Great job Hikaro!

@Daken: Yes. I focus on the Russian side of the story, from Stalin's point of view.

Napo does the Robertson-Randall bits.

Oreo does Gunner and mixes in with the Robertsons.

Hikaro does German forces in Penn.

I may have some sketches up soon. SO maybe we could make a discussion thread!

Wow! That was one of the best chapters in the story, Hikaro! You've stirred my imagination... Expect a new chapter from me later tonight.

Also, I made a two-baseplate MOC with Will Welch and some traders last night.



Awesome; can't wait to see 'em! Yes, I think a discussion thread would be wise.

Bart looked through his binoculars. "What the-! What is that?" Bart had been on border patrol for the past day. Normally, patrol was boring, especially since the Randalls had been beaten. Now he heard loud vehicles and music coming down a dirt road. He knew what to do. Using one of the walkie-talkies that could be recharged on a portable generator, he contacted Louis Robertson down the road. "Fats, this is Bones! Fats, this is Bones! You hear that?"

Louis, a chunky fellow, responded immediately. "Heck, yeah! Er... I mean, Bones, this is Fats. That's an affirmative. What'll we do, sir?"

Bart picked up his grease gun. "This is Bones... Lock n load. Be prepared for an attack. This might be a trap, trying to get us to focus on the vehicles and music while they sneak up on us from behind, whoever they are. Wait! Fats, they're in view. Repeat: bogeys are in view with my binoculars. They're Krauts, looks like! I'm sounding the alarm!"

At that, Bart rang a huge bell, the sound of which alerted the militia. Within five minutes, others, including James and Gunner were already arriving at the border, geared up for combat. Even Harry was there. As the military vehicles approached, they were ready to open fire.

Until they saw the Jagdpanther.

Harry's cigar dropped onto the ground. He almost gave the order to retreat, until he spotted the white flag. "Stand down, men! Stand down! Those Krauts are under a flag of truce! Don't fire unless I give the order or you are fired upon."

As one of the kubelwagens pulled up and stopped, a Prussian-blue uniformed man got out and saluted. "Good day, my friends! I am Hauptmann Ryan Lautenslager of the Freischteet Pennsilfaani."

"Kraut worm!" and worse were shouted at him.

He held up his hand. "I know, I know. You think we're quislings, but we're not! We hate the Krauts. We're Pennsylvania Dutch, not Prussians or Bavarians!"

Harry lowered his rifle. He pointed at Ryan's uniform. "Prove it, buster. Ya'll sure look like Kraut invaders to me."

"Der Fuhrer sucks," said Ryan simply.

"Haw-haw! My eighty year-old grandma could desecrate him batter 'n 'at! I still don't believe you. If you can lie to the Krauts, then you can lie to us. Get out!"

"Anyone here who served with the Free American or Rebellion forces?" Ryan ignored him.

Gunner raised his hand, "Me. I served for over two years in the Rebellion Marines."

Ryan nodded. "Ever heard of Raven Rock? We've been hiding it from the Krauts for over 50 years."

Gunner grinned. "Oh, yeah. You could say I was in the area a few times."

Ryan found what he was looking for. "Great! I- Wait! What's going on over there?"

Three men were trying to control a man in a trench coat and a fedora. "Lemme go!" The man reached up and knocked out one of the Robertsons. Finally, they beat him into submission.

Harry walked over and smacked the prisoner. "Who are you- Welch?! What did he do, men?"

One of the captors piped up. "We caught 'im talkin' into a fancy phone to that Kraut over there. He's a dirty spy! After we listened in on his conversation, we moved in and took 'im."

Harry punched Will in the eye. "Yer outa here, Welch! Men, this is a bunch of back-stabbin' by them uppity outsiders! They're among us now! Fire!"

Ryan threw himself over the hood of the kubelwagen and rolled onto the dirt on the opposite side of the vehicle, which protected him from incoming shots. Unfortunately for the Dutch, the jagdpanther pilot was shot between the eyes. A Robertson immediately flung his body out of the cockpit, but before he could climb in himself, he was shot by a soldier. Chaos ensued, with multiple people going down trying to capture or recapture the tank. Finally, Bart got in and closed the hatch.

"Oh, yeah, baby! Time to rock!" He tried to hurry and figure out which buttons did what. Finally, he thought he had it down. "Machine gun is this stick thingie, I think."

Ratatatatatatatatatatatata!

"Mei Himmel!" exclaimed Ryan as several of his men went down.

Bart fingered more switches and buttons. "Ooh, what's this?!" He pushed a purple, square button and a helmet was lowered onto his head.

"Heil!" hailed a computerized voice. "Please pick target or targets and I will do the rest." It was hard, but Bart finally picked out a kubelwagen that held several Pennsylvania gunners. "Target picked. Commencing barrage."

Bart gave himself a pat on the back. "Heck, yes!" The tank made a whirring noise before it unleashed hell upon the car. Every weapon in the jagdpanther fired. The kubelwagen was utterly obliterated. Bart pushed the joystick forward and the tank's treads crushed the metal remnants.

Ryan used his Mauser to pick off a Robertson Old Guardsman, but knew there was no point. "Get out of here, men! Retreat! We don't have a chance with that jagdpanther on their side!"

The men sprinted through the woods while a few, less-intelligent, men tried to board the remaining kubelwagens. Bart saw that coming and barraged the cars, but gave them enough time to get in them; killing two birds with one stone. The Robertsons surged forward, picking off random soldiers and stealing their modern equipment.

Ryan ran for his life. He could hear men screaming and the ratatatat of the jagdpanther's machine gun. Finally, the Robertsons gave up the hunt and sorted through the equipment they had looted.

James and Gunner inspected a wounded Robertson soldier. It was Carl. Once again, he had been shot in the leg, reopening his old wound. "How'd it happen Carl?" asked Gunner.

Carl groaned, "Oh, I had a safe route to the jagdpanther when we were fighting over it. Somehow, someone shot me in the calf. Next thing I saw was Bart climbing into the cockpit."

Gunner shot James a nervous look. Then, he patted Carl on the back. "Ain't a terrible wound. Go get it checked out, 'kay?"

Carl stood up and headed toward a medic. "Sure thing!"

James removed his helmet and wiped his brow. "Harry.... I bet he shot Carl so his brother Bart could hog the spotlight!"

Gunner looked like he barely listened. "Jimmy, I don't think that Rick's assassin was a Randall."

James looked at him in disbelief. "You don't mean... a Nazi? Harry's a... quisling?!"

"Only one way to tell fer sure. Where's he live?"

"Down the road. Why?"

Later that night...

"I dunno, Gunner, this seems pretty risky," whispered James while putting on his balaclava.

"Relax, Jimbo. Harry's not here. He's down the road aways dealing with that screwy jagdpanther. Hehe, didn't they know those things had a self-destabilizer built into its system? The Dutchies just pushed a button wherever they are and boom! Treads fall off and gears mutilate themselves. Snowball's chance in Hell they'll fix it. Now, Jimmy, this door is almost open. Liz's hairpin works great for this kinda stuff.

Click.

James clapped his hands together silently. "Yes! We're in!"

They quietly prowled into the living room. No one there. They breathed sighs of relief as they inspected the first floor and found no one home. They headed up the rickety stairs.

"Uh-oh," moaned Gunner.

"What?"

"There's someone in the library. I can see a light!"

James thought on his feet. "I'll creak the door open and we'll get behind the pane. When whoever it is comes to see what happened, we jump 'em."

"Done."

They did as planned and footsteps did indeed come to see what opened the door. As soon as the figure got to the door, they attacked. Gunner tackled head-on, while James wrapped ropes around the person. When the dust settled and they calmed down, the two compadres realized the "guard" was Harry's sister, Mary.

"What're you doing?!" she demanded. "Let me go!"

James decided to come right out and ask. "Are you a Nazi?"

"Wha? What are you talking about?" She looked positively puzzled.

James answered, "We think your brother is a quisling. We found out he shot Carl. We think twice! I didn't tell Carl earlier, but the bullet that hit him was a friendly. The Dutch don't use those kind of rounds."

Her mouth fell open. "Harry shot Carl? That's crazy... Although, he has had fights with him before."

Gunner pulled out a bandanna. "If you help us search the house, we'll cut the ropes. If you don't help, I'll gag you. It's a win-lose situation. Either way, we get our way."

She nodded. "All right. I've got nothing to lose. If my brother is capable of turning to the Nazis, I won't doubt that he's as evil as you're saying."

Gunner cut the ropes and helped her up. "Now," he said, "Does your brother have anything he doesn't let you see?"

She looked thoughtful. "I don't go into his bedroom very often. He always says he can keep it up himself."

"Bingo." James gave a thumbs up. "I bet his dresser has something."

The trio headed over to the bedroom door and Gunner picked its lock. They stepped in. "It stinks in here," complained James.

"Like villainy and treachery?" asked Gunner.

"No, like dirty clothes and sweat. Let's get in and out. I don't wanna stay in this place for long." They started shifting through the mounds of scavenged clothes and junk. They reached the bed and, highly suspicious, inspected underneath. "Nothing," groaned James as he stood up. "Just... garbage. This is disgusting."

Gunner sauntered over to the dresser and ransacked it. The bottom and middle drawers held nothing but more junk and clothing. Finally, he went through the top drawer. "Ah-ha! A picture of Der Fuhrer! What a low-down rat!" He tossed the postcard-sized photo to Mary, who muttered several ugly things. He continued going through the drawer. "Hello! What's in this sock?" He reached in and pulled out a small, black, folded rectangle with a rod on it. On the top it had a white swastika printed on it. "Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle!" he grinned as he unfolded the plastic rectangle. "This is a Kraut cell phone! I've had experience with these things before... Lessee.., Contact List... Ah-ha! Lookie, he has "Herr Ludwig Schwarz and Herr Rudolf Lowenstein! I bet he has fun talkin' to them!"

James and Mary looked at it with shocked expressions. It was real, all right. A fascist cellphone right in his dresser. James took the phone. "Wow... I've never held a real cellphone before!"

Mary looked angry. Very angry. She shoved Gunner out of the way and went through the rest of the dresser drawer. She found a swastika flag in a stack of handkerchiefs and found a secret compartment in the back of the drawer. "Chocolate. Bavarian chocolate. People would kill for chocolate nowadays. The fact it's from Bavaria proves it once and for all. My brother is a traitor."

"How nice of you, sister!" boomed a voice behind them.

"Harry!" Gunner looked ready to gun him down.

Harry pointed his revolver at them. "Drop your weapons. Now!" They had no choice, so they did as demanded. "Now, you're going to go down the stairs and outside, where my men'll arrest you for breaking into my quarters and plotting to overthrow me. Git movin'!" The four people descended the stairs and were greeted at the door by the Robertson Old Guard. "Men, these three people are also conspiring against me! Yes, even my sister has turned against me! They and fellow-conspirators Carl Robertson, Elizabeth Patterson, and Will Welch are henceforth exiled from Spruce County and are to be transported to New Jersey. Now carry out my orders to the letter!"

The Old Guard escorted them to the T-Bird and a captured kubelwagen. Armed guards piled into the cars to make sure James, Gunner, and the others did not try to escape.

As James watched Harry out the backseat window, he vowed to return some day and reclaim Spruce County. He thought the others were probably think that, too.

Thanks for the compliment! However, we prefer to call ourselves Pennsylvania Dutch, danke schee!

Which brings up something else: Pennsylvania German is SIGNIFICANTLY different from Standard "High" German.... I.e. lots of words that end in "n" have the N dropped off, and there as been a lot of vowel shifting.... This Wikipedia article should be helpfull, not to mention the fact that there is a PA German version of Wikipedia as well... intermediate-to-advanced German speakers should be able to kind of pick out what the PDC version of standard German words are....

Quick example: The exclamation should be "Mei Himmel!" Also, Das -> Es, Wir -> Mer, Ich have -> Ich hawwe
Also, Napoleon: Please check your PMs....

Great Napo!

Thanks! Take a look at it now! (I added lots more and edited the cause of the fight upon a suggestion from Hikaro.

Starting discussion thread... NOW!

OK, before I get to doing my next segment, I want to point out another small error with the previous chapter: Hauptmann Ryan Lautenslager's standard-issue sidearm is a C-96 "broomhandle" Mauser, not a luger... It even says so in his character entry... Anyways, on with the story.

Ryan cursed up a storm as what was left of the squad re-grouped in the woods several miles from the Robertson border... Of the 11 men who accompanied him to the ill-fated diplomatic attempt, only 6 were left.... Miraculously, two of the survivors were Oberwachtmeister Eichenlaub and the gunner from his Kubelwagen, although Mark had taken a flesh wound in his left arm. One bit of silver lining in the cloud of suck was that in addition to him triggering the Jagdpanther's disabling charges in a timely manner, the gunner from his Kubelwagen, Obergefreiter Lewis Dorty, had managed to dismount his MG-42/3 from the vehicle before making good his escape... Now to figure out what to do.

Mark pretty much summed up the immediate situation as he finished dressing his wound, "We're ----ed, sir!"

Ryan sighed, "Well, maybe... I see that Soldat Brechbill happens to have a radio on him... I think the best thing we can do at the moment is call up Leutnant Snyder and let him know we need a ride..." Before he even started to issue the order, Soldat Brechbill passed the radio to Ryan, who nodded and said, "Thanks, Brechbill," then keyed the mike and said, "Olive Branch to Wagon Train, come in, over..."

After waiting a few seconds, he lifted the radio back to his lips to repeat the call when Snyder's voice replied, "Olive Branch, this is Wagon Train, I have you loud and clear, over."

"Wagon Train, Plan Olive Branch was a failure... We were attacked without provocation and suffered close to 50% casualties.... We lost the big kitty and our dune buggies... Could you give us a lift, over?"

"Roger, that Olive Branch," Snyder replied, "hang tight and we'll be by to pick you up, over."

"Copy that, Wagon Train, be advised to come loaded for trouble.... I have a feeling those Robertsons are going to be looking for us too," Ryan radioed back, "Olive Branch out!" As soon as he got the final acknowledgment from Lt. Snyder, Ryan hooked the radio to his belt and said, "Okay, boys! There's a bridge about half a mile up the road from where we are... Lets hoof it there and get dug in until help arrives! Now move out!" The men picked up their guns and silently moved through the woods to the location that Ryan pointed out and set up a nice little machinegun nest/ambush zone before settling in for a long wait... It would probably be a couple hours before Lt. Snyder got the rest of the convoy back together and reached their position, and they weren't going to be taken by surprise a second time in one day.

Obergefreiter Dorty even made a comment about the huge FUBAR that went down almost an hour ago: "I can't believe a bunch of hillbillies got the best of us!" he muttered as he settled down behind his MG-42/3 and cast a wary eye on the road leading back to the Robertson territory.

******

Meanwhile, James, Gunner, Liz and Will were echoing similar sentiments as they wee being driven towards their eventual exile. "I can't believe I let that Nazi rat-_______ Harry get the drop on me!" Gunner snarled as they rolled down the road, "I mean I'm the one who was a frakkin' Rebellion Marine for Pete's sake!"

Before any of the other prisoners in the Kubelwagen (Ironically enough, Ryan's command car no less) could say anything, one of the Robertson Old Guard cuffed Gunner alongside the head and said, "Shaddup, ya quisling! If anyone here is the Nazi rat, it's YOU fer plantin' false evidence again' Harry an' tryin' ta usurp control of the clan!" If looks could kill, the one that Gunner gave the arrogant Old Guard would have reduced him to sub-atomic particles. When the Old Guard noticed this, he sneered and said, "Hey, Ernie! This 'un's got him an attitude problem! Think I aughtta teach 'im a lesson in manners?" Before Ernie could reply, all Hell broke loose.

******

The six surviving Pennsylvania Grenzschutz soldiers perked up when they heard vehicles on the road approaching from the direction leading back to the Robertson territory. Hauptmann Lautenslager looked through his binoculars and said, "Those lousy, stinking, rotten pieces of crap! They're driving my dadgum COMMAND CAR like they own it!" Mark and Obergefreiter Dorty looked at each other with somewhat worried expressions... While the Hauptmann was usually a good, levelheaded leader, too much stress tended to send him into a berserker rage, and it looked like he was approaching his rage threshold.

"Well, sir," Oberwachtmeister Eichenlaub said in as calm a voice as he could muster, "how do you want to go about getting it back?"

Ryan took a few deep breaths and said, "Okay men, stand-by.... Obergefreiter Dorty, as soon as they cross the bridge, I want you to use the MG-42/3 to disable the lead car... Looks like a T-bird...." he then raised his StG-50 to his shoulder, set it into semi-automatic mode and sighted down the Vampir MK III Infrared Scope, "And I'll take out the driver of the Kubelwagen! After that, I'll ask if they're willing to listen to reason, or at least delay them until help arrives."

By this time, the vehicles had rounded the last bend in the road and began crossing the bridge. "Wait for it.... Wait for it.... NOW!" Ryan shouted as soon as the T-Bird and the Kubelwagen had both made it across the bridge. As soon as he gave the command, he double-tapped the Robertson Old Guard driving the Kubelwagen at the exact same time Dorty opened up with the MG-42/3. The 7.62x51mm Steel-core bullets, fired at a rate of 1200 rounds per minute shredded the T-bird's engine block at about the same time the Kubelwagen's driver had his brain and chest cavity evacuated by two 7.62x39mm bullets from Ryan's StG-50. The T-bird came to an abrupt halt, and the Kubelwagen crashed into its rear, similarly coming to a complete stop, as Robertson Old Guards who weren't killed from the impact or too dazed rolled off the back of the Kubelwagen and roof of the T-Bird to seek cover behind the vehicles, leaving their prisoners to their fates.

Ryan holds up his hand indicating that his troops should hold their fire and, switching the radio to PA mode says, "Surrender, NOW! Put down your weapons and come out with your hands up, you truce-breaking scumbags!"

"Go blow it out your royal wazoo, Kraut!" Ernie Robertson, the guard detail's leader shouted back, "I know fer a fact that not more'n a half a dozen of you quislings got away from the butt-whuppin' ol' Harry gave ya, an' it's only a matter of time 'fore the others come lookin' fer us.... So basically, what we got here is a Mexican standoff, 'cept we we aint got no Mexicans!" This last part raised a chorus of snickers from the Robertsons hiding behind the vehicles.

Inside the Kubelwagen, James looks at Gunner and says, "Well, looks like our goose is about to get cooked, trapped here between two groups of maniacs!"

"It's all my fault," Special Agent Welch says, "If I hadn't gotten caught this all wouldn't be happening! I don't know how, but they were able to find my secret communications point...."

Gunner leans back and growls, "Well, as I was saying before I got hit upside the head, Harry Robertson is a no-good Nazi SPY... He must have gotten tipped off by his contacts that you were snooping around and where to find you.... What a piece of work!"

Liz sighed and said, "Well, so much for finding us a place to call home... At least we ain't dying in some Nazi prison camp, though...."

Before anyone else could say anything, the rumble of approaching vehicles could be heard coming up the road from the opposite direction.

Mark, Ryan and the other soldiers on the rise overlooking the standoff grinned, and Mark said, "Well, well, well! If it ain't the cavalry coming to save the day!"

Ryan got on the radio and said, "Lt. Snyder, we've got some Robertsons pinned down at the bridge... I need you to dismount the rest of the company and flank them with second and third platoon... Take what's left of first platoon and meet me here, over!"

"Roger that, Herr Hauptmann!" came the reply as olive-green uniformed Pennsylvania Grenzschutz troops swarmed through the area. Most of the Robertson guards, seeing how badly they were outnumbered, not to mention out-flanked they were, immediately threw down their guns and held their hands up... A few idiots, however, decided to try fleeing across the bridge, only to be mowed down my Obergefreiter Dorty's MG-42/3.

As the Grenzschutz soldiers rounded up the half-dozen prisoners, Hauptmann Lautenslager walked over to his re-claimed command car and said, "Well, Herr Welch, I think we can safely assume that any chance of diplomatic relations with the Robertsons are officially hosed!"

Before Will could say anything, one of the other people in the Kubelwagen said, "Maybe not.... I'm James Robertson, and I'd be willing to make a deal, but first, it would be helpful if you could untie me."

Ryan looked and noticed that the man who identified himself as James Robertson, along with Special Agent Welch, the man who had earlier identified himself as a member of the Rebellion Marines and some woman were all tied up. "Uh, right," Ryan said as he began cutting their bonds, "I'm sure that there's an interesting story here, but it can wait until we've got the scumbags who attacked us taken care of and we're back on the road."

James nodded, "Right, oh, there's more of us in the T-Bird." Ryan nodded and ordered some soldiers to free the people in the T-Bird, and James continued, "By the Way, Harry, the foul-mouthed SOB who ordered the attack, is a Nazi Spy... Figgered you might want to know that, since you told him about the existence of Raven Ridge or whatever...."

Ryan Blanched and went to switch the Kubelwagen's radio to the encrypted military frequency, only to find the set perforated by a stray bullet. He turned and shouted, "Leutnant Snyder, I need you to get on the horn with the Chief of Intel and let him know that I inadvertently let out one of our biggest secrets to an enemy spy... With any luck we might be able to neutralize his contacts before they can do any damage..." He turns to the group of freed prisoners and asks, "Did any of you, perchance get the names of his contacts?"

"Yeah," Gunner replied, "Ludwig Schwarz and Rudolf Lowenstein!"

"Right, tell him to be on the lookout for a Ludwig Schwarz and Rudolf Lowenstein!" Ryan continued, "Oberwachtsmeister Eichenlaub, I want you to get some sturdy lads together and push that T-bird into the ravine, along with any bodies... I want as little evidence left of our firefight here as possible under our time constraints... I need this show back on the road in fifteen minutes!"

Mark saluted and began barking orders to the troops. Soon all the bodies from the firefight and resultant wreck were loaded into the trashed T-Bird, which was shoved over the edge of the ravine, and the men used branches to sweep away as much blood and dirt as possible before getting back into their trucks. Hauptmann Lautenslager climbed into the back seat of his command Kubelwagen, taking the gunners place between Gunner Patterson and James Robertson, while the usual gunner, Obergefreiter Dorty took Lautenslager's usual position in the passenger seat. Leutnant Snyder strolled up to the car and saluted, "Herr Hauptmann, Intel got back to me... Looks like we're in luck: both those agents happened to be lurking around in the Freischteet, and were also on Intel's hit list... Chief said that he's going to give them the option of working for us as double-agents or suffering an 'unfortunate accident'."

"Good work. Leutnant," Ryan replied, "Now let's get this show on the road!" As the somewhat reduced convoy got underway, he turned to his new travelling companions and said, "Mr. Robertson and Mr. Patterson, was it? ...I'm sure what you've got to tell me is a long story, but it's going to be a long trip back to Harrisburg, and I'm sure the Governor is going to want to hear what I'm sure you're about to tell me...."

....To Be Continued

Okay, I'm planning on posting the second installment of this piece sometime tomorrow... The only reason I'm stopping here is that (a) it's a good stopping point and (b) it's freaking midnight and I'm really freaking tired. Also, I realized I made an embarrassing translation error: Brandschutz = Fire Patrol... GRENZschutz ~ National Guard.... I'm going to be going over my previous entries and fix that.

Oh well, great installment though!

This is a great story! Is this going on a website so it would be easier to read and look back?

Fixed to mauser. I meant to relook his equipment...

Great chapter!



I'm thinking about that... Webs allows sites to be run by multiple people...

Oh, you can still comment on chapters here, but any posts without story that ask questions, details, etc, go in da discussion thread.