Before the semester had ended, not a single one of the students had been informed exactly what was going to happen the day they were picked up. Hell, not even Airic could tell them what exactly was going to happen, as they were Colonels and a General they would be hanging out with.
"Are you sure they are coming?" Emily asked as he looked at her and showed her the email from General Kerrigans assistant that showed GPS Coordinates, and a date and time. The day was the same day classes were finished for the semester, and the time was 5 minutes before parent pickup began. "Wonder what it will be in?" She asked as Airoc snorted not even daring to guess. "What have they picked you up in before?" Sje asked as he smiled.
"3 years ago the school was about a mile from where they did the hovercraft training in California, and they brought one of the Carriers into the school yard to pick me up. Than there was the tank, the APC." He said as he packed his bag lightly and took more weapons than she had ever seen him carry. By the time he was finished, she had seen like 50 pounds of just weaponry go into his bag.
"Can you even-" she asked as he hoisted it over his shoulder like it was almost nothing. "We have 10 minutes before they are supposed to be here. How will we know it is them?" She asked as he heard a slight thump as he smiled.
"In about 2 minutes you will realize how silly that question is, and why there was never any possible way we would ever miss thier arrival, or be able to even slightly confuse them with anyone else." He said as he ran with her to the field where the letter had said to be ready with essential gear only.
He got to the exact spot as she heard the thump of the choppers, as they came screaming over the building in formation. All 10 of them were there as General Shank came running out the back door and down onto the field as the pilots made it clear they were touching down.
"Leave it to Bear." Airic said as Shank stopped dead.
"How do you know that nickname Cadet?" He demanded.
"I gave Colonel Cole that nickname 4 years ago sir." Airic replied. "Poor bear."
"Why does everyone always seem to say that?" Shank asked as Airic started laughing as the first chopper landed and shut down. Airic laughed for probably a solid minute when Emily shrugged. "It has been the same response from anyone that knows the answer to that question." Shank said as a Lt. Colonel pilot ran up.
"Are you Falcon?" He asked the General.
"I am Faclon Lt. Colonel, I assume it was Bear who dispatched you?" He asked the man taking an air of authority that none of them had ever seen before.
"Yes sir, if you and your team will follow me, we will depart as soon as your gear is stowed and everyone is aboard." Lt. Colonel Bradford said leading the 10 Cadets to thier very own backseat ride in a Cobra Attack Helicopter.
"Listen up everyone, as this train has now left the Station. As soon as we land we will be going to a barracks, where you will be given uniforms to change into. Do not argue, do not say anything before you put them on and we have further discussion. After that you will be introduced to the Officers in Command, and anyone else you might need to know the name of offhand. No other name than the one you are given is to be used, and there is to be no personal calls or logs of our activities while deployed. What happens from now until we return to Base and stand down, is classified need to know." Airic said as they came into view of a full military base that they landed in. It was clear they were gearing up for a departure soon, and they all knew in that moment it was about to get really real.
Just as he promised the pilots lead them to a barracks, and each of them was directed to a locker with thier name on it. The uniforms inside however were vastly different than anything they had seen before, and gone were the Cadet insignia each of them had worn for years now.
It took 10 minutes for all of them to change, and Airic's was the most impressive. Where his name should have been it simply said Falcon, and the stars on his shoulders identified him as a two star General. Just as they were about to begin pestering him about it, 4 star General Antony Kerrigan walked in leading 4 Colonels and 6 Lt Colonels. Each one had a unique nickname when Airic looked at the one and laughed.
"Point of order Gentlemen, why are you out of uniform?" Airic asked him as Kerrigan busted out laughing.
"I told you he would notice." Kerrigan said as the others laughed as he ripped the tape from the mans uniform revealing the name Bob.
"Everyone, introductions are in order. My team, this is General Butter Fingers, Colonels Wolf, Bear, Snake and Bob. Over here we have Lt. Colonel, Bob, how did Fox become a Lt. Colonel?" Airic asked as they all laughed.
"You know me sir, wily as a fox." Fox replied making them all laugh as the Lt. Col joined right in with it.
"Anyway For, Eagle, Gopher and Hound." Airic finished as he didn't know the other two.
"The two you don't know sir, is Lt. Colonel Smarkov, and Captain Danz. They are our ordinance officers here." Bear said as they looked around before Airic introduced his classmates by last name only.
"When do we get our own nicknames?" Tanner asked as Airic shook his head.
"Would you like to know why most of us laugh when we hear eachothers names?" Bear asked and Emily nodded. "Our names are reminders of funny stories born in the heat of battles you have not yet had the misfortune to ever dream of. Missions that there will never be an official report to make a sim from. Once you have earned the right to even hear our stories, you might get the chance to earn yours." He said making them nervous now.
"You have to atleast explain Bob." Emily said making all of them laugh as he had actually been the first to set the precedent of them.
"So what 6 years ago now?" Airic asked to a few nods from the guys still laughing. "Dad and I go on what would become the first mission. My Dad, Wolf, Bear and Bob are on this green portal planet fishing. Supposed to be for 3 weeks, and on day 3 we get the alert. A yellow portal is under heavy beast attack, and about to be reclassified red. All soldiers ordered to report for combat missions. Dad leaves the rest of us to go to a nearby village, and see if we can hire a Porter. Mind you Wolf, Bear and Bob are all checking weapons making sure they are equipped for a firefight once they go through the portal.
"Perhaps 20 minutes goes by, and all of a sudden there is this guy grabbing all of our gear, and Bob puts two in his head. 50 yards down the road, did is telling his grandma there is no danger to her grandson as we just needed help packing the gear when his head gets blown off." Airic said as almost everyone was in tears by this point and even Airic was having a hard time keeping a straight face.
"The General than assured the nice old lady I would never forget her grandsons name again, and the extremely valuable lesson of sometimes asking before you just shoot." Bob said with a sad smile of his own. "I never will forget her though, especially since she passed last year when I went to visit her." He told Airic who sobered instantly.
"We shall have to remember her when we finish than." Airic said as they all nodded.
"Ok, so if you killed a bear, how is that funny?" Emily asked as most of them men laughed as Bear blushed.
"Dear, its not the fact that he killed a bear that is the funny part. The rest of that story is hilarious though, and will definitely be told atleast once on the trip. Killing something however is not hkw you get your nickname, it is why we are here after all. In fact Gophers is because one morning that was all that was left standing after something hissed at him. Relax, if you come along on enough of these, you will have your own."
"That gopher may as well have died, I guarantee there wasn't food within 3 clicks of that damn hole it popped out of." Wolf said making them all laugh even more.
"Boss said to light it up, it was lit up." Gopher said with a smile.
"He said light it up, not burn it to the ground." Wolf said.
"Tamata, Tomato." He said laughing. "So General, what is the plan this go around?" Gopher asked.
"You sent any Greek fire through?" Airic asked and he nodded and smiled while ribbing his hands.
"200 bombs a day for the last 10 days. We got a sensor bot scan yesterday, and it is just as we assumed. The village is completely overrun, and the bombs won't penetrate inside. Necrovine overpowers the burn within a day, which says this fucker is still nearby. Most likely looking for the emergency one use portal in the Command Post." Butter Fingers reported.
Airic nodded as they displayed the scans from the sensor node they deployed and did a timelapse of the video. The only thing it showed was the Necrovine taking back over the area. "Options?" He asked them as each of them smiled.
"We could play capture the center." Wolf said as he looked at the screen. The portal had been untethered, so for every second you waited to use the portal behind another group, was how many miles apart you could be. Of course it would be within 10 miles of where the portal was, it could be anywhere in a 300 square mile search area.
"How do we break up the rookies?" Gooher asked indicating the kids.
"Don't make us kids show ya old men how it's done." Airic replied making the officers laugh as the kids looked at each other mervously.
"What exactly is it we are planning to do?" Emily asked.
"Ever battled a Necromancer kid?" Bear asked her and she shook her head.
"Necromancers have this spooky ability to use mind control on you, and everything you know, they know. So the plan is literally for us to break into teams, and play capture the center. What each team does will be up to itself in the end, as squads will only go through so they are in the same area. Other than that, what each of our teams does is up to us." Bear explained.
"So how we doing this boss man, old vs young?" Wolf asked making the kids laugh nervously.
"No, 2 platoons means 8 squads yes?" Airic asked as he looked at the 8 of them.
"With 2 in reserve." Bear answered as Airic looked at the others.
"Up for a challenge twinkle toes?" He asked looking at Emily who blushed and made the others laugh.
"What ya have in mind Falcon?" She asked elbowing him in the gut.
"We make it 9 even teams. You and I take a squad and take one of the deployment sites. Each Officer will take one of the other 8, most kills wins." Airic said with a smile as he had a better idea than most what they were going up against.
"100 points for a Nec Head?" Wolf asked as he stepped forward.
"Of course, winning team gets the spoils as well." Airic said knowing the Necromancer would have some powerful gear once they killed it.
All of the high ranking officers put thier hands in, as Airic looked at his team. "You in or what?" He asked them as they all ran forward and joined the older warriors in thier huddle.
"We deploy in 36 hours ladies and gentlemen, prepare as if you may never return. For those who have been here before, welcome back. For new friends, we hope you survive to celebrate with us next year." Airic said as they all let out the Infantry cheer.
"Ooh AAH!" They shouted raising thier hands into the air.