Norsemen!

“We have our troops heading through Austria to the Yugoslavian border, Saxons in western Switzerland heading to southern France and heading for the town in Italy called Turin. But...” He trailed off. “I have reports of heavy activity in eastern Hungary and western Romania heading for the Yugoslavian border?” He looked at Jackson who was standing with several other General officers.

“I think they are the Russians, Skipper.” He said.

“Russians?” He frowned. “We haven’t heard about them in awhile and we NEVER heard FROM them before.”

A cook dressed in his whites, came over with a tray of sandwiches and placed it on the table. All there grabbed one and began to eat, pouring a cup of mead as well.

“I guess they act here the same way they do back in our time,” Jackson chuckled. “Secretive!” He said as he bit into a ham sandwich.

“If this is correct, they will be in Greece before we are!” Skipper said.

“That’s OK, there is still plenty of spoils in Italy.” Jackson and the other Generals smiled and nodded between bites.

“Well.....” Skipper looked at them sternly. “You better talk to Gunny about that.”

“Gunny mentioned that we had to stop at the Italian border for some reason.” He told Jackson.

“STOP!? WHY?” He stood straight up holding the sandwich at his side.

“Where is he? I need to speak to him about this right now!” He stormed off in anger with the other General officers standing there dumb founded.

“Well,” Skipper said to them as they stared. “I guess we continue?” He took another bite of the sandwich as he turned back to the map.

Jackson was so mad he could hardly see as he went up the cobble stoned steps to the Gunny’s house. He saw the Gunny sitting in a rocking chair on his front porch by himself so he stopped at the first step leading to the porch.

“What the HELL do you mean by stopping at the Italian border?” He was furious and yelled the words rather than saying them.

Gunny sipped his coffee then sit it down gingerly on the small table next to him, then leaned back and began to rock slowly.

“I asked you a question, GUNNY!” He snapped.

“Well, no! You YELLED a statement at me, JACKSON!” He said calmly as he rocked back and forth. Closing his eyes and leaning his head back.

Jackson looked at the floor and shook his head in anger, trying to calm down.

“OK....I’m sorry for the outburst but this is INSANE!”

“Well,” Gunny sat upright, looking at him sternly.

“Are you ready to sit down and talk? Or do you want to rant some more?”

Jackson walked onto the porch.

“May I sit down?” he asked politely.

“Yes, of course. Have a seat.” Gunny said. “Would you care for some coffee?”

Jackson shook his head no, but seemed impatient as the Gunny looked at him calmly.

“I spoke to the one that called himself Oden. He real name is Odien. I believe I told you about that trip across the Atlantic?”

He nodded.

“He came here last week and we spoke about Italy. For some reason he, they, need Italy. Didn’t say why just that they NEED it for some reason and I am assuming it may be a power source for them.” Gunny stood and stretched. "That's all I can figure out on it."

“If you notice my report when we arrived at their main facility, it was on the coast. Everything I saw was on the coast and it stretched for miles in both direction with very little inland. Now, look at Italy!” He said. “Surrounded on three sides by water. See the connection?”

“Yeah I think I do but then again, Greece is surrounded on three sides by water too!”

“I’ve noticed that but they have an enemy, from their own galaxy or cosmos or what ever you want to call it, that are IN Italy. Same power source?” He looked at Jackson with cocked head.

“Odien's people may be the owners of Italy while the Lokeans, their enemy, own Greece. If we destroy Italy, we destroy THEIR power source.” He looked at Jackson. “That would leave OUR enemy with the only power source available in the region and WE would pay dearly for it.”

“I see.” Jackson said shifting in his chair.

“Again I am only guessing at this but that is what I can see. He was actually begging me not to destroy Italy.” He paused. “That is why I think it is something very important to them and power supply is important.....to them.”

“I see. So...if we crush Italy, it destroys their power then OUR enemy will have the only power source and they are from Greece. But the Russians are on their way to Greece as we speak.”

“He never said anything about Greece, just Italy. So I am assuming when Greece is destroyed, THEIR enemy is destroyed.”

Jackson rubbed his chin in thought.

“That would, in effect, be the end of the war!” He looked at the Gunny with a blank stare. “The Russians will win it FOR us!”

“Exactly!” The Gunny smiled. “Very few casualties after we get to the Italian border. All we do is wait.”

“Well,” Jackson stood. “I still don’t like it but it is a good plan. I was hoping we could walk in and take the place. Spoils of war, so to speak.”

“Nope.” Gunny said. “But we will save thousands of lives.”

Sigrun had gone with the Norse army all most all the way through Switzerland and they could see the Alps in the distance which was the border of Italy. He got word to make for the mountains, find good defensive positions then dig in and stay put. His army had countered the Greeks at every attempt they made to counter attack and stopped them in their tracks, then pressed on them hard to keep them from digging in. Now that he could see the Alps he could see the end of this war.

“Sir!” A runner came into his tent with a message. It was from his lead element just a few hundred yards from the Greek rear as they chased them.

‘Greek army in full rout, no rear guard. Do we attack?’

He thought a moment as he sat on a box near his tent, then scribbled out a short message.

‘Follow them but do not attack. Report further movements.’

There was no need to have casualties if they were on the run. It only proved they had had enough of this war and wanted to go home and he did not want to kill unnecessarily. They will follow them into the mountains then set up defensive positions as he was ordered and wait.

He spread out a map on the ground with several senior officers standing near by. Tracing his finger cross the map to a small dot of a town just south of Innsbruck, near the border. It was reported by his recon there was a mountain road there they could use but it was only wide enough for two vehicles side by side. However, it was said by the locals, it goes all the way to Rome. This would be the road they had to use but half his army is coming through Liechtenstein, then heading south. His new problem was linking up his army once they are all in the mountains, which would be difficult.

The Germans were now on his left linking up with the Saxon army leaving him the left anchor. Reports said the Russians were further out on the left and heading south but he has yet to see them. If the Russians are heading south, through Austria and Hungary, that would close his left completely. He needed to send out a flight to find them so he could plot them on his map.

“Have some really weird reports here, Skipper.” Jackson handed a sheet of paper to the Skipper.

“What the hell is this?” He said with raised eyebrows, then he looked at Jackson and the other General officers.

“It says,” he read it out loud for the rest to hear. “Greek forces in Spain have been filtering out into France to surrender. Seems they were cut off and lost contact with their main command post, they killed most of their senior Greek officers and are heading home.” He continued.

“This is from our Saxon allies by the way that are going through France. It also says most, if not all, are conscripts. A few of them were even Norse!”

“Well....we don’t have to worry about Spain any more.” A General said chuckling.

“I think we need to have Oswald send in a detachment into Spain just to make sure. A reinforced battalion just in case. Have a look around and make sure they are done.” A General told Skipper.

“Good idea, General. ’ll get on it right now.”

Gunny got into his car, something that looked like a cross between a Studebaker and a Model T, with Yngvilder in the passenger seat.

“Where we going anyway?” She asked.

“You’ll see,” he said with a big smile. “Something I have been saving I want to show you.”

He drove down the cobbled stoned street causing rattles in his vehicle that started to sound loud until he got to the dirt road, then it was bumpy. He drove to the edge of town where the airfield was and pulled up to the large hanger at the end of the runway and parked.

“What are you up to,” she asked.

“Follow me.”

He walked to the hanger door and pushed it open and on the inside was one of the older two seater biplanes.

Yngvilder’s eyes widened.

“I thought we got rid of all these!” She had a broad smile on her face.

“We did except for this one and a few others I have stashed somewhere.”

She ran her hand down the leading edge of the wing and around the tail back to the engine.

“These are so much more graceful than the modern ones. And to feel the wind in your face....”

“AND....the oil!” Gunny laughed.

“So?” She looked at him. “What are you going to do? Take a ride?”

“Of course the guns in the front and back seat have been removed and the bomb plates also.” He said, then paused looking at her.

Gunny smiled a bit evil as he ran his hand across the propeller. He then pulled the propeller around one full turn, checked the engine, then checked the gas.

“Get in!” He said and she jumped into the front seat, the pilots seat with a wide grin.

“Contact!” She yelled out meaning the starter switch was on. He pulled the propeller hard and it started with a back fire and a large puff of white smoke, gargled a bit then started. Grabbing his leather helmet and goggles, he jumped into the back seat and strapped in. The engine growled as she gave it a little throttle and it began to roll out to the runway. He grabbed the sides of the back cockpit and held on as she gave it full throttle, pushing him back into the seat and giving him a blast of cool wind in his face with the smell of oil and gasoline. He felt wonderful as he watched the ground fall away below him