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The Dead Enders

Page history last edited by Michael 5 years ago

to the Index or to the Recon Team R-101 page or back to Enter Damocles

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

picture of caninja hiding in winter 

 

report covers:   18 November 2140 to 8 January 2141

 

Thursday, 18 November, 2140

 

weather:  snow showers, high temperature 21 °F, low temperature 15 °F; 14 inches of snow on Lake Superior south shore.

 

     151st anniversary of the Atomic War.

     The team (Captain Doyle, Pete, Annie and Fairhope) departed from the Ahu's farm in the morning, with many fond farewells. Pavu "Pappa" Ahu gave Doyle a basket with 4 bottles of his finest vodka (98 proof, with only pure water mixed with the alcohol).

     They stopped by Wittsend for a couple of hours while traveling to Grand Island; about 21 families lived there. Pavu's 18-year-old son Arni was there, apprenticed to a glassblower; a member of the Medicine Society, John Great-Oak, lived there also (he was a member of the Marten clan, but clan affiliation wasn't so important for members of the Medicine Society). John was a powerful "medicine hand" as Pappa Ahu called him; he was adopted at a young age by the previous medicine hand, Blind Elk, who was born in 2039.

 

Friday, 19 November, 2140

 

weather:  light snow, fog around sunset, high 37 °F, low 17 °F

 

     Back to Grand Island, where the Calypso II was docked. The team slept aboard while anchored at Grand Island.

 

Saturday, 20 November, 2140

 

weather:  light snow showers, high 41 °F, low 19 °F, high winds from the northwest (50 kph, gusts up to 80 kph, so temperatures with wind chill much lower) all day. Wave heights about 2 meters, with freak waves up to 3 meters.

 

     The Calypso II sailed to Soo. Captain Doyle enjoyed the weather, but his crew wasn't so pleased. He spooked them with stories of how the Edmund Fitzgerald sank in a storm on Lake Superior in November of 1975, on a day with winds of about 40 knots with gusts up to 80 knots. Alas for maximum terror of the Calypso II crew, the waves that sank the Edmund Fitzgerald were 6 or more meters high. A video of Lake Superior.

 

     "But I bet if we stay out in Whitefish Bay for a few more hours, the fetch will build up some nice 25-foot waves bearing down onto Soo! Whaddya say, boys and girls? Oh, there goes the canvas cover on one of the machine gun tripods ... Tager, do you want to go out and secure that? You might want to wear a scarf".

 

     The crew declined his kind offer of "experience in boat handling during a storm", and the Calypso II docked at Soo before dark (I suspect Captain Doyle took every precaution to avoid being blown by winds, or thrown by waves, onto the lee shore). Blowing spray was coating the boat, and the docks, etc. with ice.

     In the evening, the Calypso II's crew spoke with Doc Perkins, C.C. Carpenter and Trent Moser about what they'd learned from Damocles.

 

Sunday, 21 November, 2140

 

weather:  snow showers, high 21 °F, low 12 °F, windy from the NNW (18 to 25 kph)

 

     The Calypso II sailed to Manitoulin Island, and planned their next steps while having dinner at the new Project compound near New Asail.

 

Monday, 22 November, 2140

 

weather:  snow showers, high 21 °F, low 7 °F, winds 12 kph from the northwest (30 kph between 9:23 a.m. and 4 p.m.)

 

     Annie and Pete were taken to Traverse Bay, and began hiking around it; they were carrying a simple radio transceiver, made by "Roy" Deschenes, and powered by Morrow Project batteries. They were looking for undiscovered caches and any boltholes or depots. R-101 had learned that some MARS stuff was located around the Great Lakes:

 

Zone 8 MARS assets

     One result of assigning researchers to the Team Eta archives:   the Team Eta leader at Soo in the early 21st Century had known the composition for four (possibly not all) of the Zone 8 MARS teams, and wrote it down in their diary:

  • M-80two patrol boats, more heavily manned than R-101 (8 crew on each), and fitted with a bit different weapon load ... and no diving gear.

  • M-81:  an LCM-8 (4 crew:  coxswain, mechanic, two gunner/sailors), carrying 2 Stingray tanks (4 crew each)

  • M-82:  an SK-5 hovercraft, with a 5 person crew

  • M-83:  another LCM-8 (4 crew:  team leader, coxswain, mechanic, gunner/sailor), with eight 81mm mortars (16 gunners and loaders, plus 2 experts/chiefs in the FDC), 8 electric mules, and a Commando Scout "command pod" (3 crew)

     Except for the SK-5, their boltholes would all have to be located with access to Lakes Michigan, Superior or Huron. The person had learned the answer by asking "Who can we call if we are in trouble on or near the lakes?" during their training.

      There should also be a couple of caches absolutely stuffed with mortar ammunition, if this diary entry was correct -- the mortar team would need about 2800 rounds total to be useful, of which 70% would be HE, 20 percent WP, and 10% illuminating rounds (Roy Deschenes knows all about mortars); and the SK-5 would need thousands of rounds of .50 caliber ammunition and a lot of specially-linked 40mm grenades.

 

     The locals told them about a few useful areas to check out, and a visit to the lighthouse at the north end of Old Mission Peninsula seemed called for.

     The Calypso II continued into Lake Michigan towards Bastion and Sentinel.

 

Tuesday, 23 November, 2140

 

weather:  snow showers, high 25 °F, low 19 °F, winds 15 kph from the northwest

 

     The survey team traveled by ski and snowshoe about 30 kilometers from Eastport to Yuba, following the banks of Grand Traverse Bay. The locals seemed friendly enough, and knew (vaguely) about the Morrow Project (since Camp Swampy had been pretty well-known around the Bay).

     A list of 22nd Century resources (mostly forest products or agricultural) was added to.

 

Wednesday, 24 November, 2140

 

weather:  snow at 8 a.m., scattered clouds rest of the day, clear after sunset, high 33 °F, low 12 °F, winds 15 kph from SSW

 

     Mid-morning the Calypso II picked up the survey team at Traverse City, which had a population of a few hundred people. The boat cruised back to Manitoulin Island.

 

Thursday, 25 November, 2140

 

weather:  scattered clouds, high 61° F, low 41° F, winds 15 kph from SSW. About 24 cm of snow was on the ground at the station.

 

     Most of the members of the Morrow Project stationed around the Great Lakes were at the station near New Asail for Thanksgiving dinner.

 

Friday, 26 November, 2140

 

weather:  scattered clouds (clear before sunrise and after sunset), high 42° F, low 24° F, winds 6 kph from WSW.

 

    The Calypso II traveled 263 km to the northern tip of the Old Mission Peninsula.  15 knots = 28 kph, so this took most of the day.

 

Saturday, 27 November, 2140

 

weather:  overcast before 1 p.m., fog and light rain from 1 p.m. to mid-evening, high 41° F, low 25° F, winds 10 kph from the east. Short thunderstorm around 5:30 p.m.

 

    A Morrow Project cache at the Mission Point Light was located. The remains of a nearby boat ramp proved useful; the wooden lighthouse itself was long gone. The cache itself was located in the foundation of an outbuilding -- the fuel cistern. It had not been disturbed, and was unaffected by the 150 or so years of storage. Inside cache MI-03 was:

 

cache contents - universal - 3.0 cubic meters

quantity

item

volume

1

14.5x20 runflat tire and wheel, for Commando vehicles (or regular military 2.5 ton and 5 ton trucks, for that matter); normally laid flat on the top of the cache; weight about 150 kg; uninflated but looks the same since it's a runflat. This one is a left side tire.

0.8

1

vehicle lube set:  19 liter can of API GL-5 gear oil, 5 liter can of lube oil, 5 liter can of chassis grease

0.1

1

box of 18 (one of each size) resistweave coveralls, without patches

0.4

1

box of 6 sets Project-issue underwear (socks, shorts, tee-shirts) -- two each of small, medium, large sizes

0.1

2

sets of Project-issue personal equipment (belt, suspenders, ammo pouches, holster, canteen, compass, KCB-70 knife, field dressing in belt pouch)

0.1

2

pairs of Project-issue black leather boots - one is medium, one is randomly either large or small

0.1

2

cases of LRP rations (each case is 5 boxes, 12 meals per box, 4.2 kg per box), total 120 meals

0.1

1

box of 12 M10A1 filter canisters for M25 gas masks

0.1

1

case of 2880 rds 9x19mm ball ammunition

0.1

1

case of 1200 rds .44 Magnum ball or soft point ammunition

0.1

1

case of 1640 rds 5.56x45mm ball ammunition

0.1

1

case of 2000 rds 5.56x45mm linked ammunition (twenty Stoner-system 100 rd. plastic tubs), 4 ball to 1 tracer

0.1

1

case of 920 rds 7.62x51mm ball ammunition

0.1

2

cases of 800 rds 7.62x51mm linked ammunition (four cans, each with a 200 rd. belt), 4 ball to 1 tracer

0.2

2

cases of 210 rds .50 cal linked ammunition (two cans, each with a 105 round belt)

0.2

1

case of 500 rds 12 gauge Magnum buckshot ammunition (in five "30 cal" cans)

0.1

1

case of 2500 Stoner-style links for 5.56x45mm ammo, and 1800 M13 links for 7.62x51mm ammo, plus linker/delinker tools for each caliber

0.1

1

case of Morrow batteries:  280 MP-AA "camera batteries", 10 "radio batteries", and 2 "vehicle batteries"; total weight 12 kg

0.1

 

cache contents - operations "A" - 3.0 cubic meters

quantity

item

volume

1

demolitions kit, minus the case of C-4

0.1

1

case of 30 M112 C-4 demolition blocks

0.1

1

case of 2 M183 demolition charges

0.1

1

case of nine Armbrust-300 anti-tank rocket launchers

0.4

1

case of twelve M371A1 90mm HEAT rounds

0.5

1

case of twelve M590E1 90mm canister rounds

0.5

1

case of 21 HAFLA-35L incendiary launchers

0.5

1

case of 1 clip of M74 incendiary rockets for M202A1 flame weapon

0.1

2

cases of 6 M18A1 claymore mines (12 mines total)

0.2

1

case of 4 M16A1 anti-personnel land mines

0.1

4

cases of 2 M19 anti-tank mines (8 mines total)

0.4

if this cache is detonated, the resulting crater will have a diameter of about 8 meters, with chunks of concrete scattered about

 

cache contents - operations "C" - 1.0 cubic meters

quantity

item

volume

1

case of 72 empty Stoner system magazines

0.1

1

case of 120 empty Ingram M10 magazines

0.1

1

case of 48 empty M14 rifle magazines

0.1

1

case of 24 empty HP-35 pistol magazines

0.03

1

case of 30 M26A1 fragmentation "defensive" hand grenades

0.1

1

case of 16 M34 white phosphorus hand grenades

0.1

1

case of 16 AN-M8 white smoke hand grenades

0.1

1

case of 16 M7A3 tear gas hand grenades

0.1

1

case of 16 AN-M14 thermite hand grenades

0.1

1

case of 20 Mk3A2 explosive "offensive" hand grenades

0.1

1

case of 25 Mk 1 illuminating hand grenades

0.1

 

cache contents - school - 1.0 cubic meters

quantity

item

volume

6

set of teacher's gear, in a blue Morrow Industries gym bag (including 2 round 20 cm diameter MP decals)

0.3

6

set of student materials for a class of 40 students

0.7

 

     The day was spent finding and opening the cache, and moving the contents onto the boat; the boat's crane proved useful!

 

Sunday, 28 November, 2140

 

weather:   high 36° F, low 19° F, winds 20 kph from NNW, with gusts up to 70 kph. Snow all day, with very strong winds from midnight to noon. Visibility only 6 km.

 

    The Calypso II headed back to Manitoulin Island, loaded with the cache contents; the survey team (Annie and Pete) were dropped off at Traverse City, and continued skiing. With the rough weather, they only made about 25 miles of progress, along US 31 towards the coast.

 

Monday, 29 November, 2140

 

weather for survey team:   high 32° F, low 12° F, winds 18 kph from southwest, with gusts up to 50 kph between 3 p.m. and midnight. Snow from dawn to 3 p.m.

 

      At the MP station near New Asail, the Calypso II's crew sorted out all the contents of cache.

     Meanwhile, Pete and Annie Tager trudged and skied with their faces to the wind. They reached the coast by the end of the day, after having scouted the edges of Crystal Lake (no masked killers appeared).

 

Friday, 3 December, 2140

 

weather for survey team:   high 32° F, low 12° F, snow showers (about 5 cm of snow are on the ground here)

 

      Annie and Pete arrived at the lumber town of Lud, and spent the night at Heather Mist's place. They were glad to do their laundry, refill their food supplies, etc.

 

Saturday, 4 December, 2140

 

weather for survey team:   high 30° F, low 19° F (with wind chill down to 10° F), overcast, light snowfall just after midnight (about 3 cm of snow on the ground at Pentwater), wind 15 kph from SE, gusts up to 36 kph

 

      Around lunchtime, the survey team reached the fishing village at Pentwater. Besides the locally-famous asparagus products ("Care for some asparagus mead, friends?" -- it's asparagus syrup blended into a mead recipe; it has a "robust, pungent aroma", sometimes called sulfurous, which is reduced after 3 or 4 months), the locals knew of a big artificial dirt mount at the inland end of Pentwater Lake.

 

1 ounce of asparagus syrup is squeezed out from 1 kilogram of asparagus.

 

     The mound, at latitude 43° 46' 14.2" N, longitude 86° 24' 39.0" W, filled what had once been a small pond; it was 150 meters long and 30 meters wide.

     Near the mound were four concrete cubes, 3 meters on a side; 10cm tall letters on each side spelled out an ominous warning. Here's the text on one of them (they were each a bit different, based on compass direction):

 


     The mound itself had been built from layers of gravel and clay, with plastic liners and an asphalt "impermeable cap" over the whole thing -- probably like this; but in the intervening years, trees and brush had grown over it, and most of the asphalt was broken up into chunks. There wasn't any sign of toxic contamination, and the Project CBR kits didn't let out a peep.

     Annie and Pete trudged around the mound, and found the upper edges of a heavy concrete structure on one side. They set up their radio, and called the Calypso II at one of the pre-set "Roy will be listening" times. Captain Doyle said the Calypso II would be there by the end of the next day.

     The survey team trudged about on top of the mound until dark, and found a circular patch of gravel, with a vertical metal structure embedded in it:  an escape trunk.

     They spent the night at Pentwater, in a fisherman's barn (there weren't any rooms for rent in the town).

 

Sunday, 5 December, 2140

 

weather at Pentwater:   high 39° F, low 24° F, winds 10 kph from SSW. Overcast all day.

 

     The survey team cleared out some dirt around the "main entrance" structure, but realized that a lot of work would be required to move all the material blocking the main entrance. A rear entrance, on the opposite side of the mound, was found; since it was just a "person sized door", it was cleared of dirt and gravel fairly quickly.

     Late in the day the Calpyso II arrived in Pentwater Lake, and motored over to the ruins of a pier not far from the toxic disposal mound. The locals were very impressed by the large, silent and well-armed motor vessel. Captain Doyle, Bob Fairhope, and Doc Perkins had brought the vessel down from Manitoulin; while Doc Perkins remained on watch, the captain and Fairhope trudged over to the mound.

     The survey team proudly demonstrated their discoveries, and invited the captain to use his MPID card on the "back door". As soon as the card was inserted in a slot, a small light went on, and within a minute or so a vertical plume of cold nitrogen began venting from the top of the mound.

     The team knew that the venting, and cryoberth activation process, would take three hours. They had dinner aboard the Calypso II, and returned to the mound after dark.

     They knocked on the "back door" and after a minute or so, it was opened by the two surviving members of MARS Team M-82. The other three members of the team had died -- two of them decades ago.

     Both survivors, Dennis Franklin and Matt North, had been frozen before R-101. They had never met each other, and had only briefly met their (now-deceased) team leader during hovercraft pilot and maintenance training. The bolthole included a lot of .50 caliber machine gun ammunition, and hundreds of linked M433 HEDP 40mm rounds. They had of course a lot of questions, but were very weak, hungry and thirsty.

     Their sleeping bags were rolled out inside the SK-5, the heater was turned on and a meal was produced for the newly-awakened Project members. They spent the night in the bolthole -- they were feeling week. Doc Perkins and Bob Fairhope stayed with them in the bolthole; Captain Doyle, Pete, and Annie Tager spend the night aboard the Calypso II.

 

Monday, 6 December, 2140

 

weather:   high 39° F, low 19° F, winds 16 kph from the north. Fog until dawn, overcast till 2 p.m., and intermittent show showers the rest of the day. About 8 cm of snow on the ground by the end of the day.

 

     Three graves were dug for the dead members of M-82, and burial service was read by Captain Doyle. The SK-5 was examined, loaded, and prepared for departure. A couple of villagers were hired, along with a wagon, to move the MARS team's supplies down to the boat. By the end of the day, the SK-5 had been up and hovering, the bolthole cleared out and closed up, and the two MARS members were more or less "up to speed".

 

Tuesday, 7 December, 2140

 

weather:   high 21° F, low 12° F, winds 10 kph from the north and northwest. Light snow almost all day.

 

     The hovercraft, with the two MARS team members and Doc Perkins aboard, roared out of Pentwater, onto Lake Michigan, followed by the Calypso II with the rest of the Morrow Project members. The day was spent traveling to Manitoulin Island.

 

Wednesday, 8 December, 2140

 

     For the next few weeks, the Morrow teams of "Group North" worked on projects, and conducted training to refresh old skills or learn new ones.

 

Plus they got to resolve all existing checks, and add 5% to either Arcadian French or Chippewa, depending on who they spent more time with.

People were being trained in, roughly speaking, one "physical" skill and one "technical or academic" skill during this period.

 

     The new team's caches were at:

 

  • MI-05:  MARS cache, contains supplies for SK-5 repair. 7 km southeast of Traverse City, MI.

  • NY-03:  a general MARS cache; on the Lake Erie shore 

  • OH-06:  a general MARS cache, near Put-In-Bay, Ohio (on South Bass Island, in Lake Erie)

  • WI-05:  a general MARS cache, in cliffs at Cave Point, near Jacksonport, Wisconsin (on the Door Peninsula) 

  • ID-08:  south of Twin Falls, Idaho

  • TX-03:  south of Odessa, Texas

 

     Caches MI-05 and WI-05 were easy to reach from Manitoulin Island ... both were visited in this period. Results were:

 

  • MI-05 was in fine, undisturbed condition; mostly filled with hovercraft repair parts (6 cubic meters), 4200 rounds of .50 cal ammo (20 cases -- each case holds two cans, each can has a 105 round belt), and 320 rounds 40mm HEDP linked belts (10 steel cans, each with 32 linked rounds; empty cans weigh 5.9 kg each). Hooray!

  • WI-05 was just a big crater and a few chunks of concrete in the waterfront cliffs at Cave Point, near Jacksonport, Wisconsin (on the Door Peninsula). Boo!

     

     A big project was finishing the interior of the station at New Asail (exteriors and roofs had been constructed in the fall). Longer-term stuff included taking part in the Council of Three Fires; drawing up materials, equipment and labor requirements for the Trent-Severn Waterway rehabilitation plan; and plugging the various survey reports from Bastion, Sentinel, Hardisty, etc. into the computers.

     By Christmas, there were 43 cm (17 inches) of snow on the ground at New Asail; Christmas morning was 19.9 °F, with light snow; as the day passed, the wind grew stronger, and the snowfall increased. 

     When New Year's Day arrived, the temperature at dawn was 19 °F, with overcast and snow showers throughout the day. There were 51 cm (20 inches) of snow on the ground.

 

ice chart for 1 January 2141; notice that the western end of Manitoulin Island is only at 5% ice coverage;

the Arcadian Republic keeps a channel clear through the Mackinac Straits for most of the winter, and

up through the Sault Ste Marie River to Soo, as well.

 


     Facts from research:  ice coverage on the Great Lakes doesn't start until 14 December this year, and reaches the peak coverage in mid-March of 2141. Lakes Huron and Superior will reach 90% coverage, Lake Michigan will reach 40% ice coverage. The first areas frozen are on the shores of big bays, along the Sault Ste Marie river, and all along the north shore of Lake Huron (the North Channel and Georgian Bay). Green Bay and the Mackinac Strait close around Christmas, if the channels aren't cleared by icebreakers. The Arcadian Republic keeps a channel open in the Sault Ste Marie River and the Mackinac Strait in most years.


 

Saturday, 7 January, 2141

 

     weather:  high 37 °F, low 25 °F; snow depth 50 cm, wind 16 kph from WSW; snow showers in the morning before 9 a.m. Sunset 5:11 PM ET.

 

ice coverage map; the Republic is still keeping the channels open

 

     Captain Doyle, Annie Tager, and Bob Fairhope were walking back to the Morrow station from New Asail after lunch. They were attacked by a caninja -- he fired tranquilizer darts at them from a crossbow, but that didn't work. The caninja, Colin, was wounded and captured; his two accomplices escaped via dogsled to the south shore of the island, and out a couple of kilometers onto the ice, where they had a motor boat waiting.

     The head start the caninjas had allowed them to reach Soo before the pursuing Project team. Late in the afternoon, the Project members found the abandoned motor boat, and followed (on foot) the dogsled tracks inland from the shore of Lake Superior.

     A tall split rock was being used as the camp of the tired caninjas. Despite wearing white Project Resistweave coveralls, they were both killed by gunshots.

 

Sunday, 8 January, 2141

 

     weather:  high 37° F, low 21° F; snow on the ground (at Soo) 40 cm. Fog all day (and light snow showers from 3 to 4 p.m.), winds 18 kph from the SE and ESE

 

     The team took the bodies, stolen motorboat, and dogsled teams back to Soo. Colin was following orders; he and the other caninjas were attempting to destroy the coup leaderships (i.e., Project members, Mountie leaders, senior Anishinaabe folks). The Morrow team at Hardisty was radioed by R-101 to be on the alert, and to warn the Mounties and Canadian government.

     There were no radios at the Council of the Three Fires; since Captain Doyle had to be there soon anyway, a trip into the snowy woods of Ontario was called for.

 

on to the next adventure

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