“Good morning… And welcome to Operation Iron Fist. We’ve been taking a lot of shit from the Chimera lately, and this will be an opportunity to hit back.
“Iron Fist will be a combined forces operation involving the 5th Ranger Battalion, under Lieutenant Colonel Jack Hawkins”—he nodded in the direction of a man in the front row—“and a Sentinel SAR team, under the command of Lieutenant Nathan Hale.” He acknowledged Hale with a similar gesture. “Besides killing as many freaks as we can, the objective of this little outing will be to locate and retrieve what could be some very important tech.”
Hale felt a combination of pride, embarrassment, and fear. The sergeant major grinned knowingly. “The good news is you’ll be in command of a team,” he whispered. “And the bad news is that you’ll be in command of a team!”
Hale smiled. That was the strange thing about being an officer. The simultaneous desire to be in command and the fear of what might happen as a result of a lack of preparation, poor judgment, or bad luck.
“Before we review the details of the mission, Dr. Linda Barrie will provide you with some important background information,” Blake continued. “For those of you who haven’t met her, Dr. Barrie is a graduate of MIT and a member of SRPA’s technology assessment team. They’re the folks who study the items the SAR teams bring back, assess their potential, and tell us how to exploit them. Dr. Barrie?”
Barrie was one of only three women in the room, which by itself was enough to make her stand out, but the fact that she was stunningly beautiful guaranteed that every eye was on her as she took the podium. Her black hair was short and straight, her brown eyes were partially hidden by bangs, and her lips displayed only a trace of red lipstick. She wore a plain leather jacket and khaki pants that couldn’t be considered glamorous. She cleared her throat and began to speak.
“Thank you, Major. As a result of missions like the one Captain Anton Nash led a few days ago, SRPA has been able to reverse-engineer technology developed by the Chimera, and make incredible advances in a relatively short period of time. And now, because of an artifact recovered by Captain Nash and his men, we have what may be an opportunity to take another leap forward.”
At that point Barrie removed a remote from the podium and aimed it at the wall screen. Video swirled and locked up into an image that Hale recognized right away. Thousands of lights glittered deep within the gelatinous cube, and as the camera zoomed in, Hale could see tiny sparks jumping the gaps between them. It wasn’t doing that before, he mused silently. They must have figured out how to turn it on…
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Barrie inquired of no one in particular. “But this is beauty with a purpose. What you’re looking at is an optical computer… Meaning that it uses photons rather than electrons to store and manipulate information. We’re still in the process of figuring out how to replicate it, but we’ve been able to retrieve a great deal of data from it, and screen that information for importance.
“The best way to think of the cube is as a filing cabinet,” Barrie added, as she turned back toward the audience. “And, like most filing cabinets, it’s stuffed with all manner of things, some of which are useful and some of which are not. One of the items that is of value could be described as a fuel inventory. And by fuel I don’t mean gasoline.” She leaned forward for emphasis.
“I mean nuclear fuel, like the plutonium that was recovered from Great Britain and taken to our research facility in New Mexico. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to get the necessary yields out of the plutonium, and at the rate things are going, it could be years before we have nuclear weapons that can be used against the Chimera.”
That comment elicited a rumble of conversation because if there was one thing the men and women in the briefing room knew, it was that the United States was running out of time.
Barrie nodded, and continued. “According to the fuel inventory we’ve deciphered, the stinks are storing nuclear fuel in a recently completed base near the town of Hot Springs, South Dakota. So we’re going to attack in force, draw most of the defenders into a pitched battle, and send a SAR team in to snatch what we need. Once the people in New Mexico have a chance to analyze it, there’s a very good chance that they’ll be able to achieve the necessary breakthrough, and produce the nuclear weaponry we need.
“I guess that’s about it,” she concluded. “Thank you.”
As Barrie returned to her seat, Hale already was thinking about the mission ahead. Nash had been correct, the storage cube was important, and Hale wished that he had lived long enough to learn how important.
The familiar emptiness began to form in the pit of his stomach as he considered the coming battle. Clearly, the 5th Ranger Battalion would have a major role to play, but it would be up to his team to recover the fuel, and that—Hale realized—made him understand what he and Nash had in common.
A fear of failure.
Operation Iron Fist was going to involve nearly two thousand people, including support personnel, all of whom had to be pre-positioned, equipped for the mission at hand, and in some cases trained for specific tasks. So once the larger briefing was complete, the participants were directed to various conference rooms where topics such as logistics, matériel, and tactics would be discussed.
Hale was directed to a door with a “Command” placard on it.
Once inside, he saw that dozens of aerial photos had been taped to one wall while a detailed map of South Dakota took up most of another. As a former NCO only recently promoted to second lieutenant, he found himself nervous at being included in a meeting attended by the likes of Lieutenant Colonel Hawkins, his XO, Major Murphy, and a half-dozen other people, including Dr. Barrie. The glasses had disappeared for the moment, and as the two of them shook hands he was struck by how serene her eyes were. When Barrie smiled, Hale saw that a gap separated her two front teeth. A tiny imperfection that was endearing somehow—although he wasn’t sure why.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lieutenant,” Barrie said coolly. “Shouldn’t you give my hand back?”
“Sorry,” he mumbled as he let go, and hurried to escape as Major Blake brought another officer over to meet the scientist.
Having made a fool of himself, Hale was glad to take his place at the long conference table, only to discover that the same sergeant major was seated next to him.
“The name’s Guthrie, sir,” the noncom said genially. “It’s nice to know that the SAR team will be led by a Ranger. Even if he is wearing a funny-looking uniform.”
Hale laughed, and felt better now that he had a sergeant to protect his right flank. The two of them continued to chat until the meeting began.
“Time to get down to business,” Blake said from the head of the table. “Now that all of you are aware of the general outlines of what we’re going to do, it’s time to review the specifics. Colonel Hawkins…”
Hawkins was tall and lanky, so when he stood it took a while, and two steps were sufficient to carry him to the map. He had a collapsible pointer which made a series of clicking sounds when he extended it. Hawkins had brown hair that was starting to gray, a deeply lined face, and an eternally downturned mouth.
“We’re here,” he said brusquely, as the end of the pointer tapped the town of Valentine, Nebraska. “And the assembly point will be here.”
Hale followed the pointer to Chadron, Nebraska, which looked to be forty or fifty miles south of Hot Springs, South Dakota. “The plan calls for us to send a tank company north along the main highway,” Hawkins continued. “They will be supported by Lynx All-Purpose Vehicles, and by two infantry companies.