Training part II

"Vomit Comet Express" Wasn't a misnomer, Kim realized. She was soon heartily glad that she hadn't eaten much that morning, and more than a few of the soldiers looked a little green.

Tara wasn't flying down in the "real canyon", no matter how realistic the exercise, the USMC didn't like to risk multi-million dollar aircraft, (or their crews) to the chances of a bird strike. The "Canyon" was actually a virtual canyon, painted on the readouts and visual displays of all the aircraft, while they maneuvered at at least 1000 feet. A "crash' involved buzzing monitors, not fire and death.

But the jinking was real, and Kim closed her eyes against the whipping motion as Tara put the craft through an intricate series of turns flying through the twisting "Canyon".

"Coming up on target." Tara said, her voice businesslike and cliped, "Prepare for disembarkation in Five zero seconds." A pause, "Drones show no hostiles at primary LZ, We'll be on deck for Ten seconds."

"Confirm." Taggert said. Kim gulped, feeling her heart start to pump faster. Next to her, Verne yawned and opened his eyes. He'd evidently been asleep for the last hour. The rest of the soldiers were getting ready, and then with a jar, the aircraft was one the ground, jets screaming. The rear door and side doors fell away and they were moving out, Taggerts men and women setting up a perimeter around the square. Kim had to admit, they had done a good job—it didn't look anything like Lowerton. Then she winced as her back was pelted with stones as the Nighthawk lifted off.

"Nighthawk one, in the air. Will stand by for Close Air Support." Tara's voice came over the coms. "Nighthawk 2 inbound, ETA One Minute, Four Zero seconds."

"Confirm."

"Okay, Kim." Taggert said, "Drones read no hostiles between here and the embassy—go. Those coms need to be out in five minutes and we need to be in."

"Okay. No big." Kim said, falling back into decade old mannerisms as she left the square. Kim headed for the roof, going over the buildings rather than narrow streets. Streets were natural deathtraps, after all, and she didn't have a laser cutter or explosives to go through the buildings—not that she would have. She was supposed to be covert, after all.

There were people (synthodrones) on the street, even donkeys and dogs. In one place a group of small figures played a game of soccer, while someone argued over the price of a car. Kim shook her head. She had to work to remember she was actually in Lowerton. Even the smells were different, redolent with sewage and hot desert air.

Then there was the embassy, with a blood red triangle flag flying over it in place of the Australian Flag. The flag of Trianglethreatland, Kim thought with a chuckle. There weren't any guards on the walls, and her orders were only to kill if she encountered them. Kim didn't want to kill…and she didn't even notice, as the designers had intended that she was no longer thinking of the opposition as Synthodrones.

Over the wall, quietly down into the complex. Moving into the body of the embassy and then….

Kim ducked as a bayonet drove where her shoulder blades had been, as a small figure charged her. She spun around kicking out folding the figure around her leg and bouncing it off the wall. Kim leaped up and moved towards it, knife out, hand shaking slightly. The voice in her head reminding her that this was only a drill was silent now as she prepared to… She blinked.

The figure in front of her was a kid, barely 13 if he was a day old. His mouth opened to shout as he looked for the rifle and her other hand, the one without the knife, snapped out and covered his mouth, slamming him against the wall where he frantically tried to get away. His eyes rolling he whimpered under her hand, and a smell of urine filled the air as a stain spread on his pants.

I can't- Kim blinked and looked down at the blade like it had grown fangs. She slammed the kid down on his stomach, while he whined and struggled.

"Quiet. Don't move." Kim said. If the words weren't understood, the meaning was. He stopped moving, and Kim tied him up and gagged him with strips of cloth from his own clothes. She looked around and found a closet and stuck him in it, and then kept moving to the com office. Most of the other guards seemed to be on the other side, where Tara had deployed some "screamer" drones, devices designed to pretend to be aircraft.

"Okay…" Kim said, looking at the equipment. She deactivated the links to the local government, insuring that they couldn't call out even if they retook the com office, and then for good measure activated the secure destructs on the data files. In a few moments the computers would be expensive blocks of junk.

"I'm in." Kim said over the comlink, "The coms are down, you can come in yourself."

"Did you neutralize the opposition?" Taggert asked. Kim hesitated, then replied. "Everyone I met."

"Good. We're on our way."

Moments later, there were shots and small explosions from the side where the terrorists had gathered. Taggert's crew moved like lightning, one squad covering the other as they advanced, the heavy rifles punching through walls to get at the terrorists who sheltered behind them. Kim trotted over to the main embassy building as the various soldiers reported that it was secure. Inside, they found the 'hostages' including a woman in pink holding a dog carrier labeled "fluffy". One of Taggert's Lieutenants glared at that, and muttered, "She couldn't have found the bloody dog yesterday."

"Building clear?" Taggert asked.

"Completely." His subordinates replied.

"Good. Nighthawk one, we have a clear LZ and-"

And then an explosion went off in the courtyard, where the nighthawk would have landed. A roar started to rise along with a steadily increasing tempo of shots.

"Contact! Contact! To the rear!" A shout came over the coms. "I make at least two Hundred Plus hostiles!"
"Oh Hell…" Taggert said, "Nighthawk, abort landing, Abort landing! LZ is hot! Sensors indicate the ground route to the secondary LZ is clear, prepare to extract from there. First squad, Second Squad, escort the hostages to the secondary LZ. Everyone else, set up for a delaying action." Kim ducked as another explosion took out part of the wall and blinked her eyes through the grit and smoke. She could see the enemy now, pointing guns out of windows and buildings, and carrying heavy weapons that could penetrate even the armor they were wearing. And shouting and pointing, was a familiar skinny figure.

"Oh no…" Kim breathed.

"Someone you know?" A mild voice said by her side and she turned to see Colonel Verne. Before she could respond, the first rush started, evidently backed up by a mortar unit somewhere. One of the nighthawks screamed over the embassy, tracers and missiles stabbing down into the city, going for the mortar team…

And things got very busy indeed.

TBC.