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We disembarked from the submarines from Oahu in San Fransisco, California.

Along the way, I'd gotten to know the members of EZC. They were an incredibly cool bunch of soldiers. There was havocpwn, the CO, who officially inducted me into the EZC shortly after having boarded the sub off the coast of Hawaii. He was pretty laid back. Also aboard the sub was jameshobbs, another new recruit from the Hawaiian battle we'd just fled. And there was our Quartermaster, GenMcBeckson. He slept most of the ride to San Fransisco.

We arrived on the docks to be met by a high-ranking military man, dressed in a flashy uniform. He informed us, in no uncertain terms, that we would be sent as the very first line of defense against the Indonesians. The Indos would be landing north of the city, and driving south across the Golden Gate Bridge to capture the city proper.

Our mission: hold the Golden Gate Bridge at all costs. And, we were assured, the costs would be heavy. The entire Indonesian military would be trying to unseat us.

"What support can we expect?" havocpwn asked the man.
"To be blunt? Almost none. We'll land a squad of regular army troops to back you up- and only to back you up. If the going gets tough, the troops get going." he replied.

The officer stepped into the UH-60 behind him and lifted into the sky, undoubtedly to some safe command post far behind the lines. Easy Company was packed into a pair of waiting Bradley IFVs, which promptly carried us to our objective at the far side of the Golden Gate Bridge.

"Man, this sucks. Why did we get stuck with this?" somebody asked from the back of the Bradley.
"I can't say. Probably because we're a militia, expendable to someone up high," another voice answered.

As that was said, the Bradley stopped and Easy Company disembarked. Ahead of us was a tall mountain, and we were set to defend a little green terrace at the foot of the bridge.

"Well these are great odds. Sit on the low part of the ground, and get shot at by Indonesian snipers up on that mountain. Heh, game over," jameshobbs said under his breath.

"Alright, alright. Quiet in the ranks," Havocpwn said. "Now, I know our situation is bleak, but we can't really despair like this."

The Black Hawk carrying our Army reinforcements landed about sixty yards away, and the Army troopers piled out and began setting up defenses facing North.

"Despair will just... demoralize us. And if we're demoralized we'll probably get killed..." Havoc continued, distractedly. "And... run!" He yelled suddenly, making a dash for the Black Hawk.

"What the...?" I asked whomever was listening.

"Get to the chopper!" Havocpwn yelled, and began laughing to himself. "Get to the choppah!" He said again, imitating a certain actor.

"I think he's lost it," jameshobbs said. But we both realized the rest of Easy Company was on Havocpwn's heels. Piling twelve people into a helicopter built to fly 11 wasn't too difficult. So we did it.

Havoc took the controls and the helicopter left the ground, leaving a seriously disturbed group of Army troopers on the ground. We turned east, and flew over San Fransisco Bay.

But the attack had started only moments before! We found ourselves over San Fransisco Bay with two Indonesian attack helicopters following directly behind us.

"Havoc! Two Indo choppers, right behind us! Do something!" GenMcBeckson yelled. Havoc threw the Black Hawk into a dive and made a hard left turn, heading us North again. Suddenly the Black Hawk was raked with machine gun fire, and red lights started flashing all throughout the cockpit. One Indo helicopter pulled up directly beside the Black Hawk, and turned its machine guns to face us directly, and unleashed a barrage of bullets into the tail of the helicopter, causing it to immediately lose control and begin to crash to earth. The helicopter spun more and more wildly until an insane thud threw all of us from the cargo bay onto the hard ground.



I looked around, and saw the squad all as thunderstruck as myself. We got to our feet and saw an advance party of the Indonesian landing force driving hard up the beach.

"Quick! Up there!" GenMcBeckson yelled, and the company pulled together and ran for a low one-story building with a delightful little old west theme.



We set up, waiting for the Indonesian troops to catch up. They proceeded cautiously, and GenMcBeckson began distributing ammunition to the Company. The burning Black Hawk cast a black cloud of smoke across the road, so the Indonesians seemed to fade into reality as they patrolled forward. Havoc sat behind the window next to mine, getting ready for the shot. "Fire!" he yelled.

The squad began to pour lead through the cloud of smoke, and some flashes became apparent as the Indonesians fired wildly, hoping to hit whatever was cutting down their comrades. They didn't. All but a small portion of the patrol was destroyed outright. They returned and brought word to their high command of a "massive American force" holding on to portion of the landing zone outside of San Fransisco. An entire battalion of Indonesian infantry was sent to remove the American "brigade".

We sat in the saloon, celebrating our temporary victory. We had a good amount of ammunition, a good place to take cover in, and had just sent the Indos packing. I sat on guard, but turned back to see GenMcBeckson playing with a decorative pickaxe.

"Do you plan on using that, sir?" I asked him.
"Yes." He replied.
"How? That's pretty much bringing a knife to a gunfight, isn't it?"
"You'll see."

I sat staring intently through the smoke as the form of a squad of Indonesians cautiously approached. In fact, they were barely moving, so shrouded by smoke they were.

"Watch this..." GenMcBeckson said quietly. He slipped out the front door and into the smoke.



I saw the shape of a pickaxe in his shape's hand, and he quickly killed nearly every Indonesian silently, with a pickaxe. I was amazed, and terrified. He strode back into the saloon with the bloody pickaxe.

"You see, newbie, you still have a lot to learn about improvisation," he told me.

An ear-splitting cry came from the other side of the smoke as an entire Indonesian battalion (sans one squad) began a charge directly towards us.



"Get ready!" Somebody from the back yelled. There was the sound of twelve rifles and machine guns hitting the rims of windows across the facade of the saloon. "Fire!"

The whole store lit up with the flashes of the weapons firing blindly into the crowd of charging Indonesians. They were cut down like some grim crop of death as the steady men and women of Easy Company destroyed an Indonesian battalion. No survivors.

Later that night, a Ranger squad found EZC in the saloon, drunk on victory (and perhaps- perhaps! -some of the beverages contained in the saloon).

We found out that Golden Gate Bridge was barely touched, that the Indonesians slated to attack the bridge were all sunk on their ships by a Navy submarine off the shore. Of those that made it, numbering essentially a battalion, they were sent on some mission to the opposite side of the landmass they'd landed on and were all killed. Officially, no one knows where those Indonesians went. All that's known is that they didn't attack Golden Gate Bridge, and that San Fransisco held. The Indonesians were about to withdraw their navy when American fighters and bombers sortied from inland arrived and destroyed over 2/3 of their fleet. The Indonesians retreated to Hawaii with what remained of their striking force, and California remained in American hands.