Cohesive Efforts
In the words of VADM Megan Renee Austin
It appears that we, Tosh and I, work well as a team in terms of command of the bunker. He never hesitates to consult me as far as what the makeup of the bunker populace should be. I did notice that we had a shortfall in medical and maintenance and instead of taking offence, he is planning to do something about it. On top of that he thanked me for bringing it to his attention; that it would have been a very problematic oversight if it had not been brought to his attention. I can always tell that he's been that way ever since he took command of the United States Navy as Chief of Naval Operations. He puts his ego aside in order to achieve the objective.
I don't think Harm would have been able to do the same when it came down to it. He's the type that always has to be in control of every minutiae of every detail and he's the one that has to come up with it or he isn't happy. That's one of the reasons why I think that the President put Tosh in charge of the bunker and another reason why Tosh is a five-star and Harm is still only a captain. We have to do the necessary things to survive this potential doomsday and Tosh is willing to put his ego on the back-burner for us to be able to do whatever it takes to make sure that we are well-equipped in the bunker.
We'd had a meeting regarding what had been sent down the wire from the Pentagon in terms of what was happening in the locales where our fleets were, US Seventh Fleet was entangled with the Chinese and the Hermit Kingdom was sending out their little boats to harass our ships. Evidently North Korea and the Chinese had gotten closer in relations ever since the relationships between China and the United States had gone south.
Tosh told me that it seemed as though things were on an inexorable slide to the brink of destruction; that from what he could tell; there was no escape. It was the strategist in him that told him that things were not going to go well in the Pacific...and the Russians were just waiting to jump in with both feet. They had always been our adversaries and it was only a matter of time before we and they came to blows.
All of this was frightening...but we, as the de facto bunker command, could not show fear. It would trickle down to the masses and then we woul have a full-on revolt on our hands. It was hard to say how the human psyche would react to the news that their world was to be no more. It was such a horrific concept that not many people would be able to comprehend the true direness of the situation. One's mind just shut down and pretty much failed to parse the data putting one in serious jeopardy since there were things that one had to do in order to survive and if you were frozen in place, how would you have the gumption to be able to do what had to be done. Tosh was a doer - he didn't let the scary stuff make him freeze. He may have been terrified but not a whit showed on his face. And his drive was what kept the rest of the bunker going.
Being one of the few to have ever looked death in the face and given the Reaper the middle finger on a numbered hill in North Korea against overwhelming odds, there were very few things that would make him falter. And I wouldn't know a single one of them. There was a reason why he wore the star-shaped medal with Minerva repulsing Discord. On that no-name numbered hill back in 1994 he made a do or die stand armed with only an M-4 carbine and a sack of grenades daring the North Koreans to charge at him, inflicting more casualties on them than they were able to get wounds on him. Hill 175 would always be a name that rang through the annals of those who had received the Medal of Honor. It was because Tosh had said that whether he lived or died made no difference as long as his fellow men got home safe and sound and that he would do anything in his power to make sure that they had a fighting chance to get home safe to their families. When Harm and I had done the due-diligence investigation on his actions on Hill 175, I had truly found out just exactly what the words above and beyond the call of duty, at the very risk of his own life...meant. It truly reflected actions that gave credit to the United States Naval Service. And somehow...through miraculous circumstance, he'd managed to survive and make it home himself. Not many recipients made it home. Some gave the ultimate sacrifice.
And for me, that was another reason why I was honored to serve with him and work with him hand-in-hand to make sure that we all survived what would be the most horrifying event that we would ever experience.
On the whole, I didn't talk much with the rest of the bunker group but I knew that they were doing their things in order to make their own lives make sense in this impending cataclysm. Ms. Hart was working on the science station as was Kimber.
Poor Harm was trying extremely hard to understand robotics. Considering that he, like Tosh, was a doer rather than a thinker, I'm sure his brain was doing mental calisthenics trying to figure out what a nanite was and trying to create trait-chips was probably one of the more brain-trying things he'd ever tried to do. Even flying an F-14 Tomcat tended to be a direct input task, you shoved your control stick one way and the F-14 reponded to the touch-input. Whereas the Robotics station tended to have its own mind. And every-so-often I could hear Harm cursing as he set off an alarm when a suggested input failed. Well, at least he didn't have the trait-chip or nanite explode on him.
Admiral Gracen and Mrs. River McIrish-Chikamori gravitated towards the arcane and started learning alchemy. This was something completely outside my realm of knowledge. I dealt with ciphers, ledgers, figures and concrete details that pertained to things that were within the realm of every-day matters and the supernatural and arcane tended to raise hairs on the back of my neck. But if they could truly master that, then all the more power to them. Depending on what happened due to the radiation and whatever else twisted the natural, perhaps magic would be what saves the day. Until then bullets would be what solved the existential problems of things being mutated by rads.
Jen and Mac gravitated towards the potion tables trying to find a way for us to be able to increase our skills and give us some leverage. A bit of science; a bit of magic went into the potion tables and again, it confused me since I was more attuned to logic rather than something metaphysical. As much as I was leery about Mac, I was glad that she found something interesting to bide her time rather than the two of us being at odds with each other. I hoped she understood that I no longer held any interest for Harm as he was far too junior an officer for me to ever even consider having a relationship with. Mac was one hundred percent welcome to Harm and that was perfectly fine with me.
I was more interested in a certain former jet-jock.
After all, we work well together.
River's husband on the other hand, was upstairs in the agricultural area fishing. He was busy trying to catch things other than crocodiles, which didn't bode too well when one stuffed them into one's pocket - considering that one could potentially get one's legs gnawed off no matter which gender you were, but especially if you were male, you could end up losing other things as well that one didn't want to lose.
So overall, we were in good shape for whatever the apocalypse could throw at us.
Some more than others.
Conflicts in the PacificThings were degenerating in the Pacific as Tosh realized from the reports that he was getting from the Pentagon. Chinese and Russian fleets were patrolling sections of both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and that had both the Sixth and Seventh Fleets of the US Navy on high alert. Skirmishes were taking place when elements of task forces met. As of current there were no escalations to tactical nuclear weapons but it only took one hot-headed commander to free up "specials" and everything would go to hell in a handbasket.
Of course everything seemed to be business as usual in the bunker with no-one other than the command staff wiser to the outside events that seemed to be precipitating them towards inevitable destruction. Harm was increasing his knowledge base as far as robotics was concerned. After consultation with command staff, Harm knew that his knowledge of robotics would stand them in good stead as far as making a team for post-nuclear reconnaissance of the area and any recordings from the plumbot recon team would allow the bunker occupants to see what threats the environment posed to their health.
The rest of the staff worked at their individual tasks. The science stations, alchemy and potion tables were always manned and Haruo went up and fished so that they all had fresh meat. And as those who worked on their sciences skilled up they could try their hand at cloning the roasts and links so that they would always be able to have fresh meat. If one didn't have meat, they'd be running the risk of health problems down the road with lack of protein.
The Bunker was well-stocked with activities that improved one's skills. The Robotics station was always manned by Harm and the science stations were always being used by those who wanted to increase their science skill to help with cloning experiments. A lot of DNA samples would be useful to be frozen then stored so that they wouldn't be affected by radiation seepage and by manipulation could increase that variance of genetic sequencing to effectively create new genetic lines of individuals.
Phil, on the other hand, was spending his time banging away with hammers on metal scrap trying to see if he could fashion something that was potentially useful. Occasionally though he'd get a bit to adventurous with his creations and they would explode on him leaving him singed and rather worse for wear; but nothing that a shower wouldn't take care of.
And of course, Tosh headed out with the Stryker APC to go get some more meat to stock the freezers with in preparation for the apocalypse.
Kimber joined Phil at the inventing table and Harm continued his research on nanites and trait chips. These would certainly help with the limitations that would be imposed by the fall-out. If their plumbots could go out in the radiation and see what the environment was like bringing back recordings, they would be able to determine the half-life of the radioactive elements that were within the environment. Decontamination of the plumbots would be crucial so that they wouldn't be bringing in trace elements of lethal radiation into the bunker itself.
Everyone had their set tasks to accomplish, but no-one was riding anyone else's back telling them that they had to do that. Everyone had their own sense of urgency for they knew that time was fleeting and that time was of the essence for none of them knew exactly when this whole thing was going to kick-off. And the only people that they could look towards in terms of were Meg and Animal. It was their leadership that was going to guide them through the worst of what was to come.
And all Tosh could do was to continue to stock the freezer with as much meat as he could possibly get down at the grocery store and shuttle back up to the bunker.
With the somber news that the war wasn't going the way that they wanted, dinner the night of the full-moon was subdued.
Tosh and Meg went into Tosh's room and had a good long conversation about what was going on and the reports that he was getting from the Pentagon. He had a good idea of when they would have to lock down and it wasn't going to be far off down the road.
"Task Force 62 got into a tussle with Chinese subs. Meg, we have two destroyers at the bottom of the ocean and the Chinese lost six of their subs. It's not looking good at all, Meg. We don't know who's going to escalate first to tactical specials but all I know is that we're not looking at a good outcome."
Meg nodded in response. She knew that time was running short and the Pentagon was not responding to the requests that they had put in for medical staff. They may be going on their own for the time being. Which meant that they would have to work from within to create medical staffers as necessary to keep the health of the bunker personnel in mind.
It wasn't good news that she had for Tosh, but between the two of them they would improvise and make the best of what they had.
...and it was a sobering look that Tosh gave Meg...as they pondered on the ramifications and a chill ran down Meg's spine as Tosh uttered:
..."May God help us all..."
The Final Battleground
Part OneMeg understood that if the balloon went up, it would mean that they would be short necessary personnel. So her idea of creating medical staff from those already in the bunker carried a lot of weight. For Tosh, that meant that several ideas came to mind. Jen had always had an interest in the medical field with a primary being in psychology. And Bebe Hart despite her artistic bent was also keenly interested in science. So with the two of them, mind and body appeared to be taken care of.
With security in mind, Tosh knew that they needed to have plumbots form a key part of their defence strategy. Not only could they patrol the perimeter during the worst of the radiation; but they were essentially un-killable if not indestructible. Any potential opposition invasion force would be up against a group of plumbots that could potentially decimate large portions of their numbers while sustaining few casualties of their own.
Meg and Tosh usually ended up having their meetings after everyone was asleep since that was about the only quiet time that they could get during the course of the day. The day was filled with other activities of skilling up in the skills necessary in order to survive what was to follow. No-one knew just exactly what would happen. And they all fought down the worrisome thoughts that persisted. They could only do what they could and let the rest take care of itself.
Meg had plenty of ideas in her head that she gave voice to and Tosh listened to them, letting her speak...and offering little input, letting her freestyle think about the ideas and realizing that she thought the best on her feet and letting the ideas move through her mind.
Harm had achieved success with a plumbot and that success story was charging in the charging station downstairs. Artie was the prototype plumbot and had pretty much had every single trait chip that Harm had managed to invent installed in him. Competent Cleaner, AI Angler, Steel Chef, RoBotany...and well, Artie, evidently short for Artificial Intelligence, had an inherent fascination for the conjuring pot. So he spent a lot of his time hanging out making new gemstones for the group to get rich on and eventually had conjured a tiberium.
One of the key ideas that Meg came up with was the fact that they all needed to get younger. Since Jen had managed with the potion table to create a potion that manipulated genes to regain their youth, she suggested that they all drink Young-Again potions to go back to the very start of their Young Adulthood, that way they would have the stamina to effect the change on the environment as they needed post-apocalypse. Tosh thought that was a very good idea and told her so.
"So...who do you think should try it?" Meg asked him.
Tosh shrugged his shoulders. He was of mixed emotions about this. Being young again had its appeal, no doubt. But he'd been single for a very long time at this point. And wondering if he'd still be single for a long time yet again, had him wondering if becoming young again was worth it. Meg noted his skepticism...
"You seem a bit worried about the whole idea of becoming younger...Tosh, what is it?" Tosh looked at her and she faced him square on...
"I've always thought that there was no redo button in life, Meg..." Tosh told her, "It's always been a one-off, you don't get any second chances. Now with Jen finding this potion, we have multiple chances to get things right or get a redo over if we mess things up royally." He paused to look at her again, "I wonder just what that's going to do to our idea of caring about how we behave in the end."
Meg looked at him with a knowing expression, "I see your point...but there is one thing that I've always wondered...I've always put my career ahead of everything. And I resigned myself to never having a family because my Navy career was of primary importance. Serving our country and the fact that I was getting older. As our body ages, we start having higher risk of birth defects and thus I had figured that I had tossed my ability to have a family out the window. Now I have that chance again. And I don't want to toss the idea of having a family out the window if I have that chance again." She raised an eyebrow with a meaningful look aimed in Tosh's direction.
"...so...what do you say we take the Young Again potion together and see what it does?" Meg asked.
Tosh shrugged his shoulders and quipped, "Well...it couldn't hurt...I've always wanted to see if I could go back to running sixteen miles a day..." Meg snickered; she knew that Tosh hated running at the best of times.
So, pulling out their Young-Again potions that were given to them by CMCYN Jennifer Coates, "Down the hatch..." Tosh said as he upended the potion and guzzled it, as did Meg. "I don't feel any different..." he stated just before the transformation hit him. It was a tingling sensation that started through every blood vessel in his body and down his entire body from the top of his head to the very extremities.
As the transformation effects subsided, Meg leaned in close, her perfume tantalizing Tosh, making him very amenable to Meg's closeness. "I don't see any more crow's feet..." Meg murmured softly as she leaned in to inspect his face.
"You look as beautiful as ever..." Tosh replied...looking at her with an expression of awe.
Meg gave him a grin, "Awww, you always say that to all the girls you meet." she teased him.
"Only one girl in mind this time around..." was his response.
...and they leaned into each other's embrace as their lips met in a passionate kiss. "I..." Tosh stammered.
"You know how long I've been waiting for this..." Meg whispered softly.
...then it was clothes tossed aside and ardent passion for the next two hours as the both of them took things to the next level and beyond.
And morning found them sitting in the love-seat in the common area of their bunker sitting enjoying each other's closeness in the wake of their amorous machinations.
"That young again potion...um...really worked..." Tosh said off-handed, his mind on the memories that he and Meg had just created.
"It certainly did..." Meg returned playfully. "I never knew you had it in you..." she teased him gently.
"Maybe...another round later?" she continued.
Tosh's silent nod of agreement caused the corners of Meg's lips to curl in a smile as she leaned in again for their lips to meet in a kiss.
"Meg...you know I'm going to want more than just play-time." Tosh said meaningfully, "I'm at a stage where I don't want play...I want a meaningful relationship..." Tosh just barely restrained himself from saying age...they had just taken Young Again potions so age wasn't even a factor here.
Meg felt a welling of emotion in her as she realized just what Tosh was saying to her. "...you mean...?" her statement had a questioning tone to it.
Tosh nodded.
"Because...that's what I want too..." Meg said softly and that was that. They both realized that they were willing to take the next step in a future that would mean a life together; whatever that life would hold.
...so ultimately, Harm had come to the conclusion that there were many prospective members of the female human species that he could potentially be partners with in the romantic sense of the word. And frankly that made more sense than pursuing one Sarah Mackenzie who appeared that she wasn't sure of what she wanted in life. After all, if there was a Young Again potion, why not experience everything of what life had to offer?
After all, wasn't that what life was all about: the joy of the experiences? If you wanted to do something that took a younger man's physical energy to accomplish, just drink a Young Again potion and have the stamina to do whatever was required, whether it was moving fridges by oneself or building a house with a couple of friends. No more did time put a time-limit of one's abilities. He could do anything he wanted in life; have several go-arounds if he wanted. Nothing was out of his limit.
Harm revelled in the new found feeling of his youth yet again. He felt physically the same as if he was back to being a plebe in his freshman year at the Naval Academy. He felt that physically good. The aches and pains of ejections, of his ramp-strike were gone...and he felt better than he had felt for a long time. No more physical wear and tear on his body that he'd earned in fifty plus years of living. In short he felt his youth again and that felt good.
Then he saw his old RAG instructor who had taken his Young Again potion. Bulging muscles and back to being a young buck but with all the mental experience of his 62 years of life and 40 years of Naval Service coming to bear in a young 20 year old frame. Animal still carried himself like an fleet admiral. It would take a lot to take that out of him. "Good morning, sir." Harm stated as he looked over at Tosh.
"Morning, Captain, I see you took your young-again potion that Coates created." Tosh grinned at him.
Harm grinned, "Yes, sir, I did."
"Makes you feel young again, doesn't it?" Tosh grinned shrugging his shoulders, the bulging pectoral muscles could be seen under his Hornets Suck; Fly Tomcats t-shirt which served to piss off Hornet drivers off all the time (which was the main reason why he wore it.
"Feel like I could take up a F-14 and go one vs unknowns with an adversary squadron for a coupla hours." Animal grinned as he shot down one hand with the other in an imitation of what fighter pilots did when they recounted a great dogfight they had where they'd gotten the better of some other hapless schmuck.
"No doubt, sir." Harm replied. He felt the same way.
It was at about that point that Harm noticed Meg had come out of the women's washroom just barely dressed in a tie-dyed nightie. His eyes widened as he ogled her. Meg just raised one eyebrow as if to tell him to keep it "in his pants". "Hi Meg..." Harm grinned at her.
"Hiya Harm." her tone seemed preoccupied and she barely gave him a cursory inspection. After all, she was a higher-ranking officer and one of the command.
...and the perfunctory look that she gave Harm versus the tender, knowing look that she gave Animal told Harm that he wasn't even on Meg's radar. Her eyes were all on Animal.
...and Harm realized just how enamored Meg was of Animal when she raised a hand to stroke Animal's cheek...whispering softly, "Good morning..." to him. And that spoke volumes that Animal and Meg had during the night gotten to know each other far more than he knew. Which was even more apparent when Meg lip-locked Animal, right in front of Harm, himself.
Yes, folks, Meg was out of Harm's league and as a vice-admiral had more in common with Animal than she had with Harm and Harm knew it all too well. It didn't mean that it didn't sting though, considering that at one point, Meg had been a Lieutenant JG and his legal investigation partner when Harm, himself, was a Lieutenant Commander. But he'd fumbled and he'd fumbled badly and now Meg Austin, Vice Admiral, United States Navy outranked him and she had bigger fish to fry or...well...do things with that were best left out of polite company.
But losing the ability to have a relationship with Meg wasn't so bad when one considered the other options in the bunker.
Captain Kimber Benton, naval aviator, USN was a viable alternative to Colonel Sarah Mackenzie, if all things considered, she would give him the time of day. She'd been Animal's wingman throughout the years flying combat missions over Bosnia and the Baltics. And she was hard-nosed with a Navy Cross to boot, a much higher decoration than his Silver Star.
But the tantalizing picture of one VADM Megan Renee Austin never seemed to go away and teased him...endlessly...torturously...knowing that his former investigative partner was sleeping with his former Reserve Air Group F-14 instructor.
The rest of it, he didn't want to torture himself with...though his mind kept trying to do things that made him want to douse his entire brain with bleach.
But all the tomfoolery came to a halt late that afternoon when Tosh received a phone call, direct from the Pentagon. Four words from the Secretary of Defense that would scare the living daylights out of anyone who knew what they meant: "Lock down; Pinnacle Imminent..." Tosh's reply was four words back. "Aye, sir. Message Received."
It was at that point that Tosh knew that he needed to get everybody to the lowest part of the bunker and lock down so that they would be safe. Atlas, Franz and Scooter were also home resting and it was just a quick job of getting them down the steps to safety.
250 miles south of Ya'an
Somewhere in China
0235ZULU
The DF-12B missiles were launched in a major attack against airfields in Japan in a diversionary attack to make sure that the US's attention was diverted. If all of the forces were diverted, they wouldn't be able to absorb any new information as the constant battle traffic would be jamming the satellite com-links. Then as the battle waged on; in the evening then China would launch its missiles at the US Mainland with others aimed towards neighboring countries.
When the American fleets were thus engaged, the Russians and the Chinese would launch their missiles in concert; thus overwhelming the ABM missile defenses that the United States had. The entire US mainland would be covered in nuclear explosions making the entire area uninhabitable for the near future.
The Russian and Chinese generals had ascertained that a nuclear strike just as the populace was going to work would be the best way to get as many casualties as possible. This was known as the doctrine of attrition. A devastating strike on a city center that killed as many people as possible; a side-effect being the demoralization of the populace and thus an invasion could be instigated to bring the populace under heel.
Catching the US air defences unawares was key to this. This was the primary reason behind the Russians and Chinese developing hypersonic inter-continental ballistic missiles such as the RS-28 Sarmat (SATAN-2). They had targeted their RS-28 loaded with multiple 500kt warheads with two of the 10 warheads targeted on Sunset Valley. One to destroy the airbase, the other to knock out the city-hall.
No-one outside the bunker knew and even the ones inside the bunker didn't even know of the hideous doom that would descend from the heavens that morning. It all started off with everyone getting up in the morning and preparing for work. After all, it was a work-week and people had to earn money to live.
Everyone in the bunker remained inside the bunker at the lowest level because they didn't know what to expect...and they were correct to do so. Tosh had on the stereo tuned to a news channel to make sure that he knew what was going on when they heard the Emergency Action Message coming over the airwaves. Most everyone on the outside was unsure of what was going on and went about their business as if nothing was going on. Beau decided that he was going to have a barbecue and Nancy Landgraab decided that she would sit down outside the grocery store. And of course Gobias Koffi had to sit down outside the bookstore. The Clavells went to the library...it would be the last things that they would ever do.
The first warhead detonated at 0943hrs at its target over CFB Gnome thirty-six minutes after launch.
If anyone had any sight left after the detonation of the second warhead directly over the cupola of the city hall...their retinas seared to a crisp; before being flashburned by the fireball and having their eyeballs melted into goo running out of their empty eye-sockets, they would have seen the fireball and mushroom cloud rising from the first detonation of the nuclear weapon over CFB Gnome.
Paint bubbled and blistered, skin melted off the bones as meat seared and charred and then vaporized. If any structure was strong enough to remain standing after the blast wave, the only thing that would be left would be a human sized shadow burned permanently into the wall.
As the mushroom clouds rose into the air, there was no-one left alive to see the fiery plumes that topped out thousands of feet into the air...raising their mantle of death and destruction over what used to be a fair and thriving city.
...and the firestorms that raged went unabated as there was no one to put them out. The skies blackened with soot from the out of control fires.
The only thing that the occupants of the bunker could do was hope and pray that they would survive to see the remainder of what was left of their world.
