UNSCDF2 Chapter 30- Securing the Area

Reygi, Kandahar, Afghanistan

Secronom Research Facility

April 21, 2001

1315 Local Time

            “Spread out and watch your sectors.” Forester watched her marines climb out of the vent opening as May’s team secured the area.

            “What a squeeze.” Taylor exclaimed as he climbed out of the vent and wielded his Lock 17.

            “May, where’s the Control Room?” Forester asked.

            “That way.” May pointed down the hall.

            “Timmins and Nevarez, get a system bypass on the door.” Forester ordered.

            As Timmins and Nevarez approached the door, there was some smoke slowly leaking from the frame.

            “Ma’am?” Timmins waved his hand at the black smoke.

            “Is that the smoke we smelled in the air shaft?” Robertson asked.

            “Perhaps it’s from this room.” Green concluded.

            “Get it open.” Forester commanded.

            “Alright. I don’t think smoke should be coming from the Control Room.” Timmins pulled out a set of pliers from his belt.

            Nevarez unscrewed the casing to the access panel and studied the wires.

            “How long?” Forester asked.

            “I’d say ten minutes give or take three.” Nevarez replied.

            “Get it down marines.” Forester looked at her watch.

            “Orders Lieutenant?” May asked.

            “Get your team and secure the Archives.” Forester pointed at the elevator.

            “Yes ma’am.” May nodded and waved her marines.

            “Need this ma’am?” Cookson held the Secronom keycard in his hands.

            “No, keep it Cookson. See if you can loot more. We can bypass the controls once we’re in the Control Room.” Forester shook her head.

            “Ok.” Cookson nodded and walked to his team beside the elevator.

            The elevator doors opened and May’s team went inside. Forester looked at the doors close and then turned to look at Timmins cut some wires. Nevarez attached two cables and inserted into a small datapad. Nevarez pressed some buttons and number slowly appeared. In a few minutes, four digits appeared and Nevarez pressed enter on his datapad.

            “Access Granted.” the panel replied and the doors slid open.

            A wave of black smoke poured out of the room and swept into the halls. There was a small fire in the back of the room beside the computer servers.

            “Get that fire out!” Forester shouted.

            Taylor and Timmins rushed inside and each grabbed a fire extinguisher on the wall. They pointed the nozzle at the fire and sprayed the foam.

            “Nevarez and Schmidt, secure the area.” Forester coughed as the fire was put out and smoke erupted.

            “Clear!” Schmidt exclaimed as he scanned the room.

            “They were here.” Nevarez pointed his gun at an open vent shaft above him.

            “Take a look Nevarez.” Forester ordered as she walked past a door marked “Controls”.

            “Forester, it looks like two servers were fried.” Timmins looked at the molten consoles.

            “Sabotage?” Forester asked.

            “I don’t think so ma’am.” Timmins looked at the other servers.

            “Then what happened?” Forester walked beside Timmins.

            “This room is not hot because of the fire. It is hot because of the servers. I believe it overheated.” Timmins replied.

            Nevarez climbed into the vent shaft and crawled a bit.

            “LT, it looks like the Russians came this way and destroyed a fan.” Nevarez spoke on the RaidComm.

            “That explains it.” Timmins pointed at the vent opening.

            “Damn Russians destroyed the fans. Nevarez, see if you can fix it.” Forester spoke on the RaidComm.

            “It’s going to take a while. They destroyed the motors.” Nevarez spoke back.

            “Copy, see what you can do.” Forester commanded.

            “Let’s check that room.” Taylor pointed at the door marked “Controls”.

            “Breach and clear.” Forester walked to the door and readied her SA80.

            Taylor held his Lock 17 in his hand while Timmins wielded his UMP. Schmidt pushed the door open and the two marines in position rushed into the room in an organized manner. Taylor noticed that there were several computers and an open vent shaft at the end of the wall. Schmidt checked under the desks and smudged footprints leading to the open vent shaft.

            “Clear!” Taylor shouted as he slid his pistol back into his holster.

            Forester and Schmidt walked into the room and looked at the computers.

            “Forester, the Russians got out this way.” Taylor pointed at the vent shaft.

            “Schmidt, I want you to guard the servers and see if you can give Nevarez a hand.” Forester directed.

            “On it.” Schmidt rushed out of the room.

            “Computers still operational, but I don’t understand why the Russians didn’t use it.” Timmins tapped the keyboard.

            “Perhaps they will be coming back.” Taylor pointed at another computer and it displayed “Keycard Required”.

            “Then we beat them to it.” Forester sat down on a chair.

            “I’ll see what the controls are to shut down the defense.” Timmins looked at some buttons on the wall.

            “Cookson, this is Forester here. Can you and Green come back to the Control Room with the keycard?” Forester requested on the RaidComm.

            “On our way Lieutenant.” Cookson replied.

            “It’s getting hot again.” Schmidt hollered from the other room.

            “Tell me about it.” Nevarez shouted from inside the vent with sweat dripping down his face.

            “I’ve got an auxiliary fan button here.” Timmins looked at an orange button on the wall.

            “Nevarez, get out of the shaft first.” Forester spoke on the RaidComm.

            As Nevarez climbed out of the vent opening, Forester turned to Timmins and nodded. Timmins pressed the button and a panel beside the vent slid open and a new shaft appeared.

            “Auxiliary fans online.” an alarm blared.

            In the new shaft was another stationary fan. As the alarm blared, the fan whirred to life and began to circulate the air.

            “Nice.” Nevarez took out his water bottle and poured some refreshing cold water over his head.

            “Good job Timmins.” Forester complimented.

            “We’re here.” Cookson rushed into the room with Green running after him.

            Taylor took the keycard from Cookson and swiped it on a computer.

            “Access Granted.” the computer spoke.

            “Get the guns offline.” Forester spoke to Taylor as she looked at Cookson and Green.

            “Anything else ma’am?” Green asked.

            “Thank you Lance Corporal, but that will be all. Regroup back with your team and be on the lookout for the Russian soldiers. It seems like there may be a squad here plus the Vladamir you mentioned.” Forester thanked.

            As Cookson and Green exited, Cookson paused at the door and turned his head back.

            “LT, you still need the keycard?” Cookson asked politely.

            “Unfortunately, yes. See if you can find another one to use.” Forester suggested.

            “Ok, no worries.” Cookson nodded and walked off with Green.

Kandahar Air Base, Kandahar, Afghanistan

Fire Team Kilo’s Camp

April 21, 2001

1425 Local Time

            Zyrok sat in his desk as he typed on his computer. He was typing out the events leading up to the discovery of the Secronom Research Facility. Casey walked into Zyrok’s office and gently knocked on the door.

            “Come on in.” Zyrok continued to type.

            “Zyrok, Lieutenant Reid and his men have made their way to the camp.” Casey reported.

            “What’s the progress of Forester and May’s team?” Zyrok asked.

            “They are inside the facility and working on getting the sentry guns offline.” Casey answered.

            “Ok, we’ll send the rest of Jackal and then we can head over there.” Zyrok stood up from his desk.

            “Fire Team Kilo, sir?” Casey raised an eyebrow.

            “Somebody’s got to watch the base. Foo and Pruett will stay behind as well to provide us the necessary transportation.” Zyrok laughed.

            “So…me, you, Frederick, Williams, and Christopher?” Casey summarized.

            “Yeah, that’s sufficient.” Zyrok nodded.

            “Alright Captain, I’ll keep you posted.” Casey saluted.

            “Sergeant Major.” Zyrok saluted and watched Casey exit his office.

            Zyrok walked to a cabinet and opened it. He pulled out a folder and sat in his chair.

            “Level Zulu…where are you?” Zyrok studied a printed map of the Secronom Research Facility.

            Zyrok flipped through the different floor plans. There were rooms and stairwells, but all were marked.

            “Either Level Zulu is a code name for a level or it exists elsewhere.” Zyrok thought.

            “Zyrok, do you copy?” Reid spoke on the RaidComm.

            “Go ahead Reid.” Zyrok replied.

            “I’m passing on the message from Forester that the defenses are offline.” Reid reported.

            “So the sentry guns are out?” Zyrok asked.

            “You can say that sir. They weren’t able to isolate the sentry guns so they shut the whole defense system down.” Reid answered.

            “Ok, thanks Lieutenant. We’re on our way.” Zyrok ended the transmission.

            Zyrok folded the map into his pocket and rushed out of his office to inform his marines of the news.