Norsemen!

Gunny noticed a mass of people at the main door causing a disruption which got on his nerves while they were trying to conduct troop movements. He got up, shoving messages to the side, spilling his coffee onto the floor then grunted as he started pushing through the crowded room. Once he got close enough he saw that most of his staff had frozen while standing around at least twenty men dressed in animal skins holding shields, swords and axes. They were bunched together, all with open mouths and glaring eyes with most looking upwards at the over head lights.

"UUHHMM, Gunny?" An aid said as the Gunny pushed his way to them. "I think those people from the northern countries have arrived."

"SO!" Gunny stood among his dozens of staff officers as they seemed to be looking at the new comers as if they were in a zoo.

"You are the representatives of the three northern countries, am I correct?" They just looked at the Gunny as if they had just crossed into Valhalla.

"I am Ansa, King of all Finland." A tall man with full beard came forward. "These are also the leaders of Norway, his name is Einar and the King of Sweden is Ebba." He stood there still looking around in amazement.

"Well, come in and have a seat and we will discuss what I need you to do." Gunny turned impatiently and started moving among the crowded room to the rear where there was a table he could use. He did not want this right now, to have to explain to them what was going on and what they had to do to move into the present age. He had pressing things to do with this war but he knew Skipper and Jackson would handle it until he was finished.

"Colonel?" Gunny said to an officer as he passed him. "I will need several officers with me and these men to explain what is going on and that they have not died and gone to Valhalla."

"Aye, aye, sir. Be right back." He turned and left quickly as the Gunny had the three leaders site at a smaller table in the back of the State house.

As the Gunny sat down with a grunt, he looked at the three men, who still looked in all directions. He thought it must be a shock to them since they had isolated themselves for the past decade or so while the rest of the world advanced in technology. He knew that they would not see any of these people for at least the next six months or longer because the entire country had to be retrained from scratch. Also, if their country were attacked he and his men would have to defend it until they were ready to fight for themselves. This would put enormous strain on his resources as well as the war effort and he cursed these men for hiding so long.

"Let me tell you right now," he started with furrowed eyebrows' pointing his finger at them angrily. "We asked for your help about ten years ago, may be longer I can't remember now, but you in effect, told us to go away!"

He stood up trying to quell his anger then turned away for a few moments.

"NOW!" He turned to look each of the three in their eyes. "NOW you want MY help? Because the Greeks finally threatened your land...threatened your border and you KNOW if they come in ...you will loose! And when you loose you will be their slaves!"

They were a bit surprised at his reaction and glanced at each other. One started to get up.

"SIT DOWN!" The Gunny yelled loud enough for several aids to turn towards him and to make the three sit upright with wide eyes, as if school children that just got scolded.

"You are going to listen to what I have to say because YOU three are in trouble up to your CHINS!" He glared at them as he leaned on the edge of the table. "You WILL do what we tell you if you want to survive and have your children grow up as free men!" He stood, trying to relax but his back was hurting.

"You have a lot to learn in a very short period of time. If you do NOT learn it...well...let's just say you will be slaves to the Greeks."

Several senior officers stood behind the Gunny waiting as he glanced at them, then back to the three leaders.

"First of all....you will get rid of all this clothing you have and be issued new clothing to start blending in. Then you will take these weapons home and put them away for your decedents." He turned to the officers behind him.

"Gentlemen, Ladies!" He addressed the officers then motioned for them to take a seat. "It is time you let these leaders know what we expect of them and find out what they have to trade in return." He glared at them.

"I want them to be trained, I want them to be supplied and I want them to FIGHT!" The Gunny said angrily.

"Yes, Gunny. We will get back with you soon on this."

"Give me a report by tomorrow morning." He said then left.

The Gunny turned so he could get back to work on the war and movement of troops and supplies.

Major Welsh had his flight formed up above and behind the bombers with three of his planes taking turns flying around them. Yngvilder held her position about a thousand feet above them constantly searching the sky for intruders when one of the Majors pilots reported seeing activity to their left at their altitude.

"Bogies at nine o'clock!" A voice reported.

"Seems they are heading on an intercept course, Flight leader." The voice said calmly.

Yngvilder shifted in her seat because of the new parachutes she was given by the Major to all her pilots. It was uncomfortable but a life saving item she never really thought about until he mentioned it. Now her butt began to get numb from sitting on it as if it were a hard cushion.

"Bandits nine o'clock!" A voice rang out and she saw the Spitfires and Hurricanes turn towards them.

"This is Flight leader One, hold your position in case there are more from a different direction." She said as she strained her neck looking in all directions.

She could see the Brits were in battle now with several smoking and burning planes going down all ready but she did not know who. The radio came alive after several seconds.

"Scout three! I have three on my six can anyone assist?"

"This is scout eight, we just lost two and seven.....This is flight four, we have lost five aircraft and the Greeks are still coming."

Yngvilder's eyes were wide as she saw another flight of enemy planes below her and the bombers and they were heading straight for them.

"This is Flight leader one. All Devil Dogs head to the bombers. We have company." She said as she banked her plane and started loosing altitude to reach the bombers.

With the nose of her plane in a slight downward dive, she lined up a shot at the closest mustard yellow plane and pulled the trigger. Red/orange tracers erupted as she fired making her plane shutter slightly from the machine guns in her wings.

"GET SOME!" Someone yelled into the radio.

The flight broke apart as the Greek planes got close and she had to watch for the tracers coming from the bombers which were getting close to her wings. As she banked again to find another target she noticed the number of Greek planes seemed to have doubled and were flying around the bombers like bees. Again and again she fired into the Greek planes and nearly every time she did they burst into flames. She knew they were good fighter planes with rapid turn rates but they had a weak side.....no armor.

"Flight leader one!" Came a call. "We have multiple bogies at six o'clock from the bombers."

"OH NO!" She said under her breath. Another Greek squadron?

"Protect those bombers...I say again. Protect those bombers!" She yelled into the radio as she turned to meet the new threat.

Straightening out of her turn she saw them in front of her within firing distance. She pulled the trigger seeing tracers burst two into flames as she pulled up. The plane shuttered as if it hit a tree, slamming her face forward into the instruments and nearly blacking out. With weak hands she tried to push the stick forward but it had no response then she felt heat. It was getting hotter every second until she could not stand it any more. This woke her up to the fact her plane was on fire with flames licking up from under the interment panel in front of her. Her legs seemed to be on fire and she wanted to jump.

She slid the canopy back hard, unfastened her harness that held her in her seat, then climbed out the top of the cockpit. The strong wind hit her with such a force it threw her out and away from the plane and she was dropping free fall to earth with blood in her eyes and a groggy feeling as if she would pass out.

"General Jackson!" An orderly ran to him with a paper message. He stood for several seconds then frowned, handing it to the Skipper.

"OH GEESH!" He said. "You want to give it to the Gunny?"

Jackson nodded yes, took the message and walked to the Gunny as he shifted through papers on the table.

"Gunny!" Jackson said then handed him the message.

"Sorry Gunny but may be she is still alive down there somewhere. She did have that parachute. And the report said she got out of the plane before it exploded."

Gunny took a deep breath with a heavy heart as he just stared at the paper.

"How is the flight? How many did we loose?" He said all most under his breath.

"Twenty eight fighters and three bombers." Jackson paused. "But the Greeks lost seventy-eight planes in that fight."

Jackson stood right next to the Gunny and whispered to him.

"I will have the Hard Corps start searching for her. Don't worry, they are in the area anyway. And if she is alive they will find her."

Gunny sat down as if his legs suddenly got weak then stared into the room but not seeing anything.

Gerhard received the message about downed pilots in his area and to be on the lookout for them. He was to send patrols out to search a given area then report back. He had all ready picked up three of them, all wounded but none were Yngvilder. One of these pilots brought his plane down intact, which he thought was extraordinary. It had extensive damage but could be salvaged he thought. These pilots were as brave as the men on the ground he said under his breath. He had not given that a thought until this day when he saw the wounded pilots laying in his first aid tent.

"I got at least four of them before they got me," one told him.

"I had the fifth one in my sights when I got ambushed at my six," another said. He wondered at first what that meant and had to have the pilot explain, it meant that an enemy was on his tail.

These pilots were brave soldiers, he thought and had to fight in the open, with no cover to jump behind. Just kill the enemy or be killed.

He walked outside and sent a message to the State house that he had three pilots but no more sighted. The message said twenty-eight fighters and three bombers went down. They must of went down behind the enemy lines because he had no other sightings of planes.