The Great War

[Dugan195]

As the gate the front dropped a machine gun's stream founds its trailing crossing across the front killing the first dozen soldiers in the U-boat. The ones behind the falling bodies pushed the dead into the waters and dived out into the ocean. Everyone in the U-boat was pushed forward in a stampede of people trying to escape the confines of the tight space of the boat. Desman and the group where all pushed into the waters as bullets ripped around them. The water around them quickly became red as blood seeped out of dead bodies. The part of the ocean they had dropped into was deep enough to go over their heads.

Masamba scrambled around in the water for a second as he gained his composure after being dropped into the water. After a couple of seconds his adjusted and started to swim towards the shallow end. It didn't take him long to make it to shoulder deep waters. He started to wade through the waters with hundreds of other soldiers who had made it that far. He was panting at this point though. Streams of bullets and explosions traced the waters and the screams of the wounded had already started to penetrate the sky. Masamba saw some men stop and foolishly aim at the bunkers up ahead on the beach. The bunkers where small concrete pillboxes armed with soldiers wielding mounted machine guns. Between where dug trenches filled with the troops they had rushed in for the defense. Sparsed about the beach front was various tank traps (the x things) and other obstacles that where meant to slow down the assailants, but would provide cover.

A couple planes launched from the fleet out at sea zoomed overhead strafing the trench lines to disrupt the defenders response, trying to give the approaching troops time to make for the cover. As Masamba made it to the beach he slide behind a tank trap. Shouldering his rifle he started taking pot shots at the pill box up the beach to his left. A couple other soldiers where firing as well, but the window was small at that distance and none of the shots seemed to be having any effect. Even if they managed to knock off one of the machine gunners there would be more men inside to immediately step up and take their place. The only way they could effectively take down the pillboxes was going to be into them, and take them out in person. That meant crossing the killing field of the beach and making it to the trench defense lines first. That would be no easy task. Masamba braced himself against the tank trap as the machine gun he was firing at noticed him and started to ping bullets off the metal trap. Sprays of bullets puttered into the sand around him sending it flying in all directions, Masamba covered his face until the machine gun got bored and moved onto easier pray.  

[Joa-Boo]

The chaos, as expected, came instantly. Desmond and his crew dove into the water and pushed their way through the bodies. They were on the beach with the lines of people advancing and doing what they could to keep people off of them. The firing had to be fast, sporadic, and at many targets to keep their advance. This was the nightmare run. If anyone was to ask a soldier if it was fear they felt, if they asked Desmond if he was afraid, he would say no. It wasn’t a feeling at this point. There wasn’t time for feeling. Fear was their setting. They had to do whatever they could to fight the fear back and push on. One moment of reflection, one conscious observation of that fear would be the last. Desmond swallowed all of it to keep his stride. No matter the amount of training it was never easy getting shot at. Desmond pushed on.

Reggie and Desmond Pitched against the first layer of tank spikes and waited. Once another group made it to them Desmond motioned for the next pitch of cover and then Reggie and he started to fire at targets aiming that way. Once they did the group ran for the targeted area. They switched back and forth until they were close to the trenches. That would be a strong place to move from. Desmond needed to stream line as many people as he could through these trenches. He bit off a grenade and tossed it down the trench. Directly after the blow he and the group charged.

Suzuki found her first position of cover and used her trained eye for picking off the hot targets. She tried to cover Desmond and Reggie’s advances by picking off the soldiers that sat up at the torrent.  

[Dugan195]

Bullet sputtered past Desman and Reggie as they made their way up to the beach. Luckily there were so many targets around them that the machine gunes on the beach paid them no mind, they were just random soldiers to the Arabian troops up in the pillboxes. The men in the trenches however, were a different story. As Desman rallied a group of soldiers to charge the trench they drew the attention of the soldiers guarding that section of trench. They started to fire on the group, taking out soldiers left and right around Desman.

When he launched his grenade the soldiers in the trench started to dive in all directions to escape its blast. The grenade went off and sent debris flying up out of the trench. It got a few Arabian troopers, but most were able to escape its fiery blast. as the group charged the trench they met machine gun fire from a pillbox that had noticed the explosion in the trench near it. Men fell by the dozen, but for every man that fell, another had made it to the trench. Desmen and Reggie dropped down into the trench atop a dead body. As they landed from their left a Arabian soldier started to fire at them, forcing them to drop to the ground. As they turned to return fire another Khanate trooper stood atop the trench with his rifle and put a round into the Arabian's stomach causing him to drop to the ground.

From a support trench to the right of the group a bunch of reinforcement Arabian's armed with bayoneted rifles came pouring out to reclaim the section of trench Desman had just breached. They charged Desman's group with their bayonets forward.


Suzuki fired with her scooped rifle at the pillboxes atop the beach. She picked off machine gunners here and there, but within seconds another soldier would step up and get the machine gun firing again, her rifle could do nothing to take out the machine gun itself, and the Arabians where in no short supply of troopers to stand behind them. As she picked off a couple of troopers she drew the attention of the nearby machine gunners who started to spout streams of bullets all around Suzuki's tank trap.  

[Joa-Boo]

((it doesn’t matter to much but it is Desmond not Desman))

There small victory was short lived as the roars of the oncoming Arabian troopers approached. Desmond yelled for those in the trench to turn face and fire. The wave bullets from Desmond’s group lit up the side of the trench that the soldiers were charging. They could not afford this set back, not now. The action set him back to his work in Olgrod. The inner city setting had many trench like alleys and he was used to being rushed. The many years that he has served taught him to spray and pray like he was a mounted gun. He would do anything to slow down their advance. Reggie followed his lead, spraying a full clip. Both were ready to draw their combat knives if things got to close.

Suzuki kept at it. If she was drawing fire and cutting off the machine gun for even a few seconds then she was doing her job. She was in a tight space but she knew this was what she was needed for. She breathed in and out rapidly, held her breath, and then took aim once the machinegun fire passed by. She picked off another one, continued to hold her breathe, he was replaced by another guy, and then she shot him off. Hopefully she could kill them over and over again and discourage anyone from getting on.

While Desmond and a few other soldiers held down the trench by fighting off the advancing Arabians more and more of Khans filled in behind them. This was just a stepping stone. Desmond ordered fro the rest showing up to continue moving forward towards the bunkers.  

[Dugan195]

As the Khans start to pour into the trenches machine guns from the support trenches behind the front line started to open up and kill them as they tried to dive into the front trench. Dead bodies fell around Desmond as they returned fire at the Arabian reinforcements. With the tight quarters though they couldn't hold them back for long. The Arabians piled into them with bayonets and spades and started to swipe into the advancing Khante troopers. A grenade went off behind Reggie and knocked him to the ground as debrie flew around them.

The machine gun nests picked up on Suzuki's plan and started to alternate from one firing at her while the others picked off Khanete troopers on the beach, when that machine gun was low they would switch to another one waiting, keeping a consent stream of bullets flying onto her. As they pinned her down artillery started to land on the beach front and rocked the beach around her. She didn't know if it was aimed at her specifically, but it was in her general area. Staying there was becoming more and more dangerous by the second.

The first wave of U-boats had unloaded and the second was washing up to unload more fresh troopers. The front line trenches were breached in multiple places, but only one or two spots had the Khan troopers pushed into the support trenches. Planes started to zoom past the beaches hunting for the artillery that was trying soften the attacking forces and keep the beach front covered. It was a killing field.  

[Joa-Boo]

Desmond drew his sword to fight back at the blades coming at him. He held them off long enough to pick up Reggie.

"We hold until Susuki makes it but then we go. We are lingering here to long. We have to push while the rest keep flowing forward. If we get caught things could bottle neck." Desmond yelled through the gun fire near by. There were bodies falling at an alarming rate and it was to their surprise they were still standing. Susuki was behind schedule and that worried him.

Susuki cursed to herself. The constant stream of machine gun fire complicated things. She had to risk it at this point. Continuing to lie there would surely get her killed. As soon as another U boat unloaded She took off into a sprint for the trenches. She didn't fire her gun, she didn't look around, she only focused on sprinting. her heart rate rushed to an absolute extreme as adrenaline filled her being. it was one of the most intense things hse had ever done.

"There she is. Cover her!" Reggie yelled as he to dropped lower to the ground while Desmond held the bayonets at bay with his sword. Once he had the angle he unloaded his machine gun into the line. There were enough bodies on the ground now that the on coming Arabians had to do some climbing to get around. They fought however they could until Susuki reached them.

"CHARGE!" Desmond yelled. All of their men in the current trench charged for the next. They would leave the oncoming Arabians charging the trench to their brothers behind. It was time they got off this beach.  

[Dugan195]

Desmond and his group pushed the Arabians back into the support trench, but not without much effort. The Arabians were holding their ground firmly, the commanders thought the Arabians would break under a heavy assault, these weren't suppose to be well trained troops, were they wrong? These men were refusing to give up any piece of land without fighting for it dearly. Desmond didn't have much time to think about it, not that it mattered anyway he couldn't do anything about it. Desmond's sword was the game changer in the fight for the support trench. The bayonets and spades were violent, nasty weapons that made trench warefare gruesome; but Desmond's sword tore gashes into Arabians left and right. Spurred on by the sigh of Desmond's sword the Khante troopers let out a howl of eagerness and pushed forward literally pushing the bodies of the Arabians back through the support trench.

As the group pushed on some of the Arabians from the secondary trench hopped up onto ground level and sprint forward with submachine guns. The men in the support trench were to preoccupied with the men infront of them to noticed the new group coming up to flank them from atop the trench. They made it to edge of the support trench and started to unload their submachine guns into the bunched up Khanate troopers. Desmond and Reggie were at the front of the bunch and Suzuki was at the back so they were all safe, but about two dozen Khante troopers where cut down in seconds by the three sub machinegunners.

Back in the first trench Masamba had just made his way with others who saw the breach from the beach to support the attack. Masamba looked up to wipe some sweat from his face and saw the oncoming submachine gunners. He called out to the people around him, but the sounds of war drowned him out. Alone he threw himself against the backside of the trench and used a dead body as a firing step. He unloaded a couple of rounds into the three as quick as he could. He managed to get two of them at the expense of a clip, but they had already did their job. The third turned to run back to the secondary trench to escape, but those in the bunch who were not fighting in the close combat had know figured out what was going on above them and had time to react. A dozen Khanate troopers fired their bolt action rifes at the retreating soldier and pelleted him with multiple shots.

Back on the beach front the U-boats where on their fourth round of unloading troops, placing a couple thousand troopers on the beach by now, though the dead was piling up rather high so it would be hard to gauge how many troopers where really on the the beach fighting.

Back in the battle in the support trench Desmond's actions had not gone unnoted. An Arabian officer armed with a schimtar stepped forward and pointed his blade at Desmond. The Arabains cheered from the support trench all the way back to the secondary trench. This was obviously an officer of some note among the Arabians. The officer beat his chest as the fighting dimmed around them. There were still people locked in struggle all around in the beach, but for that specific support trench every stepped back to allow the two swordsmen to duel. This was foolish for the Arabians as it just gave the Khante troopers time to fill the first trench with troopers to just keep pushing them back out of the support trench without hassle from the machine guns still emplaced in the pillboxes behind the secondary trenches. The officer charge forward waving the schimatar above his head bringing it down hard and fast on Desmond as he barreled into him.  

[Joa-Boo]

Suzucki was able to work under the cover of Desmond’s show. She hurried for the trenches with the rest of the Khan soldiers all around her. There wasn’t a moment to waste. They had the chance to get into perfect positions to take down the Arabian’s defenses.

“Good shoting Masamba!” Susuki made sure he heard her as she ran by while reloading her rifle. She made her way through a trench, assassinated a few distracted men nearby, and then took aim at the pods watching Desmond’s trench. She would have to act fast to take out the torrents if they started to fire again.

Desmond was cringing on the inside. He was an expert at close combat but he could hold his own. He was agile and had enough stamina to go for a long time though. He would have to use that to his advantage. One thing his higher combat education gave him was a better understanding of weaponry than most. This officer was wielding a scimitar against his thin short sword. Desmond’s blade was quicker, sharp on all ends, and balanced while the scimitar was heavier towards the edge and only sharp on one side. He had to make that work to his advantage.

As the officer dashed toward Desmond he ducked, rolled away from the blade and readied to stab the men behind. With the quick pace of warfare he had not realized he had been challenged. He held his stab back before harming the spectators. It was strange at first to not be fighting so many bodies all at once. His dodge brought him closer to the Arabian troops but they all watched instead of attack. He turned to face the officer just in time to see a blade rushing at him horizontally. Desmond threw up his sword while bending low to send the scimitar over his head. Now he was back on his side. He noticed off in the distance beach that their boats were reaching the shore unharmed. Desmond had everyone’s attention. If he could draw this out maybe they would have enough support to overpower the Arabians. This just might work because the officer’s scimitar would wear him out before Desmond got tiered. Desmond played a attack back by thrusting from the left upward at an angle and then twisting to stab for the middle section.  

[Dugan195]

The officer buckled forward as Desmond rolled past his attack. The officer ran into some Khanate troops who pushed him back towards Desmond. Both the officer and Desomnd turned at the same time, but the Arabian swung his scimitar with his body taking advantage of the added momentum. The scimitar missed it target as Desmond moved past it getting back around the Arabian. With a deep breath the Arabian started to swing around again but backed up to give the two more room, he wanted to put Desmond on the offensive this time. Desmond fell for the bait and sent his sword towards him. The burly Arabian swatted the sword down with a downward swing of his scimitar and carried on slamming a shoulder forward into Desmond knocking him back into his comrade.

The Khanate troopers let out howls of support for Desmond as they launched him back to his feet. Soldiers on both sides where chanting for their officers to gut the other one. Masamba cheered for his new commander as he jumped down into the trench behind the mass of men behind Desmond. Looking around he saw that even though this part of the beach had stopped for the challenge the beach was far from won. Hundreds of soldiers where pushing up through the beach along a segment of beach a couple miles wide. While the fight would help this segment push through, it was only just one point on the beach; however, as hard as it was to admit, what happened with the rest of the landing was irrelevant to Masamba and the others. Their goal was to push through the fighting and escape into Africa, regardless of whether or not the beach was taken by Khanate troops.

The troops around Desmond and the officer were starting to get anxious as they stood eyeing the others across the trench. Not all of the soldiers were so enthralled by the sword fight going on. After a few minutes one of the Khanate troopers running across the top of the beach didn't see that a challenge was going on and opened up with his submachine gun on what he thought was just a bunch of Arabian troops waiting for orders. A handful of Arabians fell before some figured out what was going on and returned fire. Just as quickly as the fighting had stopped for the duel, all hell broke loose. Dozens upon dozens of bodies crammed into the trench started to open up with their weapons at targets just a few feet away from one another, bodies dropped left and right.

Desmond and the challenging officer both rolled to the sides as the spray of bullets flew past them. Masamba and Reggie pushed through the mass of bodies and quickly pulled Desmond back into the mass of Khanate soldiers and back into the first trench they had already taken to escape the slaughtering in the support trench. "Sorry Captain, can't have you dead yet," Masamba laughed as he popped up over the back of the trench and left off a couple of rounds into the counter charging Arabians.  

[Joa-Boo]

“Same goes for you. Good to see you made if off the beach!” Desmond only had time for a few breaths before diving back into the trenches. Masamba and Reggie followed close as they moved onward out of this hell. By the time the sword play had been interrupted, Suzuki was ahead of the three in another trench. She grabbed a machinegun off of a dead Arabian, shouldered her rifle, and gunned down an unexpected layer of men. She snuck around the sides, far from the main heat of action, allowing her to flank what stood in Desmond’s way.

“Remember guys, this is not our fight. Even if we are the only task group to make it through this battle was not in vain. For us to get anything done we need to push past this fight. We can’t afford to continue fighting here and take any more risks.” Desmond spoke while leaning against a trench wall. This was the big push. The four were together again. They were nearly exhausted and needed to get past this check point and into Africa. “Wait for my signal and then we run!” Desmond raised his hand with these words, made a fist, and held it firmly as he watched the fight around them.

“Damn it man can’t you see they need our help. We can win this fight and then get into position. What’s the rush?” Reggie was partial to the idea. He worked so hard during the battle to take ground, save lives, and finish off as many Arabian soldiers. If they left now the Khanate could be wiped off of the beach.

“You know how these go Reggie. This does not get better from here. As soon as we make too much ground they bring in air support and wipe the beach clean. We cannot afford to be here during that time.” Desmond was quick to turn off any of that thinking. He knew it was hard. He too felt the urge to stay back and help win this fight but that was not their mission. Desmond waited for the attention to pass them by and as soon as he saw the chance he would wave for them to run.

“I won’t do it!” Reggie protested again. He reloaded his gun and readied to jump back above the trench to give support fire.

“GO!” Desmond waved his hand onward and then lifted his weapon to watch for anything that reacted to their movement. Suzuki was first, followed by Masamba, and then the unwilling Reggie had no choice but to run with them. Desmond took up the rear as the four made a break for the African jungle.  

[Dugan195]

Without realizing it the four ran past a couple of African battle lines, but the soldiers where too distracted with the beach front to notice the four random troopers running by. Luckily they slipped by unnoticed and end up past the pillboxes that had devastated the troops along the beach. The group kept running till the made it to a hill that covered them from sight of the beach. In the distance they still heard the roar of battle raging on the beach, however the battle sounded close enough that the Khanate troopers must have kept pushing through the defensive lines of the Arabians, maybe the battle would be won still.

The four lay on the ground panting as they rested from the exhausting battle. Masamba was panting the worse, having had no combat experience this was truly and ordeal for him. He sat up and looked down at his rifle and at the blood splattered on his clothing. He crawled onto all four and start to vomit as the realization that he had just killed a dozen men on the beach. Ended the lives of soldiers, they were the enemy, but they were people all the same. They probably had children, and parents, siblings, friends, wives...and he just ended their lives without thinking. Tears fell from his eyes as Masamba finished vomiting up everything that was in his stomach. "Oh my god," he said trembling on all fours.  

[Joa-Boo]

“Well Masamba is sure to get PTSD.” Reggie chuckled between gasps for breath. The four were extraordinarily lucky to have made it this far. Then again for just 4 individuals to slip by is not at all out of the question. At any moment they could have been gun down by the many sentries standing guard. The thought kept each of them in an anxious bubble of stress hormones. Masamba was the first to crack. Suzuki barely held everything at bay as she laid on the hillside, tense, and wincing to keep herself together. Reggie and Desmond were almost numb to the intensity. Desmond did not like that he was, but in moments like these it was helpful.

“Don’t joke about that Reggie. You’re the one currently showing symptoms for it.” Desmond’s word quickly shut Reggie down. His way of coping with the stress was with cracking a joke. It wasn’t the healthiest strategy but it worked for him. Desmond’s comment, while quick to help support their newest addition to the team, was damaging to Reggie.

Reggie’s body tensed up. He took a few steps towards some trees further down the hill to brace himself against them. All of a sudden his mind lost the ability to focus and his vision blurred. He was thrown into a flash back with Natalie. The two were running through a battle field, guns blazing, explosions all around, then everything went black.

“REGGIE!” Desmond yelled from a knelt position near Masamba. Reggie passed out. “Suzuki you help him. I have to take care of Masamba. Do it fast because we can’t stay here.” Desmond ordered and then turned back their new translator who was currently shutting down. “Masamba listen to my voice. Focus in on it and nothing else. It is over. Everything is over. Breathe in and out. Slower… sloooower. It is over now. What you did is past and it is over. What you did you did to survive. You survived and it is over. Breathe in and out. That’s good. There you go.” Desmond pulled Masamba away from the ground and forced him to start moving around. He needed to get lose and gain control of himself. “You did a great job out there!”

While Desmond was working on Masamba Suzuki lifted Reggie into a proper lying position and put a wet rag over his head. She checked his vitals and gave thumbs up. Desmond said to wake him and Suzuki took an ammonia salt from her pack and placed it below his nose. The jolt of such a violent smell shook him away instantly. He leaped to his feet, throwing punches and pulling a trigger on an imaginary gun in his right hand. He didn’t realize where he really was until his eyes opened again.

“You’re so dysfunctional Reggie you sure you’re going to be alright?” Suzuki asked. She put an arm around him and giggled slightly to show she was on board with his joking mechanisms. He had not the slightest idea about what happened but started to laugh all the same.

“Look at us. We are all dysfunctional. You would have to be to pull this job off!” Reggie got everyone laughing as they moved further around cover.

“Here is the plan now. We keep moving deeper into the country but we first need to find a good place to call in supply drops, our position, and additional mission reports. Let’s get to it.”  

[Dugan195]

Slowly the world came back to Masamba as Desmond pulled him off the ground. His heart started to return to a normal beat and the taste of the vomit was registering in his mouth. He coughed a few more times to clear his throat and looked at the three around him. "Thank you sir," He said looking down at the ground embarrassed over losing his composure like that in front of everyone. It was rather...unprofessional

As Desmond spoke of moving further into the country he reached into his sachel bag and pulled out a map, "Our rendezous point with the gorillias is about 30 miles west of here. Intelligence states it should be an easy trip, just got to watch out for routine patrols. Fortunately for us Africa is a very big continent and they don't have nearly enough troops to cover all of it. That will help us out alot." Masamba said looking down at the map to embarrassed still to look the group in the face after his freak out. He bit his lip as he tried to figure out their exact location, but the beach landing was far to heptic to keep track of their movements, hopefully the didn't travel too far north or south that they would be way off from meeting the gorillas.  

[Joa-Boo]

“Let’s keep a low profile on the way there. Lock your weapons and let’s hit the road.” Desmond had the last word as each of them tied up and adjusted their things for a long hike. 30 miles without a vehicle brought them all back to their days on tour and only their hard discipline held in all of the desires to complain. Regardless they made their trip in good time and with a good stride.

Africa was a very different scene than the Asian countryside they were used to. Between the climate and the mixture of environments they had to put their training to the test. With each mile bringing something different; jungle terrain, huge grasslands, cliff sides, it took everything and all of their energy to make it the clicks to their destination.

(Just a response. Let me know if you wanted more)  

[Dugan195]

By nightfall they made it to a village that was only a couple clicks from the hideout of their insurgent group.The village was a stop along a huge set of train tracks. Small houses and shops surrounded the train station, but no building was bigger than three stories. People could be seen walking through the streets to a home or to the tavern across from the train station occasionally. Some of these people where Empire troopers patroling the streets, as this was still Empire terroritory for the time being.

Masamba turned to the group, "We are supposed to meet our contact inside the tavern in that town. Luckily there are many immigrants to the Empire, so you all won't stick out like sore thumbs instantly, but we gotta ditch the rifles and try and keep a low profile to not draw attention to ourselfs." Masamba looked around and set his rifle down by the stump of a tree. "We can come back for them later."