Chapter 9B

The next few days saw the arrival of Bob, Harry and Elsie May. Bob dived headlong into the task of getting the generator working, Harry organised things and Elsie May got loaded. We stuck to the strict half a day loading rule and the ship left on time.

Meanwhile, our three hackers, two comms experts, two electronics experts and I rebuilt the mess of hardware and wiring that once inhabited the attic. With input from the military part of the team regarding reliability and strength, the hackers side of the team in low-level interfacing and me as system administrator, we did a fine job. It didn't look very pretty but it worked and well. We had asked Bob & Harry to bring over lots of computer spares from our supplies and we had two virtually identical systems built with spares in case something went wrong. The we tested it.

In case your interested we used Linux as we did on the Island. We more-or-less had to. Microsoft was no more, so there was no-one to phone up to get the unlock codes for their latest and greatest. Of course, the phones didn't work either, but you get the idea. The Open Source Linux, with all the stuff that went with it, was ideal for our purposes. If something went wrong, we could fix it. If we needed it to do something diferent, we could change it. For us, it was perfect.

For the Alpha end of the operation we had the two PC tablets and some solar panels. The tablets were packed into two of the rucksacks and the solar panels strapped to the outsides so that any daylight charges the batteries in the tablets. We also carried chargers that could be plugged into the cigarette lighter in a car.

Finally, I told the Omega-Team to start learning about each others jobs. Predictably, it was Tom who complained.

"Man, we don't need any of that."

"Oh yes you do. Look, you're not going to be out there getting shot at. When we call for information I don't want to hear anyone say 'we can't do that 'cos Tom's having a dump and we have to wait for him'. I want the information. So you will each learn how to operate this and learn to operate it by yourselves as well."

"But it really isn't necessary."

"And this isn't a game. You need to sleep and eat and we need to stay alive. Once we leave here this kit will be expertly manned 24/7, no excuses. If you can't do it then you're on the next ship out of here. We need reliability, not testosterone."

He grumbled a bit more but they all learned to operate the kit as we needed them to. We ran some simulations to check them out and threw some really sneaky tricks into the works to try and trip them up. They each had to operate the kit by themselves for the first tests then we had all of them on it and really threw it at them. They were understandably shaky to start with, but very quickly caught onto what was needed.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Alpha-Team planned.

Sid led the briefing.

"We need to hit the groups that are around here and here." He pointed to the map. "We'll use vehicles until we get within 50 km of their estimated positions, then travel the rest of the way on foot."

He turned to me. "You, April and May don't need to come for that part of the operation, we will be travelling fast."

I looked at my wives. "No, I think we do need to be there. We'll do our best to keep up."

"Very well. Once we locate the enemy the scouts will find a suitable place to set up an ambush and wait until they walk into it. The fire bombs will be used to cause confusion, but we must make sure that not all the enemy is killed until after we have identified the radio frequencies they are using and the direction.

"Once we have that information, we will get the vehicles to collect us and move to the second group. Again, we will proceed on foot from 50 km from their estimated position. However, the attack will not be an ambush. This time we will wait until dark and then attack them. As before, some must be left alive to use the radio. If at all possible the radio operators should be killed leaving someone to use the radios that does not have the skill or knowledge to keep their transmissions short. Understood?"

We all nodded. There was more but mainly dealing with contingencies, such as the possibility of the two groups being on or near the same line to the base camp.

We had a good night's sleep after this and early in the morning, set off for our first encounter.

Before we left I took Bob and Harry aside. Bob had used his magic touch to fix the generator and Harry had things organised.

"Bob, now that the generator's running I need you to babysit the Omegas. Not from an operational point of view but from an interferrence perspective. I just don't believe that they will be left alone to do their job and I want you and Harry to make sure that no-one stops them."

"You really expect trouble?"

"I expected it the moment we decided that it was a viable plan and got trouble not thirty minutes later. One of the things I dislike about the Heston's setup is that their committee is too big and has to many wind bags on it. As soon as it's apparent that the Omega Team is doing a good job, someone will want to take the credit for it and the only way they will be able to do that is to take control of it. There are too many politicians in the Heston group for that not to happen."

"So what do you want us to do if there is trouble?"

"Stop it. Take whatever steps you need but make sure that no-one interferes with them. Contact the Elsie May and ask Steven to lend you three or four of his troops. Then use them to guard the generator, the computer setup and the kids."

"You think it will come to that?"

"No, but I'd be remiss if I didn't plan for it. Besides which, the two of you will need help to look after the Omegas and Steven has the troops to do it."

"Okay, you've got it."

"Oh, and plan an evacuation. Take one of the jeeps out there and pull a coil wire or something so that only you can run it. Then arrange a way to get the hardware and the team away from here. They've got it setup to run from a 12 volt supply and we may need you to do that."

"Leave it to us, Bob and I will take care of your Omega kids." Harry kissed me on the cheek. "Now go, Sid's getting impatient."

Giving them a brief wave I hurried over to the two off-roaders the Hestons had provided for us. No sooner had I fastened my seat belt than we were off.

It was a pleasant day for a drive. Once the sun came up we were able to drive a little faster. The two Heston scouts had told us the current state of the roads around and been kind enough to make the best route towards our first appointment on our map.

While we had spare power, our two comms experts unpacked the PC Tablets, hooked up the radios and started checking out the operation of the Alpha-Omega link. I gather from the conversation that it was going well.

Our first stop was about 200km from Heston Manor which we expected to take around ten hours based on our experience getting from the quay to Heston Manor. The off-road vehicles did make it a bit easier for us since in many of the places we would have had to clear the road for the trucks, we just drove over the obstacle, albeit slowly.

"Well, hallelujah!"

"The little darlings!"

The outbursts came simultaneously from Amanda and Priscilla.

"What?"

"We were doing some data and file transfers and those clever kids have managed to get us a working GPS map system."

"I though that wasn't going to be possible?"

"Well, they've done it. Apparently they took the mapping software which we already had but wouldn't accept a GPS input and a driver for the NMEA interfaces on the GPS and they've written a translator that maps one to the other. Then they downloaded it to us. It installed automatically and all we had to do was plug in the GPS. Here, take a look."

Priscilla handed me one of the two tablets and sure enough it displayed a map of the area we were in and a red dot indicating our current position.

"Is it correct?"

"Looks like it, that's pretty much exactly where we think we are using the traditional map reading methods."

"Not only that." Continued Amanda. "But the position is transmitted back to the Omegas and they can see our progress back at the manor."

I had a sudden moment of paranoia when I heard this.

"Shit! How do I send a text message on this?"

Amanda brought up the chat box and I started typing.

>>AlphaTeam::Is Bob or Harry there?

>>OmegaTeam::Yes.

>>AlphaTeam::Call them over please.

>>OmegaTeam::K

I knew a foreign language was going to be useful one day, I started typing in Esperanto.

>>AlphaTeam::Bob, Harry it's important that no-one outside of the Omega Team and >>you touch or even see the system.

>>OmegaTeam::Why?

>>AlphaTeam::One thing we never thought of, a mole inside Heston Manor. The Omegas >>have arranged it so that you can see where we are on the map. If there is a >>mole in Heston Manor they must not see this information.

>>OmegaTeam::We don't have enough people to guard them that effectively 24/7.

>>AlphaTeam::Get more troops from Elsie May when she gets back.

>>OmegaTeam::Ok, we're on it.

>>AlphaTeam::Thanks.

I handed the tablet back to Amanda.

"Sid, what's the likelyhood of there being a mole in Heston Manor?"

"I've no idea. Why?"

"Because if there is, we could be running into an ambush, not the other way round."

"Why do you think there is one?"

"Because, now that I think about it, that's what I'd do if I were planning this invasion."

"I see your point."

"So, let's assume that there is someone feeding information back to the invasion HQ and that they saw your briefing on our plans. What would you expect them to do?"

"Set up an ambush at the point where we planned to stop and proceed on foot."

"Okay, let's say that this what they have done. How can we capitalise on that?"

"We could go to the second group and target them first, we could bypass the place we planned to stop and still hit the first group as planned, we could us the ambush group as the first group or we can eradicate the ambush."

Lesley spoke up.

"If we go somewhere else or bypass the ambush point we don't know for sure that one has been arranged, so the first two plans do not captitalise on the situation. If we use the ambush group as the target they they will know that their mole has been compromised and will take appropriate steps, so that plan gives away the strategic advantage. The last plan does not. We will know for sure that someone is feeding information back and if we eradicate them before they have time to call back to base, then as far as the base in concerned, they just disappeared."

"But won't they realise that they've been found out once we hit the first target?"

"They may suspect it, but they won't know because they won't know what has happened to the ambush group."

"Could we not achieve the same thing by sneaking up on the ambush site, seeing if there is an ambush and, if so, just sneak away again."

"Yes, except that will leave us with an enemy group behind us. Not such a good idea."

Tricky had some input at this point.

"We need to determine if there is an ambush and eradicte it if there is. But we also need to protect the mole so that we can use it to feed false information back to the HQ. What we need to do is to get rid of the ambush in such a way that we are not suspected."

"How do we do that?" I asked.

"Haven't a clue. I don't suppose you have a tame earthquake in your pocket?"

"No, I left it on the table beside the bed this morning."

"Wise ass!"

"And don't you forget it!"

"How about dogs?" asked Sid.

"What about them?"

"Is there anyway we could catch, lure or otherwise entice a number of wild dogs to the ambush site and let them attack the troops there. Then when the message has been sent that they're under attack by a pack of wild dogs, we take them all out quickly, dogs included. That way the loss is attributed to natural causes and we retain the advantage."

There was silence for a while as we thought about it.

"It sounds like a good plan but how do we get a large number of wild dogs to act on our behalf without being attacked ourselves?" I asked.

"If we could find them we could try using fire to drive them the way we want them to go."

"Fire! That's the answer." Exclaimed Priscilla excitedly. "Look, the place we planned to stop was chosen because it was in open country and the people left behind would be able to see anything coming for miles. Right?"

"Yes, so?"

"So the ambushers will have to be in the grass or bushes or whatever is there. Correct?"

"Yes."

"So, we send back a message to say that we've been delayed by a couple of punctures or a landslide or some such. Then we proceed on, but upwind of the ambush site and set a grass fire. If we set it across a wide enough area they won't get away. We can report back some time later that we can see a huge grass fire ahead so we're stopping until it's safe to pass. The ambushers get crisped, we get the knowledge that there is a mole and retain the advantage becase the invasion HQ believe that the ambushers were killed in a natural disaster."

We thought about that for a while.

"So what happens if they manage to get out of the way of the fire?"

"We take them out before they can use the radio and the HQ still assumes that they got caught."

I turned to Tricky.

"Can you light a fire that big?"

"Easily, but unless there is enough wind it won't go very far."

"Won't they see it coming?"

"Yes, although if we start it just after dawn they'll find it hard to spot to start off with."

"How do you survive a grass fire?"

"Find a spot that won't burn and pray."

"And if they do that?"

"Won't matter as long, as we can stop them from getting off a message saying that they're under attack.

"Okay, let's plan it that way and hope that there is enough wind tomorrow morning."

As it happened, wind wasn't our problem. The problem was getting close enough to set the fires without being seen. We had to get into position while it was still light enough for us to see, and then wait until the morning. We spread out in a long line and waited. We had sent back our plan in Esperanto using the text mode and then called up to say that one of the vehicles had stopped and we were trying to fix it. We asked Bob for suggestions as to what might be wrong in order to reinforce the idea that we were stuck. Finally, we announced that the engine was going again, but it was to late to continue so we were going to stay where we were and continue in the morning.

By the time the sun started to rise I was frozen. It had been a long, cold night and I was stiff. I slept fitfully since I didn't want to oversleep the zero hour, so by the time zero hour arrived I was feeling very grumpy. Still, at the appointed time I set the fire and then moved to my secondary point and set a fire there as well.

Having done that I ran back to the rendevous point. Most of the sergeants were already there, and the rest of us arrived over the next ten minutes or so. Between us and the ambush site, a raging grass fire was moving swiftly with the wind. It looked terrifying and we were on the safe side of it.

Then we jogged away to where we left the vehicles the night before quite some distance away due to the noise of the engines. Ruth and Lesley, our snipers, kept their weapons at the ready, Amanda and Priscilla our communications experts, kept their attention on their radio equipment and the rest of us kept a look out.