Brian Park was not surprised when they were informed, they were heading to a distant planet. He was curious of the name, Saina and knowing this bit of information actually pleased him. He really did not want to go to Africa. He’d already been there. It wasn’t a pleasant experience. Although he didn’t expect a trip to some distant world to be exactly pleasant, it had to be a hundred times better than Africa.

Park was given a squad in Team Bravo, 3rd Battalion, 1st Infantry, (Task Force Cox). The Battalion Task Force was named for its commander, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Frances Cox, a Welsh officer who served as a Platoon Commander and Company Executive Officer in 3 Paras. He commanded an armoured infantry troop in 1 Royal Welsh Infantry and later served as the battalion’s quartermaster. After receiving special air service training, Alexander Cox served as Operations Officer in 22 SAS and later as its Executive Officer once promoted to Major. Alex Cox’ final unit of assignment was as the Division Operations Officer for the Scottish, Welsh and Irish Division which coincided with his promotion to Lieutenant Colonel.

Park inventoried his squad. He found their organization to be loose and informal, which suited his special operations mindset well. Most of his soldiers had served in an elite formation which helped with cohesion and professionalism of the squad. Dieter Vogel served in the German Kommando Spezialkräfte (KSK), leaving at the rank of Feldwebel. Vogel served as Park’s number two. Vogel stood 6’1” with very short dark hair and steel gray eyes. He was a very serious soldier. Jeremiah Edwards served as Sergeant in the US Marine Special Operations in one of the Raider Battalions. Jeremiah came from Southern California and was more laid back and relaxed than your typical jarhead; currently serving as machine gunner for the squad. Jake Robson was an SAS trooper from Northeast England; Tyne and Wear. Robson may have served with the Battalion Commander, LTC Cox who saw action in some of the same units. Undoubtedly, when Cox was a Major in Operations for 22 SAS, it was at the same time Robson was with the teams. Preston Simmons was a US Marine Scout Sniper who served with the SAS sniper as riflemen. Their marksmanship skills were unparalleled, probably even to Sergeant Park’s who was an accomplished sniper as well. Diego Velez served with the 1st Ranger Battalion before leaving and finding work with a Private Military Corporation. Frans Madsen served with the Royal Danish Jaeger Corps. His experiences were quite similar to the British SAS or US Navy SEALs. Velez and Madsen served as the squad’s grenadiers. Robert Browne, hails from Providence, RI and served with the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. The ninth and final member of the squad was a Canadian named Guy Fournier from the Montreal suburb of Boucherville. Corporal Fournier served with JTF2 and the Canadian Special Operations Regiment (CSOR) as a Combat Medic. He served a dual role in the squad as medic and as anti-armor specialist.

With the onset of alien invaders coming down on the squad and the entire motorized infantry brigade of humans currently defending the Grathik owned Talra station, Park’s squad was assigned an overwatch mission. They traded in their light machine guns for heavy .50 caliber machine guns. Fournier, Velez and Madsen would assist Edwards and Browne in keeping their oversized [i]“pigs”[/i] fed. When they weren’t using their own weapons to try to shoot down the drones buzzing in their battalion’s Area of Operations (AO), they were assisting the machine gunners by providing them with ammunition and loading the guns when necessary. The large German was given primary responsibility for the two machine guns and their crews. Sergeant Park covered down with the snipers and communications with the Platoon Leader.

The squad was positioned on the roof of a multi-story building fortified with sandbags. Two M2 Browning Heavy barrel .50 caliber machine guns and assorted rifles oriented along a primary avenue of approach. Several hostile drones descended into the battalions AO, obviously intending to gather information on the friendly forces.

Lieutenant Colonel Alex Cox, Battalion Commander for Task Force Cox designated his B Company as the battalion’s main effort with three rifle platoons and one armor platoon. A Company provided flank security with two platoons. Third Platoon A Company was attached to D Company, 2nd Battalion, 10th Armor. Team Bravo, C Company and Team Delta each had an engineer platoon attached for breaching obstacles as necessary. A Company covered the right flank while C Company covered the left. Third platoon, C Company performed the role of Task Force Reserve. Park’s 2nd Platoon was taking lead with Park and his squad covering their movement. A squad from 1st platoon was performing a similar mission on an adjacent high speed avenue of approach. The entire battalion was spread out with three battalions abreast and two battalions following in support. They intended to establish contact with the enemy and eliminate their ability to gain information on who they were and what they were doing.

“We need to take out their eyes. We cannot let them learn anything about us. Let them know we are bunch of bad ass mother fuckers who should not be fucked with. If you see any enemy drones, exercise extreme prejudice. Turn the fuckers into piles of broken metal upon this station’s soil.” Sergeant Park was ready to throw down. He held up his HK416 carbine and peered through the scope. He found an unfamiliar looking drone and squeezed off a round. Then he picked up the handset to report to higher. He felt it was necessary to put the first round down range in order to lead by example that the squad should be engaging the drones in their forward sixty degree field of view.

“BUTTERFIELD, BUTTERFIELD, this is RIDDLER, over,” Brian park called over his radio.

Lieutenant Jacob Butterfield hadn’t chosen a very creative callsign, using his own surname. “RIDDLER, this is BUTTERFIELD, go ahead over!”

“BUTTERFIELD, this is RIDDLER, we have established contact with at least fifteen drones. They are approximately 500 meters from your point team. Request Alpha Delta Alpha assistance, if available, over.”

“Roger that, fifteen drones in our Alpha Oscar. Pushing Alpha Delta Alpha request up the net, out.”

The Lieutenant clicked off as the squad continued to engage drones. Brian pulled out his binoculars and scanned the sky over Task Force Cox’ AO. He counted eighteen drones on this last view, fearing there could be more. Dropping the binos, he picked up his rifle and re-engaged drones. “Come on Robson! Let’s see how many of these fuckers you can drop!”