Chapter 108

“I’ve never seen anything this bad.” Hamilton mused as he looked at the photographs of what the European operative Schmid had become.

“What is operative Harrington’s status?” Holsan enquired to the third man in the room.

“Lightly injured. He was poisoned by one of the tentacles with a poison which is a quite nasty toxin. His body has proven capable of purging it and should be fully combat-ready within a few days.” Hawk answered his superior. Holsan only nodded and went back to looking at the supplied images.

“Do we know what happened?” Hamilton asked.

“Not as yet. Before the mission, our biomedical teams gave Schmid a full once-over. This assessment is attached to the report. It breaks down to the fact that he was exhausted and was showing signs of extreme mental stress. Due to the nature of the mission they were going on, it was deemed that he was still combat-capable for one last mission before an extended stand down.”

“He should have been pulled straight away.” Holsan said while looking over the data in the report.

“He was the only operative available that had been to the breach and knew the zone. Adding in the fact that we are extremely stretched for manpower when it comes to operatives, it was deemed by the local command that he could go on this mission. We are, however, now reassessing those protocols.”

“Good to know.” Holsan said to the younger officer.

“What of the other European operatives? Are they too at risk of changing?” Hamilton asked.

“In light of what happened, we have put all within our command structure under a full psychological and physical exam. None of the others shows any indications of what happened to Schmid. I must note that Euro Corps used him extensively over the last few years. Far beyond the recommended amount of time spent in the zone. We all know that they become desperate to stem the tide in the last year.”

“Haven’t we all.” Hamilton said, looking at a large monitor on the wall.

The monitor showed the British Isles along with Ireland and northern France. The zones were marked in red and covered far more of the map than he was happy with. But he knew it could have been far worse looking at France and the vast tracts of land covered in red.

“How did the other operations fair.” Holsan enquired.

“The other seven missions went off as predicted. Two saw slightly higher casualties than projected but no fatalities across the board.”

The other two men nodded happily; at least some good news. A total of seven zones closed with what can only be called moderate injuries at worst. Only the eighth had a fatality and it was an operative that had been turned.

“Any word from Euro Corp command in Dublin about the loss of Schmid?” Holsan asked, directing his question to Hamilton.

“They’re not happy, of course. But at the moment, there’s nothing they can do. With the effective ending of the European Union as a political force. They are a bit rudderless at the moment as the only remaining institution left.”

“Has not what’s left of the European Parliament and executive branch set up shop in Dublin?” Holsan asked.

“Yes. But they are just a talking shop now. They have no political or economic and minimal military assets left. The only countries still operational other Scandinavian and Ireland. They effectively dominate what’s left and have handed control over what’s left to us.” Hamilton told his old friend.

“What of the French government in exile?” Holsan asked.

“Still screaming bloody murder about our “invasion” of sovereign French soil. They would be a problem if anyone on the ground were listening to them.” Hamilton snorted as he replied. His eyes never left the map.

“So, Colonel Hawk. To sum it up, eight missions were launched. Seven went well, and the last had “issues”. Anything else report?” Holsan looked at his subordinate.

“Yes, sir. I would like to present an idea to Mr Hamilton and yourself.” This is not expected and both men turned to focus on the younger officer.

“Okay. What have you got planned now and why are we not going to like it.” Holsan asked dryly.

“Yes, sir.” Hawk manipulated the map on the wall zooming on the part of northern France. The two men looked at the map.

“Pairs?” Came from Hamilton.

“At the moment, as you can see, some parts of the city's northern areas are still outside of the zone that has subsumed the rest. Our intelligence from the French and Euro Corp indicates that it is not one large zone but several smaller ones that emerged.” Again, he manipulated the image to a controller and three blue dots appeared on the map. “The blue dots represent the known location of breaches.”

“Only three breaches. How confident are we in that intelligence.” Holsan asked.

“At the moment, confidence is very high. As you can see, three breaches form a rough triangle shape. If we eliminate this one at the northern edge, we could reclaim a large chunk of central Paris. As you can see, the other two are much further to the south.” He stood up and walked over to the monitor highlighting his intended target.

“It’s still deep within a zone. What is your plan?” Holsan pressed.

“Sir. I propose sending a reinforced strike team with a breach sealer into the city to close that breach. If successful, we can reclaim most of central Paris as you see from our projections.” He manipulated the image showing the expected changes to the zone if the bridge was sealed.

“Define what a “reinforced strike team” is, Colonel.” Hamilton asked.

“Five operatives, a grade one support team and a grade one sealing team. Along with the new Type II slammer.” The two men looked at the officer like he had sprouted a second head.

“That’s thirty personnel in total and a device just out of testing.” Hamilton looked aghast. “You really want to risk that many on this zone?”

“Yes, Mr Hamilton. I do.” Hawk replied confidently.

“Why?” Asked Holsan.

“Three reasons General. First, this zone will continue to expand on what little left Paris outside of it will be absorbed. The second is that we need to launch operations against larger zones; if we continue as we are, we will lose the ability to attrition. The final is moral. Reclaiming a large chunk of a major city would be a massive morale boost to the world’s population.”

The two older men sat back, looking at the officer before them. Both not responding but are lost in their private thoughts. After about a minute, they looked at each other on the back at the Colonel.

“I take it you have a plan for this operation?” Enquired Holsan.

“Yes, Sir, I do.”

“If approved. When would you launch it?” Hamilton asked.

“Just after New Year’s.” Hawk answered.

“That’s just over two weeks away.” Holan noted.

“Indeed it is, Sir. But that is when all the necessary resources and personnel are available together.”

“Who would you have led this expedition?”

“Operative Harrington, Sir.”

“He has just come off a mission. It’s to faster turnaround sending back in again, especially after what happened to Schmid.” Holsan protested.

“Normally, Sir, I would agree with you. But he is in place right now and the other assets will become available in just over two weeks. With the current rota, it could be up to six months before we can get these assets back together and we all know what can happen in six months.”  The other two men grimaced at that final statement.

“Send us the file. We will look it over. That will be all, Colonel” Hawk nodded, walked over to his E-pad, and quickly sent a file to the other two men. Once he had confirmed they had received it, he left the room.

Once he had left both men opened the file that he had sent and read through the plan and its attached logistics. Neither spoke for several minutes as they went through the information in front of them.

“It’s risky, but he is not wrong.” Holsan eventually said.

“Risky is putting it mildly. If this operation goes wrong, we could lose most of our most experienced assets.” Hamilton replied.

“True. But we were being worn down by attrition Roger. We both know it.”

“I know.” Hamilton replied after a few seconds. He no longer had the weariness in his voice as his old friend had access to the same information he did.

“Well, as they say, “fortune favours the bold” and by God, we have to be bold now, or we never will be.”

Hamilton leaned back in his chair, it creaking under his weight. He felt his age and was tired. He should have retired by now, but that was impossible due to the global situation. He looked once more at the map on the wall monitor.

“Can they do it?” He asked.

“Everything we know says they can. But it’s going to be hard.” Holsan replied honestly.

“This will be a tough sell to the Cabinet. Risking so many assets and one of the new slammer sealing devices. They will never allow it.” Hamilton’s gaze was distant.

“We should do it together.” Hamilton turned to look at Holsan.

“So, you think we should propose the operation.”

“Yes. Colonel Hawk is right on all three counts of why we should do it. Roger, let’s be honest; we’re losing. Sure, we are delaying it as long as we can but look at the world. Nearly every major nation has gone outside a few here in Europe and the Far East. Canada is effectively the only nation left in the Americas that has not splintered. The global supply chain has collapsed to all intents and purposes. We are rationing now, but how long before that doesn’t help anymore?”

Hamilton grimaced, knowing full well there were months away from some terrible choices. Taking over northern France had slowed the collapse, but it was still happening. They needed another year to stabilise things and get the farms running in northern France even to stand a chance of continuing.

“I know. But the Cabinet is scared. They’ve seen the figures and the predictions. National collapse is now a real possibility.” The information the two men saw over the last few years had painted a terrible picture of slow decline as the world situation worsened.

“So, back to London then?” Holsan asked.

“Yes. It won’t be a pleasant meeting and I would like you to attend. The two of us should be able to convince them. But scared people do stupid things and make bad decisions.” Hamilton said.

“The other senior officers will fall in line.” Holsan told Hamilton.

“How do you know that?” Hamilton looked surprised.

“We’ve been discussing the situation at length. We were just waiting for the right time to make a bold move and it seemed like it is here.”

“So, they will back the plan then?”

“Yes. Some will grumble privately, but they will back it.” Holsan assured him.

“Okay, that will help. I might have to involve the King to help push it through.”

“Or have him dissolve Parliament if they try to do something stupid.” Holsan asked.

“That too, if needed.” Hamilton agreed.

“God, what days are we living in.” Holsan groaned.

“The darkest of days, Richard. The darkest of days indeed.”