//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 // Story: First Contact - Kansas City // by Shadow Walker //------------------------------// Chapter 8 Time - 1700 Location - Atchison, Kansas Listening to the conversations from recruits that completed their meager two weeks of training the day before, Isaac finally wandered out of the makeshift chow hall, which was nothing more then a long tent in the living quarters of the underground base. Making his way through the rows of tents and support beams he wondered to himself if the Council had made up its mind on what to do. The Council was made up of the three Majors and the Lieutenant Commander Isaac had met, each one having the same amount of power and decision making abilities. Though he was not against having someone to manage their little resistance, he was against not having a set leader to say ‘yes’ or ‘on’ to suggestions. “Two weeks. That’s how long we’ve been stuck down here waiting for orders to do something other than stand by.” He thought lifting the flap on his tent, looking around at the mess before him. Since his squad was the last to arrive they had been given the only remaining sleeping area in the base, the supply tent. Hernandez sat in the corner cleaning his newest weapon, an M39 EMR. “I don’t suppose we could scam a better area from someone?” He asked looking up from the disassembled weapon. “Not likely. Everyone’s pretty much settled in at this point, all we can do is make the best of it.” Fernando answered from the back trying to carve out a livable space in the clutter. “Any word on when we head out next Sir?” “No, the ‘Council’ hasn’t given any sign on agreeing on what we should do first. But they have it down to either getting supplies or attacking outposts.” Isaac answered throwing himself on to his makeshift cot made of blankets and cardboard. “I know the feeling Sir, I hate waiting with nothing to do. The best we can do is wait for orders and be ready for when they do come.” The Staff Sergeant said as he dragged a large pile of trash to the open flap. Suddenly a loud speaker came to life, a metallic voice filling the living space. “ATTENTION, ALL OFFICERS AND SQUAD LEADERS, REPORT TO LEVEL EIGHT FOR MISSION BRIEFING. I REPEAT ALL OFFICERS AND SQUAD LEADERS TO LEVEL EIGHT.” “About fucking time.” Isaac thought standing up from his less then comfortable “bed,” popping his back in the process. “Lets go see what needs doing Staff Sergeant.” “On you six, Sir.” Fernando answered tossing out old moth eaten blankets. Walking out of the tent the two Marines noticed the people, or lack there of in this case. It seemed that everyone had left in a hurry for the meeting. Not wanting to keep their new bosses waiting, Isaac and Fernando left for the elevator at the back of the “housing district” as the old hands started calling it. The living quarters had sub levels that housed other soldiers all the way to new recruits that were still going through training. Each sub-level had a system that could tell you which category you belonged to, the highest levels meant that you were combat ready and needed immediate access to the armory, the lower levels belonged to recruit training and those recovering from injuries. Walking by rows of tents Isaac kept count of how many there actually were, if only to keep his mind off of the chewing out they would undoubtedly receive if they were late… again. The cave they were in now was actually quite spacious, each row housed four tents with each tent holding up to ten men. When they reached the elevator Isaac had counted a total of five rows meaning there was a total of two hundred men in this area alone. If he wanted to he could add up the other areas that cut off from the one they were on but decided against it if only to save himself from a headache. Pushing the button two men quickly descended into the darkness below, the only light source being the small light fixture hanging above them. Passing by other levels Isaac again took in how big their new home actually was. There were only eight levels to the bunker, but they were so large and so spaced out that there was more then enough room for a battalion sized force and heavy armor if needed, but Isaac wasn’t betting on them finding any tanks anytime soon. Reaching the lowest level, they stepped off and made their way through the brightly lit and surprisingly clean hallways until they reached the briefing room. Walking in Isaac noticed that they were the last to arrive, cursing under his breath he noticed that the Council hadn’t arrived yet. “Spared an ass chewing.” He thought as he and Fernando took their seats. After a few minutes someone called attention and everyone in the room jumped to their feet as Major Arthur and Major Stark walked in. “Be seated.” Major Stark called letting everybody sit back down as he and Major Arthur started to pin up pictures of pharmacies, gun stores, and super markets. “Now, I know it has been a hard and uneasy two weeks. No orders coming down and no idea what to do.” Major Arthur said putting his hands on his hips and pausing far longer than necessary most likely for dramatic effect. “The Council has decided to send out scavenger parties to collect medicine, weapons, and food. We have, unfortunately, decided that given our current numbers we can not successfully engage the enemy without suffering extreme losses, so we are going to go out and recruit as many people that are willing to fight and get ourselves ready.” Major Stark was the next to talk, pointing out each area of importance and suspected enemy positions. Platoon sized elements would be split up in to different tasks ranging from collecting volunteers to gathering medicine, weapons, and food, their area of operations extended from Cameron, Missouri all the way to the small border towns of Kansas and Missouri. “Lieutenant Temple.” Hearing his name, Isaac stood up from his seated position, his knees popping in the process. “Since you have experience in Leavenworth, we’re sending you to collect weapons and ammunition from the surrounding area.” “Yes Sir.” Isaac said before retaking his seat his thought process already working on which gear his crew would need and how many trucks he should take. “All right, you all have your orders. Complete them and get back here, we don’t need any heroes, especially dead ones. The mission starts at 2100, good luck.” With that Major Arthur dismissed the room so the officers and squad leaders could prep their teams. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Time - 2200 Location - Hilltop overlooking Leavenworth Looking over the town Isaac had to appreciate the fact that the target area was no longer on fire; or the fact that he could not see any enemy forces in the surrounding area. Stepping back from his concealed position he took in his forces and their wheels. One platoon sized element with HWMMV’s to carry them and five 7-ton trucks to haul their spoils out. Each vehicle equipped with a .50 cal for defense and bullet proof glass that Isaac hopped would stop an energy blast. Suddenly, Isaac’s radio came to life with a burst of static before a voice cut it off. “Sir, this is Recon One, no sign of any Mythos in the area but i’m not sure how long that will last. Recommend making this quick, over.” The voice on the other end reported. Mythos, the new name that had been given to the alien invaders seeing how they were pretty much mythological creatures from history. Isaac still couldn’t believe that ancient creatures from his history books were attacking them. “Copy, we’ve got nothing on our end either. Keep me posted if the weather changes. Out.” Isaac replied placing his radio back into his pouch he made out of a spare magazine pouch. “Alright here is how we’re going to do this.” Isaac said walking over to one of the HWMMVs laying out a map of the area on the hood. “Three of the 7 Tons will make their way to the Base and pick up any leftovers that we may have missed from our first run through. The other two will ride through the town and stop by any pharmacy and gun store they can find. First and Second squad, you go with the three trucks to the base while Third squad goes with me to the town, any questions?” The group remained silent as Isaac folded the up map and placed it in his pocket. “No? Good, lets get to work.” Jumping in his HWMMV, Isaac loaded a magazine in to his A4 rifle. He had removed the RCO and opted for the iron sights, but he had outfitted his rifle for night time instead of the day time. He had placed a laser sight on the front rail and a mounted night vision device on his Kevlar to see, even though the AN/PVS 14’s were crap, they were all they had at the moment. Riding into the town three 7 Tons broke off and started heading to the base while the other two continued through the town; stopping only to gather supplies and weapons. Riding in the HWMMV Isaac took stock of the burned town one more time, since the last time he had been through the street lights had either died or been toppled down leaving the street pitch black with the only illumination being the moon and embers from recent fires. “Make a right turn here.” Isaac said to Fernando as the two trucks followed them through the street. They were trying to find the abandoned gun store Isaac and Adam had found their first night on the run. Making one more left turn they finally found the store, it had been difficult, they had almost missed it completely. Some of the letters on the sign had been blown or burned off, Isaac couldn't tell which. Along with the store there was a Pharmacy, and a Grocery store on the block as well that they could raid. Dismounting, Third squad started to brake off in to Fire Teams to search each building, First would take the gun store, Second would take the Pharmacy, and Third the Grocery store. “Lieutenant, it looks like there has been some activity in the area recently” Hernandez said kicking over some rubble. “Right lets make this quick then. Tag and bag anything and everything useful.” Isaac said moving to the store, his team right on his heels. The store had obviously seen better days most of the guns and ammo had been taken in the week since they had been there. Empty gun racks lined the walls, ammo crates littered the floor, and the display cases were smashed open, outlines in the dust showing the items that had once rested there. Fortunately the lights still worked in the abandoned shop allowing them to move about without running in to each other or tripping over the occasional crate. Picking their way through the trash and discarded boxes Isaac moved to the back of the store where he found a living room and dinning room. Looking at the photos lining the wall he wondered if life would ever go back to normal after this, if this whole mess would be over in the next few weeks. He knew it was a pipe dream, but he still granted himself the hope that it would. “Lieutenant, Recon One here. We keep seeing signs of enemy air patrols in the area. They might be looking for us, over.” “Copy, we’ll hurry up here. Let me know if the sky starts getting to cluttered up there, over.” “Roger, we’ll keep you posted. Recon One out.” Putting his radio back Isaac started to leave the room when he heard a loud banging sound coming from the store. “SIR, WE FOUND SOMETHING.” Moving back in to the store Isaac returned to find that the carpet had been ripped up showing floor boards and a small metallic hatch in the floor. “How did you find this?” Isaac asked moving to the metallic door in the ground. “Ve Vere moving out some of the ammo crates vhen the straps broke letting zhe can hit the ground vith a ‘clang’ ve ripped out the carpet and found zis.” Sergei said crouching by the door. “How do we open it?” Hernandez asked as Rodriguez moved to a kneeling position examining the lock on the hatch. “It’s a dead lock, it could take us weeks to cut through this thing and even than I don’t know if there’s another locked door behind this one. We could be try blowing our way in, get a couple of Assault Men here with some C4, maybe try - whoa!!!” Rodriguez didn’t even notice the door open before the rest of the floor opened up with it. “EVERYONE BACK UP.” Fernando yelled as more of the floor gave way to the darkness before stopping at the front counter and the middle of the shop. Looking around Isaac spotted Lee behind the counter and a hidden lever in one of the cupboards along the wall. Peering into the black hole that had opened up Isaac flicked on his flashlight shining the intense light down the hole. “So. Who wants to go down the rabbit hole first?” He asked as the others shone their lights down the hole. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Moving through the darkness, his Night Vision turning the surroundings into an ugly shade of green, Isaac could make out little details in the pitch black room like the door in the back of the pit. Moving to the opening, Fernando and Rodriguez both took up positions on opposite sides of the door waiting for Isaac to kick the door in. Aiming his rifle at the lock he was just about to blow the door off its hinges when said door flew open catching Fernando off guard and slamming in to Rodriguez knocking her to the ground, while Isaac was met with a 12 gauge pointed right at his face. “Yea git one chance to ‘xplain yerself bafore I blast ya to smithereens.” The old man on the other end of the boom stick said cocking the weapon with a menacing k-chuck. Looking down the barrel of death, Isaac explained to the old man that his team had been sent in to gather weapons and supplies for the new resistance to fight off the invasion and defend themselves, he also explained that the man would be compensated once this whole mess blew over and they made contact with the outside world, he really wasn’t sure if he would be compensated, but right now he was hoping the old man would buy the half-truth. After several minutes of an intense stare down the old man finally lowered his weapon and let the group inside the bunker. “Ya’ll shouda just came down here in the first place. The store was ransacked a couple a days ago. Since it was just me down here I didn’t want to cause any trouble and since this is a gevernment owned shop I still get compsated for my loses anyway.” The old man said leading Isaac and his team into the hidden shop below the store. “I keep all of my big guns down here.” He said flicking on the lights illuminating the long passageway as row upon row of weapons were illuminated. A computer terminal that looked like something from NORAD sat in the corner. “Damn, you have every gun under the sun down here. Fifties, Oerlikon 20mm’s, and an Anzio anti material rifle!? You really do have all the good stuff down here.” Fernando said getting a little to excited about the find. “Take what’cha need, I git paid all the same.” The old man said as he unlocked the cages each one flying open revealing the ammunition for the weapon and spare parts to boot. “Staff Sergeant, call back the other trucks, we’re going to need some help getting this stuff out.” Isaac said looking down the long row of weapons. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Standing to the side, Isaac watched as each truck was filled with ammunition and heavy weapons of all shape and size. The underground armory had been larger than they thought forcing to load medical and food supplies on the HWMMV’s to make room for more weapons. Staff Sergeant Fernando stood to the side with a clip board keeping track of the amount of ammo and weapons being brought on board. Walking up to Isaac the old man from the shop carried a small brief case in one arm and a cane in the other. “You know for an old man you are surprisingly tough.” Isaac said as the last of the weapons were loaded and locked down. “You should come with us, at the very least you would be safe.” “No I ain’t meant for the fightin' role anymore, an old coot like me wouldn’t last two days with you big strong kids. Besides, from here I can tap in to the surveillance cameras around the area, keep an eye on things so to speak, keep y'all informed.” “Well if you ever change you mind, you are more than welcome to come with us.” Isaac said extending his hand towards the old man. Setting the case down he grabbed the outstretched hand and with the grip of a strongman nearly broke Isaac’s fingers. Keeping his groans to a minimum Isaac vigorously returned the man’s gesture. “Oh right I almost forgot, this’ for you son.” he said releasing Isaac and picking up the brief case. “Wante’d ya to have something to keep yea safe and this should have ‘nough kick to knock out those furry bastards.” Taking the brief case and looking at it through inquisitive eyes he shot a questioning look at the old man who returned the look with a warm smile. Before he could ask what was in the case Fernando reported that all the weapons were loaded and the rest of the platoon was up and ready to move. Running up to the last HWMMV, Isaac jumped into the passenger seat and shut the door telling the driver to move out. Roaring to life the armored car started to slowly inch away from the shop. Isaac suddenly realized that he had gotten so caught up in the massive find that he had forgotten to ask the old man for his name. Jumping up the gunner’s turret he yelled back to the old man, asking him his name over the noise. “Its Conway,” he shouted “John Conway.” With that the small convoy of trucks moved out and away from the quiet town. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Going down the road at the fastest speed possible without flipping the trucks over, Isaac’s platoon was moved in the direction of the rendezvous point with the rest of the Company. Looking down at the case Conway had given him, Isaac unlocked the latches and opened the lid to find an M1911 handgun resting on the black foam. “How about that.” He thought to himself. Suddenly his radio came to life with the sound of static again. Closing the case he picked up the handheld and listened. “Lieutenant, this is Recon One. We’ve got hostile air coming in low and fast from the south.” “Damn so close.” Isaac said slamming the radio on the deck. “All trucks brake off and find a way back to base, everyone else open fire with the Fifties.” Following Isaac’s orders the 7 Ton trucks broke off from the main group while the HWMMV’s started prepping the weapons. Just as Isaac’s HWMMV was about to brake-off bolts of energy impacted around them forcing the trucks to take a different path. “It’s going after the truck, don’t let it get a shot off.” Isaac’s vehicle was a flurry of noise as the gunner attempted to get a bead on the flying lizard. Just then Isaac heard the sound of thunk and the gunner collapsed to the cab floor, his face partially removed. Moving to take over the Fifty Isaac noticed the Anzio 20mm rifle had been placed in the HWMMV instead of a truck. Thoughts raced through his head as a crazy idea drilled its way to the top. Grabbing the anti material rifle and three rounds he climbed to the gunners position, pulling the 20mm up behind him. “This has got to be the craziest idea i’ve ever had.” He thought as he loaded the rifle and tried to take aim. Pulling the trigger, the kick from the rifle threw him to the other side of the turret, knocking any breath he had been holding out of him. Had he not been wearing his flak they would be gluing his spine back together at the shelter. Reloading and sighting in again he threw all his weight into the rifle as more energy bolts flew past him; threatening to ignite the ammunition in the trucks. Firing again the 20mm round flew past the Dragon’s head and into its tail leaving a bloody stump in its wake, which only served to enrage the dragon even further. Going in to a fit of rage the Dragon started breathing fire around the convoy, threatening to prematurely ignite the ammunition in the trucks. Loading the last round Isaac held his breath and waited for the flying beast to stop swaying left and right. Lining up for another run on the trucks, Isaac aimed dead center on the Dragon’s forehead and fired. Time seemed to slow as the round entered the heavily armored skull and exited out the other end, tumbling through the canopy along with the pilot’s skull. Releasing a long drown out breath, Isaac pulled 20mm back down into the cab and placed it back in the trunk, all the while thinking how he had just killed a dragon and the pilot at the same time, an impossible shot, but maybe someone was looking out for him. Whatever the reason the rest of the journey back to base was thankfully smooth and quiet. Isaac would later learn that they had brought back thirteen Fifties, twenty mortar systems, ten Oerliken 20mm cannons, and enough ammo to sink an aircraft carrier. After giving his report to the Council he wandered back to his tent and began inspecting his new 1911 pistol.