The End of the Beginning

Training Center, Base Tranquility

Friday, April 16, 2027

William entered the classroom and took a seat next to Seong. All around him, students were speaking in hushed tones. A thick blanket of dread and despair had settled over the room.

“Do you know how many have d-died so far?” Seong whispered.

“Just over fifty,” William replied, as he slumped down in his seat.

“To m-many.”

“It’s always too many.”

William sat up when he saw Chief of Security Patrick Hernandez walk into the room. Hernandez saw William immediately and gave a wink. Their professor walked in behind him.

“Oh, boy,” William whispered. “Must be bad if they brought him in here to talk.”

“Class,” the professor called out, “due to last night’s attack in Toronto, we have a guest. He would like to say a few words. Chief.”

“Hello, everyone,” Hernandez bellowed. “In light of last night’s events, I am here to calm any fears you may have about security on this base. As chief of security, it is my job to keep you all as safe as possible. ISAF is one of the finest security forces in the world but we can’t do it alone. This is the second major attack in three weeks by this particular group, Terra Nova” Murmurs around the room started.

“Something is different about this attack,” William whispered to Seong.

“What d-d-do you mean, sir?”

“Well, I don’t think Hernandez went around room to room calming everyone down for every other attack. There must be more to what happened.”

“We need your help,” Hernandez said, “to seek out and combat terrorist both here and abroad. Be vigilant, be attentive, and be informed. Is that understood?”

“Yes, sir!” the class chorused.

“Bueno.”

Hernandez began to leave the classroom but a rescue officer in the first row spoke up.

“Excuse me, Chief. With all due respect, what makes you believe we are safe? Two months ago, didn’t Terra Nova attack one of our ships while on sea trials in the Caribbean? Haven’t they stolen from UNIRO convoys in South America?” William had never heard that information before.

“They’ve already hit us. Who’s to say they won’t again?” the rescue officer finished.

Hernandez took a deep breath and walked over to the alarmed rescue officer.

“If you have concerns, Rescue Officer…” Hernandez stared down at the man’s badge, “Croft, any specific concerns about our competence, please, voice them. I will surely ease them.”

“I only ask, Chief, because I lost my cousin last night in Toronto. I’m scared, sir.”

William rolled his eyes. “Jesus,” he muttered under his breath. Seong glanced over at him.

“The world is scared of this new group,” the rescue officer continued. “They’ve grown quickly and they’ve attacked UNIRO before. What’s stopping them from doing it again? Especially as they continue to grow.” Hernandez nodded his head. “What’s stopping them is me and my team,” he said frankly. “This base is mine, Rescue Officer, as are the people within it. It is my home, my family’s home. You are my mission, just as the people of the world are yours. I will do everything in my power to stop anyone that threatens this facility. Base Tranquility, along with her sisters, has the latest and greatest in security and surveillance technology. If you will allow me to explain… Hm. Professor?” The professor nodded in approval to proceed and gestured to his computer console. Rescue Officer Croft enthusiastically nodded his head as well.

“UNIRO’s missions may be peaceful,” said Hernandez, walking over to the computer console, “but that doesn’t mean we are defenseless in the face of threats, my friends. Each base has billions of dollars’ worth of assets. On any given day, there are up to 20,000 people here, some of which are high-profile targets. Politicians. UN officials. Military personnel. Scientists. Our security systems were designed using history as a guide, taking into account previous attack styles used by both terrorist and various state militaries. Let’s start from the outside in.” After logging in and with few clicks and taps, a 3D rendering of the base appeared on the whiteboard via the projector. The rendering turned several times then narrowed in on the base’s main entrance to the northwest of Umoja Tower. An exit off of the nearest highway, Interstate 95, led to the base through a predominantly marshy-forested area just south of Oak Hill to where the base had been built at the coast. Its north end bordered the Turner Flats and its southern the Mosquito Lagoon.

Part of the base had to be built on reclaimed land to make way for its eight-mile diameter and that extended out to a ten-mile diameter once the seawall started offshore. The Port Section, which was basically an elliptical semi-circle placed around the main bases ocean facing side, enclosed by the seawall, jutted out two miles from land. Even though from the air it had looked like a peace sign, its true shape, including the enclosed harbor, actually looked more like a bloated mushroom with its circular stem on land and its semi-circular head out at sea.

After the marshy area, the road soon came to the diverted Indian River over a box girder bridge and then to woodland that ended with the base perimeter wall. There were no other structures around for a few miles. In the rendering, an area that was marked to be 900 feet in front of the first perimeter wall was highlighted and zoomed in on. Hernandez walked over to the board and slapped it.

“Six lanes of traffic pass under these large white unassuming arches that span the road. Decorative as they may be they are actually high-energy pass through X-ray scanning systems that can easily see through cars, trucks, and containers as they drive underneath. The image generated goes through the base’s supercomputer and if something is noticed, the suspicious vehicle will be diverted into standby areas located next to the road’s automatic security booths by a system of smart traffic lights and movable gates where they are screened again and hand checked by ISAF personnel. Vehicles going through the automatic security booths will be catalogued into the base’s computer with their make, color, and license plate on file in the database. After they are tagged, their whereabouts will always be known by my security personnel whenever they are on base.” Alongside the road were a number of camera and sensor towers, giving the front entrance the feel of a border crossing. Large flower beds and small trees had been placed about the roads leading from the automatic security booths into the base to give it a more welcoming appearance. Moving to the outer perimeter wall, the rendering was adjusted to zoom in on the top of the wall near the base of one of the wind turbines. Hernandez slapped the board again.

“Next, two forty-foot-high smart perimeter walls. Both walls are made from precast concrete sections that are reinforced with carbon fiber mesh that give it exceptional strength and make it lighter, non-corrosive, and more eco-friendly. Twenty-eight feet thick, the walls can survive multiple bomb blast and even take multiple direct missile hits. At each of their centers is an access tunnel for interior maintenance and monitoring sensor rooms. Their exterior sides are angled at fifty degrees and hold embedded cameras, infrared sensors, trip lasers, and flood lights. A hundred-foot clear zone extends around the front of the wall, separating it from the tree line.” A photo came up that showed a wind turbine with what looked to be a small gray skirt halfway up its tower.

“Every four-wind turbine towers have border patrol sensor housings that scan their surroundings with radar and cameras to look for intruders that can relay their data to ISAF upon determining an intrusion is occurring. All of these systems work together with the base computer to act within milliseconds so no one is getting through, no one. Twenty-four hour drone surveillance in our skies, on our grounds, and in our waters finishes the job.” William listened rapturously. “Excuse me, Chief,” he said.

Hernandez turned and saw that it was William that had spoken. “Ah!” he started. “Captain Emerson. A man, ladies and gentleman, who knows the importance of proper and up to date security, the failure of which during the war’s darkest hour almost cost him his life. Captain, please, what troubles you? Your input to our system could be invaluable.” “Well, sir, umm,” William said, “if these systems are all run by computer, couldn’t one just do something to the base supercomputer and disable all of them? I mean, I know computers are great and I love technology but they’re not infallible. Anyone can program them, good or bad.” Hernandez shook his head.

“A valid point. Cyber security is just as important. UNIRO has firewalls that are at the level of the Pentagon. One would simply not have the computing power to infiltrate our systems without amassing great attention to themselves prior to their attack. The only way to gain direct access to our computer networks is through our server farm under Umoja Tower. Someone would have to be working on the inside with high levels of authorization to get even close to the command center and into our database. Should this hypothetical traitor somehow make it that far, they would soon have to contend with a legion of my armed ISAF guardsmen. Someone wouldn’t even be able to steal guns inside the base because all weapons have biomodules that have fingerprint activation unique to their holder. My point is, Captain, the bad guys would have to be in UNIRO itself to make little, if any, headway towards an attack.” William suddenly remembered Hammond and her warehouse conversation. Dismissing what he had seen at the time, he now remembered one of the words she had said. Toronto.

“And what if they are, Chief?” he asked uneasily.

“Then God help them, Captain,” Hernandez smiled.