A couple of examples of spys.
Patrol Baker
These guys are members of the 1st Cavalry Division spying out the military camp at Riverton. Yup they're thousands of miles away from their home base, what are they doing there?
Well, the intelligence team in the 1st Cavalry started following rumours of, "iron beasts" and carts with neither tyres nor horses. They urgently needed to replace their worn out vehicles and no ones building MBTs these days. Stories and rumours kept circulating on the location of Riverton. And it was felt sufficiently urgent to send out a patrol.
This was made up of lieutenant Roach, Sergeant Cooper and eight cavalrymen. A highly experienced team with years of experience and a certain degree of savvy having been caught behind the lines a few times. All on horse back and in mufti it took them two months and three casualties to reach the Imp base.
And now they're like a little sparrow hawk looking at a Turkey all that gear, could reequip half the 1st Cavalry. If they could just work out how to get it home. They even prefer the idea of M60s to M1s (simpler design, lighter more receptive to engineering compromises). And as these units have been used for little more than frightening farmers or obliterating bandits armed with muskets they're as close to factory fresh as possible these days.
And a couple of hundred working automatic weapons would turn most any brotherhood charge.
So what are they doing?
1 The LT sent 2 troopers straight home, with a rough description of the situation and a request for 3 trucks, 30 men and a dozen armour crew to come and collect the booty in what will most likely be 6 months. That's how long he's got to defeat maybe a 100 or more heavily armoured and well organised bandits.
2 He has infiltrated another 2 team members into the nearby village. To get the lie of the land.
3 He and the rest of the team about 2 more men have set up hides and are observing and recording everything the Imps do. They have some old working cameras and reams and reams of notes.
4 He has imposed total radio silence and even considered smashing up his set.
5 For now his plan is to wait till the Imps take out a tank on patrol. Ambush it and kill the crew before driving hell for leather for Texas, he acknowledges this is a pretty hopeless plan. The team was given a couple of days induction in tank driving before leaving, in preparation for just this scenario.
6 His alternative is to turn up at the Imp base and claim to be a wondering mercernary and win their trust. He has a pretty good idea this will either get him killed or lead to him having to kill or torture civilians to prove his loyalty. He's stuck though the booty in the base maybe the only chance his homeland has of survival.
The clock is ticking and that collection convoy from Texas maybe only be a couple of months away.
What he does when the team wake up remains to be seen. He may try and recruit them, if they're hopeless ignore them. Or if they seem to have the right idea and not need help wait for them to win. Then sneak into the liberated camp and drive off with a couple of tanks and all the booty they can find.
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