FourtyTwo

Task Force Lima (COMPLETED)

(REBOOT- Silverwind I believe is next up to post, I'll write something short and set up the next segment. Carry on lads.)

The grenade detonated with a deafening noise, Jan feeling the force as he felt himself barely by the side of the mudbrick door, at least staying out of the main spray of the shrapnel. The blast kicked his lungs hard, it felt vividly painful to some extent, and wasn't something that even his plate carrier would stop entirely. Coughing hard, Jan clambered back up, his shortened 870 to hand, as he looked to the others, the seconds feeling like hours, as he knew that there was one man, and he was a runner.
"Fuck! Aim for the leg, that bastard's got what we're looking for!" Jan yelled, as Neil, checking his own AUG, pushed up behind, the team re-entering the room. They needed to clear the house, and quickly- one of the canisters was possibly going to leave the building, and giving them time to think about a coherent plan wouldn't work well in Lima's favor
"Scott, on point- I'll back you up, you know the drill. Zhenya, Wendy, sweep upstairs, check every corner, Neil, maintain rear security. We ain't letting this prick run." Jan said authoritatively to the team, as he swept through with the reloaded 870, the three plus one rounded weapon tactile and useful in a scenario such as this. Moving up, the 870 raised, he stuck behind Scott, covering his back from anything that threatened to flank or outsweep them.

Task Force Hephaestus

(Going to keep the RP flowing to some degree- Advanced, you can still post, I haven't RPed out how Bravo has acted or jumped too far forwards).

"Negative, Alpha, hold your ground. You'll be walking into a sea of AAF north of the valley, we don't want to prologue anything. Excellent work out there- continue the patrol. I'll be holding a briefing in two hours, so RTB once you've scouted out the region. I know it's hard and we all want some sleep, but if the AAF missed a spot, we'll make them pay for it. Over." Huscarl said over the comms, looking over towards the newly-setup briefing area, and the tools that were all going up.
"Delta, this is Huscarl, what's your status?"
"We are en-route to Girna. No AAF so far, over." Athena replied, Arran inspecting the tactical map as he looked over at the situation so far, from last knowns and assumptions made of AAF forces distributed across the island. A distinct blue/green line enveloped from Nisi Bay to the valley surrounding Tempest, down past Girna and Camp Tempest and then across the southern chunk of the island. The former 1st and 2nd Platoon had been crossed off from what had happened, as Huscarl kept annotating, adding what he last knew of positions from the established network now set up.
"Affirmative. You know the drill out there. Huscarl out." He said, as he looked over towards Corporal Davis, her face asking already a few questions.
"So you're British Special Forces, or what? I mean, you spooks were something we'd heard of, but they never told us. Especially Pat there. So why'd you come back for us?" She asked, as she fiddled around with the radio, Huscarl chuckling as he adjusted his own helmet a little, looking over at her.
"The plain line is, NATO has no idea this is going on. And if any of us, me and your unit included are going to leave this rock, is by Mike-26, by getting communications online and forming some sort of link back to NATO MEDCOM. There's one more failsafe that will help us here, in particular." Huscarl said, as he walked past a partly disassembled Hunter that had been taken out of a container and was now being constructed again by a couple of soldiers from Charlie Squad, Davis following behind. The container was fairly large, but even the members of Charlie Squad looked like they were asking the same questions as they were searching for the rest of the parts for the Hunter, Huscarl aware he'd know they'd find it.
"Sir, respectfully, the fuck is that?" One of them said, as Huscarl laughed a little quietly, open
"Gents, that's a Stomper UGV, and as you can see...that's a 12.7mm Mk30 HMG, and a 40mm Mk32 GMG atop it. Needs some work, the feeds need to be sorted and encrypted, but this is good to go. Because this is the only real leverage we have right now, and if we want to turn the tables...well, "Black Betty" is your best bet."
"You named it?" Davis asked, Huscarl looking over at the six wheeled UGV, turning his head back to Davis.
"And you wouldn't? Anyway, I thought I should probably mention it as you two are a little rusty on Autonomous equipment. Get that Hunter, then this online. Sit rep looks good, if anything's to bear- we're all tired here, but we make it through tonight, we'll be able to get some sort of resistance going." Huscarl said, aware that it was crap that they had to stay up to probably past midnight. A few more camping mats and other equipment had propped up close to the wounded to perhaps get some members of Charlie some rest, and the camp itself felt eerie, just the fact that things were so rudimental wasn't great in Huscarl's eyes, but it was the only way.

---

2230 Hours

The Marshall rumbled down the road, Bronco Squad aboard as they stormed past Agios Ionnanis, headed for Camp Maxwell.
"Lewis, check forward, spot infantry and armored contacts over FLIR. Bronco, we're en route to Maxwell, we're flanking it's right-hand side- seems like our lads spotted a motorized convoy headed south, and we're in a perfect position to provide fire support to stop any infantry raiding Maxwell. Wait on our go lads." Ian said, the Marshall's armored presence probably the last armored friendly vehicle on Stratis right now, and an asset that had to be stressed in it's importance.
"1 minute out." Ian added, as he opened the hatch, popping out as he looked out, the noise of motorized thunder as the wheels of fire rolled towards the objective, he saw the fighting already, distant tracers and gunfire audible. That was a good sign to get back down, as he pulled the hatch shut above him, and looking to Private Lewis, who sat by his left side on the autocannon and manned a similar computer interface as him, this being relating to the turret rather than the commander's camera, was visible. Ian looked ahead, as they passed the junction for Girna, and headed up the road, passing by Maxwell, as the IFV came in closer and close to it's drop point.
"Mitchell, stop the wheels- Bronco, disembark on your go! Maxwell, what's the status of contact?" Ian asked over the comms, as his response was quick.
"Three Strider HMGs and a few dismounted infantry teams are moving from Mike-26, approximately two minutes out. Recommend you hold at your drop point, stick to non-AT firepower. Thanks for the assist, Thunder-2."
"Not a problem. Let's just get this shit done." Ian said, as the rear door was opened by Bronco, letting them disembark, as they got ready for contacts. Bronco could move forward and set up a forward position under the cover of the IFV, or hold back and lay down fire from the LMG and Marksman from afar to really hammer the point home- but either way to Ian, he knew there'd be contacts soon. Through the NVGs that all the soldiers wore, and in particular, the thermal imaging FLIR of Lewis's monitor, the darkness wasn't as dark as expected, due to the distant fires and moonlight, making some sort of normal visiblity able even without NVGs to a limited extent. Adjsting the gun, the first Strider opened up it's HMG at the Marshall as it drove over the ridge in the distance, Lewis not even asking, as all in the IFV knew what was going to happen. The 40mm rounds were downrange quickly, and punched into the Strider's armored skin, the MRAP being torn apart as the engine block went up, and the explosion forced the second Strider off, the road, as it tipped over from the secondary explosions of the fuel tank and ammunition, the third stopping dead as the IFV made short work of that too, the 40mm APDFS rounds penetrating the side as it tore the soldiers inside to pieces.
"Shit, that made some noise! Motorized Convoy is dead, fucking Greenback morons. Think we ain't got shit, they're being stretched and look at this....damn. Bronco, clean up the rest, we'll stay static and move up to you once all enemies are cleared from the field. Don't head over the ridge the Strider came from, or else we'll be looking down the sights of Mike-26, and if it's as bad as they say, we'll have problems." Ian added over the comms, as Lewis adjusted the gun, switching to the HMG, as he looked down range, the co-axial HMG opening up on the infantry that disembarked from the tipped Strider, moving back in futility as the FLIR picked them out among the short undergrowth and exposed terrain, shredding them up as the IFV continued to provide fire support.

Team Scimitar (an Over-the-Top Military RP)

Going to post you reckon?

Juggernauts (BigPapaBelial and kingkonrad) IC

Half an hour later, and the vehicle had bumped it's way down the mountain, dropping almost a few thousand meters. But they were still above the snowline, and it was intermittent, as little contact had really been seen. But the .50 cal had been used by Ross, on one or two occasions, to take out a few trucks. They hadn't been long-lasting, to say the least. They thundered down the hills, and eventually, were 3km out from Fort Tempest and the village by it. Thundering in, Ross kept an eye out, the part snowy, part gravelly area a weird one indeed, but something you found in the foothills of some of the highest mountains of the world. Above the treeline, yet below the major snowfalls. It was a vague between. Ross looked over to Carl, as he mentioned what he heard over the comms.
"I wouldn't be half surprised...fucking hell, you would think it." Jenny said, Ross shaking his head in how much the enemy was going to suffer at their hands. No doubt, it wasn't going to be good.
"We're closing in...okay, Cordite, stick back and use a ridge to lay down sniper fire from, if it moves, kill it. We'll fucking ramraid right in, move to the PSCs, and back them up. They do the brunt of the work, we clean up. Sounds bad, but fuck...if they're like they are, no doubt we'll have not many to clean up." Ross added, as he looked over into the back of the ITV, at the snipers, who sat by his gun position.
"You do realize we've never physically seen them, right? I mean, are they like you, on steroids?" Andrew asked, as Ross laughed.
"Fuck...words don't say it all, mate. Carl can tell you. It's not fucking human, but dammit...you'll never see anything as awesome as that in your life." Ross said, as he shook his head, just still thinking about how crazy they were.

They thumped down the road, the noise of fire down below in the village.
"Shit, stop the jeep here, Saxon. Me and Nolan can move up from here." Andrew said, as Jenny screeched the jeep to a halt, the Growler ITV's snow trail ending as the vehicle stopped entirely, Andrew out the back with his XM500 as he moved out, waiting for Nolan as they scanned the area around, before looking back.
"You do your thing, we'll do ours." Andrew said, as Jenny nodded, the fabric nameplate tag of her callsign, "Saxon", on the front of her suit and the rear of her neckbrace, perhaps a better name in the heat of battle. She started the car again, the MG4 close as they carried on, Andrew and Nolan moving out as they sought out a OP. The few Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces that were outside the village didn't hear it at first, but then they realized. Contacts. They fired on the vehicle from afar, the bullets that hit the vehicle doing little penetration at this range, and to the occupants, little to nothing, the three armored Juggernauts moving in the ITV at full pace. It was hard for Jenny to keep control of the pedals through the thick boots, but it was do-able, just about. Ross opened up with the fifty on the checkpoint, as the troops either hit the deck or were torn to shreds, Ross guessing Carl also had opened up, as they headed right for it. One of the men stood up and fired right at Jenny's head, the bullets penetrating the windscreen but doing little against her faceplate and helmet, as she stepped on it, and the man realized suddenly he had made a bad move. The car surged into him, and flung him canted off to the side, the vehicle's motion at around 50mph doing unspeakable damage in the way it had hit. Ross fired ahead on another sentry, the M2 blaring out loud 12.7mm rounds towards enemy, as they headed into more and more dense housing, taking out several Taliban on the route in. They were taking heavy fire, but it was what they could deal. An RPG flung behind them and kicked up a ton of dirt and dust, as Jenny cursed.
"Call it a halt here, fuck that. Right into there!" Ross said, as Jenny cornered hard, skidding towards a piece of cover inside a shack. Literally. It was opened out, and she skidded the car to a halt within it, as Ross fired behind with the M2 at a whole cluster of soldiers, everyone disembarking after the cover fire.
"Remember where we parked the car- Brute, Bear, we've made contact, south side of the town- Team Cordite is up on the ridge providing hefty sniper fire for us. What's the situation?" Ross said, as a distinctive voice could be heard on the other end.
"Good...well, we're doing some damage here. You might want to join in, you know. Follow the explosions, we'll know when we see you. Bear out." Natalie said on the other end, as the scary female Russian voice that sounded like a Bond villaness ended. The noise of 40mm and loud gunfire was down the village, as Ross just thought to himself, how the fuck he hadn't really thought of that before as a tell.
"Understood, Bear. We're en route." Ross said, as he looked to the rest through his visor, the heavy suit and his Mk48 in hand good to rock.
"Carl, on me- Jenny, stick to the right hand flank of our approach. Let's roll these bastards over." Ross added, as he opened fire ahead on the road, moving with a slow jog as bullets pinged from his suit occasionally, taking out a grouping of enemy forces, as he gave Carl the chance to move up. It wasn't heavy and sustained, but it was shit this suit could take, to some degree at least. 7.62mm fire, and while it hit, it was staying out of the heavier and sustained fire that kept a Juggernaut alive. Lobbing a M67 down range, Ross watched it detonate within a shack and blow most of the fragile building apart, as Ross smirked, moving up as fire kicked up, and they came closer.

Andrew ran, aware it fucked up his breath, as they looked down below.
"Carl, get a perimeter defense up, I'll rig up my spotting equipment. This will do." He said, pointing to a position, as he lumbered on with the XM500, dumping it down on it's bipod as he pulled out the Spotting Device. Setting it up on it's tripod, he moved forwards toward it, already pinging up major points of interest. The fort's defenses, the shanty village, and one or two major structures.
"Okay, Nolan, when it's set, jump on your rifle and shoot away. First targets, Fortifications at the Fort, sandstone rampart at the front. Six individuals, AKs, RPGs and MGs, 620m. I can't ping our two beasts of burden, but whatever the fuck is going on down there, it ain't just AKs and our MGs. Fuck...sounds more like an Armored Platoon rolled into town." Andrew added, as he tucked into the snowy alcove, adjusting the FLIR spotting device, as he looked at his own rifle.
"You first, Nolan. Open up Mjolnir." Andrew said, a reference to the Norse warhammer of legend- these .50 cal rifles were like it, in that they really leveled what they hit. Or mostly disintegrated the target, turning creating a red mist that didn't need much explanation if it hit the right spot.

---

Meanwhile in the village, and things had gotten pretty clean quickly. Natalie's M134 buzzed loudly, with an ear-shatteringly loud vibration and noise, the weapon somehow stable in her hands, as she swept out a whole technical and a squad of Taliban that had outflanked them, or OPFOR- since it was now both Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and the unknown group involved in Brussels. It was an amalgamated group of terrorists and Anti-Westerners who planned bad things. But they weren't running today, and by God, were they not getting sympathy or quarter. They were getting none at all, Natalie looking through her visor in regular vision, as she tore apart a few more enemies, fire pouring from above. She watched Victor move forward, and she kept with him, firing behind at enemies that tried to surround them, as she casually walked over past one man, who was injured from Victor's shrapnel, and crushed his neck underfoot, before laying down more fire ahead.
"That's the fort! Shit, lots of RPGs!" Natalie said over the comms, as she fired the multi-barreled minigun towards it, chipping cover away as Victor's XM307 barked loudly, detonating enemies into pieces as they pushed through.
"Knight, we're holding position in front of the Fort, you can call some Apache CAS to take it out from afar. Tell them that there aren't civies here, they can scalpel it." Natalie said over the comms, as she kept up the fire, keeping out in the open as she knew that while she was a big target, she was laying down enough fire ahead at the ramparts, the enemy pinned for the moment being.
"Victor, there's the gate, but I'm thinking a different method...how much C4 you got on you?" Natalie said, as she laid down more fire covering Victor, the shanty village right up to the Fort, which stood as a mainly sandstone structure, being almost like a typical Castle of sorts, with walls and ramparts, though the interior had been heavily militarized and the fort looked like it had seen better days.

Team Scimitar (an Over-the-Top Military RP)

Spartan I really hope will post in the next few days, if not, I'll let you post BigPapa, then I'll setup RPC.

Able Archer: 1983

I haven't posted in a while, and this I know, but I will get one up shortly. Hopefully. I know that Lubeck is seeing scorched earth warfare, and they've left behind the area, but I'll have my guys sweeping up the last British forces in theater at the Airfield, before then having the Battalion HQ move up to them, and the beginnings of the assault on Hamburg.

Task Force Hephaestus

Also, I will mention, Amethyst will soon come, as well as perhaps a revival of the FIA guys on the ground, with maybe a short interlude involving all our characters. I should mention that the central CTRG team will remain together, in due course.

Task Force Hephaestus

Okay, I'll clarify-

CTRG goes by callsigns for individual operators, to keep both a clear cut comms as well as you know, some degree of identification. Thing is, it's an unofficial structure within "Hoplite" that Arran has taken command over- and Alpha Squad is headed up by Alpha-Actual, or Zdislav, while Bravo Squad is headed up by say Linn, who would become both Praetorian and confusingly enough, Bravo Actual. Or Bravo-1, using sub-fireteams such as Red, Blue, White and Gold if required.

Basically, the way it's devised is such within Tempest, in terms of organizational structure:

HQ Element- Huscarl acts as Platoon Leader, or the impromptu one. And soon to be Leader of the remnant forces left on Stratis, due to his rank- he'd take overall command of the situation, but still remain on direct line to the squads below. Support units are attached- such as radio units, fire support and so forth.

Alpha Squad- Best of the best thrown into Mischief's command, working as a northern (ie. Nisi Bay, Old Outpost area- anything north of Camp Tempest) as initially a recon squad, but they'll become the all-out assault team. They're the hammer blow really.

Bravo Squad- The rest of Hoplite Platoon's best,. under Praetorian's command, working towards the east of Camp Tempest, as again, a recon force, soon to also follow up as an assault team that backs up Alpha when required and usually acts as the secondary force. Linn here would be say, Bravo Actual, with Fireteams within perhaps divided as Blue and Red, or colors of your choice- I know that NATO phonetics work better for fireteams, but in this circumstance, but I'm sticking to that with squads on the whole and colors on the fireteams.

Charlie Squad- Walking wounded along with the rest of Hoplite, mainly support staff- headed up by SSGt Patterson. Mainly concerned with fire support and base defense, as well as light recon work when required.

Delta Squad- Basically, anyone in CTRG following Operation Deviant, headed up by Athena. She'll be NPC'd, to some degree, and her squad will be mainly working in the dark, to potentially group with FIA reinforcements (I'll keep light on that), as a backup and last-ditch special forces unit for operations surrounding Tempest.

These four squads are what's at Tempest at the moment- 3rd "Crossbow" and 4th "Vanguard" Platoons at Camp Maxwell and LZ Connor respectively are also in the game, though are headed up by Warrant Officers/NCOs, and being eventually wrapped under Huscarl's overall command of the situation. As you'll see, the AAF will really try and gun those two platoons out of their foxholes, leaving our units, under Huscarl's knowledge of the situation at Mike-26, to eventually craft a situation in which the NATO forces launch a last-ditch counteroffensive to get themselves free of AAF troops. But they are outnumbered at least 3:1 of AAF to NATO, so as you can see, shit is grim.

Team Scimitar (an Over-the-Top Military RP)

It's Spartan's, though I think they're a bit busy. I mean, BigPapa, if you're bored, you can post- not much to post, but yeah.

World War 2 RP - 1946?

I think in my opinion, an NRP can't work. It's enticing, but it couldn't and really shouldn't, it wouldn't do the idea justice in what people and actions are.really the core- that soldiers, civilians and others are really seeing a world of an alternate pathway, in which the Reds are the enemy before the Second World War has even ended, and that things could suddenly burn over.

EDIT: I thoroughly support the idea of politicans/diplomats/soldiers/inteligence operatives, such as that of Admiral Canaris's agency and the OSS and the likes, rather than an NRP, to really immerse the idea of all of it.