Operation: Phoenix: MAUL's Road Trip, Part 1 by Most Holy, mostholy@nextsrv.cas.muohio.edu On the first day, Most Holy came up with the following lousy title: Operation Phoenix: MAUL's Road Trip The fire was burning down as the night began to overtake the campsite. All the active membership of MAUL were present at this meeting, and as usual nothing was being discussed; just a group of people sitting around a campfire, smoking or staring or thinking. Most Holy broke the silence. "Well, we've come a long way from where we were a month ago, and we're still alive and strong." The meeting had been called to this site in southern Ohio to discuss the new threat aimed at the planet, the invasions of thousands of wyrm-mionions bent on taking over and establishing B'harne as their (and, subsequently, our) Master. Joanna Calvin spoke. "We've regrouped, we're not as large an organization as we once were. Can we win if we fight this battle? I think Mao may have had a point when he said not to fight battles you know you'll lose." About a week ago an alert had been sent out, and all active MAUL personnel were to covertly attend this meeting. Over the past week people had been comming to the site, always on foot and always tired from the hike. That there were only seven people at this meeting was somewhat frustrating to their leader, Most Holy. He was considering this when Mother Siona spoke up. "Perhaps there's a higher ideal at stake here though. These invasions, these soldiers, are killing us; We don't have a choice. We fight or we die." Mother Siona had been the first to arrive, and hadn't said much during the week. The G-Team had arrived next, and they were always boisterous, though they seemed more irate than usual. Joanna, the Supersonic Bonbon ala MAUL, came yesterday, and had wisely brought supplies- water purifiers and the like. Half Holy had just finished using the tablets to purify their water supply when he spoke. "I aint necesarily the smartest guy here, but I will say this. I saw a whole damn city burning on my way up here to this council fire. I saw people running from their destroyed homes, a woman with a baby in her arms that had been scorched by napalm. I saw a group of wyrm-minions diembowell a man for no reason other than to do it. And stranger still I saw a group of X'hirjq attack the first and kill them. Something is seriously fucked, and it's planet-wide. Y'know what happened after that? The X'hirjq buried NOT their allied Wyrm-minions but the humans! And then they went to their artillary and commenced shelling the city! WHAT is going on here?" "They fight differently than we do- they're another society, another culture. And they're beating us. We have to fight back-" "Would you have us join the ranks of the dead?" interrupted Joanna. "If there's anyone who doesnt want to die needlessly it's me," stated Most Holy, "and I think we can reach a comprimise here. But whatever we do we have to start tonight-" "Yesterday," interrupted Mother Siona. "Yesterday. Right. Ive been listening to the discussion around this fire and have come to the following decision: "I will take the G-team and begin an insertion operation into the city of Chicago, where our intelligence reports the invasion as most concentrated in the midwest. Mother Si, you have by far the most technological expertise here; I need you to apply all your skills towards finding a way to fight the hoardes of X'hirjq wyrms. Once you have something, anything, I need you to exploit it. Can you do that?" "So it shall be," came her responce. "Joanna, you need to mobilize the forces in Wisconsin and head south; The G-Team and I are headed towards Chicago, that leaves a large part of the Midwest unprotected. Your orders are to do as much as possible against as many as possible. Understood?" "It is." "Then this council fire is now ended." The group split up- Most Holy and the G-Team breaking camp while the rest moved off in their own directions. Once gone, the fire extinguished and the area policed, Quite Holy, Half Holy, Not Holy, Un Holy and Most Holy began their trek towards the Windy City. The terrain was not friendly: hills, creeks, impassable tangles of bushes and mud all seeming to try and stop them from their goal, the machinery reserve for the Ohio Theater of MAUL. There they would obtain transportation and armaments for the battles ahead. Having arrived, they slept, perhaps the last chance they would get to sleep well. Most Holy allowed them six hours and at 1300 hours woke them. The G-Team, Most Holy included, ate their meals in silence, then Most Holy to his Harley (a beautiful '91 Sturgis) and the G-Team to their black van. They expected a six-hour drive, with some resistence. They would not be so lucky. It was passing through central Indiana where the first big problem arose. Most Holy was in in the lead, and signalled the van that he was running low on gas. They 'convoy' pulled off the highway at the next exit and found a station. Most Holy was filling up the Fat Bob tank as Quite and Half Holy grabbed Unhealthy Snacks(tm) from the QuickieMart. Having gassed up his bike, Most Holy went inside to pay for it, and the other two Holy's got in line behind him. He passed over a twenty to the clerk and jumped back as the clerk let out a high-pitched wailing screech! "What in All-Under-Heaven is wrong?" asked a surprised (and, in accordance with appropriate sections and subsections of Murphy's Law, unarmed) Most Holy. "Im sorry, Sirs, I love you and all of course, but we only accept BarneyBills here! Im sure this was just a mistake. That will be 523 BarneyBills please!" Half Holy drew his Desert Eagle at the smiling, glassy-eyed clerk as Un and Not Holy entered, wondering what was keeping their companions. Thus distracted, the wyrm-clerk hit an alarm and dove under the counter. Before the G-Team could react, the entire place was filled with the War Cry of the HellWyrm, movt. 1 "Flight of the WyrmMinions", a rather piss-poor takeoff of the Vagner. Needless to say, the Holy's dropped to the ground as the fire sprinklers went off and 5 heavily armed wyrms ran out of the back room and opened fire. The Holy's bolted for the van, followed by 5 sponge soldiers. Half Holy directed everyone into the van, grabbed a large cylindrical object, told Most Holy to DRIVE! and disappeared. "Insubordinate bastard," cried Most Holy as he threw the van into gear and drove off onto the road, down about 200 yards and stopped. "Arm up and get out!" he cried as he loaded up his shotgun; the rest followed suit, exitted the van and- Beheld a monumental explosion, consuming the gas station in a gruesome fireball; subsequesnt smaller explosions rocked the earth as nearby automobiles exploded. "Half Holy was in there," was all Quite Holy could say. Most Holy remembered his last words to his friend, grabbed hold of his shirt and tore it. Un and Not Holy stared in disbelief as the fireball rose into the sky. To Be Continued All material copyrighted by the original author.