Houston

When Major Colton Wayne woke up that one morning, five days ago, he had no idea the rest of the week was going to go straight to pot.

It all started with a phone call, that woke him from a dream he would love to get back to, someday. He was told to report to barracks for a urgent briefing, which of course, eliminated any remnants of sleep he might have been experiencing up to that point. Bypassing the usual shower, shave and morning coffee rituals, he dressed himself, nearly stumbling down the stairs in the process and left.

Upon arrival, he was whisked away to the briefing, held in a very crowed quonset, standing room only. A map of Texas was pined up on a cork wall divider with a big red, felt pen X over Houston. As the briefing got under way, all the details became clear. Seems the folks in Washington wanted that city, among a few others, to be brought back into the fractured Union. It also turns out that task was contracted out to the New England Minutemen, patriots only in their self proclaimed title, since they would offer their mothers up to the highest bidder. At least, that's how the rumors went.

The mission was simple: facilitate the delivery of assistance to the City of Houston and any other areas that requested the same. Vague on purpose, to allow "freedom of action" to objectives that could be crafted, once fresh, local intelligence was acquired.

Due to the Minutemen's overland route to Texas, somebody thought up the brilliant plan to take a sea route, from Savannah to Houston, to avoid any....unnecessary engagements. Major Wayne didn't like that idea very much, but kept quiet about it. More time in the field is more money, especially when it prolongs any combat and casualties.

All in all, it took just over five hours to load all the vehicles that needed to be transported by flatbed trailer and truck, the ammunition and supplies for both man and machine for seven days of operations. The general consensus this mission shouldn't take that long.

Once all of the final departure arrangements were confirmed, the convoy took a five and a half hour drive south east to the the Port of Savannah, plus another lost count of hours to unload the trucks and load the ships.

The brilliant nautical route took almost four days, over double what it would have taken to do by land, with breaks and refueling. The news during the voyage was grimmer by the day, tens of thousands of civilians in the surrounding areas were misplace by the action, local forces were just barely hanging on and most cries for help were just going unheard. It appeared the international community didn't want to get involved with what was labeled "an internal matter."

The Port of Houston was a sight to be seen in Major Wayne's eye, he hated the being on the water. Drowning wasn't a pleasant thought, nor the motion sickness it produced in his stomach and the sooner he was "feet dry," the better. The port was operating like it was business as usual, so off loading the ships felt like it took no time at all.

Major Wayne was now ready to roll out, his Abrams crew was primed, the fuel tank was topped off and the ammunition was just waiting to be fired.