MISSION FILE : RECON CA-4 – CA2 COMMAND GROUP – WESTERN REGION
DATE: 3/17/2161 to 3/18/2161
LOCATION: Road to Lazy Eight Ranch


Frederick Douglass Johnson Private Log


In the morning, we had a pow-wow with Jake and talked about mutual defense and talked to the Marines. This was more Hanna’s area, as the Circle-Lazy Eight were going to be more involved than Inland Empire, although with the Mexicans involved this is different than the usual Bakersfield-High Desert ruckus and this may change.


We got into the Circle-Lazy-Eight and got set out again by Hannah’s great-great-gammers Martha (the ranch’s foreman) who told her to located Vod’s team and get them back ASAP to the ranch. They were heading somewhere north into the High Desert towards Mojave and so that’s where we were going too. Picking up Chelsea, a cousin and apprentice gunner, we set out hours later than the Morrow team, playing catch-up all across High Desert.


After spending a delightful night staying in Ridgecrest, then continued on into the nothingness that the pre-war town of Ballerat used to be located in. It started snowing, really pleasant, so we alternated in the gunner’s position so no one had it too bad, but it still sucked big-time.


We met up with Vod’s Morrow, and arranged via Cee Bee to meet up in Ballarat. They met us in their Rig, and Vod’s leg was hurt. They also had a pilot from Eagle Air, Samantha, and she was unconscious. Apparently, Vod and Keshawn got shot down in her bird by some folks that were digging around where they needed to be. The note they got back at Big Jake’s led them to Ballarat or what was left of it, and then they got another clue to go looking in the mountains. Written on a gravestone, no less!


Some of those Eagle Air Ballooners flew by in a Cessna looking for Samantha. They were told the situation and vowed revenge on whoever shot the chopper down, then flew away. Whatever was happening they needed to get a move on, so we sent Chelsea with Samantha in the Scout to meet up back in Ridgecrest.


Eventually, using the heat-seeing thing, we located where Vod’s team needed to dig, some kinb of bunker. It sounded like whoever was there was doing their own digging, and they were close. So we quickly made a plan, we’d deploy a panzer-hunting team with the Rig as support. Vod’s leg was fucked, Travis had to drive, Keshawn was the gunner and Rick was TC, so that left Tim, Hannah and I to be dismounts, using some Panzerfists these guys had in their Rig, and Hannah got a 40mm gas grenade to use on anyone outside.


There seemed to be a Track and a Rig like a van, plus an earth-mover. No one in sight was on foot. We rolled up and we bailed out, although because we didn’t stop Hanna took a header in the dirt. Tim and I made it to some cover. The Rig continued rolling and engaged their track. Both got some hits in but the other track’s gun seemed damaged. Then this AA gun mounted on another Track opened up on the Rig and hosed it down with lead, but it couldn’t penetrate. Tim and I were pinned down, after getting up Hannah split and went the other direction. The first Track was still mobile so Tim nailed it with a Panzerfist and killed it. The second wasn’t having much luck using it’s super-MG on the Morrow Rig, although it was chewing it up some and blew out one of the tires.


Something happened at that point. Whoever was in command of the side called for a truce. Tim and I used that time to move up and get a bead on the other Track. It turned out this “Morgaine” needed power, which was in the bunker. We held all the cards so Veronica backed off and Vod made some kind of trade with her for information. As a Gypsy Trucker I applaud this trade, as knowledge is power. I just hope it was useful. It seemed like Morgaine wasn’t really there. She was just controlling “robots” with the radio, like in stories of the old times. Robots are like little vehicles that don’t have anyone inside them. Really freaky but I guess that’s no stranger than the stories of people sleeping forever like the Morrow people. Maybe this was more common before the war?


The bunker was opened and Tim, Hanna and I went inside. We met Vod’s team’s overall commander, a hand named Poole. Seemed a bit on the high-and-mighty side, like Martha, but when they both get into the real world and deal with people they’ll probably change their tune. Apparently the founding families of the Circle-Lazy-Eight were descended from other Morrow people, another team that woke up early, or on time or something like that, over a hundred years ago.


I sense a power struggle of some kind coming up. The new guys seem to have some kind of official authority given to them before the war by this Morrow Project but I can’t see turning over command of the Circle-Lazy-Eight to them sitting too well with Martha. The folks at the Circle-Lazy-Eight are more numerous and have been around longer. Although I would tend to go along with the Circle-Lazy-Eight folks because they’ve been part of the community longer and have more people and resources, they honestly haven’t really done a lot to rebuild the USA or even really improve the High Desert socially or politically. They certainly haven’t really gotten involved outside Stallion Springs unless there was no other option.

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.