Chapter Twelve
Strike Two
1.
The Mamba was moving faster than Torpedo had before. His Sky Hawk was only creeping closer to it as it wrapped around the northern point of Sammeston Island. Then again, his Hawk had been chewed up by the Cobra chopper's two twin 9mm guns. The turbofan jets were still strong, but the panes on the left side were beginning to shake and rattle, giving Torpedo the fear of a snap-off. If that happened, all the jet power in the world wouldn't save him.
But the new sensation that began to break the Joe SEAL's hard focus was the thunderous boom of explosions beginning to pop-up from the southwest. Unable to resist his curiosity, Torpedo looked toward the island, and saw a few blasts flare up across the western shores.
Rattlers, FANGs and more Mambas could be seen on the far horizon, doing their aerial march towards the side of the island. But the worst sights were the bombs beginning to pour from high in the sky, where Condor bombers, escorted by Night Ravens, were dumping their loads and wreaking havoc on the poor little lump of land called Sammeston Island.
Once again, shame overcame Torpedo. He was so caught up in rage over his failure at the Jane, that he forgot the most important part of the mission: delay the air strike.
Pushing his joystick left, Torpedo turned towards the western shore, and pushed the jets even harder.
2.
The blast from the explosion sent Gung-Ho flying five feet into the air and ten feet down the shore. Sand from the explosion hit Backblast so hard that it knocked the anti-aircraft missile-launcher out of his hands.
Breaker stumbled over to the big Joe Marine and set a hand on his bloody shoulder. "Gung-Ho! Are you alright?" The operations commander swatted the hand away and slowly stood back up.
"I'm fine, dammit! Get back behind some cover; we can't afford to lose you!"
Breaker nodded, ducked as another bomb exploded, and then ran off to hide behind the Whirlwind.
Gung-Ho felt his right leg as he stood up. It was the femur. Not a complete snap, but his thigh was gonna hurt really bad for a long time. Damn! It killed to try to stand on it, but there was no way was he going to let his men know that he should be out of action. He half-hopped over to Backblast, dropped to his left knee and started to help reload the missile-launcher.
"Can you hit those Condors?" he asked.
Backblast shook his head. "Not a chance. They're about five-hundred feet too high."
"Then focus on the Rattlers."
"Shouldn't I focus on the faster--."
"I said take the damn Rattlers! They got all the heavy loads!"
Backblast raised a hand in surrender. "Alright, alright, I'll shoot the Rattlers." An explosion drowned out whatever he said next as Gung-Ho painfully walked out to the Whirlwind.
The G.I. Joe Twin Battle Gun was spinning around like crazy, attempting to lock onto a valid target. Rampart sat at its controls, but could not lock onto any targets just yet.
"How are you doing with the guns, Rampart?"
"I've got about five minutes worth of ammo, Gung-Ho. This is—," he was cut off by a blast near the Whirlwind, "This is suicide! Why would Duke do this to us?"
Gung-Ho would usually get mad at a question like that, but right now, he couldn't help pondering the same question. "He always has a good reason, buddy. Don't throw in the towel yet."
Breaker walked up to the Whirlwind. "We've got a message from Dial-Tone on the Jane. Radar has a dozen Condors bombing us high-in-the-sky, with an equal number of Raven's for escort."
"We don't need to worry about Night Ravens." Input Gung-Ho.
"Maybe not, but we do need to worry about the twenty Rattlers, ten Mambas, twenty FANGs and ten Despoilers heading this way!"
"Despoilers!" gasped Rampart. "If they're on the way, then Destro programmed this game."
"Maybe. It doesn't matter. Let's stay tight, 'cause we'll need to be close if we want a quick extraction."
"Wait! Message coming in!" The Joes waited as Breaker listened to the information come in. "Airborne and Wild Bill have engaged the Cobras. Lift-Ticket is moving in. It's starting!"
Two more explosions from the island rattled the Whirlwind. "Breaker, buddy. It's already started."
3.
"See, Weasel-Man? We didn't need one o' yer plans." Said Monkeywrench.
"Yeah, Zartan always saves the day!" praised Torch.
"Hmph."
A bullet-shot spewed sand in front of Wild Weasel's feet. "Someone who was just rescued by me should be a little more thankful."
Cobra's Ace Pilot looked up to Zartan at his perch atop the deck of the WHALE. "I didn't need your help, Zartan."
"Oh, well, let's just lock you back up inside. I'm sure you'll break out in no time."
Wild Weasel frowned. Once again that damn Dreadnok had the upper hand. How does he always get control? "What do you want of me, Zartan?"
Both men flinched as a series of explosions shook the ground in the distance. "I need your help to get this hovercraft off of the island. The bombing is light now, but when the Rattlers get here there will be nothing left."
"But it has no engine power. How will--?"
"Don't worry about that. I need you and the Dreadnoks to clear a pathway out to the water for this beached WHALE. It will float, but I'm afraid it just doesn't seem to have any 'get-up-and-go' anymore."
Oh, how he hated that smile. Despite that, Cobra's Ace Pilot was thoroughly confused. Despite his hatred of Zartan, he knew that deep down, the mercenary was really very, very cunning, and maybe, just maybe, he had a way of getting off of this island.
4.
A Rattler exploded merely one-hundred yards away, and Backblast could be heard cheering.
Gung-Ho looked out with a tight jaw as the first wave of Cobra fighters began their runs on the island. Rampart had the Whirlwind running at deafening speed, and had already taken down two Rattlers and a couple of FANGs. The geek knew how to shoot long-range, that was for sure.
But the Cobra's could shoot, too. The Joe's gun had taken a couple of hard hits as well, and the bombs were getting closer. The Whirlwind and Backblast were keeping the snakes away from the Joe position so far, but when the second wave of bombers came in, they wouldn't have any ammunition left to fight with.
"Gung-Ho!" Backblast came running up to him. "I'm out, buddy."
"Did you waste any?"
Taken aback, Backblast replied, "No, sir. I took down seven planes and choppers. About all you can ask for with my little rockets."
Gung-Ho grunted then turned back to Rampart. "How are you doing, Rampart?" But the intensely focused shoreline defender couldn't hear him over the sound of the Whirlwind's fire.
Two explosions just twenty yards away knocked the Joe Marine and anti-aircraft specialist down. "Damn!" The pain to Gung-Ho's leg was unbearable. If only those stupid Cobra's would get out of their damn planes and fight me face to face, then I'd show them the meaning of power! Gung-Ho hated being trapped on the ground, unable to see his foe. He wasn't afraid to die, but it really dug into him that he had to sit on the ground with a big target circle on his chest, and there was no way for him to fight back! This wasn't the way he fought, the way a man from Louisiana fought.
Suddenly, there was an explosion in the distance.
Gung-Ho looked back at Backblast. "That wasn't me!"
Breaker came running around the Whirlwind. "Gung-Ho! I've got a message from Lift-Ticket!"
"What is it?" But the Joe Marine knew.
"The Sky Hawk was just destroyed. Airborne barely got out alive."
Sure enough, as soon as everyone looked back out to the ocean, a small parachute could be seen bursting open, then slapping into the water.
Enough was enough. This post was going to die, and the Joes needed to escape. Sitting here was just stupid.
"Can Lift-Ticket or Bill pick us up?"
"Negative, they're too far away fighting Cobras."
"Send out a call for extraction. We need…help."
Breaker started making the call that the Joe team seldom made. It always hurt to hear. As Gung-Ho looked out to sea, in frustration but not in panic—he did not know what panic was—the roar of jet engines behind him made him jump with surprise. Looking up, he saw a Sky Hawk rush over him, pull up, then lower to the sand.
"What the hell?"
"It's Duke's Sky Hawk! Cheered Rampart.
"No, remember? It's Torpedo's Sky Hawk!" pointed out Breaker.
"Uh-oh."
When the aircraft had landed, heavy fire began pouring in at it. The four Joes by the Whirlwind sprinted, or in Gung-Ho's case, walked quickly, to the landing skids, signaled that they were ready and grabbed tight when the Sky Hawk blasted upwards again.
Using its rotational ability, the Hawk spun around, and then rocketed off, perhaps a little too carefully, across Sammeston Island. Gung-Ho gritted his teeth as the Joe 'craft waved back and forth in order to dodge enemy fire.
A Rattler got its sights on the Sky Hawk and started giving chase. It began scoring a few hits against the jet-craft's body and scaring the heck out of the "passengers." Just when the Rattler had closed to one-hundred-and-fifty yards, Breaker called out, "Look!" and pointed to the South.
Gung-Ho turned to see a white spaceship-like aircraft rise up from the island's east coast and open fire on the Rattler. The Cobra bomber was caught totally by surprise, and despite an attempt to turn away, it was ripped to shreds and exploded. The Joes on the Sky Hawk were nearly knocked off by the blast.
As the SHARC passed by, Gung-Ho realized he might actually buy Deep-Six a beer.
5.
Zartan watched Zarana and Monkeywrench emerge from the brush carrying Zandar. "The whole island's getting bombed now. The planes'll reach this side in five minutes, I reckon."
"Excellent." The Dreadnok leader turned around and walked the stern of the WHALE. "Buzzer! Are you done clearing that path to the ocean yet?"
"Yes sir, Zartan sir. The big Joe boat can be pulled around A-Okay. No lumps of sand ta block it!"
"Great! Ah, and in perfect timing, here come the FANGs!" Everyone's eyes turned to see a squadron of six FANG helicopters closing in on the Dreadnok's position.
Wild Weasel came running up to Zartan. "So this is your great idea? Having these measly little pea-shooters drag us all the way back to Cobra Island?"
"Would you rather hang onto the landing skids the whole way back? I didn't think so. This way, we'll have some hostages with us, guaranteeing that the Joes will leave us alone."
Once he was close enough, the Officer aboard the lead FANG called down to the Dreadnok Leader, "We're here with the chains you requested."
"Good! Connect them all to the hovercraft and begin pulling it out to sea!"
The shock could be seen in the Officer's eyes. "You want us to pull that Joe vehicle out to sea?"
"That's correct!"
"That's insane! We're not risking the destruction of our helicopters to attempt saving a trashed Joe hovercraft!"
Zartan raised the M-16 he held and pointed it at the Cobra Officer. "You will risk it, or I'll kill you right now and try it with five helicopters."
The Officer's eyes narrowed with anger, but he did blink once, and then dropped down the chains.