Strike Force 11

by Forest Getter

  “He nailed you there Go-go,” the Skipper said.

  “So, you have two mortars?” I asked.

  “No Master Chief we only have one mortar, but we do have two stingers and an Mk19 40mm grenade launcher.” He replied, and we all laughed.

  A few minutes later the rest of Force Recon arrived at our location the base Damage Control Team would be coming in another couple of minutes to put out the fires and get the damaged APC’s back to base. The Marines did a full search of the area for a mile out and found no traces of where these guys came from. Just then on the road approaching in the distance, I saw 5 huge tractor-trailers carrying 2 tanks each rumbling in our direction.

  “Wow could have used then a few minutes ago.” I thought.

  Then I smirked and turned to the Skipper and said. “Well, they should help out here.”

  “Yea these attacks are really starting to Piss me off. I’m about ready to Call Adam and the rest of the Unit down here to join the party.”

  General Adam Buteau was the head of the Unit as the boys from Delta Force liked to call themselves and an old-time friend of the Skippers. There was a saying about General Buteau; it’s said that one time he went to hell and stared into the eyes of the Devil and the Devil blinked.

  “If you do, I am putting him in a room with Papa Smurf,” I said and began to laugh.

  “That’s evil Go-go,” The Skipper replied.

  “Yea so was the Cheetah,” I said.

  Kevlar removed the mask from one of the attackers. “Hey, I know this guy he was a member of Epsilon Force an elite Special forces unit. When the emperor stepped down as ruler, a larger portion of the Old Guard formed the Epsilon Force. They are the best of our Military” He said.

  “That can’t be a good sign,” I said.

  “No, I think someone really wants us dead if they are sending out people from Epsilon Force after us. This is likely just a scouting team. I wonder if they were targeting us or the convoy. If they were targeting us, we have a spy on the base. If it was the convoy then they just got lucky,” He replied.

  44.

  Tanks for the Help

  I stopped the first truck in the tank convoy. “You have the tank crews with you? And are the Tanks fully loaded with fuel and Ammo?” I asked.

  “Yes, and Yes.” He said. I pulled out my ID and told him

  “Get them unloaded and get the crews in them. Our convoy was just attacked by enemy special forces. I don’t want to see a rocket come flying in her and hitting one of the trucks and taking out two tanks.”

  “Roger that Master Chief,” The driver said then he got on his radio and passed the word.

  He turned and said to me, “Our CO is in the jeep that is coming up from the rear of the Convoy she will be here in just a minute.”

  I turned to see a 1949 Willys Jeep in its classic Army paint job driving up along the side of the convoy.

  “Is that a Willy?” The Skipper said from behind me.

  “Yep, guess if you don’t count my boat, he has the coolest ride,” I replied.

  “She, that is Colonel Candy Thorne sister to the famous General Apollos Thorne the current Army Chief of Staff.” The driver said.

  The Colonel’s jeep came to a stop in front of us, and she exited the vehicle and walked over to us. Strapped to the Colonel’s side in a quick draw holster, sat a Glock 9mm G26 pistol with a Vortex Viper site on it. The Colonel stood 5’4” short red hair and blue eyes. She offered her hand to the Skipper.

  “Joe, how have you been?” She said in a slight Scottish accent.

  “Well it seems Go-go here has pissed some people off and they are trying to kill us,” He said with a smile as he shook her hand.

  “So, the usual for you lot, hey Go-go nice to see you still alive,” She replied.

  Just then we heard a tank firing its main gun

  “Skipper we need some reinforcements here; we are pinned down by 3 hover tanks.” Came the call across the battlenet from Major Harm.

  Three large blips appeared on the battlenet map marking the hostiles tanks along with twenty smaller blips marking enemy troops.

  “Let me link you and your tanks into our battlenet, our marines are under attack by three Hover tanks and twenty troops,” The Skipper said to Candy.

  She quickly sent half of her tanks to reinforce the Marines and had the other half take up perimeter guard around us. You could hear the roar of the ten 3000 horsepower engines of the M1A6d Abrams Main Battle Tanks come to life as they all move into action. An M4C6 Command and Control Vehicle pulled up in front of us, and we all got inside.

  “Storm Cloud this is Thunderbolt 1, Thunderbolt 2 has been hit by a Plasma Rocket and is down, we have target one painted all request full battery assault.” The Tank commander said.

  “All Tanks bring the rain on target one,” Said the Colonel.

  The Eurythmics song ‘Here Comes the Rain Again’ began to play across the speakers in the command vehicle as we heard the tanks outside all fire their main guns.

  “Target one is toast” Came the call from Thunderbolt 1.

  Thunderbolt 1 continued to mark the target. And the rest of the tanks rained fire down on them. It was all over in a matter of minutes. With only a few stragglers left that the Marines quickly hunted down and finished off.

  “Hey Skipper, I got a live one here what do you want me to do with her she surrendered.” Major Harm said across the battlenet.

  “Get her back to the base brig I will send Go-go and Kevlar over to talk with her.” The Skipper replied.

  Kevlar, Holly Var and I loaded back up into my Hummer and went back to base with a two-tank escort while the Skipper road back with Colonel Thorne in her Jeep.

  “All senior staff meet at the Chief Mess in one hour I am headed to Medical to check on our wounded,” The Skipper transmitted across the battlenet.

  “I’ll meet you at medical.” came a reply from Major Harm.

  Kevlar and I decided to stop by the brig and find out who our new visitor is. We entered the control room in the brig where we could see our new guest through the cameras.

  “That is Lt Major Terra Morgan. She is a team commander for Epsilon Force. She wouldn’t just let herself get captured unless she had orders and a message for us,” Kevlar said.

  “So, do you want to talk to her or should I,” I asked Kevlar.

  “You talk to her; we’ve got history, and I can’t promise you that if you put me in a room with her, I won’t kill her.” He replied.

  “I’ll take Holly with me,” I said and walked over to the integration room that she was being held in.

  “Lt Major Morgan, I am Master Chief Getter. Why are you here?” I said.

  “It’s just Major Morgan. I have an offer to make you from my Commanding officer General Francesco Upton Barthis Allen Riley.” She said.

  “General FUBAR,” I thought to myself while trying to keep a straight face.

  “What is this offer?” I asked.

  “General Francesco Upton Barthis Allen Riley Wants you to know that he can be a generous person to his friends. As you have already destroyed the Gate that was to be built here, this country has no value to him. If you and your government are willing to serve him, he will make your country rulers of this planet, and your leaders will report directly to him. To show that he is a generous man he has given me to you no matter what decision you make, I am your property and will serve you loyally until death even against my own people. He will contact you in three days at sunrise for your decision. If you choose not to accept his offer, he said he would burn your little base here to ash.” Major Morgan said.

  She then produced a knife from nowhere slit her hand and drew two bloody fingers across her face and said “I pledge myself to you above all others until death”

  She laid the knife on the table in front of me with the hilt facing my direction. I picked up the knife and left the room

  “I’ll be back with you shortly,” I said. As I exited the room Kevlar was st
anding there shaking his head.

  “She is wearing a jammer of some sort I could not speak with you. When you picked up the knife, you excepted her oath to you,” Kevlar said.

  “Is she serious? Can we believe her?” I asked him

  “She gave you a blood oath. She belongs to you if she breaks that oath her chip in her head will kill her, and it’s like she turns against you and pop she’s dead. Just thinking about doing anything that might violate her oath will cause her extreme pain that can lead to a long and painful death. She became bound to that oath the moment you picked up the knife. There is no way for her to ever be released from that oath, not even you can release her from it.” He told me.

  “Well shit, what do we do?” I said.

  “Good question, how about we go grab some dinner and Coffee,” Holly said.

  “I would suggest you have her wait here until we return,” Kevlar said.

  I opened the door and said, “Wait here I will return when I can I will have my guards bring you dinner and clean clothes they will allow you to take a shower and show you to a cell until I return.”

  “Yes, Master Chief Getter,” she replied.

  “So, you didn’t say how you know her or why you want to kill each other,” I said to Kevlar.

  “She is my ex-wife. She has an uncanny ability to really piss me off in an amazingly short period. She even shot me once.” He replied.

  “Sounds to me like you are still in love with her.” I said to him, “Sounds to me like you want me to stab you,” He replied.

  We all laughed and walked to the Hummer and loaded up.

  “You know in parts of my world the blood oath is used as a wedding vow, so you two would be considered married.” Kevlar said with a smirk on his face.

  “Now you’re wanting me to stab you,” I replied.

  45.

  Another Fine Mess

  We all arrived at the Chief’s Mess for Dinner and debriefing. We walked into the dining hall, grabbed a plate of food, and sat down to eat while we waited for the Skipper to start the debriefing. We all ate dinner, and when the Skipper looked around and saw that everyone was basically done with dinner, he began the debrief.

  “Today in an ambush a mile outside the base we lost Sargent Mendez of the Force Recon team. Never Forget,” He said.

  A reply came from all the Seal team 11 members in the room which was repeated by all the others “Never Forgotten.”

  “I am getting damn tired of losing good men to these bastards. That stops today! I want a two-mile perimeter established around the base and a half-mile kill zone. If anyone other than our people approach this base from any direction other than the main road, they are to be considered hostile capture if possible, kill if necessary. I want the kill zone mined and monitored with motion detectors and drones. Have all vegetation for half-mile cleared and clear a quarter-mile on each side of the road out to the two-mile mark. Use the tanks if needed. I want the half-mile perimeter cleared tonight. Go-go did you find out anything from our prisoner?” The Skipper asked.

  “Yea she had a message from her General. She said that he wants us to stay out of his way and in exchange, he will stop all actions on the US soil and appoint our nation as rulers under them in control of the planet. His name is General Francesco Upton Barthis Allen Riley, But I am just going to call him General FUBAR. He will contact us at sunrise on Monday for our answer until then he has offered us a temporary ceasefire. I don’t know if we can trust him Kevlar may be able to advise us.” I said then Kevlar took over.

  “I would say we except that he is offering a ceasefire and that it is unlikely that he will break it but work under the assumption that the ceasefire may only apply to the soldiers directly under his command and does not apply to any mercenaries or off-worlders they hired. They are normally given orders when hired and work independently of the Epelts.” Kevlar said.

  “Ok, we are going to proceed forward as if there is no ceasefire. I will relay the information to the CIC and let him make the final call, but I am willing to bet that his answer is going to be a big FU to General FUBAR. What about the prisoner?”

  Before I could reply Kevlar began to speak “Well that’s the funny part of all this; you see the General gave her to Go-go, and she has sworn a blood oath to him, and he unknowingly excepted it, so she belongs to him.” Kevlar said.

  “Oh, and he forgot to tell you she is his ex-wife; they want nothing more than to kill each other,” I said.

  “That’s because she is a psychopath,” he replied. Laughter went up around the room.

  “Well, I guess I will leave that mess for you two to straighten out.” The Skipper said.

  “For those of you who don’t know her this is Colonel Candy Thorne she is the commanding officer of the Tank division that just arrived, she will be working with Colonel Ryan and the Rangers on-base security.” He said as he had Candy stand up. “The construction crews tell me the admin building will be available beginning tomorrow morning see Go-go for office assignments. Daily briefings will be held in the second-floor conference room starting tomorrow at 1330. Colonel Ryan, I hear you have a young LT that is a wiz with logistics have her report to Go-go at 0800 tomorrow. We are going to put her in charge of base logistics. With that said, everyone is dismissed.” The Skipper said.

  “So, what are you going to do with the Major?” Kevlar asked.

  “I really have no idea, but after the way you threw me under the bus there, I thought I would bunk her in your room,” I said to him.

  “Hell, no, I will grab a tent and go sleep in the kill zone. It would be safer.” He replied.

  “Well with the way things are going I think I am going to have to move into the Senior NCO House here on base. Maybe I will bunk her with Holly so she can keep an eye on her.” I said.

  “Are you crazy? I am not having any roommates. I have long been promoted past that why don’t we put her and the blue guy in the same room. You know, two go in one comes out.” Holly said.

  We all laughed. The senior NCO House is a four-bedroom, arrange for Anderson to get me moved over there. Melissa and I will take one room, Daniela will take one, Major Morgan will take one, and the final room will be used as a guard command room. The major can stay in the brig until I am moved.

  46.

  Admin

  The following morning at 0530 my phone rang, and I answered it “Go-go, Me and my team are headed your way our helicopter should be at your base at 0730. To meet up with your people and head to the base, how are things going down there?” Mark asked.

  “Things are running hot down here does your helicopter have any type of escort?” I asked.

  “Yea we have two army attack helicopters with us playing guard dogs,” He replied.

  “Ok, I will have our people on the tarmac and ready to go when you arrive, you can refuel and head out asap. I’ll also have the Obama scramble a couple of birds for overwatch for you. See you soon.” I said them hung up.

  I dialed our operator. “Connect me to the Air Boss on the Obama,” I said.

  “One second Master Chief,” He replied. Then a voice came across the line

  “Captain Franks speaking,” He said.

  “Captain Franks, this is Go-go. I need you to scramble a couple of your birds to play overwatch for a trio of helicopters headed into our base. They are carrying the CIC’s Secret Service detail. They will be landing here to meet up with two more helicopters and refueling before heading off to their destination. We will send you flight plans.” I said,

  “Roger that the birds will be in the air in 5 minutes.” He replied.

  “Well looks like we are getting an early start today. Let’s go grab a quick breakfast and get to work. The secret service guys are on the way here, we need to get the Marines and Alpha Platoon geared up and ready to go. Let’s pick up Major Morgan on our way to breakfast, for now, we will keep her with us. Holly, call the brig and have them, give her basic gear but no weapons and have her ready for us to pick up in
30 minutes,” I said to the other in the room. Everyone returned to their rooms to change out of PT gear and geared up for full combat, we just never knew what the day would bring. When we walked outside the rest of the Raiders along with two APCs and my Hummer were waiting for us. Kevlar took the driver’s seat of my Hummer and Holly took the passenger seat, and I slid into the back seat. Var was not with us this morning he was headed to the hanger to continue working on the computer systems upgrades.

  We picked up Major Tara Morgan and went to the mess hall for everyone to eat

  “If you do anything to get any of my people hurt, I will not hesitate to kill you. You will do everything in your power to assist us. Do we have an understanding, or would you rather spend the rest of your days locked away in some prison hole? The only reason I am giving you this chance is that Kevlar explained the nature of your blood oath.” I said to Tara.

  “I will do as you say my oath binds me to you for life,” she replied.

  After breakfast, I met up with Lt Rogers and Major Harm. I explained to them their mission.

  “Leave your admin people here at the base and have them come to see me at the admin building at 0830 and I will have them get you an office set up,” I said to Harm.

  “You have Gili with you him, and his boys can get it set up since they will be with you,” He replied.

  “That makes sense. I should have thought of that. Guess I’ve just had too many people trying to kill me the last couple of days,” I said.

  “Speaking of trying to kill me. Does your General FUBAR have your people targeting me?” I said to Tara.

  “Oh, yea he has put a bounty on you, the one called Skipper, and Kevlar. You three are considered high-value targets, and anyone that can prove they killed you will be set for life. Just wounding one of you will earn someone a promotion. What is FUBAR?” She replied.

  “It’s an acronym that stands for Freaked Up Beyond All Recognition, and it just happens to be the initials for your general’s name,” I said.