The Kreff-Earth war:Invasion

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by Gontex on Thu Oct 07, 2010 11:13 am



Chapter 1:Strange Notions

War is hell, thought Sergeant John Kane. Sitting in a trench just outside of Bonn, West Germany under enemy artillery bombardment, He had every reason to believe so, if not more. Kane kept himself as flat as possible, clutching at the earth desperately, as if it were his sweetheart back home just after coming home for leave. The explosions and detonations continued to pound the ground around him and send up plumes of earth shooting up, like geysers. The network of trenches offered decent protection. But that doesn’t mean that a shell might land directly on top of you. Kane suddenly wished he hadn’t had that last thought. The shelling continued on for about a good minute. Then, just as suddenly as it began, it ended. The Sergeant hauled himself up and yelled “Squad, prepare to repel the enemy!”


Based on the ringing in his own ears, Kane didn’t think his men, 6th platoon, had heard him. But it didn’t hurt to look like you were doing your job. Kane cast a quick glace around his section of the trench. All of his men were accounted for and by some small miracle, relatively unscathed. Kane nodded to himself. That was what he expected from his men. They were, along with Kane himself, all Rangers. They were good at doing their job, which was war. Kane checked his weapon; an M16A3and set it to semi-automatic. He then surveyed the ground up landscape ahead of his position, eyes searching for any possible sign of movement. It didn’t take long. There, about half a mile out, was small force of Soviet medium and light armor, supported by a scattering of infantry, advancing upon his section of trench. By the way the Russians ran directly ahead of the armor, not even bothering to stay hunched over when they advanced, they were probably fresh conscripts. A smile formed on John Kane’s lean, fair face. They would soon learn the hard way.

On the small Russian force came. If they were part of a larger push, Kane had no way of knowing. His radio set had been destroyed in the bombardment. Luckily, Mike Guderian, his radioman, had survived. Private Joseph O’Shea, who had a map of Ireland on his face, took position next to Kane and asked with a grin of his own “Permission to give Ivan a proper Ranger welcome, sir?”Kane replied”Hell Joe, you don’t have to ask me. “He raised his voice to a sharp yell “Platoon, engage the enemy at will!” about a second after the order was given, His men opened fire. The front ranks of the thinly spread soviet troops (at least they had the sense loosen up their formation, not that it would help them much) went down as if scythed. Some went down screaming and thrashing. Others crumpled to the ground and didn’t move at all, ever again. The Russians infantry, having discovered that the American soldiers were very much alive and well, threw themselves flat to the ground. Some tried to run back towards the tanks they had cut themselves off from in their reckless charge on the U.S position. They didn’t get very far.

Kane hefted his M16A3 to his shoulder and picked a target. Better to think of them that way than as human beings, he though savagely. He had a fleeing Russian in his iron sight. Kane pulled the trigger twice and was rewarded with two quick bursts. The Red went down. By the way he screamed in agony, it didn’t seem like he would get up again. His murder of the enemy soldier had taken less seven seconds. In those seven seconds, Kane had only been vaguely aware of the world around him. Several PT-76, soviet light armor, had been turned into flaming wrecks in short order. A T-72 and a couple of T-62’s were made of tougher stuff. They could take punishment and dish it out too. They were providing cover-literally-to the remaining USSR soldiers, who were just now starting to return fire. But it was half hearted at best. Kane had been in plenty of shootouts, more than he cared for ever since the damm war had broke out and the world had went to hell. He could reasonably tell, at least he thought he could, if the enemy was committed to a fight or not. But the tall, lean sergeant from New Jersey had his doubts about whether the worlds governments had any idea how committed their opponents were to fighting world war III to the bitter end. In the 2 months since the United States, along with the limeys, however reluctant they had been, had decided it would be a good idea to launch pre emptive air strikes on formations of Warsaw pact armor massing all along west German border and in east Berlin.

With Reagan in charge, The United States hadn’t been about to let the russkies the throw their weight around and make demands. Kane had expected Reagan to take a hard line against Ivan. He expected no less, as a staunch Republican. But even a staunch Republican like him had been surprised-no horrified-when the President of the United States had started talking about war and how evil empires under strong-handed regimes could only be reasoned with by force. Then, suddenly, there was a loud Crack! Kane ducked down into the trench, his thoughts of the past banished. A bullet had nearly blown his head off. He cursed himself for being so damm nostalgic. He would have time to reflect-and regret-later. As for now, he had to focus. He popped back up, weapon ready and his mind clear.

He immediately noticed that the Russians were falling back. The Rangers were still firing as them as they retreated. That was just a waste of ammunition.”Cease fire men, we’ve sent the reds away with their tails between their legs. “He ordered. His men only reluctantly obeyed. Joe O’Shea walked over to him-or rather he crawled over to him (you really didn’t want to stand in a trench. it was hazardous to your life expectancy) and said.”We sure did give those bastards a good kick to the balls, sir. Wish we could do that to the whole god damm soviet army.” Kane couldn’t see anything wrong with what the Irishman from New York had said. He said “I wish the same thing Joe. But there’s one thing I wish for more than anything in the world. And that’s for this madness to stop.”Joe O’Shea shook his head sadly.”You might as well wish for the moon while you’re at it, sir. War aint likely to end until were dead or they are.”Kane, however much he hated to admit it to himself, thought the New Yorker to be right. But Kane was a stubborn man. He said “But what about you f-“Kane abruptly stopped, hoping that O’Shea hadn’t heard what he had been about to say. But it was too late.

”My family?” O’Shea finished for him. Joe’s jaw set. His eyes took on a particularly icy quality.”I’ve got no family left. Not after the Russians bombed New York.” after a long pause, Joe added “Sir.”Kane sighed. Joe had his reasons for wanting the war to continue. His reason was as old as time: simple revenge. What am I fighting for?, He asked himself. As the war began and after New York had been bombed in retaliation for the US attack, he would have said “Patriotism! Duty!”Now he had to really think about it.2 months of hell could do that to a man, make him question everything he had believed in. He wasn’t doing this for his country, not now he wasn’t. To hell with that. He was just as much a patriot as every other American. But the Army didn't care about him or the other enlisted men in it. To the officers with the high foreheads, he was just a statistic. As far as he was concerned, the generals sitting snugly behind their desks in the Department of Defense could go to hell.

He looked around at the men he led. Slowly, he nodded to himself. They were the reason why he was fighting. There were all brothers to him. They had all been here from the beginning of the war. They had fought, bled, ate, celebrated and mourned together. He had taken the responsibility upon himself to see them though the war in one piece. They were all good men and every time one of them died or got wounded under his command, it had hurt him. He took things like that hard and he was tough on himself whenever he felt like he had let them down. He resolved himself to do his best to ensure that no more of them would give up the ghost. He said to O’Shea”Joe, I’m sorry for that. I really am. But what are you gonna do once all this is over?”Kane waved his arm, indicating not just this battlefield, but the whole world.” It can’t go on forever” Kane finished. His friend opened his mouth to say something, but whatever it was, it had been cut off by the whistling sound of incoming artillery, a sound both combat veterans had become all too familiar with these past two months. O’Shea screamed “Incoming!” and threw himself flat. Kane wasted no time following suit. As both men cowered in the trench, in fear of their lives, the private sent John a look that said it can’t go forever, huh?