Part 62: Mission 62: Fury Road

With the appearance of the Breorn, and the threat of encountering more, it had become clear that even for all of our advances in firepower, we still needed more. Concentrated fire had been enough to bring one down, but couldn't count on being able to do that every time.




Engineering gave us our answer. Now that the might of the Destructor had been proven, the Alliance had undertaken projects to further enhance it, and the results were nothing short of incredible. Without the size limitations of smaller gun mechanisms used by ordinary tanks, the Alliance was able to create an archotral shell with a much higher ratio of explosive material to containment mechanisms. This, combined with an overall larger projectile size, resulted in a shell that could explode with force equivalent to a low-yield nuclear weapon - without any troublesome fallout.



Unfortunately, a single Terminator was as expensive as an entire conventional tank platoon and would require extensive part replacement to install. Its time would come, but for now, we were in a race we couldn't afford to lose. We had reason to believe the Forces of Darkness were planning to attack a fuel convoy near the frontline. Our logistical network among the peaks of the Himalayas was long and tenuous; losing even a small part of it could grind our advance to a halt for weeks. It was up to us to ensure that didn't happen.

Mission 62: Fury Road

Attending:
Lazarus (Forlorn Hope, Mobile Infantry)
T. Hinman (Ethereal Corps, Mobile Infantry)
Habitually Red (Sane Max's Own, Mobile Infantry)
Gordon Frohman (Concerned Citizens, Mobile Infantry)
Solrick Skaft (Scion of Emer, Mobile Infantry)
Joe Moore (War Boys, Mobile Infantry)
"Doctor" Snark (Mage Killers, Mobile Infantry)
Emil Västerström (Trollhunters, Mobile Infantry)
Mael Radec (Radec's Rhinos, Destructor)
Svetlana Aliyev (Rusalka, Destructor)
Patrick Gallagher (Just In Time, Destructor)
Erik Spanner (The Toolbox, Destructor)
James "Griff" Griffin (Party Crashers, Destructor)
Basil (Paladin, Destructor)
Reginald P. Linux (Doom Squad, Leopard 2A5)
Grandalt Noddington (Tea Battalion, Leopard 2A5)
Hulk Hogan (The Hulkamaniacs, Leopard 2A5)
Aethereon Darkfyre (The Mary Sues, UDES)
Stephen Smith (The Counts of Monty Python, UDES)
Grand Inquisitor Solaus (Balkanian Inquisition, MLRS)
Michael de Boulogne (Chivalric Order of Saint George, MLRS)
Gregor (The Swell Swords, MLRS)
Pusher Bot (The Space Robots, MLRS)
Uzgob (Deff Skwadron, MLRS)
Anil E. Hilated, Esq. (Polite Obliteration, M106)
Cholmondely Featherstonehaugh-Smythe (Sphinx Battery, Roland)
Sigrún Raske (Skysmasher Brigade, Roland)
Roger Murtaugh (Less Than Lethal, Roland)
Billy Mays (Infomercial Men, Mi-24)
Bob & Doug McKenzie (Royal Canadian Red-greens, Mi-24)
Vlasta Devínská (Paper Tigers, Universal 2R)
Charles C Thuluu (Strange Aeons, Universal 2R)

Auxiliaries:

Sergei (Konvoy)
Russell (Konvoy)



Emil Västerström: Looks like we've got a bit of a trip ahead.
Basil: Looks that way, yeah, but intel says this route should be shorter than the last time we did this.
Erik Spanner: Thank fuck for that.




Charles C Thuluu: Looks like the Commander was right. They had an ambush waiting.



Uzgob: Nothin' we can't 'andle.



Bob McKenzie: Looks like they thought the same thing, eh. They're running.



Doug McKenzie: Turns out copters are faster than giant water barrels.



"Doctor" Snark: Fireballs, everyone climb!



Gordon Frohman: Eh, I've seen better ambushes.
Doug McKenzie: Don't be stealing our catchphrase, eh.
Gordon Frohman: Doesn't count! I put it at the beginning of my sentence!




Aethereon Darkfyre: Once again, the dead rise from their graves to besiege the living and the very Earth rises to strike us down.
Mael Radec: Skeletons and golems, got it. And where there's skeletons, there's usually...



Mael Radec: Bingo.



Mael Radec: That's all of them for now. Scouts, split up. One pair of you take the north, the other the south.



Darkfyre and Devínská took the north, leaving Smith and Thuluu to the south. They crept closer to the base, bit by bit, pausing so that the radar trucks could stop and sweep every 100 meters or so. For a while, everything was quiet, but finally...



Vlasta Devínská: Got a couple golems dug in at that row of trees. Where are they still getting these things from?




Vlasta Devínská: AT Orcs by the river elbow, too. Once we're past them, we should be on the home stretch.



Bob McKenzie: Seems less like a gauntlet and more like a relaxing flight across the countryside, eh.



Aethereon Darkfyre: To be buried under the crushing weight of the Earth... is it an army we fight, or the inevitable fate that awaits all of us?
Vlasta Devínská: It's the former.
Aethereon Darkfyre: Are you really so arrogant? Nobody escapes the grave.
Vlasta Devínská: Plenty of people have escaped these rock monsters trying to paste us, though. They're nothing like death. You can't shoot death-
Habitually Red: I'm sure someone in R&D's working on that.
Vlasta Devínská: -and besides, you can escape the "crushing weight of the Earth" pretty easily. It's called cremation.
Solrick Skaft: But if you do that, your remains go into the air and then the Black Angels can get you, and they're more dangerous than Golems! Obviously burial's the better option.
Habitually Red: Not quite, Solrick. This is a special case where the Golems are... I think Darkfyre said they're invincible or something?
Solrick Skaft: Okay then, so get cremated, because you'll at least have a chance against the Black Angels, right? I didn't hear anyone mention them being invincible.
Habitually Red: I'll have to be sure to put in a request to Command that I get cremated so I don't have to fight invincible Golems when I die, then. Thanks for the heads up, Darkfyre!



Stephen Smith: If you guys are done, I'll have you know I got the drop on some orcs! All I had to do was follow the smoke trails of the multiple rockets that came from their direction! They never saw me coming!



Stephen Smith: Looks like they ran off. I think they must have crossed the river.



Stephen Smith: Shit, Mammoths! Looks like there's a hill just across the river, and they're packing serious firepower there.
Mael Radec: We'd better get everyone up there, then. All soldiers, converge on Smith's location!



Svetlana Aliyev: Looks like that's all our tanks and aircraft, now we just have to wait for the artil-





Doug McKenzie: It's getting awfully toasty up here, eh!



Anil E. Hilated: Yo, artillery's here!
Patrick Gallagher: Okay, let's stay back! Let them come to us!



Reginald P. Linux: Bad news, they don't have to come to us!



Aethereon Darkfyre: Indeed, even the Hell Riders have set upon me instead!



Vlasta Devínská: Oh shit oh shit oh shit, I don't want to be next in the list of dead recon crews!



Basil: Got one of 'em, at least.



Basil: Oh, hell.



"Doctor" Snark: Shit! Sky's on fire all around me!



T. Hinman: Snark is making his human distress noise! Someone must help him!



"Doctor" Snark: I'm... I'm okay. Barely. Goddamn, anothdr second dropping and we would've all been stuck in the mud and surrounded by hellbeasts.




Solrick Skaft: Well, now they won't get a chance to finish what they started.



Gregor: Even Gregor's rockets cannot hit flying castle at this range!



Joe Moore: I think the enemy just took care of that problem for you!



Charles C Thuluu: Watch it, they're trying to flank us from the southwest bridge!



Patrick Gallagher: First things first...



Erik Spanner: There we go. Those of you who don't have fuckoff huge cannons, cover our flank!




Solaus: Nothing to it.
Mael Radec: We should be clear for now, but we can't advance on the hill with those Mammoths trained on us. Flyers, take them out.



Billy Mays: THANK YOU FOR ORDERING OUR GUARANTEED MAMMOTH REMOVER!



Billy Mays: WE'LL THROW IN TOWER AND AT ORC CLEARING ABSOLUTELY FREE WITH YOUR ORDER!



Lazarus: Looks like they had more waiting around the river bend.



Billy Mays: OUR SPOTTING SERVICES ARE AT YOUR DISPOSAL ANY DAY, ANY TIME!



Billy Mays: EVEN WHEN HELL RIDERS POP UP BENEATH OUR ARMOR TO THROW FIREBALLS...



Billy Mays: ...AND WHEN MOVING CASTLES SHOOT US WITH A WALL OF GUNS! THE INFOMERCIAL MEN TELL YOU ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW, RIGHT DOWN TO OUR LAST B-



Reginald P. Linux: Oh... my Lord.
Michel De Boulogne: Mr. Mays? Mr. Mays, please respond!
Griff: Oh, Jesus. They got 'im. The fuckers got Billy!



Hulk Hogan: IF THERE'S ONE THING THE HULKSTER WON'T STAND FOR, IT'S KILLING A LIVING LEGEND!



Bob McKenzie: Mammoth's down, eh. You can roll right on in!



Joe Moore: Get back here, you fuckers!



Joe Moore: Son of a bitch!



Griff: That must be the fortress that shot down Mays!



Griff: ...Or maybe it was that one?
Erik Spanner: Jesus, two at once. No wonder the poor bastard ate it.



Mael Radec: Well, that's a bit of an anticlimax, though it still left my Destructor worse off than I'd like.



Gordon Frohman: Necromancer had a Harpy with him! Neither of them will be bothering us anymore, though.



Svetlana Aliyev: He sent a few skellies our way before you got 'im, but they won't be a problem much longer.




Griff: Mission accomplished! We've avenged our fallen friend! Oh yeah, and I guess the trucks can get to the destination now, too.
Reginald P. Linux: Destination? We were going somewhere?
Patrick Gallagher: There were trucks?



Russell: So, should I be impressed, or...?
Sergei: I'm still trying to figure out whether next trip we should request them, or anybody but them.



The enemy had apparently expected our convoy to be well-defended; they would hardly deploy a force that included three Fortresses of Terror just to destroy a typical convoy escort. It seemed that they had been expecting us, and while we had won the battle, we'd paid for our victory. It was a cruel reminder that, however close to an end this war was, we wouldn't be truly safe until the last shot was fired.

Killed In Action:

Billy Mays