Blood for the Baron!

First chunk, more to follow...

2011
Ironblood’s secret HQ

It had been eight months since Ironblood’s computer hacker and information warfare agent, Landline, had successfully stolen the plans to a new type of revolutionary fuel cell. Now, he was on the verge of launching his final assault. Red Shadow cells worldwide had staged a number of diversionary attacks on various cities, tourist sites and an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Other cells were now in place in Washington DC, Moscow, Paris, Berlin, Brussels, London and Beijing, ready to strike at the major world governments and the EU parliament.

Ironblood strode into the ops room in a good mood. The Black Major was standing near a wall map, studying it. Red pins denoted the location of the cells, while black ones denoted the location of the diversion attacks.

“Report, Major,” Ironblood commanded.

“All cells report ready, Baron. The Beijing cell informs me that they had a few minor problems but should be ready to execute on your order.”

Ironblood nodded. “Very good.” Turning, the Baron strode to a computer. Three Red Interceptors stood and moved aside, allowing Ironblood to sit at the centre of the three with no one able to look over his shoulder.

“Let’s see if Red Fox has any information on Action Force’s readiness.”

The Black Major frowned. “I’m still not sure she can be trusted.”

Ironblood didn’t answer at first as he logged into his email account. “Her infiltration of the British Defence Ministry has gone well. She told you that the Action Force raid on our space facility was a result of simple tracking. Intelligence they derived from that raid led them to the Swiss front, which led them to the Chinese factory.”

The Black Major sighed. “Yes, but it’s how they learned of the raid on the Alaskan base that I don’t understand. If Red Wolf had betrayed us, Action Force would’ve come crashing in here, not tried to thwart that attack.”

Ironblood didn’t answer. He was staring intently at the computer screen.

He turned, “Well, you may be able to ask before we execute them.”

“What?” the Black Major asked. “Baron?”

“Red Fox has located The Bunker. She was able to inveigle her way into recruitment of a new Intelligence officer. She’s passed us the coordinates for the base.” Ironblood smiled. “Cancel the plans for the assault. Assemble the entire army, we’re moving on The Bunker.”

The Bunker

Skip, The Commander, Eagle, Sky Raider and Dolphin looked at the red-haired woman before them expectantly.

“Well?” asked The Commander.

“He probably won’t answer,” she said. “If he intends to attack, I may not be informed until an hour or two before the attack begins.”

Skip and Eagle frowned at the news.

“Well, we’ll just have to be ready, anyway,” The Commander said. “Your reports have been very helpful.”

“Thank you,” the woman answered.

“British Intelligence will get a very favourable report on you should this work out,” The Commander went on.

“I’ll just be glad not to have to go near Red Laser any more,” the woman said. “Little nerd freaked me out.”

The Commander smiled, “Well, what ever happens now, I think your days as ‘Red Fox’ are over, Renard.”

“Good.”

The Commander turned his attention to the other four men, “Assemble the force, we’ve got an attack to ambush.”

Several minutes later, nearly all of Action Force, including the ‘back-room’ maintenance staff, were assembled on the hangar deck. The only missing members were Lockdown and his staff at Action Force’s prison.

The Commander approached the stack of ammo boxes that had been used to form an impromptu stage.

“Attention!” snapped Major Flagg.

Everyone rose and snapped to attention. The Commander stood on the crates and nodded.

“Be seated.” After everyone had sat back down, he looked across the assembled throng.

“Thanks to the British double-agent inside the Red Shadows, Ironblood now knows where the Bunker is. On my authority, the agent informed Ironblood of our location. We’re counting on Ironblood staging an attack on the base to try to destroy the unit. But since we know he’s going to attack, we’re going to be ready. All leave is now cancelled. All personnel will be on alert status. Space Force’s Wraiths and the Triad will scramble once we know the attack is imminent. They will hold position at altitude and attack Ironblood’s air cover. The SAM system will be under Bombardier’s command, along with Scorpion and Lock-On,” The Commander began.

Scorpion and Lock-On were two of the most recent additions to Action Force, a British ex-RAF Regiment member and a Hispanic American from the US Army both of whom were specialists in air defence.

“Chopper’s pilots will deploy in their Hawks. They will move to a position outside the perimeter to attack the ground force as it approaches. Whirlwind cannons will be manned by Q-Force. Z-Force’s tanks and jeeps and the SAS Panthers will hold position inside the base to attack the force should it breach the perimeter. Any SAS and Z-Force troops not manning a vehicle will be ready to engage the enemy on foot. Snipers will man positions atop the control tower. Lock’n’load, Warhead, Kickback, you’re not going on any jeeps.”

The Commander paused for breath before continuing. “Jammer, Wireless, Major Flagg and I will man the CP in the ops room with Short Wave. Ring-Tone and Breaker will deploy with Z-Force, Playback will be with SAS Force. Fixer, You’ll be in the CP to respond to any emergency repairs.”

The Commander turned his attention to Boffin. “What’s the status of the Dart, Shaft and Lance systems, Professor?”

“The three units are functional, Commander,” Boffin replied, stroking his short beard. “However, I wouldn’t recommend deployment.”

“Very well, you will also be in the CP. Sniper, you remember how to fire a normal gun?”

“Sir, yessir!” Sniper snapped.

“Good, you’ll deploy with Z-Force. Thrust, you’re going to be operational.”

The American beamed. Another of the most recent recruits, the native of Savannah, Georgia, was a former member of the US Army’s Personal Air Mobility Programme, more commonly referred to as a ‘jet-pack’. Since an early age, he’d been fascinated with the old ‘King of the Rocket-Men’ serial and wanted to have a rocket pack. Although units developed commercially had been failures, Boffin had created a jetpack using one of the fuel cells Landline had stolen the plans for.

“Your job will be air recon of the ground force.”

The Commander cleared his throat. “I’d like to ask our maintainers for volunteers to man the flak cannons and watchtowers on the perimeter. The frontline troops are needed else where.”

A sea of hands rose.

“Thank you.” The Commander paused before concluding, “See your unit CO for your assignment if need be, we start moving vehicles to the surface in ninety minutes. Dismissed.”

Everyone stood and snapped to attention.

Three days later

Tension had been high at The Bunker as Action Force prepared for the assault. Finally, Renard word from the Baron that the attack would start in three hours and that she should attempt to extract herself by any means after sabotaging Action Force’s ability to respond to the attack.

Instead, she informed The Commander of the impending attack and final preparations were begun, including launching the Space Force jets, leaving the unit ready and waiting.

Finally, the attack began. First of all, radar detected the air attack force.

“Multiple bandits closing in from the east,” Bombardier reported. “Activating SAMs.”

“Battle computer online,” Boffin reported. “I am analysing the returns to identify the force.”

The Commander moved over to Boffin’s seat. “Battle computer analysis shows radar returns match flight characteristics of MiG-23 Flogger, Su-24 Fencer, Mirage III, Puma helicopter, Roboskull and MiL-8 Hip helicopter.”

“How many?” The Commander asked.

“Two squadrons of Roboskulls,” Boffin answered. “Two squadrons of Floggers and Fencers. Another of Mirages. About sixty helicopters.”

The Commander turned to Bombardier, Scorpion and Lock-On. “Target the fast-movers. That’ll be the ground attack force.”

“Roger,” Bombardier said.

“Short Wave, contact Sky Raider and have him attack the Roboskulls. Then alert the Whirlwinds to be ready to engage the helicopters,” The Commander continued.

“Yes, Commander.”

“First jets in range in ninety seconds. Targets locked on batteries one through four,” Scorpion announced.

“Weapons free,” Bombardier said.

On the surface, the SAM batteries automatically locked on, elevated their missiles and then fired.

More of the batteries began firing. Fifteen missiles were fired in as many seconds.

The American-built I-HAWK missiles streaked across the sky as the fighters began trying to jam the radars and firing chaff canisters.

The missiles switched to home-on-jam mode and tracked the aircraft from the amount of ECM they were generating.

The first jets were swatted from the sky as the missiles over took them.

A second barrage was fired off as the Floggers and Fencers tried to launch their own missiles. More of the attack planes were shot down.

Sitting in the control seat of a Whirlwind battery, Dolphin flinched as an alert sounded. A slow-moving missile was heading his way. The Whirlwind’s targeting computer locked on and he pulled the triggers, sending several hundred rounds skyward.

The missile was blown apart. Leaving Dolphin relieved until another alert sounded.

“This is not my kinda fight,” he muttered as the computer locked on to a Puma helicopter.

He opened fire and 20mm bullets roared from the twin rotary guns at several thousand feet per second.

The helicopter tried to evade the hail of bullets, but Dolphin remembered his hasty lesson and pressed the right pedal, traversing the gun system to follow the helicopter. Bullets ripped across its tail boom and the Puma went into a spin and crashed.

More helicopters were coming even as a third barrage of SAMs was fired.

In the ops room, the Commander watched as more of the red /\ icons representing the incoming aircraft disappeared from the radar screen.

“How we doing?” he asked.

“Six helicopters down. Most of the MiG-23s and the Su-24s,” Scorpion said. “About five Mirages.”

“All the missiles have been expended,” Lock-On added. “The Whirlwinds can handle the helos, but our flyboys will have to take the Mirages.”

High above, the F/A-24 Wraiths were dropping out of the sky toward the aerial assault force.

“Eyes on targets, boys. Let’s take ‘em!” Sky Raider said over the radio.

Each stealth fighter locked on and then launched an Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile. The AMRAAMs wiped out the Mirages in the first wave. A second wave of the American AIM-120C missiles destroyed a dozen Roboskulls.

The Baron’s tilt-wing fighters broke off from their run at the Bunker and rose to face the Space Force jets.

Several were shot down in rapid succession as Space Force fired their third hail of AMRAAMs.

“Send out Thrust,” The Commander said to Major Flagg. “I want an eyeball recon of the ground element.”

“Sir.”

Thrust was standing near the control tower, running an automated pre-flight check when his radio crackled.

“Ops to Thrust. You’re a go for aerial recon. Good luck,” Major Flagg said.

“Copy, Ops.” Thrust studied the holographic HUD on his helmet’s clear visor. Everything was set. He issued the first order.

“Power on. Fire thrusters.”

The rocket-pack fired up, the engines igniting quickly. Thrust gripped his Uzi sub-machine gun tightly as he ordered full power and raced into the sky on a cone of fire.

At his command, the pack’s exhaust nozzles swivelled, vectoring the thrust to tilt him over into chest-down horizontal flight and he streaked away to the west, heading toward the ground force.

An exuberant enthusiastic ‘WAAAAAHOOOO!!’ escaped him as he broke the hundred mile an hour speed and raced on.

The enemy battle group soon came into view and he activated his radio.

“Large enemy group. Estimate battalion-strength Shadowtraks, two companies of T-55 tanks, two battalions of BMP infantry carriers and one battalion of Hyenas.”

“Roger that,” someone in the ops room answered.

“Taking fire! Taking fire!” Thrust yelped as several of the Shadowtraks fired at him as he raced past. He quickly altered his course, gaining altitude as he looped back toward the Bunker and then ramped his throttle up to 120mph.

In the ops room, the Commander donned his headset once more.

“Wolverines, open fire!”

Ton-Up and Gaucho had been waiting patiently, adjusting their rocket launchers’ aim based on the data they were getting from the base’s radar station. Now they opened fire. Sixteen missiles roared from their two missile tanks.

Red Jackal was driving one of the lead Shadowtraks. He saw the missiles streak skyward. He activated his radio.

“Break! Break! Break! Incoming fire!!”

He slammed his foot on the accelerator and slew the six-wheeled assault vehicle into a turn to get off the road.

As the missiles reached the arc of their ballistic parabola, they split open and showered the battle group with cricket ball sized sub-munitions.

Explosions ripped through several dozen of the vehicles. Red Jackal looked back over his shoulder as body parts and vehicle pieces alike were thrown into the air, burning and smoking.

The Red Shadow next to him suddenly span to the right and opened fire with the .30 calibre machine gun. Seconds later, the rear gunner opened fire as well. Red Jackal looked to see what was wrong.

Eight Action Force Hawk helicopters had just popped above the nearby copse of trees. They opened fire with anti-tank missiles.

More vehicles, mostly the T-55s Red Jackal noticed, were destroyed by the helicopters as they raced toward the battle group, dancing through the return fire.

“Attack, attack, attack!” Red Jackal screamed into his radio. “Charge the gates!”

Several Hyenas broke from the group and raced forward, spraying 20mm gunfire into the two watchtowers guarding the gates. Red Jackal steered his Shadowtrak back toward the road as the flack cannons along the wall added to the carnage.

The two watchtowers were shredded by the gunfire, before tank shells ripped through the air and blew apart the Hyenas in quick succession.

A T-55 and a pair of BMPs raced across the grass toward the perimeter wall. The armoured personnel carriers fired Sagger anti-tank missiles into two of the flack cannons as the tank destroyed the watchtower between them.

Powerslide and Gearshift raced their jeeps toward the wall as the tank continued to shell the gap, intending to breach the base’s perimeter.

Both jeeps fired Hellfire missiles, hitting the APCs, before the T-55 swivelled its gun and fired. The shell slammed into Gearshift’s jeep. The wrecked vehicle flipped over trailing fire and smoke before slamming into the ground. Powerslide slew the jeep away from the tank as he and Blast Wave exchanged horrified glances. Gearshift and his gunner Scout hadn’t stood a chance.

Whirl raced south toward the tank. He’d seen the two Land Rover jeeps frag the BMP carriers, seconds before the T-55 blasted one of the jeeps.

He lined up his 20mm chain gun and opened fire. The armour-piercing rounds slashed across the tank’s hull as his ammo counter dropped from 642 rounds to nearer zero. The bullets penetrated and a large explosion ripped the tank apart as its ammo was hit.

Whirl looped his Hawk around and keyed his radio. “Whirl to base, I’m nearly out of ammo. I need to rearm.”

“Roger that.”

Suddenly the voice of Werewolf cut across the channel. “I’m hit! I’m going down! Mayday, mayday!”

Whirl brought his Hawk into hover and pivoted to see a Hawk trailing smoke spinning around several hundred yards outside the wall, further north.

“Base, get the Bobcat out and ready, I’ll go fetch Werewolf,” Whirl snapped into his radio as he saw the other helicopter slam into the ground, bounce and then hit again, nose first.

“Get one of the fire teams to meet me.”

“Copy,” was the terse reply.

Whirl sped back to the helicopter hangar and dropped the Hawk to the concrete as the maintenance techs hurriedly pulled the Bobcat out of the hangar. Chopper had insisted one be kept ready for a rescue mission, even if no one was in it.

Whirl quickly shut his Hawk down before scrambling from the cockpit and dashing to the larger transport helicopter. He sprinted through his pre-flight ‘walk-around’ and scrambled aboard as Z-Force fire-team 2-1 leapt aboard.

Mustang threw himself into a seat and strapped in as Vanguard and Diablo took the door guns and Molot took a seat across from Mustang.

The helicopter quickly lifted off and raced north.

Mustang had been a sergeant in the 82nd Division, the ‘All Americans’, when they’d taken part in operations in Afghanistan. During an attack on his squad, the lieutenant had been critically injured and the sergeant major killed. The Lieutenant had placed Mustang in command, telling him he was promoted to lieutenant. Mustang had managed to extract the survivors and saved them with his tactics. The Army saw fit to reward him with the permanent rank of lieutenant as well as a medal. He’d volunteered for Action Force when he heard they needed replacements for losses from a mission to China the previous year. Mustang’s codename derived from an American Army term for officers promoted from the ranks.

Vanguard was a Royal Marine who’d joined at the same time as Mustang and was an expert point man, which was why Mustang had rearranged the teams and punt Vanguard in fire-team 2-1.

Mustang’s reverie was broken when Vanguard announced, “Shadowtraks, left side!”

The marine opened fire as Whirl slid the helicopter into a diagonal direction, moving toward the wrecked Hawk, but also bringing it closer to the Shadowtraks, before opening fire with the Bobcat’s gun turret.

Both Shadowtraks returned fire, but missed. Vanguard, however, hit the further vehicle and killed the driver, as Whirl hit the closer one.

In seconds the Bobcat dropped into a low-level hover near the crashed Hawk.

“Vanguard, stay put. Everyone else with me,” Mustang said. He leapt from the helicopter; Molot and Diablo close on his heels. They quickly reached the wreck’s cockpit.

Vanguard scrambled up on to the side of the helicopter and unlatched the canopy. Raising the side panel, he yelled to Mustang, “Looks like he’s alive but unconscious.”

Mustang pulled out his radio as Vanguard felt for a pulse. “Two-One to ops, Werewolf is alive but we need on-site medical aid before we move him.”

“This is Tourniquet, send Whirl back and I’ll come out,” replied the medic.

“Copy,” Mustang answered. He turned to Molot and Vanguard. “Stay put.”

Mustang sprinted across to the Bobcat and leapt aboard. “Whirl! RTB and pick up Tourniquet. We’ll stay put.”

“Gotcha, loo-tenant!” Whirl replied in a cod American accent.

Mustang jumped from the helicopter as Whirl lifted clear and pivoted the Bobcat around and sped back to the Bunker.

Overhead, the battle was continuing to rage between the Roboskulls and Space Force.

Hawkwind reefed his Wraith into a tight turn to evade a burst of gunfire. He levelled off and dashed north. Suddenly another Roboskull dropped on to his tail.

“Shit,” the Swede muttered. He evaded two bursts from the Roboskulls guns, but he couldn’t shake the pursuer.

“Someone wanna scrape this guy off my butt?” Hawkwind asked over the radio.

“I’m coming, Hawkwind, hang on!” Sky Raider responded.

Red Condor fired another burst of gunfire at the F/A-24. He still resented Ironblood handing command of the Roboskulls to Red Vulture, but at least the Latvian was flying the Baron’s transport on this mission. He’d forgotten a cardinal rule of air combat, however. He was target-fixated, ignoring the rest of the battle as he tried to gun down his target.

Red Condor fired at Hawkwind’s Wraith, this time luring the pilot into dodging straight into a longer burst. The 20mm bullets ripped across the wing, engines and tail fins.

The explosion blotted Hawkwind’s fighter from the sky as Sky Raider lined up his Wraith on Red Condor’s six. Needing no further incentive, he opened fire with his own machine guns.

Gunfire ripped through the Roboskull’s tail, puncturing the fuel tanks and blowing the tilt-wing to pieces.

Moments later, the surviving Roboskulls suddenly turned and fled, accelerating to high speed.

“Well, that was weird,” Sky Raider muttered. “Sky Raider to Space Force, check in.”

“Moon Dancer, in the green. Low on ammo and gas.”

“Kiwi, in the green. Low on gas.”

“Kahu, in the green. Low on gas and ammo.”

“Afterburner, got half my right rudder shot off. Low on gas and ammo.”

“Priest, got holes in both rudders and right wing. Low on gas and ammo.”

“Hot Jets, in the green. Low on gas and ammo.”

“Blast Off, in the green. Low on gas.”

“Cloudburst, lost left rudder. Damage to left wing. Low on gas and ammo. Need to RTB.”

“Shar, in the green, low on gas. No ammo.”

“Spitfire, in the green, low on gas and ammo.”

“Lightning, Talon One in the green, low on gas, no ammo. Talon Two in the green, low on gas, no ammo.”

“Sky Raider to Ops, we’re returning to base all aircraft low on fuel and ammo.”

“Copy, Sky Raider, you are clear to RTB.”

The eleven fighters circled back to land at the Bunker’s runway.

Standing in his Shadowtrak, Ironblood watched as the Roboskulls fled.

“Damn them. Black Major, identify those cowards when we return to base and have them executed.”

“Yes, Baron.”

Ironblood turned his attention back to the ground battle.

“All ground units, you are clear to attack,” Major Flagg relayed over the radio, watching the feed from the camera Sureshot and Bolt had set up atop the control tower.

On the surface, the four Z-Force tanks surged forward, clearing the gates, while the jeeps raced up behind them.

The four tanks halted and began firing as the Shadowtraks dashed forward.

Overhead, the Hawks were returning to the Bunker as the Z-Force jeeps launched their Hellfire missiles.

Red Shadow troops were swarming from the BMP infantry carriers and the grounded helicopters as the Action Force infantry teams moved up.

The rattle and crackle of automatic weapons fire filled the air as Ironblood and the Black Major watched the battle. Ironblood turned to his Red Interceptor in the Shadowtrak next to him.

“Get me Red Laser,” Ironblood ordered.

“At once, Baron,” the radio operator acknowledged, quickly switching frequencies.

The trooper handed Ironblood the radio.

“Red Laser? Get your reserve unit up here, now.”

Minutes later, as Sureshot lined up a shot at Red Shadow wearing a helmet with no visor and carrying a Javelin anti-tank missile, Bolt commented, “Woah.”

Sureshot centred the crosshairs on the black guy’s face and pulled the trigger as the muscular guy raised his launcher on to his shoulder. The bullet punched through his head and he dropped to the ground, dead.

Sureshot looked at Bolt. “What’s wrong?”

“Four artic trucks and something else coming,” Bolt replied, handing his binoculars to Sureshot before raising his radio to his mouth.

“Bolt to Ops. Newcomers to the party closing in. Four articulated trucks and one unknown.”

“Unknown? What kind of unknown?”

“Appears to be some kind of self-propelled artillery piece.”

The large red vehicle sped around the wrecked tanks, APCs and assault vehicles toward the nearest Z-Force tank.

It halted.

A bright line of red energy flashed out and struck the tank. The beam melted through the tank like it was a cheap candle.

Inside his tank, Steeler could barely believe what he was seeing as he watched Jarhead’s tank slagged by the red beam.

“Traverse turret,” he snapped. “Lock on to that vehicle and fire!”

“Target locked,” Spartan replied. “Firing!”

Red Laser saw the turret of one of the other tanks turning toward him. He immediately threw himself from the control cab of his Laser Exterminator. He hit the ground, rolled over and scrambled to his feet and ran as the first shell hit the Laser Exterminator.

Seconds later, the other two tanks fired. The Exterminator exploded.

Red Laser dashed madly away from the burning vehicle. Not looking where he was going, he slammed into Vaquero’s outstretched arm and crashed to the floor.

“You little pendejo!” Vaquero snarled. He grabbed Red Laser by the front of his tunic.

“Please! Don’t hurt me!” Red Laser begged. “I surrender!”

Giving a wordless snarl, Vaquero slammed Red Laser into the side of a wrecked Shadowtrak, knocking him unconscious.

Suddenly, loud metal footsteps could be heard. Vaquero turned toward the nearest artic truck. Out of the open trailer, stepped a pair of strange figures. White skeletal arms and legs extended from a boxy red torso. A skeletal looking head topped the things off. Their eyes were bright red lights, whilst a small ridge crested the skull.

The raised AK-47s to firing positions at their hip. More stepped from the truck. Then another truck disgorged more.

“Skeletrons, attack!” a voice screamed.

The things, these ‘Skeletrons’, opened fire simultaneously.

The Action Force troops ducked for cover. Two took hits on their helmets. Vaquero saw Playback hit in the chest, but he rolled over and scrambled for cover. His body armour obviously having protected him.

The gunners in the jeeps returned fire.

The Skeletrons continued to advance, bullets pinging off their bodies.

Then Steeler’s tank fired a shell into their midst.

Some were ripped apart. Most survived. Some that had lost arms or legs struggled forward, apparently oblivious to their damage.

“Grenades!” Sabre shouted and several of the SAS troops hurled grenades at the Skeletrons as they relentlessly moved forward.

The Skeletrons desperately dragged themselves onward, even as more of their parts were blown off.

“Fall back!” Someone shouted.

Warhead and Kickback fired anti-tank rockets into a crowd of the Skeletrons.

Then a louder set of footsteps could be heard.

Stepping from the second pair of trailers were even more odd-looking things. Humanoid, with a head that was round and featured only a single eye in the middle of the ‘face’, they carried RPD and M60 machine guns.

“Mutons, attack!”

The Mutons opened fire even as Action Force began to retreat to the walls of the Bunker.

The gunners on the jeeps opened fire, only to see their bullets bounce off. The Action Force troops threw more grenades and fire more missiles and rockets, but even as some Mutons had their limbs ripped off, the remainder continued on.

Sniper dashed back into the Bunker and raced toward the fake Ops building. Once inside, he took a high-speed lift to the Special Weapons Force basement labs.

On the surface, Ironblood’s Shadowtrak had moved in closer to the base as the Baron’s troops massed for an assault on the main gates.

The Black Major stood in the front of the vehicle.

“Sureshot to Ops. I have a clear shot at the Black Major. Do I have a green light?”

“Take the shot, sergeant.”

Sureshot swiftly adjusted his sights, took aim and gently squeezed the trigger.

The bullet slammed into the Black Major’s face and punched out the back of his head.

The Red Interceptor in the vehicle pulled Ironblood down, as the Baron screamed, “NO!”

“Clean kill,” Sureshot announced into his radio. “Target down.”

Red Jackal looked back over his shoulder as he heard the rifle report. He saw Black Major’s dead body on the ground as the Skeletrons and Mutons continued to attack.

What he didn’t see was the turret on Trax’s battle tank lining up on his Shadowtrak before it fired.

The shell hit the assault vehicle and blew it apart. Nothing was left but a twisted wreck.

Blades and Peregrine were escorting Whirl’s Bobcat in their Hawks as he flew fire-team 2-1 over the ground battle. Molot and Vanguard were blazing away at the death robots and the Red Shadows.

Shrapnel raised his M203 grenade launcher and fired at a group of SAS soldiers. The 40mm grenade hit the side of a wrecked Shadowtrak and detonated, showering the soldiers in shrapnel.

Fenris, Piorun, Tane and Sandstorm were cut down by metal fragments. They didn’t stand a chance.

Shrapnel’s triumph was short lived. Molot saw him from the Bobcat as it raced overhead and aimed a sustained burst at the grenadier. The hail of bullets punched through his body, killing him instantly.

Blades brought his Hawk into a hover and sprayed several Skeletrons with 20mm gunfire.

One of the Skeletrons stopped, raised an RPG-7 and aimed at the hovering attack helicopter. The robot blind-fired the rocket-propelled grenade at the belly of the Hawk.

The grenade slammed into the helicopter just behind the gun turret and detonated. Blades was hit by several fragments of metal, as the belly of the helicopter was ripped open. Bullets from the ammo box were fired into the cockpit and ricocheted around, hitting Blades. The helicopter plummeted from the sky, crashing into several of the Skeletrons and destroying them.

“Fall back!” Sabre screamed. “Get inside the base!”

The soldiers retreated with the jeeps and tanks providing cover fire before falling back themselves.

Double-Tap reloaded his pistol as he leaned against the still-smouldering remains of one of the watchtowers at the gateway. He looked at Snow Wolf and Shade next to him.

“Cover me,” he said as he drew a second pistol.

“Cover you?” Snow Wolf asked. “Where you going?”

“After Ironblood,” the marksman answered. He took a deep breath, slowly released it and then turned and sprinted out the gateway.

Shade and Snow Wolf exchanged glances and then turned and began firing either side of the running figure of Double-Tap.

Two Red Shadows appeared on Double-Tap’s left; he twisted his torso left, extended his arms and fired a single shot from each Glock 17. Both gunmen fell. As he twisted back forward, he saw another pair to his right. He executed the same manoeuvre in their direction and fired.

He ran on, a Red Shadow appeared either side of him. Double-Tap extended his arms straight out left and right and fired. Both terrorists fell, shot in the head. As another pair appeared, he crossed his arms over his chest and fired left with his right gun and right with his left gun.

The Shadowtrak was before him. Ironblood saw him, snatched up an AK-47 and stood up. The Baron fired a burst. Double-Tap dived into a forward roll, pushing himself back up as his feet hit. He brought his guns up and fired both pistols twice.

The four bullets slammed into Ironblood’s chest. Red blood spread across his white jumpsuit. He dropped the AK-47 and fell over the side of the Shadowtrak. The Red Shadow driver gunned the engine, reversed away at high speed and slid the six-wheeler into a three-point turn before racing off.

A group of Red Shadows charged Double-Tap. He fired at them, emptying the pistols’ extended magazines. The he turned and ran as the other SAS Force troops provided covering fire.

The Mutons were closing on the base gates as Double-Tap sprinted inside. Sniper passed him running in the opposite direction. He was carrying his immobilising glue gun.

Dropping a spare tank on the ground, Sniper took aim at the robots and fired. The semi-liquid goo sprayed across the robots, jamming their weapons and quickly setting into a hard substance that covered their arms, legs and feet. Sniper fired again and again, trapping more of the robots as they tried to attack him.

The surviving Red Shadows began to surrender or to flee. Action Force had clearly won.

In the operations room on level three of the Bunker, Vixen drew The Commander’s attention. “Uh, sir, I think you should see this…”

The Commander and Major Flagg turned to see Vixen aiming a remote control at the TV playing CNN.

“…live from Washington DC where a Red Shadow attack is in progress. Four Red Shadows, accompanied by a number of what appear to be robots, are engaged with federal agents outside the Capitol building. The terrorists are on East Capitol Circle, only a few hundred metres from Congress itself. The Federal Agents and Capitol Police have been unable to stop these seemingly indestructible robots. Already, dozens of agents are dead.”

“Look,” Wireless said, pointing to another of the flat-screen TVs. “Moscow’s under attack as well.”

Sure enough, the screen, showing a Russian satellite news network, had images of more Mutons and Skeletrons engaged with the Moscow Militia on Red Square itself. A larger, red robot like construct was firing a machine gun from its left arm at the unprepared soldiers.

“Uh-oh,” Flagg commented. He pointed to the screen relaying BBC News. On the screen, four of the Red Shadow’s Sea Snake boats were firing on Parliament from the Thames near Westminster Bridge, while gunfire could be seen on the bridge itself.

Jammer pointed to the fourth television, where Euronews was showing an attack on the European Parliament. Two of the larger red robots were firing at Belgian troops with flamethrowers.

The Commander grabbed a radio.

“Skip, Eagle, Dolphin get down here pronto. We’ve got a situation.”

Moments later, the three commanding officers were looking at the news channels.

“I’ll take fire-teams 2-1 and 2-2 to Washington,” Skip said. “And Horsepower and his tank and a pair of jeeps.”

“I’ll take the Panthers and a fire-team to Brussels,” Eagle said.

“Q Force can handle the Sea Snakes,” Dolphin said.

Renard stepped forward. “Sir, These Skeletrons and Mutons are largely autonomous, but they’re networked by computers at Ironblood’s headquarters. If you give me three operatives, I’ll take them to the base and we can try to shut them down.”

“Where is Ironblood’s HQ?” Skip asked.

“Tajikistan. Near a town called Charku.”

“A four-man team?” Major Flagg asked.

“Give me that guy Double-Tap and two other SAS troops and I swear we’ll shut down the network, even if we don’t take the base. It’s going to be under-defended after this attack.”

The Commander considered it, then turned to Eagle. “Give her Snow Wolf and Shade. They’re two of your best intrusion operators.”

He turned back to Renard, “Sneak in, shut the network down and then pull out and await support.”

The Commander turned to Wireless, “Get Sky Raider and Moon Dancer in here.”

The two pilots arrived quickly. “Sky Raider, we need Moon Dancer to get Renard and three others to Charku in Tajikistan fast. How do we do it?” The Commander asked.

“The Cosmic Cruisers,” Sky Raider said. “They’re hypersonic. They don’t need to go orbital.”

“Four man team,” Moon Dancer said. “We’ll need both.”

“Get Hot Jets and get it done.” The Commander said. “Eagle get your three guys down here.”

The Commander turned back to Sky Raider, “Get the fastest transports we’ve got we need to get teams to London, Washington, Brussels and Moscow.”

Sky Raider threw a salute and hurried out, Renard and Moon Dancer behind him.

“Skip, get a team together to get to Moscow. Couple of tanks, some jeeps. Make sure they know we’re serious.”

“Yessir,” Skip answered.

Soon transports were arriving even as the two Cosmic Cruisers lifted off, carrying Renard’s team to Tajikistan. The four teams loaded up and headed out.

more to come tomorrow.

cool, esp as you included one of my favourite words, inveigle...

Washington DC

The C-17 Globemaster III transport thundered over the White House, heading toward Pennsylvania Avenue NW. Skip had had an argument with Air Force Command as the transport had approached the US coast, but his argument of ‘let us deploy or I’ll come and kick your ass!’ had carried a lot of weight, especially when the F-22 interceptors refused to shoot down a clearly marked US Air Force transport.

The C-17 dropped lower toward the road, it’s rear ramp down. The transport was flying at rooftop level, the tops of the trees lining the road bending in the slipstream.

“Can’t get any lower,” the loadmaster shouted to Skip in the second Z-Force jeep. “Buildings are too tall.”

“Fine! Let’s go!” Skip hollered back.

The green ‘go’ light came on and the tank at the front revved its engine before racing off the ramp.

Horsepower gritted his teeth as the tank fell the sixty feet to the road surface. The tank slammed down, cracking the tarmac as it hit, but it rolled, speeding several feet northwest before Sparkplug could yank the steering lever into spinning the tank around. They raced southwest, along the empty street heading for the Capitol.

The two Z-Force jeeps bounced as they hit the road, before Roadhog and Powerslide threw the jeeps into handbrake-turns to slide around. The C-17 pulled up and raced away as the three vehicles headed for Congress.

Brussels

The C-130 Hercules had dropped the SAS Force jeeps on the A3 motorway, and they were now speeding southwest toward the Avenue de Roodebeek.

Eagle couldn’t believe they were once more screaming at high speed through the Belgian capital, trying to save the European Parliament from a Red Shadow attack.

Moscow

The two Z-Force tanks and their accompanying jeep had been dropped off by the C-17 transport at the Ulitsa Serafimovicha, but they’d had to cut east along the Kremlevskya naberezhnya on the other side of the Moscow River, before racing toward Red Square. As the group of vehicles crashed through the police barricades, the pair of tanks opened fire at the bulky red creatures spraying bullets at a Red Army unit at the other end of the square.

The battle was joined…

London

The Q-Force Swordfish boats sped up the Thames toward Westminster Bridge. Four Sea Snakes were spraying gunfire into the Houses of Parliament.

“Lock torpedoes,” Dolphin ordered from Swordfish 3. “Fire!”

The torpedoes leapt from their launch rails and sped through the murky waters of the river and slammed into the boats, blowing them apart. Four more Sea Snakes came racing down the river from the direction of the Vauxhall Bridge and Vauxhall Cross.

Standing on the deck of the Sawfish, Riptide could see smoke billowing into the air from somewhere upriver.

“Looks like they hit something further up the Thames,” he reported into his radio.

“Probably the MI6 headquarters,” Broadside replied from Swordfish 2.

Automatic gunfire crackled through the air as the four boats opened fire on the Red Shadows’ attack craft.

Two of the Sea Snakes exploded as they were hit by the hail of gunfire. One cut down the side of the Sawfish, Riptide fired at it from the pintle-mounted machine gun until it jammed.

As the boat passed, Riptide scrambled on to the Sawfish boat’s rail and leapt on to the passing Sea Snake.

Hitting the bow the SEAL rolled over, cursing as he did, before grabbing hold of the machine gun mounting. He pulled himself up, drew his Sig Saur pistol and fired three rounds at the Red Piranha at the helm. The bullets pinged off the armoured Lexan windscreen. Riptide scrambled to his feet and ran toward the boat’s control cabin.

Leaping on to the Sea Snake’s topside, Riptide dodged around the radar dish, around the radio mast and dropped onto the stern deck.

A Red Piranha was coming through the door as he landed. Riptide fired point blank into the frogman’s face. The diver dropped to the floor and the Q-Force trooper grabbed his fallen assault rifle, an AK-103.

Riptide quickly switched the weapon to automatic fire and raked the control cabin with a long burst.

The American quickly crossed to the helm, shoved the dead frogman aside and throttled the Sea Snake’s engines back. Stepping to the centre of the small cabin, he reached up to the radio, reset the frequency to the Q-Force channel and then pulled down the handset.

“Riptide to Q-Force. I’ve captured the Sea Snake I boarded. I’m taking it to shore.”

Phones on the Sawfish acknowledged the message as Riptide moved back to the helm and steered the attack boat to the Victoria Embankment.

Bringing the Sea Snake to a halt next to the Westminster Millennium Pier, Riptide quickly leapt from the boat and sprinted up the pier toward the road.

As he reached the street, Riptide could see Parliament on his left. He turned in that direction, holding the AK close to his chest as he sprinted up the street toward the intersection where the embankment met the famous Westminster Bridge. He could hear automatic weapons fire ahead.

Tajikistan

The two X-78 space-planes were flying south toward Charku after sprinting across eastern Europe and central Asia at hypersonic speeds.

As they made their approach to Ironblood’s private airfield on the edge of the city, Renard set the radio to the Red Shadow’s frequency.

“Bastion Control, this is Red Eagle, request permission to land, over.”

“Red Eagle, this is Bastion, provide security code and stand by for verification,” came the terse reply.

“Security code is Alpha-One Tango-Six Gold Wolf, over.”

A few seconds passed and then the voice replied, “Code verified. You’re clear for approach. Wind is minimal from the east. Welcome back.”

“Acknowledged, Bastion.”

Renard turned to Moon-Dancer. “You’re going to have to get us down fast, Moon-Dancer, they’ve got Zeus-24 triple-A tanks and Shads carrying Strelas. Once they realise we’re not the Ilyushin, they’re going to open fire.”

“Don’t worry, I can handle it,” Moon-Dancer replied. “I just hope Hot Jets can. Besides, it’s eight thirty at night down there and getting real dark.”

The British intelligence officer had to admit he had a point. It had taken nearly four hours to get here, even at Mach 5, and with the time-zone difference it was getting late on the ground in Tajikistan.

The two Cosmic Cruisers soon entered the final approach and were on the glide-path to land.

After touch down, Renard and Double-Tap scrambled from the space-plane and raced to the cover of the nearest building. Snow Wolf and Shade quickly joined them.

“Let’s get in and get out, fast,” Renard whispered. “Christ knows how much damage those robots are doing.”

The other three nodded. They hurried to another building and Renard entered a security code. The group entered and raced along a corridor before the British woman led them down an emergency staircase.

At the bottom of the staircase, three levels below ground, the group crashed through the doors to find four Red Shadows blocking the corridor.

Renard fired her UMP sub-machine gun from the hip, gunning down one Red Shadow even as Double-Tap fired his Glock and hit a second. The third fell to another burst from Renard’s German weapon as Double-Tap took out the fourth with his pistol.

The group hurdled over the corpses and continued to a T-junction at the corridor’s end.

Renard signalled for them to halt as they neared the intersection. She slowly peeked around the corner to see a group of eight Red Shadows at the end of the corridor where she knew the ops room was.

She leaned back. Then she looked along the passage’s opposite direction to see another eight of the Baron’s troops.

Before Renard could say anything, her radio crackled.

“Renard, it’s Moon Dancer. We’ve got company. There’s about a company of Shadows coming our way with two Hyenas and two Shadowtraks. What’d you want us to do?”

“Stay put and hold them off for a few minutes,” Renard replied. She turned to Shade and Snow Wolf.

“Moon Dancer says they’ve got company, can you two try and take them on while Double-Tap and I handle this?”

“How many?” Snow Wolf asked.

“Two Hyenas, two Shadowtraks and a company of Shads.”

Snow Wolf gave her a feral grin. “Easy.”

The pair trotted off leaving Renard and Double-Tap.

“There’s sixteen Shads out there, eight at either end. Toss a flash-bang and I’ll go left, you go right, okay?”

“No problem,” the marksman answered. He pulled one of his stun grenades out of his webbing and pulled the pin.

The grenade clattered off the wall before detonating in an ear-splitting boom and a blinding flash.

Renard leapt into the corridor and fired a three-round burst to take out the first Shadow, she pivoted right and fired another burst. As the first two Shads fell, she took out the next pair, pivoted left and took down the final pair.

She span around to see Double-Tap dropping the final one of his targets.

He walked toward her, reloading the Glock pistol as he walked. Renard took the opportunity to reload her UMP.

“If Landline’s in there, let’s try and take him alive. Waste everyone else.”

Double-Tap nodded.

In a lift car, Shade and Snow Wolf were readying themselves for arrival at the ground level.

“Let’s try and take a couple of them alive,” Snow Wolf said. “If we can snag uniforms it might make it easier to get close to the vehicles.”

Shade nodded and pulled a pair of throwing stars from her belt. “Ready,” she said.

Snow Wolf took out a small throwing knife from his own gear.

The doors of the lift opened to reveal a group of Red Shadows. Snow Wolf hurled the knife into the throat of a Red Shadow before snapping up his MP-5SD3 as Shade threw her shuriken, hitting a Red Shadow who had neglected to wear his face-shield.

Both commandos began firing as the first pair of gunmen dropped. Two of the five Red Shadows managed to return fire, but the bullets missed as both soldiers dropped to one knee and fired again.

The fifth gunman was hit by a burst from Shade’s MP-5SD3 as he tried to decide who to shoot first.

Quickly shedding their own uniforms, the pair donned the Red Shadow uniforms and crossed to the door outside.

A squad of Red Shadows ran past on the double and so they headed after them and caught up.

When the squad reached the runway, the two space-planes had been boxed in on the hammerhead area at the end of the runway. The Hyenas and Shadowtraks were blocking the X-78s path, while the terrorists surrounded them.

Snow Wolf moved to one of the Shadowtraks and climbed aboard, taking control of its rear-mounted .30 calibre gun.

A Red Shadow using a bullhorn was shouting at the space-planes, trying to persuade Moon Dancer and Hot Jets to surrender.

Snow Wolf swivelled the gun around to point toward the other Shadowtrak as Shade positioned herself next to a Red Shadow carrying an M-32 multi-shot grenade launcher.

The Chinese trooper gave his South Korean counterpart a subtle nod. Then he opened up with the mounted machine gun, spraying the other Shadowtrak with bullets. He lowered the barrel and hosed the rows of gunmen with another prolonged burst.

As the Red Shadows in the Shadowtrak turned toward him, Snow Wolf drew his Glock pistol and shot them. He moved quickly to throw both from the vehicle and take the driver’s seat.

Shade shot the terrorist with the grenade launcher before gunning down the two nearest her. She snatched up the fallen M-32 and turned toward the Hyena as its turret began to rotate toward Snow Wolf’s hijacked vehicle.

Shade fired off the six grenades in quick succession, blowing the tank off its treads and hitting the gun turret.

Snow Wolf sped the Shadowtrak around the now crippled Hyena as Shade sprinted for cover and drove it straight toward the second Hyena before leaping clear.

The assault vehicle crashed into the tank and flipped up and fell on to the Hyena’s topside, blocking its twin guns.

While Shade and Snow Wolf were causing chaos on the runway, Double-Tap and Renard had subdued the control room. Two Red Shadow guards and four Red Interceptors had resisted. Their deaths had prompted the other Interceptors as well as Landline to surrender.

Landline stood behind Renard, Double-Tap’s pistol pressed to his temple as the intelligence officer utilised his computer to send the shut down signal.

“Still can’t believe you’re doing this, Red Fox,” Landline said.

“It’s Renard now,” she replied. “Red Fox was an alias. Nothing more than a cipher to infiltrate the Shadows to bring them down.”

“After all this time?”

She looked over her shoulder at him, “I joined solely to bring them down. I’ve been part of the group since 2003. Well before Ironblood introduced me to everyone else.”

She turned back to the computer as she continued typing. “MI6 got word from an asset in Brazil that some guy calling himself ‘Baron Ironblood’ was putting together a group recruited from mercenaries, criminals and other scum in 2001. I was assigned to infiltrate the group. One fake falling out with Six, eighteen months of establishing my legend as a spy-for-hire and Ironblood recruited me. I tried getting a CIA operative recruited but they were too busy chasing Bin Laden.

“SIS didn’t think Ironblood would go active until last year. The German robbery caught us out. But we tried to warn the Americans and the Russians but they ignored us. Why do you think Black Major’s London raid was so ineffective? They knew he was coming.”

Renard paused as she clicked the mouse and sent the signal.

“The Commander was all ready in the loop. He’d been planning the formation of Action Force for six months before he went to NATO.”

Landline stared at her completely speechless. Double-Tap looked impressed.

“Now,” Renard said, turning back to the dumbstruck hacker, “What are those red giant things?”

Landline snorted. “The battle armour? Ironblood had it designed and built after your raid on the Atlas Mountain camp; he wanted a way of being sure he could escape if you launched an attack on a base when he was around again. After he saw the prototype being tested, he decided to have several produced to use as an infantry support unit.”

“How do we stop them?”

“You can’t,” Landline sneered. “There’s a Red Shadow in each one. You can’t shut them down. You’d have to cripple the hydraulics or destroy the power source, which is armoured.”

Renard smiled. “Thanks.”

She walked over to the radio and retuned it.

“Renard to Action Force. Come in, Action Force.”

“This is the Bunker, go ahead, Renard.”

“Inform units in the field, the power armour suits have to be taken down by hitting the hydraulics on the limbs or destroying the power core. Shut down signal to stop Skeletrons and Mutons has been sent.”

“Roger that, report coming in from Moscow that the robots are down. London team reports capture of Kraken and a dozen Red Piranhas. RTB when ready.”

“Acknowledged. Renard out.”

She turned toward Landline. “Looks like we’ve killed or captured nearly everyone, then.”

NATO Headquarters
The next day

The Commander stood behind the lectern, facing press from around the world.

“Good morning, I am the Commander of Action Force. Yesterday, at approximately 10:30 AM, local time, Baron Ironblood personally led an attack on Action Force’s base known as ‘The Bunker’. The base’s location had been revealed to Ironblood by an intelligence operative acting as a double agent inside the Red Shadows terror group. The Red Shadow attack was expected by Action Force and thwarted. In the course of the battle, eleven Action Force operatives were killed. A further ten were wounded.”

The Commander paused in his scripted statement as the reporters reacted.

“In contrast, approximately 780 Red Shadows were killed, a further 330 were taken prisoner. Among the prisoners was the Japanese terrorist known as ‘Red Laser’, who was responsible for last year’s attack on Gloucester in England. The subsequent attacks on London, Moscow, Brussels and Washington DC were part of a coordinated offensive planned by Baron Ironblood to neutralise the major world governments and to seize nuclear launch codes. Interrogation of surviving tier one personalities indicates Ironblood had planned an attack on Beijing as well, but the message to launch the attack was not received.”

Another flurry of whispers rippled across the room.

“Baron Ironblood and his number two, Black Major are currently believed dead, following the attack on ‘The Bunker’. We are currently waiting for formal identification of the bodies.”

The whispers were louder.

“Action Force remains active at this time as Red Shadow cells are still known to exist worldwide. Ironblood may be dead, but the threat has not ended.”

The Bunker’s Morgue
The same time

The Doc and Skip stared at Renard.

“You’re sure?” Skip asked.

“Positive,” she replied, looking down at the corpse. “This is not Ironblood. I’ve seen him without his mask several times.”

She turned to the body of the Black Major. “And that’s not Major Vaughn. He’s got dark hair, not fair.”

“Damn,” Skip swore. “They must’ve switched with the Red Interceptor and Red Shadow that were in the jeep with them.”

Somewhere in South America

Red Vulture walked into the large lounge of the Baron’s villa.

“The Red Interceptor reports the villa is secure, Baron.”

“Good.”

“What now, Baron?” Major Vaughn, the Black Major, asked.

“Now we plan for our return, Major. Action Force have won this battle, but the war’s not over yet.”

Vaughn smirked in response. He’d hated having to kill his men, but he’d needed to disappear, to join the Red Shadows. Renard had been under too long. Now it was Vaughn’s turn.

To be continued…?