Robert Doherty - The Citadel

Ah well, the scientist shrugged. That was for people much more important than him to worry about. He wrote up a report and had his radioman send it over the one transmitter that had survived the EMP pulse-an old tube radio that had been here since the base opened. All the modern solid-state circuitry radios had been fused by the EMP.

Vicinity of the Citadel, Antarctica

Tai checked her body, starting from head to foot, making sure all the parts were still functioning. Everything seemed all right. She sat up and turned her head from side to side, listening. Someone was moving nearby.

The total dark was the worst. Eyes wide open, she could see nothing. Then a small light flared out next to her and, in the glow, she saw Vaughn holding his flashlight.

"You okay?"

Tai nodded. "I think so."

Vaughn swiftly ran the light around the room. Logan appeared to be unconscious, with several boxes of supplies piled on top of him. Burke was groggily moving, hands on his head.

Vaughn ignored both of them as he jumped to his feet. He shined his light up into the shaft. A pair of feet disappearing into ice were all that he could see twenty feet above. He turned to Tai. "Hold the light for me. Brothers's buried." He rapidly climbed up.

Reaching the feet, Vaughn hooked one arm through a rung and squeezed one of the feet with his free hand, just to let Brothers know help was here. He hooked his fingers and tore at the ice, pulling away chunks. The cold helped to numb the pain as he tore fingernails loose. Vaughn worked by feel, the glow from the light in Tai's hand doing little good this far up.

"Is he all right?"

Vaughn kept working. He had yet to get any sort of reaction from Brothers. "I need help. Get up here."

Tai climbed up to just below him.

"When I get him free I need your help to lower him down. He's unconscious." He shoved his arm up along Brothers's chest and pulled hard. A large chunk of ice broke free, bounced off Vaughn and tumbled below. He felt Brothers's body shift and quickly grabbed the rope that was still hooked to a rung, easing the body down.

"Get him!" he yelled as he tried to unhook the snap link with numbed fingers. Tai had one arm wrapped around Brothers's body, but Vaughn couldn't unsnap the anchor. "Fuck it," he muttered and pulled out his knife. The razor sharp blade parted the rope with one swipe.

Vaughn dropped the knife and reached down to help Tai lower Brothers. Together they got the body down to the reactor floor. Vaughn jumped down out of the shaft as Tai pointed the flashlight at the man's face. The eyes were closed. Vaughn used his good hand to feel Brothers's neck as he leaned over and placed his cheek next to his mouth to see if he could pick up any breath. No breath, no pulse.

Vaughn tilted Brothers's head back and quickly blew three quick breaths in. He linked his fingers together and pressed down through the bulky clothes on the chest. Within ten seconds he was into the CPR rhythm.

He didn't know how long he'd been at it when Tai slid in on the other side and relieved him. Vaughn sank back on his haunches, his arms and shoulders burning with exhaustion. The pain from his hand was now a deep throbbing.

Vaughn gave Tai an estimated five minutes, then he took over again. Still no movement or sign of life. He shut down his mind and concentrated on the routine.

"He's dead." Tai's voice barely penetrated Vaughn's mind. He kept on. Finally he felt Tai's arms wrapping around him from behind. "He's dead, Vaughn. You can't bring him back. He was up there too long without air." Vaughn allowed the arms to pull him back away from the body.

"How're Logan and Burke?" Vaughn asked as he finally accepted the reality of Brothers's death.

Tai took the light across the room. "How are you?" she quietly asked.

Logan lifted up a haggard face. "What happened? Earthquake?"

"I don't know." She looked at Burke, whose eyes were now open. "Are you okay?"

"I think so."

Tai turned back to Vaughn and echoed Logan's question. "What happened?"

Vaughn wanted to laugh, but the feeling died just as quickly as it came. They were past that now-way past that. "One of the bombs went off."

Tai's eyes opened wide. "How could we have survived?"

Vaughn answered succinctly. "A quarter mile of ice between us and the blast center. The low yield, ten kilotons. An underground burst, which helped contain much of the energy. Being in this reactor, which was built to contain radiation and heavily shielded. And a lot of luck."

"Why did they set the bomb off?" Logan asked.

"To leave no trace," Vaughn replied. "There's nothing left of the Citadel now except this place. They have the other bomb free and clear and no one will ever know."

"There's us," Tai countered.

Vaughn conceded that point. "They probably underestimated the protection the reactor gave us. As far as the Koreans are concerned, we're history." Vaughn thought about what he had just said. "We may well be history too, if we don't get up to the surface." He looked around in the dim glow cast by the mag light. "We can talk about it when we get out. If we stay here, we die."

Pentagon

General Morris looked up as General Hodges rapidly entered the situation room. He didn't like the look on his subordinate's face.

Hodges wasted no time getting to the point. "Sir, several research facilities in Antarctica have picked up a seismic disturbance. We've analyzed the reports." Hodges swallowed. "Sir, based on the triangulation and the size of the shock wave, we believe there has been an approximately ten-kiloton nuclear explosion at the location we have been given for this Citadel."

"What about imagery?" Morris asked.

"We've taken some satellite shots, but nothing can be made out through the cloud cover. That large storm front still covers most of Antarctica."

"What's the status on our unit heading down there?"

"We've alerted a Special Forces unit in Panama. They're heading down there on board a Combat Talon. Estimated time of arrival is 0500 zulu tomorrow."

Morris turned to the situation room's operations officer. "What fleet assets do we have that might be in that area?"

The officer looked up at the large world map that encompassed the entire far wall. "Nothing in the immediate area. The 7th Fleet has a carrier group near Australia."

"Order them to head south as quickly as possible."

"Yes, sir."

Morris turned back to Hodges. "What will the fallout be?"

"Should be minimal, sir. The winds will sweep it out into the South Pacific. As I said, it was a very low yield."

That didn't make Morris feel that much better. "What about the Russians? Have they picked it up?"

Hodges sighed. "They must have, sir. They have a research station less than three hundred miles from the Citadel location. General Kolstov has been notified."

Morris took a moment to collect his thoughts. "All right. I have to contact the President."

South Pacific

Fatima woke Araki. "We intercepted a report out of McMurdo Station. Seismic detectors have picked up a disturbance in the vicinity of the Citadel. They're not sure what has happened, although they suspect an earthquake."

Araki blinked the sleep out of her eyes. "An earthquake?"

Fatima stared at her. "An earthquake would be rather convenient, don't you think?"

"What else-" Araki blanched. "Nuclear blast?"

Fatima shrugged. "Perhaps. Which would mean either the North Koreans did it or someone else got down there."

"But why would someone detonate a nuclear weapon?" Araki asked.

"Destroying evidence by using the evidence," Fatima said.

"How far out are we from the rendezvous?" Araki asked.

"Just over twenty-four hours."