I hope you enjoy my attempt at writing a "flash fiction" story, The Drone Incident.
The Drone Incident
Somewhere in a secret underground military complex, “The coordinates are set and ready to launch Drone Seek and Destroy, sir.”
“Authorization to launch is a GO, specialist.
Lifting the guard from the launch switch and pressing the green launch button the specialist acknowledges the officer in charge, “Drone Seek and Destroy has been launched sir and is on course for target at latitude and longitude as designated.”
Looking at the digital clock reading on the launch control panel the specialist calls out “it’s 18:40 hours zulu time sir, Drone Seek and Destroy should reach target at 03:00 hours zulu time.”
“Specialist, have telemetry reports recorded every 15 minutes for any potential course adjustments needed for it to reach target, even a minor change could bring disastrous results if it goes off-course and impacts in a populated area.”
“Yes sir.”
A gray panel van with two men inside parked not far from the secret underground military complex slowly pulls out onto the road. The man in the passenger’s seat dials a number on his cell phone. Listening intently he can hear the sound that is made by a fax number as it connects to his cell phone, once connected he begins to type numbers and letters that are unintelligible and then presses enter on the keyboard. Smiling, he turns to the driver as the van gains highway speed. “Success, we now are in control of the navigational system of the drone just launched,” and then begins to enter more numbers.
Back at the underground military command center the specialist that had just launched the drone calls out to the officer in charge. “Sir, something is wrong, I have lost control of the drone,” he says as he excitedly tries to input data into the guidance system. “Someone has infected the program with a virus and it has overridden our system and is changing course.”
“Can you determine the new course of the drone, specialist?”
“Yes sir, fortunately we can still get a directional reading, but what is puzzling is two new courses have been programmed into the drone, one is latitude 40-44’58” North and longitude 073-58” 04” West. “The other course is 38 degrees 53’ 53.3” North latitude and 77 degrees 02’ 09.9” West longitude.”
Entering the two courses the specialist had just read off into one of the NSA’s satellites the officer in charge gasps, “my God, those are the coordinates for the United Nations Building and the White House! “The President is scheduled to attend a meeting of the UN Security Council in about three hours, we have to contact him immediately and stop him from going to the U.N. as that is the drone’s primary target.”
“Sir, even if we are successful in alerting the President about the imminent threat of a rogue drone attack on the United Nations building and he is still at the White House and its longitude and latitude have also been programmed into it as the secondary target.”
“How long do we have specialist before the drone reaches its target?”
“We only have two hours until impact in New York and 90 minutes until it reaches the White House, Sir.”
“Specialist, do everything you can to regain control of the drone, I will alert the Pentagon of the impending crisis and to get the President to safety. “Also, have your team trick chief contact the air defense headquarters and have them ready to scramble a squadron of F-16’s upon the orders of the Pentagon. “If we can’t regain control of the drone we will have to shoot it down before it reaches either target.
"Mr. President and the United Nations, soon you will regret your very existence," the hacker mutters as he verifies the drone's target coordinates continuing it on its destructive path.
Back at the secret underground military complex the Officer in Charge is speaking to the Secretary of Defense;
Back at the secret underground military complex the Officer in Charge is speaking to the Secretary of Defense;
“Yes sir, Mr. Secretary, you heard me right, our Drone Seek and Destroy has had its guidance system compromised and will impact with either the White House or the United Nations building in less than an hour. “We are doing everything we can to regain control of it,” the officer in charge says as he is in a direct video conference with the Secretary of Defense.
“Give me an update every five minutes or as soon as anything changes Colonel, right now our top priority is to get the President to safety. “The Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff has been briefed on the situation and has put a squadron of U.S. Air Force F-16’s on full combat alert. “They are in the air as we speak awaiting final orders when you can locate the rogue drone, I am depending on you and your launch crew to regain the upper hand in this critical matter.”
“Yes Sir, Mr. Secretary,” the officer in charge says as he walks back over to the Drone Command console. “Specialist, have you had any success in regaining control over Seek and Destroy?”
“No sir, we haven’t and just when we think we can input our own virus in the drone’s guidance system that will over ride the one that it has been infected with the person or persons place a new one in the system,” the specialist says.
“We are rapidly running out of time, it looks like our only option will be to shoot it down before it reaches its target. “Can you locate where the drone is specialist?”
“Sir, since this is one of ours it is very difficult to distinguish it from other aircraft in the area because our systems recognize it as friendly because of its electronic signature. “What we can do sir is order all aircraft in the area to switch their radar to a different frequency and then jam the drone’s radar. “Once we do that, the drone will be picked up on our radar as unfriendly aircraft and it will be easily identified and located.”
“I’ll give the order for all aircraft flying east of the Mississippi to change to SHF Band frequency for their onboard navigational systems and at 19:00 hours zulu time you proceed to jam the drone’s guidance system.”
“Yes sir, I understand and will commence with the jamming exercise precisely at 19:00 hours. Keeping his eyes on the digital clock he begins to count down the seconds as the clock read 18:59.50. “Ten, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, jamming process has been initiated Colonel.”
Glancing anxiously at his monitor the Colonel yells, “my monitor is blank, I don’t see any aircraft, drone or otherwise, Specialist!”
The Colonel no sooner had yelled he could not detect anything when a beep was heard and a bright blip appeared on the monitor. “Colonel, we’ve found her, the rogue drone has just entered the New Jersey airspace and will reach Manhattan and the U.N. building in approximately 12 minutes.”
“Great work Specialist, the F-16’s should have it on their radar as well.”
“This is Eagle one I have locked on Drone Seek and Destroy and ready to fire, do I have authorization to fire?”
“Can you determine where the debris will fall Eagle One?”
“This is Eagle One, if I fire within the next 10 seconds my missile will impact the drone over the East River and the debris should fall into the river.”
“Excellent Eagle One, you have authorization to fire.”
“This is Eagle One, missile has impacted the drone, destroying it entirely it looks like the Fourth of July fireworks has come early to the good folks of Brooklyn, Manhattan and across the river in New Jersey.”
Jubilation erupted deep underground in the secret bunker, the Pentagon and at the White House as confirmation was received that Drone Seek and Destroy had been shot down over the East River. “The Commander-in-Chief sends his thanks and congratulations for a job well done and for the countless lives that had been saved, perhaps his very own life,” the Secretary of Defense says via satellite communication.
The End
