Chapter 19
Gunnery Sergeant Marianne Beaubien, USMC
Day: E-Day+3
Time: 1810 EST / 2310 GMT
Location: Bishop International Airport, Flint Michigan
“So what do we know?” Major Thompson folded his arms and listened.
Marie looked around the gathered officers and civilians. Major Thompson stood at the front of the cargo crate they were using as a table, his arms crossed as he studied the map marked in red grease pencil. To his left was Lt. Sobal, her sandy tresses tucked behind her ears, just long enough to be long but not enough to necessitate being tied up. Continuing around the map were the two pilots from the 717, Parker and Morgan, still in their uniform coats. Then there was Bob Hastings, a civilian who flat out refused to be left out, herself, and the tall lean figure of Bull. She liked Bull and his easy attitude, even though he seemed unable to remember to call her “Gunny” rather than “Sarge”. As he was seventy and a veteran himself, she was willing to cut him some slack.
Lt. Sobal was the first to speak. Marie let the top page of her clipboard fall back into place and focused all of her attention on the young officer as she spoke.
“At approximately 1330 we started to receive a transmission of unknown origin directing all survivors to converge on a given chart coordinate.” She indicated the location on a large, fold out map. “The message cycled through English, French, Arabic and Spanish and claimed to be jointly sent by American, Canadian and Mexican governments.”
