TEMPUS CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN
Sometimes by losing a battle you find a new way to win the war.
Donald Trump
The Retribution took off for McGuire Air force Base.
“Watcher do not call traffic control. Find the C17, our soldiers will be there.”
“Found them. They are in front of an empty hangar.”
“Great let’s go have a better look. Looks like they are sleeping. I think we will wake them up.”
They circled the C17 and landed beside it invisible.
“Watcher I need a safe target for E1 to destroy.”
“There is a dumpster off to the right of the men.”
“E1 you have the coordinates.”
“Yes, Cristian.”
“I will need flamethrowers minis and rockets. Let’s give them smoke lights and some music. Airbourne Live It Up 120 DB.”
“You sure know how to talk to a girl.”
“Hey that’s my line E1” Lorelei said.
“And a very good one Lorelei,” said the fighting machine.
Everybody on their toes these men have live rounds. Side shields deployed E1. M1 take the right. Lorelei take the rear. I will take what’s left. Shades Face masks and personal shields on. Sweetie, you have the baby shield on?”
“Yes, Husband.”
“Watcher open communications between us. Give us a picture of where the men are.”
“There are 21 men out front one inside the hanger. There are a pair of pilots and a loadmaster in the Plane. The men on the ground are armed.”
“Watcher the three on the jet are very sleepy.”
“Yes, they are Cristian.”
“E1 camera’s on. Music on when we are in range. Double time let’s wake the dead” said Cristian. While Cristian’s battle team sped up, time slowed down, everything seemed to happen in slow motion for them. For the soldiers sleeping not so much.
Music played full volume as they rounded the front of the C17 Jet.
“What the fuck?” Said one of the men.
They were holding their ears when E1 fired two rockets at the dumpster followed by the spinning and firing of all three Mini’s. There was smoke and flames and lasers as the metal dumpster was shredded. One soldier managed to get a couple of shots off before M2 disarmed him and dropped him to the ground.
“On the fucking ground or die now,” Cristian said pointing his full-auto shotgun with Double bayonets.
“E1 spin mini’s in their direction,” he said out loud.
“Lorelei, can you bring out the man in the hangar?”
“Sure sweetie.”
“Any aggressive moves will make E1 very nervous. Her minis are spinning.”
“Don’t fucking move I still have a lot of rockets left.” E1 puffed a twenty-foot triple ball of flame to drive her point home.
“E1 don’t kill anyone if you can help it,” Cristian said out loud.
Lorelei managed to get behind the man in the hangar and put a gun to his head.
“Please drop your weapon Sergeant. I don’t want to see anyone get hurt.”
He put his weapon down and pulled a knife.
“You are not taking me down Bitch.”
“I really hate that word,” she said and shook her head. Lorelei moved very slowly and holstered her weapon and took her clown mask and shades off. A few moments later the Sergeant was on the ground nose bleeding.
“Sergeant I am not really a bitch, but that word can make me grumpy on occasion.”
“This was just an exercise I am Lorelei Wolf.”
“Sergeant Helm ma’am. Matthew Helm” said a hurting Sergeant.
“Lorelei, did you hurt him?”
“I broke his nose, we are on the way out.”
“Exercise is over soldiers at ease.”
Cristian pulled his happy face mask and shades off.”
“Do you know who I am?”
“You are the leader of the whole freaking planet,” said one of the men.
“You will address me as First Leader.”
“Gather your weapons. In a few minutes, this whole area will be filled with soldiers that will want to save that dumpster.”
“Form up at the rear of the plane.”
“Corporal.”
“Yes, sir First Leader.”
“Would you mind waking the men on the Jet?”
“Sergeant I think that nose is broken. Did you call her a bitch? She really hates that.”
“So she told me, sir. I apologize sir.”
“It’s not me that needs the apology.”
“Right sir” He stood in front of Lorelei.
“I deeply regret my words to you in the hangar Ma’am I am sorry for my behaviour.”
“I did point a gun at your head, I am sorry about breaking your nose. Carrying the baby makes me a little edgy. Get some ice on that as soon as you can Sergeant.”
“Ma’am”
“Cristian one of the men is a Lizard,” said Watcher.
“I thought I smelled that familiar stink”.
“Is it the Sergeant?”
“No Cristian.”
“Sergeant we have a small problem. One of those men is a Lizard.”
“Do nothing, I will handle it but feel free to take the safety off.”
“Understood Sir.”
The men were lined up on each side of the ramp at the back of the plane.
The Sergeant called them to attention.
“Cristian third man on your left is the Lizard.”
“Make no mistake here Watcher.”
“He will bleed green.”
“Let’s check that out.”
“Gentleman we are at war. You need to be alert and armed at all times. You were just taken down by a Pregnant woman, a Politician and a couple of machines. I was told that you were the best of the best is that true?”
“Yes First Leader” was the simultaneous loud reply.
“Your job should you accept it, is to kill Lizards, to root them out wherever they are and destroy them.”.
In one quick movement, he drew his Maker sword and cut the Lizard imposter from skull to crotch Right through his assault weapon. He fell in two. The sword cauterized the cut, but it was easy to see green blood on the edge of the sword. He continued speaking without pause or change in tone.
“All Lizards left on the planet are spies or assassins eliminate them.”
“At ease men.”
“Sergeant I see the Base MP’S approaching let them know we had a small Lizard attack but it has been contained. Let them know there is a Lizard body to be removed I don’t want to put that stink in our planes.”
“Sir.”
“Dismissed, help get that body out of here.”
“Sergeant could you send someone to my ship and tell Larry it’s okay to come out.”
“First Leader.”
“First leader you sure now how to make an entrance.” said one of the men.
“Cristian sounds like you unleashed hell. Did anyone get hurt?” Asked Larry.
“Just one Lizard and a Sergeant with a broken nose.”
“Lorelei do the nose?”
“Yup called her a bitch.”
“Yikes.”
“Watcher feed Larry the footage so he can see what happened.”
“You may want to sit down Larry.”
The soldiers loaded the Lizard body into the M.P.’s Humvee one half at a time.
With everyone on board seated and the Retribution on the ramp. It was time to do the short trip over to Albany Airport.
“Would you mind if I sit over here? Thank you.” Pointing at the co-pilot seat.
“Watcher I need to know how to fly this thing.”
“That’s better thanks.”
“Captain let’s get this bird in the air call the tower I will go through the checklist with you.”
“Have you flown one of these before?”
“I am just about to. I flew a DC-3 on my flight simulator once. How hard can this be?”
“Fuck me,” said the seated pilot.
“I don’t think my wife would like that Captain. Call the tower and taxi over to the runway. I will do the rest.”
“Check it out First Leader is flying the plane.”
“Has he been checked out on this bird?”
“No way he was a Canuck squid (Navy) they got boats not Planes.”
Lorelei couldn’t help herself “ I watched him do a flight sim once I don’t think he has ever flown anything with wings before.”
One of the men kissed the cross around his neck. Lorelei was sure another was praying.”
“Have some faith, you are talking about Cristian Wolf he didn’t bring you here to die like this.” It was the Sergeant talking now.
“Checklist done. The tower has given us permission to take off First leader.”
“So I heard. I am good to go where is the gas pedal and what’s this red button on the joystick? Kidding.”
Cristian extended the flaps all the way held down both petals and slowly moved the throttles forward. When the engines were up to speed He released the pedals and the plane started to move forward slowly. It picked speed until he could leave the ground.
He pulled back on the joystick and eased the plane into the air and retracted the landing gear and the flaps. When he was high enough above the houses below, he banked the big aircraft and brought it to the altitude and heading they were supposed to be on.
“Okay, Captain I think you can handle it from here.”
“I am speechless sir that was perfect. Most newbies would have taken off full throttle.”
“We had lots of runway and with the flaps down we had extra lift. We didn’t need full throttle, you are carrying no where near full weight.”
“Un-fucking-believable sir.”
“Ya those flight sims are getting better and better,” He said chuckling. You can have your chair back, get us to Albany.”
“First Leader.”
“In here it’s Cristian out there it’s First Leader,” said Cristian with a little disdain, mostly for his new title.
He went into the back and sat beside Lorelei. The man were all clapping. “What’s that all about Lorelei?”
“I told them that you have never flown a winged plane before except in flight sims.”
“That’s all true sweetie.”
“Cristian Wolf,” she said laughing a bit.
They Landed In Albany without incident. He thanked the pilots for letting him take the big jet into the air. He told them to fuel up and be ready to leave in the morning.
“Soldiers get the vehicles unloaded and onto the Tarmac.”
They unloaded Two Humvees with mounted M2A2 ’50s. Next came a Stryker APC with a Kongsberg M153 Protector Mounted on top”
“Did we get a new Station Wagon Husband?” said Lorelei smiling.
“Yes, Lorelei, a present from the President. The plane is a loaner from my country the guns and gear from England.”
“I am going to look inside,” said a very excited First Lady.
After a few minutes, Lorelei exited the vehicle with a great big teddy bear.
“It’s from the President for the baby. Isn’t he a sweet man? A new car and a teddy bear.”
“Sergeant assemble the men.”
“First Leader.”
“I know that you think you got your ass kicked today, you didn’t. Lorelei M1 M2 E2 E1 and myself cleaned out a base that held 240 Lizards and 150 Collaborators. They were armed with Advanced Lizard weapons. What you did today was the right thing. You survived, Dead soldiers don’t fight well. There was no winning the battle this morning.”
“M1 when I give the word put a single small arms round into my chest.” “Now M1”
M1 fired a round into Cristian’s chest.
Within a moment every man had a weapon pointed at M1.
“Hold your fire” yelled Cristian. Cristian picked up the flattened slug and showed to the men. “I have the same armour for all of you In the Retribution.”
“Your names are on them. Put them on under your uniforms. The boots are armoured as well.”
The soldiers came out wearing their armour and long jackets they had shed their uniforms and stowed them back in their kit bags.
“First Leader the men are ready for inspection.”
“Lorelei you should come out for this as well.”
“E1 please film this” asked Larry.
“For you, Larry anything” was the machine’s response.
“At Ten Shun” the sergeant yelled out. The soldiers snapped to attention.
Cristian with Lorelei on his arm walked up and down the ranks.
The armour and long jackets and boots looked good. With the combat glasses, on looks alone, you could see they were a force not to be fucked with.
“Who are you?” yelled the Sergeant.
“We are the WolfPack Sergeant” was the loud response.
“What is your function?”
“We protect the First Leader and the First Lady Sergeant.”
“Very impressive men. We have a function to attend to tonight you will protect all humans.”
“Yes First Leader.”
“Sergeant have them stand easy.”
“Men, in public you will address us as you just have.”
“In private my name is Cristian this is Lorelei you are free to address us by first name. My wife and I are warriors, our DNA was altered by Aliens for this purpose. We were built to kill Lizards and that is exactly what we are going to do. My wife and I are part Alien if you have a problem with that you can walk away without fear of reprisal or reprimand. The only reason you should stay is because this is where you want to be. Any man wanting to leave should take a step forward right now.”
Not one man moved. They admired this man and his wife for who they were and what they stood for. Cristian knew that he had the most important thing he could get from these men. Their respect.
“I will need you to line up you will be injected with a communication interface and nanobots. You will instantly learn all styles of fighting and all weapons. The nanobots will help heal you now and in combat. All that is needed is for you to hold this in your hand. You will have to remove your gloves. Sergeant dismiss the men.”
“Dismissed.”
One by one the Wolfpack held Watcher and were injected with Nanobots and an interface.”
“Watcher route all soldiers communications through the Sergeant from him to me. That should keep me from hearing too many voices at once.”
“Watcher let’s do a test. Sergeant are you communicating with your men.”
“Yes, Cristian.”
“Good, this is a private communication system that cannot be hacked, But feel free to set up challenge codes. You are in Command Sergeant Major. Split the men into three Squads find a squad leader for each promotes him. It is up to you how you split the men up.”
“Men You have been retired from the Military as of this moment. You now work for the office of the First Leader. You are now part of the Earth Defence Force.”
“Sergeant Major load your men into the vehicles Leave two behind to guard the Plane. We are going to the Hotel we will fly above and handle air support.”
“Right Cristian.”
The men loaded into the two Humvees and the Stryker and started the drive over to the Hotel. The Retribution was loaded and was once more invisible and in the air. They shadowed the Military convoy and watched for trouble along the route.