Darren Krieger: The Blacklands

 The local farms are referred to as The Blacklands due to the such dark color of the fertile soil there.  Three years ago, we learned a new meaning for it.  I still think we should try to take the farms but, Paulie and Mr. Fedder decided to broker a peaceful solution.  Yeah, 2 SWORD Teams dead and we just bend over and take whatever they want to give us.

Things came to ahead between us and the farms.  I convinced Paulie and the remaining Cadre and Directors to allow me to lead an incursion into their territory.  I figured that if we could show sufficient military force that the farms would concede to us finally and create stability in the area.  I'm sure Mr. Fedder had no involvement in the events.  I honestly believe he's either completely unaware or even turns a blind eye to what his son and that pack of anarchist goons do.

We rolled in some time after midnight.  We thought the darkness and overall surprise of our attack would give us an advantage.  We had the numbers but the terrain was definitely in their favor.  We hit road blocks on the way.  First there was a tree, then a flaming car rolled down the hill.  All encounters included harassing fire but no casualties.  We thought it was just perimeter sentries at the time.  We were expecting a larger attack at some point but, little did we know what was coming.  We learned the hard lesson that the darkness was not our friend and that the surprise would be for us.

We were coming up on Fedder's farm itself when it all started.  We had a vehicle convoy on the road as well as men moving through the fields.  All of the sudden we heard the crack of a bullet flying through the air.  Then a man shouting to us some old YouTube meme stuff.  That's when they really began to open up.  The shots were incredibly accurate.  Like more accurate then they should be in such darkness.  Things started exploding out of nowhere.  It looked like a mix of IED's and mortars of some kind.  I wanted to push forward but realized it was pointless and ordered a retreat.  Numerous vehicles were lost and several dead.  It was at that point that I realized that the 2 specialized SWORD Teams that I send into the fields were still missing.

A few days later we found the teams strung up on the outside of town.  After getting them down, we realized some of them were not killed instantly.  Someone worked them over.  I can only assume that Evan and Sean let their mad dog loose on my men.  Paulie decided it would be too costly to move in by force at this point and decided peace was the only option.  I know things will eventually heat up again but this time we'll remember lessons learned.  For starters given the sounds of the shots fired at us, it seems as if their shooters have suppressors.  Also, given the accuracy of those shots in the darkness, it is more than likely that they have access to night vision.

Now that I think about it, the fact that they have access to night vision and suppressed weapons makes me think that we might know who has been responsible for these night time attacks on our personnel.