Link was currently in General Garrison's office, waiting for the General to finish with a phone call.
"Yes, " the general said into the receiver, " yes, it was a successful mission. Yeah, he's here. Yes, he's in one piece sir. Just a moment Mr. President, I'll put him on speaker."
Mr. President? Fuck, he wants to talk to me. Link's mind raced, thinking of anything that he could have done wrong, when Garrison's voice knocked him out of his trance.
"Okay, Link. The president wants to have a word with you. Mr. President, he's on."
"Hello sir." Link said hesitantly.
"Hello, Hero of Time." A deep voice said on the other end of the line. Does everyone know who I am? Link thought. "I hope you're up to an assignment."
"What would you have in mind?" Link asked skeptically.
"I was the one who organized all the sages into one group. They are the best of the best. There aren't any soldiers on Earth better than them."
"Yeah, they've clearly shown me that." Link said with a chuckle. He was suddenly reminded of when his snipers had shot four shots in the diameter of a penny at five hundred yards.
"Well, we need to end this war within six months. The Pentagon is losing its will to fight, and our friends in Europe aren't doing too well either. We need to clear our country so we can start rebuilding and support Europe."
"Sir, you can't put a time limit on a war. What happens is inevitable, and you can't perfectly predict what these things are going to do. This Ganondorf guy has two thousand year's experience in the art of war, and we can't underestimate him." Link said matter-of-factly.
"I'm not saying you have to, I'm saying that their has to be substantial progress in six months, progress that foreshadows the end of the war in Hyrule."
"Alright. Well, can you give me any information that I don't already know about these things."
Link was pretty sure he knew everything, so he was just trying to get a feel for how the Chief of the Armed Forces thought.
"No, sorry, you have all the available information about them. Enough of this subject, I want you to be out there in a week or less. Good-bye." The President hung up immediately. He had sounded annoyed at the topic of conversation. Link began to wonder if he had anything to hide.
"Link!" General Garrison's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "I need an evaluation on your team. Do you like them? Can you cooperate with them? Can they cooperate with each other? I need to know what you guys are thinking."
Link sighed, and absent-mindedly began rubbing the coarse hairs that had grown on his chin.
"They can sure cooperate with each other, but I don't know if I can fully cooperate with them. We'll find that out when we leave. They sure know what they're doing, though, and they can do their jobs without question. However, we have a different enemy than normal wars, so we need to compensate for that."
"Don't sweet talk me, Colonel." the General grinned. "I know what you want. You think that because you are the best, that you can get any piece of equipment in the world. Well, you are correct. You name it, it will be here in a matter of hours." The General picked up the phone.
"Well? What does your team need?" the General dialed a number. "Yeah, Bob, I have a team of SEALS down here that need some equipment. Link, " the General said, looking in Link's direction.
Link pulled a small notebook from his pocket, and proceeded to tell the General everything that the team had discussed a few hours ago.
"We need a stronger caliber to fight these guys effectively. So, we need all our current weapons in the .308 Winchester. This request is from our snipers. Lugging around a forty-pound rifle all day isn't their idea of fun or excersize, so they want .300 Magnum. Armor piercing if you can." Link paused, making sure the guy got all this stuff written down.
"Also, we're going to need vehicles to get around in. So, we want two diesel Hummvees with all the possible modifications. I'm saying Nitrous Oxide, snorkels for intake and exhaust, and an extra four inches off the ground. I want these things to be able to drive up the damn Mississippi. You getting all this?" Link said with raised eyebrows. He waited for a response from the person on the other end.
"Yes sir." The voice said after a few seconds of silence.
"The .308 guns are gonna have to wait a day, and the Hummers should be there by tomorrow morning. However, everything else will be shipped to you by tomorrow morning." Bob sounded a little guilty about this, so Link tried to ease the tension.
"Well, don't kill yourself over it, take your time. Thanks, buddy." With that, Garrison hung up the phone and Link sat back in the chair, exhaling sharply.
"I sure hope all this makes a difference. Now, how are you going to contact us when we are in the base?"
"We are going to use an encryption system that was left by the evacuating forces......."
The conversation continued on into the long hours of the night, and the two went over every possible detail of the operation.
Link was rudely awakened the next morning by a loud knock on the door of the barracks. He got up, and, murmuring to himself, got on some pants and answered the persistent knock.
Upon opening the door, he saw almost all of his team outside examining a new black Hummer, complete with .50 cal.
Link's face immediately brightened, and he took the letter from Vegas's hands. I only sent you one of them so that you could try it and let me know what you think. At your command, the other Hummer will be sent there.
Bob
Link stuffed the letter in his pocket and walked over to the beautiful machine in front of him.
Sanchez was manning the gun on top, and smiled when Link approached.
"It's about time, " she smirked and hopped from the roof of the vehicle to the ground, landing next to Link, "we were beginning to think you weren't going to wake up." she said, putting on a fake worried glance. A few chuckles from the team followed.
Link gave her a blank look. "I wanted to make sure you got your beauty sleep, princess." Link smiled, and ran his hand along the side of the car. "Romero, let's have a look at the engine." Link said to the burly man. Sanchez humphed and walked towards the driver's door muttering something about boys and their toys.
Sanchez pulled the hood release, and Romero propped it open. He whistled, and started to make sure everything was firmly in place.
"We have the two snorkels for intake and exhaust, a turbo supercharger, nitrous injection," he glanced at the suspension underneath, "and the extra suspension. Wow. This thing better drive how it looks."
"Shall we?" Link gestured towards the entrance of the base. The team laughed and everyone piled in the vehicle that could fit.
They were well on their way to the ruins of downtown Omaha when Link stopped the Hummer and got out. Romero, Sanchez, Vegas, and Moran followed.
"What gives, chief?" Vegas asked with a puzzled look.
"We are going to test this thing in the environment it was built for. We're going to push it past it's limit, and then we'll make any changes we see fit."
They all seemed to agree, so the five Ghosts got back in the Hummer and Link put in the clutch and turned the keys.
"Sanchez, since you seem so fond of the fifty caliber, you can be the permanent gunner for this vehicle." Sanchez currently had an arm over the weapon, and when she heard what he said she smiled and cycled the weapon twice, arming it.
With that, Link started off down the street. He pushed down the pedal, and when the rpm's red-lined, he put the clutch in and out, simultaneously shifting to one of the vehicles six gears. They were doing about seventy-five when Link took a corner, fish tailing the vehicle.
The vehicle's occupants lurched to one side, the tires sticking to the pavement like ants on a log. "Still holding on back there Lita?" He yelled back over the roar of the diesel.
Suddenly, a tank appeared from around a corner. It was rolling down the street at top speed, the treads screeching loudly on the paved street. I appeared to be an M1 Abrams, so it was friendly.
Link stopped where a stoplight would have been and allowed the tank to pull up to the right of him. The driver's head popped out. The guy appeared to be in his mid-twenties, with blonde hair.
"Hey, aren't you going' a little fast for a Hummer?" the guy asked Link.
"This thing's been custom made for special operations. She's a beast of a car." Link grinned at the Abrams driver. The driver revved the engine of the tank, challenging Link to a race.
Link grinned and responded by revving the fifteen-liter diesel engine. The Abrams driver disappeared back into the tank, and when Lita shot into the air with the fifty, the two behemoths screeched from their places. Link became a machine. When the engine peaked, he put the clutch in and out, shifting. The two were head-to-head, doing eighty miles an hour. Link looked over and saw the Abrams driver with his eyes poking out the top of the chamber within the tank.
Link flipped a switch where the radio would have been, and a red light that said NOS turned on. He waved good-bye to the Abrams driver, and pushed a small button on the steering wheel. The entire vehicle gave a violent lurch, and then it surged forward, the noise of the engine heightening the 'high' Link was experiencing.
They could no longer see the Abrams, the silhouette of the tank having disappeared behind them. Link performed a 180-degree turn, and after shifting down to third, he headed back to base.
When they arrived, Link cut the engine and just sat there for a minute. Sanchez's voice broke the silence. "Well, I like it." Everyone laughed at that, and they filed out, heading towards the team's barracks. Upon entering the barracks, they were met with the millions of questions of those left behind.
The five of them had been asked countless questions, and after what seemed like an eternity, the questions stopped, and silence and boredom had ensued the barracks.
Link and Vegas were playing cards. The two had grown quite fond, and have been friends since the arm wrestling match. "Aha!" Link laid down his cards. "Straight flush. Hand over the cash, buddy."
"Dammit. That's the third time this week." Vegas began to fish money out of his pocket.
"Is that all you guys do all day?" Aria asked after hearing Link announce his victory.
"What would you have in mind, genius?" Link asked. Aria eyed his chest, his six pack of abs and toned muscles lighting her hormones on fire. Link noticed where she began looking and he got a wry smile.
"Well, I'm going to take a tour of this base. Anyone want to join me?" he asked, glancing hopefully at Aria. "Sure." she got up and went with him. They were walking along the inside perimeter of the base, near the ammunition depot.
"So..." Link began putting an arm around her shoulders. "Shh. Don't talk. Just kiss me." Before he realized what was happening, their mouths were locked in a deeply passionate kiss. All Link's suppressed feelings came to life at that moment, and he slid his tongue into her mouth, and she gave a moan of pleasure.
Then they began giving short, fiery kisses, until finally they broke apart. "Woah." was all Link managed to say. The bond between them at that moment was indescribable. They continued walking along, with Link's arm around her shoulders again. It was good to feel his comforting presence. They continued on along the perimeter, just enjoying each other's company.
When the pair finally reached the barracks, Link had to depart to get the final plans for their deployment. When she walked in, Sanchez greeted her.
"Hey, I thought we were going to run laps." She said a little disappointed. "Why not right now?" Aria suggested. "Alright, sure."
When they were both ready, they started their daily laps around the base.
"What!?" Ganondorf barked at the Moblin in front of him. The Moblins he had found from the spawning pits he had formed were very unique. They had formed blades on their left arms for close combat, much better than a stick with a sharp rock on the end. They had hard shell type skin, which would have made it very difficult to slash them with a sword.
The Moblin in front of him was currently cringing in fear, obviously intimidated by Ganondorf's stare. He had already fried to death the Moblin who was responsible for the escape of all seven sages. "Sorry, sir." it said in it's scratchy demon voice. "We didn't know where or when the boy would appear. It was impossible even for you to predict when the Hero of Time would wake up."
There was truth in what the creature had said, and this was the first time that his trusted adviser had failed him. He decided to let this pass, but not without a scolding. It might boost his army's confidence to know he wouldn't kill every one of the Moblins that gave him bad news.
Saddam Hussein had made the same mistake. He killed every person that gave him bad news. So, in fear of punishment or death, his Generals never told him what was going on. Everything he had done in any war was based on bad intelligence.
"Yes, I suppose you are right, but you must make sure he does not escape alive again. If we are to proceed with the master plan, the Hero of Time from this realm must die."
The Moblin appeared to seem relieved, and his expression became one of determination.
"It shall not happen again, my Lord." The moblin bowed, turned, and walked away.
With that, Ganondorf turned to the magical display of his infantry general. The general was the only General of his that had been there since Ganondorf had first invaded seven years ago. "How's things, General?" Ganondorf asked, with an amused expression on his face.
"They have pushed us back about a hundred miles again, and we have reason to believe that they are waiting for reinforcements. They haven't been attacking with as much spirit lately. I need reinforcements soon, or they could make a push straight to the Colorado mountains, and from there they could make a push to your base in Uma, Arizona."
"Yes, but from what my sources told me, they think that my main base is in Germany." Ganondorf told the General.
"Yes, but remember that their officers probably use encrypted frequencies. We can only monitor the small talk between their troops, hoping one of them will slip up and say something important. Even so, I don't think our lines can hold back a full scale invasion."
"Yes, you will have reinforcements by the end of the month." Ganondorf said.
"Yes, sir. Marich out." General Marich's face disappeared from the air, and Ganondorf began making plans to torture the Princess to death.
Link walked into the ammunition depot at 0600 hours to find that boxes labeled .308 covered a third of the warehouse. Link was really starting to like this Bob fellow. The man had delivered everything Link had asked, the Hummvee had arrived last night. At that moment, a bearded, burly man walked up to Link.
"Are you the Commanding officer of the new squad of Specials here?" Specials was the term they used for Special Forces teams.
"Yeah." Link said. "Those .308 boxes mine?"
The man glanced back at the tower of boxes. "Yeah. Took us all night to unload the C-130 carrying the stuff." The man said with a grin. "By the way, name's Bryan Williams." Bryan offered his hand, and Link shook it, smiling back at the man. "Thanks for letting me know."
"Hey, by chance," Bryan lowered his voice to a whisper so that no one would hear, "are you the leader of that new super-team that the officers have been talking about almost non-stop?"
"Yeah, that's me. How does everyone know who I am? Has the enemy been putting up flyers or something?"
"The Hero of Time was made public years ago, about a year after the invasion. Since then, the entire world has set their hopes on the mysterious legend. Don't worry, only about fifty people now you and your team exist."
"That's too many if you ask me." Link said with a frown.
"Yeah, I know what you mean. Hey, if you ever need anything like guns, ammo, or explosive devices of any kind, I'm your man." Bryan said smiling.
"Alright, thanks. Well, I need you to pack about half of this ammo onto flatbed trucks. Can you do that for me?" Link asked, as if the guy had any choice.
"You got it, buddy." With that the man walked away, and Link began to fill his Hummer with boxes of the ammo to test their new guns with. He drove back to the barracks, and walked inside. Everyone was talking to one another. It seems his team had gotten completely used to each other.
"Alright, people, listen up!" Everyone stopped what they were doing and gave their full attention to the person who had just walked through the door.
"Our new guns are here, and they're assembled and ready for us at the range." He could see a few of them get excited at the thought of getting to shoot something. Some looked relieved to just be leaving the barracks.
They piled in the two black Hummvees that were delivered to them the previous day, and drove to the firing range. When they arrived, the troops excitedly went inside the armory to see their weapons. The armory itself was a large, camouflage building. To the side was a seventy-five foot long range. It had individual spaces so the shooters knew which target to aim at down range. The targets were papers attached to cardboard about a foot in diameter.
Upon entering the armory, he saw that every team member was admiring his or her new weapons.
Hanec and Sanchez were especially ecstatic with their weapons. They were holding painted camouflage rifles with pistol grips. The magazine was capable of holding thirty .300 Magnum rounds, which was almost unheard of. It had a 25x120 scope, allowing them to shoot the flea off of a horse at three hundred yards. The rifles had adjustable stocks, and both were semi-automatic to reduce recoil and increase rate of fire. The rifles were forty-eight inches from butt to muzzle, which was perfect for any distance of fire. The scopes automatically compensated for distance and windage too.
Vegas and Romero were extremely impressed with their new machine guns. They were the same as the M249 SAW, except that they had ten more rounds in the tub, and they had weights attached to the barrel to reduce recoil. They were also painted camouflage. The weight and feel of the rifle would take some getting used to.
The new M4's were also virtually the same as the 5.56mm model. The difference was the round they used, and also that all of them was equipped with 203 anti personnel grenades and laser sights. There were also attachable NVG's that allowed them to see in the dark.
The team were all laughing and joking with each other until Kose brought up a good point.
"Hey, Sergeant," Link was recently promoted to Sergeant, "where's the ammo?" The entire room grew silent and stared at Link.
"It's in the Hummer. Squad one, come with me and unload the ammo, squad two set up the range for us to use. They all scrambled to do what their leader had told them.
Squad one got all the ammo unloaded, and after splitting it up, they guessed everyone had about five hundred rounds. The snipers only had about two hundred rounds because the armory was running low on .300 Magnum.
Sanchez and Hanec had their rifles adjusted to fit them perfectly, and were waiting for the order to load. Finally, Link shouted, "Ladies and Gentlemen, load your weapons." A series of clicks and snaps followed, and after a minute or two, the place was silent.
"Fire at will!" Instantly, the range was engulfed with the sound of gunfire. Vegas had started with a long burst of full automatic. His weapon responded by churning out fifty rounds in ten seconds. He was amazed at the performance and accuracy of the weapon. His grouping was perfect, all the shots hitting within the diameter of a basketball, which was extremely good for a SAW. There was almost no recoil, and the barrel didn't jump around when he fired. He began to take short bursts, taking out every target that was in his vision.
Von's M4 was absolutely wonderful. Von was the weapons expert of the team, so he knew all the different statistics for the .308. His weapon hardly had any recoil, it was like having .223 Remington. He tried the laser sight, and found it to be zeroed in to the millimeter. He loaded another forty round magazine and continued to squeeze off rounds. Even without recoil, the seasoned elk hunter could feel the power and velocity of the weapon. He decided to start shooting faster, and pull off rounds quicker. He was amazed! It only affected his aim a few inches at the most! He smiled, and glanced over at Link.
Link saw that Von was looking at him, and looked over. Von gave him thumbs up, and continued shooting. Link smiled to himself, and looked around at everyone. They seemed to be enjoying themselves.
Hanec was thoroughly falling in love with this rifle. It didn't have the feel of raw power like the Barrett, but it was still extremely powerful. He squeezed off another round into the target and saw the forehead splinter to pieces. Whenever he adjusted the scope, the distance would appear by the crosshairs, and then it would automatically adjust to the distance and windage. He was going to have fun with this rifle.
Marshal Moretti was standing in Ganondorf's main headquarters. There were Moblins all over in the room, operating various equipment. He was the only Human in Ganondorf's entire hierarchy. He was the most respected General in the world besides General Garrison. Moretti had kept the Hylians from interfering with most of the foreign operations. Moretti was in the Sacred Realm when the unknown entity had opened it. Ganondorf recognized his military skill, and offered Moretti a place at his right side. Ganondorf had always respected Moretti, and knew that whatever happened, Moretti would take care of it.
When Ganondorf walked in, Moretti stood at attention, and waited for Ganondorf to acknowledge him. He noticed the look of worry flash across the Gerudo's face for a second. Usually, Moretti didn't talk to Ganondorf unless something went wrong, and Moretti needed something.
"At ease." Ganondorf muttered.
"My Lord, you must relax. I bring no bad news." Ganondorf's expression softened a bit. "However, I believe there is a good chance that we may be able to strike at the Hero of Time." Ganondorf raised an eyebrow. "Go on."
"I have been using my abilities to monitor their encrypted frequencies. I am under the influence that the Hero of Time and a team of Special Forces are going to be housed behind our lines, near the old Offut Air Force Base. If we can ambush them before they get there, we can perhaps capture the princess, and lure the Hero of Time here. It would be the perfect opportunity to do so."
Ganondorf seemed to consider this. "Yes, but I am not touching the princess. Last time I did that, the Hero of Time came at me harder than normal, because he had developed feelings for the princess. I am simply going to lure him to my compound here."
"That is true, but I think we should at least destroy his team. Then, we cut off his supply route, so he can't make decisions with the help of others. Then we can lure him here without the Hylian army interfering." The General waited for a response from Ganondorf. The Gerudo had been thinking quietly for the last minute.
"Yes. That would be excellent. I knew there was a reason that I made you a Marshal. Now, on to other matters." Ganondorf approached a filing cabinet, and pulled out a large map of Hyrule. It covered a good half of the large tile floor. Ganondorf kneeled down, and so did the General.
"General Marich has been pushed back again. It was his own damn fault, he thinks just because there is an unlimited amount of Moblins that he can sit back and do nothing. So, he has been receded about two hundred miles so far all along the Midwest. Now, if he gets pushed back any more, he will go into full retreat through the Rocky Mountains. I know he will do this, and then the Hylians will carpet bomb the mountains, effectively leaving them with a straight route to the north or south. Then they will have the war won." Moretti nodded, and Ganondorf continued.
"I want you to swing around from your position in Texas and start to reinforce right in front of the Rockies. Then, when the Hylians charge, slaughter them in an ambush." Ganondorf said in an evil smirk.
"What if they see I'm gone and launch an attack in Texas?" Moretti asked, worried.
"They most likely won't. You will leave when your guards shift duties, and you will be replaced with a relatively competent General. The enemy won't even notice you had gone. If they do attack," Ganondorf continued, "this General will hold them back long enough for you to return and provide support."
"Okay, sir. It shall be done." With that, Moretti walked out of Ganondorf's headquarters and disappeared around a corner.
A little romance, but not much. Who is this Moretti? You will have to review and find out!
Note: Is the SAW an M240 or M249? I keep getting those two mixed up. Please review and let me know.