Overview

History

Pre-2019

• Marine Staff Sergeant pre-invasion.
• Recon Marine
• Married with an older son and two daughters.
• Stationed in Camp Pendleton.
• Iraq and Afghanistan veteran.

The One Day War

• Is on maneuvers when the Shil arrive and make their demands, does not make it back to base before the rods drop.
• Sees base is annihilated and manages to confirm base housing is gone, packs away the death of his family for later as they must now survive as alien invaders begin to flood into the area.
• Discover that sustained fire from 5.56 is needed to penetrate alien armor, but that AP 7.62 will go through in one to two hits.
• They manage to fight through most of the day and some of the night, two-thirds of his unit are gone.
• Someone detonates a nuclear weapon in San Diego on top of the main alien landing site, he finds out later that it was seals that survived the destruction of Coronado and managed to get their hands on a W88 and jerry rig it. The Shil bombard any assumed military presence in the city and surrounding areas in response.
• He and his unit are dusted by fallout.

From San Diego to the Rockies

• They manage to retreat over the mountains and into the desert, COMS are patchy, definitely listened to when not jammed, but there is some organization by someone.
• Unit survivors begin to show signs of acute radiation syndrome as they arrive at a rally point, the orders are simple, grab what can be carried and scatter. Keith goes north.

A Year Laid Up

• Ends up in the town of Fortuna in northern California, found on the side of the road half dead by locals. ARS symptoms are full blown and he ends up staying for near a full year under the care of a local doctor. By the end of it he looks nearly two decades older than he should between grey hair and pallid skin. The doc informs him he more than likely has an expiration date unless he'd want to risk the attentions of an Imperial physician, he notes they can apparently cure cancer. He opts not to due to them possibly having his biometric data from military databases as well as simply not wanting to risk contact.
• He spends another year in Fortuna, drinking heavily, doing odd jobs and generally skirting being identified, the establishment of a militia outpost in Fortuna forces him to move on. The Doc gives him an old FN-FAL rifle.

The Insurgency

• He hitches his way further inland until finally a checkpoint forces him to try and slip off into the woods on the side of the road, unknown to him someone else is looking to run this same position and makes use of his distraction.
• Someone from inside the tree line cuts down his pursues with accurate rifle fire and an RPG destroys the Imperial APC parked at the checkpoint, more fire from within the line of cars forces the Shil at the position to duck and cover. A group forces in close and eliminates them, they throw open the check point and vehicles being to pour through not wanting to be there when the response arrives.
• Keith finds himself in the back of a pickup on a mountain road with a pair, a man and a woman, in ghillie suits, and an older man driving.
• They're a small part of a lightly networked group up and down the west coast that have been passing information and causing small problems such as this. When they get to a small mobile home they swap stories and current events. The trio make the offer of joining them on the table and he accepts.
• He winters over with them, passing on what he can, and participating with other groups who've been pushed down from Oregon, Montana, and Washington by the edict of a Imperial Governess.
• They carry on causing modest problems for the local security forces, sometimes with a body count, sometimes without. Keith's biggest contribution is the knowledge of how to create and set IEDs.

Fold Up of the West Coast

The Colorado Free Army

Freaking Erbians

The Nosy Doc

Easing into a New Routine