Deep Space Settlement - 8. DSS Chapter 8

“My goodness, you do get around, and just to think that only a few years ago, we were still talking about establishing our first Lunar base on the Moon in ten or so years’ time,” the Commodore said, and Lucas chuckled at this comment.

“How long is the runway please Ambassador?” the Air Commodore asked, “It is 5,260 metres, Sir. With a taxiway and parking apron, near the maintenance bunker, which is the nearest bunker to the Air Traffic Control Tower” Lucas replied.

“Well, that is a lot longer than I expected, and probably one of the longest in the world, not including the NASA runways, that were built to accommodate the Space shuttles,” the Air Commodore remarked.

“I think our neighbours to the south will get a bit jealous, that we will be having an Airforce base in the middle of the North Atlantic,” the Navy Commodore said, “They even may request access to it” the Air Commodore added.

“To give you some idea of its proximity to places, the nearest mainland are Nova Scotia, at 1204 kilometres to the North West, New York is 1780 kilometres to the West, Bermuda is 1140 kilometres to the South West, and Flores Island, which is part of Portugal is 1542 kilometres East and mainland Africa is 3070 kilometres to the East South East of these islands,” Lucas said.

“Sir, my only concern is the lack of an airport terminal, if it happens that a commercial aircraft calls and emergency, this island is maybe the nearest place to land, because of its location and distance from any mainland, and a place to keep crew and passengers temporarily would be useful,” the Air Commodore said to Lucas, “I will look into doing that as soon as possible.

Now I hope you agree with the conditions that I mentioned for the lease of this island. 1; that all waste, whether it be sewerage, fuel, rubbish or any other kind is the Royal Canadian Airforce’s responsibility to be safely stored and have it transported to the mainland at your own cost, and within a period of 60 days.

2; that only the Royal Canadian Airforce is to be stationed on the island, with visits from the Royal Canadian Navy permitted, and no other Defence personnel from any other country on Earth are to set foot on any of the islands. 3; that the islands are to be used for peace-time activities, and only with permission gained by myself or my representative is the island to be used at the time of war” Lucas said, “Yes I am agreeable to those conditions, and I have the authority to sign the lease agreement right away” the Air Commodore responded.

In the conference room on the first floor of the Control tower building, the lease agreement was signed and witnessed, to make it all official. “Sorry, I don’t have a key to hand over as part of the lease handover,” Lucas said, which made the men gathered laugh.

“We have on the Frigate, two helicopters with 3 crew each, plus 8 administration staff, and four catering staff, with myself as the Commanding Officer, ready to settle in right away” the Air Commodore announced to Lucas.

“Very well, then I need to show you and your second in command about the security protocols that are in place for all doors, as you saw I used a key card and my hand-print to gain access to this building, the elevator and the lobby to this level, so let’s head up to the security centre, one floor up, so I can show you how it is all set up.

Once that is done, you can arrange who you want to have access to the building and what parts of the building, this also applies to the accommodation bungalows, for personal security” Lucas announced.

While Lucas was organising the security system, Commodore Hartley returned to his ship, to coordinate the moving of the two helicopters, Airforce personnel, their luggage, and all the supplies that had come with them, to get them settled into their new base.

“Now that we know that the base is fully operational, we will have some fighter aircraft flown over here in a day or two, and a cargo plane will bring some more supplies,” the Air Commodore said, once they had toured around the building again, with the Air Commodore, and his second in Command, Wing Commander Chris Ferngate, practice using the access pads to scan their newly issues key cards and scanning their palms.

Once the Wing Commander had a full understanding of the security system, he had all of his personnel’s details entered into the computer, and their palm prints scanned and stored before they were issued a security key card, each one individually set for the one person.

When everything had been unloaded from the frigate, it set sail westwards back to home port, and Lucas left the new residents to get settled in, while he flew back to the Earth Base, so he could report back to Quinn on what has happened on the islands, and to request building material for an Airport terminal to be built near the parking apron of the airport.

A week later, when the cargo ship arrived on Earth with all the building materials for the new Airport terminal, Lucas flew back to the islands from the Earth base, which is in the process of packing up, and preparing for the dismantling and relocation of the Earth base to the island in the North Atlantic.

In the centre section of the horseshoe-shaped island, where the greatest amount of land is located, the new Earth base will be located, with the Earth Base terminal and landing pad on its roof.

The current settlement on the northern arm of the island will remain and will be expanded to accommodate an extra 90 Sahndrol personnel, that will be based there, and the settlement on Arrow Island will be relocated to the north arm of Horseshoe Island so that they are all located on one island.

One of the two-bedroom bungalows on Horseshoe Island, is reserved for just Lucas to use, and next door is the Superintendent’s Bungalow, with Franklin Traer accepting that role, and he was enjoying the new challenge and the beautiful surroundings where he is now living. Franklin reported that the Canadian Airforce now has a full complement of 16 fighter aircraft stationed on Durham Island, plus the two helicopters.

He informed Lucas that every few days, they would go out on patrols, within a 320-kilometre or 200-mile radius of the islands, and that a weekly supply cargo plane would come from the Canadian mainland, plus Air Commodore Rankin was keeping him informed of the Air operations, as a courtesy.

After a brief discussion, Lucas and Franklin boarded a mini-shuttle and travelled the short distance to Durham Island, informing Air traffic Control that they were coming before leaving Horseshoe Island.

“Ambassador and Superintendent, it is good to see you both, Air Commodore Rankin said as they exited the shuttle, which was parked on one of the helicopter pads, away from the main runway.

“I have come to inform you that the building supplies and crew will be arriving at first light tomorrow, to begin building the new airport terminal for you, I have plans on what it will look like if you wish to have a look” Lucas announced.

“Lets’ adjourn to the conference room shall we” the Air Commodore suggested and he lead the way indoors, and up to the 3^rd-floor conference room, where Lucas rolled out the plans, just as an airman barged in.

“Sorry for the interruption sir, we have 4 USAF jet aircraft that have ignored our warnings to stay away” the airman announced, “Get two aircraft to intercept them and warn them off, but no firing of live ammunition, just warn them off” the Air Marshall responded, as he stood up and followed the airman out the door.

Lucas decided to remain where he was, as it was now their base, and the Republic only owned the land, nothing more. The airman returned moments later, “Sorry sir, but the Air Marshall requests your presence in the control tower” he said before leaving the room.

Lucas made his way up to the 4^th-floor control tower, where there was 4 staff on duty, and he saw the two CF-18 Hornet fighter aircraft taxied out of the hangers and headed for the end of the runway, and quickly take off.

A few minutes later, “This is the Canadian Airforce from Durham Island Airbase, you have entered a restricted area, turn back now, over” the staff and Lucas in the control tower heard over the speakers.

“I repeat, this is the Canadian Airforce from Durham Island Airbase, you have entered a restricted area, turn back now, over…”, “This is the USAF on Atlantic Patrols, we are entitled to fly over general airspace in this region” came a reply eventually.

“Negative on that, the Canadian Airforce has a base on Durham Island, 182 miles from your current location, turn back immediately, this is your last warning,” the Canadian Flight Leader said, and there was no more response from the USAF, so Lucas rushed down the stairs and out to the shuttle, where the pilot was already and took off as soon as Lucas had secured the hatch.

“This is Durham Island Airforce base to USAF aircraft, this is your last warning, do not approach this airbase, turn back now, this is your final warning, Air Commodore Rankin said into the mic at the control base, having seen the shuttle take off and head south-west towards the aircraft. Within moments, the shuttle was flying alongside the two Canadian hornets, and they wobbled their wings in recognition.