Chapter 9
Gunfire pounded from the other end of the call. Repeat, taking heavy fire at the Onyx trench line. Requesting aerial assistance. I knew where the Onyx trench was, so I hustled back to the flight station and launched the recon drone. Kurgan set up an anti tank FPV and carried it outside as Hans sat down next to me and pulled his goggles back on. Hans started to say something…when PHOOM! An artillery shell hit right near our bunker. Dirt fell from the ceiling beams and the ground shook. I put my drone into hover and ran to the bunker entrance. I got to the chain curtain just as Kurgan was coming back down the stairs holding something in his gloved hand and grinning. He had fresh dirt smeared across his armor and face. Hoowee! He yelled, that was a close one! Check this out, He held out his hand and dropped a jagged black chunk of metal onto the desk. Whisps of smoke trickled off the shard. It’s still hot! Kurg said proudly. Hans stared at the chunk of shrapnel in disbelief.
Hans looked frightened, do they know where we are? Naw, Kurgan said, that was just a wild shot. Hans looked up at Kurgan in awe. Kurgan looked back and said that the drone should be ready to go. Hans nodded and pulled his goggles back down.
It didn’t take long to find what was harassing the Onyx position. An Indian army Abhay infantry fighting vehicle had crept in close and was unloading it’s forty millimeter autocannon at our soldiers. I flew closer and the drone controls started to cut in and out. My screen became pixelated and froze. No, no,no I said as I desperately tried to regain control of the drone. The image on the sceen updated one last time with a shot of the ground very close.
I set the controller in my lap and slowly exhaled. So Hans, this thing has a powerful jammer. Hans said smugly, you crashed your drone? I sniffed, oh you think you’ll do better?
Hans said, watch this. I smirked and watched his video feed on the laptop screen. He flew over the trench line and we could see soldiers with green duct tape strips on their uniforms taking cover as the dirt around them erupted with continuous explosions. The drone flew another half mile and the enemy machine came within view on the screen. It was a boxy, tracked vehicle painted in tan and green stripes of camouflage. Puffs of smoke popped out of the short barrel on its turret.
I’ll go for the engine bay, he said confidently. You do that, I said.
He swung the attack drone on a wide arc around behind the Abhay, then just as he started to push forward Hans said, uh oh. He flicked the control sticks frantically. Unlike my Mavic spotter drone, the FPV attack drone kept it’s visual connection after it lost control. We clearly watched the drone rotate on its side and fall out of the sky. The feed cut when it hit the ground.
Well that sucks. Kurgan said, he was standing behind me watching the laptop over my shoulder. Hans flipped up his goggles and exclaimed in disbelief, Man, I really thought I had it! I shrugged and said sarcastically, Yeah, me too, I thought you were definitely gonna be the first pilot to fly right through EWS with no trouble. Hans asked, what’s EWS? Kurgan said, electronic warfare system.
The soldier at Onyx called back, Hey I hate to be a pest, the sounds of explosions rattled off behind him. But are you guys having any luck? Because we’re getting hammered by that thing. I said, yeah it jammed our last two drones we’re trying to send another attack. Don’t worry, it should run out of ammo eventually. The soldier grunted, thanks for the support.
I stood and walked to the stacks of drones as I thought over our options. Kurg, I’ll set up my bomber, you get an old Dji rigged for him. Kurgan nodded and moved quickly with purpose. Kurg found a small grey civilian drone, it was a few generations outdated by the current standards. He then grabbed one of the mortar shells from a neat pile and started attaching it to the drone with zip ties. Someone had written on the shell with a paint pen SUCK IT!
So how does it work? Hans asked. I looked at him, slightly lost for a minute and said, What? The EWS. He said. He seemed genuinely interested so I tried to give my best explanation. Uhh, well, don’t think of it as an impenetrable dome of protection. It’s more like beams, or radio waves shooting out from a central point on top of the hardware. Like the spines on a porcupine. Hans nodded. While I talked, I was hanging modified bomblets to the four corners of my Mavic drone and testing the functions. Kurgan finished the attack drone and went outside to set it in the launch cradle.
I continued, this is a jamming system, it’s trying to fill the air with so much noise that the drone can no longer talk to the controller. That’s why we lose contact with the drone. This is different from being spoofed. A spoof blasts the software in the drone and tries to fry it. A jam cuts the link, a spoof damages the drone and can cause it to do all kinds of dumb stuff. Kurgan came back into the bunker, I snapped my fingers at Hans and said, ok you take off and get on station but don’t engage. He pulled on his FPV goggles and picked up his controller. I handed the bomber to Kurgan and soon it was in the air.
As the drones flew out to attack the Abhay Hans said, this thing’s a hunk of junk. I smiled, I know. Seriously, he complained, the graphics suck. I explained, that old drone only has a 2.7K camera, the new ones are all 4K that's why they look so much better. This drone uses way less bandwidth to send the camera feed, you get a crappier picture, but it has a better chance of getting through the jammer.
Do you think it will work? He asked. Maybe, I said, but also I’m gonna try to bomb the shit out of it from way up high.
Kurgan came back inside and stood behind us watching the action unfold on the monitors. I called to the team on the ground, Onyx, how you guys holding up? Still getting hammered, came the reply. I arrived on scene first and approached at very high altitude. My feed was fuzzy, but the drone remained in control. Bombing from this height was difficult. I sent the first two bombs down and missed. The next one landed on the front deck of the machine, it didn’t pierce the armor plate, but maybe it damaged the EWS pod mounted on the turret. I dropped the last bomb and it went off behind the turret over the engine bay. The gun resumed firing on the infantry position.
Ok go for it, I said. Hans lined up the suicide drone. His screen picked up thick bands of interference across it, but the drone kept on target as it flew into the back of the machine. The explosion ripped out across the rear of the Abhay. The jammer went down and I was able to drop closer to the burning vehicle. First smoke started puffing from the top hatch, then ammunition and fuel began to burn inside. Soon white hot jets of fire were shooting from the top hatch and also around the rear loading door. Kurgan gave a grim chuckle and said, that’s what you get when you fuck with our guys. Hans said, that’s tough. I said, yeah, for the crew inside. Hans said, no I mean the flames shooting out of it, it looks tough. I was flying the spotter drone back, but I had to pause and turn to Hans.
Ok, I’ve heard you say that things were tough several times now when it doesn’t make sense. Are you using the word tough to mean that something is difficult? Hans cocked his head, clearly confused. No, I said tuff, T,U,F,F, it means good. Like, that enemy vehicle cooking off is tuff.
Cool? Is it the same as saying something is cool? I asked.
Hans answered slowly, I dunno, I wouldn’t say cool like that. I’d say it gets cool in here at night. You know temperature wise.
I started flying the drone again and shook my head. This is quite an education we are getting. Kurg, did you know it isn’t cool to say cool anymore? Kurg said, that’s cool.
I asked Hans, so where did tuff come from? What do you mean? He countered, kids have been saying it since I was in middle school.
Ok, tuff. I said, did you steal it from hip hop culture? That’s how we got all our slang. Isn’t that right K Dogg? I called over my shoulder. Kurgan answered, word up.
CHAPTER 10
Later that evening I peeled the lid back on my canned fruit cocktail, I tipped it towards Kurgan and Hans as they held out their cans of syrup and fruit. Cheers boys, nice work today. Kurgan slurped syrup off the top. Hans studied the big bald man. Have you always been a soldier?
Kurgan raised an eyebrow and spooned another mouthful of fruit. No, I got out of high school in ‘89. The local cops and my parents both agreed I should join the army to get straightened out. The next year I was charging into Baghdad with Stormin’ Norman.
And that was like, revenge for the Twin Towers, right? Hans asked. I stifled a laugh. Kurgan said, no that came later, we went in strictly for oil. Hans sighed, that whole Iraq war for twenty years, that’s really confusing. You’re telling me, Kurgan grumbled. What was it like? Hans asked, what was the craziest thing you saw?
Kurgan sat back and tipped the last drops of syrup into his mouth. Craziest thing I saw? Camel spiders. They lived around the base, about this big. He held his hands four inches apart. I guess they’re harmless, but the way they survive in the desert is by always staying out of the sunlight. If you disturb them they run to shade as fast as they can. I worked with this lance corporal, a big black guy named Tobin. Dude was jacked, like muscles on muscles. One time he picked up a pallet and two camel spiders were under it. He took away their shade, so the only other shade they saw was his shadow. So these two brown hairy things as big as hands go running towards him. Kurg made his hand run along his thigh to imitate the monsters.
A huge smile broke out across Kurgan’s stubble covered face as he continued the story. Tobin shrieked like a little girl and started jumping up and down trying to step on them, and the spiders were just running and trying to get in his shadow. God damn, that was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. We told him he looked like a Micheal Jackson video in fast forward.
Kurgan held onto the smile a few seconds longer before a darker memory faded in and the smile fell. It was quiet for a moment, and then he continued. But I didn’t stay in for more than one tour. Once I got out I had to catch up on all the drugs I had missed during those four years. I only got back into this shit three years ago, with the rest of the world.
Hans hung on Kurgan’s words like a kid listening to a bedtime story.
I stood and started putting away the small camp stove I had cooked dinner with. Kurgan stood, arched his back with an audible pop and walked to the radio set to check in with command. Hans remained at the table fishing a last piece of fruit from the bottom of the can. Hey Hans, I said, can you gather up garbage and take it out to the bin we showed you? He slowly looked up from the bottom of the tin can and stared at me. I tried to place his expression. Was it annoyance? Was he insulted by my request? I looked away and kept doing the task at hand. He finally retrieved the sliver of peach from the bottom of the can and gathered the other two cans. Then he walked to the cooking area and picked up two of the macaroni boxes, but left the third one. Without a word, he walked up the stairs and went outside. I started wiping out the cook pot and noticed the box he had missed, then I thought about the look he had given me.
The next morning I woke to the sound of an angry Kurgan. HEY! Golden Boy! He shouted, then he kicked Han’s cot so hard it almost tipped over with the kid in it. Hans slid out of his sleeping bag and stood wearing olive drab boxers and a t-shirt. He pulled his airpods out of his ears. What the hell man? What’s your problem? Kurgan was furious; he stood towering over Hans and demanded, Didn’t Shade ask you to put the trash in the bin last night? Yeah. Hans answered with defiance. Then why didn’t you do it? It was dark, I’m gonna do it first thing this morning.
Now I was fully awake and becoming aware of the situation. I closed my eyes tight and felt granules of sleep crap in the creases of my eyelids. So where was the garbage? I asked Kurgan. Right outside our door like a fucking vacancy sign. Holy shit, Hans, bubie, you’re killing me. I don’t see the big deal, Hans defended himself meekly. Get dressed, I ordered, I want to show you something. Right now? He whined. Kurgan was already in full battle dress, he stepped close to Hans and looked down on the teen with wrath in his eyes. You need to get right real quick, he poked his finger hard into Han’s forehead, throwing him slightly back.
I pulled on boots and started turning on monitors at the flight station. Next I slipped a fresh battery onto a specially built bomber drone. You want coffee? Kurgan asked as he started filling our percolator with water. I nodded, then I opened a crate of modified grenades and snapped the 3D printed fins to four of them. I powered up the drone and the controller. By pressing buttons on the controller I made sure all the release solenoids on the drone moved freely. Then I carefully set a bomb at each of the four release points. I carried the bomber outside and set it in the cradle.
I walked back into the bunker. Ok sonny boy, I patted the wooden crate next to mine, come have a seat. Hans was now dressed and looking sullen, he took a seat. I launched the drone and for the first ten minutes we just watched it fly over the quiet battlefield. It passed burned out military vehicles and barren farmland peppered with craters. Then it found what I wanted, the enemy trench line. I brought the drone in a slow sweep and zoomed in the camera.
The trench had puddles of dirty water at the bottom and battered wooden boards lining the sides. Every thousand feet or so a roof had been built to form a covered dug out. I pitched the drone into a tilted circle and inspected the first dug out from a few angles. Torn black plastic on the roof flapped in a light breeze. I piloted the drone further down the trench and approached the next dug out.
I glanced over to make sure Hans was watching. I zoomed in the camera, a disposable propane tank and three empty ammo boxes lay tipped over on the dirt outside the dugout. I panned along the trench, empty plastic water bottles floated in a puddle. The roof of the dugout was made of pallets and covered with a tarp. I hovered over the entrance and dropped the first grenade.
On the screen the bomb dropped down, bounced off the wall of the trench and just inside the dugout. It exploded, throwing dust and hot metal. Immediately we could see movement under the pallet roof. A soldier in camouflage with red tape stripes on his arm and helmet, briefly poked his head out of the cover and then ducked back inside. I went to the opening on the other side and dropped a grenade there. Dust was still in the air when a soldier limped out of the dugout and pointed his rifle at the drone. Hans watched the puffs of smoke from the rifle firing hopelessly into the sky. I centered the drone over him and dropped another bomb, it went off at his feet and he slowly fell over.
Another soldier was exposed at the opposite entrance. I watched him for a few seconds, he appeared to be placing a board against the entrance to shield himself. The board fell out of the doorway and the soldier had to step into the open to lift it back up. Red stains ran down his arms, desperately he clawed at the muddy board as his strength bled out of him. I panned back to the soldier with the rifle, he lay in the trench, his legs slowly scissored. The last bomb set the dugout on fire. I flew the drone back and it autolanded outside.
Hans sat stonefaced, I couldn’t tell if my demonstration had had any effect on him. I started to say, So, when we ask you to…I GET IT! OK? I GET IT! He turned fully defensive and waved his arms in frustration. I calmly said, I just want to make sure…FINE! I’LL TAKE OUT THE FRICKIN’ GARBAGE OUT NEXT TIME! He angrily stood up and walked to his cot and put his airpods in. I shot a glance at Kurgan, Kurgan started to slide a vicious combat knife out of a sheath on his harness, his eyes shifted towards Hans. I grinned and wagged my finger at him. I stood up and walked towards the stairs. I looked over to Hans to tell him I was getting the drone, but he kept his airpods in and busied himself with something. Kurgan met me outside at the drone.
Dude… I opened my mouth to say more, but searched for the words. Kurgan thoughtfully scratched the scruff on his chin. It’s baffling, I said, he was lazy and jeopardized our safety. Yet he’s offended that we brought it up? How can we teach him anything if he throws a fit each time we mention a mistake?
I could get a little rougher with him? Kurgan suggested, We could be good cop bad cop. He clearly doesn’t want to hear anything from me either, I said. If we get tough on him he might just crumble.
The two of us looked out towards the Indian front line, they could have a drone in the air right now looking for us, but the small drone detector on Kurgan’s belt hung silent . Kurgan said, have you noticed how he just stands in the way? I was carrying a tote in and he was on the stairs vaping. The thought never occurred to him that he should get out of the way. It's like, I need to figure out how I’m going to get around him. Oh! I waved my hands in frustration and said, I have definitely seen that! It’s like he believes the world should just flow around him. And he can walk out into it like a river. Kurgan sounded dejected, I wish he’d try that in some busy traffic.
It’s got to get easier don’t you think? If it doesn’t we’re gonna be dead. We don’t have time to work it all out at his pace. Let’s go talk to him.
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