| Subject: ...For Meritorious Service, Chapter 26f, part one |
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TxJAG_b
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Date Posted: 21:40:17 12/23/09 Wed
In reply to:
TxJAG_b
's message, "...For Meritorious Service, Chapter 25d, part two - continued" on 16:25:09 01/08/09 Thu
A/N 1: Thanks to my trio of editors [Mary Ann, Janlaw and Karen] for their usual fine job. Kudoes also to AeroGirl, Mkim, Soleil, TZ, and Janlaw for providing their help and technical expertise. Also thanks to Lisa Griffon [Yahoo Shipper Group] for her continuing support. I had a choice - get to the finale this month [and make this thing 40 pages long] or put the last of the finale in 27 and call it a finale & epilogue, so that's what I'm doing.... :)
A/N 2: Season’s Greetings and Happy Holidays to all the men and women serving in the armed forces, be it here at home or abroad; and to all the readers of this JAG_NCIS story. I hope you enjoy this installment…now on with the story….
…For Meritorious Service, Chapter 26f
South of the Forward Edge of Battle Area (FEBA)
Northeast of Mirbullah
Porucznik (1st Lieutenant) Tomaz Wawrzyniak scanned the countryside roaring past underneath them. It must have been beautiful countryside at one time, now it was mostly brown and scarred with barren gullies with patches of green indicating a farm that was still being irrigated. Unfortunately those that were green were probably owned by Saddam’s Baathist sympathizers.
‘There must be close to fifty farms out here, every one of them a potential ambush site.’ He muttered to himself. The danger of attracting fire from a heavy machinegun or man-portable SAM was not lost on him. Tomaz and the other pilots in his unit had been instructed about the weapons the insurgents could use to bring down their helos. They had studied films of insurgent tactics that showed just how devastatingly effective even a light machinegun could be when used the right way.
He looked over at his wingman’s gunship.
Stefan Jodlowski was pointing at something. “Lieutenant,” called out his pilot at nearly the same time, “I believe we have found the American Marine reconnaissance unit.”
Tomaz turned back to see several columns of heavy black smoke rising from the fields of crops on the horizon. Just to the south of that, he could see a platoon of M1 tanks in line formation headed toward the smoke.
Tomaz spoke into his throat mike as he tapped his pilot on the shoulder. “We’ll follow those tanks, gunners; take your weapons off safety.”
Stefan looked over at him and nodded. Both men’s gunships began to descend.
Shark Two
Mac looked at the badly damaged Dodge pickup. It was clear that Darcy and her men hadn’t meant for Corporal Flemminger to come out of this alive. They hadn’t counted Mac finding him or Sergeant Szymas and Doc Yader being been able to stabilize him.
But then, according to Jac, Mac had ‘killed’ Flemminger. So they couldn’t know…unless someone else told them. Someone else in her unit. Mac shivered inwardly at that thought.
So far her team had been 100% behind her. But then again, maybe Darcy’s cohorts were just waiting for the right opportunity…or the right signal.
“Ma’am?” It was Kayce. “We’re ready to move out.”
The Light Colonel nodded. “Do you think anyone in this unit can unfoxtrot this truck, Corporal? We could use the extra vehicle.”
Kayce look in askance at the still smoldering Dodge. “It’s tango uniform, ma’am, I really wouldn’t worry about it. In about thirty minutes after we leave, the local Bedouins will have stripped it of anything useful.”
Tango uniform meant a lot of things; in this particular case it meant Flemminger’s pickup was unsalvageable as a running vehicle.
Mac gave her a wry smile. “Then we should salvage anything useful on it that we might need.”
Kayce nodded. “Aye, aye, ma’am.” The Corporal looked over at Lance Corporal Crockett and jerked her head in the direction of the truck.
“C’mon, Lance Criminal; you and I just volunteered to scavenge anything useful from this wreck.”
While Kayce and Crockett began looking at the .50 caliber machinegun. Mac walked over to Doc Yader and ‘Master Guns’ Galindez. Both men stopped their conversation when she approached.
She gave the men a winsome smile. “I’m not interrupting anything, am I, gentlemen?”
Victor gave her a small smile in return. “No ma’am; the Doc here was just confirming what we had first thought. All the bullets extracted from Flemminger were American in origin.”
“So they didn’t even think anyone would check….” She said aloud, more to herself than to either of them.
“No ma’am, they didn’t.” Yader piped up. “They figured the Bedouins would strip and discard the truck and any bodies in it.”
“Just another casualty in the desert,” the Light Colonel said grimly.
Both men nodded at her assessment.
Victor sighed and looked at the angle of the sun in early morning sky. “Colonel, not wanting to tell you what to do, ma’am, but shouldn’t we get going toward our objective?”
Mac was ready for his comment. “I can you tell now, Master Guns, what I couldn’t tell you before; our real mission according to Darcy, is to act as recon for her teams. We’re supposed to hook up with al-Sahood’s unit first.”
“And we’re *supposed* to be on SCUD hunt mission…” Yader said distastefully.
“We were supposed to be doing recon, according to Colonel Livingston; until *I* came along,” Mac said as she motioned for them to follow her. “However, I know a way we can serve two masters at once….”
*~*
“Here comes tin leaf,” snorted Tim Bullard to Staff Sergeant Reynolds as Mac, Victor and Doc Yader made their way back toward Don Burges’ truck.
Leonard flashed Bullard quick scowl, “Knock it off, you dope,” he growled to the younger enlisted man. “Is that bomb ready to go off?”
Tim glared at the Staff Sergeant. “All I have to do is push this and blooey! No more Eddie. Is that good enough for you?” He challenged. Bullard pulled out what looked like a credit card sized calculator and showed it to Reynolds as evidence of his handiwork.
Leonard motioned for him to conceal it again. “You just make sure when Darcy gives the signal that this thing of yours works,” he whispered as Mac and the others got closer to them.
0540 Zulu
Operation King Cobra
Persian Gulf
Harm looked over at Nicole’s plane as he spoke into his radio mike. “Eagle squadron, this is Eagle 21; feet dry in fifteen.”
The aviator/lawyer listened as the members of his squadron responded to his report.
The Iranian Il-76 AWACS that had been shadowing them had veered off when a flight of
F-18s tried to intercept it. He was obviously reporting back to local air defense units in the area about the large number of American aircraft headed for Basra. Eagle squadron, though, would be feet dry before the Iranians had a chance to scramble any aircraft to investigate.
Most likely there would be some kind of diplomatic protest filed about not forewarning them about this American airstrike. But that was precisely the point; those who needed to be informed had been.
Harm looked down and saw the coastline rush underneath his plane. “Eagle 21; feet dry.”
FEBA (Forward Edge of Battle Area)
Northeast of Mirbullah
JAVELIN flight leveled out and began its approach when a radio report crackled in their ears.”
“Javelin oh one, this is Gator Base. Be advised; two Polish Hind gunships are in your sector. They say they are on routine patrol, over.”
1st Lieutenant Abner Scott, leader of the flight of AV-8B Harrier jets, nodded. “I copy, Gator Base. We’ll give them a friendly wave as we go past. Javelin oh one out.”
“Hey Lieutenant,” It was Scott’s wingman, 2nd Lieutenant Keith Price. “What do you think the Poles are doing up here?”
“A show of support from our Polish allies, Keith” Abner replied sardonically. “My guess is that Old Man Briggs isn’t going to be thrilled to hear they’re in the area.”
“There they are; two o’clock low.” Price called out.
Abner Scott looked down and saw the two Hind gunships were flying at tree top level better known as ‘Nap of the Earth’. Obviously, they were trying to find insurgent positions and point them out to Staff Sergeant Fuller’s men.
Lieutenant Scott switched his radio to the Polish unit’s frequency and began speaking in Polish. “Hind leader, this is Javelin oh one, can we assist you, over?”
The response surprisingly was in flawless English. “Javelin oh one, this is Hind leader; I have an insurgent bunker to my 12 o’clock that has pinned down several of your Marines. We can’t get any closer and would gladly appreciate your assist, over.”
Abner almost laughed out loud. Not only could the Polish officer talk a good game, he could play one too. By letting these Harriers ‘assist’ the Polish Hinds, they would actually be ‘spotting’ for the Marine Harriers.
And if anyone got bent out of shape about it, the Polish Hind commander would state that he was merely on routine patrol when he spotted a Marine reconnaissance unit in trouble. What was he supposed to do? Ignore them and continue on his patrol? Especially when he could lead the Marine Harriers right to their targets…
He’d have to buy that man a cold one after all this was over.
Abner Scott wheeled his Harrier over to the right and down toward the bunker. “Javelin oh one, rolling in hot, Javelin oh two, follow me in.”
“Oh two roger; following you in, Lil’ Abner.”
Abner keyed his radio back to the Polish frequency. “Okay Hind leader; tell me when I have them lined up….”
Shark One
Somewhere south of Shark Two’s Position
Darcy Livingston studied her watch then looked over at her driver, 2nd Lieutenant Max Peterson, and motioned for him to stop.
Peterson nodded and pulled to the side of the dirt road they were on. The other pickups in her little ad-hoc unit did the same.
“Now we find out just how loyal you are, Cher,” Darcy said causing Max to grin. She switched her radio on and spoke into her mike “Osprey One; engage Shark Two. Acknowledge.”
The wait was brief. “Osprey One acknowledges,” came back the gruff reply.
*~*
“…I’ve told people several things, ma’am; but the truth is, it’s a spelling out of my first and middle name….”
Don smiled as he kept his eyes on the road.
“Okay, Danvers,” Ronnie Logan, sitting in the back bench seat, was almost begging Corporal Danvers. “Now you gotta tell….”
Kayce looked to her CO for help, but Mac shook her head. “You started this, Corporal…”
“Yes ma’am.” Kayce said, her voice a mixture of disgust and dejection “It’s the initials for my first and middle name, Katherine Cecilia.”
Don snorted to keep from laughing.
Corporal Logan’s mouth popped open in surprise.
Mac smiled. “So Kayce came from…?”
“My kindergarten teacher didn’t like children with just initials for names. So she spelled it out in the school attendance records. My Mom thought it was cute and since it was the first names of my mom and dad--”
“Wait don’t tell us – Katherine and Cecil, right?” Vicky Logan blurted out in a moment of impulsiveness.
“No!” Kayce snapped with a hint of irritation. “Kay and Cedric. Let me finish, will ya?”
A chastened Logan nodded.
“Since it was the first names of my--”
“Colonel! SPOTREP!!” It was Doc Yader, who was manning the vehicle’s .50 caliber.
Don slammed on the braked and slewed to a skidding stop. The other two vehicles of Shark Two did the same.
Mac grabbed her radio mike. “What is it Corpsman?”
“Tire tracks in the hard sand just ahead of us! It’s definitely an eight wheeler, ma’am!”
“You know for a Corpsman,” groused Don as he pulled off the road. “He sure does know a lot about weapons and tactics…”
Mac though, wasn’t listening. She was already talking to Master Guns Galindez on her radio. “Master Guns, we’ve got eight wheeler tire tracks to our front in the hard packed sand. What do you think?”
Victor’s assessment was blunt. “I think we have an APC somewhere nearby and chances are, ma’am, they aren’t friendly.”
(Another challenge from Darcy?) She wondered. She keyed her radio. “My sentiments exactly, Master Guns…get Dallas and Corbin to form hunter-killer teams.”
‘Master Guns’ Galindez responded immediately. “Aye, aye, Colonel; and tell Danvers we’re gonna need her.”
Mac looked over at Kayce who didn’t need any further urging.
Kayce reached for her rifle as she got out of the truck. “Duty calls…”
*~*
Leonard Reynolds looked nervously at Mark Dallas and Joe Corbin as they formed their teams. He knew who was in that APC. This was their contact from al-Sahood who was supposed to lead them back to the insurgent leader’s safe house. Or at least, that was the original plan.
Apparently the Light Colonel JAG didn’t know that…or maybe Darcy didn’t want her to know that. All he knew was that when Darcy gave him the signal, he was supposed get rid of Casmir Szymas and anyone else that stood in their way. He looked over at Tim Bullard. Very slowly, Tim drew the card-like device from his shirt pocket and palmed it.
*~*
Kayce adjusted the sights on her sniper rifle. She aimed her Barrett for the APC turret’s center of mass. The Marine Recon sniper could tell that this was definitely a recently built Russian Brontransporter [BTR]. The vehicle was parked at an angle in front of a mud brick building that dominated this hill. She couldn’t believe that they would be sloppy enough not to have sentries and yet, they didn’t.
She watched as Staff Sergeant Corbin led Luke Calapango, Ronnie Logan, and Jim Stallings to the left of the building while Staff Sergeant Dallas, Arnie Bledsoe, Nate Peters, and Evan Mickens moved into position on the right side of the building.
Both Dallas and Corbin looked over at Kayce to make sure she had both of their groups covered. When she nodded to indicate that she did, Luke and Arnie scuttled up to the building’s low open windows and tossed in their grenades.
The double concussion of the grenades shook the house and blew open the front door.
A couple wounded al-Qaeda soldiers stumbled out of the smoky interior, headed for the supposed safety of the BTR personnel carrier.
It was Kayce’s job to disabuse them of that notion.
She lined up her sights and fired, sending a single .50 caliber armor piercing round into the turret of the carrier. The large caliber sniper rifle bullet damaged the sleeve of the carrier’s KPV machine gun.
The two wounded men flinched when they heard the splang of the ricocheting bullet. One looked up, trying to determine where the shot had originated. The other lifted his AK-74 assault rifle and fired off a burst in Kayce’s general direction. Then they resumed their staggering run toward the carrier.
Undeterred by the gunman’s wild firing pattern, Kayce smoothly and methodically lined up the carrier again. This time, she was going to hole their fuel tank.
The Force Recon sniper fired, sending another .50 caliber round into the carrier. Only this time the bullet penetrated the thin side armor, glanced off the vehicle’s gasoline tank, and struck a hastily stored RPG.
The term ‘one in a million’ shot could have easily applied here. As the RPG round detonated, it set off the suicide vests and explosives that had also been stored aboard the carrier.
The resulting explosion tore the turret off the hapless carrier and blew its hatches open. The force of the blast threw the two wounded terrorists backwards and caught Dallas and Corbin’s’ teams by surprise. Even Kayce found herself ducking for cover.
When the smoke cleared, the APC was a burning ruin. The two terrorists were flat on their backs, out cold.
Mark Dallas unsteadily stood up, looking from the burning wreck to Kayce, and back again. Joe Corbin and the others did the same. Arnie Bledsoe, still shaking his head, was the first to speak.
“Damn Danvers! Just what kind of ammo are you using?!” He looked over at the fiercely burning BTR in disbelief. Kayce was about to respond when Joe Corbin interrupted her.
“That tears it!” growled Staff Sergeant Corbin. “If al-Qaeda didn’t know we were here, they sure as hell know we are now!”
He motioned to Mark. “T-Shaped ambush position?
Mark Dallas nodded. “Modified T-shape, Joe.
“Staff Sergeant! Corporal Logan barked, “We’ve got more company coming!!”
At that moment, Nate Peters’ radio crackled, “Romeo Tango Two this is Sierra Six Mike; what the hell happened up there?”
Joe grabbed the mike “Sierra Six Mike; tango’s APC went up like a roman candle when Kayce put a round into it, get ready for company!”
*~*
No sooner than the words were out of his mouth when Mac and the others heard the throaty grumble of multiple truck engines headed their way.
Corpsman Yader swung his .50 toward the noise as did Casmir Szymas aboard Sal William’s pickup and Tim Bullard aboard Eddie Willet’s truck.
“Wagon wheel defensive positions!” Mac barked as she took cover.
*~*
Seal Team Leader Brad May didn’t know what to think. First, he watched in horror as Colonel MacKenzie ‘killed’ one of her own men and then her team turns around and blows up one up of al-Sahood’s APCs. What the hell was going on here?
“Maybe they’re going into business for themselves, Commander….” Coskill offered as he observed MacKenzie and her crew taking up defensive positions as al-Sahood’s convoy approached.
“Your guess is as good as mine, Master Chief…” a bewildered May replied. He wondered what was going to happen next.
FEBA
Rover One’s commander, Jay Raden, looked up at the sound of the high pitched whoosh that was filling the air above them. He could also hear a sound he hadn’t expected to hear, the steady beat of rotors. ( Helos! Dammit!) He thought Briggs had grounded them! This was going to make things a lot more difficult….
As he scanned the sky, he saw one of the Hinds flash overhead. (What the!? Those are Polish helos!)
“Rover Three to Rover One; Jay, do you see what I see!?”
“I sure do Kyle!” Jay said, doing his best to feign enthusiasm. “Looks like Bullgator got us some air support!” Mentally, the Corporal was swearing up a storm and fearing what Darcy would think about this turn of events.
[part will post tomorrow morning....]
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