Andersen Assault

Log Title: Andersen Assault

Characters: Artemis, Major Bludd, Nightgaunt, Over Kill, Wiretap, Wisp

Location: Andersen Air Force Base, Guam

Date: 21 January 2010

TP: Non-TP

Summary: Under orders from the Baroness to strike at the United States' foreign military bases, Major Bludd leads an assault force to Andersen Air Force Base on Guam to wreak some havoc.

Springfield Municipal Airport
With Brisbane so close and easily accessible by train and car, Springfield doesn't need a large airport. This is a small airport, capable of handling recreational prop planes and small jets. As airports so commonly do, this one has a tower, some hangars, and a landing strip.

The group of air transport vehicles has been travelling for hours, its cargo of soldiers resting, some fitfully, on the long trip. As the airgroup approaches the little airfield at Springfield, the hangars at the edges of the landing strip suddenly sink into the ground, lowered on hydraulic lifts. Over the spaces they leave behind slide plates topped with flawless macadam. Like tiles on a gameboard, square sections of grass at the end of the landing strip turn over, revealing a far longer runway suitable for larger aircraft. A tiny Cessna at one side of the runway vanishes as the section of tarmac it's sitting on flips and reveals a row of functional hangars large enough to hold cargo planes and helicopters. In only a moment's time, the tiny municipal airfield is transformed into a modern military airfield.

Springfield Municipal Airport
This is a military airfield with a long, sturdy runway and a set of large hangars on one side. A small control tower huddles near the head of the landing strip.

 Wiretap says, "You James Bonded the airfield! :D"

Artemis is sleeping in one of the transports. Like all good infantry soldiers, she knows to sleep whenever the oppurtunity arises.

Shadow Rattler 001 flies formation, serving as one of the guards for the transports. It's outfitted with the mass driver tonight, and it's going to need refueling before this mission.

Major Bludd too makes the most of the travel time by catching up on his sleep. At first the distant bumping sounds of the mid-air refuelings awakens him, but eventually he tunes them out and falls into a deep-seeming sleep. A Viper wakes him twenty minutes out and Bludd rises, partakes of a bit of coffee, and mentally prepares himself for battle.

Wiretap arrives with a group of three Tele-Vipers, and a number of Shadow-Vipers, each group sticking with their own kind respectively.

The planes and copters land at Springfield without incident and taxi off to their assigned spots. Bludd stands near the exit doors of the cargo plane he's aboard, his comm mic keyed so that he can be heard by all the troops. "Welcome to Springfield, lads and ladies. Take an hour to stretch your legs and acquaint yourselves with the local time: it's about 5pm. Grab some dinner and be ready to fly on to Andersen by six. That's all."

Artemis continues to sleep, at the moment. She 'Heard' the orders, but honestly, she prefers to fight on a stomach that has MRE's and water in it, rather than some big final last meal.

The vectors arrive, circling the small airport like blue vultures. They land in a closely packed group in a field. All seven of them have made their presence in Australia.

After the hour is up, the planes refueled and ready to go again, the airgroup takes off from Springfield and heads north toward the island of Guam.

Shadow Rattler 001> Nightgaunt didn't take much time to stretch. Systems and weapons to check, a quick bite to eat, and back in the saddle. He sits on the tarmac, in his jet... waiting.

Artemis wakes up, so she can eat two MRE's, one the infamous, Spagetti with Ketchup Sauce, and the other, Chipped Creamed Beef, on Toast, otherwise known as Sh*t on a Shingle. She drinks plenty of water, and than, dozes back off. Not very Social, the Little Cyborg.

At some point, Artemis hears a familiar voice. "Arty! Hey, Arty, is that you??"

Artemis' eyes open, and she looks around, to see who is calling her name, and with such familiarity.... Few people call her anything other than Artemis, or that crazy Little Sniper

Wiretap stands near Artemis, looking at her curiously. "...Hey, I haven't seen you in a while...it's me, Heather Pennington."

Artemis pulls the Bacalava(Skimask) off her face, and looks at Wiretap. She tilts her head sideways, and than chuckles, "Well, someone's come up in the world." She pats the empty seat next to her, "Have a seat, why don'tcha?"

Wiretap sits down with Artemis and gives her a hug. "It's good to see you again! Yeah, I got promoted...so...I guess I'm going to have to start getting tough. Like you!"

Artemis accepts the hug, much to the shock of any range vipers that might be traveling along. And she... Smiles??? "Tough like me, eh? I don't think you want that. It normally invlolves having other things cut off..." She taps one of her Metalic Arms. She shakes her head slightly, "But, if mean you need to get mean... I don't think you can, Heather. I haven't seen a mean streak out of you, yet."

Guam
Guam is an island in the western Pacific Ocean and is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. The island's capital is Hagetqa (formerly Agana). Guam is the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands.

(courtesy Wikipedia)

As the airgroup approaches Guam, Major Bludd calls over the comm to the assault force. "We'll be arriving very shortly, people. I expect this to be done by the letter. To review: bombing runs first on the lower airfield followed by assault fighter attack. We'll drop the HISSes and paratroops, and then I'll expect to hear and see some explosions from the munitions, if our sappers are doing their jobs correctly. Get ready to hit 'em fast and hard. I don't want them to have time to think about what's going on. The US's Pacific presence will be crippled by the time we're through."

Wiretap listens to Bludd addressing everyone, then looks toward Artemis, and nods. "The most I can do is aspire to...act mean," she chuckles. "Well, I'll leave you to clean your gun, or polish up your arm! I know if I had an arm like that, I'd polish it."

Shadow Rattler 001> Nightgaunt comes over the radio, "Affirmative, Major." He maintains formation for the moment, waiting for the bombers to move in.

Artemis looks up, and grabs her parachute, "I got to get ready... I think I have overwatch. Find a High Point, and shoot anyone that looks like they are organizing any resistance." She smiles at Wiretap, and says, "We need to catch up, after this mission." She slips her Bacalava back on, and straps herself into her parachute pack. She checks all the straps, and the pulls, and than looks at the Loadmaster, waiting for the signal to jump. She calls back at Wiretap, "And shining the arm... bad for hiding."

Wiretap chuckles, and waves at Arty. "Point! ...Well, good luck, see you later!" Yes, Arty WAS going to come back from this mission, there was no thinking otherwise. Her shiny arm wouldn't give her location away.

Over Kill continues to circle the vectors. "Allright, when the humans come in, you know what to do." he's riding in the lead, and surely has many BATs ready to go.

Artemis isn't worried about herself coming back, so much as worrying that Wiretap might not make it back. She hasn't seen Pennington in action....

The assault begins in earnest as the Diamondbacks drop heavy ordnance and anti-runway munitions on the lower airfield, with support from the accompanying Rattlers. The paratroops are deployed as the cargo ships pass over the devastated airbase; HISS tanks are airdropped and roll forward to wreak havoc on whatever is in their path.

Artemis jumps out of the perfectly good airplane... time to earn her salary. As soon as she is clear, she pulls the handle to deploy her main shoot, and she brings up her Sniper-Rifle-concealing Arm, and lets the Gun port in her hand open, clearing the way for her to shoot as needed.

Shadow Rattler 001 swoops in low, trailing the Diamondbacks' run. Electricity sparks along the fuselage, lashing out at hangars and grounded aircraft, igniting fuel tanks and improperly grounded ordnance.

Artemis steers her parachute for the High Ground.... the Airfields Control Tower. She aims to land on the roof.... Artemis lands on the roof of the Control Tower, and just smiles. Poor Fools inside won't know what hit them. She moves to an access hatch on the roof, pulls three grenades, and drops thiem into the Control Tower's main room, after pulling the pin of course.

Bludd deploys with the HISS company. Once on the ground, he calls orders to them over the comm, directing them to take out the remaining planes on the airfield.

Artemis pulls out her Skorpian Machine Pistol, and dives into the Control Tower, to take out any remaining workers inside.

Wisp's F-35B Lightning II #639 flies down from the skies in response to the attack looking around quickly and trying to pull into range holding full afterburn for the moment.

Bludd orders the Vectors to drop off their BAT cargo at the northern air field. "We've got things under control here, I think."

Shadow Rattler 001 peels off his run as enemy aircraft get organized and reinforcements launch. The pilot spots a very distinctive aircraft... a tail number he knows very well. Nightgaunt banks around, moving to engage with the Joint Strike Fighter.

In the distance to the northwest, a thunderous explosion sounds and a large fireball rises into the evening sky. Over the joint comm system, Firefly's gravelly voice says, "Mission accomplished. I'll expect my payment wired to my usual account."

Artemis radios in, "Control Tower Secure. I'll begin my Sniping now." She slips out the hatch, back onto the roof, and unslings her sniper rifle. This one has more range than the one in her arm, so she always brings it along. She attaches the barrell, than loads a clip. She than lines up the scope, and peers through it, looking for anyone that might need shooting.

The base personnel put up a fight, but they can't stand up to the hordes of BATs and Vipers moving across the base. HISS tanks decimate the hangars and aircraft service equipment. Flak-Vipers help protect the ground troops from any stray aircraft that might've gotten airborne, while Frag-Vipers gleefully lob grenades hither and yon.

Artemis pulls the trigger, instantly killing an Officer that is trying to rally some troops into a defensive line. The Line collapses shortly after the officer's head explodes.

 Wiretap says, "We're going to noise-bomb their frequencies again -- to confuse them and buy us more time. T-minus one minute."

 Major Bludd says, "Understood."

 Over Kill says, "Vectors on standby."

 Artemis says, "Hey Over Kill? Want to join me in taking down Officers? *Loud Bang is heard* Ohh, another one down."

 Over Kill says, "Sure. Where do you need us?"

 Artemis says, "I am on the Control Tower. There looks like there is a bunch of Soldiers massing on the Southern most tip of the Base."

The frequency noise-bomb is the best the techs can do, without actual control of all frequencies. It's effective for what it is, though the duration is fairly short. (If only we had more time -- we could have taken those frequencies,) Wiretap thinks, as the white noise begins ripping through the Guam base's frequency range.

Artemis triggers another shot off, and another officer dies. Soon, she is down to NCO's, in her line of sight. Better to kill them, than nothing, so she tracks them, and shoots them, one at a time.

All over the base, personnel make painful expressions and hurriedly remove their comm headsets or make volume adjustments to their gear as the sound of the noise-bomb assaults their ears.

Over Kill flies his vectors close to Artemis, on their way to assist. "Allright, is it time to let teh girls out to play?" he asks.

 Over Kill says, "Permission to let the girls out for a walk."

 Major Bludd says, "Go."

 Artemis says, "Major? Can I make a suggestion? When we finish killing the Soldiers... how about we firebomb the base. Make it unuseable, permenantly."

 Over Kill says, "Girls...Ive got a secret. There's avgas under this base."

 Major Bludd says, "I like the way you think, Artemis."

 Artemis says, "Thank You Sir."

Artemis smiles to herself, at Bludd's response. She peers through her scope, and frowns, she keys her radio, "Sir, Another group massing on the northernmost runway. They have some anti-armor weapons...."

From his command HISS, Major Bludd surveys the damage and listens to incoming comm chatter. "Frag-Vipers, target the northern runway. We'll get them to button up, damn it." Frag-Vipers charge ahead of the HISS tanks and hurl grenades in the direction of the soldiers Artemis pointed out while the tanks slow their advance in anticiipation of support.

 Major Bludd says, "Press the advantage! The day is ours!"

Artemis keeps scanning the soldiers still moving in the area she can reach with her Sniper Rifle. Occassionally shooting one that moves, or twitches, or whose hair might just have been moved by the wind.

 Major Bludd says, "All units, report status."

 Artemis says, "Not much moving within half a mile of the Control Tower."

"Alright, guys, sustain it as long as possible," Wiretap tells her Tele-Vipers. She knows that they're a little bit disappointed that things didn't go exactly according to plan -- but they've been able to raise hell in other ways, disrupting the main frequencies used by the base and causing confusion and chaos. So she's very proud of the day's work.

<Cobra (IC)> Over Kill says, "Heading south..."

<Cobra (IC)> Wiretap says, "Still working on disrupting the frequencies. We can keep throwing in annoying noise as long as you need it."

<Cobra (IC)> Artemis says, "did Anyone take out their Internet communications?"

<Cobra (IC)> Major Bludd says, "Shadow-Vipers report computer networks were disrupted."

Bludd calls the tanks to a halt and orders a status report. The battlefield is mostly silent. The runways are nothing but masses of craters, the hangars merely shattered shells lingering near the edges. The dead and dying lay scattered about like autumn leaves on a still evening. As the last light fades from the sky, the smoke from numerous fires wafts heavenward.

<Cobra (IC)> Major Bludd says, "Head to the northern air field. We'll mount up and take off from there. All units, to the northern air field."

Artemis slips down from the Control Tower, slinging her rifle as she goes. She draws her pistol, and as she walks by bodies, she puts a bullet into their heads. Just to be sure.