08-04-2016, 08:06 PM
One of Interim-President General Wallace-Johnson's final orders was for his forces on the city's south-eastern edge to march on the Legion headquarters. No quarter given.
The brunt of his forces had been stationed there, holding the city's only land-locked border. In theory, they were so positioned to protect the city against Temne rebels, but in practice it was mostly to control the flow of refugees into the relative safety of the city. Mende citizens were generally allowed through the check points without too much hassle. Maybe a few small bribes along the way. Temne, however, had been subject to searches and confiscations, groundless arrest, hefty fines, and rape.
Using bulldozers, the Sierra Leonean soldiers had been keeping the highway clear of abandoned or burned vehicles, and the ditches on the sides of the highway were littered with crushed cars and abandoned belongings. And bodies.
By the time the General's orders reached the soldiers encamped on the city's edge, word of Legion's broad-stroke operation had already reached them. Enraged at how quickly so much of the city had been taken from them, coupled with the Temne shelling of the city, they responded to the order with perhaps more vigor then Wallace-Johnson had intended.
Five platoons, nearly three hundred Sierra Leonean soldiers, pulled off the barricades at the city's edge. Loaded into APCs and trucks, they advanced quickly through the post-shelling city. There was a brief encounter with a Freetown city police checkpoint, which managed a brief message of warning to the Legion command center in the embassy district.
Unlike the movies, when a radio operator died, you didn't usually hear it over the comms. Most people tended to drop the radio and try to defend themselves in their final seconds, so the movie-style death screams weren't heard by the Legionnaire radio operator in the old Moroccan embassy.
The word was spread quickly; Commandant Tuft was informed of the pending threat; Legionnaires still in the streets, teamed with groups of city police and other services, began to converge on the embassy district, racing to bolster the meager defenses there.
Nathalie's shadow held one hand to his ear; his Landwarriors had been destroyed, leaving him delegated to the old-fashioned radio-and-headset. The few remaining Legion officers at the re-purposed embassy were scrambling to devise a defensive plan. The power-armoured troops at the Parliament district wouldn't be able to arrive until the battle in the embassy district had begun. And with the number of wounded refugees housed there...
"Miss Grey?"
The wounded Legionnaire had stepped forward, giving Ekene a bolstering pat on the shoulder as the boy ran off, finally interrupting what semblance of free reign she held, at least briefly. "We've got hostile troops advancing from the south east."
He gestured vaguely in the direction in question.
Legionnaires and their local volunteers could be seen scrambling for the few remaining Legion SUVs in the embassy grounds. Weapons were being checked, walking wounded emerging from the make-shift field hospital. One Legionnaire, his left leg ending just below the knee, was making his way for an open-topped jeep and the waiting support weapon being crudely mounted there.
Sierra Leonean civilians, ones that had been hired on as Legion Premiere auxiliaries what seemed like ages ago, made up the brunt of the forces still guarding the Embassy district. Many wore little more then outdated flak vests, and many had been stripped of their Legion Premiere auxiliary uniforms, instead wearing their personal clothes, but the moved with a sense of pride and duty.
They would be the shield between the advancing Mende soldiers and the people of Freetown. "Commandant Tuft is relinquishing control of this camp to the Red Cross, ma'am. We will hold them back until reinforcements arrive."
The entire garrison of the embassy was barely two dozen Legionnaires, all wounded to some degree, and another three dozen auxiliaries.
The plan was simple enough; advance a few blocks south east and dig in before the Mende soldiers could reach the embassy. Buy time for the power-armoured reinforcements to arrive. He pulled his water canteen from a pouch and handed to her for the woman Natalie was fussing over, then turned to jog over to one of the waiting vehicles.
The brunt of his forces had been stationed there, holding the city's only land-locked border. In theory, they were so positioned to protect the city against Temne rebels, but in practice it was mostly to control the flow of refugees into the relative safety of the city. Mende citizens were generally allowed through the check points without too much hassle. Maybe a few small bribes along the way. Temne, however, had been subject to searches and confiscations, groundless arrest, hefty fines, and rape.
Using bulldozers, the Sierra Leonean soldiers had been keeping the highway clear of abandoned or burned vehicles, and the ditches on the sides of the highway were littered with crushed cars and abandoned belongings. And bodies.
By the time the General's orders reached the soldiers encamped on the city's edge, word of Legion's broad-stroke operation had already reached them. Enraged at how quickly so much of the city had been taken from them, coupled with the Temne shelling of the city, they responded to the order with perhaps more vigor then Wallace-Johnson had intended.
Five platoons, nearly three hundred Sierra Leonean soldiers, pulled off the barricades at the city's edge. Loaded into APCs and trucks, they advanced quickly through the post-shelling city. There was a brief encounter with a Freetown city police checkpoint, which managed a brief message of warning to the Legion command center in the embassy district.
Unlike the movies, when a radio operator died, you didn't usually hear it over the comms. Most people tended to drop the radio and try to defend themselves in their final seconds, so the movie-style death screams weren't heard by the Legionnaire radio operator in the old Moroccan embassy.
The word was spread quickly; Commandant Tuft was informed of the pending threat; Legionnaires still in the streets, teamed with groups of city police and other services, began to converge on the embassy district, racing to bolster the meager defenses there.
Nathalie's shadow held one hand to his ear; his Landwarriors had been destroyed, leaving him delegated to the old-fashioned radio-and-headset. The few remaining Legion officers at the re-purposed embassy were scrambling to devise a defensive plan. The power-armoured troops at the Parliament district wouldn't be able to arrive until the battle in the embassy district had begun. And with the number of wounded refugees housed there...
"Miss Grey?"
The wounded Legionnaire had stepped forward, giving Ekene a bolstering pat on the shoulder as the boy ran off, finally interrupting what semblance of free reign she held, at least briefly. "We've got hostile troops advancing from the south east."
He gestured vaguely in the direction in question.
Legionnaires and their local volunteers could be seen scrambling for the few remaining Legion SUVs in the embassy grounds. Weapons were being checked, walking wounded emerging from the make-shift field hospital. One Legionnaire, his left leg ending just below the knee, was making his way for an open-topped jeep and the waiting support weapon being crudely mounted there.
Sierra Leonean civilians, ones that had been hired on as Legion Premiere auxiliaries what seemed like ages ago, made up the brunt of the forces still guarding the Embassy district. Many wore little more then outdated flak vests, and many had been stripped of their Legion Premiere auxiliary uniforms, instead wearing their personal clothes, but the moved with a sense of pride and duty.
They would be the shield between the advancing Mende soldiers and the people of Freetown. "Commandant Tuft is relinquishing control of this camp to the Red Cross, ma'am. We will hold them back until reinforcements arrive."
The entire garrison of the embassy was barely two dozen Legionnaires, all wounded to some degree, and another three dozen auxiliaries.
The plan was simple enough; advance a few blocks south east and dig in before the Mende soldiers could reach the embassy. Buy time for the power-armoured reinforcements to arrive. He pulled his water canteen from a pouch and handed to her for the woman Natalie was fussing over, then turned to jog over to one of the waiting vehicles.