looking for Something. a fan fic

[cawest]

so I put chapter 1 up and no one threw stones at me so here you go. This is were it will be posted and I hope you all like it.


Looking for Something.
Twilight 2000

Chapter 1 intro

Richard Mtendere looked off into the distance. The twin mast ship was making good speed threw the small waves on the blue water. Well it was making good speed, for a sailing craft in the middle of World War 3. Richard could not help, but chuckle at that thought that had just went through his mind. He had grown up in Traverse City, Michigan. He had joined the army for two reasons. One was that his chief rival in high school, had gone into the navy. That was not generally a surprise, not with his hometown dominated by the Grand Traverse Bay. That led to the second reason for him to join the army. He had gotten into a fight with the football captain and soon to be navy man at a graduation night party, which had not ended well for both of them. The Football jock had ended up in the hospital. And by that Friday? Richard had ended up at the Recruiter’s office in town. The Army Recruiter was the only one who could get him out of town in the time frame, that he felt like he needed.

He had done…… okay in the military. He was a grunt, but he was smart enough to keep his head down at all of the right times. He made buck Sergeant, just before the issues between China and the Russians had started to heat up in a major way. His unit had lucked out and had missed the first few months of the war, before his unit had been sent to Germany. Again, his unit had lucked out when the nuclear weapons started to fly in numbers that had only been seen in a few people’s nightmares. It was not long after that. That he was notified that his family and the girl he had sort of liked, had been killed in a riot.

Not long after that, he had been moved to be the NCO in charge of protecting the Battalion headquarters. That had killed his next promotion, but with the number of replacements drying up. This Battalion was more like a larger company than a Battalion Taskforce, which it had deployed to Europe as. He spent most of his time with his Battalion Commander, a very young Major who had been his company commander for the past four years. His main job had been fighting against Marauders and other criminal gangs, which were operating behind the lines.

Then the final push to try to reach the Russian/Polish boarder had happened, and his unit had been chosen to add numbers to the attack force. They had rolled through the enemy “front lines” and the fighting had been as expected, right until the time that it was not. The whole front had been stalled for some time, and then word came that everyone was on their own. Was the war over? He had no clue on what to do next, but the old man did.

The Old Man had been from some small town on the seacoast of Maine. Thomas W Hyde had joined the military, as part of being a way to get out of the family business. It had something to do with fishing. As it turned out, it was harder to get the salt out of his veins. When word had come down, to the Old Man that it was up to him to pull out his troops? He had reached down into his roots, and he had pulled out his “Go To Hell Plan”.

By now, his whole Battalion was only made up of 27 combat effectives. About a third of them were not even “American”. He gathered “his” people together and briefed his modified plan to his unit. They were now mainly just light infantry, with only two HMMWVs spread out between them. One was a fire support version of that incredible off-road vehicle. The rest of their weapons were smaller and lighter than that 25mm chain gun. Only 15 of the 27 troopers in the Battalion had decided to try the Major’s plan. It was a little on the crazy side. Richard could not fault the group, which had decided to try their own plans. He would be going along with the Oldman. Besides he had a few ideas of his own, on how to help make it a more workable plan.

They “traded” the two 4-wheel drive vehicles to a local “militia” leader. The 25mm turret had been missing on the second truck, when the trade had been offered and completed. The turret had been replaced with a large thin piece of steal to make a large, but workable hatch. The trader had given them two small river sail boats, with auxiliary diesel motors. It took a lot of work, but a 60mm mortar and a pair of light Machine guns were added to both small craft. The Major’s boat also had the fully operational 25mm chain gun turret mounted and hidden under a tarp on the bow. Rigging the power supply for the turret, had not been a trivial task.

They had started on the lower Pilica River, with those two boats. They had been filled with all of the people, weapons, and other supplies that the unit had left. After a few days, they had to repack both vessels. They had pulled onto one of the banks of the slow-moving river. The boats were still overloaded after the repacking, but the pair of ship’s crews had learned a few new skills in those first few days. The pair of boats had slowly made their way to the Vistula River, and then they were able to make it all the way to Gadansk….sort of. They had not done this, without a lot of blood being spilled on both sides.

The last 10km of the trip, had been done on foot. That had been due to battle damaged to both boats on the long trip down the rivers. By now, less than ten people of the original group had remained on those two boats. They had picked up some additions along the way, to replace those that had died or had just decided that they had gone far enough.

Now on the Baltic Sea. They had almost tactically moved west on foot, working down the coast of the windswept and storm-tossed Baltic Sea. When they had found a town that was under attack on their trek west. The group had helped turn the tide against a set of Marauders flying Russian colors on the town. It had taken a few days to work out what had been going on, but the town had been happy to see them. With their help, the two river sail boats were recovered from the river and moved to the town.

Major Hyde, with a lot of help from Richard, had traded the two river boats for a medium coastal sailing fishing/light cargo boat. The pair of them made plans to go to Bremerhaven, and a hoped-for ride home as part of something called Operation Omega. The backup plan, if that failed, was more complex. It started with them trying to sail across the North Atlantic. The backup plan to that one had them sailing down the coast and heading to west Africa. From there, they would cross the ocean to South America. After they survived that crossing, they would head north to the land of The Big PX.

Richard had found that he had remembered quite a bit about sailing, from his days on the bay as a kid and young adult. They had made it to Bremerhaven, without to many external issues. The 25mm chain gun had a way of making sure pirates stayed at a safe distance, from the small cargo sailing ship. When they had safely arrived, at the still very busy harbor with the over loaded vessel. The little ship had picked up two other small groups, who had been trying to make the same trip. Only they did not have the required skills to make it all the way on the water.

It had taken almost two days before the local authorities had accepted that they were members of the US military. It had taken some time to get used to being part of “The Army” again. Major Hyde had been re-tasked to help keep everything under control in the general area around the harbor. The Staff Sargent had been given a very different set of tasks.

One of the missions, which had come up for him to do. After he had to set threw and pass about a dozen classes on how to use a small boat. He was to run around the Baltic area looking for lost souls, which were looking for a ride home. They also were to pick up needed supplies, which the troops in Bremerhaven might need. If they could take out some enemy units, equipment, or the odd pirate or three? That would be also looked at as a positive outcome of his mission. Richard was not a master sailor, but he was given command of the mission and the sailboat he and the Major had acquired. This was okay with Richard.

During Richard’s third interview after returning from a patrol, things changed. That was when he had been given the choices to go home or maybe going somewhere else. He had picked somewhere else. Due to his skills, he had been “asked” to board the ship heading for East Africa. The ship, that he was on moved to leave the German harbor on Thanksgiving Day 2000. Richard had been with a handful of other passengers on the tramp freighter. He had mixed feelings about how and why he was leaving Europe. This was his clean break with anything related to his old life and unit. He was a lone man in the big bad world.

That was how he had found himself in Mombasa, Kenya. There had been some chaos when he had walked off the tramp freighter, that had some quickly painted over French markings Richard had found on the second day of the trip out. Richard had “lost” himself, as he took some time off away from the war. It seemed like all of the military people at the dock were more concerned about the aircraft parts the little tramp freighter had brought in. That and the 20 or 30 aircraft and heavy vehicle mechanics that he had been riding with in the rust bucket.

He had been hip deep in this war, for over five years. Richard could not remember all of the people he had seen killed. He wanted a break, away from orders, away from death, and away from the cold. A few days of vacation had quickly turned into a month, before he reported in at one of the defense points. Soon he was transferred to a small Repo Depot/Turtle farm. Because he was “army” and carried an official infantry MOS. He had been first pointed to a ground unit. But after explaining what he had been doing in the Baltic, before Omega had been launched. He had been “assigned” to the navy. The Navy had no idea what to do with him and put him on desk duty. Richard had found something to do, all on his own. He had started working with Operation Harvester, just on his own terms and in a very low-keyed way.