Cali Posted Jun 5, 2017, 8:44 am	September 2084. My name is Cali. I was just a ganger on a trade run of out Somerset. First time I had ever left the walls. And we barely left the walls. I was driving the van with Maura beside me. Maura was gang leader, she was a older lady who had pleny of experience in other gangs. Not sure what made her join up with us - we were so wet beind the ears we could shower without a stall. Charlene and Barbie were in the escort car - a nice Phoenix that had been loaned to us by The Crayons - a nice gesture to help us get established. Barely half an hour our of Somerset they hit us. No subtlety, they just came straight at us. We might have been OK, but a loose bullet came through the windscreen and Maura ate it. None of us knew what to do after that. They first ran across the front of the Phoenix and Charlene just naturally followed to try and give Barbie a decent shot. Before they knew it, the other 2 cars were hot on her tail and shredding the rear armour. They were gone before the first car could even swing around and join in. I still don't know how I got back to Somerset. Dodging behind dunes for cover...on road, off road...anything to keep the bullets away. It all looks so easy when you see the Arena fights, the Deathraces. Surely I would be a natural? It would be all so easy to go out and be an instant success. I woke up in Somerset Hospital. The last thing I remembered from the chase was the walls in the distance and dust clouds as some other cars came into range. Who, what or why I have no idea. All I know is that I have a collection of bullet wounds and a large and angry emotional hole inside of me.
Cali Posted Jun 5, 2017, 9:19 am	October 2084. A month in the hospital. I feel so helpless. Apparently Neville went out to try and salvage what was left of the van. He didn't come back. Danielle got t-boned at the figure 8 at the rally circuit. And Tommy and Hermine were obviously affected by the same overconfidence and tried their hand at arena combat. The rest of the guys came to visit yesterday, and to stop them doing anything stupid I told them I was going to start my own gang, and membership was not a matter of choice for them. Hopefully they will wait for me to heal up.
Cali Posted Jun 5, 2017, 9:28 am	November 2084. Ronald is convinced the reason I am starting a gang is for revenge. He's already playing detective to try and find out who the gang was who ambushed me, and maybe also Neville out beyond the gates. The hospital stay is now behind me and we had a meeting. They're are only the 4 of us left. Drew and Dudly are the best drivers, and have been pressed into service even though they weren't really part of the school group. But Ronald say that our skills are more with guns, and that we need the drivers. We've started race events, and very cautious attempts at deathracing. The money is coming is slowly. With the proceeds we've got ourselves a nice Phoenix chassis, a 4L engine as well as a machine gun and a minedropper. We're not the greatest machanics, but with help from the garage I think we can put something together. Ron wants to go out immediately and start scouring the desert for clues, but we're still a group of very inexperienced amateurs. Before we go out I want 3 cars and a team for each one.
Cali Posted Jun 5, 2017, 10:34 am	December 2084. Maybe I do want revenge. The thought has been nagging at me for a few weeks now. Was there any reason? Was it just a random attack? I have been asking around and people just calm up when I mention things. Friends of my father are especially reticent to talk. "Let it go", they say. But they also don't deny that there could be a reason for the attack. Was my father involved in something? His death is still recent in my memory - he died soon after my birthday in August - apparently doing a trade run far to the south. Nobody is willing to give me details. The only real piece of evidence that I have is the memory of one of the pursing cars on the day we were ambushed. The distinctive 'V' motif on the bonnet is something that I will never forget. But we've been doing well. We now have 5 cars between the 4 of us. Two are weaponless for racing, and three have various weapons that we've picked up in the marketplace. All we need now are a couple more trusted people, and probably a lot more weaponry. The cars are OK for deathraces, but we're still untried in any combat events. And to go out into the wilderness, we'll need every bit of training that we can get.
Cali Posted Jun 12, 2017, 2:22 am	January 2085. We're being distracted from our task. Not by anyone else, but by ourselves. Ronald and Fred went into an amateur night combat event and by some fluke - since I can't imagine it was skill - came out alive and with a pickup as the prize. As we don't have a mechanic, we sold it and went and had ourselves built a small 1.6L Cadrona for racing. And since we got the car, and could actually enter more events, the guys went all out. As a result, we have a shed with 6 cars and we've got a reputation in Somerset. Enought that we're getting people coming out and wanting to join the gang. So far I'm saying no, I need to get the guys back on track as to why we're doing this - it's not to become race famous or rich. We've just lost 2 guys. Fred took Harry into a Deathrace at the rally circuit, and then they won't be coming out. A pal of mine in the Celts then came over and pulled me aside. In a quiet whisper, he told me that Pearl Harris is a new member and has been asking about us ever since she joined. Taking an unnatural interest in us. And it's interesting that she was the one in the deathrace who seemed to deliberately maneuver into position to attack Fred and Harry. Someone is setting themselves against us. Or me.
Cali Posted Jun 18, 2017, 9:51 am	February 2085 Ronald took matters into his own hands, and while on one hand we've whittled the Celts numbers down by 3, his actions in shooting after they had resigned hasn't done our reputation any good at all. We're getting boo'd when we race now. But, it also means that recruits aren't rushing to push me to let them join, so it's probably good for our focus. Our focus on the real task. Currently we're at 5 members and 7 cars, but where I wanted to be was 6 members and 3 cars. Dean though looks like a handy driver. One race, one victory, and he did it easily. The rest of us are slowly getting our skills up. I'm still not about to allow them into the arena though, we can't afford any more deaths. But I am slowly getting together tidbits of information. Apparently I have something - something that someone else, someone important, deperately wants. I only wish that I knew what it was. There are people being paid to watch me hoping I will lead them to it. I've only identified one, but I've been told that there are more. So I've got a spy watching their spy. And at every opportunity, the Fighting Celts are being made to pay - whether they know she's a spy or not - they're going to pay for allowing her to be in their gang.
Cali Posted Jun 30, 2017, 11:07 pm	March 2085 Dean's gone, but Angelina looks even better. All her schoolyard games playing chaser have certainly turned her into a great driver coming from behind the pack. Up to 8 cars now. No idea why, we just seem be be aquiring them without trying. I was going through some of my parents things the other night. They went on a road trip about 2 years ago and vanished. My father was a mechanic, and my mother a research scientist - how you get to be one of those in this day and age I have no idea - and I still can't find out where she worked, or who for. Their car was found, burnt out and riddled with bulletholes. I presume that their bodies were in there somewhere, but it was near one of the old cities and nobody has the time to do foresnic analysis when the threat of being attacked is high. What I found though is that they think that they had discovered something. Something big. Something that could change this damaged world of ours. There were some notes, some maps and some technical schematics, which I am still trying to puzzle out. Is this what I am supposed to have? It's all hidden away now, I'll need time on this. And maybe it's time to start looking into getting some information out of someone so I can work out what I am in the middle of here.
Cali Posted Jul 9, 2017, 12:17 am	April 2085 I haven't done much racing or combat this month, I've been puzzling out clues. I know Ronald has got his two brothers to join the gang, so we're up to 6 of us. I think we'll need 2 more, drivers and gunners won't be enough. We'll need a machanic, and a scout, as everything I have found points me to going outside of Somerset. All the notes and maps I found were old, from years before. Early notes on engines and power, maps that mainly seem to be showing where NOT to find something - it's all local places and known cities, all crossed out. The schematics are way too advanced for me, I can't even guess at what they are. But there was one thing. A small cryptic note in a pair of driving gloves. A pair of gloves that I had coveted and my father said I could have when I was ready. A note that had been left for me. "Morgan. NW45. Phoenix".
Cali Posted Jul 16, 2017, 12:39 am	May 2085 Have put together three decent cars, 2 Windsors and a Flail. I like the Flail. So we divided into teams and went for our first team scout outside of Somerset. Success. Came back with two extra chassis to sell, and a much better idea of what we are doing and hwo to do it. And then Katie goes and gets killed in a deathrace, along with a new member we were training. That's put us back a few months - she was our 2nd best driver. Having never been a good student, I've now had to do a lot of catchup on Evan history. The solar intensity and why the world is how it is. Why am I doing that? Because my parents notes indicate that there is something more somewhere. Something that could even fix the world. And some cryptic notes that there are people who don't want it fixed. I think a month's training and we're going to explore down towards Morgan to see what's there. If we can survive that long. As our profile goes up so does our safety, but there is still a gang that loves to keep shooting after the finish of a deathrace, but until I know more, the guys are all under instruction to keep their heads down.
Cali Posted Jul 21, 2017, 8:41 am	June 2085 Katie last month, Angelina this month. Our driver numbers are dropping, and we're losing all the best ones. Since we have some cash behind us now, decided it was time to get a bit more proactive. Since it's not really my specialty, and I didn't want the gang doing that sort of work, I contracted some locals to chase up Pearl Harris from the Celts. She's been asking a lot of questions, and following us both in the events and around the streets of Somerset. They kidnapped, questioned and ran her out of town. Harris was a plant from a political group from Firelight. She had been told to keep an eye on us, and watch for any unusual trips that we might make out of town. And to cull numbers - but I was off limits. She didn't know details, but she seemed to think that I knew something that they couldn't afford to let anyone else know, but they needed to know. I don't know what I am suposed to know, but I'm starting to think that my parents did, and that they have left clues behind for me to follow. I need to get this gang sorted so we can start to head out and follow the one clue that I do have.
Cali Posted Jul 30, 2017, 9:40 am	July 2085 We headed out from Somerset late afternoon. It's 1000 miles or so to Morgan, so we planned to drive overnight and arrive at dawn. There were 7 of us in 3 cars, enough we hoped to deter any pirates along the way. We coasted south and slowly the darkness enveloped us, the sun slipping below the horizon and leaving just the ghostly aura lighting the sky. We arrived as the light was just re-appearing, no doubt harshly dragging the town to wakefulness. We have nothing to do in the town itself, so we took our bearings and headed exactly north west, towards the towering mountains that Morgan has tucked itself next to, the shadows of which delayed the onset of the full force of the sun. It was just under an hour, and it was Emma who first noticed something. "There", she pointed, "there next to those rocks. It's definitely metal". My heart started to race as we got closer. It was a car, and as we got even closer still, it was even a Phoenix. Burnt out...barely much more than the metal chassis. The wheels and tyres were gone, the glass had been smashed, and the interior just a mess of ash and rubbish. "Well", said Greg, ït's here. But what do we do now? Do we even know it's the right thing and not just a coincidence?"" "My Dad always tagged his cars. He always put an emblem onto the grill". I walked to the front of the car and from the ground picked up a cast metallic grill badge. "This is one of his. It's either his car, or he was here". ""That's great, but what now?", Greg asked. We went over the wreck for an hour and found nothing. Not that there was much to search, the interior was gutted, and even the exterior had only one front panel that had any paint left on it. We stood there and stared glumly, and I couldn't think of a next step. Then, fingering the badge in my hand, I noticed that it had a seam...it seemed to have been cast in two parts. My eyes widened. "Hang on, I think this opens". Inside the badge was a small black torch, no bigger than my finger. I flicked the switch, but no light came on. "It's something, but we won't know until we can find some batteries for it" "You're an idiot Cali", said Ronald, ït's a black light, even I saw that". He took the torch and went to the front of the car and shone it on the almost undamaged panel to show the trace of the black light. "Cripes, look at this!", he exclaimed. On the panel, clearly visible under the black light was clear writing. "W5". "What the heck does that...", he started and then suddenly turned. Ëngines!" "Back to the cars!", I said, and broke into a run, and even as we raced towards them, I heard the distinctive crump of a car mortar. It seems our visit to Morgan had not gone unnoticed after all.
Cali Posted Jul 31, 2017, 11:31 am	July 2085 - Part 2 We had pre-arranged tactics if we got attacked. Hershel and Ronald headed south. Emma and I went north, with Greg riding in the back. But with the rocks in the way, Fred and George had to follow us - they couldn't head west. Over the rise from the east came a couple of cars, then a couple more. "We can...", started Emma, and then stopped. Four more cars appeared from the north east. I reached out the windows and gave the scatter sign to the other cars - eight was far more than we could handle. Even four would have been tough. In the mirror I saw Hershel spin the wheels and shoot off - his Flail would easily outrun the two Mercenaries who were after him. Our Flail was also quick enough, and was in good position to cut across the front of the enemies, and Fred had been quick to get started and was in front of us and to our west. All he had to do was keep away from them. I heard bullets hitting metal, and saw the smoke trail of a rocket pass behind us, but the quick start had got us past them and they had to turn, too slowly in the sandy surface. The disappeared into the dust we were throwing up behind us. Fred and George's Windsor wasn't quite as nimble, and in going wide they came up hard against the rise of the hills that led to the mountains to the west. I watched in horror as they kissed the edge of some rocks, and the car was flung onto it's side, and then to it's roof. The heavy armour protected them, but within moments I saw them surrounded by four vehicles, and two more kept after us. I looked over at Emma, but it was Greg whose voice came first. "We can't help them. It would be suicidal. They'll surrender, and hopefully the car will be booty enough and they'll live". I was sceptical. This was no random pirate ambush, this was a planned attack. An hour later, we arrived at the planned rendezvous point, and Hershel and Ronald were already there. Ronald looked devastated when we told him what had happened to his brothers. "We have to go back! At least to check for them!". "We can do that, but very carefully. It's time to head back to Somerset anyway, we will need to plan what to do next. Two cars is not enough out here. We really need to add something like a Buzzer to our collection. Something imposing." In the end it was an uneventful trip back. I don't think they expected us to have the courage to go back after how quickly we had run from them. There was nothing at the battle scene. No Windsor. But on the positive side - no bodies or blood either. Ronald looked at me hopefully "Maybe they walked away. Maybe they were taken...somewhere...I don't know. But I'm with you now for the long run, Cali. I'll find them."
Cali Posted Aug 9, 2017, 7:44 am	August 2085 A quiet month, in which I decided to spend the time loooking further into my parents stuff, and looking for a decent car, or maybe I should say, a decent tank. I'm getting sick of being out-shot by the pirates outside the walls. So for the moment, the guys have been hitting the racetracks and developing their skills. We picked up a nice prize for coming 5th in the Somerset deathrace league, and the notoriety is helping protect us - we can't just be taken out without people asking questions, and I think the ones we are up against don't want questions. I've really found nothing further about what we are looking for. We have our one clue, and we can't chase it down until we are better outfitted and upskilled.
Cali Posted Aug 21, 2017, 5:10 am	September 2085 "You know Cali...", Ronald squinted from his seat in the lounge room, and then tailed off. I looked over at him and took note of how the lat few months hasn't been particularly kind to poor Ronald. Never an attractive guy to begin with, the left side of his face was quite a mess with one ear gone and he had lost his sight in that eye. "Yes, I actually do know him. He's me." "No, I was just thinking about what we are doing. And what we aren't doing. This racign and deathracing for money is fine, and soon we hould be able to get that Buzzer you are so keen on, but when we get that, and gear it up, we're still no more experienced at wilderness fighting. We should be getting out there. A mate of mine, Bootrag..." "Bootrag", quizzed Emma from her seat at the desk. ""Bootrag???" Ï don't know how or why he is called that, but he's a good guy and quite the combat pilot. And he's been asking me if I want to go out scouting with him. Good practice I'd say, and blimey don't we need some more of that" In my heart, I knew he was right. "What do you think Emm?, you fancy going for a ride with a Bootrag. I've heard of him before too, he seems to know what he is doing and he's always coming back with loot" "Sure. We can take our Flail. Ronald, do you think Herschel is up to some scouting with your Flail?" Ron looked aghast. "Herschel? Why can't I go with Emm? You seem happy here checking notes. We could just go and you can look for more clues"" "You are not for one moment thinking I am letting you shoot my guns in my Flail. You can either take Herschel in your Flail, or take one of the other cars. My Flail is off limits." Ï'm a better gunner than you anyway", he muttered, which was probably true. But we only have 2 Flail's and I'm quite possessive of mine. Ronald shars a Flail with Herschel, but Herschel can be a bit unpredictable when driving, and I didn't think Ronald was quite ready to go out in the wilderness with him. In the end it was Emm and I who met up with Bootrag and went out after a trader convoy. In the end it went smoothly - the Flail suffered littel or no damage and we came back with a looted trade van. "Here you go Ron. Your own little project", I said to him when we were back at home in the evening. "We want more money, you want experience in the wilderness. Find a trade van team, and we can do trade runs with the Flails as escorts. The van is already at Jake's getting refitted. Kill two birds with the one stone."
Cali Posted Sep 1, 2017, 11:34 pm	October 2085 "Ërrr...Cali", started Ronald. The tone of voice sounded sheepish. I looked up from my breakfast and raised my eyebrows quizzically at him. "Well, with the van ready, I went out to see what I could do with it. And in Dexter's you can sign up to take mail over the Elmsfield. $9k for a trip - good money I thought. Safe trip I thought, should be able to do it without an escort as well, the van has enough guns to hold off a pirate, and it's not slow so we can always run...and so I accepted one..." Ronald tailed off and looked even more sheepish. I looked over at Emma and saw her trying deperately not to break into a smile. I was having the same problem - Ronalds's a nice enough guy but he always seems to miss something whenever he puts together a plan. I looked back at him and waited for him to continue because I didn't trust myself not to break into laughter if I opened my mouth to ask a question. "The damn van also has a tiny fuel tank! It won't get me even halfway to Elmsfield!", he finally burst out. Emma gave up on restraint and put her hand over her mouth to restrain her giggles. I had more control, but I still had a grin on my face. "How long do you have to get the mail there?", I asked. "54 hours" "Well, get a new tank fitted, plenty of time to do that and get to Elmsfield" "Look mate, I'm not stupid you know. I thought of that. It's in the shop now getting it fitted" "Well that's great. It would have needed it anyway, so no harm done" "Yeah, but with the bigger fuel tank, now the mail won't fit in the van!" Em gave up on just giggling and burst out laughing. I stood up and stretched. "C'mon Ron, old chap. Let's see what we can do with this. We can either outfit you an escort and take a second car - they'll need bigger tanks too - or we'll rejig the van to fit the mail in. There's a solution somewhere, I'm sure"
Cali Posted Sep 11, 2017, 8:05 am	November 2085 As the year would down towards the Christmas period, the sun lost its determined intensity and shone with a slightly softer light down on Somerset. People seemed to relax a little, and the deathraces were run in an almost apologetic way. Although, as for our gang the leagues were run and finished, maybe it was just us that were feeling that way. The experiment with the van hadn't gone well. We had recruited a couple of drivers, picked up a nice mail contract for a run across to Elmsfield, and sent them off. They didn't arrive. Ronald took this all pretty personally, and spent a lot of time looking into what might have happened, cross examining every incoming traveller and generally hanging around in the market, and out near the gates. It took several days, but he finally came home one night with the news that they are suspected to be in Firelight, captured and being put to use in the gladiator pits. "At least they aren't dead. Do we know anyone who heads down that way?". We'd seen a change in Ronald over the last week, it was a much quieter and determined Ronald who had been chasing up his project, showing a distinctly caring side and deeply impressing some of the newer members of the gang. The gang was now up to 11 people, the core group of old school friends who knew why we were together, and the others who were the racers and deathracers bringing in the money. We had decided that we needed a chassis, and I had done the research and decided that a buzzer would suit us nicely. It had the size to run a decent collection of weapons and make the pirates think twice, but would also get us in comfort back down to Morgan for what would be the second investigation into the Phoenix wreck. Myself and Emm had been going through my parents papers in detail, looking for the slightest clue. Since the buzzer was going to cost us around $750k, we had a few months at least to try and piece togther the puzzle. One thing so far seemed to be a recurring theme. "What is a haze shield?", Emm asked. "Not a clue, but yeah, there are a lot of schematics about them. But from what I can read, they sure do need a lot of power. Look at the voltage and current lines...you'd need a medium sized power station to even get it started. Should we ask around and see if anyone knows what it is?" "No...we've already stuck our heads up once and been bitten, let's stay under the radar for now". Emm furrowed her brows and stared off into the distance for a moment. "I wonder if there are any old data banks that might have information. The old internet would be a handy thing about now - pity it got fried along with the rest of the worlds electronics"
Cali Posted Sep 23, 2017, 3:42 am	December 2085 Winter bought with it a cold and yet intense light, it was so sharp in the sunlight that you would think it could almost cut you. With all the events coming to a conclusion, the gangs that were out of the running were settling in to pimp their cars for next season. Every second pickup coming from near Jake's workshop had a shiny new engine sitting proudly in the tray, carrying all the hopes and dreams of glory and prizemoney that surely would come in the new year. For me it was a time of impatience. Things just weren't moving fast enough and I kept pushing down the feeling time, for whatever reason, was running out. While the gang at this point was around a dozen people, it was really split into two parts. Officially, our gang leader was Florence, who was originally our medic but soon showed a talent for organising the other guys, and with our desire to stay underground, she took over the public role of leader. She made sure the drivers had cars, they had races to enter, they got to those races, and when they finished that the cars were repaired and upgraded, the wounds were stitched and the broken bones set. The inner circle, those who knew why we needed the cars upgraded and the prizemoney pocketed, was just the 4 of us. Myself, Ronald and Emma lived in my parents house, which had become official headquarters. Oliver was the other one - he was the close friend of George and Fred, and had been with us almost from the start. Their deaths had simply cemented his place in the core group, and his totally reliability to get a job done regardless of the obstacles and challenges had made him indispensible. The four of us were having a impromptu meeting one evening, when there was a knocking at the door. There stood Tom - one of our gangers - and an older lady who was familiar to me, but nto someone I immediately placed. "Can we come in and have a talk - I think we may be able to help you", Tom asked in a conspiratorial way. "Help with what?" Tom looked around, as if he expected people to be listening over his shoulder. "About why your mother might have needed to vanish" While my background wasn't exactly a secret, we also hadn't advertised the reason for the gang, we had told everyone we were simply after the rewards of a successful deathracing career. None of our gangers should have known anything about my mohter, or that we were following clues to what might have happened. I motioned Tom and his lady friend inside. When we got to the lounge room, she looked at me, and said "My name is Merope. I'm Tom's mother, but more importantly I worked with your mother a few years back and I think I know what she was looking for, and why it might have attracted some very unwanted interest." She had my immediate undivided attention.
Cali Posted Sep 30, 2017, 12:12 am	"Me and my husband used to be in a gang that delivered between Somerset and Morgan. With your parents. Did well, too. Your father was a great mechanic and was in demand for that as well, so life wasn't too bad. One trip out of Morgan, we were only a few hours out when one of the cars threw a big end. The gang was quite big - we had 10 cars escorting the vans - and we decided to tow the car to the remains of an old building and your Dad would go back to Morgan for spare parts. So me and Lill - your Mum - went exploring this building. So we're wandering around and at one point there is a rumble and I have to pull Lill back from where the floor has collapsed under our feet. And under there is a room, neat, clean untouched. Full of filing cablinets and plan drawers. The rubble had made a sort of path down, so we went down and started poking around. It was a bit technical for me, but Lill was always really smart. She started getting pretty excited about what she was reading, and started insisting we take a lot of it with us. Lucky we were only lightly loaded out of Morgan, most of the goods go to it and don't come from it. So we grab a couple of the guys and load as much as we can in the van. When we got back to Somerset, Lill started going through it all. And well, you know how back in the days when the sun storms first hit, the southern hemisphere went first, and then we had about 6 months notice that we were next? You would think the government would be trying to do something. Turns out they were. The sun storms stripped the earth of a lot of protection. They were trying to recreate some of that protection, but on a smaller scale." "A haze shield", piped up Em from her spot on the lounge. "How do you know that?", exclaimed Merope. "We have some of the schematics", Em replied. "But we looked them over, there is not enough power in the world to keep them running". "You must have a early schematic. Because they solved that problem and Lill and me were pretty sure that somewhere over the mountains to the west of Morgan is a shielded area that is living a civilised life. But of course it's only for the politicians and bigwigs who had the right connections. And just as we were getting somewhere, well, both your parents disappeared, supposedly dead in the desert north of Morgan".
Cali Posted Oct 3, 2017, 1:18 am	The rest of the evening is a bit of a blur to me. Finding someone who knew and was helping my parents, someone who had just filled in a whole lot of the holes in the story, was a revelation to me. What was clear was that something big was going on, and based on our last trip to Morgan, there were people out there pretty keen to keep the knowledge of it quiet. We knew we were being watched, and this time I wanted time out in the desert to properly look over the site and follow any clues - this time I didn't want to have to run from whoever didn't like us prying. "Ronald - you've got a few friends out there now - friends with cars and guns on them?". "Sure - what's the plan?". "We head out, with the 4 cars that we've got. That's a small enough party that whoever is tailing us will follow. Those friends of yours, they set up an ambush. That should free us from the tailing and we can have some time outside Morgan undisturbed".
Cali Posted Oct 7, 2017, 10:37 am	Ronald walked in the door, looking a bit bemused. Now I will admit it's true, Ronald can often look bemused, but this was even more bemused than usual. I looked at him and waitied for an explanation for his bemusement. "I think we're quite a bit more equiped for this mission", he said. "Why? Who's on board" "Well, nobody. I never got around to asking". Ronald still looked bemused and even a bit bewildered. "So, what's the story?" "I can only assume that our story is not quite so quiet as we expected. I was at the pub, and I was waiting for Bootrag or Joskney...they often hang out there. And this guy appeared, introduced himself as Dr Meat. He offered me a buzzer and a fully outfitted trash truck." "Hell Ron, we can't afford that! That's a million at least! Closer to two million outfited." "They're out front. $50k each. Bought and delivered". Both mine and Em's jaws hit the floor at the same time. Five minutes later we were crawling over the new additions to the collection. "Car cannons. Two of them! Cali, we are going to need to do some training on these, we don't have anyone who can do justice to this thing!". Em was both scared and jubilant. As for myself, this suddenly had meant the next stage of our quest was going to happen now, and not later. We finally had the firepower.
Cali Posted Oct 8, 2017, 12:55 am	January 2086 With Christmas over, January meant the start of the new season - the race league. We watched and noted drivers, and started making quiet offers - we needed another 2 drivers. We also needed a lot of training - the trash truck and it's guns were far more than we were used to handling and it was going to take a little time. It was pretty intimidating for the other drivers when we first drove it into a combat, but they soon saw our lack of experience, and we were trying to be careful. Quite a few resignations followed before we were even slightly comfortable.
Cali Posted Oct 11, 2017, 3:47 am	February 2086 I looked forlornly over the trash truck."It's not exactly pristine any more". I sighed, as the realisation sunk in that the trash truck wasn't quite the lethal behemoth that it had been just half an hour previously, just before it had trundled into the arena. Nova, who had been driving, and Oliver gunning, looked at each other sheepishly. "Sorry boss, we thought we could endure it, but when the other cars came out of nowhere, well..." Herschel, our best mechanic, poked his head out of what used to be where the garbage went in. "I can't fix the right cannon, it's scrap metal now. The left one will never quite be the same, it's a bit like Ronald with his one eye. It's only really half what ti used to be" "Low blow", muttered Ronald from my left. Herschel grinned at him. "Otherwise it look worse than it is. Sure it needs a lot of armour replaced, but the chassis and engine are pretty much fine". I knew how rare car cannons were in the marketplace, and after having had a few to play with, I wasn't keen to go back to machine and gatling guns. And we needed those cannons to take us safely to Morgan. "Looks like you pair", I said pointing at Nova and Oliver, "are going back to your Flail until you're a bit better at arena combat, and maybe you better look at every race and deathrace you can get into, we're going to need a good swag of money to put this old girl back to how she was, and you never know, if you can pay for it, you might even get to drive her again". I put my hand on the twisted barrel of the dead cannon and looked up at Herschel. "Replace it with a heavy machine gun for now, I can't see us getting our hands on a cannon in a hurry, let alone 2 of them. And make sure you bring the keys right back to me, she's going to be kept out of unsafe hands for a while".
Cali Posted Oct 13, 2017, 11:38 pm	March 2086 Once again I was looking forlornly over a battered vehicle, this time with Robert, a bit part ganger who had just been promoted to chief mechanic. We had just had it towed from the rally circuit, and it was not only highly damaged, but also quite blood splattered. It was a 2L Flash racer, our smallest car, and probably one of our favourites. It was at thre front of the workshop, "You're the best mechanic I got, and I guess your first job is to clean Herschel's blood from the Flash. That rally circuit cross over has claimed plenty of lives over the years, and he's now just another statistic." "The Flash is straightforward.", and Robert then looked at the trash truck next to it, "But that thing I might need some help on, it's a lot more complex and I never really worked on much like it". As we were still pretty much on the street right at the front of the workshop, we weren't exactly in private, and from behind me, a tired and jaded looking man tapped me on the shoulder. "Sorry to interrupt, the name's Harold and I might be able to help you a bit here. I'm not a bad mechanic, and I've got a few days to kill before my ride back to camp. Heard about you kids and that you have some secret mission, and as I'm getting close to the end of my time I"m always happy to pass along some tidbits where I can". I didn't get a chance to reply as a youngster at that moment came rushing along the road "Pirate raid! If you got a car, get it to the gates!" "Harold was it? Meet Robert...he's just become our chief mechanic and I'll leave you two to get acquanited. I'm going to do some civic duty and see if maybe one of those pirates has a car cannon I can loot, we're short one on the truck here, and I'm pretty keen on filling that gun slot. Have fun!" I rushed off looking for Emma.
Cali Posted Oct 15, 2017, 2:28 am	We were at the Somerset gates, Emma driving our Buzzer and I had the guns. We'd decided that machine guns just weren't damaging enough and installed rocket lauchers, plus a grenade launcher for good measure. There were only three vehicles for the defence - HeadWar who we had heard of a lot before, he was quite the local legend in racing and deathracing. And the other was a guy who simply called himself The Goat Starer. They also both had buzzers, so while we were down on numbers, we had a lot of firepower. As we were about to take off to see what was incoming, the back door flipped open and Robert fell into the back seat. The whole buzzer rocked - Robert was not a small guy. "What are you doing here?", I asked, somewhat sharply. Robert was meant to be in the workshop seeing what our new buddy Harold could do. "Harold said he had to talk to some friends, and he would meet us at Dexters'when we had seen off the pirates. He said he might be able to get a present for us as well". There wasn't really a lot of time to ask anything further, HeadWar and Goat were starting off and I didn't want to be left behind. HeadWar leant out his window and yelled across "Beware - there's some bugs near the walls - looks like Nexus has been eating dinner in his car - when his bib gets full he leaves crumbs all along his trail and that always draws them out". He laughed uproariously and put his foot down, his car growling menacingly and spraying sand out behind. I looked at Emma, we both shrugged in total confusion and followed hard behind.
Cali Posted Oct 17, 2017, 7:27 am	As the buzzer was a bit battered from the raid and Em had decided she was too tired, Ronald and I convinced Nova to take us to Dexters' in her Flail. We parked it out front and wandered in, and found Harold at an empty table, with an emtpy glass. Good timing I thought, and headed off to get a round of drinks. A cold beer certainly went down well after the events of the morning. Harold seemed quite keen to hear about the town defence, and I was more than happy to expand on how it happened - everyone likes to talk about their exploits. "I was at the rally circuit a few days ago, and I saw your old mechanic Hershel get his lights turned out. What struck me at the time what that the crowd seemed genuinely disappointed that it had happened to a Griffindor. Most of those crowds are a pretty tastless bunch and just want to see blood and gore. Sort of piqued my interest in you. See - I done a lot in my time. And my time is coming around, if you know what I mean. I done a lot of bad, and thought little of it, and yet as I get older, I see how much good is needed to make this sad world a better place. And so the bad now is gone and I try to do good, and not just for me. I try to do good for others. And since you seemed to be a gang people liked, I did me some askin' around. Only bad words are from those who are jealous cos you beat them in a race, or shot at them in a combat. Most said you were good guys, and not only that, but you were kitting up for some crusade that was going to do something for the people here." I narrowed my eyes at that comment. Our mission was meant to be a close secret, but seems that somebody had loose lips. Harold went on. "I got me more than I need, and I'm too old to be the one to use it to help people, and so I figure if someone else can use it, then it would be like me doing it as well, if you know what I mean." Dexter came up to our table and waved a piece of paper at me. "Cali! Some shifty dude just handed me this and told me to give it to me. Then he scarpered, quick smart. Didn't like the look of him one bit. Dunno why he couldn't hand it over himself, but it takes all types." It was a just a piece of paper, but I noticed it was very fine paper. The sort of paper that nobody makes any more, it's just too expensive in this world of limited resources. I handed it to Ronald, and it went around the table and ended up with Harold. "Careful if you take a bite of something bigger than you can handle. It might just bite back", he read out. "You know what it means?" "I have no idea...", I started, and Nova's Flail blew. The blast from the exploding car shattered all the front windows of Dexters' and anyone sitting close to them was knocked flat, glass flying like shrapnel through the room. Lucky we were at the back, and were merely buffeted by hot wind. "My Flail...", started Nova. "F&^k your Flail Nova, there's people hurt!", I snarled at her, and started running to where the cries of pain were coming from. Later, as we were helping the last of the wounded get bandaged and comfortable, Harold came up to me. He'd also ung around to do what he could after the blast. "You got the right stuff in you, if you know what I mean. You need help, you're always welcome at my camp. And well, I got a spare car cannon in the truck. You need one, I got one. Assholes who do this sort of thing need to know they can't get away with it"
Cali Posted Oct 20, 2017, 6:44 am	June 2086 We needed to rebuild, and so we had focussed on the deathrace league and other one off events to get the cash reserves back up. Saved up enough to replace Nova's Flail with a Landrunner, and she was quite happy. She wouldn't be using it for a while as her gunner Oliver was still bedridden after catching a stray bullet or two while out scouting. It wasn't so easy to stay under the radar though. With the Flail explosion we had become a popular topic of conversation, and it had become common knowledge that we were on some form of quest. It's amazing how a little knowledge can spawn so many theories. I've heard people say that we've developed a flying car, and that we've invented pulse weapons that blow cars apart and the Flail was a failed trial. We had decided to let the deathrace league finish, and by then we would be ready to venture out and see if we could find out some more about this hostile group and if the phoenix in the desert held any more clues.
Cali Posted Oct 29, 2017, 12:32 am	August 2086 Ronald came bounding in, a huge smile across his battered features. "News is all good today, fellow gangers. All good and to be honest, somewhat exciting". I stretched and waiting for him to go on. Staying up the radar, while safer than some of our other exploits, was frankly a little boring and I presonally was sick of it. It wasn't so bad for Em as she and Merope pored over the schematics, notes and maps to try and work out what we were up against, and Ronald who was out recruiting allies for when the time came to go out and start pushing some buttons to see what happens. All I had to do was the occasional race or deathrace. "Well to start with, crongats to you and Em, who have finished 4th in the Somerset Deathrace league, and will bring home a nice bunch of prizemoney and the adoration of the league fans. But that was sort fo expected, and actually not the best news of the day. I have received word from Jos that Daniel and James are not only still alive in Firelight, but have been become famous and reknowned gladiators, and won their freedom!" "The last piece of the puzzle falls into place. Are they coming back?" "Jos offered them a lift out of there, but they will wait for the Firelight rallies next week and then see if they can hitch a ride - they don't have a car down there to just drive back in". "So we have the prizemoney to outfit another car and a pair of famous gladiators to drive it. Do we have enough friends to spring a surprise on the nasties?" "Don't you worry about that old chap. When the time comes, we'll have more than enough firepower". That time, I thought, was getting very near. I didn't think I would be waiting aroudn Somerset for much longer at all.
Cali Posted Oct 31, 2017, 4:14 am	September 2086 I was awoken by a huge explosion, that rattled the windows and caused all the neighbourhood stray dogs to break out in howls of surprise. It seemed to come from outside town, but in this world that could mean anything, so I threw on some clothes and went outside to the workshop. It was deserted, which was unusual, just the usual collection of cars...but the trash truck was gone. A shiver of unease went through me and I headed inside for my sun protection gear. Five minutes later I was outside and headed for the walls over which I could see a pall of smoke rising from something in the wastelands. The crackle of machine guns soon halted me and I took shelter in a doorway as a Gand Gerbill semi-trailer skidded through the gates and took up position across the road, shooting back through the gates. The crash from the wall, which shuddered violently, showed that the attacker had come to a sudden stop. A few moments later, another Grand Gerbill car sauntered into the gates and parked next to the trailer. Engine roaring, a car with the Snow Snipes logo flew into the town and was prompty cut down in a hail of fire, skidding sideways into the water tower and coming to a halt on one side. The trailer driver would down his window and held up one finger. Clearly there was still one Snow Snipe alive outside the walls. The car headed out, and I took the opportunity to dash across to the trailer and poked my head up and inside the window. "Cali!", the driver exclaimed, "You weren't in the trash truck? Ronald said...oh ####, man, I'm sorry..." "So the fireball was my gang trash truck?". I asked, knowing full well that it was. "Do you know who was in it, and are they likely to still be alive out there?" "No man, that thing went up like a call girls dress when you drop a fifty on them. I thought you were in it, if not there was someone who looked a lot like you. And well man, maybe there was just someone who looked a lot like Ronald and Nova..but no, I talked to Ronald on the way out." He patted my shoulder in a comradely fashion. "Sorry man, but he's gone. Everyone in there is gone, plus any cars that were within 20 metres. Massive, man. Absolutely massive." I wasn't overly worried about losing the trash truck, it had been bad luck from the start. One successful combat, one bad one, and now the first time it left the walls it was gone. But to lose Ronald, who had been with us from the start, that hurt. We also lost Nova and Robert, plus our gang nurse and a friend of hers who supposedly did look a lot like me. One more we got right to the point of positive action, and then had to pull our heads in and rebuild.
Cali Posted Nov 3, 2017, 9:45 pm	"What are we going to do, Em?" It was late at night, and we had just seen the last of the visitors from the wake party head out into the night. I was a little drunk, Em was a little drunk, but we were both wide awake and unable to sleep. "We do this thing". Ems's voice was quietly determined. "You're still with me?" "Of course. Always have been, always will be". "But we're now down our battelship, and a good number of our decent drivers and gunners" "We wait a few days, and we'll have Daniel and James back from Firelight. The Circuit rallies finish in a week and we're due $300,000 prizemoney. We replace the truck, outfit a new car, and head off. We're being pulled down deliberately, someone is trying to stop us building up. So, if they are worried about us, we must be a threat already. Let's get on with it then". "But Ronald knew all the guys who would be helping" "And they will still help. They all knew it was the gang they were helping, not Ronald" I looked up from my drink. There was a light in Em's eyes, a steely light that said that she was not about to veer from the path I had set us on. "OK then. Let's go catch up on Ronald's buddies and see who is going to help, and then work out what sort of car we need"
Cali Posted Nov 15, 2017, 9:26 pm	October 2086 I used to read a lot of books written before the apocalypse, before the solar events that reduced our world to the sorry state that it's in. Today, was one of those evenings when in days past, you would invite over some close friends and enjoy a few drinks and a 'pictionary', whatever that was. We were doing that that, but instead of pictionary we were having a planning meeting: myself, Em, Tom and Oliver. The four remaining core members. "So", I started, "The gang. We've got Daniel and James coming back from Firelight with Joskney. That gives us 11. And with 5 scout spec cars, I think that's our capacity for now. Of the 5 cars, the buzzers are fine, but we need to look at the loadouts on the Landrunner, the Flail and the Windsor. To do that - we need some money. And since we aren't going to see Daniel and James for another month, we've got that month to improve. I know it's dangerous, but we're going to do some serious combat practice in the arenas. We need to be much better when shooting happens". "We know we're being followed, and we know almost everytime we venture out beyond the walls we get attacked by a strangely familiar set of enemies. I don't want to be followed south. So we know the plan - we set up an ambush. Tom - you've taken the liaison role - have we got enough friends who will spring the trap?" "I think so - there is at least half a dozen, with mulitple cars. Easily enough to kill off what we've seen attack us so far". And so we waited on the convoy from Firelight with our last 2 gangers, and went out into the areanas of Somerset. And we learned to shoot straighter, and how to drive when being shot at. And I was forced to learn first aid when Em took shrapnel to the head - luckily her hair would cover the scars. We took the prizemoney and added weapons to the cars. A spike dropper for the Flail. Car rifles for ranged combat. Upgrading the machine guns. And we planned for the real part of the quest to being in December.
Cali Posted Nov 23, 2017, 1:43 am	November 2086 With the return of Daniel and James from Firelight, we had arranged a surprise event at the tavern. Bootrag and Nexus were arguing over whether a heavy gatling gun was better than a heavy machine gun. Fluid, Taco and Chien were playing darts, Jolly was dealing a hand to Shawn, Canner and a girl who went by the odd name of ''Inbetween'. Our gangers were scattered around the room, they had instructions to quietly ask who was in for our little ambush. Drinks were on the house - or rather being paid for by us - Dexter was never one to give away anything for free. Joskney drove up in his dusty and battered Stormer, and out stepped an equally battered trio. It was an interesting reunion. The gang had changed so much while they had been gladiators that they had never even met some of the newer guys. And really, they had been away longer than than had been gang members. But, it was a last chance for us to really let our hair down before the serious work begun, and considering the chances were that some of us would be dead before our quest was done, it was the least that I could do for them.
Cali Posted Dec 1, 2018, 11:47 pm	December 2086 As Christmas was approaching, and the weather cooled down to be vaguely tolerable, Em and I were having a drink at home - just the two of us. "Prizemoney in the bank?", I asked. Em was the organiser of the outfit, she knew where evything was and what everyone and every car was doing. "Yep. we have enough cash to take the month off. And we're going to need to...there is a lot that is about to change." I looked at her quizzically. She had said it in such a way that I knew I was about to get told something that I wasn't going to like. "Daniel and James...", she continued, "they won't stay any more. The Firelight experience - it's shaken them. I'm not sure I would want to be in a car with them when it came under fire. They would crack". "So with Ronald gone, and those two...that means just you and me Em, from the original group" "And that is probably my whole point. This thing is big. It's not some small renegade group we are dealing with. We need to stop going out with half specced cars, and reject trash trucks. We need to build a squad of decent...no, not just decent...powerful vehicles. We need to groom a team. Dedicated. Skillful. And we need some friends. From what I am seeing here, there is a heavily backed group that survived the apocalype. And not just survived - they are living in relative luxury somewhere that we can't hope to achieve. Whatever this haze shield is, it's helping them propser, and we are missing out." "We're too small. We don't have the resources to take on...". I stopped, thinking. "We don't have the resouces now...but we just won a decent prize..." Em smiled. You could tell she was quite proud that I had reasoned it all out for myself. "We need 3 tanks, plus a bunch of muscle cars as scouts and outriders. Figure a million each tank. Another mill for the others. You think we can raise that much?" I grimaced. Revenge was such a slow business. I raised my glass to Emma. "Deathrace and Combat circuit, here we come!"