Checkpoint Youri, Loago - Peninsular Republic Border
2 km west of the town of Ruwa, 31st of July, 1015 hours
Checkpoint Youri was one of the most important ways of of crossing the border, being situated alongside the A3 highway which was running alongside the Limestone coast, from the border with the Peninsular Republic to Maseru. Highway was an extremely liberal way of describing the highway as like all the Loagan highways is was mostly a two lane road, which was at least minimally maintained, compared to the other Loagan roads, many being just strip roads, with asphalt only on the thin strips where the tires were rolling. A3 was actually luxurious as from Kariba to Maseru, the 100 kilometre stretch of the highway was even made up with double lanes. But not here, in the northern part of the Limestone Coast, close to Ruwa. Here the road showed cracks and tears, as the low quality asphalt was slowly disintegrating under the scorching sun and the weight of the lorries.
Checkpoint Youri was the place where the already infamous border wall was starting and was stretching north up to the northern end of the border and the beginning of the still savage Sea of Fire desert. To the south, the Limestone Gulf, part of the Thaumantic Ocean could be easily seen though the heat haze was obstructing the view. On the other side, to the north the plan was littered with large boulders or orange rock. The atmosphere was extremely hot, dry and dusty. all around there were only bushes, scrubs and cacti.
Three main buildings made of concrete surrounded by wire netting, with barriers on the road at the entrance of the checkpoint and at the exit. The buildings were once coated on the outside with a beige paint, but the Echidnan heat have turned them into a dirty white. The biggest building acted as barrack for the 10 soldiers defending the checkpoint, followed by a garage where two off-road, obsolete jeeps were parked. The building closest to the road was the "office" building where the Commander resided and where the travellers had to do the paperwork should problems arise. This was Echidna, as in Himyar, problems always arose. Towering them all was a ten metre pole from which the flag of Loago, the green-black-green tri-band was flying.
The checkpoint was manned by 10 men, a commanding officer, Captain Einar Saar, a man of Viru ancestry, an NCO, sergeant Arthur Digby, one of the many Engellexic immigrants to the Limestone Coast, from the times in which the country had better days and eight other privates, all of them of Wala origins.
"Captain, dust is rising on the road," said Digby with a strong Dagerham accent, as he handed Saar a binocular. "It might be more than one car," he continued. In Echidna, Engelsh was a lingua france for more than a century. It was a language taught to all children in Loago since at least the 1st grade, if not from kindergarten (for those who have access to such facilities). Ten years ago, the government of Loago, when it was under the rule of Lord Protector Reese Bivin, a man of mixed Cymru-Engellexian ancestry, decided that a language known by everyone would be better to coordinate the multi-national army of Loago, so he switched the radio communications from Virunian to Engelsh. Since then, the soldiers started to adopt it and the army itself became a medium where Engelsh is taught.
"I reckon there are at least four, huh?" said Saar as he took down the binocular from his eyes and gave it back to Digby. "Be prepared to pop the barrier for the first vehicle. Let them come only one by one inside the checkpoint", said Saar to the local soldiers. "They're a whole mob of them sir," said a soldier as he was going to the first barrier to prepare to open it. Digby and Saar could see them now, there were around eight pick-up trucks, all of them painted either in a dirty red or in a dirty light brown. The man who opened the barrier rose his hand signalling the convoy to stop, but the pick-up cars continued forward. They all had their trunks covered in some textiles and from the looks of it, they were fully loaded. "Sir, they ever stop, but they don't," said another Wala soldier a bit distressed. Saar observed it too. Usually people arriving by car know the way things go in those parts of the world. You follow all the directions given by soldiers. If not, not problems appear, and if you don't understand and still go your way, the necessary bribe to get rid of all your problems will rise and will rise until you will understand. Though at this moment, Saar started to be a bit concerned too. "Digby, give me the binocular," he said as he turned to the sergeant. Right as he put it to his eyes, he could see the textiles from the backs of the cars falling down showing men in brown or dark green clothes with red bandannas manning .50 cal machine guns. At the same moment the shots were fired, he yelled "Get down!'
The first bursts killed at least three Wala soldiers near the barrier. Digby and Saar ran to the office building while the other soldiers took cover in the barracks. "We need to contact central command!" yelled Digby. Saar went to his desk and used that radio to contact his higher ups. The .50 cal bullets were passing through the thin walls of the buildings like through cheese. "This is Youri One Actual, we are under attack, I repeat we are under attack,"said Saar on the radio right as he crouched to take cover from the bullets. "Stand by, Youri One Actual," came the response on the radio. "We are under attack! Ten or more technicals are attacking! We have big zibbs!" he shouted even louder. By now, the fire fights was becoming more intense with the sounds of FAL submachine guns of the Loagan Security Forces firing back. "Youri One Actual, we are deploying now, ETA 15 minutes, over!" came the response on the radio. "Come faster! We won't survive for 15 minutes!" yelled Saar. "Youri One Actual, if you can't resist until the arrival of the reinforcements you are to redeploy your forces back to Ruwa, over and out!" responded the man on the other side. A grenade's explosion was followed by screams of agony and has reduced the intensity of the .50 cal guns. Steps were being heard coming to the office. On the instinct, the moment the door was slammed, Digby fired his gun, planting three bullets in the coming man. Saar looked at the sergeant first. He looked like he saw a ghost. He then looked down. He shot a soldier of the security forces. "Captain, I..." Digby wanted to apologise but he was manhandled by Saar. "He's dead, that's it, we need to get to Ruwa quickly!" the captain shouted.
The technicals stopped in front of barrier and many of the rebel soldiers prefered to unmount the guns and took cover around the pick-up truck as the soldiers were firing and throwing grenades towards them from the barracks to keep them down. Digby and Saar quickly ran to cross the road, as bullets were flying around them. As they reached the other two buildings and cover, both fell down and started touching their feet to be sure that they weren't hit. Saar popped his head on a window inside the barracks and shouted "To the jeeps! We need to retreat to Ruwa! Too the jeeps now!", while Digby provided suppressing fire, firing blindly around the corner. Two Wala soldiers came. "We're the only ones who can walk, sir," said one of them. There were three more wounded in the building, still firing towards the cars.
The four soldiers ran to the garage where Digby jumped on the drivers seat in one of the jeeps with the others joining in. As the car's engine started, the intensity of the fire fight stopped abruptly. "Shit, it's over! We need to move now, come, Digby, drive this shit!" The jeep quickly went outside the checkpoint, breaking the other barrier and following the road to Ruwa. Bullets started flying around them. Saar literally felt the air currents of the bullets. One of the Wala soldiers was shot right in the back of the head and fell dead on the spot. The other Wala soldier was firing from the backseat.
Soldiers appeared in front of them and waved them. For a fraction of a second, Saar hoped that it would have been the reinforcements, but he also thought that it was impossible for 15 minutes to pass so quickly, then he saw the bandannas the soldiers were wearing. "Don't stop! Push the gas!" he shouted. "Sir they are waving, they are friendly!" said Digby, but Saar quickly intervened and stepped on Digby's foot, pushing the acceleration pedal. Digby panicked but managed to retain control of the car. With the corner of his eye, Saar saw something black coming towards him, leaving a tail of smoke behind. Someone from the band coming from Ruwa fired an RPG. The rocket hit the jeep.
Saar rolled around in the dirt as he fell. An arm fell near him. He wiped the dirt out of his eyes and looked around. The Wala soldier surprisingly survived and even rose up and was running away. The severed arm was around 30 cm from his head and was bleeding profusely. He trier to look at the skin of the palm to see if it was white or black, but it was too dirty to see. A groan of pain made him look to his right. He then saw Digby, who was missing an arm and both his legs. Saar crawled to him, but he was left speechless. As he rose his head up, a soldier with a red bandanna came close and used his pistol to shoot Digby in the head and then rose it to Saar's forehead and pulled the trigger.
Government House, Maseru
31st of July, 1030 hours
The office of the State Elder Paavo Laht were extremely busy today as reports after reports were coming from all over the country. Small bands of rebels attacking everything along the border between the Peninsular Republic and Loago. Reports were coming now in that rebels from inside the country were attacking big farms, ranches, railway sheds and even police stations and barracks.
"This has all been planned for a long time", said Paavo Laht, a huge man in his 50s, 2 metres tall and around 120 kg, with a completely white hair and moustache and deep blue eyes, wearing camouflage uniform of the Loagan Security Forces and a khaki cap with the emblem of Loago. "Sir, I talked with the PM of the Peninsular Republic. They stated that they are shocked with the levels of violence and said that they have nothing to do with it," said Laht's aide, a small young man with round glasses, wearing a uniform like the State Elder. "Yeah, other than providing refuge for them, instead of extraditing them..." said Laht annoyed. He rose from his chair and looked at the map of Loago. Red pins were set up in points where attacks were already reported.
The first attacks started an hour and a half ago with the rebels raiding the Altena Farm, 30km north of Chimoio. By the time the Security Forces have arrived at that point, the rebels have made themselves scarce. There were no victims in that attack, as the farmers hid when they saw armed men approaching but since then, seven more attacks have been reported and many had victims too.
"Sir, the units which were sent to the Youri Checkpoint at Ruwa have secured the southern end of the border. The garrison of the checkpoint, with the exception of one man is either dead or missing. We found the bodies of six men, two whites and four black," said another soldier. Laht nodded silently. "I want everything we have on the field," said Laht to General Jebel Touray, a Wala man. "Send the police to guard the highways, as most than surely, the rebels are making a home out of the bush. Send the militarised Security Forces in the rural regions. I want helicopters in the skies to patrol as quick as possible," he continued.
As the general left to give his orders, Laht's aide came with a red pin a put it on Checkpoint Youri. "This is just the beginning son, those are attacks meant as a show. They aren't attacking in force, they are attacking everywhere to show us that they mean business. We might have been taken aback at the first as they have now the temp, but when we will start organising the fire force missions, with the help of the Bergenheimers, we will be able to react quickly and swiftly against any gang of zots being reported to create mischief all over the country. They will tire soon, as they don't have the power and energy to keep up an offensive of such scale for long. When they will tire, they will observe that they will just have annoyed us, scratched us superficially," said Laht with a sure voice.
OOC: I will try to use as many English idioms from Africa in the dialogue as to give a good sense immersion, without making it seem too much.
2 km west of the town of Ruwa, 31st of July, 1015 hours
Checkpoint Youri was one of the most important ways of of crossing the border, being situated alongside the A3 highway which was running alongside the Limestone coast, from the border with the Peninsular Republic to Maseru. Highway was an extremely liberal way of describing the highway as like all the Loagan highways is was mostly a two lane road, which was at least minimally maintained, compared to the other Loagan roads, many being just strip roads, with asphalt only on the thin strips where the tires were rolling. A3 was actually luxurious as from Kariba to Maseru, the 100 kilometre stretch of the highway was even made up with double lanes. But not here, in the northern part of the Limestone Coast, close to Ruwa. Here the road showed cracks and tears, as the low quality asphalt was slowly disintegrating under the scorching sun and the weight of the lorries.
Checkpoint Youri was the place where the already infamous border wall was starting and was stretching north up to the northern end of the border and the beginning of the still savage Sea of Fire desert. To the south, the Limestone Gulf, part of the Thaumantic Ocean could be easily seen though the heat haze was obstructing the view. On the other side, to the north the plan was littered with large boulders or orange rock. The atmosphere was extremely hot, dry and dusty. all around there were only bushes, scrubs and cacti.
Three main buildings made of concrete surrounded by wire netting, with barriers on the road at the entrance of the checkpoint and at the exit. The buildings were once coated on the outside with a beige paint, but the Echidnan heat have turned them into a dirty white. The biggest building acted as barrack for the 10 soldiers defending the checkpoint, followed by a garage where two off-road, obsolete jeeps were parked. The building closest to the road was the "office" building where the Commander resided and where the travellers had to do the paperwork should problems arise. This was Echidna, as in Himyar, problems always arose. Towering them all was a ten metre pole from which the flag of Loago, the green-black-green tri-band was flying.
The checkpoint was manned by 10 men, a commanding officer, Captain Einar Saar, a man of Viru ancestry, an NCO, sergeant Arthur Digby, one of the many Engellexic immigrants to the Limestone Coast, from the times in which the country had better days and eight other privates, all of them of Wala origins.
"Captain, dust is rising on the road," said Digby with a strong Dagerham accent, as he handed Saar a binocular. "It might be more than one car," he continued. In Echidna, Engelsh was a lingua france for more than a century. It was a language taught to all children in Loago since at least the 1st grade, if not from kindergarten (for those who have access to such facilities). Ten years ago, the government of Loago, when it was under the rule of Lord Protector Reese Bivin, a man of mixed Cymru-Engellexian ancestry, decided that a language known by everyone would be better to coordinate the multi-national army of Loago, so he switched the radio communications from Virunian to Engelsh. Since then, the soldiers started to adopt it and the army itself became a medium where Engelsh is taught.
"I reckon there are at least four, huh?" said Saar as he took down the binocular from his eyes and gave it back to Digby. "Be prepared to pop the barrier for the first vehicle. Let them come only one by one inside the checkpoint", said Saar to the local soldiers. "They're a whole mob of them sir," said a soldier as he was going to the first barrier to prepare to open it. Digby and Saar could see them now, there were around eight pick-up trucks, all of them painted either in a dirty red or in a dirty light brown. The man who opened the barrier rose his hand signalling the convoy to stop, but the pick-up cars continued forward. They all had their trunks covered in some textiles and from the looks of it, they were fully loaded. "Sir, they ever stop, but they don't," said another Wala soldier a bit distressed. Saar observed it too. Usually people arriving by car know the way things go in those parts of the world. You follow all the directions given by soldiers. If not, not problems appear, and if you don't understand and still go your way, the necessary bribe to get rid of all your problems will rise and will rise until you will understand. Though at this moment, Saar started to be a bit concerned too. "Digby, give me the binocular," he said as he turned to the sergeant. Right as he put it to his eyes, he could see the textiles from the backs of the cars falling down showing men in brown or dark green clothes with red bandannas manning .50 cal machine guns. At the same moment the shots were fired, he yelled "Get down!'
The first bursts killed at least three Wala soldiers near the barrier. Digby and Saar ran to the office building while the other soldiers took cover in the barracks. "We need to contact central command!" yelled Digby. Saar went to his desk and used that radio to contact his higher ups. The .50 cal bullets were passing through the thin walls of the buildings like through cheese. "This is Youri One Actual, we are under attack, I repeat we are under attack,"said Saar on the radio right as he crouched to take cover from the bullets. "Stand by, Youri One Actual," came the response on the radio. "We are under attack! Ten or more technicals are attacking! We have big zibbs!" he shouted even louder. By now, the fire fights was becoming more intense with the sounds of FAL submachine guns of the Loagan Security Forces firing back. "Youri One Actual, we are deploying now, ETA 15 minutes, over!" came the response on the radio. "Come faster! We won't survive for 15 minutes!" yelled Saar. "Youri One Actual, if you can't resist until the arrival of the reinforcements you are to redeploy your forces back to Ruwa, over and out!" responded the man on the other side. A grenade's explosion was followed by screams of agony and has reduced the intensity of the .50 cal guns. Steps were being heard coming to the office. On the instinct, the moment the door was slammed, Digby fired his gun, planting three bullets in the coming man. Saar looked at the sergeant first. He looked like he saw a ghost. He then looked down. He shot a soldier of the security forces. "Captain, I..." Digby wanted to apologise but he was manhandled by Saar. "He's dead, that's it, we need to get to Ruwa quickly!" the captain shouted.
The technicals stopped in front of barrier and many of the rebel soldiers prefered to unmount the guns and took cover around the pick-up truck as the soldiers were firing and throwing grenades towards them from the barracks to keep them down. Digby and Saar quickly ran to cross the road, as bullets were flying around them. As they reached the other two buildings and cover, both fell down and started touching their feet to be sure that they weren't hit. Saar popped his head on a window inside the barracks and shouted "To the jeeps! We need to retreat to Ruwa! Too the jeeps now!", while Digby provided suppressing fire, firing blindly around the corner. Two Wala soldiers came. "We're the only ones who can walk, sir," said one of them. There were three more wounded in the building, still firing towards the cars.
The four soldiers ran to the garage where Digby jumped on the drivers seat in one of the jeeps with the others joining in. As the car's engine started, the intensity of the fire fight stopped abruptly. "Shit, it's over! We need to move now, come, Digby, drive this shit!" The jeep quickly went outside the checkpoint, breaking the other barrier and following the road to Ruwa. Bullets started flying around them. Saar literally felt the air currents of the bullets. One of the Wala soldiers was shot right in the back of the head and fell dead on the spot. The other Wala soldier was firing from the backseat.
Soldiers appeared in front of them and waved them. For a fraction of a second, Saar hoped that it would have been the reinforcements, but he also thought that it was impossible for 15 minutes to pass so quickly, then he saw the bandannas the soldiers were wearing. "Don't stop! Push the gas!" he shouted. "Sir they are waving, they are friendly!" said Digby, but Saar quickly intervened and stepped on Digby's foot, pushing the acceleration pedal. Digby panicked but managed to retain control of the car. With the corner of his eye, Saar saw something black coming towards him, leaving a tail of smoke behind. Someone from the band coming from Ruwa fired an RPG. The rocket hit the jeep.
Saar rolled around in the dirt as he fell. An arm fell near him. He wiped the dirt out of his eyes and looked around. The Wala soldier surprisingly survived and even rose up and was running away. The severed arm was around 30 cm from his head and was bleeding profusely. He trier to look at the skin of the palm to see if it was white or black, but it was too dirty to see. A groan of pain made him look to his right. He then saw Digby, who was missing an arm and both his legs. Saar crawled to him, but he was left speechless. As he rose his head up, a soldier with a red bandanna came close and used his pistol to shoot Digby in the head and then rose it to Saar's forehead and pulled the trigger.
Government House, Maseru
31st of July, 1030 hours
The office of the State Elder Paavo Laht were extremely busy today as reports after reports were coming from all over the country. Small bands of rebels attacking everything along the border between the Peninsular Republic and Loago. Reports were coming now in that rebels from inside the country were attacking big farms, ranches, railway sheds and even police stations and barracks.
"This has all been planned for a long time", said Paavo Laht, a huge man in his 50s, 2 metres tall and around 120 kg, with a completely white hair and moustache and deep blue eyes, wearing camouflage uniform of the Loagan Security Forces and a khaki cap with the emblem of Loago. "Sir, I talked with the PM of the Peninsular Republic. They stated that they are shocked with the levels of violence and said that they have nothing to do with it," said Laht's aide, a small young man with round glasses, wearing a uniform like the State Elder. "Yeah, other than providing refuge for them, instead of extraditing them..." said Laht annoyed. He rose from his chair and looked at the map of Loago. Red pins were set up in points where attacks were already reported.
The first attacks started an hour and a half ago with the rebels raiding the Altena Farm, 30km north of Chimoio. By the time the Security Forces have arrived at that point, the rebels have made themselves scarce. There were no victims in that attack, as the farmers hid when they saw armed men approaching but since then, seven more attacks have been reported and many had victims too.
"Sir, the units which were sent to the Youri Checkpoint at Ruwa have secured the southern end of the border. The garrison of the checkpoint, with the exception of one man is either dead or missing. We found the bodies of six men, two whites and four black," said another soldier. Laht nodded silently. "I want everything we have on the field," said Laht to General Jebel Touray, a Wala man. "Send the police to guard the highways, as most than surely, the rebels are making a home out of the bush. Send the militarised Security Forces in the rural regions. I want helicopters in the skies to patrol as quick as possible," he continued.
As the general left to give his orders, Laht's aide came with a red pin a put it on Checkpoint Youri. "This is just the beginning son, those are attacks meant as a show. They aren't attacking in force, they are attacking everywhere to show us that they mean business. We might have been taken aback at the first as they have now the temp, but when we will start organising the fire force missions, with the help of the Bergenheimers, we will be able to react quickly and swiftly against any gang of zots being reported to create mischief all over the country. They will tire soon, as they don't have the power and energy to keep up an offensive of such scale for long. When they will tire, they will observe that they will just have annoyed us, scratched us superficially," said Laht with a sure voice.
The State Elder's red pinned map at the end of the 1st of August
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OOC: I will try to use as many English idioms from Africa in the dialogue as to give a good sense immersion, without making it seem too much.