Yang Xiao Long
Sunny Little Dragon
Everest Oilfields
18:53 Hours
Chief Engineer McTavish
Scotty angled back his chair and put his feet up on the desk. His week had been agonizingly long. The engineering crew had been doing nothing but repairs and working alongside the inhabitants of oilrig The work had been pretty dull as a majority of it had been following the directions of the inhabitants who knew what they were doing, which then resulted in writing reports about it, then the reports made it to the chief, who then looked at them and wrote reports of his own. Blast it, why the hell do we always have to write reports and fill out paperwork? It's the end of the world, you would think there would be less paper work not more! Quickly sitting up he decided he needed a drink.
During the seemingly fruitless rummaging there was a knock on the door. “Come in!” Said the preoccupied engineer, as he finally found the flask he has secreted away.
Another elderly man entired the room, Commander Hawkey. “I see ye betten us tae the punch. Though might I recommend ye wait untae the Oil Rig actually starts?”
“Huh, what the hell are you talking about?”
“We finished repairs on the Mountain. I thought you were wantin to celebrate there with tha flask?”
McTavish quickly hid the flask out of sight and leaned forward. “I dunno wha yer talking bout.”
“Don't worry, were naut as up tight as yer yank friends.”
“Well that's just great but I still shouldn't be drinkin on duty.”
“Lay off it just a wee bit. This is a good day, the mountain hasn't ran fer nearly a decade or tae.”
“I guess it is. Well let’s go join the festivities, shall we?”
“We shall!”
Nearly fifteen minutes later the two older gentlemen were on the deck of the rig. Many of the Oil Rig inhabitants were also mulling around and talking. The general mood was one of celebration, and happiness. In hands were glasses of both the local shine, and some of the shine dragged up from the carrier anchored just a little ways off of the Oil Rig.
Commander Hawkey climbed up onto the now vacant helipad and raised his voice. "Listen up! this past week hez been leek neene othor! wuh hev new friends! the mountain is up an' runnin agyen! but most importantly, this marks the retorn iv civilization! neeo wuh ma neet hev mich yeut heor othor than oil, an' usually when we's finds wor the' tek wot the' nee't an' gan, or the' leev disappointed! neet the pralin, she cyem an' when wuh offered hor a deal, she countered wi' yen that wes evon bettor! this heor is the beginnin iv a common wealth inatween wor! neeo, start the rig an' breakyeut the drinks, t'nyte wuh celebrate!"
The Oil Rig rumbled to life somewhere and a chant started somewhere. It was obviously someone who misunderstood the speak somewhere but once it began there was no way to stop it.
“Long live the Commonwealth! Long live the Commonwealth! Long live the Commonwealth! “ The chant went on for a good fifteen minutes and by the end even the Marines and Engineers from the Pralin had joined it.
Commander Hawkey saw a man approaching him through the crowd. It took him and while to elbow his way through the crowd but eventually he broke through and climbed onto the helipad with him. Captain hunt shook the man's hand and patted him on the wrist. “Looks like you started quite the movement.” The captain said looking into the Man’s eyes with a certain fire.
“I'll sort this mess out when I get the chance Captain.”
“No need, the Joint Com has been mulling over something like this a long time. Just forces us to get our asses in gear. Now, I think I owe you a drink.”
Someone somewhere pulled out some old instruments and started playing. From that point on the night broke out into celebration and eventually much drunken singing.
Central Norway
Bodø Main Air Station
23:50 Hours
Golf Company
Descending from the skies the company of Marines quickly landed. Knees buckling Captain Theodore Price landed first of all of his Marines as tradition dictated, a couple moments later his stomach caught up with him. Stripping off his parachute quickly he retrieved his XC-12 rifle from it’s case strapped across his waist. Around him a couple other members of his Recon Assault Team did the same and fanned out insuring that their consorts had a safe landing zone. Bringing his night vision goggles down in front of his eyes he looked at the airfield in the distance. From his position over looking it he could see several helicopters that seemed to be in good condition. He also could see lights moving around on the tarmac, what looked to be scavengers looking for the same things they would be. Touching his headset he got ahold of one of his LTs. “Scarecrow, how many people do we have on the ground?”
“13 so far, perimeter is secure.”
“Alright, looks like we have some scavs in the airfield. Once everyone is down break out the ghillie suits and SRs. I'm feeling a little naked this close to the enemy without the big guns ready.”
“Roge, I'll get them kitted up as soon as possible. Scarecrow out.”
Price went back to inspecting the Raiders. Looking at them they were pretty heavily armed for your average raider. Many were wearing prewar armour, and carrying HK434s. Some even were carrying C-20s most likely long ago appropriated from Norwegian Special Forces.
He heard a thump near him of one of his Men landing almost on top of him. He looked at the Marine and realized it was one of the younger of his men. Avery was it? Excellent range scores, seemed a bit nervous pre-op though… Any pre-op jitters seemed to be gone as he stripped his parachute and got his gear out.
“Scarecrow here. All boots on ground.” Crackled in the Captain’s headset.
“Roge, rally on you.”
Alpine Oilfields
00:05 Hours
Foe Hammer
Carol Rawley piloted her VTOL in a circular pattern around the Oil Rig. Watching the Marines move across the deck of the Oil Rig through her FLIR she was hoping for something to make a dumb move and give her a reason to ruin it’s day. The VTOL she sat in was an amazing piece of technology for the time, and even so before the war wiped away the massive air forces of yesterday. Most important about it though was that it made her feel powerful.
“Base this is Foe Hammer Charlie Company is boots on the ground and we are loitering to provide fire support if necessary.” The woman said into her helmet’s headset as she surveyed the scene below her.
On the deck of the rig below she could see the Marines crossing towards the different entrances to deeper inside the rig from the Helipad where minutes before she had dropped them off.
Once they made it to the doors to get deeper into the oil rig their progress suddenly halted. “Damnit, someone bring up the charges. These doors have been fused shut.” Came the voice of the Marines’ commanding officer after she had tried reefing on the door a few times. Quickly two more Marines joined her and set charges on the door. Foe Hammer’s display automatically dimmed as the thermite quickly burnt through the metal door. “Alright, pus-” From only her display it was hard to make out but it appeared as if something actually jumped through the burning thermite to attack one of the Marines who had set the charge.
“What the fuck?! Shoot the fuckers! Dammit!” Shouted the company Commander as more and more contacts started to pour from the doors of the Oil Rig. The Marines managed to put down a couple of whatever the hell was attacking them and then they started to creep backwards as more and more of the things came out onto the Rig’s deck.
“Foe Hammer, this is Captain Serafina. Requesting fire support.”
“This is Foehammer, acknowledged. Stand by, danger close.”
She actually didn't do any of the shooting, that was her co-pilot’s job but she still had to keep the aircraft level and give him the best angle of fire. She watched as the stream of 14.5mm tracers rained down on the target in her display, and felt relieved as they quickly dispatched most of the enemies on the platform below.
“Thanks for the assist Foe Hammer. We’re going under, standby.”
Central Norway
Bodø Main Air Station
00:10 Hours
Golf Company
The bandit walked past the checkpoint without batting an eyelash. After all they cleared it earlier why shouldn't it be fine now? Right? The Marine moved quickly getting the garrote line around the Bandit's neck and dragging him back into the booth. The bandit struggled at first but quickly lost the ability to do so. Despite their gear the Bandits were obviously poorly trained, and now that would result in most likely all of their deaths. Two Marines now wearing full ghillie suits and armed with C-9s quickly went past the check point into the airfield.
They all had their objectives.
Price moved from the booth and out towards the nearest hanger. Once there he met up with another Marine about to enter through one of the side doors. Lights shined through the window and moved back and forth. The Bandits which the light belonged to probably were looking for spare parts or the like. Surprisingly, or maybe unsurprisingly the airfield seemed realitivily untouched. Only showing signs of damage where natural decay happened. Focusing on the Marine across from him Price saw him make the sign for three contacts and that upon breach he would break right. Normally a subordinate wouldn't dream of dictating the plan of action to his commanding officer, but in the conditions it was hard to tell each other apart and they knew that. Most Marines were trained to think on their feet, and not to need a chain of command. This allowed them to continue fighting even if the officer or sergeant got hit. The Marine made the sign to breach, then they both jumped into action.
-----
“Hey Mac, why the hell does the boss have us lookin, fer deez parts? Not liek we know wut we’re lookin fer.” Complained Ol’ Jimmy as he shined his light on the plane sitting in the hanger. “Duh, cuz he don't want to do it em self. So he sends us while he gets too look at der whirlybirds at the far end of da strip.” Replied Mac who at the moment hand his finger firmly up his nose, and was digging for gold. Roger, the third man in the hanger quitely wondered to him self if Mac had dug so deep it caused some brain damage.
“Hey did you see that?!” Suddenly exclaimed Jimmy as he moved his light around trying to illuminate what ever it was he saw. “Probably seeing things, calm down Jimmy, we don't need another Charlie.” Said Roger from his position near a self of old tools, a shelf of tools he was rummaging through seriously wishing for a head lamp. “No I mea-” Jimmy was quickly cut off by his brains beeing splattered across the wall. “Holly fuck!” Roger quickly grabbed up his gun, then turned to flee from the hanger only to turn around and end up facing a man wearing a full ghillie suit and pointing a sub machine gun at his face. The Marine would be the last thing he ever saw.
-----
Price quickly dropped the bandit as he turned to flee. Shouldn't be this fucking easy to kill the bastards, this is like putting down the family dog with a wood chipper. The third bandit finally had gotten his finger out of his nose and his gun pointed at price when a shot from the other Marine closed the curtain on him. Wasting no time both of the Marines moved to the other door, and went through. In the distance price could hear the opening crack of the sniper attack on the Bandits. Sounds like this should be wrapping up quite quickly now…
Alpine Oilfields
02:03 Hours
Foe Hammer
Carol yawned as she completed yet another circuit around the Oilrig below, they hadn't much action since the original contact nearly two hours ago. Oh sure she had gotten the odd snippet of radio chatter here and there from Charlie Company clearing the rig below but that wasn't the same thing as being down there. Or at least getting to participate by firing a salvo every now and then from the air. Oh stop whining, you wanted to be a pilot and there are definitely fun bits to it.
“Captain Serafina to Foe Hammer, we’re done and dusted down here. Radio back to base we have two injured and a third coming back in a body bag.”
“Roge, I'll set her down on the southern pad. Shame about the causalities. Foehammer out.”
True to her word the pilot quickly set the VTOL down on the southern pad of the Oil Rig. She would of set down on the northern pad which would of been closer to where the Marines would of been coming out onto the deck, but she wasn't quite sure if it would hold the weight of her aircraft.
Soon the Marines appeared from one of the doorways. From he spot she could see that there were three groups of them who were obviously helping move the causalities. Quickly the Marines crossed over to the Helipad and loaded the causalities. Once the injured and dead were aboard there was a thump from the troop bay, and the pilot lifted off.
“Base this is Foe Hammer, mission was successful and the kids are in the back. We’ll need a medical team on the flight deck once we land.”
“Roge Foe Hammer, drive safe and make it back home.”
Central Norway
Bodø
10:42 Hours
Settlement Militia
“Hey, Max! Get up! They’re back!”
Max was shaken awake by one of the settlement’s other inhabitants. No doubt he was talking about the bandit gang who had been extorting ‘taxes’ from the locals for the past year. “Just give them what they want and they’ll go away.”
“You don't get it, there’s a lot of them, and they look pissed off!”
“Alright! Get the others I'll be right out!” Max quickly got up out of bed and started to get ready. He threw on his makeshift leather armour and took up his trusty double barreled shotgun.
Running from the makeshift hut he usually lived in Max went straight to the town’s gate and looked down the road. True to the man’s word there were about forty or so heavily armed Bandits marching towards the small little settlement. Something about his view though, it just seemed out of place, then he realized what it was. The bushes along the side of the road, they weren't there yesterday.
Then a shot cracked out. He wasn't sure where from but the bandit at the front of the group dropped dead. “Who fired that?!” Shouted Max as he looked at the other members of the Militia who had assembled at the gate. Then he heard a panicked scream from the bandits. “AMBUSH, AMBUSH, AMBU-” The vocalizer quickly was silenced as the bushes around the gang came to life, from the looks of it one of the bushes had pushed a knife through the man’s rib cage right around where his heart would be. Without batting an eyelash the heavily camouflaged man moved from stabbing to drawing his gun and putting down another bandit.
The whole engagement lasted less than ten minutes, and now that the Bushmen had finished with the Bandits they had turned and started walking towards the town. In the distance Max could clearly two of them break off and start coming towards him, hands up.
Central Norway
Bodø
10:54 Hours
Golf Company
Soon after dispatching the men at the airfield Captain Price had realized they had just been a part of a bigger group. Realizing it would of been a bad idea to stick around he had gotten his men to quickly gather all of their gear as well as any gear from the Bandits that would be useful over the next couple of weeks they would be operating in Norway. He had also called in for some Aviators from the Pralin to come pick up the helicopters they had found on the tarmac of the airfield. Once the Aviators had arrived and left with the Helos Golf Company had set out for the nearby town of Bodø.
When they got near the outskirts of the town they had spotted a large group of Bandits heading towards the town, most likely blaming the survivors for their consorts’ deaths. He then made the decision to get his men into position to ambush the Bandits and then open relations with the town’s folk.
Now Price and Private Alexis Lue were walking towards the settlement with their hands raised in the air. After that show I'm hoping no one gets jittery and shoots us. One of the men from the settlement walked towards the two and asked them something in Norwegian.
“Kuchisake, translation here?”
“He wants to know who the hell we are. To put it simply.”
“Tell him we’re friends, and that we’re on a mission to gather friends and to bring back civilization.”
The translator quickly repeated what he said and the man laughed.
“He says thank you, he hasn't heard a joke that funny in ages.”
“Tell him that I'm dead serious, and that if I wasn't how would a group of heavily armed Marines who obviously weren’t Norwegian or Swedish get here?”
“Good point, you have there.” The man replied himself in fluent English. “I still don't believe you, though.”
“Alright how can I prove our intents?” Price asked the man matter of factly. “We did take out your Bandits for you.”
“We were planning on sending a convoy to Narvik, they were hit badly by a mutant attack. If you can help us get help to them we’ll join you. We’ll even try to convince them to do so themselves.”
“Deal.” Price held his hand out to the Norwegian, who in turn took the hand and shook it firmly.
Central Norway
On The Road
14:19 Hours
Golf Company
Captain Price climbed down the side of the trailer and then swung into the passenger's seat in the cab of the semi truck. “Nice little Convoy you have here max, what is it? Four armoured buses the two trucks and the bikes? Honestly this is the most vehicles I've seen in a long time. Operating that is.”
“We get that alot, though we don't bring em out much. Great for when we need to get to the other settlements quickly, you know if they get attacked or some such. Lots of road gangs out here too though, glad you guys shared some of your firepower with us.”
“My guys are riding with you, wouldn't it be a little stupid for us not to?”
“Fair point.”
The CB in the truck as well as Price’s headset crackled. He recognized the voice as Scarecrow’s “Boss, we got a couple ATVs approaching from 5 O’ Clock.”
“How far out?” Price asked through his headset.
“Couple hun- Oh fuck, Everyone! Get down RPG! Fu-” Scarecrow was cut off as Price heard and explosion from the back of the Convoy. “Fuck, I'll be back. Keep her steady.” With that Price swung out onto the Semi’s trailer and climbed up to the top for a better view. Once at the top he moved towards the back and climbed down into the Machine gun turret, so he wouldn't fall.
Bringing up his binoculars with one hand he keyed his headset with the other. “Scarecrow come in, scarecrow!”
“Damnit we’re here boss they missed barely, watch out!”
He could now make out a couple of the ATVs from his position. Tapping the machine gunner on the shoulder he pointed in the direction of them. Then he brought up his own assault rifle and fired off a couple of rounds. Through his optic he could see the driver of one of the ATVs fall off and the ATV crashing. The. The machine gunner opened up. The whole Convoy began firing.
Then the rest of the ATVs caught up and Bandits started jumping from them onto the vehicles. One of the jumpers landed on the semi right underneath the machine gunner nest. Climbing up the bandit threw a grenade ahead of him, which landed right at the machine gunner's feet. Price quickly reacted by jumping from the trailer to the roof of the armoured bus behind the semi. Looking back he saw as the grenade went off, it was an incendiary and the nest burst into flames. Screaming the machine gunner finally managed to get up and ended up falling from the trailer.
Price brought up his rifle and fired off a burst that caused the grenadier to fall from his spot clinging to the trailer. As the bastard dropped the bus suddenly shook as a buggy side checked it and more Bandits jumped onboard. Where the fuck did these guys come from?! The closer of the two came at him with an ax. Price blocked with his AR. The ax dug halfway into the AR. Tugging it from his hands the bandit pulled his AR away, Price then drew his knife and quickly stabbed the bandit in the throat. As the bandit fell priced looked up at the other bandit. “If you jump I won't shoot you.” The bandit threatened in broken English. “How bout this instead.” Price pulled the trigger on his knife’s grip and the blade shot out hitting the bandit in the forehead. “Fucking asshat.”
Price saw that the next bus had been breached into. Taking a running start he jumped from his bus to the next one. Another Marine was on the roof of this one trying to fight off two bandits armed with Axes. Tackling the nearest bandit Price went down. He punched the man several times in the face and then the bandit rolled. Rolling with the bandit Price went over the side of the bus. Acting quickly he grabbed a hold on one of the open windows of the bus. Looking up he saw a familiar barrel being stuck out the window. Fuck’s sake![\I] The C-280 started firing and the burst deafened the hanging Captain. The 280 stopped firing and then the Captain looked behind him. There was a bandit buggy coming directly at him, he pushed off from the bus and climbed aboard the buggy right before it impacted.
The unexpected Marine in their midst and the impact knocked the Bandits off balance. Moving like greased lightning Price pushed one bandit into another causing them to fall off of the buggy. Then with a neck chop he dispatched the third bandit. Looking about the Convoy, he could see that one of the buses had fallen off and only the ATVs driven by his Marines remained. But they had managed to drive off the bandits.
Central Norway
Narvik
16:42 Hours
Golf Company
The Convoy slowly drove into the settlement. From his place in the lead truck Price could see how badly off the people were from the Mutant attack. “Damnit, looks like we won't be able to do much… Other than comfort and shoot the ones suffering the worst.” Max said from the driver’s seat. “I might be able to do something more.” Price said looking him in the eyes. “Like what?”
Price switched to a different channel on his headset. “Leviathan relay to base that we’ll need Hotel Company in Narvik.”
The operator on the other end spoke back to him. “What happened?”
“Mutant attack, golf company is fine but the locals are badly off.”
“Roge, you’ll be able to expect them in an hour or so.”
Price looked at Max. “We’ll get them back to our base for treatment. The VTOLs should be here within an hour or so.”
Everest Oilfields
18:53 Hours A Week Later
Council Chambers
“Thank you all for coming here today, I'll keep this sort as it’s just the four of us. We’re starting to get to the point at which we need to reorganize the Joint Command. Agreed?” John Trudeau addressed the others in the small room. He was what was considered the civilian leader of the joint command, and up to this point that usually meant organizing the teaching of the Pralin’s children and other menial labour that didn't come under the Naval Crew’s jurisdiction.
“You’re right, that is for sure. Especially with this talk of forming a Commonwealth that sparked from Hawkey's speech last week.” Pointed out Captain James Hunt.
“Even the Marines have taken up the idea. Hell we even had a group of them go into combat screaming ‘for the commonwealth’. To be honest though, I'm not sure that's a bad thing. We’ve had a lot less causalities lately. Well from the regular companies, Charlie still is bringing back someone in a body bag every other day.” Xervia pointed out from her seat around the table.
“Aye, evon the riggers are gettin ansy abyeut it. ah think sum iv them are thinkin it wes bluff. if we're ganin tuh dee this wuh nee't tuh dee it soon.”
“So, we’re all in agreement then?”
“Yes.” Came the Captain.
“Agreed.” From the Colonel.
“Aye, lang live the bloody commonwealth!” Said the Oil Rig’s commander as he slammed his fist against the table.
“Alright, if we’re going to do this I have been wanting to reorganize the Marines. We’ll also probably need a dress uniform too.” Said the Colonel.
“Hold up, we still need to do two things.” Said the Captain from his seat.
“What is it Jim?” Trudeau said at the head of the table.
“First we’ll need to organize the government. Second we’ll need a Flag…”
18:53 Hours
Chief Engineer McTavish
Scotty angled back his chair and put his feet up on the desk. His week had been agonizingly long. The engineering crew had been doing nothing but repairs and working alongside the inhabitants of oilrig The work had been pretty dull as a majority of it had been following the directions of the inhabitants who knew what they were doing, which then resulted in writing reports about it, then the reports made it to the chief, who then looked at them and wrote reports of his own. Blast it, why the hell do we always have to write reports and fill out paperwork? It's the end of the world, you would think there would be less paper work not more! Quickly sitting up he decided he needed a drink.
During the seemingly fruitless rummaging there was a knock on the door. “Come in!” Said the preoccupied engineer, as he finally found the flask he has secreted away.
Another elderly man entired the room, Commander Hawkey. “I see ye betten us tae the punch. Though might I recommend ye wait untae the Oil Rig actually starts?”
“Huh, what the hell are you talking about?”
“We finished repairs on the Mountain. I thought you were wantin to celebrate there with tha flask?”
McTavish quickly hid the flask out of sight and leaned forward. “I dunno wha yer talking bout.”
“Don't worry, were naut as up tight as yer yank friends.”
“Well that's just great but I still shouldn't be drinkin on duty.”
“Lay off it just a wee bit. This is a good day, the mountain hasn't ran fer nearly a decade or tae.”
“I guess it is. Well let’s go join the festivities, shall we?”
“We shall!”
Nearly fifteen minutes later the two older gentlemen were on the deck of the rig. Many of the Oil Rig inhabitants were also mulling around and talking. The general mood was one of celebration, and happiness. In hands were glasses of both the local shine, and some of the shine dragged up from the carrier anchored just a little ways off of the Oil Rig.
Commander Hawkey climbed up onto the now vacant helipad and raised his voice. "Listen up! this past week hez been leek neene othor! wuh hev new friends! the mountain is up an' runnin agyen! but most importantly, this marks the retorn iv civilization! neeo wuh ma neet hev mich yeut heor othor than oil, an' usually when we's finds wor the' tek wot the' nee't an' gan, or the' leev disappointed! neet the pralin, she cyem an' when wuh offered hor a deal, she countered wi' yen that wes evon bettor! this heor is the beginnin iv a common wealth inatween wor! neeo, start the rig an' breakyeut the drinks, t'nyte wuh celebrate!"
The Oil Rig rumbled to life somewhere and a chant started somewhere. It was obviously someone who misunderstood the speak somewhere but once it began there was no way to stop it.
“Long live the Commonwealth! Long live the Commonwealth! Long live the Commonwealth! “ The chant went on for a good fifteen minutes and by the end even the Marines and Engineers from the Pralin had joined it.
Commander Hawkey saw a man approaching him through the crowd. It took him and while to elbow his way through the crowd but eventually he broke through and climbed onto the helipad with him. Captain hunt shook the man's hand and patted him on the wrist. “Looks like you started quite the movement.” The captain said looking into the Man’s eyes with a certain fire.
“I'll sort this mess out when I get the chance Captain.”
“No need, the Joint Com has been mulling over something like this a long time. Just forces us to get our asses in gear. Now, I think I owe you a drink.”
Someone somewhere pulled out some old instruments and started playing. From that point on the night broke out into celebration and eventually much drunken singing.
Central Norway
Bodø Main Air Station
23:50 Hours
Golf Company
Descending from the skies the company of Marines quickly landed. Knees buckling Captain Theodore Price landed first of all of his Marines as tradition dictated, a couple moments later his stomach caught up with him. Stripping off his parachute quickly he retrieved his XC-12 rifle from it’s case strapped across his waist. Around him a couple other members of his Recon Assault Team did the same and fanned out insuring that their consorts had a safe landing zone. Bringing his night vision goggles down in front of his eyes he looked at the airfield in the distance. From his position over looking it he could see several helicopters that seemed to be in good condition. He also could see lights moving around on the tarmac, what looked to be scavengers looking for the same things they would be. Touching his headset he got ahold of one of his LTs. “Scarecrow, how many people do we have on the ground?”
“13 so far, perimeter is secure.”
“Alright, looks like we have some scavs in the airfield. Once everyone is down break out the ghillie suits and SRs. I'm feeling a little naked this close to the enemy without the big guns ready.”
“Roge, I'll get them kitted up as soon as possible. Scarecrow out.”
Price went back to inspecting the Raiders. Looking at them they were pretty heavily armed for your average raider. Many were wearing prewar armour, and carrying HK434s. Some even were carrying C-20s most likely long ago appropriated from Norwegian Special Forces.
He heard a thump near him of one of his Men landing almost on top of him. He looked at the Marine and realized it was one of the younger of his men. Avery was it? Excellent range scores, seemed a bit nervous pre-op though… Any pre-op jitters seemed to be gone as he stripped his parachute and got his gear out.
“Scarecrow here. All boots on ground.” Crackled in the Captain’s headset.
“Roge, rally on you.”
Alpine Oilfields
00:05 Hours
Foe Hammer
Carol Rawley piloted her VTOL in a circular pattern around the Oil Rig. Watching the Marines move across the deck of the Oil Rig through her FLIR she was hoping for something to make a dumb move and give her a reason to ruin it’s day. The VTOL she sat in was an amazing piece of technology for the time, and even so before the war wiped away the massive air forces of yesterday. Most important about it though was that it made her feel powerful.
“Base this is Foe Hammer Charlie Company is boots on the ground and we are loitering to provide fire support if necessary.” The woman said into her helmet’s headset as she surveyed the scene below her.
On the deck of the rig below she could see the Marines crossing towards the different entrances to deeper inside the rig from the Helipad where minutes before she had dropped them off.
Once they made it to the doors to get deeper into the oil rig their progress suddenly halted. “Damnit, someone bring up the charges. These doors have been fused shut.” Came the voice of the Marines’ commanding officer after she had tried reefing on the door a few times. Quickly two more Marines joined her and set charges on the door. Foe Hammer’s display automatically dimmed as the thermite quickly burnt through the metal door. “Alright, pus-” From only her display it was hard to make out but it appeared as if something actually jumped through the burning thermite to attack one of the Marines who had set the charge.
“What the fuck?! Shoot the fuckers! Dammit!” Shouted the company Commander as more and more contacts started to pour from the doors of the Oil Rig. The Marines managed to put down a couple of whatever the hell was attacking them and then they started to creep backwards as more and more of the things came out onto the Rig’s deck.
“Foe Hammer, this is Captain Serafina. Requesting fire support.”
“This is Foehammer, acknowledged. Stand by, danger close.”
She actually didn't do any of the shooting, that was her co-pilot’s job but she still had to keep the aircraft level and give him the best angle of fire. She watched as the stream of 14.5mm tracers rained down on the target in her display, and felt relieved as they quickly dispatched most of the enemies on the platform below.
“Thanks for the assist Foe Hammer. We’re going under, standby.”
Central Norway
Bodø Main Air Station
00:10 Hours
Golf Company
The bandit walked past the checkpoint without batting an eyelash. After all they cleared it earlier why shouldn't it be fine now? Right? The Marine moved quickly getting the garrote line around the Bandit's neck and dragging him back into the booth. The bandit struggled at first but quickly lost the ability to do so. Despite their gear the Bandits were obviously poorly trained, and now that would result in most likely all of their deaths. Two Marines now wearing full ghillie suits and armed with C-9s quickly went past the check point into the airfield.
They all had their objectives.
Price moved from the booth and out towards the nearest hanger. Once there he met up with another Marine about to enter through one of the side doors. Lights shined through the window and moved back and forth. The Bandits which the light belonged to probably were looking for spare parts or the like. Surprisingly, or maybe unsurprisingly the airfield seemed realitivily untouched. Only showing signs of damage where natural decay happened. Focusing on the Marine across from him Price saw him make the sign for three contacts and that upon breach he would break right. Normally a subordinate wouldn't dream of dictating the plan of action to his commanding officer, but in the conditions it was hard to tell each other apart and they knew that. Most Marines were trained to think on their feet, and not to need a chain of command. This allowed them to continue fighting even if the officer or sergeant got hit. The Marine made the sign to breach, then they both jumped into action.
-----
“Hey Mac, why the hell does the boss have us lookin, fer deez parts? Not liek we know wut we’re lookin fer.” Complained Ol’ Jimmy as he shined his light on the plane sitting in the hanger. “Duh, cuz he don't want to do it em self. So he sends us while he gets too look at der whirlybirds at the far end of da strip.” Replied Mac who at the moment hand his finger firmly up his nose, and was digging for gold. Roger, the third man in the hanger quitely wondered to him self if Mac had dug so deep it caused some brain damage.
“Hey did you see that?!” Suddenly exclaimed Jimmy as he moved his light around trying to illuminate what ever it was he saw. “Probably seeing things, calm down Jimmy, we don't need another Charlie.” Said Roger from his position near a self of old tools, a shelf of tools he was rummaging through seriously wishing for a head lamp. “No I mea-” Jimmy was quickly cut off by his brains beeing splattered across the wall. “Holly fuck!” Roger quickly grabbed up his gun, then turned to flee from the hanger only to turn around and end up facing a man wearing a full ghillie suit and pointing a sub machine gun at his face. The Marine would be the last thing he ever saw.
-----
Price quickly dropped the bandit as he turned to flee. Shouldn't be this fucking easy to kill the bastards, this is like putting down the family dog with a wood chipper. The third bandit finally had gotten his finger out of his nose and his gun pointed at price when a shot from the other Marine closed the curtain on him. Wasting no time both of the Marines moved to the other door, and went through. In the distance price could hear the opening crack of the sniper attack on the Bandits. Sounds like this should be wrapping up quite quickly now…
Alpine Oilfields
02:03 Hours
Foe Hammer
Carol yawned as she completed yet another circuit around the Oilrig below, they hadn't much action since the original contact nearly two hours ago. Oh sure she had gotten the odd snippet of radio chatter here and there from Charlie Company clearing the rig below but that wasn't the same thing as being down there. Or at least getting to participate by firing a salvo every now and then from the air. Oh stop whining, you wanted to be a pilot and there are definitely fun bits to it.
“Captain Serafina to Foe Hammer, we’re done and dusted down here. Radio back to base we have two injured and a third coming back in a body bag.”
“Roge, I'll set her down on the southern pad. Shame about the causalities. Foehammer out.”
True to her word the pilot quickly set the VTOL down on the southern pad of the Oil Rig. She would of set down on the northern pad which would of been closer to where the Marines would of been coming out onto the deck, but she wasn't quite sure if it would hold the weight of her aircraft.
Soon the Marines appeared from one of the doorways. From he spot she could see that there were three groups of them who were obviously helping move the causalities. Quickly the Marines crossed over to the Helipad and loaded the causalities. Once the injured and dead were aboard there was a thump from the troop bay, and the pilot lifted off.
“Base this is Foe Hammer, mission was successful and the kids are in the back. We’ll need a medical team on the flight deck once we land.”
“Roge Foe Hammer, drive safe and make it back home.”
Central Norway
Bodø
10:42 Hours
Settlement Militia
“Hey, Max! Get up! They’re back!”
Max was shaken awake by one of the settlement’s other inhabitants. No doubt he was talking about the bandit gang who had been extorting ‘taxes’ from the locals for the past year. “Just give them what they want and they’ll go away.”
“You don't get it, there’s a lot of them, and they look pissed off!”
“Alright! Get the others I'll be right out!” Max quickly got up out of bed and started to get ready. He threw on his makeshift leather armour and took up his trusty double barreled shotgun.
Running from the makeshift hut he usually lived in Max went straight to the town’s gate and looked down the road. True to the man’s word there were about forty or so heavily armed Bandits marching towards the small little settlement. Something about his view though, it just seemed out of place, then he realized what it was. The bushes along the side of the road, they weren't there yesterday.
Then a shot cracked out. He wasn't sure where from but the bandit at the front of the group dropped dead. “Who fired that?!” Shouted Max as he looked at the other members of the Militia who had assembled at the gate. Then he heard a panicked scream from the bandits. “AMBUSH, AMBUSH, AMBU-” The vocalizer quickly was silenced as the bushes around the gang came to life, from the looks of it one of the bushes had pushed a knife through the man’s rib cage right around where his heart would be. Without batting an eyelash the heavily camouflaged man moved from stabbing to drawing his gun and putting down another bandit.
The whole engagement lasted less than ten minutes, and now that the Bushmen had finished with the Bandits they had turned and started walking towards the town. In the distance Max could clearly two of them break off and start coming towards him, hands up.
Central Norway
Bodø
10:54 Hours
Golf Company
Soon after dispatching the men at the airfield Captain Price had realized they had just been a part of a bigger group. Realizing it would of been a bad idea to stick around he had gotten his men to quickly gather all of their gear as well as any gear from the Bandits that would be useful over the next couple of weeks they would be operating in Norway. He had also called in for some Aviators from the Pralin to come pick up the helicopters they had found on the tarmac of the airfield. Once the Aviators had arrived and left with the Helos Golf Company had set out for the nearby town of Bodø.
When they got near the outskirts of the town they had spotted a large group of Bandits heading towards the town, most likely blaming the survivors for their consorts’ deaths. He then made the decision to get his men into position to ambush the Bandits and then open relations with the town’s folk.
Now Price and Private Alexis Lue were walking towards the settlement with their hands raised in the air. After that show I'm hoping no one gets jittery and shoots us. One of the men from the settlement walked towards the two and asked them something in Norwegian.
“Kuchisake, translation here?”
“He wants to know who the hell we are. To put it simply.”
“Tell him we’re friends, and that we’re on a mission to gather friends and to bring back civilization.”
The translator quickly repeated what he said and the man laughed.
“He says thank you, he hasn't heard a joke that funny in ages.”
“Tell him that I'm dead serious, and that if I wasn't how would a group of heavily armed Marines who obviously weren’t Norwegian or Swedish get here?”
“Good point, you have there.” The man replied himself in fluent English. “I still don't believe you, though.”
“Alright how can I prove our intents?” Price asked the man matter of factly. “We did take out your Bandits for you.”
“We were planning on sending a convoy to Narvik, they were hit badly by a mutant attack. If you can help us get help to them we’ll join you. We’ll even try to convince them to do so themselves.”
“Deal.” Price held his hand out to the Norwegian, who in turn took the hand and shook it firmly.
Central Norway
On The Road
14:19 Hours
Golf Company
Captain Price climbed down the side of the trailer and then swung into the passenger's seat in the cab of the semi truck. “Nice little Convoy you have here max, what is it? Four armoured buses the two trucks and the bikes? Honestly this is the most vehicles I've seen in a long time. Operating that is.”
“We get that alot, though we don't bring em out much. Great for when we need to get to the other settlements quickly, you know if they get attacked or some such. Lots of road gangs out here too though, glad you guys shared some of your firepower with us.”
“My guys are riding with you, wouldn't it be a little stupid for us not to?”
“Fair point.”
The CB in the truck as well as Price’s headset crackled. He recognized the voice as Scarecrow’s “Boss, we got a couple ATVs approaching from 5 O’ Clock.”
“How far out?” Price asked through his headset.
“Couple hun- Oh fuck, Everyone! Get down RPG! Fu-” Scarecrow was cut off as Price heard and explosion from the back of the Convoy. “Fuck, I'll be back. Keep her steady.” With that Price swung out onto the Semi’s trailer and climbed up to the top for a better view. Once at the top he moved towards the back and climbed down into the Machine gun turret, so he wouldn't fall.
Bringing up his binoculars with one hand he keyed his headset with the other. “Scarecrow come in, scarecrow!”
“Damnit we’re here boss they missed barely, watch out!”
He could now make out a couple of the ATVs from his position. Tapping the machine gunner on the shoulder he pointed in the direction of them. Then he brought up his own assault rifle and fired off a couple of rounds. Through his optic he could see the driver of one of the ATVs fall off and the ATV crashing. The. The machine gunner opened up. The whole Convoy began firing.
Then the rest of the ATVs caught up and Bandits started jumping from them onto the vehicles. One of the jumpers landed on the semi right underneath the machine gunner nest. Climbing up the bandit threw a grenade ahead of him, which landed right at the machine gunner's feet. Price quickly reacted by jumping from the trailer to the roof of the armoured bus behind the semi. Looking back he saw as the grenade went off, it was an incendiary and the nest burst into flames. Screaming the machine gunner finally managed to get up and ended up falling from the trailer.
Price brought up his rifle and fired off a burst that caused the grenadier to fall from his spot clinging to the trailer. As the bastard dropped the bus suddenly shook as a buggy side checked it and more Bandits jumped onboard. Where the fuck did these guys come from?! The closer of the two came at him with an ax. Price blocked with his AR. The ax dug halfway into the AR. Tugging it from his hands the bandit pulled his AR away, Price then drew his knife and quickly stabbed the bandit in the throat. As the bandit fell priced looked up at the other bandit. “If you jump I won't shoot you.” The bandit threatened in broken English. “How bout this instead.” Price pulled the trigger on his knife’s grip and the blade shot out hitting the bandit in the forehead. “Fucking asshat.”
Price saw that the next bus had been breached into. Taking a running start he jumped from his bus to the next one. Another Marine was on the roof of this one trying to fight off two bandits armed with Axes. Tackling the nearest bandit Price went down. He punched the man several times in the face and then the bandit rolled. Rolling with the bandit Price went over the side of the bus. Acting quickly he grabbed a hold on one of the open windows of the bus. Looking up he saw a familiar barrel being stuck out the window. Fuck’s sake![\I] The C-280 started firing and the burst deafened the hanging Captain. The 280 stopped firing and then the Captain looked behind him. There was a bandit buggy coming directly at him, he pushed off from the bus and climbed aboard the buggy right before it impacted.
The unexpected Marine in their midst and the impact knocked the Bandits off balance. Moving like greased lightning Price pushed one bandit into another causing them to fall off of the buggy. Then with a neck chop he dispatched the third bandit. Looking about the Convoy, he could see that one of the buses had fallen off and only the ATVs driven by his Marines remained. But they had managed to drive off the bandits.
Central Norway
Narvik
16:42 Hours
Golf Company
The Convoy slowly drove into the settlement. From his place in the lead truck Price could see how badly off the people were from the Mutant attack. “Damnit, looks like we won't be able to do much… Other than comfort and shoot the ones suffering the worst.” Max said from the driver’s seat. “I might be able to do something more.” Price said looking him in the eyes. “Like what?”
Price switched to a different channel on his headset. “Leviathan relay to base that we’ll need Hotel Company in Narvik.”
The operator on the other end spoke back to him. “What happened?”
“Mutant attack, golf company is fine but the locals are badly off.”
“Roge, you’ll be able to expect them in an hour or so.”
Price looked at Max. “We’ll get them back to our base for treatment. The VTOLs should be here within an hour or so.”
Everest Oilfields
18:53 Hours A Week Later
Council Chambers
“Thank you all for coming here today, I'll keep this sort as it’s just the four of us. We’re starting to get to the point at which we need to reorganize the Joint Command. Agreed?” John Trudeau addressed the others in the small room. He was what was considered the civilian leader of the joint command, and up to this point that usually meant organizing the teaching of the Pralin’s children and other menial labour that didn't come under the Naval Crew’s jurisdiction.
“You’re right, that is for sure. Especially with this talk of forming a Commonwealth that sparked from Hawkey's speech last week.” Pointed out Captain James Hunt.
“Even the Marines have taken up the idea. Hell we even had a group of them go into combat screaming ‘for the commonwealth’. To be honest though, I'm not sure that's a bad thing. We’ve had a lot less causalities lately. Well from the regular companies, Charlie still is bringing back someone in a body bag every other day.” Xervia pointed out from her seat around the table.
“Aye, evon the riggers are gettin ansy abyeut it. ah think sum iv them are thinkin it wes bluff. if we're ganin tuh dee this wuh nee't tuh dee it soon.”
“So, we’re all in agreement then?”
“Yes.” Came the Captain.
“Agreed.” From the Colonel.
“Aye, lang live the bloody commonwealth!” Said the Oil Rig’s commander as he slammed his fist against the table.
“Alright, if we’re going to do this I have been wanting to reorganize the Marines. We’ll also probably need a dress uniform too.” Said the Colonel.
“Hold up, we still need to do two things.” Said the Captain from his seat.
“What is it Jim?” Trudeau said at the head of the table.
“First we’ll need to organize the government. Second we’ll need a Flag…”
Bodø Main Air Station Captured
Bodø Captured
Narvik Captured
Alpine Oilfields Captured
Population Gained: 140
WS-61 Sea King Commandos Gained: 2
Charlie Company Causalities: 4
Golf Company Causalities: 2
Bodø Captured
Narvik Captured
Alpine Oilfields Captured
Population Gained: 140
WS-61 Sea King Commandos Gained: 2
Charlie Company Causalities: 4
Golf Company Causalities: 2
