Chapter 22
"General Baron, Sir?" His aid for the day, Private Cain asked hesitantly.
"Yes?" Replied Greg Baron slightly amused.
"Communications wants you sir. General Avery is on line for you." The private replied more confidently.
Nodding, Greg made his way to the office in his lodge which had been madeup as a communications/operations center. Shortly he found himself looking at the monitor which showed him General Avery, commanding General at NORAD.
"Ah, General Baron. Once again let me say you're looking very well. How is your wound coming along?" Avery asked.
"I'm fine, thanks for asking. The doctor says I will make a full recovery. Only lost a small tip of my right lung, so I won't really notice any impact breathing wise, or much anyway according to him." Greg responded.
"Glad to hear it. Look, the science johnnies have been going over some data that has been downloaded from a weather and atmospheric satellite. You might not have to move after all." General Avery said with a grin.
"That is good news! Last time we talked about weather, I was told that I might have to move, as well as everyone else that's left in Montana. What's come up?" Greg asked interestedly.
"Well, this is just a guess, some of it is fact, but mostly it has to do with natural gas deposits that were released and have been steadily releasing their contents into the atmosphere. Apparently there were a lot of natural gas pockets that were released, and still being released from the initial impact. The tidal wave caused some stress to the continental shelf and caused further release, and the earthquakes we have had, also has released more.
"The science johnnies say that with the added extra carbon dioxide that has been released into the atmosphere, it is enough to counter the ice age they originally thought might happen. As a matter of fact, the earth will be slightly warmer. Not a whole lot, but enough to offset the birth of that new island out in the Atlantic." General Avery finished with a grin.
"Thank God! I would have moved if I had to, but this is my brother's and my home. I would really have hated to give it up, especially after all the work we have put into it. Not to mention that the earth won't be hit hard with an early ice age. This is great news sir!" Greg said explosively.
"I thought you might like that news, so I gave it to you first. Look. I think you have your area under control for the most part. The president has a mission for you if your interested." General Avery said casually.
"Mission? I am ready for anything the president wants me to do, you know that." Greg responded.
"Well, this is a little out of your normal range of duties, but then, this whole mess is out of everyone's normal range of duties." General Avery said.
"We all have to make adjustments. I think the days of picking and choosing your work or jobs is probably on hold for a few years." Greg said with a grin.
"We have found a straight piece of highway close to the East Coast. We are going to start shuttling men, equipment and supplies in. We want to start mapping and looking over the damage done by the tidal wave from the ground. That straight piece of highway will be our landing strip. We have found other airports which we can land smaller planes, but this first drop will be with a C130.
"You will establish a base of operations there, at least temporarily. We have spotted several likely locations for more permanent base camps for you. Anyway, you should get your second in command up to speed. We are sending a copter for you and bringing you back here for briefings. That will be day after tomorrow. Any questions?" The General asked.
"Tons! But I can wait on those until I get to Cheyenne Mountain, sir." Greg responded.
"Looking forward to seeing you in person. Oh, the president would like you to autograph a copy of one of your books he has. Said it was a good piece of suspense." Grinned General Avery.
"Glad to do it. Looking forward to seeing you too, Sir." Greg responded.
The aircraft carrier Ronald Regan had taken up station well out to sea off the East Coast of the US. The Destroyer and cruiser were all topped off with food items, as was the aircraft carrier. The sub would be re provisioned at a later date. The Tender then steamed south and started to make it's way to the new Texas port of New Hope. There it would transfer supplies into it's cavernous holds and return to the ships that it serviced.
Texas had been spared the major effects of the tidal wave. Although the rains had flooded all rivers, and a lot of cities had been damaged and a few destroyed, the ports of Texas were actually in better shape than was first thought. Work was being done on the newly designated Port Hope. Dredges were removing debris and sand from around the port.
The oil refinery was fully operational and had a crew working 8 hours a day to refine the oil that was in it's tanks. They still did not have enough people to run 24 hours a day, but it was a testament to the construction of the oil tanks and the refinery itself, that it still stood in good condition and was operational. People were being trained, very carefully in how to refine oil into the fuels that were needed. No mistakes could be allowed to happen.
In Europe, things were still grim, but finally getting better. The Middle East was being cautious, but was in a good position. Water levels had risen and the desert was still blooming. That area had not seen this much water in thousands of years. Rivers ran full. Wells long empty were once again full. Countries that had wanted non interference from the Western nations had that freedom, but were now feeling the agony of not having access to the support system of the west.
Without the so called interference of the west, warlords ran wild. Local governments fell and were in turn overthrown. Israel was stable and was watching closely all it's neighbors. No one in the Middle East felt like trying to take on Israel as they now knew it had nuclear weapons. The biggest pinch the Middle East felt, was no spare parts flowed into their country. No medical help was forthcoming. No one was buying their oil. All in all, it was a very empty feeling of victory for those Middle East countries.
The freighter that had landed the French troops and conscripts was almost refurbished for it's part of the expedition to the East Coast of the US. It would be part of Greg Baron's support team. It now had two helicopters with enough fuel to last for two weeks of flights at 8 hours a day. That represented a lot of ground that could be covered.
Several different types of landing boats were stored on the deck. One of the things the ship had to do was to begin exploring the new island that had risen in the Atlantic. A team of scientists were already on board the ship. They were very excited about the prospect of exploring a newly formed land mass.
They were supervising the final loading of some of the equipment. Tons of food had already been loaded, as had fuel. The helicopters were tied down and most of the crew were already boarded. The ship had had a few modifications done to it's navigation computers since it's capture. Also new and advanced sonar equipment had been installed. A lot of the charts of the Atlantic Ocean were now useless.
The final aspect of the crew were the security team. Twenty five Special Forces soldiers and all their equipment were already boarded and were running ship security. Since they would be going into the unknown, it was decided that safety was tantamount, and instructions were to err on the side of caution.
Special lockers had been welded to the deck in specific locations. Each locker was locked and made of heavy steel. Special Forces soldiers were the only people that had access to these lockers. They were filled with the following. Five hand grenades, six 30 round clips of ammunitions for M-16s, one anti tank rocket, (LAW, light anti tank weapon) one stinger shoulder fired anti aircraft missile.
Mark Garret was riding the fence line as was normal. Ever since the disaster, things were tight. They had lost over a third of the herd of cattle that they usually ran on the ranch. The rains and the winter following had been hard to survive. Also the people that kept showing up and begging for food and stealing had to be dealt with.
Mark finally made it to the west corner of the fence line and he dismounted from his gelding. This was the spot he always chose to eat his lunch at. He hobbled his horse and sat on the stump opening his Tupper ware container with his lunch in it.
Shortly his lunch was gone, and he wiped out his container. Resealing it he sighed, and looked out over the highway that had taken a jog north. It ran straight and flat for a couple miles before it disappeared. Cocking his head he listened. It took him a moment to realize what he was hearing.
"Jesus!" He exclaimed as a huge aircraft came down low and landed on the highway right in front of him. This was definitely something you didn't see everyday. A huge four engine prop airplane landing on the highway which had not seen a car in months. He ran to his saddle bags which were still mounted on his horse, reached in and took out the police band radio his boss gave him for communications and turned it on.
"Base, this is Rover 4, over." He said into the radio.
"Rover 4, this is base. What do you have, over?" Base responded in the lilting of the ranch owners daughters voice.
"Hey Shirley. You're not going to believe this, but a huge aircraft has just landed on the highway by the west fence junction. It has United States Air Force markings on it. Over." Mark said into the radio. Silence followed.
"Hello? You still there Shirley?" Mark asked.
"This is base. Say again, over?" the voice coming over the radio was that of his boss and the owner of the ranch/farm, Julian Halstead.
"Hey Julian. A huge Air Force plane just landed on the highway just after it jogs north at the west junction of the fence line. They have come to a stop about a mile down the road. Want me to ride on down and see what they are up too?" Mark asked his boss.
"Ok. I am sending back up to you through the old fire road. The pick up should be there in about 15 minutes. Start your ride, at a walk mind you, in ten minutes. That should give them time to get into support position in case you need it. Find out who they are and what they want. Base out." Julian said with finality.
Mark was impressed. Julian never let any of the vehicles go anywhere. They had only a couple hundred gallons of gas left, and only 50 gallons of diesel. Julian must be very nervous about this aircraft if he was letting someone drive it out the old fire road.
He calmly walked his horse over to the section of fence that could
be opened, and he walked his horse through and closed the fence after
him. He took out his binoculars and focused on the plane. It was not
really a surprise to him that he noticed that the back of the plane had
a ramp down and people and equipment were off loading. He also saw a
man dressed in military fatigues looking back at him with his own
binoculars. He smiled, lowered his binoculars and waved.