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Return of 4saken's Hellions

4saken The 4saken Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Members Posts: 2,282 Joined: Jan 1, 2008 Tracey "Macho" McGuire had been waiting in Gateway awhile. He had overcome any teasing over his name to prove himself as a competent scout and his first real job had been setting up for the big move to Gateway. Now Lt. Frank, leader of the Hellions, had sent word that the Gateway squad, led by none other than second-in-command Caleb Valentine, was finally on the move. He was surprised to learn that Greasy Lee - the gang's best heavy gunner and it's best mechanic - was also on the list, as were some others. Lt. Frank was serious about this one. Tracey was pacing about in front of the gate near his car. There would be no Brandi Burks repeat if he could help it. His scout phoenix had no weapons, but he had his rifle. He would fight on foot if necessary. He was grumbling about not having installed a weapon, just in case, just for this arrival, because something was wrong. They were late. Frank would not have given an arrival time if he had not meant to keep it. Hearing a sound from up on the gates, Tracey looked up to see someone pointing, then himself spotted the dust cloud. At first he was relieved but his binoculars did not show what he expected. He jumped into his vehicle and was ready to speed off but held out just long enough for a positive i.d. A Mutant Marauder and a damaged van, spouting oily smoke and with mangled armor visible even at this distance. One last look through the binoculars before he sped off and he was horrified to see the 4saken's Hellions insignia on the pickup. "That's no Marauder... it's our fuel truck!" He called up to the guards that they were friendlies and had them open the gates. But where were the others? Caleb's decked-out Landrunner Wrath and the gang's Windsor? These were just the support vehicles... Tracey looked upon them solemly as they passed by him. He stayed outside the gates a full minute longer, scanning the horizon for dust or any signs of other vehicles, then reluctantly hopped in his car to meet them inside. Only two crew members had stepped out of the van. Not a good sign. Tracey's heart fell even further as the city's large gates closed ominously behind him. ......................... vet combatL1 wv1,0,0 Posted Apr 6, 2008, 3:35 pm Last edited Apr 6, 2008, 3:42 pm by 4saken

4saken The 4saken Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Members Posts: 2,282 Joined: Jan 1, 2008 The damage to the van was severe but to his relief there were no other crew members inside. He recognized Steven Behr ("The Bear"), the gang's ballistic man but the young woman with him was new to him. Stephen Wallace, another scout, was stepping out of the fuel runner. "What happened?" he asked Bear, but Steve only gave him a blank look back. He had never seen Bear shaken up before. Wallace went up to Tracey and pulled him aside. "It was rough," he started. "Hit a group of Stalkers on the way out. It went good at first, we caught them on that road with the busted bridge and all the dunes and Bear and Jane - that's the new ballistics girl - started softening 'em up real good with the CGLs. Caught them in a low spot. Textbook. But those things only have so much ammo. So we hit what's left of them as they crest the ridge. It went well enough I suppose but it got pretty involved. It wasn't pretty. But we came out on top. We were doing well enough until just a few miles outside of town Caleb - he was lead scout, not me - gives us the heads up. We're bloodied already and half of us were driving looted chompers running on half their cylinders... everyone split but we could see the Windsor getting nailed. We did everything we could to support it but they took the engine out... Brian Hayden and Derrick were in there.... maybe you've met 'em? Anyway, the van tried to paint them up to buy us some time but there was no getting away. Caleb was trying to do everything at once. Trying to keep people off the Windsor and keep the enemy fast movers off the guys fleeing on the right, trying to keep the cars off of him, and we had this painted up Scorpion right on us. Him and Lee ripped it up good, blew the engine. But just as we're getting some distance the driver got his rockets clear. Ripped the van right open. Caleb finished them, but he had to veer off or he would have led the whole gang of pirates right towards us. Towards the end I saw one of them on him close and two more nearby. His landy was ripped up real bad. Right side armor was already open by then and I think I saw the right side gatling hanging in the wreckage. He must have been really low on ammo as well. I hung close as long as I could, me and Bear in the van, and then Caleb gave us The Last Word." Stephen sighed. The Last Word. The last order a squad leader would issue. "Escape."  Escaping combat in a wounded chomper or a fuel truck with no weapons was a given. But the Last Word meant escape with your life. It was an order. Leave me behind... I won't be joining you. "It worked, you know... just like Caleb wanted it to. They took the bait. All three of them went after him. All three with fresh armor..." Bear and Jane were standing there, too, listening to the retelling of the events they had just lived through, unable to speak. The four gangers stood solemly for some moments, then rested a hand on the shoulder of the person next to them. It was Bear that broke the silence. He looked up at Mezcal's. "Let's Drink." ......................... vet combatL1 wv1,0,0 Posted Apr 6, 2008, 4:32 pm Last edited Apr 6, 2008, 5:26 pm by 4saken

4saken The 4saken Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Members Posts: 2,282 Joined: Jan 1, 2008 They had only just sat down to drink when there was a loud pounding on the door to the bar. "Dust on the horizon!" someone called in. Immediately the four of them went to the gates. It was Keith Brown - a driver from back in the day when Lt. Frank would still accept drivers - in a beat up Desert Stalker. Keith filled them in. He was the driver for the Windsor originally, but he was escaping nearest to Caleb when everything went down. When Caleb had veered off to save them he had no place to go but towards Keith. And with the engine sputtering he had not gained as much distance as he would have liked before then. "There were three on him," he explained as they went back into the bar. "The landrunner's right side was ripped open. The nearest one kept firing, apparently cycling between its car rifle and machine gun to conserve ammo. A few of the shots inevitably landed inside. He had some decent distance to the second two but the one was on him good, 20 to 30 meters, tops. There was a cliff in front of the landy and the only way to go was to the right, and expose his open side. The guy behind got some in, like I said, and the engine starts smoking. Well... I don't know if any of you have ever driven a landrunner loaded down to the chassis stops with armor, crew and weapons but they're dead slow to begin with. Greasy Lee had it tuned up pretty good but the decision was made to put the V-8 in the van instead. No helping a landy. And now the engine was smoking... That's when Caleb gave The Word. I was cresting a hill and could see it go down. At the last second he pulls left. Left! He actually rode up the cliff a little. He laid into it with the left gatling and spun around to bring the forward weapons on it. I guess he decided to go out the hard way. He got the bugger. Got him. I thought for awhile he might make it out. That the other two behind him might not give chase - there was still some comotion back by the Windsor - but between the engine smoke and him losing all that speed... well... they went after him... That's the last I saw. I came down the other side and didn't look back." He lifted a glass. The table was full, chairs and mugs on the table, but half the seats were empty. He toasted a glass to the empty seat at the head of the table, and drank. ......................... vet combatL1 wv1,0,0 Posted Apr 6, 2008, 7:21 pm

4saken The 4saken Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Members Posts: 2,282 Joined: Jan 1, 2008 Sean Person shoved the door open. "I hope one of those seats if for me!" The crew looked up, and Keith, after getting over the shock, got up and gave him a manly bear hug. There was a bit of a hubbub. Sean picked up one of the mugs off the table. "Is this one supposed to be for Sammie? I don't think she drinks beer. Bartender!" Sean said his looted stalker would barely do 35mph and Sammie's was worse but he could manage some radio contact through the radiation bursts. "Caleb not back yet?" Sean asked. The gang had to go through the pain of telling the tale again. Worse, Sammie was expected in only 5 or 10 minutes and they would have to explain to her as well. "That's not the worst of it," Sean said, and he took a heavy drink from his mug. "As I was leaving..." Sean's voice broke up just a little and he took another swig of his drink to cover it. Sean was noted for his bravery, so those whoe knew him braced for what he had to say next. "As I was leaving... you know I heard Caleb give the Word. Me and Sammie weren't even 200 meters out after all this time. Her engine was more badly damaged, but I had done some evasion at first, so she was actually ahead of me... well, there were still a few pirates not too far. They had been guarding the Windsor... Derrick and Brian were really tore up... not moving much, really... Well, maybe they heard the call, or maybe they thought our Landrunner was going to escape... but they... just started firing again. I looked back and Brian... didn't... well, he was decapitated I guess you would say. I started yelling bloody murder into the radio. I don't know who heard me. I thought it was just some kind of vendetta thing.... a show of force, but they wouldn't let up. Brian... Derrick. I couldn't look back. It was awful. It wasn't a fight. It was murder, plain and simple... Don't tell Sammie. I don't think she can handle it, and when I got a hold of her later I don't think she heard me on the radio. Poor girl. Now she sees it. This is the real deal. This ain't no Somerset." Sammie would be here soon. But that left six empty chairs. Two were confirmed dead, with his own eyes. Brian Hayden and Derrick Jones. Add to that Caleb Valentine, squad leader, second in command of the Hellions, a good shot and as good a scout as any. "Greasy" Lee Garcia, the gang's mechanic and an ace heavy gunner. Louis Ray, one of Greasy's helpers and finally Shannon Lee, Caleb's co-driver. Shannon had worked so hard for that spot. Lt. Frank didn't have anything against females, he thought, but he had made the call for gunners and Shannon was more of a driver. Frank was always on the verge of firing all the drivers, but Caleb, a driver himself, always kept him from following through. Strange things to think about when your comrades are dead, Sean thought, but it had to be done. Frank and Caleb had always groomed him to be the next in line for gang leader (Sean always knew they didn't keep him for his first aid skills) and now with Caleb gone he was second in command and now all the responsibility of the Gateway operation - vehicle loadout, tactics, hiring new recruits - would fall on his shoulders. If it was that hard just to make it here what would he face during a scout? And if he decided to abort could he even get everyone back to Somerset alive, for that matter? There would be time for all of this later, he thought. For now, drinks and honor. Drinks and honor. ......................... vet combatL1 wv1,0,0 Posted Apr 6, 2008, 7:26 pm

4saken The 4saken Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Members Posts: 2,282 Joined: Jan 1, 2008 Sammie had made it back to a sullen crowd. She had expected some kind of celebration, but instead it was the remnants of the Gateway squad and the few Hellions in town sitting quietly at the table and crying into their beers in their manly way. They didn't even look happy to see her alive. It was Stephen who finally got up from the table and took her to the side to tell her what had happened. Sammie Juhl was new blood, and she had lied on her application, as the leader of 4saken's Hellions - Lieutenant Frank, as they called him - had so simply put it. She begged and begged for a chance, that's all she asked for. She had even considered stooping to using a little bit of female leverage on him, but she could see that it wouldn't work. Caleb was another matter, but she wasn't sure of the end effect it would have. Besides, the whole point of being a pirate hunter was to get some respect, right? No point in copping out and resorting to the old ways. Those days were behind her, she decided. She needed to hold her head high, to live by her own merit. It was an uphill battle. As a newbie Frank would not let her scout on her own, even though that's what she was best at. It was more a case of throwing her in the 4th seat of a landy and saying "Here, come along and watch how this works and help reload. Oh, you wanna drive? Fine. Drive back loot vehicles." Which was always nerve-wracking. Today, it was outright terrifying. She had a new found respect for these people. Brian and Derrick had stayed behind to help cover her and Sean's escape, and paid with their lives. Once their engine was out, Caleb and his crew, some of the best in the gang, also helped cover her escape, and the escape of the others, while they stayed behind to keep the pirates occupied in their wounded landrunner. They had to know they wouldn't make it out. She had always felt disposable, but the plain truth was that Caleb (nor Frank in the past) never ordered her or any of the other crippled loot cars to stay behind while he made his escape. Tactically, it was a more sound decision, she decided. But it would mean ordering someone to their certain death. Driving back a loot car was a dangerous, thankless job for a newbie, but it was a sign of ultimate respect and thanks that a squad leader stayed behind while the looted cars escaped first. And Caleb and his crew had stayed behind. For her, for all of them. Newbie or not, she was one of them now. She took a seat at her chair with the others - no, as one of them - and pulled up her glass. "No, bartender... Make mine a beer instead." No more girlie drinks for her, for she was a girl no longer. ......................... vet combatL1 wv1,0,0 Posted Apr 6, 2008, 7:28 pm

4saken The 4saken Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Members Posts: 2,282 Joined: Jan 1, 2008 "There's a Landrunner pulling up!" someone called into the bar. At first it didn't sink in. Keith had seen the last two cars set upon them. Sean was there at the end, able to hear the weapons fire in the distance. Stephen saw the three pirate cars well enough to know they had fresh armor, as Caleb was so busy concentrating on keeping the other pirates off his gang mates. "I'd better check, just in case," said Sean, standing up. A few others staggered up with him, Sammie Juhl among them. Before long everyone was out of the bar. It was foolish, but even a fleeting hope was better than none at all. The Landrunner in the courtyard was none other than the Wrath, smoking, almost devoid of any armor plating except for the front, which still displayed it's 4saken's Hellions logo. Caleb and Shannon Lee piled out first. Shannon was covered in blood but they soon realized it wasn't hers. Caleb was moving jerkingly. He could walk but not by much. They helped Greasy Lee out of the vehicle. He swatted them away with his one good remaining arm. Caleb called out in a hoarse voice: "We need a stretcher!!!" Sean, a medic after all, had a look. It was one good shot from front to back in his midsection. Away from Louis, Sean filled the others in. "He won't stop bleeding. We need to get him to a hospital... Somerset, maybe even Elms." "Your call, Sean," said Caleb. Caleb became aware that everyone was looking at him. Even though he was wounded and still shaky, he managed a light-hearted "... What?" "Three of them Caleb. You a magician or a ghost?" someone said. Caleb felt like he had aged 10 years in a day. He probably looked it, too. "Ghost, I think. I need a beer. Bandages can come later. I'm sure none of you will let me alone until I tell you what happened, anwyay." ......................... vet combatL1 wv1,0,0 Posted Apr 6, 2008, 7:30 pm

4saken The 4saken Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Members Posts: 2,282 Joined: Jan 1, 2008 "It was rough. One right behind us, two farther back. Our right side was open, gun useless. Less than half ammo in what we had left. Somehow we were all in one peice. I used our rear armor for all it was worth but he kept on us. No outrunning him. And this big ass cliff in front of us... oh, if it had just been a few yards further to the left. We had to turn our naked side. I waited until almost the last moment and hoped I could block him with a small hill. Machine guns, car rifles, it just kept coming. He crested the low hill and got a few shots in before I could turn the rear to him, but really there wasn't much armor there anyway. When he got the engine I knew in my heart that was it. There was no running. I whipped it at the lest second. We ran the left gatling dry, which isn't saying much, and swung around and got in a few with the front guns. By now the others had started to really try to catch us. They must have saw what we were doing. I heard gunshots in the distance and Sean on the radio..." Caleb steeled his jaw and took a drink before continuing. "The other two were closing, firing, and even after shooting this car up I wasn't sure he wouldn't be able to fire when we crossed his path. And he did, surer than sh*t. But his engine was blown, so I knew that wouldn't last. We just had to take it. The armor there helped a little. Ray pointed out that the nearer car didn't seem to be firing as much. We had painted it earlier, when trying to get everyone away. Or he could be out of ammo. Or reloading. The one in the back had a car rifle and kept laying into us, like we hadn't taken enough hits from the first car we had just managed to finish. Eventually we realized that we might make some distance from him after all, but we still had this damn Eliminator on our tail. For a little while it was looking like we were going to make it. We had cheated Death. We drew him far enough out from the rest of the combat that it was finally just us and him. He kept trying to pass us on the right, to get a ram, anything he could. We turned and tried to fire a few times. This went on for quite some time. We just couldnt shake him. We had his armor weak on one side but I don't think we had enough rounds to get through anywhere else. ["Four bursts, at best", piped in Greasy Lee.] So we just ran around in this awful stalemate. Finally I had had enough. I tried the circle of death again and e-braked it to try to get on his weak side - no use shooting the rear. So he pulls right, the opposite way, and then we realize why he doesn't want to let us go. Rear machine gun. Right into our side - Shannon's the only one didn't get hit by it. Seems Death had a few tricks left for us still. One, maybe two bursts into our soft meat before I could get the lumbering beast to turn the front armor towards him. Somehow I past him again. I don't even remember how. Having no other option I finally started making towards the city, to the gates, even though they were miles and miles away. We were up on a plateau and there was something of a cliff to get down to the road. Me and the Voyager were in a game of chicken. If I slowed up, he would pass and his rear gun would kill us, if I went too fast I could turtle and he would kill us. I somehow pulled it off - mind you, Stephen had flipped the fuel truck end over end a few times on this same terrain at only 50 --- ["Oh yeah, forgot to mention that, guys..."] but somehow I managed to slow down just enough to make it. The guy behind was going a little too fast and slid down sideways, wiping out a little. We started cheering, even though I was about to crash into the hill on the opposite side, when we realize we had been tricked. He spun out on purpose. His rear machine gun tore us a new one. Somehow I was still able to see past our own blood on the windscreen and drive. I managed not to wreck and I had a good bit of speed built up over him. He had taken his one good shot, planned it, I would guess. Almost killed poor Ray and tore us up but in the end I was still driving off and he was spun out in the roadway. He had done his worst, and we live to tell the tale." There was a momentary celebration, and mugs were raised, but two chairs at the table were still vacant, never to be filled. A sacrifice, for brotherhood. Caleb raised his glass to them. "To Brian and Derrick, our lost brothers. For he who sheds his blood with me today shall be my brother. Let us drink, we few, we happy few, we band of brothers. Drinks and honor!" ......................... vet combatL1 wv1,0,0 Posted Apr 6, 2008, 7:37 pm

4saken The 4saken Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Members Posts: 2,282 Joined: Jan 1, 2008 [ I didn't get up today meaning to write a book. Something for the gazette anyway. Apocolypse Rising if anyone is curious. I'm really tired now. ] ......................... vet combatL1 wv1,0,0 Posted Apr 6, 2008, 7:40 pm

Grunkzzz Sargonites Pedestrian Renegade Group: Members Posts: 18 Joined: Mar 18, 2008 good story ......................... vet Posted Apr 6, 2008, 9:40 pm

Monty Black Rock Racer Renegade Group: Members Posts: 215 Joined: Jan 6, 2008 Nice reading ......................... vet northernsummer wv Posted Apr 6, 2008, 9:49 pm

4saken The 4saken Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Members Posts: 2,282 Joined: Jan 1, 2008 nice thing is i don't even have to make this stuff up, i just fill in the blanks. it was utterly amazing that i made it out alive. ray is being sent to the hospital as i type this. he came out of it at 40% with internal injuries. he must have been pretty near dead, i imagine. ......................... vet combatL1 wv1,0,0 Posted Apr 7, 2008, 2:40 am

Monty Black Rock Racer Renegade Group: Members Posts: 215 Joined: Jan 6, 2008 I know that feeling I tried some of this too, but I just cannot type that good in english. It usualy comes out strange and not that good to read eventhough it was realy fun during the event.... You can write very well and it is very nice to read. For example Seilers RP posts are almost unreadable for me, just dont like his style of writing... This one was smooth and great ......................... vet northernsummer wv Posted Apr 7, 2008, 6:27 am

4saken The 4saken Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Members Posts: 2,282 Joined: Jan 1, 2008 "How the hell does an empty mag get kept in cargo, Duane?" "Iduuno man, I think Joe may have put it in there. Sh*t happens, ya know?" "Well it was a bad time for it to happen. We could have maybe saved the new guy and Lorenzo if the damn thing would have had some ammo." "Hell with that man, we were open like a tin can. We were lucky to make it out of the first fight, let alone fight odds in an ambush. One shot in the side that would have been it." Keith Brown eyed Duane suspiciosuly. "Shut it, guys," said Caleb. "No point arguing about what could have been. I don't want to hear bickering. Drinks and Honor, and all that." Caleb was by now rather drunk. Between his own dance with death a few days before and this one he was looking old and haggard, and streaks of grey were now showing near his ears in his jet black hair. His miraculous appearance and grey streaks had earned him the nickname "The Ghost", though he never answered to it. "To the new guy," someone said, raising a mug, "and Lorenzo and Sean." "Someone say my name?" said Sean Person, as he entered the door. Shock and silence fell over the table. Caleb squinted in disbelief, "Sean? We had figured you for dead." "Yes, I saw that," answered Sean. He took a seat and held his mug, his grey eyes piercing accusingly at Caleb. Sean had been tasked with getting a looted car back to town. Having seniority he picked the best of the bunch, a Phoenix with no intact weapons and an opened side but a motor with only minor damage. The other looteds were cripples. God help the poor bastards who had to drive them. Needless to say they got ambushed on the way back. Surrounded. Two cars barelled over the dunes right next to him at almost point blank from the very route he was planning to escape on if needed. Both were fast movers. He turned into them, hoping to fly past and get some speed before they turned around. A fine tactic, but one got off two shots right as they passed. Both hit the engine. He survived the pass, physically, but the oil pressure was down to 27%. He limped the car, at it's top speed of less than 30 mph, around dunes and eventually over a hill to escape. It was mostly a morbid bit of luck, though. With his car crippled, the pirates focused their guns on the other easy pickings, figuring to finish him off at their leisure. Somehow he managed to give them the slip. "You didn't dally much before giving The Order, did you this time, Caleb?" he said, not even telling his tale. "We weren't in much of a shape ta help, Sean..." "Not an easy decision to make, I know," said Sean, simply. He took a casual sip from his mug and said, "Look, Caleb, I know what it's like for you. Don't beat yourself up. In fact... I'll be glad to kick your ass for you." After a bit of a chuckle at the table he went on, "And then I'll get over it... eventually. And we'll go on. Those of us still around. I personally would love to stay and get some payback on these Apocalypse Rising bastards that have been dogging us since even before we arrived at the gates, but.... let's face it. We're not equipped for this. Most of us don't have enough time behind the guns, myself included. And I think I speak for us all when I say the mortality rate is... unacceptable." Caleb nodded his head in agreement. With a drunken grim smirk he slapped Sean on the back, "Don't worry, pal, you can leave me in the desert someday. But... yer right, man. You're right. Drink up, people, be merry. I'm pulling the mother-F-ing plug. "It's unanimous!" Caleb called out, throwing his arms up in the air. "Whee! Let's get sobered up and get the hell out of this stinking town!" ......................... vet combatL1 wv1,0,0 Posted Apr 12, 2008, 7:58 pm Last edited Apr 12, 2008, 8:01 pm by 4saken

4saken The 4saken Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Members Posts: 2,282 Joined: Jan 1, 2008 Lorenzo Tapia staggered into the bar. He was covered in sand, oil, soot and blood. He looked to the table where he expected to see the Hellions, but there was nothing left but two chairs with full mugs of beer in front of them. One of them was for the new guy, David, he knew. He half-staggered, half-limped to the table and scooped up his drink and brought it to the bar. "Whiskey!" he called out. "This one's warm." The bartender came over, eyeing him. "Sure you wouldn't want some water first, pal? And some..." he pointed to one of Lorenzo's wounds. This one had been in the desert too long. Way too long. You could see it in his eyes. "Sure. Water. And a whissskey. No, two whiskeys." Lornezo looked down at his most noticable wound. "What?? Not like you have a hospital around here anyway," he said, rolling his eyes. Lorenzo drank the water like a man possessed. He had, in fact, been in the desert too long. Limping away from an ambush with a sad excuse for a loot vehicle, he had made it some distance before a Scorpion saw fit to dump rockets into it until nothing moved. Somehow, Lorenzo had managed to crawl away to safety before they had noticed. Then came the long walk across unfamiliar terrain. Fortunately, he was never without a rifle, and he was able to keep the wolves and the baby giant centipedes at bay. After the water, Lorenzo steeled himself, gulped the first whiskey, poured the second on his worst wound, then held his hand and a bar napkin over it before finally keeling over backwards, unconscious. Looking over the crazed, unconscious ganger, the bartender carefully creeped closer and got his weapons away from him. When it was safe he called out, "Send someone over to the Hellions and tell 'em one of their mates made it back out of the desert and fetch the medic." ......................... vet combatL1 wv1,0,0 Posted Apr 12, 2008, 8:18 pm

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