Chapter 9

The following character appears in this chapter and others:

Maj Kanisha Ollennu

Major, fully enhanced, 5’-8’’ tall, 149 lb, 34C-22-34, 29 years old, black hair, brown eyes

There was another planning meeting after we downloaded the pictures that the Eagles and the Falcons had gathered at the direction of their Partners. They had surveyed the entire area where Special Operations Headquarters was set up, but had paid particular attention to the consolidated mess area and the S-4 storage area, which were our targets for tonight.

“What are you planning on doing in the mess area?” the Colonel asked after we had studied the pictures.

“You can see how it is fairly centrally located. It will be more difficult to reach later in the operation, as they will be more alert after a day or two. You can see the refrigeration units both in the mess area and the others in the S-4 area. I propose to have Miranda and Bland cast long lasting wards around those refrigeration units, but not around the field rations, which don’t require refrigeration. Let those in the headquarters eat field rations while out in the field ... at least for a time,” I told her before turning to our two Magic users.

“Can you do that?” I asked both of them.

“Yes, it’s not too large an area at either site. Which location is Tiger Team taking?” Miranda asked.

“We’ll be taking the mess area, as it’s the more difficult target. Team A-23 will have the S-4 area. In addition to the spells, both Teams will plant booby-traps and some non-noxious gas or smoke in the general area at each site. We won’t use any of the flash bangs during the attack, but some can be used with the other booby-traps,” I told those on both Teams, who were all at the meeting.

“What time will we be leaving?” Sergeant Moran asked.

“We’ll be departing here at 2300 hrs. That should put us near their location by 0030. With travel time on foot in both directions plus observation and setup time at the site, we should be back at the vehicles by 0330 for the return trip here. We’ll take extra food for the Partners in the trucks for them to eat on the way back here. There will be people on guard here over night also. This is going to strap us for people during the daytime tomorrow, but we’ll all need to do with less sleep for a while,” I told the members of both Teams, before we broke for chow and then some rest. The Eagles and the Falcons had been fed on returning and were already resting as they had finished their work for the day.

We were all up by 2215 and dressed. While Moran and I fed the Partners, the rest of both Teams checked out our weapons and the booby-trap material that we would be taking with us. Sergeant Walker had checked out and filled both of the operations vehicles that evening, and they were parked near the gate to our camp. Sergeant Two Bears brought the extra food for the Partners over to the trucks just before we loaded on them prior to 2300 hrs.

Precisely at 2300 hrs, Miranda lowered the ward at the front gate, and we drove out and waited while she raised it. The trip to where we would be leaving the vehicles in the dark was uneventful, and we arrived there on time. The trip had been a rather slow one, as we drove under blackout conditions with the help of the low light and thermal screens of our helmets.

Following a quick review of what we would be doing, both Teams set out at 0030 for their launch site, where they would observe the area to be attacked to determine if there were any guards or other problems before slipping in to carry out their attack. We hoped to be able to finish and escape without being detected on this first set of attacks.

The Partners took the lead when we set out, as they are much better at traveling in the dark than we are even with all of the modern electronics in our helmets. It required about 45 minutes to arrive at the location that we had chosen from the pictures the Eagles and Falcons had taken to launch the attack. It was a narrow area that separated the S-3 Section from the Transportation Section. It appeared to be claimed by neither Section.

We spent about 20 minutes checking the area before sending the Partners down the chosen entry path, but closer to the S-3 Section. They were about half way through the approach when I checked on them.

“Any problems so far?” I sent.

“No,” Bob answered.

“Smell people, not close,” Susie sent. Luther, Miranda, and I started after the Partners, while the Colonel watched our backs and the escape route.

On arriving in the mess area, Miranda went to work warding the refrigeration units, while Luther and I planted a number of booby-traps on the various approaches to the area and inside the mess area itself, while the Partners kept watch. It didn’t require long, and we were soon on our way out of the area.

On the trip back, we moved closer to the Transportation Section’s area, and we all noticed the smell of fuel.

“Damn, that fuel stinks,” Miranda said quietly, as we passed near the area where it was stored. I took in a deep breath and noticed that the smell did seem excessive.

“You’re correct. It shouldn’t be that noticeable this late after they closed for the night. Could there be a leak?” I asked just as quietly.

“Yes, stinky car water,” Bob sent following that.

“We better do something. Some of those booby-traps aren’t that far from here. They could set off a real fire and explosion,” I said.

“There is a type of spell used for containment. I could cast it around the tanks, and it would prevent any spill from spreading,” Miranda told us and proceeded to cast the spell. We hurried on then, as we were just a bit behind schedule.

Everyone met back at the operations vehicles within a few minutes of the scheduled time.

“How did you guys do? Were there any problems?” I asked those on Team A-23.

“No, no trouble. Our Partners got us in easily, and Bland cast the wards around the refrigeration units. The rest of us planted booby-traps, some even in the field rations,” Moran told us. “You?” she asked.

“We didn’t have any trouble, but smelled fuel on the way out, and Miranda used a containment spell on what we thought could be a leak,” I told her.

We fed the Partners on the way back to camp, where we arrived at our scheduled time. Miranda dropped the wards at the entrance before we moved inside and parked the trucks in their accustomed place. This was just in case someone checked the satellite pictures of our area. The Partners returned to their assigned places, and we all had a quick meal and were off to bed. We would debrief later that day.

The calls weren’t long in coming in since cooks get up early to start making breakfast. Sergeant Platner was on duty in the S-3 when the calls started coming in at around 0530.

“S-3, First S.O. Mobile Headquarters Team, Sergeant Platner, sir. How may I help you?” he said on answering the phone. Later, he told us that someone immediately started shouting at him over the phone, but he couldn’t understand them.

“Sir, you must calm down and speak more distinctly, as I can’t understand you when you shout,” he told us that he had informed the person on the other end of the line.

“Someone else took the phone then and informed me that they had been attacked, and that someone had cast a spell around all of their fresh food storage units in the mess area, and they were unable to access any of the food to make breakfast or the other meals for that day. They wanted us to send a Team out there immediately to search for the attackers and to remove the ward,” Platner told us.

“I told them that I would dispatch a Team shortly, but recommended that they call the Magic School to have the ward removed,” he continued.

“It was later when the other calls came in. The mess Supervisor called again about the booby-traps, and the S-4 Officer called shortly after that about the fresh food storage units in his area and also the booby-traps. I gave him the same promise and advice,” he finished with a grin.

Later that morning, the Colonel received a call on her private line. It was Colonel Royal, and he was more than a bit upset. I happened to be in her office going over the plans for that night and heard her end of the conversation.

“Colonel, we did not start the fuel leak. We did detect it as Tiger Team was leaving the mess area after warding the fresh food storage units and planting some booby-traps. Miranda cast a containment ward around the leaking tank, so the leaked fuel wouldn’t spread and contaminate the surrounding area, and so it didn’t present a fire danger when the booby-traps in the area went off,” the Colonel informed him. Colonel Royal said something else following that.

“No, we definitely had nothing to do with starting the leak and have no idea who did,” she assured him.

The Eagles and Falcons went out again that afternoon for another fly over to check for any changes that had been made due to last night’s attacks. We planned our attacks for that night while they were gone, but didn’t need to make any adjustments to our plans on reviewing the data that they returned. We set out earlier that night and the four attacks went very well. Again, we had no trouble or opposition, as they hadn’t really taken the attacks seriously yet.

By the third night, we had everything going fairly well. There had been an attack that day on the trucks bringing additional fresh food to the Headquarters. We had intercepted their communications the previous day and set up the ambush following our work the previous night. Miranda and Bland cast wards around all of the food on the trucks so no one could use it. They had used an illusion of a tree down across the road to stop the trucks. The rest of us had then ordered the drivers and guards out of the trucks while the Magic Section did their work. They then used a spell on the drivers and guards so they wouldn’t remember what we looked like. There were a number of very heated calls following that demanding that we locate and contain those attacking the Headquarters and its food supply.

We set out early again that night, as there were four attacks to be carried out again that night; two by each Team. Tiger Team was on the way to our first location when I received a message from Bob.

“Smell one person hiding in grass. No gun, no noisy thing,” he sent to me.

“Stop there for now,” I sent to him, while I tried to figure out what was going on.

“Susie, do you smell anyone near you?” I sent to her.

“No smell anyone here,” she sent back.

“Bob, how close is this person?” I sent to him.

“Close,” was all he sent back.

“Can you keep that person there until we get to you?” I sent to him.

“Yes.”

“Go,” I sent to him, as we all quickly moved forward. The others had all been following what I was telling the Partners.

There was a scream shortly after we started moving forward, and a short time later I heard a voice say, “Bob, damn-it, get off of me” just as we were arriving where Bob and the unknown person were.

“How person know Bob name?” a very confused Bob sent.

“Don’t hurt her,” I sent to him, as I now had a good idea of who this was. We quickly halted near Bob and the unknown person. I could see that she was sitting up, now that a very confused Bob had moved off of her.

“What are you doing out here?” I asked the woman sitting in the grass.

“I knew that your Team had to be involved in these attacks. There is probably another Team also, since there were four attacks last night, and one Team wouldn’t be able to do that, not with proper preparations,” she told me.

“Who is this woman and what is she doing out here? How did she figure out how we would approach the camp tonight?” the Colonel demanded in an upset voice.

“Trish, this is Kanisha,” I told her standing between the two of them and then turned to Kanisha.

“Kanisha, this is Colonel Ferguson, Trish,” I told her, to a look of astonishment from her.

“She’s actually out here with you? Has she been on all of your attacks?” she asked in a surprised voice.

“Yes.”

“I read the unclassified report of your work on Addison III, but thought you were exaggerating on her participation,” Kanisha said.

“How she know Bob name?” he interrupted in a grouchy voice.

“She went through the Advanced Course with me, and I told her all about our Team and my Partners,” I sent to him.

“So what are you doing out here?” the Colonel asked her while I was answering Bob. Susie had also arrived, but didn’t say anything.

“They moved me to the S-2 when I returned from the Advanced Course. I’ve been plotting all of your attacks and determined where you had been parking your vehicles each night. You should have changed the location. There are only so many good approaches to the camp from there, and I picked this one for tonight to intercept you,” Kanisha told her.

“Did your bosses send you out here, or know that you came out here? Have they set up an ambush for us?” the Colonel demanded.

“My bosses!” Kanisha answered in surprise. “They don’t have a clue of what is going on, or who is involved. I figured it out on my own and came out here without telling anyone,” Kanisha told her in a proud voice. Trish smiled on hearing this.

“Pretty smart. If you ever need a job, look us up. We can always use a good operator,” she told the young Major, before turning serious.

“Now, we still have an attack to carry out, and we are behind schedule,” the Colonel told us in a terse voice.

“Just so you know, they have started what they are calling a roving guard in all of the section areas. They aren’t really guards, but more like an alert system. They aren’t armed with anything but a stick or a club. Their main job is to give the alarm if they see or suspect anything suspicious. They have canceled the card games and drinking parties. Everyone is to be in his or her bunk area by 2200 hrs. That isn’t very popular, but they are enforcing it.