Change of Destination

By Mike Adams

“All of my kids and my only grandchild are either in or headed towards a war zone. There is no way that Robert is going to keep me from going. After all, he knows there are too many trained killers in my family.”

-Kelly Cassidy, Major, Colonial Security, former NYC police captain and senior weapons trainer, US

A demon wolf nearly killed me so I have to stay behind when everyone else leaves. By the time we fly out of here to make our rendezvous I’ll have missed the first 400 miles of walking. I guess I can live with that.

-Venus Bennett, age 19, squad 6 leader, Jacks Company, Chile

Commander Rick Cassidy, Gunnery Sergeant Molly Pickford and the rest of Jacks Company are making their final preparations for departure from the mountain valley they’ve been stuck in for nearly a full local year. At the same time the new Rift commander General Miltcar has her sights set on taking Winter Haven and the aliens are finalizing preparations for their next attack on the northern settlement, Jacks Company’s expected destination. With no information about what has been going on outside their valley a concerned Cassidy has to decide if Jacks Company should head for Winter Haven as planned or for the much farther away Winter Cove. While those groups are on a possible collision course, the cargo supply ship Asia has made it back to Earth’s solar system with news of the alien invasion of the New Hope Colony that began five months earlier

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mike Adams
• Release date: Sep 25, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463585948

Mike Adams

Born in Brooklyn and raised in Staten Island, NY. Mike has a BS in Business Admin from Wagner College and an MBA from SDSU. A retired US Navy Lieutenant Commander, Supply Corps (Logistics), a former small business owner, and part-time substitute teacher. he's visited 6 continents and 36 countries, speak Spanish, some German, a little Italian and a little less French. He currently lives in Chula Vista, CA with his wife Chris.

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Mountain Valley with the Cairo and Jacks Company

Chapter 1

Captain Yui Watanabe

February 23, 2127

Day 152

Winter Haven

Captain Yui Watanabe had come to the New Hope Colony on the cargo supply ship Antarctica in January 2123 as a platoon leader in a Japanese detachment of Colonial Rangers. Two years later when it was time for the detachment to return to Earth the ambitious young officer requested to stay at the colony and she transferred to the Second Battalion staff. Promoted to captain, she joined the communications department and after a four-month stint at the ground station in New Hope Town she was assigned to be the senior communications officer at the cargo terminal in Southport before moving over to New Cancun to run the comm center at the Ranger Base in May of 2126. She was there when the aliens attacked New Cancun a few months later.

Born in Nagoya, Japan in 2097, Yui Watanabe entered the University of Tokyo then spent two years at the University of California at Berkeley, graduating from there in 2119. The very intelligent, attractive, tall, athletic, and English-fluent Watanabe had already been approached by Japan's Ministry of Defence after they became aware that she was interested in going to the New Hope Colony, Earth's first extra-solar outpost. The Ministry of Defence was actively recruiting potential Colonial Ranger officers to send with the Japanese detachments and Watanabe was high on their list of potential candidates.

Watanabe had no intention of making the Japanese military a career, but when she was approached by the Japanese military attaché from the embassy in Washington DC while a senior at Berkeley, she jumped at the chance that would lead to an assignment at the New Hope Colony. After graduation she went through basic officer training and after six months as a platoon leader in a company assigned to a base in southern Japan, she was ordered to join a mixed battalion of Japanese Army and Air Force personnel heading to Northern Pakistan where they provided logistical support for UN forces in the area. Yui and her battalion remained there for nearly a year before they returned to Japan after a relatively uneventful tour of duty, just a few minor attacks on the base she was at, in an area that had been prone to violence and upheaval for decades.

After confirming that she was still very much interested in going to the New Hope Colony, the young lieutenant was ordered to join a detachment of Japanese soldiers who would be starting Ranger training in a few months. Although she was very excited by the prospect of going, her family was much less thrilled by the prospect. She would be leaving behind her parents and her brother who knew that there was a chance that they might never see her again, as they reminded her whenever the opportunity arose. Yui pointed out to them that while she would be gone for a minimum of four years, maybe more if she liked it there, they would be able to keep in contact by regular video mail carried by the starships going to and from the colony, and who knows, things weren't all that great in Japan and someday they might want to go there as well, perhaps to stay. She also pointed out that any given day could be the last day for any one of them - an accident on the road, a fall down the stairs, or thousand and one other ways to meet an unexpected and tragic end. They finally promised to support her decision to go without being quite convinced that it was the right thing for her.

Ranger training for the new detachments was a three-month program of wilderness survival including learning how to cross rivers without boats and climbing up and down steep hills. There was also an intensive Virtual Reality training program to teach them how to fight the colony planet’s ferocious predators. First, and foremost of these, were the demon wolves; red-eyed, 800-1200 pound, hide-armored, razor-sharp steel-clawed and fanged predators that roamed the mountainous areas of the Alpha continent where the New Hope Colony was being developed. Those mountainous areas tended to be where the most coveted resources were located and thus where most of the scientific and survey exploration parties did their work; and that meant those exploration parties needed protection. During the early years of the colony, groups of under-armed private security guards had escorted the explorers but casualties from predator attacks were so high that eventually, all exploration came to a standstill until a permanent solution was found.

The establishment of the Colonial Rangers in early 2116 was that solution. It was designed to be a multinational military force made up of professional soldiers from the nations sponsoring the colonization program. Strict limits were set on the numbers of soldiers and airmen from any given nation so that no one nation or group of nations could attempt to seize the colony for themselves.

This political insecurity on the part of some countries and too many politicians also resulted in limiting the types of weapons the Colonial Rangers were allowed to use at the colony. Few military-grade weapons were permitted; the standard Ranger rifles were of a type used by police forces in many countries. The low-powered weapons were designed so that their bullets would not pass through the bodies of criminals and hit innocent people behind them whereas a standard military weapon would do tremendous damage to the target and keep on going. This however, seemed to be acceptable to everyone because when used properly with mass fire directed at the handful of weak points on the predators’ bodies, the weapons were quite adequate for the job at hand. Ranger aircraft, 36-foot long, anti-gravity capable personnel and cargo transport shuttles, were unarmed although they were armored. The only heavy weapons allowed were the machine guns mounted on the light armored personnel carriers assigned to each detachment.

Each national detachment of between 100 and 110 Rangers were allowed three APCs, three reconnaissance ATVs and seven personnel/cargo transport trucks which were brought with them to the colony and then returned with them for re-conditioning and re-assignment when the detachment went back to Earth. The first detachments arrived at the colony in 2117.

Unlike in some countries where Colonial Ranger duty was a very-coveted and highly sought-after assignment, within the Japanese military that duty, while exciting and interesting, was not seen as a career enhancer for junior officers. All senior Colonial Ranger personnel, that is all officers and senior NCOs, had to be fluent in English and have at least two years of service behind them before they could even apply. Then if accepted, they were looking at an almost four-year commitment from the time they joined the newly formed detachment, completed Ranger training, made the six-month voyage each way to and from the colony, and then two years of service while there. With the exception of a few majors and colonels on Battalion and Regimental staffs, all the Ranger officers were young lieutenants and captains who would be gone during the important middle years of their careers.

Yui’s detachment boarded the cargo supply ship Antarctica in July 2122 for the journey to the colony. There were three other Ranger detachments onboard the starship and the always smiling Watanabe became close friends with some of the female officers from those detachments. The American detachment was led by Captain Claudia Stairs. One of Stairs’ platoon leaders was Lieutenant Zoey Bryant. Lieutenant Melissa Rossi was a platoon commander in the French detachment and Lieutenants Eva Zhang and Jing Woo were in the Chinese detachment. All five of her friends stayed when their detachments went home and like Yui, they would go on to play pivotal roles in the war against the aliens who invaded the colony on September 12, 2126.

###

Captain Watanabe had led the communications detachment in Winter Haven since a few days before the Second Battle of Winter Haven the previous summer. She was in her office next to the comm center at the terminal when Colonel Colin Fox dropped by to check in with her. Yui smiled up at the tall Canadian, "Good afternoon, Colonel. The Oslo is on final approach and should be setting down about 10 minutes from now."

That’s great. He smiled widely at the Japanese officer, It’s good to see you, Yui. It has been a long, cold winter as these local winters go, hasn’t it? I understand that you’ll be rotating over to Novo Napoli before the spring is over. Looking forward to a nice hot summer?

Watanabe grinned cheerfully back at the Colonel, "I am looking forward to being able to walk around outside without two or three layers of heavy clothing to keep the cold out. It will be a nice change of pace."

He chuckled, Be careful what you wish for. Novo Napoli is sure to be high on the aliens’ target list. Higher than Winter Haven right now maybe. Taking some R&R in New Hope Town first? A little time in that hot tub I’ve heard about?

Yui laughed lightly in answer, You know it! The new communications department head, Lieutenant Commander Baysic, wants me to spend some time with her since I’m more familiar with the ground station than any of the comm officers currently in New Hope Town. She was stationed there before she moved over to fleet but it's a lot different now.

She’s living in the residence with the other female officers, isn’t she?

That’s my understanding, part-time anyway. She told me when she came through here two weeks ago that she was living in the Administrative Center but she liked the atmosphere at the residence much better even if she couldn’t have a room for herself. She said she planned to move over there so she’s probably living there by now.

I’m not surprised; I know that Major MacCaffrey likes living there.

That’s right. Comfortable beds, good food without the lines at the cafeterias, plenty of hot water for showers, plenty of beer and wine, and good company. What more could you ask for?

And there’s that hot tub, he grinned.

There is that, she grinned back. The hot tub at Rick Cassidy’s residence had been the scene of the hatching of most of the major operations carried out by the Rangers. With a good cross-section of all the Ranger specialties – field, communications, shuttle and transport aircrew, admin, maintenance and logistics – the female Rangers living there, many of whom had seen combat back on Earth, had become the Regiment’s primary operational planning cadre; their creative thinking was usually assisted by a fair amount of beer and wine while soaking in the hot bubbling waters of the spa tub.

Fox considered the Regiment’s new Communications officer who had swapped places with Lieutenant Colonel Ryan Stafford who had been asked to take charge of the 1,000 wounded Rangers returning to Earth on the colony transport ship Marco Polo. His family had returned with him. "It must be a big change for her after having had a nice private cabin on the starship. Probably a good-sized one on a ship the size of the Marco Polo."

Watanabe nodded, "Most likely but I think she’s adjusting just fine from what I’m hearing. She did almost two years here during her tour as a comm officer. She's good people, I got to become friends with her during the voyage to the colony on the Antarctica when she was the ship's assistant Comm officer."

That’s good. Fox sighed and reluctantly changed the subject, Before I came over here, I was at the Administrative Center with the settlement director and his assistant Mallory Claymore. She’s convinced Director North that since there’s only a handful of people living in the Ranger barracks adjacent to the terminal, since we were finally able to get the winter housing built and moved all of the companies closer to their defensive positions; that those personnel still living there should move over to the Administrative Center. She thinks the cafeteria next to the barracks should be shut down so that its personnel can be sent back to New Hope Town when we send the other non-essential personnel out. In the meantime, the cafeteria folks can either help out at the Admin Center or move to one of the cafeterias on the south side of town where everyone else is living these days. And they’re making space for more people over there.

Watanabe protested, Sure, sleeping on cots so close together you can barely walk between them. Sir, we can go over to the Administrative Center to eat and still sleep in the barracks!

Fox nodded, I know. I told them the same thing but she argued that with most of the utilities engineers sent back to New Hope Town already, it’s unnecessary extra work for the guys who are still here. You know what the last snowstorm did to the power grid. How many people are living there right now?

The communications officer look at him in disbelief, Sir, we have at least fifty Rangers at the barracks over here right now, maybe more. I’ve got over a dozen in the communication detachment. There’s another dozen in logistics and then there are all of the shuttle crews, so there are at least twenty pilots and engineers, really thirty with the extra aircrews. The shuttles are here at the terminal, it’s where the logistics people work, and it’s where the main comm center is. And half the time we’ve got one of the extra transport lander crews staying over, so that’s another twenty-five or so right there. I think we keep the cafeteria busy enough and it’s important that we're close to the terminal!

Fox nodded, Yes, you’re right, Yui, and I agree with you, but the civilians don’t work for us directly and simply arguing that it’s more convenient and that you’ve all got more living space in the barracks wasn’t enough to justify fighting over it. They have already started emptying all of the various offices and meeting rooms that are not being fully utilized and converting them to sleeping quarters. You’ll have the entire upper deck adjacent to the comm center for the Rangers so it shouldn’t be too bad. And the medical personnel are already living over there. You may have to come over here to the terminal to take a shower if you don’t want to wait in line though.

Yui looked at him and stated, Sir, I don’t believe that this is a good idea.

Fox looked at her forthrightly, Noted, Captain. Look Yui, the civilians here have been working around the clock to construct the new winter quarters and improve our defenses. Their needs have always taken a back seat to the Rangers, so we’re going to let them win this one. Okay?

Yui shook her head then sighed, Okay, Sir. We’ll move whenever they’re ready for us. The pilots are going to squawk the loudest.

Don’t worry about them; I’ll talk them a little bit later. Besides, they can always sleep in their shuttles.

Chapter 2

Departure Plan

The CTL Cairo in mountain valley 700 miles south of Winter Haven

The first thing on the day’s agenda and scheduled for right after the clean-up from breakfast was finished was to go over the plan for Jacks Company’s departure from the mountain valley where they had been since the previous spring. They had been trapped there now for five full Earth months, ever since the first day of the alien invasion. The 850-foot long, anti-gravity powered cargo transport lander (CTL) had taken several blows from alien plasma cannon mounted on ships of the sea-going fleet they had inadvertently flown over and crashed in the mountains 500 miles north of Southport, the aliens’ first target, as they tried to reach the safety of Winter Haven 700 miles further north. The crash had killed 20 of the 27-man crew and 4 of the New Hope Academy staff members. A number of others had been injured although by now most had completely recovered.

Commander Rick Cassidy had waited until Gunnery Sergeant Molly Pickford, Cassidy’s best friend, adopted sister, and frequent but not exclusive bed-partner called to let them know that everyone coming was now present and were waiting for them. The mess tables had been moved around the dining area in the cargo bay so that everyone could sit facing the large roll-down display screen that had been hung on the side of the container that served to divide the dining area from the rest of the cargo bay. Only the injured Ravi Chandrabustra in sickbay on the second deck and the two medics Staff Sergeant Ian Ferguson and Sergeant Heidi Kampf who had taken over for the lookout watch section out on the main deck were not physically present. All three were listening in over their comms.

Cassidy thanked his company of young female students and interns, and the handful of adult staff members from the New Hope Academy along with the Ranger NCOs who had helped train them to fight demon wolves and aliens for showing up promptly before turning the meeting over to his XO, Italian Captain Gabriella Tomei. Before the crash, Tomei had been the transport’s navigator and assistant engineer and she had been the only one of the four flight officers on the command deck to survive the crash.

The winter was ending in just under a week and soon it would be time to leave. The tension in the ship had been building over the last month and now Tomei was about to present their updated departure plan to the whole group. Every eye was upon her as the group waited expectantly to hear what she had to say.

Gabi pointed to the display which showed a large representation of the area from the valley up north to Winter Haven and west to Winter Cove. She began, "Our expectation is that we will be departing the valley approximately three weeks from today. Between now and then we’re hoping the normal temperature rise and frequent rain will melt and carry the snow away so we can get to the shuttles inside the fort.

Our primary destination right now is Winter Haven, which is located just under 700 miles almost due north of here. Our alternative destination is Winter Cove, just over 950 miles northwest of here. That’s if you could fly there. It’s probably closer to 1,200 miles including our first 300-mile leg. The first stage of our journey will be the movement of all personnel and material going with the main group from the valley to a spot about 300 miles north of where we are now. This stage will require the use of five shuttles. The transport had been carrying six brand new, unassembled, 36-foot long, anti-gravity shuttles which had been put together after a great deal of hard work, not least of it the strenuous labor of dragging the oversized cargo containers with the airframes and other parts of the aircraft out of the forward cargo area. Although they had six operational shuttles, they had just two pilots - Tomei and Cairo’s senior engineering tech Master Sergeant Guy Gilbert - to fly them and only the smaller maintenance power cells to provide the energy to power them.

The first movement will be for Master Sergeant Gilbert and I to fly two fully loaded shuttles with personnel and material to this crater here. In the corner of the display an overhead picture of a small, eroded volcanic crater appeared. "This is where the shuttles will land and an initial base camp will be set up. Because of the danger of being spotted by Raagaa patrols, all shuttle flights will be done after dark with the exception of the first 200-mile part of the first leg through the mountains that begins here at the ship. That must be done during daylight hours due to the dangerous flying conditions. That trip will begin at some point in the afternoon and will take approximately three-and-one-half hours at which point both shuttles will land and wait until dark before continuing on to the volcano.

"Upon arrival at the crater, the shuttles will land and establish a primary base camp then one shuttle will continue on for approximately 75 miles where a forward base camp will be set up. At this forward position two squads under an NCO will disembark and unload all cargo which will include two ATVs and a large quantity of food and ammo. The shuttle will then return to the crater and load all personnel and cargo from the other shuttle and transport them to the forward base to unload again after which it will return once again to the crater. Both groups will stay at the forward camp until joined by the remainder of the company a day or two later. A few hours before dawn, the Master Sergeant and I will begin our return to the ship leaving the now powered-down shuttle at the primary base camp.

Once we have returned to the ship, that shuttle will be powered down as its power source will then be near exhaustion. Later that day, or possibly the following day, depending on the weather, shuttles three and four will head out to the crater base camp. Shuttle Three will continue on to the forward base camp, unload all personnel and cargo then return to the crater where it will load all remaining personnel and material from shuttle four and take them to the forward base camp. The Master Sergeant and I will then return to the ship in shuttle four. We will be leaving the two shuttles, numbers One and Three, at the crater, secured and camouflaged with an explosive device waiting for anyone who tries to enter without the proper codes. Don’t worry; we’ll leave a sign in case the good guys find it first. We’ll be leaving a small emergency cache of supplies in case we have to retrace our steps before heading in another direction. We hope that will not happen. Tomei paused to make sure everyone understood what she was telling them. There were no questions so she continued.

"At this point there will be two usable shuttles remaining at the ship. One of these shuttles will remain here for use by the group that stays behind so that they may rendezvous with the main group later in the summer. Master Sergeant Gilbert will remain here as the pilot for the sixth shuttle. I will fly the fifth shuttle with a final load of personnel and material directly to the forward base. At that time, we must make our final decision, if we haven’t already done so, as to our destination. I do expect that we will have made that decision before we leave here. Since we can no longer monitor broadcasts from New Hope Town, we just don’t know what the situation in the north is but in the event that new information is received we are working on several alternate routes.

Whichever direction we decide we must go, the next step will be to use shuttle number five to move some personnel and material one day’s march ahead of the main group. We will land, set up camp and wait for the main group to arrive. We have to assume that there are will be alien patrols in the areas where we’ll be traveling, so as much as possible, all flying will be done at night. Each day we will repeat this procedure departing an hour before dawn with a squad, scouting ahead and setting up camp for the next night while the main party continues their travel overland. Jillian?

Staff Sergeant Jillian Kelly had raised her hand and at the Captain’s nod, she asked, Have you already selected the location of the forward base camp?

Yes. Actually, we have chosen four possible locations where we believe we will be safe to stay for a few days without being discovered. We have charted out several alternate routes from each depending on the weather and if we see any aliens in the area. Unfortunately, we will not always be able to travel over easy terrain. There will be rivers to cross and ranges of hills to climb over at several points. We will use the shuttle to ferry personnel and material over or across the most difficult obstacles so that we can make the best time possible. We will be using the shuttle this way for the next three hundred miles or so after we all depart from the forward base camp. Less if we have to do a lot of ferrying. Leila?

How often do you expect us to be able to use the shuttle for this? asked Leila Turner. Turner had been the New Hope Academy’s visual arts teacher.

I’ll take this one, Gabi, Cassidy said, and pointed at the display. We will use the shuttle to protect the safety of our people and to overcome obstacles which would otherwise delay us by a day or more. The more we use the shuttle to ferry people and supplies the quicker we will exhaust its power cell. Therefore, everybody will walk most of the way. One squad will always be with the shuttle to provide security wherever it sets down and every squad will get a chance to rest by moving forward with the shuttle in turn. As we will be using the shuttle to move ahead during the night it will set down and stay in one place during the day most of the time. If we have to use it during the day to ferry people, once the last group has been brought over it will stay put for a while even if the main group continues on. We don’t want to stand out in the sky and be seen from miles away. Yes, Jan?

I know you’ve talked about this but are you sure that the sixth shuttle shouldn’t come along at the same time instead of leaving those people here for them to leave later? asked 18-year-old American fourth-year student January Pierson.