Above and Beyond the Call of Duty, Part II

[Jaguar]

Continued from http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...threadid=51303


Andre shuddered as the laser fire came at him from every angle. War wasn't at all as easy as he thought it would be. Most of the soldiers felt the same way. They had grown up a lot in the past hour. In their first battle, they had already seen dozens of people they had met lose their lives in the blink of an eye. They weren't the same young men who had been chatting and blasting the Notorious B.I.G. on their way to Israel. They were an hour into war, and were sick of it already.

Andre's thoughts were broken by another laser fire. His platoon of five men got a radio call to move on forward. They had been doing this all day. It had only been an hour, but this hour had been long enough to be called a day. The Israeli and British armies, though high tech, were having trouble dealing with the vast numbers of Chinese and Arabs before the Americans arrived. The British and Israelis were driven so far back that the Americans could actually see the fighting when they landed on the beach north of Ashkelon.

Tel-Aviv was not too far from being liberated. At the time the American army landed, the Israelis were still fighting for the southern suburb's of Israel's largest city. Andre hoped the city would be liberated soon, but he was not being sent there. He was heading due East. Towards Jerusalem. Towards Jordan. Towards China.

[Jaguar]

The light blue on the map is controlled by British and Israeli forces. The red beach is where the Americans have landed, and the red arrows show where the Americans are going.

[Jaguar]

I will be done with my final exams and be able to write again Wednesday night. But until then, I'm working on cramming The Tempest into my head. So see you in two days.

[Jaguar]

As Andre arrived in Ashkelon, Marisleysis arrived in Oahu. Her deep brown eyes searched the sands of the beach, looking for the people that were supposed to drive her to her orientation meeting. Then her eyes fell on two very official-looking men in Navy uniforms. They silently led her to a black SUV.

After only a 5 minute drive, they stopped at a small building and let her out. She was directed inside. There was nothing but a soda machine and a stairwell. She descended the concrete stairs slowly, wondering whether she was in the right place.

She came to a landing, where the stairs turned 180 degrees. And below her she saw two armed laser-troopers. "ID?" Marisleysis had brought her passport just for this purpose. She gave it to the men, who compared it with a list they had, and let her through.

The building, which was only a small hut-like buiding on ground level, was several thousand square feet underground. There was a large auditorium-like room, with several other confused-looking people there as well. And what surprised her was that they were all women! (Because he is too lazy to describe her feelings, Jaguar Warrior uses the aid of a smiley instead.)

She took a seat, and looked up at the podium. There was a man getting ready to talk. While she waited for them she counted how many people were there. Three or four hundred. They were trying to figure out for what, besides being women, they had in common. Then they hushed as the man began to speak.

"Ladies. You have been drafted and taken here to perform perhaps one of the most important jobs in the military. You will not be sent to fight in Asia. You will be sent to fight in space. At this time, China is getting pilots ready in the Himalayas to launch. If we do not counter their threat, they will knock our satellites out of the air and the American army will be blind. That is why we are sending squadrons of our own pilots up. Each of our 57 squadrons will orbit about 50 feet above each one of our military satellites, and protect it. Each squadron will contain 7 crafts, each piloted by one woman. 6 are the S-Class fighter, the first combat spaceship we have designed. The last is the R-Class Supply and Docking Craft. The fighters stay connected to it during orbit, except when in battle. You will live in the supply and docking craft, and be able to talk with the other 6 pilots in the group, except when in battle. Then you and your fighters will leave the craft, go into battle, and then dock themselves again when the fighting has finished. The Chinese our operating on a similar system, so battle will occur when the orbits of your satellite and an enemy satellite cross. We intend to send up reinforcements with better training as some of you go down, but we need to get you up now to defend our satellites. Soon we will split into our squadron groups, and you will be given a more detailed description of your job. The 378 of you were picked because, at one point, pilots, either for the US Airforce or Navy, or for a commercial airline. If you piloted a small Navy or Airforce plane, you probably are a fighter pilot now too. If you were a commercial airline pilot, you are going to be a squadron leader. Now we will split you into squadron groups...

***

Back to studying. Tonight I'm gonna be back.

[Jaguar]

They were nearing Jerusalem. On their second day of combat, Andre and his platoon had not done much of anything interesting. They could hear the fighting at the front line quite often, but they never got to do real fighting. Andre thought. He noticed the irony of war. While he wanted to be on the front line, helping, the front-line soldiers wanted to be anywhere but the front line. War was making him become very philosophical, he thought, as the radio came in again.

The platoon did its usual advance, in which they marched behind an Israeli tank that had been in front of them since Ashkelon. They could see the buildings of Jerusalem ahead. As they wre looking up, shock hit them like a thunderbolt. The Israeli tank blew up.

The platoon leader, Alexander charged, as his four friends and subordinates followed. They ran over a ridge, and for the first time, they saw the enemy. They could see the line that stretched several miles in each direction. And they could see the long American front line - not in front of them - next to them. They were the front line now.

[Jaguar]

Expect 2 more installments in the next 2 hours. I'm writing them right now.

[Jaguar]

Marisleysis ran her hand over her S-Class ship. It was firmly docked to the Supply Craft, which was attached to the huge rocket. It was an hour to takeoff. She looked at the rockets her ship was armed with, and the singular laser gun on the underbelly that could swivel around backwards to get Chinese fighters off her tail. She took one last look at her ship, and then went over to the elevator and ascended to the supply craft.

She found the supply craft to be quite spacious in relative terms. (Her S-Class fighter was only 7 feet long, 5 feet wide, and 5 feet high.) Most likely, she thought, the reason all the pilots were women was because they took less space and fuel.

The supply craft had seven chairs at a table, and a small kitchen. It also had a supply room and a cockpit. Jenny, the supply craft's captain, explained to them the various aspects of the craft.

"If we run out of food, we actually will be visited by a craft that will exchange our supply room for a new, full one. I'm not sure how that will work, but it might be kinda cool. In the supply room we have various board games, and a laptop with some computer games. See, there it is. Kinda cute, don't you think?" she said, indicating one of those futuristic-looking I-Macs that Apple keeps advertising as "innovation."

Twenty minutes to takeoff. Marisleysis's thoughts turned to Maria, her beautiful baby, who was now staying with Tia Mariana in New York.

Ten minutes. Her thoughts turned back to the simulator work she had done, remembering the controls.

Then they were taking off.

[Jaguar]

Actually, how about I promise two more installments today, but no more right now?

Meanwhile, feedback? It gets very scary writing without feedback.

[civman2000]

goood...

[Jaguar]

Andre could feel the heat of his laser gun against his shoulder. He had been firing as fast as it could charge, and now he was worried it would overheat. He wanted to let the gun rest a little, but he didn't ever get a chance to. He was too busy protecting the tanks. The tanks were essential to knock off the Chinese laser troopers, but they were extremely vulnerable to the hand rocket-launchers. So Andre kept firing shot after shot at the rocket launchers.

He sometimes wondered about whose life he was ruining with each shot. Was it really some evil guy, or was it just someone like him who happened to have been born on the other side?

But he had to concentrate. This was a difficult battle. Chinese soldiers were pouring down towards him. His gun was overheating. But he couldn't let up his fire. He fired again, and again, and again. And then he lost consciousness.

[Jaguar]

"What time is it now?" asked Marie.
"Four hours, twenty minutes" said Jenny, picking up the dice and rolling for her little silver dog in the magnetic Monopoly game.

Four hours and twenty minutes more, thought Marisleysis, until the first battle. And we are sitting here playing Monopoly. Wasn't there something, well, weird about that? Were any of the other girls scared like she was? Perhaps they just weren't showing it. In four hours, they would be faced with an equal force that also had heat-seeking rockets and lasers. Somehow, no matter where her thoughts went, they would always turn back to the upcoming battle.

The battle that she was worrying so much about, in fact, would only be a few seconds, as the paths of two satellites crossed, but in those few seconds, easily half of them could die. She could see the little satellite rotating outside the window. That satellite would help see movement of millions of troops. That little 3 foot long satellite was more important than all of the ships in the fleet.

She was going to protect that satellite in four hours. Some of the group could die in that short confrontation. But there was no way of saying who. It was which crafts the enemy's missiles went after. It was luck. Dumb luck. Marisleysis rolled the dice.

[Jaguar]

Did you like my not-so subtle metaphor?

I'm starting a new story today. Look for it.

[Jaguar]

I started writing it that day, at least, but didn't get around to posting it. You'll see it soon though.

***********

Andre woke up on a stretcher. He was dizzy, but he could see his army-issued watch, and looked at the blurs closely. It was 6:00 PM. And they were heading towards the setting sun. They were retreating. He found himself back in blackness. He fought it, trying to stay alert, but it was no use. He lost consciousness again.

He woke up, feeling much better, a few hours later. He was in some sort of hospital. He had been left a chicken sandwich, and the remote for the TV in the corner. He assumed the nurses were busy, but he felt fine, so he contentedly turned the TV on and bit into his sandwich.

The TV channels were in Hebrew, but he correctly assumed that there would be at least one news channel in English. He watched the banners at the bottom. "USA retreats from West Jerusalem with heavy losses." That was him. He was one of the heavy casualties. Wounded in action. "Canadian troops liberate Haifa..." Well they had made progress elsewhere at least. "...British/Canadian strike force lands in Suez, Egypt." That was good. They were getting the Chinese from multiple sides.

Then he saw the door open. A nurse walked in.
"Sorry we couldn't get to you sooner. We have a lot of these wounds."
"Where am I?"
"Tel-Aviv."
"How did we lose?"
"The Chinese hit one of our portable AA guns and then their helicopters ran rampant on the middle of our line."
"Oh. When will I be back in action?"
"You were hit in the head with a laser-shot. I think two days will be enough to let you heal. But no less. Look at yourself in a mirror. You can see where the electricity went in and out of you."

It was pretty bad. He was black and blue on the side of his head. And his right arm had another bruise. He wanted to go back; two days was an eternity in this lightning-war. But all he could do right now was watch - and hope.

[civman2000]

yay! For once someone else mentions the reluctance of soldiers to kill! Andre should refuse to fight! Awhile ago someone in the civ3-general section posted a link to an article that proves that in war, the vast majority of the soldiers either don't fire or purposely miss because they will not kill anyone!

[Jaguar]

It was coming. They were in their fighter-ships, no longer docked, waiting for the moment. Marisleysis just looked up ahead. It was thirty seconds now. The thirty seconds lasted a long time.

So long that it took her a valuable moment to realize it when the enemy ships approached. She fired off two missiles, hoping to get through this experience unscathed.

But then she saw the Chinese missile heading at her from the other direction. It was seeking the warmth of her left engine. She rolled her craft, letting the missile pass. As it turned back around, she fired several laser shots. The missile took the hits, but slowed, lost control, and exploded. She was safe. And the Chinese were gone.

Marisleysis looked around. Nikki's craft, which Nikki had bravely steered to the front, was damaged. But it was now safely docked. The rest were undamaged. And so ended the highly anticipated four seconds of battle.