Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
At the controls of the lead flyer, Jeff surveyed the sprawling Glastine camp in the vids.
It was predawn, with the early gray light before sunrise and the camp was quiet.
Cody had been maintaining his drone surveillance over the place so Jeff was assured nothing had changed since the night of their escape.
He’d also been jamming the Glastine broadcasts at Jeff’s order so no new refugees had been lured into captivity to become unwitting lab rats.
Thousands of infected ringed the old fairgrounds on all sides, pressing against the force fields and the barricades made of wrecked vehicles and parts of buildings.
The plan, hammered out with much discussion, was to begin the raid by taking out as many of the infected as possible first. Neither Jeff nor his two partners in this attack wanted to let the infected loose on the innocent refugee population trapped inside the gates.
Getting rid of those who ran the place was another matter.
Jeff was going to bomb the admin building inside the camp where Quantike and his officers had their offices and living quarters and hope to cut off the head of the snake with a surgical strike.
Zach and Ryan in the other flyer were going to strafe infected, while the APC’s, the contingent from Millersville and Perry Norwood’s giant agri robots worked their way through other areas of infected.
The predators had no concept of self defense, no ability to work together to fight off attackers.
They would turn on the invading forces of course but lured to the scent of uninfected humans and the noise rather than any concept of fighting back.
The argument to bring Norwood into the mix had been frustrating.
Jeff had involved Tamsyn in getting him to attend the negotiations via holo and then to be persuaded to play an active role.
The old rancher had been adamant about staying on his own land and not taking part in the battle, although he’d been as horrified by what the Khagrish and Quantike had been doing as everyone else.
“What’s in it for me?” he asked. “Why should I risk my people and my assets on this? You say you’ve destroyed the aliens and ended the threat so why should I care about Quantike and what he does?”
Finally Jeff had said, “Self interest if nothing else motivates you. This is the largest swarm in the northern part of Randal Four and eventually they’re going to sense you up there in your stronghold and come after you.
I know you have good defenses—I’ve seen them—but I’m telling you now you can’t hope to take on infected in those numbers and survive.
You need to join us in taking this risk now to secure your future.
” If the old man was so callous as to disregard the humanitarian aspects of leaving Quantike in charge of several thousand innocent humans ringed in by infected, Jeff would appeal to his baser instincts.
Tamsyn had leaned in over Jeff’s shoulder and added, “If we ever want Randal Four to return to even a pale imitation version of what it was before this outbreak, we have to eradicate this threat and these people who schemed against all of us. I know it seems safer to sit up there at the ranch and guard your own land but the risk is worth the reward. And you’re a damn stubborn old coot but even you have to admit it’ll be better for your kids and grandkids to grow up in a world where the humans are taking control back.
Where a real future is possible again, not just hiding and fighting and dying. ”
Norwood had been silent for at least two minutes and Jeff had let him stew.
There was nothing else to be said. Beside him the mayor of Millersville, who was all in and who had committed his entire guard force to the attack, stirred restlessly but held his tongue too.
He’d bet Jeff the day would end without the old rancher buying in.
“All right,” Norwood said, passing a hand over his face wearily. “I’m in. What exactly do you need from me?”
Not pausing to savor the victory, Jeff said, “Chiefly your agri robots. Cody assures me he can reprogram them to harvest infected instead of crops. With them as one wing of the assault, my APC’s, the flyers and the mayor’s forces we’ll have enough assets to deal with the infected, even a crowd as large as there is at Glastine.
A coordinated attack from all sides, using all our weapons. ”
“Might work,” the elderly rancher admitted reluctantly. “The robots go in first and then my men and women come after to clean up and finish the job?”
“In your sector of the battleground, yes.”
“I’m not taking any of those Glastine people living inside the camp into my ranch, you clear on that point?”
Jeff was happy to concede on the issue. Truthfully he’d never planned to attempt sending any of the rescued refugees to the ranch.
He had no desire to upset what Norwood had established there by adding in a group of unaffiliated newcomers.
Millersville was prepared to accept a contingent of the refugees after careful screening and evaluation of skills versus needs but Jeff’s guess was many would choose to leave and seek other places to establish themselves.
They might even want to stay at Glastine, once the authorities and the infected had been removed.
He wasn’t concerned with the future disposition of the civilians, beyond freeing them to make their own choices.
He’d have to install a command structure at the camp to prevent it from devolving into chaos or another warlord situation but that was for the future, after the battle was won.
“In position to bomb, sir,” Cody reported now. The release of their bomb was going to be the signal for the other forces to launch their attack on the swarms of infected.
Recalled to the present moment, Jeff did a quick scan of the vids. Satisfied the situation remained nominal, he said, “Release the bomb in 3, 2, 1, now.”
The flyer bobbed a bit in the air as the armament fell away, dropping to the ground and disappearing into the roof of the large building below.
It was a tactical xiliblate bomb, designed for this exact situation, using a fission process of three elements found only on certain planets throughout the Sectors.
The explosion was massive but contained to the general area, with no radiation or fallout to contaminate the surroundings.
Zach took them higher to avoid the blast waves at the same instant the building was obliterated.
“Assault commencing,” Cody reported, projecting a composite of what his drones were seeing.
Jeff divided his attention between what was going on immediately below him and the situation outside the force fences.
As he had anticipated, Norwood’s agri robos were a force the infected had no answer for.
The carnage in that sector of the battlefield was astonishing as the huge robots moved inexorably forward.
Black ichor ran like water everywhere and he had to remind himself the people those infected had been were long gone, no trace of them left in the husks Norwood’s forces were now destroying.
At this rate Norwood’s forces would be able to move on and assist in clearing the next sector.
His APC’s and the second flyer were decimating the infected in their assigned quadrant as well, the vehicles’ megacannons spewing fire through the air like lightning moving horizontally, scything down the infected.
The flyer made low passes over the battlefield, dropping small bombs on clusters of infected and picking off others with its own heavy duty blasters.
Jeff had ordered a high priority on removing the Watchers and when he directed his attention to the Millersville battalion of reinforced trucks, he was reassured to find they were doing exactly as the battle plan called for, taking out the slightly more sentient infected and then mowing down the rest with blaster, pulse rifle and projectile fire, some use of grenades and old fashioned but effective flame throwers.
The formation of vehicles was such that they could protect each other’s flanks and prevent the infected from overrunning any one truck.
It wasn’t as effective as the agri robos nor the military style assault Jeff’s team was conducting but it was doing the job.
Several things happened simultaneously, as was all too common during combat.
“There’s fighting going on at the guard barracks,” Cody reported. “And on the wall, between Quantike’s men.”
“What do you suppose is going on there?” Jeff asked as the holos zoomed in on the combatants.
“Maybe there was an internal resistance group growing? I got hints of there being disgruntled members of the guard force when I was there but nothing formal. I was too new for anyone to trust me with actual information.”
“This guy seems to be leading it,” Cody said, bringing up a view of an armed group fighting a pitched battle at the camp’s armory, plainly trying to gain entry. There was a tall red-haired man in fatigues at the point of the assault, exhorting the men and women with him.
“Jax Driscoll,” Jeff said. “He was a good guy, commanded the section next to mine on the wall. We never got to talk much. He didn’t have a bracelet so he wasn’t one of Quantike’s originals which is a point in his favor.”
“Uh oh, you need to see this, sir.”
Jeff turned his attention to the new holo and whistled in disbelief. “Quantike has more lives than a damn cat, doesn’t he?”
The general staggered away from the burning admin building, blaster in hand.
“Either he was thrown clear or he was leaving as the bomb detonated,” Cody replied. “Orders?”
“He’s not getting away this time.” Jeff rose. “We’re going to go make sure of it. Cody, you’re with me. Zach, hover.”
He and Cody grabbed antigrav packs from a cabinet in the main cabin and strapped them on, doing a quick weapons check before Jeff strode to the ramp at the rear and reached for the button.