Nightmares and Monsters

Part 2

(Picture is of Captain Caliene Meredith with her Sniper Weapons System on down time.)

Chapter Two

US SOCCENT Airbase, Qatar

Outside

Caliene's POV

After the landing and disembarking from the V-22's we all headed over to the trucks that had been sent to collect us and take us back to 'Tent City' as it was known. As we got closer you could hear the music blasting in the background, someone had some Rap music playing out of a radio and had it hooked up to the PA system, just hope the Colonel doesn't find out or someone will be on KP (Kitchen Patrol, which is peeling an overbearing amount of potatoes) duty, not something I would want, drives you bonkers it does (shudders).

As the trucks came to a stop we all climbed out and headed to our respective areas, Epps headed straight for the Ball Court and started playing against what looked like a Newbie, boy was he gonna loose, especially against Epps - guy played Basketball in college, but decided to join the Air Force after he graduated, guy could have gone pro, he's just that good.

"Hey I'm ready to do this." he said as he shucked off his jacket, "Hey, any of y'all grow some balls, come see me on the court, man." he yelled to us as he played.

I shook my head and yelled back, "Sorry, Epps, gonna have to do a rain check on that match. Some of us have paperwork and such to actually take care of here, can't all be slackers!" making him miss the basket and making the others laugh, and getting a "Hey, hey!" from Lennox as he glared at Epps.

I watched as Sgt. Burke went to the rudimentary open-air shower and pushed other soldiers aside, by saying "Step aside, ladies." much to their consternation and yelling of "Hey, Man." I laughed he was a great guy to have in the squad, almost as gun happy as I was - except he actually slept with his rifle on his cot, this bit of info coming from Lennox, so the intel should be accurate.

I went and cleaned up, placed my M-24 on my bunk and left a note for the others in the tent to leave be since she was going to be cleaned when I got back from doing paperwork (I hate paperwork!) Then grabbing my clipboard, pen and the report forms to be filled in I headed on over to Lennox, we could suffer this together. On my way there I met up with the young lad that had all but adopted our squad, Mahfouz, "Hey, Cali, have you seen Lennox?" he asked me as I walked up to him smiling, he's a good kid, always willing to do anything for us, even getting our water packs filled ready for our next recon and such.

"Yes I have, Mahfouz, follow me and you'll be able to give him his water pack, alright?" I said to him, he grinned up at me, handed me my water pack and then started to jog in front a little ways, stopping every so often to make sure I was following and that we were going in the right direction. We finally made it over to Lennox and I gently tapped on Mahfouz's shoulder and pointed at Lennox who was busy writing up some of his report, Mahfouz smirked and ran over yelling "Lennox!" that got Lennox's attention as he looked up and smiled.

"Hey, what are you doing?" asked Lennox as he looked between me and Mahfouz.

"Me? I'm just doing some of the paperwork we all despise so much and wondered if you'd like the company." I replied as I sat opposite him on another crate and started in on the essentials of the report.

"Water?" asked Mahfouz as he handed Lennox his water pouch and smiled widely.

"Thank you. Are you gonna help with the gear?" asked Lennox as he stood up and stretched out a kink in his back, then turned to face me and Mahfouz. "You gonna come with us, Cali? If I remember correctly you still have an M-24 that needs some TLC before we turn in for the night." he asked as he took the offered water pouch again from Mahfouz and took a quick swig of the cool stuff.

"Yeah alright, and then once my rifle is clean I'll collect your report and mine together and hand them in to Colonel Sharp at the Ops Center." I said as I too stood up and headed on out with the pair to the tents we called home for now, so that I could do what was needed. It was going to be a long day from start to finish, I just never realized just how long or how bad it was going to be.

Later, after helping Lennox and Mahfouz with the gear for our squad, I went and spent a good couple of hours cleaning my rifle - a clean rifle is a working life saving rifle (the life of me and my squad, anyway.)

After all that I headed over to the tents that the rest of the squad used as a home out here, and collected Lennox's report as offered earlier. Once I had our reports I headed over to the Ops Center beneath and to one side of the Control Tower to hand them in to Colonel Sharp, a fair but strict man who had the respect from almost everyone on his base. As I handed over the reports I heard a (from his number of three arm stripes) Senior Airman say: "Colonel Sharp, we have an inbound unidentified infiltrator, ten miles out."

Colonel Sharp looked at him and then me as I nodded that I understood he needed to see to this as he reached over and grabbed one of the radios.

"Unidentified aircraft, you are in restricted US Military Airspace. Squawk ident and proceed out of the area." he said to the pilot of the aircraft, before relaying a request on another frequency to the airstrip. "Raptors one and two, snap to heading two-five-zero to intercept. Bogie is in the weeds ten miles out, not squawking." This meant that two Raptors were going to identify the intruder incase it was one of ours having radio problems, if not they would be dealt with.

Sharp looked at the radio, nodded and switched back to the frequency used to contact the unidentified aircraft. "Unidentified aircraft, we will escort you to US SOCCENT airbase. If you do not comply, we will use deadly force." After he said that we all waited to see what would happen. Huh... this had possibly been the most action we had all experienced since we set up here.

"Copy the bogie. Tail 4500 X-ray." came the response from one of the pilots over the radio. The Senior Airman had been going over a print out of the details for the identified bogie for the past five minutes before he turned to Colonel Sharp and I and said "Sir, Ma'am, says here 4500X was shot down three months ago. Afghanistan." I shuddered lightly, that had been a bad intel operation, causing the loss of some fine men and one of our Helicopters.

"There's got to be a mistake. Check again, then recheck." said Colonel Sharp as he looked at the Senior Airman slightly bemused, hell even I wished that the crew were alive and well, but since we hadn't heard or seen any indication that they were they were listed as MIA/KIA. One thing I never wanted my folks to go through ever.

"I did sir, A friend of mine was on that chopper." came the response from the Senior Airman, I could see that it hurt him to say this, must have been a close friend to him then.

As we stood, there we heard one of the pilots talk over the radio. "Unidentified aircraft, we will escort you to US SOCCENT Airbase." Colonel sharp then turned to the Airman at the Radar terminal and asked, "Radar, where's the inbound?"

The Airman just looked at Colonel Sharp before answering, "Bogie's five miles out, sir." 'Hmmm,' I wondered, 'that would make their arrival time shortly before dark, which means the flood lights will need to be switched to face the landing area near the Control Tower.'

Colonel Sharp looked between me and the Airman, "I'll be up in the Tower for when the bogie arrives, I want to confirm this thing really is 4500X myself." he said and headed up the stairs to the main room of the Control Tower. I just hoped that it was going to be a quiet evening, but knowing the 'Powers of Worse,' it wasn't to be.

End Chapter Two