Sorry about the wait people I will be quicker with the next chapter.

Chapter Twenty-Eight 

"This is where we lost em Sir."

Anderson's eyes flicked to the two red dots on the screen.

"And that's the footage from their Cams on the far screens."  

Anderson's eyes weren't on the camera feed from his two dead birds but on the screens still running feed from the seven birds he still had in the air. 

"Just keep em flying high and out of range. One thing is for fucking sure these guys are soldiers and they know what there doing."

He watched the screens as his bird's camera's ranged over the scattered groups of men on the ground.  To the uninitiated eye they were just haphazard groups of men but Andersons trained eye recognized them for what they were.  Strategically positioned professionals forming a line of defence across his fucking ground.  *What the fuck was going on.*

"What the fuck do you incompetent imbeciles think you're doing?"  White demanded furiously, storming into the Comms room his angry contemptuous eyes raking Anderson and his men.

"Your fucking buffoons just got thirty of my men blown to fuck from a chopper that never even got to land, by a bunch of rag tag animals.  Angrily he grabbed the larger Anderson by his arm and spun him around.  The barrel of Anderson's gun hard in his crotch White heard the metallic clicks of the mechanisms of several other guns as they engaged.

"Listen up, you undisciplined little fuck.  I don't care which spook agency you're from.  You put your fucking hands on me again and you'll be shrieking your bullshit in a much higher octave.  Do you get my drift?" the major spat jamming his gun harder into White's balls.

Seething, White flicked his stony gaze off him and around the room, snorting in disgust.  His useless fucks hadn't even managed to clear their holsters, but all of this stupid pricks men now had their guns in their hands. His hard eyes locked with the Major's and he moved away in disgust.

"Just for the record my soldiers aren't buffoons they're the best soldiers you'll ever see in your fucking lifetime, and those 'rag tag fucking animals' as you called them, are also soldiers, a fact that you fucking well omitted to tell my Lieutenant, and that is why MY pilots as well as your men were fucking well killed." 

Now YOU can tell ME what the fuck is going on or you and these fucks are going straight to my brig." The major eyed Whites men with the same disgust White had.

"Now I have video footage from the cameras on my birds, that puts fully kitted out soldiers, in a defensive pattern over all the ground they've just flown over. MY ground. So don't bother to give me that shit about a black market operation."

"You know all you need to know.  All I require from you is that you land my men in that car park without getting any more of them killed. Surely your elite fucking soldiers can accomplish that small task." White scoffed scornfully moving closer to the screens. 

"Where is this fucking footage, anyway? Play it back? he demanded.

"Yeah, so," White scoffed, as it played out. "You've got under a hundred men standing around dressed like soldiers, big fucking deal. You land my men and they'll take care of them, nothing for you to worry your pretty little head about," he finished disdainfully.

"Listen you arrogant little prick," Anderson ground out trying very hard to hold onto his temper.  "If my lieutenant tells me correctly, your men, have already tangled with them twice today and come out the losers.  You've already lost men and your own birds, now you may not give a fuck about your men but I do about MINE."

"Those men down there are not just dressed like soldiers, they are soldiers, and I know that because they managed to blow two of my best crews out of the fucking sky. Now I don't know what your deal is, but I'm bringing MY birds and MY men home until I know what the fuck is happening out there, and you can go to hell. 

Glaring contemptuously at his back White pushed the speed dial on his cell phone and spoke a few quiet words.  Turning back he proffered the phone to the furious faced Major. He stood there indifferently while the Major listened.

"But Sir I …"

"Yes Sir," Anderson snapped finally, his cold eyes once more on White.  Shoving the phone at White he ignored his narrow eyed arrogance and turned back to the screens."

"Sigma four one to Anderson. We have a visual on the target sir. It has a red cross on it sir, over"

"Yeah, Yeah I can see it on cams it's a fucking hospital."  "Harbourlights Hospital," he read out loud as the cameras in the birds panned over the scene. "What the fuck is going on?"   A blast of fire from Sigma four's guns riveted his eyes to the screen.

"Cease fire," he roared into his headpiece. "What the fuck are you doing, sigma four one, over."

"Do not fire on the hospital, I repeat do not fire on the hospital, over."

"Sir these fucks are firing on it.  I no longer have control of my birds guns, sigma four one, over."

Anderson's eyes a mixture or rage and contempt raked White before turning in fury back to the screens, now showing all of the birds with guns blazing at the hospital buildings and car park.

"This is Anderson to all birds just rope the fuckers down. Leave them and come home, over," he spat in fury. 

"Roger that sir, over."

What the fuck was happening?  Since when did a United States General disregard local command and order fire on a civilian hospital in one of its own cities?  Who was this little fuck?  And who the hell had soldiers in his grid that he knew nothing about?

"Run this pricks ID through to Tremaine and tell him to send me anything he can find on him?" he said quietly to his lieutenant.  He'd soon have this little bastard's number, what Tremaine couldn't find out wasn't worth knowing. 

"This is Sigma four three, Sir, these useless pricks can't slide down a fucking rop… You hit me again you fuck and I'll ride this bird straight into the ground." 

"What's happening Sigma four three?" Anderson barked, fearing he knew exactly what was happening.  His gun again on White as his men knock Whites to the floor and put guns to the back of their heads.  

Anderson watched in admiration as White threw two of his men across the room.  Strong for a little guy he thought as he calmly shot out Whites kneecap.  Tough too he admired, as White kept coming at him, and he shot out the other kneecap. He turned quickly back to the screens as his lieutenant kicked White forward, onto his face and planted his boot across the back of his neck.

"They have a gun to Don's head, Sir, they want me to land.  I've told them its fucking suicide. That car park is locked tight.  We land there we're all fucked." 

Anderson watched the screens as the birds cams panned over the car park. All the bird's guns were now spraying the car park with a continuous fire hail of fire. *Only seasoned soldiers could hold their ground under fire like that.* He could see a few soldiers positioned around both the hospital and the perimeter of the car park. Like his pilot he knew that that these were the one's he was supposed to see.  His gut told him there were more concealed and just waiting for his birds to land.

He frowned uneasily his eyes flicking between the screens running the feed from each bird's camera.  He zeroed in on one of the screens showing bullets from the birds little guns ploughing across the car park towards the hospital, churning up the ground in front of soldiers rapidly exiting through the hospitals main doors.  The camera showed them blurring faster than it was possible to move.

"Great now the fucking camera decides to crap out," he spat in disgust.

Anderson knowing that by now all his co pilots would have guns to their heads, made one of the quick decisions that had seen him and his men safely out of a lot of tight spots.  He'd just have to hope for the sake of his men that Whites bastards were better soldiers than those waiting on the ground for them.

"Anderson to all birds land em.  I repeat this is Anderson to all birds land your birds, over." 

"I don't give a fuck which general you're fucking White. If anybody harms one hair on any of my boys head I'm gonna cut your balls off and make you fucking eat them," he said conversationally.  Not even bothering to turn and look at White lying in a pool of his own blood with a knee on his neck and a gun to the back of his head.

"Sir, I've slowed that fucked up tape down so you can see them as they came out the doors, look."

Anderson watched the adjusted tape replaying the soldiers exiting the hospital.  One fell and two soldiers behind him slung their weapons over their backs and bent as one to grab him under the armpits as they ran with him for cover.  Anderson with a clear view of their backs could clearly see the grenade launchers attached to both M16's.

*He's got the firepower to blow them out of the air, even if I can get them up.* Ever the pragmatist Anderson resigned himself to the loss of his birds and turned his focus to getting his men home safely. He watched as the first of his Birds hovered vulnerably as the pilot prepared to set it down.

"They're only still alive cause he wants them on the ground, Sir."  His lieutenant's voice reflected the apprehension Anderson was feeling.

"Yeah," he agreed.

"Whoever he is, he knows he's got better men than those fucks of White's and he wants our birds. John, get onto the police chief and get him to feed us their hover drone surveillance of the area where you lost the first two choppers.  I want a closer look at those soldiers."

"Yes, Sir."

"And John, get the rest of Sigma four ready to fly and get me a direct line to General Quinn, now."

His lieutenant was already on the phone before he'd finished talking.

"This is Anderson just sit tight guys, this is not our fight, over." 

As he said it he knew it was redundant. Whites bastards weren't about to let them fly off without them, but he wanted his men to hear his voice and know they weren't on their own.

"You're so fucked Anderson." White ground out, before the knee on his neck moved down cutting off his speech.

"Get the Sarg for me, John, will ya?"  Anderson asked.

Stepping over White his face not even registering interest, the huge, heavily muscled, Sergeant snapped to attention.

"Sir."

"Come and have a look at this Buzz."

"John, throw those fucks in the brig and take him to medical.  If he tries any more of that superman shit on you just put a bullet in his head.  I figure I'm probably due a pretty severe telling off anyway, so what the fuck," he shrugged indifferently.

One of the bird's camera captured a group of black clad, armoured covered, helmeted and goggled soldiers as the lead soldier raised his arm above his head and his gun spitting he blew out the lens. The screen that camera was running its feed through froze on the picture and Buzz whistled low and long as he grinned appreciatively at the image. "Fuck, I didn't think I'd ever see those sweet things again," he drawled.

"You know them Buzz? You can recognise them?" Anderson asked looking incredulously at the anonymous black clad figures on the screen.

"Oh yeah, I'll never forget that sign, or him," Buzz said.  His eyes assessing he scanned the other screens now showing three birds on the ground with men spewing from them. 

"Those are our birds." Alert now his eyes quickly moved over the screens.  "Fuck, tell me this ain't what I think it is?"  They're on our side, right?" he asked, gesturing at the screen holding the frozen image of the transgenic soldiers.

"Fraid not, no, Buzz.  I dunno what the fuck is going on but those assholes getting out of our choppers aren't our men, they belong to that fuck they just dragged out of here. But those are our crews piloting them?"

"Then we're in trouble."

"You don't ever want to tangle with these fuckers, they're the best fucking soldiers I ever saw on a battle field, you can't kill them they're as close to invincible as you'll ever see,"

"Him," he said his finger tapping the helmeted figure with his arm raised, " I never knew his name, his men called him Sir, and his officers by his serial no 494.   He was the best fucking officer I've ever served under," he added, unmindful of the fact he'd served under Anderson for the past ten years.  But they're our guys Sir, they're Special Ops what the fuck are we doing, going against our own guys?"

"I dunno yet, I've got Tremaine trying to find out what he can and the rest of Sigma four gearing up and ready to ride."

"You see that sign he's making, it's his call sign, they called it the alpha sign he uses it so his troops can identify him from wherever they are.

"His gaze back on the screens he watched their last little bird land between two of the larger black hawks.

"He's just been bidding his time, not wasting his men or his ammo until there're on the ground, just like they are now in a nice, fat, tasty huddle," Anderson said grimly.

All the screens reflected the flash of gunfire as it erupted simultaneously from around the perimeters of the car park.  Grimfaced they watched the familiars ineffectually spray the hospital building and the cars in the car park with return fire.

"Well it won't be a long fight anyway," Buzz snorted in disgust.  Anderson grunted in agreement

"He only didn't kill em all in the air cause he wants the birds."

"Yeah," Anderson agreed.

"Like taking candy from a baby," Anderson said, as the familiars continued to drop. "For fuck sake don't they have any Officers?  Herded together like that they're sitting fucking ducks.  Just a few good snipers could have the lot of them in less than ten minutes. Grim lipped they watched one group of erratically firing familiars spray their own men with gunfire.

"Who sent these undisciplined, untrained fools against these guys and what they hell were they thinking?"

Buzz grunted in disgusted agreement.

A car exploded under the onslaught of gunfire the flames spreading quickly from vehicle to vehicle. Anderson watched as transgenic soldiers came forward to cover the ordered unhurried retreat of those that had been taking cover behind the cars. They were well-trained, cool headed and well-disciplined, so much for his gamble that White's men had the balls to get his men out of this fiasco Anderson thought in disgust.

"Whoever their Officer is, he might come out of this with nothing but that initial casualty."

"Lets fucking hope so," Buzz commented grimly.  Killing his men really pisses him off."

"Yeah," Anderson acknowledged in heartfelt empathy his thoughts on his pilots.

"This is Major Anderson to Sigma four, just hold your ground boys.  This isn't our fight do not engage with the troops on the ground.  I repeat do not engage, over."

"Roger that Major, we're just sitting it out sir, over." 

"Will he kill them Buzz?"

"Depends on his orders, Sir." Buzz answered.  "He won't kill other soldiers unless he has to but as far as he's concerned they've fired on his men.  Buzz left it there but both men knew that unless they could pull a rabbit out of a hat their men were as good as dead.

"Sigma four six to Anderson, this gutless fuck wants me in the…"

The sound of a gunshot and fighting  brought the room to a stand still.

"This is Major Anderson the Sigma four six, report over,"

"They've just shot Cole sir, the gun is now to my head, they want me in the air. They can get fucked…" The pilot's hard angry voice was cut off and the air went dead.

"Sigma four six report."

"Travis report."

They waited in silence.

"They've probably only removed his earpiece. Obviously none of them can fly, they need him," Anderson finally said into the silence, knowing as well as the other men in the room that White's men in the birds had started to panic, and untrained men in panic often didn't do what was rational.

"If they make them lift off, then he'll kill them in the air, as far as he's concerned everybody behind a gun is his enemy, they're only still alive because he wants the birds. The only chance our guys have is if when he seizes the birds, they can convince him that they have nothing to do with that lot."  Buzz said

"Not much hope of that." Anderson's pushed down his sense of frustrated helplessness.

"Sir, I've had no luck getting the police superintendent for the hoverdrone surveillance, but I've rousted a uniform who seems to know what's going on, his name is Sergeant Biggs, and he reckons that there is some problem with the satellite the signals are relayed through.

Buzz's head spun to him.  "Put him on speaker phone, let me hear his voice?"

"When do you think they'll be operational again?" the lieutenant asked.

"Haven't the faintest fucking idea, but they're working on it now?" Biggs replied.

Smiling, thinking he might just have found that hatted rabbit, Buzz signalled for the phone. "Biggs, this is Sergeant Buzz Howl of Sigma four, and I need your help again." Buzz waited out the silence on the other end of the line.

"We don't do the army's shit work anymore, Howl."

"The guys in the Birds are ours. They don't want to be there, and they haven't fired on you. The men firing on you are not our men. They belong to some asshole called White we were ordered to transport them. We were told we were going after black marketers. Our guys tried to bail when they started firing on the hospital but they were hijacked. They're just waiting it out in their Birds. They haven't fired on you."

"We know whose in those birds Howl, but what do you want me to do with your sob story? Your men are soldiers. You know the fucking rules."

"The rules of engagement state that…"

Biggs bitter laugh interrupted him, "Don't quote that bullshit at me, Buzz. The army never worried about the rules of fucking engagement when they deployed us."

"Yeah, well from what I saw of your officers they were the sorriest, evilest collection of fuckers the army ever fielded, but the rest of the army ain't like them. Anyway, why the fuck would we fire on you deliberately we're on the same fucking side? They conned my brass with the black marketers bullshit. We don't know what the fuck is going on. We just want our boys out of there. My Major has ordered them to sit tight but those bastards in the cockpits with them are starting to panic." He waited in silence for Biggs to come back to him.

"We aren't on the same fucking side Howl, not anymore. Two weeks you spent with us under extreme exposure and you still haven't twigged. I mean for fucks sake our girls carried your injured on their backs through seventy miles of fucking jungle. Biggs paused to see if Howl was making any connections, when he still didn't appear to be, he continued.  "I know you regular army grunts aren't recruited for your smarts, but I thought you must have figured it out by now.  We're Transgenics, Howl, if we were ever on the same side, we sure as hell aren't now."
 
Astounded Buzz stood rooted to the spot, the phone clutched tight in his hand and blood pounding in his ears. "You, you can't be," he finally stuttered.

"'Fraid so, you didn't really buy that shit Alec told you about vitamins and extra training did you.

"Sir's, name is Alec?" Buzz asked befuddled. Trangenics, they're transgenics, kept repeating in his head.

"Yeah, his name's Alec now. Look I'll tell him what you've told me and it'll be up to him." Biggs waited for his response.

"I hope that you and your platoon don't end up staring down the barrels of our guns Buzz," he said finally into the silence. "Watch your back Howl."

"Yeah, you to sweet thing," Buzz replied automatically, unthinkingly using the nickname his men had self mockingly given their baby faced saviours.

The line disconnecting didn't register in his head as he stood there holding the phone, staring at the screen that held the frozen images.

"I guess it isn't classified anymore Buzz?"  Anderson said taking the phone off him and hanging it up. So that's the Special Ops guys who got you out after that Tanzanistan fiasco? Which one carried Danny?"

Buzz pointed in silence to Alec. Anderson stared at the figure on the screen.  He'd spent six months trying to find that guy and his men, just so he could shake their hands and thank them. Two hundred soldiers had returned from that disastrous screw up eighteen hundred hadn't. Those that had made it home had only done so because of those guys.  There hadn't been a day that had passed in the two years since, that Anderson hadn't given thanks that his son had been one of those who'd made it home.

"I had Tremaine looking for them for six months and he couldn't turn up shit. No wonder, it was like they didn't exist, they didn't. Ring Tremaine back John, and tell him we're looking for any info he can get on trangenics, especially these ones. Buzz will give you the names and serials."

Buzz's eyes went back to the screen. "Steve the guy who carried me, he's a few inches taller than them and he always stood here," he pointed behind Tav's shoulder. "He isn't there, neither is Kat who was smaller or Tania, or Ana," he said suddenly panicked as he realized all the figures on the screen where to large to be female.

"Fuck those rumours about Units ordered to shoot tranny women and kids. They were killing these guys and their families, they were killing Kat and Tania and Ana." His shock was stark on his face. "I went to a fucking rally in support of hunting trannys down and killing them." He groaned rubbing his hand across his face. "This fucking country owes them for services rendered and we repay them by hunting them down like fucking animals."

"Yeah," Anderson agreed decisively.

"John cancel that call to General Quinn. Better to keep this under wraps until we know more about what's happening," he said his sideways glance locking with Buzz's.

"Yeah, where did they take that fuck whose men these were?"

"Medical."

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"I thought you had two shot out kneecaps?" Buzz asked as he closed the door.

"I heal quickly," White answered indifferently, his eyes mocking as he continued to buttoned up his shirt."

"You're not a transgenic too are you?" Buzz asked.

"Do I look like one of those animals?" White snorted in disgust.

"No, not really, you're too short and not a good enough soldier," Howl agreed. "But I had to ask. I don't want to get anything else wrong," he said cryptically, his gun already in his hand as White lunged for him.

"How long will it take you to heal a bullet between the eyes?" he wondered out loud. Always thorough he aimed again and fired another four rounds into White's heart."

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Max glanced quickly away from the car park to Todd as he came and stood beside her.

"Reub is stable that Ordinary Doc said the next twenty-four hours will tell," he responded to her unspoken question.

"Alec said you've got Comms until he's back?"

"I've got them."  he said tapping his headpiece.  "There isn't anything happening anywhere else to be monitored."  Keenly he scanned the action in the car park.

"Whites elite enhanced super race don't appear to be doing very well. They might be kick ass at hand to hand but they sure ain't intellectually enhanced."

"Yeah," Todd agreed I was following it in the OR.  They just landed the birds right in the middle of us.  Alec was beside himself with glee.

"Yeah I heard them all laughing, Max said. What's happening now?"

"That status update Alec just called was to check everyone is in position they're getting ready to go for the birds. We killed everyone on the ground about five minutes ago.  The gunfire we can still hear are our own guys firing into the air to make the familiars think they've still got soldiers on the ground."

"Because their Officers are fuckwits the birds ended up all over the fucking car park and three of the surveillance cameras are sweeping the same area.  That area over there they can't see at all, the only bird that could have seen it would have had its camera disabled by now.  They'll be thinking that's where their soldiers are and until an officer does a voice status check they'll be none the wiser that every body is dead.  In the mean time we've had plenty of time to get into position.

Astounded Max scanned the car park.  Like the familiars she had thought the battle was still raging.

"There's now a team of four waiting to board each bird a pilot with each team just in case the crew on board manage to get it off the ground. They have to get across the open ground and into the birds so another four guys are on each bird to lay down cover fire when they make their run."

"Now of course we got that extra problem of Howls soldiers on each bird." 

"Yeah I heard all that Todd, who is Howl? 

"He's an ordinary soldier whose platoon we once served with." 

"Alec didn't say what he was going to do about that. What will happen about them?"

"Nothing, they haven't fired on us and they aren't here voluntarily.  Alec didn't say anything cause he didn't need to. Good soldiers don't kill other soldiers unless they have too," he explained remembering that most of this was new to her.

"This is alpha one, do not engage hand to hand. Go straight for the kill shot.  I repeat go straight for the kill shot.  Are you ready to go, over"

Max listened as all seven teams called in okay to go.

"This is alpha, one go now, I say again go now, over."  His flat calm voice was drowned out by the gunfire as she watched their black clad soldiers blur for the choppers.  It was impossible for her to pick Alec they all looked the same.

"Alec and Tav are over there by the black hawk on the right."

Max just caught them as their team blurred through the open door.

The cover fire had ceased and they listened for the closely space shots from each bird signalling the elimination of the familiars.

Todd's grin widened as each team reported their bird secure and with no casualties "We got all fucking seven birds," Todd gloated.  "So much for Whites superior fucking race."

"This is alpha six six, to Alpha one, Reub made it out of surgery okay, over."

"Roger that Todd. Send those orderly's with two stretchers we've got two of Howls men with critical injuries, over."

Max's eyes swung to Todd's as the intermittent sound of gunshots resumed. 

"They're just making sure all the familiars are dead," he explained, before he turned and went back into the ER.

Max stood in the doorway her eyes following Alec as he made his way across to the group of men she assumed to be Howls. Dispassionately she watched as he returned their salute. Her eyes on him she waited until the shooting had stopped before she turned and went back into the ER.

TBC

I know there still isn't any smut but I just can't seem to find a place to put it at the moment but bear with there will be smut again!  So in the mean time in anticipation of promised smut please review me anyway.  Hee.