structure among the vast expanse of buildings, roadways, and wetlands that made up the Kennedy Space Center.
The VAB also had an extensive underground section, and it was here that the United American Armed Forces command had set up temporary headquarters.
The only reason the UAAF was located at the Kennedy Space Center was that the Zon shuttle had blasted off from here and it was here that it was expected to return, with the supercriminal Viktor II in custody. The entire command staff of the UAAF had taken over the sub-basement of the VAB, a bunkerlike affair which gave them plenty of room to move around and install their communications gear.
General Dave Jones, commander-in-chief of the UAAF and the de facto president of United America, had brought his office here, too. For the past few weeks, in tandem with the UA’s infant space program, he’d been running the country from a small suite located in the deepest part of the VAB. Because of the quick move to the Kennedy Space Center, there were only about 800 UAAF personnel at the base at present, most of them technical support people. Only about 200 were combat soldiers. This number was low for two reasons: the UA command didn’t expect to stay at the KSC for very long, and moving a large number of UA troops to the KSC didn’t seem necessary because no one was expecting any trouble from any outside forces.
As it turned out, that had been an incorrect assumption.
The disturbing news about the brutal firebombing attack on Key West and the sighting of the battleship flotilla in the Florida Straits reached the VAB command bunker at about 0430 hours.
General Jones immediately called an emergency meeting of his command staff; they were all gathered in the VAB situation room by 0500. Every one of the officers was astounded at the reports of enemy activity off the south Florida coast, Jones included. There had not been a substantial attack on American soil in nearly a year, not even a threat of one. The UAAF reconnaissance and intelligence services were the best in the world. Neither of them had foreseen any kind of unfriendly activity on any potential front around the UA’s borders.
It was obvious now that strong naval elements of the Asian Mercenary Cult had made a long, covert transglobal trip to show up off the American East Coast. Even worse, at least three squadrons of swastika-adorned warplanes were operating somewhere in the Caribbean, too. These, Jones and his officers feared, might actually be remnants of the Fourth Reich, the Nazi-led mercenary army that had invaded America several years before only to be thrown out after a series of titanic battles.
Jones and his men spent the next few hours hunkered down in the command bunker, poring over a huge lighted situation board currently projecting a map of the south Florida region. UAAF reinforcements were already rushing to the area. A company of the famous Football City Special Forces, UAAF’s version of a rapid deployment force, was presently en route to the Kennedy Space Center. Six UA C-5 gunships, monstrously armed aerial weapons platforms, were also on the wing, heading down from their base at the former Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. Advance elements of the UAAF’s 1st Airborne Division Reserve, presently headquartered near Fort Hood, Free Texas, would also be at the Cape by dawn.
There was some cold comfort in the fact that though the sneak attacks had destroyed the Key West base, the quick action of the scramble planes and especially the crew of the Seamaster had forestalled what probably was intended to be a follow-up bombardment on another target and possibly even an armed landing by Cult troops aboard the battleships. And the UA did have three high-tech jets and five prisoners to show for their defense of the doomed air station. Still, the unexpected action cast a gloom over Jones and the two dozen or so men crammed into the VAB situation room. What they’d heard about Key West was apparently
The VAB also had an extensive underground section, and it was here that the United American Armed Forces command had set up temporary headquarters.
The only reason the UAAF was located at the Kennedy Space Center was that the Zon shuttle had blasted off from here and it was here that it was expected to return, with the supercriminal Viktor II in custody. The entire command staff of the UAAF had taken over the sub-basement of the VAB, a bunkerlike affair which gave them plenty of room to move around and install their communications gear.
General Dave Jones, commander-in-chief of the UAAF and the de facto president of United America, had brought his office here, too. For the past few weeks, in tandem with the UA’s infant space program, he’d been running the country from a small suite located in the deepest part of the VAB. Because of the quick move to the Kennedy Space Center, there were only about 800 UAAF personnel at the base at present, most of them technical support people. Only about 200 were combat soldiers. This number was low for two reasons: the UA command didn’t expect to stay at the KSC for very long, and moving a large number of UA troops to the KSC didn’t seem necessary because no one was expecting any trouble from any outside forces.
As it turned out, that had been an incorrect assumption.
The disturbing news about the brutal firebombing attack on Key West and the sighting of the battleship flotilla in the Florida Straits reached the VAB command bunker at about 0430 hours.
General Jones immediately called an emergency meeting of his command staff; they were all gathered in the VAB situation room by 0500. Every one of the officers was astounded at the reports of enemy activity off the south Florida coast, Jones included. There had not been a substantial attack on American soil in nearly a year, not even a threat of one. The UAAF reconnaissance and intelligence services were the best in the world. Neither of them had foreseen any kind of unfriendly activity on any potential front around the UA’s borders.
It was obvious now that strong naval elements of the Asian Mercenary Cult had made a long, covert transglobal trip to show up off the American East Coast. Even worse, at least three squadrons of swastika-adorned warplanes were operating somewhere in the Caribbean, too. These, Jones and his officers feared, might actually be remnants of the Fourth Reich, the Nazi-led mercenary army that had invaded America several years before only to be thrown out after a series of titanic battles.
Jones and his men spent the next few hours hunkered down in the command bunker, poring over a huge lighted situation board currently projecting a map of the south Florida region. UAAF reinforcements were already rushing to the area. A company of the famous Football City Special Forces, UAAF’s version of a rapid deployment force, was presently en route to the Kennedy Space Center. Six UA C-5 gunships, monstrously armed aerial weapons platforms, were also on the wing, heading down from their base at the former Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. Advance elements of the UAAF’s 1st Airborne Division Reserve, presently headquartered near Fort Hood, Free Texas, would also be at the Cape by dawn.
There was some cold comfort in the fact that though the sneak attacks had destroyed the Key West base, the quick action of the scramble planes and especially the crew of the Seamaster had forestalled what probably was intended to be a follow-up bombardment on another target and possibly even an armed landing by Cult troops aboard the battleships. And the UA did have three high-tech jets and five prisoners to show for their defense of the doomed air station. Still, the unexpected action cast a gloom over Jones and the two dozen or so men crammed into the VAB situation room. What they’d heard about Key West was apparently
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