0078 - First Contact

1145 30 JUL 2000
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"They still had the pennants flying. Seeing those little red and white flags did a lot to relax us. They had some form of discipline and unit cohesion, so that was a good sign. Still, we approached the city like one would any other town nowadays: with the finger on the trigger and our heads on a swivel."
Upon reaching the city, we can assume that the team can make contact easily enough. They have heard the voices on the radio and would probably have taken the opprotunity to make radio contact. This means that their approach will not surprise anyone. We also know that Captain Warren is going to want to interview them but given her addtional responsibilities as the commander of the town's defense, it is unlikely that she will meet them at the checkpoint in person.

"We entered the kill zone in front of the first checkpoint. A bulldozer had been used to tear up the road, creating holes and berms that we navigated around under the watchful eyes of the cav troopers. They were calm but vigilant, just like we were. Macron stopped us about 20m from the barrier and I dismounted. Being the vehicle commander of the first vehicle, I got the "say hello" honors. These days, it is a big thing and you wonder if you have on clean skivvies in case someone shoots you. I was pretty sure I had but somehow reluctant to put it to the test.

I identified myself as '2LT Marshall, 1/173rd Infantry, Alabama National Guard, 256th Infantry Bridgade Team, 5th Infantry Division'. A slight murmur went through the barricade when I mentioned the 256th but nothing I could really hear. Appearently we had made the news somewhere.

After a couple of seconds, a first sergeant moved around the barrier. He was a barrel of a man with a name tag that read "Blue Elk". To me he seemed to Native American and he had let his hair grow out, long strands of salt and pepper hair held back by a bandana made from an old guidon. He looked and acted the part of a professional warrior.

Together we investigated the remaining vehicles and I introduced the team. He took it all in, appraising us and our condition, before waving us forward, 'Turn right here and go about 50m. There is an abandoned market with a big parking lot. You can billet there. Down this street is an old vetinary clinic on the right. That is the medical building, there you can have your wounded checked out. The quartermaster is in the town hall and you can talk to her about anything you may need but remeber there ain't no such thing as a free lunch.Speaking of which, chow is at 1800 in front of the church. Do not be late and there are no seconds.'

We moved out and found our billet. Not much to look at but it was dry and offered some good cover. We parked the vehicle out front, ready to beat feet if things went south. It was nice to be around our countrymen again but no one relaxes because they here familiar accents. The world has changed to much for that."

So, for the moment, our team has a safe place to sleep. We also have a new NPC and have used my T2K generator to generate the stats, making Top Blue Elk a veteran NPC. For the motivation, I got War Leader and Very Ambitious. Top knows what he is doing and knows how to get what he wants. Definitely a man with a purpose.

Now the team can set about getting some supplies and fixing things.I also need to think about a replacement mechanic, as Mitchell was killed. This is definitely a skill the group will need.