34. Inv
estigation
When we arrived back at the Hanger, Holly and the Skipper were there with Charlie Platoon. “I leave you on your own for ten minutes, and you go and try to get yourself shot,” Holly said to me.
“You know me, where I go trouble follows. How’s PO Adams?” I asked.
“He is stable Daniela has him sedated while she is constructing a cyber replacement. The wound was too bad for them to reattach his arm. It’s a good thing we have her here, or else he would be facing a medical discharge. She said that she will have him back at work in less than a week better than ever,” She replied. “Have someone let me know when he is awake,” I said.
We walked in and went to the conference room. I started a fresh pot of Coffee and splashed my face with the water from the nearby sink.
“There could be at least another four more out there somewhere. I want a security detail on Melissa until they are found.” I said.
“I will have the rest of my team take care of it. If you could send one of your people with them for communication until we have our system integrated with yours,” Var said.
“I’ll assign Edwards to them. He will meet them outside the Hanger in five minutes with a vehicle. She is still at The Grinder. Until they get there, Aunt Mary has them all in the conference room which is a level 8 safe room,” Holly said.
“The security cameras were hacked wirelessly using a brute force attack on the firewall. This wasn’t an inside job from the looks of it or if it was, the person when to a lot of effort to cover their tracks because they chose the most difficult method to bypass the cameras,” Kevlar said as he entered the conference room. “I put in a quick patch that will notify me if someone tries to do it again and we will catch them,” He continued.
The patrols didn’t find any other breaches in the fence or other signs of unwanted visitors. The geek squad began to check the base for any type of electronic surveillance. They found bugs everywhere; offices, vehicles, mess halls, and the Hanger. They found GPS tracking devices on the Hummers, APC’s, and the Airboats. It took several hours for them to find what they felt was all the bugs and trackers. Kevlar and John began working on trying to backtrack the signal of the bugs back to the receiver. The GPS just sent out a signal with its location to anyone who had the ID code. So, it was just out there for anyone to locate it. Within a few minutes, Kevlar and John had a fix on the receiver. They grabber two squads of troops and took off to find it. I told Piper to go with them and be overwatch. They headed out to track down the receiver.
It was 20 minutes later when they signaled that that had found the device it was a command pad sitting in a tree stand about a half-mile outside the base, but the area was heavily trapped, they requested that we send in Leroy and our bomb squad. They also requested a signal jammer in case the traps were activated remotely. They were about 500 yards out, and they were all in an APC so even if they had another sniper out there with another IWS 2000 the reactive armor on the APC would protect them. The Variant of the fortress we used was equipped with a 25mm chain gun and with Piper at the controls of it I knew they would be safe until Leroy and the bomb squad reached them.
“I can’t believe it; we are taking small arms fire. I am returning fire.” Piper said across the battlenet.
“Ok that is it I am sending in air support. You will have 2 Raiders inbound in 5. In the meantime, if it moves out, there kill it. Pop smoke in the target area I’ll have them carpet bomb the hell out of the area. Raider 1 and 2 you got that?” I responded.
“We are on it Go-go.” Came the call from Raider 1 and I heard the Helicopters powering up outside.
“We took two targets down, but our gun was just hit by an RPG. We are exiting the APC.” Piper said.
“Holly and I are on our way, and we are bringing back up,” I said.
“Go-go, it’s the gnomes I’ve spotted at least three more red hats out there this whole area was an ambush,” Piper said.
“Stay where you’re at; we got this. This could all just be a distraction to draw you and the Skipper out. Besides that, we have Leroy and the helicopters already on their way,” Kevlar said.
Just then there was an explosion from outside, “The Skipper is down. We need backup and a medical team to the admin building we are under attack.” Senior Chief Walker said.
I turned to Var and said, “Have your people take Melissa to the Admin building, the Skipper is down and needs medical aid asap. Everyone grab your gear and let’s rock and roll the Skipper is under attack.” I said.
We all loaded into the APC’s and headed out to the admin building.
35. Fir
e Fight
I Had Var drop Holly and me off at the control tower, the highest spot on the base. From the roof of the tower, we would be high enough to target just about anywhere on the base, and we would be able to cover our team and provide overwatch for the APC that Melissa would be arriving in. Holly and I ran up the tower and exited onto the roof. There leaning over the edge of the tower holding a sniper rifle was a Gnome He turned to look at us. Before he could bring his gun around to shoot at us, I charged him. My shoulder impacted his chest, causing him to go flying over the edge of the tower and slammed into the tarmac below.
“Yea he won’t be getting back up.” I said as I glanced over the edge to see he was wearing the same “Gnomes Rule” T-shirt “Not in my swamp,” I thought.
“Yea a seven-story fall will do that to you,” Holy said. Well, at least he already has a sniper nest set up for us. That would save us some time.
We began to search the area for the enemy. Holly was the first to spot one of the creepy little bastards. He was on the roof of the building across from the entrance to the admin building readying an RPG. Just as he placed it on his shoulder, I shot him through the back of the head.
“Two down,” I said across the battlenet.
“The Skipper is stable; Melissa is three minutes out,” Senior Chief Walker said.
I could hear the rocket pods from the raiders firing off in the distance. Then I heard the Raider’s main gunfire. “We are clear here; the raiders also cleared the traps. Kevlar is recovering the command pad, and we are headed back,” Piper said.
It was then that I saw another Gnome come around a corner and run at the admin building. He had minigun strapped on and was firing at the front of the building. Just as I was about to fire, and APC slammed into him, and he went flying. He landed and started to get back to his feet. When the gun on the APC opened fired, tearing him to shreds. Var and the others with him took up defensive positions around the entrance to the admin building. An RPG impacted into the side of the APC, but it was absorbed by the armor doing little to no damage to it. I in return and shot the Gnome that had fired the RPG right through the ‘O’ in his “Gnomes Rule” T-shirt. The APC with Melissa in it back up to the front door of the building. The back door opened, and they loaded the Skipper in then took off for the medical building. Just then another Gnome charged the building. Var stepped out from cover and fired his sidearm at the Gnome the round impacted into the Gnome’s head-turning it into a fine red mist.
Holly and I stayed in position for another hour and did not spot any more Gnomes anywhere on the base. When an APC arrived at the tower, we climbed down and got in. We headed over to the medical building to check on the wounded. Melissa met us in the lobby.
“The Skipper will be down for about a day. He has a concussion, and he took some shrapnel from the explosion. Skipper is in a regen bath, and I have him sedated for the next couple of hours. He will be fine; I will take care of him. I am not going anywhere until he is back on his feet,” Melissa Said.
“Take good care of him,” I said to her as I leaned in and gently kissed her.
The Skipper and Adams were the only ones who were seriously wounded; all other injuries were just minor cuts and burses nothing that required more than an hour of regen. It was 1100, and I needed to get ready for the conference call between
the King and the CIC.
“Have PO1 Jones deliver some food and drinks to the hanger and here to medical,” I said to Holly. I called Cmdr. Dallas and updated him on Skipper’s status and asked him to meet me at the Hanger at 1245 for the conference call.
While we drove over to the Hanger, I turned to Holly and said. “A Senior Chief and his wife stationed in San Diego went to Balboa Naval Hospital together to have their baby delivered. Upon their arrival, the doctor said he had invented a new machine that would transfer a portion of the mother’s labor pain to the father. The doctor asked if they were willing to try it out. The Senior Chief and his wife were both very much in favor of it. The doctor set the knob to 10 percent for starters, explaining that even 10 percent was probably more pain than the father had ever experienced before. But as the labor progressed, the Senior Chief felt fine, so he asked the doctor to go ahead and bump it up a notch. The doctor then adjusted the machine to 20 percent pain transfer. The Senior Chief was still feeling fine. The doctor checked the Senior Chief’s blood pressure and pulse and was amazed at how well he was doing. At this, they decided to try for 50 percent. The Senior Chief continued to feel quite well. Since it was obviously helping out his wife considerably, the Senior Chief encouraged the doctor to transfer ALL the pain to him. The wife delivered a healthy baby with virtually no pain. The Senior Chief and his wife were ecstatic. When they arrived home, the mailman was dead on their porch.” Holly and the others in the APC began to laugh.
When we arrived at the Hanger, I met up with Cmdr. Dallas and we went into the conference room and called the SECNAV. The SECNAV appeared on the big screen, “Dallas, Go-go, where is Captain Hicks?” He asked.
“He’s in medical recovering from a bombing of our admin building.” I said to him
“What the hell is going on there? Give me the whole story. Before you begin let me get Big Mike in here” He said.
Cmdr. Dallas and I spent the next hour getting the SACNAV and the CMCPON up to date on what was happening. Then we laid out what we had planned for the next few days. We explained the treaties that would be signed and the need for King Johnathan to speak with the CIC.
“What did you think of the Rangers you worked with in Ukraine?” Admiral Bates asked me.
“They were a good group of people I would work with them again,” I told him.
“Good I am going to have them reassigned to MBO to give you some additional support. I’ll have them in the air this afternoon. I will also have the Army move some armor down your way from Fort Benning. I will also Get the USS Obama in the Gulf about a mile offshore and have them start keeping birds in the air to support your team. I will contact the CIC about the conference call, and I will make sure we are both at the wedding.” The Admiral said. “Contact Admiral Pratt at United States Naval Special Warfare Command (NAVSPECWARCOM). I want him to read in on this operation and have him put all of the SEAL Teams on High alert. Also, I don’t want any question of authority on this enter a field promotion for Hicks to Rear Admiral. Make sure Pratt knows he is to support Hicks and is not in charge of the operations. If this Arschlöcher wants a war, we will give them one.” The Admiral said to Big Mike.
“Roger that,” Big Mike said.
I sent out a message to all senior personal that we would be a briefing in the Hanger at 1500. I opened the door and Kevlar, and Var walked in with a tray of sandwiches in hand. As we all sat down to eat Dallas and I caught Kevlar and Var up to date on our conversation with the SECNAV.
“Once we get reinforcements, I am taking Alpha Platoon out in that swamp, and we are going to hunt down every one of those red hat bastards and feed them to the gators and mosquitos,” I said.
“Aren’t you worried about poisoning wildlife,” Var said in a somber tone.
“I’m not worried that the gators and mosquitos can and will eat anything except each other. From what I’ve been taught, the hide of the gator is too tuff for the mosquitos, and the mosquitos stay up high enough so the gators can’t reach them. Because the mosquitos only drink the blood of their prey, the gators will often feed on their leftovers.” I said.
Just then the Gunny walked in
“Our high chief has given me the authority to speak for all orcs when I convince him that it would be in the best interest of our people to become formal allies with the United States and the Seminole Nation, so the Skipper told me to be here,” he said to us. The Gunny grabbed a sandwich from the tray and sat down and join us. While we waited, I called Chief Profit and informed him of Skipper’s promotion so he could make sure he was wearing the right rank when he got out of medical. Profit filled me in on what had happened at the admin building and how the Skipper had gotten injured. The Skipper saw the Gnome running at the front of the building and had dived and tackled Chief Profit to the ground before the Gnome had blown himself up. Chief Profit was pissed because as Skipper’s bodyguard, it should have been him tackling the Skipper not the Skipper tackling him.
“We all know how the Skipper is don’t beat yourself up over it. You know he can’t help but be an all-American hero. Before he became the Skipper, we use to all call him GI Joe,” I said.
36.
Formal Friendship
At 1255 the Commander-in-Chief, Fleet Admiral Darrell Washington, and SECNAV came online just as Chief Alice Osceola walked into the room. Once Alley was seated, Var brought King Johnathan Yllafaren online, and I began introductions.
After which the King began talking, “If there are no objections, I would like to forgo the use of ranks and titles and just use first names for the duration of this meeting. Just call me Johnathan.”
“I think this would be a good start to what I hope will be a long friendship between all of us. Call me DW, it’s what my close friends call me.” said the CIC.
“I am Alley and Go-go there is my brother,” Alley said.
After that, we went around the table introducing ourselves and what we preferred to be called the last to introduce himself was the Gunny
“I am Master Gunnery Sargent John Easter. I have been empowered by my High Chief to speak on behalf of all the Orcish tribes. You can all just call me Gunny.” he said. Then the talks began in earnest.
“We can all agree that we have to stop Epelts at all cost If they establish their gate network here on Earth because if they succeed here the tears that are caused could destroy all of our worlds. We can only do that by working together. Everyone here brings a lot to the table; I think we need to just keep it simple. We have all agreed to work together for the betterment of all our worlds. We are going to stop them, but with the help of all of you, there will be a lot less loss of lives.” The CIC said.
“My daughter tells me that you are all honorable men. In the custom of my people when a king gives his daughter to a man that man’s family becomes part of the King’s family. From talking with Go-go, I understand that he is a man with two families; the first is his tribe, and the second is his Team. I granted him marriage to my daughter, and according to elven law, they are now married in the eyes of my people. With that understanding SEAL Team 11, and the Seminole Nation are part of my family and I will do everything in my power to protect them and support them.” King Johnathan said.
“SEAL Team 11 are my brothers and The Old Guard will aid them and give our lives to protect them. I have no way yet to speak for my emperor, but I can tell you that he will honor any agreement I make,” said Kevlar.
“The Orcs are with you all, and we will continue to support you in any way we can. The help that my people are receiving from the elves has started us on a path of world peace and a true one-world government. When I explained that the men and women of TEAM 11 were honorable people that could be trusted he said that if the elves were to sign an agreement with the United States that I was to sign on behalf of our people.” Gunny said.
“I say we keep this simple here is a one-page agreement; it simply says that we will all help one another to the best of our abilities for the betterment of all
. In matters that require conference, we will all have one vote.” The SECNAV said.
Everyone agreed, and it was done. The conference ended at 1445, and we all got ready for the 1500 briefing. Alley left and said she would return tomorrow around lunchtime to continue wedding plans.
“The King sent a copy of orders officially making you an admiral in the Elven Military there is a design for a uniform that I am to give to a tailor to have made for you. It is the official dress uniform. He believes you may need this when we can bring larger groups of troops over. Because you became a prince and your experience in the military, you are given command of all elves on Earth.” Var said to me.
I just looked at him and grunted, “Freaking officer.”
“oh it’s not like that in the Elven Military we don’t’ separate our ranks everyone that enters the military start out as a private and work their way up the ranks as you go up in rank you go to more schools to learn to do your job better and to learn leadership skills. The King didn’t just appoint you an officer. Your record was reviewed by the Military High Command, and your rank was assigned based on what it would be had you started out in or military instead of yours. If I had a service record like yours, I would be a general right now, I would also have at least 200 years of service. Because of the peaceful nature of our world, combat is rear, and it carries a lot of weight. Your name will be written in our history books as one of the youngest admirals ever. Our people live for a very long time.” Var said to me.
The senior personal began to fill in the room for the briefing, and we took our places to start.
Strike Force 11 Page 14
