October 19th, 2025/October 1962
Huntington, Colorado
Border Between The Neutral Zone and Japanese Pacific States
Two days. It took ODA 0213 and their MARSOC counterparts to finally reach the town of Green River. But the plan was never to head straight from Colorado to Utah. The route they had to take, one that dated back to the 1940's and hadn't seen much upgrading since, was a long and winding one. It was also one that took the Americans through the towns of Montrose, Grand Junction, and Green River. Towns that not only held some functioning, if barely, gas stations, but more importantly, held contacts in the American resistance. Contacts that had not only managed to help get fuel for their JLTV's, but also valuable and up to date intel regarding the location and strength of Japanese border checkpoints across the border leading to the Japanese Pacific States.
Intel that was now paying great dividends, as the soldiers and marines now lay beside Huntington Creek, directly northeast of the town of Huntington, and with a very clear view of the town itself, as well as the Japanese garrison stationed in and outside the town.
"Jesus, this is beyond depressing." said one of the marines as he peered through the scope of his Barrett M82 sniper rifle.
"You aren't alone in that thought, Sergeant," Captain Ryan Zamansky said. "What you got through that scope, O'Connor?"
"What I got is what seems to be the HQ to the garrison in the town, which I might add, seems rather large considering the size of the place.
"And what about the checkpoint to the west?"
"A dozen men, machine gun emplacement, and tank next to the tower. All of it facing east. These guys look rather jumpy to me and-wait, we got movement up the road!" O'Connor said, shifting his rifle ever so slightly as to get a view of what was coming their way. On the road just west of the town, a black four doored car, with two SUV's providing escort, was heading towards the checkpoint. "We got a small convoy approaching from the west. Three vics, two armoured, one front, and one back. Car's a bit fancy too, I'm gonna guess some VIP type."
"Alright, keep your scope on them, I'm gonna go check in with that Army Captain." He said, before getting up from his position next to O'Connor, and over to Captain Lau.
"Understood sir." And keep his scope on them he did. Slowly, but surely, the convoy made its way to the checkpoint, one of the guards, who was sporting an ancient Arisaka rifle, walked up to the driver side door of the middle car. When the tinted window rolled down, the soldier snapped to attention, his eyes going wide as the driver of the driver of the vehicle came face to face with him. Looking into the window, he was met with the sight of a middle aged Japanese man, wearing what appeared to be a black suit, hat, and glasses. He spoke a few words to the guard, which he couldn't hear, before being saluted, rolling up the window, and continuing onward.
"So what we got, Captain Lau?" Zamansky asked, kneeling down next to her. "Figure out why these bastards are so jumpy?"
"Unfortunately, I believe I have," she said, a hint of grimness in her tone. "Take a look." she handed her tablet over to him, which Zamansky took, and looked at the live feed being sent back via the drone overhead. What he saw, wasn't something he thought he'd see.
On the street below, stood a platoon of Imperial Japanese soldiers, lining the streets in front of the HQ building for the local garrison. And directly in the middle of the street, were three people, two men, and one woman, hands bound behind their backs, and on their knees. They were bloodied and bruised, no doubt thanks to the soldiers who surrounded them. Standing over them were three men with slightly different uniforms than the other Japanese soldiers around them. They wore armbands on their left arms, with a symbol that the two captains and their teams had gotten very familiar with over the last few weeks.
"Fucking Kempeitai!" Zamansky snarled, scowling at the tablet in his hands.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but we were supposed to have met some members of the local resistance before we got to this town, right?" Lau asked, taking her tablet from Zamansky.
"Yes, we were," he replied. "Looks like that plan's gone to shit."
"And those poor bastards down there got beat to shit as well." Lau joked morbidly.
"Now my question is how they got caught in the first place. And more importantly, did they beat our arrival out of them before we got here, or are they about to make a public spectacle of this?"
"That might explain why there's such a heavy presence, but it doesn't look like they've been in custody for too long."
"How can you tell that?"
"Aside from the fact we didn't get ambushed the moment we arrived, all the blood on their clothes is fresh, as are their bruises. Plus, there's this" she pointed to a stack of weapons in a pile next to the four Americans. A Thompson submachine gun, Springfield rifle, and an M1911 pistols, with a few clips and magazines of ammo to go with them. But more interestingly, was the stack of film reels sitting in a separate pile next to them. "Looks like they got caught with contraband just before we got here."
"We got incoming!" 1st Lieutenant Brian McDermott called out, pointing to the southwest, staring at the camera feed of the second drone they had in the air.
"Dammit, what now?!" Lau cursed as she took her binoculars out, and aimed them in the direction where McDermott was pointing, right as she heard rustling around her, and the clicking of safety's of rifles. Through her pair of binoculars, she could see a man running in their direction, waving his arms frantically, hoping they would see him. He knew they were there, and was hoping they would help him. And as she took a closer look behind him, she saw what he was running from. A group of Japanese soldiers were chasing after him, and were slowly, but surely catching up. They wanted him alive, that much was clear. It was also clear that the man, who as Lau looked closer at, was more like a teenager, wasn't planning on being captured. From his waistband, he drew a pistol, and began firing wildly at his pursuers.
Three shots were fired, and one of them hit home, and sent a Japanese soldier tumbling to the ground. It was at this point, two things happened. First, the Japanese soldiers chasing the teen, were now pointing at where they were at, and seemed to have finally spotted them. The second, and arguably most important and dangerous effect, was that the close proximity of the town, the entire garrison of Japanese soldiers had heard the gunshots and were all scrambling to figure out where they were coming from. It didn't take long.
"I see you, you fucking bastard!" O'Connor spat as he met the gaze of a Japanese officer through binoculars, who was staring directly at him. Taking his eyes off his scope, he poked his head out, flashed an evil grin, and gave the Japanese officer one finger salute, before snapping back in, and pulling the trigger. He watched with satisfaction and more than a little glee as the officer's expression turned into one of pure rage at the gesture given, right before his head exploded. "WE'RE GONNA HAVE COMPANY!" he shouted as the soldiers all around the now dead officer were scrambling about, looking off in the distance where he and the other American operators were standing.
Not long after he yelled this, the designated marksmen of the ODA team began opening fire, their rifles bucking into their shoulders as they dropped the Japanese soldiers who were following the teen. Once the ones aiming for the teen had been taken out, the rest had been taken out. The Japanese soldiers and their Arisaka rifles, were no match for the ODA's M110 SASS tore through them. Whatever shots the Japanese had managed to get off, were way off the mark, while the 6.5 Creedmoor rounds found their targets with ease.
"WE GOT A FUCKING TANK!" one of the MARSOC Marines screamed as the chatter of machine gun fire ripped through the air, and bullets began whizzing past them. The fifties on the JLTV's responded in short order, their rounds raking the checkpoint up ahead, tearing through the small guard shack, and any exposed infantry. But the tank sitting next to the checkpoint, was unaffected. Its turret slowly turned their way, and the drivers of the JLTV's threw the gears into reverse, and began pulling back.
The cannon of the tank boomed, and the shell streaked across the sky, sending the operators scrambling for cover, or outright diving for the ground, as the round landed dangerously close to them. The round had landed where one of the JLTV's was a few moments prior. Shrapnel flew through the air, and screams followed shortly after. Special Forces or not, they weren't supermen. Their training did do them credit, as well as their plate inserts and ballistic helmets, but even still, one of the MARSOC Marines went down, shrapnel embedded in his arm.
"SOMEBODY GET THAT FUCKING TANK!" the wounded Marine shouted.
"One away!" one of the Green Berets called out as one of the Javelin launchers fired, and the missile honed in on the offending tank. One second, the tank was firing back on the Americans. In the next, the tank was a burning hulk, its turret flying off, and the ammo rack cooking off in quick succession. The machine gunner, who had been sitting up in his open cupola, saw the missile coming, and tried to bail out of the tank. His body went flying dozens of feet away from the tank as the missile made impact.
"I got you, Prophet," Sergeant O'Connor said as he dragged his wounded buddy behind one of the vehicles. Once O'Connor ensured he was safe, he took up position once more, resighting back in, and watching a Japanese soldier attempt to mount the machine gun at the checkpoint. "Bad fucking move!" he said, exhaling his breath, and pulling the trigger. His aim was off, and instead of hitting center mass, the man's right arm flew off as bone and blood splattered all over. Another Japanese soldier tried the same thing, and only this time got a round through his chest, which dropped him. Whatever soldiers hadn't been torn apart by the fire from either him or the fifties, had wisely chosen to stay down.
However, it was at this moment that things began to intensify in and around the town. First off, a cacophony of gunfire erupted from inside the town, and from those watching the drone footage, could see that the Japanese garrison was under attack from inside. Cars exploded near the HQ building and scores of heavily armed Japanese soldiers poured out to fight off their attackers. It was clear the American Resistance had been planning this, and had been waiting, and even relying on the Special Forces teams to back them up. And even worse, a loud air raid siren in the middle of the town began to blare. They would soon have company.
"Adams, get on the radio, and tell Command that shits hit the fan over here! Tell them we might need air support!" Zamansky ordered.
"On it sir," Adams replied, wasting no time getting to the long range radio in the JLTV.
"Fat chance of us getting any," O'Connor remarked. "This far out, and the Nazis out east, I don't see us getting any help. We're on our own."
"Have to at least try," Zamansky replied, before turning to Captain Lau, who knelt down to the side of the teen that they just saved.
"The Japs...they...they-!" he sputtered, only to pause in momentary shock and horror as he came face to face with Captain Fay Lau and her chief medical specialist, Staff Sergeant Bryan Cheung, who were standing over him. The color drained from his face as he thought he had been captured by the Japanese, until the sight of other Americans, specifically white Americans, made him calm down.
"Easy son, we're not the enemy." she said, trying to get him to calm down.
"We're on your side, kid," Zamansky added. "She's an American just like the rest of us!" he said. "Now more to the point, can you tell us what the hell's going on here?"
"W-we were told that the Reborn American Army was sending soldiers to help us fight the Japanese!" the teen replied. "We were preparing for your arrival when the Kempeitai caught my group before we could meet at the rally point, and wait for your arrival. They even said we'd have air support!"
Lau and Zamansky exchanged confused looks for a moment, before they turned back to the kid.
"We were told to make contact with the local resistance, not fight a Japanese garrison!" Lau said angrily. "Dammit, we were hoping to avoid a fight!"
"Doesn't look like we have much choice now!" Captain Zamansky stated.
"If we don't find some damn cover, we're gonna get torn apart out here!" one of the Green Berets called out, his M249 chattering as he laid down hell on an enemy position.
"Son of a bitch!" Lau cursed as she turned to Zamansky. "We're gonna have to-" she was cut off as 1st Lieutenant McDermott shouted out a warning to them.
"ARMORED CAR INCOMING!" he screamed out, watching as the armoured vehicle pulled out from the HQ building, and was heading their way. It raced out at full speed, small arms fire from nearby buildings clanging off the armoured hull. Its turret swivelled and took aim at one of the buildings where gunfire was coming from. The cannon boomed and the fighters in the building were silenced. Then, it began to make its way eastward, onto the road that led it directly to them.
Before long, the vehicle had emerged from behind a building, and made its way towards them. The two JLTV's with the 30mm autocannons opened up, the rounds tearing the thin armor apart from repeated hits to the front plate and turret. Soon, the vehicle burst into flames, with secondary explosions erupting inside as the ammo compartment was compromised. The accompanying infantry were met with the same fate, as the rounds tore through the exposed infantry like they were nothing. As the smoke cleared, the operators realized that no more shots were coming their way. Gunfire still crackled in the town, but no more was coming towards them. In fact, what few Japanese soldiers they could still see, were outright running back into the town.
"Good lord," the teen murmured as he looked out at the sheer carnage before him. One tank, an armoured car, and dozens of Japanese soldiers lay dead on the ground between the Americans and the town.
"The remainder of the Japanese garrison are gathering near their HQ in the center of town, still taking fire from resistance fighters in the city." one of the Green Berets reported to Captain Lau. "I can also report that the three resistance fighters they captured seem to have escaped at the start of the fight."
"Good. Anything else, Sutton?" she asked, only to be interrupted by the sound of a loud gunshot from behind her. A gunshot which seemed to have shut off the loud siren that kept on blaring.
"You're welcome!" O'Connor said with a smile, as he lay prone with his rifle, not taking his eye off the HQ building. "Come on you bastards, pop your heads up." he said, a wild smirk on his face.
"You got problems, O'Connor!" another Marine, by the name of Perez said.
"My only problem is that these bastards know I'm watching them." he replied coolly. "And we got an AA gun on the roof of the HQ, but I can't get a shot on the gunner. Don't have a good angle."
"Backblast clear!" another Marine said as he aimed the SMAW rocket they had brought along, pulled the trigger. They watched as the SMAW NE rocket zipped through the air, and hit the rooftop. The four pound thermobaric warhead set off a chain reaction as the explosion reached the crates of ammo that were obviously atop the roof with the gun. The whole roof ignited in a red hot flame as the building shook, and the Japanese soldiers inside it scrambled for cover. The Americans, both the residents of the town, as well as the resistance fighters and soldiers, cheered as the fires began to spread, and the roof caved in on the lower floor.
"Nice hit, Fernandez!" Zachary complimented, admiring the accuracy at the range fired from.
"Hope the sorry bastards burn." Fernandez said, squinting his eyes at the building, as he thought he saw some dots in the air around it. "Does anyone else see that?" he asked.
"See what?" Zamansky asked, just as the sound of helicopter blades tearing through the air, could just barely be heard over the sporadic gunfire taking place around Huntington. "Oh, shit!" he cursed.
"We got helicopters incoming!" one of the Green Berets warned, pointing at the dots growing ever so closer on the horizon.
"GET THE FUCKING STINGER!" Captain Lau screamed, as her team scrambled for the JLTV's, seeking both cover, and for the few heavy weapons they brought with them on the trip to Utah. Corporal Sutton grabbed the first, the next was grabbed by a Marine, and they both set up the launchers, and aimed them out west towards the approaching helicopters. From the silhouettes they could see, at least one of them was some variety of attack helicopter, with the rest being transports carrying reinforcements. And on the road leading westward, a large amount of dust was being kicked up from a large convoy of trucks, jeeps, and armored cars rapidly closing in on the town.
"Looks like they called in reinforcements." O'Connor said, growling as he looked up and down the massive convoy. "And there's a lot of them. More than we got ammo for. Fuck!"
"Recall the drones," Lau ordered, right as the first stinger fired towards the lead Japanese helicopter. They all watched as the rocket had no trouble seeking out its target, and how the target helicopter tried to bank to the right to avoid it. The rocket struck home, and the helicopter burst into flames and fell to the ground. The second man was about to fire when Captain Zamansky put his hand on the Marine's shoulder, and shook his head not to.
"No point, we might need that missile later," he said, watching the Marine slowly put the Stinger down, and looked off in the distance at the approaching helicopters. They were weaving about, hoping to avoid any more incoming rockets. Rockets that would never come. But that didn't stop another of them from suddenly exploding into flames as a stream of tracer rounds tore into it from above. The American troops watching the spectacle were baffled at the sight of a prop fighter dived down from on high, strafing a second helicopter, tearing its tail end off, and sending the fuselage falling down.
"What the fuck?" a few of the operators said, very much confused, but at the same time, grateful for the assistance. Their confusion and gratefulness only increased as they heard the sound of more planes approaching from behind them. A flight of two P-40 Warhawks, and single P-47 Thunderbolt, all with bombs under their wings, came from up high and out east, and began streaking towards the town.
The first target was the HQ building, which found itself on the receiving end of both Warhawks hammering the building with fifty caliber machine guns, and one bomb from each of the Warhawks, which exploded directly in front of the building, destroying the sandbag emplacements, and turning men into bloody chunks of raw meat. The P-47 however, dove straight for the convoy of troops trying to come to Huntington. Japanese gunners arming the machine guns on the jeeps tried to get a bead on the fighter, but it was for naught. The P-47 was a sturdy fighter, and could tank the hits from the .50 rounds being fired at it. The Japanese soldiers fired with reckless abandon, but it did not stop the Thunderbolt. One bomb was let loose from its rack, and glided down directly on the lead truck of the convoy.
The truck blew apart as the 500 pound bomb landed directly on the crew cabin, effectively making the entire front end disappear, with the rest of the truck turning into thousands upon thousands of pieces of shrapnel. Next up were the Warhawks, with their 250 pound bombs, which they dropped with just as much accuracy. One landed directly in the troop compartment of a transport truck, sending a red spray of blood and viscera all over the vehicle behind it, and all across the road. The next landed atop one of the armored cars in the rear end of the convoy, stopping it dead in its tracks.
The forth aircraft, which was another P-40, came down low and fast, dropping a pair of what turned out to be incendiary explosives on the convoy, which also tooks its proverbial chunk of flesh out of the reinforcement convoy. The fighters kept on strafing the convoy, forcing many of the vehicles to stop and disembark their troops, or kept taking out whatever vehicles they could hit, and inflicting horrific casualties upon the Japanese soldiers. After a few minutes, at which point most of the convoy had stopped, either from various wrecks preventing more movement, or drivers and troops refusing to be sitting ducks, the Thunderbolt and its Warhawk escorts turned to the east, and flew off at top speed.
It was at this time a roaring could be heard coming from the east as well, and two Marine Corps AV8B Harriers screamed overhead, missiles flying off their pylons towards unseen targets outwest. The Harriers were soon followed by an F-16, which also let loose a host of air-to-air missiles at targets beyond the horizon.
"I told you we'd have air support!" the teen said excitedly. The operators just looked at him perplexed. What did he know that they didn't? And why hadn't they been told about this? Perhaps this skirmish was a last minute operation, or perhaps it was supposed to have occurred later, but was accelerated forward by the incident in the town just before they arrived here.
"Sir, command told us we had air support incoming," Adams said, somewhat belatedly.
"Yes, I can see that." Zamansky said, still watching the ever shrinking forms of the war planes in the distance.
Then, as if on cue, even more rumbling could be heard from out east, and as they looked behind them, a small convoy of old jeeps and two and half ton trucks, and even a halftrack in anti-aircraft configuration, was among the convoy. Each vehicle was painted in the color and insignia of the old U.S. Army. All had come up the exact road they had used to get here, and there was roughly two dozen in total, most filled with men in old army uniforms, and wearing steel helmets. A lot of the men themselves seemed to be old as well, but a great many were fairly young as well.
As the convoy came to a stop, Dozens of men, sporting old rifles and submachine guns, piled out, and began fanning out towards the town. Two of the men, who exited the lead vehicle, walked up to the stunned American Operators.
"Heard you fine boys needed some help out here dealing with the Japs!" One of the men greeted.
"I guess we did." Zamansky replied. "And who might you guys be?" he asked.
"Captain Felix Sparks, United States Army." the man replied, nothing that more than a few of the soldiers in front of him went wide eyed.
"And I'm Sergeant Henry Bohl, United States Army."
"Captain Ryan Zamansky, United States Marine Corps." Zamansky greeted.
"Captain Faye Lau, United States Army." Lau said, staring at Captain Sparks in a mixture of admiration and shock. "You're really Captain Felix Sparks? Of the 45th Infantry Division?"
"Yes ma'am, is there a problem?" Sparks asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Not a problem sir, just a little starstruck is all. You're a damn hero where we're from." she said, putting her hand out towards him to shake. Sparks shook her hand and smiled warmly back at her.
"Good to know this old man is at least remembered by someone after all these years." he said with a sad sigh. "But forget all that, we've got a job to do, and that involves kicking these bastards right in the ass!" Sparks said, right as the roar of aircraft overhead was followed by the sounds of more explosions coming from the stricken convoy. Three A-29 Super Tucano ground attack aircraft lobbed rockets at the burning convoy, further eviscerating the Japanese troops still alive down below.
The Rebel American Army troops roared their excitement and cheers at the sight of the Japanese troops being slaughtered in the burning convoy. The cheers grew even louder as the Tucano's came back around for another pass, and strafed the convoy with their 20mm gun pods, tearing apart troops and vehicles alike. For many of the men, who had seen their friends and family butchered by Japanese forces during The War, it was cathartic, and relieving to see. The enemy who had caused them so much pain, and taken so much from them, was now feeling what it was like to have that same pain inflicted on them.
Some wept with tears of joy as they saw the American planes roar overhead, having finished raining death on the Japanese forces. As they looked back up, the Harriers and F-16 had returned from out west, and seemed to have entered a holding pattern in the sky above.
"You people have some amazing planes." One of the resistance fighters said, gazing up at the aircraft. "We'll actually have a chance this time, won't we?"
"Yes we will. And this time we'll kick the slanty eyed bastards right out of our country." another fighter said, cringing as he realized he said those words within earshot of Lau and Cheung, who glared at him in response.
"Well Captain Sparks, if we're being honest with you," Zamansky began. "We weren't expecting a fight when we got here. We were told to link up with the local resistance cell in the town."
"And that was the plan, at least originally," Sparks answered. "But the Japs caught some of our guys, and we couldn't risk them having any information tortured out of them. The pla was to kill them to save them from torture, but you boys arrived just in time to help, and we decided to go for broke."
"Well, looks like the plan worked." Lau commented.
"Much better than we could have anticipated. We destroyed damn near the entire Jap garrison, as well as their reinforcements." Sparks said with satisfaction as he saw the smoke and flame rise from the burning convoy. More secondary explosions began occurring as ammunition previously unexploded, had begun to cook off. Above, the fighters of the Air Force and Marine Corps flew meanicingly overhead, the message abundantly clear to the Japanese soldiers remaining on the ground.
Attack, and you will be obliterated. That much was clear. Their air cover was destroyed, and their convoy was in utter ruin. What few vehicles were left were soon packed with survivors, and began to drive back westward, with many surviving soldiers being left behind as their drivers did not stop to retrieve them. What was also interesting was that the four vehicles that had entered the town earlier, were also burning rubber to get as far away from the town as possible, again not caring for the soldiers being left behind. Sergeant O'Connor, remembering how important the occupants of the four door looked to be important, and sighted himself in.
"Pop goes the weasel!" O'Connor said in a sing-song voice as he fired a single shot at the fleeing vehicle. It effortlessly tore through the body of the car, nailing the man sitting in the passenger seat, and making the car swerve on the road as the driver tried to avoid more shots. But there was no point, as O'Connor had gotten what he wanted, partly anyway. "Got one of the VIP's on the black car, got them scared shitless too." O'Connor smirked as he watched the black car fade in the distance, while the various IJA soldiers retreated in disarray.
"Yall just gonna let these bastards get away?" One of the resistance members asked. "After all these sons a bitches done to us?"
"Yeah, these bastards slaughtered our boys in 45, we just gonna let em leave?" another said. Captain Sparks looked torn, and a few men, whose insignia showed that they were NCO's, scowled at the retreating Japanese. They looked hopeful at the soldiers, hoping they'd help mow them down. Captain Zamansky just shook his head.
"Sorry boys, as much as they deserve it, and as much as you want revenge, we don't have all that much ammunition in the first place." he explained. "We had to travel light just to get here in the first place, and we just burned through a good chunk of what we have already."
"Besides, we aren't in the habit of shooting men in the back." Lau added, much to the anger and annoyance of many present.
"Of course she'd be the one to say that," one of the NCO's growled, loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Watch your mouth, cocksucker!" one of the Green Berets snapped. "She's our commanding officer!"
"And I ain't about to take no shit from some slant eyed-" before he could continue his tirade, gunshots began going off in the ranks of the RAA soldiers in and around the convoy. Men with scoped springfield rifles, and what looked to even be some Kar98k's, were firing on the retreating Japanese soldiers, the men laughing and cheering as they began to go down, one after the other. The Green Berets and Marines just looked on, not willing, or even caring to stop them. They just weren't going to waste their own ammo on useless actions.
"Look asshole," Captain Zamansky growled, stepping toward, and stopping but a few feet from the sergeant in question. "Neither of us brought ourselves here to take any bullshit, especially from you. Hate the Japanese all you goddamn want, but you better get it in your head real quick that we're all fucking American, and the next time you mouth off to any of us like that, you'll lose your fucking teeth, understand?" pure fury was burning in Zamansky's eyes as he and the sergeant stared daggers at each other, neither man willing to back down.
"I lost too many good Marines to give a fuck about hurting the feelings of any fucking Jap!" the man snarled.
"Well guess what, none of us are Japanese you ignorant ass! We're all American, and that includes Captain Lau! So you better remember that, and get used to it!"
"The day I'm taking orders from-"
"THAT'S ENOUGH SERGEANT!" Captain Sparks yelled, scowling angrily at the sergeant, and making him flinch under his angry gaze. "I'll be damned if your about to ruin our relationship with these soldiers when we haven't even known them an hour!"
"Yes sir," the sergeant said softly, staring down at the ground.
"Now get back to the convoy, find Pablo, and find out where the hell our tanks are!" Sparks ordered. The Sergeant obeyed, skulking off to the convoy, and stopping right next to the Dodge Command Car at the center of the convoy, and the radio operator inside.
"You guys got tanks too?" Corporal prophet asked.
"Just a Lee and a platoon of Stuarts running escort. Ain't much honestly." Sergeant Bohl answered.
"We even got some artillery pieces we plan on bringing up too!" one of the resistance fighters answered cheerfully. "Just gotta make sure its safe to deploy em over here!"
"Tanks will have to for now though. Hell, with how those jeeps of your tore through those Jap tanks, I don't think we'll even need them now!" another said.
"Planes, tanks, artillery, how the hell did you guys manage to hide all this stuff?" Lau asked. "Especially all these years later?" Sergeant Bohl let out a tired sigh before he answered.
"Back in 45, the Japs bombarded San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, and every other major city up and down the coast. They had already destroyed the remains of the Pacific Fleet at Mare Island and Puget Sound, so there was no one to stop the invasion force. We tried as hard as we could to stop them, but the Japanese were too strong. The bombardment from the fleet, and the strafing from the air, did us in. General Marshall ordered MacArthur to pull back into the Rocky Mountains, to form a defensive line, and wait for the Japanese. And so we did. The Army Air Corps held the Japs back just long enough that we managed to pull ourselves back from the west coast. By December, we had pulled back the remaining Army and Marine units from California and Washington, to the The Rocky Mountains, and sat in wait for the Japanese."
"And then the Nazis dropped the bomb on Washington." Captain Sparks added grimly. "That's when everything really went to shit." Sergeant Bohl merely nodded at that.
"Eisenhower, MacArthur, and Vandegrift refused to surrender, especially to the Japanese." Bohl said. "That's when we were ordered to start hiding what we could, where we could, and give the Japs and Nazis both hell. Ike fought a bloody retreat westward while Mac and Van held the line against the Japanese. We even had some Brits and Canadians with us by 47, but it was a losing fight. We all knew it by then. We knew it after Dayton fell, and the Midwest front began to collapse."
"So we hid what we could, where we could, and fought like mad bastards with the rest. We made the Axis pay for every inch they took, and we lost a lot of good men by the time it was over. But I guess it didn't matter in the end, did it?" Sparks asked, a sad expression on his face as he thought back to all those he lost, both friends and those under his command.
"It matters now." Lau replied. "We may not be able to change the past, but we sure as hell can change the future. As corny as it may sound, their sacrifices won't be in vain."
"All thanks to you folks," Sergeant Bohl said. "If it wasn't for you people showing up, we wouldn't be able to pull this off."
"All we'd be doing is sitting pretty in our homes, growing old, and fat, while the Japs and Nazis get stronger, and erase our culture." Sparks said sadly. "But now we got a chance to take back our country, to avenge all those we lost."
"We will, make no mistake on that score." Zamansky said, turning to Corporal Adams, the team's radioman. "What's the news from Canon City, Adams?"
"They told us we're to hold our position here with the resistance sir," Adams answered, watching as everyone's gaze fell upon him. "Reinforcements are on the way, and from the sounds of it, it looks like the Nazis and Japanese have finally heard enough of the rumors to start sending troops to take a look in the Neutral Zone."
"Shit!" all three Captains said at once.