Eden's War (A Distant Eden) (13 page)

Adrian spoke for another thirty minutes, outlining the plan and how it would be implemented. After he completed the outline the crowd went wild again. Now that they knew the plan, knew how it would work, they knew that it all depended on whether or not they were fast enough. They were as ready as any group of people ever had been. The team captains took the podium and began shouting out names, telling them where to assemble and what to bring with them.

Adrian stood back and watched, thought over the plan one more time, and knew it had a decent chance – if they could pull the elements together in time.

Adrian caught Rafe’s eye, silently signaled him to meet him inside. As the doors closed, Adrian put a hand on Rafe’s shoulder and said, “There’s one more thing, Rafe. We have to have a fail-safe to keep the Chinese from gaining control. We have to set up a nuclear explosion that will take this plant completely out if we can’t hold it.”

Rafe looked startled then scared. “Adrian, it would kill every living thing for miles around, obviously including all of us.”

Adrian didn’t say anything, just watched and waited for Rafe to run through the scenarios. Finally, with a down-hearted shrug, he said, “Of course you are correct. It has to be done. I’ll see to it myself.”

“And keep it quiet, Rafe. I believe that everyone here would agree with this if it was laid out for them, but it won’t be all that good for morale.”

“I’ll need help, two people. They are reliable, they won’t talk after I explain it to them.”

Chapter 19

“H
ow’s the war going Admiral?” Adrian asked over the radio.

“Bad, Adrian. Very bad. We’ve got ships hitting the shores on both coasts at an alarming rate. There may be a hundred thousand Chinese troops on the ground right now, and more every day. It’s really hard to say how many. The ports are under heavy attack, and we’re running out of explosives boats. The Gulf of Mexico is one huge battle now, ships everywhere and more coming in by the minute. Your idea of staging attack boats from off-shore drilling rigs was excellent by the way, they’ve taken a heavy toll on the Chinese ships. But they’ll run out of boats before long, too.”

“Any engagement by the Chinese Navy yet?”

“None. They’re sitting out there, waiting. Its eerie how you predicted that. I wish to hell they would attack already… I’d like to get our ships into action.”

“Patience Admiral. Is there any good news?”

“Some. The militias in several places have taken on the Chinese ground troops and are pretty much holding their own, following the guerrilla tactics you laid out. Our reports are sporadic at best, though; we may not be hearing from the militias that got into deep trouble. So I don’t really know at this point. Most of our aircraft are down. We have to save what we have for naval reconnaissance. How about you? Any good news there?”

“Some. We have a reasonable chance to defend the plant here, assuming we can get everything together in time. They’ll never take this plant, though, even if we lose.”

“What are you saying, Adrian? What does that mean?”

“It means just what I said, Admiral. If it comes to it… they won’t get our nukes.”

There was a long pause as the Admiral considered what Adrian was saying.

“Adrian, you must leave there immediately. Get to someplace safer. Hell…go back to Corpus Christi. Bad as it is there, it’s better than where you are. This country needs you to lead it, not die for it.”

“It’s too late Admiral, even if I wanted to leave I can’t. I couldn’t leave here for my own personal safety and still have enough self-integrity left to lead. If I die, this is as good a place and as good a cause as there ever will be. Just be certain that I know I’m doing what needs to be done. A martyr might be just what this country needs anyway.” Adrian said with a chuckle. “Martyrs have no faults, while live leaders have plenty of them.”

Adrian spent every moment going from group to group, praising the men and women as he watched them furiously working at their assignments. Hour by hour he was seeing it come together, one piece at a time. Each team was focused on accomplishing their goals, building their items. On top of the buildings other teams were reinforcing roof structures to accommodate added weight, while still others set up transits for measuring distances. In the underground structures, teams were busy assembling their delicate projects. It was like walking through an ant hive where all the ants were on speed.

Deep underground, the most delicate of operations were taking place. Adrian was cheering on a group as a runner approached him. “Sir, enemy spotted coming in, you’re wanted topside.”

Adrian followed the runner as they literally ran up stairwell after stairwell to reach the top of the highest building. When they reached the roof, the runner pointed breathlessly to a group of four spotters gathered at the roof’s edge with binoculars. Adrian asked them “What and where?”

“There sir. Coming in from the north, a convoy about a mile out. They appear to have stopped…, been stopped about five minutes sir.”

Adrian took the proffered binoculars and took a long look. “You’re right, it’s a Chinese convoy. A big one. Damned if I know where they came from, we had no reports of anything from the north. Doesn’t matter though cause there they are, big as Dallas. Send for Rafe and Matcher, get them up here,
pronto
.”

Ten minutes later Adrian told Rafe, “Get whatever equipment is ready and place them on those roofs over there.” Adrian pointed to three buildings near the northern perimeter. “Fast as you can…whatever you have.” Rafe immediately left to implement the order.

Adrian turned to Matcher. “Frank, either they’re going to wait for the other two contingents for a unified attack, or they’ll begin the attack without them. We’ll know shortly which. I’d rather they waited, giving us more time, but we’ll deal with whatever happens best we can. Now, if you were them and you began the attack, how would you do it?”

“Sir, I would have my artillery concentrate on the fence line. My first objective would be blowing away the perimeter fences. I’d have my infantry move forward under cover of the artillery fire. When they’re close in I’d stop the artillery, advance my infantry, and charge in, take the perimeter and set up a base of operations for a building to building fight.”

“You got it in one, Lieutenant. Now, how would you defend against that attack, assuming it’s just you and your troops to work with?”

“I can only see one way, sir. Hold back from the perimeter until the infantry charge, then charge out to meet them head-on.”

“That’s what they expect Frank. Not much else we can do… except to place half your troops in reserve and bring them out on either side of the Chinese just before they reach the fence line. Use the heavy, belt-fed machine guns from inside the perimeter, set them up on those roofs over there. That will give them three fronts to fight and their artillery won’t be able to fire without hitting their own men, so they’ll be on their own. We’ll pour heavy fire down into them from the high ground while hitting them from three sides. It gives us a better chance than tackling them head to head. Get your troops ready, Frank.”

“Yes sir.” Frank saluted and trotted off at double time.

Adrian continued to watch the far-off convoy while waiting for the troops to move into place. After half an hour, Rafe returned. “We have three of your creations on the way, with twenty-six total shots ready, Adrian. Half an hour to get them set up. It’s going to be ragged, though; we’re working strictly on theory here, with no time for field-testing anything.”

“Maximum range?”

“Half a mile outside, and two or three hundred yards on the short side. We can reach past those outbuildings handily enough.”

“Sniper shields?”

“We have enough for this operation. More being made quickly, everyone moving as fast as they can.”

“Good enough for now.” Adrian replied. “They may or may not attack until the other elements get here. They may or may not attack on the north side, they could swing around from any side at the last moment. Get everything we have up here as fast as we can, we need to have full deployment by morning. They may make a night attack so make sure the perimeter lights are all active. They’ll probably have night vision equipment, which is something we don’t have. Those lights may be our life for as long as they last. Can we have the lasers ready for tonight?”

“Six of them in total, half will be ready by night fall.”

“Any of them ready now?”

“Two.”

“Go ahead and bring them up, they’ll do their job as well in the daytime won’t they?”

“Certainly.”

“Rafe, I want you to know that you’re doing a damn fine job, far better than I could have hoped for.”

“Well hell, Adrian, us desk jockeys can move when we have to.”

“I’m seeing that. Your people aren’t just brilliant, they’re tough as nails when the chips are down. Now, please go see that everything moves as fast as possible.”

An hour later, Adrian was watching the installation of the machines and powerful lasers Rafe’s scientists had modified. Race came up on the roof.

“Adrian,” she said, “Frank asked me to tell you that the ground troops are lined out and ready. They can move to any perimeter quickly, although the heavy machine guns on the roofs would take a bit longer. We’ve also gotten radio reports from our counter-convoy teams. Both have had significant effect on the convoy’s speeds. They’re estimating that the rest of the Chinese will arrive mid-day tomorrow, and at only sixty-five percent strength.”

“Good news, then. Did they focus on taking out the artillery?”

“Yes sir, they did, and they’ve been pretty effective at it. They report heavy damage to those; they estimate that about fifty-percent are probably out of commission.”

“Excellent. Tell them to continue to focus on the artillery for whatever actions they can still take. Slowing them down still helps, but reducing their artillery will help more now. By noon tomorrow we’ll be as ready as we’re going to get. The time they’ve bought us has been tremendous, be sure to let them know. How many casualties have we taken?”

“Minor, because they’ve followed your orders to hit and run fast. They’re still over ninety-five percent operational. They’ll be here to kick the Chinese hard from behind, too, when the time comes.”

There was a short pause as they watched the equipment being set up.

“Adrian, how did you come up with this idea? Do you think it’s really going to work?”

“From reading and watching television back in the old days. It’ll work for its purpose, of that much I’m sure. I’m also sure they won’t be expecting anything like it, and that element of surprise is going to double the effectiveness of it, at least for a little while. Ultimately it may come down to a hand-to-hand battle among the buildings. What we have to do is eliminate as many of their ground troops as we can before we get to that point.”

Race left to follow up on her orders. Alone with his thoughts, Adrian looked like a statue staring out at the vast flat plains. The sun was getting low, lighting up the left side of his face with a glowing red hue. He cast a long shadow across the roof’s edge and out across the prairie land below.

All night long, Adrian pitched in –moving equipment to the roof tops, and encouraging exhausted men and women to keep the level of effort at a fever pitch. The perimeter lights had been turned off and work was performed by moonlight only. There was a constant shuffle of people coming and going on the roofs, materials being carried up by hand, assembly teams working frantically in the near-dark to complete their tasks. It was a bizarre scene, surreal under the moonlight. There was the constant sound of shuffling feet, large pieces of steel being dragged across roofs, people talking in low voices to each other with the occasional voice raised in frustration or sudden warnings to others when something heavy moved that wasn’t supposed to move.