Archangel Finds the Base
The high speed Zeppelin flew at an altitude of 21,000 feet. Her crew wore specially heated flight suits and their full face masks supplied them with an atmosphere fortified with oxygen. Her powerful engines were silenced and an array of colored lights on her belly could be varied to make her nearly invisible from the surface. The camera system in her gondola was top secret and could read the traffic signs on a road at her current altitude. Every aspect of this craft was classified, top secret and every one of her assets was trained on the patch of sea floor below.
The Zeppelin, code name Archangel, had amassed a huge amount of information on the undersea facility. Jacob Elwood waited in the secure hangar at Hollywood Airport.
The report on the Cobalt Base was delivered by a Navy courier with two heavily armed guards.
Seated at the oval table were Jack, Phiineas, Susan and Jacob. They each held a file folder, thick with reports and photos.
Jacob leaned back and began to tell his tale; “As you can see we were able to get some very finely detailed photos of the Cobalt base. The main part of the base consists of a three part habitat that appears to house the executive level of this organization. I sincerely doubt that the head of the Cobalt Brotherhood, lived and worked here, but this and the warehouse in New Babbage are the only operations of which we know at the present. As you can see, there is one submarine on either side of the domed structures. We believe that the crews spent most of their time on board the subs. If they have another location for crew R and R we have no information of it.”
“A lot of supplies were purchased and shipped from Blue Transport and Salvage. Black Molly did the majority of moving supplies and fuel to the submarines and the underwater base. She also unloaded most of the pirates captured loot at B T&S for resale and redistribution. The two airships used in the attack on Jack and Susan were captured light haulers that once belonged to small, short haul shipping firms in Caledon and are being returned to them for refitting and will soon be returned to honest work.”
“I guess Jack and I didn’t shoot them up as bad as we thought” Said Susan.
“They will require extensive repair, but that work is nearly finished.”
“The reconnaissance photos provided by Archangels fly over showed us a detailed view for a fairly sophisticated facility with two submarine vessels and a three domed base. We were surprised to find the subs, we expected them to be on station waiting for a successful Kraken raid to collect more loot. One of the boats was clearly just an underwater salvage collector. The boat and it’s crew were meant to collect what could be salvaged from the downed airships and hold it till Black Molly could be contacted and a transfer made. She would take the loot to Blue Transport and Salvage and re-provision the sub till the next Kraken raid. The other boat was very different. It is streamlined and shaped like some kind of huge fish. Clearly it is not a “collector”, it is rather, a high speed vessel and intended for some other task entirely.”
“Once Archangel had confirmed the existence of the base and its coordinates were verified, a task force was assembled. Four flying boats would converge on this little underwater resort and unload four squads of the best underwater operators in the service, all armed to the max. The commander was General Joseph Banks who oversaw the action from another flying boat that circled overhead.”
“What they found was very disappointing. The Fast Fish, as the sleek sub had been dubbed, was gone. The base was deserted. The salvage sub was not deserted but it’s crew of eleven pirates were all dead. Any information, log books, radios, charts or personal information was piled on the deck, covered with thermite and fired off. The resulting intense fire, destroyed any useful information and burned a whole through the belly of the salvage sub. The same procedure was used on the base structure. The pirate sub crew were found in the engine room, locked in and drowned.”
Jack said, “So much for honor among pirates.”
“We have no clue where the Fast Fish has gone, or who commanded that wretched boat.”
The room was silent. No one spoke for several seconds.
Susan spoke first, “So, the Cobalt pond scum got away with it. Free and clear/“
“Not exactly free and clear” ,said Jacob,
“We took away the tools of their filthy trade: the salvage submarine fleet, Black Molly, Blue Transport and Salvage and their fancy underwater facility. We also took their haul at B T & S the value of which is in excess of two million and we haven’t inventoried all of it yet. There is no doubt that too many of them got away and the majority of those were upper tier, but that operation is shut down and with what we know about them, just from Black Molly, her log book and files alone, they won’t be able to restart it. True, we don’t know how much loot they accumulated in the years before they got too greedy and flooded the skies with killer Kraken. Also, a lot of good men and women were lost in those raids. As for the leaf technology, we have no idea from where it originated or who may have discovered it.”
“However, all that being true, that does not mean that we didn’t learn anything in our raid on this facility. They just didn’t have enough thermite on hand and the heat from the charge in the subs belly burned through the hull to the seafloor before it could reach the ammunition magazine. Therefore; no explosion. Her hull has been patched, re-floated and is being towed to a dry dock to be examined from bow to stern.
The domed base is mostly intact, but it is not expected to reveal much.
“You have in your folders, one interesting artifact. We found this photo taken with a self printing camera. Written on the back was “ Testing new dive suits. Works well” and we are sure this sort of documentation was forbidden but there are always breaches in security.”
“The crew man or woman, and yes it was a mixed crew, took a second photo of the smaller sub and it was labeled Swordfish. This picture gives us the best view of that craft to date”
“That is the extent of what we know from our raid on the undersea base. As we learn more you will receive updates. I don’t need to tell you that all of this is not to be discussed outside this room.”
Phineas said, “ I doubt they will just take their loot and start an honest business. There is a master criminal at work here and I suspect that mind is only interested in money in so much that it is the root of power. Power and Control. We must be on our guard. “
“Semper Vigilens” said Jack and everyone raised their cup.
Susan said, “Jacob, I am curious about thermite, is it an explosive”?
“Thermite is a pyrotechnic composition of metal powder fuel and metal oxide. When ignited by heat, thermite undergoes an exothermic reduction-oxidation (redox) reaction. Most varieties are not explosive but can create brief bursts of high temperature in a small area. ( 4000 deg F ) It is used in industrial welding applications.”
There seemed to be little left to discuss and so the meeting ended, goodbyes were said and hands shaken.
Susan Wayne followed Jacob from the meeting and said, “Fly with me. I want to talk and I think you have some ’stuff’ n your head”
Jacob nodded, and they climbed aboard Ajax. She flew low and slow over Blake Deep. A flock of gulls was wheeling and diving over a shoal of herring.
Susan said, “You have concerns, and i can see a furrowed brow. Is there anything with which I can help? I do listen well.”
“Indeed you do. Well, for one thing I never expected to have so many prisoners on my hands: The crew from Black Molly, the subs survivors, two from the airships, that bunch from B T & S and we may yet find a few stragglers. The detention facility we are using now is crowded. Do we add on to it or do we build a new facility for this mob? We can just turn them loose. They need to be kept from society and I am not finished picking what they have for brains.”
Susan nodded, and thought for a few seconds, then spoke., “Let me talk to my Dad. All of this is because the board of directors of C A T was fed up with loosing crew and cargo. We were not the only shippers in that frame of mind and the also contributed to the Beak Bounty. What if they made contributions to a Law and Order Initiative? Wouldn’t that help pay for an addition to your current structure?”
Jacob nodded. “The structure is big enough, but we need office space, and staff quarters. The place is way out in the western Island sims, it’s isolated’: escape is not likely to be an issue. They will be growing a lot of their own food.”
Susan nodded and said, “ We have access to an excellent line of sturdy portable buildings. We put them up and move them about as needed. I think we can help there. I am sure Dad will be supportive for this and I can twist the arm of some other shippers as well.”
“What else troubles you”?
“We didn’t get them all. I hate leaving the head of that snake still slithering about the grid, looking for more victims and more loot. I still can’t believe they got away.”
Susan only smiled. She poured them more coffee from her console server., They looked at the wake left by their passage, just above the surface of Blakes Deep.
Susan sipped her coffee and looked at Jacob over the rim of her cup. Finally she said, “What are you going to do about the leak”?
Jacob closed his eyes and took a long, deep breath: “Obvious isn’t it? I have options. I will find the leak but that isn’t enough. I have to find him or her before they can bolt. I am sure the C B paid the person well, enough to set him up in a good hiding spot. There are two people in the Naval Affairs Office that have caught my eye: they live well, dress very well and never gripe about the pay. I am hoping they will make a mistake and lead me to the C B top tier.”
Susan nodded and said nothing,
“Do you have any ideas?”
She said, “I have someone: smart, capable, un-corruptible, a top operative and totally deadly.
She can go places and do things that your people can’t.”
“You?”
“Dad would have me locked up and I am far too well known. I will have her contact you.”
Susan smiled to herself, wait till jacob finds out that the ‘someone’ she was sending him was the twin terrors, Becca and Drew.
To be continued
(c) All text and pictures by Jack Tracker
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