by C. R. Daems
Tasmanian SFG, Book II
Devils to Me
By
C. R. Daems
Tasmanian SFG, Book II: Devils to Me
Copyright © 2020 by C. R. Daems
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from C. R. Daems.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ISBN-13: 978-0-9983251-7-0
Check out all my novels at
crdaems.com & talonnovels.com
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
Planet: Delphi
CHAPTER ONE
Planet: Delphi: Fort Endeavor
CHAPTER TWO
Planet: Delphi: Fort Carlton
CHAPTER THREE
Planet: Delphi: Fort Endeavor
CHAPTER FOUR
Planet: Delphi: No Good Performance Goes Unpunished
CHAPTER FIVE
Planet: Delphi: A Long-Ago Enemy Returns
CHAPTER SIX
Planet Magara: The Abaddon
CHAPTER SEVEN
Planet Magara: Howard
CHAPTER EIGHT
Planet Magara: First Blood
CHAPTER NINE
Planet Magara: Trapped
CHAPTER TEN
Planet Magara: The Abaddon Anatomy
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Planet Magara: Death March
CHAPTER TWELVE
Planet Delphi: A Spectacular Event
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Planet Lochpin: The Moech
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Planet Lochpin: An Unusual Farmhouse
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Planet Lochpin: Life-Saving Training
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Planet Lochpin: Double Surprises
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Planet Lochpin: Cedric Reid, Callsign Wolf
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Planet Lochpin: Snipers, Pete Norman and Todd Bradley
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Planet Lochpin: Scavenger Hunt
CHAPTER TWENTY
Planet Lochpin: What Next?
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Planet Lochpin: Firebird and Bulldog
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Planet Lochpin: The Diversion Team
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Planet Lochpin: An Unexpected Fuckup
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Planet Lochpin: A Really Bad Day
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Planet Delphi: The Ghost Platoon
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Planet Delphi: Adventures in Dating
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Planet Dodoma: Marauders
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Planet Dodoma: Village Hopping
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Planet Dodoma: First Contact
CHAPTER THIRTY
Planet Dodoma: Surprises Can Be Good or Bad
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Planet Dodoma: Howard
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Planet Dodoma: Camp #1
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Planet Delphi: Fort Endeavor, Back to School
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Planet Delphi: Fort Shiva, Welcome to Hell
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Planet Delphi: Wanzhou: Another Tasmanian Assignment
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Planet Delphi: Wanzhou: Tunnels
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Planet Delphi: 504th TQE
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Planet Delphi: Assignment Surbaya
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Planet Surbaya: Supremacist
CHAPTER FORTY
Planet Surbaya: Mission Accomplished
PROLOGUE
Planet: Delphi
The planet Delphi was the official headquarters for the United Systems of Perileos (USP) government, which consisted of thirteen planets members, and maintains the military that supports the alliance.
The Tasmanian Special Forces Group was a relatively small unit with roots that go back hundreds of years. It was an elite group, nicknamed the Devils, formed to undertake suicidal tasks, under impossible conditions, on a moment's notice. Because of the high qualification standards and their high-mortality assignments, they were accorded special rights.
* All members of the group were equal. Consequently, they had no rank, were awarded no medals, and had only one pay scale, which varied only by time with the unit. Each member's position on an assignment depended upon their previous performance and their specialty: sniper, medic, explosives, or telecommunications.
* Members of the unit were not required to salute anyone and had superiors only when on assignment, and then only to the Tasmanian appointed their leader for that assignment. When not on assignment, they were all considered equal, regardless of their time with the unit.
* The unit wore standard army uniforms but with a white strip running the length of the pants, and their unit was designated by a Tasmanian-fur flash on the beret.
For the first time in the group's history, a woman had qualified to be a member.
CHAPTER ONE
Planet: Delphi: Fort Endeavor
Back on Delphi, I found that Colonel Martinez’s tape of my challenge on Surbaya, with the thugs who had crippled my father, had beaten me home. When I entered the Tasmanian club my first night back, everyone stood and clapped, causing me to blush from my toenails to the ends of my hair.
"Sister," Smitty said as he stood and approached me, "that tape has made the Tasmanians legends. Everyone’s thinking if a female Tasmanian can kill fifteen men in a knife fight, imagine what the male Tasmanians can do." He laughed and I could hear feet stomping the floor and hands beating on tables from everyone in the club. He held up his hands for silence. "We're not going to contradict them, but quite frankly, none of us are crazy enough to take on fifteen opponents with a knife."
It was good to be back at Fort Endeavor with my Tasmanian brothers, I mused, as I walked into the center of the room and looked around the club, as if to make sure only Tasmanians were listening.
"I hoped you would enjoy the tape. It took three days to make, and I had to hire a doctor. The damn actors wanted to run to the hospital for every little scratch."
"That guy with his neck bones showing didn't look like a scratch," someone shouted.
"Well, there were a few…slips. That's the reason it took three days to make. We had to reshoot that part and all the parts where he had previously appeared. And then his wife wanted to be paid more for his mistake."
"For getting his neck in the way of your knife," someone else shouted.
"Exactly! Then they had the nerve to suggest I use fake knives. Now, how would that look?" I paused looking around the club. "Next, they would be wanting fake blood. The things I go through to make you wimps look good." I lowered my head and shook it slowly in resignation.
The room erupted to the sounds of men slapping the tables and stomping the floor in approval.
"Welcome back, Jolie!" A shout rose up as glasses and mugs were raised in my direction. I bowed, delighted to be back among my brothers-in-arms.
"Major Wet-pants hasn't left Fort Shiva since you went on vacation to see your father. We've been watching," Smitty said when the noise quie
ted. "And when he sees this tape, I doubt he will ever leave his room."
Smitty was referring to the name the Tasmanian's had dubbed Major Lloyd after my verbal confrontation with him on the planet Libian. I had repeatedly accused him of being a coward and pissing in his pants from fear. I shouldn't have, but he started it by insulting me and then the Tasmanians. At the time, I was exhausted, and my brain was still in a fog from the battle with the Zinwe. Lloyd had a personal vendetta against me for being a woman and for passing the Tasmanian Qualification School when he couldn’t. But because he chose to make the confrontation where most of the Tasmanians could hear, he now had the entire special force group wanting–or more appropriately demanding–an apology, and he wasn't safe anywhere.
"Jolie Luan, you're under arrest…" someone shouted, and simultaneously, tables and chairs went flying as Tasmanians rose with weapons drawn. I turned while drawing my weapon, when I realized all the weapons in the room were pointing behind me. At lease twenty Tasmanians stood looking down at a group of military police lying scattered akimbo across the floor.
"This is an outrage!" screamed a young lieutenant, his round face contorted and red with rage, as he pushed himself up onto his knees. He rose to his feet, but his face lost its color as he scanned the area and saw all the weapons pointing in his direction. To his credit, he recovered quickly. "I have an arrest warrant signed by General Neville for a Jolie Luan," he said with only a little tremor in his voice. Considering that the regular army types thought the Tasmanians were crazy and unpredictable, it was an impressive performance. "And I will be pressing charges for the assault on my men who were attempting to carry out a legal arrest order."
"Lieutenant, you don't force your way into our club, and you don't point weapons at Tasmanians. You and your detail are lucky to be alive," Howard said. He was a senior Tasmanian who was frequently appointed the ranking member on assignments. Though in his forties, his body was muscular and didn't have an ounce of fat, and his eyes had the cold grey steel of a predator.
"Where is Jolie Luan?" the lieutenant persisted as he removed handcuffs from his belt.
"What are the charges, Lieutenant…" Howard asked, seeking a name.
"Windom," he said, looking down at his comm device. "Desertion, taking unauthorized actions which resulted in the death and injury of army personnel, and threatening a superior officer."
"Where are you taking her?" Howard asked while surveying the policemen as they staggered to their feet. Several looked like they would need medical attention. He frowned. That would not bode well for Jolie.
"For questioning." For a brief moment, a tight smile appeared on the lieutenant's face.
"Where?"
"The army detention center on Fort Carlson," the lieutenant said. Now he was openly smiling.
"First, Lieutenant Windom, she is invoking her right to counsel; therefore, she can't be questioned without legal representation present. Secondly, Tasmanians will accompany you to Fort Carlson to make sure she arrives safely."
"Safely?"
"Yes, Lieutenant. You're arresting a Tasmanian, and you only have eight men who don't look in prime condition. Wouldn't want a dangerous criminal like Jolie to escape." Howard smiled but the humor didn't reach his eyes. Windom nodded but his eyes burned with hate. We left the club fourteen strong, with nine military police, four Tasmanians, and me, in the four police cars the lieutenant and his men had arrived in. I sat quietly in the back seat with Smitty while the lieutenant sat in the front passenger seat.
"You think this is Wet-pants’s doing?" Smitty asked, looking worried.
"With the backing of the army's senior officers," I said, which didn't bode well for me. Unwittingly, I'd been a pain in their ass since the day I joined the army. They didn't like me requesting modifications to their enlistment contract, since it established a dangerous precedent. Of course, they established the precedent by approving the modifications, thinking to make an example of me after I failed the Tasmanian Qualification School. When it appeared I would pass the class, they gave illegal orders to do whatever necessary to ensure I failed. The plot was discovered, and much to their annoyance, the previously elite all-male Tasmanian Special Forces Group now had a woman member. This felt like get-even time.
"Jolie, don't answer any questions until your defense attorney is present. We'll have one available for you before your preliminary hearing," Smitty said as they led me and my Tasmanian escort into the detention center building through a metal detector scanner and down a long corridor of holding cells. It must have been a slow night as they were currently all empty.
The lieutenant stopped at the last cell and waited as a female guard unlocked the cell door. He waved me in. I idly noted the cell was the largest of the cells we had passed and could accommodate at least eight to ten prisoners. Strange: they had entered the club with weapons drawn, and therefore, they had been ready to shoot me if I…what? Ran, resisted arrest, argued…? And now I was being put in a large cell when a single would seem more appropriate. I wondered what orders the lieutenant had been given when he was assigned to arrest me. If they stated or implied excessive force was authorized, then getting payback for his detail's embarrassing encounter at the Tasmanian club might be ignored, or worse, blamed on me–an out-of-control psychotic, i.e., a Tasmanian female.
* * *
The lieutenant returned a couple of hours later with eight men; three I recognized from his original detail and five muscular replacements. I thought I smelled alcohol. Actually, I hoped so if what I thought this late-hour visit meant. Unfortunately, none of the men looked glassy-eyed or intoxicated. From the intense look on their faces, they probably had two shots: one to settle the nerves and one to raise the excitement of beating the shit out of the Tasmanian and then having a bit of fun afterward.
"Five of my detail are in the hospital," Windom said and waited. I didn't know what he expected me to say. When I didn't reply, he smiled. "Bates, was she searched before you locked her in the cell?"
"No, Lieutenant," a woman's voice answered from somewhere further down the hallway.
"I've heard these Tasmanians carry knives all over their bodies. Strip search her," he said and smiled. "Luan, we will use force…lethal force if necessary."
As he talked, the woman police officer appeared with a ring of coded sticks about twelve centimeters long and one centimeter thick. She selected one and slipped it in into the door's locking plate. The stick glowed green, and I heard the locking mechanism click open. I touched the WiFi symbol on my TCom and a menu appeared. I touched Open Channel and shouted "Devils to me," as four men entered the cell. They were in a single file as the door was too narrow to enter two abreast. I charged the leading man who was smiling. He barely raised his arms a few centimeters before I crashed into him, driving my palm up and under his chin. The force snapped his head violently backward and into the man behind him. Even if I hadn't broken his neck and killed him, he was no longer a threat. While the second man struggled to move the unconscious body, I leapt into the air and delivered a flying sidekick to the bridge of his nose, rendering him unconscious and causing a major concussion at a minimum. The impact drove his head into the man's head behind him, and they were propelled backward out of the cell's door. The policewoman quickly shut the cell door. I backed to the far wall when I saw the lieutenant draw a X26 Taser, hoping it wouldn't be effective against my uniform at this distance.
"You bitch," he shouted as he fired the taser. As I hoped, one stuck in the area of my intestines and the other hit my side and fell off. I grabbed the attached wire, pulled it free while wrapping it around my hand, and yanked it back with all my strength. I smiled as it jerked the taser out of the lieutenant's hand and into the cell. Of course, the taser was useless now, but I was stalling for time. These assholes intended to kill me. Two more tasers appeared as the policewoman opened the cell door again. It appeared a reasonable strategy. If I rushed the men entering, they would shoot me with their tasers. If I didn't, they wo
uld have enough men in the cell to overcome me. Five entered before the cell door was closed. They fanned out in a crescent formation in front of me and then began shuffling toward me. Each man held a baton. I could break through the formation but then I'd be facing tasers. And I estimated help was at least ten to twenty minutes away.
The formation stopped while the two men in the center continued moving forward, batons held ready to strike head high. I waited. What else could I do? Eventually, one of the two reached to within striking distance. He made a strike toward my head while the other man lunged at me. I dropped down on my right leg and executed a leg sweep that sent the closest man into the air. I only managed to hit one of the lunging man's legs, which caused him to stumble into the wall. The man who had his feet swept from under him hit the ground hard and his baton was jarred lose. I snatched it off the floor as I rose to meet two more men rushing me. I accepted a blow to my shoulder for the opportunity to drive my baton into his throat. He staggered backward fighting unsuccessfully to breathe.
The second man hesitated, gaping at his buddy and receiving my baton across his temple; he crumpled to the floor. I saw several more men entering the cell with tasers. The last two of the original six, emboldened by the reinforcements, charged me. I shifted left, using the man on my left as interference to the one on my right. As he swung at my head, I lunged into him. His arm hit my head, but the baton found only air. I turned my back to him as my left hand latched onto his right arm, and I drove the elbow of my right arm into his ribs. I felt the ribs cave in as he howled in pain. I twisted him left as one of the newcomers fired his taser, hitting my captive who jerked uncontrollably.
I was now exposed to the man on my right and receive a glancing blow to my head before I could get free of my captive. I pushed my jerking captive away in the direction of the newcomers, put both of my arms in front of my face, and delivered a back kick into the head of the man on my right. His baton smashed into my thigh as my foot simultaneously hit his face. His forward momentum stopped like he had run into a wall, and he collapsed backward onto the floor.