numbers assembling on the screens in front of them, naming units
seemed trivial yet it was utterly important if the enemy was to be understood.
“Span of command is very large. Seems to run in nines.”
“Probably
personal command, we’re going to be looking at a slowly-reacting army here.
It’s very low-geared. Big but ponderous. Suits us just fine.” More nods around
the room. The United States Army was built to fight large, ponderous opponents.
It was beginning to look like it had finally found one.
“What
are those?” More figures were pouring out, larger ones. The UAV operator played
with his camera controls, zooming in on the new arrivals. They were baldricks
still but sitting on a beast, one that looked vaguely like a rhinoceros with a
great horn on its nose, but with a scorpion’s tail arched high over its back
and claws like a lobster.
“I’d
guess those are the cavalry. We don’t know how fast those things can move, mark
them down as priority targets.”
“More
coming.” The figures pouring out of the Hellmouth were flying, winged
creatures, like the harpies show down by the squids a couple of weeks earlier
but smaller. They landed and formed a last square. Seconds then minutes crept
by but no more baldricks joined the awesome parade in front of the Hellmouth.
The Global Hawk wasn’t equipped to pick up sound but nobody watching was in any
doubt that the desert was alive with the sounds of drumming and the hammering
of feet.
Hellmouth,
East of Ar Rutbah, Iraqi Desert Unnoticed in the noise and confusion, a small
winged structure danced in the dust and glare. It was an odd little thing by
anybody’s standards, a lumpy fuselage with two longish wings, a tripod tail
unit and a propeller was at the rear. Its name was an MQ-1B Predator.
The
Predator didn’t have markings which was hardly surprising, it’s operators, far
back at Task Force Iron’s command center weren’t from the U.S. armed forces,
they were Central Intelligence Agency. For almost five years, the CIA had been
operating a clandestine force of Predators, using them for covert
assassinations of terrorist leaders and others considered undesirable. That
role had abruptly ended with The Message, those who had taken the “submission
to the will” bit seriously had died, the rest had thrown their lot in with the
rest of humanity. Now, the U.S. Army and CIA had the strange but not unfamiliar
experience of working with people who only a few days before had been their
blood-enemies.
The
change had meant the Predators had a new job, one which was of absolutely vital
importance. It was essential to find out if human weapons, human technology
could be sent into Hell and return. More importantly, were those weapons as
destructive there as they were proving on Earth. If the answer was yes, then
humanity had a means of striking back at its foe, if not, then they would
forever be condemned to an ultimately futile defense. The Predators were the
vanguard of this exploration, the information they gained within the next few
minutes would mark the start of the investigation. It was, quite literally,
reconnaissance by fire. It’s orders received, the MQ-1B obediently turned
around and headed for the shadowy ellipse that marked the Hellmouth.
Headquarters,
1st Armored Division, Task Force Iron, Multi-National Force Iraq
Back
in the command center, the CIA operative held his breath as the little drone
approached the disk and became swallowed in it. Then, the whole section erupted
into wild cheers for on the monitor screen, images had emerged. Pictures of a
vast plain, bare rock under a swirling red-orange sky, dust clouds sweeping
backwards and forwards over the desolate scene. The image brightened and
sharpened as the computer-controlled adaptive optics compensated for the wildly
unfamiliar light levels and spectra but the images were there.
The
operator manipulated his controls, getting the vision head on the
electro-optical pod to pivot around.
seemed trivial yet it was utterly important if the enemy was to be understood.
“Span of command is very large. Seems to run in nines.”
“Probably
personal command, we’re going to be looking at a slowly-reacting army here.
It’s very low-geared. Big but ponderous. Suits us just fine.” More nods around
the room. The United States Army was built to fight large, ponderous opponents.
It was beginning to look like it had finally found one.
“What
are those?” More figures were pouring out, larger ones. The UAV operator played
with his camera controls, zooming in on the new arrivals. They were baldricks
still but sitting on a beast, one that looked vaguely like a rhinoceros with a
great horn on its nose, but with a scorpion’s tail arched high over its back
and claws like a lobster.
“I’d
guess those are the cavalry. We don’t know how fast those things can move, mark
them down as priority targets.”
“More
coming.” The figures pouring out of the Hellmouth were flying, winged
creatures, like the harpies show down by the squids a couple of weeks earlier
but smaller. They landed and formed a last square. Seconds then minutes crept
by but no more baldricks joined the awesome parade in front of the Hellmouth.
The Global Hawk wasn’t equipped to pick up sound but nobody watching was in any
doubt that the desert was alive with the sounds of drumming and the hammering
of feet.
Hellmouth,
East of Ar Rutbah, Iraqi Desert Unnoticed in the noise and confusion, a small
winged structure danced in the dust and glare. It was an odd little thing by
anybody’s standards, a lumpy fuselage with two longish wings, a tripod tail
unit and a propeller was at the rear. Its name was an MQ-1B Predator.
The
Predator didn’t have markings which was hardly surprising, it’s operators, far
back at Task Force Iron’s command center weren’t from the U.S. armed forces,
they were Central Intelligence Agency. For almost five years, the CIA had been
operating a clandestine force of Predators, using them for covert
assassinations of terrorist leaders and others considered undesirable. That
role had abruptly ended with The Message, those who had taken the “submission
to the will” bit seriously had died, the rest had thrown their lot in with the
rest of humanity. Now, the U.S. Army and CIA had the strange but not unfamiliar
experience of working with people who only a few days before had been their
blood-enemies.
The
change had meant the Predators had a new job, one which was of absolutely vital
importance. It was essential to find out if human weapons, human technology
could be sent into Hell and return. More importantly, were those weapons as
destructive there as they were proving on Earth. If the answer was yes, then
humanity had a means of striking back at its foe, if not, then they would
forever be condemned to an ultimately futile defense. The Predators were the
vanguard of this exploration, the information they gained within the next few
minutes would mark the start of the investigation. It was, quite literally,
reconnaissance by fire. It’s orders received, the MQ-1B obediently turned
around and headed for the shadowy ellipse that marked the Hellmouth.
Headquarters,
1st Armored Division, Task Force Iron, Multi-National Force Iraq
Back
in the command center, the CIA operative held his breath as the little drone
approached the disk and became swallowed in it. Then, the whole section erupted
into wild cheers for on the monitor screen, images had emerged. Pictures of a
vast plain, bare rock under a swirling red-orange sky, dust clouds sweeping
backwards and forwards over the desolate scene. The image brightened and
sharpened as the computer-controlled adaptive optics compensated for the wildly
unfamiliar light levels and spectra but the images were there.
The
operator manipulated his controls, getting the vision head on the
electro-optical pod to pivot around.
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