Ajax and the Wolf (Pack)

[Phoenix]

Back in June when many of us found ourselves under seige by a tribe of werewolves, Ajax was one of the hunters that was contacted to respond to the situation. They kept a journal of their initial response.

I'm getting too old for this sort of thing. Fancy technology and gadgets help compensate for that of course but fighting is a sport of the young. Getting too old or not, this isn't something I can walk away from. I remember putting on the custom fitted armor that afternoon.

Doc came in to see me before I had the helmet on. It hurt me to see tears rimming their eyes. They looked at me and I thought that maybe that they were about to object to what I intended to do. It had been a long time since I'd been in the field, after all.

Instead they looked up at me with all the pain they were feeling and said in an anguished voice something that was quite unnatural from this healer. "Hurt them."

"Don't worry." I assured Doc. "I'm bringing the pain."

They more than anyone knew that was exactly what I was going to do so they just nodded quietly and left so I could get ready to do my job.

I know that God is a loving and benevolent Sheppard but today I was praying for his righteous wrath to be with me as I delivered payback. There would be no forgiveness for the sins that had been committed against us.

While I may have been hunting wolves, I was loaded for bear. I had a custom made M-4 chambered for the Grendel round and no less than ten magazines of silver rounds. It was supported by Remi-shotgun mounted in place of a 40mm grenade launcher. My side arm was a .44 magnum Desert Eagle. Why? Because I'm hunting. My back up to that was a Glock in a slightly smaller caliber-also a hunting round. Arranged on my body was a bayonet, two knives and a sword, all with silver edges. Special silver fragmentation grenades were also part of my arsenal.

It was a lot of weight and even in my younger days as a soldier, I would have felt weighed down. But thankfully the new armor compensated beautifully. It had been configured to be optimized to kill were-wolves.

They struck in broad daylight. I'd be hitting them at night. Mine wasn't a mission to investigate or gather information. It was pure retaliation.

The compound I was to hit was quite a ways out of town. Which suited me just fine. These sorts of things are always better when there's no one to interfere. My ride dropped me off several klicks away and I proceeded on foot.

My old training came back to me. Constantly updating meteorological information made sure that I could choose an approach that wouldn't let them smell me coming. I made sure not to profile myself and kept to cover.

A couple of beta's were patrolling the outskirts in animal form. From a distance they would likely be confused for dogs.

My first shot caught the one nearest to me right through the heart. The second looked in my direction when his friend dropped and I got him between the eyes.

Howls went up from elsewhere on the grounds. They had heard the shots and would be expecting me.

That suited me just fine.

[Phoenix]

This is still part of the same journal entry. Ajax can be a rather long winded writer at times so I've been breaking up the entries.

The wolves are smart and they have good instincts as pack hunters. They hardly even have to talk or howl to know what each other are doing. They all know their roles and what their pack mates will be doing. And while many wolves disdain technology for their natural abilities (with good reason!), this pack had incorporated at least the basics. At least compared to what I had available to me.

There was already a half dozen of them loping in my direction in their hybrid forms. Those are the forms that are probably the most dangerous. As they approached, they spread out and started sniffing the air. No doubt their nostrils were filling with the acrid smoke of burnt cordite.

I had some more treats prepared for the vaunted sense of smell of theirs. Popping a couple of canisters of a unique mixture attacked their senses in much the same way that tear gas attacks a person. Then I activated a neat little device that creates a noise that I can't hear but they sure can. Let me tell you, whatever it sounds like to them, they don't like it!

Some flares fired off at about the same time left their quick reaction force in total disarray and vulnerable to my determined sniper fire. I mowed them down like wheat. As has been said, they sowed the wind and now were reaping the whirlwind.

I didn't stay in position long. Contact with Oracle showed that they were already trying to flank me. Their heat signatures were clear and burning bright in the cool of the night. Oracle suggested a route and ambush point. A suggestion I took after leaving a remote claymore in my previous position. I left it to Oracle to activate so that I could focus on maneuvering. It only took a few moments before it went off. They were moving fast.

As those who were only caught on the edge of the explosion were shaking off its effects, I opened fire on them. They were peppered with silver rounds and went down, one after another.

I admit that I felt a perverse pleasure in each life that I took that I have yet to ask the Lord for forgiveness over.

At the time I could only think of the children they had taken and the many murders they had committed that day.

Things were only going to be easy for so long however.

"Ajax, this is Oracle. They're starting to track our eye in the sky."

Just then there was the sound of firearms from the roof of the large barn.

"Yup, they got it." Oracle confirmed. "You should abort."

"While I still have ammo?" I scoffed. "That's not how we did it back in the old days."

Oracle chuckled. "You're not that much older than me."

"Old enough. Ajax out."

I had lost some of my technological edge by I still had my training and decades of experience. I started using hit and run tactics, using smoke to cover my scent and movements. The suit helped keep me going by carrying the load and supporting my legs but even so it was wearing on me. I'm not like some of the young turks that the agency hires these days.

Pain is just weakness leaving the body!

It was my mantra.

When it failed, I remembered the faces of who they had taken and what this meant to me personally. I would not fail!

I might have though. A group of them got too close to me, too fast. I emptied my M-4 taking them down and it wasn't enough. I went to my shotgun, not having time to reload. In the confusion and heat of the battle, I lost track of one of them. Just after my shotgun dropped the last one in front of me, I heard a godawful hiss and howl from behind me followed by a bone rending crunch.

Turning while pulling my sidearm, I saw a hybrid wolf with a spotted jaguar on it's back, cracking open the wolf's skull with its powerful jaw. The cat's claws dug into the wolfs back as it rode it down to the earth.

It looked up at me and I realized that I was pointing a firearm at a creature that had just saved my life. I lowered the barrel and nodded to my unknown comrade in arms. It returned the nod and faded into the blackness of the night.

Reloading the M-4 while on the move myself, I moved closer to the main building.

[Phoenix]

Here is the next entry in Ajax's account of the June hunt.

I was starting to run low on ammo as I approached. It was okay though. In the dark of the night I could hear my unseen allies divide the enemies attention. That meant I was free to focus on the ones in the house. They would be the older and wiser wolves. Also likely the more dangerous ones as well. Most of these wolves were gathered from other places and this was being used as a collection point for them.

Thankfully we had received a warning that werewolves were gathering in the area. We hadn't expected their strike or the numbers involved nor that they would be bringing in mercenaries to assist them. But we knew where to look when the time for retaliation came. This assault would also help prevent a secondary strike by these second stringers.

And that's what they were. They were barely trained, barely grown pups with no experience. Nor were they true believers in the cause. They were mercenaries brought in from another tribe. Expendable cannon fodder.

Being expended was exactly what was happening to them.

As was my ammo and grenades. By the time I'd cleared the first and second floors, I was down to my second pistol and now it was time to go into the basement. I should have withdrawn then, I think. But these mutts had managed to make it personal and I was on a mission to make them suffer.

So I descended into the basement and was immediately confronted by two massive bruisers. These were no mere pups which meant I was getting closer to my objective. They did manage to soak up the last of my ammunition before dropping though. So I drew my sword and moved on.

Kicking in the door, several wards went off. I ignored them and carried on trusting in the power of God to protect me from any ill effects. Inside was the leader of this cell operation and my true target. He was a shaman and his name was Razvan.

He growled at me, waving his arms and then chanted something in his native Romanian.

He seemed surprised when nothing happened.

"What's the matter Raz?" I said through my speaker as I approached menacingly. "Suffering premature spell failure?"

"I have other ways to destroy you, Hunter!" He growled through his fangs before lunging at me with his bare claws.

At the beginning of this assault I would have been able to take him fairly easily, I think. Exhaustion and my age was starting to catch up to me in a major way however. I wasn't striking as fast as I should be and I wasn't avoiding his strikes as often as I wanted either. My armor was absorbing it all which was its job but I remember a time when I would barely have needed it-would have felt a bit of shame it bore a scar after a fight in fact.

Well, I was supposed to be retired after all.

With what I will claim to be a lucky shot, he managed to knock my sword out of my hand. There was a certain amount of satisfaction when I immediately responded by snapping his head back with a silver studded fist. Relying on the suit to shore up my weaknesses wasn't all bad after all.

I followed up with a knee and elbow strike combination that kept him off his guard. I battered him back against the wall and then grabbed him by the throat and held him there.

He struggled for a moment and then gasped out. "We know who and what you are, Hunter. I'll tell you nothing!"

Slowly I drew my silver plated bayonet. "I don't recall asking any questions." Then, inspired by the cat I had seen outside, I stabbed him in the skull, smashing my blade into his brain with a satisfying sound.

By the time I was outside again, a helicopter was landing.

"Ajax, we're headed north. To Quebec."

"Roger, going to need some admin support, Oracle."

"Don't worry, we've got ammo and spare armor segments. Get in and we'll brief you on the way."

[Phoenix]

This will be the last installment to this particular story for various reasons.

There were spare armor segments as promised and I was already swapping them out as the helicopter started to take off again. I also bombed up on ammo and received a digital briefing about what to expect in Quebec.

Then I took stock of the members of the strike team. I knew most of them. Heck, I had recruited and trained most of them. They were a little surprised to see me come out of retirement and I think it hammered home the point of how serious all of this really was.

The area we were going to was thickly wooded. That meant that we would have no choice but to go in on foot and engage the enemy at closer quarters than we would have preferred. I was confident that I could handle myself but there were some young, fresh faces on the team. Was a time we only recruited veterans from other services but it seemed that we had started our own recruiting and training program. I prayed to God that I would be able to get them all home safely again.

I remember one of the kids was staring at me real hard.

“What can I do for you, son?” I asked, trying to keep the nervousness I felt out of my voice.

“You’re him, aren’t you?” He said with a bit of awe in his voice. “You’re really him.”

“I see you’ve heard all the stories about when I was a young man.” I couldn’t help but smile.

He nodded mutely.

“I’m just a man, lad. Those stories have been exaggerated and embellished over the years. I have good training, good gear and good support. But I’m flesh and blood just like you and I’m going to be relying on you to do your job just as much as you’ll be relying on me to do mine. With all of that, a little luck and the blessings of God, we’ll get through this.”

“Praise the lord and pass the ammunition.” One of the older guys chortled. “The Rev here is selling himself short. I’ve seen him fart miracles.”

There was a general chorus of laughter and I joined in. Such humour is good for morale and takes the mind off the impending danger of battle.

My gaze drifted out the window to the black helicopter flying beside us. Oracle and their support gear was aboard that one. It was also the chopper the hostages would be evacuated on. Doc was also on board. Just in case. We didn’t want to consider the possibility that we might be too late for it to matter.

There was still several hours to our destination, so I took a nap. A good soldier always sleeps when they can. You never know when you’ll get another chance.

As uncomfortable as it was, I managed to get my winks in. I was woken up by a course correction being reported by the pilot. A psychic in the other chopper had attempted a new reading as we drew closer to our objective. They hadn’t been static while we were on the move and now we were adjusting to compensate.

There was also a team already on the ground closing with the objective. They had reported indications of hostilities.

Our support chopper peeled off to establish a base camp. We carried on to our target.

There was no suitable LZ, so we had to rappel down. Our boots hit the ground running. The enemy was fast and had the home team advantage. We needed as much speed and aggression as we could muster.

“Ajax, this is Oracle. We’ve picked up a government bird on our scopes. If they land a team, try to avoid them if possible.”

“What do you think the odds are that they have the same objective as us?” I asked of the voice on the radio.

“Extremely high, considering who they grabbed.” Came the ready response.

“Then you don’t really expect us to be able to avoid them.”

“Not entirely. Still, they’re not the bad guys.” There was conflict in the voice.

“We’ll do our best. Hopefully we’ll avoid any misunderstandings.” I said. Odds were good that they were a little outside their jurisdiction and were just as illegal as we were. It wouldn’t stop them from doing what they had to though. I just hoped that their boss, and old friend of mine, had counted on us in his mission briefing.

They enemy had left a rear guard to slow us down in our advance. The team’s training took over and soon we were advancing past the corpses of the enemy.

“They… turned back to people.” One of the younger guys said with surprise in his voice.

“They always were people.” I informed him. “That’s what makes them so ruthless and dangerous. Now stay sharp.”

“Did you notice, Ajax?” Oracle queried in my ear. “Those aren’t native wolves. European.”

“I noticed. We’re going to have to make a jump across the pond before this over.”

“Already working on it.” There was a pause. “I’ll understand if you opt out.”

“Opt out?” I nearly yelled into my mike. “You know me better than that.”

“I do, but I promised Doc that I’d try to talk you out of it.”

“Well now you can tell them you tried. I’m in this to the end.” I insisted.

“Roger. We’ve got some likely heat signatures not far from you. It looks like the recon team has made contact but it also looks like they’re about to be surrounded.”

“We’re enroute, best possible speed.” With that I signalled for everyone to start running and started pumping my own legs. My knees objected but they didn’t get a vote.

The government forces beat us to the scene. The objective was being protected by them while the wolves tried to get past their protective screen. We arrived and tipped the scales against the wolves.

When the dust settled, the government commander looked at me, nodded and took his team away.

“Dad!” Two voices yelled out at once. One teenaged boy and one slightly older young woman. Their embrace nearly knocked me over.

There was still much more to do, but the hard part was over. My family would be safe no matter what came next.

[Last Moon]

While I would enjoy the opportunity to remind readers here of my warnings regarding organized groups of therianthropes, I believe that many of you are now quite aware of the situation.

I am instead relieved that so many of you seem to have survived this situation and curious as to the natue of the involvement of the felinoid therianthrope.

[Phoenix]

I'll have to discuss it with Ajax and Oracle to see how much information they want to release.

[Cybermancer]

One has to wonder if Ajax has some sort of government connection.