Meanwhile, Elsewhere - Axis Intro
The first phase of Unternehem Otto Rahn had proven successful: Getting into allied airspace without notice. By all appearances, the radar-absorbant coating each of the five Me-323 Gigants - and their accompanying escorts - were applied with had worked. The mostly flat desert plains provided an easy, safe landing.
There were no illusions; this was a suicide mission. Although it was a suicide mission that could, it was promised, turn the tide of the war if successful. The men and women of Europa Gruppe had sworn their lives to the Axis cause long ago, and had come to terms with the near-inevitability of their sacrifice.
"Let's just hope these things are still here for us when we get back," Felix mused to himself as he watched the crew pull his G-Pz II "Freki" walker from the belly of the Me-323 on a wheeled pallet, "The Mediterranean'd be quite a distance to swim over."
"Big things like this? In the middle of a fuckin' desert? No way the Allies will notice them." said a passing soldier before chuckling.
"No, you see," Felix began, and the soldier paused, "Didn't you listen to the briefing? We're throwing tarps over them, big camouflaged tarps. It'll make them look like dunes. Haven't seen many dunes that are aircraft shaped, but who am I to judge the infinite wisdom of our strategists and tacticians?" As the soldier laughed at Felix's response, he grinned and took a puff of his cigarette.
The soldier reversed his steps and turned to face Felix, "And what if we fail, ya? Attacking a castle and all... sieges take time, you know? It's not a fortress, but look at Leningrad."
Felix grinned, shook his head, then pointed to him with the cigarette between his fingers. "They've got a bunch of eggheads. We've got a small army! Fuckin... hundred or so men, a gehenpanzer - that's where I come in, about 30 panzerklein soldiers, we could even throw our medical robot at them. I'm probably not even remembering half the list!" He paused to take another drag, "And you're lucky I'm not the sort to report people, with you spouting defeatist junk like that." He winked and smirked.
Their laughter subsided as the front section of the Me-323 across from them swung open, its ramp deployed and a towering figure trod down it. His black suit and armor shimmered as it touched the sunlight. He gave them a brief glance through the circular lens of his gasmask before continuing on his way.
"Well Doppelklinge is a lot taller than he appeared in the projector slides at the briefing. Taller than in the newsreels, too." Felix said in hushed awe.
Doppelklinge kept wandering farther and farther away from the cluster of aircraft and the ever growing mass of disembarked soldiers and materiel, which were gradually forming a small encampment around the landed aircraft. His eyes were fixed on the sky. It was a cloudless, calm day. In his mind he desperately wanted to take flight; more than that, he wished to feel the air rushing against his face once more, as it was when he piloted He-51s long ago. But he knew to leave the ground would jeopardize the mission. So for now he stood and waited.
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