Chapter 11 - The First Reconnoiter

The Mushroom Cloud Chronicles (Reboot)
A JAG-Sims3 Story

Author: Haruo Chikamori
Rating: M
Classification: Angst, Romance.
Spoilers: N/A

Summary: Continuity of Government (COG) – a stark term for starting over after a holocaust the likes of which is hoped will never ever happen. This is a what-could-happen if the button was ever pressed.

DISCLAIMER: The characters Harm Rabb, Jr., Sarah "Mac" Mackenzie, Meg Austin, AJ Chegwidden, et al. belong (in concept if not name) to CBS/Bellisarius. Animal and all OC characters are the property of Heather and Hugo Chikamori. No profit is being made from this story, nor is any infringement intended.

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Chapter 11 - The First Reconnoiter
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Bunker; Post-Apocalypse
Sunset Valley, USA
3 Months Later
0830ZULU

The bunker sustained minor cosmetic damage to the exterior but came through the blasts pretty well. That's what came of putting in four foot thick exterior walls. It made it feel a lot more secure; With the base obliterated, there was no need for a second strike by the enemy unless the enemy was perversely sadistic and if that was the case there would be more to worry about than just another nuclear weapon being lobbed in their general direction. They had managed to survive the worst; the radiation levels were going down and the amount of soot in the air wasn't as bad as they had thought.

The skies had cleared up according to the cameras on the exterior of the building. Surprisingly the cameras that were hit by the EMP blast suddenly started working again about two months later and they utilized those monitors to keep track of what the climate was doing.

It was at about the three month limit that Tosh and Boone decided that they needed to reconnoiter the area and see what was out there. Certainly they needed to make sure that the area was secure and that there were no hostile forces operating in the area. They had assumed that the policy of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) had eliminated any threat of invasion of their homeland, however they needed to be sure of that before they made any long-term plans. Otherwise they would have to fight their way out of the area and that would cause major problems. A check of the systems in the MV-22s had brought about some bad news; the needed escape vehicles' systems were fried by the electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) and there was no way to fix them without technical help and getting help like that was going to be a major nightmare. So if they wanted to explore their options of getting out of Dodge, they would have to walk. Luckily they had guns and they had ammo and if they had to they'd start a mini-war just to be able to survive to get out of the area.

As far as Tosh was concerned, they needed to stay put for now; what they had was security and food stocks. What was available outside the bunker was an unknown quantity.

The trees when injured by fire...ended up coming back with a vengeance. Small bushes and conifers started popping up everywhere. The deciduous trees, though, died and it would take a minor miracle for them to thrive again here at least in the short-term. Long-term they could make a recovery. But for all the new growth and greenery, it was still a scene of utter devastation. The epicenter of the blasts; there was nothing. Only hardy shrubs and trees survived the intense heat and blast.

There appeared to be a few survivors...shell-shocked and badly burned, here and there, however the vast majority of those who had survived had been service sims who had gone someplace else. Nearly all the residents had perished.

When Tosh, Harm, Phil, Jack Bunch and Thomas Boone had gone out to take a walk-around they noticed that there were few hanging around the center of town. That probably meant that radiation levels were still high around that area and that it probably wasn't a wise idea to walk through town. They opted to take a circuitous route avoiding the city center.

"I'm not liking it out here, sir. Too exposed." Lieutenant Colonel Jack Bunch, USMC stated. "Seems like it might be a good time for us to get under cover."

"Agreed." the Vice-Admiral stated as he hefted his M4 into a better position. They all watched the skies...wondering if any friendlies or unfriendlies were in the area. And an enemy air patrol would give them loads of information. But exposed here like this; they would be sitting ducks - any enemy fighters in the area that spotted them would be able to zero in their location and either strafe them themselves or they'd call in attack aircraft to bomb the living shit out of them and that wouldn't make for a wonderful end to a day.

The reconnoiter got them the information that they needed: as far as they knew there were no unfriendlies in the area. And with that information in hand, they decided that they didn't need to spend a whole lot of time and didi'd back to home-base. The longer they stayed out, the more exposed they got and well, no need to tempt fate and end up caught in between an invasion force that had just decided to invade and their safe haven.

...and the skies were clear during their return; no hostiles in the area; no unwanted enemy aircraft patrolling the skies.