Black Flagged Apex

Chapter 29





7:32 AM

Hacker Valley, West Virginia



"Mugs" started moving forward slowly, and Chief Petty Officer Steve Carroll settled in for a long morning. After an uneventful landing three miles north of the target compound, they hid their gear and split into four teams of two, each assigned a different cardinal approach to the compound. Their mission was simple, observe and report, but above all, remain undetected. Remaining undetected was the trick. They had moved at a normal pace under the cover of darkness, which allowed his team to cover most of the terrain in two hours, stopping at a point he had previously designated on his map to deploy Mugs.

A few minutes before arriving at the point, he'd started to pick up faint wireless signals on his wrist-mounted battle feed, which had been detected by one of the squat antennas protruding from the communications rig in his backpack. This particular antenna was a "receive only" array, processing signal strength, data emission and direction. Based on the information transmitted to his battle feed, several devices were emitting wireless signals in front of them. They hadn't moved close enough to the signals to process a fix, and he had no intention of moving any further. He had no idea how far the opposing sensors could reach.

Mugs would cover the remaining 1,000 meters at a turtle's pace. One fifth of a mile per hour, or roughly 5.3 meters per minute, which was a pace scientifically proven to defeat all known, commercial and industrial grade remote infrared sensors. Mugs would end its journey twenty-five meters back from the point where the forest stopped and the clearing that surrounded the compound began. The drawback was obvious. Carroll and his teammate, Petty Officer First Class Jeff Stanhope, would have to wait more than three hours for the electronic assistance to reach its destination, possibly longer if the robotic device encountered obstacles.

The Micro Unmanned Ground Vehicle (MUG/V), affectionately known as "Mugs" to the SEALs, resembled a remote control tank, with no turret. Roughly the size of a typical 1/8 scale remote control vehicle, the MUG/V contained an internal surveillance package that included four night vision capable cameras supported by infrared illuminators. This provided a three hundred and sixty degree omnidirectional view for the operator. Additional sensors on each side allowed MUG/V to navigate around obstacles when it was programmed for an automated journey like the one that had just commenced. This particular model contained sensors that could detect wireless signals and transmit the data back to Carroll's communications rig, along with the camera feed.

Carroll had his reservations about using Mugs in the rough forest terrain, but he didn't have much choice. The robot could right itself if tipped and was capable of climbing over medium-sized fallen trees, but he was concerned that it might get caught up in thick branches. Mugs had a bad habit of trying to push through thick brush. The density of bushes didn't register as an obstacle that needed to be avoided.

The two SEAL DEVGRU operators disappeared into the surroundings and began the long waiting game that would consume most of their morning. If all went well, they would be able to cautiously advance with Mugs once the motion detectors were disabled. Their robot couldn't jam or disrupt the signals, but the data sent back to his communications rig would be transmitted to a nearby E-8C JSTARS aircraft. NSA techs onboard the command and control aircraft would figure out a way to penetrate the compound's computer network and disable the sensors. If the techs worked fast, they might not have to wait for Mugs to finish the entire journey. Until then, there was nothing to do but remain hidden and try to keep Mugs from getting stuck.