Beret War: Group X strikes

Date: 4/14/2000
From: dellyone

Disclaimer: I’m giving this work of fiction an R-rating (just like the movies) because of the language. I found that the situations depicted necessitated language that was appropriate to make it realistic. Now on with the story.
dellyone

Group X HQ
Location: Unknown
7:29 PM

A self-satisfied dellyone dressed in black with a comm over her left ear, waited for the videoconference to begin. Behind an ornate mahogany desk, she relaxed in a comfy leather chair in anticipation. In front of her were five screens from left to right for the BFA, ABL, GOCUB and the two mercenary groups, the Dec. 10 Boyz and the Legion of Booze. She specifically asked that the Dec. 10 Boyz sit in on this meeting and the BFA agreed. She seriously doubted that the Legion of Booze were going to show up since it was that time for another Glory Boys (LoB’s reference for the Dec. 10 Boyz) clones bloodbath.

She talked into her comm, “Did the LoB ever check in? <beat> No. That’s what I thought. Cut off that line then.”

The cameraman counted down to air. She sat up as the screens came alive with the images of the faction representatives. All tried to cover up their strained faces - some better than others. The factions had never heard or claim to not have heard of Group X. Some believed that it was a mercenary group that secretly worked for one of the factions. Others believed that this mercenary group pledged no allegiance to any side. Some believed that there was no Group X at all and this was a group of people wanting to get attention during the Beret War.

From left to right on the screens, the representatives were as follows: BFA - Sleepingtiger and Slider_Sarah, ABL - Blinker and QBall79, GOCUB – Echos, and the Dec. 10 Boyz - Sabre_Edge and JorgeCis, who was in the background looking at different panels.

“Ladies and gentlemen thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules for this meeting. My name is dellyone and I am the leader of Group X. You are probably wondering who is Group X and whom we work for. The answers to those two questions are inconsequential. Of importance is the answer to the following questions. Why aren’t your leaders at this crucial meeting? I don’t see the BFA’s Mychand, the ABL’s BritSlider and GOCUB’s Vigeant. What is so important that they can’t be here now?” She asked in a serious tone of voice.

The representatives talked in hushed tones to each other while Echos looked down on a sheet of paper. She knew she struck a chord and the representatives were scrambling for an answer.

Sleepingtiger, wearing a burgundy beret with a silver star, began, “Mychand is on a business trip.”

“Yeah. She went to Arizona,” added Slider_Sarah, who wore a pale powder blue beret with a lilac anti-nuke sign.

“BritSlider is in hiding, preparing for retaliation,” said QBall79.

Blinker added, “I assure you he is in a safe location, contrary to what the BFA wants everyone to believe.”

Before Sleepingtiger or Slider_Sarah could respond, dellyone yelled, “SILENCE!” She knew that this was going to lead to bickering between the BFA and ABL. This shocked both BFA and ABL into silence. dellyone stood up and waited for an answer from Echos.

Echos answered, “Vigeant was called away to an urgent business meeting on another parallel world.”

JorgeCis and Sabre_Edge were conferring with each other about the unusual telemetry they were receiving in tracing Group X’s transmission. They conferred with other members of the BFA with their comms. The flickering green spots periodically changed positions, causing concerns.

“The signal’s jumping all over the place. One second it’s in the United States the next it’s in Europe then it’s somewhere else,” whispered JorgeCis.

Sabre_Edge knew that meant that they were either bouncing the transmissions off different satellites or jamming them so they can’t be traced. “This is going to be a hard to track them down. Keep working on it. I hope this meeting is long so we can trace their transmission.”

The camera did a close up on dellyone as she walked away from her desk. The camera followed her as she moved to the right side of the room. “There’s something I want all of you to see.”

As the camera pulled back, the rest of the room was revealed. dellyone had a smug grin on her face when she saw all their faces agape in shock.

******************************************

Group X HQ
Command Center
8 hours earlier

A confident dellyone paced back and forth in the busy control room. Her plan had finally come to fruition. She gave orders to her team over her comm. Across from her three feet higher than eye level were various screens showing team movements, target location, primary and secondary egress points and real time feeds from the field as well as satellite reconnaissance.

PoliteSliderFan watched the intel pour in from the field. She had recently been promoted to this post and position as second-in-command. It was her responsibility to gather the intel and immediately interpret it while running ops. This was crucial for the success for any mission. She was up to the challenge since had watched and learned studiously from her teacher.

“What’s the status of Team 1?” asked dellyone as she stopped in front of a screen showing a live feed from the field.

PoliteSliderFan checked the intel and it was a green light. “They’re in position and are awaiting your go ahead.”

“Team 1, do you have the target?” asked dellyone as she saw a busy parking lot. Cars were entering and exiting at a rapid rate because it was the lunch hour.

Team 1 leader answered, “Target acquired and we are awaiting your orders.”

“Green light. Repeat green light,” dellyone replied as she watched the ops.

_____________________________________

Desert Rose Restaurant
Parking lot
11:48 AM

She was enjoying this business trip since this was her first time in the West. She had finished her delicious lunch and was ready to go back to the hotel for some down time before the next meeting. She got into the rented red Ford Taurus and waited for an opening so that she could back up.

After a couple of minutes, she quickly backed up. *Crash* She looked back and saw that she rammed into the passenger side of a black Firebird.

“Shit. Where the hell did that car come from? It wasn’t there a second ago. That’s all I need a lawsuit,” she muttered as looked in the rearview mirror. A man got out while talking on his cellphone. She sighed as she opened her door – time to face the music.

He had his back toward her when she approached him. Her jaw dropped when he turned around. She screamed, “Matthew Perry. Oh my god I’m sorry for what I did to your car. I’m so sorry. My apologies. Is it really you?” She was floored as she stared at him.

The man smiled at her. “Yes that’s me, but this was my fault. I was talking to my agent and I wasn’t paying any attention. Don’t worry about my car or yours for that matter. My people will call your people. Can I buy you a drink?”

“Yeah sure. But that car is a rental. What about…”

He cut her off. “Let’s talk about that later. A drink first.” She nodded yes.

In front of the Desert Rose restaurant, a black van pulled up. She ignored it since she was thoroughly engaged in conversation with Mr. Perry. As they reached the van, the side door opened up, startling the two. Before he could do anything, she was already inside. The unmarked van sped away though the parking lot.

Sitting across from her were the men who grabbed her. “Who are you? Let me go. Where are we going?” she asked as she started to tremble and bite her bottom lip.

“Welcome Mychand. We’ll see how much the BFA is going to give us for your safe return,” replied one of the men. She was silent for the entire trip.

_____________________________________

Group X HQ
Command Center
12:09 PM

dellyone was watching a different monitor when word filtered back that Mychand had been taken to the rendezvous point. “Good job Team 1. Get her here ASAP,” she said over her comm.

“Roger and out,” replied Team leader 1.

“Team 2 green light. Green light.” She watched the live feed from a building security camera.

_____________________________________

VIDTC Building
12:14 PM

A man, carrying a white bag and an expresso, approached the busy secretary who was handling paperwork and the phones.

She saw him and put the phone against her shoulder. “Go right in. He’s been waiting for you for the last ten minutes.” She went back to her phone call. “Yes, I know, but you know his schedule …”

“Thank you ma’am,” he replied. He knocked on the door.

“Come in. Come in,” said a man’s voice through the door.

He entered the office and saw a busy Vigeant with a pile of paperwork and portfolios strewn all over his desk. Vigeant looked up and saw him. “My bagels and expresso. Thank you.”

“Where do you want me to put them?” asked the man.

Vigeant quickly pushed a pile of paper onto the floor. The man quickly placed the food and drink in the empty space. Vigeant grabbed the hot expresso and downed it in a few seconds. The man stood in awe.

Vigeant wiped his mouth with handkerchief and apologized, “I’m sorry, but I needed a caffeine boost badly with all this work I have to do.”

“No apology is needed. It’s that I’ve never seen someone do that before.”

A few minutes later, the secretary heard shouting from inside the office. “Call 911. He collapsed.”

She quickly called 911 and ran into the office. “What happened?” she asked as she saw the man checking Vigeant’s breathing as he lay near his desk. She just stood near the door in shock.

He looked up. “We were just talking when he just keeled over. Does he have any medical conditions?”

“Um… what… none.” The secretary was shaking as the man helped her to a chair inside Vigeant’s office. They watched in silence as the minutes ticked by.

Finally the paramedics arrived. The two paramedics rapidly checked his vitals. All were fine as they put him on a gurney and rushed off leaving the man and the secretary alone in Vigeant’s office.

“I’ve got to get back. Are you going to be okay?” the man asked. She nodded yes so he left.

____________________________________

Group X HQ
Command Center
12:48 PM

dellyone talked in her comm. “Make sure the perimeter is secured. We don’t want anything leaked to the media. Good job Team 2.”

“dellyone, intel coming in from the field. Team 1 has reached the second rendezvous point,” said PoliteSliderFan as she watched the computer screens in front of her.

“Thank you. All is going as planned. We’ve got a good team here.”

“That we do. It’s too bad she isn’t here with us,” said PoliteSliderFan.

“Yeah. Too bad.” dellyone moved in front of another screen showing three men in a 24-hour superstore. “Team 3 green light.”

_____________________________________

Rolling Green Superstore
1:03 PM

Three men were standing in front of the beer section of the store. They were looking for their favorite brews. There were six shopping carts filled with food already and three empty ones waiting for the alcohol.

“Come on BritSlider, we’ll think of a plan,” said Chaser9.

“Yeah. The quest for the Holy Fedora was a bust, but we’ll think of something,” added HunterD.

BritSlider was looking over the different brands looking for his favorite - Fosters. “We always think of something. Can we stop talking now and grab what we need? I don’t like being exposed like this. Who knows who’s watching us.”

The other two nodded in agreement and swiftly filled the remaining carts. They were on the way to the checkout when BritSlider accidentally ran into a young blonde woman as she came around the corner. She dropped the shopping basket she was carrying, spilling its contents. The three men ran after the rolling items.

BritSlider quickly apologized as he picked up the lettuce and tomatoes. “I am sorry ma’am. I have been preoccupied and I was in a hurry.”

“No I should be the one apologizing, I wasn’t looking.” As she looked at BritSlider, his jaw dropped.

It took him a few seconds to recover. “You’re Kellie Martin. I don’t believe it. I’m a fan of yours. Too bad they killed off Lucy Knight. She was my favorite character on ‘ER’.” He started shaking her hand.

“Yeah, everyone’s told me that. Thank you for watching ‘ER’, ” she replied as BritSlider continued to shake her hand.

“I wouldn’t miss it for anything.”

Chaser9 and HunterD watched from a distance. “Hey, isn’t that what’s her name on ‘ER’. You know the one he keeps talking about,” said Chaser9.

HunterD took another look. “Lucy right? Yep. That’s her. Why don’t we go stand in line while those two talk.” Chaser9 agreed.

As they pushed the fully loaded carts to the checkout area, there were long lines at all the checkout lanes. It was just after lunch and everyone was piling in to do a little shopping. They finally decided on a lane and moved the carts in that direction. Both of them could hardly see over the heaps in the shopping carts.

“Hey, watch where you are going,” said a man.

“You almost ran into my brother,” commented another man.

Both Chaser9 and HunterD cringed when they heard the two voices. They both stepped away from the carts. It was them in living color – Jerry and Charlie O’Connell. Chaser9 and HunterD could barely contain their hatred of the two.

“Hey Jerry, ‘Mission to Mars’ sucked big time. You call that acting? ‘Sliders’ went downhill when your acting did,” said a venomous HunterD.

Chaser9 added his own fuel to the fire. “Charlie, that UPN movie whatever it was called was crap. What kind of acting was that? Sorry bud, but you need years and years of acting lessons.”

Their comments surprised the O’Connells. “For you information, we were contacted by Mr. Weiss to make a ‘Sliders’ movie,” replied Jerry.

“Yeah, and I’m going to be in it too,” interjected Charlie.

HunterD was going to go after the brothers, but Chaser9 held him back. “It’s not worth it. Let’s find BritSlider, pay for this stuff and go.”

HunterD looked at Chaser9 and he silently agreed. They pushed the carts past the brothers and got into the nearest checkout line and waited.

Ten minutes later, HunterD went to go look for BritSlider. He looked up and down the aisles, but didn’t see him anywhere. He ran back and told Chaser9 that he was missing. The two of them ran to the head of security demanding that no one leave and a search to be started. HunterD and Chaser9 then went to the surveillance room to look at the security camera videos.

“We want to see all the videos that were taken around this store inside and out,” said Chaser9.

“And give it to us now,” added HunterD.

The security guard sheepishly answered, “I’m sorry, but all our cameras are down for maintenance including the ones showing the exterior of the building.”

******************************************

Group X HQ
7:52 PM

As the camera pulled back, the rest of the room was revealed. dellyone had a smug grin on her face when she saw all their faces agape in shock. She walked behind an ornate mahogany table. Sitting from dellyone’s left to right, were Vigeant, BritSlider and Mychand. All three were gagged, handcuffed and alive. In front of Mychand was her amethyst beret. Behind dellyone were two guards – one man and one woman.

“Now you all know where your leaders are. They’re right here. I am proposing a business transaction. I will release your leaders and in return for a finder’s fee. Why work for someone when you can be your own boss?” dellyone said as she saw the shock wear off. Loud overlapping conversations began.

“SILENCE,” yelled dellyone over all the voices. All conversations stopped. “I can tell that I’ve got the real BritSlider and Vigeant here just from your faces, but I can’t figure out whether or not Mychand here is a clone or not. Here read the barcode on her beret and you tell me.” dellyone picked up the beret and the camera did a close up on the barcode.

Slider_Sarah and Sleepingtiger both gasped. “It’s her.”

“Well, I’m still not entirely convinced. From Sabre_Edge’s expression, he’s telling me I have a Mychand clone. He won’t mind if I blow this clone away then,” dellyone quickly chambered a round and pointed her gun to the back of Mychand’s head.

“WAIT!” yelled Sabre_Edge. “You’re not a cold-blooded murderer. I’m speaking to you as a friend. You don’t have to do this,” he pled.

She turned her attention to the image of Sabre_Edge and lowered her gun. “You know that is *funny* coming from you of all people. Besides there’s a first time for everything. ”

He wasn’t going to back down. “Come on we’re friends. I know you won’t do it. I’m calling your bluff.”

“*Friends.* You still think we’re friends after what you did. With friends like you I don’t need enemies. We both had a friend. Don’t you even remember? It hasn’t been that long,” she spat back.

Sabre_Edge was confused. “Who are you talking about? Tell me what this is about,” he answered in a calm voice.

Anger seeped into dellyone’s voice. “My second-in-command, you fucking retard. You remember her right? My double. Your friend. You gunned her down in cold blood, you cowardly bastard. Right in the fucking back. <dellyone points her gun to the image of Sabre_Edge.> She called a fucking cease-fire during the damn Dominion War and handed you a stupid flier to join the H-side. You killed her over a fucking paper cut you son of a bitch. Then you had the audacity to tell me that she happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. That’s bullshit and you know it. What kind of fucked up reason is that?” She raised her gun again and aimed it to the back of Mychand’s head.

*Great… so this where she’s headed. Why can’t she let it go?* raced through Sabre_Edge’s mind. He stood up and leaned toward the screen.

“I don’t know what happened. I just snapped. If I could, I would take it all back…”

dellyone interrupted, “Screw your apologies. I’m through listening to those fucking lies. Let’s just say that Mychand here just happened to be at the wrong place and time. Everyone say ‘Goodbye Mychand.’”

The camera panned up to the ceiling and stayed there. dellyone controlled what the reps saw and that’s how she wanted it. The reps could only see what the camera showed them while she saw all of them.

A single gunshot pierced the air. Two seconds later, a body thudded to the floor. “Get her out of here,” said a now calm dellyone. Shooting a gun released all her anger. Other than the sounds of people moving about and a door closing, there was absolute silence.

A wicked smile appeared on dellyone’s face as she watched Sabre_Edge hang his head in defeat. He ferociously ripped off his comm and threw it against a wall, smashing it to pieces. He looked up at the screen, but still saw the ceiling and that didn’t matter to him.

Sabre_Edge roared, “Dammit dellyone, you didn’t fucking have to do that. She wasn’t a clone she was the real deal. You crossed the fucking line and you’re gonna fucking pay. I’ll see to that. You’re going to be watching your fucking back for the rest of your life. So *friend* get fucking used to me being your fucking shadow. Dammit Jorge where the fuck are they?”

“I can’t trace the transmission. I need more time,” he yelled back. He pressed some buttons on different screens trying to get a lock on Group X’s base.

dellyone turned her attention to the other reps. Slider_Sarah and Sleepingtiger were silently weeping. Echos ripped up the sheet in front of her and put her face in her hands. QBall79 and Blinker were seething with anger.

dellyone motioned to cameraman. He panned back down. The trio of hostages was still sitting there. The room became silent again as the reps saw Mychand still alive. The woman that stood behind them earlier was now gone.

“Well Sabre_Edge you called my bluff and I salute you for it. Now I know that this is the real Mychand. You’re right I’m not a cold-blooded killer *yet*. That was just a warning,” threatened dellyone with a maniacal smile.

Sabre_Edge was furious at himself for giving into her game. *Dammit, I’m tired of her stupid games. She tricked me this time, but I’m going to get the last laugh. *

“That was a *warning*?” hissed a pissed off QBall79. “You’re a madwoman. How can we be sure that the hostages will be released if we give you a ransom?”

“And don’t say you are going to give your word. We don’t trust you,” commented Slider_Sarah as she wiped away a tear.

Sleepingtiger added her two cents in, “Trust is earned not given. To think we were going to let you join us. Now I’m glad you didn’t.”

Blinker responded, “You’re an egotistical 7:-# who thinks she can get away with anything. The ABL will hunt you and every member of your team.”

“So will the BFA,” said Sleepingtiger and Slider_Sarah in unison.

“Don’t you think you’ve done quite enough, dellyone? I don’t like what you’ve become. I think you should release all of them and stop this insanity,” commented an angry Echos. “Vigeant is your friend and you are still mine so as a favor to a friend let them all go.”

“See Sabre_Edge, that’s a friend,” said dellyone as she pointed to Echos. “Sorry Echos, I can’t do that. There’s too…” A serious of short rapid beeps stopped dellyone. She looked at her watch. “It’s time to end this meeting. Another transmission will be sent with the terms for the hostage release.” A man and the same woman, who everyone thought was dead, came into view. The three pulled up a hostage and gripped their hostage’s arm.

“Wait,” all called out.

“No can do. It’s time to slide,” said dellyone. She pulled out a timer and pointed it to the left. The sound of rushing wind and bright lights flashed throughout the room. “Well we’ve got to go. See you all later.”

All quickly moved off camera while the reps were shouting for them to wait. They heard the vortex whoosh close. Two seconds later they heard explosions. End of transmission.

Dec. 10 Boyz HQ
8:33 PM

JorgeCis was busy as Sabre_Edge paced back and forth. “I’ve got good news and some bad news,” said JorgeCis as he pulled up a split screen.

Sabre_Edge stopped dead in his tracks. “Good news first.”

“I found them,” replied an ecstatic JorgeCis.

This lifted Sabre_Edge’s spirits. “What’s the bad?”

“You have to see this.” Sabre_Edge walked over and looked over his left shoulder. “On the left screen was Group X’s transmission and on the right is our transmissions. What do you see? This is so weird.” Both watched as the green spots move around the screen.

Sabre_Edge examined both screens for a few seconds. “They’re in perfect synchrony, but that’s not possible there… Wait, you said this is our signal and that was their signal. They piggybacked their signal onto our transmission. They must have tapped into our line at that decoy base that they hit earlier. The one where they superglued a beret and doo rag on our clones. That’s why we couldn’t get a lock. We were chasing our own shadow.”

“Dude they’re good. So we were on a wild goose chase.”

“Yeah. Both the hunter and the goose,” replied Sabre_Edge.