Iron Empire

Forty-Four: Scavenger Hunt

Report: Stonewood, D,
A crater in the Annamite Mountains.
Vietnam.
Abandoned WWIII missile silo.
Wartime designation unknown.

Moments ago...

"How's it going, Dan?" Jackson called.

I sat on a dusty metal stool on the third floor of the missile silo, hunched over an antique computer.

The room around me was in shambles. The warhead silo had been left untouched by Axion, meaning the evidence of whoever had last used it was still here. This floor of the building was dominated by a tactical center, tacky linoleum flooring filled with evenly spaced desks, dusty chairs and the worn remains of ancient computers. Light streamed through the grimy windows in random shafts, piercing through the places where the dust was thinnest. The room smelled of copper and mould.

On the farthest wall from the window, a few wooden doors led into what I assumed were the offices of different high-ranking military figures. Though I didn't recognize the Vietnamese writing on the doors, the symbols stood out. Stars.

Dominating the center of the room was a large console that seemed to be built into the ceiling and floor of the base itself. The warhead console was a pillar of stainless steel, inset with several computer screens and decorated with various sealed hatches that undoubtedly contained its controls.

One of the lowest panels of the console lay open before me. In a feat of strength that had surprised myself, I'd bashed it in with the leg of a chair so I could access the wiring underneath.

The launch system was dead, but I was extremely lucky it didn't require physical keys like older systems had. Whoever had owned this base during the Third World War had it set to accept the keycard of any high-ranking military commander. I certainly wasn't a commander in any military, so using the wires underneath was my only option.

I'd gone from hacking a computer system to physically hacking apart wires, desperately trying to send a current through the right one. It felt like an impossible task.

"This blasted system is so antique by now that most of my usual methods don't work!" I responded.

I glanced at the tall window that took up most of the wall on the other side of the room. Bright flashes behind the grimy pane hinted at missile fire.

"Good on the Koreans for showing up," I continued. Realizing nobody would have any idea that I'd been listening, I explained further. "I've been listening, just too busy fighting with this stupid computer to add my two cents."

Jackson let out a quiet laugh.

"So I'm assuming..." he began.

I looked at the dismantled launch controls and sighed.

"Yes, I'll need more time."

The Xiezhi pilot, Sojwa, chuckled.

"I am happy to provide."

The console was a mess of wires at this point, each one meant to trigger a different function. I sighed. I was getting nothing done like this. The computer needed digital identification, one I could not provide. It appeared there was a keycard reader built into the console, but the card itself was nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, epiphany found me.

Finding the keycard was, in fact, completely possible. The missile silo was not connected to the crater's main facility and had been empty for years, ignored even by Axion. The end of World War Three had made nuclear weapons obsolete—I was willing to bet the soldiers who had occupied the base would've been eager to return home and rather forgetful. That meant that there was a chance, however unlikely, that an officer's card had been left behind, untouched by Axion's occupation of The Crater.