Zombie Theorem (Book 4): Aces Mortis Page 21

  “Fine, give the prima donnas another thirty minutes and then wake their asses and tell them we are moving out. I need to eat and take a shit. Not sure which first,” Chun climbed from the table and knuckled the kinks out of his back.

  Thor pointed to a far wall with a door in it. “Head is that way, and it works.”

  “Much appreciated, stew me a fresh cup of this shit. Be right back,” Chun grabbed his pack and gun and headed in the indicated direction. He stepped into a darkened head and switched on his LED light on his vest. The room lit up and he looked around feeling for a light switch. When he found it, he switched it up and down, with no effect. He smacked his forehead, the power had been out for a while. He put the LED light on the sink counter and dropped his gear and headed into the first stall. He took care of business quickly and stood staring at the sinks. He twisted the knob, expecting nothing to come out. He was pleasantly surprised when a rush of cold water poured out. He wasted no time and stripped off his tactical vest, armor, and blouse. Chun pumped the soap dispenser and quickly cleaned himself up of sweat and grime. He felt more human, and policed his area. He removed his camelback water bladder from his pack and used the water to refill it. Next, he used his hands and filled his belly with the water. He had been feeling dehydrated since the day before and the coffee he drank would soon be tearing a hole in his stomach if he didn’t add some water to it.

  Chun walked back into the hangar feeling like a refreshed man, ready for what his day was going to be throwing at him. He found a heated pack of Chili waiting for him and a cup of freshly brewed battery acid, or coffee, however you chose to identify it. He ate quickly and drained the cup. “Enough downtime, boys. Thor, go wake those pilots, we need to get moving. Tell them briefing with me in five minutes,” he turned to speak with Butch as Thor moved off to relay his orders. “I need to talk to Commander Langham and get a clear picture of what is going on, set it up after my briefing with the fly boys.”

  Butch nodded his understanding and moved off to the Dragonhawk to call up the carrier. Hashkeh came up next. “I figured you might want to know what I did with Heath.”

  Chun cracked his neck and stretched his arms, nodding for Hashkeh to continue. “Surprisingly, he told me everything before I barely even had to touch him. I had hoped he would be more of a challenge. To make sure he was telling me the truth, I scalped him with my skinning knife. He was telling the truth alright. I followed your orders and hurt him badly, he has repaid his debt to those he has killed and hurt. But it is now in the hands of the Gods to decide what to do with his soul.”

  Hashkeh was always quick and direct with his reports, never embellishing nor holding back details. “Good job, load our equipment on the Dragonhawk and get ready.”

  Chun turned and stifled a slight yawn. The pilots appeared looking rumpled in their flight suits. They filed in and sat on the ground or leaning against tables and counters. Chun was confused, why there were more pilots than what he remembered from the mission the day before. Like twenty more than he had guessed. A total of forty-three pilots gave him their full attention. “First, I didn’t expect this many of you. What gives?”

  A woman dressed in flight coveralls and a G-suit stepped forward. “Except for your helicopter crews, we flew in on a C-17 a little while ago. The General tasked us to ferry as many fighters as we can to the Reagan. We were told you were the commander on the ground and to follow your orders,” she opened her arms wide and indicated her pilots.

  Chun took a moment to think on this information and gather his thoughts. Chun took a Columbo like pose and put his fingers to his eyebrow. “An idea has just come to me. We have a big army sitting up north getting their asses whooped and handed to them. I do not have many Seals to fight the Ridder force up there, but if I can get you armed up on the Reagan, maybe I can get you guys to storm north and slow down that Ridder force and give those Blanket Heads up there some breathing room until we can get up there,” he scratched his head.

  The woman in command of the group of pilots had the name Bryant stitched on to her flight suit. She stepped forward and came up closer to Chun. “Once we are on the Reagan, we will no longer be following your orders. We will fall under Commander Langham’s peruse.”

  “That is something I will deal with. Go grab your jets and get your tailpipes to the Reagan,” Chun turned to his helicopter pilots. “You guys, top off your fuel and, any of the replacements you need whether parts or ammo. I am sure you guys know where to find that shit better than we do. I want you off the ground within two hours. You will shadow my Dragonhawk and continue supporting the Seal convoy as we move north,” he scrunched up his brow in confusion as no one moved.

  Butch strode up and ratcheted up his drill sergeant like voice. “You heard the fucking Lt. You are wasting our fucking time! Move!”

  The place emptied quick. Chun patted Butch’s shoulder. “You really enjoy doing that, don’t you?”

  “Sir, I would never assume to enjoy ordering around officers of higher rank.”

  Chun bust out laughing staring into Butch’s dead pan mug. “Oh? You tell me what to do all the fucking time, and you usually wear a smirk doing it.”

  “You are different, Lt. You know how my boot feels firmly inserted in your ass before you became an officer,” with that Butch clasped his hands behind his back and strode after the pilots, making sure they understood their orders.

  Chun made it over to his Dragonhawk, climbed into his pilot seat and powered up the systems. He hailed the Reagan and asked to speak to the Commander. She came on in a couple of minutes.

  “Lieutenant Chun, how may I help you today?”

  “I need some support Commander and you are the only one who can make it happen.”

  “Does it include me slipping on my black six inch stilettos and red dancing dress?” her voice came over the speakers.

  “Excuse me, Commander? Did I catch you at an awkward time?” Chun asked, confused at where the conversation was going.

  “Sorry Chun, I didn’t mean to spit venom at you. Just dealing with a whole lot of male testosterone with all the new crew members we are taking on, along with a whole bunch of male officers who think they can wrest control of my carrier from me.”

  “Commander, you have a contingent of specialized Marines on board. I suggest you loosen their leashes and let them gnaw on these men’s asses. They are there for your safety and to make sure your orders get followed.”

  There was a slight moment when Chun thought he had lost connection. A female laugh came pouring through the airwaves. “I just told a young Marine what you said and he said he and his men would see to my little problems. Said it was best I did not know how,” she continued to laugh and sounded a lot more relaxed. “You helped me with one of my problems Lieutenant Chun, let me return the favor. What can I do for you?”

  “Just glad I can help ma’am. We need you to sign off on an air mission.”

  “Can you give me some more details?”

  “Not just yet, I have a ton of pilots here at Miramar. They are going to be heading out in shiny looking F-18s and have orders to land them on your little ship,” Chun explained.

  “Yes, I know about them. We also just became the newest owners of an entire deck crew, and an air boss who is taking over flight operations,” Langham filled in Chun.

  “Good to hear, I need you to approve a bombing run on that Ridder force up north pounding on that Army convoy,” Chun approached his plan. “We need to buy them some time so we can get our asses up there and pull them out of the fire.”

  “I can make that happen. Ok, I have intelligence coming in about that fight. Things are looking pretty bad, they are going to need your help soon.”

  “Outstanding, Commander. I have one more request.”

  “You wouldn’t be a man if you didn’t. Lay it on me Lieutenant.”

  “I need that F-35B you have sitting around. I have a very important mission for it.”

  “That is easy, Vader is driving me
crazy! I’ll have him up in the air in a matter of minutes and headed in your direction. What kind of mission do you have for him?”

  “I have a new kind of bomb I want him to deliver on a zombie pit not far from here.”

  “Did you say Zombie pit?” Langham sounded confused. Chun filled her in on Ridder’s round up mission and eyes on using the captive zombies as a new weapon. “Wait one!” Langham answered him tersely. Chun took his free time to check out the runway and F-18s taxing out to it. “Vader is on his way. I informed him to follow your orders as they are mine. The man is a chauvinistic pain in the ass pig. Seems to have forgotten all Military decorum when he joined the F-35 project. I am planning on having one of those Marines you suggested have a talk with him when he comes back.”

  “Thank you for your help, ma’am. Chun out.” Chun listened to Langham sign off and shut down the power of the Dragonhawk. He sat there thinking about the next step. He climbed from the cockpit and headed toward one of those modified Ospreys. He found the one he was looking for and pulled the pilot aside. “Let me fill you in on a little plan I have. But first, tell me you know how to remove that Hades bomb from its hardpoint?”

  The pilot was young, like he had not even had to learn how to shave yet young. “Yes Sir, we have training on that. If you can get me a loader and a jack we will get it off,” he screwed up his face and stared at Chun waiting for more.

  “Son I have an F-35B rocketing its way to us as we sit here jawing. I want that bomb loaded onto his plane so he can do a little mission for us.”

  The young man looked taken back, as if Chun had just told him that he had banged the young man’s sister behind the bleachers. “We can do any mission you need, Sir. You do not need a jet jockey.”

  “I know you can son, but I need you and your whirly birds heading north to protect our brothers. So, we will let the jet jockey deal with a little side mission,” Chun was not used to having to explain his thinking and command decisions to lower ranked officers. He was about to lose his patience when it dawned on the young pilot that the big mean Seal was about to eat him for breakfast.

  “You can count on us, Sir. Consider the Hades already removed and ready to go. Only one problem I can see with your planning, Sir,” he looked like he was afraid to bring up what he had in mind. “I am not sure if the F-35 can deliver this bomb, much more than us being able to attach it successfully to its hard point.”

  “We will deal with that problem when it crops up,” Chun spun on his heel and walked away. He hated it when he was told something could not work, he had spent over a decade proving people wrong. He believed whole heartily that you had to adapt and overcome to be successful.

  Thirty minutes later, all F-18s that could be taken had, and the Apaches and Ospreys were fueled up and ready to go. Chun had his men were going through their ammo and supplies, cleaning weapons and taking turns monitoring the radio and link with Nunzio. It seemed the Seal convoy was making great strides over open ground, any obstacles they came across they rolled right over them. As Chun was making his way over to his team, who were sprawled out on the tarmac, he heard a loud roaring sound and looked up as a shadow encased him. He looked up and observed the F-35B transformed from forward flight to a hover. Opening its doors from above and below it, engine tilting down and slowly coming toward the ground. The landing gear folded out and like a bird it landed softly on the parking space nearby.

  Chun whistled for his men to get up and get moving. They responded immediately. The jet’s cockpit popped open and Vader the pilot started the shutdown process. The young Osprey pilot appeared and came jogging over, pushing a cart loaded with the Hades bomb on it. Vader climbed from his cockpit and came over to stand next to Chun. “Please don’t tell me you are going to attach that to my girl.”

  “That is exactly what I plan on doing. I need you to be my postman and deliver that to our Ridder friends,” Chun informed Vader.

  “You know it is not that easy, right? I do not have the proper software or training.” Vader explained.

  “You need to deliver a message to Ridder, so you better figure this shit out and fast,” Chun walked away slowly.

  Vader placed a hand over his mouth and sighed into it. “Well fuck, I guess I need to get my ass moving then.” He moved quickly to meet up with the Osprey crew and work out how to attach it to his bird.

  Chun hated sitting on his ass, but until the F-35B was done and his Osprey crew was free, there was nothing for his men to do. They could only check their supplies and clean their weapons so many times. He had to admit it was nice not having any Zombies coming at them, but he was not a fan of what that meant. Who gathers Zombies in order to use them as a weapon? Ridder and the Initiative that’s who. Chun couldn’t wait to see the effects on Ridder after he wasted one of their zombie army pits. He had contacted the General’s staff and alerted them to his plans and that they should start finding more pits, and destroy them the first chance they got. That would be a morale booster for their side. And it had the added bonus of taking out large amounts of zombies, so him and men like his didn’t have to risk their lives taking the trash out.

  His musings were interrupted by Vader who plopped himself on the ground next to him. Chun eyed him for a moment. “What’s the good news, Vader?”

  He tore into a protein bar and chewed the bite he took quickly before answering. “We got the thing on the plane, and I am pretty sure I can release it when needed. But it means I will have to hover over this pit in order to make sure it hits properly. Which means I will be exposed to ground fire for a couple of minutes. I’ve got to say I am not overly thrilled over this mission,” he took another bite of his protein bar.

  “I tell you what, you can teach me how to fly the damn thing and I will go drop that bomb, while you sit down here and fight Ridder and Zombies with nothing but a rifle and your dick,” a voice answered from behind them. Chun laughed over Butch’s words.

  Vader leaned back and looked up at the big man. “I get it, Master Chief. I really do, I’m just a little apprehensive, that’s all.”

  Butch stroked his long beard and considered the man’s words. “Let me ask you a question, Vader. Does it take balls to take chances as a test pilot of a new aircraft?”

  Vader cocked his head and gave Butch a wide toothy smile. “Giant huevos, Master Chief.”

  “So, being a man on the ground, we take chances every second of every day. The difference is we do not do it for fame and notoriety. We do it to give our Team a chance at waking up the next day and continue the fight. We do it because it is the right thing to do.”

  Vader took in Butch’s words and nodded his head. “I read you, I guess I need to get my shit together and give you guys the chance to wake up tomorrow and continue the fight,” he got to his feet and knocked fists with Butch.

  Chun had listened to the entire conversation and agreed with most of Butch’s statement. He dug through one of his many pockets and came out with a piece of paper. He handed it to Vader. “Those are the coordinates, you have authorization for release, no mother may I needed. Fly straight, jet jockey.”

  Vader took the paper and walked out to his fighter. He climbed into the cockpit and his practiced hands went through their ministrations flipping switches and going through the startup procedure. He didn’t need a checklist, mostly since he wrote the damn thing. Within minutes, he had the engines warmed and plugged the coordinates into his navigation systems. He stirred the stick, making sure all the moving surfaces worked. He threw a salute in Chun’s direction and rolled down the runway. He was not going to take off vertically with as much weight as the Hades bomb added to his bird. Once airborne, he waggled his wings and took off in a northerly direction. Chun waited watching until the sleek fighter plane was but a speck in the distance, then turned and started snapping orders for his men to follow. He was in the cockpit and had the engine warmed up and ready to lift off with a crew compartment filled to the brim with his warriors. Lupo sat in the right seat and ran the
navigation and radio, giving Chun the chance to concentrate on just keeping them in the air.

  Vader rocketed north at supersonic speeds of seven-hundred and sixty-eight miles per hour. Within minutes, he was near his target. He decided to take one highspeed overfly and check out the area, testing the ground weapons and defense systems. As he passed the pit, which easily took up a five-mile square piece of land, he noticed something undulating, it reminded him of waves. He checked his threat warning system and was amazed that nothing down there was targeting him. Next, he checked his weapon systems and found that the Hades was online and his systems were recognizing it.

  He sped out a hundred miles and set his bombing run. The system was acting like everything was good, so he made a tight turn, pulling a couple of Gs, causing him to have to grunt and force his breathing. He reveled in pulling multiple Gs but it always felt like an elephant was on his chest. He came out of the turn and took a couple of hits off his oxygen mask, letting it clear his mind. It was then his radar beeped, warning him of two aircraft out there searching for him. He hadn’t tested the stealthy characteristics of the F-35 in a real-world use, and he couldn’t wait to shove it up his enemy’s asses. He had a couple of AIM-120 AMRAAM, air to air missiles he was itching to release.

  Vader set his computer to monitor any other air traffic and threats and to automatically trigger the defense systems. He was in his environment and it felt good being a real fighter again. He gained altitude and checked the Hades again, finding everything in the green and his bombing run set up. He pushed his throttles forward a little more and found that feeling of being invulnerable wrapped in the most hi-tech jet ever created. He had test flown the Raptor and that plane felt awesome. But it could not do the things that this one could, he picked his head up and scanned the sky around him. The best thing about this fighter was the new helmet he wore. Instead of a heads up display or, HUD, at the front of the cockpit it was integrated now. All he had to do was move his head to see all around, he could even track an enemy below his plane by just looking down towards his lap. Everything was in his face on the face plate of his helmet.