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By Project_Director, 04/01/2010 8:59 am

Mission Report from CA-4 Team Leader Vod Pacheco

Mission Date 7/04/2161

 Resupply High Desert Command

Or

Cannonball Run 2161

Core Team Members –

Fred/Vod – Freds 1978 International Harvester SSII “Scout” (called “The Jeep”)

Keshawn/Tim Commando Scout

Attached Personnel –

Cathy Drayton – Phoenix Team Psi Ops – Adviser/Ranger RTO

Patrick Samson – AZ-3 Asst. Convoy Commander -  Ranger

Sue and John Commings – AZ-3 Commando Ranger

Paul Maintina, Zipper Hoover, John Rooser – AZ-3 Humvee

 Inland Empire Personel –

Lefty Jim – Head of the Truckers

Janet Barsdale – Master Trader

Paul Rubins – Trucker 2^nd in command

14 others manning the rest of the vehicles

Vehicles for the Convoy south

Commando Ranger (50cal) – Convoy command extra radios and ground base radar system. Trailer with Aeroscout

Humvee (M1045-  Mk19 GL) – Close convoy escort, fire support

1978 International Harvester SSII “Scout” (HK21 LMG) – forward scout contact vehicle

Commando Scout (20mm) – forward scout backup/support

10-ton HEMTT (hard top/unarmed)

10-ton HEMTT (hard top/unarmed)

2.5 ton XM410E1 ()

2.5 ton XM410E1 ()  w/Trailer with 500 Liter Tank of Water

6   M35A1 Trucks     

Continue reading 'MISSION REPORT: Cannon Ball Run P1 7/4/2161'»

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By Project_Director, 03/18/2010 10:23 pm

Mission Report from CA-4 Team Leader Vod Pacheco

Mission Date 6/24/2161

Core Team Members – Keshawn, Tim, Fred, Vod

Establish communications, and get reinforcements for the high Desert

Or

One if by CA, Two if by NV

It seemed like I had just put my head down on my pillow after securing Prime base.

BUZZZZZZZ…. BUZZZZZZZ…..

BUZZZZZZZ….. BUZZZZZZZ…..

Dang it… the phone rang on the wall. I dragged myself up and reached for it.. noting that the rest of the team was still snoozing. Checking my watch I noted we got an entire 2 hours of sleep after being up for 48 or more straight, and trying to recover from the stims we had been using near the end.

“Hello? This is Vod Pacheco”, the Voice on the other end sounded entirely too awake. “Commander Pacheco, this is Sam Johnson of CA-3, you and your team are requested to report to Ops level 6 Phoenix Team Commander Bill Baxton’s office ASAP.”

“Um, right…. Who.. and where?, and right now? ARG!” There was a brief conversation in the background, and Sam came back on. “Sir, Im sorry, but he is mighty insistent that you come up here or I will have to come down and get you.”  Sigh.. “ok Sam we will be there in 15 minutes.” Sam replied “Thank you sir, and security sweeps of the base have not been completed yet.” I checked Keshawn’s PDA(im still missing mine since my original one is Morgana-linked), and it had no information on any Bill Baxton, or Phoenix team in the morrow project records. Unity didn’t show any information on this guy or the Phoenix team either.

I proceeded to shake the team awake, and tell them we had to report to someone from the Phoenix team.. who’s the phoenix team? I didn’t know, never heard of them, but they felt they had enough authority to order CA-3 around, so we better report.

We left most of our gear, going with combat loads, and headed out toward the ops cylinder, using Unity to figure out where we were supposed to go. We arrived in Ops level 7, and I was greeted by someone who I could only describe as a military computer geek in an all black MP style resistoweave outfit with a Phoenix Team-2 shoulder Patch on it. He had the pale pallor and look of someone who had just come out of cold sleep.  He said he was Bob Michaels, computer specialist for Phoenix team 2(what ever that is) and he would escort me to Commander Bill Baxton. Bob was armed with some type of backpack super assault laser which was much more modern than that MP equipment I was familiar with. He brought us to an office, where we were confronted by a similarly dressed man, obviously ex-military, about 40-50yrs old. He introduced himself as Commander Bill Baxton, and then asked me to turn over all command codes for Prime base to him. I asked him to confirm his identity via PDA retina Scan, and now, it said “Commander Bill Baxton, Morrow Project Phoenix Team 2 commander” I looked at his clearance level, and…..  I expect it was up there with Bruce Morrow himself.  I paged thru the PDA for a summary of the Phoenix team, and the PDA now informed me that these were the top-top guys in their fields. Bill Baxton was their commander, and specialized in organization and reconstruction. The other 11 members were Computers, economics, engineering, and the list went on. This was the Morrow Project Major league relief pitchers, when some type of emergency came up.  “Yes sir, right away sir”, I interfaced with Keshawns PDA, and informed Unity of the change of command and transfer of all command codes to Bill Baxton.

We spent the next 2 hrs or so briefing Baxton on the situation. 162 yrs late, bio-weapon took out prime base, no organized MP that we knew of, other than high desert command. No wake up codes, computer virus in the MP mainframe for prime base, etc. Each report seemed like a physical blow to Baxton, and afterward, he just rubbed the stubble on his scalp and said.. OK… we have a LOT of work to do. I informed him of the exhausted state of the team, and he said we could crash out and report back in about 12 hrs. I rousted the team, we went back to level 13, and got the first good night sleep in days.

Sleep, shower, food, and then back up to his office as my alarm beeped at 12 hours.

Baxton let us in the office, and said, “Good, you are back, and looking much better.” He needed us to go down the excursion base passageway, about 2km down, to the radio relay station antenna control room. Figure out why it didn’t extend on command, and fix it. Then continue on down the tunnel another 2km to the excursion base. Apparently this is where a bunch of the Prime Base vehicles and vehicle maintenance material were stored, and he wanted eyes on it to confirm status of the equipment. Also on the way, we were to take a cartload of LED emergency lights and replace the burnt out ones every 30 feet or so. We were given a MAG from Unity to pull the cart, and serve as a communication link back to HQ.

We took light combat loads, and started off on the trek. Pretty creepy being in a place no one had walked in for over 150 years. The MAG pulled the cart along, and stopped next to each appropriate LED that needed to be replaced. So we took turns bending down, and clipping the new light in, like a trail of crumbs leading back to the base. After about an hour and a half, we came to a short stairway, leading to the side utility door Marked – Radio Antenna Maintenance access. We opened the door, and another dark hallway lead off into the distance. After helping the MAG up the 2 stairs we started down the 1km tunnel, again replacing LEDs as we went. Eventually we reached the end, and found that the hydraulics for the antenna were in need of repair. We broke out the tools we brought, and got to work for a couple of hours,  eventually getting the system working. We reported back to control that they should be able to access the Antenna. Back down the walkway and then on the Excursion Base.

The corridor went on for another 2 km, slowly sloping upwards the entire time. Keshawn confirmed from the complete lack of any signs, that no one had been in this part of the base, so we didn’t have to worry about running into one of the rogue bikers or mercs. After another hour and a half, of stopping every 20 meters or so to change a LED, we arrived at the excursion base….. and we all just about fainted at the sight before us. It must be the size of 4 “costco’s” I murmured… I heard Fred say “Huh?”  The vast amount of material here was staggering. A pair of C-130 cargo planes, flanked by a Mars-1 and a Science-1 vehicle dominated the center of the Motor pool floor surrounded by 20-30 more combat vehicles. Utility vehicles, Commando Scouts, Rangers, V150’s, V300’s, Strikers, Airscouts, and then Fred saw the cargo vehicles. 6 brand new sparkling HEMTT Cargo vehicles, with a series of modules near them for easy conversion.  A couple of M1070 Heavy Transporters with Trailers, and at least a dozen M915 heavy lift trucks. All the vehicles looked like they were brand spanking new, with shiny paint and fresh tires; up on blocks. You could practically hear Fred thinking about the domination his clan would have with this type of heavy lift cargo transportation. Another dozen or two smaller utility vehicles and some HumVees could be seen as well. Then the supplies. 100’s of tires, barrels of oil, maintenance facilities, spare parts, Munitions beyond comprehension, with racks of Missiles, Rockets, crates of Ammo of all different varieties. With enough trained people, we could take over a mid sized country with the armaments that Prime Base must have. All of it deep stored, and waiting for the Morrow Project to put to good use. With the integrity of the excursion base confirmed, we turned around and walked the 4km back to prime base. At least we could make good time since we didn’t have to change light bulbs.

We made our way back to Baxton’s office, and could hear yelling coming from inside. Poole was here. And he was pissed. I couldn’t tell what was said, but about 2min later, Poole came out and signaled us to follow him. Our team picked up our gear, and followed him out and into another office down the hall. Poole briefed us in. The Mexicans were on the move again, and pushing very hard. They were armed with more tanks and vehicles than before, and seemed to have an endless supply of ammo the way they were shooting anything they could aim at. The Marines were fighting in Riverside, and getting pushed back. Poole had hustled up here once communications had been reestablished. He tried to convince Baxton that the high Desert command needed supplies to fight the current war. Baxton not only said no, but ordered Poole to get ALL the MP personnel up here to prime base to get it reactivated properly. I could understand Baxton’s perspective. Being awakened, way too late with no MP infrastructure to speak of. Security of the base unknown, not enough people to do even rudimentary repairs.  I informed Poole of the vast amount of vehicle transport, and munitions that we had found. Baxton has all the materials, and no people, while desert command has people, but no materials. I suggested to Poole that both priorities of prime base and high desert needed to be fulfilled.

We came up with a plan.

I would convince Baxton to let High Desert have munitions and transport vehicles to get them there… Poole would stop reconstruction work, and get those people up to prime base to enact repairs and get it online. He would also provide some security personnel from CA-7 trainees for Baxton as well. Fred said that his clan would provide enough drivers to operate 10-12 of the Heavy cargo vehicles, the M915’s and a HEMTT is possible.  They would do this for access to our maintenance and a pair of reserve fusion drive train’s to retrofit on their trucks. We could use the heavy cargo transport to get vital munitions, TOW missiles, Armbursts, LAWs, the type of munitions that would counter the Mexican’s Armor. We would ask for Commando scouts and a V300 to escort the vehicles south. And I would pilot an Airscout unit to scout ahead of the convoy and plot the pathway south. About 600-800 miles.  We could be there in about 10-14 days. Poole agreed, he was willing to do anything to avoid abandoning the work he had done over the past 6 months.

I headed to Baxton’s office with Fred. I sent Tim and Keshawn off to get me a new PDA. Baxton looked up from his terminal, “Yes Vod, what can I do for you.” I knew this was a turning point, and if I screwed this up who knows where we would be headed next.

“Sir, I would ask that you reconsider the orders to redeploy all MP personnel to Prime Base”

With a heavy sigh, he turned to me, sat back, and replied “Why, what could be more important that Prime base”.

“First, I understand that you are in command. But with all due respect I think you are making a strategic error abandoning the high desert. My team has been out for about 5 months now, but even our team members have begun putting down roots. That speaks nothing of the 100 years of CA-7’s efforts. You sir, have a base sorely in need of people. The high desert command has people and support infrastructure that sorely needs organization and materials. Can the Morrow Project afford to break the promises, commitments, and alliances the “Morrow Project” has made in that region? There are a lot of people who are just beginning to think that the MP is more than a flash in the pan. That we are truly here to help them rebuild. Make a place safer for them and their children. To return Freedom and order to this land, where people only think of the  next mouthful of food, or the next crop to bring in. Those people in the south of here are the future of the Morrow Project. They are the people that can come to believe in what it stands for, what it can do, and what it can teach them to do for themselves.”

“Vod, you have my attention, continue”

Sir, this is Fred Douglass Johnson. We met up with him not more than 15 min after we exited our bolt, and he, being someone who grew up in “this time” somehow kept the idea of freedom, democracy, and America alive in his heart. Fred went on to talk to Baxton about how the MP has done good. How the “people” have just begun to trust and believe in the MP. How if the High Desert command left them now, especially now with the Mexican army on the move from the south, it would damage the name of the MP perhaps irreversibly.

“What are you two suggesting?” he replied.

“Sir, we have seen the heavy cargo transport vehicles of the excursion base. Fred comes from a Trucker Clan. His people can provide the drivers, if you are willing to let us take 10 or so of those vehicles, some escorts, and an Airscout, all loaded up with these materials(show him a list Poole provided of vital needed materials) from prime bases’ reserve stores. None of them are first line equipment, but the replacement stores from the MP 2008’s tech upgrade program. With that type of commitment, Poole can stop the reconstruction projects in action now, and redeploy those people here to help get Prime base back up, and also provide security personnel from CA-7’s reserves.  As payment to Fred’s clan, they are asking for a pair of reserve Fusion drive train assemblies to retrofit on their own trucks.

Baxton looked at me… to Fred.. back to me, took the list and sat back…. After scanning the list, he made a few notes. He picked up his phone, and said “Conner, come in here.”Another of the phoenix team members came in and took the list from Baxton’s outstretched hand. “How much of our material would this list constitute of Prime Base’s supplies?”. Conner took the list, and after about 10 seconds of thought, he replied “about 20% of our heavy ground base cargo lift, and 5% of the weapon stocks, 10% of the medical and communications equipment”. Baxton sighed. “Alright Vod, you have some good points, we don’t live in a vacuum, the MP does need to start somewhere, and we will need indigenous support. I just wish it was closer than what… 600 miles?

Also, do you know what happened to CA-6, we could use that heavy earthmoving equipment. And isn’t there some type of Railroad repair unit down there? The computer files on teams and locations are a shambles in prime base from the virus that was set loose.”

I informed Baxton that we hadn’t located CA-6 yet, or the Southern Pacific Railroad unit either. But I was sure once the Mexican situation was settled that they could be investigated without distraction.

About 1 minute of silence went by before Baxton said “Ok Vod, Fred, you convinced me… get your plan drawn up and submit it to me for approval. One problem, which you might not be aware of, the Excursion base is under a huge amount of dirt that will take at least a week or so to clear. We already have the one earthmover in route by helo from High Desert command to begin excavation. You have until then to get the “trucker clan” here and the vehicles readied and loaded.

Baxton continued: “ I need a security plan on how not to revel the location of prime base to these truckers before I okay the final plan. You have one week to get the needs and personal ready.”

With a wave of his hand broxton dismissed Vod and Fred.

Vod left the room with Fred in tow and said : “The cannonball run is on!”

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By Project_Director, 02/05/2010 11:42 pm

Mission Report from CA-4 Team Leader Vod Pacheco

Mission Date 5/22/2161

Core Team Members – Keshawn, Tim, Fred, Vod

Attached Team members –

Chris Chosen – Power system specialist from Support team CA-9

John Martinez – Recruit with CA-7

Investigate Prime Base

Or

Don’t touch the red button on the backpack

CA-11 Blackhawk heads towards Prime Base

            The morning started like most of the rest for the past few weeks. We have been running around, talking with various people and keeping our communications active. Folks seem to be getting the picture that change is happening in our little valley, and immigration to the area is on a definite upswing.

 The various MP team members are running classes to educate the people coming in on what we plan to do, and what jobs need people to help. Our heavy knowledgebase in engineering is defiantly paying off in bringing up the basic skill level of the average person willing to learn to find a new job. The spring crops are in, and the increase we have been able to manage in water flow will defiantly show dividend in the fall harvest. Meanwhile, CA-3 Mars group and the AZ Mars group are running ragged trying to train up the militia with more modern tactics and equipment. The local gunpowder production has even started improving as the Science team integrating with the 7^th Marine Regiment has developed better production techniques.

 Poole has been doing a good job trying to coordinate everything, and in spite of him the AI construct MORGANA has been helping him keep on track more than he would admit. The CA-1 Science computer nerd is in seventh heaven talking to her all the time, and is keeping a team of locals busy uploading various data and briefs to MORGANA to allow her to best organize our rebuilding efforts.

 Despite Tim’s wifes attempts, Tim continues to sneak out and take smoke breaks, and has even managed to start growing some tobacco seedlings in our hydroponics facilities. Keshawns girl keeps growing… and is due in a few short months the hints she is dropping about making things official have more in common with a 10lb hammer than a subtle hint.

 Fred and Hannah have been busy too but she seems to be spending more time around the ranch in the training facility than in the field lately. Vivianna’s farm is better than before. The outhouse we er…. Renovated (with the Atchison) has been replaced and the farm is much more secure than before. The crops and livestock are doing great, with the new well we managed to drill last week. But that all came to a screeching halt for CA-4 when our phones rang with Poole’s haggard face requesting us to gear up and report to HQ ASAP.

            Keshawn, Tim, Fred and I grabbed up our kits and headed out the door, and we were even amazed to see the CA-11 guys hustling towards their UH-60  Blackhawks. The fact they were moving meant that something big was brewing. We dumped our stuff  against the wall and sat down as Poole started talking. He began by explaining that he has been in contact with a couple of the Nevada teams up in the northern part of the state. Apparently NV-2 actually located Prime Base…. We had expected something from prime base once we got the communication relay up and running, but hadn’t heard anything at all. Every MP team member had some type of theory as to the silence, from it being nuked, to the thought that no prime base ever did exist, and the war came before it could be built. None of us had ever been to Prime base for any type of training, so we couldn’t even hazard a guess as to where it was located, but it had to be some out of the way area. I guess Northern Nevada is about as out of the way as you can find. Poole went on to say how NV-2 was closest to the suspected site, went to investigate, and suddenly went silent. NV-1, another recon group from Ely NV, was further away was sent to find NV-2.  NV-1 reported that they had found a burnt out V-150 that appeared to be NV-2 vehicle and evidence  of some type of firefight occurred between NV-2 and a large group of people.  They followed the trail, which lead down into a valley. At the end of the valley was a hole in the ground in which someone had dug down to find a concert stairway. This led to a door to what was propertied to be prime base.

 It was opened, and obviously a large body of people had entered.

 NV-1 set up a perimeter and was guarding the doorway and awaiting reinforcements from the High Desert Command..The Mars teams CA-3 and AZ-3 were all off base training or patrolling, so CA-4 would be the leading edge of those reinforcements. We would be taking one of the two Blackhawks directly to the Prime base location, and would be followed up some 12-24 hours later with whatever Mars team members Poole could scrape together on the 2^nd Blackhawk. Poole said we would be bringing a power systems’ specialist Chris Chosen of CA-9, and for fire support John Martinez of CA-7, who accompanied us down into the supply base two months ago. It is unknown who the group of people who attacked NV-2 and penetrated the base are, but it was imperative that they not get control of Prime Base.

Chris Chosen in BlackHawk on route to Prime Base 6/21/2161

 Poole let us know that we were not to contact MORGANA or any of the other AIs on this mission, as knowledge of prime base is to remain a top MP Secret. Unfortunately with my personal PDA being compromised by MORGANA, it was turned off and the battery removed.  Poole gave me his personal PDA for the mission, and with his higher access it might prove even more useful than mine. After the rest of the team left, Poole pulled me aside and assigned me an extra piece of equipment. Woohoo.. My own portable NUKE. Yikes. It was imperative that Prime base NOT fall into anyone else’s hands, no exceptions.

 Poole gave us access to any equipment we might need so we flew the quick hop to the supply base, where we were re-outfitted for the trip north. Fred changed out his LMG for an Atchison assault shotgun, and Tim even managed to get the supply officer to break out the few surviving rounds of HE and HEDP shotgun rounds. I switched out my 40mm for a 12 gauge rail mount on my G36. Keshawn even got a 50cal Barrett sniper rifle. I wasn’t going to get caught short again, so I even pulled a Stinger missile set, last time I said no, we were fighting aircraft with a Mk2 laser. Everyone stood back a bit, as I attached my 20 pounds of “new equipment” onto my back. John asked what it was.. I told him jokingly.. do NOT touch the red button. A few trips in and out of the base, the Blackhawk was loaded up, and we were away.

            The flight was uneventful, about 500 miles or so north to a ridge overlooking a small valley. We could see the outside of the valley had a group of the post war vehicles, a burnt out V150, and  NV-1 Humvee’s nearby. The Blackhawk settled down and we were met by a 50 year old Chris McKaine of NV-1. The vehicles seemed to be of road warrior types of prewar equipment cobbled together. We guessed that there was enough storage for 30 to 40 people at least.

Chris told us that NV-1 had already shot and killed two guards who were stationed with the vehicles and the burnt out V150 was from NV-2. They found 4 out of the 6 members of NV-2 dead, stripped of clothing and equipment in the jungle in the valley.

Chris McToshen NV-1 Recon

 He told us apparently there was some type of indigenous Lizard creatures, which virtually shrugged off small arms fire and badly wounded one of NV-1 personal named James Donald, who needed to be airlifted out. We soon had James set within the Blackhawk and flying back to our base as we had to hump the 200 pounds of extra gear down into the valley to NV-1 base camp.

 Within the Valley the ground was lush with growth, as this was some type of barren desert area was now dominated with a mixed forest which was almost jungle like. It was Hot and Humid, and I could swear I swatted a mosquito which looked more like a humming bird. Upon getting to NV-1 base camp, they was very happy to see us, and our supplies.

CA-4 Moving to NV-2 Base Camp

 They got the Barrett rifle, and our extra  ammo supplies we brought with us, and even the Stinger missile set. These guys had been out for at least 20 years or so,  and were amazed at our rations and equipment quality. I give them credit for going this long and keeping the faith.

They had set up a perimeter defense focusing on the open doorway to the Base. They said that some unknown number of people had entered the base a week or two ago from what they could tell. They passed us a couple of green smoke grenades to use when we come out… to let them know its us. Otherwise they will Blast anyone coming out. With that, we topped off our canteens and entered into the base.

            The main room was obviously the site of a recent fight. About 20’x30’ room with 2 defensive laser turrets took down 3 people before they were trashed. The bodies had been chopped in half or thirds before what appeared to be 40mm grenade hits knocked out the turrets. Going thru the bodies, we didn’t find any identification, but they had been stripped of ammo, weapons, food and water. The main door showed no signs of being forced, so somehow the attackers had gotten it to open up. Apparently they didn’t disable the defenses, so I would guess we will see more things like this as we explore. Hopefully any active defenses will recognize our MP ids. (with my PDA being Poole’s I hope it doesn’t cause issues).

            There were 2 doors leading from the entrance room, one marked Decontamination, and the other with no label. Decontamination sounds ugly especially if it actually functioned with chemicals over a hundred years old, so I chose door #2. I used Pools’ PDA interface, and click.. it opened. The door slid sideways and revealed a darkened hallway with what must be the last functional LED emergency lights. Well that was easy. Keshawn went ahead with his low light vision, and it led down to a 2^nd door. The rest of the team was beginning to follow when he apparently used his PDA and a Retinal scanner  to open the door on the far end of the hall. It revealed a security station and control/monitoring room for the decontamination hallway. Another fight had occurred here, with 4-5 mutilated bodies, or at least what appeared to be pieces of bodies which would make up 4-5 people. I do NOT want to run into an active laser turret, as they most defiantly are active in the base. This room apparently was the exit for both our auxiliary hallway and the decontamination hallway. Examination of the room showed many dried muddy prints from what must have been a large group of  WET people going thru this way… apparently the decontamination process is still functional in some way, YUCK. Chris, the power tech, took a look at the controls, and determined that the base must be on emergency power. All the power to the monitors and controls were dead, and only a emergency grid to the turrets, doors and the emergency lighting was functional as far as he could tell. The emergency lighting was made up of LED arrays, and only about 1/40 individual LEDs were working. It was enough for our low light gear to see about 40-50 feet, but no more. From the control room a wide pathway led down to the darkness. We had John fire up his 2million candle spotlight down the hall and could see it went on for 4-500 feet sloping down. Back to low light, we made our way down into the base.

            At the end of the hallway, it came to another obvious security station, with what was bulletproof glass and a clear field of fire up the hallway we had come thru. Someone broke the widow with a 40mm grenade… Keshawn and I estimated about a week ago, which made sense with NV-1’s report.  The people we were following had gone thru the windows, so we too followed that track. The area had been ransacked and picked clean. But not 2 weeks ago, but MUCH earlier than that. Anything portable was gone, and only recent activity was from the group of people we were following into the base. We continued following the footprints thru the remains of the security HQ, with a variety of cells, and bunk rooms. Nothing of any use or information was visible. The Security HQ led to a central core of the base layout,  as all walls and general patterns to the doors suggested what appeared to be a circular layout. Just outside the Security HQ door apparently the people ran into something. A firefight was obvious, with blood and 9mm rounds/casing all over the area. We saw that some type of mobile “robot” was active here, and the pieces suggested it was about the size of a large dog. Armed with a 9mm sub machine gun. It was chopped into pieces by what I recognized to be fire axe damage. A blood trail led off  in a different direction. The center of the base was big door with a sign “Danger, power system access – Radioactive”. I called Chris over to take a look, and he was intrigued. Pulling out an instrument it did indeed show low level radioactivity, but this would be a silly place to put a power system, especially a radioactive one. He asked to give him 10 min to take a look, so Fred and John stayed to guard him, while Keshawn, Tim and I followed the blood trail.

CA-4 in Prime Base

            It led into what was a medical area. Again Stripped of anything portable, it was obvious the people used this to try to safe one of their wounded. The body full of 9mm wounds showed they failed. It was clad in biker leathers and remnants of fatigues from the 1970’s . One more down. Tim did some scrounging and found a few discarded medical instruments from the attempt to save the biker to take back to base with him for recycling.

            We returned to Chris, and he said that the door was actually fake. We broke apart a gurney from the med area and improvised a crowbar to pry the entire fake door off the wall. It revealed a “normal” door in the wall with a Security slot next to it. We opened it to reveal a stairway leading down.. down.. down. We went down one level and out into what appeared to be some type of administration area.  No room identification plaques or maps, were showing, but we could see brackets and holes in the walls which would have served that purpose. We figured out that the original level we were on was probably “staged” as an abandoned base, in case it was breached. These lower levels were the true Prime Base.

Exploring the nearby rooms we found ourselves in a Library, or records keeping room. The team fanned out and looked around to see if anything of interest could be found. Keshawn found a desiccated body still sitting at a desk. Tim did what he could to determine the cause of death, but basically he person died a LONG time ago, and not from any obvious trauma. They had a MP id card and PDA on them, indentifying them as MP Prime base personnel. The PDA was a hunk of useless junk, the battery having corroded and melted the circuits. Further investigation in the room showed a row of terminals, and after trying 2-3 of them the 4^th actually powered up.

I called Chris over to see what he could get out of the computer system and determine the power situation. He was able to get in and determine that indeed the system was down to minimal power reserves and was under some type of emergency bio-containment lockdown. At that point the screen went blank, and asked for identification. I typed in my Personal identification information, and the screen returned with a haggard 3D face on it. The face identified itself as Unity and informed us to stay where we were to be scanned and positively identified…. I flashed back to the last time a machine wanted to scan us, when Crimson Kings’ MASIV’s used an oversized chop saw. But maybe this time it will be safer.

Unity Bio Containment Protcals are in Effect for Prime Base

I warned the rest of the team, and about a minute later one of those dog sized armed robots came around the corner to our location. They went up to Keshawn and used some type of retina/bioscan process and delared him to actually be Keshawn. Woohoo! Painless! Next was Tim, Chris, and then Myself. At which point it queried why I was using Comander Poole’s PDA. I explained about MORGANA, and that we didn’t want to risk her discovering Prime Base. UNITY informed me that I would need to acquire a new PDA as soon as possible and not to use Poole’s.  Then confirmed that UNITY understood that over 150 years had passed, and that we had 2 new members of our team, which would NOT show up in her database, Fred and John. They were accepted probationally, and were not to leave the side of the registered members of the Morrow Project. UNITY then went on to say that Roger Wilkins from NV-2 has been in the base as well. I explained to UNITY that NV-2 has been compromised, and either they are being held under duress, or dead, and have someone masquerading as them.

Unity MP Defence Unit

UNITY went on to explain that she was in a Bio-containment lockdown, and under attack. Power levels were critical, and thus a call for assistance went out. Apparently this is what led NV-2 originally to the base, and probably whoever attacked them a week ago as well. UNITY was under strict security restrictions, but was able to provide us with an administrational map as we enter each level of the facility. We figured out that there were 3 “cylinders” to the facility, interconnected as some of the levels, but not all. Each cylinder was 13 floors high, and we were currently in the 2^nd level of the OPS cylinder. UNITY would have her Dogbot follow us thru the facility to assist as needed if possible, and attempt to retain communications. We went back to the staircase, and Keshawn said he wanted to check out lower levels before we proceeded. He then went all the way to the bottom, as we figured any type of power system would probably be at the lowest level of one of the cylinders, and it would likely have cross passages if the power systems were not in the ops cylinder. 15 min later, Keshawn returned and said that some great big steel vaults were in the lowest level, but it did indeed have cross ways. They had blast doors, but they were working. So down we went.

The team emerged from the stairways and again the bare minimum of lighting was available from a few LED light cells. We had 2 choices of cross passages, and picked one. The blast door moved, and allowed us to travel the 500 feet or so to another blast door. We didn’t know what to expect, but we triggered the door and it started to slide sideways. As it opened, we entered into another cylinder area, and immediately spotted 2 people in Morrow Project Fatigues with IBA. We identified ourselves, and called out for them to stop.

They responded by opening fire.

            Keshawn and I hit the dirt, while Tim stood and pulled up his Atchison shotgun. Bullets started flying every which way, and I took a round in my thigh. I heard a grunt behind me and knew that someone else took at hit as well, either John and Chris. John sprayed the hallway with his M-4 but failed to hit anyone. Then BAM BAM, a doubletap from Tim, and one of his “special” HEDP round smashed straight into and thru one of the enemies.

Straight thru his IBA and Armor Plates, and out the back side. He was thrown back and twitching. John put a burst into the other enemy, while Keshawn seemed to take careful aim but missed. John fired another burst and this time and  the 2^nd guy went down. All of a sudden it was quiet. Tim hustled over to Chris, and got him patched up, while Keshawn and I checked the two down guys. It was obvious that nothing was saving them, as they quickly bled out.

CA-4 Active search in Prime Base from Unity Rover 2B 06222161

We went through their stuff and found ID cards from NV-2. The dead guys  were “Kaitlin McGuire”, and “Jackson Allias”. A woman and a black guy… and neither of these dead dudes were women or black. Obviously the took NV-2’s equipment and gear and that must be how they got into Prime base. The canteens on both people were effectively empty and neither had food.  They looked disheveled, and unkept, like they had been here a while. A couple minutes later, “Jackson’s” radiomike crackled. I picked it up and heard…”Team 3, you find anything?….. team 3 come in…… Team 3 again respond”. I figured this was “team 3”.. so using my best muffled voice I responded.. “This is team 3… we haven’t found anything yet….. over”. A pause.. and then I heard “Code Gamma-Echo-2” and then silence. I muffled the mike and acted like we were losing reception. I don’t know if they bought it or not.. but I turned to the rest of the team. Load up and get ready… they probably know we are here.

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By Project_Director, 09/09/2009 8:53 am

TO:  All Morrow Project Teams in Command Group 2 ( Combined Task Force “Phoenix”)

FROM: Cmdr J. Poole, Lt. Cmdr Martha Roosevelt.

SITRUP: Current Status of the Project and our Combined Task Force.

DATE: April 21st, 2161.

So lets gets some basics out of the way:

1. As of this moment, My second in command will now be Lt. Cmdr Martha Roosevelt of CA-7. You will respect her with all honors and privileges that rank Holds. CA – 7 Members will be instrumental in providing manpower, resources, and knowledge to the project. Treat them as you would treat any other MP team member.
2. Its at least 150 years after the war instead of 3-5 years we thought it would be. That changes things in the small scale, but our mission is still the same, so get over it. I do not want to hear anymore bitching about it. That’s an order.
3. There is No contact with Prime Base.  I am working with 2 Teams out in Nevada to find out the current state of the base and to see if we can re – activate it.
4.  Something happened to the MP central command and control network and it has been shut it down.  CA – 1’s Computer specialist thinks that it might have been a specifically targeted computer virus.  With the Activation of our Communications Link, it seems that our systems are not infected, but we all need to be careful about accepting outside data. We are working to develop a counter program. It also means that large scale communications with distances father than 400 miles is not currently possible.
5. As  far as we can tell, we are the only active large scale MP presence on the west coast. It seems we are it people.  That means we must keep ourselves together and focused if we are to rebuild the United States.
6. As we find other MP teams or personal, we will ask that they join our newly named Combined Task Force “Phoenix” .  An MARS team from Arizona and its dependants are on the way to us now bringing much needed expertise. We must contact and bring in teams whenever possible.
7. We are in contact with Teams in AZ, NV, and CO. There is a Morrow Project in the united states but it seems to be under no direct command. The Dates of the activations are all different as well so it seems that teams have slowly been activating over the last 100 years at least. We are not sure of what this means, and your theories are as good as ours at this time.
8. We are short of Weapon Systems and Ammo. This CTF was never designed to be a front line combat force, we are an engineering support one. Does not change the fact that we are in a war zone against some very serious threats. Every Team Member, bullet and weapon is priceless. Do not take chances but do not waist weapons systems. So Far our Team caches are the only supplies that we have. We are working to get our regional supply base back to active status, but till that happens conserve ammo.
9. It Seems that there is a lot of politics in the local area we find ourselves in. Please think before doing anything to harm  our current position as guests of the HDF.
10. We are not ready to show our strength to the outside world yet. We are still trying to find out what needs help first before acting so keep a low key impression .

We will send out more updates as we find out more information.