The First SaR Mission Ch. 05

Landen: "Ma'am, you used the term "mundane human." Could you explain that term, please?"

Mari: "Certainly. First, please, understand that it is not, in any way, used nor intended to be derisive or derogatory. Language, spoken and written, evolved in an atmosphere of ignorance of any sentient creature that was not "human." Therefore, there are no common modifiers of nouns that differentiate a human from a Were. So, Weres needed a term that would indicate a human that was not conscious of their animal side."

[on the ridge]

Fontain:"Well, they did a pretty good job of designing those ponchos and packs. It wasn't too hard to get it off. So, now let me shift and get to work."

Fontain smoothly transforms from cat to a human on his hands and knees.

Fontain:"Ouch! Damn it! This rock is hard on the knees! And... Oh, man is it cold up here. There is supposed to be these plastic-paper jumpsuits in our packs, so, let's see what is in here."

Pulling his pack over to himself, he begins unzipping the bags. He removes some rope, orange cloth, a Space Blanket, and finally, a VyTeck jumpsuit. He unfolds it, lays it out, and then, shimmies into it.

Fontain:"Not exactly warm and snuggly, but, better than nothing, I guess. Now where are those rubber booties?"

Opening the other bag, he pulls out a pair of rubber-like athletic shoes and puts them on.

Fontain:"Not quite my size, but, they sort of stretch."

"Ok, you guys come over here and let me get those packs off of you."

Grace:"Can we put the poncho back on? It helps a little bit, with the cold. My feet are freezing."

Fontain:"Sure."

Fontain quickly removes the packs from Grace and Bobby and puts their ponchos back on them. Opening each of the packs he finds and removes the various radio components and the waterproof bag. Also, each of the six bags contains half of a dozen energy bars. In the last bag, he finds a dozen chemical hand warmer packets.

Fontain:"Yes!"

Holding up the hand warmer packs..:"Remind me to kiss Bonner! Better, yet, remind me to have Grace kiss Bonner! Guys, there are three dozen energy bars here and a dozen hand warmer packets!"

Grace:"I don't suppose those energy bars are tuna flavored, are they?"

Fontain:"Yeah, I know. Not my favorite, either, but let's try to eat a dozen a piece. We need the energy to stay warm and we don't need to be distracted by hunger while going back down that tight-rope. After I am finished, here, I'll get the foil off of all of them."

Fontain lays the waterproof bag out and unzips it, and begins to place the radio components in it, as Grace and Bobby sit nearby and look on.

Fontain, while working on the radio:"What do you guys think of the idea of hunkering down here until the sun comes up? We'll abandon the packs and it should be a lot easier to go back down that trail if we can see where we are going."

Grace:"It's cold up here."

Fontain:"Yeah, but, I had an idea. There is a piece of the waterproof parachute cloth in every one of these packs, as well as Space Blankets. After I finish here. I could lay out a stack of those Space Blankets and you two lay down parallel, but leave a space in the middle for me. Then I can take a piece of this waterproof cloth lay it over the two of you and tuck it under you on both sides forming a sort of tent. Then I open a bunch of these hand warmer packs, stuff some under both of you, and toss a couple out for me. Then I shift, crawl in between you two and we should be reasonably warm and snug until the sun comes up. What do you think?"

Baxter:"I'm game. I'm not keen on being on that trail in the dark anymore that I have to be."

Grace:"It'll be like playing 'camp-out' in the living room when you were a kitten!"

Fontain:"Ok, it's a plan."

[05:00, Wednesday, the operations room]

Jack: "For those of you still working on your breakfast, continue. I'll hold the heavy stuff for fifteen minutes, or so. The first order of business is to explain that our purpose here today is a search and rescue mission. We would be looking for a missing aircraft and its four occupants, a family."

"This is the information that I have:"

"In the early morning hours, (07:38:14('Zulu')), of Tuesday of this week an aircraft, registration number 'November-seven-six-eight-three-Quebec', while under IFR flight rules, descended below radar horizon. Approximately thirty seconds after following radar's low altitude alert, air traffic control noted a broken 'Mayday' call. No other useful information was contained in the transmission. On the final radar paint of the aircraft, transponder code seven-seven-hundred was captured. The aircraft registration indicates a normally aspirated twin engine Skytwin 310Q, white with multi-colored accent strips. The flight plan indicates four souls on board, two adults, and two minors."

"It is believed that the downed aircraft is within the prescribed search area, in part because of the projected course and in part, because most of the surrounding area has been effectively, searched."

"I must start by telling you that whether or not this mission will proceed, is, as of yet, unknown. I shall explain that uncertainty shortly."

"We were asked to participate in this search and rescue mission for a number of reasons: The first is the terrain. I have been informed that this area is known as "The Devil's Claw Marks." It consists of three deep, glacial valleys, which run parallel to one another, separated by high, narrow ridges. The sides of the valleys and the ridges are steep and they and the valley floors are thickly forested. All three valleys terminate, abruptly, at an even higher ridge, running roughly north – south. The south end of that ridge is, just a couple of hundred yards east of this camp. Because of limited access to this area, we are forced to conduct our search transverse to these valleys. That is across the valleys, as opposed to down their length. This terrain is hostile to 'two-legged creatures'"

"The second reason that has brought us here is the weather. This area, being hostile to men on foot, would otherwise have been searched by aircraft, (planes and helicopters), however, maybe you have noticed, the weather is not the best for flying. In fact, 'those brave men and their flying machines', aren't leaving the nest. Given the drizzle, haze, low clouds, fog and throw in spotty icing conditions at low altitudes, they are going to stay home and curl up in front of a fire. I can't say that I'd blame them. Given these factors, our wolves are the best suited to this environment. I understand that your mates won't like it that you smell like 'wet dogs' and nobody likes mud between their toes, but, if we can find this plane, and especially if there are survivors, then, it will all be worth it."

"Now, I mentioned that it was not certain that this search and rescue mission would happen. The reason for that is the possible lack of radio communication. Radio communication is and absolute necessity here. Once the search begins, it will be necessary to track and coordinate the search teams.

"With twenty-five teams of four members each, it would be an absolute madhouse if it were not possible to maintain overall coordination of them. Add to that if a team does discover the crash site, we are praying that we will be able to find a way to get a medevac helicopter in to pick up crash victims, especially if there are survivors. This will likely be volunteer military people dropping a basket through cloud and fog. We will have to have GPS and voice communication, to have any hope, of making that happen. We would need to call nearby search teams in to help the team that discovered the crash. Finally, if a team were to get in trouble, we need to be able to bring help to them. If we don't know that you need help and don't know where you are, then, it's going to be a long damned time before anyone knows that you are missing. If it happens, at all, this may turn into a multi-day mission. So, this is why good radio communication is necessary."

"The problem is that there is no point, anywhere within the search area that would allow radio communication over the entire search grid... save one! That one point is a peak out in the middle of the north–south ridge, about two and a half miles north of where we are now. Now, that ridge is what is called a 'razor-back.' This means that the top of the ridge is a narrow, jagged line of bare rock. That peak, as determined by the maps that we have, is around seventeen hundred feet above the valley floors and the sides of the ridge, above the tree line, are guesstimated to be, at least, a 'class five' rock climb. We're wolves... not monkeys, so, that isn't going to happen. Given the rain, fog, and icing, you're not going to place a radio repeater on that peak by helicopter, either."

"So, last evening, I sought volunteers to attempt to carry the radio equipment two and a half miles along the crest of that ridge on a narrow path, where one existed at all, in cold rain, fog, and total darkness. To my utter amazement, three of your number were asked, and all volunteered to take on the task. I am forced to confess that this is the toughest thing that I have ever had to ask of anyone, outside of my military career. Last evening, our three Werepanthers received a quick course in setting up and testing the equipment and at twenty-two hundred hours, last night, they departed this camp, each wearing a saddle pack carrying the components of the radio repeater, to be assembled on the peak, out on that ridge."

A general malaise is evident among everyone in the room.

"Each of the packs, that they carried, was equipped with a locator beacon. We haven't received voice communication from them yet, but we know that they reached the peak at just about the start time of this briefing. If you will look at the map projected behind me, follow the ridge on the right-hand side about half way up, you will see three triplets of small blue numbers. That should be our panther friends. Regardless of the final outcome of their mission, they have succeeded beyond that which I was sure could even be done. I owe them a debt that I do not know how I will be able to repay. The next step in their mission is to set up the equipment and test it. We should know if that part of their mission is successful, if, and when we hear the radio call that they make to test the repeater radio. However, understand that this will not be a successful mission until they are safely back with us. The speakers in the front of the room are monitoring their radio channel."

"Alright, let's talk about what we are going to do and how we are going to do it. So, let's start with where we will search. The search area is defined by a rectangle that is five statute miles wide, oriented roughly north to south and ten statute miles long, running roughly, east to west. This base camp lays, approximately, at the south–east corner of that rectangle. Within that rectangle, lie the three valleys that I spoke of earlier. The ten-mile long southern border of our search area is roughly defined by the southern rim of the first valley. The five-mile long eastern border of the rectangle, approximately tracks along the north–south ridge"

"Now, since the only edge of our search area that we really have access to is the southern, ten-mile long border, and since we have a one hundred member search group, our egress into the search area will begin along the south rim of the first valley. Which is, as I mentioned earlier, the southern border of our search grid. Now you have been divided into twenty-five teams of four wolves each. This will be your core group. I want you to come together into that group at the beginning, the middle, and the end of your line of search across each valley. When you come together at those points, I want you to stay together and hold where you are. The reason for that is that each one of you will have a GPS locator beacon attached to your saddle pack. That beacon will be transmitting your GPS location to this computer..."

Pointing to the computer on the table...

"...or another one in the radio room, which will plot your location on that map. And... Someone will be on the radio to direct your group to move east or west or start your search from where you are. Remember, (I think that you were briefed on this point), that you will have a two-way digital radio in your backpack and it will be on at all times during the search. It will have a tiny combination microphone and speaker, which will be clipped to your packs. It will be, just barely loud enough for a human to hear, but, wolf ears are very good and it will be plenty loud for you to hear instructions from base camp. Also, any loud sound that you make can be heard by the radio operator, back here."

"Our objective will be to keep everyone evenly spread out and moving in a straight line across the valley. Now, form..."

The speakers in the corners of the room suddenly come to life.

Ops room speakers, Fontain speaking: "Break! Puss N' Boots-One to Cat Box, Radio check!"

"The entire room goes wild, shouting, whistling, and applauding, even the reporters in the back of the room"

Ops room speakers, Jim Bonner speaking: "Roger Puss N' Boots-One We read you five – by - five! Good job guys! The whole place is going nuts!"

Ops room speakers, Fontain speaking: Puss N' Boots-One to Cat Box. Please, advise Big Pussy-Actual that all team members are safe and that we intend to hunker down at objective until sunrise...We've had enough dancing in the dark for one night. Puss N' Boots-One, out."

Ops room speakers, Jim Bonner speaking: "Roger, will pass message to Alpha. Cat Box, clear."

Jack: "Well, ladies and gentlemen, it seems that we have a mission!"