The sun rises over rover team Zulu’s base on a warm summer morning.  Team
leader Collins and his wife first lieutenant Molleen enjoy the sunrise on their deck.
Collins: You know Molleen, I’ve been thinking. We haven’t heard much of Gunthor and his
military force’s lately. Do you think his finally given up on trying to take over the world?
Molleen: Who knows. Maybe he did give up, but do you really think he did?
Collins: No, I’m sure he’s out there some were; waiting to strike.
 Beep Beep; Collins come in. Repeat Collins come in. blurts Dee over the radio siting on the
little table next to Collins.
Collins: Collins here. Whats wrong?
Dee: We have an incoming communication in the briefing room.
 Collins and Molleen head to the briefing room as Dee gets the others out of the kitchen.
Dee: Come on every one; we have business in the briefing room.
Vince: Just when I sit down to breakfast.
Lady: It’s probably nothing.
Brigail: Just take it with you dear.
Vince: That’s right, I can take it with me can’t I.
Dee: Are you sure Collins will let you eat in the briefing room? Not to mention during the
briefing.
 Collins pops his head in through the doorway.
Collins: Hay Vince, grab the lucky charms on your way out and one of thoughs granola
things for Molleen. And don’t forget the coffee.
 Collins exits.
Vince: You got it buddy, so much for not eating in the briefing room.
Dee: (laughing): Let’s go.
 The rover team heads to the briefing room as Vince grabs the lucky charms, milk, a
bowl/spoon, and his food. Brigail grabs the box of granola bars and the coffee; the rovers
enter the briefing room and take their seats, Vince and Brigail give the food to Collins and
Molleen.
Molleen: Thanks Brigail.
Brigail: No problem.
Vince (chowing down): What’s the communication about?
Collins (pouring his cereal): I don’t know. Let’s find out.
 Collins switch’s the communications view screen on as he pours the milk and starts to eat.
His friend in the pentagon is on the screen speaking but there’s no sound.
Vince: How come we can’t hear Sam?
Collins: Oops sorry.
 Collins turns on the speaker as he takes a sip of coffee.
Sam: Forget to turn on the speaker Collins. Any way, we have some news on your rival
Gunthor. He’s been spotted by one of are spy plains over the Black Forest in Germany.
According to the info red photos he’s been building a pretty big-armed force for a while.
The European governments don’t want a large scale assault on the camp for fear of wide
scale destruction of towns and cities; but they did agree to have one of are best spec ops
teams to go in and bust up the place and take out the armed force. So we turn to you; now I
can’t fully brief you over the communications line so you’ll have to fly out to Washington at
once.
Collins: Were on are way. Out.
Sam: Out.
 The rovers head back to their quarters and change cloths, then head to the hanger.
As they climb into their C-130 transport Collins notices that Brigail looks distressed. The
rovers strap in as Collins starts the engines; the propellers humming as the plain lines up
with the runway. The engines roar as the plain speeds down the runway. The plain shacks
and rattles as the noise lifts off the ground and ascends into the heavens. Molleen contacts
Perdita and Megel on the radio.
Molleen: Hey Perdita.
Perdita: Hey Molleen, what’s up?
Mollen: Sorry to cut your trip short but we have work to do. So were on are way to
Washington can you meet use there?
Perdita: Sure thing we’ll be there. Out.
Molleen: Out. (To Collins) So how long do you think till we land in Washington.
Collins: 2, 2 ½ hours.
Molleen: Ok, I’m going to the back to ketch some Zs.
Collins: Ok, I’ll try to keep it a smooth ride. Oh could you ask Brigail to come up here?
Molleen: Sure.
 Molleen exits the cockpit and asks Brigail to go up. Brigail enters and sits next to Collins in
the co-pilot seat.
Brigail: You wanted to see me?
Collins: Yes, are you ok with the mission, I mean you don’t have any problem with facing
your brother on the battlefield. Do you?
Brigail: No, well I’m not sure I know I have to stop him from destroying the peace but-
Collins: And if you were faced to kill him or see him die?
Brigail: I will do my job and-
Collins: I’m not talking as if it were your job but if you were faced with that situation, not
thinking of your job how would you feel?
Brigail: I’ll be ok, I stopped caring for him when he left me for dead, remember.
Collins: Yes, I remember, but hey look what you got out of that matter. You made a group
of friends that love you and will stand by you to the end and you fell in love with and
married Vince that will love you no matter what and will be true to you till the end.
Brigail: Yes, and I love you for your friendship.
 Two hours 23 minutes later the C-130 transporting the Zulu team lands at Washington
airport and from there they drive to the pentagon. The team meets up with the other two
members of their team Perdita and her husband Megel in the briefing room at the
pentagon. Sam walks in followed by a general and a major.
 Sam: Hi guys, take a seat and we’ll get started; ok well as you already know Gunthor is
building a military force in the Black Forest, and that we can’t have a full scale assault.
Anyway I’ll turn it over to General Mason, general.
General Mason: Thank you, well you will be the only team to be assaulting the camp and
any equipment you need we’ll get for you. Now we have a stealth transport that will fly you
over the southwest end of the forest. Now you will need to do the H.A.L.O. jump from the
plain-
Dee: What, H.A.L.O.?
Collins: High Altitude Low Opening. We jump out of the plain at a high altitude and open
below 500 ft low enough to avoid any radar detection.
Dee: 500 ft won’t that kill us?
Collins: Not if we have a body of water or a thick over growth to snag the shouts.
General Mason: That’s right, now there are no body’s of water deep enough to land in, but
in the southwest area of the forest there is a large area of a thick over growth; so you should
be fine. Now when you are secure after you land you will need to head northeast of the drop
zone; your target is 3-4 ½ miles. Now I turn over to Major Smith. Major.
Major Smith: Thank you sir. Now when you reach your target you will need to take out the
radio transmitter and trailer, also you will have to deal with guard towers that most likely
hold snipers-
Collins/Vince: Au fun.
Major Smith: You think that’s fun; what till you hear this sirs. You will also have to face
sensory automatic 50 cal machine guns, placed near the middle of the camp, these guns can
cover the entire perimeter of the comp; but fortunately there is a control trailer next to the
command bunker. If you take that out the guns will be inoperative. After you smash the
place up you can call in over satcom, and UN military forces will arrive to help arrest any
remaining forces.
Collins: Ok, well lets go team; I’ll get are toys.
 The rover team splits up. Collins heads to the armory to gather their equipment.
The rest of the team goes to the hanger and gets the jump suits and other gear ready. Collins
gets to the armory and talks to the supply officer.
Collins: Ok. We’ll need 8 steyr AUG assault rifles, 4 Berretta AR70 assault rifles. 4 Heckler
& Koch HK33 assault rifles. 1 Barrett 50 cal sniper rifle, 2 galil 7.62x51 sniper rifles, 2
M60E3 belt fed machine guns, 8 H&K MP5 sub-machine guns, 8 model 61 skorpion sub
machine pistols, 8 Sig-Sauer P220 9-mm pistols, and any field combat knifes. We also need
about 40 fragmentation grenades, 8 field M.A.S.H. kits, and about 40 satchels. Ok.
Supply Officer: Ok sir.
 The supply officer puts the equipment on a cart and follows Collins to the hanger.
Vince: Woo got a nuff stuff their bud?
Collins: Yah I think we have enough here to win.
Lady: Definitely.
Megel: Ok, who gets what?
Collins: Ok, we each get a Steyr AUG as a secondary assault rifle. Now Molleen, Vince, Dee,
and my self will get the Beretta AR70 as are primary assault rifle. Brigail; you, Lady,
Perdita, and Megel will get the Heckler & Koch HK33 as your primary assault rifle. Vince
you will get the Berrett 50 cal sniper rifle. Dee and my self will get the Galil 7.62x51 sniper
rifles. Molleen, you and Lady will get the M60E3 belt fed machine guns. We each will get
the H&K MP5 sub-machine gun as a close combat gun, along with the Model 61 skorpion
sub-machine pistol and Sig-Sauer P220 9mm pistol as are side arms. We each have a large
and small field combat knife, 5 fragmentation grenades, a field M.A.S.H. kit, and 5 satchels.
Ok, we ready to go?
Vince: Were all set.
Collins: Ok lets go.
 The team puts one hand in a circle and shouts ROVER TEAM ZULU RULES! The team
climbs into the plain and takes a seat. The plain vibrates as it is lined up with the runway.
The engines roar as it speeds down the runway, the nose lifts off the ground and the sound
of the landing gear going up puts Brigail to sleep. 4 hours later the plain gets close to the
drop zone. The general gives the rovers the signal to get ready. The rovers strap all their
gear to them as the loading ramp at the tail end of the plain opens. The team steps into
position to jump as the general gives Collins thumbs up as he jumps out the plain; the
others do the same. The team spreads there arms and legs to slow there descent so is to get a
GPS lock. After the lock has been made Collins gives the signal to go into a dive. The rovers
dive the wind shacking them side to side, a whistling noise can be heard as the team speeds
to the ground at speeds over 200 miles per hour. Collins looks at his altimeter 510, 509, 508,
507, 506, 505, 504, 503, 502, 501, and 500. He pulls the ripcord. The shout pops open pulling
his body up hard, his head thrown back as he hits the thick over growth of the trees. His
shout gets entangled in the branches, he takes off his helmet and breather as he sees others
crash through the over growth and dangle like puppets from the shout strings.
Collins (to every body): You guys ok?
Vince: I’m ok.
Molleen: I’m ok.
Dee: I’m ok.
Collins: The rest of you ok?
The other rovers: Were ok.
 The team pulls out they’re large field combat knife and cut the strings dropping them too
the forest floor. They each get out their primary weapon and head northeast to Gunthor’s
camp. On their way to the camp a fox notices them and starts to follow in wonder. Dee
notices and try’s to get the fox to return to were it came from but the fox is to curios to
leave. The other team members haven’t noticed the fox and continue to the target. About an
hour later the team reach’s the out skirt of the camp. The team hides behind a group of
rocks at the bottom of a hill. Collins notices the fox and wants to know what’s going on.
Collins: What’s that fox doing here?
Dee: It just started to follow use about 2, 2 ½ miles ago.
Collins: Did you try sending it on its way?
Dee: Yes, but it still followed.
Collins: Well we can’t worry with that now. Ok, Molleen you sneak around to the north end
of the base while lady sneaks to the East End of the base. Brigail, you, Perdita, and Megel
sneak over to the communications tower and trailer; set explosives then find the control
trailer for the sensory guns and set explosives then get to a safe cover. Vince, Dee, and my
self will climb up this hill and set up to snip the towers and ground units. Now when the
explosives go off that’s when we start to fire. Molleen, you and Lady will have the crossfire
effect so you should be ok. Brigail, when you guys set off the charges; fan out between
Molleen and Lady and start firing. Now when you see use come down the hill towards the
base then you guys move in. ok. Let’s go.
 The team separates and moves to their stations. Brigail and Perdita set up explosives
as Megel covers them. The group moves back to the bushes and looks for the control trailer.
Megel spots it and signals the others. They move in closer, they duck behind some barrels
and drop to the ground. They crawl to the trailer and set the explosives. Brigail can hear
Gunthor’s voice and freezes. Megel pats her on the shoulder and they crawl back to the
bush’s Perdita at their heels.
Megel: What’s wrong?
Brigail: Nothing, nothing.
 Brigail pulls the antenna out of the detonator and push’s the button. KA-BOOM,
AAAHHH, GET DOWN can be heard all over the camp as the rapped fire sound of the
sensory guns starts to go off. RATTATTTATTATTA. Brigail looks to the control trailer
and sees Gunthor run towards the command bunker. Brigail push’s the detonator button
again as a sniper from one of the towers is shot and falls next to Perdita. KA-BOOM can be
heard as the sensory guns go up in flames. RATTATTATTATTA starts on both the left and
right of Brigail and her group. Perdita and Megel jump up and start to fire as Brigail runs
to the barrels and starts to fire. Vince takes aim through the scope of his rifle and spots two
snipers in a tower, one in front of the other. He pulls the trigger; a mighty Boom can be
heard over the other noises as a 50 cal round shoots out of the barrel and through the two
snipers. Dee takes out two in another tower then looks at the fox lying on the ground next to
him with its front paws over its head. Collins fires at the gas tank of a truck with ammo on
it. The truck flips over onto a group of solders hiding behind boxes.
Collins: Vince how you fixed for ammo?
Vince: I’m out.
Dee: Same here.
Collins: Ok, time to get down and dirty.
 Collins and his group start down the hill firing at near by solders. The fox follows Dee into
battle right at his side. The rest of the rovers resort to their secondary weapons and move
in. Dee runs up next to a building and throws two frag grenades in through the window and
runs for cover. He can hear screaming GET OUT OF HERE as the building is engulfed in
flames. He heads over to the command bunker were the others are and throws himself to
the ground behind some sandbags as machine gun fire rips over the path he was taking.
Collins tells the group to use the rest of their frag grenades on the count of three.
Collins: 1, 2, 3 now!
 The team throws the remaining frag grenades at the command bunker then duck back
under the sandbags. KA-BOOM-KA-BOOM-KA-BOOM. Dirt fly’s over the team and
covers them in a layer of dust and dirt. Vince peeks his head up over the sandbags to see
solders walking out of the command bunker with their hands behind their heads.
Vince: Collins, they’re surrendering.
Collins: Right, Molleen get on the satcom and get the UN boys out here.
Molleen: Right.
Collins: Megel, Perdita see if you can find Gunthor. Hey Dee where’s that fox that-
Dee: Oh-my god.
 Dee runs off.
Collins: Dee! Vince go with him.
Vince: Right.
Molleen: The UN boys will be here in 2 minutes.
Collins: Right. Let’s get these prisoners rounded up.
 Collins and Molleen gather the prisoners as Dee and Vince run to were the fox was last.
Dee runs to the point were he took cover from the machine gun fire from the command
bunker, and there lying next to the path he rain laid the fox.
Dee: Vince I need-
Vince: Got the M.A.S.H. kit right here.
 Vince and Dee crouch over the body of the fox mending its wounds from the machine gun
as Megel and Perdita bring Gunthor before Collins.
Collins: Good, put him over there with the others prisoners. Lady watch him.
Lady: Right.
 Gunthor walks over to were the other prisoners are as Lady walks to stand guard. Gunthor
turns his back to Lady and stops. Lady walks up to him and pokes him in the back with her
gun and tells him to keep moving. Gunthor swings around with great speed knocking the
gun out of Lady’s hands. Gunthor grabs Lady by the back of her neck and picks up the gun
from the ground and yells for Collins.
Gunthor: Collins, get over here now before I kill this weak little thing!
Collins runs over to were Gunthor and Lady are Brigail follows.
Collins: Gunthor don’t be stupid, you can’t win.
Gunthor: Shows what you know.
Gunthor throws Lady to the ground and takes aim at Collins. When BAM, Brigail shoots
the gun out of Gunthors hands.
Gunthor: Brigail, you my sister would fire on your own brother not to mention continue to
aim at him.
Brigail: You stopped being my brother when you left me for dead at that factory.
Brigail closes her eyes as she pulls the trigger sending a 9mm round into Gunthor’s waist.
Gunthor falls to the ground crying in pain as Brigail opens her eyes and says, “Nobody
hurts the ones I love.” Megel and Perdita come running over and tell Collins and Brigail
that the fox is injured and that Dee and Vince need to get it to a hospital fast. Collins and
the others run to the injured fox as the UN solders take the prisoners away and take
Gunthor to the hospital. The team takes the fox to the transport and tells the pilot to get
them to the nearest base hospital A.S.A.P. the transport takes off, and lands at a field
hospital.
 Dee passes back and forth as Vince and Collins work on the fox. They ask for the
transdogmaphier, Dee and the others can see the bright light from the dogmaphier through
the windows of the doors. 2 hours later the operating room doors open and out come Vince
and Collins with the fox on a stretcher. Dee looks at the fox as she’s wheeled past him into
the recuperation room. Collins and Vince return to were Dee is.
Dee: Is she going to be ok?
Collins: Yes, she’ll be fine. She regained consensus and would like to speak to you.
Dee walks over to the room were the fox is and peeks his head through the doorway.
Dee: Hello.
Jess: Hi, you’re the one I was following.
Dee (standing in the doorway): Yes I am.
Jess: Well come, sit down next to me, lets talk, my name is Jess.
Dee (siting next to the bed): Hi Jess, my name is Dee.
Collins and the others look at Dee and Jess talk through the doorway.
Collins (closing the door): I think we have a new comrade.
Brigail: And I think Dee is in love.
Vince (putting his arm around Brigail): I think there both in love, for remember she did
follow him in the woods.
Collins (putting his arm around Molleen): Yes she sure did. Come on lets go get some grub.
Collins, Molleen, Vince, and Brigail walk down the hall to the mess hall to meet Perdita,
Megel, and Lady for lunch and to tell them the good news. Dee and Jess talk and enjoy
watching the sun set through the window.
 
 
 

          Story by:
         Brendan E. McCann