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The Stories Of Easy Company |
Fatal Rocko Willis Fleet Admiral Fatal Squadron
Joined: March 01, 2003 Posts: 1336 From: Kentucky
| Posted: 2005-08-01 01:21  
Well this is the first installment of the life and times of Easy Company, a ICC Marine Heavy Infantry Company. I will try to include names from the game to spice things up but this is my take on what really happens to all those poor troops we throw at planets. I hope you enjoy the story.
Now on with Chapter One... "In the Beginning there were Marines, and all was good."
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(Aboard the Heavy Transport ICCS Botany Bay, somewhere in ICC controlled space…)
Looking around the converted transport ship, one could see the frenzy of activity present. Supply personnel where working with their combat teams making sure all was in order. Major Elwood Manchester, Commanding Officer of Easy Company, knew he had as good a team as could be asked for. His one hundred men and women, which comprised Easy Company, was just but one of the five active companies of the 7th Marine Division. His infantry of Easy Company had the equivalent firepower of an entire 20th Century Division. Five hundred men and women, the entire combat manpower of the Division where checking their equipment over and over again. These days you never knew where you might be going so they always planned for the worst. All of the 7th Division troopers were housed in the forward half of the cargo bay. The aft half of the cargo bay housed the like numbers of the 3rd Marine Division. All in all ten companies of Heavy Troopers filled this ship to the brink of overflowing. All this was crammed into the cargo bay along with their drop ships. They were the armored flying machines that would hopefully land them safely on the surface of a planet.
As the Major watched his troops prepare for their next mission he was brought out of his revelry by his Executive Officer, Captain Richard Elmhurst. “Sir, all is going well with the preparations, but I wish we could get an idea who we will be facing on our next mission.” It helped to know what you where going up against so you prepare better. “Well think about it Richard, we left our armored units behind and brought extra artillery. What does that tell you?” “K’Luth Sir.” “You would be correct Richard.” To fight the K’Luth you didn’t need tanks. They fought you by throwing waves upon waves of infantry at you. They came in mass numbers that overwhelmed you. They only way to knock them down a notch was by well placed artillery and close air support. That was the way to fry them up good.
The Major looked at his watch and knew it was time for the invasion briefing, a meeting filled with so many intelligence weenies you couldn’t tell what was good and what was bad intelligence. As Elwood walked into the briefing room he could see the other CO’s, XO’s and Senior NCO’s of the 8th Marines. They, along with himself, his XO and his Senior NCO would be connected via cyber-link to the other troop ship, the ICCS Shiloh. The Shiloh held the 1st and 4th Marine Divisions, which comprised the bulk of the 1st Heavy Marine Army. The only thing they were lacking was their armored support. This allowed them to bring extra Artillery, extra supplies and extra air support. It was time; Elwood lay back in the briefing chair and watched as the holo-tank in the middle of the room came to life.
Displayed in the holo-tank was the current fleet in orbit at Perjywat in the Epsilon Indy Sector. The fleet consisted of a Bomber Dreadnaught, three Assault Cruisers, a Combat Destroyer, 2 Escort Destroyers, a Heavy Supply Ship and the two Heavy Transports. It was a formidable fleet in numbers but hopefully we wouldn’t run into any main line K’Luth combat ships since we were just not combat heavy. We were hoping to surprise the enemy and drop in quick. The bomber wouldn’t be using its normal load of Mirv Bombs this time but would be using Neutron Bombs instead. The Neutron Bomb was a really nasty weapon that used super high levels of radiation. The radiation would die off to tolerable levels in a rather short amount of time. These bombs would literally cook the flesh off of anything while leaving buildings intact.
The briefer continued his speech, “As you can see the Bomber Dreadnaught Hellfire will launch a preemptory orbital bombardment of the target planet utilizing Neutron Bombs. After sanitation of the planet the marines will be deployed in their drop vehicles to the planet surface. The marines will be tasked with mopping up any remaining K’Luth while securing the planetary infrastructure for our colonization of the planet.” Clean up duties my arse Elwood thought as he looked at his XO, those fleet bomber captains couldn’t hit the broad side of a planet if they were in orbit around it. More than half the time his marines landed on a “sanitized” planet only to find the place crawling with enemy troops. It was a favorite tactic of the K’Luth to hide in holes in the ground or caves to avoid the bombs and to avoid sensor scans from ships prior to the troops dropping. In Elwood’s opinion the only way to “sanitize” a planet was to glass it completely from orbit. Wipe everything of the face of the planet and then let the engineers have at it.
Finally the briefer was getting to the meat and potatoes of the mission profile, the target planet. Rafraue in the Epsilon Eri System was the target planet. A planet right in the middle of the system, it was expected to make an excellent entrance into K’Luth space. There was only one thing that was going to pose a problem. This would be a hard nut to crack because there was an enemy Shipyard on the planet. The Admiralty and Senate had decided to make a bold move by capturing this planet therefore allowing rapid support of the invasion. Well this was a walking, talking cluster fu, “Major, the General wants to talk with you” a messenger said at his side. Ah great, now what does the old man want? The General was none other than General G. Conn, Commanding Officer, 1st ICC Combined Arms Shock Army. He was Commanding Officer over all the Western Theatre ground troops no matter what they did. He was, in this little part of the war, God. No troops moved without his knowledge or permission.
“Major I am glad to see you are on this mission and would like to ask a big favor of you.” “Sure sir, name it.” “I want you to lead this whole fiasco once it hits the beaches.” “Why me sir, the CO of 3rd Marines is senior to me.” “That clown? He could find his arse even with it attached to his legs. He is only there because we need the bodies right now. You are in charge and if anyone gripes about it you tell him or her to come see me. I will set them straight in a heart beat!” “As you wish sir, I will get the job done.” “You had better since there are a lot of people depending on you.” Now it was time to earn his pay. “Captain get the CO’s together, we are going to have a little discussion on how we can pull our collective arse’s out of the fire on this mission.” And with that the first steps of the invasion of known K’Luth space had begun.
[ This Message was edited by: Rocko Willis (Recruiting Officer) on 2005-08-04 01:58 ]
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Quietly confident Admiral
Joined: June 28, 2005 Posts: 215 From: Luna, Sol.
| Posted: 2005-08-01 05:12  
Very good! =D
_________________ Commander of the Carrier Dreanaught Meriwether Lewis
Commander of the Heavy supply Ship Laden
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Axianda The Royal Fleet Admiral Terra Squadron
Joined: November 20, 2001 Posts: 4273 From: Axianda
| Posted: 2005-08-01 06:50  
okay i want more and i want it on the Double or ill set your behind straight
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- Axi
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Fatal Rocko Willis Fleet Admiral Fatal Squadron
Joined: March 01, 2003 Posts: 1336 From: Kentucky
| Posted: 2005-08-02 05:33  
Oh I got plans for you Axi.... you just wait and see...
Rocko
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Axianda The Royal Fleet Admiral Terra Squadron
Joined: November 20, 2001 Posts: 4273 From: Axianda
| Posted: 2005-08-03 13:22  
Quote:
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On 2005-08-02 05:33, Rocko Willis (Recruiting Officer) wrote:
Oh I got plans for you Axi.... you just wait and see...
Rocko
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*gulps*
okay ill be nice
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- Axi
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Fatal Rocko Willis Fleet Admiral Fatal Squadron
Joined: March 01, 2003 Posts: 1336 From: Kentucky
| Posted: 2005-08-04 01:57  
Ahh finally got done beating the heathons down since they kept hogging the laptop... so here we go.....
Chapter Two - "Once More Into The Breech My Friend"
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The briefing went as well as could be expected. Nothing new had been passed down from above while the meeting was in progress and now Elwood, his XO and his Company NCO where on their way to brief Easy Company. His staff NCO was Gunnery Sergeant Yitram. He was the best there was. He could attack with just a knife while only wearing a pair of shorts and his boots and still look good. They approached the company and as expected they were all gathered to hear what the old man had to say. “Ok ladies and gentlemen, we have been tasked to be the lead company in the invasion of Rafraue and as such we have drawn the toughest assignment. We are tasked with the capturing of the planets shipyard and then holding it long enough to allow it to be used as a beachhead for the invasion. Alpha and Bravo Companies will be assaulting the planets power generation facilities while Charlie and Delta Companies will handle the research facilities and depot respectfully. We want to try to capture any K’Luth tech if possible. 3rd Division will be assaulting the Defense and Fighter bases while the 1st and 4th Divisions get the honor of hunting down and destroying the K’Luth Infantry.”
The looks around the company where both of relief and envy because some wanted to hunt K’Luth outright and some did not. “We have also received news the 2nd Division along with our Artillery Division will be joining us prior to departure. If you don’t understand what this all means just consider this a very important mission. Over half of the 1st Heavy Marines are here, with 6 of 8 Divisions reporting on-line.” The other two Divisions were the Heavy Tank Division and Mechanized Division, which weren’t needed since the K’Luth didn’t normally use any heavy equipment. They had some light vehicles but nothing his troopers couldn’t handle. “We are told to expect heavy resistance but as you all know this is nothing new with the K’Luth. You all know they fight to the death so make sure you are all carrying a full load out of ammo. I do not want to hear someone forgot something. Platoon leaders make sure your people are squared away and have them ready to move on a moments notice. All Divisions will be utilizing their Divisional Air Units so lets get all four platoons gear on them before we jump out. You all know what needs to be done, dismissed.” The four platoons that made Easy Company broke apart and started their prep work.
“Gunny, I want yourself and I to make our rounds about the Division. I also want to make sure the Air Unit is ready to go.” “Yes Major, we can do that right now if you want. Captain Lark is already prepping the Raptors for drop.” “Good deal, lets drop in and see how things are going.” Elwood and Gunny Yitram walked over to where the Air Unit was and sure enough Captain Lark was hard at work making sure all the ships ordnance was being loaded correctly. “No you moron, we only get to take what we can load on the Raptors. I want a full combat load, because we may not have the time to reload right away.” “Right away Captain, we will get right on it.” “As well you should.” The Captain turned to observe the preparations when she noticed her CO and Gunny looking at her. “Good Morning Sir, everything will be ready when you need it to be.” “I don’t doubt it one bit Captain Lark. You have been around the block a few times with us so you know what to expect.” “Yes Sir, we have been through a few missions together and the Raptors are all trimmed up and ready to go. All we have to do is load the weapons, load the gear and get the troopers to stop leaving their gum under the seats.” That last statement brought a chuckle to the group. It was the simplest way to ease the tension before a mission.
“Captain, you don’t mind if we take a peek inside do you?” “Not at all Sir, you can look anytime you want since you own them technically.” The F-34 Raptor was an amazing thing. It was designed with one thing in mind, land troops on hostile planets. It’s mission, land 25 fully loaded troops, then provide close air support till follow on troops arrived. It was armored against small arms and can defensive countermeasures to help protect it, but that was not all it could do. The Captain and Gunny walked around to the side where the weapons pods were mounted into the wings. They carried a variety of missiles from fragmentation to bunker buster to chemical to special weapons. Hopefully they didn’t have to use those. The pilots didn’t really like the idea of carrying a tactical nuke missile under each wing. Sure they loved the explosion it made but worried about it going off when it shouldn’t. The missiles were not the only weapons the Raptor had. Tucked into the fuselage, right under the belly near the nose of the aircraft was a 40mm 6-barrel rotary cannon. It was for those times when you had to get up close and personal with the enemy. The noses on his Raptors had a giant shark’s mouth painted on them along with a mottled green camouflage paint job to really give them an evil look to them. All the better to intimidate your enemy with.
As Elwood and Gunny Yitram walked past the tail of the Raptor they could see one of the platoon leaders, along with his platoon sergeant, giving training to some new arrivals on the squads weapons. They decided to listen in and see how things were going. “Troopers, this is the M-24 Battlefield Assault Weapon. It fires a 10mm caseless cartridge. The weapon has a box magazine containing 50 rounds of mixed ammunition. Standard mix includes standard, armor piercing and high explosive, armor piercing rounds. You can mix and match as you want but for now we want all new troopers to use the standard, right out of the box, configuration. This weapon has three modes of operation; they are Safe, Burst, and Auto. I think you can figure out which each does by the names given. With its integrated, multi-function scope you can hit man-sized targets with complete accuracy out to 500 meters while you can hit vehicle-sized targets out to 800 meters. You may also attach a 45mm grenade launcher to the undercarriage of the weapon and utilize the High Explosive Dual Purpose, Shot and Illumination rounds.” Elwood and Gunny Yitram were impressed with the presentation and decided not to interrupt but did decide to bug the Intel Weenies.
Elwood and Gunny Yitram walked over to the Intel Module, opened the door, and walked in to find the weenies hard at work. Elwood understood they had their purpose in life but they were pompous sometimes, thinking they knew more about what was going on than those really on the front lines. Luckily this bunch of weenies where his and they were the best he could find. “Captain Meko, how are things coming along?” “Very good Major. I have been informed there are not many ships currently docked at the shipyard and we have been informed the invasion will be supported by the Long Tom Artillery.” “That’s a good thing to hear.” “We also have reports there is not currently a planetary shield in use but as we know from past experience it could just be temporarily shut down.” “That’s true, but try to get me the most current information you can, right before we jump into the target area if you could.” “I will do my best. I will transmit anything new to all the units right before jump time.”
Elwood and Gunny Yitram exited the module and decided to get something to eat out of the mess hall before turning in for the night. He couldn’t tell his troopers to rest up and eat well if he didn’t do it himself. He knew they would be depending on him as much a he depended on them to accomplish the mission at hand. The shipyard would be a hard nut to crack since that would be the main point of reinforcement. They would fight to the death, building by building, to keep the Humans out as long as possible. At least they would have artillery support along with air support. There were two types of artillery they could be bringing along with them, the M-38 ‘Thumper’ Self-Propelled Unit and the M-47 ‘Long Tom’ Self-Propelled Unit. They were both very good units, with 4 units per drop pod, but if Elwood had his choice he would take a Long Tom unit any day.
The M-47 ‘Long Tom’ was a 200mm Gun Tube Artillery Unit. The gun tube system had been around since the early days of warfare on Earth and continued to be used still, but this was not your old school artillery. The Long Tom could throw most shells over 10 miles away, with special boosted rounds reaching over 16 miles away. The Long Tom could use your standard High Explosive General Purpose rounds, which was the most commonly used since they were inexpensive, or specialty rounds which included ‘Popcorn’ rounds, a shell with hundreds of submunitions dispersed of a one square mile area, ‘Talon’ rounds, designed to penetrate hardened or buried targets then explode, ‘Skyburst’ FAE rounds designed to explode just short of the ground and create an over-pressure shockwave, ‘Firefly’ IR illumination rounds, and then there were the ‘Restricted’ rounds. Those were the rounds you hoped to never use. Each Long Tom unit carried four 15 KT Thermonuclear artillery shells. Elwood hoped he never had to request those rounds.
A messenger came up to Elwood and told him he had a call on the ships phone system. “Major Manchester here.” “Major, this is the ships Captain. I have just received word the rest of your unit has arrived. You are ordered to stand to and prepare to move out. We will be making the jump to the target sector in one hour.” “Roger that Sir, we will be ready.” “News Sir?” “Yeah, 2nd Division and the Artillery have arrived as scheduled. Lets get the troopers up and into the Raptors.” They walked over to the Divisional space and addressed his troops. “Ok people, jump time is in one hour. Lets check our gear one more time then all platoon leaders take charge of your platoons and load them up in your Raptor. In thirty minutes the Raptors will be loaded into the Drop Ships. Lets look alive people.” “Ok ladies, you heard what the old man said. Its time to earn your paychecks.” Gunny always knew how to motivate his troopers.
Elwood just hoped the Drop Ships held up. They were armored and could withstand light defenses and it was a fifty-fifty chance with medium defenses but if there were heavy defenses they could kill a Drop Ship with a single shot. As the Raptors finished their docking with the Drop Ships, Elwood knew this was going to be a tight fit till they could drop into the atmosphere. At least in the atmosphere you could maneuver to avoid enemy fire instead of being ‘Spam in a Can.’ Jake plugged into the Communication Network to listen to the radio chatter. He could hear the ships talking to each other, moving to their respective jump positions. Elwood knew it was a bad thing to be out of position during a mass jump like this. If you were off just a hair in position would translate to several ships lengths off course. The idea of ramming a Bomber Dreadnaught with a Transport was not his idea of fun, then in a moment of silence he heard the word, “Sixty Seconds to Jump! Lock and Load!” Here we go again, just think all this fun and a paycheck too!
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Fatal Rocko Willis Fleet Admiral Fatal Squadron
Joined: March 01, 2003 Posts: 1336 From: Kentucky
| Posted: 2005-09-02 13:59  
This a Bup for those who might have not seen it before.... I am working on Chapter Three tonight... sorry for the delay.... I am working on the Invasion Landing currently.
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Axianda The Royal Fleet Admiral Terra Squadron
Joined: November 20, 2001 Posts: 4273 From: Axianda
| Posted: 2005-09-08 04:59  
Oye its taking a bit long aint it
* sneaky bump *
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- Axi
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Coeus {NCX-Charger} Admiral, I can't read, Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: February 16, 2004 Posts: 3635 From: South Philly
| Posted: 2005-10-10 16:36  
Rawr
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Darkspace: Twilight
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Fatal Rocko Willis Fleet Admiral Fatal Squadron
Joined: March 01, 2003 Posts: 1336 From: Kentucky
| Posted: 2005-10-15 17:20  
Just a little note to tell you I am alive and well and have not forgotten about my writing. I have been a bit busy in real life lately... nothing long term just short term since I will be retiring on Feb. 28th next year! I have been getting things in order back home and doing all the paperwork to be able to move into my new home. Anyways just so you know I have not forgotten you all I am including a tid bit from Chapter 3 of Easy Company... I am writing Chapters for all three stories I have authored.
Here is a prevue of Chapter 3... "Bombs.... Er, Marines Away!"
~The jump into the Epsilon Eri System was uneventful and Elwood hoped this was a good omen.
~One might wonder why someone would place ECM on such a large ship but it had been discovered through many a blown bomb run that the ECM allowed the large ship enough time undetected to set up its stack of bombs. The K’Luth had not used Planetary Sensors till recently and had come as a rude shock when they had been discovered using them.
~Elwood watched the track of the bombs on his tactical display. He seemed to be willing the bombs all the way to the target knowing that the more bombs that made it past the planetary defenses the easier his landing would be. Elwood could feel the hairs on his arms prickle at the thought of having to attempt a landing on a K’Luth planet that had its defenses fully intact.
~Jake could feel the transports accelerate to their maximum speed. He wondered if they had actually taken down all the defenses on the planet since a max speed run with a minimum range drop was used against fully functional planetary defenses.
Hope to have the whole thing ready for you all soonest.
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Coeus {NCX-Charger} Admiral, I can't read, Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: February 16, 2004 Posts: 3635 From: South Philly
| Posted: 2005-10-16 02:15  
ooooo... risky drop! Stealing from my work again ehh?
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Darkspace: Twilight
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Fatal Rocko Willis Fleet Admiral Fatal Squadron
Joined: March 01, 2003 Posts: 1336 From: Kentucky
| Posted: 2005-10-16 02:38  
Here we go with Chapter 3 of The Stories of Easy Company. This will probably be a two or three part event. I hope you all like.
Now on with Chapter 3... "Bombs.... Er, Marines Away!"
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Fatal Rocko Willis Fleet Admiral Fatal Squadron
Joined: March 01, 2003 Posts: 1336 From: Kentucky
| Posted: 2005-10-16 02:41  
***** Chapter Three *****
The jump into the Epsilon Eri System was uneventful and Elwood hoped this was a good omen. Elwood could hear the ships start to check in over the radios. All the ships had made the jump safely and were awaiting the neutralization of the enemy planets defenses. They could see the large Bomber Dreadnaught set up for its attack run on the Raptors tactical video screen. The huge ship turned into its bomb run and turned on its ECM, hoping to jam any enemy sensors. One might wonder why someone would place ECM on such a large ship but it had been discovered through many a blown bomb run that the ECM allowed the large ship enough time undetected to set up its stack of bombs. The K’Luth had not used Planetary Sensors till recently and had come as a rude shock when they had been discovered using them. The Bomber Dreadnaught unleashed its deadly load of bombs and pulled off its target and set course for its rally point. There it would reload its bombs incase it had to make another run.
Elwood watched the track of the bombs on his tactical display. He seemed to be willing the bombs all the way to the target knowing that the more bombs that made it past the planetary defenses the easier his landing would be. Elwood could feel the hairs on his arms prickle at the thought of having to attempt a landing on a K’Luth planet that had its defenses fully intact. The bombs closed on their intended targets, almost getting to them, as suddenly the K’Luth defense bases opened fire. The detonations of the Neutron Bombs caused a sickly blue glow in the area of each bomb detonation. Elwood watched as the bomb count dropped, hoping some of them would get through. Just as he was sure they would all be destroyed the defense bases stopped firing. That was a good sign. Elwood knew the remaining bombs were inside the minimum firing range of the K’Luth defense bases and would make it all the way to the planets surface. Only one third of the bombs had made it through the withering fire but hopefully that would be enough to get the job done.
The transport ships made there run into the planet, planning on making a minimum range release. Elwood knew this was both good and bad. The good point was they would be exposed to the least amount of time to the planetary defenses if they were not properly neutralized. The bad point it made for a very rough ride into the atmosphere since it didn’t give the drop pods the proper time to align themselves for entry to the atmosphere. “Major, we are nearing the drop point. Standby for release on our signal.” “Roger. Ok people it’s crunch time. Thirty seconds out. Remember your training and you will come out alive.” His whole company was chomping at the bit to be done with all this drop stuff. They wanted to be on the ground where they could hide if they needed to or out in the open kicking butt, just not pent up in a flying metal box. Elwood could feel the transports accelerate to their maximum speed. He wondered if they had actually taken down all the defenses on the planet since a max speed run with a minimum range drop was used against fully functional planetary defenses.
Elwood took one last look at the tactical display and noticed there was less power generation being detected from the planet. Well that was a good sign since less power meant not everything on the planet was going to work. There was nothing like a nice planet wide power outage to help turn the tide of an invading army. Elwood felt the drop pod jerk as the ejector arms pushed the drop pods away from the ship. As soon as the tactical screen went blank Jake knew they were on their own since the umbilical link with their mothership had just been severed. That was it; they were on their own. Elwood laid his head back into the crew seat, waiting for the buffeting that would tell him they would be entering the atmosphere. He didn’t worry about planetary defenses. Elwood knew he wouldn’t feel anything if hit by a K’Luth Planetary Defense Beam.
The entry into the atmosphere came as expected and with a smile on his face he knew his division stood a good chance of making it to the ground safely. “Major, we are preparing to be released from the drop pods. We will drop within 60 seconds.” Said his Raptor pilot. “OK Marines, its time to get the job done that we were trained to do. Remember your assignments, watch out for your teammates and by god keep your head out of your…” and then suddenly they were free of their flying can and were truly flying. The Raptor’s engines rumbled and flared to life, as it’s wings unfolded and deployed. If Elwood could have seen the sight the K’Luth on the ground, providing there were any still alive, were seeing the would see squadrons of Raptors, swooping down from the heavens like some avenging angel of death. It would be a scary sight to any normal trooper but then again the K’Luth were nowhere near being anything normal.
Unknown to the invading Human troops the K’Luth were smarter than the Humans thought. The K’Luth Infantry Commander, a soldier by the name of Azreal, had ordered his workers to build extensive tunnels around all the key structures on the planet. This defensive network of tunnels was originally designed to protect the K’Luth infantry from Mirv attack. Little did the enemy commander know that the actual minerals in the ground that he had dug the tunnels in contained a little known ore to them that would shield them from the harmful Neutron Radiation. This mineral was simple known as copper. A mineral the Humans had stopped using ages ago with the advent of new manufacturing processes. A mineral no longer considered important. It would be the savior of the K’Luth Infantry on the planet.
Elwood’s Raptor was the first to land outside the Starport. His company, Easy Company, had made it down alive and well. The Raptors continued to drop in and unload the remainder of the 7th Marines. Elwood knew things were going good but could turn sour at the drop of a hat. “I want all units reporting in as they reach the ground. I want to know what is available. I want to know if we lost any units in the drop.” “Aye Sir.” Elwood knew if he could get everything down on the ground in one large bunch he could push out towards his first objective, the Starport, and be ready to have reinforcements. “Major, all units are reporting in. We have a complete landing with no losses during the drop.” Elwood thanked whatever gods there might be for the luck of having that portion of this mission go off without a hitch. “All units are reporting heading to their initial jump off points for the first objectives.” “Good, lets get this show on the road shall we?”
The Divisional Artillery assets set up in a small valley right behind the division’s front lines. This allowed them to be able to shoot and move if needed but would be better off sitting where they were, all the better to support the troops on the front line. Elwood scanned the Starport sitting in the distance and couldn’t see any outward sign of enemy troop activity. He knew the K’Luth were tough but after the bombing he wasn’t sure what to think, were they dead or alive? Well only one way to find out. “OK let’s set this up as a standard approach. 1st and 2nd Platoons on the left, 3rd and 4th Platoons on the right. We lead the way to the Starport.” Once more his troopers set in motion all that they had learned in training. They fanned out to the left and right looking for any telltale signs of enemy activity. About halfway to the Starport the heard weapons fire then several large explosions. Immediately the Platoon Leader from 1st Platoon radioed in, “We had some automated defenses on this side of the perimeter. We took them out with some grenades. We have a couple wounded here but nothing serious. We are continuing on with the mission.” “Very good. Echo Six to all Echo Units. Keep an eye out for automated defense systems. We have no way of knowing where they are hidden.”
Elwood knew they could be in the thick of it at any moment and wanted to know how his other units were doing. The 1st and 4th Divisions were reporting no contact with the enemy and were continuing the hunt. 3rd Division had taken over some of the enemy defense bases and was turning over the guarding of those targets to units of the 2nd Division so they could continue on with their assigned tasks. Elwood hoped he could juggle all this information since this was the first time he had actually commanded a deployment of this size. He was used to Company and Divisional sized units not the bulk of a whole Army. He knew he could do it but had yet to prove it. Elwood was about to tell his company to move in to capture the Starport when he heard the guns from his artillery unit fire. You knew when you heard the guns fire that something was wrong somewhere.
The radio crackled to life, “Echo Six this is Charlie Six-One.” It was Charlie Company’s XO on the radio. Whatever came next Elwood expected it to not be good. “We have enemy resistance at the Research Facilities. The little lobsters have gone underground. They popped up between the companies and ambushed us as we went past. They got Charlie Six but we seemed to have repelled them. We have the research facilities in hand at the moment. Casualties are moderate with both companies. Delta Six is merging his unit with Charlie for one unit. Request usage of Pre-Planned Fire Missions in this area. I hope we can flush out the K’Luth into the open.” “I concur. Use what arty you need to get the job done, and keep your head down over there.” Elwood now knew what the K’Luth were doing. They were doing hit and run tactics. They were the favored tactics of his enemy. As Elwood and the 7th Marines entered the enemy Starport knew the first part of the Battle for Rafraue was over but there was many enemy still lying in wait.
[ This Message was edited by: Rocko Willis on 2005-10-17 00:59 ]
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Coeus {NCX-Charger} Admiral, I can't read, Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: February 16, 2004 Posts: 3635 From: South Philly
| Posted: 2005-10-16 03:10  
Brilliant bro! One question... why is the K'luth Commander's name censored?
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Darkspace: Twilight
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Sven Cadet Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: January 11, 2003 Posts: 278 From: Vancouver, Canada
| Posted: 2005-10-16 04:22  
I can tell someone liked Band of Brothers? Pretty good read all in all.
_________________ You dare plumb the depths of my mind? Welcome to Tomorrow's Yesterday!
Sven Viking: Dynamiting himself to pieces since 5/30/2003!
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