Norsemen!

Yngvilder felt as if she were floating, yet she was numb in her arms with her feet tingling in pain. Her head ached as if it would split at any moment when a noise of someone talking came through like a weak radio signal, then it got louder as she regained consciousness. A sting on her left cheek woke her up to a man in a mustard yellow uniform slapping her.

“She’s awake now, stop!” Someone said in her language as she leaned her head back hitting a pole she was tied to on the ground inside a tent.

The man was a Greek officer from the shoulder boards he wore and seemed to be in his late forties with a large black mustache. He squatted down next to her with an evil smile, looking into her eyes.

“I have all night to get answers from you, NORSE DEVIL!”

She looked at him through the one eye she could see through and smiled.

“Like I told you...I will die before telling you anything, you weak minded son of a bitch!”

He slapped her again, then turned to one of the five men next to him and said something, causing him to step back and hand him what looked like a pair of pliers.

“κρατήστε την σφιχτά!!” He said.

Two of them held her arms back so much so she thought they would break them off causing so much pain she nearly passed out. The officer forced her mouth open then pushed in a small piece of wood, restricting her from closing her mouth. He then smiled as he used the pliers to pull out one of her top front teeth. The pain was so great she passed out but she never made a sound other than gurgling.

She awoke from being slapped again, her mouth was in pain where the tooth had been extracted roughly. She felt with her tongue, where the officer had broken most of the tooth, leaving a sharp piece still in her gum. She thought of killing this man very slowly, not like in battle but watching him writhe in pain.

“Tell me where your airfield is and we will stop,” he said in a heavy accent.

“Go back to hell!” She said softly through deep breaths, fighting to stay conscious.

She noticed the door flap of the tent part, then close, as if someone wanted to come in but decided not to. Another officer that wanted to torture the Norse pilot? Then it opened again and she saw a familiar face! It was Halfdan! She squinted her eye, knowing she was hallucinating, then opened it again, but this time she smiled. All the Greeks were watching her as four of her Hard Corps walked quietly into the tent behind them, following Halfdan. She started to laugh loudly causing the Greek officer to stand back with a confused look. The other Greeks glanced at each other just as they were all attacked at the same time, going down quietly, and dead.

“Sorry it took so long to get to you, Yngvilder!” Halfdan said as he cut the ropes holding her. “We had to keep quiet, this camp is swarming with soldiers. It is a large command area.”

Two troops, one was a woman, grabbed her and lifted her up, moving swiftly out the door flap then they were into the cool night air, giving her a chance to regain her wits. They moved without a sound among the tents to the rally point, and she noticed several dead Greeks lieing near tents as they went.

Skipper stood near the map on the wall and Jackson stood near him with a cup of coffee. Both looked at the map closely as Skipper pushed small pins of different colors into the map.

“We just got word about the Russians. Seems they have been very busy lately.” He pushed a red pin into the city of Bucharest, then another near the border where Czechoslovakia and Poland converge.

“The Russians have taken back all of Romania, most of Czechoslovakia and most of Poland from the Greeks. They are nearly linking up with us on the left.” Jackson sipped coffee as he studied the map.

“Our forces are fighting near Augsburg, just north of Munich and reports say they are moving south pretty steady.” Skipper stood back to admire the map. “I am starting to like the looks of this, Jackson!”

“Yes. I know what you mean.” He turned as Major Welsh came up.

“Major Welsh,” Jackson said. “I am damn glad you decided to stay here to help with over all control. I don’t think we could have done as well with out you.”

“Thank you, General.” He held a cup of coffee as he looked at the map. "And...I am STILL looking for that cup of tea," he smiled.

“I see my lads are doing well!” He then said.

“Yes they are. You trained them well, Major. And your air corps!” Skipper said. “They are proving to be just about the best we have, not to underscore my own forces, that is.”

“Thank you,” he smiled, feeling proud of what he had accomplished.

“And it seems the Greeks are falling back all along the entire front as well.” Major Welsh said as he studied the map.

A runner came up quickly, handing Jackson a piece of paper.

“Holy cow!′ He looked at the Skipper. “HOLY COW!”

Skipper snatched the piece of paper, then smiled.

“They found her?” he said, as he turned to an aid. “Go find the Gunny and give him this message!”

Jackson leaned towards the map.

“Our forces are here,” he pointed at Augsburg. “The Greek allies are on their left flanks and I am told, they are keeping up a steady pressure on the enemy. If we can push hard for Innsbruck and have the Germans and Saxons attack in the west, we MAY be able to punch a hole in their lines right there.” He pointed, staring as if in a trance.

“Our recon says they moved their supply south, into the mountains!” He turned with a smile on his face. “Gentlemen! I think they are trying to disengage!”

Oswald got word from General Jackson to begin a push south as soon as next week and to coordinate it with the Germans on his left. If they can hit the Greek lines hard enough, the Norse and Greek allies will punch a hole near Innsbruck, may be breaking through. He looked at the map.

His Generals stood next to him as he traced his finger across it.

“I can see what they are trying to do but this will bring them into the mountains.” He stood rubbing his chin. “When the Greeks get into those mountains they will be in very good defensive positions.” He thought then he raised his eyebrows.

“WAIT!” he stood with a grin, then leaned over the map again. “Our forces are nearly at the French border now,” he pointed at a small town. “If the Norse hit them down south, we hit them here and are successful.....” he stood again looking at his Generals.

“I see what you mean!” One of them said with a smile.

“YES! We swing down and AROUND them into France while the Norse are stuck holding them in the mountains. They will have no choice but to fall back out of them just to save their lines at the Italian border!”

“Brilliant!” A General said. “The we have them!”

“Yes! Yes we do!”

“Gentlemen, Ladies! We have a lot of planning to do and supplies to get prepared.”

“Are those idiots from the north trained yet?” Gunny asked Skipper as he sat at the conference table with a grunt.

“I just checked on them yesterday and, well. I THINK they can be used, yes. Our troops have been at them steady for a few months now.”

“Yes but we are talking about three entire countries of troops.” Gunny said ill-tempered. "I am still pissed at them for waiting so damn long ....right up to the point they were threatened." Gunny shook his head. "Then....they come in here wearing ANIMAL skins? Swords? Shields? Like they have been living in a damn cave."

"I'll get with the training section and find out. I know we could sure use them right now, especially with the Saxons on our right."

Yngvilder limped into the State house on her cane, she stopped at the door looking. Gunny got up to help her to the conference table.

"Glad you got out of the hospital," Gunny said as he sat next to her. "How do you feel?"

"Like flying!" She said not smiling. She refused to smile now days because of the missing tooth. Doc Roberts said he had very good dentist that could fix it but not until about another week, they were still working on the wounded.

Gerhold walked out of his tent into the nigh air, taking a long sigh, he looked at some troops near a small fire not far away. He had been in contact with Oswald and a few other leaders on this upcoming attack and it seemed sound and might even turn the tide of the entire war in their favor. If the Norse could attack hard enough through those mountains, keep the Greeks busy while they did what the Skipper called an end around on the north west flank, they could possibly turn the Greek flanks and head into France towards Italy.

The supply had all been thought through and he knew they had enough for a hard push along with a reserve he could count on. Now, all he had to do is wait for the word to go.

He stretched, yawned then walked over to the small fire the troops had. This will be glorious, he thought.

Lieutenant Vox was on the bridge of the NS Espen when he got word from the forward ship. A dreadnought was sighted around the tip of Cherbourg heading to open sea. He sounded General Quarters and all hands ran to their battle stations. He exchanged his cap for the steel pot, as it was called, and prepared for battle.

He was last in line of all five ships and he could see they were speeding up. The NS Birger was in the lead followed by NS Gorm, the NS Arne and the NS Gunhild that was in front of him. Several flags were pulled up on the Gunhild, flags that he could read without using the radio to be over heard by the enemy. It read....'follow in line, broad side when close.'

All five ships were at full speed ahead, trying to close with the enemy ship to get close enough to fire. The dreadnought had a longer range than they did so they HAD to close with the enemy.

Lieutenant Vox was not nervous but saw several of the deck crew began to lean forward, squinting hard trying to see what the enemy would do.

"Stand easy, sailors. Stand easy. We have this." He said in a calm voice as he walked to the front windows. He learned from the last time he was in a naval fight to open the forward windows before a battle, it would lessen casualties if and when they got hit from flying glass. He could feel the sea breeze turn into a wind as they gained speed, leaving a huge white wake behind them.

"Port guns stand by!" He yelled into the loud speaker. He felt they would turn to starboard (right) when the time came, heading into open ocean for this fight. There simply was more room there.

Looking through his binoculars, he saw the dreadnought turn to their port, his right, leaving their entire side open for a broad side attack, but! If they stayed in line while he fired, the dreadnought would be unable to see anything but a long line of ships, and that was not a big target.

A bright flash from the enemy ship said they had fired, Vox waited for the rounds to come in and they did with a vengeance. They were twice the size of his ships rounds and made twice the damage but all five rounds missed. Now they had to keep moving forward to get within range of their guns, hoping he would not get hit too soon.

Still they went forward at full speed, making about thirty-three knots he thought, a lot faster than the dreadnought could do. Another flash from the enemy ship, this time it was closer and brighter. He dropped his binoculars to his chest and turned to the deck crew.

"STAND BY! Grab something and HANG ON!"

A loud whoosh sound less than a second before the first round hit the water next to his ship causing it to bounce up slightly, throwing sailors and loose items to the deck.

"Recover, sailors! RECOVER and stay at your stations!" He yelled and again looked through his binoculars as they closed in. He then saw the first of his ships turn hard to starboard, it leaned over as if it would capsize because it was still at full speed. Each one of their ships turned at the exact same spot, keeping them in a long line but now within firing distance.

The radio blared!

"FIRE! FIRE!"

All ships fired at once then began to reload and fire at will. The concussion seemed to push him back some but he looked through his binoculars at the enemy ship just as nearly all the ships rounds scored a direct hit. Immediately the enemy ship caught fire, thick black smoke started to billow from the entire ship from stem to stern. His ship fired again along with all the other four ships firing at will. He saw some miss and caused huge geysers in the water but most were hits.

The lead ship then turned to port to close with the enemy even closer, as they were not firing back. The radio cackled.

"Keep firing! KEEP FIRING!" The captain of the squadron said.

They drew near enough for Vox to see the enemy crew abandoning the ship with flames leaping from ever passageway and hatch. His ship fired again, causing enemy sailors to be thrown into the air, some in pieces.

"Cease fire! CEASE FIRE!" he yelled.

He continued to follow the lead ships but they too had stopped firing. Still at a thousand yards, the thick black smoke rose in the sky and bent back towards the land. The dreadnought began to list with the bow going underwater first. He could see, through his binoculars, life boats in the water while others still tried, in vein, to drop more into the water. He also saw what looked like hundreds of enemy sailors swimming away from the sinking giant.

As an after thought, he remembered those new Naval rounds he got that were made for the dreadnoughts and how effective they were in this battle. With the memory of the last time he encountered this ship it seemed almost one sided with his ship only firing three broadsides against the giant.

He was relieved and he knew his crew was as well and now, they had a new lease on this war. It was becoming equal.