The term five by five was a radio communication expression that meant ‘loud and clear’. Tran at one time had explained to Hail that one five represented the S units of reception strength. The other five was a rating of signal clarity, so five by five meant there was a good and clear signal.
Oliver Fox was the next to report that all systems were nominal.
Hail suspected that Oli didn’t know the difference between the term normal and nominal. He guessed that Fox had heard it used in a movie and had adopted the expression. The use of the phrase "all systems nominal" was a term used by NASA and indicated that the telemetry was reading as expected from historical data trends. Over the years, it had become a response that covered all parameters of flight systems and controls. Normal and nominal meant two different things. Normal would report the condition of the flight parameters when the machine was at rest. Nominal meant that the parameters were within flight specifications for the current mission with the drone under load.
Hail watched as the dark green patch on the ground drew in closer. The dark green began to break up and pixelate into lighter splotches of green as the drone’s camera began to differentiate between bushes, plants and grass.
“Twenty-five feet until touchdown,” Dallas reported, pushing pedals under his feet to change the angle of attack of the propellers.
“Do we have any company?” Hail asked Tanner Grant.
Tanner Grant was still on station flying Foghat in tight circles over the house below. He looked at his screen that showed Foghat’s Star SAFIRE HD FLIR system. He adjusted the multi-spectral SWIR system until it focused on the landing zone and the surrounding area. Anything that was hotter than the ambient earth below would show up as a white light on his monitor.
“There is nothing in the immediate area except some wild dogs about a mile away. I am going to reposition so I can scan the residence.”
Grant pinched and swiped and rotated his screen until he was happy with his view of Kim Yong Chang’s house, back yard, front yard and additional property on the sides of his home.
“Putting it up on big screen number three,” Grant told Hail.
Hail glanced up above the control stations to see the new forward looking infrared radiometer image that had appeared on the big screen.
Hail saw large rectangle-shaped objects on the ground in front of the house that were undoubtedly cars. The engines glowed warm under their hoods. On the side of the house was a smaller box that glowed white as well. Hail decided that this was an air conditioner unit. The well heated pool glowed brighter than the bricks surrounding the pool, which had cooled in the night air. In the backyard, some smaller objects, some round, others square were glowing, but not with the same intensity as the cars or the air conditioner. Hail came to the conclusion that it was probably pool equipment, the pump, the motor, maybe even a water heater.
“Does anyone think it’s weird that Chang doesn’t have any guards at his house?” Hail asked his crew.
Gage Renner, the mission aeronautics analyst and Hail’s close friend offered his two cents.
“I don’t really see the need. I mean the entire country is guarded. No one gets in and most of its citizens want to get out.”
Pierce Mercier, offered, “And the entire complex is surrounded by a twelve-foot chain-link fence. Look at the glow on that thing,” Mercier nodded up toward the big screen. “I don’t think a fence like that glows with heat unless it’s electrified.”
Hail remained silent.
“And the fence has razor wire on top of it,” Renner added.
“And we have already seen that Chang is good with weapons,” Mercier said.
Hail agreed, “I guess so. I don’t think I’ll ever understand this country. It’s like a throwback to the sixteenth century with a bunch a nukes thrown in to make things even more complicated.”
Dallas got everyone’s attention with the words, “Three, two, one and touchdown.”
Hail checked the FLIR screen again and didn’t see any glowing moving objects, no people, no dogs.
“So far, so good,” Hail said, relieved that the first part of the mission was successful.
As the crew looked at the FLIR screen, they noticed that another object now glowed in the darkness. It was Led Zeppelin. A few days before, the dead drone Eagles had scouted out the perfect landing zone for Led Zeppelin. Outside the wire of Kim Yong Chang’s property was a tangle of thorny bushes Mercier had called Poncirus trifoliata, also known as the Flying Dragon. A circle of these thick green bushes had naturally formed around a rocky area in its center. The stems of the Flying Dragon created a contorted and twisted thicket that no person or animal would readily venture in to. The landing site was perfect. One-hundred meters outside the electrified fence and completely hidden from view.
“Do you want me to fly Foghat back to the Laser?” Tanner Grant asked Hail.
“What’s your fuel looking like?” Hail asked.
Grant double checked his gauges.
“I have about six hours,” Grant said.
Hail did some math in his head and determined that Foghat could stay on station for about one more hour and still have plenty of fuel to make it back to their support ship.
“I’d like you to stick around until the hubs are deployed,” Hail told Grant.
“No problem, Skipper,” Grant said. He took his finger and drew a red circle around the top of the complex. He then set the auto-pilot on Foghat to lock onto that hand-drawn path and to maintain its current altitude and speed.
“Alright, Alex. You’re on,” Hail said. “Let’s make this clean and silent.”
Alex turned to two of his junior pilots, Oliver Fox on his right and Paige Grayson to his left.
“Let’s do this like we planned,” Alex instructed. “I’ll go first, then Oli, then Paige. Are we good?”
Both of the other pilots acknowledged Knox and each of them began to prepare their aircrafts.
Three grossly misshapen objects sat on top of Led Zeppelin. Zeppelin was the size of a mini trampoline and in comparison to its smooth and conical black surface; the hubs that were connected to its top were bizarre in appearance.
One hub was not even a shape. It was more like a blob of clay the size of softball that had been overworked by an angry mental patient wearing oven mitts. It was brown and lopsided. A rough texture had been applied to its surface. A flat black area the size of a golf ball had been infused into one of its unnatural sides.
“OK,” Knox said in a predatory tone, “Undocking now.”
Knox checked his gauges, checked his cameras and verified that his flight controls were working and said, “And liftoff.”
The brown blob hummed, its three small propellers spinning furiously as the machine rose from the back of Led Zeppelin.
“Put Aerosmith’s camera on big screen number two,” Hail requested.
Oli fulfilled the request and the video appeared in time for Hail to see the small drone, code named Aerosmith, clear the top of the Flying Dragon bushes. The bushes were green, the big berries on the bushes were green, but then everything shot by the night vision camera was green. The crew that was not actively flying a drone, watched the main monitor as the bushes became smaller and smaller.
“I’m at a hundred feet and Aerosmith feels good and is responding nicely.” Alex Knox commented. “Well, as nicely as this hunk of wood and can respond,” he added.
“Take it slow,” Hail told Knox.
“With the weird shape of this thing, I don’t think I have much choice,” Knox replied. “It’s amazing that this drone can even fly.”
Knox worked the flight controls as the electric fence came into view. A moment later, the fence disappeared underneath the camera as the drone passed over it.