An experpt from the Ivy and Chrome PBEM game online:
Drake leans over to the CS Soldier looks down at him. "Well now that most of the others are gone. Tell me something luietenant. Are you looking for me in particular? You already killed my protection, Warren. I know that since I escaped Tolkeen, you and your Major have been hunting me down. So... clever idea to use the Blue Angels rival enemy to kill Warren."
The CS SAM pilot just looks up from where he is confined. He seems almost to tremble in fear.
Drake just smiles, "YOU BASTARDS WIPED OUT MY ENTIRE BATTALION!!" Backhands the officer with a flaming fist. The officer yelps in pain as Alec and Bruce watch in shock at Drake's sudden change in attitude.
Bruce looks up, "Drake, you never said that you came from the war before you joined us in Ishpeming? Why didnt you tell us?"
Drake extinguishes the flame on his hand. "Becuase it's not just the coalition that are after me. I'm not sure who they are..." Drake begins to look in deep pain and sadness..."They killed my brother and father. Then when I became a field commander, they wiped out my half my platoon. Then two of our soldiers, that had escaped them, found our camp. They had these wierd collars on thier necks. I ran to get more help for them. I looked back to see that the soldier that returned were carrying unstable fusion blocks. They killed my entire platoon. That was that. I went into hiding. I met Warren on the way. I found out that Warren's psychic abilities surpassed that of any on this planet. BUT! This freak or one of his friends killed him when we were trying to save both you and Warren. Remember?"
Bruce just nods... The SAMAS pilot begins to shiver. "Just kill me..." he stammers.
Drake just sits back down in the copilots seat. "We wait for the others." He looks at Alec's concerned face.
Hello again. My name is Captain Drake Biltonman. I'm standing amongst my men, the 42nd battalion of the Tolkeen army, or at least what's left of them. The last few weeks of battling with the Coalition States commander, Major John Christian, has diminished my troops down to the equivalent of one platoon. The CS havent officially declared war on us, but this might as well be... This small coalition advance for the past few months, yet this has been it. No major assault has occured as though this is the vendetta of one leader.
Even through the hardships of combat, the troops are rather high spirited. They have come to call themselves the Ivy Team, after my late, murdered, mother. She had been killed years ago in an urban assault by CS troops. Although, everyone holds the highest respect for me, thier field commander.
I look to be in about my mid twenties with short red hair and bright green eyes. I think that Im approximately 5'9" and about 165lbs.
"Alright men.. This is it! Today, we have reports that Christian has his forces spread out thin before us. We hit them hard and we hit them fast! We then secure a position about a mile ahead of here. That will give us enough of a pushthrough to at least get a group of supply lines going in and out of here.
"We split up into three groups." I begin drawing a diagram on the ground with a stick. "Alpha, beta and omega teams. Alpha team, you will be a decoy. Attack thier flanks using hit and run tactics. Get those dead boys chasing you in another direction. Use the booby traps that we set on the way to trap them from getting back to their posts with the main force.
"Beta team, send in your golems and glitterboys on thier weakened position. Finally, Omega position will follow in for cleanup and procurement of a new strongpoint. This should fragment Coalition troops. The 39th battalion should follow in with thier newly equipped troops. Maybe this time we can push those fascist bastards completely out of our land for good! Understood?"
Everyone chimes in in unison, "YES SIR!" The anticipation is high in my men. I can almost smell the adrenaline coming from thier pores. Although I know the men are scared for thier lives. Each battle seems to almost halve my forces. All too often, I can still hear the cries of those men calling for thier mothers or praying to God for thier last breath to end the pain. The memories are pictures of some of my best friends in the goriest manner of death.
The terrain before us is to our advantage to say the least. Each member of the remaining battalion know the landscape like the back of each of our hands. The area is composed of hilly forestland. Our objective: a sloped hilltop, which will act as a stonghold for a defensive position as well as a outlook for incoming enemy.
After an hour of preperation, the platoon of my remaining 25 men, including myself, move out. Sgt Major Tony Ried and Corporal Dax Beacon both seem to stick to me like white on rice. They are both next in the chain of command after me. I think that they stay close as to not get lost. I grew up in these parts.
The glitterboys stay behind and wait to charge as alpha team has already moved out. The mages of beta team move in. Im part of Omega team. Then we move in. Eventually, I hear the sounds of explosions and screaming up ahead. I can't tell if they are war cries or screams of death though.
By the time I reach the war zone, I see that all of the golems had been demolished or turned back to mud. The glitterboys behind us begin their hammering away. I finally reach the beginning of the carnage. Tony beside me begins to put on his 'hard look' as we see the ripped remains of our troops. One man is still doing a crunch to see that the lower half of his body is ten feet below his torso still trying to run from nerves. That man is already dead. Only six soldiers, but its enough for me. "Fall back!"
The glitterboys stop shooting all of a sudden. "Shit... we need to go along enemy lines. They have US sandwiched!" Tony and Dax run beside me with five other soldiers as we run in a tangent direction. I see a CS ranger up ahead in the tree before anyone else and shout, "Scatter!" The ranger is holding an odd looking rifle and fires. I dive to the side and roll, preparing to flame burst his ass. A wide ion beam erupts and completely eliminates Dax's head and two other of my men. The second of my men, that was hit, just stands there looking at his intestinal track squeezing its way out of the hole in his abdomen, that wasn't even a direct hit from the gun! It distracts me enough to become the next target. I dive along with the rest. Tony helps me along. The ion beam is powerful enough to leave a rip through the ground a foot wide and deep.
I eventually concentrate long enough to burst the ranger. The flames are enough to disintegrate his arms. I run through. Tony and the three other men follow. Eventually, We reach the outskirts of the city of Tolkeen, we enter the gates and tell of the incoming battalion of Christian's approaching.
Of all of us in the 42nd battalion, only 9 of us survived. All of beta team was eliminated and only four men out of the eight in Alpha made it back. Tolkein orders me to reestablish our original foothold. We are given new weapons.
That night we camp without sleep. I look at this medallion that I have had since I was a kid. It's small with an octoganal shape. It has a long peg coming off of it with a tiny hole enough for the leather strap that holds it around me neck. It was from my mother.
As I sit and think fond memories of my mother, Tony approaches me with news that other members of beta team have escaped and arrived in camp. I go to investigate. I see two of our mages sitting there sobbing, with some odd looking metal collars, that have antenneas on them. I immediately call for bomb speciallists.
"CO Biltonman, the major is after you specifically. There is something there with him! He's wearing one of these collars too. Get help CO. They are attacking in force tonight."
I immediately grab my gear and turn to Tony, "You take command and hold defensive positions understood?" I begin to run back towards the gates of Tolkeen.
I could barely hear Tony mutter, "Yes sir..." He didnt look all too excited to be left there alone with only 8 men. I am almost to the city when I hear the screams. I turn back to see the two mages with thier collars glowing. I could barely make out what was being said, but it didnt take a genious to figure out that they were holding explosives. With a force that only an unstable fusion block would make, I saw my entire camp expand in flames and send shockwaves enough to throw me against the walls behind me and leave an imprint of my armor.
I could still hear the mage, CO Biltonman, the major is after you specifically. There is something there with him! I dont know who or what it is! He's wearing one of these collars too! Get help CO. They are attacking in force tonight. I decide to run. They are after me. I have to leave. They want me in particular, why? In any case. If he wants me THAT bad, then this will take an entire battalion off of Tolkeen and on me. Otherwise it will give me time to form up another group of mercenaries to stop this Major.
I decide to go into Tolkeen and to my quarters. Im already considered dead by this time I can assume. I see my house and go inside. But I hear someone in my kitchen. I decide to draw my laser pistol. Though it is hard to be sneaky in bushman body armor, the individual seems to already know that Im here. "Sir, I sense that you are in great distress. What seems to be the problem?" Some punk kid wearing a white tshirt and a leather jacket walks around the corner eating a cookie that Tony's wife had made for me. "Sorry.." he says pointing at the cookie, "I was hungry..."
"What the HELL are you doing in MY HOUSE!!!" I was enraged that some kid would sneak into my house. Im a Captain for the same city that must be giving this psychic kid the same freedoms that I fight for.
"I had a flash that my destiny lies with you, so I picked your lock and decided to wait for you. I hope you dont mind. My name is Warren."
"I have a mind to kill you now. You're full of shit anyways. I think that you should leave." I decide that this kid is no real harm. Anyways, I can just fry him if he tries anything.
"What if the major and his controllers find you. What would you do without me?" Warren seems confident for some reason.
"What are you talking bout?"
"I can see things that no one else can. I know things that no one else knows. We will be safe for the night but we need to get to Ishpeming by the morning. The Coalition can't get you there. The Northern Gun is nuetral and wants nothing to do with the conflict and wouldnt want the CS fighting on thier streets. Do you get what I mean?"
This kid is smart I decide. I had already thought of that, but he saw it too. It's almost as though this kid could not only read my mind but my memory also. Which I dont know many psychics can do "Alright kid. At midnight, after we eat we will go. Are you really hungry? I can sure fry a mean chicken..." I smile big at the joke.
May 4, 101 PA
Captain Drake Biltonman
Well it's been a year since I met Warren. We made it to the Northern Gun in a rather odd way. Warren had somehow made us inadvertantly run through the enemy lines. I had no choice. I had a run in with some big bad juicer out there that completely focused on me. I couldnt shake him. In the skirmish, we somehow teleported about a mile behind the enemy frontlines. From there it was a piece of cake getting away. The first few nights in Ishpeming were simple. I rented a hotel room. Warren had somehow convinced the local gang there, the blue angels, that I was not there to cause trouble. Thier leader was killed recently by another gang that called themselves the Chrome. It all seemed so funny and miniscule to the carnage of war.
The Coalition troops were in the hotel on the last night that I was there. I decided that I needed a place to stay. Of course I went straight to the very people that were looking at me as a threat. They ended up wanting to test my loyalty and ability to fight. I thought that it was rather stupid. But I guess the gangs are very juvenile compared to military discipline.
I ended up in a heavy armor and bullet competition with these guys that night. If I got hit, even in my armor, then I wasnt good enough. I had to take on some of thier best fighters in hand to hand, hehe that was eeeeeasy! But then they seemed to not like Warren. Warren seemed arrogant to them. I was told to tell him to get lost or I couldnt join the gang. Warren and I already could see that we could do it easily.
In the next preceding months I met some of the more predominantly active members of the Blue Angels. Jenna Page, a poor young girl that was abandoned at a young age. She is very pretty. How mean some people can be! Then there is Bruce Wolfenstien. This kid is a genious with electronics or something like that. I decided to take it upon myself to show him how to fire a rifle. He's good. Fast learner but tends to give me the impression that he has a few loose screws.
Of course there is Nick, this kid has some ability in him. I wouldnt doubt that he is a burster like myself. He seems to play with fire alittle too often. He also loves his sword play that he gets involved in. I can tell that that kid will have some potential.
Lucas Bloomfield, hahaha this kid has the biggest crush on Jenna. He seems to like Warren's company alot. So all in all, Warren and I did have limited contact. Thanks to Lucas, I could see him more often.
Somewhere down the road, the Chrome attacked thier base. Without the gang knowing, I decided that I would revert to old urban assault tactics that we used in Tolkeen. I flame erupted an entire group of them. Jenna saw me, but big deal her abilities are a secret with me. She is second only to Warren for pure power. The gang thought that I was JUST THE SHIT!Yet, they don't know what Im capable of.
I was voted in as the new leader. Everyone suprisingly listened to me as if they were Tolkeen soldier listening to me, thier captain. I was shocked.
One day, I met a passing stranger with the strangest glowing eyes that seemed lost. He walks up to me and asks, "Could you show me where I could purchase something called 'i scream'?" I almost busted out laughing. This guy was obviously a DB. "My name is Jedite. What is yours?"
I showed him around the city, I come to find out that he was actually trained from early childhood on the arts of some strange fighting technique using energy blades and telekenisis. He had also mastered the usage of his body to unreal proportions. He showed me. I would never want to fight him.
I showed Jedite all over the city and the ways of city life. THAT took some effort. I also told him of the struggle between the Blue Angels and the Chrome. Nothing really serious to me when I think about it, but Im sorta getting used to this new life after a year. Jedite told me that he owed me any favor I would ask of him. His honor is his life.
I've been working for the past year on getting Warren into the gang, but I think that Lucas, Jenna and thier ditzy friend Lori are doing a good job getting him in. The attacks from the Chrome have been getting more and more frequent but less forceful that I have noticed. If I didnt know better, they are feeling out the weaknesses and strengths of the Blue Angels. That is a military tactic.
The gang has also been getting some static from the local militia. Ive beefed up the defenses in this warehouse that we have. I havent been able to locate the Chrome base, but I sure know that they move around alot.
Captain Drake Biltonman
June 3, 102 P.A.
I dont have much time to write, we were attacked by the Chrome today. I expected this so I had one of the younger boys go get Jedite. I didnt want the boy to be here when the fighting started. Ive only seen a few casualties while in the gang. Nothing I haven't seen before though. But nothing like this! This reminds me of Tolkeen! Almost half the gang was wiped out here.
I sent Jenna, Lucas, Warren and Lori to go out and eat. I gave them some money. I dont want them getting hurt. Bruce and Nick are here ready for anything. Sure enough the Chrome attacked and in force. They used every military trick in the book. So something is up. I wonder if Christian finally found me? Anyways I sent a young girl with a message to the local bar/dealer to put a notice out to the mercenaries, who travel through, to take out the Chrome for a good price.
We managed to beat them back. I caught a glimpse of the NG militia and Jedite out there too. They disappeared. Bruce, Warren, Jenna, Lucas and Jedite disappeared after that. We found Lori shot to death in front of the warehouse. Some of the others said that Jenna, Warren and Lucas are with some merc out there. Thank goodness.
Im sending Nick on first notice to find them and help em out if they need help. Im waiting on some news...
I wonder what the hell the Coalition States would want with me that is more important than any of the other ACTIVE comanders of Tolkeen. And what did that mage mean? There was someone or something there with him? I think that Jenna will be more useful now. I know what she can do now. Im still curious on how powerful Warren actually is or if he is just making this stuff up.
Drake Biltonman
June 4, 102 P.A.
This is where the game starts from then on