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Last Episode: Comm-Link #006

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Doctor Edward T. Fogarthy's Private Journal: Captain Petrov left our whole Western Atlantic control centre in Dublin behind him in ruins. The agent I sent in his place, General Vesszős is also M.I.A. Asset after asset, lost to carelessness and idiocy. Her Comm-Link is broken and now she's presumably hiding somewhere in the North Dublin slums or outskirts as outlined in her general directive. If only I could be in two places at once. Idiots!

The sheer incompetence of my staff has me distracted at a time I simply can not afford to be. The Irish Civ's have occupied Liberty Hall, or the ruin that those idiots at Rasa Blank left it in. Intelligence say's they are led by some former soldier turned priest named Fr. Antóin de Quane and he has quite a way with his Civ followers.

Speaking of silver tongued leaders, when Captain Petrov arrived back with another leg missing he had his wicked eyes set on one of our assets, 2nd Lieutenant Sean Murphy, code named Black Hound. He managed to capture a very slippery high value individual, Major Sepp of the Estonian Rebel Force with only a complement of eight extremely loyal men. He took Sepp without any casualties to Goshawk and interestingly, no casualties to the Estonian Rebels either.

Captain Petrov tried to get young Sean killed in action as soon as he returned to H.Q, which I suppose isn't that surprising really considering the petulant, almost childish nature of the man. He sent Veritas Unit off to, and I'm not joking; recapture the suspected deserter Civs Dr. Macallistar and Dr. Payne, retake the Civ overrun Liberty Hall and apprehend the partisan leader, Fr. Antóin de Quane and finally to locate Rasa Blank's exact location and destroy their base. Quite a days job he had lined up for him.

As soon as this nonsense came over the Comm-Link to my office I demoted Petrov to 2nd Base Commander immediately and had Research and Development make sure to take their time fixing his wounds and setting him up with two new Bionic legs based off the extensive notes Dr. Payne left behind her. He's not happy so I have Med. Staff sedate him every six hours. The memorandum on base is Captain Petrov needs his rest. I don't think he physically or mentally can rest though. Yet still, he's an asset so I'll use him again when the time is right.

I've an important mission for the young soldier they're calling the Black Hound. He's only seventeen and he's already managed to earn a battlefield moniker. Unfortunately this mission is just as likely to fail as Petrovs "masterplan" but at least if young Séan succeeds, Goshawk will benefit. Goshawk losing Liberty Hall has placed everyone involved here, especially myself, in a very precarious position, now that the Civ's have taken it as a base. If Petrov was so keen on killing this talented young man, maybe he could be as good as Petrov fears he is? I hope this young Goshawk warrior can carry out his duty with honour.

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Monasterboice, Louth, Ireland
Day 4156, 17.15 eRT

SIDE ONE OF TRANSMISSION

This is Private, oh, I mean 2nd Lieutenant Murphy. Fogarthy gave me the debriefing as follows. 14.00 hours eRT the Veritas Unit lands in Drogheda via the newly built airstrip near Monasterboice. 14.30 we rendezvous near the old D.A.R.T line at the McBride station with our Hungarian escort towards Dublin proper, dropping us off North of Malahide. Secure our tango unharmed and return to McBride station. Then await further instruction. Nothing is as frustrating as "await further instruction" in the field but we're here now so here it goes.

This town across the water had been bombed to sh*t and Thor has been extra busy up in his clouds, knocking green pilots out of the air with his magic hammer, sparking up the heavens. When the Hungarians dropped us off they didn't even nod before they went tearing up the road back to their base. This place was hot to trot so I meant to give my lads a very brief briefing. I whistled sharply twice and the troop formed together off the roadside.

My right hand man is Private Gad Gaster, or "Patish" as he likes to call himself. He's from Eilat, Israel and started out as a fighter pilot but he was just too good on the ground to get wasted up there in G*d's heavens. Next up we have Private Gilles "Flinch" Le Bihan who acts as our demolition guy, even though he jumps at the slightest sudden noise, hence his nickname. Flinch was born and bred in Brittany, France. Private Jasper "Bic" Fraser was from bonny ol' Paris, he's a seriously prolific aul writer and a truly one of a kind tactician. He's read everything from Napoleonic flanking to Hannibal's encirclement and he loves to talk at us all about it.

Our sniper is a new guy called Tideman. He's Estonian I think. His English is perfect, with a slight American lilt to it. His furthest clock stands at 1.2 km on a moving convoy or so he says. He'd requested to bring his men through high command, so "he could work effectively as point guard." I didn't have a choice in the matter but was happy to have the back up nonetheless. The guys he brought along are Alex, Artjom and Artur and I don't know them from Adam. All I knew was that they where from Nero Unit, they loved to drink and they mostly keep to themselves. They don't seem to get the joke whenever we point out triple A. They seem like solid enough soldiers so there's no use complaining really.

Once we'd figured out it was either the long way around or the miraculously undamaged railway bridge suspended over a half click off shoreline it was a no-brainer really. The whole Unit clamored to be head of the line, whispering furiously. I told them to mask anything that could shine at all in black camo paint and I took point with Tideman waiting behind with his guys until we crossed, just in case. The cross was slow but uneventful, Bic whinged about the height a bit but he probably just wanted to break the silence, the blabbermouth. I signaled the others all was clear and they crossed double time. So far, so good. We stashed a cache to make our gear lighter and made our way into the smoldering wreckage of Malahide down the hill.

We found our tango hidden in an old pub called Gibney's, with a purple torch in the window. The streets were eerily empty considering half the buildings were either on fire, billowing smoke or smoldering and cracking into wreckage. There was no Civ's wondering about so I signaled for the Unit to surround the pub and made my way towards the windowpane with the purple torch. I then signaled towards Gad to break the window then duck immediately. He smashed the windowpane in with the butt of his rifle and sure enough a hail of gunfire poured out of the window. Fogarthy had said she was a General!?

I yelled out "Goshawk! Ceasefire!". Once her clip was spent my boys crept into the building and quickly had her surrounded. She tried attacking us but Flinch had her wrapped in an arm-lock and once he applied pressure she stopped struggling. We handcuffed her and brought her back to the bridge. She didn't kick up too much of a fuss once captured but she kept cursing us out in Hungarian. I assume it was simple things like we were going to suffer or we didn't know who she was or how important she was yada yada..

We Comm-Linked the Hungarian escort as we left with our tango. We reclaimed our gear from the cache and led her over the bridge carefully, it was a long drop down so she soon shut up. The Hungarians arrived as the air battle was really starting to heat up. It looked like the Rapture. I secretly kissed the cross around my neck, knowing we were heading up there soon. This time the Hungarians nodded, they helped us with our equipment and we were off, top speed down the rocky country roads of Ireland. General Mercédesz Vesszős is a handsome woman, I have to admit but the look she gave the Veritas Unit on the way to the airfield could wither any mans balls to raisins. I was beginning to understand why she'd been made General. There wasn't a trace of fear in her eyes.

END OF TRANSMISSION, TURN TO SIDE TWO

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SIDE TWO OF TRANSMISSION

When we got to the airstrip we loaded on to a Civ Cargo plane. We thanked our Hungarian friends, handing out some bottles of whiskey and a few cartons of cigarettes that Gad, Flinch and Bic had in their bags. I never smoke or drank myself but it seemed to be as valuable as Gold wherever there's soldiers loitering about, waiting around for some terrible patrol or pointless mission from command. I suppose it helps to pass the time. I threw out a few decks of our Units playing cards before we were completely locked in. I don't gamble much either.

It took nearly four hours for the plane to take off. Impatient, I broke protocol to Comm-Link our pilot after the first half hour. I had to ask what the hold up was. Apparently all Irish M.U's were taking the unguarded North of Ireland back from the United Kingdom, that's why the skies had been so active. We'd have to wait awhile and make a stop in Thrace, Greece before we could fly back to H.Q proper. The Unit sat around, having a few drinks and playing what I presumed was poker. The three Estonians Tideman had brought along looked tired and weary and sat away from the rest of the guys. I paced around, bored out of my mind. I even tried starting a conversation with the General. She wouldn't even look at me, never-mind respond. I stood her up, patted her up and down for any weapons we might have missed. Once I was absolutely sure she'd nothing on her I removed her handcuffs. She was still unresponsive. She just sat down and stared into space.

Finally the pilot Comm-Linked me telling us to strap into our seats for take off. I don't know if this was our pilots first time flying or he'd never flown a Civ plane this size but the flight was nothing but turbulence. I had to break up a brawl Gad and Flinch got into over their card game because the plane had shaken their card game winnings together. I pocketed the cash myself, told them both to strap into their seats and wait until we landed. I was getting a bit anxious. Goshawk never sends green pilots on missions and this plane was bucking like an angry steer.

When we finally landed, Tideman and his men stood up, rifles drawn. I pulled out my side arm but it was too late. I didn't even bother asking why. They had the drop on us as soon as we walked onto that Civ plane. I slowly placed my side arm on the floor and kicked it over to Tideman. I caught Gad, Flinch and Bic's eyes. They knew not to do anything stupid under my command. They slowly put their hands behind their heads as the three A's unbuckled them from their seats and stood them up beside me. We backed up to the hanger door.

I heard the General drop to the ground and suddenly one of the three A's, the short one with the white blonde hair was grasping at a throwing knife lodged in his neck. "Stop! We surrender! Do not fire!" I shouted, trying my best to sound commanding. Tideman pulled the General up off the ground and pistol whipped her so hard I swear I could hear her jaw shatter. The three A's were behind Tideman, covered in blood and swearing in Estonian. "Okay, enough! Do not pull that knife from his neck! Tideman, tell them it will kill him if they do!" I think they could understand most of what I was saying. "Quickly now, there's a medi-kit in my bag. Staple the wound shut and bandage him now!" The two standing A's looked at Tideman for confirmation, like a pair of stooges. "Do it now or he's a dead man! Stop him from moving!"

The hanger door opened letting in a piercing light on all that bright blood spattered everywhere. "I'm sorry to have to do this Blackie." Tideman nodded for us to get out of the plane. It was Israel, my best guess was near Tel Aviv. I could see it was an old Estonian base that had been taken by the Eesti Vabadusvõim, or the Estonian Rebels. I'd captured their leader Major Sander Sepp a while back, so maybe they wanted to ransom me or the General back to Goshawk for his release. A huge blue, black and white flag fluttered over the Comm-Tower with another flag of a bloody mouthed wolf flying below, the sigil of Eesti Vabadusvõim.

Tideman shouted out in Estonian and soon Medics ran into the Cargo plane with a stretcher and took the wounded A into their base. The two other A's walked out covered in blood, grimacing at us, rifles loaded and ready to fire. The other soldiers looked stunned and pointed their firearms at us too, probably out of sheer instinct. "Call your handler Blackie, we want to make a trade." I nodded, motioning towards all the guns aimed at me slowly that I was connecting to Comm-Link.

The dial-tone was scrambled, the Rebels had the airwaves jammed. "Comm-Link isn't working Tideman. I can't make the call until you switch off your local disruptors." Tideman walked up and down about ten yards in front of us, twirling and spinning his pistol around like a f*cking rookie. He looked at me vacantly. "What will stop you calling in a strike Blackie?" I was getting sick of this idiot calling me Blackie, like we were comrades. "Figure it out for yourself Tideman, this is your kidnapping."

I could sense the tension building. It was early morning but it was still hot enough to sweat. Finally Tideman nodded towards a soldier nearby and she ran off into the base. "Okay Blackie, try calling him now." I once again showed my hands to these green looking soldiers and dialed for Fogarthy.

"This isn't a good time Lieutenant, make it quick." I scanned my surroundings, weighed my options carefully. We were near Tel Aviv, I knew that much.

"Doctor, Tideman has the General and myself hostage." He was silent for a moment. "Okay, so his Commander would be Major Sepp? That's his name, affirmative?" Thank G*d he'd remembered the general directive. "Affirmative, sir. Shall I patch you through?" Tideman began walking towards me. "I'll take it home from here soldier." Tideman snatched my Comm-Link from me. I'd said enough to let him know our situation without raising any suspicion.

As the morning sun rose higher, the Rebels had us tied up and sat with our backs to a large munitions cache. Tideman, being the jumped up traitorous little pr*ck he was taunted us with water. I wasn't even thirsty yet. The General however had sustained a concussion after Tideman had so gallantly pistol whipped her. She was leaning into me so I tried to keep her awake by blowing into her eyes and nudging her.

Eventually a single armored Goshawk combat vehicle rolled into the base from the North at the height of 'noon. Two Mercenaries carried a very limp, very battered looking Major Sander Sepp out of the vehicle. They were flanked by four heavy machine gunners and two others armed with R.P.G launchers. This was going to turn ugly fast.

"Leave the Major on the ground and step back!" I ordered them. They knew who I was so they done as I said. Tideman had medics bring Major Sepp into the Rebel base. Tideman crouched down in front of me. "So what now Blackie? You ready for the gallows?" I ignored the dumb son of a b*tch and ordered the Goshawk men to move back further. "What do you think is going to happen now Tideman? Petrov has probably gotten every last detail about your two bit operation here out of Sepp. Do you think you have the upper hand now your broken commander is back home safe?" Tideman's eyes flashed, but he knew I was right. Goshawk knew where they where now, even the convoy of Goshawk Mercenaries they sent to deliver Sepp was probably enough to take the base they were hiding in. "You can't escape Goshawk Tideman, but I'll cut you a deal."

Tideman stood up, he stared at the Goshawk Mercenaries, stroking his chin. "Okay fine, but tell your men to back off." He cut the zip-tie behind my back and pushed my Comm-Link into my chest. "Call him again, I'll make a deal for you and the General". The fool really had been winging this the whole time. He probably thought it was clever to stow us on that plane but I could see him grow paler in the sun as the reality of his situation started dawning on him.

I patched through to Dr. Fogarthy again. "What now Lieutenant, I sent you your asset, no? I'm very busy." I waved off the Goshawk men again. They looked confused but backed off even further. "Permission to go Rogue sir, asset secure. I'd also ask you give Echo a head start considering we've got our Tango. My boys could use some R and R." I waited with bated breath, I'd either be hauled in and face Petrov or I'd be off on my holidays. "Alright, permission granted.. Oh and Black Hound? Don't be gone for too long, you know what that'll mean.. Also bring me back something nice." I was ecstatic. Tideman was clearly unimpressed with my suddenly very happy countenance.

"Okay Tideman, that was the big man. I've some good news and some bad news. The good news is your base won't be rushed, so I'd suggest getting out of dodge as soon as. Now keep in mind that could change on a dime. The bad news is you'll have to fight me for the General."

"Who are you to be giving orders you are a prisoner of-"

I signaled the Goshawk Mercenaries to move up the road once again.

"Is their anyone in that Comm-Link tower Tidesy?"

His face was as grim as death. "No, it's empty. Munitions storage."

I signaled to the R.P.G armed Mercenaries to aim at the tower.

"Tell your men to stand down Tidesy." Gad, Flinch and Bic started laughing.

I took Tideman's knife from his belt and released the lads. They stood up and stretched. Tidesman made a gesture to his men to lower their weapons. They looked confused but did so. I asked Flinch and Bic to get our equipment out of the Civ Cargo plane and Gad to bring the semi conscious General Mercédesz Vesszős into the shade under the wing of the plane.

"Can you fight Tidesy? In close quarters? Or do they skip that in sniper training?

"Of course I can fight!" He knew what was happening but couldn't muster up the confidence to sound convincing.

"Okay, remember I'm giving you a chance to earn General Mercédesz Vesszős. I'm sure her ransom would catch a very lucrative price. She could even afford to ransom herself. But! You'll have to fight me for her first. If you don't I'll have Goshawk storm your base."

"I'll take you with me Black Dog!"

The Rebels stood around, sensing the tidal shift that had just taken place. Or maybe they just wanted to get a good spot to look at the fight, at least the ones who understood English.

We both removed our jackets and started to fight.

There was cheers from the Rebels as Tideman landed a clean left hook. I backed off and waited for him to advance. He rushed in trying to land a hay-maker but I slipped to his right, jumped and drove my knee into his chest. He fell over winded. A shot was fired, I could hear it before I could feel it. One of the Rebels had shot me clear through the left shoulder.

I signaled for the Comm-Tower to be torn down. The rocket whizzed by me and Tideman and the Comm-Tower exploded into flames with such force, the glass that rained down cut everyone present.

Once Tideman was up again he hit me with a few tired hooks to the body so I backed off and spun into a hard side kick. He fell again but a few of his loyal men picked him up. I signaled for overhead gunfire, to clear them out. But they wouldn't budge.

Finally Tideman swung with all he had but I was quick enough to slip aside and hit him clean on the chin with my right. He wobbled, then slipped and fell on his arse. He tried to get up but he cut his hands on the fine glass shards on the ground. The light left his eyes and he slumped down, knocked out. Fair and square. The Rebels were about to rush me but stopped when I put my foot on Tideman's neck.

"Leave this base or die! Commander Sepp has been returned to you! Leave now or die!" I think most of them got the gist of it anyway. I signaled for more overhead fire to disperse them and walked back to the Goshawk convoy with Flinch, Bic and Gad, who was carrying the Hungarian General. We climbed into the truck and peeled out of there lightning quick, before they got the chance to grow bold enough to pursue us.

We'll be back at H.Q soon, I'm so tired. Signing off,

2nd Lieutenant, Séan "Black Hound" David Murphy.

Update: Corfu has been a welcome break. We've been lounging around in a sleepy little township called Ipsos. Nearly all the male Civs are called Spiro. The water is so translucent, fresh and clean. My shoulder's almost entirely healed now, it's just a little stiff.. The boy's are glad to play Civ and "court" the local girls for the time being but we all know our time's limited. This was a once in a lifetime break for us Goshawk grunts. But for now anyways, Salut or Yamas! Pick your choice.

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Shout Out to Chance Harrison for his selfless help with editing this behemoth of an article!