[helbent4]

Wednesday, 26 Oct. 2140

FW-11S finished its conversation with QP-11's Team Leader and Seattle's deputy group leader, Lee Harvey Oswald. Transmissions had to be kept short for security's sake but they would receive additional details later.

Further conversation with the Governor that morning revealed the last universally accepted legal President of the USA was Richard "Dick" Cheney, George H. W. Bush's Secretary of Defense. He died soon after the war ended in 1990, and the shattered nation was left with different opposing and hostile factions as the population continued to dwindle.

There was no extent United States as a political unit, and there hadn't been one since shortly after the war.

Per anecdote, population growth in the Pacific Northwest and presumably across the country seemed remained stable since the war, with only a few places enjoying significant growth while many other areas suffered a continual decline in population. The former cities were generally shunned, because not only nuclear but chemical weapons were employed, some allegedly remaining dangerous and even killing would-be scavengers for years or even generations after the war, if rumour was to be believed. At any rate, only the most brave or foolhardy would venture into the ruins, which by now were well picked-over despite the dire warnings.

The cause for the war was unclear to everyone, although people seemed to think the Soviets had struck first, and then launched an invasion immediately after the bombs fell in November 14, 1989. This was the official history as far as the Governor knew. There were contradictory rumours that the war was an accident and the USA had struck first.

The team took on some food and water, then departed along the old highway 91 towards Bend. The trail followed the old highway north along the foothills of the Cascade mountains. At one point they saw some deer ahead on the trail but decided they didn't have the time to hunt, even for fresh venison. They moved from the wet coastal area to Oregon's high plains, and they weather became cool and clear, very dry.

Compared to before the war, a little more of the high desert plains was now covered by evergreens and Ponderosa pine, although most remained rolling grassland. The road was in fairly good condition, but it was deserted and they didn't see anyone or anything except the birds, which seemed to be plentiful. The places where pre-war bridges had washed out were spanned by replacements made of wood, mainly trestle bridges. Someone had made at least an intermittent effort to keep the trade route open.

That evening Oswald with QP-11 briefed them via radio on a transfer of slaves from the Slavers to the Breeders in Franklin, Idaho. Franklin, at least 10 years ago, had no walls and seemed undefended, and seemed to be the main transfer point for regular buys of slaves for unspecified purposes. It was theorised that their base would be located somewhere nearby. The Breeders were signaled by radio and arrived in a deuce-and-a-half. There were 2 guards in fatigues carrying rifles, and 2 more "civilian" types in white coats to supervise. In general, it's been determined the Breeders were located in the geographical region around the central Rockies. They got most of their research material from the Slavers but sometimes went far afield to personally procure items or people needed for their research. It was thought to be medical research of some kind, and their victims inevitably disappeared.

Thursday, 27 Oct 2140.

The next evening they camped in the wooded foothills of the Rockies to avoid being caught out on the plains. Kowalski saw something move in the darkness gathering under the trees, and a grizzly bear charged them out of the gloom when Breckenridge challenged it.

Breckenridge's 40mm CS canister went wide, and Carson shot the charging bear twice, aiming for the hear, but that seemed to have little effect. Kowalski opened up with the fifty-cal but it quickly dodged under the spray of bullets and tracers. The grizzly hit the side of the XR311 with a crash that rocked the vehicle on its suspension, then sat back stunned. The small clearing was filled with the fading echoes of gunfire, especially the 50-cal, and reeked of gunpowder

Carson quickly fired off more shots, aiming for the eyes, but the bear simply slumped over, dead. Upon examination it was found to be a normal grizzly, and Carson had killed it with the shots to the heart but it hadn't figured that out when it went for the jeep.

On the plus side McMahon, an experienced hunter, managed to remove its claws, teeth and hide but they were unable to get much meat due to the lack of available time. The hide would keep a couple days in the cool dry weather. Preparation would take several hours of curing in the shade and 20-40lbs of salt, neither of which they had. Instead, the hide could be traded, uncured, further down the line.

The team relocated to get away from the carcass, which would attract predators. The meal, a mixture of rations and fresh food traded for in Klamath and cooked by Margaret, was a real treat.

That night, from over a kilometre away, they heard wolves howling under the moon at their good fortune of a free meal.

Friday, 28 Oct 2140

The team started off at 0800, just as dawn was breaking, as was the team's travel pattern. The weather continued to hold out, and by noon they were traveling along the Snake River, the border between Oregon and Idaho.

Stopping for a meal, they were raided by some squirrels looking for food. McMahon tried to shoot them with his bow but was unable to hit any. They made camp, as usual, when darkness began to fall at 6pm.

Saturday, 29 Oct. 2140

The skies clouded over after dawn and it started to rain. By midday they reached Boise, home of one of the larger population centres in this part of the high plains. The team was able to park their XR311s inside an actual parking garage, and spent the evening shaking off the cold of the road.

Boise, a town of over a thousand, was located at what used to be Northwest Nazarene College, a Christian liberal arts college founded in 1913. After the war the faculty and students banded together to survive. Eventually, the Boise Merchant's League became based out of here after being forced out of Boise proper by raiding militia from one of the larger Aryan Republics. After the end of the Aryan Republics War in 2101, the Merchant League decided to keep its headquarters there and the town has experienced considerable growth, relatively speaking. Boise merchants were some of the few establishments that accepted gold and silver in trade.

At Cohen's tavern they met a "travel agent" and arranged for Margaret and Sasha to travel with a trader's convoy to Bountiful in Utah in a few days. Their passage was largely paid-for with the massive grizzly hide. They were also sent on their way with some silver, the Project-issue cold weather clothing they'd been loaned, and a shotgun plus ammunition. They were sad to part with the team but they all enjoyed their company that evening.

As per usual, Breckenridge made friends with locals drinking there on a Saturday night, including an intelligent-looking young mountain man name Grainger who wanted to join the team after hearing of the Project's mission to rebuild the USA. His request was declined, as Morrow policy regarding field recruitment was unknown at that time.

They learned more about the Aryan Republics war. A large coalition from across much of the former USA banded together to defeat the Neo-Nazi militias and their Christian Survival League allies (elite "missionaries" all the way from the US Southeast) at the Battle of Mountain Home but the coalition (which, among others, included the Boise Merchant's League, Wyoming Cattleman's Association, the Federation of American Survivalists, mercenaries as far away as Seattle and Cheyenne, even natives from the Dominion to the north, etc.) fell apart soon afterwards.

The Cohen family appeared to be mutants of some kind, part of a subculture known as "Stubbs". Although of average height for dwarfs, their condition didn't appear to be related to any apparent genetic disorder, such as achondroplastia, and was atypical of dwarfism in general. See supplementary report.


Sunday, 30 October 2140

Early the next day, the team left, following the Snake River along the Open Road, once the I-60 through southern Idaho. They were on the lookout for Aryans and other renegades that roamed that stretch of road.

They were extensively briefed on how to deal with the contaminated areas around Mountain Home AFB, remnants of Soviet nuclear strikes. All of the fallout was long gone except immediately downwind of the base. A few radioactive hotspots still remained downwind of the missile fields and it was considered safest to keep on the Open Road/Interstate, as surface water didn't collect due to its construction.

Midday, they came across advance scouts for what turned out to be the "Highballer Freight and Shipping Company". The group actually a family of what are called "Gypsy Truckers". The scouts, led by a young woman named "Lucey", were mounted on motorcycles with wooden-spoke iron-banded wheels, severely limiting the speed of these vehicles. When the rest of the convoy came into view, there was a large rig and over a dozen smaller vehicles, mostly pickups and vans with some cars, all with the same wheels. Automatic weapons were visible from rifles to machineguns, alongside truck-mounted ballistae, crossbows and black powder weapons like rifles and shotguns. The Gypsy Truckers assumed they were fellow truckers, but time prevented them from doing much more than exchanging information on road conditions between the trading post in Pocatello and the Merchant League HQ where the team had stayed the night near Boise.

By nightfall they made Kyle's trading post in Pocatello. They picked up a little information about the Breeders, or at least a group that Truckers had seen to the south of there, around the town of Franklin, which matched the team's intel. The Breeders mainly kept to themselves. Prime was instructing Morrow Landsat One to make an orbital survey of the Big Hill area to the Northeast of Franklin. Unfortunately, there was no way to transfer actual graphical information to the team in their field as the AN/PRC-70 radios have no data transmission capability.

The team continued on into the night, traveling by night-vision until they were in the Big Hill area. For security reasons they completely bypassed the town of Franklin. After setting up a forward camp, two members (Carson and McMahon) were sent on a reconnaissance patrol of the area.

FW-11S Issue weapon (IMI UZI):