internally that these soldiers were not his men, they might have a different purpose. He needed some info, so he invited them in. “What do you got? Ten, twelve? Yeah we got room in the dojo. No light though.”
“Yeah,” Rodriguez responded, “ain’t no light anywhere, Major.”
They all walked back to the dojo and Eric began to work a plan in his head to get info, not give much, and then get these guys on their way. Walking through the double-glass door of the dojo, Eric pointed to two of his students to guard the door and keep watch on both sides of the street. He looked across to where that hot, young yoga gal was holed up. He didn’t want to scare her, but he needed to know why she wasn’t coming to the door, he needed to categorize her as a friendly, or unfriendly. He had other needs at the moment.
“Your men here have good discipline,” Rodriguez started the conversation.
“Ah, some of them are ex-grunts is all. They are my students now, not my men.” Eric lied, every man here was practically sworn to him, he knew he could count on them. The ones he wasn’t sure about; he had pressured to check on their families. There was one problem case he had tied up on another floor with some rabble rousers from down the street. This was something he didn’t want getting back to General Stone, who they all called “the Old Man.”
“Well, I am not surprised they fall in line when under stress. Man, Major, it is good to see you. We could really use your leadership right now.” Rodriguez was holding something back.
“What’s up, Rodriguez?” Eric comforted the officer with a hand on his shoulder.
The Lieutenant walked away from ear shot to talk to him in a low voice, “The men don’t know about this. I would guess most officers don’t. Not sure why Colonel Mann sent me out, as most people who knew about it were kept in the command hut on base. Maybe they didn’t catch that I was on duty this morning.” Eric stood close to the Lieutenant, he wasn’t sure he wanted anyone else to hear what he was about to hear. “About 0700 this morning, comms went out in India. The Mountain was tracking this massive outage as it moved across the planet and we lost one station after another. We weren’t sure what it was, solar flare, nuclear, whatever at first. Not my area, so I still don’t know. But the bases had time to prepare, between six and seven hours. As it spread in a clean line around the earth, like the whole planet was slowly falling into a pit of darkness and silence, they closed the gates at the Academy, Carson, Petersen and shut the big door up at the Mountain. We knew that comms would be down and we could track the loss of power for a bit, but the satellites were going out in the same fashion as the rest of the planet. This is some kind of event, some kind of serious shit. I saw the panic on the civilian contractors faces, I mean the scientists. Before I had to move on to other duties, I heard one of them say he didn’t know if it was ever going to end.” Eric Fine was surprised for the first time in a long time. He knew this was a big deal, but had no idea. The whole world had changed, and in that moment, so had his priorities.
Eric leaned in close to Rodriguez, “You and your men can stay if you want. Remain for the night, longer maybe. Having soldiers around is always a good thing, keep things safe here.”
Rodriguez just shook his head, “We are just resting, it will take us much of the night to get back in this shit.” He pointed out to the rain. “Don’t worry Major, I will let them know you are here. General Stone is going to declare Martial Law; we could use a man like you to settle him down. We are just bringing recon back to the base.”
Eric nodded, “Sounds good. Did you guys find anyone else? Anything else that I need to know?”
“Just this: The medicine doesn’t work. People at hospitals are dying in droves. The south-side is in chaos, looting, and criminal activity, just
“Yeah,” Rodriguez responded, “ain’t no light anywhere, Major.”
They all walked back to the dojo and Eric began to work a plan in his head to get info, not give much, and then get these guys on their way. Walking through the double-glass door of the dojo, Eric pointed to two of his students to guard the door and keep watch on both sides of the street. He looked across to where that hot, young yoga gal was holed up. He didn’t want to scare her, but he needed to know why she wasn’t coming to the door, he needed to categorize her as a friendly, or unfriendly. He had other needs at the moment.
“Your men here have good discipline,” Rodriguez started the conversation.
“Ah, some of them are ex-grunts is all. They are my students now, not my men.” Eric lied, every man here was practically sworn to him, he knew he could count on them. The ones he wasn’t sure about; he had pressured to check on their families. There was one problem case he had tied up on another floor with some rabble rousers from down the street. This was something he didn’t want getting back to General Stone, who they all called “the Old Man.”
“Well, I am not surprised they fall in line when under stress. Man, Major, it is good to see you. We could really use your leadership right now.” Rodriguez was holding something back.
“What’s up, Rodriguez?” Eric comforted the officer with a hand on his shoulder.
The Lieutenant walked away from ear shot to talk to him in a low voice, “The men don’t know about this. I would guess most officers don’t. Not sure why Colonel Mann sent me out, as most people who knew about it were kept in the command hut on base. Maybe they didn’t catch that I was on duty this morning.” Eric stood close to the Lieutenant, he wasn’t sure he wanted anyone else to hear what he was about to hear. “About 0700 this morning, comms went out in India. The Mountain was tracking this massive outage as it moved across the planet and we lost one station after another. We weren’t sure what it was, solar flare, nuclear, whatever at first. Not my area, so I still don’t know. But the bases had time to prepare, between six and seven hours. As it spread in a clean line around the earth, like the whole planet was slowly falling into a pit of darkness and silence, they closed the gates at the Academy, Carson, Petersen and shut the big door up at the Mountain. We knew that comms would be down and we could track the loss of power for a bit, but the satellites were going out in the same fashion as the rest of the planet. This is some kind of event, some kind of serious shit. I saw the panic on the civilian contractors faces, I mean the scientists. Before I had to move on to other duties, I heard one of them say he didn’t know if it was ever going to end.” Eric Fine was surprised for the first time in a long time. He knew this was a big deal, but had no idea. The whole world had changed, and in that moment, so had his priorities.
Eric leaned in close to Rodriguez, “You and your men can stay if you want. Remain for the night, longer maybe. Having soldiers around is always a good thing, keep things safe here.”
Rodriguez just shook his head, “We are just resting, it will take us much of the night to get back in this shit.” He pointed out to the rain. “Don’t worry Major, I will let them know you are here. General Stone is going to declare Martial Law; we could use a man like you to settle him down. We are just bringing recon back to the base.”
Eric nodded, “Sounds good. Did you guys find anyone else? Anything else that I need to know?”
“Just this: The medicine doesn’t work. People at hospitals are dying in droves. The south-side is in chaos, looting, and criminal activity, just
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