"Our estimates put impact in Panem in approximately eighteen minutes," Maggie shouts.
"Does our defense shield have a shot at them?" Angus says desperately.
"Negative," Maggie says. "Their trajectories are too steep and the missiles are already leaving the atmosphere. There's nothing we can do…"
I collapse back in my chair as a single thought slams its way into my consciousness.
"Our world is about to end."
My mind continues to race, trying to come up with something we can do to stop those missiles. Then, it hits me. There's nothing that we can do.
"Maggie!" I scream bolting over to her work station. "Get me Central Briefing at the UDP Defense Ministry."
"It will take a few minutes," Maggie says beginning to punch in the keystrokes.
"We don't have a few minutes!" I say raising my voice. I look back up to the TEC broadcast on the main screen. The view has switched from the stadium to a large map of the Atlantic. The trajectory of the missiles is being projected for the entire TEC to see. Two announcers triumphantly talk about what incredible benefits the destruction of Panem will mean for the glory of Europe. They even predict that Britannia will fall in just a few months without the help of its ally.
"I've got Captain Flagg in Central Briefing, Sir," Maggie shouts out.
"Put her on the screen!" The main screen cuts in half. On the right side is the TEC broadcast still predicting absolute victory. Amelia's terrified face appears on the left side.
"Amelia!" I shout as I see her.
"I know, Sir," she screams back. "We were monitoring the TEC broadcast as well. I've already put out the alert, but it will take at least half an hour before people start getting to shelters"
"By that time, the entire UDP will be a massive blue toxic cloud."
"Is there anything you can do in Britannia to save us?" she asks frantically.
"No, there's nothing we can do over here, Amelia. It's up to you."
"WHAT CAN WE DO?" she screams out. "When those missiles hit, everybody's going to die." I can see the panic building inside her. She starts looking around to everyone else in Central Briefing, but no one seems to have any other ideas either.
"Amelia," I say trying to get her focused, but she still doesn't look at me. "Amelia," still nothing. "CAPTAIN FLAGG!" I shout out loud enough so that everyone in both control centers looks at me.
"Yes Sir," she says fighting back tears.
"Do you still have the tunnel link into the TEC mainframe? We can't access it from over here. Only you can through the UDP network."
"Yes Sir. We still have it."
"Good, now I need you try to access the missiles' controls and activate their self-destruct systems."
"Sir, I can't…."
"Yes you can, Amelia…"
"Sir, the missile control systems are encrypted with the rest of the missile database. I can't access them…"
"YES YOU CAN!" I shout at the top of my lungs again. "Amelia, I don't want to hear that you can't. You once told me that you wanted to face a situation where your decisions were life and death. Well, this is it. If you don't bring those missiles down, than millions of innocent people are going to die."
"Eleven minutes till missile impact," Maggie says from her station.
"Did you hear that? Eleven minutes. Go Amelia!" She nods furiously and begins hammering away at the keyboard in front of her. The minutes brutally tick past one by one as Amelia hacks through line after line of TEC code trying to gain access.
"Six minutes till missile impact! The vehicles are approaching reentry," Maggie says with more urgency in her voice. I look over to the TEC broadcast. The missile position indicators are almost over Greenland.
"I'm in!" Amelia shouts out excitedly. She scans down the missile database searching for the self-destruct codes. "No…no….no!" she screams in terror.
"What is it?" I say beginning to panic a little myself.
"The codes aren't here! They're in another database nested inside this one and it's a completely different encryption sequence."
"C'mon Amelia. Keep going! You can do it!" She starts furiously punching keys again. Beads of sweat form on her brow as she fights against an elusive digital enemy that threatens to destroy everything that we love.
Flashes of my family slice through my consciousness. My nightmare of Lizzy and Octavian drowning in Shiver while I watch completely helpless to do anything about it burns like a flaming ember behind my eyes. I see Katniss and Peeta, trying to shield Prim and Haymitch futilely underneath their bodies while their once happy home turns into a gas chamber. Their faces begin to contort and melt in the toxic mist as their lives end in gruesome pain…
"Four minutes to impact!" Maggie shouts, mercifully cutting into my horrible visions. "The missiles have re-entered the atmosphere and are accelerating toward their targets.
"Amelia!" I say trying to keep her focused. She slams her hands down on her keyboard and tears begin rolling down her cheeks.
"It's no use! This algorithm is too complex. It would take me days to crack it!"
"Then there's got to be something else! Something else you can do!" My voice begins to tremble with fear as well.
"There's nothing…." Amelia says staring back at her computer screen. "There nothing we can do…." She pauses for a second. Her eyes grow wide and she wipes away her tears. "Except….the guidance system!" She starts furiously pounding at keys again.
"What about the guidance system!" I yell back at her.
"The flight logarithms, Sir," she says not taking her eyes off of the screen. "The mathematical formulas that guide the missiles onto their targets were only encrypted by the original algorithm." I begin to smile as I realize she's figured it out.
"C'mon, Amelia, you know me better than that. English please."
"Two minutes till impact!" Maggie says.
"I can change the missiles flight paths, Sir," Amelia says with a giant smile, "and then do this!" she slams her finger into her keyboard before looking over the to the live TEC broadcast on the screen in Central Briefing. I do the same in Tower Control.
Suddenly, the missiles flight paths become erratic. Some fly straight north toward Greenland, while others plummet southward into open ocean. In quick succession, the missile icons disappear as the signals are lost.
"You did it, Flagg!" Maggie shouts ecstatically. "The rapid course corrections were too much and the G-Forces ripped the missiles apart! Our radar shows the wreckage of all fourteen plunging harmlessly into the ocean." Both Central Briefing and Tower Control erupt in wild cheers. Amelia collapses back into her chair and finally lets herself breathe.
"Amelia, you are amazing." I say smiling straight at her.
"Thank you, Sir," she says fighting back tears of joy and relief.
The TEC announcers don't know what to make of the loss of the missiles.
"We seem to be having some technical difficulties in tracking the missiles' flight paths…we now take you back to the Man among Men, Supreme Lawgiver Grosfrere in Germania Memorial Stadium…"
The broadcast cuts back to a confused and angry Grosfrere still standing on the stage in front of his massive live audience. He looks out to see them staring back at him with the same look that an audience gives a magician who has botched a trick….the illusion of his invincibility has been shattered on live television. I sense a major opportunity.
"Amelia!"
"Yes Sir," she says still a little giddy from the destruction of the missiles. "Quick, before the TECs close the tunnel: patch my image through to the TEC broadcast system. I want to be on that screen in Germania stadium."
"What?" she says confused.
"Can you do it?" I say trying to get her focused again.
"Yes Sir," she says punching at her keys again.
"I need a camera!" I shout out to Tower Control.
"There Sir," Maggie says pointing to a video terminal at the work station next to her. "I'll patch you in there."
"Got it, Sir," Amelia shouts triumphantly. "You're live in the TEC in three…two…."
Suddenly, live on the TEC broadcast, my face appears fifteen stories tall directly behind the Man among Men. He turns around in shock and stares directly into my eyes.
"The TECs are fighting me, Sir!" Amelia shouts from Central Briefing. "I don't know how much longer I'll be able to maintain the link."
"Just keep it as long as you can," I say trying to hold a calm, cool confidence in my words. I know that the entire enemy nation is watching me at this moment. "Noble People of the Trans-European Commonwealth," I say staring directly into the camera like it was the eyes of a whole country. "I am General Ares Snow, Chief of the Defense Forces of the United Districts of Panem. I am a proud servant of my country and proud ally of all the Britannic Tribes.
The reason that you did not see Grosfrere's weapons impact on Panem was that because of a brave and free woman who stood against the whims of an evil man, the missiles were destroyed before they even reached their targets. As we speak, their remains are falling harmlessly into the North Atlantic Ocean.
The Supreme Lawgiver, Pierre Grosfrere guaranteed the destruction of Panem tonight. He failed! He failed because he is not omniscient, and not omnipotent. He is not a 'Man among Men.' No, he is merely a man: a weak pathetic man who maintains his grip on power by enslaving you under the threat of brute force.
The people of the TEC are intelligent. I know that somewhere, deep inside your trapped minds, you know that humans are not supposed to live as you are made to. People are not supposed to suffer under the yolk of a tyrant to satiate his lust for power and greed. You know that you must starve on rations while the leaders of the TEC feast on the fruits of your labor! You know that you are forced to suffer and toil while your overlords sit in comfort!
Behind his spy cameras, and his guns, and his threats of violence, Grosfrere is only human….and he can be killed like anyone else." I quickly reach down and rip the Mockingjay pin from my uniform. I hold it up to the camera, and let it burn into the psyche of the Trans-European Commonwealth like it did to the Revolutionary generation of Panem over a quarter century ago. "I am the Mockingjay, and I will fight for you…but in the end, The Revolution is in your hands."
At that moment, Amelia loses her fight with the TEC database, and the connection is terminated. The screen cuts to the seal of the TEC and the booming chorus of the their anthem begins to play.
"That's it, Sir," Amelia says a little drown-trodden. "The TECs closed the tunnel. We've lost our connection to their database. I'm sorry."
"Why?" I stare up at her on the screen with the biggest smile I've had in months. "We just started something that Grosfrere never dreamed would ever be possible!" I say turning around and gazing at everyone in Tower Control. Angus, Seamus, Maggie, Ratchet, Tiller, Doc, and Hatchet all look at me as if I've lost my mind…and maybe I have. "We sent out a call to the TEC tonight that won't be ignored."
"What are you talking about, Laddie?" Angus says looking back at me.
"No, I get it," Hatchet says pushing herself up to her feet. Ratchet leaps up and starts to run around the table with her crutches, but she holds up her hand to stop him. "Somewhere in the TEC, there is somebody who is tired of living in slavery. He or she will doubt themselves at first, just as they've been conditioned to. But eventually, they'll get the courage to talk about it with somebody they trust.
The movement will spread, slowly at first, but rapidly gaining more and more momentum as people take notice. Soon, Grosfrere's bombs and guns will only make the opposition more and more bold until…"
"You have a Revolution," Angus says finally understanding.
"Exactly," I whisper through a determined grin.
The barrage that the TECs submit Britannia to that night is the fiercest in the two centuries of the conflict, but the Brits fight it off with a determination and tenacity that is unheard of even for them. They understand that this is not a sign of the TEC's strength, but a sign of its weakness. Grosfrere is terrified because his people have finally heard Freedom's Call…
