The End of the Beginning

Hernandez looked up at Umoja Tower from the within the plaza before it, warning lights and alarms going off all around him. Anthrax was now being reported on five different floors. Eighty-two percent of the building had been evacuated. The base command center below the tower had been sealed and its own air supply turned on so that the base could continue operations. Guardsmen, who were ushering people away from the building, surrounded him. Not many people had been in the building anyways being it was so late when the lockdown had been initiated. The time was now 12:09 a.m., May 7, 2027.

“Chief Hernandez!” shouted a guardsman, running over to him. She was holding a radio.

“Yes, Guardsman?” Hernandez said.

“Radio sir,” she said, holding it up to him. “It’s HQ.”

Hernandez grabbed the radio. “This is Hernandez, go ahead.”

“Chief, we found the guardsmen you sent to find Captain Emerson. They were ugh… They were found in Rescue Officer Lewis’s quarters; zip tied to the room’s beds. Their uniforms and all their gear had been taken. The individuals that drove the stolen patrol car into our garage were identified as Guardsman Sheroff, Captain Emerson, and Rescue Officer Lewis.” Hernandez began trembling slightly, indignation spreading to every cell in his body. He looked up at Umoja Tower. He knew then the alarms were fake.

“Sir?” the guardsman in the control said into the unanswered radio.

“Listen to me,” shivered Hernandez, “divert everyone to finding Captain Emerson and his friends! Everyone! Now!”

“But sir, what about the biohazard alar - ”

“Don’t you see, you idiot?! Captain Emerson is the one setting these damn alarms off! He’s trying to distract us from himself. There is no anthrax!”

Hernandez grabbed the attention of the nearest guardsman to him and said, “Pack it up, we’re leaving, now!” Then he turned his rage back into the radio. “Find him, with whatever it takes, with whoever it takes. Him and all those associated with him are to be considered armed and dangerous. They are Terra Novan collaborators assisting Base Commander Hammond and Colonel John Morrison. I want them found before Hammond’s arrival. You have authorization to shoot to kill. All of them.” ...

What time you got Lewis?” asked William.

“Mmm,” Nancy looked at her new Rolex, courtesy of the guardsman that used to wear her uniform. “It’s almost one in the morning.”

William waited with his arms crossed, sitting on the hood of the car next to Nancy. The location Jake had wanted them to go to turned out to be a large underground concrete holding tank on the scale of a small cathedral. Their car sat idle amongst cylindrical columns forty feet high and fifteen feet in diameter that supported the still under construction tank that was eventually going to hold seawater while it waited to be desalinated into drinking water. William and Nancy were at one end of the tank; the other end was at least three football fields away. Scaffoldings still surrounded many of the columns and no security cameras had been installed yet. Except for their echoes, they were completely alone.

“You know, Captain,” said Nancy quietly, “I thought this place would be better.”

William looked over at her finishing a long yawn. “What do you mean?”

“Somehow I thought in here, in UNIRO I mean, I thought we would be above the stupid stuff that goes on out there in the world. I thought we’d be safe here; that things would be different. I guess that was a little naïve of me to think, huh?” William shook his head. “It’s not naïve to believe people can be good, Rescue Officer. It’s what should be done and it should be done more often. If you live your whole life in this world only seeing the darkness you’ll never believe there is any light, even if it’s staring you straight in the face. For a time,” sighed William, “that’s what happen to me.” William reached out his arm and laid his hand on Nancy’s shoulder. “Don’t lose faith in us yet. Once someone has, it’s very hard to get back. Trust me.” A vehicle horn suddenly started echoing through the great concrete cavern. Nancy and William looked in the direction the honking was coming from. A white van came around a column in front of them, splashing through puddles. It was Jake.

Simba stuck his head out the front passenger window and yelled, “Yo Booooss!”

Jake pulled the van around right up to in front of the car. Simba opened his door looking ready to take on the world. Jake ran around the front of the van and opened up the vans sliding door to let the team out. Shampoo jumped out with Amanda first. She ran over to William and jumped up to greet him wagging her tale, then she did the same to Nancy.

“Captain!” greeted Vinny. “What the hell is going on out there? Dams blowing up, spooky cyber messages, lockdowns, and now this nine foot three guy over here,” Vinny pointed to Jake, “drags me outta bed saying we have to save the world or something. This is one hell of a night, eh?” “Gather around everyone, please,” shouted William. “Gather around!”

Everyone made a semicircle around the patrol cars hood. Nancy moved to be with the circling team so William could be alone at the center.

“Wha-Whats going on, Captain?” asked Seong innocently. “The world a-a-above is falling apart. I’m a little sc-scared, sir.”

“Is there an attack on the base coming, Captain?” asked DJ.

William looked over at Vega. She had her arms crossed. Just by looking at her, William knew she understood exactly why they were here and what had to be done. She had been a solider, just as he had. She knew they had to fight.

William took a deep breath as he rubbed his chin. He noticed his needed a shave, as he seemed to feel the last seventy-two hours drip off his face. He realized how exhausted he was but at the same time felt ready to stay awake for another seventy-two hours.

“I asked Guardsman Sheroff here to get you all because I need your help. But, before I continue I need you to know that if you choose to help me, you will be putting yourself in more danger than any UNIRO mission you will ever face. You will be arrested if you are caught helping me at the least, killed at he most. If you want to walk away, now is your chance. This request for help is not an order by any means, it is just what it is, a plea.” “Is it Hammond, sir?” asked Sergey, cutting to the point.

“No Mamedov. It’s Hernandez,” replied William. “Chief Hernandez is a Terra Novan. I’m almost positive.”

“Almost?” questioned Abeo.

“Yes. I need two forms of conformation to be sure and I need to be next to him to do so.”

Abeo began stepping away from the circle, slowly shaking his head. “I won’t do this,” he said. “This is not our battle to fight Captain Emerson. I have a family back home, waiting for me. I will not see them again in a body bag with them asking why I took up arms in a fight that wasn’t mine. You trusted Hernandez. You were his friend. You should have seen this a long time ago.” “Lawal,” Amanda gasped. “This is not Captain Emerson’s fault.”

“Maybe not, but it will be if I die senselessly today. I’m sorry; I will not partake in this. I will not become one of his war stories. I will not suffer the fate he gave to those he previously commanded.” William knelt his head in aching guilt.

“Lawal!” yelled Amanda.

But Abeo had already turned around and was walking away behind the van, towards the service entrance of the tank that they had all used to get inside of it. His departure didn’t help anyone in the circle feel better about the situation.

William noticed headlights bouncing around at the end of the tank closest to them just over the hood of the van. Someone was coming down the service entrance. William lifted himself off the hood. His team turned around to see what he was looking at. Abeo saw the headlights and stopped. He had walked about forty feet past the van.

“Captain,” said Amanda with a chill in her voice, still next to him, “who is coming?”

Shampoo started barking. The bouncing white headlights took on a red and blue glow.

“Captain!” Jake shouted. “We have to move now! It’s ISAF!”