OR1-EP2: Battle of Rhodesia (11)

The next day, when Michael McNeil checked one of the storage rooms, he accidentally found a strange pattern on the wall, which should be a mark made by someone with a sharp tool. He summoned his companions to search the pantry and found some food and water. Several people gathered in the storage room, watching this strange mural from a distance, speculating in their hearts what had happened before. It seems that the team members who were originally stationed here did not leave in a hurry. They may have carefully formulated a combat plan, and then used this method to prompt other teammates who may return to the facility. It's easy to understand why these people didn't use the more explicit method: if they left a note or wrote directly on the wall, the enemy would immediately see through the plan when they searched here.

"These guys are fairly conscientious, at least they did not run away without a word." David Roberts didn't care where those people went, he only knew that now everyone got some necessary supplies for survival. Such a huge team consumes far more food and water than their squad. Those who decided to keep these materials at that time must be under tremendous pressure from their teammates. Roberts sincerely thanked this unknown good person: His decision gave everyone a chance to live, otherwise McNeil would take them out of here immediately to find the next supply point.

The murals on the walls are rudimentary, consisting of rough lines, circles and triangles. McNeil speculates that the circles represent the locations of the indigenous tribes that have been identified, and the lines are the planned marching routes, so the triangle symbols interspersed between the circles are likely to represent the locations where others plan to launch battles. McNeil took out the map he carried, and guessed where those teammates would fight the natives based on the location of the symbols. From these locations alone, this is an excellent location for ambush natives; however, any ambush location may be flanked by other native tribes, given that these originally hostile native tribes are united. To make matters worse, when McNeil and others were wandering around, the teammates who stayed in the underground facility might not be aware that the natives had achieved union, and the natives they imagined might still maintain a hostile posture and fight each other.

"They went north. We attacked there before, and the defense of the natives is expected to be slack." Roberts pointed to the area above the mural.

"If I were the native's Britannian advisor, I would be more defensive." McNeil sat on a battered box next to him, "The enemy's intentions are clear...after our raid, they wanted to take us down on the spot so that no one can pass the news of the native alliance to the friendly forces in this underground facility. Although we have escaped, the enemy has succeeded only by purpose, and our teammates didn't find the truth." Here, McNeil pointed to these complex terrain areas alternated by grasslands and sparse forests, "When our team found the previous battlefield, they would think that the natives were already vulnerable. At this time, as long as the enemy sets up a line of defense here, it will make our friends perish."

Someone helped: "If the fighting lasts for more than half an hour, the nearby natives will surround them."

"That's right," McNeil sighed. "We should have found this sooner. If we had searched hard last night, we might have been able to fix it. But they've been gone for so long, it's too late to do anything."

However, they cannot leave here. McNeil didn't expect the situation to change so quickly before, and he also told Carlo Fara to return to the underground facility to find them. If the Italian teen had really summoned the courage to come back and they weren't there, McNeil would have left Carlo Fara alone here to die. So, out of various concerns, McNeil again made the risky decision that he and David Roberts would head north and scout, while the others remained in the underground facility.

"I have a hunch that we can only collect their corpses." David Roberts sighed heavily, "Captain, if we had communication equipment, the situation would be much better. However, those beastly-hearted guys are probably just thinking about our death, and as long as we die with the natives, no one will know what crimes they committed."

"Don't think about that, you can only get money if you go back alive." McNeil sighed. In front of everyone, he has to force his composure. This is his duty as a leader, and he can't show the slightest panic. "It's not all because of Colonel Duttmann's selfishness. The enemy is too cunning, beyond our all expectations."

After saying goodbye to their companions, the two decided to leave the underground facility and head north to find those comrades whose whereabouts were unknown. Along the way, the two were silent, and neither of them spoke. The indifference and woodenness on their faces concealed their inner unease and fear. McNeil would rather see dozens of surviving villains than flee back alone. They were exhausted from running around for several days, and their legs were as heavy as lead. The indigenous people who were waiting for fight were watching their every move nearby. They have no way out. This is their own destiny. Since they plan to opportunistically, they must be prepared to lose everything. McNeil wasn't afraid of failure, which was part of the military career, he just didn't want to suffer a crushing defeat at the hands of a group of native and timid Britannians in such an ugly way. Even if it is doomed to fail in the end, he will make those ill-intentioned Britannians smash their teeth and make Britannians understand that there is never a free lunch in the world.

"Let's not fight the enemy, and leave here after seeing the situation." McNeil urged, "With the two of us, it won't work."

McNeil came to the battlefield where they had attacked the native tribe a few days earlier. The natives who arrived later must have no intention to clean up the place at all. What they saw was a mess, highly decomposed corpses were everywhere, and some of them had already exposed the bones. McNeil carefully observed the surrounding environment, and after confirming that there were no natives nearby, he boldly approached the corpses and observed the footprints on the ground. He hopes to find out the traces of his teammates in order to reduce the confusion in his heart. Still, even if he managed to spot the right direction, things wouldn't get any better.

David Roberts was patrolling the neighborhood, hoping to find enough clues. It is not honorable to rely solely on others' efforts, and pinning the hope of survival on others is no different from resigning to fate. David Roberts only joined the mission for the money that carried the lives of the natives, his whole goal was to live to get the money, and everything else was irrelevant. As long as he follows McNeil, the probability of his survival will be greatly increased. Keeping McNeil safe is equivalent to saving himself, at least that's how he persuaded himself.

"How? Did you find any clues?"

"I'm not sure, but we have to give it a try." McNeil finally concluded, "Look, the degree of decay of these corpses is not the same as the surrounding ones, and the corpses in combat uniforms among them were not the ones we brought with us that night. Obviously, after our teammates came here, there was another battle with the natives for some reason, and there were several casualties."

"It's a shame to get hit twice in a row in the same place," Roberts complained.

"They may think this is the safest place." McNeil stood up. "We have to move on and find those people as soon as possible."

According to McNeil's speculation on the location of the battle, the next battlefield is not far away. They had to risk being pursued by the enemy through an open prairie to reach what McNeil described as a defensive zone. Seeing a corpse hanging on a big tree in the distance, Michael McNeil screamed inwardly, and quickly signaled Roberts to pay attention to concealment. The two moved forward cautiously, and finally got a glimpse of the entire battlefield. There were various corpses scattered all over the grass, and there were roughly hundreds of them. The nearby land was dyed red and black with blood, and there were a few dried corpses hanging from the big trees not far from the grass. Roberts groaned. He had hoped that the inexplicably missing teammates would be their assistants in their next operation. Now it seems that they can only save themselves.

"The situation should be similar to what we estimated." McNeil pointed to the direction where the corpses fell on the ground. "At first they attacked the indigenous defense line from the front, and then they were attacked from the rear, forced to fight on two fronts, and finally outnumbered." He looked at the corpses still hanging on the trees, "Maybe someone was captured and executed, and the natives hung them there to warn us."

McNeil and Roberts began counting the bodies. If there is anything to be thankful for, it is probably that the casualties of the natives are much higher than their own teammates-there are already hundreds of corpses of the natives on both sides, which should be a major blow to the natives. However, no matter how successful these reckless teammates were, they were already dead, leaving less than ten teammates on this reservation to continue their fight against the overwhelming aborigines, and they consumed a lot of ammunition and belts in the battle. The supplies left cannot be replenished quickly. McNeil guessed that the natives should take away everything that could be looted on the battlefield after the battle. These natives must not let the least bit of things come back to the EU invaders who are eyeing them.

"Captain, what's next?"

"Take one step at a time." McNeil has always liked more risky solutions, but the cost of taking risks has exceeded his ability to bear. Maybe it will take his own life, and he is not interested so early in heaven. If the natives can't figure out enemies' realities, maybe the natives will think the task troop still have enough soldiers to launch a large-scale offensive, which is likely to make the natives retreat temporarily. However, considering that those Britannians who were hiding in the shadows, McNeil did not think that the natives could be deceived by falsehood, and that the enemy might know that there were fewer than ten of them and were planning to kill them. Then, it becomes quite dangerous to continue to stay in the underground facility.

"No, we can't wait any longer." Roberts couldn't be joking with his own life, "If we want to stick to the underground facility, we must leave until Carlo Fara returns at most... Wait, the information we passed back this time is also useless." He fell to the ground in a daze, looking like some of the delirious patients in a mental hospital.

McNeil suddenly realized that they were in fact passing on false information. At the time, McNeil's opinion was that the main force remained in the underground facility to act accordingly, then once Carlo Fara got the message to the Defense Force correctly, Colonel Carl Duttmann would think they were trapped in the underground facility and just figured out a way to free them. After that, the operation can continue. However, the annihilation of the rest of the team meant that McNeil and his men were completely incapable of completing the task alone, so Colonel Duttmann's response based on his original judgment had no effect at all and would only continue pushing McNeil to a dead end.

"Yes, we can't count on Colonel's aid this time." McNeil said, "The colonel must think we still have the ability to fight against the natives. He can't do anything except wave the flag outside, and maybe others will meet some troubles when trying to increase the supply. The army keep themselves in safe place as the audience to watch us wrestle with the natives."

David Roberts backed out again. If he loses his life, everything will be in vain. However, there is a gambling mentality in everyone, and David Roberts is no exception. He was unwilling to give up like this, and he suffered so much. Even if he knew that there was little hope, he still chose to try. There are still fantasies, and there may be opportunities to realize them.

"McNeil, we may only have one chance left." David Roberts said solemnly, "If we fail again, we will not be able to get out alive."

"I know, so I've prepared a backup plan." McNeil's voice was a little low, "but using this plan involves taking a huge risk - I mean, even if we go back alive, this risk will not be reduced, or rather its risk comes precisely from the Defense Force itself."

Roberts immediately understood what McNeil was thinking. From the beginning, the Defense Force was worried about the situation escalating, and they would rather have the task force die on the reservation than let outsiders know that they were killing the natives.

"...You mean, we are trying to force the army to go to war directly with the natives?"

"The army will only act in one situation, that is, the indigenous people take the initiative to attack the blockade they set up to protect the safety of their citizens." McNeil sneered, "We only need to find a way to make the indigenous people mistakenly think that they are about to suffer, and the follow-up development will be caused by those Britannians."

Exactly, there is only one last way - poisoning.

TBC

Chapter Notes:

EA has not given an official word on the final rank Michael McNeil earned while serving at GDI. Around 2047, McNeil was division commander, a position normally held by a major general, but his second-in-command was a major, meaning his rank could be either lieutenant colonel or colonel.

Considering that the only four-star full general GDI has featured so far is James Solomon, the permanent highest rank in this army is likely to be a lieutenant general. A four-star general in GDI might be like Ulysses Grant or Joseph Pershing.

Given that the soldiers in this unit are neither real professional soldiers nor qualified mercenaries, it is unrealistic to expect them to be disciplined and excel in encounters.