Haze Gray 91
Taylor looked around on the evening patrol "So, everything settled down."
Cassidy nodded "Completely terrifying. Ziz even pulled her carrier back."
Tammi of all people shrugged "It is what it is. I think we were too quick off the mark. We'll see what happens tonight."
Taylor nodded, then chuckled "Rancho Cucamonga, I thought that was a place in the Bugs Bunny and Road runner hour, not in real life."
Aisha shrugged "California so does it matter? So, these guys just knock off at night and trust their alarms and a few guards?"
Kim shrugged "And hiding in plain sight? I mean it's a warehouse. Apparently, they put the money in containers and ship it when they have a container full. Well, they did. The Chinese folding up slowed that right down. They even list it on the manifest as rag paper.
"They must have a guy in customs though. Right?"
Noelle nodded "You would think, the customs guys do random searches too. These guys have been doing this for years and while it is a high traffic port getting caught once blows the whole thing up. US money is drug contaminated too, you'd think it would trigger a dog."
Rachel shrugged "Washing machine. Mostly it will hold up. Don't bleach it." The girls looked at each other.
Toavs nodded "Yep. No need to get fancy even, store brand detergent, cold water. Seen it done before, or money it was done to.
"The Russians really do ship it in containers. We know it, occasionally, we catch one, but with it being small denominations generally, a million dollars can weigh up to a ton. So, they send a container of good quality rag paper, a lot of times to foreign currency printing operations, from the shipping documents anyway, or bales of rags, rolls of flax fibers from northern tier states, cotton from southern tier states, things like that, with a couple of tons of cash in the middle, and if we catch it, they really don't care.
"Estimates are illegal drugs are worth about a hundred twenty billion dollars a year and that is rising, so a million or two is chump change. Sure, they don't want to lose it, but the truck and company will belong to some guy they are paying to own it. He'll live in a different state usually. They lose one guy, the driver. The trucking company gets investigated and they lose a rented warehouse where they were processing the money. Which will be owned by a different guy, in another state.
"The driver will send a text if he gets inspected. Their observation post on the ports report if he gets arrested, and they will move the rest of the money to another warehouse they already have lined up, wait a day or two and start again. Even if they have to bail quick they only lose what they can't carry off. They mostly keep it loaded when its through the process of counting and washing. They might lose another million in the washing machines over time, you know how those things eat socks and panties, imagine what they do to dollar bills.
"We have never caught a warehouse full that I know of. Just a container here and there. Sometimes foreign currency. We always wondered how that trail worked out."
Sammy nodded "The people working there don't talk because they are usually illegals, and the Russians have a reputation. This guy, the one running this cell, he's a thief in law. He's trying to run it...I don't even know how to describe it, it's like a caricature of the worst things about the Russian mob and it's all stupid. Overconfident maybe.
"So, his security is bad, his electronics aren't air gapped even, they discuss illegal stuff in euphemisms in Russian on public networks and over commercial cell networks.
"Maybe they think they are Code Talkers. Anyway, we ran them down using the security cameras and keyword searches. It took a few hours.
"Now we have their whole organization and all their contacts.
She sighed "There are police involved. On his payroll."
Taylor sighed "OK, we'll hit the money and see what the rats do. Then we trace those guys."
Tess nodded "Probably not much unless we hit them for a few billion."
Taylor nodded "Which, as far as we can tell, is fairly likely because they were using COSCO as their first line for cash shipments intel thinks."
Lisa nodded "Then Hanjin, then Hapag-Loyd. Bit of a scramble to move to the second and third lines out of the first lines right now so a bunch of containers have built up. We are hitting them too. The dummy had the container numbers on his computer. We already sent the orders for those containers. Our guys have loading documents for them and a couple of our bulk hulls are already in line to pick them up and move them to Mare. We faked up the manifest at the port already.
"Drugs are a hundred forty billion but add in protection, gambling, prostitution, counterfeiting, and it kicks to two hundred fifty billion or so. Some of that is going into laundering here, mostly in real property, I'm already working that. A lot of that is here in California. We are going to have to flip a cracker load of houses. Anyway, we are probably going to get fifty or sixty billion max.
"That is going to draw a trouble shooter, probably their top team. These guys aren't good at legends amazingly enough. Fairly flamboyant even, unique looks, tattoos, it's like they watch movies and think movie field craft works. Like white guys walking around an African country outside of South Africa would not be noticed. Much less these guys. Nothing Joe Whitbread about them. Former KGB and Spetsnaz mostly, you'd think they would be better at it, anyway they are mostly known so we should pick them up as they enter the country or soon after.
"You aren't going to be able to put these guys in jail and reform them Taylor. They have mostly already done time in the Russian prison system. Ours would be the best thing that ever happened to them, and the US one would be easy for them. Plus they are killers and rapist generally"
Taylor nodded "They are going back to Russia. If they get captured alive. Or we'll give them to whoever else wants them for crimes. Pretty sure they haven't been altar boys or choir girls before they get here, somebody is bound to want them. First, they are going to Navassa.
"Now, two ships? Ours carry what, a thousand or so TEU right? There aren't a thousand TEU of money are there?"
Lisa laughed "No. But we had two in the area and they had space, they are moving stuff to here for the yard and then loading to go to Johnston. Or were, they can move all these containers then do that. They're in line service to there. Them and two more. Plus, they have to offload about nine hundred containers of stuff apiece, mostly trash.
"They stop at the yard, offload and pick up whatever they are taking back to Johnston, then go to Longbeach and pick up the rest usually. The yard puts the stuff from Johnston into the pipeline for recycle.
The Red Cross is running Johnston as a displaced person's camp now. Though we are about to get the trash processing online for the government, that will keep the trash out there or put it in the pipeline there, they are already holding the sewage out there, we got the sewage treatment plant up and they are using its products on the fields, so should probably cut down two ships in service soon."
Taylor blinked "The what now? Wait, the government is paying how much? Holy crap! This is non profit? Wait, lots of profit for some of it. What the hell? Why didn't we just layer cake this? Why is it now nearly a hundred square kilometers suddenly?"
Tess smirked "If I tell you I have to kill you, it's a secret."
Taylor rolled her eyes "I signed this contract secret squirrel, I remember now. It is a layer cake and this is the spoil from making it one. Wow, that's a lot of docks. Did we do that on purpose? Oh yeah OK. So we built all the facilities of the forty five Pearl Harbor, capable of supporting a thousand ship navy all by itself. Well, with floating dry docks. It's a hedge against the Hawaiian sovereignty movement."
Juggernaut laughed "They want to be an impoverished pacific island nation? The only natural resource they have is lava. Admittedly they could do quite a bit with it but I'm not sure they are ready to defend themselves in the modern world. Who would they sell anything to? A little coffee, pineapples, sugar, electricity from geothermal, but that's kind of it? And like I said they have no one to sell the electricity to. Tourism. Not exactly going to be flush with cash. A Navy for self defense would be a lot of pineapples, sugar and coconuts.
"It's OK though, Wake, Johnston, and Midway will have a hundred square kilometers of VLS under wildlife preserves and crops with one tower on them by the time the crews are finished with them. Well truck farms and pastures as well in Johnston's case. Though they are worried about a revolt there. Well, more the inhabitants requesting statehood in the USH.
"Howland plus Baker and the US has pretty much everything it needs in the Pacific. The rest of it is a problem for Central and South America.
"Then of course there are the Northern Marianas, Guam, American Samoa, all those are going to want layer cakes and geological security. To get them they will host VLS batteries and give us mineral concessions."
Taylor looked at her "Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands?"
Juggernaut shrugged "Not my lane, Nam, Nang, Batter up Bitches."
Nam sighed "You aren't a Marine, or a baseball player, Juggernaut. Anyway, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are going to request statehood in the US, if they don't get it, either as one combined state or separately, they are going to request USH statehood. This fall it looks like."
Nang nodded "Which is going to make Jugs people get all interested and try the same move."
Juggernaut nodded "Probably, especially as we build stores out there and train them up."
Johnston, one of the Chinese gearings shrugged "Pretty much everywhere is going to want that. Everywhere you put a store, or indicated they would be put, is the lowest income area with access to roads, railroads, and if possible, rivers and ports, that we could find. Pretty sure the next run of stores across the south and along interstate forty are going to start a second secessionist movement. Except including Oklahoma. New Mexico, and Arizona this time.
"Then you know, all the Caribbean islands. Central America when we get those stores up." She grinned "Pan Pakka Pan!"
Taylor glared, then sighed. "One thing at a time." She paused "And first thing, does someone want to tell me why there is a building printer printing the CN tower minus its observation decks a thousand odd miles off the coast of Chile?"
She looked at the Admiral who stepped out onto her shoulder. 'Hey, hey hey hey.'
"There is a seamount there and its shallow enough you built a base under it. You needed the height for the Aegis and other sensors."
'Hey'
"Oh, it's mainly remote controlled. Well, that's different then."
'Hey!'
"There most certainly is a need to be sarcastic!" The other girls watched and listened while they skated and read. This was crazy, there was a whole string of torpedo and missile bases on seamounts all through the pacific. At least the south pacific. Then Johnston, Wake, Midway.
Lisa scowled "You know this isn't nineteen forty admiral."
'Hey, hey.'
"Or forty-two. Though Attu is a good spot. You will have to keep it hidden though. You'll be able to sweep a tremendous area of Russian territory. It could mutually support St Lawrence island though.
'Hey'
"Only the emitters would be exposed, and you are working on that. OK. I suppose the rest pops up. Oh yeah, I see. Wow, under the runways to start. OK. Nice. And you can do it from underneath? Yeah, I see. Cool. This will be ready by the end of the summer so can support us in Alaska too."
Taylor sighed and skated on as the girls worked over the design of the remote installations. Tess got her attention and shrugged, then mouthed "Sorry." Taylor waved her off.
Haze Gray
Amy watched Taylor as she skated through the small craft carefully. She skated over and took her hand "You're doing it again."
"Doing what?" Taylor asked.
"Hiding behind the mission. I know you want to be mad about all this."
Taylor grinned "I did for a few minutes." Then she grinned "It all helps people though, and after Cuba I could do with a shot never being fired in anger again. All of us had crew and troops reappear on us. I really don't like that. Everyone should live to chase each other around nursing homes."
Amy snorted "Those old people! My god the venereal diseases! You don't even want to know the other stuff." She fell quiet then glared at Taylor "You know if you turn into a Sun City swinger in four or five hundred years, I am not curing you."
Taylor laughed "Yeah, I don't think you have to worry about that. Wait? How long? You know Texas is like sinking at her moorings, right? She is like a hundred?"
Amy nodded "And hasn't been in for a service life extension for seventy-five years. Plus, not made out of this collapsed alloy stuff. Not sure it can oxidize."
Taylor blanched "So Juggernaut will be in puberty forever?"
Amy laughed "No. She is gaining weight, height, length, beam, all of that. She may always be small, but I think she will mature to a frigate at about twenty-five. Proportionally seems about right, her physiology supports it theoretically. I'd say maximum weight of five thousand tons.
"The yard is already working on permutations to advance her to that. You should see the final design; I think they are a bit optimistic. Railguns? Really?"
Taylor gaped at her "Erh, how many rail guns?"
Amy glared at her "Don't be looking at some other girls' guns! Rude! Let me check your testosterone."
Taylor spluttered. "I wasn't, I didn't, you know what I meant, Juggernaut with two five inch is horrifying, a single ocean Navy nearly by herself. Give her multiple rail guns and she will take over the world!" Amy broke up laughing.
Taylor grunted as she was slam glommed by Juggernaut "Love you too!"
Amy pried her off "Face out of girlfriends bunkerage!"
Leslie smiled and looked at the laughing crowd, with their cell phones and cameras pointed at the three.
Above, Crystal looked at Vicky "So why haven't they, they being all of California, freaked out? I mean girls from the east coast and everybody thinks it's cool?"
Vicky smiled "Not to mention ships, armed ships. We are cool, ships are cool, so double cool and well, that right there." She pointed to the divot in the shore of the bay behind Treasure Island where Emeryville used to be "We kicked Leviathan's ass or set it up to get kicked. That over there was a weird very specific attack that didn't last long and took out a town. Admittedly a lot of it was on fill so he didn't have to work hard, but still. And we aren't Lung so don't have a trail of strip clubs and gambling dens following us.
"Which really I don't get anyway. I mean look at these girls, not a one of them in anything other than a bikini top. The police boats are there because it's a poky danger zone. Somebody is going to lose an eye. Its freaking chilly. So why do they have to have the tops off in the clubs? Some of those tops those girls that come around wear, I swear they have to be gluing them on or their nipples would be free range. Its already all the side and under boob free ranging."
Crystal laughed but nodded "I know. And us in flight suits, boiler suits, khakis, or Navy and or Marpat BDU's."
Vicky nodded "Plus armored sports bras and bike shorts. Maybe they're just used to it? I thought Cali was like sun, sand, and surf twenty-four seven."
Crystal laughed "Mark Twain. Coldest winter."
Vicky shivered theatrically and then dove on a cat who was on a fish bombing run on a jet ski "Poison!"
Bam! Crystal turned her head and eyed Mouse Protector sitting on her back astride "You are going to end up in our crew spaces one day."
"Tell your boys not to trap the Mouse. Hmm, any of them cute?" She waggled her eyebrows.
Crystal wrinkled her nose "You are not doing that inside of me."
"You got crew women; tell me it doesn't happen already. Subject change! Why are the blimps cats when they are clearly N class at least?"
"Are you afraid of the puddy tats?"
Mouse Protector snorted "No. The forty thousand pounds of ordnance? Little bit."
Crystal was not convinced. "So what brings you to Mare instead of back to Peoria?"
"You girls are where the action is. Peoria is boring now. Everywhere is kind of. Except Alaska. Some of those operators got Wendigo talking, or at least grunting. I was going to go see her. Thought I would stop by here on the way."
Crystal chuckled "Haven't tagged anyone who is there yet then."
"Wow, so cynical but so young. Uh, yall got flights going up there yet? I mean putting in an advanced base or something? Say, you and Glory got those CAP things, we could cruise up there and pick out a base. I could ride inside and meet the crew." Mouse Protector smiled winningly.
"First, K Dash, next Joint base Elmendorf. Corps of Engineers is already building us a set of docks. Sheet piles already driven, plumbing is in, and they are dredging it now. Cover going up from the drone overflights. Container port right there so it should have enough draft, rail, and road links. We will probably put in a store up there somewhere. Two even, depends on getting the land."
"Rats. Yikes! Cat!"
"Barney!"
"Tiger! No tasting the Mouse! Bleh! Stop licking! What are you, a dog? Wait Barney? I thought all the blimps were girls. Why is she purple?"
Crystal laughed "She's a lavender Maine Coon crossed with a black leopard we think. Well, that's what her genes say. Even Amy thinks it shouldn't be possible. Anyway, those colors are both recessive, so it tossed everything up in the air and she is a roan but looks purple in daylight, so Barney."
"She's as big as me! Holy crap the teeth! Hey, I can ride her I bet."
"I wouldn-" splash, bam, bam. "Really, you have to get me wet?"
"I got most of the water off. Got a towel?"
"She was giving them a fish. Apparently, they have made a friend. Uh, what the heck are you two doing?" Vicky asked the glaring dripping Crystal and the hyper alert Mouse Protector as she floated up.
Crystal huffed "Mouse Protector and Barney." Vicky nodded. That, after all, explained it all. Barney was young and as goofy as they came, and in cats that was pretty goofy. And Mouse Protector, so...
Mouse Protector settled back much to Crystals chagrin "So oysters last night. What's for eats tonight?"
Vicky grinned at her cousin being a sedan chair "Mess hall, so whatever it is will be good." Though we are having to get our own quartermaster running and field ordering agents out to green grocers and meat markets, dairy's, places like that, but we have a couple trains on the way."
"I got to see this Underhill people are talking about. Taylor needs to get the media in there. A shelter for everyone in the Bay area?" Mouse Protector asked.
Crystal nodded "Really bad ground Tess says. The parts for us are separated, big blast proof doors, but the rest has tunnels to the surface in all these towns. Endbringer class personnel locks, mainly for security for the Yard. Those tunnels to get to those locations became the shelters. Or rather parts of them did. Truck elevators down to the tunnels to Underhill go past them."
Mouse Protector blinked "How many miners are running?"
Vicky shrugged "They each build one so it gets exponential pretty quick? They've been at it a while. The real question is how many of the ceramacrete printers are running. But those run twenty-four hours a day and one can do a layer cake as fast as a miner can mine the mountain. There aren't as many of them and the miners just move the material to behind themselves in good rock, and a little ceramacrete and set it off sort of continuously. Its only in fault zones that they have to build a printer. Once its built, well it runs twenty four seven. It just makes a generic layer cake if we dont input special requirements. The problem here was it makes it out of the bad area that needs shoring up.
"Or if we want a facility like in Brockton Bay. Although that started as a cleanup job."
Mouse Protector worked around to what she had been interested in "Repair baths?"
Vicky sighed "We just found those yesterday, how did you hear about them?"
