A New World: Conspiracy (24 page)

Bringing the binoculars to his eyes, Leonard
spots the long bridge connecting San Francisco and Oakland. It too
has spans down. It looks like someone tried to isolate the Golden
City from the rest. Leonard can only hazard a guess whether that
was to fend off night runners coming into the city or to keep them
from leaving. From all appearances, their endeavors failed as he
can’t spot any movement or other indication of anyone
surviving.

He hails on differing frequencies and has
the fog horn blown several times, but nothing he tries elicits a
response. Like Seattle, the city appears dead. He parks his boat
for a couple of hours attempting all forms of communication and
waiting for any reply while keeping a close eye on the fog bank
behind him. As he well knows, that fog can sweep in quickly and
he’s too close to the damaged bridge to make that a comfortable
proposition.

After satisfying himself that he isn’t going
to receive a response, Leonard directs the crew to turn the boat
around and begin making headway to the south and San Diego. He’ll
check Los Angeles on the way but feels that will be a moot foray as
well. Looking at the receding city, he begins to think he won’t
find anyone left in San Diego either.

As he descends, his comm officer approaches
holding a piece of paper, “Sir, you’re going to want to take a look
at this.”

* * * * * *

All eyes look toward the phone as its ring
intrudes upon the meeting. One of the officers reaches over and
picks up the receiver on the second ring. He listens a moment and
hands the receiver toward Gav, “It’s for you, ma’am.”

She grasps the receiver thinking,
What
could possibly be wrong now?

“Yes,” she says into the handset.

“Nahmer, we’ve located the
Santa Fe
.
You were right to keep a watch on approaches to San Francisco,” the
control supervisor states.

“I’ll be right there,” she says and hangs
up.

“Excuse me, gentlemen,” she says to the
commanders leading the battalion under her supervision.

With anticipation, she leaves the meeting
and marches down a wide hall. The plan to take out their command
failed. With her shooter being taken captive, she can only assume
that her group is known – if not now, then it’s only a matter of
time. They took their shot – literally – in an attempt to
assimilate the group with hers, but that idea now lies in ruins.
She has no choice now save for eliminating the group identified as
A-US-1 as a whole, or at least to a point where the remaining ones
won’t be a threat. Gaining command of her emotions, she slows as
she nears the control room. With a deep breath to calm and center
herself, she swipes her card and enters.

The large central screen shows sunlight
glimmering off a strait between two bodies of land. Just ahead of a
large fog bank, a dark cylindrical object lies in the middle of the
channel. Notations to the bottom right of the screen denote the
satellite and that the video is coming to them in real time.

The supervisor looks up from where he is
conversing with one of the operators and acknowledges her arrival
before bending back down and pointing at the monitor. Finishing
with his instructions, he hurries over to Gav.

“How long have they been there?” Gav
asks.

“They just emerged from the fog bank,” the
supervisor answers.

He speaks with one of the operators and the
image on the large screen blurs. It then sharpens as it settles on
a closer image. Gav can see three people on the conning tower. She
watches as the sub creeps forward, drawing closer to the collapsed
Golden Gate bridge.

Gazing at the sleek outline of the
Santa
Fe
, she is amazed that so much firepower is contained in such a
small vessel.

“Were we able to obtain their current
loadout?” Gav asks, indicating the vessel on the screen.

“Unfortunately no. We weren’t able to affect
a complete download of the DoD files, Nahmer. However, we can make
some fairly accurate guesses based on their last mission to the
Persian Gulf. Given their patrol location, it would seem likely
that they had a full complement of twenty-five Tomahawk cruise
missiles. Out best guess is a mix of the D version with
submunitions and the block IV version of the C variant.”

Gav nods at the information given as she
continues to watch the sub on the screen slowly maneuver and come
to a halt. For nearly thirty minutes, all eyes watch the
Santa
Fe
as it maintains a position near the broken bridge.

“What do you think they are doing for so
long?” the supervisor asks.

“Looking for survivors,” Gav says as if
there isn’t any other answer.

“Do you think they know about the
infected?”

“I would have to assume so. I seriously
doubt the group from Camp One would have withheld something like
that,” Gav replies.

“What would you like to do, Nahmer?”

Taking her eyes off the screen, she begins
writing quickly. Handing the paper to the supervisor, she says,
“Format this appropriately and send it when they depart. Contact me
the moment they head out.”

“Yes, Nahmer. What makes you think they’ll
leave?”

“They don’t have a choice. No sub captain is
going to risk his boat heading across that wreckage,” Gav says,
rising to depart. “And, unless I miss my guess, they’re heading to
San Diego.”

* * * * * *

Settled within the confines of the
communications room, Leonard stares at the message in his hand.
Studying the printed words for the fourth time, he still can’t
believe what he is reading.

Turning to his communications officer, he
asks, “Are you sure the codes are correct?”

“They’re old ones but they check out,” the
officer answers.

“Have you sent a receipt verification?”
Leonard asks.

“Not at this time, sir.”

“Okay. Send a verification that we’ve
received the message. Make sure our return message indicates we are
verifying receipt and not validating the contents. I need to think
this one over before we proceed farther. And let’s keep this
between us for the moment. We’ll brief the officers later,” Leonard
states.

“Aye, sir,” the communications officer
replies, starting to format the reply.

Leonard looks through the message once
again. In and of itself, it doesn’t say much. It is merely a
message stating that the Unites States government has begun to
rebuild and that a chain of command has been instituted. It goes on
to say that a safe zone has been created, but the reestablishment
of the government has taken time due to various factors. Satellite
control has been established and all units are to report in and
wait for further instructions. The message itself seems legitimate,
but Leonard isn’t entirely convinced of its authenticity
considering the old codes. Someone could have found and hacked the
old system and be trying to bring units still remaining under their
control. He will hold off on a final consideration until he has met
with his officers.

Making their way past the floating ghost
ships, the sub readies to submerge when Leonard is handed another
message. This one is in the same format as the others with the
exception that this one is a mission order as opposed to a general
bulletin. Leonard notes it is addressed specifically to them rather
than a general broadcast.

“Was this sent with the same set of codes?”
Leonard asks the officer.

“Aye, sir.”

Leonard rises and walks to the nav station
with the message in hand. Tracing the location given, he receives
his second shock of the day. Looking from the message to the map to
verify the coordinates, he stares at the map with grim
concentration.

The officer, looking over his shoulder,
asks, “Would you like for us to send an acknowledgement of
receipt?”

“What do you say we hold off on that for
now. Gather the officers and let’s meet in the officer’s mess,”
Leonard answers.

Clearing the approaches to San Francisco,
the
Santa Fe
slinks quietly below the surface. Once assured
that they are again on the southbound course and hidden from sight
below the Pacific swell, Leonard makes his way to where his
officers patiently wait.

Sitting in the enclosed space, he glances
around the room. All eyes return his gaze and he can see the
tension in them. He has both messages gripped tightly between his
fingers. For one of the first times in command, he isn’t honestly
sure what to do. The boundaries and guidelines he spent his career
with aren’t valid any longer. Or at least he assumed so until
receiving the first message. He has maintained that the United
States is still an operating entity as long as there was a command
in place to do so. And that command, to the best of his knowledge
so far, rested with him and his crew. And now this. Another entity
stating they have restored the government and are proceeding with
rebuilding the country. He is relieved, believing deep down that
this had to be the case, but that relief is tinged with
skepticism.

The code itself gives rise to suspicion.
It’s a valid code, but an old one. That in and of itself isn’t
enough to deny the validity of the message. From what he’s seen,
Leonard doesn’t see how there could be any remnant of government
left, but it could have been holed up and needed time to
consolidate – having to rely on old data stored on backups. It’s
the second message that triggers the biggest doubt. The order to
launch a Tomahawk strike against Captain Walker’s compound just
doesn’t make any sense. If anything, that group would be included
in an attempt to gather resources and rebuild. The order just seems
downright contradictory.

“Okay, gentlemen, it’s time to bring you up
to speed. Today we received…” Leonard begins and informs them of
the messages, reading them verbatim.

He notes more than one raised eyebrow when
he informs them of the coordinate location given in the second
message. He isn’t surprised by the blank stares as each officer
takes the information in and folds into their thoughts. The room is
silent.

“Well that just doesn’t make any sense,” the
XO states, finally breaking the silence.

“I should also tell you that we haven’t
acknowledged receipt of the second message,” Leonard says.

“I take it, sir, judging from our continued
southern course, that we aren’t going to accept the mission and
initiate action,” the XO comments.

“I have concerns regarding the legitimacy of
the orders but want to get the opinion of everyone here,” Leonard
responds.

Most of the officers give their concurrence
with their captain’s concern, either nodding or vocalizing their
thoughts.

“Can we message back asking for
verification?” one of the officers asks.

“It’s my thought, that if we decide as a
group to disregard the orders, we will act as if we didn’t receive
the message and continue with our current mission. In my opinion,
given what we’ve seen so far, we owe it to the crew to see about
their families. If we don’t, we may have to deal with…other
difficulties in the near future,” Leonard says.

A silent pause follows Leonard’s words.

“I think this needs to be said, and it
doesn’t indicate my position on the matter, but if we decide to
ignore the order and it turns out to be a legitimate one, we are,
in effect, conducting a mutiny or, at the very least, disobeying a
direct order,” the XO states.

“That’s an important point. Thank you, XO,”
Leonard says.

The officers glance around the room at each
other, trying to gauge the other’s reactions.

“It’s important that each and every one of
us votes according to their own thoughts and beliefs. Don’t fold in
with the rest if you believe otherwise deep down. Because of its
importance and possible ramifications, this matter is open for free
discussion,” Leonard says, looking at each officer.

More glances around the room but no one says
anything.

“Okay, gentlemen, let’s take it around the
table and vote. Aye for disregarding the message and continuing on
to San Diego and nay for accepting the orders and proceeding
north.”

“Aye.”

“Aye.”

“I would like to see the message validated
but understand the reason why we can’t. Aye,” the engineering
officer states.

“Captain, what if the messages prove valid?”
the XO asks.

“Then we’ll apologize,” Leonard answers.

“What will we do once we reach San
Diego…with regards to the messages?”

“If we decide to proceed in that direction,
we’ll have to base that on what we see,” Leonard replies.

“We’ve never disregarded an order before.
This could cause some concern with the crew. They may see the
reinstituted government as their best chance to see their families
again,” the XO continues.

“I realize that. Do you believe the messages
to be valid ones?”

“No. I think they’re bullshit, but I have to
bring up how the others may see it and how we’re going to deal with
it.”

“Agreed. And I’ll be briefing the crew on
our decision regardless of what that happens to be,” Leonard
says.

“Well, sir, you know how I feel. Aye.”

The vote continues around the room resulting
in a unanimous ‘aye’ vote.

“Okay, gentlemen. We’ll continue to San
Diego. I still want to check out the LA basin area, but we’ll
remain submerged unless there is an absolute positive indication
that survivors exist onshore. And we’ll maintain radio silence. No
further morning and evening calls on the sat phones or messages
directed inland. I’ll make a general announcement when we’re
finished here. Is there anything else we need to talk about?”

“Repairs, sir. We could use some time. I
realize we may not be able to use the dry dock, but we will need
parts,” the engineering officer states.