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First Blood

4saken The 4saken Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Members Posts: 2,282 Joined: Jan 1, 2008 "Time to get our feet wet," said Tracey 'Macho' McGuire, leader of 4saken's Sarsfield crew. Their first run in Sars would use all the resources available to them. Their apache, still in its Badlands configuration, a 4.0 phoenix fitted with only an HMG, and all 5 of the crew the gang had in the town, himself included. The apache, "Badpache" as they called it, would do most of the work. The phoenix would serve to sew confusion and work the flanks. Simple enough. In theory anyway. Five enemies. The terrain seemed easy enough to work with. But somehow the plan never worked out. Just too many of them, too much firepower hitting again and again. Soon enough the pirates had the two vehicles split up, each fighting for their lives. The apache was a mess. The armor was hardy enough to take another machine gun hit, let alone survive the full onslaught of a fresh antagonist. To make things worse, one of the pirates who had been playing dead to some degree was now intending to use his remaining machine gun to turn the tide of battle. Meanwhile the phoenix was no better. It had been in a dogfight with two enemy pheonixes and a pickup to boot. Albert Sterns, having only recently qualified for his heavy gunner spec, was on the HMG, and Paula Warren, a new recruit, was behind the wheel. One of the pirates was down but at the price of the nix's right side armor. And aside from the front, there wasn't much armor left to speak of elsewhere, for that matter. It was all Paula could do to see through the engine smoke and still drive. "Just keep driving," said Albert. "We're dead if we keep driving!" she shouted over the sounds of the engine grinding and unrelenting gunfire behind them. Paula was new but she had already been through hell, having been the first in the gang to traverse the 1100+ miles from Badlands and report back. "Just let me turn on him! We can take him, front's still in good shape." "No, the pickup's too close. He'll tear us to shreds even if we can fight the other one." It was a hard thing for Albert to admit. His trigger finger was really itching to finish this. And it would only be a matter of time before the pirates' phoenix caught up. If they could just make it a little farther. Maybe he would slide out, or maybe he was out of ammo, or maybe the Badpache could finish up with it's combat and come to the rescue. Up until now Albert was always the front gunner on the 'pache. It was so safe and inviting, even in the hell of the badlands, compared to this flimsy deathtrap, he thought to himself. All he could do was hope for the best and try to keep himself calm. McGuire was calling through the radio, his voice barely recognizable over the ever-present distortion of the auroras. "in real trouble here... you're on your own... get yourselves out of there..." Just then a good burst flew into them, the bullets slamming into various things on the inside of the cabin. The engine changed pitch again, lower still. The enemy car had just crested a hill, finally getting a clean shot on them. There was nowhere to hide now. "I'm hit!" called Paula. Albert looked back to her side of the car. Blood was spattered across the inside of the windscreen and she had a frightened look on her face. He checked his gun. It hadn't been damaged. Albert didn't even say anything. He just nodded to her, once, purposefully. Paula jammed the wheel hard, pulling the car into what was almost a 60mph T-stop. The enemy tried to follow suit but was a hair to late and too fast. Albert jammed the gun as far over as it would go, waiting for the shot. He could see the expression on the other driver's face. Their side was open to them. They had been made. Paula guided the front of the car like pointing a finger, and Albert laid down on the trigger, tracking the enemy car with its bullets. The phoenix armor was no match for sustained fire from an HMG and it was not long before he could see shrapnel flying around inside their car. They finally got their fresh rear armor to protect them and Albert risked a glance back towards the pickup. They would have a few seconds more time, it looked like. Albert steeled his jaw and kept laying into them. "Just a little more, we almost have them!" Just then his gun went dry. Reflexively he reached back for the clip from his custom made rig. His hand only met jagged metal. "Crap, we're out! That's it. Finished. Get us the hell out of here!" Paula had the perfect kill lined up. They were almost close enough to ram. She cursed then pulled the wheel hard. The enemy Flame riddled them with more bullets from its rear gun, but they somehow manged to get some intervening terrain in the way to save them. "Circle all the way around this crater," he said. "It's the only chance we got." "This engine doesn't have much left in it," she said grimly. Albert checked up on the other crew. They were in a world of troubles of their own. Albert wished them luck. It was really all he could do. Paula had done a good bit of clever avoiding to try to minimize the effect of the pickup but the Flame, rather than chase them around the hill, had turned to try to cut them off. Albert had heard tales of what a car rife round could do to an exposed crewman but he had never witnessed it firsthand. Just as he heard the impossibly loud Crack! of the gun's retort Paula's head flew apart and blood splattered everywhere. Albert blinked a few times. Paula's body slumped forward and jammed the steering wheel to one side, sending the car into a lazy death-spiral, engine crippled, weaponless, and with almost no armor left and enemies all about. Albert sat back and sighed. Then, having really nothing better to do, he climbed over and tried to take over driving. He did his best not to look out the windows. Maybe if he covered his eyes, he thought, they would go away. Some time later that week, or so it seemed, he was behind the wheel. He had been talking with McGuire on the handheld, perhaps. They had managed to outsmart the Antag, and having a rear gun didn't hurt either. So there was still some hope there. Albert was driving, more or less. Scenery was still moving by. He wasn't alone. There was a pickup and another phoenix along for the ride as well. He would see if he could lose them on this bad spot on the side of of the path. It looked nasty. A car could get caught in there and not drive out, he thought to himself. Wonder if I can make it? Let's see if they can follow me. A machine gun burst to the inside of his vehicle woke up from his daze. It missed him, but ripped into the engine. On the bright side, he actually had ran along the edge of the drop-off, and one of the enemies had already slid down. Now for the other. Just then McGuire came through on the radio. "status?" Albert shook himself alert and answered, "not good, boss.. still alive... car trashed... one more chasing..." He couldn't figure out if he had already told McGuire about Paula's death. The enemy Flame was starting to work its way out of the pit. Albert started looking for a good place to bail out and take up a position with his rifle, like 'Macho' McGuire had had to do on the last scout. Albert made it a point to always carry four clips. McGuire had used up two. The engine lurched on, a cylinder or two firing just enough to keep it rolling. He wasn't sure it would make it to a safe spot for him to bail to in time. Still, for the moment at least, it was going faster than he could run, so he held with it a little longer. The Flame was out. Albert held his breath. There would be no chance of outrunning it. It pulled forwards toward him, then slowed and turned back. They had had enough as well. Their crew could not be feeling good either. He had seen the blood on their windows. They had taken their parting shots, but they didn't have any fight left in them. Albert called back, "evaded... you guys still there?.. trying to escape..." "yeah, we're making our way out... try to save the car... [garbled] all we have... can't fight if get jumped again... see you at gates..." "see you at gates" he called into the mic. There was a bit of downhill and the car still had its momentum. It looked like he could get far enough away that he could duck somewhere and wait until it was safe to try to carry on. At least until they got to the Sarsfield gates. Pirates were known to lay in wait there for returning gangs such as his. But, in the meantime, he was alive. "You did good, kid," he said, slapping Paula's corpse on the shoulder. "Real good." She was still warm to the touch. ......................... vet combatL1 wv1,0,0 Posted Dec 7, 2008, 7:20 am Last edited Dec 7, 2008, 7:21 am by 4saken

4saken The 4saken Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Members Posts: 2,282 Joined: Jan 1, 2008 OOC: sorry so long. tired and sleep deprived now but had to write. albert's car escaped with a 15% engine, for the record, and we ended up not having a return, so we made it back. the apache was trashed, too. 15 points total armor left not including top/bottom and lost a weapon. and no enemy salvage as we lost. this was my first scout alone in sars. the one before was with others. i took all i had in sars, which at the time was a dustup with a machine gun. i parked high and sniped but a machine gun by itself isn't much weapon. eventually i slid off my perch. macho mcguire (he goes by that to compensate for his first name being "tracey") had to do most of the battle on foot, and there was alot of dodging bullets. later i'll post a cap or two if i find a good one. also when paula's car demoed the wheel was of course locked. it showed as being centered but every turn the car actually went hard left and the wheel showed that during the turn until i clicked on it. don't know if this is a bug or not. i sure wasnt happy to see my demoed car turning back towards the enemies. ......................... vet combatL1 wv1,0,0 Posted Dec 7, 2008, 7:29 am

*jimmylogan* MADHAT Darkwind Guru Civs Faction Group: Marshals + Rule Council Posts: 5,587 Joined: Jun 11, 2008 4saken said: OOC: sorry so long. Don't be! Good reading! JL ......................... vet marshal deathrceL1 wv community combatL1 Posted Dec 7, 2008, 2:28 pm

Dr Mathias Wasteland Extravaganza Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Contributors + IP Posts: 1,418 Joined: Oct 9, 2007 ((Great story, very evocative...)) ......................... vet combat1 ped1 wv cont Posted Dec 7, 2008, 5:48 pm

Group: Posts: 0 Joined: Today Posted Today, 10:53 am

*Lugal* Luna Sea Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Marshals Posts: 2,246 Joined: Jan 27, 2008 Excellent read - thank you for posting this! Good to hear most of your crew made it back, and that you were able to keep your cars. ......................... vet marshal wv Posted Dec 7, 2008, 8:39 pm

*JD_Basher* Gearjammers Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Marshals + Storytellers Posts: 2,728 Joined: Feb 11, 2007 4saken said: OOC: sorry so long. OOC: I NEVER think your stories are too long!... I'm happily scrolling down as I read and disappointed to see it end! You use your gift well in the subject matter (the game) and forum given. Just a question... Is the story truly fiction if you actually 'lived' it making the moves of the cars and peds even IF you are role-playing? Maybe semi-autobiographical? JD ......................... vet marshal wv cont Posted Dec 7, 2008, 9:03 pm Last edited Dec 7, 2008, 11:54 pm by JD_Basher

4saken The 4saken Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Members Posts: 2,282 Joined: Jan 1, 2008 i've said before the stuff writes itself. consider: we see the moves and the moves of our enemies, which shots hit, etc, even the detailed damage text. to be honest i did take a little creative license there. the text said "caves in the front of her skull" but the shot, in fact, was from the rear. just a lack of detail in the system, really, and the fact that it softens up the damage to interior crew substantially. ......................... vet combatL1 wv1,0,0 Posted Dec 9, 2008, 2:15 am

Kime Dennory Weasel Works Darkwind Guru Renegade Group: Members Posts: 725 Joined: Aug 8, 2008 Well, if someone's shooting at you from behind, it's not so strange that you might turn to look at them... :-) -KD ......................... vet Posted Dec 9, 2008, 8:23 pm

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