Eminent Domain by W E Lafferty

Author:W E Lafferty [Lafferty, W E]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-02-26T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

The sun peeked over the horizon on the first official morning of Operation Eminent Domain. Tom Porter stood outside the command center and looked over the flight manifests in the first low light of day as the first two F-16s thundered into the air, one after the other. Their mission: to ensure the military’s possession of the spacecraft.

Each jet was equipped with two radar-guided AMRAAMs for long-range air-to-air targets, two AIM-9M Sidewinder heat-seeking missiles, in case the target was closer, two AGM-65 Maverick air-to-ground missiles to disable the ship on the ground if necessary, and a full load of 20mm armor-piercing rounds for the Gatling gun to dissuade unauthorized personnel on the ground from getting too close to the prize. The jets were also configured with two external fuel tanks so they could loiter, fully laden with ordinance, for two hours without refueling.

The pilots were directed to fly a loose formation around the mission area and wait for further orders. Commercial and general aviation were not to be interrupted until such time that the alien ship was located, but air traffic control in Albuquerque had been alerted of the military’s so-called “training exercise” and stood ready to divert all commercial flights from the area the moment the military gave them the word.

At the other end of the airport, rotor blades spun up on twenty US Army Apache helicopters, each equipped with six air-to-surface missiles, six smoke markers, and a machine gun. The birds also carried highly sophisticated radio receivers to scan all the frequencies above and below normal radio traffic, looking for any signal that sounded abnormal. The choppers were directed to fly in pairs as they transected the area. If a suspicious signal was detected, the two helicopters could split and quickly triangulate on the location. Each helicopter carried a cohort of six combat-equipped soldiers who could be dropped off to secure the military’s prize until they could bring in additional troops.

“Colonel?” A tall, thin master sergeant dressed in utility fatigues approached the mission commander. His arm was already raised in a salute.

Tom glanced up and returned the gesture. “Sergeant. How are you progressing with the hangar?”

From where he stood, Tom could see a dozen large trucks parked side by side just outside the hangar door. Everything that wasn’t part of the building was being loaded by forklifts and front-end loaders to get it out of the building and onto the trucks. Two “hangar queens” — F-16s that remained broken and were cannibalized for spare parts — had already been towed out of the hangar during the night and parked on an old concrete pad across the runway.

“Sir, the electricians and the ComSec team are on the mezzanine installing the SCIF and the hardware for your new command center. They should complete their checkout by noon. Logistics has already delivered the furniture. You should be able to move in right after lunch.”

“That’s great. How about the hangar itself? When will it be ready to receive the package?”

“Those trucks,”

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