Chapter 16

The following characters reappear in this chapter:

Hanson, Robert J.

Marine Staff Sergeant, 5’-10’’ tall, 165 pounds, 29 years old, very short brown hair, blue eyes.

Gram

Marine Staff Sergeant, 5’-10’’ tall, 165 pounds, 31 years old, short blond hair, blue eyes

Cleve has the Narrative again

“Yes,” I said as I realized what it was. “We now have two locations to keep under control, and a very small force to do it with,” I added.

“We certainly can’t leave this fortress active behind us to go after the Woo’s house. If we attack the fortress, the Woos will surely know about it, and they could send forces against us, so we would have enemies both in front of us and behind us.

“If we leave the fortress active and go after the Woos, we have the same problem, and we don’t have sufficient forces to deal with both at the same time. If we wait for more help, they could both come out after us which would be just as bad, if not worse,” the Colonel told everyone.

“What can we do then?” I asked.

“I need to talk to the Admiral. Do we have a way to contact Task-force commo?” she asked.

“I can call them, but it will be voice only, no visuals,” Greg told her.

“It will have to be enough. Have we heard from the other two assault vehicles?” she asked.

“Yes,” one of the Marine Sergeants answered. “They are about zero five mikes out,” he finished.

“Good, let’s see if we can reach the Admiral, and if she has a solution to our problem,” the Colonel said, and Greg changed the frequency on his radio and started calling.

“Churchill commo, this is Marine Liaison One. Over,” he called and was answered after a few seconds.

“Marine Liaison One, Churchill commo. Send your message. Over.”

“Churchill commo, Marine Liaison. I have the Commander of First Mobile Headquarters Team here. The Colonel needs to speak to the Admiral about a problem. Over.”

“Marine Liaison, Churchill commo. Stand by while we contact the Admiral. Out,” they sent, and there was nothing heard for several minutes.

“Marine Liaison One, Churchill commo. Stand by for the Admiral in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1,” we heard before the Admiral’s voice was heard.

“What’s the problem, Colonel?” she immediately demanded. Greg handed the mike to the Colonel and she explained the situation, even including Henshaw’s lying to us under the Truth spell.

“Which target would you prefer?” the Admiral asked when she had finished.

“I would rather go after the vaccine. That is what we need to acquire the most. It is vital that we learn how to control the disease before millions on other planets are affected by it,” the Colonel told her.

“Good choice, Colonel. The two assault shuttles are still at the space port. I ordered them to remain there just in case something like this came up. They will support your attack on the Woo’s house. Leave one of the assault vehicles there to watch the fortress and to deliver our orders. You can have the other three and their crews. WE will deal with the fortress,” the Admiral assured her.

“All right, sir, and thank you. We’ll have one of the assault vehicles contact your commo shortly. The rest of us will be on our way to the Woo’s house following that. First Mobile, out,” the Colonel finished as the radio went silent.

The other two assault vehicles had arrived while the Colonel was on the radio. Lieutenant Norfolk was with them. He emerged from the lead vehicle after they had parked, and reported to me along with the two Squad Leaders of the Marines on the vehicles. Much to my shock, they were none other than Hanson and Gram!?

Bob and Susie detected their scents as soon as they emerged from the vehicles and came over to rub up against both of them but separately. They didn’t know Norfolk that well, however, and only sniffed him. The Marines from our other assault vehicles were shocked to see this, as they had been somewhat wary of our Partners. Both Squad Leaders gave Bob and Susie a hearty greeting and scratched their head between their ears.

“Where is the CO?” Norfolk asked following that on looking around but not seeing his Company Commander.

“He’s back at our compound keeping it safe. We had an attack there the other day,” I told him.

The Colonel and Greg joined us then, as she had finished her call to the Admiral and several other things. The three Marines quickly came to attention as she approached.

“At ease,” she gave as they joined us.

“Here is the situation as of this minute. The Admiral’s people will deal with the fortress. We will go to the Woo’s house to retrieve the vaccine. One of the assault vehicles will remain here to be the Admiral’s eyes on the ground. They will not engage those in the fortress. Nothing will happen until we are close to the Woo’s house. We need to be on our way quickly, as those in the fortress aren’t likely to wait much longer for us to arrive there,” the Colonel told us.

“Do we know where it is?” I asked.

“Yes, I went on the net here. It’s location was prominently displayed there with a map of how to reach it. I have it marked on my battle board and will transmit it to each assault vehicle. The order of march will be Hanson’s vehicle on point. Tiger Team will be behind him. Gram will guard our rear. Team A-23 will be in front of him, and the remaining assault vehicle will be in front of them. We still need to determine who will remain on watch here,” the Colonel informed us.

“Greg, you’re the senior Marine here. Who would you suggest?” she asked next. Major Roanoke looked around before answering.

“I believe it should be Sergeant Purry’s vehicle, but he will need an officer also. I suggest that Lieutenant Norfolk should be in command here,” Greg told us.

“All right, let’s get moving. We’ll stop short of the Woo’s house for a reconnaissance flight by the Eagles. I’ll decide on our approach from that,” the Colonel told us. She already had the route laid out and sent it to each of the assault vehicles.

“We don’t stop for anything on the way there. If something or someone tries to stop us, shoot first and ask questions afterward if necessary,” she informed us before everyone loaded up, and we were on the road again.

The Woo’s house and compound was located on high ground above the river and well away from it in the most fashionable and prominent part of the city. It required twenty minutes to reach the area.

It appeared that the Admiral had been busy long before the Colonel called her the second time. We had just pulled into an area a couple of blocks from the Woo’s compound and had sent the Eagles on a reconnaissance flight when the Admiral’s forces started their demands on those in the fortress. We weren’t there, but later we all saw the video record that Lieutenant Norfolk had made using the assault vehicle’s electronics. Actually, we mainly heard most of it.

The video started with Purry’s assault vehicle approaching the wall around the fortress area. It stopped just before entering the enclosed area.

“This is the Unity Space Marines. You will surrender this facility and yourselves to us in the next five minutes or face the consequences,” we heard a voice announce using the vehicle’s public address system.

Less than ten seconds later, a missile was launched from the main building of the fortress. We could barely see the missile until the video was slowed way down. We then saw the vehicle’s automatic defensive system knock out the missile in flight while it was still 50 feet from the vehicle. We could see the vehicle back up and turn then to an area where it was protected by a part of the fortress’s own walls.

“You have less than four and a half minutes to surrender,” the voice was heard to say. The assault vehicle moved far enough forward then to extend a fiber optic lens on an arm to look into the fortress’s main area. We saw no one visible and everything was locked down. All of the doors and windows were tightly secured.

“You have three minutes to surrender and have all of your personnel leave the buildings before we take action against you,” we heard next. The voice was still unidentified and the picture hadn’t changed.

“You have two minutes to surrender and have all of your personnel leave the buildings before we take active measures against you,” we heard next, but still only saw the same picture of the fortress’s empty main open area in the video.

“This is your final warning. You have less than one minute to surrender and remove your personnel from the buildings before we take active measures against you,” the voice warned for a final time. Still, the picture from the area of the main building hadn’t changed. It was still buttoned up with no one visible. The camera lens and the arm were withdrawn then as the vehicle hurriedly backed up.

“Thirty seconds,” came from the voice as the assault vehicle continued to back up. It was obvious from the video and the sound on it that they were moving back very fast before the voice started the count down. We could see that the vehicle had stopped when it began.

“Ten ... nine ... eight ... seven ... six ... five ... four ... three ... two ... one ... fire!” was heard and at the same time the video went blank as a huge intense light burned out the camera’s image. There was silence for a second then before a huge explosion was heard as all of the munitions stored in the subbasements of the buildings went off together. This was followed a number of seconds later by the sound of material impacting the top part of the vehicle. The video ended then.

Later there were more images of what remained of the fortress area. It was still too hot for anyone or anything to enter it. There wasn’t much remaining to see but a large deep hole that was still red hot.

The Eagles had finished their reconnaissance flight and returned. Joel was feeding them and removing their cameras while the Colonel and I looked at the video they had taken on their flights. She had already downloaded it from the controllers to her battle board. Team A-23 was readying the Falcons for a flight, and half of each assault vehicle’s crew was outside of it on guard when Greg received the warning from Churchill’s commo.

“We have just less than a minute and a half to get everyone and the Partners under cover. Lock all hatches and secure all portholes immediately. The Churchill is going to fire on the fortress,” he shouted in a loud voice.

Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing and returned to their vehicles. All entrances were locked securely once everyone was accounted for and all openings were sealed. Everyone took their usual place and secured their seat belt to wait. Greg was still listening to Churchill’s commo.

“4... 3... 2... 1 ... Fire,” we heard him repeat from the Churchill. This was followed a number of seconds later by the sound of a huge explosion.

“Well, there went any chance of us surprising them,” the Colonel said in a miffed voice.

“It’s safe to return to our previous activities,” Greg informed us shortly after that and sent the message to the other vehicles.

On opening the vehicles, there wasn’t much to see but a wispy bit of mushroom cloud over the area where the fortress had been. The strike from the Churchill had been very precise and had only lasted for a second or two. The resulting explosion had thrown dirt, concrete, and masonry into the air, but most of it had quickly fallen back to the ground creating a mess. We, however, had lost the element of surprise.

The Colonel, Lucy, and I watched the reconnaissance flight’s videos a couple of times then. It didn’t appear any better for watching it three times.

“This place is almost as bad as the fortress was. You can see all of the weapons’ emplacements and the guard barracks behind the main house. There is also the wall around the entire perimeter with only a few well guarded gates. There are quite a number of sentries or guards. Again, we have no idea of what weapons systems and detection gear they have in there.

“While we could probably fight our way in there, it would be costly, and we would still need to fight our way to the bunker where the vaccine is,” the Colonel reminded us.

“There is another way,” Lucy said in a very stern voice.

“Magic!” the Colonel asked.

“Yes, something to knock out their ability to challenge us,” Lucy told her.

“A knockout or sleep spell?” Trish asked.

“Perhaps second, but we need something to shake them up first,” Lucy told her with a smile.

“You don’t...!” Trish asked in surprise but didn’t finish.

“Yes, something to get their attention,” Lucy said with another smile.

“The Earthquake spell?” Trish said in shock. “We never practiced that. It’s one of the Black Magic Spells they taught us, but they wouldn’t allow us to cast it on Ainahai III,” she objected.

“I believe that we can modify it to only affect the area of the Woo’s compound. After we shake them up, then we can use a knockout spell to keep them asleep until we can find the vaccine,” Lucy told her.

“What do you think about this idea, Cleve? You have more tactical experience than we do,” the Colonel asked as I hadn’t said anything while they discussed this. I had several questions.

“Do you really think that we could create and cast such a spell?” I asked.

“Create and cast ... yes. We could modify the existing spell to have an effect on just a small area. It’s controlling it after we cast it that worries me,” Lucy told us.

“We must include a way to cancel the spell then,” Trish insisted.

“All right, give me a few minutes and I’ll work up a spell. Have everyone ready to leave here when I’m finished,” Lucy told us before pulling out the Book that contained the Black Magic Spells from her battle gear.

“You brought that?” Trish asked on seeing it.

“Yes, better to be prepared than to be found wanting,” Lucy told her. Trish and I moved out of the truck to get everyone ready as Lucy opened the spell book. It would appear that all of the ‘WE’ really came down to ‘HER’.

We had everyone ready in a few minutes. The Colonel and I had rearranged how we would approach the Woo’s compound. Hanson’s assault vehicle, Tiger Team’s vehicle, and the second assault vehicle would drive up the wide avenue that the compound was on three abreast. Team A-23 and Gram’s assault vehicle would trail us as backups.