Part 4: A Growing Threat

Update 3: A Growing Threat


"Commander Vault, January 9.

It's been three days since my last entry here. We have been busy, but the last three days carry good news. While no new research has been completed yet, Phoenix Company completed three missions with all members returning alive.

On January seventh I sent the squad out to deal with reports of incursions near Denver base. Other than the proximity to our base this mission was fairly routine, and as such will not be covered in depth. I expect that many missions will be important yet not warrant a full video recording.



This mission took place with only Booya, Golden, and Hero. At the time Vallhallan was still in the medical bay.



The actual confrontation was pretty straight forward according to the soldiers and the video links in their helmets. They found another raiding group same as the last time, well armed and well armored. However things went much better this time as the soldiers went in with the weapons captured from last time. That seemed to make a huge difference as the squad put down another raiding squad that was 7 strong.

While the success so soon after barely surviving the previous encounter is encouraging, it troubles me that we found them inside our own territory. These were clearly the same kind of men from before, leading me to wonder how well established they are, how many of them there are, and perhaps most importantly just who the hell are they? We need to take one of them alive and interrogate him.

Anyway, the debriefing is summarized here:




Hero was hit multiple times, but her armor saved her life again. Golden was hit once in the chest, but the round failed to penetrate his vest. This also convinced Golden to switch to the heavier conventional armor. Our medical staff is working hard to patch up our men, but at least we have plenty of medical supplies and soldier recovery time is short. Most of what we use was current tech pre-nightfall: growth hormones, stimpacks; things that are not dependent on high tech machines or power sources. We make due with the rest; laser scalpels are replaced with their stainless steel ancestors and that sort of thing. They have also prepared med kits for field use by common soldiers and I will be making sure everyone knows how to use them.

Hero was only given five hours rest in the medical lab before I was forced to send the squad out again. Reports were coming in of aliens gathering in a city in Georgia. It was our first real mission against the monsters out there in the wastes and I wasn't going to entrust this to anyone else.



The flight there was 19 hours from Denver base, so at least that bought almost a full day's rest between missions and some time for Hero to recover.

The mission was fairly small with only a handful of hostile aliens. However we did discover a new type of humanoid alien. I have included the highlights of the mission."



Booya: This should be good, guys. Reports are all of aliens around here, not raiders. Keep your eyes open and shoot anything that doesn't look human first; questions later.

...fast forward...

Golden: Found one! It's human... ish. With some sort of growth on its back.
Hero: It has a gun too, blast him!




Booya: And he's down! Okay, follow me, we're moving on.

...fast forward...

Booya: Hostiles! Two of them, I don't think they have guns.



Hero: It's nice having things to fight that don't shoot me back for a change.
Golden: Sure makes them easy to kill.



Booya: It's like shooting fish in a barrel. Except instead of a gun you're using dynamite. And the fish aren't particularly smart either. With a bad sense of pattern recognition. And the dynamite has some sort of fish seeking technology.
Golden and Hero: ...

...fast forward...

Golden: What the hell is that?



Booya: Well its alien looking, and all the critters were walking this way when we saw them. So I'd say it is what we're looking for. Grenade out.



Booya: Mission accomplished, call the 'copter. We're going home.


"We don't know what the hell that thing was, but our first mission with aliens went smoothly. In fact no one was hurt at all. The aliens turned out to be an easy fight due to their lack of good firearms and slow movement speed. The corpses have been recovered and brought back to the base's morgue for study. This will hopefully give us an idea of what these aliens are. So far they all look eerily human in appearance. I have ordered medical to begin researching the more human looking of the two, dubbed Morelman. The other has been labeled Danglefly.




They already have some preliminary observations about them for me.

During the 19 hour return flight Vallhallan's condition was decided. He recovered well, the doctors gave me some technical stuff about an artery that was hit as well as a shot that grazed his face and caused a small crack in his cheek bone. That's going to leave a mean scar. Once he was stabilized they told me it was just a matter of letting growth hormones and bio packs do their thing, repairing muscle and tissue damage.

The doctors cleared him from medical shortly after the meds did their work, but I still gave him all the time I could to rest. However hot spots were popping up all around our territory and needed our attention.



There were way more then we could get to with only four soldiers, one of whom was questionable about being combat ready. Some of these will have to be dealt with by the other teams. I of course took the best lead on securing new ground in California."




Booya: Val, good to have you back with us.
Vallhallan: Couldn't let you guys have all the fun.
Booya: Right, well here's your chance to get back at those guys. The reports are of well equipped raiders again so we know what to expect. We stick together, move out.

The squad barely makes it 15ft...



Hero: Behind us!
Vallhallan: Get down, return fire!



Hero: Target down. Wasn't very bright of him to try to sneak up on us all alone.
Golden: Uh... Hero?
Hero: What?



Hero: Oh crap...
Vallhallan: Shut up and shoot something!





Golden: God damn, is that all of them?
Vallhallan: one left, trying to make a run for it.



Vallhallan: Got him in the legs, he's not going anywhere.
Booya: Alive too, tie him to the street light. We'll come get him after we patrol the rest of the area.




"The mission was a success, but not with out two concerns. Firstly Hero was wounded badly again and is resting in medical. It is not life threatening, but the pattern of patching up soldiers and sending them out over and over again is worrying. I need more soldiers and soon, but so far none have finished the basic combat training set up by the CoE.

Secondly they were ready for us. The squad was surrounded the moment the 'copter took off to refuel and return. I don't need to state how bad that makes things look. Of note though we found one important thing about them. They were all carrying a piece of jewelry, a necklace in the shape of triangle with a small eye on the top. I went back and asked Booya about this and he recalled seeing the same necklace on the others when looting the gear of the other bandits. I swear I have seen that symbol somewhere before but I just can't place it.

The good new is that we took one alive. Or at least the squad did and managed to get a few words out of him before he succumbed to his wounds. They got enough from him to put together a good search area for their base, stating that the raiders had found a military base in the lower part of the Greater USA (formerly Mexico). This is obviously our next target for Phoenix Company, and we will attack it once Hero is at full strength.



As before our enemies carried high quality weapons. They have been sent to Haggis in the armory for repairs, something about damage due to grenade. This should also give us enough ammo to keep the squad equipped with whatever they chose for now. I told them to get some rest and then check in with Haggis.

Last thing of note is that I have been appointed a secretary to help generate and process the paperwork for the CoE's record keeping. I have not met her yet, but was told her name is Tasukiscool or something like that, must be Japanese. Hopefully this will improve the quality of my reports."




--Soldiers Logs--


Posted by Garfield - Der Film 'Golden'

The director ordered us to go see Haggis about getting some new equipment. It's about bloody time if you ask me. I can't tell you how many times I thought my gun was on the verge of falling apart.

On my way to the armory I started to think about some of our previous missions. I can't even count how many times those Raiders were ready for us. It seems they always know exactly where we will be and set up around the LZ. The injuries too, we have all had to take at least one trip to Medical and the number of times we've been hit is getting up there. Our luck is going to run out soon. I hope those eggheads can find a way for us to arrive on site with some relative stealth so we don't get our asses shot off the second we step off the 'copter. If we can solve this problem I can help with the getting shot part.

It's no secret that i'm the fastest of our group or that I tend to notice a little more than others. If we can touch down without being ambushed them maybe I can apply those skills to keeping the others informed of enemy positions and help reduce the amount we get shot at. *sigh* One step at a time I suppose.

"'Afternoon Haggis. I'm here for the equipment upgrade. So let's see what toys I have to choose from."
Not the pretties set of guns but they are certainly better than the crap we have now. Now for the hard decision. What do I want?
The FN is nice and light and it offers a decent clip size, but when it comes down to it it's just a sidearm.
The AUG on the other hand is somewhat heftier but according to Haggis it's accurate and a longer effective range.
This decision wasn't easy but after a few moments though I had a clear answer.
"Give me the Bullpup Haggis. I know she won't disappoint me"



Posted by Rear Admiral BOOYA 'Booya'

*** THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL IS CLASSIFIED IN ACCORDANCE WITH ARCHIVES PROTOCOL 1174-H-K-0. FOR QUESTIONS, PLEASE SEE AN ADMINISTRATIVE REPRESENTATIVE. ***

Journal of Malcom McLean, ("BOOYA") dated xx/08/2085.

Some slag gave me this crazy journal and instructed me to speak my mind to it.

How strange it feels to be writing my thoughts down, once more. After all the years fighting with one outfit or the other, I've found the decent men I've been looking for; they're quick on the uptake, and make good soldiers, despite a lack of finely-honed training. They know which end of the gun spits death, and know to point it at the bad guys.

I can't help, no matter where I look while in the field, at the irony of fighting over the ruined cities I once served to protect. God's great kingdom has fallen into the shadows, and I, and the brave souls following me, pattern ourselves after so many before us, and have become the defenders of humanity in its last desperate hours.

I shoulda been a goddamn poet instead of a soldier.

**** ENTRY ENDS. ****



Posted by lilljonas 'Hero'

Personal Log of Megan "Hero" Okembo. Part 3.

Dammit, I seem to have become the team's bullet magnet. I've even moved some of my stuff from the bunk to a locker at medical, since that's where I've been spending most of my time when I'm back at the base. The shot in the leg is not that bad, but my shoulder still aches. They feed me stimpacks daily, so who knows, it might get better.

I never thought I'd say it, but no matter how much those aliens freak me out, they sure were a breeze compared to the raiders. My stomach tightens up just at the sound of the fading rotor blades now, knowing how likely we are to get shot immediately after they let us off. Golden's been around medical a few times to chat, and he's adamant that getting a more quiet way to approach the tactical zones would help, but we're strapped for tech, so I don't know how we would be able to do that. It's not like I'd like to go all the way to Ohio in an ancient Jeep or something.

At least we got new gear back to the armory. But didn't that weird Haggis guy muttered something like "though she's a bit on the ugly side" when I passed there to get some ammo for target practice. I'll see if I can come up with a suitable prank to put him in place.

End of Entry