Upon landing ,Major Cort Bennett, the team leader and "Commsat" spec, stayed at his post awaiting their 1st orders; the other 7 men were fanned out within 150 feet, constructing a defensive watch position for any action or enemy approach. The team members were; "Point" man Rodney Moorhead, with acute night vision, full-blooded American Indian and the best tracker of any Marine team. His weapon choice was a SteyrAUGX .45cal, (recalibered for sterile use) with a sterile "Mecar" 40mm grenade launcher mounted below the barrel. All the weapons were non-American, in case they were compromised/captured, and could deny any plausibility or origin. Second along was "Mav" Cawdor, their E.O.D.(explosives) specialist, with a back-up specialty as Commsat man, in case Major Bennett got wounded, and could not fulfill working the Satellite burst transmission device. Every man had a 2nd specialty, as is always in a Specop unit. Middle man along was Gunnery Sgt. Andrew " Katt" Maxwell, the team Sniper, the qualifying best at Quantico Sniper School with a modified MarineM40, re-bored to a SuperLapua .338mag cal., zeroed at 1,100 yds. and the teams back up Medic. The choice of caliber was due to 4 times the impact energy at 1,000 yds., over the standard NATO 7.62.m.X39m.m.Andrews family was with every Battle from Bunker Hill to current day; 1 of them was always a natural, and presumed a Snipers role. Fourth in line was the teams Heavy Weapons Spec, Laurance Wilson, his primary job of course was to provide heavy defensive/offensive fire in the case something happened to allow the team to form a defensive perimeter. His choice of weapon was the infamous M60, yet re-bored to 30 ought 6 (30/06) for heavier firepower. He carried 2,000 rounds of ammo primarily, and was the teams back-up point man. He qualified expert with his crew served weapon, 234 out of 250, and affectionately called the Machine Gun "Girrly". It was carried at waist/port height, able immediately to bring the brute firing.

Every member was clad in Marine issue "Ghuillie" camouflage netting, rendering them near-invisible day or night in the thick brush. The "5" man was Sgt. Kim Pickerill, the "Silent" killing member, to take out guard dogs, Sentries, and any other risk "neutralized" that could make any noise up close and compromise the team. The 2 primary weapons of his choice were the "Panga", 2-foot razor-sharp in- close fighting knife, and a composite N.S.A .220 "swift" automatic pistol with the echo-hologram scope with PVS-14 night vision capabilities. He also sported various and sundry garrotes, blow-guns, and other shorter knifes, necessary for "Wet" missions, taking a guard out literally at his post.

The final 2 members were "Kris" Kornelli, a GPS specialist who could guide the team through blackest of night, or triple-canopy jungle, where vision was not available at 2 feet ahead of your face. Kris guaranteed the team was within 3 feet of their due-point, 24hrs. a day, He backed up as a linguist, speaking Tagalong, Nung, Korean fluently, and conversational in a few others. He was the youngest at 25, and the source of constant ribbing by his mates, but knew it was respect, and had no problem with it. When someone needed Kris's attention in whisper mode, he was called "Newbie".

The last and final "Tail end Charlie", rear-guard member was Jordan Rose, newest to the team, yet qualified well enough even to impress "Katt" Mitchell, the teams strictest member, and final say. Gunnery Sgt. Jordan was aware of the responsibilities of watching the teams back at all time, and did it well; carrying an experimental "ADMAN' 6 barrel gatling gun at 7.62m.m.X 59m.m., he was able to lay down a withering stream of slugs, preventing any return fire, least the team be discovered.

From this chapter on, this book will consider the teams specialties and names known; a list will be provided on the fly sheet for new readers though, to make sure. Current date, WW3, December 25th, 2010.

Current location, somewhere between the Korea/China border, always exact area unknown, except to the Joint Chiefs, and that was on a "Need-to-know' basis. This team took no prisoners, was not there to solely Recon. They would pull the plug at a moments notice, commsatting firing orders to an off-shore SeaWolf2 or Boomer Nuclear Submarine, keeping America safe.

No one had the slightest idea that in 10 years, this horribly costly and attrition rich war would still be being fought, costing billions in any currency, and literally millions of coalition/non-coalition lives; no one at that Christmas party in the year of our lord 2,010 could've had any indication of the severity of things to come. Just a few standard Diplomatic urgent "Flash-Stat5" codes, and unheard pleas for help. Ironically, as bad as conditions were in North Korea, now ceded to the China/India pact, it would have probably not even been heard. Stored away for someone else’s hassle, buried in a Red Drawer deep within the N.R.O.(National Reconnaissance Organization) Facility, it simply gathered dust. If only someone would've seen how bad things were in China and India; but hindsight is 20-20, no?

Current Date; 2009, December 23rd

"The Peoples Republic Red Army "Heavenly Gate" Christmas Grand ball for aid." 7:30p.m., mid entree', party of 500 V.I.P’s well in progress.

The American State Department Envoy/Liaison to Red China, Thomas Orreficio, was getting mildly annoyed, bored. He hadn’t the foggiest idea what the U.S. could do to assist the "Chinese Problem", as it was known. Just to put it simply in his terms, too many problems for way too many people; China had food riots of late, involving thousands of Han/Mandarin Chinese fed-up with the politics and politicians allowing no food to be shipped in, air dropped, or charitably given. The P.R.C.'s elite considered their problems their problems, and while aid from The World Food Bank was critically short, there was absolutely no way they'd go to the "Imperialist Long Noses" for help in any form. Blinded by pride, and the fact America was a mere 200 years old, and they were well beyond 6,000 years old, they'd figure something out. They were horrifyingly wrong.

After months of top-secret planning and need to know meetings, square 1 still glowed easily in the dark. No progress of any sort had been made, and with an ever expanding population in excess of 600 million or more, things were getting ugly. There were demonstrations and rioting to the point of gunfire needed to quell the huge crowds. There were literal physical attacks on the Riot Teams, and absolute lack of any information regarding the truth. This, of any night, would prove critical the most to the rest of the known world. China had asked India for rice, curry, and aid, and had signed a non-aggression pact with her just as huge, and poor, neighbor. After all, it wasn’t their fault, and standing by each other may help if things got worse. How worse they would get no one had a clue.

At 8:05p.m., when Mr. Orrefices "Red" beeper went off, he felt gut shot; that was a last stand mode of contact, and usually in his 24 years on the State Dept., it wasn’t ever good news, in fact, the last beep 2 years prior warned him of the coming war with North Korea, which had been narrowly avoided. Only the 5th and 8th Carrier fleets moving into position to launch battle aircraft to strike day or night, and the arrival of the leviathan 82,000 ton "U.S.S. Iowa", and her support "Aegis" Battle group had awoken the North Koreans to their peril should they act inappropriately. That close a beep he could damn well do without! He wasn’t quite that lucky on that night in now famous history.

His only reassurance was that the 25th M.E.U. "Special Operations Capable Marine unit" had been given the call sign "M.S.G." via the command ship, to move into place, inserting Special Teams to Recon the areas in doubt, and keep abreast of things. He knew for sure, in fact that "Revelations", or "The Wrath of God" Marine Recon 8 team now was in position between the North Korean and Chinese Border, ever vigilante, 24 hours a day. They would be acting as America’s trump card if needed, and the card was about to be called due.

The "Peoples Republic Army" and the Now standing 300,000 troop "Indian Army of Buddha" had moved huge quantities of troops into position. They prepared first by invading Afghanistan to access the Russian Border and back the Chinese half-million man force. Then, they initialized stage 1 by overtaking the Russian Republics for their ore, ports, Petroleum availability, air-fields, and much needed minerals to sustain a War of this size. Funny thing was, an American "Nathan Hale" Satellite S#alpha 1-245-class "Eyes A", oversaw the entire movement. Hiding as a "weather-high altitude Research " Satellite, and by way of using its on-board DEEP-BLACK "Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar" in live-time feed, made the N.R.O., the White House Situation Room, and most important, Marine Recon 8(on site), immediately aware of the hostile Afghanistan invasion and subsequent surrounding of the main Russian borders.

The balloon was about to go up, much to the dismay and totally removing the surprise element of the Chino-India troops' awareness. Sgt. "Quiet Type" Kim Pickerill, the teams silent kill specialist and recon man already had 4 columns of Chinese and Indian armor and troops in his sights, via a Specop Marine issue "PVS-14 Cat Eyes" binocular set from 700 yds., 150 meters above their 3 lanes of transport. They were in view as well as a day at the beach, but thought themselves hidden, and would prepare for attacks then. They were wrong on both matters.

CHAPTER 2

Major Cort Bennett was not known as a man to hesitate or wait when confronted with a problem. Viewing 3 entire Chinese/Indian columns, which included Main battle Tanks, anti-aircraft support via the deadly "Shilka". A 23m.m. 4 barrel light armored vehicle that could fire at near 100 rds. of depleted uranium slugs a second, at Aircraft of all makes up to 5 miles altitude. Major Bennett knew deep down this was one of those problem times for his team. When he stuck to standard procedures, that usually was a waste.

This was an immediate threat, and treated such via the teams SattComm device to relay the information right then to the Enterprise Battle Carrier group, with a bone in its teeth. They were fast approaching the Yellow Sea off Korea, under the guise of a NATO South Korean/U.S. joint exercise. The real reason, of course, were the growing concerns of the White House, and the Joint Chiefs. They had to have a trump card handy, just in case. The "Trump Card" was now being called due. The columns had to be stopped and reconnoitered or destroyed if need be, at all and any cost. The massive 6,000 man, 90,000 ton carrier, with its 90 or so assorted Battle aircraft, was a trump card that could cover any situation, even the dreaded "N" Flash-Code Nuclear alert, if necessary. She was a ship of war, no mistaking that.

"U.S.S. Enterprise Aircraft Carrier" exact area need to know.

Well, thought Pilot Captain Jason Chamine, standing "Alert 5" at 0600 hrs., F-14D Fighter Alert 1, alert watch at dawn, was 1 item not real high on his list. He was cold, bored, sitting in the "Nose-gunners" (Pilot slang among Carrier fighters) seat for going on 10 hrs., and was not a happy man. He did, though, do his duty without complaint, for flying the 38 ton, Mach 2.5 "Bird of Prey", was always his dream since a boy of 7 at an airshow. One look, even then, during the Vietnamese War, had him hooked. What he wasn't prepared for, however, was the sudden General Quarters Battle Klaxon.. He had flown in the gulf, but was this just another drill, mind-numbing and tedious, or a real threat to his Carrier and his mates? He acquired his answer within :30 seconds when the Air-Boss declared " Situation 5", a real situation and threat.

When his senior chief handler spooled up the mighty GTF-100 engines, and gave the word to raise the jet blast deflector, he was certain inbound threats or a cruise-missile was active, and heading towards his beloved Carrier. That, he mused, would be dealt with in the fastest possible action. He wondered had the 4 MigCap F-14M's flying above and protective cover missed a threat that close? He assured himself absolutely not. With their AWG-10 phase array, look down, shoot down radar capabilities, and 170 mile range, there was no chance at all. He was strapping in already when the C3 computer was already downloading information concerning the task at hand. Well, "Hoo-Yah", he was flying into harms way, confident that he and his other F-14D's would make short work of any problem. He applied the brakes, jammed the throttle to "Zone 5", maximum speed and closing range, and grunted as he was hurtled off runway 3A in 1.3 seconds. Feeling approximately 5-6 G's of force which is capable of rendering a man unconscious, this was the biggest thrill of his life!

He swept the wing position back to 72 degrees, allowing him arrowhead form, and the fastest he would be able to close on whatever was going on. Marine Recon 8 had supplied the Fighters and Carrier the proper direction, longitude/latitude, grid co-ordinates, azimuth, and radar-climb to come out of the sun, via altitude, to "Light the Fires". Their fastest way to the target area had been given to them. It had begun. The 1st ever dog-fight of what would become World War 3.

CHAPTER 3

Climbing at pure arrowhead form for maximum closure on any threats, Capt. Jasons f-14D was in a tight, "loose-deuce" formation with his wingman,

Pilot Owen Eugene, or "Geenie", to his fellow pilots, and quickly nearing Marine Recon 8;s co-ordinates at an altitude of under-Chinese radar of

2,500 feet.2,500 feet. After all, why give the "Silk-Blossom" PRC radar men a way to paint and/or identify you were inbound? The grin on Capt. Jasons face would’ve scared even his closest colleagues; this was it, he was "in his zone", finally off deck and ready to assisst any request. "Geenie" called over

the cockpit speaker he was getting a reading on 4 "Bogeys" , or aircraft that were not known to his group, and not replying to the standard IFF interrogation radar that allowed a pilot to know who was a friendly , and who was a target! In fact, in this case, he was seeing a flight of Chinese "Shenyang 15" fighters, a mock-up of the Soviet Mig-27; odd, he thought to himself, those planes were usually used for bombing missions, and were up to no good, as far as "Geenie" was concerned. That was fine by him; as weapons officer, or more commonly ,"Wizzo", thats where his specialty laid , while the pilot did his best to get to the unidentified aircrafts at the F-14D’s

fastest rate. Going both "feet dry", or over land for the first time, "Geenie"went "Weapons Hot", arming the firing computer, and selected 3 or 4 modes of air-to-air weapons best suited to handle the job. He firmly felt this time once the Chinese Shenyangs were dealt with, the 2 F-14D’s were going low and fast, providing ground support for the team, whatever it may be. As usual, he was spot-on, exactly right.

CHAPTER 4

As far as Captain Bennett was concerned, the 4 Chino/Inian columns had to be stopped. The enemy armor was staying radio-silent, not applying any sort of radar, and that meant 1 thing; a silent approach to the border, or "sneak attack". Capt. Bennett tight-beamed this information via the teams CommSatt gear immediately to the war room, and was vindicated; given the code "Party out of hand, please quiet down", he knew the Joint-Chiefs meant only 1 thing; attack as best as the 8 men could. (If in fact possible, destroy as many as the Main Tanks, armored perrsonel carriers, and anti-aircrat "Shilkas".) He knew F-14D’s were closing to provide aid if needed, and the deadly 23m.m units were not a smile to pilots; in fact, the "Shilkas" usually rated only 2^nd to a Chinese T-94 Main Battle tank in orders for destruction. The Shilkas radar guided, lo-optic firing computer, along with their range of fire and near 100 rounds of fire a second of uranium slugs, they presented quite a threat to any aircraft. They’d fall second, only after the first 3 Tanks, and last 3 were bottled up and destroyed; thus halting the entire column, causing dissary and panic, presenting sitting ducks. It worked like a gem on that now infamous Iraqi Highway, where over 120 Tanks, anti-aircraft units, and armored cars were attempting to escape , only to find themselves on the wrong side of various and experienced Coallition Helicopters, Guns, and the famous A-10 "Warthog". The first 4 "Pavelows" ( Helicopters) on scene heading back from a mission, in fact, could’nt buy a drink for weeks; they were legends! As common as war is not, they were fully loaded still, not locating a "Scud" site they were supposed to eradicate, and quite annoyed;

much to the Iraqi columns misfortune, as a hail of 2.75" rockets, the 30m.m. chain gun, and "Hellfire" 5 mile range missiles on each Heliucopter let the helo-crews vent their annoyance to quite a degree. Death from above

CAPTAIN CHAMINES F-14D WAS ALREADY GETTING A FIRING "PAINT" FOR THE 2 NEW AMRAMM-120 "SCORPION" AIR TO AIR

MISSILES WHILE STILL CLOSING AT 95 MILES, FULL "ZONE 5" OR TOP-SPEED, TO TAKE OUT THE LEAD 2 SHENYANG-15 JETS; THE SCORPIONS ENVELOPE WAS OUT TO 85 MILES, SOME SAID, BUT HE WAS INSURING A CLEAR, GOOD, FIRST MISSILES OFF THEIR RAILS KILL.GETTING THE OVER-COCKPIT CONFIRMATION FIRING CODE FROM GEENIE, HE LET OUT " FOX 3" INTO HIS MASK AND FIRED BOTH MISSILES, 1 AT EACH CHINESE JET; EXPECTING, WANTING EVEN SOME TYPE OF ACTION, HE WAS STUNNED TO HEAR " YAHH! SPLASH 2 15’S " FROM HIS BACKSEATER, OR WIZZO. THEY’D JUST NOW THEN MADE THE INITIAL FIRST 2 KILLS OF THIS AERIAL WAR, AND THE FOLLOW ON, REAR ECEHLON SHENGYANGS WERE GETTING THE HINT, AND TRYING WITH SOMETHING NEAR PANIC TO PULL A 180 DEGREE TURN, AND GET AWAY FROM THESE UNKNOWN, NOT EVEN SEEN YET, AMERICAN JETS. UNFORTUNATELY FOR THEM, THEIR AMERICAN COUNTER-PARTS, THE 2 REAR F-14D’S WERE EXPECTING SOMEWHAT MORE OF A DOGFIGHT, BUT MAY HAVE CONSIDERED THIS OPTION, AND WENT TO THATT PLAN, INCRESING THRUST UNTIL THEY , TOO, WERE WITHIN EASY "SNAPSHOT" RANGE FOR A BASIC AIM-9P SIDEWINDER MISSILE, BUT GOT OFF 2 OF THE NOW PROVEN SCORPIONS THEMSELVES, HAVING THOUGH TO FOLLOW IN ON THE 2^ND CHINESE SHENYANG, GOING TO GUNS, AND KNOCKING THE

LAST 2 CHINESE JETS OUT OF THE AIR. NOW, IN THEIR SLANG, THE 4 F-14D’S WERE GOING "DOWN TO POUND", AND GIVE GROUND SUPPORT TO THE MARINE TEAM. CAPTAIN CHAMINE WAS AGAIN GEARING HIS WINGS BACK FULL SWEEP 72 DEGREES TO DIVE DOWNWARD, WHEN HIS TOMCATS RADIO UNIT ENGAGED, QUITE TAKING HIM BY SURPRISE; THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO STAY RADIO-SILENT, AND SOME IDIOT WAS ABOUT TO SPEAK TO HIS JET OVER THE AIR? HEADS WOULD ROLL IF THIS WAS A MISTAKE, BUT AS HE WAS MID THOUGHT, A NEW VOICE CALLED INTO HIS AIRCRAFT " NAVY ALERT 5 LEAD, THIS IS GUNSMOKE 6, COPY?" GUNSMOKE 6? WHO IN THE HELL WAS GUNSMOKE 6? ANY "6" AFTER A CALL-SIGN USUALLY MEANT SOMEONE IN A COMMAND POSITION, AND THIS WAS THE CASE.CAPTAIN CHAMINE RADIOED" NAVY 5, COPY, CLARIFY INGRESS AND WHO IS LEAD 6 IN YOUR ELEMENT?" Hearing a mild,

southern chuckle before the voice came back on, Capt. Chamine heard "NAVY ALERT 5, BE ADVISED THERE ARE HOSTILES INBOUND, AND YOU’RE NEEDED FOR MIGCAP SUPPORT OF OUR FLIGHT"PLEASE ADVISE YOUR WEPONS MAN WE ARE A HOTEL/ECHO/ROGER/CHARLIE 1-5-0 FLIGHT, NATL. COMMAND AUTHORITY 6 CLEARED, AND ARE ABOUT TO ASSIST OUR FRIENDLIES". GEENIE NEARLY YELLED OUT, SAYING, "HOLY MARY, JASON, THATS 1 OF THE NEW MC-150 GUNSHIPS, CODE NAMED HERCULES"; NOW AT LEAST SOME OF THIS WAS MAKING SENSE TO CAPTAIN CHAMINE AND HIS MEN.THE NEW, MODIFIED MC-150 GUNSHIPS, OR "FANG 6", AS THIS FLIGHT WAS CALLED, WERE 2 SHIP ELEMENTS OF THE SAME MC-130 CARGO AIRCRAFT THAT LET MARINE 8 "HALO" OUT; ANY RESEMBLANCE ENDED THERE, TOTALLY.