What happens in the triangle, stays in the triangle

The situation was desperate. All of the instruments in the cockpit were wonky and unreliable an hour into the flight to Puerto Rico from Florida. In the captain’s seat was one of the best pilots the Air Force produced and if anyone could get this C130 aircraft safely on the ground, it was he. Every time the crew made this trip with a payload of small arms, ammunition and a couple of tactical nukes on board they joked about the “Triangle”.  Payload specialist Clive Coleman wore his Halloween devil horns on each and every one of these flights in spite of regulations about uniforms. Superstition ruled every time. When the problems began everyone was kind of nervous that maybe there was something to the legend of people gone missing without a trace, might have a kernel of truth to them. But, grown men work the problem. Weather reports showed a clear path to their destination, yet directly in front of them, an ominous storm was developing that stretched across the entire horizon. They had no choice but to punch through the storm because of the instrument issue. Turbulence was starting to throw them around and the captain ordered everyone to buckle up and stow any items that might cause a “missile” hazard in the cargo bay. The lumbering nature of this particular aircraft was suited for hasty and sharp turns, so when the rift appeared directly in front of them, the evasive maneuvers were quite limited and unsuccessful. 

Just as the turbulence couldn’t get any worse, the sky broke into sunshine and they were over land, which should not be. Instruments were still haywire, but now would be a good time to set her down. The captain had trouble locating an open area to land but, he didn’t need much because of the nature of his craft. He banked, and as soon as he looked to his right, he saw something he could not explain just off the coast in the distance. Ships run aground everywhere, and a lot of them! Some were normal looking, but some were old, hundreds of years old. Most were listing where they ran aground and some were burned out hulks rusting where they stood. He leveled off and banked the other direction. He saw an open patch of ground, but this too was strange because now he saw planes scattered about. Again, some of the planes were old and some fairly recent models!

It was as if he was circling some odd museum, but he didn’t have time to waste , he needed to get on the ground safely and soundly. He reached forward and lowered his landing gear, and then noticed another strange sight, a battlefield with two opposing sides going at it and a great wall of fire between them shooting into the sky. He informed his crew and began his descent.

The plane came safely to a halt, considering the open field was not a smooth one, so he powered his engines down, then off. Protocol was a little sketchy about what to do in a situation such as it is and ordered the crew to break out their side arms because they might have trouble ahead. As soon as they were armed, he briefed them as to what he witnessed as he was landing. He told them there were “hostiles” engaged in some kind of battle and wanted to be ready for any contingency. As soon as the cabin door was opened they saw an armed greeting party heading in their direction. Fortunately there were only three of them, a man and two women, so if they were to engage them they would have an advantage. As they got closer, the man reached into his back pocket and pulled out a white handkerchief and waived it to show they meant no harm. Cautiously, and from their elevated position within the aircraft, they motioned them forward but kept their weapons trained on them until they were sure it wasn’t some kind of ruse to get their guard down. 

“Hold it right there. Identify yourself and state your purpose.” The Captain shouted.

“Hello, we mean you no harm, but as you can see we are under assault from the Old ones. My name is John Lockland and this is Jenna Frio and Glenda Payton. We have come to ask your help as we are faced with overwhelming numbers and quickly running out of ammunition. If you noticed on your way down, the only thing keeping them at bay for the time being, is our fire line. Once they breach that they will become your problem too.”  He said as a matter of fact.

“How can this be our problem?” The Captain asked.

“I wish we had more time for a proper introduction, but if they breach that line and overrun us, you and your crew will be next. Believe me when I tell you they are savages, cannibals actually, that cannot be reasoned with. Is there anything on your craft that can help with the situation? Honestly they outnumber us 50-1 by our estimates?” John admitted.

“OK, hold on a minute. Can you tell us where we are? The Captain asked.

“We do not know where or when we are, Captain. We came through that vortex just like you and your crew. I do know that everyone here has done so, at one time or another, which is why we call them the old ones. What we do know is that side of the island’s inhabitants came through from an older time period than we. They came on ships.  We, on this side of the island, came in aircraft just as you did. At the moment, we have a technological advantage in weapons but, by my estimates, we will be out of ammunition and fuel by tomorrow. If that happens, we are all dead, because they just keep coming no matter how many we kill.” John stated.

 “So, what you are saying is this is a real life “Lord of the Flies” kind of thing?” The Captain half joked.

“I don’t know what that means, but they go back to their camp at night before resuming their relentless attacks during daylight. With their numbers, it will be impossible to keep up regardless of the losses we inflict. We are dead, but we haven’t fallen down yet, even if your plane is loaded to the rafters with ammo.” John said

“Look, right before I landed I saw their camp on the other side, tucked into the cove. I think I have a solution to the problem. If they all, or most, go back to the cove, then I have some ordinance that I can put right into their lap. It is powerful enough to kill them all. The only thing is we will need to dig some fortifications underground before I set it off. The cove will provide natural containment of the blast, keeping it contained on that side with minimal risk to us. The falling debris is what we need to protect against. Once we set this off, we will never be able to set foot anywhere near there again due to residual radiation that will contaminate that area for hundreds of years. Until it gets dark, we can provide enough small arms and ammunition to hold off being overrun this day.

They ferried boxes of ammunition to the front lines, and those in the forward positions were especially happy to see the replenishment. While the tunnels were being dug, the crew turned the plane around and got it ready for takeoff while plugging the firing codes into the tactical nuke.

Just before nightfall, the old ones started making their way back to their camp for the evening and the crew of the C130 took off into the skies. The bomb was ready and placed at the rear of the cargo area. It was set for an air burst at 50 feet. They would have to drop it from an altitude of 1000 feet in order for them to get a safe distance away before detonation, which would shut them down due to the electric magnetic pulse effect. The bomb’s parachute, and at their air speed, they should miss the after effects. Once they climbed to 1000 feet they changed course to place them right off the coast within the cove. They hadn’t been in this dimension, wherever it was, for more than a day and they were using one of the worst weapons in the history of mankind. They were in position and let her go out the back ramp of the plane then high-tailed it out of the area. T-minus 30 seconds and the nature of this little war would swing in favor of those he met first. Right or wrong didn’t matter because it was in God’s hands now, and you know what they say about letting him sort it out!