"September 24th, 2141," the deep voice of Apollo Washington spoke into his plexpad with a recorded message to be sent by the old relays across country to Virginia. "The shock is starting to wear off and a cold numbness taking its place. We entered another city today, all bombed out with flesh stripped off what once was humans, by the carrion eaters. A few survivors were starving and in hiding until we flushed them out and gave them food and medicine. Those fifteen and over were put in uniform and added to our dwindling ranks. We rejected the old men who wanted to fight. We could use their spirit, but the flesh will fail in the long days of bloodletting. My twenty-three units are still somewhat intact and we use our light artillery status to hit and run. I'm on the top of a mountain where the range of my transmission should hopefully reach you at Cintrex. I'll be here for two hours until the sun sets and I have to descend to my units as the cold up here this time of year is bitter and the air thin and hard to breathe through my rebreather. I await your instructions."
Apollo hit send and hoped the other side of the continent hadn't been destroyed like the west coast. He looked around and sat on a rock to watch the sun descend through ever-growing contaminants littering the atmosphere. He hadn't been able to make a satellite connection in weeks due to the massive amount of bombs constantly polluting the atmosphere from around the world, blocking all signal. Also, the flights that took them to the west coast had stopped due to air intakes being plugged after a few minutes of flight and causing the engines to shut down. A few choppers had delivered supplies, but he hadn't seen a chopper in over a week or any outside attempts of contact. He executed his duty; try and stop the enemy and would fight to the last man to stop them from reaching the Rockies and beyond.
He picked up the plexpad again and changed the location of the recipient. Being closer, he tried for a direct call and to his surprise it went through. All he could do now was hope someone was home to answer.
Alicia hit the main screen when a beep overrode the news, stating somebody was calling. She broke into a wide smile when she saw her father on the screen. Instead of saying hello, she let out a yell, "Cayman, Dad's on the screen," then turned back to him. "We've been so worried about you. Cayman keeps the news on all the time."
Before he could answer, his very pregnant wife slipped onto the couch beside his daughter and he just stared at his plexpad screen and his women. He saw more movement as Nathaniel took up position on the other side of Alicia and Trey climbed into his lap. All were smiling and seemed as happy to see him as he them.
"You look like you haven't seen much water," Nathaniel spoke first.
"I haven't. What little we have is reserved for drinking. It's still dry here and most of the mountain streams are dry."
"You look good to me," Cayman broke in with a soft smile for him, which he returned zooming in exclusively on her. Two months of forced celibacy told him he was still a man and very much alive. He would love to have comm sex with her and thought briefly about telling the others to leave the room.
"Can you tell us anything?" Alicia forced his daydreaming back to the others crowded onto the couch.
"I'm on an open band so not too much. What do you know so far?" It was his first call home since he left almost two months before.
Nathaniel and Alicia let Cayman answer so Apollo could focus his attention on his wife. "Japan attacked with the largest armada the world has ever seen and between airdrops and landings, deposited almost a million soldiers on our shores, spread out from Baja to Alaska in four hours, too fast for our forces to beat back. Where were you stationed?" She hoped he could answer that much so they could research the fighting in that area.
"We were outside San Francisco Domes on the rocks waiting for the boats to arrive. They mortared my units and I took heavy losses that day and we got disjointed and only sank a few boats, but the great whites were in the harbor and we could see the men screaming as the feeding frenzy started. The bay in front of us turned red." He recalled the horror and would never forget the screaming from those in the water and his own troops that were injured.
"I recall that operation." Nathaniel was kept appraised of the fighting, but not which unit was stationed where. He remembered San Francisco was a bloody campaign that forced their side back into the hills.
"Our surface to air missiles took out their limited air support and our fighters were onto the main ships sinking them further out and that left us doing ground to ground assaults against a vastly superior army. I'm guessing the odds are hundred to one or higher. They're slowly pushing us back. We are finally in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada's after fighting all the way through the coastal range and the valley." His plexpad showed an incoming call from Cintrex. "Hold on, I have to get this," and they were placed on hold.
"At least he's still alive." Cayman rubbed her belly, an act she'd taken to doing almost constantly.
Nathaniel took Wash's hand and felt her comforting squeeze at his gesture of comfort. Nobody could console Cayman with her husband and son's and daughter-in-law in the thick of action. Apollo got the first round of fatalities to Cintrex a few days after the invasion and it was forwarded to him for processing and informing families. It got to where nobody wanted to see him in the unit's housing complexes because it meant another widow was getting bad news. The families had thirty days to vacate the base and he had one of the officer's left in HQ that didn't get pulled for Apollo's unit working to find them a place off base and that became a full time job, as the initial wave was over two hundred dead.
"Where Daddy go?" Trey didn't know why his Daddy didn't come home anymore.
"He'll be back, I hope." Nathaniel spoke down to the little guy sitting on his lap. Trey latched onto him after a few non-stop days of asking for daddy. He didn't understand what they told him and his attitude got cranky and he started throwing temper tantrums again. Cayman took to putting him in her bed after two weeks passed and no word from her husband. By the time six weeks rolled around, all Nathaniel could tell her from his conversations with Cintrex was they were sure Apollo was still alive or at least his unit was still fighting, doing hit and run attacks against the main Japanese body as it moved inland. Cintrex hadn't heard from most of their squadrons due to the air quality and no more lists came in, but they were sure the death tolls were mounting. The screen blinked at the lower corner telling them Apollo was still connected.
"Dad looks beat down and tired," Wash commented.
"From what Cintrex has been able to tell me, all units in the west are taking a pounding, but trying to hold the line. I've asked repeatedly for them to let us go and help, but so far all they will say is if things go bad, I'll have to take as many people as I can and make it through the portal and start humanity over. If that happens, Cayman," he looked over his wife at her, "you will come with us as Apollo will fight to the death."
"I don't want to think those thoughts yet, Nathaniel," she rebuked him softly.
"Apollo told me to take care of you and his kids and that's what I intend on doing." He was serious.
Apollo's face appeared after about ten minutes. "That was Cintrex with letters from home, news and my new marching orders. What we're fighting in mass numbers are clones."
"Clones!" The three on the couch spoke as one.
"That's outlawed in every international agreement." Cayman was aghast.
"Japan didn't get the memo. We captured a few and interrogated them. They are like a beehive, born and bred for war so I don't have any problems killing them. They are sterile, or so one told me. Also, there's no two children limit. For decades they've been building this army for world conquest and dominance. They felt taking our country and its resources would cause the other countries to surrender."
"Speaking of interrogation," Nathaniel cut in, "Cintrex agreed to release the army we captured on the condition they go to the front lines. They were sent to Alaska. Most were from our military to begin with so agreed to avoid the twenty year sentence the brass bestowed on them for attacking our military."
"We can use them. I'm not very picky right now. Today, I put a dozen citizens in uniform and gave them rifles and the youngest was fifteen. I'm taking women and older men who are unable to fight and turning them into camp cooks and laundry personnel."
"Camp followers?" Nathaniel threw out.
"I prefer to call them civilian help."
"Is that going to cause problems with the men over time?" Cayman wasn't sure she liked the sound of him adding available women to the units and had told him in no uncertain terms of what she thought of him taking the likes of Natalie Miller and her ilk. He told her he didn't want to fight on their last night home alone and after the kids left, they spent much of the night making love. Neither slept and couldn't stop touching or whispering fears and encouragements and reaffirming their love.
"I couldn't care less what may be going on in the camp. If we don't get support, most of these men won't be going home anyway."
"And I'm sitting on my ass with a trained unit." Nathaniel was disgusted.
"If we can't stop this nightmare, you'll be in charge of my family," Apollo reminded him.
"Speaking of family, have you seen the kids?" Cayman mimicked his words. She wished her husband would take his rebreather off, but knew he shouldn't.
"I see Darrell every day and Gail every other day, but I seldom see Barry as Larken's unit is stationed at the far end of the convoy. I've assigned Darrell to help me with paperwork. You'd have thought I demoted him by the way he acts, but it's safer than what Bjenjou's unit is doing."
"I'm sure he resents you pulling rank over Bjenjou," Alicia observed. "But it's one less worry for Cayman."
"You bet it is," Cayman added. "You tell him when you get back to camp that I want him to knock his attitude off and be glad he isn't on the list of dead that keeps growing."
"What are you doing with the dead and wounded?" Alicia wanted to know.
"We bury the dead in shallow graves with a location marker and cart the wounded with us. The slightly injured are used as guards for the camp. The soldiers are exhausted after a day of fighting and need rest. I updated the list to Cintrex so you'll be getting to inform a lot more widows. Darrell still gets plenty of fighting, but I insist he stay close to me so I can keep an eye on him."
"Are you getting any supplies in or out?" Nathaniel had many questions, but who knew how long the signal would last.
"We had chopper drops for food, medicine and military supplies that stopped a month ago. This is the first time I've been in a place to get anything out even to Cintrex and they sent tons of correspondence for me to sift through, but I told them we needed supplies and fast. We haven't seen any of the other bases so far, but we all got dropped so far apart there were vast spaces the enemy could land with no resistance and it looks like they took advantage of our small separated units and put tens of thousands in open spaces while we were concentrated near the cities."
"I know word has gone out for the private armies to go and help. I don't know how many except the one we had in lockup that said yes." Nathaniel put his hand over Trey's mouth until he was done talking. "Okay, Trey, I've stopped talking. Now you can say something," Nathaniel took it upon himself to fill in for the absent father's training. He remembered doing the same to Lucas so long ago.
Apollo focused on his small son.
"Miss you, Daddy." Trey spoke clearly.
Apollo took his mask off so Trey could see his smile. "I miss you too, Son. Maybe you can get Nathaniel to read to you." He put the mask back on.
"K," came the small reply.
"I've been reading every night to him." Nathaniel assured the father.
"What's happening at home?" Apollo wanted more news.
"I'm still pregnant." Cayman smiled and patted her protruding belly.
They could see his smile through the mask. "I see you haven't lost any weight," he teased.
"You just wait until I see you, Buster. I'll sit on you and make you eat those words." She didn't mean her comeback to be suggestive until Nathaniel asked if they should leave the room and a slight flush colored her cheeks.
Apollo laughed at the exchange of his left behind family. He missed them so much and this is what he needed and took a picture of them laughing that'd he'd look at repeatedly in the weeks to come. "It's getting dark and I have to get off the mountain. I have no idea when I'll be able to contact you again, but it'll probably be about this time of day." He let them know when to expect his calls.
"Someone will be here," Cayman promised and planned her evenings at home from now on.
"I love you." He looked directly at her.
"I love you too." Nathaniel put as much sincerity into his tone as possible.
Apollo jerked his gaze to a grinning Nathaniel and with a laugh and one finger salute he cut the link with said digit.
Cayman spoke first. "Did I do alright, keeping my worries to myself?"
Alicia patted her thigh. "You did fine. We're all worried and I don't know about you, but I'm going to sleep a lot better tonight know they're all alive and uninjured."
"Me too. I've been letting Trey sleep with me and I know Apollo won't be happy when he gets home."
"When did you start this?" Nathaniel didn't want a fight between his closest friends when they got back together.
"Two weeks after he left," she fessed up.
"Cayman, don't." Nathaniel's tone was soft, but firm. "It's not fair to either of them. I know you miss Apollo, but messing with Trey isn't helping your home situation."
Cayman felt tears welling up. Not one to cry easily, she was sure the hormones had a large part in her wanting to cry and feel sorry for herself. Alicia got to sleep with her husband every night and all she had was a pillow with her man's scent. Before she could stop them, they trickled down her cheeks.
Nathaniel felt bad he made her cry and exchanged a quick glance with his wife who motioned him from the room. Taking Trey, he made a hasty retreat while Wash put an arm around Cayman's shoulder for comfort. Cayman reached in her pocket where she kept a hankie, usually to wipe Trey's nose. She dabbed her eyes.
"Nathaniel didn't mean to make you cry."
Cayman shook her head. "He didn't. It was the stress being released from seeing my husband after two months. We went to Somalia together and I saw him every night even though we were fighting during the day. Now I sit with the other wives at home, and am big as a barrel to boot."
"Dad thinks your beautiful pregnant. He told me so when you were carrying Trey."
"I'm afraid the baby will be born before he comes home. I'm officially entering my third trimester tomorrow." Cayman reached for the control and turned the news on and they sat watching the developments in what was officially now called a world war.
'…fifty thousand dead. Meanwhile, in India, the Hindu Resistance is holding its own against the Nepalese insurgence. On the West Coast of North America fighting is heavy with massive losses to both sides. Supplies and backup soldiers is still a logistical problem as the air quality has downed most of our aircraft until they can be retrofitted with new filters for the decreased air quality. Russia broke through to the sea and sent its navy to Greenland and has officially planted its flag as the country surrendered yesterday. They will use it as a staging area to strike the East Coast of North America. Canada is massing most of its forces along the Eastern Seaboard. Africa is embroiled in a civil war with its forces split. The north is fighting South Africa and Australia brigades. Europe is attacking South Russia and has pushed into Western China. Now for the food situation…..' Cayman muted the sound.
"I feel so helpless." Alicia wanted to be fighting. "There's got to be something our unit can do. Every day when I go to give the briefing and set out the duties, I get bombarded with the same questions, all wanting to be productive and most of all, go fight."
Apollo entered camp just before dark and greeted the young soldier on guard duty where he re-entered. A blackout was ordered and all traffic was navigated with night vision. He made for his tent, wandering through the units and he started with Larken's.
He didn't get very far when, "General," stopped him and Barry rushed up.
"Hey, Barry, I got something to show you." He slipped his backpack off and pulled the plexpad out. He pulled up the picture of the family laughing. "I just took this, and for the first time since we got here was able to make a call home."
"Mom looks good." Barry missed her.
"I took the picture after my comment about Mom not losing any weight." Barry laughed as Apollo continued. "Her comment of what she was going to do to me for it was almost obscene and I plan on accepting when we get home."
"I could use something obscene. I haven't had a conjugal visit in a week," Barry complained.
"I haven't had one in two months." Apollo couldn't find it in him to feel too sorry for the younger man.
"Sir, Barry," Gail appeared out of the dark. "Commander Meyers gave me a three hour furlough."
Barry grabbed her up in a hug, then pulled back. "Look at this." He grabbed the plexpad without asking, to Apollo's amusement, and showed the picture of the family back home.
"Makes me homesick," Gail spoke softly.
Barry handed it back. "Enough family time, now for your furlough." He took her hand to lead her to his tent and to figure out what he was going to trade to get his partners out for a few hours.
"Don't do anything I wouldn't do in your position," Apollo called after them.
Barry stopped. "I forgot to salute, Sir."
Apollo laughed and waved a hand for them to get out of his sight. He turned to continue to his tent when Larken appeared from the dark.
"The rumors of you being at this end of the camp must be true." He joined the General.
"I just relieved Sergeant Tillman for three hours; his wife showed up," he chuckled.
Larken laughed with him. "We have so little to be happy for right now, let the kids have a little fun while they can."
"I got through to Cintrex and will call a meeting for the morning, after I've had a chance to view what they have to say." He replaced his plexpad and picked the backpack up and continued to his adopted unit, Bjenjou's. He put the backpack in his tent, grabbed the plexpad and headed to the mess for food. He noticed the fare was soy twice a day now and the units were down to two meals a day and accepted his plate without complaining. As he ate, he sorted through the dispatches, but there were too many so he prioritized to those that affected him directly and soon knew what his next orders were.
"Permission to join you, General?" He looked up into the lustful countenance of Lt. Commander Natalie Miller. Somehow her uniform was pressed and makeup in place, along with a seductive color lipstick.
"What can I do for you, Miller?" He tried to keep his tone all business. For the past three weeks she'd been stalking him, sure he would need the comfort of a woman and her aggressiveness was wearing on him.
"You know what you can do for me. I'm making myself available if you ever join the human race again. I need a good screwing and you're just the man for the job."
"Miller, we've gone over this for how many years now?" He was getting annoyed. "I expect you to act your rank or I'm telling my wife and she'll kick your ass when we get home."
"We may not be home for years. Even you can't hold out that long." She was sure she could wear him down.
He smiled up at her and reached for his miniplex. "I have something to show you, and for the last time, don't ever proposition me again." He handed her the miniplex, where on the screen was a picture of Cayman laying on silk sheets and completely nude. "You might not find that picture sexy, at least I hope not, but that and my right hand takes care of all my needs. Oh, and I have a few more of her." He took the miniplex back and looked at her disgusted face and grinned. "You should have gotten a few pictures of someone yourself, like most of the people here have. I am married to the most beautiful woman on this planet and you or no woman can ever compete." Without a word, Natalie spun and left and he hoped for good. Apollo looked at the image and with a flick of his finger another of her popped up. In this one she was posed with her legs parted and a finger was playing with herself. These were when they first started having sex and he had to go home to El Paso Base and asked for something to get him by until their next meeting. She complied with the threat of death if he ever showed them to anyone. There were several more and he used them when the need for release was too great. He was starting to respond so turned the miniplex off and went back to his reading.
Apollo called his meeting for dawn and looked around the main tent at the Commander's, Lieutenants and Majors. Then at his prima donna unit from headquarters that he was regretting bringing, but dammit, they were soldiers and had better start acting like it and today.
"I sent a communique to Cintrex and got a reply. I'm still sorting the dispatches and will filter them to each command unit to share with your troops as I get time. Personal dispatches will be forwarded by Corporal Tillman." He saw the officers perk up at the thought of correspondence from home. "They managed to get some surveillance through the soup in the sky and the bulk of the Japanese military is just west of us. We're ordered to join up with El Paso Base to the south and Denver Base which is just north of us, and we're going to form a larger fighting infantry and hit them repeatedly to take the numbers down until they can get choppers in the air again." He paused to take a mouthful of coffee before continuing. "Hopefully, today we don't have to have a burial detail. I told them about my conscripts and it got reported back that the other General's thought of it also and are filling their ranks likewise. All the police from the major cities have been drafted and half are going east and the other half our way. Russia is starting to attack the Northeast from their new base in Greenland so we are fighting wars on both fronts. They are grounded like us so are moving slowly and on the water and doing mass landings, but without clones. The east coast thinks so far that they can handle the Russians."
"What exactly are we going to be fighting with?" Commander Brian Meyers was sitting by his wife and they were holding hands.
Apollo looked there entwined hands. "There used to be a time when I got to molest my wife in a setting like this."
"You still could if you hadn't let Taylor knock her up," Meyers retorted, drawing a smile out of the usually severe General.
"Were you also in the room?" Apollo challenged.
"No, but Nathaniel told me all about it in graphic detail."
"Taylor told all of us, over and over." Bjenjou was laughing, along with the rest of the room.
"It's probably a good thing he's not here or I'd have him on KP." Apollo got back to business. "Our job is to use what munitions we have left to do as much mass damage as possible. There are more ships headed this way and I'm sure what we're dealing with is the first wave. If another round is allowed to land, we're in real trouble. Our allies have to step up and help or we will most likely fight to the death, retreating all the way across country. So far, the axis of evil, as we've revamped the old term that gets brushed off on every world war, consists of Japan, Russia, China and North Africa. Our side is North America sans Mexico, Australia, India, Europe and South Africa, with South America abstaining on either side for now. Our government is working on Mexico and I expect their federales to join us soon. Brazil is trying to get their small army to us and they are on the water and going to the east coast where the majority of population is still the densest. I'll requested they be allowed to join us, but may wait days before I'm in a spot to communicate again." He finished the meeting and ended with an order to move the army fifty klicks south.
Nathaniel contacted Cintrex. He knew they were extremely pressed for time, but he had to try once again to get his unit involved. "General Philbrick," he addressed his old friend and mentor.
"If this call is about action, don't bother," Philbrick shut him down before he began his pitch.
"Actually it's about working on the filter problem with the choppers, Sir. I think outside help is needed to work on a solution."
"And by outside you mean…"
"Malcolm Wallace. He's a genius with a degree in engineering to go with his scientific accomplishments."
Philbrick gave it some thought. "Okay, you can bring him onboard, but I want results."
Nathaniel made the call to Chicago where Dr. Wallace was overseeing the placement of the terminus controls, when he was pressed into service as he called it.
"You have how many trained specialists in the military and you want me?" Malcolm was incensed. "I have you know, I have no love of the heavy handed military ways. You just think you can order me like I'm one of your soldiers; well I'm not." Malcolm was glaring at the Commander through the visual connection.
Nathaniel smiled. "One of my 'Soldiers'," he emphasized the word. "Will be escorting you by train to the base where you'll work with my engineers for a solution to why the choppers are gumming up and crashing. And as a test for when you figure it out, I'll have you flown home." He took great satisfaction in putting the other man in his place. "And Malcolm, when we are at Terra Nova, my word will be law." He cut the link.
Wash was out of the viewfinder and smirking at him. "He's not overly impressed by your rank and authority. I reserve the right to be that."
"Well then, Lieutenant, I'll make you the official liaison between myself and that boneheaded civilian. I don't have time or patients for mouthy people."
"I see a pattern. Anyone you don't want to deal with will be pawned off on me." She was sitting across his desk.
He was in the General's office and leaned back in his chair, legs splayed apart and his hands on the armrests. "We haven't talked about our duties when we leave. You will be second and that position will allow you all the privileges I'll have. You'll be an extension of me. Your orders will be as if I issued them. You'll be in charge of fixing me up and taking care of my baser needs." He grinned as he threw in the last.
"We'll be in uncharted territory in some respects and the rules will have to change to meet our new needs." She didn't bite on his sexual reference.
He sighed. "If you insist on being serious, go and brief the engineers and mechanics on the civilian who will probably solve their dilemma and get those choppers in the air again. Explain our eccentric guest's manners and they will treat him with utmost respect."
Wash stood. "Yes, Sir," and went to leave.
"Lieutenant." She turned at the door. "Tate has the unit on an all-day run to take some of the energy out of them and maybe make them complain less. I have energy that also needs to be dispelled." He casually dropped a hand on his groin.
"What about Perkins?"
"Send him to lunch."
"He'll know something's up if I do that."
"You really are a party pooper." Nathaniel looked at the clock. "Come back when you are done and he'll be at lunch by then."
"Really, in Dad's office?"
"He'd do the same thing in my place." He waved her out.
Elizabeth Shannon was with her husband in their bedroom. He was all packed. "I'll be back before you know it." He took her in his arms.
"This is our first separation since we got married. I'm not sure how I'll handle it," she confessed.
"By getting up every morning, getting the kids off to school and going to work, like you do right now," he reminded her. "I'll be back before you've had time to miss me." He kissed her again.
His comm beeped. "Shannon," he answered.
"Hey, Jim, this is Sarge. We are leaving now, get to the station."
"Did you learn which way we are going?" Jim wanted his wife to know.
"West to California." He broke the connection.
Jim hugged his kids and his spoke to his firstborn. "You're the man, Josh. Take care of your mother and sister."
"I will," the ten year old replied.
The three bases combined produced a fighting force of twenty thousand soldiers even with their combined losses. The General's met right away to catch up and do strategic planning. General Higgins a Lieutenant General in charge of Denver Base, with three stars, was senior officer with El Paso General Derek Carson, being a two star Major General and Apollo with his one star being the newest General to that elite club.
Higgins pointed to the map. "All trains west of the Rockies have been stopped and the trains have been moved east so the Japs don't hijack them for a ride in-country. They've been stealing transportation from the towns and cities they plunder and we're disabled everything ahead of them except what we needed for our use." The other's agreed they did the same along with forced participation.
General Carson added, "Because we managed to remove the trains and air support that's operational, we slowed their planned attack. We captured a high ranking officer and with subtle persuasion he opened up after his repeated pleas to let him die failed."
"Did you let him die?" Apollo always executed his prisoners after the torture session.
"He was shot like he requested because he lost face when he broke and talked."
"What method did you use?" Higgins wanted to get word out on the most effective torture techniques.
"We didn't have much time so I dispensed with the normal procedures and went for the kill. We lifted him off the ground by his gonads and let him stay suspended for an hour. He screamed the entire time. I brought him down and he kept asking for death. I told him he would get another hour unless he talked. We worked out an agreement that he would be allowed execution by firing squad in exchange for information."
"Is there a way to test for clones?" Apollo didn't think the clones would break that easy.
"I asked our doctor and he said the genes were sequenced a little differently. They were pre-programed to be as perfect as possible, whereas, the originals had defects," Carson filled them in. They spent an hour planning off the current satellite images that were of poor quality, but better than nothing and devised a plan to start taking out the peripheral invaders and cut the numbers down and hope the second wave didn't land before being destroyed.
"You wanted to see me, Malcolm?" Commander Taylor moved silently and enjoyed watching the man with sandy colored hair jump. He was a high-strung man Nathaniel was coming to realize. The scientist had been working on the problem for three days and Nathaniel had to admit he was dedicated once he got over his indignation at being ordered to the base.
"Commander, I wish you would make some noise." He got down to the reason he wanted to see the acting General. "Your engineers were focusing on the filters when the problem is the connectors. There is no way you can filter the contaminants from the air now, but the electrical connectors are made out of copper and they are corroding. I had some made out of gold and need your permission for the helicopter to take a test flight."
Nathaniel looked at the information on the plexpad Malcolm handed over. Everything looked good and he asked a technical question that raised Malcolm's eyebrows and he answered. He had no idea the Commander was educated in molecular physics.
"Alright, have Sergeant Franco install these and we'll see what happens." He left with instructions not to take off until he had a chance to examine the retrofits.
He went back to the office to push more plexpad's and a couple hours later he got a call from the mechanics that they were ready for the test flight. He called Wash to meet him at the airfield.
Malcolm hurried over to her with a huge smile. "Lieutenant, nice to see you again. Maybe we can have dinner before I leave."
Wash glanced at an amused Commander and back to the obviously infatuated man. "I'll be second in command when we go to the past. There never will be a dinner date between us, Dr. Wallace." She sounded threatening.
"I had to try. I have this thing for brunets and you are beautiful. I'll make you change your mind when we are isolated and you are limited on male companionship."
Nathaniel made a strange noise. "Let's get on with it," he growled, making Malcolm take a step back at his threatening step in his direction. Then he led the way to the chopper that drove onto the tarmac and was waiting the Commander. He looked under the hood at the gleaming gold connectors and at his test pilot. "You wanting to risk this, Jamie?"
The pilot nodded. "I hate being grounded, Sir. If this works, I can get back to flying support for our units."
"Keep it low. If it cuts out and you have to land, make sure you survive." With a slap to the pilot's shoulder, Nathaniel led the way to the edge of the pavement. Lieutenant Jamie McFadden from the air core flew low around the field while he drew a large crowd. He then radioed the Commander and asked permission to do an altitude check. Nathaniel told him yes and they watched as the chopper lifted to a tiny speck and dropped rapidly then slowed and made a gentle landing. McFadden shut the chopper down and the Commander, along with Malcolm and Wash checked the connectors again. They were still gleaming.
"Report," Nathaniel ordered.
"Everything was smooth." McFadden pulled a filter. "The new improved filters are catching most of the pollutants, but should be cleaned every few hours just to be safe."
Nathaniel looked at Malcolm. "I'll have Lieutenant McFadden take you home. If there is a problem on the way, he'll be back with you and we'll keep working on the solution. If he makes the trip with no problems to report, I'll order all aircraft to use your recommended answer."
The train screamed at five hundred miles an hour across the plains, through a gap in the Rockies and the salt flats of Utah and Nevada and slowed down to a stop at the east edge of the Sierra Nevada's. It contained a five thousand, mostly male, fighting force made up of police, security guards and assorted prisoners who'd been incarcerated for petty crimes and originated from the upper mid-west. Jim Shannon was packed in with his buddies on the force while a soldier gave them a crash course in basic training for the four hours in transit.
"We are waiting for the soldiers on the other side of the mountains to secure the tracks so we can deliver you safely." The soldier explained why they were stopping. Soon they were moving again at a much slower pace and Jim looked at the mountains he'd never seen before. Soldiers carrying rifles came into view and the train rolled to a stop. They disembarked and were promptly put to work unloading the back of the train which carried their tents, food and enough ammunition to fire over a million rounds. As soon as the train was empty, it headed back east with instructions to bring medicine, people and food. Within a couple hours the tents were erected and munitions moved to a safe, guarded location. Three large mess tents were set up and Jim made his way for food after helping with the munitions and getting assigned his tent with three other men. He looked out over about two thousand people as he waited in line and briefly wondered what he was doing here. It was as close to the draft as he'd ever gotten to. 'So this is military life,' he thought to himself and sat down to eat bland, but filling fare.
A Commander addressed all five thousand of the newcomers the next morning. "I'm Commander Meyers. You are now part of Houston Base and Houston Base is part of a larger Special Forces infantry division dubbed the Tenth. If you're asked what division you belong to, it's the Tenth. If you're asked what regiment, it's Houston. Your regiment Commanding Officer is General Apollo Washington. Your Division Commander is General is Clarence Higgins, a Lieutenant General, so if you see three stars, salute. If you see a star at all, salute," Meyers cautioned.
Jim listened to the briefing, but remembered Apollo Washington from his brief encounter months before. To think he was in his unit.
Four days later the sky darkened as dozens of choppers filled the air and landed on the hills near Apollo's unit. Nathaniel Taylor jumped out with his Lieutenant close on his heels and they hurried down the hill towards the standard bearing Apollo's flag. Apollo hurried to meet them and grabbed his daughter up in a tight hug with a kiss to her cheek. He reached a free hand to shake Nathaniel's, as Nathaniel's other slapped his shoulder. The Commander's saw who came to call and hurried to join them and a joyful reunion with their missing comrades ensued. Nathaniel filled them in on what was happening on the east coast while Alicia was dragged off by her father.
"How's Cayman?" He wanted to know.
"She wanted to come and Nathaniel had to put his foot down."
"As much as I want to see her, I'd throttle him if he brought her this close to the fighting. Why all the choppers and why are they flying?" He had many questions.
"Malcolm Wallace was brought in to troubleshoot the problem. He changed the terminals and connectors from metal and copper to gold that is impervious to corrosion. The transports should be operational soon as will be the fighters. These choppers are for you to use; a gift from Cintrex."
Darrell rushed up and hugged his stepsister. "Word is getting around you are here. Barry called and is on his way to say hi before you have to leave after he collects Gail. When do you leave?"
"Soon, we promised your mother we'd be home tonight. She really wanted to come."
"You tell her we are all doing fine and she's to take care of herself and the baby," her father admonished.
They stayed later than planned, but were happy to visit friends and family. On the way home in the one chopper they took back, Wash was reflecting. "You know when we leave; we won't see these people again."
Nathaniel reached over and took her hand. "We'll make new friends and who knows; someday these friends may join us."
"I hope so." She let him kiss her hand before pulling it away.
Cayman had a message for Apollo, which he watched that night alone in his tent. 'I miss you so much. Your daughter is getting big.' She pulled her maternity dress up so he could see the rounded belly. He reached a finger out and traced the bulge while she filled him in on Trey. A shot switched to Trey playing with his toys. 'Trey, say hi to Daddy.' Trey looked around. 'I don't see Daddy. How can I say hi?' Apollo was amazed at his clarity of sentences. He was missing too much and needed to get home. He watched the short segment over and over until he had it memorized.
