Operation ATOMEYE

[CONCENTRAL]

Fifty FC200 Coyote Armored Personnel Carriers with three hundred infantry aboard them rumbled into action down National 26 South, one of the few Elanii roads still in good working order this far north (grid square T17). Captain Arnold Barnes, Bronze Regimental Team Leader, watched his own identical column stream down N26 East (grid square T8) through binoculars as he stood in one of the open hatches of the lead Coyote.

"Bronze, Bronze, Bronze, this is Regional Command," a voice crackled over the command line of the Coyote's bulky vocex unit.

"Regional Command, Bronze Actual," Barnes said into his headset, every bit as bulky and inconveniently connected to the vocex by a thick, rubber-wrapped copper wire.

"Captain, authorization from National's just come down for your mission. Proceed as planned into Merkov CFB and liberate any pre-war tech samples or files you can. Regional Intelligence confirmed our suspicion: Ignatius and Delphus appear abandoned. Assume THREATCOM 4 and moderate combat readiness. Regional out."

Markov was supposed to be abandoned, but the Elanii had a habit of leaving nasty surprises behind. Barnes intended to get the job done as quickly and carefully as possible. Something about this whole peninsula gave him the creeps. The Coyotes continued their westbound crawl, impervious to any spooking the terrain or inhabitants were capable of.

Bronze Regimental Team A
Position: T8
50x FC200 Coyote
50 Vehicle Petrol Canister per
20 Standardized Vehicle Ammunition per
250 Infantry onboard
Sgt. Arnold Barnes onboard

Bronze Regimental Team B
Position: T17
50x FC200 Coyote
50 Vehicle Petrol Canister per
20 Standardized Vehicle Ammunition per
250 Infantry onboard

1 AR7A Automatic Rifle per
1 M3930C Pistol per
4 F7 Fragmentation Grenade per
6 Standardized Ammunition Magazine per
2 Multi-Meal Deployment Ration per
2 LCTV Field Medical Kit per
1 P4H Ballistic Helmet per
1 P10 Ballistic Vest per
1 CIVS Combat Fatigues per

1x AR7A Automatic Rifle
2x M3930C Pistol
25x F7 Fragmentation Grenade
6x Standardized Ammunition Magazine
3x LCTV Field Medical Kit
P4H Ballistic Helmet
P10 Ballistic Vest
CIVS Combat Fatigues

[STRATCOM]

Thoroughly settled with my orders, I re-tune the vox unit to regimental communications.

"Mission proceeding as planned. All FC200's proceed upon main road. Group rendevouz in grid-sector O8, expect rest and food when you arrive, Bronze Actual, out."

Removing the heavy headset, I look across to the mission folder to discern what I can about the facility, musing as to why National Command would deem it necessary to send an entire batallion to retrieve mundane scientific samples, in enemy territory at that too. 

As I notice the roar of the engine build up, I place the folder back into a safe compartment, I rummage through my pockets search for my prized binoculars, eventually finding them, I open the hatch on the vehicle and poke my torso through, taking in the clean, un-irradiated air. I take the opportunity to bang on the driver hatch with my fist, saying "Speed it up, we'll be there by dawn at this rate!" 

Ever expecting foul Elian tricks, I scan the approacing terrain for any traces of activity or civilisation.

[Move both of the half-regiments along the road as much as possible.]

[STRATCOM]

The driver offered a curt "yes, sir," in affirmation and opened up the engine. Barnes peered out with his binoculars, seeing an endless treeline and the long, flat expanse of N26 East ahead of him. This mission wasn't high enough on Regional's priorities to require on-mission aerial reconnaissance, so they would have to make do with what RegIntel had told them: no signs of habitation, no signs of entrenched forces, no signs of any human activity. As far as they knew, the Elian had abandoned Merkov and the town and port servicing it when the first bombs began to fall eight years ago.

The rumbling of the APCs along the highway intensified to a dull roar as ninety-nine other FC200s followed suit behind them. The Coyotes uneventfully tumbled up the road until odd steel shapes littered across the three-lane freeway stopped them: tank traps. Instead of the typical funnel formation, designed to force enemy vehicles into a single line of fire, the Coyotes encountered an inverted funnel, seemingly designed to funnel an enemy to their west into a single line of fire for eastern defenders.

As if that weren't enough, there were scorches and pockmarks in the asphalt on the western side as if defensive fire had indeed come from the west. Barnes couldn't make heads or tails of it, and the APCs rumbled the 'wrong way' through the funnel without ambush or incident. They dutifully chugged along onto Regional Highway 66 East, noticeably bumpier and less comfortable to ride on than the national highway they had used previously (grid square O8). The driver noted that they had arrived at O8, the natural intersection of their groups, and halted the column. The APCs circled up in case of attack and Barnes let the men out for a short rest in the middle of the four-acre safe zone created by the encircled vehicles. They ate from their tasteless rations, relieved themselves, and cracked wise about their 'mission to nowhere.'

Barnes kept in radio contact with the other detachment, who dutifully reported that they were a few miles behind Barnes' main force and closing quickly (grid square O11). Barnes' detachment had perhaps a half-hour to strategize and scan the horizon before their comrades came and they would advance further.

Bronze Regimental Team A
Position: O8
50x FC200 Coyote
[small]45 Vehicle Petrol Canister per[/small][small] (-5)
20 Standardized Vehicle Ammunition per
250 Infantry
Sgt. Arnold Barnes onboard[/small]

Bronze Regimental Team B
Position: O11
50x FC200 Coyote
[small]44 Vehicle Petrol Canister per[/small][small] (-6)
20 Standardized Vehicle Ammunition per
250 Infantry[/small]

[STRATCOM]

Currently sitting in the command variant of the FC200, I look upon the map with great intensity, scanning it for any advantages in case of a possible attack. I then turn towards the radio, picking up the bulky communications headset before tuning back to Regional command's frequency.

"Regional Command, this is Bronze Actual, first phase operation complete, regroup imminent. Intel proves reliable, no hostilities as of yet. Encountered minimal defences, initial observations suggest engagements between dissident groups and nationals, defences employed facing Eastward. Report finishes, Bronze Actual, out."

Placing down the headset once again, I glance over the map one more time before lifting myself up and out of the overhead hatch, jumping down onto the ground. Searching around, I look for any of my various Lieutenants before finding a group clustered together.

"Gentlemen" I say "I would have your opinion on the mission so far? Has anyone seen any forms of life?"

[STRATCOM]

Despite the general clamor of the men inside the artifical parade green created by the encircled vehicles, the silence outside their party seemed deafening. Barnes could hear it too, interrupted only so often by his Coyote's telex machine tapping out automated weather reports and menial updates from the Vestor comm tower three hundred klicks to the south, and the occasional cranking roar of a Coyote driver running engine tests while he had the downtime.

"Nothing, sir," replied Lieutenant Sarkov, commander of Coyote 33. "This is the problem. None of our men have reported any form of animal life, even when stopped here. No nests, no hibernation holes, no fish, no birds, no deer. Trees and high grass, indeed. But we have yet to sight a single common meiko."

"RegIntel advised that blast overpressure during the nuclear exchange may have caused a mass migration of most species," countered Lieutenant Karikov of Coyote 12. "Those that remained died when the ecosystem collapsed. Simple ecology."

Regimental Team B, moving up the lengthy highway to the south, reported a similar sight Barnes had witnessed when crossing the tank traps. It seemed a battle of some kind had taken place on the opposite side they had expected. Other than a few Lieutenants griping about their fuel consumption by taking the thorough, but long southern highway up to the rally point, Team B arrived without incident and set up their own circle of APCs as Team A had done. Bronze Regiment was reunited and ready to proceed together.

They had still not heard a single animal: unusual for early fall.

Bronze Regimental Team A
Position: O8
50x FC200 Coyote
[small]45 Vehicle Petrol Canister per
20 Standardized Vehicle Ammunition per
[/small][small]250 Infantry
Capt. Arnold Barnes onboard[/small]

Bronze Regimental Team B
Position: O8
50x FC200 Coyote
[small]41 Vehicle Petrol Canister per[/small][small] (-3)
20 Standardized Vehicle Ammunition per
250 Infantry[/small]