Pantheocide

Chapter Twenty Three

USS Normandy, CG-60, Off San Diego, California, Earth

“Anything on the plot?”

The Combat Direction Center, known as the CDC to the world in general and “the Pit” to the crew, resembled something inspired by a television movie. The four screens that dominated the compartment showed the coast of California up to a range that would sent the security weenies screaming into a catatonic trance if anybody unauthorized got wind of it. It wasn’t just the ship’s own sensors that were creating the massive coverage, Normandy was pulling in raw radar data from other ships up and down the coast and integrating it with her own. That sounded simple but it wasn’t. It would need only minor differences in calibration for contacts that appeared on both sets of data to be duplicated and reduplicated until the whole system crashed. That had happened often enough while the Cooperative Engagement Capability system had been under development and it had taken years to fix it.

It wasn’t just CEC that gave Normandy her enormous radar range. The cruiser was part of the AEGIS-ABM system. There was an incredible amount of alphabet soup attached to that particular modernization reflected Captain William Pelranius. The AEGIS system itself was Baseline 7.3cV(5) with the SPY-1D(V) radars baseline 5.3.8. What it all amounted to was that the radars on Normandy were an order of magnitude more powerful than those on non-ABM ships and the battle management technology was upgraded to match. That’s why she was stationed off San Diego. After the attack on El Paso, all border and coastal towns were considered to be at risk and San Diego was both.

“We’ve got nothing Sir.” The radar operator leaned back in her seat and flexed her shoulders. OSCSAW Annette Serafina had been staring at the display screens for more than an hour, watching the movement of aircraft up and down the California coast. The coverage wasn’t as dense as it might have been two years or more ago. These days, with the war on, a lot of civilian aircraft had been drafted into military service and fuel shortages had curtailed much of regular airline activities. On the other hand, military flight were way up.

“Axehorn, this is CAP-Three-Three-One requesting speed and altitude check.” Axehorn was Normandy’s call sign.

“CAP-Three-Three-One, we have you at altitude level six-zero, ground speed one-five-zero knots” Serafina’s voice was calm and neutral. The Civilian Air Patrol was doing its job, flying patrol missions and watching for anything unusual. With all the crazy nonsense that Yahweh had been throwing at the world for the last year, there was no telling what would come next.

“Axehorn, this is Eagle-One-Fiver, requesting speed and altitude check.” The voice had a smug note to it.

“Eagle-One-Five, we have you at altitude level one-two-zero, ground speed five-six-five knots.” She covered the microphone with her hand. “Navy airdale wanting to impress the Civil Air Patrol guy,” Serafina explained. The captain nodded sympathetically.

“Axehorn, Eagle-One-Fiver, please give clearance for flight at altitude level three-fiver-zero.”

Serafina glanced at the restrictions for the day and raised her eyebrows slightly. “Eagle-One-Fiver, that’s a negative. Remain at altitude level one-two-zero.”

“Come on honey, give me what I want.” The fighter pilot’s voice had a cooing overtone.

“No way Eagle-One-Fiver. Last time I gave an airdale what he wanted, I was on penicillin for three weeks. Remain at one-two-zero.”

“Axehorn, Habu-Zero-One requesting speed and altitude check.” There was a rich vein of amusement in the voice.

Serafina took one look at the track readings and saw why. In a slightly strangled voice she replied “Habu Zero-One, I have you at Altitude Level Nine-Nine-Five, Ground speed, Two-Eight-Seven-Zero knots.”

“Thank you Axehorn, and please thank CAP-Three-Three-One for his assist.”

“Two thousand, eight hundred and seventy knots, ninety-nine thousand, five hundred feet. What the blazes was that bird.”

“What bird, Sir? With respect Sir, I don’t know what you are referring to. You might note that call, if it had existed which it didn’t, came in on a special circuit, if that existed, which it doesn’t.” Serafina took pity on her Captain, he’d only been on board for three days and had come in from the Atlantic Fleet. It was rumored he’d done a six-month rotation in Hell before getting command of Normandy. “Sir, there are a lot of strange things around here that come out of inland that it’s better not to remember or ask questions about.”

“Senior Chief, we’re getting a warning from the DIMO(N) warning net. Cell Phone towers are dropping signals north west of San Diego. Probable portal opening, if so, it’s a small one.”

“Nothing on radar.” Serafina was tempted to up the transmission power a little but Normandy was only fifty miles of San Diego. If a normal AEGIS cruiser went to full transmission power this close in, she’d blow every television and radio set in the city, what an AEGIS-BMD would do defied rational imagination. “More precise location?”

“Around the El Capitan Reservoir. In the mountains. The trace has gone now. DIMO(N) say, probably one entity only passed through.”

“Uriel.” The hiss went around the CDC.

Captain Pelranius didn’t hesitate. “Sound battle stations. Assume one very hostile angel inbound. Send out the warning to Army and Air Force units as well. We don’t want the son-of-a-bitch to get away this time.”

West of El Capitan Reservoir, California.

Uriel popped out of the portal over the oddly-shaped lake that he’d selected as his entry point. In the past, he would have set off to the community he had selected for annihilation, confident in the knowledge of his unchallenged supremacy but those days were gone. His wing was still stiff from the injuries he’d suffered at El Paso and his skin itched with the memory of that battle. So, he stayed down amongst the mountains and made sure that his position was secure before he started his sacred mission of bringing final peace to the humans who lived below.

Safe in the darkness, his senses stretched out, he could feel the existence of life here, some of it animal and of no great importance but more was human. Once, this whole area had been uninhabitable desert but humans in their arrogance had challenged that divine judgment and brought water to the sand. Great cities had grown up on the coast, cities that could not exist without the constant exercise of human ingenuity and there obstinate refusal to accept that things that were should not be challenged. The thought of human challenge was enough to make his skin itch more

Then it occurred to him that his skin wasn’t itching as a result of his memories of the battle over El Paso, it really was burning. Only very slightly but it was there and it told Uriel much. He’d noted that it always preceded an attack and that made him guess that the humans knew he was coming. That would make things much, much harder. He decided that discretion was the better part of valor and he would approach his target from behind the ridgelines that were a little to the north of his present position. The humans wouldn’t see him until he was on top of them and then it would be too late. His new plan would take him over the small town of Eucalyptus Hills. Uriel didn’t know the name, and didn’t care about it but he decided that the community would make a useful practice target for his powers.

Home of Caroline Howarth, Eucalyptus Hills, California.

The sirens going off only added to Caroline Howarth’s distress. She knew what they meant, everybody did. The continuous wailing noise meant that a Netherworld attack was imminent and a portal had opened nearby. During the Curb Stomp War, the threat had been Baldrick Berserkers who would materialize somewhere and destroy anything they found. Now, with Yahweh responsible for the attacks, the sirens leant Uriel was on his way. Howarth had heard of El Paso and the result of a Uriel attack. Thirty thousand dead the reports said.

“Rex? Rex? Here boy.” The rottweiler came galloping into the room at his human’s call. He sat in front of her when she made the right hand gesture and waited patiently while she strapped a silver cap over his head. Rex didn’t understand this, but it was something that made his human happy and that was enough for him. He also noted that she was wearing a silver cap as well and that was good because it made the big dog feel part of the pack.

Howarth looked around. She’d modified this room as a shelter when she’d heard about El Paso. She couldn’t line all the walls of her house with aluminum foil but she’d taken the room furthest away from the outside walls and covered the walls and ceiling of that room with as much tinfoil as she could afford. She closed the door then took tinfoil and taped it over the doorframe. Her dog watched her carefully, he could sense there was danger even if he couldn’t define it. But, his human was doing something about it and that was good. If the worst came to the worst, Rex knew he could bite with a pressure of more than 350 pounds per square inch and if the danger wanted to get to his human, it would have to get past him first.

Her preparation work finished, Howarth walked back to the center of her room and sat down with her dog, wrapping her arm around his thick neck. She knew something that Rex didn’t, at El Paso, only a tiny handful of pets had survived the attack. She just hoped that she’d done enough to save hers.

USS Normandy, CG-60, Off San Diego, California, Earth

“Closed up, ready for action Sir.”

Captain Pelranius nodded in acknowledgement. “Any sign of him?”

“No, Sir. Last report is still El Capitan. He must be using the hills as cover. Upping transmission power won’t help, it’ll just increase reflections of those hills. We could lob an SM-2 into the general area and see where it’s terminal homing in on but it would be just as likely to hit a CAP bird or a fast-moving car. And if he’s sitting on the ground, it’ll just go ballistic and could end up anywhere.”

Pelranius looked at the map, trying to visualize the terrain. Guessing what he was trying to do, Serafina put up a tactical air navigation chart on one of the giant screens. Pelranius nodded in appreciation. “I’m trying to imagine what he’s thinking. We think he nearly got wasted by a quartet of PAC-3s over El Paso, let’s assume he knows or guesses the missiles have to have a direct line of sight to their target.”

“With respect Sir, PAC-3s do, we don’t. Not with our 156s. We can hit things way over the radar horizon. And we’ve got test 174s in the aft VLS nest.”

“I know that, but he won’t. He’s never fought an AEGIS cruiser. Get the 156s and 174s warmed up. We want to have the best of the best on the line.”

“Roger that, Sir. The Army pukes let him get away, we don’t want to do the same now do we?”

“We surely do not. Now, if I was him, and I wanted to wipe out Sunny Dee, I’d come in from the north. Use these ridges as cover and ride in behind them. Around University City and Serra Mesa?”

“Bit close to Miramar for my taste. The bastard knows what our fighters can do.”

“True. So a little further south. How about Lakeside and Santee?”

“Works for me Sir.”

“Very good Senior Chief.” Pelranius turned around to the rest of the watch crew in the Pit. “We’re going to be attacked by Uriel. I expect him to emerge around the towns of Lakeside or Santee. Don’t neglect other areas but keep those two under tight watch. When we start shooting, we’ll have to shoot fast and well so everybody on your toes. Let’s get the piece of shit before he wipes any more of our people out.”

Eucalyptus Hills, East of Santee, California

Uriel could hear the wailing down on the ground. At first he flattered his vanity by trying to persuade himself that the sound was humans crying in fear at his approach but the noise had a strange, dead quality to it. That told him the sound was one of the human’s machines, doubtless telling of his arrival. He was keeping down low, using the ground for cover but that couldn’t last for long. Soon, he would have to crest the ridge ahead of him and skim over the community the other side. Then, and only then, could he bring them peace.

For a brief second he paused, remembering the lash of the steel fragments that had followed him through the portal over El Paso before it slammed shut behind him. But then his duty was remembered and the need to use the awesome sense of power that he had been granted. He soared over the ridgeline, seeing the lights of the town below him around him, and he sensed the activity below starting to slow down and soften as if the world were pausing out of respect for his presence. Uriel smiled down at the little creatures below him and his hands moved in his eternal benison. “Peace be with you and my peace I grant you.”

Home of Caroline Howarth, Eucalyptus Hills, California.

It felt like a blow, one that drove the breath out of her body and tried to still her heart. Caroline Howarth screamed in protest, it wasn’t fair, it wasn’t logical, she was a young woman, still in her mid-thirties. She lived a healthy lifestyle, she looked after herself, her condition was as good as any and better than most. There was no logical reason why she should die. She summoned every ounce of willpower she could find, drove her lungs to expand and contract, forced her heart to keep pumping. The burden on her was crushing, smothering, driving darkness into her soul yet she kept fighting it, willing herself not to die. This was Uriel, she knew the name from the attack on El Paso, knew that somehow he willed people to die and then stole their souls. Caroline Howarth raged against that fate, summoning reserves of strength that she never knew she had. Then, she glanced down and saw the brown eyes of Rex staring up at her, confused and pained, but grimly determined not to desert her. She drew strength from that, knew that she could not die because to do so would be to condemn the dog who had trusted her. And so she fought.

Beside her, Rex couldn’t understand it. Something was crushing him, squeezing the life out of his body, His lungs, his heart seemed paralyzed and blackness was spreading through him. He growled, knowing this was the danger he had sensed and it had come from outside. He sensed his human fighting to stay alive and knew that he had to stay with her to protect her when the enemy came to their house. That sense of purpose allowed him to push the darkness back, to force air into his lungs to keep his heart pounding. There was another reason as well, he was bigger and stronger than his human and it would be embarrassing to die when she had fought for her life and won. He looked up at her and saw his human return the look and try to smile encouragingly. He felt her squeeze his paw, and the contact gave him yet more strength. Between them, the woman and the Rottweiler gave each other strength as they fought their lonely battle against Uriel. And so, across the town of Eucalyptus Hills, did all the other residents, drawing strength from each other, from family and friends, or strangers who had sought shelter when the sirens sounded. They called on courage, on the knowledge that there was no need for them to die, on a sheer mule-headed determination not to let Uriel win. Whatever it was, they fought the strange influence that would stop their hearts and empty their lungs.

Eucalyptus Hills, East of Santee, California

Uriel concentrated all his power on the small group of people beneath him. He knew now his mistake, the error that had cost him so dearly. He had been so used to the merest touch of his power being fatal to the humans that he had never thought about the numbers he was handling. Humans had spent most of their existence in small communities, a few dozen or a few hundred at most, and those he had wiped out without a thought. But in the last two centuries, while he had spent his time in Africa, human cities elsewhere had exploded in size and now contained hundreds of thousands or even millions. They spread his power too thin and the new-found ability they had developed to resist his power prevented him from wiping them out.

But, this community beneath him was different. It was small, he guessed around eight thousand souls, and he was concentrating every last drop of his power he could find on them. They were resisting hard, there was the barrier there, the one that shielded them from him and when he penetrated that, he found there was another, special to each one of them. His power washed down in great waves, pounding on the barriers, battering their resistance down. Somehow he sensed this struggle was titanic, of epoch-making importance. It was a battle he had to win for if the humans could fight and resist him on these terms then his power was done. So, Uriel basked in the cold glow of entropy as he tried to force his peace on the people below.

USS Normandy, CG-60, Off San Diego, California, Earth

“GOT HIM! Over s small town called Eucalyptus Hills. Right where you said he’d be Sir.” The last bit was said loud enough to echo around the Pit. One of the functions of the Senior Chiefs was to make sure that their Captains had the undiluted respect of the enlisted men. When a new Captain was on board, it did no harm to spread news of their achievements. Serafina glanced around, saw the Pit crew nodding. Work done.

“Right, Senior Chief, let’s take him out. Get a target designation beam on him and ready the 156s for launch.”

“156s Sir?”

“RIM-156. We’ll keep the 174s for when we lose line-of-sight. You can bet we will.”

Senior Chief Operations Specialist – Air Warfare Annette Serafina leaned forward and her hands started to run over the SPY-1D controls. USS Normandy was about to enter the Battle of Eucalyptus Hills.