30
Mar/2008
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Memoirs of a Marquis Member: Chapter 3: Weary River
Chapter 3: Weary River
Our little group began the day on a small island on the Seine. It guaranteed us some privacy from anybody who might stumble across our little camp. Of course, I felt a lot safer now that we have a tank in our midst. Nothing says security like a giant cannons.
Anyways, I digress. Being on the river Seine, we decided the best way to get to Paris would be to head down the river. Of course we were going to need a ship big enough to carry the tank and my truck. We decided to split up. The Comrade and the Knight headed north up the river, the Doctor and I headed down south.
The Doctor and I didn’t get very far, for literally around the next corner was an abandoned old river barge.The barge was old and looked like it had been docked and abandoned for several years. A quick search of the barge found that it had some holes in it near the waterline and the motors were shot. The Doctor was quite confident that she could repair the motors. When we rendezvoused with the Comrade and the Knight, we showed them the barge and all of us began making the repairs. It took the better part of the day, but we finally had a working barge..
We loaded out vehicles on to the barge. Most of the vehicles would look like cargo; the tank however engaged its stealth system and looked like it was just a big empty space on the barge. Even on board the barge, one couldn’t tell it was there. The military members of our group dressed in street clothes and we all took the guise of a ship crew moving their cargo down the river.
The Seine itself was very quiet. There was no traffic on the river which I guess wouldn’t be that unexpected given the certain state of things. If fact it was so quiet that when as we took the Seine around the city of Boulogne-Billancourt, we heard a single motorcycle go roaring across the bridge. I didn’t think too much of it (other than there is more gas somewhere in the Paris) until we came around the bend.
Running along the riverside was a young tall man with short light brown hair and brown hair. As our barge came near the young man, our Knight asked him a few questions. It turned out that the young man was a Marine from the Expeditionary Forces that had left Earth so long ago. He said he was Private James Nichols and his bike (he called it a Cyclone) had been stolen from him as he was passing through Boulogne-Billancourt.
Apparently, the thieves used the old rope across road trick to separate the driver from his motorcycle. Upon hearing his story the Doctor, agreed to help the Marine. She requested for me to let the Marine take my bike. She grabbed her bike and two headed back into Boulogne-Billancourt to look for the Marine’s bike. The rest of us headed down the river to look for a place to dock the barge.
As the barge headed down the river, we passed by a small canal that emptied out into the Seine. Now in a former life, I would have gathered up some people of questionable background, and waited in the canal until a barge came by. Then I would quietly roll out behind the barge and take it out. Why do I think such thoughts, as I say I am not a nice girl.
Not sooner did I think that, then did four rubber boats full of such individuals. Each boat had a man armed with a large Southern Cross shield of some sort, with another man armed with a rifle, and finally the last man in the boat operated the motor. A very professional group, they executed their plan flawlessly and were nearly on top of their boat.
Fortunately for us (and you by proxy), I saw this coming.
I shouted to the Knight to grab my Bushmaster and prepare for attackers behind us. Now like many proud owners of a Bushmaster, I had customized my Bushmaster to carry a Baby Viper Grenade Launcher. Now the Knight had his sword, he begun to slay the dragons behind us. He fired two grenades into two boats, destroying the boats and killing most of the crew. I checked to make sure there the Seine was relatively straight and then went to deal with the pirates behind us. I called on Joan and Charles for help. Joan was the first to help, laying a burst into one of the remaining boat’s crew. The shield bearer blocked Joan’s bullets and the rifleman ducked out the way, however Joan did hit the driver well. Then Charles backed up Joan, laying down a burst as soon as Joan finished. Charles caught the pirates as they recovering from Joan’s assault. All three were hit, the motor operator tumbled out of the boat and was quickly left behind.Meanwhile the last boat managed up to pull along the side of the barge. The shield-bearer and the rifleman boarded just out of my sight. Fortunately, the Comrade was nearby. The Comrade had disguised himself as a lighterman who was passing his time on the journey by fishing.
The pirate rifleman tried to take a pot shot at the Comrade, but his gun jammed. The Comrade then pulled out his pistol, killed the shield-bearer (who fell off the boat) and then rolled underneath his tank. The amusing thing is that tank was cloaked, so when he rolled underneath it, he disappeared. Joan had fired another burst into my boat full of targets, seeking revenge against those who dared avoid her previous burst. They were not as lucky this time and were gunned down. I then turned to help the Comrade. I walked up behind them and Charles attempted to shoot the driver of the last of the boat. Unfortunately Charles had bitten off more than he could chew. He had a failure to extract (i.e. an empty casing had failed to eject).
At this point the two remaining pirates had enough. The rifleman returned to his boat and the two made their getaway. The Knight fired a burst from the Bushmaster at them, but they were able to avoid it. I could have also joined in shooting at the fleeing enemy but I was more concerned with what was wrong with Charles, besides there has been times where I was in similar situations. We all reloaded our weapons and were more alert as we found a place to dock.Once we docked, we then waited for the Doctor and the Marine to return. We didn’t have to wait very long, the two returned with the Doctor’s bike, my bike, and the Marine’s bike. The Marine kicked his bike as he brought it on board for it was out of fuel. Apparently the bike ran on Protoculture. I couldn’t believe something that small ran on Protoculture! The Expeditionary Forces sure knew how to equip their troops!
Anyways I digress. A discussion came up about the different technologies that E.B.S.I.S and the Expeditionary Forces. The Doctor, the Comrade, and the Marine were pretty well engaged in it. I have to admit, there were times in the conversation that I couldn’t make heads nor tails of what they were talking about. The Doctor brought up the idea of getting the tank to broadcast some of its power so that the rest of us could charge up some our devices. The Comrade and his crew was reluctant to attempt this, but they eventually agreed.There was some discussion about the Invid and their hive. Apparently the Marine had fought them before at a place called Tirol (which is located somewhere outside the Solar System). He mentioned that the hive on the Eiffel Tower, was a small hive by Invid standards and that the way the Expeditonary Forces took out a hive was to bombard it with a space ship. Bombard with a spaceship? That what’s going to take it out a hive?
Anyways I digress, the Knight mentioned that he knew a guy that had created a secret stockpile of military goods. Unfortunately, the Knight’s friend had chosen to hide the stockpile under the Ecole Militaire. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem except for those who don’t know, the Ecole Militaire is located at one end of the Champe de Mars. On the other end of the Champe de Mars is the Eiffel Tower and the Invid. We decided to the wait in the evening to try to get the goods…
Tags: Memoirs Robotech Mekton
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