| Subject: ...For Meritorious Service, Chapter 27, - continued |
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TxJAG_b
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Date Posted: 14:27:16 04/27/10 Tue
In reply to:
TxJAG_b
's message, "...For Meritorious Service, Chapter 25d, part two - continued" on 16:25:09 01/08/09 Thu
…For Meritorious Service, Chapter 27
A/N 1: Thanks to my trio of editors [Mary Ann, Janlaw and Karen] for their usual fine job. Kudos also to AeroGirl, Mkim, Soleil, TZ, Janlaw for providing their help and technical expertise. Also thanks to Lisa Griffon [Yahoo Shipper Group] for her continuing support.
A/N2: Notice there isn't an 'e' after 27? That's because this is the last chapter. And, rather than confusing people with more parts - I'm just going to say 'continued' until I get all of this posted.
A/N3: What did I tell you? My muse got annoyed about
me even mentioning a date and so, here we are. Thanks
for your patience....
A/N4: My Arabic is not the best in the world, but I
think I got most of it right. Apologies in advance for
any mistakes....
From Wednesday March 31:
Sturgis and Timmerman waited to hear the whoosh of the launching TOW missiles shortly followed by the boom of the missiles making contact with their targets. Moments turning into minutes…still nothing. The two men exchanged puzzled looks. Then came the explanation for the ‘quiet’. “Waco Two to Waco Leader! Where are the tanks? Over.”
The throaty growl of at least two V-55V 580bph liquid-cooled V-12 diesel engines directly to their front indicated to Sturgis that the insurgent’s tanks had somehow bypassed Waco Two and Waco Four’s positions and were headed directly toward them.
Sturgis wasn’t sure what Staff Sergeant Timmerman and Lieutenant Shigeta planned on doing next, but he hoped it was effective.
Shigeta spoke first. “Tin Man! Alert Two and Four we have two T-55’s bearing down on us!!”
“Aye sir!” The Staff Sergeant replied, and then turned to Sturgis. “Time to alter that ending that we talked about, sir.”
Sturgis nodded. “Then let’s do it Staff Sergeant! Now like we say in the Silent Service; ‘March Bearings and Shoot!’”
Lawrence Timmerman already had his radio mike open. “You guys heard the Commander; we got two tanks bearing down on us, make your shots count! All TOW Gunners! Open fire!!”
...For Meritorious Service, Chapter 27
Just South of Mirbullah
As Harm’s squadron passed over Mirbullah, it was joined by a flight of Marine Corps
F-18D fighters from VFMA-721 – Patrick Henry’s Marine Super Hornet Squadron.
“Eagle 21, this is Hunter 01….” Harm recognized the voice of Major Edward Epperson also known as ‘Lucky Eddie’.
“Hunter 01 this is Eagle 21, go ahead…”
“Eagle 21, we’re your escort to the battlefield. Be advised; Marine Air Wing units are in the area as are helos from our Polish Coalition forces.”
(‘Mr. Cool’ was right; it is getting crowded up here….) “Lead the way Hunter 01, Eagle 21 out.”
“Roger wilco, Eagle 21; Hunter 01 out.”
*~*
In the LAV-FiST, Sergeant DeWald keyed his radio “Hawk One to Gatorforce Leader; Eagle and Hunter are inbound. Will begin artillery strikes after Eagle and Hunter have cleared FEBA, over.”
Andrew Baxter and Sergeant Dewert exchanged dour looks. The influx of Polish troops courtesy of Colonel Baranova had bought the battle back to a stalemate, but it had not allowed Gatorforce to take the insurgent positions.
It was a desperate move to have air support releasing ordnance so dangerously close, but it had to be done. “Acknowledged, Hawk One.” Andrew said into his mike as he and other members of the Marine command post heard the distant roar of approaching planes.
Sahood’s safe area
Somewhere North of Mirbullah
After her close encounter with Darcy Livingston, Mac was more determined than ever to find those chemical laden missiles. The Light Colonel walked back over to Kayce who had just traded her sniper rifle for an M-4A1 assault rifle that she could more easily hide within her clothes. “Let’s move away from here; too many eyes on us….”
Kayce nodded. She was wary of the JAG Corps Light Colonel but for the time being she was still her commanding officer. “Aye Colonel,”
Kayce Danvers wasn’t convinced that Mac was just playing a role trying to lure her out into the open. She knew she could trust Staff Sergeant Dallas and Sergeant Szymas, but they were nowhere near. She would have even settled for seeing Corporal Bledsoe right then.
Instead her heart sank when Master Guns Victor/Cesar appeared.
“Colonel, I may have a lead on where the missiles are….” he said quietly to the JAG Corps officer.
Mac motioned with her head, “C’mon Corporal, the Master Guns has something to show us….”
The three soldiers moved away from Darcy’s men and their pickup trucks. Darcy/Dahab who had been talking with her men, had gone inside the main building and was now talking to Samir. This was as good a time as any to do some ‘exploring’.
“What have you found, Master Guns?” Mac asked as they walked.
“You’ll see in a moment,” Victor said softly to both of them.
Kayce noted they were walking toward two heavily armed men. Double-Cross? Triple-Cross? She was losing count of how many twists and turns alliances had taken in this unit in just the past 24 hours. Although she could probably un-holster her pistol, everyone would probably notice her doing this.
The first of the two burly Arabs burst into smile “ <
Greetings how are you?>>” he said to the Master Guns.
Victor nodded, grinning at him. “<>”
“<>” Mustafa replied with a comfortable laugh. The two men regarded the veiled women with Victor/Cesar.
Victor gazed at the second Arab as if expecting him to say something. When he didn’t Victor/Cesar prompted him. “Farik, it is good to see you.”
“<>” The man said without any warmth or emotion. It was clear to Kayce there was no love lost between these two.
Mustafa tried to smooth over the awkward moment.
“<>” Mustafa said as a way of admonishment of his partner.
He looked apologetically at the three. “You have to forgive Farik, Cesar; the past few months have been very tough--”
“And we could have used your expertise Cesar; your Marines have inflicted heavy losses on our troops!” Farik said cuttingly.
“Farik!” Mustafa said sharply, trying to stop his rebuke.
“Are you questioning Samir’s tactics, Farik?” Victor said in a low, tension-filled voice as his eyes bored into Farik.
Farik though, didn’t flinch. “We have lost many brave warriors--”
“They have done their duty Farik, now they enjoy paradise.” Cesar/Victor was pushing Farik. Mac wondered if this was such a good idea.
“Please Cesar, he didn’t mean anything by it,” Mustafa pleaded, “It has been very rough here--”
The Light Colonel decided whatever information these two had, it wasn’t worth all this. She broke into the conversation.
“<>” Mac said in a polite, but firm voice to the two Arabs.
Farik though, was not about to let a mere woman stop his justified disagreement with Cesar.
“I am not finished, woman,” he said curtly to her.
Mac fought the urge to snap his neck right then and there. However, drawing attention to themselves would not make this end well and they still had to find those missiles…!
“Cesar, I am thirsty,” Kayce said in flawless Arabic. Until now she had kept silent, leading Mac to think she knew little, if any, of the language.
Victor was surprised how pleading Kayce’s eyes looked. Victor/Cesar turned to his two ‘friends’. “My wife is pregnant, I must attend to her--”
Mustafa looked harshly at Farik and then apologetically at Kayce. “Please forgive my friend’s rudeness to your friend, and to you.”
“Thank you,” Kayce said softly, looking down.
Mac was impressed—at least Mustafa didn’t call her, her aunt or worse, her mother – though Mustafa and Farik might have shown even more humility if that had happened.
Kayce and Mac turned and started walking away from the three men. Kayce turned her head back toward the three men.
“Husband? Are you coming?” She asked in a somewhat pleading voice.
Mac almost laughed at Victor’s response.
“At once, my wife,” Excusing himself, Victor/Cesar walked quickly to catch up with them.
“Sorry ma’am,” Victor began earnestly when he reached them, “Mustafa knows where the missiles are – I heard him say so just a few minutes ago--”
“Farik wasn’t about to let that happen,” Mac said dryly as they continued walking. She looked at Kayce.
“You are just full of surprises, Danvers.”
“Theatre classes, ma’am,” The Corporal said by way of explanation, “plus, I only use my language skills when absolutely necessary.”
Mac had a new found appreciation for her aide. She quickly turned her mind back to the business at hand. “Well, this doesn’t get us any closer to the missiles. Master Guns, did he say anything we might use to locate them?”
Victor nodded. “He mentioned a spring was nearby…”
I’m still thirsty, my husband” Kayce said in her ‘pleading’ voice.
Victor did his best not to look perturbed, but her voice was enough to nearly undo him. “Okay, ‘wife’ let’s find that spring that Mustafa mentioned was just west of here…”
“We’ll go find it.” Mac replied. “You go back to the others; tell them where we’re headed….”
Victor gave her a quick nod. “Aye ma’am,” and broke away from the two women.
*~*
Rover One had a pretty good lead on its pursuers. Unbeknownst to all aboard though, Sierzant Andre Lesinski’s gunners had perforated the LAVs armored fuel tank and although it was self sealing, the bullet damage was allowing a fairly large amount of diesel fuel to leak out.
Sierzant Lesinski was careful not to get too close to Corporal Raden’s getaway vehicle. Following at top speed behind them was Sergeant Damato’s AMTRAC.
Inside the amphibious carrier, Sergeant Canella’s men prepared for the upcoming gun battle.
“Sergeant, how many times has your squad gone after an armed suspect?” Tony asked.
The NCOIC of the military police squad threw Tony DiNozzo an irritated grimace. “Look, Special Agent DiNozzo; if you’re asking me whether or not they’re rookies, they’re not; we’ve gone after heavily armed suspects before--”
“How about suspects driving a fully armed light armored vehicle?” Gibbs inquired bluntly.
Canella gave the Senior NCIS Agent a chagrined look.
*~*
The aviator/lawyer had gone over and over what he was going to say to Nicole and the others since the Marines had requested their help. Harm hoped it sounded as good over squadron net as it did in his head. He keyed his radio mike.
“Eagle 21 to Eagle flight; we are approaching FEBA – we’ll go in twos-- Supergirl and I will go in first, followed Rhino and Flying Cloud, and so on, until we’ve all made runs on the insurgent positions. Each of us will have a pair of Hornets go in with us. We’re to take out any targets that we find in and around the foothills just behind the insurgent positions. Keep in mind some of our targets will be ‘danger close’ to friendly ground units.”
After Harm let those instructions sink in, he continued:
“Keep your eyes peeled for Triple A, Zoos, and SAMs – like the CAG said about Objective India, there wasn’t anything in the briefing about them, but you can bet with the kind of defense they are mounting, the insurgents have some kind of anti-aircraft protection around here.”
Again he broke off to let the squadron members digest that. Dropping their bombs so dangerously close to the Marines was bad enough, but to have to dodge enemy anti-aircraft fire as well just made the situation that much more dicey.
When no one balked, Harm took that as a positive sign. They were all on board with this crazy stunt. He keyed his radio mike again.
“Eagle flight, go to tactical and report when ready…”
As the members of his squadron reported one by one that they were ready, Harm mentally prepared himself. He said a silent prayer to himself that he wouldn’t hit any Marine positions.
When the squadron entered the airspace behind the front lines, Harm opened his mike again. “On the deck ladies and gentlemen! Here we go! Tally Ho!!”
*~*
Mac and Kayce made their way out of the village headed westward toward the low foothills in the distance.
“Do you think the Master Guns will bring Staff Sergeant Dallas and the others, ma’am?” Secretly Kayce hoped he would then the Staff Sergeant could help her deal with this unpredictable JAG Corps Marine.
“I certainly hope so, Corporal,” the Light Colonel replied.
As they drew closer to the low hills, Mac was surprised to see machine gun positions and heavy weapons emplacements dotting the hillsides. (This little surprise would really give Briggs a hard time…we have to neutralize this somehow…)
“Ma’am this wasn’t on anyone’s intel,” Kayce whispered urgently. She prayed Mac didn’t already know about this. A part of her really wanted to believe she was a good guy.
“Livingston has set up a real hairball for Colonel Briggs’ men. While they are trying to push their way through this, Samir will have time enough to get his missiles into position.”
“You two! What are you doing out here?!” Barked a burly looking insurgent.
Mac pulled a canteen from within her robes; Kayce followed suit.
“We’re going to get water from the stream up ahead,” Mac explained.
The insurgent eyed the plastic canteens. “Now where did you get those?”
“Off a pair of Marine scouts after we slit their throats,” Mac replied boastfully.
Her laugh and the insurgent’s laugh disturbed Kayce; but she tamped down her concern and smiled, showing her obvious pleasure with her friend’s deed.
“Fine, fine, go on your way. But don’t be long. Or you will have more Marines to kill!”
Both women thanked the brawny insurgent and went down the hill toward the stream.
“We’ve got to make this look good or that goon will send his friends to investigate.” Mac said while looking down at the swirling water. Kayce leaned down and began to fill her canteen.
“Ahk! This water is fetid!” snapped Kayce as she dropped the bottle into the warm water.
Mac smiled at her ingenuity.
“Head upstream; it should be better there…” she called out to her ‘friend’ as she began to walk away from her.
Kayce picked up her bottle and shook it out, muttering as they moved away from the insurgent’s line of sight.
In a few moments, they reached a dry wadi headed westward. Checking to make sure they weren’t followed, Mac and Kayce then headed through the dry creek bed.
Mac hoped that this was the right path to the spring that Victor mentioned. They didn’t have a lot of time to investigate all the wadis in the area. She also hoped that the ‘Master Guns’ really would bring the rest of the squad with him before Darcy started to suspect something.
After a few minutes of walking, Mac figured they were far enough away from the insurgents’ positions to allow them to get out of the wadi and continue heading west. Slowly and carefully they made their way to the top of the wadi and began moving westward again.
“We’ve got to hurry Corporal, Mac said urgently “we have no idea how long it might be before he sends his buddies after us…”
Kayce nodded her agreement. “Aye ma’am,”
They soon enough reached a sloping hill that was becoming steeper as it continued downward.
Mac realized that the land in this area was more eroded. They seemed to be heading toward the bottom of a dried up lake bed. But it was more than that; it stretched out like a broad flat plain before them.
The Light Colonel stopped next to some scrub plants and pulled out her binoculars. At the far western end of the lake bed was something looking like a medieval fortification rising from the ground. The dirt and stone berm walls were unmistakable.
“Bull’s-eye, Ma’am!” Kayce exclaimed. “One Iraqi built battalion defensive position. Objective India has been located…!”
Mac nodded and handed the binoculars to Kayce; the Light Colonel hadn’t expected to find it this close to Samir al Sahood’s safe area, but then again, Samir too, seemed full of surprises. This meant that either Samir intended to kill everyone in the area when he fired those missiles at Gatorforce or he had one hell of a contingency plan.
“Wow!” Kayce yelped in surprise as she lowered the binoculars. “Where the hell have they been hiding this stuff?!” Kayce handed them back to Mac so that she could take a better look.
“What are you talking about, Corporal?” she said as she focused on the dirt and stone berms again.
“Ma’am I count at least nine oscar tango 64 charlies; two tango-55s with mineplows; one tango 62 with a mine flailing unit; and three tango romeo 77s and that’s just on the front berm.” She hoped Mac wasn’t playing her.
Now Mac could see what Kayce was talking about. There was indeed an impressive array of former Iraqi armored vehicles stationed at the walls of the defensive position. They were well camouflaged so Mac had missed them the first time. The JAG Corps Marine attorney made a mental note that if she got out of this alive; she was going to learn how to spot things like this for herself.
“I thought we’d knocked the stuffing out of any Iraqi units in this area,” Kayce continued in stunned voice. “And what do they need with mineclearing equipment anyway?”
Mac now understood what Sahood intended to do – the insurgents on the hill were a sacrifice to get Gatorforce hemmed in. Once that was done, he would fire his missiles which would impact in the Marine positions and kill both the insurgents and Gatorforce. With that done, Samir could then use his cobbled together forces to crush any opposition that remained. The other rockets he had were probably targeted at Mirbullah or even an-Nasiriyah. Neutralized by the chemical attack, his troops could overcome any Coalition defensive positions left standing with their engineering vehicles.
It was a poor man’s assault force, but backed by chemical weapons, it would decimate any ground opposition. And depending on where Coalition reaction forces were located, they might not arrive until it was too late to do anything but mount a costly and devastating counter-attack.
The damage though would already be done. Samir would be a martyr above all other martyrs. It would throw the Coalition efforts into chaos; doubts would be raised about America’s ability to maintain control in Iraq…and the list of damage went on and on.
(So where are the missile trucks?) Mac couldn’t see them anywhere. “If that unit gets rolling, it will flatten any opposition it finds--”
Kayce nodded, “Especially if they use those, ma’am--”
Mac focused just beyond the first defensive line. Coming out of an underground bunker were two ZIL-135 eight wheeled rocket launchers and their re-load vehicle. Behind them were three massive MAZ-543 missile transporter erector launchers [TELS]. These were followed dutifully by an attending Range Rover and GAZ jeep.
Mac recognized the vehicles from her recurrent dream. They looked even more menacing than they had in her vision. “We’ve got to warn Briggs now,” she snapped.
---To Be Continued...tomorrow
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