Bastion

A side story of The Phoenix and Other Apocalypse Stories.

“This story was found in one of my rare escapades into the wild wilderness Canada has become. Although, from what I have learned of the past it appears much of Canada was always seen as a wilderness; except it used to actually be controlled by a government. This story physically came from an old archive found on a peninsula located in what I believe to be Ontario. The story itself appears to have been influenced and written by both a record keeper and the views of the young security personnel.”

Black City Boating Club (BCBC) used to be the premiere club for people wishing to come to Canada. BCBC sported boating, quite obviously, fishing, I assume that was an excuse to get away from people, and, of course, drinking. After the world came crashing to the ground BCBC found it was able to function without the outside world. Due to the fact that BCBC was shelled in by water on one side and had a massive amount of untapped land on the other, BCBC was almost impregnable from the land and, due to the massive amounts of boats, perfectly defend-able from the water. The only problem was that the club was a bit of a mixed blessing. As in the club is only accessible through channels that connect to the main Great Lake. These channels made for easy defense but also made it harder to assess the amount of hostiles if the outer defense is broken.

After the apocalypse, BCBC also designed many specialized combat vessels. Many speed boats became fast hit-and-run vehicles. They were heavily armored on the bows and had a multitude of rifle ports. Many boats also had heavy machine guns mounted on the front and rear for even more fire power. One boat, conspicuously named “Mr. Boom Boom”, had a military grade grenade launcher mounted on the bow hard-point. BCBC also had quite a few lander style boats. These boats were designed to quickly slam into the shore of an island and deploy troopers. Once the troopers were deployed, the landers would pull back and become mobile platforms for snipers. Jet skis were also employed by BCBC for stealth attacks and pirating larger ships. Along with their massive water presence, small pillbox-style bunkers and guard towers were used on the “mainland,” aka BCBCs main port, to help identify and detur any prospective raiders. With the bunkers protecting access from the water, a patrol of ATVs and even a few sea planes rigged for bombing and strafing missions were employed as well.

However, on the top of BCBC's list of armaments was the military hovercraft lovingly named “The Big Kahuna.” Despite its constant need for repair, massive fuel usage, and huge bullet count The Big Kahuna was worth its weight in gold to any new-age civilization; and possibly even some of the militaries of the past. The Big Kahuna was essentially the tank of the seas, or more accurately, the tank of the lakes. The hovercraft was equipped not only with about five inches of armor, strategically slanted to increase thickness, but also a genuine M1-Abrams tank cannon. This monster of a weapon 105mm high explosive rounds that could tear apart any ship, car, or bunker that got in its way. Four 50. caliber mounted machine guns were also attached on all four corners of The Big Kahuna's frame. And to make times harder for BCBC's enemies, this monster of a craft was not only amphibious but it could even cruise across land making any target unsafe. To finish up this behemoth, the visage of a shark's jaw is painted on the front similar to fighter planes used in World War II and, more recently, by the Greek battalion “Ira” in World War III.

Although, this story is not about how prepared the people of BCBC were. It's about the battle that insued between Black City Boating Club and the Black Dogs.

The Black Dogs, themselves, were once a group of caravaners and traders that were refitted to a raider cell after the remaining local government, who was supplying them, was destroyed by a Commonwealth operation. This destruction of livelihood forced the Black Dogs to do something they would have never considered an option; this something was raiding. Ultimately, this desperation, and lack of supplies in any form, lead the Black Dogs to Black City Boating Club and started the ensuing battle for survival.

It all began when BCBC lost contact with one of their landers in what the locals refereed to as the Open. The Open itself was simply a name for the huge stretch of water located in the middle of the great lake. After BCBC lost communication two jet skis were sent out to search for the lander.

After about an hour of searching, the four man search party found the lander beached on a shoal riddled with bullet holes. Then, to put the small arms fire to shame, half the cabin was burned out with what appeared to have been thermite spewing grenades.

One of the jet skis then landed at the shoal and the two riders dismounted. All the while the two other men formed a protective patrol circle around the crash. Upon closer inspection the two dismounted men noticed that the two Browning 50. Caliber machine guns of the “Crossroads” were missing along with all of the ammo stores. The landers minigun however appeared to have been burned out with the thermite. Whether this was by accident or on purpose remained to be seen. As the two men entered the boat the full destruction became evident. The crew's bodies were lined up against the side of the boat executioner style.

All of this together suggested that a fast boat had come alongside the “Crossroads” and thrown a thermite grenade at the cabin. This grenade then burned out the driver and the lander's main defense: a swiveling minigun turret. The fast boat then pulled away and riddled the “Crossroads” with bullets. With no driver and the accelerator on full the lander crashed headlong into a shoal where the attackers dismounted and killed all the crew members.

The search party then began to pack up with the intention of returning back to base to report the troubling news. Then as the two men on the shoal began to mount their jet ski a group of three black and white speedboats errupted out of the water.

Each of the speedboats appeared to be heavily armored at the front and had gun ports, complete with gun barrels, on both sides of their armor. The attackers also had scuba equipment on board suggesting that the boats were waiting in ambush. But, to make matters worse, each boat had a high horsepower engine mounted on the stern. These engines could not only allow the boats to catch the jet skis but even overtake them.

As soon as the boats breached the surface, the circling jet ski turned and shot off back towards BCBC. The grounded men however did not have any luck. Both men were mercilessly mowed down by the three boats machine guns. After finishing off the landed search party the lead boat sped off after the escaping jet ski.

Fully throttling the jet ski, the two surviving members of the rescue party were nearing one of the outer checkpoints of BCBC. This checkpoint was essentially a giant wall crossing the channel with a gate that could only be opened from the inside. The wall was bristled with spikes and was made of both wood and scrap metal. The wood made up the bottom half of the wall that touched the water while the metal covered the top providing better ballistic and ram protection. The waters around the checkpoint also had hidden booby traps. These traps ranged from rope bundles that would catch rotors to remote detonated depth charges.

As the jet ski neared the checkpoint the gates began to open. However, the frightened look on the jet ski riders faces and the lack of a second jet ski caused the attendants to seal the gate. When the jet ski finally reached the wall the riders shouted up about how the lander's crew was executed and how the search party had been ambushed.

Then out of the blue one of the black and white attack boats shot around the channels corner. As soon as the boat was spotted the wall's attendants began to open fire along with the jet ski riders. Throughout this ordeal the raider boat simply sat and took the punishment of the small arms fire. As the gunfire subsided, two ports opened on either side of the attack boats armor and death spewed forth. This barrage killed both jet ski riders and many of the wall's defenders.

When the attack boat had finally unloaded it's magazine, it moved up to the wall. Oddly, instead of planting an explosive on the wall, one of the crew pulled out a can of spray paint. She them proceed to paint a giant black dog on the bullet hole ridden wall. The boat then pulled out and shot back off around the corner.

Luckily, for BCBC some of the guards on the wall survived and noticed the new emblem painted on the wall. They then radioed in what the jet ski riders had said and what happened at the the checkpoint. Black City Boating Club then prepared to go on the offensive against these Black Dogs.

A few days later, Death displayed his icy shadow across the land. A massive Black Dog force came together and moved on the checkpoint that had been hit earlier. They breached the wall simply and swiftly by sending jet skis laden with explosives careening into the wall. The Black Dog force then entered Black City Boating Club's waters.

The Black Dog force consisted of a slew of different speedboats turned assault boat. The raiders also had a few supped-up jet skis capable of rocketing across the water. Then to act as support three armed sea planes were flying high above. But to hold the fleet together was the “Jolly Roger.” The “Jolly Roger” was the capitol ship of the Black Dogs. It was heavily armed and heavily armored. Originally, the boat was a Commonwealth heavy weapons platform that was “liberated” from them by the Black Dogs after the ship was used to bombard the s**t out of the last government stronghold in the area. The “Jolly Roger” now sported a cold black paint job and even more armor than originally deployed with. It was a force to be reckoned with.

As soon as this plight was detected on Black City Boating Club's radar the troops began to mobilize. The engines whirred alive, weapons were cocked, and resolves steeled. The battle for Black City Boating Club had began.

The first wave of Black Dogs were held off valiantly by BCBC soldiers. Assault boats and jet skis fought side by side. Alas, as the battle raged on BCBC's forces began to be pushed back forcing the pillboxes into action. A steady stream of molten lead came forth from these concrete shells like the hand of god reaming anything that stood against their might. However, this amazing show of force was not enough to push back the Black Dogs. The Black City Boating Club was forced to release their air units.

Biplanes careened out of no where spraying bullets with an obvious disregard for human life. When targets refused to be ground to dust, the planes dropped depth charges for maximum affect. Unfortunately for BCBC, the Black Dogs planes were also engaged in the battle.

The battle raged with ship to ship combat supplemented by the occasional husks of airplanes collapsing from the sky war above. Nobody could see a clear winner, only a bloody and pointless stalemate. But, the Black Dogs had an ace up their sleeve: the Jolly Roger. The black beast crashed through the channel shrugging off bullets and other boats alike making a b-line for BCBC's mainland. Only one thing could be done, the release of BCBC's own super weapon: the Big Kahuna.

These two monstrosities of human hatred met in the front bay of Black City Boating Club. As the Jolly Roger cruised towards land, the Big Kahuna shot out of its camouflage just out of the water. To welcome the intruder the Big Kahuna released a super-heated 105mm high explosive round directly at the Jolly Rogers cockpit. A direct hit, and the Jolly Roger came to a stop. A massive chunk of the cockpits armor had been sheared off. However, as the Big Kahuna approached, the metal monster roared back to life with a hail of bullets the likes of which the world has ever seen.

The Big Kahuna's armor suffered serious damage, but it stayed in the fight desperately trying to load another shell as the world died around them. Then on the deck of the Jolly Roger a man emerged holding what had to have been an RPG-7. If it had been fired the Big Kahuna would have been destroyed. However, instead of this horror, the man promptly exploded into bits and pieces not even fit for birds. Just then the Mr. Boom Boom flew by the Big Kahuna, its grenade launcher smoking. Taking the chance the Big Kahuna fired once again at the Jolly Roger, but this time a large hole was evident reaching from the outside to the demolished insides of the metal brick.

The Black Dogs commander, seeing the destruction of his most prized possession ordered his men to fall back. With much reluctance the attacking forces eventually retreated through the channel and back out into the open.

However, back at the Black City Boating Club sadness was dominant. The water was red and littered with body parts from both man and machine. Live munitions floated in the water waiting to explode, accidentally released from a crashed plane. The watch towers were burned and crumbling while the pillboxs looked as if they were moldy swiss cheese.

In response to the horrors that now floated in and around the water the elders convened. After a long and heart felt model of democracy the elders decided to move from Black City Boating Club. Immediately the remaining residents, battered and broken, left to begin packing what was left of their worldly possessions. As people finished packing, all filed towards the remain and salvaged boats. Boat by boat the Black City Boating Club was deserted.

In the back of the transcript a message was hand scrawled:

“We have no idea where we are going, all we know is that we can not stay here. The memories hurt too much. And besides, we are unsure if the Black Dogs will come back and this time we will not be able to stop them.”