Swing and a Miss

“Blake’s Raiders”

Glover / Norfolk Landing, Mississippi

Wednesday, 10 July, 2030

Getting up in the middle of the night wasn’t easy or fun, even if it was necessary, and even if it was my own idea.  Still, I wanted my two best scouts to be able to ride within a klick or so of the marauder’s camp before they dismounted, and I also needed to give the GMSM foot soldiers time to walk from their cantonment to the marauder’s camp as well, especially the group that had to walk to the north of the campsite before they turn South and attack.

If we had working low-light gear, we would have started the attack in the middle of the night, but, as the saying goes, if wishes were horses, beggars would ride.  I’m just glad the GMSM troops knew the area well enough to be willing to walk it in the pre-dawn hours.  At least we had a waxing gibbous moon to provide some light.  No one had to be reminded that the moonlight would help an alert marauder spot us.

We drove the HumVee to within a kilometer of the marauder’s last known position, then stayed put whilst SGTs Rodriguez and Whitehead moved forward, as our two designated snipers.  We were fortunate that our M2010s, with their .300 Winchester Magnum rounds had been around long enough that we had acquired reloading dies before the Twilight War began, and SPEC McCarthy has put extra effort into keeping our sniper rifles in top shape.  His suppressors are nearly as good as the ones from the factory.  If we can get the drop on the marauders, we should be able to wipe them out this time...

Sunrise was at 6:54 (no one follows the old “Daylight Savings Time” anymore).  The plan was for the scouts, if they can spot any sentries, to shoot at 6:45, unless one of the two GMSM squads makes contact earlier (in which case, all bets are off).  Unfortunately for us, and fortunately for the marauders, they had left the area.  My scouts reported no contact and once the sun came up, the GMSM squads moved in.  

The spot had clearly been used as a campsite for some time, but the marauders had only left behind broken pieces of gear, a cold campfire, a few pieces of spent brass and several graves.  One was clearly fresh, which confirmed what my scouts reported from their initial encounter, although I had hoped they had killed more than one marauder…

[I had initially given the marauders a 25% chance of staying and rolled a 21, but after thinking about their situation, I dropped that to a 10% chance, so they left.  The two wounded marauders can’t stand watch without setting back their healing, and during any combat, they would stand a chance of relapsing into unconsciousness, so I just really didn’t see them staying put…. Time will tell if they come back in a week or so…]

After discussing the situation with the GMSM squad leaders, I offered to set up an observation post at the river landing for a few days in case the marauders return.  While not being able to capture the tugboat is a disappointment, the GMSM is happy to have the threat eliminated and will establish a permanent fishing camp at the landing.   Until they can move their equipment and supplies over from their main encampment, we’ll distill some fuel, continue scouting the area and keep looking for salvage.  I sent SPEC McCarthy back with the HumVee to bring the cargo trailer (with its still) up to the landing.

The rest of the day was spent setting up our camp, and firing up the still.  The GMSM provided enough grain for a couple of days distilling.  They also provided some fishing poles.  We hope to catch enough to share.  Since fishing was a major hobby of mine, pre-war, I headed down to the river with SPEC McCarthy, who had fished regularly growing up.

[Foraging table, 1d6 x 1, per person (summer).  4 + 4 Kg]

We caught a total of 8Kg of fish.  Not bad for an afternoon’s work, and we’ll continue fishing while we distill alcohol from the grain we’ve been provided.  Fresh fish will make a great dinner, and we will have some to share.  We also rigged some trot lines for some overnight fishing.

Just before dusk, a small herd of white-tail deer came near our camp.  There were nine total in the herd.  Unfortunately, as soon as SGT Rodriguez started to take aim, they bounded away.  We’ll build a hunting blind / scouting position a few hundred meters from camp in the morning, circumstances permitting.