Chapter IV

July 20-21, 1951.

Colonel Devon Heath Horton as well as the team that was sent to get him from England arrived at SRPA Base 4 somewhere in Alaska. The plane descended into the bowls of the Earth. As soon as he disembarks he is met by a SRPA officer and four BLK-Ops soldiers. "Major Richard Blake would like to see you sir," the SRPA officer tells Colonel Horton. The colonel follows them to the major's office. The colonel enters the office.

Have a seat colonel," Major Blake tells the colonel. Major Blake saluted Colonel Horton and he returned the salute. He sat down in front of the major's desk. "How are you Heath?"

"Good, I've see you moved up in the world," the colonel replies. "The last time I saw you were a captain."

"That's correct colonel, I've see you haven't made Lieutenant General yet."

"No they tried but I told them I wouldn't sit behind a desk especially since the Chimera started to take over."

"I've read your report. A graduate from West Point with high honors. A soldier in the First Infantry Division, before starting your own unit. Your unit was in Russia with Russian Special Forces when the Chimera threat began correct."

"I'm sorry major but that's classified," the colonel replies.

"You fought in a number of engagements with your team in Russia before they invaded the rest of Europe and Asia. You fought alongside other Resistance forces against the enemy. I say if there anyone that knows how to fight the Chimera it's you. That is why President Grace ordered you to return. He needs you and your men to help protect America against the Chimera. You and your men have more metals than any other unit out there. Colonel I have a job for you, I mean to say SRPA has a job for you." Major Blake says to him. "The Director of SRPA wants you to be his assistant Director and come up with strategies fighting the Chimera."

"No thank you major, I'm not a person who stands behind a desk or stay safety at base while the men under me are getting killed. I will not join SRPA not since Operation Ivan," the colonel replies. "Now I will help you fight the Chimera on our home front, but we're doing it my way."

"Very well colonel, now Dr. Malikov needs to take a blood sample from you." The colonel nods his head. Doctor Malikov entered the major's office.

"How are you colonel?" Doctor Malikov asked.

"Good," he answered.

"Did Major Blake tell you why I'm here?"

"Yes doctor," Colonel Horton replies. Doctor Malikov wipe the injection spot with some antaistic and then he injected a needle into the colonel's arm, he drew some blood from the wound and as soon as he removed the needle the wound healed itself completely. Doctor Malikov leaves.

"Colonel let me show you to your quarters," Major Blake says to the colonel. Colonel Horton follows him to his quarters. "You know colonel I require everyone in this base to be arm at all times just in case of a Chimera attack, but I see you already have your sidearm with you at all times." Once they were at the colonel's quarters Major Blake open the door for him. "I hope you like it sir."

"It'll do where's my gear?" Colonel Horton asked.

"Your gear has already been delivered; if you need anything just press the intercom in your room." Major Blake leaves. Colonel Horton shuts the door and goes over to the bed and he fell asleep immediately. Major Blake heads for Dr. Malikov's lab.

Malikov's labs, Major Richard Blake enters the doctors' lab. "What have you found out doctor?"

"It's amazing I've never seen a person infected with this type of Chimeran virus and who has survive this long without an inhibiter treatment and suffer symptoms," Dr. Malikov replies.

"What strain of the virus is in him?" Major Blake asked.

"It looks like the one that is in Jordan Sheppard and Nathan Hale, but I don't think it is. It's a Pure Chimera but not one that I've ever seen before."

"How can that be Doctor, Colonel Horton was not a member of Project Abraham," Major Blake tells him.

"No, he wasn't we've have already recovered everyone that survived Project Abraham. I believe that somehow the colonel was born with the Chimeran virus already in him."

"How is that possible doctor?"

"I have no idea, and I think his powers will continue to grow stronger with each passing month or weeks or even years."

"Can I clear him for active duty and mix him with other personal?"

"I don't see why you can't he is a excellent soldier and his file says so, but there still a lot covered in black ink, including his birth records, his real parents record and tons of other stuff," Dr. Malikov says looking at the colonel's file he then noticed something. That read Project 1678, but it was all blacked out. Major Blake leaves but before he leaves he turns towards Doctor Malikov,

"Doctor, Keep me inform of anything else you find out about the colonel."

"I will major," he answered. The major leaves.

The following day, Colonel Horton woke up refresh and ready for the day's work. He headed to the mess hall after a quick hot shower. Once he entered the mess hall he sees plenty of Blk-Ops soldiers and Sentinels present along with regular army and Marine Corps soldiers. He got some K Rations of Beef stew. Two Sentinels comes up to him after he sets down. They saluted the colonel and the colonel returns the salute. "Can I do anything for you marines?"

"No think you sir, just want to say welcome to SRBA, how did you know we were in the Marine Corps?" one of the sentinels asked the colonel.

"I can tell," the colonel answered. They leave him alone to eat his food. As soon as he was done eating he headed to his office. He enters his office and sat down at his desk. He looks checked his email on his computer. He found 1 email from Major Richard Blake. He opens the email. It read, Meeting at briefing room 9 at 1000 hours. He arrived at the briefing room 10 minutes early and got a cup of hot coffee, he sits down next to a US Army 1st lieutenant.

"You were in England and France?" The first lieutenant asked him.

"I was there," Colonel Horton answered.

"One of my brothers died in England and the other brother died in France," the first lieutenant tells the colonel.

"I'm sorry," Colonel Horton answered. "What are your brother names?" the first lieutenant tells him there names. "I only knew one of them and he died a soldier's death, he saved my life once and the lives of several of his brothers in arms."

"How exactly did he die," the first lieutenant asked.

"A Hybrid tagged him and a dozen projectiles hit him, but no this I avenge his death and killed a dozen hybrids for him."

"Thank you colonel for telling me this I know there wasn't anything you or the others could do for him. I'm going to kill every Chimera I find."

"What's your name soldier?"

"George sir," he answered.

"Well George I'll be honor if you'll fight alongside me."

"Don't worry sir I got your back," he answered. Major Richard Blake entered the room and everyone stood up and then they sat back down when the major tells them to sit back down.

"The Chimera have cross the barren straight on a massive land bridge into Alaska from Russia." the major pause for a minute to let that stink in.

"Sir didn't Capelli and his teams destroy the land bridge?" Captain Rhodes asked.

"Yes captain they did but there appears to be another one we must take out. President Grace wants us to go on the offensive to try to stop the Chimera from destroying another US Military Base here in Alaska and another city. I'm placing Colonel Horton in command of this mission, I know he knows this area better than some of us here." the meeting ended. Colonel Horton follows Major Blake to his office after the meeting.

"Sorry about that colonel, but I know you're really good at coming up with defensive strategies. The Chimera are pushing deeper into North America we need to slow down their advance as much as we can."

"Give me a couple of days to come up with a plan." Colonel Horton replies. Colonel Devon Horton spent the rest of the day coming up with a plan to win a battle against the Chimera.

The following day Colonel Horton headed to Major Blake's office. "Blake I have the perfect plan." Colonel Horton tells him.

"Have a seat colonel," Major Blake tells him. The colonel sets down. He looks at the aerial photos taking just that morning.

"We'll draw the Chimera out to engage us on the ground of our choosing. I'll need tanks, Lynxes. Artillery, mortars, and VTOLS fitted for gunships and air support," the colonel tells him.

"Where will you engage the enemy colonel?" Major Blake asked.

"In this wooded area on these four hills overlooking a vast valley," the colonel replies pointing a finger on the map. "Blake I would like to look over the area first once I'm satisfied troops and equipment can begin to arrive.

Later on that day Colonel Horton and twenty-one BLK-OPS soldiers along with four Sentinels arrived at the location in VTOLs. He signals and officers and more men began to arrive. "We'll place our troops on those four hills and have two companies in reserve as a quick reaction force and once the Chimera enters the valley we will crush them. I want pits dug on each hill and pits dug for the mortars and artillery in the rear. I want mines planted in the valley."

"Sir, you do know that the Chimera will eventually attack us from the rear." Captain Rhodes says to the colonel.

"Yes I know, that why one platoon will watch our rear," Colonel Horton answered. "So let's get started. An hour later more VTOLS began arriving carrying the gear and vehicles the colonel need to complete his task. He knows that their arrival and preparations have not gone unnoticed by the Chimera. Why haven't they attack yet before everything is ready for them? Or has Daedalus decided against it for now or was someone else or something else controlling the Chimera at this time these are all questions going through the colonel's mind. Once the trenches and bunkers were dug, VTOLs began bringing in the Sabertooth tanks, artillery, and Lynxes. It took a total of three maybe even four hours for the defenses to be prepared then came the eight hours of waiting for the Chimera to attack.

Ten hours later it's a new day, Colonel Devon Horton ordered a dozen Lynx under the command of Captain Rhodes to hit the Chimera and draw them into the trap. The Lynxes hit the Chimera encampment hard and fast. Captain Rhodes fired the .50 cal machinegun into the Chimerian Hybrids. Three Lynxes are destroyed by Chimerian mortars. Captain Rhodes ordered a retreat; he was amazed that the colonel's plan was actually working. Tens of thousands of Hybrids chased after the humans. Stalkers lobbed missiles after the human control vehicles, two more vehicles are destroyed. Captain Rhodes orders them to veer off and attack the Chimera from behind. The Chimera entered the valley along with two dozen Stalkers. Colonel Horton looks through his binoculars after he was sure that majority of them have entered the trap he switch to all units freq and gave the order to fire at will. Many Hybrids are blown to pieces. Sabertooth tanks blew many Stalkers and Chimerian foot soldiers to pieces. Many Chimerian foot soldiers stepped on mines as they made their way to the hills. Artillery was also wreaking havoc on the Chimera. The Stalkers are the first to be destroyed. One Stalker managed to destroy a machinegun nest before; the Stalker was destroyed by three squads armed with LARRKS. The Hybrids charged straight for the colonel's field position located in the center of the first hill, which is the center hill. The Chimera lost a whole bunch of Hybrids attacking the first hill. The machine gunners and rifleman inflected heavy casualties on the Chimera. Chimerian fighter came swooping in, they destroyed three artillery. Saber jet fighters and A-11 Warthogs entered the fray. Sixteen of the Chimerian fighters were knocked out of the sky before they knew what was happening. The Chimerian fell back, that gave the humans a chance to catch their breath and get a drink of water. The colonel looks out into the battlefield with his binoculars; he sees plenty of dead and dying Chimera. He knows that the Chimera would not give up this easily. His command post is the most protected on all three hills. Chimerian Hybrids accompanied by Steelheads, Titians, Ravagers, and the few remaining Stalkers launched another attack on the hills. The US/SRPA forces beat them back again resulting in even more Chimera casualties and only a few US/SRPA soldiers were killed in the second attack. They attack again, they were beating back for a third time, then they came again, Colonel Horton wonders why they keep attacking when the firepower is too great for them to reach the hills. "Lieutenant Jefferson do you read over," Colonel Horton says over the comms, but no response came from Lieutenant Jefferson. He tries to get the officer in charge of the second hill but he only got static. He looks through his binoculars and sees that the third hill is being overrun by Chimera. The defenders of hill three fought to the last man. They still inflect heavy casualties on the Chimera. The last place to be silence was a tank pit. The Hybrids were climbing onto the tank and firing Augers into the tank. The colonel could hear screams coming from the radio. "Major Tyler I want mortars and artillery to land onto hill three."

"Sir, what about our men?"

"They're all dead major," the colonel responds.

"Yes sir," the major replies. Mortars and artillery began landing onto hill three as well as into the valley. Next Colonel Horton contacted the Sabers and the Warthogs and told them to drop bombs onto hill three and in the valley. The bombs that the aircraft drooped are just like the Air-fuel grenades but bigger, and they dropped High explosive bombs as well.

Captain Rhodes is listing to the reports coming in through the radio. He turns to his second in command 2nd Lieutenant Jack. "Time we enter this fray." Captain Rhodes says to his best friend Jack. They started up the Lynxes and headed out to kill some Chimera. They hit the Chimera infecting heavy casualties, and then withdrew and hit them again they repeated this pattern of attack to keep the Chimera confuse. The Chimera came right for the center hill. The colonel order the bulk of his men that are defending the center hill to fire on the Chimera coming towards them from third. He redirected the mortars onto the Chimera coming towards the center hill. Captain Rhodes fired the .50 cal at the Chimera that tried to dodge out of the way of the Lynxes but many are hit by Lynxes. The captain lynx's ran over many Chimera. A Chimera mortar destroyed three Lynxes but the crew where mostly alright and they had to fight the Chimera horde on foot. Captain Rhodes sees something in his left eye. He then hears a howl. "Howlers incoming!" Captain Rhodes yells over the comms. The Lynxes under the captain's command disengage with their battle with the Hybrids and Steelheads and went to engage the Howlers. Sixteen Howlers rush pass the Lynxes and headed straight for the center hill. However, three Lynxes gave chase, but they had to deal with Hybrids, Steelheads, and a Titian to catch up with the Howlers. They first took out the Titian with a LARRK and machinegun fire, and then they focus on the Hybrids and Steelheads. A soldier on a machinegun in the center hill yells, "Howlers!"Just before a Bullseye projectile buried itself into the private's skull. The colonel kills the Hybrid with his assault rifle another private takes the machinegun and kills five of the attacking Howlers before he too is killed by a Hybrid. One Howler jumps onto a soldier and bites his head off. Colonel Horton fires his assault rifle into the Howler's flank until it fell over dead. He reloads and kills several attacking Hybrids and one Steelhead after his third reload. Another Hybrid jumps into the trench, but the colonel fires the remaing rounds in his assault rifle into the Hybrid. They Hybrid died chocking on its own blood. Several Saber jets dropped bombs onto the Chimera advancing on the center hill and the second hill. Titians are being blown into by the artillery, mortars, tanks, and LARRKs. The explosions from those also killed any other Chimera that were standing to close to the Titians when they were destroyed. All the Chimera that attacked the humans were killed from strafing runs from the human controlled aircraft, too the artillery behind the hill. Colonel Horton looks out onto the battlefield after the battle was over; he sees that the Chimera litters the landscape. He sees corpses of Hybrids, Steelheads, Titians, Howlers, Ravagers, Grims, a few hundred Advance Hybrids, and a few GrayJacks that never reached the hills. He sees the ruins of destroyed Stalkers, Chimera aircraft, Lynxes, Sabertooth tanks. The US and SRPA forces moved through the dead Chimera collecting weapons and anything they could find. They even shot any wounded Chimera that came across. Colonel Horton, Captain Rhodes, Lieutenant Jack and sixteen BLK-OPS soldiers headed towards the Chimera encampment. They found that the Chimera encampment deserted and the Hellfire turrets were offline. An hour later VTOLS and other transports began landing to take the vehicles, artillery, Chimera equipment and soldiers back to base. The colonel hopes that the Chimeran techs they found would help the SRPA and other scientist find a way to defeat the Chimera once and for all. The colonel was the last to leave the battlefield. They returned to SRPA base 4. Colonel Horton, Captain Rhodes and all the other officers and NCOs that took part in the mission head to the briefing room to speak with Major Blake. They all sat down.

"Well done gentleman you did an excellent job and your country appreciates your sacrifice," Major Blake tells them. "I heard that we had only had 114 casualties most of them wounded great job colonel your plan kept a lot of troopers alive. This operation is the first major victory against the Chimera and we had lesser casualties then any of the other battles. I respect your reports on the mission in 48 hours. That's it your dismissed. Colonel you stay behind." Everyone else leaves the briefing room. "I'm accepting your request to allow your men to join you here."

"Thank you major," Colonel Horton replies. He turns and leaves. The colonel returns to his quarters and takes a hot shower, then lies down in his bed and drifted off to sleep. He hears a voice in his sleep.

"Heath, come to me and I'll explain everything to you. You are very special."

"Who are you?"

"I'm the person who knows all; I'm the person who has foreseen the future of the human race."

"Where are you?"

"Close, you'll find me when you're truly ready." Heath waits up. He wipes the slet from his forehead. He thought it was only a dream and went back to sleep.