END TIMELINE DROP. +
***
So, just like that, we were in the military. Sort of. We were definitely military-ish. Mr. T said there was no need for a formal boot camp. A good deal of the necessary disciplines had been instilled through martial arts training, wilderness camps, and shooting. There would still be a need to become more disciplined. He said we had done well in the action to save the little kids on the Narrows Bridge. We were declared fit for duty with the qualification of a need to develop better team cohesion and tactics.
Our barracks aren’t so bad either. Para and I already have a bedroom we share at Grandad’s house, going way back. Rock and Roll set up in a room downstairs across from the main lab area. They have cots that are actually rather comfy. Or they can sleep on a couch. Not too bad for military life. We were now at liberty to make our plans as a team and fully utilize our team extreme force multipliers. Our gifts.
For that, we would need to better understand our enemy and develop effective tactics involving our force multiplying capabilities. We would begin our SIGINT work with the bug nest at the Capital Mall. Mr. T cleared the operation with our superiors. I was surprised they gave the go-ahead without requiring a lot of information. They should have at least looked over our OPORD directive. I’m not sure the higher-ups even took Mr. T’s explanation seriously. Our field capabilities were unknown to them. The outline of the carnage we intended to bring to the enemy was general but there were enough details to provoke at least a question or two.
The operation was certainly not going to involve classic SIGINT work. For all I know, command thought we were going to test run a holographic fright show on the enemy in order to gain some clues into their psychological makeup. Bottom line, we were too immersed in planning at that point to overthink our place in the line of command.
Perhaps you read the Goldilocks report on Bugblast. For this mission we developed our own OPORD directive. There were Rules of Engagement, Target Intelligence Information gathering, General Order of Battle development, Preplanned Support derivation. Even as we developed a team strategy to help end the bug invasion, it was necessary to work on team tactics to enable each step toward victory.
The area around the nest ship was divided into 12-zones, like on an old analog clock. The ship, in the middle of the Ellipse, would be dead center. Due north, toward the White House, was 12 o’clock. With that, we could communicate target locations by calling out a zone number and a distance from the ship using meters. We practiced using that system a bunch of times before the operation. It was hard at first to eyeball distances. It helped to think of 100-meters as the distance of a football field. Mr. T wrangled us some very good optics with calibration marks to help with distance calls.
There would be three teams. Two assault teams and an overwatch situated within the observation deck of the Washington Monument, to spot targets of opportunity and watch for danger. Only one assault team would be in play at a time. When not attacking, the other team would port to the safe base, the observation deck, to avoid friendly fire and regroup.
We would try to set up each encounter with a large number of bugs between our assault team and the ship. There was less chance of one of our teams getting blasted from the ship that way. Also, ship rail guns and DEW weapons are not mounted on the exterior. They are deployed through special hatch areas around the ship. It takes a few seconds to roll out the guns and fire; hopefully enough time for a tactical porting retreat.
We wanted to work on tactics but we didn’t want to disclose our porting capability to the enemy. Rock did some recon work and took pictures of the area all around the bug ship. This nest ship had dug in especially deep. They must have done some blasting on the way down. There were large mounds of dirt all around the area. The mounds could be used for porting cover. The bugs might wonder how we were sneaking onto the grounds, but we hoped they wouldn’t record an actual porting event.
This was a risky operation on several levels. What if the op went sideways? There was concern the bugs might retaliate if we got too carried away with the assault. Grandad verified the mall area had been evacuated, including the pentagon, so no lives would be in jeopardy. Well, other than our own. Hopefully the bugs wouldn’t decide to wreck any of the buildings, or worse, as the mission unfolded.
To mitigate against that eventuality, we decided to limit the carnage. Even so, we would push our goal, to determine how to physically and mentally overwhelm our enemy. We had practiced some team tactics and wanted to see if those tactics would work in a real war zone against this enemy. There would be opportunity to test some ordnance and determine bug response to attack. We would use low yield charges to limit the damage, this time around.
The bottom line? To know and understand this enemy, it would be necessary to get close, and look them in the eye. It seemed as though they could be easily provoked into a mindless rage. Any kind of rage could certainly be turned to our advantage. An angry person can’t think well. It was
