Good Luck.”
“Damn it,” Snap whispered.
Snap focused his attention on the men retrieving the rover. “We need to move the rover over there,” Snap said, pointing at the largest section of the super structure.
“Position it closer to the tower, and line it up near the center of the trench.”
“Jackson, we need to calibrate this thing to cover a 2,000-foot-long rectangular shape.”
“That’s not going to be enough.”
“It’s the best we can do,” Snap responded.
“Oh shit,” Jackson said, shaking his head.
“Lightning Squad, Johnson is going to configure the PID to conceal most of the crash site. We are not going to be able to ghost the whole thing. All we can hope for is that the Russians will miss it on their first pass. The rest of you, grab your equipment from the rover and start looking for the Element 115. Schematics of the ship have been down loaded to your HUD.”
“Where are you going to be?” Neal asked.
“I’m going to be out here with Jackson. Bob and Taylor will be monitoring the Russian radio transmissions as they fly over. We may be having some fireworks soon; so, keep your eye out in the debris for anything that might prove helpful.”
“Roger that, Major.”
The men of Lightning Squad grabbed their equipment and started off to the dangerous mission of sifting through debris, looking for the unstable Element 115. Johnson stood at the rear of the rover, in front of the control panel, tapping on a weather resistant keyboard.
“Bob, any movement up on the ridge?”
“Negative, Major.”
“Stay down. We have our first fly over in five minutes.”
“Roger that,” Bob said.
“Jackson, how are we doing on the PID?”
“Just about done. There we go. Ready to light up the Christmas tree?”