MISSION FILE: RECON CA-4 – CA2 COMMAND GROUP – WESTERN REGION
DATE: 4/03//2161-4/04/2161
LOCATION: At Wright Wood, Ca.
REPORTER: Tim Hart, Medic of CA-4

Day 4/04/2161:
Well the report should be short today, but man what a long trip. Ok let’s get
it started. with a song, “Woke up got out of bed drag a comb across my hair.
Head up the stairs” Right about here the song ends. When that cold mountain air
hit you, NO joy at all. It was a long damp night, and just when I thought Fred
could not smell worse. Just think of Rasta and horse mix with all of our funk
not a happy spot to remember, but we were warm and safe as it were. Breakfast
was a food bar and water.

We locked up the site and headed back down to the ambush site. We did not find
much, the bodies were gone, dragged off to be eat or reuses knowing what we have
seen. We had a trail but not the time to really do a good job tracking them to
there base. If we did, I’m sure it would have been a fight again and we have
project members and civilians to save.

At base camp Carlos went all out for us eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits. I ate
way, way to much but dam if it was not good. We then headed down the road to
Cajon. Along the way a flatbed truck hauling a knocked-out Marine tank passed us
heading the other way. The look on Fred’s face was not good. It seems Fred and
Hannah had never seen one taken out before. This can not be good as we most
likely have a new play entering the conflict to give the bad guys better gear.
We will need to look in to this more and keep our butts down on this run.

Cajon was a real stinker and I mean stinker. It seems they make there own
Bio-fuel and it smells. It is not much, just the CHP station and an old truck
stop turned in to a fort. It looked like something right out of the Mad Max
films. The police could have walked right off the set. It seems Fred lost a bit
of his rep being seen riding a horse. The support team was there with the
repaired and fully loaded for bear V-150. Hannah and Fred were each issued there
own full set of project team member gear. It must have been like Christmas for
them. They had big kool-aid smile, as they were being trained by the support
team and us.

We went inside the CHP station where Fred was once again in his element. He soon
had a road gypsy to get us thru the Deadlands as they call it. O yea I do not
know what they but in the food now days but dam I met another man this one named
Bo who was as big as if not bigger than the Sheriff at the fort. Fred and Bo
worked something out to get more time or info between the Gypsy’s and us. We
passed up the option to have the CHP’s run with us which I think we should not
have. They were loaded for bear and seem to shoot first and not even bother to
ask. We may be able to pull them in to allies with the project in the future.
A side note: It seems Fred did make a slip and informed the CHP’s about the
radio tower we had just finished bringing online. O’ well Poole will need to set
a team up on that baby or we may loss it.

A note on road gypsies: Think surfer/stoner/guide, they love the weed and
surfing, and seem to be the only ones crazy, well good at navigating the people
thru the ins and out of the on going conflicts in the area. Without them, I do
not think there would be much flowing thru the area.

It was decided that we would take the I-15 route down from Cajon to Corona.
This would allow us to avoid the Mexican army that seems to be operation around
the I-215. As we neared Fontana we were jumped by a pack of ganger’s as Fred
calls the.. Think bad guys from Mad Max movie.

I did not even get up till I saw was told Fred shot himself. (He was shot and
we have a small hole in the back door now.) It got crazy as Hannah tripped or
slip and let a round off inside the V-150. It is all good, but if not for our
gear I know Vod “The bullet magnet” would be dead, and maybe some others as
well. I worked on Vod, Keshawn, and Fred. Nothing to note but I will keep an eye
on them. The team did a great job on the gangers. Hum if not for the shooting I
would have still been a sleep.

We hit The Republic of Corona, what a capitalistic bunch of bastards. They are
my new definition for bad capitalism. It seems there are neutral to all if you
have the coin, and do seem to have the power hold there area. The toll was 4
gold crowns for a round trip thru there area.. We did see both Mexican and
Marine vehicles and units in town.. The Mexican army didn’t seem to care about
us which is a good thing I hope.

Once thru Corona, we picked up the I-90 and headed for UCI. At this time it has
been un-eventful. I was able to sleep off the food and I’m fresh and read for
the trip now. I will need to ask Fred to have the road gypsies pull back on the
weed as I do not need us all stoned by the time we get there. Around this time
we were told the MARS team was near Cajon. This makes them hours behind us.
It seems Morgana is coming to are aid. We may need to do another meet and greet
after this and work out an alias with her. As we can not real keep her out of
the project system it would be in both are best interest to join in re-building
this area.

Ok I have gone over my gear and we are ready to get are people out of here. If
we can bloody the Mexican army’s nose a bit we my get some more time to work out
what is causing them to push so hard and where they are getting the new gear
from.

MISSION FILE : RECON CA-4 – CA2 COMMAND GROUP – WESTERN REGION
DATE: 3/17/2161 (10:30pm)
LOCATION: 4 Miles South of Ballart Ca.



“Two if by Air… Three if by Land.. and we are not from Morrow Bay by the Sea….”
Aka “What went up.. went down hard”

After spending the night at Big Jakes, the team enjoyed breakfast at the Ranch. Apparently due to the news of the Mexican forces, there was a general call up of Militia forces in the area and Big Jake was in a hurry. He was able to spend some time talking about the area.

Fred and Hannah left for the circle-lazy-8 ranch early in the morning, and we arranged to meet them up in the Ballarat area.


Apparently the Ranch is supplied with power from local wind generation, and the area in the high desert is scattered with various Electrical production facilities. Mirror Solar arrays (by Barstow), Geothermal(china lake). Apparently the high desert area trades Electrical power for Oil from Bakersfield.

The Aqueduct facility is what allows the high desert to exist in an agricultural way, but it is running about 10-15% capacity, and is in very poor shape. It is the one thing that ties them all together, and about twice a year everyone pitches in to dredge it and maintain it. The Aqueduct is probably the reason they do have good pumping technology in the area.

The Marines are sort of the enforcers/police of the area, and Barstow containing some railway functionality, and is their main base of operations. I am sure they got their name “marines” and their equipment from the Marine Logistical base there.

Edwards AFB is apparently occupied by “The Air Force” a unit which has it closed down, with no access allowed.


We packed up a couple days fresh food from Jakes’ and headed out on the route laid out by Fred towards Ballarat, via Mojave. The road was in good shape, apparently used for trading often, but most traffic was headed in the other direction, apparently due to the Militia call up. We even spotted an M1A1 tank which appeared to be immobile on a flatbed truck heading out towards Jakes’. The area seems pretty well populated with maybe 15-30K people. The buildings are either serviceable, or stripped of anything that could be of use. Nothing has gone to waste in the area. There are no wrecked or abandoned cars to be found anywhere on the side of the road. Travis noted that the GPS system was acting funky, like the satellites were out of place. Apparently it loses accuracy over time, and has to be recalibrated based on landmarks periodically.

After a couple hrs on the road, we stopped at a diner to meet some locals, stretch our legs and get a bite to eat. The meal of Ham and Eggs was tasty, and at that point I realized that a key point was forgotten to be talked about at Jake’s. What’s used for money? What’s the general trade ratio I the area? ARG. So I dug into the trade pack, and settled the bill with a small bag of tobacco. The way the other locals in the bar snickered and joked, I’m sure we got taken big time. Note to self… talk to Fred, and get some bartering skills for the area. We have to get a feeling for what things are worth. For now, it is not a huge priority, since due to the note we have to get up north ASAP. Back on the road, we made it the rest of the way to Mojave, but it looked like the weather was starting to turn bad, snow or rain I’m sure was coming.

Mojave had a working airport operated by Eagle Air Freight. We approached the chain gate and got the guards to take us to someone who we could talk to about hiring a plane to check out Ballarat(per the note). Crazy Eddie said they could scout the area up there… fly us up there, or we could use the chopper to fly up and drop off. In view of the time criticality we opted to split up the team, with 2 of us taking the chopper to scout the area “south of the dead” and the other group driving up the vehicle to meet us. Keshawn joined me as we loaded up our gear, the desert survival pack, and the PRC70 unit as we planned to probably spend the night while the rest of the team drove. The airport itself was a crazy mismatch of planes, from an F4 Phantom, some strange P38ish type aircraft, to a couple of C130s, some civilian jetliners, and even a massive C-5 Galaxy. People in various uniforms or clothing decorated the area, obviously this was a trade hub or of some kind.

The Helo started with some coaxing, and eventually took flight. The flight up to the area was uneventful. We noted that Ridgecrest seemed to be a pretty intact city, with lights and power. The rest of the landscape was dotted here and there with settlements, and such, becoming more sparse as we journeyed north east past Ridgecrest and Trona.

We reached the area of Ballarat, and there was nothing there. Any building that did exist had obviously been worn away over time. We identified the graveyard from the air, and then began to sweep “south of the dead of Ballarat” following the Windgate road South, looking for anything the MP might use for a Bolt hole.. or something that we are supposed to “see from the air”.

We were about 2km south of Ballarat when both Kesawn and myself saw a flash of metal to the east. We directed the pilot that way to take a closer look. Using the telescopic site on the rifle, I spotted 3 vehicles, and even could tell one was a earthmoving caterpillar type, another was what appeared to be an M2 Bradley, and the third made my blood run cold, as an M113 –AA gun vehicle began to swivel the Minigun into our direction. “Get the hell out of here right now!” But luck was not with us as a burst from the Minigun perforated the Helo. We made a dash southwest, but then a 2nd burst hit the tail rotor, and we were going down. The Helo hit hard, and I found out later that I fractured my left leg in the crash. Keyshawn was thrown clear, and was able to get the pilot, myself, and our gear out the Helo just as the fuel cell went up. He’s shaken, but not severely hurt from the concussion of the diesel fuel igniting.

We estimated that we are about 1 ½ km south west of the vehicles we spotted with a couple of ridgelines between us. With the weather starting to snow, the fire and smoke should be obscured. We patched up Patty, the pilot who had a compound fracture of her right arm, and a nasty bump on the head. Luckily we still had the gear, and we were able to set up the tent for some shelter tonight.
Taking turns on the radio, we attempted to reach the team, who should be coming up to rendezvous with us as soon as they can (tonight or tomorrow depending on weather). While trying to contact them, we intercepted what appears to be a burst transmission coming in very close to our location. It must be from those vehicles we spotted. About 10pm we actually made contact with them as they rolled into Ballarat. I briefed them on what occurred, and Tim said he intercepted the transmissions as well, but the MP computer couldn’t decrypt them, so it wasn’t a MP transmission.

Tim said he took a smoke break out in the graveyard, on a hunch from the message referencing the dead of Ballarat. Apparently he took a piss on a gravestone, and it was labeled BRUCE MORROW! Details on the gravestone indicated a MP coordinate location for what must be CA-2 our High desert command Team. The coordinates locate to the area that we spotted the vehicles in, and it can’t be a coincidence.

Bruce Morrow
2nd BN
California Vols
1862


We shall be
Reborn in the
day of atonement
E25:V23


We have to get the team back together, and investigate those vehicles, who they are, and why they are here. In addition we need to get the helo pilot out safely.

 MISSION FILE : RECON CA-4 – CA2 COMMAND GROUP – WESTERN REGION
DATE: 3/15/2161 to 3/16/2161
LOCATION: California High Desert near Highway 138 / Interstate 5

Compiled by Team Leader Vod Pancheco – Recon CA-4

            After discussion on the way to the Ranch, it was decided to let Vivianna, Fred and Hannah borrow extra resistweave BDUs to allow for easier recognition thru the team’s night vision goggles.

            Then after taking down the sentries in the overlooking north east and southeast towers, Travis skillfully maneuvered the V150 next to the East wall. With this maneuver we were able to cover the area with the coax MG(Hannah) and commanders MG(Fred).

Keshawn, standing on the V150 peeked over the wall, and found a conveniently placed woodpile on the other side.  After looking carefully, the team heard a couple of Bangers coming around the corner of the main building. After trying to bluff them… they wouldn’t go away, so Keshawn shot them both with his suppressed G36.

            Scrambling over the wall from the V150, and down the woodpile, Keyshawn pulled the bodies out of view. Rick, Vod and Vivianna next went up the stairway to the 2^nd floor, where Vivianna advised the kids or family members would most likely be held. All three quietly made it to the top of the stairs, and Vod went to open the door so Rick could sweep into the room.. 1…2….3…. door locked.

            Sheepishly, Vod turned around and Vivianna was holding out the key ring. 1…2….3.. Door opened to find a Banger assaulting what appeared to me a maid or household worker. Rick stealthily approached the guy, and double tapped him in the head. Vivianna rushed to her side to quiet her, and tell her to stay still. Keyshawn joined the team upstairs, as Vod, Keshawn, and Rick began to clear the rooms and search for the kids.


At the end of the hallway, the kids could be heard, and as Vod approached, the door opened. A man in body armor, with an AKM stepped out, and Vod put him down with a quick burst. Vivianna rushed into the room, and gathered the frightened children to her side.

Bangers began to yell that they were under attack, and Fred/Hanna used their MGs to cover the avenues of attack for the team. Covering the stairway leading downstairs, Rick was surprised by a banger exiting the master bedroom. He took a hit to the chest, which hurt, but was not wounding. Rick then dispatched the banger in a spray of modern art.


One Banger came out of a back door and rushed up the stairs before George could hit him with the M21 sniper Rifle. The Banger disappeared into the upstairs, as he scrambled over the wall, pulling out his CAWs assault Shotgun, rushing up the stairs after him. The banger entered into the room, and approached the maid, still huddled in the corner. Vod took aim, but before he could fire, the banger let loose with a shotgun, wounding Vod’s left and right feet, and a small wound to the thigh. Vod then took out the banger with a quick burst, narrowly missing the maid behind him. Vod and Vivianna did what they could for his injured feet at Rick took the kids down the back stairs to get them safe.

The way clear, it was decided to evacuate the children and Vivianna to the V150 for safety.  As Rick exited the upstairs, a group of bangers tried to come around the corner, only to meet Fred and a long burst from the commanders MG. Fred could tell he hit some of them at least, and the others scrambled back.


The kids and Vivianna began to scramble up the woodpile, a banger behind an outhouse tossed a grenade, but it missed traveling over the wall and the V150. The explosion almost hit Hannah as she assisted the kids over the wall. Rick then peeled off a long burst of shotgun rounds into the outhouse, turning it, and the banger behind it, into so much ugly smelly mess. 

Keshawn and Rick were covering the top of the inside staircase, while Vod moved down the back stairs and took aim at the door. A banger emerged, and Vod dispatched him before he could do anything. Then Vod moved up and peered down the hallway, and spotted the standoff between the 3 bangers looking up the stairway, Rick and Keshawn were watching. The standoff between the two groups was settled by a 40mm multiple projectile round, which put all 3 bangers down in a cloud of splinters from the walls of the hallway.


Fred asked about moving the vehicle, and I gave permission to move at will to engage the enemy. Apparently he asked Travis to back up so that they could get a clear view around the south side of the compound and into the Horse corral. Fred said that he couldn’t see much, but put a long burst into a group of horses and people trying to mount up, downing many of them. Hanna made use of the thermal vision, and then let a short burst of 25mm shots into a couple of horsemen.. well can’t tell whats horse and whats men from what was left.

While that was going on, the apparent commander of the enemy called out to Vod from the main room. He said that he wanted to talk and get his men out without anyone else dying. He was holding Big Jake and his Wife in the main room adjacent to the hallway Vod just emptied. Rick came down the stairs and was in a flanking position to the main room.

Romas Antica said he was from the Imperial Military Forces of Mexico and he just wanted out and he would exchange the lives of Big Jake and his wife. Apparently there was some disagreement, and it became evident that there were two groups working together. This “Mexican Army” group, and the “bangers”.


Vod stated that if they drop the loot, and leave, he would let them live. The Banger chick had some type of argument with Romas, about needing something out of all this and how they should just kill everyone. The conversation went back and forth for a while, and Rick started to hear some type of movement in what turned out to be the front of the house.


The Bangers and the Military guys were leaving while we were talking. Romas wanted to take Jake’s wife until they were in a safe distance, and we were adamant that everyone be left here. Vod expressed that the family was #1 priority to get safe, even if it meant letting these guys get away. The more time this guy talked, the closer the Marines reinforcements got.


Keshawn said he saw people dragging stuff out the door in bed sheets, said they looked to be heading out the front gate area, and started firing on them from his 2^nd floor vantage point. 

Hearing this , Fred had Travis hit the “Gas” and get around to the front gate. By the time they got there, some horsemen and Bicyclists were trying to get away. Fred mowed down a couple horsemen, while Hanna Vaporized a biker with a short burst of 25mm cannon fire. The remaining bikers hit the dirt, or a trench and tried to imitate rocks. They were out of the fight.


Fred used the CB to radio the Marine reinforcements for an ETA on when they would get here. 5 min out. He also informed them about the V150 and the Morrow Team, and how we are the “good guys”.  


Meanwhile, using the thermal imaging they identified what appeared to be huddled people hiding in more buildings. One person must have tried to take a shot, but Fred said that their gun must have exploded instead. With the V150 driving around the front, Keshawn said that people were now going out the back. Fred let Travis know, and they heading around towards the back.


            Meanwhile, Vod entered the main room and found big Jake, and looking towards the front door, just in time to see a Banger firing at Rick with a shotgun. Rick took aim and fired a burst back thru the doorway, and the banger stopped firing. Big Jake was safe but Vod didn’t see his wife, and figured they took them out the front door like they said.

Jumping a barricade he took a look out the front door, and was greeted by an M60 burst in the chest and a round in the right arm. The armor plates saved his life, but were broken by the enemy fire. Either way, he was knocked to his back and stunned. Rick pulled Vod back from being exposed, and Keshawn began firing at the M60gunner who returned fire on Keshawn. George came into the downstairs and quickly assessed Vod and Rick to make sure they were ok. Rick peeked out, and took aim at the M60 gunner position, and as soon as he showed himself, hit him with at least one round.


            Rick went out he front door, and a recovering Vod tried to follow. Some Banger check then started taking aimed shots at the two of them, as they were backlit by the houselights.


Vod took another minor wound to the right arm and he quickly closed the door to cut out the light. The woman disappeared, but Fred spotted a couple more horsemen preparing to get out thru the gate. With a long burst, one gunman went down and the horse for the other was hit at least once.


George went out and checked the M60 gunner building.. a few shots of the assault shotgun, and that enemy wouldn’t hurt anyone again.


            Fred/Travis/Hanna rounded the back of the compound and saw many people with mountain bikes, and horses in various states of getting away. He fired off a long burst from the machine gun and called out for them to stop. Various Bangers were throwing bikes over the wall to try to escape and once Fred lit up the night sky with the spotlight they thru down their weapons and put their hands in the air. Two horsemen in Imperial forces gear split up, but once one was silhouetted in a spotlight he too froze and gave up. The other disappeared into the fog.

           
At this point the Marines showed up in a couple of vehicles and horsemen. They quickly established contact with Vod and the team, and began to round up the wounded and captured enemies.


Establishing that CA-4 was friends of Fast Freddie helped alleviate any tension between the groups. Keshawn went downstairs to free Big Jake, and also found his wife also tied up, but mad as a wet cat in a room full of rocking chairs. They were reunited with Vivianna and the kids and everyone was safe.


              The Marines were amazed at the MP equipment, both the V150 and the state of our equipment.


Just as they were beginning to ask more and more questions, Jake spoke up and put the Lieutenant in his place, stating that our group was responsible for saving his entire family and farm, and that they should thank our team for doing their job. Vivianna gave hugs all around for saving her family(painful on Vods bruised chest and wounded arm. Jake offered us a bed to rest and recover in for the night, which we took him up on.


            As the marines were eyeing our group, one Marine, (later identified as) Private Steve Wilson, came up to Rick and asked if we were from the Morrow Project team CA-4. Rick said yes, and the private pulled out a worn ancient envelope stating that he and his family had been entrusted for years with carrying this and that one day they would meet up with “Morrow project Team CA-4” an he was to give it to the team leader. Further questions revealed that someone came to his deathly ill grandfathers’ farm many years ago. The stranger cured the sickness that the grandfather was dying from in exchange for the pledge that he, and his family would carry this envelope and deliver it at some point in the future. And apparently today was that day. (see scanned image into report folder)

 The letter says the following:

To Commander of Recon CA4         

The sleeper have awoken and he must be stopped or all that has happened will happen again.

 Find the Eagles and search with the sky for the missing commanders who still sleep. They do not have much time and are in danger.

 Look to the South of the Dead of Ballarat.

 You are the Wakers of the Dead and the Hope of Salvation. Hurry there is not much time.

 They must be stopped or all will be Lost.

 We know that T.O Morrow could travel in time, so perhaps this is a message from one of the MP who could. Our mission parameters have changed from when we were part of an organization. We don’t know where our commanders are, but apparently we need to find them. There will be much to talk about in the morning.

 Fred mentioned that the Eagle Air is a freight hauling group which flys aircraft out of Mojave, so perhaps that will be our next objective.  

Ballarat is about 175 km northwest, it was a ghost town with many mines. This could be a likely place for the MP to put a bolt. In 2008 when we were put into our bolt Ballarat was a ghost town with only 1 resident.

 Fred and Hannah seem like good dependable people and it is my hope that they are willing to help us in this apparently Fated mission coming to us… from the future… using the past…. To save today.

 Immediate mission goals –

Convince Fred and Hannah to assist and possibly join our team

Talk to Big Jake and get what information we can on the various Recon Objectives on our list.

Process the Message from the envelope for any other meanings or writings that can be recovered.

Message Goals –

Inquire with Big Jake about Ballarat, and if he knows or knows someone who may know anything.

Contact this Eagle Air Freight group and see about the feasibility of scouting Ballarat area.

It mentions searching the south of the death.. this could refer to a graveyard or the town morgue which the Morrow-Google references. Investigate in detail any properties in the Ballarat area which were purchased by a corporation since the MP program began which seem likely bolt hole or facility placements

Developing Mission Goals –

Determine the political/social groups in the surrounding areas and how they relate to each other. Ie who hates who and who allies with who.

-          the “Marines” they seem to be the law around here, who commands them and what are the extent of their powerbase area

These Mexican Imperial Forces seemed to surprise everyone including the Marines. Who are they, and why were people surprised they were here. And how/why are they coordinating with these apparent skum-gang-bangers.

Official mission goals –

Perform similar Search for facilities or land purchases by MP corporations in the Owens valley/Owens Lake area which could house the Engineering/Science team CA-6

1. Check the California Aqueduct system for functionality and viability to restore/establish Agriculture.
   Locate and activate the Radio repeater/transmitter on top of Mountain SW of palmdale
   Recon the following specific locations -
   Lancaster/Palmdale – Agriculture development possibilities
   Mojave(airplane graveyard)
   Edwards AFB, and adjacent Dryden flight research Center
   Boron(borax mine functionality)
   Kramer Junction (solar Energy Systems and AF relay station)
   Barstow area
   Railway hub condition
   Solar 1, 2, 3 power production facility
   Marine Corp Logistics Base Nemo and Yerbo bases

 

Personal Log  of Team Leader Vod Pancheco

Looking at the bruises and bandages on my body it is evident that I have made mistakes. But we did accomplish a major goal of gaining the trust of someone who apparently is very important. Big Jake is the commander of the local militia, and saving his family seems to have laid the framework for a trusting relationship.

Obviously something has gone wrong with the Morrow Project. We should have awoken with a support system in place and an organization to support. Instead we find ourselves effectively alone. Way out of projected date, and with some type of message from the future/past.

In the morning we will get to know Fred, Hannah, better, and see what we can learn from Big Jake. I need to figure out how to convince Fred and Hannah to help us, and if they do, how to integrate them into the team. We need a safe place with people we can trust to store our gear there is so much but it, but it is all priceless, while we investigate this letter and do our job as Recon CA-4 of the Morrow Project.