Chapter 3

The following new characters appear in this and other chapters:

Patrisha Ferguson (Trish)

Master Sergeant, S O Representative to Addison III, 6’-1’’ tall, around 180 pounds, 38D-25-38, 33 or 34 years old, flaming red hair, emerald eyes

Sara

Female Bald Eagle, 42 inches long, 8’-0’’ wingspan and weighs 15 pounds

“Rescue 1, this is Tiger 6. We have come under intense ground fire. You may want to abort. Over,” I radioed.

“Tiger 6, Rescue 1. Be advised Little Brother will be on station in a few. Get your people under cover. Out,” I received, and this was followed by someone else on the net.

“Tiger 6 this is Little Brother. Have all of your people get on the ground, close their eyes and cover their faces. We will be over your position in a few. Wait.”

“Everyone on the ground, close your eyes and cover your faces,” I shouted, but wasn’t sure if everyone heard me because of the noise from the firing. Hanson and Tyler quickly repeated my warning while I grabbed Luther.

“Get Samson on the ground and behind the biggest tree he can find. Have him stay close to it and close his eyes,” I told him. Miranda had heard what I had shouted, and had cast a ward to our front that stopped all of the bullets. I was calling Bob and Susie.

“Both of you face into the forest, get close to a tree or in a bush, and keep your eyes closed until I tell you otherwise,” I sent to them.

“Tiger 6, Little Brother will be there in 4... 3... 2... 1 ... fire,” I heard over the radio, as I made sure that my face was covered and my eyes tightly closed. Miranda had been listening also, and had canceled her ward as soon as he had started counting.

The word fire was followed instantly by a prolonged flash of intense light. It was so intense that I saw it even facing away from it, with my eyes closed and my face buried in my pack. It was that intense. It was instantly followed by a blast of heat that evaporated all of the sweat and moisture from my clothing and body. When I looked up, I saw dried vegetation was on fire as far as a hundred feet and more back in the jungle. There was no more firing coming from the grass of the savanna, which was on fire as was anything in it. We soon heard the sound of ammunition going off in the flames.

“NCOs check on your people,” I shouted as I sat up, but I needn’t have raised my voice, as there was now total silence except for the sound of the fire in the grass, and the occasional sound of ammunition still going off further out on the savanna.

“Medics forward,” I called, and the two Medics soon appeared. They had been well back from the fire fight with the pilot, but moved forward now to check on the troops.

“Luther, check on Samson,” I told him, as I sent word to Bob and Susie. Miranda was picking herself up off the ground.

“Where are you two? Are you all right?” I sent.

“No like big light and too hot,” Bob sent in a grouchy mood.

“Fine,” Susie sent, “but strange deer gone.”

No more than a minute later, three shuttles, still glowing from their decent, passed over the savanna breaking the sound barrier. Luckily, they were still high in the sky, but they turned around and came back lower and slower for another pass before returning to land out in the savanna. They put what was left of the grass fire near us out with their landing.

They hadn’t even stopped, when their rear ramps came down, and two platoons of Marines spilled out of two of the still hot shuttles and set up a perimeter around all three of them. The third shuttle had also lowered its ramp, but only one man emerged from it, and he headed straight for our position. He was a Marine Captain, and he was followed at a more leisurely pace off the shuttle by two Navy Corpsmen with stretchers and large aid-bags.

The Captain marched right into our position in the trees and right up to me.

“Tiger 6?” he asked on arriving. I presumed that I stood out from the others. Of course, I was on my feet while most the others were still on the ground, and Bob and Susie were sitting on either side of me by now. I also still had the radio in my hand, but I didn’t think that he had noticed it.

“I’m Captain Roanoke,” he told me.

“Master Sergeant Jensen, sir. Did you have any trouble with missiles on the way down?” I asked.

“No, we made a combat assault drop, that’s a nearly straight down drop. We leveled out at about twelve thousand feet and did a couple of passes over the area to reduce our speed. Little Brother was behind us on the way down. If any missiles had been fired at us, they would have dealt with them,” he told me, before adding, “Little Brother then passed over us to strafe the grassland in preparation for our landing.”

“They fired their main weapons for that?” I asked in shock.

“Heavens no, not with friendlies in the area. They used a couple of their five inch secondary lasers. If they had fired any of the twenty inch lasers, it would have taken out a much wider area, and all of you in addition to those in the grass,” he told me.

Our two Medics had joined the two Navy Corpsmen. Three of them continued to check the troops while the senior Corpsman went to check on the pilot.

“What kind of casualties did you have, Top?” the Captain asked next, but I needed to check with my Team.

“A minute, please, Captain, I need to check on my Team” I told him and sent Luther a message.

“Have you checked on Samson?” I sent.

“Yes, he is a bit disorientated, but will be okay,” he returned.

“Get him back here as soon as he is all right,”

“Will do,” he replied.

“Miranda, are you okay?” I sent next.

“Yes, just a bit of sunburn, but the Medics have given me something for it,” she returned.

“Fine, be prepared to move out shortly,” I told her.

“Roger,” she answered, and I turned back to the Captain to answer his question.

“We lost the copilot in the crash, a tree through the front window. The pilot was knocked out for a time, and had some injuries from his webbing. I dragged him out of the ship, which was full of smoke from a fire somewhere. The Medics have kept an eye on him during the move.

“Some of the troops had bumps and bruises from the crash, but we were all strapped in. Your people, Hanson and Epps, did a great job getting the weapons and emergency rations issued, and then getting everybody out of the shuttle. Bob wasn’t so lucky, and he was groggy for a while, but Susie took care of him,” I finished.

“Bob? Susie?” the Captain asked looking at Miranda who had joined us.

“Bob and Susie are my two Partners, the Tigers,” I told him, and he looked down at the two of them, which he had studiously avoided doing before this. Both were sitting beside me with their mouths open, tongues hangings out and teeth showing. They both yawned opening their mouths wide and showing all of their teeth before closing them.

“Yes,” the Captain said after swallowing, “I forgot that you Special Operations people have some unusual Partners,” he said. Sergeant Hanson had approached us by then.

“The troops are ready to depart, sir,” he said but didn’t salute.

“Thank you, Hanson. Are you and Epps all right?” he asked.

“We’re fine, sir, it was just an afternoon stroll in the jungle,” Hanson told him with a smile.

“Right, let’s get everyone on the third shuttle, and we’ll drop you at the capital. Hanson, you and Epps will need to see the medics at the capital before returning to the unit. A shuttle will pick both of you up tomorrow,” the Captain told his Sergeant.

“Yes, sir.”

“Let’s get loaded,” the Captain said again, and Hanson left to start the troops moving toward the third shuttle.

They had no more than emerged from the trees, when the Captain received a warning on his radio and shouted, “Everyone down, now!” All of the troops hit the ground, not just the Army ones, but also his Marines, as a speedster appeared in the air far down the now burned off savanna. It was firing some kind of weapon, but was much too far away to be effective.

Both of the Marine shuttles had their turrets up on their top side by now and instantly opened fire on the speedster. Their guns were much larger and more effective than whatever the speedster had and took it out of the air at well over a thousand yards. It crashed and began to burn.

“Shit!” the Captain swore in an angry voice. “Get your people loaded. I’ll need to send out a patrol to see if anyone is left alive.”

“Allow me to check on that, sir,” I told him and turned to Luther who had joined us.

“Is Samson back in the air?” I asked.

“He was, but he ducked into the canopy when he heard the gunfire. Do you want him to check on the wreck?” he asked.

“Yes, please have him do that,” I told him, and he started speaking to Samson. It was only a couple of minutes later when Luther had close up pictures from Samson’s camera.

“Looks like a couple of pretty crispy critters to me,” he told us and showed us the pictures of the downed speedster on fire with a couple of blackened bodies hanging out of it.

“I’ll radio the police in Farout to come out here and investigate. We aren’t equipped to do a forensic investigation,” Captain Roanoke told us.

“Bring Samson in, we need to load before our ride decides to leave without us,” I told Luther. He called Samson before stepping well out into the now burned savanna and holding up his left arm in the air. A few seconds later, Samson landed on his arm and folded his large wings. The Captain was just staring at him.

As we moved toward our shuttle, I noticed that the Marines were also re-boarding theirs, and that the turrets had already been lowered into the shuttles. Captain Roanoke joined his men as we boarded our shuttle, but the Navy Corpsmen had stayed with us. Sergeant Hanson had removed seats in the front row for the Partners by the time we boarded, but the troops weren’t quite so shy about sitting near us now.

When I went to strap Bob down for the takeoff, he was a bit grumpy and uncooperative.

“It’s only for takeoff and landing,” I assured him. Susie didn’t have any problem with being strapped down, and chided her partner.

“See, all of the troops are strapped in,” I told him also, and he finally accepted being strapped down, but we had the time to do it properly now.

“When we get somewhere with food, the Partners need to eat. I could do with something besides emergency rations myself,” Luther reminded me as I strapped in.

We arrived at the spaceport of Arnold, the capital of Addison III something less than an hour after takeoff from the savanna.

I had considered collecting and unloading the weapons, and also collecting the unused rations before we took off, but there was no place to secure them, as the shuttle had its own weapons and rations already, and there was no extra space for additional ones. I did have Hanson and Tyler check each of the troop’s weapons to ensure that they were on safe. On the way to the capital, I went forward to speak to the pilot.

“Excuse me, sir, but we need to talk,” I said on arriving on the flight deck.

“What’s the problem, Master Chief?” he asked on turning to look at me after turning over control of the shuttle to his copilot.

“The problem, sir, is that most of these troops still have weapons, as there is currently no place to secure them. When we land, I would appreciate it, if you would give us a few minutes to collect the weapons and the remaining emergency rations before lowering the ramp. I’m sure that those greeting us would be unhappy seeing all of them armed, as most of them are NOT combat veterans,” I told him.