By Chris Gilman
Chapter 1
A young Major walks into the office and salutes the man behind the desk nervously. "General, it’s started."
The general sits back in his chair and nods his head to the young officer. "I know James, I know. It’s been coming since that day." The general motions towards a chair in front of his desk.
The young man takes the chair and looks at the general with a worried expression on his face. "War, I hoped to never see another one."
"I know son," says the general with a hint of sadness in his voice. "But welcome to yet another. And this one is brewing into another world-war."
The young officer leans forward and rests his head on his hands. "All because a few idiots hate the US so much, they would kill hundreds in only seconds. And now, the world is willing to declare war on them. And guess who gets to lead the assault?"
"Yes, but this gives us an opportunity to try out the special unit." The general says with some hint of pleasure in his voice, but under it is also detectable a hint of dread. "They have been pretty pissed since this happened, and been waiting for the chance to get some revenge. I think it is time to start using them for what they have been trained for."
The Major raises his head and looks the general in the eye. "Are we going to give them that chance?"
A slow nod is his only reply.
The Major stands and salutes the general crisply. "I’ll send them the orders, sir. What engagement command is to be given?"
The general turns his chair to look out the window in the back of his office. There is a moments pause before he answers. "Zulu."
The Major gives a shocked stare but salutes again as he leaves the office. He walks down the hallway and stops before a doorway.
He opens the door with a key he takes from around his neck and enters. Inside are two guards wearing heavy body armor, each is holding an M-16 at the ready. They stand bracketing yet another doorway. Flashing his ID he is admitted after a retinal scan confirms his identity.
Inside he seals the room and opens up the laptop sitting there. Almost immediately a face appears on the screen.
"Sir," says the man on the other end as he salutes crisply.
"Captain Wolver, you have a mission. Mission code is Zulu, I repeat, Zulu. Data being sent now."
The eyes of the Captain widen with surprise. "Confirmed sir, Zulu it is." The face looks down at something off screen. He raises his head and nod. "Received. Good day, sir."
With that the screen goes blank. The Major sits back and pulls out a cigar, which he lights. Taking a long drag off it he slowly lets it out. "Good luck Pack, you’re going to need it."
***
Captain Max Wolver sits back in his chair after he cancels the transmission. ‘Boys, it’s time for some action.’
He reaches over and pulls the mic for the PA over to him. Keying the switch he speaks into it. "All Pack members, report to briefing room on the double."
He stands up from the desk and picks up the data file that was transmitted along with his command code. With slow and steady steps he walks out into the hall and turns down it towards the briefing room.
He enters to see almost all the team members assembled. Sitting down behind the table at the front, he entwines his hands, his chin resting on them. Finally the last member of the team enters the room.
The Captain hits a red button on his desk that seals the doors and windows to the room. They were now cut off from the outside world.
"Men, we have all followed the news of the last few days. I know we all want revenge for what happened in New York. Now, we get our chance." Not a sound comes from the men assembled in front of him. ‘Good training.’ He inserts the data disk into a slot in the table and a screen behind him lights up. On it appears a map of Afghanistan.
"Squads Wolf, Cat, and Bear, will drop here," he points at a position on the map and it glows red. "We’ll be using the new TBR-110’s for this mission with drop pods. We will be dropping into hostile territory. They will be on a search and destroy mission."
He turns back to them and gives a grin. "Other commands will be issued apon landing. Sorry men, but I can’t give any other information for those squads yet."
He turns back to the map and selects another area. "Here, Squads Rodent, and Aqua will set up a base camp. More TBR-110’s will drop off supplies here once it is ready. Till the end of this mission, this will be our home."
"And last but not least, Squad Fox and Musk will drop here." He points at an area well south of the others, "Here you will do recon of enemy positions and report back to field base before daybreak."
As he turns back to the assembled men he clasps his hands behind his back. "Any questions?"
When no hands or voices are raised, he claps his hands together in front of him. "Good, get out and get your gear. Load up, we move out in six hours." With that there is a cheer from the crowd of men as they stand and run out the now open doors.
The Captain watches his men leave with pride. ‘Let’s show the terrorist what real terror is. Let’s show them true hell.’
***
Six hours later the troopers are standing in ranks outside of the strange looking transport craft. To an untrained observer, they look like a strange hybrid of transport and stealth aircraft. Their loading ramps are sitting open and the hum of the engines is a constant drone in the background.
Max Wolver walks along the line, looking over all the troopers standing there. Checking their harnesses to make sure they are assembled right. Checking to make sure each man in wearing the necessary uniform. A one-piece body suit made of an elastic substance. No shoes or gloves are in evidence.
Each man has a large rifle strapped to his back and an equally large handgun positioned on his hip. Ammo pouches and grenades hang from the equipment harnesses. No backpacks or non-combat equipment seem to be in evidence.
The only strange item carried by the men is a large knife-like weapon strapped to the left hip. It is almost two feet long. Too short to be a sword, too long to be a dagger, but it’s use is clear. It’s a weapon.
When he reaches the end of the ranks he turns and walks back to the center. There he stops and turns to address the men standing before him.
"Men, we are about to show the terrorist hell on Earth. They wanted a war, now they got it. Load up!"
With a resounding cheer the troopers split into seven groups, each boarding a different plane. Captain Wolver walks up to a plane with a wolf’s head symbol emblazoned on its side and walks up the ramp, through the cargo hold and into the passenger cabin.
After a few minutes all the men are strapped into their jump seats and are awaiting take-off. The Captain straps himself into a seat near the front and speaks into his headset. "Flight control. This is Squad Wolf. We’re all aboard and ready for lift."
"Roger that, sir. Lift-off is in two minutes. Give ‘em hell sir."
The Captain rests his head back against the bulkhead and closes his eyes as the jet’s pitch increase. With a lurch the plane starts rolling down the runway.
With the motion, he opens his eyes and looks straight ahead at nothing. Not even seeing the man sitting across the cabin from him. ‘We’re on our way. Time for baptism by fire.’ Once more he closes his eyes and settles down for a nap.
***
Six hours later the Captain wakes up. His internal alarm telling him they are close. He unstraps and walks forward to the cockpit.
Leaning in he claps the pilot on the shoulder to get his attention. "Time to target?"
The pilot looks at his instruments. "Should be about thirty minutes sir. Might want to get the boys changed, and into their pods."
"Yep," he says as he turns back to the cabin.
He walks to the front of the rows of men who are still strapped in and raises his voice to be heard by all over the high pitched whine of the jets. "Men, this is it. All our training has come to this. Change and get suited up. We drop in thirty minutes."
The troopers all unstrap their harnesses and stand, stretching. They work out kinks and sore muscles from being strapped in so long without moving. Then, something strange happens.
All the men in the cabin start to change. Bulking up with muscle, and growing at least a foot in height. Fur of different colors spring forth from their skins. Some black, some gray, others brown. Their ears relocate to on top of their heads and take on a more canine look. Faces distort outwards into muzzles lined with sharp teeth. Their legs lengthen and change so now the men are all standing on their bare toes. Finally, tails spring forth from the base of their spines to wag behind them.
The sergeants start checking each man in their units to make sure they are finished before reporting to the now large bipedal black wolf. The one that used to be the very human Captain Wolver, and who still wears his name patch over his left breast.
The Black wolf gives them a nod and the men start filing out of the passenger cabin and into the cargo hold.
There they start opening hatches on different containers. Climbing in, some singly, some in pairs, they settle down and reach up for the closure handles. With multiple clicks they shut their hatches and then there is silence again.
The Captain hesitates before he shuts his hatch. Reaching for the side of his headset he keys his mic. "Pilot, this is Squad Wolf. We are loaded up and ready for drop."
"I read you, sir. Drop is in ten minutes. I’ll see you guys at the new home. Good luck."
With that Max shuts his hatch and seals it. ‘Only ten minutes left. I hope we are ready for this.’ He rests his head back against the soft padding and closes his eyes to wait for the drop.
***
The pilot checks his monitor and sees that all the hatches are sealed. "The cubs are all buttoned up." He looks over at the wolf in the copilot seat.
The wolf looks back, "Aren’t you going to change?"
He laughs and goes through a similar charge to what the troopers in the cabin went through. When he is finished he looks at the copilot with a wolfish grin. "Was just waiting for you to finish. You know we can’t leave this thing without a pilot."
"Yeah, I know. Especially this close to the target."
The pilot looks down at the readouts and frowns. "We’re getting real close. Open the drop doors."
The copilot reaches over and toggles a switch. A slight whir can be heard from somewhere behind them as two doors open up in the belly of the transport.
The pilot watches the map on the screen and the indicator of their position. Finally it shows they are on target. "We are on target. Let the cubs loose."
The copilot hits another toggle and there is a quiet thump as the pods are dropped from the belly of the transport. In less then ten seconds the last pod has dropped and the pilot turns his craft in a tight circle. Over the drop zone as the pods drop and deploy their chutes. "Good luck guys, we’ll see you at base."
***
The Captain hears the thump of his pod being dropped from the transport and opens his eyes. ‘Good, the waiting is over.’
He looks down at the device attached to his wrist as sees that his chute will deploy in ten seconds. As the timer counts down he feels the jerk of the chute deploying when it reaches zero. ‘One more thing out of the way.’
The scanner on his wrist shows that the rest of the squad has also deployed its chutes and are now drifting down to the arid landscape below. He takes note of the distance and rate of decent and rests his head back again. ‘Two minutes. Wonder if anyone noticed us?’
Two minutes later his eyes open as his pod hits the ground gently. Thumbing the trigger switch he engages the explosives and the pod around him explodes into four roughly equal sized pieces that fall away, leaving him standing there in the open air.
He watches as each pod touches down and a similar explosion comes from each. The men who climbed into pods singly end up standing like the Captain. Alone and on their own two feet.
Those who climbed into pods in pairs are deployed with what look like strange dune buggies. One wolf sitting in the drivers position with the other sitting next to him behind a weapon mount.
Finally, the last pod lands and the trooper from it deploys. Those on foot climb up onto the back of the buggies as the drivers engage the engines. They emit a low hum, and take off into the night.
The captain checks his wrist display and sees the encrypted message he has been waiting for has arrived. ‘All squads deployed on target. Awaiting orders.’ He taps out the code that will issue the commanders of each squad their orders. Then engages his headset.
"Squad Wolf, we have a mission. There is a terrorist camp ten miles north. That is our target. At nine miles, disembark and prepare for engagement. Move out."
There is a howl of acknowledgment from all the wolves. The captain joins them with his own howl and they speed off into the night. The enemy has no idea what is coming.
Story and characters © Copyright Christopher Gilman 2001 all rights reserved
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