Swarm

The European Union finds it necessary to take on Donald Trump

Swarm

Although vans would have worked better, they were not chosen because they attracted attention. The problem was their basic size. Something that could not be disguised. They were big enough to hide crude, but powerful, fertilizer bombs or heavy ordinance. A rusty van, with ladders on the top, and a tradesman's name painted on the side could not be long parked near an area where the President or other dignitaries gathered without immediately getting a once over by the Secret Service. So the Ford Fiesta was chosen as the platform.

These cars did not draw attention. The drones were folded and packed into the trunk. Five hundred per vehicle. The guidance, control and image processing was built into the back seat. Someone with access to the interior of the vehicle would have noticed the back seat was hard. The normal seat material glued over a fiberglass shell. The only give away that the car was not as it seemed. The aerial normally found on the back roof provided the data link with the individual drones. On the floor behind the driver was a tackle box that held the batteries to power the computers and data link for the duration of the mission. The normal USB port on the dash would allow the computers under the back seat to be programmed from a laptop.

There were six such vehicles. All plain colors so as not to attracted attention. All covered with road grime.

Each individual drone was about as thick as a pack of cigarettes and half the length. A small square that could unfold four arms with a rotor at the end. There was a camera that could relay a series of stills back to the computers in the Fiesta. About two per second if all the drones were up, and more with fewer drones in the air. The drones had a simple on board computer that allowed it to track it's target between updates from the Fiesta. The drones were also equipped with an auto pilot, a GPS receiver and small tube that used an explosive charge to fire a powdered nerve agent. The drone could kill up to a range of about ten feet, although the usual tactic was to fly directly into the face of the victim and fire from a range of about two feet.

The reason the drones were not completely autonomous was the processing power needed for the facial recognition functions. Each drone could sort through a crowd looking first for a basic body shape and, when this was located, perform recognition functions on the face. The drones could be programmed to search for up to five different individuals. If these were not located, the drones could be set to attack an random as their batteries ran down. Or simply set to self destruct.

The six Fiestas had been in the United States for nine months now. Drills had been conducted but no actual attacks had been carried out. There had been no need. But this had changed with Trump's threats the week before. Nobody in the European Union had reason to believe he was bluffing, and no one had reason to believe that Trump was not now insane. Insane and extremely dangerous.

The deterioration had really started with the disputed election of 2018, and Trump's efforts to halt investigations into the validity of the election. His eventual success in halting the investigation removed both all restraint in Trump and what remained of his cabinet. He was now a lone rogue leader promising to immediately implement a series of plans that endangered the planet.

The Fiestas were dispersed around the golf course. Each about a mile out from the President's party. It was a good day, Trump had four Senators and two Congressmen with him who were considered to be his core henchmen and almost as dangerous as Trump himself.

At the appointed time, each Fiesta stopped and the driver got out and inspected the left rear tire. He then stood and popped open the trunk, as if to access the spare. And then the only non-stealthy part of the operation took place. A loud buzzing was heard as the five hundred drones peeled out from the trunk. It took a little over three minutes to get them all airborne. And during this period a Secret Service agent could have foiled the attack by simply slamming the trunk hatch. But all went well.

Once over the golf court fence, the drones dropped to an altitude of about three feet and dispersed so that none were within 20 feet of another. The used GPS to travel to the tee off point. If the Trump party was not there, they would fly from hole to hole until the party was located. Their batteries would begin failing after the 5^th hole and they would start to self destruct.

The Trump party was teeing off from the third hole. The ground was smooth and the drones had dropped to an altitude of about one foot over the mowed grass. This made them harder to hear. They were loud, however, and the Trump Party heard the first group when they were about 100 yards out. For a few seconds, they only listened and gave each other puzzled looks. But the Secret Service was sharp, they didn't know what the noise was, but they knew that it was unnatural. And that boded ill.

Trump was surrounded and pushed onto the rear seat of his golf cart. A lever was pulled and the cart's electric motor disengaged and a twelve hundred CC motorcycle engine started. The cart bolted away and was moving almost sixty miles per hour after the first hundred and fifty feet. It was outrunning the first squadron of drones. But the drones were coming from all directions, and the cart almost immediately ran into another swarm.

The cart, running head long into the other swarm, at almost a mile per minute, put the drones at the limit of their performance. They couldn't process the information fast enough over the data link and they didn't notice Trump sitting in the cart. But another swarm was arriving with a course perpendicular to that of the cart. And these had time process their images and recognize Trump's body form. Word went out that there was a high probability that the primary target was in the cart and all vectored onto a collision course with the cart. It was over in a few seconds.

The driver, not a primary target, was able to get the cart stopped. It was enveloped in a red fog, the nerve agent from many drones. The drive stepped out unsteadily before he fell, violently twitching on the ground. Back at the third tee the Senators and Congressmen were already dead. They probably could have saved themselves by hiding in the bathroom near the tee, but they didn't know what hit them. The secret service and the caddies crouched on the ground as the swarm of drones circled and began to explode.

History was changed and the Fiestas pulled out unnoticed.

Reviews

[barleygirl]

I admire you for coming up with such an imaginative storyline, one which most of us are cheering on. As an engineer, I felt no bumps in your technical explanations. My main issue is that you start your story with a long non-stop technical expose that really doesn't pull the reader into your story. It's more like plowing thru explanations hoping to get to some action soon . . . the whole while having no idea why we might care about these overly-explained drone details. There is much care given in your intro expose about making sure this whole affair was not obvious . . . yet having 6 identical cars pull up to a golf course & the drivers step out at the same time doing identical things . . . this is pretty obvious to me. It would be good to use some of the material in this paragraph (quoted in a bit), at the beginning, with action being a more enticing lure: "The six Fiestas had been in the United States for nine months now." This is great writing & strong authentic imagination, just seems a little too techno to open (((HUGS)) Fondly, Margie

[Miss Fedelm]

I'm working out the drone thing. I plan to turn this into a novella.

[angel]

Good one!
A few small errors, mostly capitalization issues,but you probably know that already, as I am not the first one here.
I was worried that he was going to get away, but they got him! The world is safe again...well, it would be, anyhow.
Very good, interesting, and exciting read, Miss!

[Miss Fedelm]

Glad you liked it.

[Chris]

It is a shame when the typo spells a real word, takes a reading eye to catch them. This piece has several.

The only plot issue I see is dating the piece by using a known political figure.

[Miss Fedelm]

Thanks for reading.

[Chris]

welcome...