Hallucinations and Snake Bites

Posted on Sat Aug 14th, 2021 @ 5:12am by Master Sergeant Ezekiel Chambers

Mission: Jumping Right In
Location: Ranch outside Galveston
1144 words - 2.3 OF Standard Post Measure

Start:

Ezekiel dropped his tool box in the bed of his truck as a bit of wind seemed to pick up. It was a hot, sunny day and the wind was a welcomed feeling on his sweat prickled skin. He was dressed in a pair of jeans, brown leather cowboy boots, and Marines t-shirt. On his hip was a ruger 1911, although he was covered in dust from a bit of a walk in from the fields.

His blue chevy pick up was parked in front of the barn of his father’s ranch and he was getting some tools and parts for the tractor that had just quit running on him out in the hay field he’d been trying to harvest. It was an irritation, but he would get the old thing up and running and get the job done, even if it meant working well into the night to get the job done.

After picking up his black stetson and wiping the sweat form his brow, he opened a cooler he had in the bed of the truck and pulled out a bottle of water that was covered in water droplets and took a long drink when he noticed a dust cloud and a black SUV heading up the driveway towards the house. He let out a sigh as he put the bottle back in the cooler and took a seat on the tailgate to wait for whoever it was to pull in.

It took the SUV a little while to get up to where he was and Zek watched as a Marine colonel he recognized and an Air Force colonel he didn’t climbed out of the the SUV. He slid off the tail gate and stood up, purposefully not standing at attention. He was retired after.

“Good to see you Top,” Colonel Vic Church said with a nod. The man was in full Marine dress. He was an older man with salt and pepper hair but had the look of an old war horse of a marine.

“You’re a full Colonel now Church,” Zek commented, his Texas drawl a little thicker now that he was home. “Congrats on the promotion. What can I do for you and Colonel Chair Force here?”

“That’s disrespectful Master Sargent,” The Air Force Colonel said gruffly. The man had brown hair and brown eyes, but seemed to be fairly observant.

“Y’all didn’t call before just showin’ up,” Zek turned to look at the man with some disdain. “I find that mighty disrespectful.”

Church let a breath out of his nose, “That’s enough Marine. I tried calling you, but you’ve not been answering.”

“I guess I been a bit busy,” Zek shrugged, adjusting his hat a bit.

“This is Colonel Charles Ball,” Church said finally. “This is Master Sargent Ezekiel Chambers. He was one of my best shooters and lead one hell of a team back in recon.”

“Nice to meet you Master Sargent,” Ball said after a pause. “Do you have somewhere we can talk?”

Zek felt the side of his face twitch, he didn’t like this and he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear whatever sales pitch they had for him. Finally he nodded and motioned for them to follow him and lead them up to the garage.

~~~~

In the garage was a 1969 Chevy Super Sport that was in the middle of being restored, it was a project that Luke’s father had started quite a while ago and the two of them had been slowly working on finishing over the years. It was close to being done, but it was as good a place as any to talk. As they walked in, Zek pulled out a couple of chairs and sat down on one himself.

“So you boys mind telling me what you’re here to ask me to do?” Zek asked.

Ball looked at him for a moment, before setting his briefcase on the work bench and opening it up, “Right to the point. Because of your clearance, skills and current status you fit into a small group of former military we are looking to recruit for joint special operations team between the Air Force and Marines. We’re going to need shooters, but men who think on their feet. Know when not to shoot.”

“I’m not really interested in joining up with another unit,” Zek took off his stetson and set it aside.

“You might be interested in this one,” Church said with a chuckle. “Remember the incident back in 09?”

“How could I forget?” Zek looked over at the Colonel. “It read like something outta Star Trek and I was deployed against ET. I saw some of the after math, I remember well enough. We found out for sure we weren’t alone in the universe and all that.”

“It was an alien race know as the Goa’uld,” Ball spoke up, producing a top secret file and opening to show Zek some of the incident. “We found something in the arctic in 2008, we believe it was part of what lead to the attack. After working with several experts we were able to figure out how it worked. We’re calling it a Stargate. I can’t explain all the science but it establishes a stable wormhole and can be traveled through. We can travel to other worlds, we need to find these threats.”

“Wait, all that nonsense was real? We really are building in the arctic?” Zek looked up from the file, which caught Ball by surprise.

“What do you know about the program?”

“I was in MARSOC, rumors mostly but you work with enough spooks and you hear things,” Zek continued to look over the file. “And what do you want me to do?”

“Join one of the gate teams and help train new shooters,” Church said. “We’re going to need leaders and we’re going to need to find these enemies and eliminate them. You were one of the best.”

“So you want me to sign back up and, what, train people to fight aliens and fight them myself?” Zek shook his head at that. “I bet a snake bit me and I’m layin’ out in the field dyin’ right now and this is some kind of hallucination.”

“I assure you Master Sargent you are alive,” Ball answered. “What do you say?

“Do I get a ray gun?”

Church chuckled, “Is that a yes?”

“Well hell, I guess it beats sittin’ around here. When do I ship out?” Zek asked, handing back the file.

“Two days, there will be transport from Randolph Air Force base in Houston,” Ball said with a nod.

“Now can you two git? I got work to do,” Zek said, standing up from where he was sitting.

~fin~

Master Sargent Ezekiel Chambers
SG-3