Max Velocity - Patriot Dawn - The Resistance Rises

Jack shouted to move and they were up again, running towards the White House. Resistance was fading away in front of them.

They fought across the south lawn, veering towards the west wing. They used breaching charges to smash into the Oval Office, through the bullet proof windows. Once they had gained entry the Company poured into the building and started clearing the corridors, moving through the West Wing and into the main part of the White House. There was no resistance, just a bunch of terrified staffers.

Jack stood in the Oval Office and looked around him. He saw the framed portrait of The Leader on the wall, above the fireplace, looking messianic. The broken glass from the blown windows was scattered across the rug. Jack walked over and pulled the portrait from the wall, throwing it to the ground. He also noticed that all the historical paintings had been removed. There were a number of other new paintings on the walls, all of famous socialist personalities. Karl Marx was in a prominent position, but not so as to eclipse The Leader.

Jack turned to Jim, “Looks like the bird has flown. Let’s get that horrific flag down and get the Stars and Stripes up.”

“Roger that Boss, it’s about time.”

Jack deployed his Company around the White House, the grounds and put OPs up on some of the key surrounding buildings. Ned set up the satellite radio and they sent the situation report back to the Federation Command.

Shortly afterwards the lead element of the light infantry battalion arrived. They had successfully landed at Reagan National and seized control of the airfield. Concurrently to their assault on the Pentagon they had seized the bridges between Reagan National and the White House.

The commander was a Lieutenant Colonel Dunn. He had left a Company at the airfield to secure it. In the planning they had been very concerned about the two bridges, the Rochambeau Memorial Bridge and the 14th Street Bridge that led directly from Reagan National across to the Capital.

Lt-Col Dunn had left two companies to protect the lifeline of the bridges, one at each end including a sapper section to check them out and ensure they were not wired to blow. He had advanced with a reconnaissance element and his tactical HQ to link up with Jack at the White House.

The Federation infantry had marched up the roads accompanied by several gators loaded with ammunition and supplies for Jack’s Company. Lt-Col Dunn also informed Jack that the mortars were set up at Reagan and were available on call to support Federation forces in the area.

Now that the objectives were secure, they would await news on the ground operation and updates on when they could expect a link-up. In the meantime, Lt-Col Dunn was expecting to use the airhead at Reagan National for additional C-130 flights bringing heavier equipment and resupply flights.

It was all a little quiet. They had expected a harder fight. Could it be that The Leader and his trusted Regime cronies had simply fled? And where had they gone?

Jack gathered his commanders in the Oval Office. No-one sat at the desk; it seemed a form of sacrilege to do so. It was an incongruous sight, a bunch of sweating bearded Resistance fighters sitting on the sofas and stood around the room, the carpet covered in glass from the blown windows. Some of them still wore their parachute harnesses over their tactical vests.

Megan had set up an aid station in the West Wing, but casualties were light overall. It had not been the fight that they had expected.

Jack addressed his command team, “Ok gentlemen, we have seized our objective. Well done on an excellent operation. It looks like the Regime leadership escaped in those helicopters, I am not sure to where. I don’t know whether the defense of Washington really has collapsed, or whether we can expect a counter attack. We need to dig in and be ready for it, to hold this position until relieved.

“Caleb, I want you to take your platoon on a clearance and recon patrol around the local area. Check for any surprises. As part of that, collect any suitable vehicles you can find. Blue Shirt Humvees, any suitable military stuff, whatever works. Also check out the garage for Secret Service armored vehicles, whatever is useful.”

Caleb nodded, as Jack went on.

“We will now await news on the Federation assault up the I-95. We have linked up with Lt-Col Dunn and can expect resupply through the air bridge at Reagan National. Remember, if the ground assault does not link up, and we face an overwhelming counter-attack, we will be forced to withdraw from here. The rendezvous will be the cache at Yankee. If we can collect suitable armored vehicles, I aim in the case of our withdrawal to fight out of here in a strong armored column. Any questions?”

There were a few clarification questions before people dispersed to their various tasks.

The parachute and TALO airborne assault onto DC had been so bold and unexpected that it appeared that the city was in shock. Either the Regime had literally fled, leaving the city for exile, or they would be planning a counter attack using available military forces. The inability of the Regime to trust army units within the Capitol beltway had been a critical failure — their ‘praetorian guard’ had proved more useful for bullying and murdering unarmed civilians than fighting a force of determined American Patriots who wholeheartedly believed in their cause.

Either way, the Resistance and Federation forces were now in a honeymoon period.

Caleb returned from his patrol mission having collected a large number of abandoned regime armored vehicles, of various types. They had enough to mount and transport the Company and with the turret mounted support weapons on these vehicles, Jack rapidly moved to incorporate them into the White House defenses as a series of mobile bunkers and a quick reaction force.

As night fell, they were in a good defensive position, well-armed and supplied. Caleb had reported that the streets around the area were deserted; the place was a ghost town. Trash was piled up in the streets and it appeared that DC had become a nightmare of failed promises. The elites were provided for, while the people lived in poverty.

Jack relieved Caleb’s 1st Platoon and moved 2nd Platoon into the recon role for the time being, assigning Owen to a series of vehicle mounted ground domination patrols in the surrounding area, in an attempt to gather Intel and detect any approaching threats.

Towards midnight, Ned reported to Jack that he had received a situation report on the secure satellite radio. It appeared that the ground advance had been halted in North Carolina, close to Fayetteville where the I-95 bridged across the Cape Fear River.

The Regime forces out of Fort Bragg, including elements of the 82nd Airborne Division, had staged a defense of the river crossing, blowing the road bridges. A huge battle had ensued, ongoing right now. It looked like it would last through the night.

According to the rather terse situation report, the Federation forces were attempting to seize the bridge crossing in an attempt to bring up engineer bridging equipment assets and continue the advance.

Jack grunted, deep in thought.

Those that fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it; Operation Market Garden? A bridge too far?

Jack had passed back to the Federation command the news on the flight of the Regime leadership. There was no news back about where they may have fled to. Jack surmised that they would have likely gone to one of the underground nuclear command or continuity of government bunkers to wait out the attack and coordinate their forces to respond.

The Company spent a quiet night in and around the White House. Jack managed a couple of hours sleep on one of the couches. In the early hours before morning, waiting for the next situation report on the ground forces advance, Jack and his command team sat around in the oval office, drinking coffee.