Published: 2 Nov 2017

Eve watched as Dragon lifted off and disappeared into the dark sky. Mac helped her climb into the SUV that the new Base Commander had loaned them. She found that it was easier for her to move now. She could feel her legs starting to work and helping her stand for the transfer to the SUV. He drove her over to their quarters and helped her transfer back to the chair. He started to get behind her but she stopped him. “Thanks Mac, I’ve got it from here.” He nodded and got back in the SUV to go back to the hangar.

She rolled herself inside and nodded to the UNIT member on duty at the desk as she went over to the elevators. In her room, she moved the chair near the bed, and after locking the wheels, she pushed herself up. But, instead of just making a transfer to the bed, she continued to push with her arms and her legs until she found herself fully upright for the first time in three weeks. She looked around the room and then took a tentative step forward. Her legs responded and she was able to take a small step forward. She reached to the nearby wall for support as she took another step and then turned around. She could feel the smile on her face as she slowly walked back in the other direction, and, with a hand on the arm of the wheelchair, moved closer to the bed and sat down. She felt a little dizzy, but elated. It looked like this thing on her back really worked.

She sat there for a few moments to gather her thoughts. She had been skeptical of Sabrina’s claims, but there was no doubt now that she would soon be back on her own two feet. She lay down and tried to get a little more sleep before she headed to the command center.

Eve woke up a couple of hours later, and moved to the side of the bed to let her legs drop to the floor. She looked at the nearby wheelchair and used it to brace herself as she stood up. She thought that it felt like it was a little easier to do now, at least in her mind. She took a few more steps around the room, using the wall and the other furniture to support her, before going to the door and opening it. She pulled the wheelchair over and sat down. She didn’t want to overdo it, so she decided to stick with the wheelchair until she talked to Sabrina.

A few minutes later, Eve entered the command center. The person on duty gave her a quick rundown of what was going on. She asked if there had been any word from the Red Dragons on their mission, but was told that nothing had come in. She checked the time and thought that they were probably just now attacking the camp, so they were probably a little busy. She told them to contact her if they called. She wheeled herself to her office. When she got there, she got out of the wheelchair and walked over to the chair at her desk. She was smiling a little as she turned on her PADD and saw Daisy’s avatar fade in. “Good morning Daisy.”

“Good morning Eve. You seem happy.” Eve touched a command on the screen and the monitor on the wall turned on. She looked at Daisy and nodded. “I am. Now is there anything that I need to know about concerning our attack preparation?” Daisy nodded. “Joe has been working with Secretary Larkin and more units are moving into position to support and take part in the attack. Joe believes that we will have sufficient forces in place to take action within the next day or two.” Eve nodded. “Can you contact Khan, Chang, and Joe and have them meet here at 0900.” Daisy nodded. “I have contacted them.”

“Thank you Daisy. I’m going to go get some breakfast.” Eve stood up and slowly walked over to her wheelchair and sat down. “You’re walking!” Eve looked at Daisy and smiled. “Yep, I’m trying not to overdo it, which is why I’m still using the chair, but Sabrina did say I would be able to start walking in a couple of days. This morning I found out that I could walk. It’s slow, but I can do it. That is why I’m happy. I will finally be able to ditch this damn chair and move on my own.”

At 0900, Eve was back in her office when the three she’d asked for walked in. She smiled at them and gestured for them to sit down. “What have you come up with?” Joe looked at the other two and nodded. “I’ll start. I have been working with the commanders through Secretary Larkin and we have a pretty strong force that is being moved into place for the assault.” He consulted his PADD. “The 1^st Armored Brigade of the 1^st Cavalry Division has been transferred here from Fort Hood. The 3^rd Brigade of the 7^th Infantry Division, the 555^th Engineer Brigade and the 16^th Combat Aviation Brigade has been transferred here from Fort Lewis. That is the total of the initial forces we have available for the breakthrough assault and initial push to Chicago to relieve the siege. The secretary will be sending more forces to the spot to exploit the breakthrough.”

He tapped on his PADD before continuing. “Air assets include the 132^nd Fighter Wing out of Des Moines, also we have the 55^th Wing here at Offutt. One of the best things we have is the 509^th and 131^st Bomber Wings out of Whiteman. Those are the B-2s Spirits. As far as we can tell, the only bombers Ashwood has access to are the older B-52s at a few of the bases in the east. We don’t believe he has any B-2s, because Whiteman is on our side of the line and that is their home base. We don’t think he has any B-1 Lancers either. The Lancer bases are in North Dakota and Texas, both on our side of the line. We of course have B-52s ourselves if we need them.”

“Alright, so do we have a plan for the attack?” Chang nodded and walked over to the large monitor on the wall. He tapped on his PADD. “Daisy, can you show us a map of the Davenport, Iowa area.” A map appeared on the screen. He tapped the screen. “The largest force in the area is here at the Rock Island Arsenal. When we first chose this area, it was because some of the units that were guarding the line had been pulled back to support the attack on Chicago. The Arsenal appears to be the headquarters for this general area. We take that out of the picture and the defense in this area will probably fall apart.”

“Since you mentioned the bombers, I assume you plan to destroy the Arsenal.” Khan shook his head. “At first we thought about it, but if we destroy it, we lose access to it after we’ve taken the area. So this is what we’ve come up with. Daisy zoom in on Rock Island.” The map changed until they could see the island that the base was located on. “Rock Island is connected to the mainland by these four bridges. We’re going to isolate the island by hitting each bridge with two GBU-31 2000 lb bombs from a B-2. They will then be unable to reinforce their units where we are going to cross the river. Daisy can you zoom out to show the area within 200 miles of Davenport.”

The map zoomed out. Chang pointed at some points on the map while he spoke. “We also plan to send two B-2s each to Scott Air Force Base here at the tip of Illinois, the base of 183^rd Fighter Wing in Springfield, the Air National Guard Base in Peoria and Camp Douglas, Volk Field Air National Guard Base in Wisconsin. That should take care of most of the air bases in the area that could cause us any problems. The only other large base that might cause us some problems is Wright-Patterson in Ohio, but we have plans for that as well. The B-2s will be equipped with CBU-87 cluster bombs and GBU-38 bombs. The cluster bombs will be used to make the runways unusable and destroy any aircraft in the open. The others will be dropped on hangars, fuel storage and other buildings. We want to render these bases unusable for most aircraft. That should allow us to have local air superiority at the least, if not air supremacy. Daisy zoom into the general area just north of Davenport where the I-80 bridge crosses the river.”

The map zoomed into the area. “Here is where we’re going to land our initial forces. We’re going to use five Improved Ribbon Bridges, IRBs.” Eve put up her hand. “I haven’t heard of these Ribbon Bridges. Can you explain how they work?”

“I’ll take this, Chang.” He nodded. “The IRBs can be used to bridge rivers. They are floating sections of bridge. The problem with the Mississippi is that it would take a lot of these to cross it, so building a continuous bridge to cross the river is not feasible, and it would block river traffic. So that is partially the reason we aren’t doing it and we don’t have enough available to do so and finally because it would take too much time. However they do have another use. The engineers who work with this equipment can connect five bays, two ramps and three internal bays, and join them together to make an assault raft that is eighty-eight feet long. We connect two Bridge Erection Boats, BEBs, to each raft and they will guide them across the river. Each one will take about ten to fifteen minutes to make the crossing.” Joe stepped up next to Chang and pointed to a location on the map.

“We’ll start from this area here, near where Lock and Dam #14 is located on the river. We can load them here and bring them across the river to here. First we drop some of the 7^th Infantry troops by UH-60s here to guard the landing spot. We’ll land part of the 1^st Armored Brigade Combat Team and more of the 7^th Infantry Troops at this location using the IRBs. Once we have a sufficient force landed, most of them will head north toward the I-80 bridge. A smaller force will head south to the Lock and Dam #15 and take out the force guarding the Ashwood side of the dam. While we are moving north, we will have some M109s on the west side of the river begin firing an artillery barrage on the troops guarding the east side of the I-80 bridge.”

“Didn’t the bridge get destroyed by Ashwood when he dropped the others?” Chang shook his head. “During the recon flights we found that not every bridge was completely destroyed. Some were, but others had just a portion of the Ashwood side destroyed, leaving a gap. He also did not destroy the Lock and Dam system that is located along the river since they really can’t be used by any significant force to get across. Infantry forces without any transportation could do it, but too many trying to cross would call attention to themselves and cause an attack on them, by any nearby enemy forces. They just made sure these locations were strongly guarded so we can’t slip any units across. We plan to send two of the Blood’s Honor A Teams across the dam at that point. They will attack from the rear while the assault force attacks from the north.”

Eve nodded for him to continue. “When our assault force has neared the I-80 location, they will signal the artillery to

stop firing, then will attack the guarding force or what is left of them. Once the bridge is taken, we will use some M104 Wolverines to fill the gap in the bridge on the Ashwood side of the river. We believe that the bridging equipment will be long enough for them to span the gap and then we’ll move the bulk of the forces across to the eastern side. From there they’ll form up and most will start toward Chicago. Some units will move north and some will move south to protect the flanks of the main force and flank Ashwood’s forces to the north and south. Once the attack breaks through, Secretary Larkin said that he will pour more troops through the gap so that we can widen the hole and start pushing Ashwood’s forces back and finally end this.”

“Okay, that sounds good. You mentioned a couple of the Blood’s Honor A Teams, but what about the other three A Teams, plus the Russians, and our teams?” Chang turned to the monitor. “Daisy, zoom in on the Quad City Airport on the south side of Moline.” The map changed until an airport appeared on the monitor. “This is where we believe Ashwood’s forces have established an FOB for some of their attack aircraft. Mostly helos, Kiowas, Cobras, and Apaches, but also some A-10s. The main idea for this FOB is close air support, so this needs to be taken out early in the attack. That is the job assigned to the Red Dragons, the remaining A Teams and the Russians. Red Dragons and the A Teams will make the initial attack and secure it, then we’ll bring the Russians in to help hold it. That will leave the Red Dragons available for any subsequent missions as necessary.”

“Good. What about the rest of the UNIT?” Chang nodded. “Daisy, please show us Wright-Patterson Air Base in Ohio.” He turned to Eve. “We have received intelligence that nearly all of the 82^nd Airborne Division apparently refused to join with Ashwood and they have been interned at the base. We plan to go free them and take the base.” Eve was a bit surprised. She looked at the monitor from her desk, and then slowly stood and walked over to the monitor, eliciting astonished gasps from the others in the room.

“When did this happen?” She looked at Joe with a smile. “This morning, I found I could stand and walk a bit. Remember a couple of days ago when I mentioned that the Scireians would be giving me some treatment for my back. Doctor Ziegler has been overseeing the treatment, and as of this morning I am healed enough to walk a little. It is a bit tiring, but as the day goes on I feel a bit stronger. She said that she will oversee my physical therapy once I’m walking under my own power, and by the end of the week, I should be back to normal.” The three of them offered her their congratulations on the success of the treatment. She gave them a grateful smile and turned to the monitor.

Eve studied it for a few moments. “Daisy, zoom the map out to show the Mississippi and the air base.” The map zoomed out and she looked at it. “How far is the distance from Davenport to Wright-Patterson?”

“About 350 miles. Just over an hour’s flight from Davenport for our helos.” She looked at Chang. “Do you know where they are being held at the base?” He nodded “Daisy please zoom into the base?” When the base filled the screen, he pointed at a location. “They are held here at Wright Field where the Air Force Museum is located. The Ashwood forces have turned a large part of the field into an internment camp. We will drop a small team in to take out the guards. Once they’ve got the camp we will fly in as much equipment as possible to rearm the 82nd. Once that’s done, they will take whatever transport that they can find at Wright Field and go to the Patterson part of the base over here. While the one team is freeing the 82^nd, the remaining UNIT teams will drop in and take Patterson and make sure that its runways cannot be used by the enemy. They will hold it until the rearmed 82^nd can get there from Wright Field to reinforce them.”

“Daisy, zoom the map out so that I can see the area from here to the Chicago.” Once the map was zoomed out, Eve studied it for a few moments. “Zoom out to include Wright-Patterson.” The map zoomed out until it showed the whole area. Eve continued to study the map for a few minutes. “Daisy, can you show me any air bases in Indiana and Ohio.” A few moments later several points lit up. She looked at the others and pointed at the monitor. “These guys might be a problem. Chang, we need to task a B-2 to each of these places and level them, otherwise you guys will have planes flying up your ass. We need to hit Patterson too, not the runway, since you’ll need that and not the planes if possible.” Chang agreed and glanced at Joe. “We will have to add that to the plan.” Joe nodded. Eve looked at them. “I think it will work. Surprise will be on our side. How soon will you have everything in place and ready to attack?”

“Wednesday before dawn. We’ll have the five IRBs, that we will use as assault rafts, assembled and ready to go by Tuesday night. The forces that will be in the initial assault will be in place and ready to load onto the rafts. The 7^th Infantry troops will be staged forward, and then dropped by Blackhawk to protect the landing spot while the assaulting units cross the river. All the aircraft will be ready to fly their missions. The UNIT Strike Teams, BH A Teams, and Russians will be in position and ready to attack when the B-2s drop their payloads. From that point on, it will be in the ground commander’s hands. I recommend that we stage our strike teams, including BH and the Russians to Davenport Municipal Airport tomorrow, so that we are nearer to our targets and we will then have a shorter flight for the attacks.”

Eve nodded as Chang laid out the preparations. “Very well. We’ll have a meeting with all commanders at 1500. That should give the Red Dragons time to return from their mission. Joe, let me know if there are any problems with the regular military preparations so we can call on Secretary Larkin to straighten it out. We will move our forces to Davenport tomorrow.” She turned from the monitor and walked back to her chair. “Thank you all. The attack is well planned and I believe that you have covered every contingency. I will see you at 1500.”

Joe started to leave but stopped at the door and looked at Eve. “Eve, there is one thing that we need to think about because of this attack. People are going to know a bit more about us. More of our capabilities. We will be more visible.”

Eve nodded in agreement. “Are you saying we shouldn’t be involved in the attack? Just turn everything over to the regular military and let them do it?” She looked at the three of them. Chang shook his head. “No. We need to do our part in the attack. Our assistance is necessary to give us the highest probability of success. We can only do the best that we can to keep as many of our secrets as possible.” Eve nodded. “So be it. I agree with you Chang. Our part of the attack is too important for its success. I believe we must do this. The stalemate must be broken. I’ll see you at 1500.”

The three filed out of the room. Eve transferred to her wheelchair and left her office. A short time later she entered the command center. She heard someone coming up behind and looked over her shoulder to see Sabrina walking her way. “Good morning Eve. How are you doing this morning?” Eve smiled, and after locking the wheels stood up. “Much better.” Sabrina smiled. “Yes, I can see that.” She took her monitoring device from a bag on her shoulder and looked at the readings. She had a satisfied look on her face when she put the device back in her bag. “Everything looks good. The nerves have almost completed their regeneration. By this evening it will have done its work. So I’ll leave the device on for the rest of the day and remove it tonight. We’ll start the physical therapy tomorrow morning.”

“Thank you Doctor. I’m very grateful for what you’ve done. Now, I don’t feel so useless.” Sabrina reached out and touched her on the arm. “Just take it easy today, nothing too strenuous, but doing some walking is fine; just keep it low key.” Sabrina gave her arm a squeeze and walked away. Eve turned and entered the Command Center, pushing the wheelchair ahead of her. Inside the room she walked over to the command desk. Those on duty watched her walk in with surprised smiles on their faces. She gave them a quick smile as she walked to the command chair. The person on duty got out of the chair. Eve pushed the wheelchair to the side and out of the way before she sat down. “Any word from Christina and the Red Dragons?”

“No word yet.”

“Very well. Thank you.” Eve checked the computer as she waited for word from her team.

“UNIT Command this is Dragon. We are on our way back from Tinker. ETA is an hour and half.” Eve keyed the mic. “Roger. How was the mission?”

“Mission a complete success with some unusual and unexpected help. We’ll make a full report when we arrive.”

“Roger. Safe flight.”

When the Command Center was contacted that Dragon was fifteen minutes out, Eve left for the UNIT hangar by the Air Force SUV. It pulled up near the hangar just as Dragon was landing. She waited until it had landed and the team was starting to disembark before getting out of the SUV. She started walking toward them, feeling stronger than she had that morning. It took some time before her team realized who it was, walking toward them. They all stopped and stared at her.

“Eve?” She nodded. “Wow, you can walk again!” Apollo pushed his way through the crowd and stood in front of her with a big smile on his face for a moment. He then pulled her into a hug and held on tight. The rest of the team crowded around firing questions at her about her recovery. Finally there was a shrill whistle that caught everyone’s attention. They looked at Christina, the source of the whistle.

“Okay, let’s back off and give her a chance to breathe.” The team took a few steps back, but were still in a circle surrounding her and Apollo. He had moved and now had one arm around her as he stood by her side. “As you know, I’ve been getting treatments from Doctor Ziegler. This morning I found out that my nerves had apparently regenerated to the point that my legs started listening to my brain and began working. By the end of the week, she says, I’ll be pretty much back to normal. Not quite my normal yet, but that will just be physical training to get everything used to working at the level that I’m accustomed to. For now though, I am mostly mobile without that damn chair.”

There were more cheers. “Sean reported that you had some unexpected help?” Christina nodded. “Apparently, some of the internees had sons that were attending a nearby military prep academy. By the time we arrived onsite, they had already started their attack on the camp to free the people. They were using Civil War rifles, small 19^th century cannons and M1 Garands. They were doing okay, but I think if we had not arrived when we did, they may have lost. They suffered some casualties, a few KIAs and the rest wounded. Ian took care of their wounded. The others had died before we got to them. We removed all evidence of who attacked them except for spent shell casings. The guards were from Argentina. More of Ashwood’s mercs. I had the idea of removing the evidence to keep the enemy guessing as to who attacked the soldiers. All they’ll find is their dead soldiers and the destruction left behind. Everyone was dropped off at Tinker Air Force Base.”

“Good job everyone. Get something to eat. Chris, there is a meeting with the UNIT Commanders at 1500. We’re going to go over the plan for the attack to break the Mississippi River line. Gabe, you should be there as well. You may not be the commander of this team, but you are an essential part of the Red Dragons.” He nodded and they all loaded up into the trucks that Mac and his team had waiting for them to take them back to their quarters.

Eve was in her office when the commanders began showing up a few minutes prior to the 1500 start time. The meeting included the UNIT Command Team, each UNIT Strike and Assault Team commander, Major Tony Gulipo, Commander of the Blood’s Honor A Teams, and Polkovnik Dmitry Zolotov of the Spetsnaz Battalion attached to the UNIT. Once everyone was in the room and seated, Eve stood up. There were a few surprised looks, but most of them had heard that Eve was now mobile so there were no comments or questions.

“Good afternoon everyone.” She walked over to stand next to the monitor at the end of the conference table. “Daisy, I assume you are here as well.” Daisy’s avatar appeared on the screen and nodded. “Yes, I’m here Eve.” Eve nodded to Daisy. “Good, then everyone is here. I know that all of the UNIT members know each other, and some of you know the commanders of the two groups assigned to us, but I would like to introduce them to the rest of you. This is Major Tony Gulipo, he is the commander of the Blood’s Honor A Teams that have joined us, and this is Polkovnik Dmitry Zolotov of the Russian Spetsnaz. Polkovnik means colonel for those that don’t know that. May we refer to you as colonel to prevent any confusion?” Dmitry nodded. “Da.” She smiled. “Thank you.” She faced the group. “This meeting is to discuss our plan to break the Mississippi River line and do our part to bring about the beginning of the end for Ashwood’s forces, which starts with breaking through his line and relieve the folks who are under siege in Chicago.” She looked at Joe. “Was the request for additional B-2s approved?” He smiled and nodded. “Yes.” She turned to look at the others. “Good. Then we’re ready to go. Bryce’s forces have been moved or will be moved in place by tomorrow evening so that they are ready for H-Hour, which is 0500 on Wednesday morning. One of the objectives of this attack, besides breaking the line, is to encourage the enemy units to switch sides if possible. We believe that at least some of them may not be wholly committed to Ashwood’s cause. It is more likely that their commanders are the ones who follow Ashwood. The regular soldiers may not want to fight other Americans. So we hope to convince them to stop following Ashwood’s orders. Joe, will you explain the role of the regular military in the attack.”

Joe nodded and walked to the front of the room. “We have identified this location, where it appears that Ashwood’s forces are weakened because some of them have been moved to assist with the siege going on in Chicago….” Joe continued to explain how and where Bryce’s forces would cross the river, as well as the B-2 missions so that they can gain local air superiority. As he spoke, he had Daisy show the locations that would be attacked, including all of the nearby air bases that would be targeted by the B-2s. “…Once Bryce’s forces are across the river in force, they will move in three directions. The main force will drive to Chicago and try to break the siege. One force will move north and attempt to roll up the northern part of the dividing line and try to meet the Canadians whom we hope will be moving south. We will catch them between us and the Canadians. The last force will move south and start pushing Ashwood’s forces before them.”

“Thank you, Joe. That was so you know what our allies are doing, since we will be working with them. Major Gulipo, I have a job for two of your A Teams.” She turned to the monitor and pointed at Lock and Dam #14 that Daisy displayed on the screen. “Major, I need you to send two teams across the dam here and secure the eastern side. This is to keep the small guarding force at that point busy while the landing is going on just to the north of this position.” Tony got up and looked at the image on the monitor for a few moments and nodded. “No problem. We’ll keep ‘em busy. What about the rest of my teams?” Eve smiled. “Don’t worry, I have something for them too.” The image on the screen changed. “This is the Rock Island Arsenal. Ashwood has a force in place to prevent Bryce from taking it. We’re going to isolate them. A B-2 is going to drop these bridges with a couple of GBU-31, 2000 pound bombs on each of them. They will be stuck there on the island with no way to get off except to swim. Your remaining teams, plus Colonel Zolotov’s Spetsnaz and Captain Casey’s Red Dragons, will attack the Quad City Airport, south of Moline and the Arsenal. The enemy has established a FOB for close air support aircraft there at the airport. The force there is comprised of Cobras, Apaches, Kiowas and A-10s. Captain Casey will be in overall command for the attack. Command and Control will be handled by Dragon’s Command Center. The mission is to take and hold the airport. Once in our hands, Bryce will be able to fly in more forces to the airport which will then meet up with the force coming from the north.”

Dmitry walked up and joined Eve and Tony. He looked closer at the monitor for a few moments before glancing at Eve. “Commander? It is okay to call you Commander. I do not know your rank.” Eve nodded. “Khorosho. I have suggestion to make. I think we need to put some of our forces on the island too. I send hundred of my men along with Major Gulipo’s A Teams. I not suggest this because I think his men are incapable of taking island, but only to increase the capabilities and degree of success in mission. Together we will take island. We should cross dam here. When the enemy finds out they are isolated, they will more readily surrender to us when they find out we are there with them. I will put my men under Major Gulipo’s command. Some of my men do not speak English too well, so if the A Teams are with us, they will be able to translate for them. It will also show them that they are not being attacked by Russians, but by your President Bryce’s forces and we are just helping. Perhaps they surrender quickly, and we can avoid many casualties. But if they want fight, we will fight.”

“That would be about 130 men against the force that is stationed on the island.” Dmitry nodded. “Da. More than enough to take island, since they will be confused from bombing. We go in a little earlier and take out soldiers guarding end of dam, then when bombing starts, we will move in and take them by surprise.” Eve looked at the two men. “Does this sound workable Major?” Tony nodded. “Yes, I believe it will do. The colonel is probably right. The bombing will disorient them. It will be the best time to hit them. I expect there will be a fight, but with the possible disorientation of the B-2 attack, a surprise attack by us and nowhere to retreat, they may surrender with some encouragement.”

“Commander. I have with me six Mi-26 transports, what you call Halos, three Mi-28 Havoc and two Ka-52 Hokum attack helicopters. They are enough to transport my men and give us close air support. They should be enough to discourage long resistance on the island. This will be good encouragement to surrender.”

“Very well. I expect that you will send some of your attack helos to assist with the attack on the airport as well.” Dmitry nodded. “Of course. Maybe it good encouragement for them to surrender there too.”

Eve smiled at him. “Yes, I think it will.” The two men returned to their seats as Eve turned to face everyone. “Now for the rest of the UNIT. Chang, will you please brief them.” Chang walked to the front. “We have a special task for us. You saw how we are attacking air bases from the Mississippi to Ohio. There is a reason for that. We are going to take Wright-Patterson Air Base in Ohio at least for a little while.” On the monitor, Daisy brought up the base. “We have learned that a large force of the 82^nd Airborne is being held at Wright Field. Part of the Air Force Museum that is located there has been turned into an internment camp to hold them. Apparently they didn’t like what Ashwood was doing and because of that, they were detained there. So we’re going to enlist their help…” Chang continued with the briefing for the teams that would be taking the air base. “…So we will be bringing several pilots with us to help fly the 82^nd out with the transport planes that are at the base, when we leave.”

“Thank you Chang.” He bowed slightly and returned to his seat. “So, any questions?” She scanned the room looking for any questions. There were none. “One last thing. Tomorrow afternoon we will be staging forward to Davenport Municipal Airport so that we will be close to our objectives for the attack.” She took one last look at the group. “That’s it. Brief your teams and prepare for tomorrow’s move. Thank you all.” Everyone stood up and left the room.

Throughout their quarters, the commanders met with their teams to brief them on the missions that they would be undertaking. At times more than one team met to work out how they would handle situations when they were together. Christine met with Major Gulipo and Colonel Zolotov to go over their parts of the mission. Major Gulipo would have the support of two Havocs and one Hokum. The rest would support the attack on the airport along with the support that Dragon could supply.

With the major in charge of the team taking Rock Island, the colonel would be commanding the rest of the Spetsnaz troops attacking the airport. By dinnertime, every team was properly briefed and ready to go.

Early Tuesday morning, Ethan woke up. He looked at Dylan lying next to him, with one arm draped over him and one leg between his legs. He glanced around and then carefully untangled himself from Dylan and sat up. He was still trying to figure out what had awakened him. He could see that it was still dark outside. He thought maybe someone had knocked at the door, so he waited a moment to see if they would knock again. When there was no knock, he glanced at Dylan before standing up and grabbing his underwear and putting it on. He walked to the door and opened it. There was no one out there, so he closed the door and went over to one of the chairs in the room and sat down.

He looked at Dylan who was still sleeping and smiled. He was about to get up and join him, then he felt something and stopped. He realized then that what had awakened him was something that he hadn’t felt for some time. He leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes. He took a couple of breaths to center himself and then reached out with his telepathy, searching for what had awakened him.

After a moment he opened his eyes and found himself in a room. The room looked a little bit like a hospital room. Mostly a sort of whitish beige color for the walls and ceiling. There was a window and it seemed to be dark outside. He was sitting in a typical chair you would find in a hospital room. He was facing a hospital bed and there was someone lying in the bed, covered up. All he could see was blond hair laying on the pillow. From where he sat it looked like it might be a boy about his age.

He got up and walked over to the side of the bed so that he could see who the patient was. He was a little surprised when he saw that it was Logan Hayes, but this was the Logan before the aging procedure that the Sciereans had performed on him. Instead of his current age of nineteen, he was the fourteen-year-old he had been when Ethan first met him.

He could see that Logan’s brow was scrunched up a little and he started moving as if he was restless and was having a hard time sleeping or maybe he was having a nightmare. He heard a slight groan from the teen. He bent to wake him up, but stopped himself and looked around the room. He thought that a better environment would help. He concentrated for a moment and the room changed around them. Instead of a hospital room, it changed into a teenager’s room. Ethan looked around and smiled as the details of the room filled in. It was just how he remembered it. It was his room back home in California. The room he had in his version of Earth. Everything was there, his pictures on the wall, the swivel chair at his desk. A laptop was open on the desk and there were books on the shelves above it. His dresser was on one wall with the little trinkets that were always on top. The door to his closet was open and he could see his clothes hanging in there. There was a door leading to what he knew was the hall of his home. Lying asleep in his bed was a no longer restless Logan. He appeared to have relaxed and whatever was bothering him was gone. Ethan went over to the desk and sat down.

He glanced at Logan and then turned the chair so that it was facing the desk. He turned on his laptop and pulled up a game of Starcraft II© and started playing. From time to time he glanced over his shoulder to check on Logan. As he sat there, the sun slowly started to rise and fill the room with sunlight. Ethan heard movement from the bed and paused his game before swiveling around to face the bed. He saw Logan push the covers down to his mid chest as he moved so he was laying on his back and stretched. Logan sighed as he finished stretching. He reached to his side with a smile as he appeared to be looking for something or someone. He blinked his eyes a couple of times and rubbed the sleep from them. He opened them and looked around. He looked confused and then became startled when he saw the black haired teen sitting in the desk chair with a smile.

“Good morning Logan. How do you feel?” Logan looked around once again and slowly sat up. “Something is not quite right. This is not my room.” Ethan shook his head. “It’s my room. At least it’s my old room from California, before we found ourselves here.” Ethan watched as it slowly dawned on Logan who Ethan was.

“Um, morning Ethan…wait a minute, you’re saying this isn’t my room.” Logan looked down at himself. He touched his chest and arms, and then looked at Ethan, he started to get up, then realized he wasn’t wearing any clothes and stopped. “What’s going on?” Logan looked around and nodded as understanding came to him. “We’re in your mentalscape. What day is it?” Ethan nodded. “Yep and it’s Tuesday morning.”

“So why are we here?”

“Something woke me up early this morning. It was like someone was calling me, but not exactly. It’s hard to explain. All I know is that it had a familiar feeling to it, but it took me a little while to figure out what it was. I think it was your mind trying to reestablish the link you once had. So I reached out and brought you into my mentalscape. I decided to let you sleep until you woke naturally in here.” Logan nodded. “So how do you feel?” Logan didn’t answer right away. “I feel okay. At least I’m not feeling any pain from being here. I guess that’s a good thing. But why am I fourteen again?”

Ethan shrugged. “Not sure. I’ve been wondering about that while I waited for you to wake up. I think your mind is trying to reconnect the pathways that gave you your mental powers. The last time they worked for you was before the aging process you guys went through, and then the stroke you suffered I’m sure didn’t help. So I think your mind is trying to repair those connections as well, and it finally reached the point where your subconscious could reach out to reconnect. It’s like someone, who has a stroke, goes through the process of relearning how to walk, talk and just how to get back to some semblance of normalcy. You’ve been doing the work on the physical side, now it’s time for the mental side. I think your age in here is a manifestation of the beginning process to connect those pathways.”

Logan nodded as he listened to Ethan. Logan closed his eyes and a moment later he threw back the covers and now he was dressed in jeans and a shirt. He smiled at the accomplishment and leaned against the headboard. “Well that’s a start, at least I can get myself dressed. I was feeling kind of exposed there with no clothes on. So what’s next Doc?” Ethan chuckled. “Yeah, I guess that’s me for now. Okay let me take a look.” Ethan gazed at Logan for a few moments. When he finished he nodded. “Yep, your mental powers are weak but they are there and trying to make those connections. I have a feeling it is going to be just like the physical therapy that you’ve been doing to get your body moving normally once again. Now we have to do some mental therapy to get your powers working again. We need to work those mental muscles too. I think that as you improve, your mental body will start to match your physical body.”

Logan nodded. “Sounds right. So let’s get started.” They got to work. For the next hour or so in the mentalscape, Ethan worked with him as he worked on making changes in the mentalscape around them. Ethan let him try to do it without any interference and then he would push back a little. If Logan changed something Ethan would change it back to what it was. They would go back and forth each trying to keep the other from changing something. After they had been doing that for a while, Ethan saw Logan wince and put his hand up to his head and rubbed it.

“Are you feeling some pain?” Logan nodded. “Yeah, just a little bit of a headache.” Ethan nodded. “Then I think that’s it for our first therapy lesson. I think it would be a good idea that you don’t try and do anything right now. I have a feeling that when you wake up in your body, that you’re going to have that same headache. If it wasn’t for the attack happening tomorrow I would do this again tonight. We can try it again in a couple of days, but consciously this time. Later, once the headache clears up, you can probably try to reach out to people that are nearby. Not to communicate with, but to see if you can touch their surface thoughts. For now, I suggest you don’t try to reach out any farther than that or try to talk to anyone that way. I can feel a strengthening of your mind. It’s a little stronger than it was when we started, so that’s encouraging.”

Logan got off the bed, wincing a little as he felt the headache. “I can feel it.” Ethan looked at him and then smiled as he pointed at the cuffs of Logan’s jeans. “Yeah, I think you’ve improved a little. It looks like you’ve hit a slight growth spurt.” Logan looked down and saw that his jeans seemed to be a little shorter since he could see his ankles. He grinned at Ethan and went over to him to give him a hug. He stepped back. “I guess it’s time for me to wake up.” Ethan nodded. “I’ll let you go then. If you open the door, you’ll be back and should wake up soon.” Logan nodded and turned to the door. Just as he reached it, Ethan called to him. “Logan?” He stopped and turned around with his hand on the doorknob. “Do you think that you’ll ever be back to what you had, and be as strong as you were, mentally?” Logan looked down as he considered it and shook his head a moment later. “No. I think the stroke destroyed the most powerful part, what we used to call Big Logan. I think I’ll have at least the Little Logan part, but even that part may never be as powerful as it was. I think you are now our strongest telepath and I think that’s the way it will be.”

“Do you think you will miss it?” Once again Logan seemed to be thinking about and shrugged. “I think what I’ll miss, is the link that I had with my family. That was one of the most important parts of it to me. I could always feel them in the back of my mind. I think part of the reason for the stroke when I aged was that there was this huge hole in the link that used to connect me to all of the family that were left behind in our Earth along with those who were here. I think that put a constant strain on the link. Like it was always trying to reach out to them, but could never connect. So when I aged, there was just too much going on in my mind and body and it shattered. Never to be reclaimed.” Ethan nodded. He knew that feeling. Because of the link he had built with his family, they were always in the back of his thoughts. “Bye for now. I’ll see you at breakfast.” Logan nodded and stepped through the door. Moments later, Ethan opened his eyes and he was back in his room at Offutt. It was still dark outside, since that whole session with Logan had taken only seconds. He got up from the chair and climbed back into bed with Dylan. When Dylan felt the warm body he scooted over and put his arm around Ethan. A small contented smile appeared on his face. Ethan leaned forward and gave him a gentle kiss before closing his eyes and going back to sleep.

When Ethan went down to breakfast, he saw Logan look up as he entered and wave to him. He and Dylan walked over to Logan’s table. Logan stood up as they approached and gave Ethan a hug. Although this one was a bit different since this was the nineteen-year-old version of Logan so they were no longer eye to eye. “Thanks for this morning Doc.”

“No problem. How’s the headache?”

“Almost gone.” Ethan smiled. “Good. Just try not to push too much.” Logan nodded and sat back down. Ethan noticed that he didn’t have the crutches with him. He looked around to see if they were on the ground but they were nowhere to be seen. “Where are your crutches?” Logan grinned. “I think that our session this morning connected a few other things beyond what we were working on. When I woke up, I found that I didn’t really need them.” Ethan smiled. “Good. I’ll meet with you again once we get back from the mission.” Logan nodded as Ethan and Dylan went to join their friends. Dylan gave him a gentle nudge. “What was that about?” Ethan shrugged. “Logan and I had a little talk this morning, that’s all. Come on, I’m feeling kinda hungry.” Ethan quickly got in line to get some food in his growling stomach.

After breakfast, everyone made last minute checks on their personal gear. Mac and his team made sure all of the helos were fueled, armed and ready. That afternoon the teams took off for Davenport Municipal Airport. Eve saw them off at the Offutt airfield before returning to the Command Center. She listened over the radio as each one of their aircraft was given clearance to leave. The Russians were the first to leave, since their helos were slower than the UNIT helos. The Blood’s Honor Teams were loaded in Dragon because they had the room to carry them, barely. The Chinook was crowded with the rest of the UNIT.

When they arrived at the airport, they saw that the military had locked it down, including the surrounding area. No civilians were allowed on the base and there were security patrols around the perimeter to keep the curious away. All the helos were refueled once they had landed. Meals that evening were MREs. Once they had something to eat, the teams found places to catch a little sleep in the main building of the Iowa Air National Guard. All of them would be getting up at oh dark thirty to prepare for the attack.

At 0300 the forces that would be part of the upcoming attack were up and going through their final briefing for their role in this morning’s attack.

At Whiteman Air Force Base, the nineteen crews that comprised the 509^th and 131^st Bomber Wings were climbing into their B-2s and preparing for takeoff. Their orders were to fly to their designated targets and loiter until given the attack order by someone designated Oracle.

At Lock and Dam #14, Army Engineers were making the final connections on the IRBs and attaching the BEBs to them to form the assault rafts that would be used to transport the initial strike forces across the river. The units of the 1^st Armored Brigade Combat Team drove onto the IRBs as they were finished and waited for the signal to cross the river and land on the east bank.

At Lock and Dam #15, Major Gulipo and Kapitan Veselov slowly led their strike force across the dam to the Rock Island Arsenal. The two Blood’s Honor A Teams that would be crossing at Lock and Dam #14 were also carefully making their way across the dam.

At Davenport Municipal Airport, the 7^th Infantry units, that were tasked with holding the bridgehead across the river until the 1^st Armored got across, were standing near their Blackhawks waiting for the order to board.

The UNIT forces attacking Wright-Patterson Air Force Base were finishing the boarding of their aircraft, as the engines of the Chinook, Black Ghost, and Hind spooled up. A few minutes later they were given clearance to take off and they were soon lost from sight in the early morning darkness.

The Russian Attack and Transport Helicopters and Dragon were going through their final check off as they waited for the order to move on their objectives.

Fighter and Attack Aircraft that have joined the 55^th Wing out of Offutt, plus the aircraft at several nearby Iowa Air National Guard bases were in Alert Status awaiting orders for air support, along with the 16th Combat Aviation Brigade.

The M109 Howitzer crews were in position and readying their 155mm cannons. The Engineers with their M104 Wolverines and their Cat D9 Bulldozers, were in place awaiting word to cross the I-80 bridge and use their bridge laying equipment to cover the gap on the east side of the bridge once they were given the all clear signal.

Just out of sight from the bridge on I-80 were the bulk of the 1^st Armored Combat Brigade Team and 7^th Infantry Battalions, ready to advance over the bridge once the Wolverines did their job.

Back at Offutt, Eve, Logan, and the Chipmunks were manning the Command Center. Eve scanned her monitor as units checked in with their readiness level. She was waiting to hear from the UNIT force before giving her final orders.

“Oracle, this is Phoenix. We are in position.”

“Roger, Phoenix. Standby to execute.” Eve looked at the clock. It was 0445. “Havoc, this is Oracle. Execute. All other units move into position.” Eve listened for the acknowledgment from all units. Daisy updated the monitor that showed the location of all allied forces as they moved into position.

At the eastern end of Lock and Dam # 14, the two Blood’s Honor A Teams were in position to see the few awake or at least mostly awake guards. The initial attack would be with suppressed SMGs.

At the eastern end of Lock and Dam #15, Major Gulipo and Kapitan Veselov quickly checked their suppressed SMGs and looked at their teams who were also checking their weapons.

When both groups heard the order for Havoc, the lead members of the attack force opened fire with their weapons, taking out the closest guards. They immediately jumped up and ran forward followed by the rest of their teams. The initial firefight was quick, any of the enemy with guns in their hands were killed quickly. Each location had a relatively small force holding the position and they were quickly subdued. The firefights lasted five minutes.

“Oracle, this is Havoc One. Execution successful.”

“Oracle, this is Havoc Five. Execution successful.”

“Havoc, this is Oracle. Bravo Zulu. All units, execute Operation Thunder Cloud. All Darths, deliver your packages. All units, after package delivery by Darth, commence attack.”

At air bases throughout Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and southern Wisconsin, the morning darkness exploded around Ashwood’s forces as high explosive bombs destroyed buildings around the base and rippling explosions from cluster bombs dropped among parked aircraft, taxiways and runways. Fireballs bloomed high in the air over the bases. Soldiers and airmen on the bases were in shock at the violence of the attack. No alerts had been sent to any base. They had no idea what was going on.

As soon as they were loaded, the line of five IRBs had moved into position, ready to cross the river when the order was given. When the Blackhawks of the 7^th Infantry flew low overhead, they began their assault across the river. At the bridgehead location, one mile below the I-80 bridge, the 7^th Infantry soldiers quickly jumped out of their Blackhawks and moved forward into defensive positions to secure the bridgehead for the troops crossing the river. The troops moved to the few houses near the river. The first thing they did was cut the phone wires just in case there were Ashwood sympathizers who might contact the nearby Army forces. They then swept through every house and got the inhabitants up and dressed. They encouraged them to get to somewhere safe. Every person they met appeared to be thankful when they learned that these were soldiers loyal to President Bryce. Fifteen minutes later the first IRB landed and three M-1s of the 1^st Armored drove off and up to the road just beyond the river. The tank commander spoke briefly with the infantry commander before ordering the tanks forward. For the next half an hour each of the five IRBs unloaded their cargoes, and headed back for more until there was a mixed unit of six M-1s, three M-2s, three M-3s and some heavily armed Humvees. The commander gave the order and the M-2s and 3s moved out, the M-1s next, followed by the Humvees. They were on their way to take the bridge. The 7^th Infantry stayed back to guard the bridgehead, because the IRBs would soon return with more vehicles and troops to help with expanding the bridgehead.

Ashwood’s forces near the I-80 bridge were from the 106^th Cavalry Regiment of the Illinois National Guard. Those on duty looked to the south because they thought they heard something that sounded sort of like thunder, but they weren’t sure. The lieutenant on duty was thinking about calling it in, when he was thrown to the ground by an explosion. He staggered to the door of the Welcome Center overlooking the bridge, that his unit had appropriated for their headquarters. He saw explosions ripping into his unit, tearing it up. He ran back inside to the communications room. The commo sergeant was righting the chair he had been knocked out of. “Sergeant, call headquarters and tell them we are under attack.” The sergeant nodded and turned to his equipment. “HQ, this is A Troop. We are under attack. I repeat, this is A Troop we are under attack.” The sergeant kept repeating the call as Lieutenant Borrell went to make sure their captain was up.

He met the captain coming out of his office buttoning up his utility jacket. “What’s going on Borrell?” The lieutenant shook his head. “Not sure sir, but we are under attack. It looks like heavy artillery bombardment.”

“Get the men in their Bradleys and get them moving. Have you contacted headquarters?”

“Yes, sir.” The two officers went outside. The Welcome Center was on a small hill, about a quarter of a mile from the bridge. As the lieutenant ran to get the Bradleys moving, Captain Nelms looked through the binoculars he had brought from his room toward the bridge. He couldn’t see anything on the bridge, so he started to scan the area. The road from Rapid City looked clear. He scanned down the road past the bridge. It was difficult to see in the dark of the morning. He was suddenly knocked down from a nearby explosion. He picked himself up and looked in the direction of the Welcome Center. It was destroyed and on fire. A few men stumbled out of what used to be the building and collapsed on the grass.

He looked down at the road below and saw his Bradleys moving toward the bridge. A moment later he was shocked when the lead Bradley exploded. He frantically looked around trying to figure out what had happened, when he saw the muzzle flash from a tank which lit up other nearby tanks and the second Bradley exploded. His Bradley’s began trying to backup and escape. Now Captain Nelms could hear the sounds of the M-1s and see several of them firing on his men. With each hit another Bradley exploded. He saw more enemy vehicles heading toward the bridge, as the tanks advanced on his men. There was little he could do as his unit was being chewed up. For the next several minutes the tanks continued to advance. Captain Nelms could see enemy Bradleys moving toward the bridge or supporting the tanks. Soon he saw his men stop their Bradleys and climb out of them to surrender. There was nothing he could do. They were outmatched. The attack had been sudden and a complete surprise. Where had these tanks come from?

He looked around as he noticed that it was relatively quiet now, and realized that the artillery barrage had ceased. He looked toward the bridge and thought he could see faint lights on the bridge. Looking through the binoculars didn’t help, except to tell him that vehicles of some kind were moving across the bridge. Well, they’d find there was a big gap, if they didn’t already know. They wouldn’t be able to use the bridge. He heard the sound of an armored vehicle coming up behind him and saw a Bradley that was not one of theirs, followed by a Humvee armed with a .50 caliber MG driving toward him. He sighed and walked to the two vehicles. He saw that the MG was pointed right at him as he neared the two vehicles to formally surrender to the enemy force.

At Rock Island Arsenal, the huge explosions caused by the 2000 lb bombs that hit the four bridges, woke everyone up within a few miles of the base. Windows near the bridges were shattered by the force of the blasts. As the soldiers on the base ran to their duty stations, three large attack helicopters flew over and began firing missiles and chain guns at them, driving the soldiers to cover. At the end of the island where Blood’s Honor and the Spetsnaz were, one of the Halos landed and disgorged the remainder of the Spetsnaz troops who would be helping to take the base. The combined attack force began moving forward. There were only a few guards in the initial buildings and they were quickly overrun by the stronger force that was against them. As they drove deeper into the base, they started running into more forces. Now it was turning into a fight.

Dragon led the way to the airport. Christina had asked Colonel Zolotov to come in low from the west but not approach until she gave the word. She engaged their Stealth and flew over the airport to look it over and see what locations would be the first points of attack. “Sean tell me what you see.” Inside the C3 suite Sean worked his magic. “Dusty, ask Drake what military forces are out there.” Moments later Dusty gave him the report. “There are six Apaches, six Cobras, three Kiowas, and four Thunderbolt IIs. There are also two Avengers for air defense, one is near the terminal building on the north side and one near the control tower on the south side. The Kiowas and the Apaches are on the south side around the buildings owned by Elliott Aviation, a private company, the Thunderbolts and the Cobras are on the north side near the terminal building. There are patrolling guards near the aircraft and buildings. The control tower and one of the Avengers is manned, but the targeting radar on the manned Avenger is not active. Drake also says that there are some other aircraft designated as military, but something is unusual about them. He states that their silhouettes do not match current military aircraft. Some are jets but most are propeller driven aircraft.”

“Thanks Dusty. Have Drake send that information to Chris.” In the cockpit, a summary of the forces on the ground appeared on her monitor. She looked at the force list. “Drake. Are any of the aircraft in an alert status?”

“Negative. All are shut down. The only manned vehicle is one of the Avenger Air Defense vehicles. However, their targeting radar is not actively searching for targets.”

Christina observed the airport as she decided on the best way to approach the attack. She called into the main cabin. “Red Dragons, get ready, I’m going to set down 300 yards west southwest of the tower. Captain Nim, Chase, Rio, Vanya. I want you to take control of the tower. Once you have it, contact me. Colonel Patterson, you will be ground commander. Jamil, you will stay aboard to act as crew chief and man one of the fifties. Once the tower is ours, and I give you the signal, Colonel, I want you to take the buildings around the tower. Once Colonel Zolotov’s troops arrive, you will move to the hangars and other buildings where the helos are parked. If you have to fire before my order, use suppressed weapons only if possible. I don’t want them to know you’re there until the Russians join the attack. Any questions?”

When she heard none, she changed frequency. “Colonel Zolotov. Do you read me?”

“Da Kapitan. Read you loud and clear.”

“Colonel. We have a couple of Avenger Air Defense vehicles. I’m going to take them out and then you will attack the terminal side of the airport. That is where the Cobras and Thunderbolts are located. Most of your troops are to take the terminal and all military forces that are located there. I would appreciate you sending one of your helos with its load of men to the south side to assist us with the forces there.”

“Da Kapitan. It will be done. We will await your command.”

Christina brought Dragon down in the grassy area between a road and a taxiway still under stealth. Inside the main cabin the lights were turned off and as soon as it was on the ground, the ramp was lowered and the Red Dragons quickly disembarked and took positions facing the nearby buildings just across the road. They felt Dragon lift off behind them. Gabe looked around and then pointed to Captain Nim. The tower team headed in that direction. Gabe then pointed to the two nearest buildings and waved his hand forward as he took the lead.

Chase and Rio led the way with George and Vanya following behind them. When they got near the tower entrance, Rio held up his hand and they crouched down. Rio called George on their tactical radios. “There’s a couple of guards near the entrance. Chase is going to take care of them. He’ll let us know when it’s clear.”

Chase scampered to the side of the tower so that he wasn’t seen. Because he had a low silhouette it was difficult for anyone to see him in the darkness. There were some decorative bushes near the entrance and he wormed his way into them until he was just a few feet from the two guards. He watched them for a few moments and then he jumped up high out of the bushes and quickly threw two shuriken into the neck of each man. Both of the guards dropped their rifles as their hands went to their necks, trying to stem the flow of blood. In moments they were unconscious and bleeding out. Chase called the others. “It is clear.” Rio and the others ran up to him. They stashed the bodies in the bushes and entered the tower.

George took the lead with a silenced pistol at the ready as he entered the door. There was no one else inside so they headed right for the elevators. Inside he told the three others to hug the sides out of sight. He let the pistol drop to his side, partially hidden by his leg as he pushed the button for the highest floor. When the elevator stopped, George motioned for the boys to wait as he checked to see if the way was clear. There was no one on this level, he saw some stairs with a sign that pointed up and was labeled Air Traffic Control. He gestured for the boys to follow as he started climbing the stairs as quietly as possible. When he could see into the room, he saw that there were just a few men dressed in uniforms lounging in the chairs. He looked back at the boys. They had their weapons ready. He turned around and quickly charged up the stairs, the boys right behind him. One of the soldiers who happened to be looking at the stairs drew his pistol and George shot him. The other soldiers froze after that, especially when they saw four armed people in the room aiming rifles and SMGs at them.

George pointed at Vanya. “Get their guns. Everyone stand up and keep your hands where I can see them.” Vanya slung his rifle and quickly relieved them of their pistols. As he walked away from the last soldier, the man made a quick grab for Vanya’s rifle and just as quickly fell back, grabbing at his face, a needle shuriken was sticking out of his left eye. The other soldiers were shocked. “I thought it was apparent that we were serious about you not moving. Hopefully it is now understood what I meant. Everyone have a seat. Rio bind them to the chairs.” Rio quickly used their zip ties to attach the men to the chairs. Once everyone was secure, he called Christina. “The tower is ours.”

“Roger. Any casualties?”

“None that are ours.”

“Understood. Gabe are you in position?”

“Yes.”

“Standby.”

Christina was holding Dragon in a position high enough to see toward Rock Island. She was waiting for the explosions from bombing the bridges before initiating her attack.

On the ground, the soldiers and airmen who were on the graveyard watch at Quad City Airport were looking forward to grabbing some food and hitting their racks. Those who were outside guarding the aircraft and terminal buildings were looking forward to getting inside where it was warm. The Avenger crew on duty were doing what they could to keep warm as they monitored their radar.

Christina and Oliver in the cockpit saw the fireballs from the destroyed bridges. She keyed her mic. “Fire Drake, Havoc and Drakon, this is Fire Drake One, Tally Ho!” When the first explosions from Rock Island were heard by those at the airport, it drew the eye of everyone who was outside at the airport. Inside, those on duty looked around in confusion not sure what had happened. Inside the makeshift barracks, some of the men woke up and looked around. The Avenger crew got out of the cab and looked to the north. As the duty commander watched he saw and heard another explosion. He jumped back inside. “Go active. I think Rock Island just got hit.”

Shortly after Christina gave the order to attack, Drake‘s voice came through the speaker. “Avenger targeting radar just went active.” Chris glanced at her display. “Drake drop stealth. Ollie send a Hellfire to each Avenger.”

At the Avenger, Dragon appeared suddenly on their radar screen. The vehicle commander was calling the tower. “We have a target. Designate FO1.” They listened for the tone telling them the Stingers in the tubes were locked on target. Before they heard the tone the soldier jumped out of the cab and yelled. “SHIT! GET OUT!” He put actions to his words and tried to get clear. The commander had no chance to move before the Hellfire hit them. The soldier was thrown forward and hit with shrapnel from the exploding Avenger. He didn’t see the other Avenger suffer the same fate at almost the same instant, because he was unconscious by the time he hit the ground.

At Offutt, Eve listened as reports came in. On one of the wall monitors the Intel Team noted the positions of the units as they were reported. As each B-2 reported success, each of their targets were marked with a small fire symbol. She saw the advance of the river assault force as it moved to the I-80 bridge and took down the force guarding it. That enemy unit was marked with a skull. The units protecting each of the lock and dams were also marked with a skull. She saw that the other US Army forces were moving into position to advance across the bridge once the Wolverine’s laid their bridges over the gap. Other wall monitors were relaying real time images and data from the unmanned drones flying over the battlefields.

Christina watched as Colonel Zolotov’s helicopters came in. Three of the helos set down near the terminal, while the other two landed just beyond where the Apaches and Kiowas were parked. On the terminal side, she watched as a Havoc and a Hokum fired on some of the Cobras causing them to explode. Because of where the Russians landed they were among the enemy aircraft in no time which would prevent any of the pilots from getting to their machines if they tried.

While the Russians were securing helos and nearby hangars, Gabe led the rest of the Red Dragons against the two nearby buildings. Once they were given the attack order, Gabe removed the suppressor from his pistol and holstered it, bringing his M4 up and ready. He waved the team forward as they went to the north side of the first building, because they saw no entrance on the side of the building facing them. They found a door there and stacked up to the side. He checked it and found it unlocked. Keeping his hand on the knob he nodded to Apollo and then pulled the door open. Apollo charged through followed quickly by the rest of the team. They found themselves in a hallway. He saw a soldier come through a side door carrying an M16. Apollo shot him, headed directly to the door and ran through it. There were several soldiers in various modes of dress. Apollo aimed his rifle at them. “Everyone freeze!” They saw the rest of the team entering the room behind him, and froze where they were. Gabe entered, gave the room a quick once over. “Check the rest of the building. If any resist, shoot them, but try not to kill anyone you don’t have to. They are US soldiers, they are just following the wrong person. Find their commander. Ethan, Logan, Doc, Patrick you stay with me. Apollo go with the others.” Most of the team ran from the room to clear the rest of the building.

Gabe looked at their prisoners and saw one of them with sergeant stripes. He pointed at him. “Sergeant, come here.” The man walked forward eyeing the large man in front of him.“What’s your name, Sergeant?” The man eyed the colonel’s insignia. “Fernando Aranda, sir.” Gabe nodded. “Sergeant Aranda. I’m Colonel Patterson. In case you haven’t figured it out, we are with the forces of President Bryce. We are here to begin the process of taking back this country from that insane megalomaniac who lost the election. I don’t know or care what you’ve heard but, Ashwood lost the election, and he and his government are in rebellion. If I have your word as an Army NCO, I will not bind you or your men. We will be disarming you, but I would prefer not to have to guard you. Do I have your word that you and your men will not interfere?”

The sergeant glanced out the door where Doc was just now getting up from checking the man. He was obviously dead. There was the sound of a short burst of gunfire somewhere else in the building. Gabe followed his look and shook his head. “I’m truly sorry about your man. We don’t wish to hurt any of you soldiers, but he was armed and my team had to shoot. I would prefer to keep casualties as close to zero as possible. We all took the same oath, you’re just following the orders of an illegal dictator.” Sergeant Aranda took a breath and nodded. “Yes sir. I remember my oath. We were told that Bryce was in rebellion. We were following our orders. We will not interfere with your men sir.” Gabe looked at Ethan. “None of them are AoG. I believe we can trust him.” Gabe nodded and looked at the sergeant. “Okay. Sergeant keep your men here. I don’t want any of you accidently hurt.”

After securing the soldier’s weapons, they left the room. They found the rest of the team had captured the rest of the soldiers in the building. Two other soldiers had been killed, including one of the officers. When he caught up with the rest of the team Apollo reported to him. “Building secure, Colonel.”

“Any casualties.” Apollo shook his head. “None from our side. Two of the enemy were killed when they resisted.” Gabe nodded. “Bring all of them here to the front of the building.” Apollo nodded and the team retrieved the captured soldiers. When they were gathered. Gabe stood in front of them, with Ethan at his side. He glanced at Ethan who was looking at the gathered soldiers. He glanced at Gabe and shook his head. “Jim, Patrick, Fiona and Aleks. Stay here and guard them. Jamie, Josh, Dakota, Apollo, you go around to the back of that building. The rest of you let’s get to the next building.” Jamie and the other three ran back the way they came, while the rest followed Gabe out the front door. Those staying behind took positions around the room. Patrick looked at the prisoners. “Make yourself comfortable while we wait.” The prisoners sat down on the floor.

Gabe’s team ran the short distance to the front door of the other building and slammed through it. They repeated what they had done in the first building but this time, the men they saw were only armed with pistols, and they were quickly subdued since pistols versus assault rifles was not an even match. As Apollo and the three with him came around the back of the building, they saw two men carrying aviator helmets running toward the hangars. Jamie put his hand out and pushed. Both men fell as if tackled from behind. By the time the two men got their breath back, they were surrounded by four black clad figures. The back door of the building slammed open and another man came running out. He saw the group and started to turn back inside but Apollo fired a burst near to him and he stopped, dropping his pistol and raising his hands. Apollo motioned for the two on the ground to stand up. Their pistols were taken, and they walked back to the building. In the front lobby of the building were the rest of the prisoners. It was obvious that these were the pilots for the Apaches and Kiowas.

On their radios they heard a Russian accented voice. “The helicopters and hangars are secured.” Gabe contacted those in the other building. “Red Dragons, allow your prisoners to get dressed, and bring them to the hangar.”

“Roger Fire Drake Two. Drakon One. What is your status?” Colonel Zolotov’s voice came on the tactical radio. “Terminal is secured, we have found some unexpected prisoners here Kapitan.”

“Thank you. Colonel, please allow your prisoners to get dressed if they aren’t already, and bring them to Colonel Patterson’s position at the hangars on the south side of the airport.” Gabe looked at his team. “Let’s go to the hangars.” He called Dragon. “Fire Drake One, this is Fire Drake Two, all prisoners are being escorted to the hangars.”

“Roger. We’ll join you momentarily.”

Once the pilots were dressed, Gabe’s team escorted them to the hangar. The entire operation had taken an hour. It took only a few minutes for them to arrive at the Elliot Aviation hangars. The prisoners were surprised when they saw nearly 200 Russian soldiers guarding their aircraft and the hangars. Gabe spoke with one of the Russian officers as the prisoners were escorted into an empty hangar. Luckily they were dressed properly or they would be feeling the early morning cold.

Outside, the sound of helicopters coming in for a landing was heard. The prisoners watched out the open hangar doors as a Russian Halo and a CH-53 landed. Moments after the engines shut down, their occupants walked out of them. From the Halo, another group of prisoners were escorted into the hangar guarded by more Russians. Christina led the group from Dragon over to stand next to Gabe. She contacted her team members on the UNIT tac frequency. “Everyone, you can take off your helmets, except, unfortunately, you, Chase. Keep out of sight but stay nearby.”

“I understand Chrissy. We do not want to shock the squishies too much.” Christina smiled. “Yeah. Thanks, Chase. You guys can take off you helmets. Let’s show them what they are up against.” The prisoners had been looking over some of their captors, they had noticed that some of these black clad figures seemed to be rather short and slender and looked like the size of kids. They had heard the voices of the figures as well when they had been ordered to surrender, and they also didn’t sound like adult voices. When the helmets were removed, their suspicions were confirmed when they saw that except for the Russians and a few adult men, the rest were kids, very well-armed kids, but just kids. They were surprised at how young they were, but they noted that they appeared to be very familiar with the weapons they carried.

The prisoners watched as a Russian officer walked over to an older teenage girl and saluted her. She returned the salute and stepped forward. “I am Captain Christina Casey. We are a Special Forces Unit with President Bryce. I am aware that most of what you have been told is not as true as you have been led to believe since the election. Since you obviously have not heard any real news for the last few weeks, here it is. President Jack Bryce won the election by a landslide. Ashwood decided not to give up power and started this civil war so that he could be a dictator. We can prove that President Bryce has been officially proclaimed by the Supreme Court and Congress as the legitimate President of the United States. The Ashwood government is in rebellion, and we are going to bring him down. Some of you may be asking why there are Russian soldiers here. Ashwood has made alliances with some Middle Eastern and South American countries to support his rule. Most of the world leaders have allied themselves on President Bryce’s side, and have sent forces to assist him. The Russian’s are our allies in this, and this an example of some of the soldiers they’ve sent to help us. The Canadians have joined forces with us to fight against Ashwood, along with the British, the Germans, and others who have sent military assistance as well. As for Ashwood, we know that he has set off chemical, radiologic and biologic agents in a few US cities, killing and injuring thousands of our countrymen. He called President Bryce an international terrorist, when in fact he is the true terrorist. He also set off one or more nuclear bombs inside the San Andreas Fault in an attempt to destroy California by causing a huge earthquake. He was partially successful. He sent cruise missiles filled with sarin gas against Austin, Texas in attempt to kill the Texas Government who stood up to him. He failed to do that and instead he killed thousands of innocent civilians in the city. He pardoned and armed the worst criminals throughout this country, and let them do whatever they wanted in order to sow terror in the country. He has brought South American soldiers into this country and given them free reign to rape, kill, and imprison American citizens who don’t agree with him. He has built concentration camps for those he deems as undesirable. He’s as bad as or worse than Germany’s Hiller was during World War Two. He has even allowed and supports vile experiments to be performed on children. I wanted you to know who the man is that you’ve been fighting and in some cases dying for. It’s not too late to do the right thing and live up to the oath you took when you joined the service. You are supposed to be serving the people of the United States. Not the dictator Ashwood.”

“You have proof of your claims?” Christina looked at the man who asked the question and noted he had major’s gold oak leaves on his uniform. “Yes, I do, Major. Are you the commander of this unit?” She glanced at Sean who nodded as he lifted his laptop up slightly. “Yes, I am. Major Jesse Boyd, and I’d like to see that proof.” Several of the other prisoners also nodded in agreement. As Chris was about to answer she received a call on the tactical radio. “Fire Drake One, this is Havoc One. We have secured the Arsenal.” Christina smiled slightly as she answered. “Roger Havoc One. We have the airport. I will contact Oracle so that word can be passed to the president so he can send in more troops.” She looked at Sean. “Contact Oracle and tell them that our objectives have been taken.” Sean nodded and walked over to a workbench. He had his laptop set up in moments and had Dusty contact Drake to put him through to Eve.

She looked at the prisoners. “Okay Major I’ll show you the proof when I get a moment. For now try to make yourselves comfortable for a little while.” He turned to the men and nodded. They started finding places to sit down in the hangar. The floor was all they had and even though it was a bit cold, it was better than standing. Colonel Zolotov escorted an older man dressed in civilian clothes over to her. “Kapitan. This is one of the prisoners I told you about.” She looked at the man but said nothing, so after a glance at Zolotov he introduced himself. “I’m Gerald Middleton. If what you said is true, then if we can help, we will.”

“Okay Mister Middleton, I appreciate that, but how can you help?”

“I and my friends are with the Warbirds Foundation. We travel the country and show our collection of historical military aircraft. We were on a tour of airports showing our aircraft at several air shows and other events. We happened to be here when everything started and they wouldn’t let us leave. Our next stop was supposed to be Love Field in Dallas. Our aircraft are in fighting shape and if we are given the armament, we can still fight.”

“You said historical aircraft? Like what?”

“Well we have our B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator bombers, P-51 Mustang, F4U Corsair, F6F Hellcat, P40 Tomahawk, A36 Apache fighter and attack aircraft. We have some German aircraft too. A couple of Focke Wulf 190s and a ME 262. We also have some of our Vietnam Era aircraft, an F-4 Phantom, A-4 Skyhawk, F-100 Super Sabre and an AE-1 Skyraider.”

“I’m not sure letting you fly into harm’s way in such old aircraft is a good idea.” The man frowned. “Well if they allow kids to fight, why not us older guys. All of our pilots are military veteran pilots. So we know what it is like to fight in a war. This is a war and we want to help. The B-17 can carry a 4500 to 8000 pound payload. The B-24 can carry a 5000 to 8000 pound payload. The fighter bombers can drop ordnance as well. Yeah, they’re not modern jet aircraft, but we can still help. A P-51 with six, fifty cals, can still tear shit up when it hits.”

“I understand what you’re saying Mister Middleton and I will pass your request up the line. Other than that, I can’t promise anything more.” She could see his obvious disappointment, but he nodded. “Thank you for hearing me out. And we are serious. This is why we served in the first place. To stop this sort of thing. All you need to do is give us the ordnance and point us somewhere, we’ll do the rest.” She nodded and he turned to join his friends. She could see that most of them were about the same age or older than Gabe. She looked at the colonel and cocked an eyebrow in question. He shrugged and gave her a smile. “I told him that I would let him talk with you.” She looked at the men again. “Well, I’ll do what I said, and pass it up the line. I’ll let them decide if they want to use them or not.”

She walked over to Sean as he was finishing his report. “I let Eve know. She’ll call us when the troops are on the way. She said to sit tight for now.” She asked him to tell them about what Gerald Middleton had offered too.

“Good. So what do you need to show the major our proof?” Sean looked around. “Unfortunately there is nothing in here that I can use. If I had a projector I could project it on one of these walls. It wouldn’t be perfect but they’ll see what we’ve got.”

“Okay, maybe there’s a conference room with a projector of some sort that we can bring in here. I’ll send some of the guys out to find one.” Christina saw Fiona and Aleks. “Fiona, Alexs. Can you search the offices for a projector for Sean?” They quickly nodded and took off.

Apollo walked up to her. “Chris, can I ask a favor?”

“Sure. What kind of favor?” He grinned. “Can I go for a little ride?” She gave him a strange look. “A ride? On what?” He looked at the ground for a moment. “In an Apache?” He gave her a pleading look. “Please, they look so badass, I want to see how they fly? I won’t go far, I just want to take it up and look around a bit. I’ll be back in just a little bit. Besides I’m bored just standing around here. I haven’t gotten a chance to fly for a while and I need to get up there. We’re not going anywhere right now, so I thought I’d try one of them out. Besides, if I see any of Ashwood’s military coming this way, I can let you know.” She looked at him for a few moments. “You’ll need a gunner.” He smiled. “No problem.” He looked around the hangar. “Hey Dakota! You wanna go for a ride?” Dakota turned around from where he was standing with Sean. “I guess. We taking Dragon somewhere?” Apollo shook his head. “Nope, we’re taking one of the Apaches out.” Dakota grinned. “Oh yeah, definitely.” Apollo jerked his head. “Cool, let’s go.” As the two of them left the hangar, the major jumped up. “Hey, you can’t do that. You’re not trained to fly those.” Apollo glanced at Christina. She waved them on as she turned to the man. “Major, that’s where you’re wrong. Apollo can fly anything, don’t worry he won’t even scratch the paint.” She could see he wasn’t happy, but she didn’t care. Until she decided otherwise, they were still technically prisoners.

Out on the flight line the two teens looked the helos over and saw that they were all armed and ready to go. They chose one and climbed in. Apollo did a check of the aircraft while Dakota sat in the gunner’s seat and closed his eyes for a few moments as he got a feeling for the weapons and aircraft. When Apollo was ready, he started it up and contacted their teams. “Drakon and Havoc, this is Fire Drake Seven. I am taking off for a check out flight in one of the Apaches we just captured.” Once he heard from others in the assault teams, he lifted off and was airborne.

Back in the hangar, the two girls returned with a projector. They helped Sean set it up while Christina had the prisoners gathered. “Okay, Sean will show you our proof.” The projector was pointed to a relatively clear wall of the hangar. He started with Ashwood’s attempts on Bryce and his family and went on from there, showing a condensed view of the various attacks ordered by Ashwood against civilians, and what they found in the lab in Orlando and at the Courtland Camp they had just liberated, the Veteran’s Day Massacre, the imprisonment of Congress and the Supreme Court and many other incidents that were laid at Ashwood’s feet. They ended it with Bryce’s swearing in ceremony by the Chief Judge of the Ninth Circuit Court, Albert Ralkin.

When they finished she could see many angry looks on the faces of the prisoners. “This is the man you’ve been protecting.”

“That’s wrong. That is not what we were told. We heard some of that, but they told us that it was Bryce doing that. It really didn’t make sense to us, because we remember when he was president. It didn’t seem like him, but without any other explanation, we had no choice but to follow orders. He needs to be stopped. What can we do?”

“Major, I can’t accept your help, but I will contact headquarters and let them know you wish to help. For now you’ll have to wait.” She looked at Sean. “Call Oracle and let them know.” He nodded and had Dusty get Drake to connect them.

At Offutt, Eve listened to the reports as they came in. By 0700, the destroyed gap was bridged and the Army reinforcements were crossing over the I-80 bridge. She smiled in satisfaction when Sean called to report the Arsenal and airport were secured. It looked like the breakthrough was achieved, now they had to drive toward Chicago and break that siege. The report from Christina about the old pilots and their planes was a bit unusual, but she told the team to relay it. She was also pleased to hear that forces at the airport seemed to want to switch sides. That was one of her hopes with this operation. She was sure that at least for some units as long as they heard the truth they would quit supporting Ashwood. She told them to pass that info on as well.

A call came to the Command Center from Janet. “Eve. Can you spare Logan, right away? It’s very important.” She noted that Janet’s voice seemed off somehow. “Is there a problem?”

“No, definitely not. Please keep this to yourself, but Adam is alive.”

“What?! How, where?!”

“Shh! Don’t say anything, he knows you’re in the middle of an operation and doesn’t want to disturb you. So don’t tell the UNIT yet. He’s hurt and just arrived here. I didn’t even know about it until they brought him to me. But he’s alive. For now, can you please send Logan to me? Tell him that Doctor Ziegler wants to check his progress. She noticed that he seemed to be getting better and wants to take a look at him.”

“Okay. I will tell him.” She noticed that Logan and the Chipmunks were looking at her because of her outburst. “What was that about?” She looked at Logan. “Nothing really. It was Doctor Hayes. She requested that you meet her and Doctor Ziegler. They noticed your increased mobility and wanted to give you a quick check up.” She looked at the monitors. “I believe we can spare you for a few minutes at the moment.” Logan looked at Eve. It seemed to him that she was hiding something. He didn’t know what it was, but knew she was being a little secretive. Eve cocked an eyebrow at him. “Well? The doctors are waiting! The sooner you go, the sooner you can get back. If something comes up, we will call you.” Logan frowned a little as he stood up and left the room. She looked at the Chipmunks who were still looking at her. Waiting for more information. She met their eyes, but said nothing. They turned around and got back to work monitoring the progress of the operation.

If you are enjoying this story, please write and let the author know: Eric