Desert Strike

Chapter 2 - Post-Apocalypse Newcomer

Chapter 2 - Post-Apocalypse NewcomerIt was their weekly management meeting and an impatient Tricia had matters she needed to discuss. Pinkie brought in some of Fatima's home-made cheese for everyone to try as they settled down to their meeting.

“Sundown, before we begin we've got some news for you but we need to invite someone in to tell it,” said Tricia as she looked outside to see if her special visitor was ready. Nulla sat there grinning as he struggled to keep his mouth closed, he didn't want to spoil the girl's fun.

“What special visitor? Did someone just drop out of the sky?” Sundown asked absently as he enjoyed this new type of 'Fatima cheese' made from their small but growing herd of milking cows. It was the best he'd tasted so far.

Pinkie led Glenda into the room by the hand and the men stopped eating to look up. This was something they hadn't expected.

“Hi Glenda, so how's things? Ah, so what's so special? Has Nulla been a boofhead again or something?” asked Pedro. He was just as perplexed as the others.

“Nulla already knows, Pedro, but the big news is… we're going to have a baby.” Glenda had picked her nails to the bone worrying over this moment but, despite rehearsing her lines, it came out in one rushed sentence.

There was a moment of stunned silence until Sundown stood up and slapped Nulla on the back. Then he walked around to gather Glenda in a bear hug.

“I didn't know, you can't tell. You're so slim. Congratulations to you both. This is the best damn news we've had since, well, since the apocalypse. We now have hope for the future, a brighter future,” he said, struggling to find the right words for such an occasion. He wiped absently at his eyes which had suddenly grown moist. Then everyone was up and hugging. Even Pedro had a tear in the corners of his eyes as he wheeled himself across to hug Nulla now standing proudly beside Glenda.

“Hey, all of you, shoosh. I'd like to make a toast,” said Andy lifting his glass of communion sherry which the palace seemed to have an abundance of. “To the happy parents-to-be and to our first post-apocalypse baby.”

Everyone grabbed the nearest glass of wine, water or tea and repeated, “To the parents and our first post-apocalypse baby!”

Glenda smiled making her face glow with joy. “Thank you, but nothing much has changed except we're going to add another member to this wonderful Commando.” She stopped and became somewhat serious. “Nulla and I, and our group, we lived in fear waiting to be discovered by the terrorists every single day. That was before we crossed the deserts to be here, our sanctuary. When we arrived you so generously took us into your hearts, sight unseen. We're so glad we made the choice to come here to start our family.” Glenda started to cry and Pinkie came to her aid. Together they left to get more supplies for their little celebration.

Tricia brought everyone back on track as they began to sit back down. “I'll personally be taking care of Glenda and the other women who need obstetrics. Lorraine and Gail have experience in midwifery too.” The commando's head nurse paused before announcing, “I've got a few updates. After our last meeting we've begun physiotherapy and rehabilitation work with Katie and Lorraine in charge. We've some injured men and women who need therapy but they've been neglected. My fault, but now we have some respite from the fighting, we can start seeing to Charlene's shoulder. Bongo's leg needs therapy but he is up and walking on it so that is good news. We've got Roo's arm but that seems to be coming along fine. Then we've got Arthur's arm and leg which, I'm afraid…” she stopped and turned to Nulla and Sundown. “I'm taking him off all fighting patrols because he pushes himself too hard. He has such a strong ethic to give everything he has, such a courageous young man. Lorraine wants to get him in for some physio work before he goes back to patrolling. Beamy, well he's been shot up too many times and his breathing… it sounds awful. It's going to take some time before we allow him to go on any fighting patrols too.”

Sundown nodded. “Yep, take Arthur and Beamy off the patrol rosters and anyone else you consider needs a break. Tricia, how about Slimmy, how's he doing? Last I saw he was sitting outside sipping a beer with some of his mates in Birdsville. Is he going to be OK?”

“Slimmy wins the 'You Lucky Bastard Award', Sundown,” said Pedro. “He's looking good. It must be them bullets whizzed past his tubing and just left a few holes in him.”

“Yes, Slimmy's doing well, Sundown, but it was a close call. We really need to look into alternatives for antibiotics. The Alice Springs hospital has next to nothing in the way of antibacterials now. Pedro was just lucky, he was given their last infusion,” said Tricia.

“I studied biochemistry, antibiotics was one area I worked on in the food industry. We used the older class of drugs which worked a treat, but my knowledge of biologicals is limited and very dated these days. What about natural medicines, aboriginal remedies?” asked Sundown, looking at both Tricia and Nulla.

“My mother was our tribal healer back in the old days and her favourite remedy was Castor Oil,” offered Nulla. “I think it stopped Arty and Glenda's wounds going septic. We might consider it for inflammation as well as constipation. I know Katie used acacia bark and clay for Bongo's blood poisoning in Arkaroola when he and Roo were shot up. It's an old aboriginal remedy we used when I was a kid too. We could get Katie and maybe Jeda and Jenny too, to teach us a bit more. Katie learned a lot from her father, he learned it during his time working with the desert aboriginals.”

Major 'Louie' Lewis wasn't so easily convinced. “I'm not so sure we should trust dirt and oil, it might kill more than it heals. Isn't there someone in Alice Springs who studied this sort of thing? What about Darwin or Pine Gap?”

Captain 'Johnny' Walker spoke up. “Forget Pine Gap, Louie, we've tried all year to get them to join us - you know that. They'll never share anything they've got. That yank b***h they've got in charge has busted more balls than our entire commando have dangling between their legs.” He stopped talking and his face turned bright red as he realised what he'd just said.

“Ooops, sorry girls, that's army talk. I promise to watch my manners in the future,” he said awkwardly.

“Cut the bullshit, Johnny, these girls here were knocking out terrorists while you were playing soldier in Alice Springs. I doubt there's a swear word they haven't heard. Besides,” Pedro winked, saying in a mock British voice, “we've got proper British nurses and British nurses bust balls too.” He chuckled softly to himself when he saw Glenda and Pinkie giggling with him.

Tricia patiently continued. “Louie, we're backs to the wall here. In the middle of the desert in the middle of the apocalypse and we have nothing. I don't see a choice really. I've been talking to your medics and they said they'd like to set up a unit to study medicine, natural and modern. Their thoughts are the same as mine, we need to set up a university-style course to continue training our field medics and our hospital staff. I'd like to go to Alice Springs and talk to the hospital heads there and find out who knows what and get this training program happening.”

Pinkie was half listening, lost in thought about Glenda's pregnancy. She picked up on the Alice Springs comment. “Hey, Sundown, that's a great idea. Why not send Tricia in Bill's plane? It's only a day trip. The sooner we get our medical supplies and trained staff the sooner I can stop worrying about Glenda.”

Sundown looked around and saw heads nod in agreement. “OK, Shadow, can you grab Bill for me some time today, please? I'll need to chat with him and organise a flight out. Tricia, are you up for a trip in the next few days? I've got to see Colonel Thompson anyway.”

“You bet, Sundown. Glenda has plenty of time and I'm confident the girls and I can handle her birth, but it's the wounded I'm worried about. We've been lucky so far. Slimmy was too close, so was Pedro.” Tricia turned to look at her dear friend and frowned. “Pedro, I was going to ask later but, how's your legs these days? I notice you've not been using your prosthetic legs very often.”

“Well girlie, one thing I can tell you is my butt no longer fountains when I fart.” He enjoyed the chuckle around the table. “Actually, the truth is me legs still hurt if I put weight on 'em too much. I'm not sixty years old anymore and I've decided I'll let the younger lads do the hard work from now on. I'm just easing into retirement and I don't need legs for that.” He looked wistfully at Tricia then at his friend Sundown.

“That's fine, Pedro, but no retirement for you. Major Louie here said he and Johnny want to set up an NCO and officer training program at the palace. Seems Fat Boy disobeyed my orders to stay out of the tunnels. He found a room full of paintball equipment and crossbows, archery things, swords and all sorts of ancient weapons. Johnny Walker's been down there with him and a few of his lads are still sorting it out. Johnny said you might want to use the gear as part of your training program.” Sundown scratched at a mosquito bite on his arm. “Paintballs and swords… can you imagine what those idiots got up to here? There are other things down there that I'm too embarrassed to talk about.”

“You mean the s*x rooms?” offered Pinkie with a cheeky smile at her husband.

“Yes Pinkie, thanks for reminding me, s*x rooms,” he said drily. “And what about the room filled with gold and silver bars? Or the cash room and that room full of pistols and silencers? What were they planning I wonder?” Sundown took another piece of Fatima's cheese and popped it into his mouth.

McFly had been silent all this time but the talk of hidden treasure in the tunnels forced a question to form in his mind and it just popped out.

“They didn't find any fishing gear by any chance did they, Sundown?” His eyes twitched with anticipation.

“Damn it, McFly,” said his wife, Shadow, sitting beside him. “You've got that big lagoon out front to play in. Sergeant Ahmet said he saw some huge fish in there, he thought it might be barramundi. He said he wants you to run a course on fly fishing for the boys when you get a chance.” Shadow hid her smile from her husband.

“Bullcrap! Did he really said that? Ahmet really did say he wants me to run fly fishing classes? Did he? Sweet!” came Matty McFly's ecstatic reply. The rabid fly fisherman's eyes popped and he stood up to leave.

“Captain, are you going somewhere special?” asked Major Lewis flatly.

“What? Aw shoot, um, may I leave the table?” he asked then realised what he'd said when everyone laughed. “I mean, is this meeting over yet?”

“McFly, sit back down. We haven't finished yet and I have a feeling your misses is just teasing,” said Sundown.

McFly looked at his wife and his face changed from disappointment to one of, 'damn, you got me that time.'

“Sorry McFly, I just couldn't help it. You left yourself wide open my man,” chuckled Shadow.

“OK, back to order,” called Andrew, keen to get to his book work. “I'd like to report on the progress of our vegetable gardens and general food situation.” He waited while everyone stopped laughing and settled down.

“Thanks. We've had two months of fine weather and the gardens have flourished. We'll have fresh herbs and Fat Boy's hydroponics system is producing a growing supply of fresh vegetables. The cow herd is producing a surplus of milk and we're making yoghurt and cheese, as you can see here on our table. Unfortunately we've just about run out of wheat flour so grains are a problem. That means we're struggling to get enough beer brewed for the soldiers and drinkers and we've no bread, sorry Sundown.”

Sundown, the ex-baker and bread scientist, nodded. He already knew the situation was bad and despite he and Fat Boy's best efforts, along with Mel and Fatima's creativity, basic bread was no longer on the menu. They still had some wild bush grains along with some rye and wheat growing in their hydroponics system but it was a long way from harvest and simply not enough to go around.

Tricia looked at Andy and quickly jumped in before he started talking again. “Andy, I've spoken to the pharmacist in Alice Springs, he's wanting to set up an opium and c******s garden there. The pharmacist said we might be able to produce a decent painkiller with some luck.”

Andrew stared at her for a moment. “Are you saying they want to grow h****n?”

“Yes, it's what our most effective painkillers are derived from. Opium's been cultivated for at least 5,000 years.” She stared at him for a moment. “Andy, it's for medication only, and no bastard's getting their hands on it,” she replied heatedly in her proper British nurse's voice.

“OK, as Sundown says, 'you outrank me in the medical department'. We've got nothing else and narcotics is something I know nothing about. I'll just butt out of the conversation then, won't I.” Andy paused, shook his head in bewilderment then came back to life. “If anyone wants to object you'd better do it now.”

Sundown looked at Tricia and saw she meant business so stepped in to support her. “I see no reason to object as long as it's managed by the Alice Springs medical staff and no one else gets their hands on it. We need every form of medicine we can get and if it saves one life or eases the suffering of one of my Commando, I say we go for it.” Sundown looked at the last piece of cheese but hesitated. “Um, Tricia, when you get to the Alice, make sure you have a good chat with this pharmacist fellow. If we do this we do it properly or not at all.”

With a look of annoyance on her face Tricia couldn't help herself snapping at him. “Properly? I'm a damn professional, Sundown!” She abruptly stopped fuming and calmed down when she saw the hurt look on his face. “I'm sorry… well, I take that as a yes vote.” She turned to Pedro. “Pedro, can you please tell Fat Boy to call by my office tonight? He might know where to get some plants.”

“I don't care for it myself but if it helps our wounded then let's give it a try.” Major Louie Lewis paused and looked around. “But can we now get back to our meeting? What about our fuel situation, Andy? Captain Walker said he's optimistic we'll have enough fuel for ongoing armoured patrols for the next two years if we can keep the underground fuel tanks clean and dry.”

“We're on track, Louie. By introducing horse and camel patrols we should cut our fuel demands down dramatically. Petroleum absorbs moisture and deteriorates over time so we'll eventually need some sort of method to clean it.” Andy looked around at his friends seated at the table. “Two years we've got but we really need an engineer, know of any?”

The major nodded. “As a matter of fact we've got a few. Some of the men from the oil industry were in Darwin when the apocalypse hit. They've joined our command, I think some are here at the palace. I'll get them in to speak with you.”

“Thanks, Louie,” Sundown said and turned to Nulla. “How long do you think before the boys will be out on camel patrol?”

“We have some dab hands at horsemanship and cameleering. Kris is a natural and we've not had a single injury. I think you can give us two weeks to settle the animals in and get everyone up to speed. We've now got enough camels for our long range patrols and a surplus of horses for the cattleman and the house guards.” He saw the questioning glances among the group. “Did you know that Genghis Khan's Mongols had at least twenty remounts each? No? Well that's the sort of numbers we need, that plus fodder.”

“I didn't know you read the encyclopaedia of Mongol conquests, Sergeant Nulla,” said Major Lewis looking at Nulla with squinty-eyed suspicion, followed by a deliberate grin. “So, Andy, how do we do that?”

“I've spoken to Nulla and Kris about that very problem.” Andrew took his glasses off and rubbed vigorously at the lenses with a cloth. “The desert has enough feed for now and we can easily move the mobs around from paddock to paddock. We add new animals as we lose them or they become injured. Those horses are just what we need to look after our cattle. This property was a cattle station and all the adjoining properties ran cattle too. The fences, water troughs and paddocks with the best pastures are all set up for us. We've enough cattle to feed an army plus a hungry Commando. We won't starve.” His face broke into a smile as he put his glasses back on. “I heard Halo's been taking the girls out to train with their own mounts, donkeys.”

“Yeah,” laughed Nulla. “The Girl Guards wanted in on the act. I knew they would. They just love their horses and I'm confident they'll do a great job caring for them. But them donkeys, well, even Kris hasn't been able to train them into mounted cavalry. Kris and Halo have some of the boys trying to train them as pack animals but for the most part they're pretty darn stubborn, and smart.” He turned to look at Sundown. “The Girl Guards have their own horses and camels now so I expect that they will be too preoccupied to annoy Captain Walker, for a while at least.”

“Johnny, you should be pleased with that I should imagine,” said Sundown with a light chuckle. Captain Johnny Walker gave a lopsided smile that showed he wasn't convinced. “So, what about the guard dogs, I hear they're doing well too. And Red Dog, when is she due to drop her litter?”

“Should be soon. Kris said we've got a few dog handlers in the Commando who can train the pups as guard dogs. Captain Walker said he wanted to keep at least two for the palace. The others could be trained to go on patrol with the cavalry,” replied Nulla.

Andy squirmed in his seat. He was restless and ready to get back to his work. “Louie and I have saved this for last.” He paused thinking how best to present this last piece of news. “Colonel Thompson called and said he had a visit from the Pine Gap people. He said their commander wants to speak with you, Sundown. Seems they have a lot of staff, men, women and children, inside their facility. It's only a few kilometres from Alice Springs. What do you think?”

Everyone at the table stopped what they were doing for the second time.

“Pine Gap? So they've finally decided to talk to us?” said Nulla. “I wonder what's wrong. Maybe they've run out of water, or they're sick of playing dungeons and dragons?”

Sundown ran his fingers through his hair as he thought. “Louie, can you please tell the Colonel I'll be flying in tomorrow or the day after? This should prove very useful. A thousand or so staff, skilled soldiers, trained and qualified technicians and medical personnel…” Sundown nodded to himself then called the meeting to a close. “Shadow, you'd better get Bill here right now, thanks.”