Part 1: Mekanos
Chapter 1: Divide and Conquer
"……And Fortinbras said, 'and now their city shall fall'"
"Good God," mumbled Innokentiy, "this country's a wasteland! Why in the hell Emperor Wolfenstein wants Mekanos I still don't understand".
The Brigadier General looked skyward, stretching his back. He took a long sigh and peered around. Innokentiy Mikhailov, 54, stands 6 feet tall. Serving in the Great War of K3 against Führer Bradley over 250 years ago, he's been promoted from Warrant Officer First Degree to Second Lieutenant in his first campaign, the Battle of Alatiai; then in his second campaign, he got promoted to Colonel for his bravery, he faced down a battalion of K3 soldiers with only four pounds of White Phosphorous and twenty 9mm rounds. For that he was awarded the distinguished Medal of Honor from Kaiser Heiten Sabrino. For that, he was put in command of a Division of Tanks and on his final campaign, he invaded K3's capital, Vyerksyve, and captured Führer King Bradley, and forced him to sign the Treaty of Vyerksyve.
Brigadier General Mikhailov is of Russian-Krematite descent. His blood-crimson hair, spiked backwards; athletic build. Innokentiy, often called Inno, is very kind in nature, yet very impulsive. Not to the point to endanger his men, but he doesn't spend a lot of time making decisions, often becoming of the essence very untactful when addressing his superiors. Thankfully, he holds a social status much greater than his military rank. He is well known amongst the higher up Generals and many own favors to the Brigadier General. Kaiser Heiten has personally favored out Inno as a personal friend. That says a lot concerning the reason General Vance Lancaster, his superior, gave him the title of "The Armored Kaiser". That pertains to Inno being in total control of all Armored Divisions of the Krematite (Crimson) Army. Being that, he favors the German Panzer Tank as his Lead tank, which he characteristically loves to ride on the side of the tank.
"Sir, the Emperor wants Mekanos to be an outpost for his armies on the war against Czar Nicholai," smartly responded Inno's companion Major Kren Vihnkoft. The Major had long black hair tied back in a ponytail, and wore the Uniform of Krematoa proudly.
"...uhhh, Vihnkoft, I knew that! I was saying that this place is CRAP!" answered an annoyed Inno. He watched the fog pass as the tank they were on passed over the hill. Ahead laid the apocalyptic wasteland of Saitokaega. Inno could see flashes in the torn city. Flashes? He thought gunshots. I can't believe that these people are killing each other when they could be cooperating so they all could live. He called for the tanks to come to a halt as the battalion crossed onto a small 25 foot long plateau. He grabbed his binoculars from Major Vihnkoft, and scouted the landscape.
"Lenin!! Come here, quick!"
From across the compound, Lenin ran, back bent over, to the foxhole he'd been summoned to. Flashes and metallic shrapnel flew above him, hitting a target, provoking a blood curdling scream or a steely clang as the off set bullets hit the bus blocking the road of passage.
Lenin jumped down into the foxhole, shouldering his MP5 Automatic before saluting and reporting, "Sir? You called?"
"Yes. At ease. The Separatists are trying to flank us. They're laying down heavy fire on our sharp shooters in order to sneak their troops over into our trenches." said Colonel Irvine Strasburg. Irvine is 28, 6 feet tall, and highly temperamental. "I need you and battalion 40, you know, Brett's troops, to take some heavy guns and lay down fire to stop their advance--"
Irvine's words were obscured by the crashing sound of a 50 Caliber bullet flying through the air and exploding a chunk of bricks from the building above the foxhole, raining debris on the soldiers.
"Get going Lenin," ordered Irvine.
"Yes sir," yelled the corporal. He holstered his hand up on the top wooden notch of the ladder leading out of the foxhole and pulled himself up. He unshouldered his rifle and fired a round of 6 bullets at an enemy fortification, then ran for hell to the tunnel 60 meters away that led to Lieutenant Colonel Brett December's battalion.
This place Lenin was running across was what was left of the industrial sector of Saitokaega. After the Nuclear Fallout of Ahkbenseh, the cesium clouds carried over by the continent's irregular jet stream, the city was thrown into peril. Everyone needed supplies and Mekanos's capital, Bakreikhaga, was powerless to help, already dealing with retrieval of supplies from the Far West. The island Saitokaega sits on was attacked by the Cesium 137 real hard, therefore rendering its inhabitants incapable of rational thought.
The Separatists were those who panicked. They wanted everything what they needed when they wanted it. So they attacked the Industrial sector with cave man antics and walked away with enough weapons for them all to be deadly. The Military was sent by Bakreikhaga to quell the fighting before it spread to other cities, especially Oyokoeta, near the coast of the Fallout boundary.
Lenin Shavyako, 29, stands five foot nine tall, and is incredibly strong for someone his age. His hair is cut in a crew-cut style, and naturally colored a deep, forest leaf green. He is real loosely strung, but still respects authority.
Finally, after dodging nearly 20 head shots aimed at his mad-dash attempt, he reached the tunnel. He stopped at the closed doors and ran his hands frantically across the surface until he found the handle. He pulled it towards him, and finding it couldn't move, tried to push it forward. Upon doing so, he heard a clanking and rumble of chains. Aw CRAP! He thought, locked. Those chains must have an IRONWORKS lock on it! Lenin ran his hands until he found the chains. He reached into his pack and grabbed a small block of C4.
He set the pack on the floor of the tunnel entrance and took a kneel. He picked out a detonation chip and punched the pin through the C4 layering. He laid the C4 on top of the lock and grabbed his pack and retreated 50 yards away. He pulled a detonator out of his pack and pushed the button.
The lock blew open and the aluminum doors swung inwards, crashing on the inward walls with a resounding crash. Lenin coughed and wiped the dust away from his face as he rushed through into the tunnel. His footsteps could be heard through the tunnel, and as he reached a curve in the tunnel, he spotted an enemy battalion of three.
Shit! Ok, ok, so maybe a grenade? Lenin thought idly to himself. He unshouldered his MP5 and pulled out a Fragmentation Grenade from his belt and pulled the pin. He threw the grenade behind the soldiers, who were shouting and exclaiming and beginning to react. Lenin started to fire his automatic at them, to try to back them into the grenade. 5 seconds passed and Lenin pulled his head back behind the tunnel wall just as he heard 3 frantic screams and the dying sounds of their guns' triggers being released.
Lenin grabbed his equipment and ran around the corner, and through the bloody scene he'd just created, and emerged through the gloomy exit of the tunnel. He ran 25 yards and found a trench he could see that stretched around the area. This side of the Industrial Sector was much more vacant, being the Military's so called "Headquarters".
He ran over to the nearest trench opening and jumped down. He was met with the overwhelming smell of silt and soil. It reminded him of his wife Gladia and her and his garden back in Inabayama Province. Running, he found the first officer he could find and asked where he could find the Lt. Colonel. The officer pointed the alcove opening out and Lenin dashed to it, hearing a dozen mortar crashes happening back on Colonel Strasburg's side of the Sector. He rounded the corner and found Lieutenant Colonel December sitting in his chair, overlooking a digital map of the battleground.
"Lieutenant Colonel, sir!" saluted Lenin. Brett jumped a little in surprise and saluted Lenin.
"Ah, Lenin!" boomed Brett December as he rose from his desk and hugged Shavyako in a huge bear hug. "What brings you over here? Too noisy over there on Irvine's side of the area?"
"Err—gh, no sir. Colonel Strasburg said that the enemy Separatists are trying to surround us by the rear," December's face dropped, "He asked me to request your assistance and heavy artillery so that we could stop their advance."
Brett moved back to his map and took a glance over it. He grabbed his glasses and slipped them over his ears and punched a few commands into the holographic map. "What quadrant is the enemy advancing from?"
"Uhhh---I believe it was 4.D, sir," replied Lenin.
December looked it up and tapped the screen, "There they are, let's go!" he moved to the main trench and began yelling orders to his men, "Grab those guns, and those mounts, oh and do NOT forget those ammunition boxes-"
Lenin ran back up to the mouth of the trench and pulled himself up onto the level ground. He ducked as a wave of Mortars rang out in the air and collapsed onto the pavement, flinging shrapnel in all directions, killing a dozen soldiers across the road. Blood splattered the road, coating it in a glossy, deadly crimson, emanating the aura of recent death. Grabbing his sleeve, he wiped the dust away from his eyes that the explosions had stirred up.
Brett reached up to the awaiting Corporal Lenin, and heaved himself up. To his left, his men were filing out of the trench, taking extra care to keep below the enemy's firing levels. Brett took a good survey of the area that they were en route to; hilly, a few dead shrubs, but not the best place to hide from a patrol. But excellent to stage an ambush.
(Ahh, well at least we do have some type of an advantage.)
He motioned his troops to follow him. He started on a trot to the hill and his subordinates in heel. A mortar fell meters from them, spraying dust and shrapnel into the air. Machine guns could be heard in the distance, with occasional sharp, rifle shots. Brett motioned for a drop, and everyone hit the dirt, as a dozen musket shots fired off, hurdling through the air. Raising his hand to motion return fir, a dozen rifles sounded in an attempt to quell their attackers. After all sound had ceased, he motioned a forwards move.
As they started to get up, a sound was heard resonating from the Northward Cliffs. An object flew through the air and crashed devastatingly into a closer-than-they'd-like-to-be-near building. The building exploded with a fiery blast of brick shrapnel. Screams could be heard everywhere as the burning rubble crashed into the earthy ground. Several identical shots could be heard from the cliffs as Brett ordered his men too take cover.
Lenin ran through the dust of the fallout from the building towards a nearby foxhole. Jumping down, he crouched, brick shrapnel flying over the above sky. He could hear random shouts from his comrades and the Lt. Colonel, but he cared not. He just wanted to survive this artillery barrage. Looking up into the sky above him, he saw a couple dozen black spots rise from the cliffs and he thought with a expression of panic: mortars.
Covering his ears from the tank rounds firing off around him, General Inno looked through his binoculars at the battlefield created below the Armored plateau. A grin growing on his face, he turned to his tank commander and said, "What's the damage ratio we got down 'ere?"
"We got a round per every building standing, and for the ground, I'd guess 10 to every square mile," replied the tank commander. He looked up from his digital readout to the battlefield. Smoke was emanating from crushed skyscrapers, black holes blown out of the ground, and if looked at closely, puddles of blood, flowing from their sources lying everywhere.
"Very nice," Responded Inno. Turning around to a young man sitting on one of the tanks, he ordered him to come fourth. As the man approached, wearing a grin, Inno yelled out over the artillery, "I need more fire on the field. Bring out the trench mortars."
The man nodded and ran back to his awaiting troops, yelling out commands as the men scrambled to their equipment.
December looked around at his men, many of them watching the Northern Cliffs for more tank shells to be fired off. Others were huddled together, watching for any soldiers that might run across the little party. Other were terrified and some had been careless and fallen to their fate by the means of deadly shrapnel.
Turning, he still couldn't find the man he was searching for: Lenin. He'd sent out two Lieutenants to try and locate him through the bunch of soldiers. But still nothing. As he was searching still, he heard screams and two bodies flew into their deeply dug foxhole, following a large explosion from above.
Reaching up he looked over the top of the hole at the area of the explosions. Seeing more things flying through the air, he dropped down quick and yelled, "HEADS DOWN!" and ducked as more bombs exploded around them. Peering through the stirn up dust, he yelled out for injuries. Hearing none he ordered his men to stay put, as he hopped up and ran to another foxhole.
Two of Brett's soldiers were already there and looking down. When the Lt. Colonel approached, one of them turned, and with a somber look, he said "Sir…I found Lenin."
The Lt. Colonel jumped into the foxhole and looked at the bloody body of Lenin Shavyako. He looked him over and felt for his pulse. Seconds pass…and he finally feels a small pulse. "Corporal, I need a litter over here, NOW!" yelled Brett to one of the men around him.
Feebly looking up, Lenin looked up at the Lt. Colonel ,and he smiled. "Sorry bout that Brett. Ya know, those black things are mortars, heh…and they hurt." Smiling Brett helped him up to the litter that arrived above them.
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