Countdown to apocalypse, p.23
Countdown to Apocalypse, page 23
Skies over the City
Rosie ignored the steady beat of the Seahawk’s rotors as she examined the results she was getting over the chopper’s electronic countermeasure’s suite. The target she was hunting was a little bigger than some jumped up Triad thugs, but it was a lot better hidden too.
The jamming had a local center, of course, but it was difficult to pinpoint because of the nature of the odd technology she was dealing with. If it were jamming local equipment, she would probably have easily pinpointed the target in a few minutes, but somehow the system was only jamming long range signals while leaving the local area apparently in the open.
That shouldn’t be possible, strictly speaking, and it added to the complexity of her tax by several levels of magnitude, but it did offer her a few clues that she could work with. The biggest being what she’d discovered earlier and was now using, in conjunction with the mobility of the Seahawk, to get a tighter locus on the target.
“I think we have it down to under a three hundred yard diameter,” She said.
“That’s still a big target for something we can’t see, Ma’am,” The pilot said over his shoulder.
Rosie nodded, knowing that was true, but it was better than they’d had before and it was something they could work with.
“It’ll have to do,” She said, calling up a patch to translate her locus data from the US Military’s GPS coordinate system to the Chinese BeiDu Navigation data. She then sent the data to the Major General and hoped it would be enough.
“We’ve got a call from Lana,” She said a moment later, sending GPS location data from another file to the pilot. “Head for these coordinates next.”
“You’re the boss, Ma’am.”
The Seahawk twisted and rolled in the air, coming around and heading for Lana’s location.
*****
PLA Mobile Command
“Flight Nine Nine Seven,” The Major General said as he read off the file from the American communications specialist. “I have a target location.”
“Roger Major General,” Colonel Kin responded immediately, “Please be aware, we have no targets on our system.”
“Target is stealthed,” Wey answered instantly, “Prepare to fire blind on specified coordinates.”
The answering silence spoke volumes, and Wey wasn’t surprised by it but he didn’t have time to let the Colonel express his doubts either.
“Confirm your orders, Colonel.” He barked sharply.
“Orders confirmed, Major General. We stand by to do our duty.”
“Very good, Colonel. Engage the targets at the transmitted coordinates, report results.”
*****
Colonel Kin of the PLAAF took a deep breath, hoping that the Major General hadn’t lost his mind as he killed the safety systems and brought his weapons live. Similarly he saw the telltales that the rest of his squadron had done the same as they pivoted South and climbed to the engagement altitude.
Hong Kong lay ahead of them in the clear day’s light, smoke rising from the fighting on the ground, but in the skies there was only the Dragon of note yet, as impressive a sight as the beast was, it was nowhere near the engagement altitude.
What are we firing upon?
Kin didn’t know, but he went through the final checklist all the same.
“I will fire first,” He informed his squadron. “Nine Nine Seven engaging.”
He settled his thumb on the firing stud for the PL-12D missile that immediately dropped from its pylon and hissed to life, lancing off and away from his aircraft.
*****
Hong Kong Residential Building Rooftop
They burst out onto the roof, guns ready as the group stepped into the light. There were ramshackle huts setup in several spots, people looking at them with wary curiosity as they made their way to an open area of the roof.
“What’s this?” Lana asked, confused.
“Rooftop squatters,” Jin answered, “Technically illegal, but there are too many in the city to police effectively. Most of them pay rent to the building’s owners anyway, so not much incentive to call the police.”
“Wow, ok. Always something new,” She said as she looked around, then nodded in the distance. “There’s Rosie.”
Indeed, the Seahawk helicopter was approaching quickly. It turned side on to them as it neared the rooftop, the side door opening up.
“Lana!” Rosie called with a grin, “You find her?”
Lana nodded, gesturing the Qi, “Right here. How’s Cap holding up?”
“He’s been better,” Rosie yelled over the rotors as the big chopper was brough in close and the pilot settled it down, barely touching the roof as he kept the power to the rotors to keep the weight off the building. “Come on!”
Lana nodded and gestured before heading for the Seahawk herself. She piled in, then helped Qi, who looked confused as the soldiers pushed her along ahead of them. In a few moments they were all piled in, and the Seahawk eased off the rooftop and climbed back to the air.
“You all will want to see this,” Rosie said as an alert sounded from the pilot’s compartment. She left the door open, the wing rushing around them as she pointed, “See that?”
Lana leaned forward, “What is it?”
Lieutenant Jin frowned, eyes widening, “Is that a missile?”
“It’s one of yours,” Rosie assured him, “If my numbers are correct, we should see something spectacular in… three… two… one…”
For a moment nothing seemed to happen, and Lana was starting to say something about Rosie’s math, but then the missile suddenly exploded in mid air and they found themselves staring at something… impossible.
The fireball of the missile was partially eclipsed by open sky, as though something had simply cut a hole in the fireball. Smoke and fire poured out around the edges of whatever it was they were looking at, but none of them could tell just what it was sitting in the center.
*****
The probe was momentarily, and simultaneously, shocked and irritated that the locals had managed to locate it somehow. The attack had done little, if any, damage but the fact that they had been able to fire such a weapon in the first place was troubling. That indicated that, one some level, their technical ability was much higher than previously calculated.
It plugged the new observation into the numbers it had been working and decided that the new development was, at most, a minor inconvenience.
The local weapons were entirely unsuited to engaging the probe’s defenses, even their largest available weapons were of no true threat.
The probe entered the incident, noted the technical paradox, but concluded that the experiment was continuing as planned despite the attack.
Phase two was nearing completion and the numbers for the third and final phase were already prepared and merely waiting for the execution.
*****
NRO HQ, Chantilly VA
“What the hell is that?” Kane demanded as he rose from his seat, eyes already on the playback that was running on a different screen.
The fireball seemed to wrap around something, something that was both there and not there at the same time. If that is some kind of stealth system, it’s beyond anything anyone is working on. What are we dealing with here?
“Director, the Chinese are firing again.”
Kane shifted to look at the live screen, noting that saying that they were firing again was a bit of an understatement. The entire PLAAF squadron had loosed what looked like every damn bird in their inventory.
“Record this, every angle,” He ordered, “I want every satellite feed we have recording every second of this! And get me the NSA, I want their intercepts out of Hong Kong. I want Everything!”
On the screen the missiles found their target and the fires of Armageddon seemed to cover the city in a blanket from hell itself.
Chapter 21
Alex was singed, burnt, couldn’t smell much more than smoke, and he was highly pissed off.
No matter what he did, the Dragon just kept coming. He’d long ago been forced to ditch the damaged Milcor, simply because the clumsy weapon was getting in his way as he tried to fight the intangible yet annoyingly solid beast he set his sights on.
The only real upside to the whole thing, in his opinion at least, was that he seemed to be driving the Dragon just as nuts as it was driving him.
They would clash, hard and fast with violent results as pockets of air exploded with each blow exchanged, but neither could get much of an edge. The dragon protected the man at its center, and Alex himself was more than tough enough to take what the Dragon could dish out. That left the pair of them at a running stalemate, each hoping that the other would run out of energy before they did.
So far neither were showing any signs of that, however, and it was beginning to worry Alex because there was more to this fight than just the Dragon.
He just hoped that his friends were handling their end with no insurmountable problems.
“Come on you burning iguana!” He yelled at the beast, “I don’t have all day!”
The Dragon roared back up at him, it’s rage needing no translation as it lunged up at him and Alex charged back down.
He and the Dragon both were shocked into missing one another as an explosion tore the sky above them, both looking up in confusion as they thought perhaps it was an attack from another direction. The fireball didn’t seem directed at them, however, so both drifted in mid air for a moment as they puzzled it out.
It was an odd moment for Alex, he looked up at the explosion that seemed to be somehow eclipsed by something he couldn’t see, then across at the Dragon that somehow looked as confused as he felt.
“Don’t suppose you know what the hell that’s all about?” Alex asked dryly.
The Dragon looked over at him and suddenly roared again, curling itself up and striking out.
“Me and my big mouth!” Alex snapped, blocking the attack on his forearm and unleashing a punch that could shatter steel in return.
The blow merely drove the beast back a bit, giving him maneuvering room as they continued to exchange blows back and forth in their duel across Hong Kong’s skies.
They were still fighting that stalemated battle when the skies above exploded with such force that, for a brief moment of panic, Alex genuinely thought the Chinese had elected to nuke the damn city to cut the threat off at the knees.
Again the battle between he and the dragon paused, and this time all Alex could do was stare up in shock, his jaw dropped low.
“What the hell was that!?”
*****
The shattering explosion in the sky caused everyone fighting to pause, looking up to the expanding series of explosions that had rent the sky. The flames and expanding smoke revealed something hanging over the city, something immense, and across Hong Kong all eyes turned to the skies high above.
The amorphous shape could barely be made out, not in itself but by what it blocked their sight from. No one could agree what it was, but thousands took pictures and video and within days millions would have theories.
The only thing that most could agree on when they saw it was that it was most likely connected to what had been happening in Hong Kong over the last several days… and considering the billions in damage done and the hundreds or more lives lost, it couldn’t be a good thing.
*****
Wey was yelling into the radio, demanding every air to air and surface to air asset in the area be re-tasked to strike at the object that was hanging over the city but there was a definite limit to available assets.
He looked out of the command tent, up to the thing in the skies over the city he was tasked with defending and knew he had to find some way to take it down.
Wey turned and strode back into the tent, switching over to the PLAN frequencies.
“This is Major General Wey,” He said, “I am transmitting coordinates. I want all available destroyers with surface to air assets within range of Hong Kong to engage the target at these coordinates. This is a direct order, comply!”
He snarled closing the connection and hoped that at least some ships were inside the range of the bizarre jamming and could pick up that signal.
Whatever the hells was sitting over the city was not supposed to be there, and it was his job to ensure that it did not remain in place.
*****
Ogre looked up in surprise as the sky was torn asunder by dozens of explosions. The distraction was only momentary but served his opponent’s purpose as he was suddenly clocked by an uppercut with enough force to send him flying in a thirty-foot arc that ended with him crashing into a parked car that had, somehow, been undamaged to that point.
The steel of the car folded around him as he landed, the contents of the gas tank atomizing from the impact. The explosion surprised him as the flames enveloped him a moment later, kicking the wreckage up and over.
Steel creaked and groaned as he shifted under it, moving to push the metal away from him as he struggled back to his feet and knocked off the remains of the vehicle.
“Ow,” He rumbled, brushing off some of the burning gasoline from his arm.
“You ok, buddy?” Tee asked, approaching cautiously.
“’m Fine,” Ogre growled as he glared at the little man across the way. “Just surprised.”
“It was a hell of a surprise,” The Seal said as he set his rifle, now quite empty, down on the sidewalk. “Want me to take over?”
“I’m fine,” Ogre said, kicking the burning wreckage away. “What’s up with the sky?”
“Dunno, but I figure Rosie probably has something to do with it.”
Ogre laughed softly, “Yeah. Probably does. Alright, let me put this pipsqueak down. Be right with you.”
He strode forward toward the man he’d been fighting, who was now sneering at him.
“You think it will be that easy, you lumbering oaf?” The man asked as he got ready to continue the fighting. “You aren’t nearly enough man to put me down, fool.”
Ogre snarled shifting into a run as he pulled back his right hand for a massive blow. The man didn’t move as the punch came in, merely set himself and reached up to catch the punch. An explosion of air erupted from the two on contact, and Ogre found himself halted in place as he strained against the Chinese man’s strength to no avail.
Suddenly he felt himself lurching forward and up as he was thrown in a high arm over the man’s head and into the building with a crash of glass and steel.
“None of you are enough to stop me!” The man laughed maniacally, leaving no one in earshot any doubt as to the remaining status of what dregs of sanity the man might have had to begin with.
Tee grimaced, flexing his arm and feeling his flesh change.
He hated fighting insane people.
*****
The PLA forces had moved back into the fighting as soon as the Americans brought the focus onto themselves, tanks rolling down the streets and engaging the empowered thugs with cannon and machine gun fire as Hong Kong Police charged in beside them and began running crowd control in the thick of the worst of the fighting.
Amid the fighting, with bullets and explosions erupting around them even as strange energy blasts tore back from the other side, police and paramedics refused to take cover as they worked tirelessly to get as many out of the way of the fighting as they could.
For many, both official and civilian, it wouldn’t be enough.
*****
Yan was infuriated.
The Americans, they could only be Americans… no one else on the planet was this consistently infuriating… were driving him insane with rage.
They kept coming at him, no matter how much the beat them back.
The big one he’d thrown into a vehicle and it exploded, yet the oaf just got back up and charged again! He was beginning to think he had some idea of what the military had felt fighting him.
That thought cheered him up.
He was truly more powerful than he realized!
Yan glanced to one side as another of the Americans charged him, hands glinting oddly. He dodged on instinct, and felt his flesh part neatly as the strike came closer than he would prefer.
“Again with the cutting?” He spat, feeling the injury heal. “It’s useless, you must realize that by now! I’m already healed.”
“Let’s test the limits of that,” The American snarled, lunging in again.
Yan dodged, avoiding the man’s arms as he realized that there was no blade in them but they looked different, glinting in the light.
Another changed. The Americans are making a play on my City, then.
Yan determined that he would have to teach them a lesson they would not soon forget for that particular trespass. He lunged forward, intent on breaking the American in half, only to find the man slip from his grasp and a burning sensation lit up his side as he clutched at an open would that, though healing quickly, stung like a bitch.
“How are you doing this!?” He snarled.
The American shrugged, wiggling the fingers on his empty hands, “Magic I suppose, how do you do what you do?”
“I am a GOD!”
The American laughed, dodging the attack that Yan launched after that proclamation, “The gene tinkering really screwed with your head, Bucko. You’re just someone’s escaped labrat, same as me.”
Swing after swing connected with nothing but air as Yan roared in rage, burning pain erupting from all over his torso and thighs.
He looked down, staring at the blood that flowed freely from cuts so deep he could see his intestines and other organs before the flesh healed up as he turned around, seething with blinding red rage.
*****
What the hell does it take to put this psycho down?
Tee was starting top get a little concerned over the running fight. The man was strong enough to give Ogre a surprise, which was no mean feat, and he healed at an incredible rate. If they didn’t reach a limit soon, Tee was starting to think the Triad thug would outlast him by just taking every hit and grinning while he kept on coming.
His alteration wasn’t as overpowered as the Captains or Ogres, not that he envied Ogre in the slightest, but Tee would never sneer at the ability to cut steel with his bare hands. The problem was, damn near as fast as he could cut into the damn fool, it was all undone.
