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"Fancy some , son? 🛫🦅📚🤺🏖️ -K" read the cryptic text message from an unknown number. Danny looked at his phone with confusion, then smiled knowingly. "Sounds like it might be fun, old man!" he replied. "Especially since that sunshine is wasted on codgers like you!" he chuckled to himself.

"👍️" replied the unknown number.

"Who's that?" Taylor asked blearily as he tried to untangle himself from Danny's sheets. "That's not your da's number."

Danny smiled at Taylor as he rolled out of bed and held up the phone. "Pack your kit! Looks like we're off for detached duty and training in the States," he said, as he sent "😎" and pulled up IRIS on his phone.

"Nothing yet," he said, "but it's coming. Oh, you should let Alan know when you head back. Tell him to pack his trunks, too. I'm hoping we'll billet at Coronado, not Miramar."

Taylor continued to look confused as Danny began to open drawers and pull out clothing. "I know you guys have your own weird shorthand, but I still don't get how you're getting all that from Karl's weird text. Are you sure that you..." Danny's phone gave a ping, followed almost instantly by Taylor's.

"Priority Message from the Major. Special exercise and training...blah blah...seven days... ah, Coronado! Excellent!" Danny said with excitement.

Taylor continued to read the Major's message, but Danny pulled him up and handed him his clothes from the floor. "Chop chop! The Major's message says we're boarding our C-17 tomorrow at 0435, and we're supposed to be packing our top-tier gear for this. And I think we'll need to pack the desert modules, too. No time to waste!" Danny barked merrily as Taylor hopped off-balance with one leg stuck in his field trousers.

Danny draped Taylor's barracks shirt over his head and gave him a push. "Go forth, young man, and spread the Good News!" he crowed as Taylor finally finished buttoning his shirt and scooted down the hall. As Danny continued tossing clothing and toiletries onto his bed, the Lance Corporal poked his head in Danny's open door. "What's all this about you boys hitting the sandbox again? Did you lose a bet with the Almighty?" he asked.

Danny shook his head and smiled even as he continued to pack. "Ah, this time it's the good kind of sand, Sean. We've been invited to San Diego for a big NATO recce to-do. You remember Karl Langston?"

Sean nodded somberly. "Aye, mate. That team of his made fog sound loud and clumsy!"

Danny paused for a moment, then shook his head and continued packing. "Yeah, some of those missions were hairy...but we were lucky to able to work with them. Apparently Langston is the one who organized this: the Marines are bringing in recce teams from all the NATO militaries for some briefings and competitions. The SRR was originally supposed to represent the UK, but they're off on a last-minute op so Langdon apparently put in a good word for us to replace them."

Sean chuckled indulgently. "Well, I hope you all have fun at your all-expense paid tour of the finest billets, beaches, and battlefields California has to offer while the rest of us enjoy the bracing mist and damp back here!"

Danny reddened a bit as he realized he was holding a Speedo, which he tucked back in the drawer, instead pulling out a more understated pair of blue trunks. "I'm sure they're going to keep us hopping with the training and such, so who knows if we'll even see the ocean--other than from the plane. Speaking of which, we're taking off in less than nine hours. Could you meet me over in the Kit Room? I'd like your advice on what we should try to bring with us."

Sean chortled as he turned and walked down the hall. "For you, Danny, sunscreen. Lots and lots of sunscreen!"

Danny scoffed as he continued packing, but then looked thoughtful for a moment. He shrugged was putting the waterproof sunscreen into his shaving kit when his phone buzzed again.

To his surprise, it was a text from another unidentified number. "Msg when U land in SD. Danger -Gary"

Danny stared at his phone for several moments, then sighed and mumbled, "Damn it all. Why is nothing ever easy?"

-----------

As Danny, Alan, and Taylor walked down the ramp of the C-17 at NAS North Island, Alan crowed, "Now this is how you do things, boys! Get on a plane when it's dark and cold and foggy, and after only 11 hours sitting on a very comfortable pressed tin bench, it's suddenly bright and sunny... worth it!"

Danny laughed, but he and Taylor lagged behind and conferred in hushed tones as Danny pulled out his phone and quickly sent a text.

Taylor leaned over and asked quietly, "Do you really think it's a good idea to leave him in the dark about Gary's text? Assuming that was even from Gary!" he said with exasperation.

Danny shook his head. "Nothing I've heard so far is actionable. When we get more ..." Danny trailed off as his phone buzzed again. He glanced down and smiled. "It's just Karl. He says getting to Pendleton in time is going to be really tight, and to meet him by the south gate on the double..." Danny trailed off as his phone buzzed again. The new message read

👁️☠️ Tangoes inside the wire/ need2meet -G

Danny shook his head and showed the phone to Taylor, who muttered "Well, maybe that's a happy pirate skull and not ominous at all. Christ, can't a man just enjoy paradise a tiny bit without all the grim portents? So now should we loop in Alan?" he said, gesturing to the excited private, who was scurrying ahead of them, looking positively delighted.

Danny sighed and said, "Let's wait until after today's exercise. I wouldn't want him distracted in the field... even if it's only practice. But in the meantime, keep your guard up. I don't know what has Gary spooked, but his spidey sense has always been solid. Hopefully we can pull him aside at the training and find out what's up."

As Taylor nodded, Danny gestured that they should hurry up and catch Alan, since he was plowing forward with no sense of his destination. As they showed their NATO credentials and breezed through the security checkpoint, Danny couldn't escape the feeling that something seemed off about the MPs, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

He was still playing back the interaction in his mind a few minutes later when two other MPs intercepted them, holding out clipboards. "Looks like you guys haven't gotten your mandatory screening yet! All North Island base personnel are required to be screened this week!" the first MP said cheerfully, gesturing to a line of marines and sailors lined up outside a long white trailer.

Danny barely broke his stride as he held up his hand. "We are not North Island base personnel or even U.S. personnel. And we are already running late for an important combat exercise, so no thank you. If you have an issue with that, take it up with Captain Langdon... or the King!" Taylor and Alan tried to suppress their smiles as the three of them plowed forward past the smiling MPs.

"You're not the boss of me!" Taylor hissed mockingly as Danny rolled his eyes and continued scanning for the South Gate.

"There he is," Danny said, pointing to Capt. Langdon, who was waving to them from next to an idling humvee.

"Hey Karl, thanks for inviting us to your humble patch of paradise!" Danny said as he gave him a bear hug. "You remember my mates Taylor and Alan?"

"I do, I do," Karl replied, "Although I thought the mate things was only with..."

Danny blushed and punched him in the shoulder as Karl laughed and hopped in the driver's seat.

"Come on," Karl said. "Everyone else left for base camp an hour ago, so we have to hustle if we're going to get you guys there before the exercise starts at 0930." The humvee gave a tortured squeal as Karl roared onto the main thoroughfare out of the base and toward the bridge.

As Danny raised his eyebrows at Karl's driving, he leaned over the humvee's doghouse and yelled loud enough to be heard over the engine's racket. "SO HOW'S YOUR TEAM DOING? ARE THEY GOING TO BE PARTICIPATING IN THE EXERCISE TODAY?"

Karl leaned over and loudly replied, "WE'RE NOT PARTICIPATING DIRECTLY, BUT WILL BE HELPING RUN THINGS. BILLY AND FRANK WILL BE AT BASE CAMP AND WILL BE HAPPY TO SEE YOU."

Danny nodded, but then looked perplexed. "GREAT! WILL GARY BE THERE, TOO?"

Karl shook his head as he squealed around a tight corner. "GARY TOOK AN EXTENDED LEAVE FROM THE UNIT TO WORK ON SOME NEW HUSH-HUSH COMMS PROJECT. I HAVEN'T BEEN READ-IN THE DETAILS, BUT APPARENTLY HE'S PRETTY HAPPY WITH THE WORK."

Danny nodded and yelled "THAT'S GRATIFYING TO HEAR. HE WAS ALWAYS A WIZARD WITH THE COMMS TECH!" Danny caught Taylor's eye, making sure he'd heard. Taylor's morose expression told him everything he needed to know.

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After they arrived in the training area, Karl left them in a quonset hut to get kitted up and stow their bags. "I've got to go change, too. It was suggested I would better convey my neutrality and intellectual heft if I were in civvie duds for this."

Danny snorted. "Is 'intellectual heft' code for saying 'I have a big head?'" he laughed.

Karl laughed in response, but then turned serious. "The mission parameters for today's exercise have changed since the version I sent you last night. Stop by training command when you're ready and we'll go over the changes."

Danny sighed as he looked at the now-outdated mission documentation he had studied in lieu of sleeping on the 11-hour flight. "Better and better," he muttered.

------

After Karl's briefing, Danny, Taylor, and Alan immediately set out into the coastal scrub toward their assigned observation post.

"It's stupid they won't let us use our drones," Alan complained. "1950 called and wants its battlefield tech back."

Danny grimaced, but stoically said, "It could be worse... at least no one else can use them either, and some of the stuff they had was better than what we brought. Theirs didn't have to fit into a rucksack, remember!"

Taylor was silent as he was walking and then suddenly stopped, flipping open his topo scan map. Danny and Alan stopped and looked at him quizzically. "What's up?" Danny asked.

"Did you notice that the topo map Karl used for the briefing and shared with us didn't include that ravine we just crossed? They apparently had a record-setting amount of rainfall here this winter, and I don't think they updated their scans. Look here: this is another deep ravine that is barely a trough on their map. If the adversary force has been planning their strategies using the terrain in these maps, they're in for a rude surprise."

"Good observation!" Danny said encouragingly, "But how can we turn that information to our advantage?"

Taylor pointed up the hill to their destination. "Once we get to our OP, I say we not only aim to track the elements of the red forces, but we also spend some time getting a more accurate view of the terrain. I'm betting they're going to get jammed at predictable bottlenecks as they try to navigate these ravines. If we can pre-load targeting for likely choke points and then get in position to laze in the strikes, I'm betting we can really ruin their entire day."

Danny thought for a moment, then smiled. "Old-fashioned mark one eyeball recce for the win! Hopefully literally!" he laughed, and the team hurried up the slope to their OP.

-------

Several hours later, Danny, Taylor, and Alan were hailed by Karl as they wearily returned to the training camp. "Well done, my boys! Who would have thought the last-minute replacements would march off their plane and hammer the red team's offensive before it even started! Good job making old Karl look like I know what I'm doing!"

Taylor blushed a bit as Alan beamed and Danny gave Karl a playful punch in his gut. "Erosion was really the MVP, Karl. You should give precipitation a medal!"

Karl nodded, and chortled, "Well, since you're such weather experts--AND because you dominated the first training exercise, what would you think of skipping tomorrow morning's training and heading to the beach? You can borrow my jeep, as long as you bring it back in one piece and get back before the end of the lunch break. I hope you packed your suits!"

Taylor and Alan whooped as Danny looked pleased, and said, "Who would have thought a day that began with an 11-hour transport ride would turn out so well... Thanks, Karl" he said as he pulled him into a bear hug.

------

In an ironic twist, the beach was overcast and a little chilly when the three Brits arrived the next morning. "Wait, this looks like home... where's the bloody sun?" Alan complained.

Danny pulled his beach blanket out of the Jeep as Taylor grabbed the cooler. Danny replied, "Forecast says this is just the marine layer and will burn off soon. You'll be working on your tan before you know it!"

Alan looked mollified as he pulled out his towel and a tube of sunscreen. "You better be right," he said reproachfully. "If I'm putting on this gunk for nothing, there will be Hell to pay."

Danny laughed and locked the Jeep. "If you aren't sick of the sun by the time we head back, I'll owe you. Now let's get going... I think everyone on the beach is looking forward to seeing the antics of three cold and pale Brits cavorting on the sand. We don't want to disappoint!"

----------

As Billy and Frank led the last of the newly-enslaved reconnaissance team members to the auditorium back at the base, Karl asked them, "Any problems with this round of conversions?"

Billy shook his head. "Absolutely none. It's funny that when our team originally learned about The Brood's testing, we were all super suspicious and on our guard. But these guys totally trusted a bunch of strangers and got parasitized for their troubles! Looks like they're better off without their free will if they're going to just throw it away like that!"

Frank nodded and chortled, "At least we made The Brood work a little bit to enslave us: when Billy went down, he did it while getting intel that could have exposed the whole invasion. Hell, Karl, they had to bring in a couple honest-to-God superheroes to nab you, me, and Gary! But these saps just went meekly into trailers like lambs to slaughter."

Karl laughed even as he noticed the irritated looks from some of the newly-enslaved troops. "It's okay, guys... none of us really had much of a chance going up against The Brood. Hell, they took down the entire Heroic League without anyone even noticing, so rest assured you've been enslaved by the very best!"

Frank smiled, but then paused and looked around the room more systematically. "Wait," he said. "The Brits were scheduled to be enslaved with this batch, weren't they? Maybe they figured out what's going on, too?"

Karl shook his head. "I changed the plan and sent them to the beach. After their impressive performance yesterday, I decided to reassign them to the blue team for this afternoon's exercise... let's see what they can cook up to try to slow down the sinister invading forces!"

Billy looked a little surprised. "They're pretty sharp, Karl. Aren't you worried that they'll figure out what's going on, just like we did? Especially since they'll be up against what is basically a sanitized version of Team Brood's real invasion plan? That seems really risky!"

Karl turned to Billy and Karl and said, "Don't worry... I thought they might be a tough nut to crack so Gary is already helping me with them. By the time they leave, I can guarantee you they'll all be team players. Speaking of Team Brood, let's get this briefing started!"

Karl walked up to the podium as the assembled soldiers immediately hushed, staring blankly at him with their blue glowing eyes. Karl cleared his throat and began. "My fellow slaves: Welcome to your new life and purpose! Your life now belongs to your masters, The Brood. Your purpose is simple: Helping our masters conquer all of humanity."

Karl paused and smiled broadly as his thoughts warmly lingered on The Brood enslaving the rest of humanity, then continued telling the teams exactly what role they would play in Earth's downfall.