Arriving to the fortress facility under the guise of performing a surprise inspection, the Commandant quickly found more information and troop movements to support his beliefs. With very little fighters at his disposal, not to mention the possibility he may “ peek his hole card ”, with any perceived unjustified behaviors , other than that of a superior officer doing a surprise inspection. The Commandant surged on.

The Mountain Fortress complex is a huge expansive operation. The entrance to this armored complex extended throughout the five peak mountain range. The visible entrance began at the middle mountain, with two tunnels burrowed through two big hills. With two mountains, each on either side of the entrance to the citadel, each mountain, was powerfully enabled with military prowess and experienced personnel, manned this installation. The non-coms aptly named the fortress complex, the ‘ bowl of death ‘ when all five mountains’ operations were fully engaged, in defending itself from attack.

Serendipity? Not so! The Commandant would not tell anyone how he knew the extraction would be occurring outside the wall of the fortress. It was a purely need to know, kind of operation. The Commandant protected them all through what he called his version of plausible deniability. Was he crazy or crazy like a fox? Gonkwo’s orders for his crew of saviors was simple. Destroy the defensive capability of the rest of the mountain facilities at the appointed time , as quickly as possible. The small force of Commandant Gonkwo commando’s, attempted to close down the whole military complex from within. The last thing Commandant Gonkwo told his diminutive commando band, “ We’ll just do this little job. Then head for home.”

Splitting his force of 24 men and women including himself, the Commandant perpetrated the fraud of a surprise inspection as long as he could. With five knowledgeable, furious combatants teams, creating sabotage inside each of the four remaining mountain operations, the Commandant had his own nastiness to perform. His mission – assassinate as many high ranking individuals in the entrance mountain he could reach in the short amount of time. Armed with a confirmed list of traitors provided by off-world authorities and few of their newly semi-tortured accomplices he absconded along the way, ( the Commandant pulled no punches in this situation ) Gonkwo’s military savvy mode switched into overdrive!

He alloted himself just three other warriors. Focusing on the two goals: first, aid the President to escape his political enemies without any bodily harm, before the coup organizers exercised the final option – his murder And the second goal ; limit the loss of life for the loyal men and women serving in the Eastern Continental military, who unknowingly will be maimed and or killed by friendly and unfriendly fire. With a heavy heart and clear mind, he rechecked the number of clips he had for his over and under automatic side arms. He entered the first room, making sure to fulfill his promise. He dropped them! As many as he could find, from room to room. Gonkwo killed those who were evil. Yet, he knew many “ real ” heroes will die. Because, they will believe they are defending their country from attack.

Now, what was left of Gonkwo’s saboteurs, six men and two women warriors found themselves cornered in an administrative set of offices in Section # 1 of Mountain #1. Enjoying only briefly, the success of their missions to each operation, the soberness of their comrades sacrifices during these intrigues, swept through each and everyone of the eight survivors. The Commandant ordered them all, to try to return to the starting point. And that they did. What was left of them reconnoitered back to the Admin offices, only to hear of the Commandant’s death. No time to celebrate anything Time was well spent, defending each other to the death. Even though, they still possessed enough weaponry to hold out for awhile, General Rebbur and Major Sangelyn assessed their situation - their chances of survival. Surrounded, the team had only moments left to live before the coup forces and unaware fellow soldiers would kill them all.

Without warning, everything about them shook with a deafening finality. All firing between the two warring factions ceased. Keeping one’s balance proved impossible. The shaking continued on a earthquake-like scale, resulted in walls and foundations crumbling like over baked cookies falling on the kitchen floor. Only twice as bad! Huddling under the already turned over work stations and assorted desk for cover, the smell of fresh mountain air rushed into the room, from the rear of the room. Not waiting for the shaking to subside, 3rd Tech Sgt. Roopgly ran about bouncing here and there, scanning for the openness. He just knew there must be a hole in the wall, as he scanned the dusty debris.

In the murkiness, his torn bloodied, exposed skin danced with excitement, where the cold breezes tenderly guided him to the opening. In that welcome expanse, escape called like a hapless bug caught in the web of a spider. 3rd Tech Sgt. Roopgly sensed the outside! He quickly convinced the rest of the group to follow him outside to the welcome darkness of the peak’s woodlands. Looking back to see if they were pursued, the Sgt. smiled, melting into the obscure safety the forest presented them…..all…..with weapons in hand. Glancing back as the flames, dust and falling debris littered their recent tomb, 3rd Tech Sgt Roopgly commented, before turning around to jump over a little creek bed, “Sir. We are all heading home! “

Where are these heroic saboteurs going to find safety now? Who was the off-world contact of the Commandant?

Read Chapter Twenty-Four