Dreadnought
Deity
Any status reports?
LizNES6: Fortune Favors The Brutal
- Thread starter TheLizardKing
- Start date
TheLizardKing
Let's talk Michelle.
Sorry fellas, the update is largely done. I have some events in Asia that need to get finished, and the war in North America. I've barely had time to participate in other NES's, let alone my own. I'm predicting I'm only going to be able to do one or two updates in May, since it's the end of my Senior year, and things are a bit crazy. Everything should calm down a bit in June, but until then;
And for what it's worth, it's shaping up to be a good update.
And for what it's worth, it's shaping up to be a good update.
Milarqui
Deity
Awww. I thought THIS was the update!!!
Dreadnought
Deity
Understandable. Glad to hear it's shaping up to be a good one!
Good luck and Godspeed. No pressure, take your time.
Good luck and Godspeed. No pressure, take your time.
germanicus12
First Citizen of Rome
Behind the Scenes: The Texan Air Force.
Hello, this is Jeremy Longsford for the Military Channel. Today we will get a one time look at the Texan Military in action behind the scenes. We have all seen planes take off and land at bases and we have all seen tanks carried by train or truck to the front lines, but have we seen what goes on inside these bases or the logistics that control the movements of equipments and men? Today those who watch the Military Channel will get that opportunity. Let's get started shall we. Our first visit is the West Texas Military Complex, this enormous complex boasts 4 bases and 2 airports, it is one of the largest military complexes in the world, currently at it's military peak it houses close to 25,000 soldiers. That is 2 entire divisions! With these elite troops sits some of the best fighter aces in the war. We will be seeing their planes, seeing them in the lounge in between flights and watching crews maintain the planes.
West Texas Military Complex:
I am here with General Westmore and Air Marshall Yancy, these two men command the large base and their various command structures, General Westmore commands everything on the land, which includes to an extent the runway crews. Air Marshall Yancy commands the elite fighter and bomber squadrons of West Texas and is the man who is credited with Texas domination in the skies. Now General you mentioned that you, to an extent, commands the runway crews. Mind expanding on that answer a bit?
Not a problem, Jeremy. Basically it is that the Ground Crews, or the Runway Crews as the Air Force call them, are staffed and equipped through the Ground Forces budgets, not the Air Force budget. The reasoning behind this is that the Ground Crews have been taught to fight like infantry men in conjunction with their official duties as Runway maintenance and the air space around it, which can be a threat to the planes.
General, what exactly does that mean? The Air space around the runways, surely you cannot mean to tell me that Californian fighters infiltrated this far into Texas?
All men laughed before General Westmore explained;
What I mean is that Texas is not always at war with other nations, but Texas is always at war with another creature of the sky. The bane of every pilot, commercial or military. These threats are birds, and a dangerous threat they are, as the jets intake engines can suck these birds in and could cause serious damage the engine compartment that could bring down the plane. Granted this hasn't happened in a long time, which could be credited to the crews keeping the air space clear with dogs and shotguns, but there are always birds that simply will not honor the rules of the sky.
A slight grin as Air Marshall Yancy smiled.
Shall we head over and see the runways?
Excellent idea, we have some squadrons returning from a run and should be landing soon.
Jeremy turned to the camera and smiled, "Just in time, looks like we will get the opportunity to see our planes land after a successful mission and see how the Ground Crews secure these planes and begin the process of resupplying and refueling them."
Jeremy turned back in time to see a dark cloud appear in the horizon. The dark cloud was the squadron on approach. Jeremy glanced over to Air Marshall Yancy who was listening in on a radio plugged into his ear. He was frowning, as was General Westmore. Jeremy motioned for the camera to film the two men before speaking, "It appears they have received news from the approaching pilots that is not good." Jeremy again glanced at the approaching formation he immediately saw the problem and whispered to the camera man to zoom in on the lead plane.
Protected by several fighters and another squadron behind them a bomber was billowing smoke from two of four of its huge engines and appeared to be ready to keel over and die, but the determination and skill of the pilots kept the large bird afloat and managed to fly it all the way to Texas. As the bomber began its descent the fighters roared over the runways before peeling off and circling around to watch. The bomber descended as gracefully as a ship being thrown around in a hurricane. Both commanding officers were glued to the bomber hoping the pilots would prove successful in their efforts to land the crippled bird. At this point the first squadron has already arrived and were circling overhead, refusing to land on the other runway until their buddies have landed safely. The other bomber plane, already critically low on fuel due to a lucky shot that ruptured the tank but did not ignite the fuel has begun its own landing on the other runway. Behind Jeremy and his t.v crew the sounds of the Ground Crew scrambling about alerted Jeremy and he grabbed another camera out of a bag and began filming it, half the crew was watching the crippled bomber, while the other were scrambling to a building not far from here. Slightly further up was a tow truck and maintenance truck, as well as a refueling truck, racing to the second runway ready to meet the second bomber as it landed and prepared to isolate the spill and prevent it from spreading to ground while mechanics patched up the hole quickly so the tow could get the plane off the runway for more intensive repairs.
As Jeremy filmed the crew, his camera man, Ron, continued to film the rocky landing of the crippled bomber, now only a few hundred yards out they could see flames surrounding the engines, and the sound mic heard Air Marshall mutter something that was bleeped during the airing of the show. Just before the plane touched down a third engine exploded which sent the plane into a hard banking turn towards the second runway. The pilots being such experts at reading the plane and were very knowledgeable about how planes reacted knew it was a lost cause to right the plane and so they simply said their peace and pushed the controls as hard as they could. The crippled plane finally landed, but not on its wheels, it cartwheeled as the wing tore off, the plane finally landed on its belly and then exploded. Jeremy filmed the crew as the building's large doors opened and several bright red fire trucks emerged from the building and raced down to the plane. It took the crews a full hour to battle the fuel fed flames, on the second runway, the other bomber had landed safely and was patched quickly and towed away to a repair facility, now all the fighters were landing and they were quickly followed by the second squadron, whose bombers fared better and arrived intact. Down to only one runway it took these squadrons 2 hours to land all of its remaining planes.
Jeremy stared at the wreck as the two commanding officers discussed their options well away from the camera crew who was now under security detail. Finally Air Marshall Yancy approached Jeremy and motioned that he was fine if they recorded this conversation.
The after piecing together the reports from its fighter detail and the black box acquired from the wreck we understand that the bomber came under attack from Californian fighters who apparently surprised the Texan fighters tasked to protect the bomber and got off some lucky rounds that struck 2 of the engines and killed the navigator before our fighters chased them off. Frankly the fact that these men got this bomber all the way here in its state is a miracle and shows the skills and mindset of the pilots. The other 3 members of the crew evacuated outside L.A where they were picked up by scouts from the Advance Texas/Deseret forces near L.A and are on their way home. The dead crews families have been notified and a funeral will organized. These men showed the true spirit of Texas, never give up.
Jeremy bent his head and breathed deeply, he wasn't much of an emotional guy but to see this happen in front of him and the fact that these men had families and lives outside this base really hit him hard. He shook Yancy's hand and thanked him for allowing his crew to film here. The crew packed up and left. The smoldering wreck of the bomber still sitting near the runway.
These pictures are clips from the show;
A proud company stands in front of a new bomber.
A Pilot shows the crew the cockpit during flight.
The second bomber in the story as it leaves the repair facility for its parking space.
This bomber attempted landing at a Forward Operating base near Las Vegas.
Hello, this is Jeremy Longsford for the Military Channel. Today we will get a one time look at the Texan Military in action behind the scenes. We have all seen planes take off and land at bases and we have all seen tanks carried by train or truck to the front lines, but have we seen what goes on inside these bases or the logistics that control the movements of equipments and men? Today those who watch the Military Channel will get that opportunity. Let's get started shall we. Our first visit is the West Texas Military Complex, this enormous complex boasts 4 bases and 2 airports, it is one of the largest military complexes in the world, currently at it's military peak it houses close to 25,000 soldiers. That is 2 entire divisions! With these elite troops sits some of the best fighter aces in the war. We will be seeing their planes, seeing them in the lounge in between flights and watching crews maintain the planes.
West Texas Military Complex:
Spoiler :
I am here with General Westmore and Air Marshall Yancy, these two men command the large base and their various command structures, General Westmore commands everything on the land, which includes to an extent the runway crews. Air Marshall Yancy commands the elite fighter and bomber squadrons of West Texas and is the man who is credited with Texas domination in the skies. Now General you mentioned that you, to an extent, commands the runway crews. Mind expanding on that answer a bit?
Not a problem, Jeremy. Basically it is that the Ground Crews, or the Runway Crews as the Air Force call them, are staffed and equipped through the Ground Forces budgets, not the Air Force budget. The reasoning behind this is that the Ground Crews have been taught to fight like infantry men in conjunction with their official duties as Runway maintenance and the air space around it, which can be a threat to the planes.
General, what exactly does that mean? The Air space around the runways, surely you cannot mean to tell me that Californian fighters infiltrated this far into Texas?
All men laughed before General Westmore explained;
What I mean is that Texas is not always at war with other nations, but Texas is always at war with another creature of the sky. The bane of every pilot, commercial or military. These threats are birds, and a dangerous threat they are, as the jets intake engines can suck these birds in and could cause serious damage the engine compartment that could bring down the plane. Granted this hasn't happened in a long time, which could be credited to the crews keeping the air space clear with dogs and shotguns, but there are always birds that simply will not honor the rules of the sky.
A slight grin as Air Marshall Yancy smiled.
Shall we head over and see the runways?
Excellent idea, we have some squadrons returning from a run and should be landing soon.
Jeremy turned to the camera and smiled, "Just in time, looks like we will get the opportunity to see our planes land after a successful mission and see how the Ground Crews secure these planes and begin the process of resupplying and refueling them."
Jeremy turned back in time to see a dark cloud appear in the horizon. The dark cloud was the squadron on approach. Jeremy glanced over to Air Marshall Yancy who was listening in on a radio plugged into his ear. He was frowning, as was General Westmore. Jeremy motioned for the camera to film the two men before speaking, "It appears they have received news from the approaching pilots that is not good." Jeremy again glanced at the approaching formation he immediately saw the problem and whispered to the camera man to zoom in on the lead plane.
Protected by several fighters and another squadron behind them a bomber was billowing smoke from two of four of its huge engines and appeared to be ready to keel over and die, but the determination and skill of the pilots kept the large bird afloat and managed to fly it all the way to Texas. As the bomber began its descent the fighters roared over the runways before peeling off and circling around to watch. The bomber descended as gracefully as a ship being thrown around in a hurricane. Both commanding officers were glued to the bomber hoping the pilots would prove successful in their efforts to land the crippled bird. At this point the first squadron has already arrived and were circling overhead, refusing to land on the other runway until their buddies have landed safely. The other bomber plane, already critically low on fuel due to a lucky shot that ruptured the tank but did not ignite the fuel has begun its own landing on the other runway. Behind Jeremy and his t.v crew the sounds of the Ground Crew scrambling about alerted Jeremy and he grabbed another camera out of a bag and began filming it, half the crew was watching the crippled bomber, while the other were scrambling to a building not far from here. Slightly further up was a tow truck and maintenance truck, as well as a refueling truck, racing to the second runway ready to meet the second bomber as it landed and prepared to isolate the spill and prevent it from spreading to ground while mechanics patched up the hole quickly so the tow could get the plane off the runway for more intensive repairs.
As Jeremy filmed the crew, his camera man, Ron, continued to film the rocky landing of the crippled bomber, now only a few hundred yards out they could see flames surrounding the engines, and the sound mic heard Air Marshall mutter something that was bleeped during the airing of the show. Just before the plane touched down a third engine exploded which sent the plane into a hard banking turn towards the second runway. The pilots being such experts at reading the plane and were very knowledgeable about how planes reacted knew it was a lost cause to right the plane and so they simply said their peace and pushed the controls as hard as they could. The crippled plane finally landed, but not on its wheels, it cartwheeled as the wing tore off, the plane finally landed on its belly and then exploded. Jeremy filmed the crew as the building's large doors opened and several bright red fire trucks emerged from the building and raced down to the plane. It took the crews a full hour to battle the fuel fed flames, on the second runway, the other bomber had landed safely and was patched quickly and towed away to a repair facility, now all the fighters were landing and they were quickly followed by the second squadron, whose bombers fared better and arrived intact. Down to only one runway it took these squadrons 2 hours to land all of its remaining planes.
Spoiler :
Jeremy stared at the wreck as the two commanding officers discussed their options well away from the camera crew who was now under security detail. Finally Air Marshall Yancy approached Jeremy and motioned that he was fine if they recorded this conversation.
The after piecing together the reports from its fighter detail and the black box acquired from the wreck we understand that the bomber came under attack from Californian fighters who apparently surprised the Texan fighters tasked to protect the bomber and got off some lucky rounds that struck 2 of the engines and killed the navigator before our fighters chased them off. Frankly the fact that these men got this bomber all the way here in its state is a miracle and shows the skills and mindset of the pilots. The other 3 members of the crew evacuated outside L.A where they were picked up by scouts from the Advance Texas/Deseret forces near L.A and are on their way home. The dead crews families have been notified and a funeral will organized. These men showed the true spirit of Texas, never give up.
Jeremy bent his head and breathed deeply, he wasn't much of an emotional guy but to see this happen in front of him and the fact that these men had families and lives outside this base really hit him hard. He shook Yancy's hand and thanked him for allowing his crew to film here. The crew packed up and left. The smoldering wreck of the bomber still sitting near the runway.
These pictures are clips from the show;
A proud company stands in front of a new bomber.
Spoiler :
A Pilot shows the crew the cockpit during flight.
Spoiler :
The second bomber in the story as it leaves the repair facility for its parking space.
Spoiler :
This bomber attempted landing at a Forward Operating base near Las Vegas.
Spoiler :
Dreadnought
Deity
I thought 'twas an update.
SouthernKing
crickety cricket
After the update, joining as Korea
Mickzter97
The One and Only
After update, joining as Franco-Germany
Terrance888
Discord Reigns
Spoiler :
After updating before Nuke, I will consider joining this over NukeNES.
TheLizardKing
Let's talk Michelle.
All except Nuke are welcome to play, though the update won't be for another week, at least. It's looking more like two weeks. For what it's worth, I'm looking forward to continuing this with a renewed vigor once my finals and graduation related events calm down. 
J.K. Stockholme
Right Opposition
The lights were on. The compact discs were lined up, albums of the past decade. Bulgarias first top 40s radio station in the new epoch.
The disc jockey distanced himself one hand length away from the microphone. Through the acrylic glass he saw the affirmative motion of his radio partner, indicating he was now live.
The audience was palpable.
Weaving his hands into a folded knot upon the table, the disc jockey spoke.
Hello Bulgaria, youre listening to the first broadcast of Premier Radio, 91.9 FM, with your host and DJ Christoff the Pathfinder, Relief passed through the few employees of Premier Radio. The coming months, which would engrave like steady locomotives, contained celebrity interviews, international news coverage, and awkward introduction of the radio stations brand and members to the nature of the media world,
for our first song, lets listen to a recent national favourite, Seeing Two composed by Adriana Lolova for her film Chasing Trains.
germanicus12
First Citizen of Rome
OOC: As June creeps nearer and nearer...
Hunters in the Night
The two men gaze into the valley before them, the tall hispanic man mutters, "The City of Angels." The other more stout man snorts, "If that is the City of Angels then my hometown is the City of Devils." The squad behind them snickers before the taller man cuts them a mean glance. "Make whatever jokes you want, but the Spanish before us named this town La Ciudad de la Reina de los Angeles for a reason and while God may not want his beloved Queen of the Angels, if there is one, to reside in this city, but the Americans before us Americanized everything and allowed it to go to waste.
"But make no mistake La Ciudad de la Reina de los Angeles sits in a good location and if it weren't for the lackluster security forces of the old LAPD under American rule and the ineffective propaganda of the Hudsonists this city could have been a great beacon of the world much like New York City or even Tokyo, instead gangs and crime dominate the streets of this once proud city and the war just made things worst. God help the poor bastards who would have to clean out the streets of La Ciudad de la Reina de los Angeles." The squad remained silent, if the Mexican was right then they would not want to be the first into this city, which now stands below them from San Bernardino Pass, the city still ablaze and filled with booming and earthshattering concussions. The bombers were showing no mercy in advance of the army's scheduled invasion.
The Texan, the shorter stout man gazed at the moon, then stared at his map, in a few hours the Deseret forces should be in position, he could hear the sounds of battle and if he happened to look in his binoculars in that direction he would see the flashes of the huge tanks as they danced the dance of death. But the Mexican, who joined from Rio Grande's military to learn Texan tactics, was right, the battle for Los Angeles would be a bloodbath as the gangs would not give up their streets without a fight. It appeared to him that the Texans would fight for L.A while the Deseret forces shift to the north and take the suburbs and secure a path to the north. Whether this was intentional or not made no matter to the Texans, they were warriors and they would love nothing more than to fight the best L.A had to throw at them. It was unfortunate that the Hudsonists were nothing more than children playing the game of war, but the Bloods and the Crips were real warriors, generations of fighting against law enforcement had honed their skills, but now they were squaring off against one of the best military forces in North America, the Texan Ground Forces.
In the night, a pair of hunters infiltrated the outer suburbs of Los Angeles, they silently spent the last week creeping through Riverside, San Bernardino, Mira Loma, Anaheim and past the now destroyed and closed Disneyland, and finally on the 7th day reached Los Angeles proper, a long and perilous trek deep into enemy territory dominated and ruled by 2 primary gangs now that the Hudsonist government has admitted defeat and abandoned L.A. The Bloods in red and the Crips in blue were the prey, and their leadership must be killed before the invasion begins in 2 days. The hunters were two man teams of 15 teams. A sniper and his spotter, each man knowing that they are on their own with no support from their own men or from the air. They learned the around the clock bombardment of Central L.A would not be lifted for fear of alerting the prey of their intentions. No the Hunters would have to risk life and limb to bag their prey. A hefty bonus was offered to the first team to kill a leader and smaller bonuses for each man involved when the mission is a success. Should the teams be killed a hefty pension was promised for their next of kin which would guarantee a comfortable life for wife and children. The hunters were about to breach South Central Los Angeles when huge fireball erupted just a few blocks away.
The pilots smiled, even though their mission was to carpet bomb Los Angeles they still attempted to hone their skills by targeting certain infrastructure, in this case, a still functioning gas station. A difficult target to hit due to the buildings around it and the darkness that makes Los Angeles nearly invisible save for a few fires here and there. Regardless from the size of the fireball and the explosion it produced it left no doubt that their target has been destroyed. They turned their bomber around and headed back to Texas, the fighter escorts would go as far as Las Vegas. The fighter jocks were congratulating the bombers when the sky lit up with tracers and RPGs. The fighters peeled off, the bombers were on their own, as the fighters raced to the ground and identified where the tracers were coming from and strafed the position.
"God Almighty, that was close!" Cried Sergeant Lopez, Texas' best sniper. His hand was nearly shot off by a fighters strafing run. An AA gun stood nearby still churning out hundreds of bullets a minute. Lopez steadied his aim, as his spotter warned him, "Fighter incoming." Lopez squeezed, the blue clad man slumped in the seat. His comrades scattered. Lopez smiled, his team probably made the first kill of the night, even if it was a lowly thug and not the leader of the Gang. Lopez felt his spotter tugging his arm with great urgency, Lopez muttered, "Get in the gutter." He followed his spotter into the gutter just as the ground they were on was suddenly chewed up. Lopez stared at his spotter and sighed. "That was damn close. But lets get moving we got a mission to complete."
The channels were full of chatter from the fighters, "Yeehaw, that's a confirmed kill!" "Siverado, check my left wing." "Roger, kill confirmed." but only one had every ones attention, from the bomber crews circling overhead to the gold stars back home, "Lone Wolf, you are too low, climb!! Lone Wolf, climb, you are too low to the ground!" As the chatter quieted down, everyone realized Lone Wolf was not responding. All eyes scanned the air space, but only 2 crews have eyes on the plane, Bomber crew Apache and Bomber crew Lone Ranger. They watched as the plane narrowly avoided City Hall and the Police Headquarters in Downtown, but the plane was headed straight for South Central. Again the call went out, "Pull up, Lone Wolf, Pull up damn you!" Finally one of the fighter planes spotted Lone Wolf's plane and pinpointed his location, seeing that Texas Star was closest, the jet sped up and spun around the City Hall, squeezing between two towers and gave pursuit. Texas Star was a veteran of the wars, as was Lone Wolf, both have been in the Air Force for years and the two men were great buddies back home, living next to each other on base and their children played at each others home numerous times. But today Texas Star was afraid he would be the one to pay a visit to Lone Wolf's wife, and he was not about to allow that to happen.
Lopez froze, two blue clad thugs were right in front of him, range about 2,000 yards, a doable shot but he would prefer to be closer, the two thugs stared up and Lopez was puzzled, then he heard it, the whine of jet engines. His spotter muttered a string of expletives about the fighters coming back and making their job harder. But Lopez knew this sound was different, he knelt up and motioned for his spotter to head to stone building across the street. The sound was getting louder, he estimated the plane would be over him in a few minutes, then he heard another sound, this one more faint he guessed this plane was flying up to see what was wrong. He decided to turn on his radio and tune it to the Air Force channel, which he did on his way to the stone building.
Texas Star was racing, his jet was already straining to go faster and yet it seemed as if Lone Wolf was going even faster, but finally Texas Star caught up with his tail, he saw the Lone Star of Texas and the jet's identification number. He crawled up to the cockpit, saw the name Lone Wolf under the canopy along with his confirmed kills, like him he was an Ace, shooting down over 15 planes during the war. Texas Star looked up peered into the cockpit and saw the body slumped over. He stared, unsure if he could believe his eyes, there was no way his best bud of 15 years would be dead, they went through Flight school together, they got their 5th kill and their ACES branding in the same battle. There appeared to be no bullet holes and the jet appeared intact and was not shot to pieces like some other jets flying around up there. Texas Star reported his findings and stayed next to Lone Wolf for another minute before he was forced to peel off and climb. Lone Wolf's jet clipped a building and landed on Vernon Avenue, Texas Star and several other jets circling noted that the jet did not blow up, and discussions flared up on whether they should have a bomber drop a bomb or simply do a strafing run.
Lopez saw the entire thing, he knew where Vernon Avenue was his team just crossed it an hour ago. It was the boundary between the Bloods and Crips, it used to be that the two gangs simply controlled whatever they could hold on whereever it happened to be, the Bloods could have a single block held deep in Crips territory or vice versa, but since the war both gangs consolidated and decided to name Vernon Avenue as their boundary. The Crips to the north and the Bloods to the south. Right now that pilot is right between the two bloodthirsty gangs out for revenge and a firefight between the gangs could erupt over this prize with the unfortunate pilot in the crossfire, if he were even alive. Lopez made up his mind, he would save the pilot, even if the unfortunate soul was dead he would try and bring his body back to Texas. He clicked on the radio and made his intentions clear. Chatter on the radio fell silent, deathly silent as the pilots and bomber crews stared at their radios in disbelief, an Army man in South Central? Is the man insane? One voice responded, it was Air Marshall Tom Yancy, "Soldier, you have the full backing of the Air Force to retrieve this man and destroy the plane. Good luck and Godspeed." The pilots slowly turned their gaze onto South Central, which was now quiet, all AA guns now silent. It appeared the gangs were gearing up for something big and all involved knew it will be centered on Vernon Avenue.
Lopez sighed, he was now going into the eye of the storm, he was putting his head in the alligators mouth, so to speak he told his spotter to remain here and await his return, but his spotter wouldn't have it, he would go with Lopez come hell or high water, they would save this pilot or die trying. Lopez grinned, that's the Texas spirit. Go where no man dares go. Together the two men head off into the unknown. Their mission depending on rugged construction of the Texas jets and the rough body and spirit of the Texan troops. Thousands of eyes in the sky watch from the safety of their planes while all around them hundreds if not thousands of bloodthirsty enemy gangs maneuver for the climatic showdown. Come dawn hundreds of thousands of Texan troops, tanks and helicopters will race down the pass and take Los Angeles. These two men and their seemingly small mission to save a downed pilot seems doomed to be a footnote to history.
Hunters in the Night
The two men gaze into the valley before them, the tall hispanic man mutters, "The City of Angels." The other more stout man snorts, "If that is the City of Angels then my hometown is the City of Devils." The squad behind them snickers before the taller man cuts them a mean glance. "Make whatever jokes you want, but the Spanish before us named this town La Ciudad de la Reina de los Angeles for a reason and while God may not want his beloved Queen of the Angels, if there is one, to reside in this city, but the Americans before us Americanized everything and allowed it to go to waste.
"But make no mistake La Ciudad de la Reina de los Angeles sits in a good location and if it weren't for the lackluster security forces of the old LAPD under American rule and the ineffective propaganda of the Hudsonists this city could have been a great beacon of the world much like New York City or even Tokyo, instead gangs and crime dominate the streets of this once proud city and the war just made things worst. God help the poor bastards who would have to clean out the streets of La Ciudad de la Reina de los Angeles." The squad remained silent, if the Mexican was right then they would not want to be the first into this city, which now stands below them from San Bernardino Pass, the city still ablaze and filled with booming and earthshattering concussions. The bombers were showing no mercy in advance of the army's scheduled invasion.
The Texan, the shorter stout man gazed at the moon, then stared at his map, in a few hours the Deseret forces should be in position, he could hear the sounds of battle and if he happened to look in his binoculars in that direction he would see the flashes of the huge tanks as they danced the dance of death. But the Mexican, who joined from Rio Grande's military to learn Texan tactics, was right, the battle for Los Angeles would be a bloodbath as the gangs would not give up their streets without a fight. It appeared to him that the Texans would fight for L.A while the Deseret forces shift to the north and take the suburbs and secure a path to the north. Whether this was intentional or not made no matter to the Texans, they were warriors and they would love nothing more than to fight the best L.A had to throw at them. It was unfortunate that the Hudsonists were nothing more than children playing the game of war, but the Bloods and the Crips were real warriors, generations of fighting against law enforcement had honed their skills, but now they were squaring off against one of the best military forces in North America, the Texan Ground Forces.
In the night, a pair of hunters infiltrated the outer suburbs of Los Angeles, they silently spent the last week creeping through Riverside, San Bernardino, Mira Loma, Anaheim and past the now destroyed and closed Disneyland, and finally on the 7th day reached Los Angeles proper, a long and perilous trek deep into enemy territory dominated and ruled by 2 primary gangs now that the Hudsonist government has admitted defeat and abandoned L.A. The Bloods in red and the Crips in blue were the prey, and their leadership must be killed before the invasion begins in 2 days. The hunters were two man teams of 15 teams. A sniper and his spotter, each man knowing that they are on their own with no support from their own men or from the air. They learned the around the clock bombardment of Central L.A would not be lifted for fear of alerting the prey of their intentions. No the Hunters would have to risk life and limb to bag their prey. A hefty bonus was offered to the first team to kill a leader and smaller bonuses for each man involved when the mission is a success. Should the teams be killed a hefty pension was promised for their next of kin which would guarantee a comfortable life for wife and children. The hunters were about to breach South Central Los Angeles when huge fireball erupted just a few blocks away.
The pilots smiled, even though their mission was to carpet bomb Los Angeles they still attempted to hone their skills by targeting certain infrastructure, in this case, a still functioning gas station. A difficult target to hit due to the buildings around it and the darkness that makes Los Angeles nearly invisible save for a few fires here and there. Regardless from the size of the fireball and the explosion it produced it left no doubt that their target has been destroyed. They turned their bomber around and headed back to Texas, the fighter escorts would go as far as Las Vegas. The fighter jocks were congratulating the bombers when the sky lit up with tracers and RPGs. The fighters peeled off, the bombers were on their own, as the fighters raced to the ground and identified where the tracers were coming from and strafed the position.
"God Almighty, that was close!" Cried Sergeant Lopez, Texas' best sniper. His hand was nearly shot off by a fighters strafing run. An AA gun stood nearby still churning out hundreds of bullets a minute. Lopez steadied his aim, as his spotter warned him, "Fighter incoming." Lopez squeezed, the blue clad man slumped in the seat. His comrades scattered. Lopez smiled, his team probably made the first kill of the night, even if it was a lowly thug and not the leader of the Gang. Lopez felt his spotter tugging his arm with great urgency, Lopez muttered, "Get in the gutter." He followed his spotter into the gutter just as the ground they were on was suddenly chewed up. Lopez stared at his spotter and sighed. "That was damn close. But lets get moving we got a mission to complete."
The channels were full of chatter from the fighters, "Yeehaw, that's a confirmed kill!" "Siverado, check my left wing." "Roger, kill confirmed." but only one had every ones attention, from the bomber crews circling overhead to the gold stars back home, "Lone Wolf, you are too low, climb!! Lone Wolf, climb, you are too low to the ground!" As the chatter quieted down, everyone realized Lone Wolf was not responding. All eyes scanned the air space, but only 2 crews have eyes on the plane, Bomber crew Apache and Bomber crew Lone Ranger. They watched as the plane narrowly avoided City Hall and the Police Headquarters in Downtown, but the plane was headed straight for South Central. Again the call went out, "Pull up, Lone Wolf, Pull up damn you!" Finally one of the fighter planes spotted Lone Wolf's plane and pinpointed his location, seeing that Texas Star was closest, the jet sped up and spun around the City Hall, squeezing between two towers and gave pursuit. Texas Star was a veteran of the wars, as was Lone Wolf, both have been in the Air Force for years and the two men were great buddies back home, living next to each other on base and their children played at each others home numerous times. But today Texas Star was afraid he would be the one to pay a visit to Lone Wolf's wife, and he was not about to allow that to happen.
Lopez froze, two blue clad thugs were right in front of him, range about 2,000 yards, a doable shot but he would prefer to be closer, the two thugs stared up and Lopez was puzzled, then he heard it, the whine of jet engines. His spotter muttered a string of expletives about the fighters coming back and making their job harder. But Lopez knew this sound was different, he knelt up and motioned for his spotter to head to stone building across the street. The sound was getting louder, he estimated the plane would be over him in a few minutes, then he heard another sound, this one more faint he guessed this plane was flying up to see what was wrong. He decided to turn on his radio and tune it to the Air Force channel, which he did on his way to the stone building.
Texas Star was racing, his jet was already straining to go faster and yet it seemed as if Lone Wolf was going even faster, but finally Texas Star caught up with his tail, he saw the Lone Star of Texas and the jet's identification number. He crawled up to the cockpit, saw the name Lone Wolf under the canopy along with his confirmed kills, like him he was an Ace, shooting down over 15 planes during the war. Texas Star looked up peered into the cockpit and saw the body slumped over. He stared, unsure if he could believe his eyes, there was no way his best bud of 15 years would be dead, they went through Flight school together, they got their 5th kill and their ACES branding in the same battle. There appeared to be no bullet holes and the jet appeared intact and was not shot to pieces like some other jets flying around up there. Texas Star reported his findings and stayed next to Lone Wolf for another minute before he was forced to peel off and climb. Lone Wolf's jet clipped a building and landed on Vernon Avenue, Texas Star and several other jets circling noted that the jet did not blow up, and discussions flared up on whether they should have a bomber drop a bomb or simply do a strafing run.
Lopez saw the entire thing, he knew where Vernon Avenue was his team just crossed it an hour ago. It was the boundary between the Bloods and Crips, it used to be that the two gangs simply controlled whatever they could hold on whereever it happened to be, the Bloods could have a single block held deep in Crips territory or vice versa, but since the war both gangs consolidated and decided to name Vernon Avenue as their boundary. The Crips to the north and the Bloods to the south. Right now that pilot is right between the two bloodthirsty gangs out for revenge and a firefight between the gangs could erupt over this prize with the unfortunate pilot in the crossfire, if he were even alive. Lopez made up his mind, he would save the pilot, even if the unfortunate soul was dead he would try and bring his body back to Texas. He clicked on the radio and made his intentions clear. Chatter on the radio fell silent, deathly silent as the pilots and bomber crews stared at their radios in disbelief, an Army man in South Central? Is the man insane? One voice responded, it was Air Marshall Tom Yancy, "Soldier, you have the full backing of the Air Force to retrieve this man and destroy the plane. Good luck and Godspeed." The pilots slowly turned their gaze onto South Central, which was now quiet, all AA guns now silent. It appeared the gangs were gearing up for something big and all involved knew it will be centered on Vernon Avenue.
Lopez sighed, he was now going into the eye of the storm, he was putting his head in the alligators mouth, so to speak he told his spotter to remain here and await his return, but his spotter wouldn't have it, he would go with Lopez come hell or high water, they would save this pilot or die trying. Lopez grinned, that's the Texas spirit. Go where no man dares go. Together the two men head off into the unknown. Their mission depending on rugged construction of the Texas jets and the rough body and spirit of the Texan troops. Thousands of eyes in the sky watch from the safety of their planes while all around them hundreds if not thousands of bloodthirsty enemy gangs maneuver for the climatic showdown. Come dawn hundreds of thousands of Texan troops, tanks and helicopters will race down the pass and take Los Angeles. These two men and their seemingly small mission to save a downed pilot seems doomed to be a footnote to history.
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