Chapter 7: To Communicate
Eisenhower Naval Base, France
16 Minutes After Contact…
The survivors were huddled all around the NEX complex, sitting down on the floor or leaning against store and restaurant counters as they sit in wait in safety. But, all of them felt uneasy. Everyone thought that those things would come crashing down onto them any time soon. But, three of them had hope. Only Yumi, Ulrich, and Jim had high hopes. With their naval uniforms on and their plan set, they decided to head to the front door, where three soldiers stood guard. Their faces were hidden, due to them wearing face covers and goggles, protecting them from lethal light. They were armed with assault rifles, fully loaded and colored with desert yellow. One of the soldiers approached the three.
"Hey, hey, hey." he said. "What are you three doing?"
"Uh, yeah, soldier, we need to get through." Jim said. The soldier looked back at the front then back at the three.
"You can't get out there." the soldier said. "It's very dangerous. You could get…" He then noticed the uniforms. They were US Navy uniforms. He did not figure it out until he took a good look at the group. Yumi was getting nervous as he stared at them, with his rifle shouldered. He then looked at the two, Yumi and Ulrich. They were almost as tall as Jim, but were a little shorter, up to the shoulders. He observed the height for requirements for the military, then looked back at Jim, removing his goggles and face mask, which was like a ski mask. His smooth face looked like Ulrich's and his eyes matched his as well. But, he had a few cuts on his face, some of them still as red as blood. His voice sounded like a young man's voice. Almost like a man's voice at twenty-three.
"Oh, I'm sorry guys, I thought you were civies." the soldier said. "But, is your ship out to sea already?"
"That's why we're leaving." Jim replied. "We need the ship back at port to help us out on shore."
"Well, I could tag along and protect you guys." the soldier offered. Jim smiled and so did the other two.
"Sure… Duncan." Jim said, reading the soldier's name tag.
"Henry Duncan." the soldier said his full name. "Now, let's get you out there. But, I advise staying quiet. It's been roughly quiet outside." Duncan opened the door, slowly leaning out of it to observe the surroundings. The base was covered in debris, metal and fire. The blue sky above was covered with smoke and raging fires had grown larger from the wrecks of helicopters and ships. The remains of the destroyers at port were a smoldering pile of burning metal, some of their bridge towers destroyed by the objects that fell to the ground. But, there was one thing missing.
"Where did the objects go?" Duncan asked himself. He raised his rifle as he left the building, taking cover behind a burning car. Yumi, Jim, and Ulrich stayed in the store as the other two soldiers went outside as well, looking for contact. Then, as Duncan thought it was clear, a loud, stomping sound was heard.
"Get down." Duncan said, with everybody hitting the ground. As they waited for what was coming, they saw a huge crab-like walker walking by them, remaining undetected by it.
"It's a Krabe." Yumi whispered. The gigantic crab walker was as pink as any crab could be, except it wasn't as big. Its red eyes scanned all over the ruined landscape, searching for targets to destroy or capture. The thunderous sound of it taking steps became quieter as it left the group alone. Duncan turned to Jim, Yumi, and Ulrich, signaling them to join him in cover. The three ran out of the store, joining Duncan behind the burning wreck.
"Alright, I don't know what the hell that was, but, I think there could be more." Duncan told the three. "Where do you need to go? The comm tower?"
"Yeah." Jim said. "We need to get there, pronto." Duncan then peered over the car to see the communications tower sitting near a wrecked destroyer ship. The rising smoke covered a part of the tower, which was the upper part. The sun was beating over the ruined base as Duncan observed the surroundings one last time.
"Alright, follow me." Duncan said. "You, Rice and Gerald, stay here at the NEX." The two soldiers nodded as they went back inside the NEX, then standing guard at the front inside. Duncan then stood up, with the others standing behind him.
"Alright, let's move before they come back with more." Duncan warned. The four of them started to run through the smoldering ruins of the harbor, going through a field of wrecks. Pieces of metal scattered themselves over the ground as the smell of smoke quickly filled the air. Dead bodies were burnt in the helicopter wrecks and in the ship wrecks, also floating in the water. The sunshine glimmering in the water of the harbor did not make anything better, since the shining water was a beautiful sight. But, during a time like this, it's never a time to stare at a sight like this. As the group of four got closer to the communications tower, the sound of a speeding car could be heard. Duncan and the others looked behind themselves, then seeing a speeding Humvee coming their way.
"Everybody, out of the way!" Duncan yelled, the group scattering for cover. The sound of a firing .50 Caliber machine gun quickly became louder as it screeched to a halt sideways. The gunner was still firing at the horizon.
"WHAT ARE YOU SHOOTING AT?" Duncan yelled over the gun fire. Then, over the distance, Duncan saw a large wave of small spider-like robots approaching.
"What the hell are those?" Duncan asked over the gun fire. Yumi then sat down behind a concrete barrier with Ulrich. They could not believe that Xana had begun a full scale attack in their world. Yumi looked nervous, with Ulrich watching the robots approach.
"Kankrelats." Yumi said. "It looks like Xana's not holding back." Ulrich looked over his shoulder to see Jim running for the communications tower. He had gotten himself a head start to try to get to it. Then, as Jim got closer to it, several shots came from the air. It was laser shots. The bright red beams tried to pepper Jim as he slid for cover behind an overturned Humvee.
"HOLY CRAP!" Duncan yelled. "Enemy units! Three o'clock!" Duncan and the driver of the Humvee aimed their rifles and fired at the flying targets. The targets in the air looked like huge bees, with stingers shooting laser tracers at the Humvee. The sound of gunfire muted the sound of the screams of the Humvee gunner, holding down the trigger on his .50 Cal. The bullets ripped through the peach-colored bodies of the bug-like creatures. The bullets pierced through them, causing them to explode as they got hit by numerous bullets. One explosion caused a chain reaction to the other two, them exploding after the other did. Chunks of metal flew through the air as smoke rose to the air, like dark clouds in the sky.
"Hornets?" Yumi yelled. "God, Xana's really not letting up!" Duncan then turned to Yumi and Ulrich and then to Jim, who started running again.
"You two, get your asses over to the damn communications tower! Now!" Yumi and Ulrich bolted for the tower, being shot at by the laser tracers from the advancing Kankrelats. Duncan, the driver of the Humvee, and the gunner started to return fire, unloading their clips and belts into the crowd of advancing robots. One after one, they fell. The bullets ripped through each individual Kankrelat, piercing the ones in front, then transferring the bullets behind the other, then the other. One bullet could pierce five of them. Soon, the crowd of small robots were easily defeated, with Jim and Ulrich and Yumi reaching the comm tower. The tower door was huge and was made of metal. At the right side as an I.D scanner and a code pad. It was red. It needed the code to let them in.
"I think I know the code." Jim said.
"You know it?" Yumi asked, surprised.
"Well, I was assigned guard duty here, once." Jim admitted. "They gave me the code so that I can keep an eye on things inside, back in the day." Jim took out his old I.D card and slid it in the card scanner. Surprisingly, it still worked.
"Hmm, looks like they never edited the security detail since I left." Jim said as he punched in the number combo. Then, it beeped.
"Access code unacceptable." the computer said. Jim was outraged.
"Dang!" Jim said. "The I.D works, but the freakin' code doesn't?" Then, they saw Duncan running up to them, his rifle loaded with a fresh clip of 5.56mm rounds.
"Can't get in?" Duncan asked. "I got the new code." Duncan leaned over and typed in '54127'. The door beeped again.
"Access code accepted." the computer said, releasing the lock on the huge metal door. The door slid open, revealing a set of stairs leading up to the main control room at the top.
"I remember these stairs." Jim said. "Still smells fresh." Jim sniffed the air and started to quickly run up the steps. Yumi and Ulrich started to go up the steps, then stopped to see if Duncan would follow.
"You comin'?" Yumi asked.
"I'll stay down here and seal the door." Duncan replied. "I got to keep it secure down here." Yumi nodded and started to rush up the stairs. Then, as they reached the top, Jim sat down on one of the spinning chairs, spinning in it.
"I've never had this much fun since the summers here." Jim said, happily. Then, he fell to the floor, dizzy. The two kids laughed as they walked closer to the command and communication consoles.
"Man, this looks complicated." Ulrich said. Then, as they observed the harbor and the equipment, one of the radios started to go off. Jim looked at the frequency and remembered it.
"It's the USS McCain." Jim said, amazed. "I was stationed with its crew." The radio was receiving some interference.
"This is the… McCain." the man said. "We are… back… port. We've… some strange conta… Returning to…. For rearm…" It was then cut off. Jim then turned off the radio and started to beat on it, trying to rid himself of stress.
"Now what?" Jim asked the two. Yumi looked at her phone and saw that two bars were present. Yumi then looked out the window and then at Jim. Yumi took a deep breath.
"Do you think we can improve the reception and signal of my cell phone?" Yumi asked Jim.
"Well, I can try." Jim replied. "After all, I worked on some of the radios here on guard duty."
"Hurry." Yumi said, handing Jim her phone. "I don' think it's safer near Kadi