Chapter 15: The Elites

Location: Near Visalia, California, United States of America

Unit: Company A, 184th Infantry Regiment, US Army

Date: May 10th, 2021 CE

"THEY FUCKIN' FOUND US!" Corporal Turner called out, firing his M4A1 carbine towards the incoming NZA forces.

Both sides opened up on each other; machine gun and rifle bullets flew across the battleground, followed by volleys of grenades. Turner ducked behind a set of steel plates, ducking away from the hailstorm of bullets. The NZA force was too large for them to handle, there were what looked to be hundreds of them lining the buildings and rubble outside the base.

No matter what the 184th threw at them, the NZA would replace their fallen soldiers with two more.

Charging the cocking handle, Turner tried to open fire. His M4 jammed.

Tilting the weapon over he noticed the cocking handle wasn't fully, before he could do anything he heard a blood-curling scream come from a human ahead of him. Immediately looking up from his rifle, pressing the forward assist, he saw a fully geared NZA marine charging him, bayonet fixed.

It all happened in an instant; Turner carefully dodged the enemy's blade before catching the barrel of the ACR-3 assault rifle with his left hand. With his right elbow, he smashed the marine's nose into his face, causing him to drop his rifle and recoil in shock. Turner spun the NZA rifle around turning to open fire on the Marine.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

A burst of bullets flew out the barrel causing the marine to collapse in a pile of his own blood.

Still gripping the rifle, Turner dove back to cover, "Fucking hell," he said into his short-range radio, "We need reinforcements at the south gate!"

They were starting to enter the base on mass, the 184th was being pushed back.

"Negative, that is not an option, we are stretched thin as it is, the unit defending the north gate is almost gone in its entirety," A voice replied, it was Corporal Mounts.

Two more NZA marines charged the American Corporal. Firing both his M4 and the captured ACR-3 in a semi-automatic pattern, dropping several encroaching NZA. The rest of the 184th fought fiercely, this base housed the remaining 79 troops in A company along with a few informants and militia personnel.

At the northern gate to the base, another group of no more than twenty Americans sat in makeshift bunkers consisting of built-up sandbags from a nearby storage room. This was the entrance of the main NZA assault unit, at the start of the assault, there were 47 soldiers stationed there with the number dwindling into the low twenties now. The NZA forces were slowly starting to retreat.

"Push forward!" Lieutenant Royston shouted as he stood up from cover laying down covering fire as several Privates and lower ranks transitioned from cover to cover.

BWWWOOFFF! BOOM!

Suddenly, the Lieutenant saw something fly past the side of his face. A metallic shell. Royston only saw it for less than a second, but it felt like hours to him.

The tank shell propelled past his face and smashed into an abandoned building in the main area of the outpost. Royston dived to cover as he heard it, heavy machine gun fire blew through several American soldiers, cutting them down where they stood.

"FUCKIN' TANK!" Royston yelled, "Someone take it the fuck out!"

As he peeked around the corner he saw one of his Corporals crawling towards cover with a look of suffering on his face. On his back, the corporal carried a large radio box and as this Corporal looked towards Royston he immediately recognised him. Corporal Mounts.

The lieutenant looked away and cursed once more before standing up and yelling at the NZA, "C'mon you sons of bitches! Are you gonna kill me or what!?"

Several NZA troops immediately opened fire in the general direction of the Lieutenant as he moved into an alleyway still firing on the enemy. Immediately several NZA ran over the heavily injured Corporal and chased the American officer. As soon as they turned to enter the alley, several 5.56 rifle rounds pierced their necks causing them to fall to the floor.

"That all you got?" Royston yelled again.

Immediately he saw something being thrown through the air, it was a small round ball with a flat top, his eyes widened in shock as he noticed what it was.

"Move!" Someone yelled from another alley, in an accent he didn't recognise.

Before he could turn to hide from the incoming explosion, someone grabbed him and covered his head with their large mass.

"Check," a feminine voice said through the radio before a projectile flew straight into the small ball causing it to explode.

The explosion of heat and shrapnel filled the air. For no more than a few seconds.

FWIP! BOOM!

Several rockets flew overhead burying themselves just outside the building's alleyway right where the tank once stood. Suddenly a pillar of flame and smoke shot into the sky as heavily modified F35s and what seemed to be ancient MiG-29s flew overhead.

The soldier who protected the lieutenant pulled away revealing he was a very big and bulky man. This man wore a standard issue British Army Uniform but on his shoulders, he wore no badges, he had a darker white skin tone covered mostly by green and brown paint, more commonly known as camouflage cream.

On his back, the man carried a heavy Bergan backpack coloured in a standard British Army pattern.

A voice came from the wrist of the foreign soldier, "I guess that's checkmate then?"

The American officer spoke, "who are you?" gripping his M4 carbine.

The bulky foreigner turned around, "It's classified but I'm looking for two soldiers in A company of the 184th Infantry Division, their names are Corporal Mounts and Corporal Turner."

"My company have taken heavy casualties already, we can't afford to lose any more soldiers," Royston replied.

The foreigner spoke again, "You think this is a question?" He paused pulling a set of documents from his bag, "Read 'em."

The American Lieutenant started to read the letter, "Corporal's Mounts and Turner are to report to Captain Mclaw by 2100 hours, 12th of May 2021CE at Fort [Redacted] in [Redacted]. They are to be escorted by the Global Operations Unit VIA Chinook. This cannot be overruled by any high-ranking officer or political figure. President Lincoln Rodes of the United States of America," he paused, quickly rereading it in his head, "Global Operations Unit? What the hell..."

The foreign operator spoke, "Don't ask questions, where are they?"

"Turner is at the south gate while Mounts is severely injured out by where the tank blew up," the American finally realised resistance was futile.

Turning away the foreigner spoke into his wristwatch, "South gate and north gate, find them," looking up he called, "Oi Swiss, you up there?"

"Yeah, Safari, right here," a female sniper jumped from the rooftop, bouncing off the gutter on the wall across the alleyway.

The male operative frowned before speaking to his comrade, "I told you not to call me that..."

The female sniper, nicknamed Swiss, laughed, "Fine stop calling me Swiss then."

The foreign male cursed under his breath and walked out onto the charred street followed by Swiss and then the American officer. The American guessed she was European, probably from Switzerland by her nickname. However, he had zero clue where the man was from, he couldn't pin the accent nor get any clues from his nickname, Safari...

Several heavily armed soldiers stood on the battle-stained road looking after the heavily injured and barely alive Americans.

"Lieutenant!" A voice called out, it was Corporal Mounts. He ran forward with a large bandage tied around his waist and several smaller pieces of tape holding down sections of cloth. Saluting his officer he spoke, "Sir, the enemy has been repelled and is pulling back, what's our next plan?"

Royston looked to the foreign soldiers and spoke, "This is Corporal Mounts."

Safari nodded, "Mounts, you have orders to come with us along with Corporal Turner, straight from the US president himself."

Safari handed Mounts the letter and the American corporal inspected it, "Global Operations Unit? Captain Mclaw, who the hell are you guys?"

"We'll reveal everything when we arrive, and we'll let the Captain give the whole super soldier spiel," Safari replied.

Mounts had worked out exactly who these guys were and a look of shock filled his face when he realised he was going to be a part of their team.

Safari called out again into the crowd, "Richards, Big Man get over here!"

Two more soldiers ran over, these two both had US flags pasted on their shoulders above what seemed to be the mark of a hooded skull. Royston had never seen this military symbol before.

'Were these guys really that blacked out? Or was this just a new unit?' Royston wondered.

Safari spoke to the two US soldiers in the unit and they nodded at whatever he said. Royston couldn't hear as they were quietly assessing what to do.

"Mounts stay with these two and try to move," Safari turned back to the heavily injured company of American Soldiers, "The heli will be inbound in five."

Safari walked away from the main unit followed by the sniper. Safari's real name was Leon Mabasa and he came from South Africa. Having caught Jonathon's eye during joint training exercises in the US back in 2017 during a backyard brawl when he took on four SAS members and won in hand-to-hand combat through sheer strength alone. The sniper on the other hand was Private First Class Zeller who was born and raised in Switzerland and eventually joined Army Reconnaissance Detachment 10 or Swiss Special Forces.

Both of them hold the rank of Lieutenant under the command of Captain Jonathon Mclaw. While they do not control platoons, they are allowed to commandeer any NATO platoons they come across if the soldiers require it for the situation at hand. All members of the Global Operations Unit or G.O.U hold this rank except Captain Mclaw, who is in charge of the unit as a whole and has the final say on all situations they go into.

As they moved towards the South gate, they were greeted by two Indian soldiers and another previous US 82nd Airborne Paratrooper. With them stood an unfamiliar face, one Leon Mabasa had never seen in person but only on files and classified documents, Corporal Turner.

"So you're Turner," Mabasa asked.

The 184th Infantry Soldier nodded, still gripping an enemy ACR-3 rifle, "I've heard you want to recruit me for some special ops team... I'm not interested."

Mabasa sighed, expecting this, "That's too bad, your friend, Mounts, has already agreed."

Turners' eyes widened, "So that's your play..." he said quietly, before speaking directly to Mabasa, "Fine, I'll join you. Where's the chopper."

Mabasa checked his watch, "Uh... one sec."

Suddenly, a slapping sound came from over the horizon. It was a big steel machine with a set of dual spinning blades. A chinook.

Mabasa spoke into his radio earpiece, "It's time to Foxtrot Oscar, platoon, form on my position," he then turned to Zeller, "Get on overwatch and pop a red smoke, make sure there aren't any surprises awaiting us."

The sniper nodded and ran into the nearest building. No more than a minute later oozing red fog filled the air, trickling off the building side.

The chinook had noticed and started to circle, after a few passes it started to hover.

All members of the G.O.U had formed up and waited to be extracted, accompanied by Turner and Mounts. Both Corporals watched the duel blades descend from above. But this chinook was different... it looked heavily battle-damaged. Bullet marks all down the hull of the helicopter. But even when they tried to look into the inside, it was infinite darkness. Was there a second layer? Had this Chinook undergone heavy modification?

The steel beast touched down and the ramp dropped, revealing a dark compartment lit by only a small lamp and one window on each side next to the ramp and the minigun position.

The soldiers filed into the helicopter and sat down, except Mabasa who again spoke into his earpiece, "Noticed anything, Zeller?"

No response.

"Zeller you there?" Mabasa asked again, before turning around and signalling to the helicopter to cut the blades.

The helicopter blades shut off and the two corporals looked down to the helicopter's corridor.

Another soldier called out, "Oh great, she's gone missing again."

Mabasa shrugged the remark off, "Zeller, report in." Nothing. "Zeller report in." Still Nothing.

Mabasa turned around scratching his chin, "Shit, I'll go --."

BOOM!

The sound of explosions filled the atmosphere and Mabasa dived to the floor covering his face.

"What the hell?!" he yelled.

As he looked to where the blast had come from he noticed large clouds of murky black smoke fill the atmosphere, he realised what had just happened, "Shit... not again."

Quickly climbing on the twin-bladed helicopter he tapped the pilot on the shoulder, "Get us closer to the source of the smoke."

Both the co-pilot and the pilot turned around stunned at what they just got ordered to do, "Sir, with all due respect, you want us to fly closer to the large fireball?"

"Yes," he paused, "Do exactly that."

Turner raised an eyebrow, "Umm, why are we going to the huge fireball?"

Mabasa sighed, "That's where we will find the sniper, she's done this type of thing before," he nodded at the pilots and stood by the back ramp of the chinook, "Let's get this bird up in the air."

The dual blades started to ascend above the buildings and then tipped forward. The helicopter jolted into action, accelerating towards the growing smoke.

Grabbing a headset from the side of the helicopter, he placed it over his ears blocking out the chopping of the blades, "Spotted anything yet?"

"Not yet," the pilot paused, "Wait, red smoke spotted, near the courtyard."

Mabasa looked out the back window, "I see it."

A voice came through Mabasa's other earpiece, "That you Safari?" it was Zeller.

"Swiss, what the hell did you do?" Mabasa started to yell through his radio's microphone.

There was a pause, "Well, I sort of blew up an anti-air system..."

Mabasa's jaw dropped, "You did.... what?!" Shaking his head he continued berating her, "Why the hell did you leave the rest of us behind? Couldn't you have told us you saw a danger to the mission? What if you had died? And also why did you blow it up? We could have assaulted it and sent it back to be studied, you know our anti-air capabilities are behind theirs!"

Zeller tried to change the subject, "Can you just come and pick me up or do I have to make my own way back?"

Mabasa snarled, "The Captain's going to be livid you know that right?" He paused turning to the pilot, "Red smoke is one of ours, lets's pick her up."

The helicopter touched down and the Hecate-wielding sniper climbed on board and sat down opposite Mabasa, "Can you not tell Mclaw?"

Mabasa smiled, "I won't tell him but the reports will."

"Keep quiet or else, Safari" Zeller was demanding this time.

Mabasa smiled, "Or else what... Swiss?"

Turner eyed the confrontation just as someone stepped forward, "I swear, if you two have another disagreement on this helicopter, I will make you walk the rest of the way to Washington," the man had a heavy Northern English accent.

Turner looked towards the pilot ahead of him confused, 'Isn't this guy just a pilot? How can he tell these guys what to do?'

The pilot noticed Turner staring at him, "You tryin' to pick a fight kid. You're on my helicopter so abide by my rules," The pilot stared Turner down. A shiver went down the young American's spine.

A tall African American man spoke out, "Turner doesn't understand yet, he's not been briefed by the Reaper yet."

Turner slowly turned his head, "T-the reaper?"

The pilot chuckled, "Oh really, well he's in for a treat when we arrive..."

The pilot spun around and sat back in his seat.

Turner went to look at Mounts noticing he was on the verge of breaking into laughter, "This is hilarious."

"Glad you're finding this funny," Turner retorted, "Wait, You don't know who the Reaper is, do you?"

Mounts tilted his head not understanding, "Sounds like a big shots callsign, he's probably the leader of this task force."

Turner chuckled, "You really don't look at the internet much do you?"

Mounts sighed, "We are at war, if you are doing your job properly you wouldn't have any time to look at the internet and our phones were confiscated remember so how the hell did you see?"

Turner looked to the side, "Uhhh, I have my ways."

The special forces soldier next to Turner suddenly interrupted their conversation taking off their helmet, "Phones can be a real risk to operations you know that right? If you have one hand it over."

Turner turned to his right speaking, "How on earth would it be a dan--" He paused completely baffled by the soldier, "Holy shit..."

The soldier next to him was beautiful, her long black hair was rolled up in a bun behind her head and her blue eyes sparkled like the sea.

Turner put on his best seducing voice, "Hey beautiful wanna go on a date."

The female soldier spoke again, unimpressed, "Maybe if you give me that phone."

Turner reached into his jacket, "Don't break it," he revealed a brand new phone and handed it to the soldier sitting next to him.

"Thanks," she smiled before punching him in the face, "ARE YOU A FUCKING IDIOT! YOU PUT EVERYONE IN DANGER, YOU ARE PROBABLY THE REASON YOUR UNIT WERE FOUND!"

She turned around tossing the phone to Mabasa before he chucked it out the open door of the chinook.

She calmed herself, "Firstly the SIM card can be tracked because it's connected to the internet, secondly, even without the SIM there are still electronic weapons which will track you from your phone."

Turner's jaw dropped, "What... I-I didn't know."

Mabasa stepped forward, still gripping the choppers railing, "We'll deal with this later, what's important is getting back to Camp November. Mclaw will iron out the creases faster than you can obtain them."

Turner looked down with a horrified look pasted on his face, "Thanks..."