“NO,” Lolita said to the payphone on the wall next to the rec center, “I don’t know what’s going on. All I know is, when they dismissed me from that place, I go back to the BOQ and find out all our asses are stuck here.” In a world without cell phones, and not much of any kind of wireless communications, this payphone was a godsend. Of course, Lolita didn’t even know what it was to begin with. It took her a while to figure out the spin number thing too. What kind of moron would make a phone that spins? Not to mention, what was the deal with remembering all them numbers? How the hell was anybody expected to do that?

Melanie was still up in Uea-Au and now she was whining about it, “when Katie called me and told me that you got locked up again…”

“Mel!” Lolita shot back, “I did not get locked up, for the last freaking time! It was some kind of hospital thing! They drew a bunch of blood, held me over night, and that was that. It was not the provost martial’s office, ok?”

The girl whined some more and all Lolita could do was let her. Finally, thankfully, Lolita ran out of time on her call and had the best excuse in the world to hang up. She grumbled as she put the talking thing back on the hook thing and wondered what kind of demented elf contraption this phone was. She then turned around and almost jumped out of her boots after she did.

He was smiling at her and only because he knew that would get under Lolita’s skin. She drove a knuckle in his shoulder, just beneath the bone and then Lolita snarled at him, “goddamn it Gabe!” Then she let him know, “I’m serious this time. Leave me the hell alone. We parted company after Nottakay, so, now, I don’t have to pretend not to know you. I just get to wish I didn’t.”

Gabe Foster kept right on smiling and acted quite amused, “touchy aren’t we.” Then he nodded to the phone, “new girlfriend?”

“Fuck you Gabe,” Lolita snapped back, “you are not holding that shit over my head no more. I swear to god, if you take me down then I am taking you with me.”

“What?” He laughed it off, “first off, nobody wants to take you down Lolita. Second, the only way you could take me down is in the way you know I like, girl.”

“In your fucking demented ass dreams Gabe,” Lolita grunted, “I told you that back then. I’m telling you that now.”

Gabe pulled out his phone which, he was obviously not going to use to make a call with. Instead he pulled up some pictures and said, “I went home last year. You know, when you decided to go hit on Katie Mack.”

“I was not hitting on Katie!”

Gabe was flipping through pictures with his finger until he showed one too her. It was of a little third grade girl with frizzy brown pigtails and wearing a plaid skirt and white top. She was sitting at a table with a microphone. Gabe said, “wonder who that is? Oh yeah, third grade spelling nationals. Remember when we went there?”

“Where did you get that,” Lolita demanded.

“Told you I went home,” Gabe pleasantly remarked. “Your mom gave me some of these. I got plenty more including your nationals at the debating…”

“Give me that,” Lolita grabbed for the phone but Gabe pulled it back.

He was almost laughing as he held her back, “how would everybody like to know that this tough little army chick is really a nerd.”

Lolita broke contact and then backed off completely, “you don’t got nothing on me Gabe. What I told you back in college was the truth. You were my first anybody, definitely my first and last guy. It wasn’t you, ok? I didn’t know back then. Stop taking it personally!”

“I’m not,” he easily replied.
“Then stop fucking with me,” Lolita growled. “And don’t hand me that shit about you being on the job. You forget, I know who you really are and I didn’t buy what you told me last year, nether. You didn’t catch no pot smokers in Bravo company. You didn’t even try so I got to guess that ain’t why you were really there.”

“Oh Lolita,” Gabe said so sympathetically, “why are you being such a bitch about this. Trust me,” He stepped back up to her and said, “I am protecting you. That’s also why I’m giving you this heads up.”

Gabe pulled a piece of paper out of the pocket of his civilian shirt and he handed it over to her. Lolita read it and then exploded, “no fucking way! You are not my new platoon sergeant.”

Gabe rolled his eyes, “read the orders again Lolita. That’s what it says I am.”

Lolita slapped the paper back in his chest, “there ain’t no way in hell that’s going to fly, Gabe. Katie is the battalion S-3 and you were in her company, last year. She’s my direct CO right now. There is no way she’s going to believe that you went from a little piddly ass E-4 to an E-7 in a years time. Nobody does that, no matter how good they are.”

“Oh be imaginative Lolita,” Gabe told her. “It’s war time, people get promoted pretty damn quick these days, and besides, it doesn’t say I’m an E-7, it says I’m an E-6 promotable. I figured that was good enough.”

Now Lolita stewed under skin as he just smiled at her. Finally she just blurted out, “what the fuck do you want? What could you possibly, possibly, ever need to do in my platoon.”

As Gabe put his papers away he said, “well you know that’s the funny part Lolita. I’m actually just looking for an AWOL right now. So it’s nothing really big. Don’t concern yourself and, you know, look at it this way, you’re getting some quality help.”

“Yeah,” Lolita was unconvinced, “well maybe I’ll get lucky and you’ll do as well as every other NCO I ever had.” She laughed at him, slapped him hard in the chest, and walked off saying, “try that one on for size and see how smart you are then, sorry mother fucker.”

Fortunately, and to Lolita’s relief, she noticed that he did not follow her back to the room. She was actually happy about that when she walked in the door and then she saw what Katie was doing, “what the fuck Katie?”

Katie pointed to the bed beside her own, “glad you finally showed up. I was about to have to send somebody out to look for you. Get changed and do it now.” Katie looked at her watch, “we’ve got about ten minutes to report down at the parking lot.”

Lolita still did not act as if she were in a hurry. Instead she looked at the gear and clothing on the bed, “where did you get this? What is it?”

A knock came at the door and Katie nervously rushed to answer it. It was not who she expected and was quite relieved to be wrong. Lolita looked over her shoulder and blinked when she saw those two new Lieutenants, from the replacement pool, talking with Katie about something. Strangely enough, they were both dressed just like she was. They looked ridiculous in that get up. Of course, those two looked pretty ridiculous in any uniform and that was why Lolita had nicknamed them, Ken and Barbie. As they left, Lolita tried out her new one on Katie, “Is it just me, or do them two look like Jack and Jill Went Over?”

“Dress,” Katie snapped her fingers as she said it. Then she mumbled in astonishment, “actually I think that is their first names.”

Lolita was still not in a hurry as she started changing clothes. She did get serious though, “so you going to tell me what this is? A costume party or something?”

“I don’t know for sure,” Katie said as she looked back out the door and saw the elf military vehicle pulling in the parking area. It was a special and that told her a little more about where they were going. Then she said, “I do know this.” She looked back at Lolita and continued, “Phil came back through the Dell about an hour ago. I saw him over at Division. A few minutes later, he walked out and I went up to say hello. He didn’t have time to talk and said he was heading back for the Dell.”

“That’s it?”

Katie took a deep breath, “Twenty minutes later, second brigades reserve battalion went on alert. They’re over there ramping up at the airfield now. The F-16’s are being prepped and taking off as soon as they can get them off the flight line.”

“Ok,” Lolita admitted, “so, somebody is getting ready to have some bad news rain down on their pathetic little egg laying heads. So what?”

“Lolita,” Katie was scared, “they weren’t carrying any air to ground ordinance, only heat seekers, just their sidewinders.”

Vega blinked at that, “why? Their’s nobody….” It occurred to her and she blew up, “are those ass holes fucking crazy! Are they trying to start a war…” She thought about it and then said, “in the middle of a goddamn war?” Then Lolita thought about the British Army uniform she was wearing. She started stomping around, “no fucking way Katie. If something happens and they catch us in this shit, they’ll shoot us for being spooks!” Then she thought about it some more and said, “and I’m carrying a vagina with me! That is not something you want to be carrying if you get caught spying!”

Katie gulped. Then she nervously tossed a thumb over her shoulder, pointed out the crack of the door, and meekly said, “trucks here, we got to move.”

The truck took them to the physical training ground just behind the barracks. It was covered on four sides by buildings and offered them a little bit of privacy. As Lolita jumped down out of the truck she was ushered into a line that snaked it’s way past a table. It was a really small line because she only counted about thirty odd people gathered there. Two guys were issuing weapons at the table. One guy was keeping track of the inventory on an electronic notebook while the other guy was doing the actual handing. Those weapons looked pretty weird to Lolita, and pretty small.

When it was her turn to get a weapon she told the guy who handed it to her, “this is too goddamn small to kill an Orc.”

The man laughed and said, “and I thought they’d have already killed you Lieutenant.”

Suddenly Lolita realized, “Sergeant Reiner! No offense, but I didn’t know you made it out of Nottakay!”

Scott Reiner pointed over to Katie and said, “I got lucky, I was with B Company that night. You know, with the guys you dropped all them mortars on!”

“Oh bullshit,” Lolita replied, “I saved your ass that night!”

A rather grouchy voice yelled out from over by Katie, “get a move on!” It was Colonel Hogan, also dressed in a British uniform which, did nothing for is personality. Lolita just laughed the guy off, quietly, and then joined the assembling group of soldiers with the bull pup configured, British made, infantry weapon. It really felt weird in Lolita’s hands since she had gotten very used to carrying those huge hand cannons that were now standard for the US Army or, at least, they were for the Hundred and First.

Lolita didn’t recognize everyone here but, she did some. She noticed that there was a mix of veterans, replacements, officer, and enlisted. There didn’t seem to be any logic behind it but, she figured that Colonel Hogan would explain it all and, in fact, knowing him, he would probably overly explain it. Lolita would have asked Katie but, she was busy with the colonel and Lolita knew damn well that man wouldn’t want her around. He never did.

Finally Hogan looked at his watch and then called for everyone to take a knee. “People, you might have noticed what we’re all wearing here. We’re not going to waste any time because we don’t have it.” Hogan pointed to Reiner, “this is US Army Staff Sergeant, Scott Reiner. He has attended and actually graduated from the British basic and advanced NCO academy’s. He just got back from training with the Black Rats, a British unit that is currently at Coven Hill. He’s going to give us all a crash course in how to be British.”

Hogan actually had a riding crop? Lolita wanted to laugh but, held it back as the man told them all, “Now, before we get started. For the purposes of this operation, you are no longer at the rank you carry in the US Army. I’ve assigned all of you ranks and you are wearing them on the uniforms you now have on. I’m still a colonel and my acting ex-oh here, Major Mack, is still a Major. I don’t know what rank each of you got but, no bitching about it cause, we picked those for a reason. I’m not changing anything now.”

Lolita looked down her collar tab and saw, nothing. She looked on her sleeve and, also, saw nothing. She then nudged Lieutenant Ken/Jack, who was obviously some kind of Sergeant, and she asked, “hey, what rank am I?”

He looked her over real quick and said, “a private.”

Lolita mumbled, about Hogan, under her breath, “that bendejo jerk off!”

Hogan was still rolling right along, “and as an acting Captain, Sergeant Reiner answers only to me or Major Mack. Now we’re going to start off by making a simple formation and doing it their way. Captain Reiner, the formation is yours, sir.”

Reiner spent a few minutes explaining, a few minutes demonstrating, and then he started yelling, hitting, slapping, and basically playing drill sergeant. He sounded pretty comical with the accent he was using. Jack and Jill almost couldn’t stop laughing and, because of that, Reiner had them do the rest of the formation in what the army called the front leaning rest position. He did not break character and actually call it that. Lolita could not quite get into the groove of things but, she did just enough to keep Reiner off her ass.

When he was done he dropped his make believe captain and, out of character, he said, “there’s not enough time to show you everything you need to know. Think of me as a director guys. When I need too, I’ll be there making sure you don’t fuck up. Let’s hope I don’t need too.”

Hogan stepped up and took the formation after an exchange of salutes. He then explained the mission. There was absolute silence when he was done. Lolita stood there with the rest, not exactly as impressed as everyone else seemed to be. She did wish she had brought her cell phone though. Then she raised her hand, “Colonel.”

Hogan made of point of saying, “what is it, Private.”

Lolita ignored the remark and asked what she thought was a serious question, “sir, if we get caught in these uniforms. They’re going to treat us like spies, and not soldiers.”

For some reason, Hogan mellowed out and said, “child, the people we’re about to fight, they don’t take prisoners.” That drew a rumble from the ranks so Hogan said, “they’re terrorists. I was informed only an hour ago, that earlier today, they set off a bomb in downtown New York.” Lolita noticed that even Katie looked shocked. The news started off another round of mumbles and Hogan quickly got control of his formation, “I don’t really know who these people are. I’ve never heard of them before. All I know for sure is they have control of our target and we’re the best chance at getting it back.”

Katie almost forgot about any military formalities when she blurted out, “sir, how is that possible? That’s the most heavily guarded building on planet earth.”

Katie was fully expecting to get her ass chewed for questioning him in front of the troops but, it seemed, that Hogan was a little disillusioned himself, maybe even confused. He just grunted as he walked by her, “apparently Major, they were always in control of it. Figure that one out. Get them in the truck.”

As they loaded up, Reiner stood at the back of the vehicle and handed out one mask and O2 bottle per soldier. He grabbed Lolita by the sleeve and pulled her off to the side. When everyone was loaded, he checked his bag to see that it was empty and then he called into the truck, “check your gear, everybody has one bottle and one mask, sound off.” When he got a reply he told them, “just remember people, that’s only about five minutes worth of air. So hit your targets, hit them hard, or we are all dead, understood?”

When he was done Lolita now tugged on his sleeve, “so what do you want, Captain.” Lolita made sure she said that rank with as much sarcasm as she could muster.

Reiner didn’t act like he noticed. He just told her, “what do you think Vega? You were with us at Nottakay, you been beating the bush in the Hurt since we first got here. I want you to cover my ass. I got a wife and kid I would like to see again.”

A cheerful smile broke over Vega’s face and she punched him in the arm, “you got it big boy.”

Two more trucks, a staff car, and a light armored vehicle came riding up on the field. They parked right next to the truck that was already there and, now, loaded down with soldiers. Reiner and Vega waited to get in so that they could see what was happening. The trucks and armored vehicle were all packed with elves. Vega was not that happy, “that’s Noveus-Faeyu. They think they going to stop us or something?”

Reiner got a got a peek at a few of the soldiers in the back of their vehicles and he said, “I don’t think so. They’re wearing O2 bottles just like we are.”

“Ah man,” Lolita complained, “them bastards are coming with us? Now I got to watch my back and my front.” She saw the look she was getting and said, “sorry Sergeant Captain, your back too.”

What really surprised Lolita was who got out of the staff car. One of them was human, an American, and wearing a US Army uniform. She was with two elves and one of them was obviously important. The other one was wearing a British uniform, although, she had not snapped on her helmet yet. Lolita had a hard time telling elves apart but, she knew that woman on sight, “that’s Katie’s counterpart, Major Ceascu. I take it she’s coming with us.”

After the little party talked to Hogan and Mack, both Ceascu and the US Captain came walking over to the truck. It was the human who spoke first, “I’m Captain Patterson, I’ve been assigned to this operation.”

Reiner was not too happy, “dressed like that?”

“No choice,” Patterson replied. “Last minute thing, um,” Sharon Patterson looked around and said, “who are you exactly?”

Vega said, “I call him Captain Sergeant.” She thought about it and added, “I don’t know though, maybe Sergeant Captain sounds better? What do you think Scott?”

“What I think is,” Scott said, “I don’t have any air bottles left.”

The elf held one up and so did the Captain. Then Taylya spoke, “we brought our own. We even have a few extras to spare.”

Scott let out a heavy sight that sounded like, “oh brother.” Then he nodded to the truck, “get in.” As the two new recruits joined the operation, he said silently to Vega, “we are so going to die.”

“Speak for yourself Sergeant Captain,” Vega replied. Then she jumped on the truck and Scott pulled down the back panel behind her.