The Strike Teams

By Mike Adams

Book 21 of Fierce Girls At War

'The Strike Teams'

"Mama mia, it's cold out here! We have to take Winter Cove away from the aliens before we freeze to death. It'll be nice to sleep in a real bed, too."
-Paula Bertalucci, age 16, squad Five medic, second year student, New Hope Academy, New Hope Colony, Italia

"This will be different from when we fought them before. Those fights were all outdoors where there was a way for us to retreat; if we had to. Of course we never had to, we always had a plan to win and we always did! There's nowhere to retreat to this time. We practiced fighting inside room to room before we left the valley and we're going to be getting real close to those giants, really, really close! Yikes!"
-January Pierson, age 18, squad Two, fourth year student, New Hope Academy, New Hope Colony, USA

Commander Rick Cassidy, Gunnery Sergeant Molly Pickford and Jacks Company have made it to within striking distance of alien-occupied Winter Cove. Early winter bad weather is coming fast and they have no other option now but to take it for themselves. Far to the southeast the grounded transport Moscow, damaged during its bombing run over a huge alien encampment, has a team of maintenance engineers working hard to get the ship back in the air so it can return to New Hope Town but the alien Rift have other plans for them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mike Adams
• Release date: Dec 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9781370233687

Mike Adams

Born in Brooklyn and raised in Staten Island, NY. Mike has a BS in Business Admin from Wagner College and an MBA from SDSU. A retired US Navy Lieutenant Commander, Supply Corps (Logistics), a former small business owner, and part-time substitute teacher. he's visited 6 continents and 36 countries, speak Spanish, some German, a little Italian and a little less French. He currently lives in Chula Vista, CA with his wife Chris.

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Prologue

Lieutenant Parvati Mehta

April 7, 2122

India/Northern Pakistan Border

The daughter of an upper middle-class family born in India's capital of New Delhi in October of 2097, Parvati Mehta was both beautiful and highly intelligent. When she was 21, her uncle Dinesh, her father's older brother, returned from the New Hope Colony on Tau Ceti 4 where he had been the chief engineer for an Indian construction firm building roads and installing the basic infrastructure for the new settlement of New Cancun on the Alpha continent's southeast coast. Her favorite uncle had been gone for nearly 3 years and Parvati had a thousand questions about the colony, what the planet was like, what it was like to live and work there, what would it be like in the future, and on and on. Dinesh always tried to answer her questions although not all in one sitting.

Ever since Dinesh announced to the family that he would be going there in 2115, the teenager had been dreaming of going there herself one day but she saw no easy way to get there. She had none of the skills needed at the colony and even if she had them, the chances of going were very slim at best. That changed though when Dinesh told her about the Colonial Rangers who had begun arriving at the colony in 2117. There were field Rangers who provided protection from the planet’s predators, that she'd heard about already, but it was the other Ranger opportunities that piqued her interest.

The Rangers were now flying virtually all the aircraft at the colony, running the communications units at all of the settlements, had taken over the logistics organization, and were sending a large number of medical personnel. There were also administrative officers to take care of the Rangers from each sponsor country and there were other specialties as well. This new information got her to thinking about a possible avenue that might get her there.

By the time she was a third-year student at the University of New Delhi, where the 5-foot, 9-inch tall, dark-haired, athletic young woman played volleyball and tennis, was a budding mountaineer having scaled her first peak during the summer between her second and third years at the University, and her grades were near the top of her class. While on a weekend visit to her family, she stopped by a recruiting office for the Indian Armed Forces and spoke to an officer there about how to join the Colonial Rangers. She learned that India had just sent its first contingent of Rangers including a detachment of field Rangers and some medical personnel. She was also told that anyone going there would have to have at least two years active service before they could apply. Her personal information was taken as well as a photograph and she was told someone would be in touch, maybe.

Dinesh persuaded her that quitting school and joining the Army was not the way to proceed if she really wanted to go. Parvati continued her studies as she pursued a degree in electrical engineering. She was unaware that she had been put on a list of potential prospects for future Ranger duty by the general in charge of recruiting people from the Indian military services.

Halfway through her last semester she received a letter from the Ministry of Defense informing her that she was on a list of candidates being monitored and asking if she was still interested in duty at the colony. Two weeks later she walked out of the Ranger liaison office at the Ministry of Defense after her third interview that week with her commitment papers in hand. After graduation she would report to one of the Officers Training Academies. Depending on how well she did on her aptitude tests, she would be assigned to a posting in communications, administration, aviation support or perhaps even pilot training. After two years she would be put on a list for assignment to Colonial Ranger duty unless she failed in her responsibilities along the way.

After graduation in May of 2119, Parvati Mehta entered the Officers Training Academy at Chennal on India's southeast coast 200 miles north of Pondicherry. She received her commission as a junior lieutenant in the Indian Army in January of 2120. Two months of communication school was next then a series of assignments over the next year at Army headquarters before being assigned as a communications officer at the 20th Battalion headquarters under Brigadier Chandra Abhinandan on the north Pakistan/India border, south of Kashmir.

On April 7, 2122 Lieutenant Mehta was the junior of two communications officers assigned to the battalion headquarters outside of a small town called Uri. The Brigadier had set up his HQ in a compound containing several one and two-story buildings surrounded by a six-foot high stone wall. The compound belonged to a rich businessman who had fled the area a few weeks earlier when it had come under attack by mortars manned by extremists of the GUL network. Hassan Gul and his six sons, the world's most wanted and most dangerous terrorists, had been committing murder and mayhem on four continents for nearly 20 years. The recent deaths of two of his sons in Africa at the hands of American Marines had outraged him and he planned on seeking vengeance on the Marines who had killed them in Nigeria, but first he needed to carry out another operation he already had planned.

From his base across the border in northern Pakistan, Hassan Gul intended to attack and destroy a facility that manufactured components for the starships taking personnel and material to the New Hope Colony. Standing in the way of Gul and a thousand of his fanatical followers was a battalion of Indian soldiers that were spread out around the area within 10 miles of the facility. Gul planned to quickly cut off and overwhelm the battalion headquarters, kill the defenders including all of its senior officers, then head straight for the facility before the Indians could react. Cutting off communications with the battalion headquarters would cause some confusion among the various units distributed around the area to be slow to react and they would be unable to stop him before he could carry out his planned attack then withdraw back to his base across the border.

At the headquarters compound were the senior officers of the battalion, a few dozen support personnel and two platoons of soldiers with some armored vehicles, fewer than 100 altogether. The battalion had five companies with 1200 soldiers dispersed around the area with the closest units over six miles further west, closer to the border. Most of those at the headquarters were asleep when the terrorists hit the compound with dozens of rockets and mortar shells. Under the cover of darkness, Gul had led his force across the border 50 miles further south in trucks and captured armored vehicles, bypassed the Indian army units in the area who were all under observation by his scouts and approached the headquarters compound unseen from the southeast.

The sudden onslaught took the Indians completely by surprise. Most of the officers were killed as they slept in the compound's main living quarters when it was hit by three high explosive shells during the first few seconds of the attack. One of the few officers not killed or badly wounded immediately was Lieutenant Mehta who had come off duty in the communications room and was taking a shower in a separate small building next to the officers' barracks that had been set aside for the females stationed there. This building was not a priority target for the terrorists as it had nothing to do with the command-and-control functions of the headquarters group and was not targeted for the first round of rocket fire.

Mehta grabbed her robe and ran outside as she put it on to see what was happening. She was horrified to see both the headquarters building and the officers' barracks already reduced to burning rubble. Several breaches had been blown in the wall surrounding the compound and machine gun fire was coming in from the outside where the terrorists' armored vehicles were moving in for the kill. Those soldiers able to do so were trying to organize themselves to repel the attackers but virtually all of their officers and senior NCOs were already out of the fight. Seeing no one taking charge, the young lieutenant grabbed a Sikh sergeant who was running by and ordered him to gather everyone he could find and withdraw to the vehicle parking area which was relatively untouched so far. She grabbed a weapon from a dead soldier then headed for one of the four armored personal carriers there, entered through its open rear hatch and took a seat at its unoccupied communication station.

She began calling for assistance on all frequencies but quickly realized that their comms were being jammed. Unable to get through on any of the military frequencies, the quick-thinking young officer pulled her own personal comm device out of a pocket of her robe and called up the private number of General Bakhri, the officer at the Ministry of Defense in charge of recruitment for the Ranger program.

This is Bakhri, a sleepy voice answered.

She began urgently, General, this is Lieutenant Parvati Mehta! Sir!

Clearly irritated, Bakhri cut her off and replied, Lieutenant Mehta, do you realize what time it is? I do not appreciate...

She interrupted, Sir! We are under attack! We need assistance right now!

There was a confused pause, What are you talking about, Mehta?

Sir, 20th Battalion headquarters in Uri is under attack by rockets and mortars and we are taking heavy machine gun fire, we need immediate assistance! You've got to send help before they kill us all!

Why are you calling me at home, Mehta? Where is your commander?

Sir, Brigadier Abhinandan and all of the other officers are dead or badly wounded! The communications center has been destroyed and all military frequencies have been jammed! A halvidar (the equivalent of sergeant) opened up with the APC's top machine gun right above her. A second machine gunner further forward was also firing. Sir, there is NO TIME! They are coming through the walls! I had no other way to call for help. We are all at the vehicles! I must go, Sir! I am taking them out on the attack!

I will get you help, Lieutenant but I don't know if it will reach you in time. Good luck to you, Mehta!

Thank you, Sir. And hurry! She heard the almost continuous drumbeat of heavy caliber rounds glancing off the heavily armored side of the vehicle. She hurried back to the rear hatch and looked around. All of the remaining soldiers were taking shelter behind the dozen vehicles in the parking area. Machine guns were also firing from the other three APCs but they were all sitting targets and if they remained there too long armor-piercing rounds would be fired at them from close range and that would be the end of them.

Mehta was barefoot and wearing only the knee-length white robe. She reflected briefly that she was a ridiculously visible target but on the other hand, that meant that the Indian soldiers would be able to focus quickly on her when she began shouting orders. She spotted a daffadar (equivalent to sergeant but for armored forces) crouched down next to one of the other APCs and despite the danger she sprinted over and took cover next to him, Daffadar Advani!

He looked at her, noted her appearance, then dismissed it, Lieutenant Mehta! It is good to see you are still living!

It is good to be still living but we won't be for much longer if we stay here! I want everyone into the APCs now! We must go on the attack! Help is coming but it will take time.

I will pass the word immediately, Lieutenant!

Hurry, Advani!

###

Mehta hurried back to the first APC and a soldier handed her a combat helmet from a wounded soldier he had helped carry inside the vehicle. She put it on quickly and was now able to talk directly to the other soldiers. This is Lieutenant Mehta! Everyone must get into the APCs now! We will take the battle to the enemy so they cannot hit us with their mortars! Quickly now!

While mortar rounds continued to fall nearby, some hitting vehicles in the parking area and killing or wounding more of the Indian troops, every soldier able to reach one of the APCs climbed inside then the hatches closed and with Mehta's APC in the lead they moved out. Mehta split them into two pairs and ordered them to ram their way through two of the larger breaches in the outer wall. Hassan Gul's troops were already starting to pour in through them but with little cover once inside the walls they were easy targets for the gunners on the APCs and were quickly dispatched.

In a moment all of the heavy APCs were through the stone barrier, then Mehta ordered them to charge directly into the heaviest concentrations of enemy ground troops and vehicles. Keep moving! Keep moving! Circle around them and stay with the enemy! Use them for cover from their own machine guns and rockets!

Enthusiastic but poorly trained, Gul's men tried to target the Indian vehicles but their own vehicles and troops were in the way. Unable to target the moving APCs, the mortars fell silent. Meanwhile, the Indians fired a continuous stream of machine gun and rocket fire at their adversaries, destroying one vehicle after another. Daffidar Advani's APC was hit in the engine compartment by a rocket and rumbled to a stop but the troops inside continued firing through their gun ports.

Mehta's vehicle was shaken by an explosion near the machine gun right above the communications station and the gunner's body fell back inside with most of his head missing. Mehta pulled the body out of the way and climbed up the two steps into the gunner's station where she could get a better look outside, the cameras that fed the monitors inside the APC and transmitted them to her visor had been knocked out and she was blind to what was happening out there. She pushed aside the ruined machine gun and looked around. Things were looking bleak indeed. The damaged APCs was taking increasing machine gun and rocket fire and it looked like Hassan Gul's entire force was closing in on them from all directions. They had to get out of there!

Advani, are you still living? she called over her helmet comm.

Yes, Lieutenant, for the moment; everyone is injured though. They will have us soon, I am thinking.

Get everyone ready to move, Advani! We are coming for you then we are leaving this cursed place!

"Very good, Lieutenant Mehta. If I live, my unborn children will thank you some day!"

The three now-damaged but still moving APCs charged over to Advani's smoking vehicle and the wounded were quickly transferred to them. Having to stop, even for a brief minute to transfer the wounded, gave the militants an opportunity to concentrate their fire on the Indian vehicles and Mehta's APC was rocked badly by an explosion that blew open its engine compartment and set the vehicle on fire. Parvati Mehta and the other survivors stumbled out and boarded the last two operational APCs and the drivers asked for instructions.

We are surrounded, Lieutenant! said one of them. Where do we go?

Still dazed, Mehta ordered, Anywhere! Just move forward! The two APCs began moving again but slowly, they were near the edge of a ravine and driving into it was not something that would be helpful to their plight. Both vehicles were taking heavy fire when the situation changed suddenly. There were explosions all around them and they heard the sound of armored anti-grav attack jets screaming in and launching rockets and missiles at the enemy troops who immediately turned and ran away as fast as they could.

The two APCs came to a halt and things got quiet; no more incoming fire rattled off the vehicles' armor. Mehta removed the combat helmet and blood ran down the side of her face from a gash on her left cheek. She ordered the rear hatch opened and with a hand up from Advani she stood shakily then stepped outside, still barefoot and wearing just her short, bloodstained, formerly-white bathrobe. Her shoulder-length, almost jet-black hair in disarray, Lieutenant Parvati Mehta stood on her bleeding feet and waited as she watched a troop transport shuttle land, its rear hatch less than thirty feet away from the APC's rear hatch.

Troops hurried out, then an officer, it was Major Malakar, the Operations officer for the battalion who had been out with one of the deployed companies several miles from the headquarters compound, who came down the ramp and headed straight for her. She wearily saluted and he returned it. He looked around at the small group of survivors, most of them standing at attention or as near to it as they were able, his expression both sad and proud, Good work, Lieutenant Mehta. Good work all of you. This has been a terrible day but I am proud of all of you. I promise you; Hassan Gul and his fanatics will pay for this.

###

A month later, Parvati Mehta received her transfer orders posting her to the Colonial Rangers although it would be almost a year, mostly spent at Army HQ in New Delhi, before she boarded the colony transport ship Marco Polo in March 2123 for the six-month transit to the New Hope Colony. While at Army HQ she was awarded the Maha Veer Chakra, the second highest Indian military decoration, given for her exceptional acts of valor in the face of the enemy. Before leaving Earth, she attended a three-week specialty course for communications personnel in Croatia then took a month's leave during which she attended the wedding of Daffadar Advani in his hometown of Patna. His new wife Alisha hugged her and thanked her for saving her husband and told her that they had decided to name their first daughter Parvati, after the brave woman who had saved the survivors of the Battle of Uri.

Chapter 1

Captain Parvati Mehta

June 14, 2127

Day 255

Gamma II Bastion

Captain Mehta.

Captain Parvati Mehta, the officer-in-charge of the communications detachment at the Gamma II bastion, turned and glanced at Sergeant Rolf Steiner, the on-duty communications tech, Yes, Sergeant?

"The Australia's calling, Captain. They say they're inbound and expect to be landing in about 20 minutes."

Very good, Sergeant. Please put me in contact with Colonel Harper.

Yes, Captain.

Promoted to captain before being sent out to the Gamma II bastion, Mehta had arrived two weeks earlier to lead the comm detachment at the second of the secret bastions being developed on the Gamma continent in case the aliens forced the abandonment of the colonial capital of New Hope Town. Captain Mehta had eight comm techs and two other officers to monitor all communications frequencies, maintain comms with the Gamma I bastion, and to oversee the lookout posts at the top of the ridges on both sides of the valley the bastion was being constructed in.

There was a separate communications team at the Gamma I site led by Captain Emily Fitzgibbons who had two officers, Lieutenants Farah Jobrani and Viktoria Lindstrom, and eight enlisted personnel under her. A week earlier Lindstrom had replaced Lieutenant Lara Sandoval who had returned to New Hope Town then had been sent to take over the comm det at the lookout post on the volcano at the south end of Ryan's Island, 50 miles south of the capital.

Gamma, the smallest of the three continents on Tau Ceti 4, was directly south of Alpha, the 5,000-mile-wide main landmass where all of the colony's settlements were located and separated from Alpha by 1100 miles of ocean with a sprinkling of islands here and there. Gamma straddled the equator with most of its landmass below it. Plans had been in place before the invasion to begin serious exploration of Beta and Gamma but that was on hold for now.

When the aliens launched their first attack, the colony had had ten major settlements and four small research facilities which were expected to eventually develop into major settlements themselves. The eastern settlements of Southport, New Cancun, New St. Louis, Rocky Point and Winter Haven had been lost to the aliens as had the research stations at Monterey, Winter Cove and McKinley Station. In the West, the aliens had taken Castillo and Novo Napoli, and they had attacked Villa De La Montana but failed to take it. All that was left now were West Hills, Villa De La Montana and New Hope Town plus the research station at Canoe Bay on the western coast. The colonists were running out of places to run to and so six secret bastions located in the craters of dormant volcanos plus the two Gamma retreats were being prepared for occupancy by the colonists and Rangers.

Over 8,000 people were already living at the various sites but there were still over 20,000 in New Hope Town and another 5,000 at West Hills. Almost all of the civilians had now been moved out of Villa De La Montana in expectation of a major attack and over 2,000 of them were now at the Gamma I site. The cargo supply ship Australia was inbound to the Gamma II site with 800 more from Villa De La Montana; fewer than 200 hundred civilians remained there. Until just a few hours before the starship had been in orbit to keep watch on the downed transport Moscow, which had crashed in the east after its bombing mission over the largest of the alien encampments where the Jammies (they called themselves the Rift) were bringing down thousands of their giant Raagaa (Andoval) mercenaries and preparing to launch a massive attack on New Hope Town. While the four alien starships in orbit were over the horizon and out of position to observe, the Australia had landed at New Hope Town near dawn, boarded her passengers, and took on a load of supplies before taking off again for the Gamma II bastion. They would unload as quickly as possible then head back up to orbit. As far as they knew the aliens had not discovered the Gamma sites yet and they hoped to keep it that way.

The commander of Fourth Battalion, Scottish Colonel Angus McTeague, had four Ranger companies with him at Gamma I, the larger of the two sites. Colonel Cheyenne Harper had two more companies at the Gamma II site with a third expected to arrive on the Australia. Harper was an experienced combat officer who had been sent out from Earth to take command of the Ranger Base in New Hope Town but now served under McTeague.

The Gamma II site was in a secluded river valley 3000 feet above sea level 1700 miles southeast of New Hope Town and about 400 miles southeast of the Gamma I site. The valley was almost 8 miles long east to west but most of it was too narrow for anything but the river that flowed through it from the mountains to the east. At a higher elevation than the Gamma I site, the valley was cooler and there was a light breeze blowing from the west. The only area wide enough to land the Australia was about two miles from the western end of the valley where it opened up significantly for about a half-mile then narrowed again. This area was on the south side of the river and above the river's floodplain. The valley floor was mostly flat and covered with a reddish-purple grass-like plant about two-feet tall. Twisted looking yellow-brown trees hugged the southern wall of the valley and the ground directly below it.

Colonel Harper.

"Colonel, this is Captain Mehta at the comm station. Australia reports that they are inbound and their ETA is about 20 minutes."

That's good news, Captain. Let them know that we'll have people standing by to get her offloaded as quickly as possible. Ask them if they need transportation waiting for their passengers.

Yes, Captain. Harper clicked off and Mehta had Steiner contact the starship.

"This is the Australia, Gamma II; Lieutenant Commander Park, speaking," replied Hoon Park, the starship's Communications officer.

This is Captain Mehta. Colonel Harper wants you to know that we're looking forward to your arrival and we'll be ready to offload you as quickly as possible.

That's good to hear, Captain. The sooner we can get back into orbit the better.

"Understood, Australia. Commander Park, do your passengers require transport?"

Negative, Gamma II. We're carrying a small fleet of shuttle buses and other vehicles from Villa De La Montana. They'll all drive off and go where they're directed.

"Excellent, Australia. A team from Colonial Security will be standing by to direct traffic. Parvati saw Steiner give her a signal and she nodded then said, Australia, your landing zone is reported clear of all obstructions. You are clear to land immediately upon arrival."

Great. Our ETA is now 15 minutes.

"Copy that, Australia."

Mehta reported back to Harper that the passengers had their own transport. Harper confirmed that Colonial Security had already been dispatched to ensure the offload went safely. With both the Colonel and the starship satisfied for the moment, Parvati couldn't help wondering what news the starship was bringing about the raid on Ryan's Island. A long-standing member of the Hot Tub Brain Trust, Parvati had been among the women at the female officers' residence who had come up with numerous useful ideas for making life hard for the alien invaders and she'd heard about the planned raid from Colonel Harper the night before. She knew where the idea had come from, it had been first brought up while she was still living at the residence in New Hope Town. Some of her friends had probably been involved but as yet she had no idea just which ones might have gone or what the results may have been. Undoubtedly the Australia would have a report about it; she would just have to wait until they arrived to find out.

Chapter 2

Mourning at the Residence

New Hope Town

Five of the six shuttles involved in the raid on Ryan's island had returned two hours before dawn with half of the seven platoons of Colonial Rangers that had taken part in the mission to destroy 32 of the estimated 50 seagoing ships the aliens had stashed under cover on the volcanic island just 50 miles south of New Hope Town. All of the Russians from Captain Olga Kasparova's Echo Company had returned without casualties as had Lieutenant Kevin Burns' platoon of Americans from Delta and half of Eva Zhang's Chinese Rangers from Tiger Company. Still on Ryan's Island and holed up inside the mountain bunker were Lieutenant Daniel Dahlberg's and Lieutenant Liv Thorson's Swedes from Fox Company along with Zhang and the rest of her Chinese troopers.

The sixth Ranger shuttle, flown by Lieutenant Jolene Lawrence and Master Sergeant Alicia Ramos, had been destroyed as it flew away from the island, hit by a blast from one of the aliens' plasma cannons. On board had been a platoon of American Rangers from Delta under Lieutenant Paige Miller. Everyone had been lost in a fiery instant as the aircraft disintegrated and its debris fell into the ocean a half mile southwest of the island.

The mission's commander Major Zoey Bryant had remained on the island at the lookout post at the top of the volcano with her medical team and the comm detachment assigned there. She had given the order to Lieutenant Lara Sandoval, the communications officer in charge of the lookout post, to activate her demolition board and 26 of the 32 targets had been destroyed, or at least damaged enough that they would never go to sea again. Bryant, Zhang, Thorson and Dahlberg and their people would remain safely inside or on top of the mountain until they could be picked up and brought back to New Hope Town.

The mission had been accomplished but the cost had been high. The mood at the long one-story building that had once been Commander Rick Cassidy's private residence but was now greatly expanded and housed nearly 200 female officers and senior NCOs, was angry, sad and bewildered. Many grieved for their friends, especially those who had known Paige, Jolene and Alicia for a long time.

In some ways this loss was even more shocking and bitter than those suffered during the battles of Southport, New Cancun, New St. Louis, Winter Haven and Castillo because only hours before the raid all three had been at the residence laughing and joking with their friends over dinner. Paige Miller had still been excited over the results of the bombing mission a few days before when all