Chapter 4: Marching Johnny off to Die

Now because I have a paranoid side, I had decided to create a bunker that could only be accessed by teleporting to it. I built it into Pikes Peak in Colorado. It has nonperishable foods, a stock of water, an air induction/filtration system, and medical supplies. I had Alexis mind-control the guy who would be perfect for the job (I did a search for "Someone would know how to create a hidden self-contained underground bunker") of designing the bunker. I also did a search for the people who could give the written OK for the project, and had Alexis make them fill out the correct forms and had them forget the project ever existed.

I was also busy finding a home for my new soldiers. I found a large militia compound, also in Colorado, and with the help of Alexis and a sizable contribution to their cause (protecting their home state against an unconstitutional federal incursion into their state), I was able to buy their facilities. I had a meeting with leaders of the regiments to figure out who was the best tactician. He would be the person I would get the intel to for formulating a plan of attack on any strongholds that our quarry may be holed up in.

I got one and a half of my regiments to the newly purchased compound. I then booked a flight to Pakistan from the US for my other troops. Once we touched down, the troops (including our lead tactician, Tariq), Kirstie, and I then made our way to the mountains of Afghanistan. On our way, we bought vehicles and fuel to transport us. Alexis made those we came across forget our passing. I've been gathering intel on US troop, Northern Alliance, and Al Qaeda troop movement to keep us undetected. Satelite photography was something I couldn't do much about except stop my troop movement and camouflage our presence. During all this I have also been scoping out the stronghold of our first quarry. FBI lists all top 10 terrorists as 25 million dollar paydays; I decided a mercenary team would start out in Afghanistan to hunt down those responsible. Indeed 7 of the 10 was in Afghanistan. The first one on my hit list was number 9 on the FBI top ten. His camp was above ground and wouldn't be too hard to handle with our superior numbers. So, I got the intel to Tariq and he simulated a plan that was straightforward, yet designed to have few casualties on our side. I brought an entire regiment to a forward position to wait till the moment of attack while still outside the area of enemy troop detection. I left the half-regiment behind to man our base camp. After doing one last scoping of the area to make sure the battle would be unnoticed by those outside the battle (US, Northern Alliance, or other terrorist troops) I ordered the operation to proceed. The regiment had 4 groups, everyone was involved with the first group/objective-camp penetration. Then one group was involved with holding key positions to watch the backs of the next 2 groups. Group Alpha would continue to search and destroy the rest of the enemy troops while group Gamma performed the capture portion of the mission. Once the operation commenced, I kept a close eye on our intended target. When everyone rushed to attack my force, I teleported him to me and Alexis put him under. When the capture phase was initiated, I teleported myself and Alexis to where Gamma group was and Alexis went to work implanting memories of a successful capture. The main idea was take the 25 million dollar perceived reason we were there for out of bullets-way while the rest of the fighting was going on. Once the flying lead had all landed, then we could have the troops carry back our prey. I then kept tabs on outside forces on our way back to base camp to make sure we didn't stumble across anyone. Alexis also implanted the memory of being captured by mundane means into our prey that coincided with what Gamma team remembered. The toll on our troops was very small. We lost a few, but by now the US would've lost 3 times as many in accidents.

Alexis went about probing our prey on what he knew about the Al Qaeda/Taliban operations and what he knew about future plans of terror. She also probed him on those who was in the Top Ten list. He believed he knew where 3 was but was only accurate on where one was. He would be our next target. Target B had much the same set-up as our first target and was still in Afghanistan.

We took a 2 day rest while I gathered intelligence on Target B's site and outside force positions and movement (again, US, Northern Alliance, and Al Qaeda). Alexis implanted memories of being interrogated rather than mind scanned into our first target. I gave the intel to Tariq and he gave another plan of attack much like the first one. A few more casualties were expected because of more favorable terrain to the defenders, and because of a larger enemy army. Again, my entire regiment penetrated the enemy campsite. Then a group took up key locations. Alpha group went on search and destroy and Gamma group took up target retrieval. Alexis went on mental clean up, and I kept us clear of other forces in the area and on the way back to base camp. We lost twice as many troops as in the first battle, but we still lost fewer than expected.

Alexis scanned looking for the same information as she did in our first prey and turned up only one name and location on the Top Ten. Target three would be in a cave-a place made for disposing of disposable heroes. Tariq grimaced when I gave him the news. He suggested a two stage plan. A small stealth team would enter the cave system, capture an enemy, have him give as much information as he could in a half hour on enemy troop location and traps, and then radio for the remaining force to join in on infiltration.

The stealth group remembered having Alexis along. In reality, I kept tabs on them in 2 minute intervals; the rest of the time I made sure the larger infiltration group outside would remain undetected. When the stealth team got the enemy troop, I teleported Alexis to them, she then scanned his mind for the information, and then the stealth group sat tight and hid; Alexis fixed it so that everyone remembered the interrogation took 25 minutes and the captured soldier gave up Target 3's location. I teleported her back to me and the infiltration force joined the stealth team to get Target 3. I then kept tabs on my army as they made their way to their objective. I teleported Target 3 to us as the army got close and Kirstie put him under. Once my army got close to the area of capture, Alexis was teleported in-when the army started to look for Target 3, Alexis implanted false memories of capturing Target 3. Even with all the information the captured enemy soldier had provided, my regiment still lost 30% of its remaining strength.