Tasmanian SFG: Book III, Of One Mind, page 22
Flintstone, I want teams #1 and #2 to move south toward the city. Let's stay the same distance apart until we get close to their main compound. There, we can develop a new plan. Fox.
Then I decided Howard and Jiao deserved an update.
Professor, Dagger, we took out one Sykath squad, but not the leader. We are heading south to find the main compound. Fox.
I decided to stay on the same street as it had already been looted. I hoped to find their main compound to see what they were doing and to create some chaos. We traveled slowly, stopping at each intersection to verify we were maintaining the same separation. Some six hours later, I received a message from Smitty.
Fox, we found the Sykath's main compound. Like on Shago, they have commandeered a college campus. They don't look like they are planning to leave Inburg. Flintstone.
Flintstone, find cover. We are moving up to join you. Fox.
Twenty minutes later, I saw Josh wave from the doorway of a two-story cement building that looked like an indoor sports facility. It turned out to be just that and contained an Olympic-sized swimming pool, ice-skating rink, and a running track, in addition to exercise equipment and rooms for gymnastics on the second floor. The upper level provided a fair view of the Sykath's compound. Like on Shago, it contained a large area of tents for men not on assignment, a fenced area with captured men, and female leaders, some with squads and several with only one or two males tagging along. The squad leaders had yellow writing on a red background and occasionally black writing on silver which, from my observations on Shago, were the equivalent to platoon leaders.
"Jafar, have you seen anything interesting?" I asked as I sat down next to him and surveyed the area.
"I saw one female with silver writing on a black background," Jafar said. "If we are right about the other color combinations, she is a company commander."
"What was she doing?" I asked, thinking that would be a good target.
"She looked to be inspecting the captives and talking with a squad leader. Maybe the squad leader we encountered since she had no men with her. They went into that white-marble building." He pointed out a building a hundred meters to the east.
"Smitty, I want you and the rest of the team to move back at least a couple hundred meters," I said as an idea formed.
"What about you and Jafar?" Smitty asked, a suspicious look on his scowling face.
"We are going to see if we can create a little excitement."
"You aren't going to do anything foolish, are you, Jolie?"
"Time will tell," I said. "In case it doesn't work out, I would like you far enough back not to be caught in the backlash. Two will be easier to disappear than eleven."
"Jolie, I am not ready to be the Ghost leader," Smitty said. "If you are captured, I will most likely direct the team to rescue you. So be careful, for their sake."
"We would have to do that," Pete said, grinning. "Otherwise, we would be the pariahs of the Tasmanians for losing our only transportation entertainment."
"Pete is right," Todd said. "The chief would harass us to death for losing his replacement for the Tasmanian Qualification School."
"If it weren't for Jafar, I would consider getting captured just to get away from the whining. Now go, you are delaying my surprise." I smiled as they left. I loved these guys.
"Well, Jolie, what is the surprise?" Jafar asked, looking eager.
"Pick out a Sykath man on a glider and kill him," I said. "He has to die while on the glider."
"And after I do?" Jafar asked.
"What happens afterward will depend on whether we are the ones surprised or the Sykath." I shrugged.
"No wonder you sent the others away," Jafar snorted, picked up his CheyTac, and began scanning the area. Several minutes later, a squad entered the area and headed towards the tents. Jafar picked out the furthest man on a glider and squeezed off a shot. The man fell forward, and the glider exploded. Tents were swept away along with the men inside, the gliders and men in the squad were torn apart, the fence surrounding the captives forty meters away was swept across the grassy area and into the closest building, ground debris pelted the nearby buildings, and the squad leader was flung into the air.
I sighted on the engine of the leader's gliders waiting for it to begin to stabilize. Then I began squeezing off round after round hoping to get lucky. Jafar joined me. As he did, I switched to the two females who exited the building and stood scanning the scene before them. One with the red writing on yellow of a squad leader and one with the silver writing on black of a company commander. I sighted on the company commander and fired. The bullet hit her in the chest, and she was flung backward. The woman next to her had barely turned her head to look in her companion's direction when my second shot hit her in the chest.
"She got clean away," Jafar said in disgust. "The shot requires more luck than skill."
"Let's leave, Jafar, before they get organized." I laughed. "We are lucky we didn't hit those engines. I think we might have been a little too close. It doesn't matter. The object was to get the commander's attention. We did. I killed her."
We grabbed our packs and raced down the stairs and out the door. No one was in the street. We moved quickly, staying close to the buildings. Five minutes later, I saw Smitty's arm sticking out the door of a four-story building. We ducked inside, laughing like children. I sat and decided to update Howard.
Professor, it will be interesting to see what the Sykath do when they lose a company commander. She and a squad leader died from curiosity, while scanning the effects of an explosion in the middle of her camp. I think you can advance. If you encounter any resistance, we can support you from their rear. Fox.
Over the next ten minutes, we saw two squads returning to the camp. By the time Howard and Jiao arrived, shuttles were evacuating the remaining Sykath.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
Planet: Delphi, R&R
"Well, Fox, we hear you chased the Sykath off Leilid," someone shouted the next day after the morning meal. I did my normal walk around making sure no one was secretly listening, when in fact, all the Tasmanians were in the bay, including the company commanders.
"Worst vacation I have ever had. First, they bribe me to snoop on the Ranger Qualification School on Luxor for the opportunity to visit my father. So I go knowing the school would be a piece of cake. I figured it would be an eight-week rest camp. Naturally, there are strings attached. I tell you from experience, never volunteer for anything. The chief sergeant and his helpers were running their own extortion racket, and they had the nerve to want me to pay to make the course easier. The only way they could have made it easier was to give us diplomas the first day. So the sergeant in charge gets all pissy because I refuse to pay. Well, it didn't help that I called him a wuss. He pulled a big ugly knife on me and tried to cut a smiley face into my stomach. Somehow his right femoral artery gets cut… Maybe it was his left femoral artery… Come to think of it, they were both bleeding. Anyway, the commander of the school shows up too late to save him and then blames me and demands I teach the course. What choice do I have? Like a good soldier, I follow orders—"
Laughing interrupted me. I looked around the room, giving everyone my best intimidating glare.
"As I was saying, I finished the course and went on to see my father. You would think I was entitled to at least a three-week vacation. After all, I had an agreement. That is the second thing I learned. Never trust an army agreement. I was only there a few days, and they Shanghai me and drag me off to Leilid where there is a damn war going on. Then my boss sends me off with my team on foot to fight maniacs on gliders. I ask you, is that fair? No, it isn't, but I go because my team is bored and wants action. When we get to where the action is, I send the boys off to play with the Sykath while I watch. Almost in front of me, one of the gliders explodes and just about kills me. I'm trying to stay out of trouble while my team is looking for trouble, and who gets hurt—me. When I can function again, I send my boss a message implying I blew up one of the gliders. He's happy. Does he reward me? Hell no, he sends me off to blow up some more. We trek down to their main camp, thinking it would be quiet as all the fighting was down south. While we are there, two of their gliders explode, one of the men's and one of the leaders'. I send a message to the boss, taking credit for the gliders. My boss is happy and tells me to keep up the good work. No reward. No thank you. No pat on the butt. Fortunately, the Sykath decide to leave because of all the trouble they are having with their gliders. I take credit for that and am ready to go back on vacation. But no, my boss sends me and my team to Inburg since we did such a good job in Shago. Fortunately, the Inburg Sykath were also having problems with their gliders and decided to leave. That burned my third bit of advice into my brain. Take care what you take credit for; it may come back to bite you in the ass." I bowed when the clapping began and returned to my bunk.
Then my team got up and began giving their versions. It was a fun three-day trip back to Delphi.
Back at Fort Endeavor, life quickly returned to normal. Simons conducted another Tasmanian Qualification School, used me and my team for the capture and question as well as the introduction to Tasmanian fighting sessions, and invited me to participate in the final selection of candidates. In the end, it was his decision, but I think he wanted my thoughts as a double check—not everyone that qualified was a good fit for the Tasmanians. Last year, I had helped him decide about two individuals he was having doubts about. Over the past three months, there had only been one assignment, and to my surprise, the Ghost team wasn't invited to the party. Smitty said the scuttlebutt was that the senior staff wanted to save my team for high profile engagements since they did not like calling on the same individuals, team in our case, more than three times consecutively. Overusing the Ghost team could result in them not being available when our specialty was needed. Feeling bored but not wanting to venture into town, I visited the Devils Club on base. The club was crowded as it was a weekend and a lot of wives were present, preferring it to the off-base nightclubs, which typically had more single Tasmanians and younger women looking for hookups.
"Over here, Fox," I heard Isaac call. He was sitting with his wife, Judith, as well as three other couples who were part of the Ghost Platoon: Art, Josh, and Cedric. "Jolie, the ladies are Linda, who is Art's wife, Marylou, who is Josh's wife, and Tammy, who is Cedric's steady. Ladies, this is our sister and leader of the Ghost Platoon, Jolie the Fox."
I concluded the Tasmanians tended to select women who worked out regularly, judging by their figures and the muscle tone of their arms and legs.
"Hi ladies, I hope they don’t whine as much at home as they do on missions," I quipped.
"I guess your training session a while back didn't cure the whining," Linda asked with a twinkle in her eyes.
"No. It's like trying to teach a tiger to be a vegan," I said, looking sad and shaking my head. That produced knowing looks and nods from the women and snorts from the men.
"Tasmanian Luan!" a large man in a Ranger uniform with staff sergeant insignia shouted. He was accompanied by two other men with sergeant rank. "The bitch killed a Ranger during a training match to show off. She is a disgrace to the Tasmanians."
To my surprise, Muller rose and walked toward the three men who now had everyone's attention. "Were any of you there when this happened?" he asked in a normal voice, sounding interested.
"We heard from Rangers at Luxor," the youngest of the group shouted.
"Was the Luxor Ranger there when it happened?" Muller asked.
"We don't know or care. She killed a Ranger and needs to be held accountable. You would certainly seek retribution if someone killed a Tasmanian," the staff sergeant shouted.
"Don't you think the army would hold her responsible if it wasn't justified?" Muller asked.
"No, I don't. Look what happened with Major Lloyd," the staff sergeant responded with a sneer. "We will get satisfaction here or later somewhere else."
"So the three of you plan to ambush one young woman and kill her. Doesn't sound like the honorable Rangers I know." Muller shook his head in disgust.
"No, just one of us. The others are here to ensure the fight is fair as she is obviously a coward and not above underhanded tricks."
"Jolie, are you up for a match?" Muller asked, looking in my direction.
I nodded, not sure what Muller was up to but doubted it was a duel to the death here in the club with all the women present.
"I will get training knives and let each of you demonstrate how cowardly Tasmanian Luan is. Embarrassing her in front of all her brothers should be satisfaction enough, unless you are planning to murder her. In that case, you and your buddies will be dead within an hour of killing her since every Tasmanian will be looking to kill you," Muller said in a voice as cold as dry ice.
The staff sergeant looked to his buddies, who nodded. Less than a minute later, Smitty came running up to Muller with four training knives.
"Alright, the rules are simple—there are no rules. The object is to demonstrate you can kill your opponent. Two of you, along with two Tasmanians, will be judges, and I will be the referee. The outside judges will be watching to ensure the contestants remain in the circle and use nothing except their training knives and their bodies. I will call stop when I see a disabling or killing blow. We will then review the red-dye marks to confirm the kill. Is that satisfactory?" Muller asked and received nods of agreement. Over the next several minutes, a circle was drawn with chalk in the middle of the dance floor, and two Tasmanians picked to be the outside judges along with the two Rangers. When everyone was in place, I rose and entered the circle to join the staff sergeant, who had an amused smile when I entered, confirming to his satisfaction the rumor. As usual, I was at least ten to twelve centimeters shorter and at least twenty plus kilo lighter. Muller handed each of us a training knife and waited until we stood facing each other.
"Ready?" Muller looked to each of us in turn and received a nod. "Fight."
The staff sergeant was grinning as he waved his knife toward my face. I waited while he pranced and danced, looking for some reaction from me. His smile faded when I didn't react. Then he swung toward my face as he stepped forward, reversed the cut across my chest but too far to score, and then stopped halfway and lunged at my stomach. I stepped forward while twisting right and guiding his knife past me with my left hand as my right sliced across his neck, zigzagged across his back. I dropped into a split as he spun, slicing the empty air above me. I cut across the femur artery and, reversing the knife, drove the pommel into his groin. I swept his legs out from under him as I spun to rise.
"Stop!" Muller said, trying not to smile. "Sergeant, from the looks of your cuts, I would say it's a good thing you didn't attack Tasmanian Luan. I count one crippling and three lethal cuts, delivered in less time than it took me to say stop." He looked to the staff sergeant's buddies. "It's your turn if you also want to be embarrassed."
They were shaking their heads, their mouths open in shock.
"Your Ranger on Luxor made the same fatal mistake you made," Muller continued. "He saw a young girl, smaller and less muscular than him, and assumed he could scare her immobile and then cut her at will."
"Thank you, Watcher," I said using his call sign. "Hopefully, he learned something useful from this match."
"No, you embarrassed him, so he will rationalize that you cheated, or used trickery, or some other excuse to save face," Muller said as he turned and walked back to his table. I heard quiet clapping as I walked back to mine.
"That's why no sane person would want to have a knife fight with the Fox," Smitty said. "The best you could hope for was to meet her in the afterlife."
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
Planet: Hubei, The Fidain
Two weeks later, my TCom buzzed with a text from Wallace.
Luan, report to my office. Wallace.
I was hoping for an assignment, but meetings for assignments were usually held outside of the headquarters' building since it was only notification to the individuals who had been selected to be platoon leaders and the time they had to form their platoons. This sounded more like a personal one-on-one meeting. So, I was surprised to find Howard, Muller, and Jiao in Wallace's office when I arrived.
"Sit, Luan," Wallace said as I entered his office. He waved to the only empty chair. "The Wanzhou system officially has six planets of which only one is suitable for human habitation. There is a planet, Hubei, closer to the sun that can support human life, but those areas are limited and conditions hostile. About one hundred and fifty years ago, the Wanzhou system had a number of wars which resulted in a central government of sorts. A group of assassins called Fidain, which included several women, were rounded up and prosecuted as war criminals. They were given the option of banishment to Hubei or death. They chose Hubei. The government estimates that today, they number between one hundred twenty-five to two hundred. About twenty years ago, a science team landed on Hubei and collected a variety of samples before being run off by the Fidain. Last year, a Botanist discovered one of the plants they had collected had properties that could improve several of our existing prescription drugs. Over the past two years, they have sent several expeditions with military support to collect the plants. Each expedition was forced to leave due to heavy casualties. The Delphi government subsequently decided the pharmaceuticals were worth sending an army contingent of four hundred to either cause the Fidain to cease hostilities or to eradicate them. They have suffered heavy losses and required reinforcements or evacuation. One of the senior officers on the army's committee suggested reinforcing the army on Hubei, who could then be used to support a force of Tasmanians sent to clean out the Fidain."
