Turn 13: Call In the Cavalry

The Fifth Devil Dawgs Campaign takes the Marines to new depths.
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wargamer
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Turn 13: Call In the Cavalry

Post by wargamer » Sat Jul 24, 2021 5:00 pm

Lt Colonel Yang sat in his command chair at the heart of USS Nehalennia's Combat Information Centre and stared at the sensor feeds that were monitoring the progress of the Recon Marine's mission to the wreck of the Quantum Herald. Over the last few minutes, passive sonar had picked up what sounded like several gun-shots, the last of which had been followed closely by the crashing roar of compromised hull panels failing under the external pressure of mega-tonnes of salt water. A few minutes later there was another roar of inbound water as the marines flooded the shuttlebay to facilitate their egress followed by the crackle of the tac-net as the squads comm-tech signaled the Nehalennia.

"Nehalennia, this is Reaper 1-1. Requesting rendezvous and assist with towing target vessel. Repeat, Reaper Actual relaying request for immediate rendezvous and assist over."

Yang snatched up the handset of the comm unit build into the arm of his chair and punched the button for the Tac-Net.

"Reaper 1-1, this is Nehalennia Actual. We read you and we're on our way, hang tight"


Yang turned to his helmsman and was about to give the order to ride to the rescue when the SONAR operator called out

"Colonel! I have a new contact bearing zero three seven, coming up from out of the trench. Sounds organic sir and its big! Based on water displacement I'd say at least 200ft long, sir."

As if they didn't have enough to worry about, now the local wildlife was taking an interest, thought Yang as he issued his orders.

"Helm, all full ahead. Bring us up to the Quantum Herald on her port side."
"Tactical, load all batteries and compute me a targeting solution for that bastard as soon as it clears the trench. Don't shoot until the marines are clear of the engagement zone!"
"Reaper 1-1, this is Nehalennia Actual. We have a problem. All that racket you made has stirred up one of the locals and we think it's hungry. We can deal with it but if we fire while your Mickeys are in the area, the compression waves will scramble you like eggs. We're coming up on the Wreck's port side. Get your ass's back aboard fast!"
ImagePFC Darren 'Doc' Kelly - Medic
USCM Special Forces Recon Team
Serial Number: D44/TQ9.21.47645E2
Current Equipment
M-41A Pulse Rifle w/ 4 Mags
M4A3 Pistol w/ 2 Mags
K-52 Field Medical Pack
2x M-18 Smoke Grenades (Red)
6x M-94 Flares
2x K-Bar Combat/Survival Knives

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LT_Chun
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Re: Turn 13: Call In the Cavalry

Post by LT_Chun » Sun Jul 25, 2021 11:53 am

Henniger's head sunk as his helmet com relayed the cavalry's message. He sighed. The only easy day was yesterday.

"Nahelannia Actual, Reaper 1-1 roger. Relaying and preparing to cut and run to rendezvous, 1-1 out."

<tag Nahelannia Actual>

He commed the platoon leadership on the general freq so everyone would get the broadcast.

"LT, Sergeant Major, we've got company coming for dinner. Nahelannia says it big, organic and angry. Their firing solution will fry us if we stay put. We need immediate rendezvous with them in the subs."

<tag everyone>

He toggled All Hands to include the Navy crews.

"All call signs all call signs, stand by for emergency evac and rendezvous with Nahelannia. Massive bogey inbound our pos."

<tag All Hands>

He shuffled up to the helm compartment in his mini sub and grabbed the captain.

"Get ready to cut and run on Command's go."

<tag the navy>
ImageLCPL. J. Henniger USCM
A11/TQ2.0.22146E1
U.S.S. Chimera
Recon Rifleman, Comtech electronics secondary
3rd FTL, Call Sign Devil Dawgs.

Armor and webbing
M41A Pulse Rifle + 7 mags
M40 Grenades x 10
Hand Welder
Service Pistol + 2 Mags
Mk. 1 Combat Knife
Rations/Water
Com-Tech Bypass Device
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eyeball
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Re: Turn 13: Call In the Cavalry

Post by eyeball » Tue Jul 27, 2021 12:02 am

Paulson swallowed the bile that had risen up from his stomach he tried desperately to check his ever speeding breathing knowing that he had limited amounts of air, but it was not working, his mind raced, what could be living down here? and how hungry would it be? massive bogey did not sound good and here they were dangling on lines like fishing bait, not good not good at all.

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LT_Chun
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Re: Turn 13: Call In the Cavalry

Post by LT_Chun » Tue Jul 27, 2021 4:48 pm

Henniger stood anchoring himself to a stanchion on the helm deck in the sub. He thought of the tow cables attached to the entire reason they'd undertaken this operation. They couldn't leave the target vessel behind. If they cut cables and ran, the vessel would be damaged or destroyed by the Nahelannia's firing solution.

He commed Sergeant Hall.

"Sergeant Hall, Henniger. We've got problems." He began. "Nahelannia is tracking the large hostile which will shortly intercept us. We can't just cut cable and run. Platoon leadership is down, it's up to us. We need to figure this out in the next few minutes or all our work and sacrifice will be someone else's problem."

<Tag Sgt. Hall>
ImageLCPL. J. Henniger USCM
A11/TQ2.0.22146E1
U.S.S. Chimera
Recon Rifleman, Comtech electronics secondary
3rd FTL, Call Sign Devil Dawgs.

Armor and webbing
M41A Pulse Rifle + 7 mags
M40 Grenades x 10
Hand Welder
Service Pistol + 2 Mags
Mk. 1 Combat Knife
Rations/Water
Com-Tech Bypass Device
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Corporal Hicks
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Re: Turn 13: Call In the Cavalry

Post by Corporal Hicks » Wed Jul 28, 2021 2:23 am

Sergeant Major Sykes couldn't believe his ears. A fucking leviathan of the deep. He wished so strongly to be safely on dry land again. But wishing would get him nowhere, so he jumped into action.

"Belay that, Henniger. We aren't leaving the shuttle behind. We will have to tow it into the Nehalennia. It won't be easy but that's what we've got to do. Let's make it happen, people!"
<Tag Henniger>

The Mickeys rose in unison, their pilots coordinating velocity and trajectory as well as they could. It seemed to take forever to raise the heavy shuttle, but really it was only a few minutes. The water seemed to be vibrating now, a sickening feeling to Sykes. One part of him feared he had made the wrong decision, but years of training was able to repress even the formation of the thought. "Never leave your people behind."

There were some heavy bumps and a lot of scraping metal, but gradually all the Mickeys were safe inside the "pool" at the bottom of the submarine. Bright lights shone on white walls as the Marines looked helplessly forward, locked in their suits and hanging from the undercarriage of the mini-subs. Now the eight pilots coordinated their tow ropes and brought the shuttle upward at a painfully slow rate. Finally, it was high enough for the hatch underneath to be sealed. It barely fit inside the pool, and more than one Marine was awkwardly situated on top of it.

The upper doors of the pool finally opened, and more light flooded in. "This is Sykes, all vessels are aboard. Nehalennia is clear to proceed." He unlocked his suit and reached up to unclip the harness. Next he clambered up a metal ladder into the air above. He felt exhausted from everything they had done, but this was no time to rest. "Devil Dawgs, report. Follow me to quarantine and decontamination."
<Tag Marines>
ImageSgtMaj. Danny Sykes - Platoon NCO
USCM Special Forces Recon Team
Serial Number: D26/TQ6.3.48412E9
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Medic Guy
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Re: Turn 13: Call In the Cavalry

Post by Medic Guy » Thu Jul 29, 2021 2:43 am

Clint felt like his head was spinning after the water had burst in following the hull collapse. He didn't see whatever the large creature was as they made their way back to the Nahellenia, but it was dark and there was no way of knowing if whatever the beast was would show on the infrared optics.

He felt relieved once the hull closed after everyone remaining was on board. Sykes called for the marines to go to quarantine and decon. Clint hauled himself onto the deck plating, "still here sir" he called over to Sykes.

<Tag Sykes


OOC: sorry for the lack of posts lately.
ImageCorporal Clint McKenna
USCM Special Forces Recon Team
Serial Number: L69/EA5.2.31782M9

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Pvt. Isabel Orozco - Rifleman; formerly of the U.S.S. Shiloh Marine Detachment, currently on public relations campaign.
Private Dave Halbert - unknown location

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LT_Chun
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Re: Turn 13: Call In the Cavalry

Post by LT_Chun » Sat Jul 31, 2021 12:49 pm

As the subs bobbed in the pool on the well deck of the Nahelannia Henniger took a moment to savor popping his helmet seal. The first deep breath of fresh, albeit canned, air was a morale boost.

"Davros, Paulson sound off." He said into the general din of the well deck.

<tag 1st Squad>
ImageLCPL. J. Henniger USCM
A11/TQ2.0.22146E1
U.S.S. Chimera
Recon Rifleman, Comtech electronics secondary
3rd FTL, Call Sign Devil Dawgs.

Armor and webbing
M41A Pulse Rifle + 7 mags
M40 Grenades x 10
Hand Welder
Service Pistol + 2 Mags
Mk. 1 Combat Knife
Rations/Water
Com-Tech Bypass Device
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lordstrand
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Re: Turn 13: Call In the Cavalry

Post by lordstrand » Sat Jul 31, 2021 4:54 pm

Davros was just about to unclamp the shuttle from the minisubs in preparation for the big tow from the Nahelannia, when the call came through.

"Reaper 1-1, this is Nehalennia Actual. We have a problem. All that racket you made has stirred up one of the locals and we think it's hungry. We can deal with it but if we fire while your Mickeys are in the area, the compression waves will scramble you like eggs. We're coming up on the Wreck's port side. Get your ass's back aboard fast!"

He just though to himself "Fuck really?!?!?! What else could possibly happen."

Sykes piped in through the speakers in his headset.
"Belay that, Henniger. We aren't leaving the shuttle behind. We will have to tow it into the Nehalennia. It won't be easy but that's what we've got to do. Let's make it happen, people!"

"Thank Christ, at least someone knows why we were here." Davros yelled, with the light reverb that could only happen when yelling inside the bucket that they called a helmet. He switched instead to making sure that the clamp he was working on was secure enough to tow along the shuttle. His hair was standing on end as he contemplated what big ass thing was down here sneaking up behind him. He just finished that last tug on the tow rope assuring himself it was secure, when he got tugged off his feet. The line from the mini-sub pulled him along at a decent clip for towing a shuttle. It was like synchronized swimming, with all the mini-subs pulling along the shuttle and the marines. The lights on the subs illuminated the darkness in front of them all, but it made the blackness behind them seem even more imposing. The infra-vision on his helmet didn't light up anything from behind them, but with this depth the life here probably wouldn't show up. Just after the shuttle finally got pulled up from the muck he could have sworn that he saw some tentacles the size of a small truck reach for it. Shaking his head he hoped it was just his imagination. Or at least that would be what he would be telling himself to make him feel better.

He managed to reorient himself to be facing forward into the lights rather than staring into the void behind them. As they approached the the doors the the "pool" opened on the underside of the Nehalennia. It was almost like the pearly gates opening up and welcoming them back. Then the sound of scraping metal of the mini's all entering the pool at the same time. It seemed like forever later that the shuttle finally was pulled into the water of the pool. The door slowly closed underneath them, finally sealing out the darkness below from gentle glow inside the ship. He rested his head down on the floor of the pool room just to give himself a seconds rest.

"Devil Dawgs, report. Follow me to quarantine and decontamination." Sykes said, followed shortly by "Davros, Paulson sound off." from Henniger.


"Aw, just five more minute MOM!!" Davros groaned as he rolled over to pick himself up. He couldn't wait to get this suit off and be back in the regular uniform. Then he remember shit the quarantine was probably gonna suck, who knew how they were all going to react to each other once whatever this was ran its course. "Sir we may want to keep our helmets on until we are in the quarantine area. We also may want to keep separated those that took off helmets from those that didn't. If some of us aren't infected we may not want pass it around like a handball." He said as he slowly rose to his feet. He stretched out his back muttering "Here we go." and stepped through the doorway toward quarantine.

<OOC sorry posted a little late. The never ending pile of crap just keeps on rolling in, but reading and posting these is definitely one of the highlights of my weekdays.>
Image LCpl. Strand Davros - Medic
USCM Special Forces Recon Team
Serial Number: S35/TQ9.4.48100E2

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maxvale76
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Re: Turn 13: Call In the Cavalry

Post by maxvale76 » Sun Aug 01, 2021 2:53 am

Samantha's head rolled gently from side to side.....the stress of the mission had pumped her full of adrenaline and now, all of that was catching up to her and she felt exhausted....

Suddenly all the voices in her ear piece finally got thru to her and she shook herself awake and learned of the situation and did what she could to talk to her fellow squamates to keep them calm and their spirits up as there wasn't a damn thing else she could do.

Finally, they were back on board and she moved to quarantine....

<Tag Squad>
OOC; Sorry Everybody, RL has been INSANE lately!
ImageSGT Samantha "Sam" Hall

M41A Pulse Rifle
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Re: Turn 13: Call In the Cavalry

Post by wargamer » Sun Aug 01, 2021 9:27 pm

GM:

The Shuttle, and its attending Mickey's, surfaced in the docking bay of the USS Nehalennia. The hatches popped open and the marines spilled out onto the deck plates of the submarine to be met by navy ratings in full hazmat gear.

Davos and Kelly assisted the ratings in loading the wounded onto gurneys and deploying isolation tents over them and then joined the rest of the platoon in moving towards the decontamination and quarantine facilities.

The marines were shuffled through the hatch and into a hastily converted cargo bay, divided up into compartments with screens of hanging plastic tarpaulin
As they passed through the makeshift decon facility, the marines were hosed down with chemicals. Next, they were stripped out of their gear, which was stuffed into large yellow containers marked with bio-hazard symbols, and lastly sprayed down again with something foul-smelling which tingled on their skin and stung the eyes.
Finally they were pushed through into another cargo bay, this one with benches around the walls and a large table in the centre. The table was loaded with clear plastic packages, each one stenciled with a USCMC badge and the name, rank and serial number of a member of the Devil Dawgs.

As the hatch sealed shut behind the last of them, there came a series of flat thumps from somewhere overhead which reverberated the deck plates as the subs dorsal railguns commenced firing on whatever monstrosity was climbing out of the trench.

The comm system, mounted on the wall crackled into life. "This is Colonel Yang. Stand easy Marines. We're heading home and should be feet dry in about 4 hours. You'll probably be required to sit tight in there for a full 24 before port authorities certify you as clean. In the meantime you'll find care packages on the table containing towels, clean fatigues and chow. It's only MRE's but I asked the quartermaster to pick the more palatable menu items. Bridge Out"
ImagePFC Darren 'Doc' Kelly - Medic
USCM Special Forces Recon Team
Serial Number: D44/TQ9.21.47645E2
Current Equipment
M-41A Pulse Rifle w/ 4 Mags
M4A3 Pistol w/ 2 Mags
K-52 Field Medical Pack
2x M-18 Smoke Grenades (Red)
6x M-94 Flares
2x K-Bar Combat/Survival Knives

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Corporal Hicks
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Re: Turn 13: Call In the Cavalry

Post by Corporal Hicks » Tue Aug 03, 2021 11:33 pm

Sergeant Major Sykes shook his head as he considered all they had been through. "Well, that could have gone worse considering where we were and how little time we had to prepare. You all did exceptionally well, people. I'm sorry about the losses." He hung his head and rubbed his eyes. It felt great to be out of the pressure suit but he felt like he'd been through the wringer.
ImageSgtMaj. Danny Sykes - Platoon NCO
USCM Special Forces Recon Team
Serial Number: D26/TQ6.3.48412E9
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