NationStates Jolt Archive

Crystal Isles Daily News

RNCI MILITARY ON THE LOOKOUT FOR A FUGITIVE



The RNCI military has been placed on high alert after a prisoner breeched the South Federal Detainment Facility.

Enola Brixton, a former naval scientist was being held in the facility to await her sentence, has escaped. Enola Brixton, 16, was detained after being found intermingling with a foreign organization during a recent naval expedition off the coast of Ortega. She was sentenced to die in Nadia Square, but escaped the maximum security facility before her sentence could be carried out.

“I found her cell empty” commented a guard. “No one saw her leave, we don’t know how she got out, and she’s the first person to breech the facility.”

Although Brixton’s whereabouts are currently unknown, she is thought to be in the outskirts of Nadia or in the rainforests just south of the South Federal Detainment Facility. Brixton is not considered dangerous. Armed ground patrols are scouring the area on a 24 hour basis, and two 1.42 fighter jets have also been deployed in the search.

“We will not back down.” commented the chancellor in an interview conducted earlier today. “Criminals in the RNCI are not tolerated, and we will use every resource to track this fugitive, and we will show the world we don’t back down or show mercy on any outlaws of any kind.”

The detainment and sentencing of Enola Brixton has sparked heated controversy in the international community, and has many humanitarians infuriated with the RNCI’s policies. Activists in cities around the world have been rallying to persuade their governments to intervene.

“How far are these savages going to go before someone does something about them?” commented American billionaire and human rights activist Ernesto Luther. “The RNCI has outlawed private business, religion, and a whole boatload of other things, they force people into the military, kill people for robbing candy stores and now they’re going to be damned if they can’t butcher a 16 year old girl in their biggest city for being seen near a foreign organization? This crap makes me sick.”

Ernesto Luther has offered a one billion dollar bounty for anyone who can get Enola Brixton out of the RNCI alive.

Some of our concerned citizens are also questioning the actions of the Government on this latest issue.

“If the government doesn’t back down they’re going to have a heap of problems” said John Smith. “we’ve already seen hints of uprisings from youths who aren’t allowed to engage an any remotely questionable behavior. We’ve had religious followers enraged at the government for their policies on religion, and if they keep this up there’s going to be even more unrest. And not to mention the international community will be quite mad at us. ”

The RNCI government is offering a ten million dollar reward for anyone who captures Enola Brixton and turns her in to the RNCI authorities

-------------------------------

Vostok Hazard was reading the article in Crystal Isles Daily News in his office at the top of Hazard Tower one morning when one of his aides asked him about the citizens questioning his policies

“Let them question all they want.” replied Vostok. “We simply won’t back down on this. That slag is a disgrace to the republic and we will find her and give her what she deserves. She was trying to give away government owned supplies and was neglecting her duties. This won‘t be tolerated.” Vostok put his feet up on his desk and took a big gulp of wine.

“Are you going to have this John Smith detained?” asked the aide. Vostok jumped forward and spit his wine all over the place
“Detain him?” scoffed Vostok “People are entitled to free speech here in the RNCI. You think we should waste time with someone voicing concern when we have a fugitive on the loose?” Vostok poured himself another glass of wine, and the aide left the room. Vostok continued to read the news and he thought to himself. “Where is that little slag anyways?”



---------------------------------

Enola furiously pushed her way through the thick forest, rapidly breathing the humid tropical air. Behind her, she swore she could hear the barks of the patrol’s guard dogs getting closer and closer. Enola has never been in such a situation, having come from a class 2 family in a safe community. The last time she was ever chased like this was when she was about ten and trying to avoid being attacked by an obnoxious kid with a water gun. Because of this, she was completely positive she would never survive being hunted down by the RNCI military like an animal. But however she still managed to sneak out of the South Federal Detainment Facility, and her fear of being caught caused her to push on. Enola just kept clawing her way through the wilderness, despite the fact that she was burning up with heat, her legs were aching with pain and her chest felt like it was about to implode.

After a few more minutes of running around, Enola found a small pond with some rocks and a thick patch of weeds at one end. It would make a perfect hiding spot and give her a chance to rest. Enola sat down in the water between two large rocks surrounded by bulrushes. The water was deep enough to hide her body, but was still shallow enough for her to keep her head above the water while she sat on the bottom of the pond. Despite the hot weather , the pond water was surprisingly cool.

Enola could no longer hear the sound of the patrol dogs. All she could hear now was the twittering of the wildlife in the rainforest. She enjoyed every minute of this moment, for she knew it wouldn’t last long. Defying the RNCI government and being the first person in history to escape their prison will buy a person negative fame quite quickly. The roar from a 1.42 fighter jet thousands of feet above her reassured of this. And not to mention the patrols were still active somewhere out there.


--------

OOC: Open MT RP. looking for foreign/domestic factions that will help the RNCI find the fugitive or fight the RNCI's efforts to find the fugitive.

During a patrol, a marine wasn't watching where he was going so he bumped into another marine

B - U - M - P

ooc: I'd be interested in rescuing her. If you have MSN(vc_64@yahoo.ca) then we could talk about it.

(ooc: Vostok_Hazard@hotmail.com)

A squad of marines was poking around the edge of the rainforest where they found some broken brush.

"I think it was from an animal." said one of the marines "I don't think we should be wasting around with this. We have to catch that damn girl."

"S4M20, this wasn't an animal" replied the squad leader. "It was from the fugitive. Now move your asses."

The marines piled into the forest studying their surroundings intently. There was a lot of suspiciously broken brush, but no footprints due to the spongy ground. The marines kept moving deeper and deeper into the thick forest. They found nothing and their search dogs failed to pick up a scent. Eventually the marines found a partially clear area with a small pond. The area was completely undisturbed except for some slow moving ripples in the pond's water.

"Check this area" ordered the squad leader. The marines fanned out around the clearing. They quickly got busy checking behind boulders and behind bushes and under fallen logs, but failed to find anything of interest. A few poked sticks into the pond. One marine felt around in the pond - then let out a painful scream and quickly pulled his hand out of the water. Latched to his hand was a grotesque snake-like predatory fish. Two of his comrades rushed over and tried to pull the fish off the injured soldier's hand. The fish only bit deeper into his hand, and the soldier's screams were becoming unbearable. Desperately, the marine fell to the ground, unholstered his side arm and shot the fish. When he got the dead creature off, he noticed that the side of his hand was completely mangled. A medic rushed over to patch up his injury and to give the soldier some antibiotics and painkillers. After the soldier was treated, the squad decieded there was nothing in this area, so they continued into the jungle.

-------

Further in the Jungle, Enola was still hiding in the lagoon she found earlier. After hearing more jet flybys and numerous helicopters passing overhead, she decieded it was time to leave because with that many fly-bys it was likely that the patrols were onto something. Enola climbed out of the lagoon and crept deeper into the bush. During the two hours she was hiding in the pond, Enola noticed that the temperature increased significantly. The humidity in the jungle was so high that it was difficult to walk. To solve this problem, Enola tore the legs off her pants. Although she was no longer restricted by her heavy, soaked clothing, it was still so hot that it felt like she was swimming.


After walking through the jungle for about half an hour, Enola could hear the sound of engines. She instantly knew that there was a road of some kind nearby and the engines were likely coming from a convoy. That meant trouble, so so she ducked under a small shrub until the sounds faded away. After that, she continued going through the forest. A little while later, she found the road where the convoys were coming from; it was a crude dirt service road that led to a large lake that was located in the middle of the jungle. Now that she knew where the road was, she knew to avoid it. However, Enola decieded to hide in the jungle next to the road follow it to the lake because it was possible that there might be a floatplane which she could use to get off the Island, or even a river that drained from the lake into the ocean. ...

"Interesting, the NCIers had someone break out of thier top prison." The MoEI said to the MoEA. "Ya it is, maybe we should see if the MoD would give us some of the BOers."
"Hey, Joseph, we want to rescue a escaped prisioner and need a few BOers to do it."
"You got em."

The members assigned to this mission prepped and headed toward NCI, travelling by small personnel watercraft.

Enola trudged along the edge of the forest near the side of the dirt road, staying far enough in the bush to hide in case a convoy or patrol shows up. An old wooden sign on the side of the road had the following information in faded letters:
"Thunder Lake. 40 KM's"

After reading that it looked like it was going to be a long walk. The ever-increasing heat didn't help matters. A low rumble could be heard in the distance. Spooked by the sound, Enola ran deeper into the forest. A few minutes later, a convoy consisting of two CISS-89 self propelled rocket launchers, Five E-75's carrying full passengers, three PAV-90's, Two CIDC MBT's and about four M-400 Raider trikes rumbled down the road towards the lake. The convoy probably wouldn't return for a few hours, so she continued her trek to Thunder Lake, just remembering to duck and cover when they returned.

--------

Back in the Jungle, the same patrol was still hunting around for signs of the fugitive. The patrol eventually found the pond Enola was holed up in earlier, and of course found nothing, until they ventured deep into the jungle and found two soaked white rags covered in mud.

"Someone was here recently." Said the squad leader. "Keep looking." The marines spread out in the general area and searched for hours. Aside from the rags they found nothing, and ended up getting quite fatigued. The Squad leader approved them to set up camp and rest until nightfall.

The marines sat around and recorded the stats of the patrol in their logs, oiled their rifles and ate some rations which mostly consisted of canned vegetables and dried fruit. Later on, they sat around and discussed what they would do with their share of the bounty after they caught Enola

"I'm going to pay off the educators to enroll me in a technical college so I can get out of this shithole." said one of the marines

"I'm going to take a trip to the United States or Canada" Said another marine. "Then I'll see what a hamburger tastes like, see what I look like in some classy brand name clothing, and maybe I'll also test drive a personal automobile. I heard they have things like that in the United States and Canada. I've never seen anything like that in the Republic."

"Me and my son are also going to visit America." commented another marine. " We're going to go see something called a football game. My boy read about it on the network, and he seems quite interested in seeing one."

"Oh you wouldnt dare do that." Snickered a marine sarcastically. "Football is an athletic activity which leads to aggressive behavior, and is a crime against the republic." The marine stood up and puffed his chest out. "I hereby sentence you to death!" Joked the marine pointing his gun at the other marine, making comical shooting noises.

The Squad leader, who was off relieving himself overheard the group of marines joking around, and when he finished, he stormed over and appeared to be quite angry.

"Quit ****ing clowning around you damn idiots." Barked the squad leader. "All that garbage you've been talking, and flat out slandering the Republic, you make me sick. The only reason I'm not having my other, more competent men shoot your asses is because you're all just kids and new privates who still havent lost your rebellious streak. But I suggest you lose it or you'll be losing your heads. Your asses better be ready to go because we're going back on patrol in one hour." An eerie silence fell over the group of privates, who started to pack up their equipment and give their gear one final check..

After a lengthly hike that lasted all afternoon, Enola finally made it to thunder lake. The road she was following branched off in several directions around the lake. And since she didn't see the convoy return, it was obviously still around. Because of this, Enola crossed the dirt roads cautiously. After creeping through some bushes, Enola found herself in a lakeside lot. There were numerous similar lots which were home to the cottages of several class-one citizens, but this one was different. The person here was definately not a class one citizen. The owner's lot was strewn with old oil drums, wine bottles, crates and boxes of all kinds, an abundance of empty cans, a few small sheds containing tools, old tires and other assorted bric-a-brac. There was a picnic table in the middle of the lot covered in empty food cans, old mechanical or electronic parts of some kind and not to mention a number of empty and half empty wine bottles. Last but not least was the house. The house on this lot was a shoddy looking wooden shack with a tin roof screened windows and a messy front porch. The front porch had two old lawn chairs, a cable spool which was serving as a makeshift table, and a BBQ grill that was covered in crud and had a rusted propane cylinder attached. An old tin bucket was hanging on a wooden support, and a crude, wooden screen door led inside the house. The windows on the house were lit up, so the occupants were still home and active, so entering the house would not be wise. Instead, Enola headed down to the beach. There was more assorted junk to be seen here, but the main feature was the wooden dock. Next to the dock was an old motor boat and a float plane. Enola didn't know if the lake drained into the ocean and was in no mood to find out, so she didn't bother with the boat. Instead she turned her attention to the plane. If she stole the plane, the government would be even more enraged at her for committing an act of grand theft. It didn't matter though, the entire republic was after her head and she needed to get out.
Enola tried to pull the door to the aircraft open, but it was locked. She looked around the junk and found exactly what she needed: A steel crowbar. With this tool, she managed to pry the door of the aircraft open and climbed inside After she pulled it open, a bright light was shining right on her. Enola sheilded her eyes and turned to the source of the light. Someone was in the bush.

"You!" shouted a voice on a megaphone. "Stay where you are." Enola could also hear the cauking of several guns. Enola was stiff with fear, and in the middle of the comotion, a fat, balding old man dressed in ragged old clothes, with a shotgun in his hand stepped out of the house.
"What the hell is going on out here?" bellowed the man. He noticed Enola sitting in his plane. "YOU!" Screamed the man. "Get the hell out of my plane or I'll blow your carcass to hell!" Enola, in a panic started the ignition on the plane and pulled the aircraft out to the lake. She kept her head down as rounds were being fired at her in the hundreds by the unseen gunmen in the bush, and the old man who's plane she just stole. Bullets were even piercing the cockpit of the aircraft and nearly hitting her.

However, the plane kept picking up speed as it taxied further out onto the lake. The small arms fire eventually ceased, only to be replaced by heavier artillery. Shells were exploding in the water around the plane, shaking it violently, and missiles - probably from a CISS-89 were wizzing over top the small aircraft. Enola was becoming even more panicked. A few seconds later which felt like an eternity, the plane was able to take off out of the lake and into the sky. She was finally safe - for now.

Enola flew the plane north. It wasnt long before she could see the bright lights of the massive city of Nadia below her. Enola despised the city of Nadia. She hated it for the simple reason because it was the very place where she was to be butchered alive in front of a bloodthirsty crowd, for a crime considered by the government as a severe offence. Enola turned the plane around to the East. Her plan was to escape to the largest beckon of freedom in the world: The United States. Although she was aware the little plane she had didn't have the fuel to reach the mainland, She could land the plane in the ocean near the United States, and surely an American vessel would pick her up. The plane did indeed have enough fuel to escape the RNCI; even if there was not enough fuel in the tank, the rear seat had a number of cans filled with fuel.

Enola just kept flying eastward. By now, she was nearing the ruins of Penelope, an old city on the edge of the South Island. Squinting into the night, she could see the plateaus that lined the east coast. She was almost off the island.

Suddenly the aircraft shook violently and a piercing alarm broke out. Smoke was belching from the fuselage and the plane was becoming harder to control and was losing altitude rapidly. Enola found herself panicking, desperately trying to maintain control of the aircraft. After taking a quick glimpse of the side mirror, she could see the lights of an attack helicopter following her.

The aircraft's plunge back to earth was quick, and it was going to be a rough landing, however the plane was still generally level, so it probably wasn't going to be too rough.

In an instant, it was over. The plane crash landed on top the plateau just a kilometer outside the old city.

Enola gripped the steering mechanish tightly as she was shaking violently in the aircraft barreling across the terrain. After skidding along the ground for several meters, the plane came to a fishtail stop.

Shaken up and in pain, Enola feebly opened the door of the aircraft and rolled out. The plane was battered and smoking, and then Enola remembered the fuel cans in the passenger seat of the aircraft. She ran as fast as her aching body could permit. She managed to hobble a few meters away from the plane before it exploded with enough force to knock Enola off her feet. Now, all she could do was lay on the ground and hope to regain enough strength to move on, because that attack chopper was going to be on her in a matter of time..


------
In another location off the coast of the RNCI, numerous small vessels are patrolling the ocean. On board an LPT-90, the radar picks up some small objects heading ashore
"What the hell is that?" said the radar operator. "Looks like some small craft are heading ashore." The radarman grabbed the ships radio and buzzed all the craft in the area.

"Attention all vessels." said the sailor. "We have sighted unidentified small craft headed towards the shore. Pursue and apprehend these boats."

Several ships in the vicinity responded to the call and took off in the direction the small boats were seen, and even fired a few rounds at them, but they never caught them....

The black-ops troops, more commonly known as the BOers had arrived on an isolated shore of the NCI lands.
"Yo, sarge any idea on where to look?"
"Jen, pull up the AnSat and see if we got any info."
Jen set up the AnSat, while the others lifted and the motorboat and brought it into the jungle, being careful leave as little trace as possible.
"Kel, satellite imagery picked up a small prop-plane that headed in our direction before crashing on a nearby plateau, that one to be precise." She said as she pointed to the plateau near Penelope. "The plane took off from a lake that was close to the prison.
"Then that's where we're headed, let's move out." The six people of the black ops team began moving out, headed toward the plateau.

The navy was abuzz with chaos when the small boat managed to escape to the Island. They were fighting with eachother on their radios, criticizing eachother's inability to stop the vessel. Others were cramming the groundforces radios with incoming messages to the point that the ground troops turned off their communications devices

Admiral Talus, aboard the Cygnus further out to sea had ignored the bickering amongst the crews of the smaller vessels and contacted Fort Rellikaide.

"Talus to Rellikaide." growled Talus. "A small boat has allegedly made it to the mainland near the seaside plateau."

The communications officer at Fort Rellikaide notified standby troops at the base and dispatched a small squad to head to the rainforest by the plateau to check out the activity. Three E-75 light vehicles, four raiders, two CISS-89 rocket launchers and three PAV-90 ultra light tanks headed up the highway that winded through the jungle. The air control center at the base also ordered two Attack Helicopters to fly over the jungle and check for anything suspicious. While passing the jungle the occupants of the vehicles directed their spotlights into the thick forests. Others peered into the darkness using night vision. The small convoy came across a point in the highway where a narrow dirt path wound it's way through the jungle. The convoy came to a halt.

"I want the raiders and the E-75's to venture down that path." Ordered the officer leading the convoy. The officer had his own PAV-90 at the front of the convoy. "And I want the PAV's to block the road on both sides of this path. As for the CISS's, they're to head further up road and fire into the jungle if anything is reported." The vehicles immediately took their positions. The crews of the raiders drove their small three-wheeled dune buggies down the path for several kilometers, while the heavier E-75's followed them The crews of the vehicles were ever so watchful, as the jungle was eerily quiet at this time of night. Soon enough, the small group of vehicles ended up on the beach by the ocean. They scanned the beach with flashlights.
"what the hell was that" said the driver of a raider, looking into the direction of the jungle. "I think I saw something dissapear into there" The gunners on one of the E-75's wasted no time, and fired the vehicle's 75mm cannon into the jungle. The other E-75's were quick to follow. As the cannons on the E-75's blasted the edge of the forest, the riflemen occupying the passenger seats of the E-75's and Raiders commenced to pepper the area with small arms fire. Back on the highway, the occupants of the rocket launchers were notified of the commotion, and launched their payload into the jungle, setting parts of the forest on fire.

"Whatever was in there, it ain't happy" sneered the squad leader.

In the headquarters of ConCorp, a shady company which recruits ex convicts and currently at large criminals and puts them to work as mercs, Schindler Haust was watching the latest news on the Enola Brixton fiasco on his big-screen plasma TV in his own private office. A speech by Ernesto Luther, indicating that he's upping the award to Two billion USD, that came on during the broadcast really caught his attention. He called his assistant over

"Hey Cain, check this out." said Schindler. "That billion dollar do-gooder is offering up a fortune to get that girl out of Crystal Isles."

Cain sat down on a leather sofa and opened up an expensive imported beer. "I suppose you want to send some mercs in there." commented Cain.

"You got it." replied Schindler. "I want to see how the new batch of street rats will do. They're in the rec room. buzz them up to my office."

Cain got on the intercom system and a few minutes later a group of total criminal misfits were in Schindler's office.

"Who are these guys?" asked Cain

Deuce Brown. Former biker gang member. Age 37. Bailed out of jail in exchange to work for ConCorp. Preferred weapon: Mossberg .12 gauge

Tyson Thomas. A chav from the streets of london. Age: 19. ConCorp agents offered him a hefty offer to join ConCorp after secretly watched him tear apart a thug in a street fight. Preferred weapon: Calico M-110 .22LR

Christain Sten. An eccentric explosives expert. Age: 25. Joined ConCorp after reading about the company in an underground newspaper. Preferred weapon: Bombs. Preferred gun: Steyr MPI-69.

Sid Ramsey. A typical street punk with a violent attitude. Age 27. Joined ConCorp after finding out it was an easy way to make money. A review of his criminal record made ConCorp waste no time to recruit him. Preferred weapon: .45 caliber semiautomatic handgun


Manny Jackson: Drug Dealer/Thug. Age: 23. Joined ConCorp after one of his clients told him about the organization. Found out it would be a good way to move up in the underground. Preferred weapon: Mac 10

Vladimir Romanov: Freelance hitman. Age: 40. ConCorp hired him to carry out a few hits, so naturally he joined the organization. Preferred weapon: Sniper Rifle

"What an interesting line up you got there Schindler." Commented Cain. Schindler layed back on his couch and eyed his squad of social outlaws.
"Alright boys your mission is to rescue Enola Brixton from the RNCI. you'll each be rewarded a million dollars if you're successful." The group nodded.

"Oi, she's hot." Commented Tyson.

"Anyways, the bus to the airbase is waiting. Get moving." Ordered Schindler.
The group headed down to the lobby of the complex, and boarded a black charter bus, which took them to Schindlers private airbase a few kilometers away. A large transport plane was waiting.

The aircraft flew out over the pacific ocean towards the tropical island chain at a low altitude. As the plane neared the Island, patrol vessels tried to shoot the plane down, but were unsuccessful.

"Enola was last reported to be near this plateau" said the pilot over a loudspeaker. "I'm going to drop you boys off by those ruins down there. The gang looked out their windows and saw the remains of Penelope meters away from their aircraft. The exit doors opened, and the group rushed out and jumped onto the ground.

"Well, let's find that girl" ordered Deuce. The group refused to fan out. "What the hell makes you in charge?" Grumbled Sid.

"Look punk, we aren't here on vacation." replied Deuce. "If we want that money we're going to have to co operate." The group wandered the barren plateau just on the outskirts of the ruins of Penelope.

"Talus to base" Growled Talus on his radio to fort Rellikaide. "We've just found another unidentified aircraft. Our ships tried to bring it down, but it dissapeared over the mainland"

The commandant of Fort Rellikaide got on the phone and notified the Minister of Defence.

"Mr Zandar." said the Commandant. "A transport aircraft has flown over the South Island."

Zandar was in a rage. "THIS IS LUDRICROUS!" bellowed Zandar. "We're being invaded by a load of different factions." Zandar got on the phone and ordered all officers to tell their men to focus on the invaders and to worry about Enola later.

"We've got a war on our hands."

---------
The attack helicopter that shot Enola's plane down was about to land next to the wreckage when the pilots got their superiors' message.

"Let's go check around the Ruins of Penelope." said the pilot. "I saw that plane flying pretty low there, and I'm sure they dropped some operatives off near there." The pilot flew towards the ruins and saw the group of misfit mercenaries scouring the ground.

"There are invaders." said the pilot. "Let's notify any nearby ground forces." The Co-Pilot picked up the radio and managed to contact a large regiment that was operating north of the plateau. After they got the message, the regiment headed in the direction of the plateau.

"And in the meantime, we're going to waste as many of these assclowns as we can." sneered the pilot, as he turned his helicopter towards the group - and opened fire

"Holy Crap!" Yelled Christain as he nearly got pulverized by a hail of machine gun fire. The gang frantically ran to the ruins being shot at the whole way. Although the gang made it to the ruins, they didn't make it there scott free. Christain took a nasty shot to the leg and had to roll over and limp back after the helicopter passed overhead. Manny was sent flying from a missile blast. He was shaken up and had all kinds of debris lodged in his skin, but however the blast enabled him to be the first to make it to the ruins. The rest were more fortunate. Once they reached the ruins the gang piled into a stone tower-like structure where the helicopter couldn't see them.

"OW ****! It hurts" Screamed Christain painfully grabbing his leg that was hit several times by machine gun fire.

"Hold still, comrade." said Vladimir, as he proceeded to remove some of the bullets from Christain's leg. Christain thrashed violently in the process. "You were hit pretty bad, but the bone isn't broken. You will have to take it easy."

"Screw that." replied Christain. "I want my million dollars."

"It's alright dawg." said Manny. "I'm pretty messed up too, so I'm not going anywhere anytime soon either. But I could go for a fat blunt. I heard that stuff was legal in this country."

Deuce leaned against the wall of the empty building and lit up a cigarette. "None of us are going anywhere any time soon." commented Deuce. "Not unless we want to get blown to hell by that chopper."

Sure enough, the helicopter could be heard circiling around the city. And so could another sound: The faint rumble of an untold number of personell carriers and light combat vehicles.

The BOers had already travelled almost out of the jungle when the NCIers began trying to chop it to pieces. "Man, if we'd been grunts we'd have been toasted." The others grinned at Yei's statment and continued thier ground devouring pace toward the plateau, all the while staying undercover.

On the plateau near the ruined seaplane, Enola breathed a sigh of relief as the attack helicopter passed over her and headed towards the ruins of Penelope.

She had a new problem now. With the floatplane in a burned out wreck, Enola had no clue how to get off the Island. She staggered a lengthly distance to the east, where the plateau met the ocean. Sitting on the edge of the plateau, with the ocean several hundred feet below her, Enola looked out to sea and saw the RNCI's patrol vessels floating about. Then she realized that stealing one of the boats was out of the question for an infinite amount of obvious reasons. There were no ports anywhere even remotely close by, and as for air travel, the only airports around were in cities that were completely unreachable without a vehicle. And even if she could make it to the cities, there would be plenty of greedy people willing to turn her over to the authorities. In the distance, she could hear the faint sound of guns and explosions.


----------
The large regiment had found it's way to the ruins of Penelope. It didn't take long before the massive force found a path leading to the top of the plateau, and stationed itself about half a kilometer outside the historic ruins to begin shelling the site while infantry units advanced on the ruins. They were determined to slaughter the invading mercs even if it meant turning one of the RNCI's most important historic sites into a pile of gravel.

---------

"Ok boys cut the horseshit." Ordered the leader of the convoy that was sent to investigate the jungle by the ocean. "I'm sure we killed whatever's in there. Now I've been getting reports of something going on by the old city, and the top brass wants all the units in the area there as soon as possible. So let's get our asses mobile." The vehicles returned to the highway, re-loaded their weapons and continued towards the plateau. It would take this convoy some time before they reached the site, so the personell in the convoy decided it would be a good idea to keep a lookout for anyone who may survived their bombardment, or any other invaders who may have recently landed in the area.

"Yei, take Hel and Sol and preform close in recon as well as if you get the chance, scale the plateau."
"Sure Kel."

Yei, Hel and Sol move out, each of them was in the top 5 in the entire BO force in the areas of jungle and forest stealth/survival and Hel held the second-ranked position for scaling mountains.

Meanwhile Jen pulled out the AnSat and began spying on the NCIer troop movements. Anl was relaying the information to the three.

Yei, Hel and Sol had reached the base of the plateau and began searching both for the most concealed route to the top, and to see if there were any possible tracks that would point to the target having made the trek down to the base of the plateau.

Vladimir rushed up a set of stairs to the top of the structure he and his comrades were fortified in once the shelling of the ruins commenced. He aimed his sniper rifle carefully and started picking off the advancing soldiers about two kilometers away. Years of shady corporate espionage had made Vladimir a skilled marksman. Despite his efforts, he couldn't get them all, and some made it to the streets. Because of this, the rest of the squad strategically positioned themselve in various locations

Deuce positioned himself in a small building that wasn't far from the tower, and blew away any soldier unfortunate to pass him. Sid climbed onto the roof of another nearby square building and would shoot down on soldiers who Vladimir missed and tried to enter the ruins by his way. The wounded Manny was still able to make himself useful by occupying the lower levels of the two-floor tower, and would pick off any forces that were close by. He didn't need to do a whole lot, since Vladimir did most of the dirty work. Christain hid at the top of a flight of stairs on a building near the widest entrance that was facing the NCI army. That way he could drop his home-made explosives on any advancing tanks, which were most likely to enter through here. None came yet, as most of the CIDC MBT's and PAV's were shelling the town from a distance. Tyson was on the other side of the wide entrance that Christain was overseeing. His job would be to deal with any personell advancing into this entrance.

"There's a sniper in those ruins" barked an officer in the regiment. "Keep the footsoldiers back and just keep shelling them."

The tanks and rocket launchers continued to bombard the ruins, destroying some of the buildings. However, it seemed that not much was being accomplished, so one of the communications specialists called in an air strike. Three 1.42 fighters were on top the city in a matter of seconds to blast it with their rockets.

A Mercury Utility helicopter was also inbound to drop some re-enforcements into the eastern section of the city, on the other end of where the the battle was being fought. The helicopter dropped about 50 footsoldiers and three Raider Trikes.

After the troops were dropped in the ruins, five CIDC MBT's and ten PAV 90s charged towards the ruins. As the vehicles got closer, their occupants realized that the occupants of the ruins survived the bombardment. The tanks entered the city down a wide path that was once the city's main street. Near the entrance, atop a tall set of stairs on a fairly large building, one of the tank crews noticed a person at the top of the stairs with a set of home made bombs. The CIDC at the front pointed it's main cannon directly at the man...


At the east end of the city, the re-enforcements pushed their way west. They didnt meet any opposition until they reached the far west end, and then started to get shot at. About ten soldiers were killed, and the drivers of one raider trike were also taken down several meters away from the fighting. They met their demise after driving into the side of an old fountain too quickly and ended up flipping their vehicle on it's side. The two occupants were killed instantly. The survivors quickly found cover and returned fire.


--------
Enola suddenly decieded that sitting at the side of the plateau by the ocean wouldn't be a good idea. One of the patrol vessels would clearly see her. She was amazed at how devoted to the cause of seeing her dead the RNCI was, but she was determined to evade her pursuers at all costs. Enola knew the only place to hide on the plateau was probably in the runis of Penelope, the place where she kept hearing an intense battle going on. Despite the shooting, she knew it was the only area nearby where she could hide and think of a new way to leave the island, so she made yet another grueling hike. She was begining to wonder how much running around her body would let her do. It didn't matter though, because she made it to the ruins sooner than she expected. Once in the boundries of the ruins, Enola found the remains of an ancient villa to rest in. She sat on a stone bench inside the villa and looked out the window. She didnt see any shooting going on, but it could clearly be heard in the direction of the city's west end. Using a warzone to hide was not a good idea, but it was better than nothing.

Enola continued to study her surroundings. Judging that there was a wide road outside the villa she was holed up in, she knew she was by the city's main street. Down the street, Enola saw what appeared to be a small vehicle lying on it's side near the basin of what was once a fountain. She knew exactly what to do. Enola jogged cautiously down the main street careful to avoid any detection. She wasn't seen, since everyone was piled into the west end of the city.

The Raider was lying on it's side, and contained the corpses of two RNCI soldiers. Aside from the roll cage being slightly bent, the little vehicle was in good condition, and was still driveable. Enola dragged the dead soldiers out of the raider and struggled with it a bit until it was back on it's wheels. She could now reach one of the Island's ports a lot easier. And not to mention, she wouldn't have to do as much running around. But there was one problem; getting off the plateau. Enola realized that the only path up the plateau was probably where the battle was taking place.

--------
On the jungle highway, the small convoy reached the area where the jungle ended and the base of the plateau started. It was here they decieded to give their weapons one last check before continuing on...

Yei, Hel and Sol had been unable to find tracks around the base, and thus began the process of scaling the plateau, they would search for Enola on the top of the plateau.

Tyson shot his gun desperately at the tank while Christain stared down the barrel of the tanks main gun defiantly as he lit a stick of dynamite and stuffed it down the gun. The blast blew the turret right off the tank, leaving the vehicle as a heap of wreckage.

Sid, Tyson, Manny and Deuce came under fire by the flanking troops that they didn't kill, so they fruitlessly shot back at them but to no avail. They couldn't see where they were. It got worse when a barrage of rockets exploded by their position and one of the members of the small squad was sent flying to the ground after a violent explosion. His bloodied body slammed into the ground several meters behind their position. Sid ran over to the mangled person. It was Tyson. He was gasping for air, and his entire lower body was blown off and mangled, as was his right hand. The blast must have made his gun explode. Blood was gushing out of his mouth like a fountain, and his arms were twitching erradically. A few seconds later, he stopped moving altogether. Sid knew there was nothing he could do, so he ran back to the scene of the shootout and continued firing. He managed to find a rifle on a dead NCI soldier so he could now hit enemies further away.

Another tank managed to climb over top the wreckage of the tank that Christain destroyed earlier, and it too aimed it's gun directly at Christain's head. The tank was a PAV-90, a bit further away and had a shorter barrel. However Christain noticed the open cockpit on the small tank so he tried to take out the driver with his MPI-69. It worked. After killing the driver of the small tank, Christain limped down his staircase and climbed into the vehicle. He drove the tank off the wreckage of the previously destroyed vehicle and started firing it at the NCIers..

"They got a tank" Yelled the commander of the regiment. "Destroy it now"

All the units in the regiment concentrated their fire on the tank and blasted it into oblivion. They then continued their regular bombardment on the ruins. This regiment was determined to flush out the invaders that were getting in the way of their prize and possibly insult the pride of the RNCI's forces.

A message from a nearby attack helicopter blasted on the regiment's communication specialist's radio.

"There's a Raider leaving the city." said the pilot of the helicopter. "We don't think it's any of your men driving the thing"

"Well destroy it." replied the comm. specialist.

"Negative." replied the pilot. "We're an unarmed Mercury U.H"

"Well find someone who can." replied the comm.specialist. "we've got too much on our hands as it is.

The pilot had a sneaky suspicion that Enola was driving the raider, so the pilot , knowing that ten million could be his decieded to set the helicopter down and capture her himself. He flew over top the raider which appeared to be randomly scouting the plateau, possibly for a path to the bottom, and set the massive chopper down right in front of it.

-----
Enola immediately hit the brakes on the raider when the chopper landed in front of her.She had no idea what was going on. The pilot stepped out with a handgun drawn.

"Alright Enola get out of the raider and get over here." ordered the pilot.

Enola's eyes grew wide with extreme fear, and desperately tried to turn the vehicle around, but she grabbed the steering yoke wrong - and hit the trigger for the vehicle's machine guns. Enola never even touched a gun before, let alone even thought about shooting a person. After chopping up the pilot with the machine guns, all Enola could do is sit there petrified.

The three pulled themselves over the lip of the plateau. They noted a chopper and LAV about a klick away. The LAV proceeded to shot at the chopper. Figuring that the driver was Enola they headed toward the two vehicles.

Meanwhile the other three had set to work making anyone following/chasing thier teammates would not enjoy the experiance.

"Christain is dead!" hollered Vladimir. "And these guys keep coming. We have to get the hell out of here."

"You're wacked." replied replied Manny, who managed to overhear vladimir over the gunfire. "I'm not leaving without that shorty!"

Deuce saw some a raider drive past him, so he shot the occupants. The raider would also be his ticket out of the bloodbath. Deuce jumped off the roof of his building and slid into the driver seat of the small vehicle. Driving through the ruins he encountered another raider, and effortlessly terminated the occupants. Vladimir saw Deuce disable the raider, so he abandoned his post and headed to the vehicle. On the way down, he grabbed Manny's arm and told him to come with him. Deuce continued and found Sid, and pulled him into the vehicle. The four men then proceeded to escape the town to the south. The RNCI forces poured into the town in droves.

Heading south, they saw a large, two rotor helicopter on the ground.

Enola finally came to her senses and realized that not only that she could change the fact that she just blew a person to pieces, but also did what she had to do. And with the deserted utility helicopter just in front of her nose, she now had a way to get off the Island. A helicopter this large would have no trouble reaching the United States at all. Enola climbed out of the raider and slowly walked to the large helicopter. It felt like it was about a mile away but it was MUCH closer. The fact that she was so close to freedom and that all the running around made her ready to collapse. After what felt like an entire lifetime, Enola climbed into the cockpit. But then to her horror she realized that she had no idea how to operate the thing. And not only that, she could see people coming towards her position, and could also hear the sound of small engines getting louder and louder....

The three BOers had closed the distance to about 50 meters from the chopper. None of them had weapons in hand, "Excuse me but are you Enola Brixton. If so, we're here to help." Hel called out in a voice that would carry as far as the chopper.

...The words pierced her like a knife. Enola turned to face the BOers and frantically screamed out to them."

"Yes!" Screamed Enola. It was the first time she spoke a word since escaping from the detainment facility. She breathed deeply in relief.

The stances of the three changed imperceptably from 'combat-tense' to 'combat-relaxed'. They crossed the remaining distance. "Are you alright?" Yei asked, "I'm Yei, this is Hel and Sol." He introduced the other two.

The four survivors of the shootout in Penelope raced their stolen raiders to the helicopter - with the NCI regiment not far behind them. Their only chance to escape the approaching force was to comandeer the helicopter.

"GO GO GO!!" Yelled Deuce as he pinned his raider towards the massive utility helicopter that was getting larger - and looking more inviting by the second. It looked even more inviting as shells and bullets started chewing up the ground around their vehicles, and rockets started whizzing over top their heads. If they did make it, it would be close....

....The patrol on the ground could overhear the commotion, so they frantically looked for a way onto the plateau, but never did find one


=---------

As for the large regiment, it was getting closer and closer.

"WE CAN'T LET THEM ESCAPE!!! yelled the leader. "BLAST THEM!"