The Amazon - Part 1
Amazon Rainforest, Brazil
August 25, 2032
“LZ is clear Phoenix 1-1. You have permission to land, over.”
“Copy. Coming in now,” the aircraft’s pilot radioed to the waiting, exhausted squadron. “Phoenix 2-3 and 2-5 are an hour behind us, over.”
“Understood.”
…
Lieutenant Lacey leaned over into her superior’s ear and said, “I can’t wait for a proper shower… One that isn’t limited to ninety seconds, you know? I think I have enough crap on me to collect it all and start my own charcoal company.”
Captain Alveraz lightly chuckled, holding her hands behind her back. “Three weeks is a long time to be out here. I almost miss the sounds of civilization. Never thought I’d find myself wanting to hear the noise of honking horns in traffic or, or bustling crowds of people. Hell, I’d even take the roar of the Raptor that used to buzz my rack at O-four hundred every freaking night back at Andrews at this point.”
The two team members, their rescuedress and exposed skin covered in black soot and dirt, were interrupted by the thumping noise of a Phoenix clearing the burnt out tree line, now just an apocalyptic grouping of charred brush and blackened, naked trees. The glorious white plane descended onto their camp’s helipad; a collection of large tents, a small solar array, two rugged fire trucks, and one shipping container that served as the mission’s command center and staging area. Another UNIRO team would be by later that day to disassemble the camp and take its equipment and supplies back to base.
“But don’t get me wrong,” Alveraz smiled thoughtfully, “it is beautiful out here… Or at least, it was.”
“We’ll reforest what’s been lost, just as we did before,” Lacey encouraged, nodding her head. “We have to. We lose this rainforest, we lose the planet.”
“We won’t lose the planet, lieutenant,” Alveraz chuckled emotionlessly. “Just civilization.”
Ash curled away in every direction as the Phoenix touched its landing gear down on the white, gray, and black soil.
…
“Phoenix 1-1, this is Base Concord.”
“Base Concord. Phoenix 1-1. We read you.”
“Please relay an urgent message for Captain Elizabeth Alveraz, Wildfire Firefighting Squadron 4, upon touchdown. Message reads…”
…
“WFS 4,” Alveraz called over the aircraft’s whizzing rotors, “get your gear! We’re outta here! Once that door comes down single file line inside and stow what you got! I got a nice warm bed waiting for me back home and I don’t want to be late!”
The cargo bay door of the idling Phoenix 1 remained shut however. Alveraz checked the time on her glass tag around her neck. At least two minutes had gone by since it had landed. She looked over at Lacey, confused. “What’s up with them?” she asked.
Lacey shrugged. “I don’t know. Door stuck?” she grinned jokingly.
But Alveraz didn’t laugh. “Something is wrong,” she said, stepping past her team’s second in command and around the plane. “Wait there!” she yelled back to her squadron.
The captain jogged up to the cockpit’s windows and waved her arms at the two pilots inside. “Hey!” she shouted. “What’s the hold up?!” Alveraz tapped her wrist at an invisible wristwatch.
One of the pilots unbuckled his restraints and moved out of the cockpit. The plane’s right side sliding door, just aft of the cockpit, opened. The pilot jumped down onto the burnt forest floor and walked over to Alveraz, a grave look on his young face. Whatever he had to say wasn’t going to be good.
“Captain Alveraz?!” he said.
“One and only,” she replied brashly. “What’s up, sergeant? I thought you were our ride home… Aren’t you going to open the door for us?” she said somewhat impatiently.
“Sorry, ma’am,” the pilot said, shaking his head. “I’ve got an urgent message from Base Concord to relay to you. You and your squadron are being reassigned. You’re not coming home yet.”
“Well where the hell are we going then?”
“Forty miles northeast of here,” the pilot answered, pointing in the general direction. “In the last hour another wildfire has broken out and has already expanded to over a thousand acres. Base Concord wants you and your team there ASAP. Phoenix 2-3 and 2-5 are inbound to take you, your squadron, and your gear there. You’ll be joined by other teams as well upon arrival.”
Alveraz sighed. “Understood,” she nodded. “We’ll wait here and standby.”
“Good. They will be here within the hour.”
And just over a minute later the Phoenix 1 and its crew had departed, leaving Alveraz and her team alone again.
“Where the hell are they going?!” Lacey cried, raising her hands in surprise as her superior rejoined the team. “They left us!”
“We’re being reassigned. There is another fire,” Alveraz informed the team.
“Where?” one of her squadron members asked.
“Forty miles northeast of here,” the captain answered. “We’ll be hitching a ride there within the hour aboard the birds meant to come clean up all of our stuff. Other squadrons will be meeting us there. We won’t just be advisers this time people. We’ll be fighting this one first hand.”
“Forty miles northeast of here,” Lacey thought out loud. “There were never any storms in that region, captain. Are we looking at a manmade accident here?”
“Or intentional...” Alveraz eyed her lieutenant wearily. “There has been much suspicion recently about these fires. Our reforestation efforts are being met with increasingly fierce resistance by those who wander these woods outside the law. To them, UNIRO is their greatest enemy now. The area where this new blaze has been reported was reforested by UNIRO eight years ago. Do you think that is a coincidence?”
“Probably not,” Lacey said, lowering her head alongside others in the group. “They could be using these recent storms as a cover for illegal burns.”
“It would make sense,” said the team’s medic, Rescue Officer Frank Voelcker. “Three of the five wildfires we’ve responded to out here in the last three weeks have been in areas reforested by UNIRO, all of them starting after thunderstorms. But not this one… Maybe whoever is doing this finally slipped up.”
“Could be a sick arsonist,” another rescue officer suggested. “They’re addicted. Storms weren’t moving quick enough for them.”
“Okay, listen up everyone,” Alveraz said with agitation to quell the conversation, pointing her right index finger to the scorched earth, “I know it’s disappointing; we were supposed to be going home after weeks in this hell hole. But this is what comes with being a member of UNIRO. The job is never really done… And ours certainly won’t be until every last ember in this forest is out. If these recent fires are intentional then as far as I’m concerned whoever is doing this is committing a crime against humanity. We’re going to clean up their atrocities and rebuild this forest. You all know what’s at stake if we lose it.”
“Are we going to be provided with security, captain?” asked Lacey. “From the Brazilian government I mean. This could get ugly if we run into these people, maybe catch them in the act.”
“Lieutenant,” Alveraz somehow grinned atop the straightest of faces, “if I see one of these guys lighting up this forest in person it won’t be us that will be needing the security. Trust me.”
Cover Photo Credit: Pixabay