VADM Toshio Nakamura: “We weren’t expecting the magnitude of the devastation that had overtaken Sunset Valley. Even though the greenery was reasserting its domain over the blasted landscape, the land still bore the scars of nuclear devastation. As to be expected there were hot spots still left and we, having geiger counters, kept clear of them. We tried to pick a spot where the prevailing winds would keep the radiation from the hot-spots away from us. And that was where we were going to set up our encampment...
In fact, the best place was on the beach...away from the town with the cliffs to shield us if the prevailing winds came our direction. The only reason why we didn’t choose the beach as a location was because of two factors: the first being the very possibility of tsunamis and the second was the risky climb itself to the top of the cliffs.
It was hard to quantify the total devastation wrought upon this military town when the warheads exploded over Fort Gnome but what made it even more stupefying considering that Haruo and River had both been at Sunset Valley when the Russian warhead hit; that they were able to survive by sheer happenstance thanks to timely intervention by their parents.
As it stood, the Russians had done their utmost to wipe the United States from the face of the planet. It was clear that the Russian Politburo had been far from happy with Gorbachev’s reforms and had gladly followed along with Putin’s aspirations of making Russia a force to be reckoned with again. We had to live with the consequences."
March 2008
The encampment had been set up in such a way that they were able to move it at the slightest provocation. The four adults plus two teens would be able to get it struck down quickly if necessity presented. It did no good to not be mobile. If things went south, speed meant survival. On top of that Tosh and Harm had left some very nasty explosive surprises for anyone happening by their encampment.
Those surprises would give anyone who dropped in without a “how do you do?” a rather bad day. It had taken a considerable amount of time to place them in the appropriate locations as well as leaving a not well-marked path for themselves to walk back towards the encampment gate without blowing themselves to kingdom-come. After all the point was to send their enemy’s body parts in a million different directions, not their own.
The children were still in grief over the loss of their parents. A year did nothing to dull away the pain of loss and periodically the teens; in essence being children still, felt the loss keenly and emotionally. The adults understood this after seeing their own comrades-in-arms killed on the field of battle but such experiences had hardened them to combat losses. However the children could not be expected to be that inured to grief. After all, whom they’d lost was their parents and even though Tosh and Meg had adopted Haruo and Harm and Mac had adopted River and cared for the two of them deeply, it wasn’t the same as their biological parents. But such was life and thus Haruo and River were a part of the Nakamura and Rabb families respectively.
Also a part of the Nakamura family was Topaz, a 100% wolf, wild at heart, but knowing innately that after such a cataclysm, that survival for her was with the humans. Just barely an adult herself, the wolf had shed her fear of humans and threw her lot in with the family that it considered her pack. Unlike a normal dog, she hunted for her own meal and raw meat was on her menu twenty-four/seven. Tosh hoped that he would be able to find other dogs or wolves that would join their group; if they had a pack of aggressive large dogs protecting their encampment, intruders would be less likely to approach.
”Sir, we’ve put up the last of the necessary items that we need: latrine facilities and cook-area are now accounted for and in operation. Colonel Mackenzie has checked the perimeter and it appears to be secure at the moment. No hostiles have ventured towards our encampment.”
”Very well, Captain.” Tosh replied acknowledging without words that the Navy Captain had just come to attention without saluting as per proper protocol. They were considering that this was a war-time footing; no salutes on the battlefield. Saluting on the battlefield was considered a no-no as it would give away who was a senior officer making him a prime target for a sniper to vacate the unfortunate senior officer’s cranial cavity and relocate his brains from interior to exterior.
Both Meg and Mac had approached the two men as well and Tosh looked towards Mac who looked as if she had a concern on her mind, “What’s on your mind, Colonel?”
Mac spoke up, “Sir, we’re in what would be construed as a hostile area, should we set up a rotational watch tonight and for the foreseeable future?” she noted the Gatling guns in the sandbagged positions with a nod of her head. Tosh followed the direction of her gaze and noted with some satisfaction that having a Marine who had a background in Recon came in quite handy. Three exterior fields of fire to entrap anyone stupid enough to come through the mine-field. Two within the compound fence-line as a fall-back position. As a ground-pounder United States Marine, she had drawn up the positions to keep them from being overrun. Their position was right up against the back of the cliff and it would be suicide to scale a sheer rock face to get up to attack them from the rear. Standard military tactical decision-making: leave as few directions for the enemy to attack you from and make the remaining directions that the enemy would attack from a suicidal venture. The Gatlings with 2300 rounds a minute were a last ditch defense of spray and pray hoping that the sheer volume of lead hurled in the direction of attacking forces would eliminate enough of them. For the current, they would stick with their M-16s and M-4s.
”Colonel Mackenzie, We each take a six hour watch; fully armed, at the post. Perimeter checks every two hours.” Tosh decided. He grinned at Harm with a perfectly evil expression, “You and I are going to take the first two watches, commencing eighteen hundred. I’ll take the zero-dark to oh-six hundred watches.” Tosh was a commanding officer that walked the walk instead of being full of hot-air. “Rabb, you’re exec when I’m indisposed in the rack.”
Meg looked pensive. She knew Tosh was always inclined to take the lead. Most commanders tended to be the push-papers type and preferred to lead from a nice rearwardly comfortable position. The most dangerous watch times were the hours leading up to oh-dark and from oh-dark to oh-six hundred and Tosh had volunteered himself for the most dangerous watch instead of delegating it. As a subordinate officer, such commanders were revered as they led by example. As his wife, Meg, however, was petrified at the risk her husband was taking on his shoulders – the blue ribbon with the five white stars on his dress uniform spoke of the risks he was willing to take with his own life in the pursuit of ensuring the safety of his men and women under his command.
”Sir...Not to question, but if you’d like I can take second watch from 0000 to 0600.” Harm interjected.
Tosh grinned at him, “That’ll be alright, Captain, I’m not old enough that I’m headed for the glue-factory, yet. I’m sure I can stay awake long enough to raise the alarm if something goes wrong.” He gave him a grim stare; “...and you can be sure that if they try something, they’re going to wish they didn’t.”
”Aye, sir!” The three came to attention. Once a superior’s mind was made up, it was not for the junior officers to question it.
With the exception of Topaz...who whined. It presumably was a request, bluntly put. “Can you let me out so that I can go hunt for my food?”
It was well evident that they were going to need a lot more dogs to protect the compound.
No comments:
Post a Comment