The Secret Base

by PSYComm

Part One of possibly a Larger Series of Adventures with A Covert Branch of The Mid Western (Originally the First Eastern Branch of the Brotherhood of Steel.) This First Part will cover a series of Raids conducted on secret bases located in the Southwest portion of the United States of America.

2. Chapter 2

1255th Intel. Group E.

HEAVY RECON / SIGNAL CORPS.

CIVIL MANAGEMENT PROJECTS DIV. 9

It wasn't a well known fact, how could it be when National Security was on the line? The fact that extra-terrestrials were real and that the U.S. government was at the mercy of these "Zetans", would cause an uproar in an already volatile situation in the U.S. Only a select handful of government and military personnel had access to this information and were left to deal with the situation as best as they could. The knowledge they gleaned from the situation was too important to be ignored. But this was a far cry from that point in history.

He had assumed that they were in a weakened state here, and he was not entirely wrong. The numbers made up for the fact that if they had only relied on the approximation of it being an advantage as it would most likely end in defeat. But they were running short on time and they had to come up with a plan flying on the seat of their pants. It was a rare occasion that they had little time to prepare for these kinds of assaults, but it made a very good learning exercise as well, if they survived that is. After the exploitation of Vault 0 they were feeling quite confident that they had procured the best available equipment that was available before the bombs fell. Not only that but considering that they had no other outside information about other groups who were also in the same tier as they were, obviously they considered themselves to be the top dogs of the wasteland. But more on that in awhile.

Running short on time they continued to expedite the makeshift plan in which they came up with the following:

There were a number of ways to track the incoming ship. The light craft focused the microwave energy to create an "air spike" that detected oncoming air , that could be tracked. And electrodes on the vehicles rim that ionized air and formed part of the thrust-generating system could bee seen by real time cameras and even the human eye at close ranges. This, it was planned that once of the attack teams would enter the facility when the main port's doors were open for an incoming light craft. This was not going to be an easy stunt. Sensors around the area set off an alarm if anything got too close to the doors, not to mention warn the operators of any air or space vehicle that got too close. The mouth was too small for anything larger than a good sized helicopter, but helicopters would be too slow to reach the doors before the base defensive systems went off. And once inside the port area, any attack force would likely be overwhelmed by the base defenders- unless, whatever craft used would carry a number of heavy automatic weapons, and land a large number of attackers at one time.

The aliens were quite content that no such craft existed in the human military inventory. And not even they had a craft that could be used under all the required conditions, they wouldn't be spotted long before it could reach the port.

What they hadn't counted on was one, single, experimental aircraft, that was still so secret that it had never been entered on any inventory list.

Manufactured and modified in secret, The Experimental VTOL Vertibird X12 was a "research" craft with some familiar abilities. The success of the V/ STOL (Variable Stability System) aircraft, an unconventional mix of wings, jets, and huge ducted props might not have been pretty, but it was perfect for the mission needs of the attack force.

Because of the lack of time, the only man involved who also had the skill to fly the X12 Vertibird was Paladin Rhodes. Thus he was chosen to lead the Combat Assault Team (CAT) three, that would be responsible for attacking the main landing port - and hold it long enough for other teams to follow up in the Humvee and heavily armored APC for the withdrawal and evacuation of CAT's and victims when the attack was concluded.

While the attack teams were being organized over short wave radios, objectives and alternative were picked, including a nuclear option in case the manned attack failed. However, this option was denied due to the sensitive nature of the operation and so they had no other choice than to succeed in the original plan of attack. Paladin Rigs was chosen to go with CAT-3 to make an attempt to loot one of the alien space ships. Paladin Sam was to go as Rigs' co-pilot and heavy weapons specialist for the mission. Paladin Hall was to also go in as a member of CAT-3 to gather information, and hopefully escape with another alien ship or equipment, with Knight Aces commanding the Material Acquisition Team (MAT). None of their efforts could be of value, of course, unless the attack plan worked.

Germs and Bacteria posed an equally huge threat to the aliens as their immune system was more susceptible to such things. An Shock troop Squad Leader would take on the extra duty of leading a secondary team inside the main landing port once CAT 3 had secured the area - to disable the central air filter exchange that was next to the landing area. He created the title of Filter Assault Team (FAT) for his group.

"I Dunno. There seems to be a lot of moving parts. If any fail this whole thing could go belly up."

"Also how are we supposed to do all this on short notice?"

"It's already in motion. Been weeks in the making. Question is, are you ready Wolfe?" information he had at that point. The only way to get anything more was to go directly to this military base and pick up the digital trail from there. He had to find it.