A Short Vicious War

I keep going with this story line and know that I'm removing parts that when I wrote it originally in my minds seemed relevant at the time but now several years later really aren't needed. As always this is a work of fiction what could happen if the wrong asshole got in office, and we had no checks and balances.

As always this is a work of fiction, and I alone am solely responsible for its content and any and all mistakes. Any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental and unintended, this story may not be reproduced, reprinted, copied or retransmitted in any way known or unknown without the permission of the author. If you enjoyed reading this story, please be sure to like, vote, follow and comment below. Be careful out there and remember to play safe.

Now on with the story.

Date: 24 December 2023

Time: 2246.22

Location: Victory 03, inbound to Chaos Base

'I leaned up against the avionics bay in the nose of the Herky bird that was headed for my hilltop bastion against the NKs, they had tried yet again just this morning and failed miserably. From what was passed to me they had attacked with around 300 men just before dawn, trying to infiltrate through the woods that bordered the field below my hilltop. Of course, they were detected by Sam and then they hit something that went boom, at that point the stealth portion of the early morning show went right out the fucking window. Bullets started getting thrown around in large quantities by both sides but only one was under cover and the other was out in the open.'

'I received reports that the NKs had lost 123 dead, wounded or captured, so far, no wounded on our side had been reported. I was always relieved to hear news like that; I had no want or desire to write any letters to families of those who might be lost. I looked around the bay and could see the others that were coming to Cactus field at Chaos base. I'd chosen Cactus field to remember the fighting units that had showed up on Guadalcanal in 1942 and had fought like hell against overwhelming odds time and time again. They had held the line and kept the Japanese from pushing against Australia and completely taking over the southern Pacific Ocean.'

'I looked at the other men and women that had huddled against the same bulkhead to share the warmth coming from it. Most were asleep or lightly napping, opening their eyes from time to time to quickly look around only to close them and drop back into that middle ground of sleep. Sue shifted against me, and I looked down at her, I could have left her at Offutt, but something told me to bring her along, she needed to see the things that I would still do to and against her people.'

'I heard a pop in the headset I was wearing and knew that something was about to happen. 'General?' I recognized the pilot's voice.'

'Yeah, go ahead.' I replied after pushing the PTT switch with my right hand.'

'20 Minutes out sir, if you'd like to come up.' He said and I looked around and found the closest person and nudged them with my boot till they woke up.'

'Yeah, I'll be right up, thanks.' I said as the soldier looked up at me. '20 minutes out.' I said and he nodded and started waking people up. I woke Sue up and then managed to shuffle my way to the stairs that lead up to the flight deck and knelt between the 2 pilots and looked out.'

'Off our right wing I could see some green tracer fire coming up, it was far off and posed no danger to us, I suspect that they did that just to feel that they had done something even if they knew they could do nothing to stop this plane or any of others that they and I knew would be coming. We had taken control of the air battle space and were slowly squeezing them back into smaller and smaller pockets, only to be hit from all sides with ever increasing amounts of fire power.'

'The NKs had failed one of the fundamental cornerstones of modern warfare, control the air battle space and deny your enemy open movement. We controlled that part of the battle space and any NK vehicle, or group of troops were fair game for patrolling attack fighter/bombers, attack helos, and armed drones. Night held no respite from modern sensors that turned night back into day and allowed the pilots to strike from any direction at any time. The NKs were losing troops in droves to more than ghostly planes, there was the problem of gorilla units that had banded together and made them pay in blood for thinking they could take over this country.'

'Admiral Yamamoto had once said that any invasion of America would be a mistake, for Japanese soldiers would find rifles behind every blade of grass. He had attended Yale and gotten a degree, toured America extensively and had been the Naval Attache for the Japanese Embassy between WW1 and 2. It was obvious that the NKs had not headed that warning from the past and were now learning exactly what it meant.'

'Then there were also the deserters that had seen the light and simply decided to run for it, many were killed going over the wall, but enough made it and told of the things that were being done to and against them. I don't know if I believed them all but from what I'd already seen I wouldn't put it past the commissars to use anything and everything to keep their troops in line.'

'I slipped into the jump seat between the 2 pilots and strapped in then hooked back up. 'Did they shoot at the other 130 that came in last time?' I asked and checked the time on my watch.'

'If they did it wasn't reported General, looked like light MG fire, not really dangerous.' The Co-pilot said and looked around and started his line up to land. I just stared at the back of his head.'

'I ripped the heart out of a follow-on battalion, going 12 of 18 and took their fucking cookies with a pair of old M-60s young man, and I wasn't even using anything special up the pipes. So yeah, I think that light MG fire might be dangerous to an aircraft's systems.' I said casually. 'Then a few days later, completely gutted the NKs long range transports by going 19 of 21, eating their fucking cookies too with an M2 50cal. If you're flying and someone starts slinging around the lead, shit can get real fucking interesting really fucking fast. Especially if you get turned into a pink mist.'

'I'll make sure it gets reported Sir.' The pilot said and called for the checklist. I just sat there quietly listening to the traffic being traded, I was glad to hear that it was so crisp and quick.'

'I sat back and felt the mains kiss down then the nose and the props reverse as we came to a stop then crabbed around and pulled up to the off-load area and shut down. 'Praise god, we have cheated death again.' The pilot said. I just laughed and started unhooking myself, clapped him on the shoulder and tapped the co-pilot to let him know that while not totally forgiven, he'd done a good job. He just had a lot to learn still.'

'I headed down to the cargo area and pulled the rest of my gear on then followed everyone off, there were people waiting for me and some of them looked happy to see me home again. Most of my original team was waiting for us to deplane, I spotted Tony and told him to take charge of the small pallet that I pointed out and not to let anyone mess with it until I told him personally.'

'Paul Stanley shook my hand along with several of his junior officers and senior NCO's as I stepped off the ramp and shook hands all around, I joked and let everyone know that hopefully they'd be sleeping above ground soon enough. He took me over to where the wounded and captured NKs were setting, and I spotted one that was dressed a little better the rest and pointed him out to Paul. He smiled and nodded then showed me the preliminary interrogation report.'

"Well fuck me sideways." I said in a quiet voice then whistled. I walked back over and motioned for the soldiers standing near him to stand him up. "Captain Chu, a pleasure to finally make your acquittance, I have been so looking forward to this day. You have so many sins to answer for that I doubt that I'll be even able to scratch the surface, so I'll just bypass the normal channels and send you directly to hell. Azie does owe me a few favors, he'll put you in a special room and in a few million years or so you might just graduate to a lake of fire to burn in for the rest of eternity."

"On his knees, now." I said quietly and made a great show of drawing my pistol and screwing the suppressor to the end of the barrel as he was pushed to his knees and held there. I then pulling a small metal box out of my left pants pocket and opening it. I showed it to him; it was loose 45 round that I rattled back and forth. I could see that despite the freezing temps; he was starting to sweat and sweat hard.'

"Know what this is, hmmm? No, let me enlighten you then. This is a mercury round, highly illegal, band in every country in the world, even in your little slice of personal hell strangely, but I digress." I told him then popped out the mag and racked the slide, and caught the ejected round, I loaded the merc round and popped back in the mag and walked behind him and placed the mouth of the suppressor against the back of his neck, angling it so that it wouldn't go into his brain but tear out his throat.'

"Captain Chu, you have been found guilty in absentia by a Military courts marshal of crimes against humanity, multiple violations of the Geneva Convention regarding the fair and lawful treatment of captured and or wounded combatants and or civilians, murder in the first, second, and third degree, looting, and too many other crimes to list. You have been sentenced to death, said sentence to be carried out without the need for review, by any unit that may capture you." I said and heard him whimper and pulled the trigger.'

'The "SNAP" of the hammer striking the firing pin was deafening, I could smell shit and piss and knew that he'd just soiled himself. I pulled the pistol away slowly and knelt down beside him. "Not quite as much fun when it's your neck on the line is it asshole.' I whispered listening to him breathing heavily. "You're going to spend the rest of your days in a military supermax prison, there will be no chance for you to escape and you'll spend 23 and a half hours of every day in your cell unless your being taken to the shower or to the exercise pen. You'll never see the sky or the sun ever again or breathe fresh air, I want you to know that asshole, you're going to live in hell, every moment of every day from this moment on until you die 40 or 50 years from now."

'I stand and look around at the troops that now stood stock still or stare at me from their knees, their jaws hanging open. "Load his ass up and make sure that he cannot escape, he's to be permanently considered a high-risk prisoner, no lone solo guard with him ever." I say and watch the 2 guards quickly force march him up the ramp and chain him to the deck plates pad eyes so that he's unable to move more than a few inches in any direction.'

'The other prisoners were loaded up and I watch as Mike handled fielding the few that want to speak with me as soon as possible. 30 minutes later everyone is loaded aboard, and I watch the hawk close up then hopped in the hummer that had been sitting there waiting to take me back to the house. Sara looks back at me and smiled, she like everyone else had watched the calm collected way I'd gone through the motions of getting ready to pop that pile of shit.'

"You should have popped him boss, would have saved everyone a shit ton of money." She said casually and drove us to the house. I just nodded, knowing that if I'd popped his ass, I'd have been no better than he was. Would it have been justice or just another in a long line of officially sanctioned murders that made up what soldiers did during a war. I just sat back and sighed, I really didn't want to think too much about it right now, mainly because I was tired and needed to rest. I knew that would never happen up here.'

'I went in and sat down in my office, Tony brought me in a fresh cup of coffee, for more years than I think anyone can remember, militaries have been running on some form of stimulant, be it wine, tea, beer, coffee or what the hell ever they had handy.'

'As he left Paul, Mike, Hillbilly and Paul's Sergeant major, a tuff looking no nonsense taking black guy who's first name was Tyrone and last was Black. He had a look in his eye that told me he'd heard all the jokes before and more than a few times, so I just kept the quips that were running with scissors, loose around in my skull to myself. I just stood up and shook his hand and let him know that my door was always open to him if he had a fuck up, he couldn't cure through his chain of contacts.'

"Paul, first things first, pull that gold leaf off, congrats, you got your silver leaf." I said and flipped a small box at him. "We'll wet you down later, but for now we have business to attend to, congratulations on getting your leaf." I told him then stood and shook his hand, the others shook his hand also and then we got down to business.'

'I got a sitrep of the various things that hand happened while I'd been away, several troops had noticed that the NKs had been going out hunting the local deer and other smaller animals to get some meat into their diet. They had reported that they'd seen civilians leading the troop out toward the wooded areas, from the looks of it they were showing the NKs where to hunt in the surrounding woods.'

'I knew the area they were showing me on the area map; it was rugged and easy to get lost in if you didn't know where you were going or even looking for. I also knew that we could get into that area also and set up several ambushes, besides I needed to know that the hill that made up the North end of the valley was free and clear of NKs. I'd managed to talk the powers that be out of a short battery of 155mm M-777 guns to totally cut off the NKs from either moving anything in or out. Plus, anyone thinking that they could reinforce their position would quickly find out that just getting in would be a very exciting half of the battle, if they survived it that is.'

"Mike, get with the Sarge Major and set up a 20-man patrol, be sure to include a few of our people also, I don't want anyone getting lost or hurt. They'll have a 2-fold mission, 1 check the hilltop of hill 435 for any NK interest or activity, waste any NKs you find up there. 2 hunt down the NKs that are going hunting and bring me the civilian, alive and unharmed for questioning. Make it all happen quietly; I don't want the NKs to figure out what's happening until it's way past too late to stop it." I said with an evil gleam in my eyes.'

'When you try to steal form someone and disturb his retirement, be prepared to suffer the consequences and repercussions for your action and deeds. "Also check and see what the fuck they've been doing at my factory and if anyone's there make sure they don't see you.' I said and hand drew a map of all the places I wanted them to look. I told them to let me know before the team went out.'

"For the NKs that are hunting, I want their take down to be quiet but messy, they are to be stripped of everything and left hanging by an ankle or wrist. I want it to look like a new gorilla unit has moved into the area and have started taking scalps." I said quietly. "It's about time we gave our uninvited guest a few new things to worry about anyway" Mike and Hillbilly just laughed while Paul and Tyrone looked aghast that I would even suggest something like this.'

"Don't look all shocked Paul, Sarge Major, in a few months we are going to be taking the town back and I want the NKs itching to surrender, the one thing I don't want is to have to go in there with guns blazing. I'd rather it be done quick and quiet, no fuss, no muss, no screwing around, just march in take their weapons and put them on a plane out of here." I said.'

'It had taken us months to convince the NKs that coming into the tree line that separated the field from the base of my hill was a one-way ticket to hell, patrols would walk in, most times they never walked back out. A day or 2 later their bodies or parts of bodies would be found, along with a warning to stay out and don't come back. They even tried larger patrols, of the big 45 man patrol they sent in, 39 came out in parts and pieces or not at all. 6 went back as POWs, they just threw down their weapons and flopped to the ground and held up their hands.'

'A Corporal knocked on the door and after catching my eye held up a message form. "Message from Roundhouse Base Sir about the special delivery." He said and I motioned him over to me and quickly read the message then handed it to Hillbilly. "Get some people together and get the big forklift out, I suspect you're going to need it to move the building into the cave. In fact, get both big forklifts out to help move everything over to the cave and I want the barracks assembled as quickly as possible."

'They all looked at me except for Mike who was taking notes. "I want the lowest ranks moved in first, this way it doesn't look as though the higher ups will be hogging the good stuff. Here from the lowest PFC to the highest officer will be treated equally and share the risks as well as the rewards." I told them and smiled. "Hey, it's nearly Christmas so let's all stay alive and maybe next year we won't be here." I knew full well that we'd more than likely be doing exactly what we were doing right now and that was holding the line.'

Dec. 25, 2023.

Time: 0724.00

'Tony had found my stash of wrapping paper and opened the box I'd brought with me and took the time to make each present look nice, I knew it wasn't much, but everyone enjoys a present at Christmas time. I knew from past experience that the one thing a soldier in the field needed above all else was warm socks, especially in the wintertime. I had assembled everyone not on duty in the main cave area and handed out the presents I'd gotten for them, being sure to shake each one's hand and thank him or her for being here and helping to defend and defeat the NK invaders.'

'I made sure that they all understood that soon there would be barracks for them to sleep in and that no, those that had the rank would be placed in them first, I would be going from the bottom up instead of the top down. Also, there would be a hot meal and hopefully no fighting today but not to let their guard down. I didn't want anyone injured today.'

'Fortunately, the day was quiet except for the arrival of the C-130 that was carrying the first part of the barracks and the set up crew. It was quickly unloaded and taken to where it would be set up, the troops helped to carry and adjust the base as needed and helped to set some of the walls, an old adage came to mind, many hands make lite work.'

'For me the day went well into the night as I looked over the accumulated paperwork that seemed to grow each time I turned around, I had a command staff, and they helped to keep me from drowning in paperwork even though I still had several files to read before the end of the week. I finally did crawl off to bed sometime after midnight.'

'The next few weeks were interesting to say the very least, I did finally get the hit teams out to track down the NK hunting teams and the civilians that had been leading them were brought back, they spent some time being debriefed and that info went up the ladder fairly quickly.'

'The info I'd sent out was not good and I had to remember to stick to the plan and not just go in guns blazing, the bosses wanted live NKs to question, and I wanted live neighbors at the end of this little event. I also found out that the NKs weren't interested in hill 435, that would be their downfall, not that I really cared if they screwed the pooch by the numbers.'

'The inspection of my now former factory was much more insightful; they'd tried to unbolt and move the machines that did the precision machining only to find that the tools that did the work were missing or damaged. The ammo bunker had also been flooded and unless they knew where to remote valve was located at it would remain flooded for the foreseeable future.'