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ORDERS 27.Setember 2019 ( +7 C* )
From :California Volunteer Militia High Command
To : Col.DeCorba 1.Prepare yourself and 1 section of chosen men for special duty . 2. Your command must be ready to leave within 12 hours.All hands to be present at Militia HQ by 0900hrs tomorrow. 3. Additional equipment will be requisitioned after initial briefing is completed. That is all. |
the grey light of a bleak dawn..
The crackling screech from the Paintec ANPRC 77 copy made his hed hurt .He was making desicions on moving platoons and coordinationg vehicles simultanously in a running firefight as well as trying to report to division HQ on the other net that his radionman carried on his back.A series of uncomfortably accurate MG bursts lashed the debris at his back with tracers and lead .A spotter must have seen the antennas bobbing up and down behind the brick ruins and gathered he had found the fattest target .
The firing grew in intensity as more rifles and machineguns joined in . He yelled his cropped-short contact report on the higher net and then binned it ,waiving the radioman down and concentratingt on his company net that he carried himself in his day pack.Hurriedly he ordered the tanks and APCs of 1 and 3 platoon to give covering fire and the mortars to concentrate on the targets in front of his section. The others were to maintain holding position and provide anysupport their line of fire allowed but not to advance .He had seen the "everybody -forward!" type staff officer led attacks before. A blue-on-blue nightmare that noone took the responsibilty to end before it was too late. He could hardly hear himself in the radio now , and bulletimpacts around his position were splattering him with plumes of dust and little conceret shards.He ducked down in his hole behind the tattered ,collapsed dry wall and rummaged through his map case. Typical . At least 4 maps to scour before he had the one with this area on it .The flapping throug maps and folding them over under fire seemed like an absurdity - when had they ever heard of that as an essential combat skill in the academy ? "What do you know" he muttered bitterly . The area was covered on two adjacent sheets.Just great . Mortar shells started pounding the dust around 100 meters out from his position .In the brief flash from the explosion he could see contours of his own armoured vehicles.Grey upshots of dust and smoke from the grenades covered them -obscured them almost totally .Yet they were mowing in there like giant ,ugly beasts . He tipped the waterhose stopper on his gasmask and sucke don the nipple.caffeinated drinking water slushed into his mouth. He got dry throathed from the yelling and radio chatter - or was the numbing sensation enemy fire gave him also detremential to his saliva production ? He hadnt had that problem in his younger days.But he was getting on a bit -as far as combat troops go.Some of the young bucks in the brigade could run circles around him."Why dont you run a few circles right now you pups " he muttered with a smug grin . A highly trained body still got shredded by shrapnel same as an aging ,scarred warhorse would. He looked the map over again . He would hit them hard after a preparatory barrage and possibly a nice smokescreen had been laid for him to get some MGs into play.Then advance without hesitation on the possible strongpoints and blow them or burn them .If that worked the NDP swine should be falling back or if he was lucky -running for their lives - in short order. The supporting platoons could easily mow them down and mop up whilst he reorganized his assault teams. He peered out underthe edge of his kevlar helmet and gauged the status of the rest of the assault team .Takashi was wounded but looked out into nothing with a strange calm .Pain was idling while his trained dog of a soldier was coveringboth their sectors .Typical. Iron Man was nowhere to be seen ,so he radioed a request for him to be sent up immideatly.QCB was imminent -the weird actor might come in handy. The rest of them seemed ready to go .He brushed some dust of the mapcase and closed it . Then he scampered over to the next position and inbetween explosions from the now nearby mortar impacts he said what he would repeat 8 more times down the line that morning : "here is the plan .." |
update
SHANDON,CA OCT.11th 0834 hrs TEMP : +2C*
DeCorba was in a bad way.Numerous perforations of his armour and moppsuit were leaking blood .Makeshift and expedient wound dressings could not hold up when conducting a hoigh speed firefight in a CQB enviroment.His every move left a bloodstain on the flor.Bloody gloveprints was on everything he touched. He felt his head spinning for a moment.His vision loosing color and turning bleak and grey .The combat stims were keeping him up ,and he knew it . If the buzzing waves of drug induced energy that pulsed through his veins stopped working he would fall unconscious and bleed to death.As it were he was keeping awake and pretty alert .Running on a double dose of stims. He wondered if he could take more -or if his heart would give out .He had of troopers dropping from cardiac arrest when doing to much stims in a situation with circulatory distress. The klaxons were damn annoying ."AA-OOO-GAH" over and over .Yes,yes.Impending doom and all .But did it have to be so unpleasant and noisy ? He hoisted another HE-shell into the cradle on the ammunition elevator and punched the operation buttons.Smearing blood from his wounds as he handled it .The shell was hoiste dto the breach of the howitzer he had captured and aligned itself with the chamber. "Great". "Lets see how they like this one ." He staggered up to the firecontrol station and started plonchating the barrel.The bunker-emplacements motorized system hummed as the 155 mm gun swung towards its target some 1100 meters away . A platoon of M3 Paintek apcs ,lining up their HMGs to rake the area around the bunker. Small drops of blood stained the control surfaces where he was . "Death before dishonour!" He chuckled and pulled the mechanical trigger by lanyard-even though a flick swithch was present to fire electronically. A massive bang as the discharge sent the shell whizzing away.A muzzle blast that whipped up a huge cloud of dust. It canceled out the klaxons with their blaring warning of doom. In the target area the APCs were racing away .One of them wasnt .It had been hit squarely and flipped onto its side.Yellow flames were gusting out t hrough hatches and engine compartment.Black smoke bellowing thick towards the sky. DeCorba swung the massive binoculars over the village and plain beyond it .Everyone was retreating -methodically. Why ? The had the bunker surriunded.Why widen the encirclement?Unless you for some reason were worried about danger close or blue on blue... But why would you need more than 1 klick ? DeCorba started the traverse again .It rotated throug a few empty cradles.Another HE shell came up. He smiled. The NDP was getting a taste of their own medicine.. |
S10E03 Homefront
Outside Eureka Aug. 13th 2020 16 C+ 1600 hrs.
The promising and still somewhat young 2nd. lt. Bennet paced the room of his small cabin ferociously considering his options. In a few hours the column carrying the esteemed leader - the honorable Field Marshall DeCorba ( now nominally a colonel in the 1. Cali Volunteer regiment) would arrive. The guards had been double-checked and a few chewing outs given for the men who had presented themselves in less than "Fighting Grey" stile - never mind the shortages and the fact that they were recuperating on guard duty after months of bloody running battles up and down Highway 1. It was not that he was starstruck and feared to meet the man lest he make a fool of himself. He had actually once gotten a nod of approval from him as he fired of a steady stream of fire corrections to a machine gun section at the battle of Barstow in `16 as a young cadet even as mortar rounds came whizzing down all around. They were practically brothers in arms as far as that one went he was pretty sure. Neither was his post anything but operational and indeed these last 12 hours it had been made nigh on picture perfect - his men swearing as they carried more lumber and rigged deeper and redid the camp paint on the truck. Yes. every gun was polished and oiled to a deadly fire blue sheen. He had even gotten some of the nice rum out - in a real glass bottle and all and some rabbit stew with actual rabbit and not that powdered Landshrimp protein supplement with venison flavored powdered gravy ( TM ) either. No. All was well with his command. Yet he felt uneasy. After all he was going to have to be the one to give the latest intel on the ..developments. Out in the redwood a few birds started up, startled and screeching. Truck engines were approaching. |
developments never sounded quite so ominous before..
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