BATTLEFIELD: BAD COMPANY: Birds of Prey
Chapter 1: Meet the Boys
'Thinking/Preston's view'
"Talking"
(Play the Song: The Beast by Milt Buckner)
'So, I guess it all started when I got assigned to 222nd army battalion, B-company, there I was an average joe who crashed a Blackhawk into an officer's car. I got assigned to the unit in the army where they raked together all the misfits, screw-ups and hell-raisers in the army. Bad company, my squad Bravo-One-Charlie, we were the bottom of the barrel. Our company was the cannon fodder keeping the Russians busy while the rest of the army got ready. My Squad was a four-man fire team consisting of, Haggard, Sweetwater, Sarge and me. Haggard is a Texan, as Texan as a Texan can get, he's our team's demolition expert. He also managed to blow up the largest American ammo dump near Paris. Sweetwater is our tech guy, a nerd if I ever saw one, he's from New jersey. He accidently leaked a virus into a secured military network and instead of locking him up, the military transferred him to B-company. Sarge, or Redford as he's told me before, was the 1st known volunteer for bad company, he figured he'd get his career cut short, not his life. Then there's me, Preston Marlowe, the new guy, as I used to be known. We'd fought two wars against the Russians; saved a deposed dictator, killed a mercenary leader, stole and returned a truckload of gold under duress, searched for a super weapon, lost a good friend, killed a Russian colonel and stopped his invasion of Texas, and pushed the Russian army out of north and south America. We went from expendable, to disposable elite, go figure. And now we'd been volunteered by SPECACT to go on a black op, again.'
-US ARMY H.Q.-Fort Lesley J. McNair-WASHINGTON D.C.-PRESENT DAY- 8:00 AM EST-1300 ZULU TIME
"Damn We've been wearing combat fatigues so long, I forgot how much the standard class-A uniform chafes my ass." Said haggard.
"Hey at least we're here comfy in D.C., not getting our collective asses scorched off or frozen, out in the middle of a warzone." Said Sweetwater.
"Guys, I think you two had better calm down before Sarge gets back with the coffee, and chews you out, again." Said Preston "But you've got a point there sweets, still I prefer to shoot rather than salute."
The three soldiers were sitting down on a bench, in a hallway, in the army high command building. Sarge had gone for coffee around five minutes ago. Sweetwater and Haggard continued to bicker about military dress code, while Preston sat there and sighed shaking his head. The three of them behaved like siblings, Preston/Marlowe was the well-meaning oldest brother, Haggard/Haggs the destructive middle child, Sweetwater is the nerdy little brother. Sarge considered the three of them like his bastard kids, somebody has to keep these knuckleheads in line and breathing.
"What have you boys been talking about while I was gone, you know what never mind. Here's the coffee. Oh, Haggs and Sweetwater, shut up." Sarge said shaking his head and passing out the drinks.
"So Sarge when's Braidwood supposed to call us in for our briefing?" Marlowe asked curious about their next mission.
"Pretty soon Preston. From what I already know, it's supposed to be a spec op in japan." Sarge replied calmly.
"Why japan? There isn't anything going on there. Nothing that would need our expertise anyway." Sweetwater chimed in.
"If you shut the hell up and wait, we'll find out." Sarge said with slight irritation.
"Yeah Sarge, something doesn't sit right about this." Haggard said cautiously agreeing with Sweetwater.
"I don't like it either, but this comes with working for SPECACT. Besides, the hazard pay is good enough, and my retirement keeps getting postponed." Sarge admitted with exasperation.
"Well whatever happens, Bad Company until the end, right?" Preston said in an attempt at camaraderie.
The band of brothers all bumped fists in agreement. A few minutes later, General Braidwood sent a messenger to find the four misfits and bring them to his office. They were in Braidwood's office 5 minutes later.
"Gentleman, have a seat." Braidwood told the four soldiers, gesturing to the chairs behind them. The four of them sat down and the general began their briefing.
"Do you four remember the event from the late 1990's, the island surfacing?" The general asked calmly.
"Yes sir, an entire unnamed fighting force marched on it, they disappeared. What does that have to do with us?" Redford replied.
"Sergeant, this information is heavily classified, if anyone asks don't tell. The corporation MBI is responsible for the disappearance of that force all those years ago, more appropriately its CEO Minaka Hiroto. His discovery of the island's treasures led to the founding of MBI, and subsequently from initial reports we have from that day, it was those treasures that led to the destruction of that force. Officially we had no involvement in that operation. Unofficially, those were our tanks and one of our ships that participated in what occurred. Latest intel suggests that Minaka is up to something that threatens US interests in japan, politicians can't do anything officially, so you four are going in. What exactly, we don't know, which scares the shit out of us. He's already purchased Tokyo for himself and renamed it, as a start of things to come. You and your team are going to be sent to Camp Zama, Japan. There you will receive further instruction, and meet up with a delta team who will get you past the orbital laser defense grid MBI has established to keep us or any other unauthorized personnel out. CIA speculates that the grid serves a dual purpose, to keep trespassers out and something else in. As to what the spooks have no idea."
"Why send us in sir? We perform better at field ops like search and destroy, not cloak and dagger. Why not send in the delta team instead?" Sweetwater asked cautiously.
"Because private, Minaka won't be expecting you four. You are unorthodox and lethal, you four are unpredictable, you think outside the box. Our operatives don't, they play by their set of rules, you four don't, that's why." Braidwood answered coolly.
"He's not wrong." Haggard stated plainly.
"Haggs shut up." Sarge said flatly.
"Uh sir, did you say something about an orbital laser defense grid?" Preston asked out of confusion and fear.
"Yes, I did, that's why the delta team is going to walk you in to the AO." Braidwood answered calmly.
"Oh, then not to sound like an idiot but, how good is the hazard pay sir?" Preston asked in a slightly scared tone.
"Boys, if you do a good job on this, Uncle Sam will give you four enough cash to retire early, and then some. Or in sergeant Redford's case, on time. As per the norm you won't have any official support, if you screw up we will deny any and all involvement, and you will be on your own. That said you have full autonomy in your approach to how you put a stop to whatever is going on in that city. Make deals, kill bad guys, fight the good fight, get the job done. Can you do that?"
"We'll get it done sir." Sarge replied.
"Glad to hear it sergeant, as a little good luck present, an old friend of yours, mike-one-Juliet will be your handler for the duration of this operation." Braidwood said with a slight grin on his face.
Haggard and Sweetwater bro fisted at the mention of their favorite operator Miss July being their handler. Preston had a smile on his face at thought of seeing miss July in person and having her as their controller for the op. Sarge just grunted ambiguously, trying to act professional and macho for the moment.
"You 4 will report to Joint base Andrews tomorrow at 5:00 am sharp tomorrow to leave for the land of the rising sun. when you reach Camp Zama, ask for Colonel Sherman Barclay, he'll be taking the reins from there, dismissed."
"Bravo-one-Charlie, attention!" Sarge ordered to his troops and all four of the stood at attention.
"Fall out!" Sarge ordered again and all of them took a step back and turned to their right exiting general Braidwood's office.
"So, what's the plan Sarge?" Haggard asked with adventure on his mind.
"Same as ever, we do what we've got to do." Sarge replied in a dutiful tone.
"As if it'd be any different. this is going to be interesting." Sweetwater said with his usual grin.
"Time to go to work bad company." Preston said with determination.
'So, a few hours later we were getting our gear ready for an operation in a civilian rich environment, and an allied country, with the streets being patrolled by heavily armed private security guards and us being given full permission to be ourselves, as long as no noncombatants are harmed, that goes without saying. It was just one of those days, but I had that lingering feeling that things were going to get even stranger for us down the line on this operation. All I could do was try to put it out of my mind for the time being. The next morning, we hopped on a C-130 to California and transferred to a C-17 flying us to Hawaii with a layover to refuel. The four of us took some time to hang around the base in Hawaii even getting into some trouble, but nothing worse than what we were used to, and then we were back on the plane and reached Japan in a couple of hours.'
-END CHAPTER-