The Free Republic of Texas 2015 (25 page)

We got them loaded on the ambulance and headed for the hospital, Song said he would tell us about it later , so we set to work unloading the cargo and trucking it to the ranch, some also went to the county Jail for Jim to use when needed to arm and help train his home guard .

Mostly it looked like the same type of stuff we had already seen so we got it put away and headed for the house, the airport crew would check out the bird and get it ready to return the next day.

After we got some food in us and a cold beer we sat out on the porch and Song gave a report.

They had landed at the end of the strip and unloaded the “Bugs” who took off and made a fast recon of the entire place, looking for trouble so to speak, nothing showed so they taxied to the warehouse and towed the plane inside and shut the doors, a small watch team stayed out under cover, the ones inside started loading the plane with the stuff Song pointed out, With the pilot acting as the Load Master, making sure the weight was balanced right and tied down properly.

The load was in and they were settling down for the night when the out post team called in that there was movement all around them then they heard a mini gun open up and then the roar of a lot of guns, the security teams hit the doors running and the other two Bugs roared out the bay doors, the fight was short and hot for a bit then it settled down to a few scattered shots as the enemy withdrew into the night.

When they got everybody located they found 3 people with fairly bad wounds, the corpsmen took care of them as well as possible and it was decided they could wait for morning to take off , heading out into the dark had no appeal for any of the plane crew, with morning the scout teams headed out and found about 10 body’s and a lot of blood trails leading toward the end of the air port, they followed and at the end of the area they found some more dead, some had been shot in the head, no live enemies were found they followed for a ways but Song called them to return to base for now.

As near as Song could figure it was a sort of a local War Lord which seemed to be popping up which was to be expected. They set the defense force to preparing for a fight after they took off, but had no doubts they could handle anything coming their way, especially since Song had dug out some special toys from the weapons room of the depot, grenade launchers which had the instructions with them and the ammo, obviously prepared for non trained people to use with a minimum of training, those alone would end a battle fast against an un armored enemy, but the need to haul ass back was pushing hard.

At first light the crew headed back to the air port where they found the Big Bird sitting with all engines warmed up and ready to go, Jody had also detailed 2 more Bug teams to go along with the idea of putting the War Lord out of business, he left that up to Song as unit commander on the ground.

After the C 130 was up and out of sight everybody headed back to the ranch to get work and work we did, every person not needed for security or some other critical job was put to work doing something to get the big patrol ready to roll as soon as possible, the Jonas brothers had their shop working 24 hours a day, anybody who couldn’t weld could paint the camo on the rigs as fast as they rolled out the doors.

We were taking plenty of the bugs, not all would be fitted with the big guns but would be instead fast lightly armored advanced scout rigs and flankers due to their ability to run anyplace on or off road, flank security was deemed as important as any and would prove so a great deal in the future…

The heavy Military vehicles we had bought as surplus were becoming worth their weight in gold, big, tough and dependable they were the real work horses of the mobile force.

Three days later the call came that Big Bird was coming in so we headed out with the heavy haulers and were waiting when she slid in smooth as silk, after shutting down and dropping the back ramp Able trotted out and around the plane and stood looking up at the wing, sure enough there was several bullet holes in it, but apparently nothing vital was hit, but it would be checked out before going out again.

Able said he had no idea where the shooting came from just that he heard the hits, how I would never know because the plane was so loud, but then I ain’t the pilot who has to keep it up in the air…

The unloading went as smooth as usual and Able said he thought maybe two more loads would do it, he also said a lot of survivors had been found and that Song was arming them and passing out food and other equipment with the thought that the local wanna be war lords were headed for a short rope and a long drop, the locals were happy to stay there as long as they could end the problem once and for all.

When the plane was leaving Song and the security force were heading out to help end the problem and it looked to be a short fight…

With that they all headed home to the ranch and Able to see his family and enjoy a couple of days off while the plane was checked from front to back…

The work on the patrol vehicles was about done, a few of the duce and a half’s were up armored more then any of the other rigs and mounted with a pair of 50’s and a pair of mini guns, these were our “Tanks “and would lead the charge into any problem calling for more then the bugs and 1 ton units.. They were gonna ruin somebody’s day that was for sure…

The next 2 weeks saw the last of the cargo flights and the full security unit returned in one trip... less one bug and it’s mini gun , when Jody raised an eyebrow Song told him he left it with a large group of good people who would put it to good use and that the clean up was going very well back there, he had checked out another smaller storage depot and was able to outfit a small army of folks who were pissed off and going to finish off the trash and good riddance !

After several weeks of non stop work Jody called a halt and declared a feast which the Clan took over and really laid it on, this one started with the rise of the first full moon and didn’t stop until the last of the full phase… After it was over it turned out there was going to be a lot of weddings when we all got back, about half the security force was marrying into the clan which had a lot more girls then marriage aged young men .. Maybe that was what all the feasting was for, I asked Jade but she just laughed and dragged me off to bed.

It was now time to roll out, all the packing was done, all the training was done, and the vehicles were as ready as they could be, this time the brothers Jonas were going along with their big rolling fort arguing that if anything broke they would be able to fix it… Jody didn’t have the heart to tell them no but Miss Ellie took both by the ear and told them that Jody was the boss period and that if one of them got killed she would go to their grave , dig them up and kick their ass!

It was scary to see those two big men twisting their hats in their hands like small boys caught in the apple tree next door…

So on a bright clear morning we rolled out 20 very heavily armed vehicles, two rolling field hospitals two fuel tankers , and a dozen bugs zipping back and forth like knats around a water Buffalo.. We would have air cover with one of the smaller planes able to land on about any flat surface to refuel. All told we had 100 well trained armed troopers and a 30 man scout unit in front and all around us… at that moment we were the biggest best armed and trained army in the entire country, or so we hoped!

We had decided that to cover the most area the spotter plane would scout ahead and radio to the bug scouts when they saw anything to check out, the bugs were running in groups of three and ranging out on back roads, all pretty much headed in the same direction, the idea being that when a place was spotted the nearest bug team would ease in and check it out, if it was bad then several units would head there to assist in doing what needed doing.

If it was decent folks working to stay alive then they would be given printed information about our purpose and invited to be a part of the outpost program, or left to their own devices their call…

The main convoy would remain on the interstate highway and ease along keeping pace with the scout units, we didn’t start looking until we had past the area we had been thru before, we did have radio contact with the folks we had met before, all were doing fine and said they were willing to take in willing workers if any wished to move there for security.

Two days out we were at the edge of our first trip and really went on alert, with the scout bugs out in force and the Bird Dog up and looking for whatever was out there in front of us.

We didn’t have long to wait the bird dog spotted a settlement just a few miles ahead and south of our location, as he vectored in the closest bugs the main convoy eased forward.

Within an hour the scout bugs were on the horn with the information that this was a good group so we rolled towards their location, one thing about Texas, it had more farm and county roads then one can believe, within an hour we too arrived to find a very nice well laid out farmstead being worked by about 50 people of all races and colors which was a very pleasant surprise after what the nation had been thru.

Our approach in the very warlike vehicles did put these folks on edge for a bit but that changed quickly enough , They were made up of a the remains of a small farming community that was even smaller then Dog Trot if that was possible .

In meeting with their leaders we found them to be well informed of their area and surprisingly they had little or no trouble mostly because they were so off the beaten path and because everybody knew everybody.

They had all pulled together, pooled their resources and hunkered down; they had the sense to close down the roads into their area and in general keep out the problems.

They were as well armed as most folks in Texas, had several veterans and were using their abilities to stay alive and prosper if that word could apply which it did seem to, after our visit with the leaders our medical unit offered to look at anybody needing medical care such as we could provide, most were in very good health, the sickly having died off when their meds ran out. There were a few problems for the dental crew but they were glad for the practice.

They were happy where they were and while very happy for some better weapons and communications equipment and were happy to be a part of the outpost concept and after Jody explained the Free Republic of Texas plan were all for that too, after spending the night there we were up and rolling again with the bird dog who had landed on a flat grass area fired up and hit the blue.

We were very pleased with the results so far but knew there would be many bad days as well.

Later that day one of the scout teams hit a road block and took fire for whoever was manning it, the bug spun around and bailed out of there and made contact with the bird who flew over the area and spotted a farm house with signs of life around it but no signs that people were working at surviving, as he flew over several people opened fire on him but failed to even scratch the paint.

The other scouts headed into the area and formed blocking forces on the road effectively bottling up whoever these unfriendly folks were, the Clan scouts bailed out and took to the woods and soon were chattering in their language, they were looking at about 20 to 25 what appeared to be outlaws hold up in an old house, with some old beater vehicles parked all around, other then firing on us they really hadn’t earned a full out introduction to who we were.. Yet.

Unfortunately for them one of the clan found a body dump with what appeared to be a family of 5, all killed in the last few days, that changed thing for these folks, but we would still attempt to talk to them before deciding how to deal with them.

Leaving the main convoy to follow slowly Jody and I  along with several truck loads of troops headed towards the area, of course Doc and some of her med crew and Jade were right in the middle of it but Jody and I had come to the agreement that while they were our wives they were also well trained members of the combat teams and they would not stand for being pampered because they were married to the two leaders, this saved an on going war which we would lose regardless, but keeping them bottled up in the armored ambulance seemed to be working for the moment.

After we arrived the word was given to the clan scouts to see if they could take out the road blockers… quietly, this was simple, a bug eased forward until it was spotted and while the fools all watched the bug they all felt an AK muzzle at the back of their heads, all three dropped their weapons and were on their bellies by the time we got there.

The bird was still flying over the old farm house and the fools were still popping a few rounds off at him, but the results were that they were all looking up at him and nobody wondered about the road blockers.

They were as sorry a looking bunch as could be found, one look at the faces of the scouts all of whom now had a long very sharp blade in their hands and these people started talking fast…

Two were typical biker trash, the other was a boy of about 15 , we separated them and questioned them from a list, all asked the same questions, after comparing their answers we were able to piece together a fairly good idea of what and who they were, none of it good, the boy was the son of one of the women in the bunch and seemed like he was tolerated more then accepted since his mother was shacked up with the leader, after checking we found his weapon had not been fired at the scouts so he was asked for more information, mostly he was there because of his Mom who was there because it was easier to sleep with the boss man then it was to scrabble for a living .