Secrets of the (DKB) Rangers

[Borys]

swamphen     
Posted: Nov 1 2006, 06:33 PM


Großeadmiral Sumpfhühn
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Group: Head of State
Posts: 1,298
Member No.: 23
Joined: 29-January 05



   
or, where some of those secret-squirrel funds have been going...

6 August
Molumbo, Mozambique

"He says the Boers came and told him they were in charge, and that if he did not take their orders there would be consequences." The askari translator frowned. "He says the Portugese were not good men, but the Boers are very bad."

Major Edward "Ned" Kelly of the Bushrangers nodded. One of the purposes of this little expedition was to sow chaos among the Orangemen by arming the native villagers; from what this chief was saying, this sounded like a likely place to do so.

He turned to the translator. "Ask him if, perhaps, he would like the means to make the Boers miserable."

---

22 September
Mecubiri, Mozambique

Kelly watched as his men threw the gasoline over the contents of the buildings, then started to work on the huts themselves. Orange security had been visibly improving over the two months they'd been in Boer country, but apparently not everyone had got the word.

The security at this army supply dump had been a joke. Six white guards and about a dozen natives. He'd had no problem positioning his sharpshooters who'd taken out four of the Boers in their first volley. One of the survivors had managed to pick off one of his men, but once they'd been finished off, the natives had put up little resistance. Two had been shot and five had fled; the remaining five had surrendered and then offered to switch sides. They'd been given rifles and ammunition from the depot's stocks, then told to "go and spread the good word".

The Bushrangers had then set to work with a vengance. Food, guns, ammo, clothes - they'd plundered the supply dump for everything they could possibly carry. Some of the men had even been tempted to try to steal an ancient field gun they'd found tucked away into a corner, but Kelly had nixed that idea. They didn't need a horse-drawn artillery piece slowing them down when the Boers caught up to them.

With the pillage ready for transport, the preparations for burning had begun - hence the gasoline. Dan Kelly had put his knowledge of explosives to work and had fashioned a crude bomb from a supply of black powder and a clockwork fuse; he now hurried out of the building giving an "all good" wave.

Kelly motioned for his men to head out; he didn't want to be around when this place went up.

five minutes later:

WHUUUMPP!

--

9 October
Litundi, Mozambique

There were war-whoops and shouts as the firing slackened. A platoon of Orange troops had been discovered patrolling a track and they'd been caught with their pants down. Three of the Bushrangers were dead but they'd taken three times their number and the rest had been sent packing, fleeing back to Lichinga with their tails between their legs.

"Good work men! Now let's see what those poor devils had on them. Gold perhaps?" A round of cheers and laughter greeted Kelly's words. "Remember, we bury their dead just like ours, just 'cause they're the enemy doesn't mean we treat them like savages. Take all their equipment first, though - "

"Major!" A shout came from one of the men who'd already reached the battle scene. "This one's still alive!"

Kelly hurried over to where the askari gefreiter was bent over one of the fallen Orangemen. "How bad is he?"

"Very bad, Major. He will not see the moonrise."

"Hmm." He motioned towards the Orangeman, who upon looking up obviously recognised Kelly. His face, pale from pain, darkened. "You..." he managed to gasp out. "You're behind all this, aren't you?"

"For varying definitions of 'behind this', I presume. I'm simply following orders, same as you."

The Boer, although weak, managed to spit on the ground. "My orders do not include the arming of kaffirs!"

"Well you see there's where your government disagrees with mine, which is one of the reasons we're both here at the moment." Kelly rose. "Make him comfortable, bury the rest. We're moving out."

--

12 November
Mavago, Mozambique

The askari translator seemed deeply disturbed by the village headman's words. "He says the Boers came here a few days ago and told him, the villagers have to leave. They are coming back in three days and will be taking all the villagers away. He says that the Boers have offered compensation but that none of the villagers want to leave their land. They have lived here since the earliest generations, he says, and he asks if we are here to help them against the Boers."

Kelly sighed. The bloody Orangemen were onto them; it was probable that they wouldn't be able to stay in Mozambique much longer. "Tell him that help is coming, but it will take some time to arrive. Tell him that until it comes we can give them the ability to make the Boers bleed for their disrepect for his people's tradition and lands." He turned to a vizefeldwebel. "Have a good supply of guns and ammunition sorted out, if the Boers are going to be making our job difficult, well, we'll do our best to throw a spanner into theirs."

--

25 November
Marrupa, Mozambique

Kelly's head jerked up at the sound of shooting from the village. They'd arrived a few days prior and had established good relations with the village chief. They'd been invited to return with additional rifles, so they'd hit an Orange dump that had been, now that he thought about, awfully easy to strike.

He raised his field glasses and frowned. There were men in uniforms visible - Orange uniforms.

Kelly scowled and pounded his fist into his palm. It'd been a trap; the perfidious Boers had gotten to the village first. Either they'd bought the chief's loyalty, or they'd switched out the village for loyal men. And he'd lost fourteen of his rangers as a result of it.

As he gave the orders to move out on the double, he mentally noted to reccomend that this place be razed to the ground when the invasion came.

--

9 December
5km north of Maringué, Mozambique

It was time, more than time. The last two weeks had been spent dodging Orange patrols and Orange-supported "natives" that were, Kelly was sure, sheep in wolves' clothing, or rather Orange native troops posing as villagers in an attempt to trap them. Well "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me" - the Bushrangers had been studiosuly avoiding contact with the natives and had managed to avoid any further losses.

It was time to depart Mozambique, but they were going to go out with a bang. They'd scarfed enough powder from their various "pillage, then burn" raids to make up a nice little explosive charge, and they'd carefully stuffed it underneath the tracks a few hours ago. They'd been watching the track for the past four nights, and a train had come through the first and third of them.

And yes, here it came now, its headlight rounding a bend as it approached. There were fusees planted on the track about fifty feet or so before the mine, and again directly on top of them, the latter part of the fuse...

BLAM

The train's wheels began to screech as its engineer reacted to the first set of fusees. Undoubtably he was wondering why there was nobody around waving a warning when there were the torpedoes on the track, but they had obviously been put there for a reason, so he was going to make an emergency stop and find out exactly what danger awaited -

BLAM-KABOOM

...and as the train hit the second set of torpedoes, the powder charge went off. Detonating underneath the tender, the locomotive was thrown off the tracks, and its boiler burst open. The cars behind it began to pile up on the mangled rails, crashes and bangs echoing across the hills as sparks flew -

BLAM!!!

- and a massive explosion shook the jungle. Obviously this train had been carrying munitions, and the concussion from the derailment combined with the heat from the fire started by the mine and the sparks from the now accordion-like cars had been enough to set it off.

As the screams of men and the boom of an occasional secondary explosion sounded in the night, Kelly nodded at a job well done.

"Alright men, our work here is done. North, to Malawi..."