Long Range Recon: Contact - Day 6

"Do you see it?"

"Diaz...", Rogers looked up from imager, "...I should be sleeping right now."  Diaz looked flustered, "But do you see it?" Humorless and disinterested, Rogers agreed that he saw it. "So somebody has a fire going, five miles away in the hills."

D: "So you see it."
R: "Yes."
D: "Should we report it?
R: "You just did."
D: "To command?"
R:"I'm going back to sleep."
D: "But..."
R: "Just watch, report if something actually happens."
D: "But..."
R:"I'm sleeping."

Rogers went back to his bunk; Diaz watched the horizon, checking time and time again for the next three hours before daylight.

The view from the blockhouse.

After daylight, Diaz thought he saw a flicker of movement a couple of times, but at this distance, it was really hard to tell.  When Rogers got up, Diaz showed him the video, pointed out the events, and Rogers admitted that it might be something.

Possible contact on the top of the ridge, center of view above.

Diaz was relieved, and Rogers took over the watch with Diaz hovering over his shoulder.  Rogers panned the horizon a couple of times, before Diaz suggested that some sort of vehicle might be parked near a crest in the distance.  Rogers played with the camera settings, adjusting mode and contrast and whatnot.  Partly obscured by rock, and behind a bush, there was a tire and what appeared to be some sort of a vehicle just visible in the morning sun.  Rogers had to admit, Diaz was right; kid had a good eye.

Object viewed behind the rock and bush, as well as a human contact.

Diaz excitely asked, "What do we do?"
R: "Wait for Hightower to get out of the can."
D: "Then what?"
R: "Follow his orders, and will you quit hanging over my shoulder?"
D: "Sorry."

When Hightower returned, they showed him the video.  He compared it to the video of the day before, and concluded that they had identified a contact.  They then set the computer to do a high res scan, and the computer identified a brief human contact at one point, near the vehicle.

About an hour later, Rogers and Hightower watched the squat armored truck come down the old road out of the ridge-line.  Rogers took pleasure in abruptly waking Diaz, who banged his head on the bunk above his own, while Hightower sent a message to command. Everyone went to duty stations.

An armored truck descends from the ridge.

They watched as the truck approached the blockhouse.  It was quite uneventful, but life in the blockhouse is boring, and everyone watched like if was the first moon landing.  The truck stopped a good distance out, and a single person climbed out of the top of it and began to approach on foot.

An occupant from the truck approaches the blockhouse.

She appeared to be a soldier, maybe, not very disciplined, but yeah, probably a soldier.  She stopped on the road about at the limits of rifle range, fiddled with something from a pocket, and sat down in the road.

Hightower decided to send Simpson out to talk to her, with Rogers visibly armed and covering Simpson from a short distance back.  Simpson carried only her holstered pistol for defense.

Panky got up as the woman from the bunker approached, "Hello, I'm sergeant Pankovic from the New Mexico Confederation.  To whom am I speaking?"

Lt. Simpson greets the stranger.

Simpson paused a moment, then offered, "I'm  Lieutenant Simpson, how can I help you?"

"Lt Simpson of where? And what is this place?"

"I'm a soldier of the United States Army, and this is blockhouse 7."

Panky cracked a momentary smile at the thought of yet another group calling themselves, the United States, and asked, "What is your mission?"

"To serve and protect the Constitution and citizens of the United States."  Simpson continued, asking why Panky was here, and for details about the Confederation.  Panky eventually asked what the United states actually consisted of, and was told that it was Colorado, some surrounding states and territory, and a some portion of land on the East Coast, whatever that meant.

Eventually Simpson instructed Panky to come to the bunker to continue the discussion, but Panky wasn't too appreciative of Simpson's tone, and replied, " Actually, I'm good talkin' right here."

"We'd really prefer to talk in the comfort of the blockhouse, rather than out here in the sun and dust." Simpson was clearly irritated.

Panky shared, "Yeah, I imagine so," and started to back-peddle towards the Goat.  She was expecting to find villages of people struggling to get by, scavengers, and the occasional band of knaves and hooligans.  She even thought that they might get to shoot a couple of the mythical "Greenies", but she wasn't expecting to find a military fortification representing a nation that hadn't truly existed during her lifetime.  As they used to say, this was above her pay grade.

The stranger returns to her truck, much to Lt. Simpson's dismay.

Trying to buy time and distance, she started to head back to the Goat, and said, "I need to report back to my superiors."  Panky turned her back on Lt Simpson, and began to walk back to the Goat.  Simpson yelled to Panky, trying to persuade Panky to talk further, but Panky just smiled to herself, and thought, "No, you lose this round.  You could shoot me in the back, but then you'd still lose. Need to get back home. Buzz the drone around first, then get home and tell everyone about our new neighbors."

Lt. Simpson returns as the truck heads back to the west.

Back in the  bunker, Hightower watched as the encounter took place.  He could hear most of the exchange over Simpson's coms unit.  He was almost as surprised at the existence of the Confederation as he was about the Goat.  He hoped for a lengthier exchange, and that they would be able to gather more information, but recognized that that wasn't going to happen.

Hightower also made note of the friction that seemed to exist between the two women.  He didn't really understand it, but noted it, wondering if sending Simpson out there had been a mistake.  She could come off as pushy at times, well, most of the time.

The crew in the blockhouse watched as Panky got back into the Goat, and watched it back away from them.  In time the Goat disappeared back into the hills towards where New Mexico had once been.

Diaz excitedly began to barrage Rogers with questions, as Hightower, figuring that the day's excitement was over, exited the deck.  Behind him, an exasperated Rogers plead with Diaz to just shut up.
_______

When Panky returned to the Goat, she told Sam to start backing away from the blockhouse.  Sam did as she was told, but asked, " Just how far do you want me to back up, I got no eyes back there, boss."  So, Charlie got to be Sam's eyes for a little bit, and after a short distance, Panky had Sam turn the Goat around, keeping the turret facing the blockhouse the whole time.  The goat proceeded up into the hills, and began to retrace the path home.

Though Charlie heard most of the exchange between Panky and the stranger, as soon as the Goat was moving, he asked Panky what happened?  All she said was, "We made contact."