Chapter 1: A World in Ruins

Well. this be the start of the official Chapter 1. Have at it. Also, feel free to make your own thread about your character's backstory if you think you need one.

=i checked the last gauge and then floored the petal. The gunner jerked back in his seat and then leaned forward to compensate=
"Dammit Iron! Do you always have to go so fast?"

Yes. Buhduhbuh duhduhbuhdubuh

"Well, if you keep going this fast then I can't shoot any targets!"

If you start shooting, I'll turn and slow down. Dubuhdub dubuhdubub

=the T86 Manchester AA tank known as "Shrapnel Slayer" growled and moved on regardless along with the rest of the Heavy Armor III division known as Hammer and Anvil the Third, or HAT. Gunner control Alex Frumit racked the five .50 cal machine guns on the roof, expecting trouble. He was fairly exposed, but really only from the front, where the guns pointed. His position was well known as the "pop seat" in the Marines and Airforce, or Misfits and Actual Fighters, due to them often being shot by snipers. He knew that, and yet he volunteered to be a Manchester Gunner. He earned some respect in my eyes. The little bell on my wrist jingled as we hit various small rocks. Soon the radio crackled as the lead vehicle took fire=

"This is Growler 1 to all forces, enemy spotted. Prepare to engage."

=i slowed down and Jake, the radio officer in the tank, radioed in that we were ready=

"This is Manchester 55, ready op."

=Jake readied his anti-boarder weapon, which really meant that if someone climbed up and opened the hatch he could shoot them, and looked at me and smiled. He's talkative, until we get into combat, then he's as silent as they come. His reasoning: "I'm not gonna let them hear me! It's my voice, not theirs!"=

=Xazhi was waiting in a trench outside the ruins of the city of Sturmhalten, which had been reduced to broken shells of buildings after countless bombings. Squad 121 of Delta Wing waited for their chance to rush. They were not alone, as there were also scores of imperial marines, but his was the only Delta squad. He took a frag, pulled the pin, and threw it over the trench wall before ducking back down and leaning against the wall of frozen earth that separated his squad from a wall of rolling thunder. Waiting patiently, he said a prayer to himself=

=frags and other small explosives were launched at us. The lead T43 and T34F Growler main battle tanks promptly opened fire with cannons and Co-axial machine guns and flamethrowers. Those of us in Manchesters stopped behind them a ways and waited for any enemy aircraft. Meanwhile, the vehicles behind us, I16 Buffalo transports opened up with their MGs and discharged the Army troops and then took up position next to us. They were heavily armored, but weak offensively. The best they could do was suppress targets except infantry in the open, those they could cut down easily. Alex yelled in adrenaline fueled pride=

"YEEAAAAHH!!! KILL THEM SOMBITCHES!"

=Xazhi yelled to his squad and the other Stormtroopers in the trench=

Für der meister! Zeigen Sie keine Angst! Zeige keine Gnade! Lassen Sie niemanden am Leben!

=He and his squad jumped up out of the trench, the rest soon followed. They charged into the enemy onslaught with their guns blazing=

Die Reise beginnt!

=Rejha followed the squad out of the trench, firing short, controlled bursts into anything not in a German uniform.=

=i could see some troops leave the trenches. They were immediately shot at, but the more important targets were those in the trenches, with the rocket launchers. Those would do the most damage to the tanks. A radio call came in, Jake relayed it to us=

"There are no enemy aircraft, although that could change soon. We're given permission to engage ground targets."

"Let's do this then! Iron! Move us in!"

"Got it!"

=i stomped on the pedal and brought us around to the front of the line. Alex opened up with the .50 cals, and I could see bodies just getting shredded under the hail of fire. A rocket whizzed past the front of the tank, and I had enough sense left in me to run back behind the Growlers to avoid getting a rocket to the ass=

=Xazhi sprinted up into the enemy ranks, and lept up onto the hood of a Tank, just barely getting to the top before the gun swong around at a speed that would have broken his back. A soldier opens the top hatch, and xazhi shreds him with Rifle fire. He pulls the pin on a frag, drops it in, and closes the hatch. He jumps off the slow-moving tank and hauls ass out of there before the nade oges off inside=

Rejha! Ein tank für mich, zwölf Männer!

=Rejha tosses a grenade to the group of men, and starts shooing at them as they run away. The ones that didn't run were obliterated by the explosion=

=another radio call came in=

"We need to pull back a bit, artillery is going to light this place up!"

Are you shitting me? We just got here!

"Recon has found massive enemy armor heading our way! We need to fall back and present a more organized front to them!"

Dammit! Let's move!

=i turned the tank around, Alex still firing away at the trenches. The other tanks just put on reverse, not a full 180. Those on foot hopped onto tanks or just plain ran once they got the radio calls as well. In my mind, it looked more like a retreat than an organized withdrawl but maybe they did that on purpose, I don't know. For the most part, I just drive and shoot things. I could barely hear the thumps of distant artillery firing=

=Xazhi yelled to his comrades=

Artillerie! Holen Sie sich den Bunker, jetzt!

=The soldiers funneled back into the trenches, and into the raid bunkers. Xazhi and his squad went into their designated one as well. It was relatively small, large enough to hold the six of them, with a table off to the side, and a small compartment in the wall with food, water, and medical supplies. The floor was dirt, covered with a rug. The walls were also dirt, with wooden planks and iron bars reenforcing it, as was the ceiling. He sat with the squad's pyro trooper on a wooden bench that was against the back wall=

=slowly, the guns on the tanks ceased firing as they moved out of range. I looked up and could barely see the smoke trails left by the shells. I could picture them raining down on the ground, kicking up loose particles of dirt and debris. Hell, even this far away, I could feel the impacts. I couldn't even see the explosions, but I could hear the shots as they land. It was like listening to thunder from the very center of a storm. I could imagine being in that, and I shivered. It would be a blood bath=

"Dayum...I don't want to be there."

I hear ya, Alex. I hear ya.

=yet another radio call=
"We have a few hours before we are ordered to attack again. Looks like we got some free time, boys."

Woohoo!

=i climbed out of my Manchester and started going over any loose hoses or wires or anything. Alex fell asleep in the gunner seat and Jake hopped out and started helping me=

"Why does he always fall asleep up there?"

Comfort?

"Can't be, it's hot, it's cramped, it's miserable."

Guess not for him. Wrench.

=he hands me a wrench and I tighten down a panel that got knocked loose by a grenade=

"Yea but still. I can't see it."

Neither can I, but I'm not the one sleeping there am I?

=we both chuckle and go back to work. Jake walks off to get some more ammo for the guns, since we depleted some ammo in the first attack=

=Xazhi got a call on his radio alerting him that he and his squad were to take the tunnels out of the bunker and back to the other side of the city. They packed up their things and did so. On the other side of Sturmhalten, the empire had an airfield, large encampment, and many artillery weapons. Although mostly bombed-out, Sturmhalten was a major stronghold in Poland. Once out of the tunnels, Xazhi's squad was ordered onto a 'podder', as they called them. A specialized plane outfitted with STDP's. They wasted no time preparing for the drop behind the enemy tank lines. There would be four other podders with them, and their mission was to storm the enemy encampment and force the tank division into Sturmhalten, where it would be wiped out with Artillery fire. The planes took off, and headed towards the alliance lines=

=i managed to get "Shrapnel Slayer" back into fighting condition. Jake came back with a few belts of ammo and dragged them up to the gunner's position, so really, up to Alex. He lightly hit Alex to wake him up, and then got to work loading up the ammo belts=

"C'mon. Let's get this done so we can go eat."

"Yeah, yeah, but why did you hit me? I was having a perfectly good dream."

"Cuz I want to eat, and you are my ticket to a shorter line."

"Fine..."

=i slid under Shrapnel Slayer and started tinkering with the drive shafts and gas tanks and stuff, tweaking the flow and performance and such. Alex and Jake got the new belts of ammo loaded, and then wandered off to find some food. I stayed behind, mostly because it's training to have at least one person with a vehicle at all time, but partly because I wanted to make Shrapnel Slayer more my own. I grabbed a blow torch and set it to low, using it to burn in a mock camo pattern. The tank was standard steel coloring, with the American flag painted on the front of the turret and back of the chassis, but that didn't mean the color had to stay that way. I went to town burning the plates to a dull black/grey color, but in a non-human pattern, as best I could=

=The six podder planes roar as they come over the enemy lines. Xazhi's squad prepares to drop into the allied encampment. The buzzer sounds and a red light turns on. They yank the cords that hang from the ceiling above them. Then, the diamond-shaped platforms they stand on fold up, making a tall pyramid shape. Their pods drop from the plane at screeching speeds=

=i hear the planes and someone shouting something. I quickly slid out from under the Manchester and climbed in. An alarm soon started going off and people scrambled all over the place to get to their weapons and vehicles. I hopped into the gunner seat and swiveled it up as I waited for Alex and Jake to come back. I saw the planes and started firing along with some of the other Manchester crews. The air was soon lit up with tracers and bullets, it looked like someone lit the sky on fire. I saw one or two of the planes get hit and torn to shreds, and I started firing on the others, although I couldn't tell their numbers definitively. I could also see small shapes hurtling towards the ground. I exhaled, expecting a bomb blast=

=By the time the planes came under fire, all the pods had been launched, yet not all the soldiers made it. One of the marines' pod was hit by the wing of a plane that was going down, totally screwing up the trajectory. his pod plowed into a jeep, destroying it and the pod, and breaking the soldier's spine and neck. Xazhi's squad came down in a tight group, and ended up hitting the side of a snow-covered hill. As their walls dropped, they flooded out and met up with the soldiers from the other planes before moving in on the camp. Xazhi saw a lightly-armored truck coming towards them. He pulled a grenade and tossed it at the truck. It got sucked under the vehicle as it detonated, obliterating it and the soldiers inside. The imperials hurried to their mark=

=i saw them fall, and disappear behind some trees. I didn't see/hear/feel a blast, so I assumed they were pods. The Imperials loved pods. Dangerous as hell, but quick and effective. I turned the guns towards that area and started shooting. I doubt I hit any body, Manchesters are loud, inaccurate, and pretty damn obvious, but they can ruin someone's day. I saw Jake and Alex running towards the tank, firing at someone with their personal weapons. I gave them covering fire as best I could, although I couldn't see anyone. I blame my lack of gunnery training for that. I spend most of my time in a dark box with a single windowfor light. My eyesight is fairly horrible, and weak=

=the Delta Wing squad charges ahead of the rest of the marines, screaming and chanting old norse and germanic battle songs. The squad's pyro trooper managed to blaze down one of two soldiers that were running towards a tank. Xazhi came up to another that had just been taken by two enemy soldiers. He climed up top, opened up the hatch, and dropped a firebomb inside. He shouted to one of his squadmates=

Ottuk n'vod illah ov iirahd oht d'nas t'snaiya roh iilurr!!!

=Xazhi came down off the tank and crouched to get a better shot at three men who had apparently just been awoken by the gunshots, as they were not fully dressed and had no weapons. He fired his entire mag into them, leaving a large blood stain in the snow among their shredded flesh. He stood and signaled for the rest of the imperial marines=

=i waved Jake and Alex on. They managed to get here and I slid down into the driver's seat as Alex climbed up into the gunner spot and Jake took his place by the radio. He radioed command to tell them what is going on while Alex started firing at some more soldiers. I looked out my little window in time to see what I guessed was an entire squad cut down by the .50 cals. I turned the engine over and started driving forward, trying not to run over any of our own soldiers. I saw a group of Army troopers getting organized. I pulled over to them and had signalled for radio contact, as any form of yelling would be drowned out in the firefight=

What's the plan?

"He says fight them out of our camp."

How are we going to do that?

"Says to keep up the pressure with our guns, and, if possible, see if we can't get any more tanks up and running."

=as he said that, we came under small arms fire. They quickly "set up shop" around our tank, to keep anyone from climbing onto it. Alex kept the guns firing, shooting at anything not wearing an American uniform=

And if we can't?

"Says that we will have to do, then!"

Shit!

"That's what he said!"

=i grabbed my MP4 and made sure the safety was off. Jake did the same with his weapon. I forgot what it was called, but it had a nice little dagger on the tip of it, and looked kinda like a box with a long magazine sticking from the bottom. Either way, it shot bullets, which was fine for me=

=Xazhi watched as 5 imperial marines were cut down by heavy machine gun fire. He looked over the wrecked vehicle he was ducked behind and saw a group of Americans forming a defensive circle around one of their tanks. he took a frag and tossed it into the group before opening up with his SMAR-17=

=i vaguely heard someone shout 'GRENADE' before it went off. It did almost nothing to the tank, but I'm sure someone out there was hurt. Alex kept up the fire, now down to maybe 75% ammo. I was always amazed at the ammo capacity of a Manchester, but that's for another time. I had Jake radio them and have them stay behind the tank, to just worry about anyone trying to climb aboard. I think one of them got under the tank, because I could see tracer fire coming from below my balls. Yeah, it was an odd feeling. Either way, I opened the top hatch and start firing away with my MP4, using the 2 round burst method. The MP4 is an odd gun. It has a fire selection switch, but a drum magazine. The sights were also weird, instead of a ring and front post or something similar, it had a gutter style, just a trench type sight. Made any form of long range combat nill, but when you were going for "just shoot crap," it worked just fine. I saw a few troopers hiding behind one of our tanks, and I started shooting back=

=Xazhi was almost hit by the returning fire from the tank. He decided that the only way this would end would be badly for him, or stalemate, unless he did something fast. He decided to wing it. The other SS (Delta Wing soldier) with him began providing cover fire as he rushed out at the tank. They both took out almost all of the soldiers around it, but as he tried to climb it to drop in a grenade, a bullet tore through his leg, and another grazed his back. He was then thrown to the ground by something, and knocked unconcious. The soldier who was covering him rushed out, firing his rifle wildy at the tank=

=i fired at the soldier who was behind the first. I managed to clip him in the arm, or the stomach, or something. I saw blood, and I was aiming at the general area of his body. Either way, he went down. Alex started taking even more small arms fire, but through some sheer miracle, he wasn't hit. Not one bloody scratch on him when I looked up for a second. Then I went back to firing at the rest of those intruders, still using two shot bursts=

=The Imperials heard the noise of more planes overhead, which drew their attention. As they looked to the sky, they saw 15 or more planes, and what looked like people falling out of them. After a moment of freefall, the parachutes opened up. The sky was filled with the flags of all Europe's allied nations, slowly descending to aid the Americans. Once they were low enough, they opened fire on the imperial forces. They were forced to retreat back to the hills, leaving behind any who could not make it on their own. Xazhi still lay face-down in the snow, unconscious and bleeding, as his comrades fled the camp=