Depth Charge - red earth

Chapter 21

The rows of red and tan camouflaged tents of the southern camp had made a reasonable refuge as the constant flow of new refugees stretched the facilities to their limit. Together they sat in one of the main command tents.

"Has it been a week already?" questioned Becky.

Ryan stared blankly into the distance, thinking and searching his own mind for answers. He had being doing the same thing more frequently as he heard the continual updates from the battlefront and around the planet. The other camps in the northern regions were holding up well, as was theirs. The cities they lived in before though were reduced to rubble. Nothing would ever be the same.

Carl had refused to be promoted into an army position, instead choosing to be the new precincts police commander. Crime was an increasing issue as more people poured into the camps.

Casualties on the front line had been many. The councils had committed to their plans and they could not be turned back; not now. "Uh huh. Yep. Understood." Victor had a serious look on his face as he spoke through the comms. "Okay, we'll start preparations. Quickly; yes sir, or course."

"What's the latest?" asked Greg.

Victor faced them with a despondent look. "The council feels like they have pushed as far as they can into the tunnels. They are going to do a mass emergency evacuation and drop the bombs."

"They can't do that, it will destroy the planet!" protested Stacey.

Victor put his hands up in defence. "It's out of my control. We have to prepare the camp so the frontline troops can fall back into the safe zone. It's a massive task. I'll need everyone to help where they can."

"What if it doesn't destroy them?" asked Ryan.

Victor shook his head. "The creatures haven't ventured this far yet. Look, I don't have all the answers. All I'm asking is if you can help out or not?"

Victor and his team had saved them more than once. Despite their concerns, they weren't going to leave him in the lurch. "Of course, Victor. We'll do what you need us to do."

Victor exited the command tent with Meghan, Andy and Elmer. It was going to be more of an exercise in movement coordination than a battle, but maybe that was more complicated, they thought.

As they exited, Amy walked in with a male citizen. Carl turned his head to look at her, and knew who the citizen was. The man made eye contact with Ryan, Greg, and the girls. "Becky, it took me a while to find him again, but I didn't think you would want to miss another opportunity."

Becky stood up from next to Ryan and stepped closer to the visitor. Her eyes were focused on the man who stood before her. His clothes were dirty and well worn. A hard worker she figured. His eyes looked like hers though.

The man was very nervous and fidgety. Amy decided to break the ice. "Becky, this is ... Jeremy Caldwell."

"Father?" questioned Becky in an emotionally strained squeak.

Jeremy cautiously took one step forward as his eyes started to tear up. "Becky ... I,"

Becky remained standing in the same position, not knowing whether to shout or cry. Struggling to compose herself, she tried to think of the positives.

Jeremy took another step forward and outstretched his arms a little. "You look just like your ..."

Becky took a step back. Ryan stood up and walked behind Becky for support.

"I didn't mean for any of this to happen. Just give me an opportunity to try and explain," pleaded Jeremy.

"She's not ready yet," interrupted Ryan. 

Becky however placed her hand against Ryan's chest. "It's okay, Ryan. I'm fine. It's just all a bit overwhelming."

Ryan reluctantly sat back down.

"I don't expect anything too much," continued Jeremy. "Amy advised me of what usually happens in these instances. She also filled me in on a lot of things I didn't know about. They tricked me you know? At the hospital; they stole ... well I guess I shouldn't be mad at the nurse."

"Naomi?"

"She brought you up; gave you a life that I never could have. I didn't give up on trying getting you back though! I came back many times to find out what had happened, but they wouldn't tell me anything. No-one really knew anyway after the paperwork had been falsified." He took another step. "No one expects you to want to develop a relationship with your dropout of an old man."

"Then what do you want?"

"You sent out the detectives to look for me, remember? I just ... wanted to see how you'd turned out to be ... before ..."

"Before what Father?"

"Haven't you heard?" smiled Jeremy. "The planet is on the brink of destruction," another step. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay, and at least get to see you once before I never got to see you ... again."

"I'm okay, Jeremy." Replied Becky as she reached out to hold Jeremy's hand. "And ... thank you. Thank you for taking the time to come and see me. I appreciate it. I really do. I'm not mad at you, I couldn't be if I wanted to. Thank you Father. Thank you for giving me life."

At the sight of Father and daughter hugging, Carl, who was sitting nearby, put his hat on and took Amy by the arm. "Let's go, Amy, we've got a lot of work to do."

There was a bit of time after some brief introductions to catch up on what had happened with each other's lives; a time lapse verbal snapshot of all those things that each other rated as significant during their life. Home - work - people - places - incidents - milestones - moments; and of course the creatures!

Olympus Mons

The fleets of military carrier ships punched through the thick ash belt that surrounded the top of Olympus Mons. Smaller ships accompanied the larger carriers to prevent any unforseen assaults from new and unusual creatures that they had not seen.

"All clear sir, no resistance here."

"Proceed to descend for 500mt. That should give you enough time for a precision drop, and enough time to evacuate before the blast wave comes back up."

"Roger that. Operation Beetle Blast is now underway for final stage."

The volcanic activity from below tested out the heat resistance of the carrier ships as they descended. From the left side of one of the ships, a bright fountain of yellow orange lava burst forth, covering one of the smaller support ships. The intense heat of the lava melted through the ships exterior and sent if crashing in a ball of flames into the volcano. "Let's drop this carnage and get of here," shouted the operations commander.

Immediately after they had released the payload, the ships jolted upwards violently as their thrusters kicked in hard to make their escape.

Clearing the blast zone, the commander called in their status. "Drop off completed." An array of enormous flashes of bright white glowed from behind them. "Drop successful!"