Overthrown - The Aftermath - Pt. 19
After leaving Tom with his mother, and Alex with his wife, Bob took Sam, and they went back to the scene of the battle. Most of the townsfolk had already left, with arms full of weapons, ammunition, equipment, canteens, and other things that might prove useful in the future. Captain Ferguson still remained keeping a watchful eye out for any enemy soldiers that might not be as dead as they seemed.
"Captain. How are things going?"
"Fair enough. Looks like we got them all. I am a bit concerned that we've blocked off the only route out of here."
"Not quite Captain. We've blocked the only paved route. There are four dirt roads, that don't show on maps, leading different directions out of town."
As the men spoke to each other, Sam started to wander around, not so much checking for bodies, but rather to see if there was anything he considered valuable. Shortly he was a good thirty yards from Bob and Captain Ferguson, when he noticed movement among the rocks. Just as he had been taught about hunting, he froze. A wounded Chinese soldier, who was behind the men, raised himself slightly, and crouched behind a small boulder. Slowly he raised his pistol to aim and fire. It was the last thing he did. As he started to aim the weapon, an arrow thudded into the left side of his back, just at heart level. Bob and Captain Ferguson jumped as the pistol went off, from an involuntary jerk of the trigger. Both men pivoted and brought up their weapons, only to find the soldier lying face down on the stone, and Sam standing, with his bow still raised, about twenty yards behind him.
"I thought he was going to shoot you." He said almost apologetically.
"I'm sure you are right." Bob answered.
Captain Ferguson walked over to Sam, reached out and shook his hand with a simple, "Thank You."
Director Ives after being informed about the failure of the Chinese element, learned from satellite photos, was becoming angry. Taking heavy losses getting through the pass was unfortunate, but could be understood. But to have two companies of men wiped out by so few resistors, was unacceptable. As he stared at the photos, it became clear, another way would have to be found to get those people. The gap which the Chinese had entered was now nearly completely blocked. No vehicles would be going through it until after many days of clearing the debris. He would have loved to just use a nuclear weapon on them, but the master had forbidden that option. The plains to the east of them were not to be contaminated. He would need the food grown there for feeding those who supported him, after the new order was established.
Even worse, The Americans had beaten back the attack on the southern pass, and since then had re-enforced the northern one. That left only one option. A massive air strike. Something to level the entire town, and anything else within the target area. The only problem with that idea was that he was unsure if the resistors might have gotten hold of anti-aircraft missiles. He couldn't be sure, unless, he sacrificed some lesser aircraft first, to get them to show their hand. However, with the losses the Chinese had been suffering of late, they weren't likely to be willing to give up any aircraft for the purpose. He considered sending an unmanned aircraft over the area, but they were in short supply, and needed on the active front lines.
He finally decided that the U.A.V.'s would have to be used. The Chinese would just have to make do with their fighters and helicopters to get the job done.
That evening, Tim and Kathy held a special dinner in honor of their 'two heroes'. Bob, Maria, Alex and Michelle were also in attendance. The two young men were given the meal of their choice, out of the available stores. Everyone involved in the fight spoke highly of them, and told of the actions they had witnessed. As supper was being finished, Captain Ferguson knocked on the door, and was asked to join the group.
"I'm here, to do something I don't usually do." He held two certificates, quickly drawn up by Sally, which he awarded to Tom and Sam, for 'Bravery in the Face of Enemy Action'. The two of them were at a loss for words, being the center of so much attention. They murmured their thanks for the awards, and soon excused themselves. Kathy made sure Barbara, who was now living with them, stayed to help cleaning up after the meal. Captain Ferguson signaled Bob, and pulled him to the side.
"Have you given anymore thought to what happens next?"
"Yes, and it's not good. First of all, there is no good reason for the Chinese to come here. It is a nothing town, in the middle of nowhere. There are no resources here that they would want, and this place has no strategic value. That means someone sent them. So the question is why would anyone send a force that size to a place like this? The only answer I can figure is the number of Christians here. That in turn means our enemy is someone in league with Satan, and in control of these armies. Looking at our situation, in the natural, we are toast if we stay here. Every instinct I have is screaming at me to pack it up and leave. The sooner the better. But my spirit tells me to trust The Lord. The last thing I heard from Him, was to sit tight.
Again, looking at it from the natural, in order to prevent another attack, we would have to guard the next nearest place the enemy would have to pass through to get here. As you know, that means the gap on the other side of the plains outside of this valley. That gap is thirty miles from here. Which would require us leaving our people thirty miles from help, or resupply. I can't do that. And even if we had a battalion of trained men, we couldn't hold those plains for very long. The only choice that leaves is to try to fort up here, and hold on until The Lord tells us something different.
My main concern right now, is an attack from the air. We are out of range of artillery, and American forces are between us and the Chinese, so that means the next attack must come from the air. If it were helicopters, we might be able to knock them down with small arms. So I imagine, they will use fighters, or bombers. I don't think they'll use bombers, again, because of our distance from the front. I believe it will be fighters with missiles. And against that, I'm not sure what we can do."
"Do you have any electronics experts around here?"
"I'm not sure. Lets' find out."
Director Ives was becoming more and more frustrated. It was bad enough those people had defeated the Chinese forces sent against them, but it had been ever more difficult to convince the Chinese commander that an air strike was actually needed. After the Commander had ruled out using the unmanned vehicles, siteing his need for them to be used to overcome the American forces, He had spent four days convincing the Commander that he had to take out the town. To take revenge for his lost men, if nothing else. It didn't matter that the town had no real military value, revenge must be taken, or else the rest of the Americans might be encouraged to rise up and fight them. Then what would he do?
The man was becoming more cautious with each passing day. Even now he was only willing to assign five fighters to the strike. Ives knew that the Nazarene must be involved in this somehow. No mere man would have been able to figure out what he was up to, and be prepared for the actions he had taken so far. All right, this time he would be cautious. The planes would be ordered to come in low enough to evade radar. That way, even if those people had some way to plug into the American system, they would never see them coming. Ives smiled as he thought of how surprised those Nazarene followers would be, as they died.
"Bob. I'm glad I found you. I wanted to tell you that the transmitters and generators are in place, and operational. Our forward observers will be in position within the hour." Captain Ferguson reported.
"Good. I'm glad to hear it. None to soon if you ask me."
"Bob? Are you certain about the transport for those O.P.'s? I mean it seems to make more sense to use the trucks, instead of the go-cart and those chain-saw engine bicycles you have."
"It does make sense to use them." Bob insisted. "First of all, those things make smaller targets. Those trucks can be seen quite a way off. Also the bikes and cart are gas powered, the trucks are diesel. We don't have diesel, but we do have gas."
"Alright, it's your call. When do you expect the attack?"
"What time is it?"
It was twenty four hours after their conversation that the attack came. Four two man groups had been placed out on the plain, between fifteen and twenty miles from the town. When they heard the aircraft coming, they reported in.
"Here we go." Bob said, and warned the men on the transmitters to listen to the radios and be ready to fire. He thought back the conversation he and Captain Ferguson had with the only man in town with the needed electronic knowledge.
"Captain, Bob, what you are asking can be done, but you have to understand there are problems have to be overcome. But as I said, yes, you can turn a microwave oven into a weapon. You see, that is the easy part. All that you do is open it, get the parts that actually create the microwave, and then direct the energy inward and change the direction towards whatever you want to shoot at. But here is where you start to run into problems. This weapon will be short-ranged. Two to three hundred yards is about the best I can promise you. Even then, you will have to keep the beam of energy on your target for a few seconds. If you are talking about planes and missiles, that is going to be tricky to say the least. However your major problem is going to be the hazard it creates for whoever shoots the thing. After all, this is a microwave. It cooks things. Without proper shielding, well lets' just say that it would be a good idea for your gunners to be older family men. That way if anything goes wrong, at least they already have their family. You can without a doubt sterilize a man by accident. Not a good choice for a young man."
"George, we have full confidence in you. Just do the best you can, and trust God for the rest."
Now they were going to find out just how good George really was. The plan was simple enough. Men at Observation Points placed in the plains had announced the jets ere on their way in. Now, when they heard one of them launch a missile, they would report it in. Failing that ten seconds after the jets passed overhead, the microwave transmitters would be turned on. They were placed so that their fields of fire would overlap. That way, as the missiles came in, they would be hit by more than one beam of energy, which would fry the electronics inside the missile. At the prearranged signal, all of the weapons were turned on. The Chinese pilots fired at a distance of ten miles. the missiles came in low, just above the ridge line. Tim radioed Bob.
"Bob! I don't think it worked. Most of the missiles just flew right over us. We only knocked down one of them."
"Keep firing towards the enemy. One salvo isn't going to wipe out this town, and they know it. They'll fire again."
As Bob finished speaking, there was an explosion on the far side of the ridge. As one missile fell short. He looked up and watch three more of them pass harmlessly overhead. The missiles were blinded by the beams, and continued to fly straight ahead, instead of to their intended targets.
"Bob! The next wave is inbound. We got three this time. One of them took off like a moon shot."
"We're waiting. Engage the planes as they come over."
Again, a missile fell short, and hit the other side of the ridge The last missile cleared the ridge and suddenly turned right and continued its' flight out into the plains to the east.
For their part, the pilots failed to understand why they had lost video from the missiles. They flew in, low as ordered, and into the microwave beams. Suddenly all of their systems went out. As they tried to regain control of their aircraft, they flew into the ground, exploding in huge fireballs.
"Gunners! Cease fire." Bob shouted into the radio. "O.P.s' report any sign of further activity." He didn't wait for them to answer.
"Bob. Loks like we did it." Captain Ferguson smiled at him.
"Thank The Lord, Captain. Thank The Lord."
BW, Vietnam Vet