WW2 Supers d6: Hawaii INTERLUDE

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Cliffs and Beaches at Bellows Airfield, Hawaii; August 25-27, 1942


Most of the members of SST4 and several of the Marine Raiders who had accompanied them on the raid on Mutaritari took their 72 hour leave to go to the lovely beaches and rocky cliffs off the water on Bellows Airfield on the South East Coast of Oahu. One notable exception was Teddy Gomez. After his nearly life-ending wounds sustained during the Makin Raid, Teddy was suffering from 'Shell Shock' (What we now know as PTSD). He was given a leave of absence. The others went to Bellows and there the Marines and Sailors had a fun and relaxing time drinking, flirting with local ladies, swimming, climbing, jumping into the surf off of the rocky cliffs and in Acme's case; making some 'home-made' bombs to destroy used beer and liquor bottles. All in all, it was a lovely time of relaxation for all involved. It was also the place where something unexpected occurred....

PFC Roger Myers had leapt off the cliff to fall some 30 feet into the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean and then swam around a bit, before relaxing into a back float and letting the waves carry him to and fro. His peaceful reverie was suddenly broken though when movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. Glancing over, he saw a dark fin break the surface of the water and in the nearby distance, a second...then a third.....SHARKS!

His heart sky-rocketed and he quickly began to swim away from them and towards the shore, from which he had drifted a good way. He could see some of his buddies on the distant beach waving frantically towards him and he suddenly "felt" as if the water was his home and he began to swim in an extraordinarily graceful and swift manner. As he did so, another 'feeling' washed over him and he suddenly stopped swimming and held perfectly still as he sent out a 'pulse' that quickly returned to him and let him know a living creature was rapidly closing in on him. When he looked in the direction the pulse had returned to him from, sure enough he saw a Tiger Shark coming for him from the shallows in between him and the shore line...

Myers reacted as the Shark got real close with its maw open and about to bite him...he suddenly seemed to fill his body with lightning. Or at least, that's how it looked/felt as electricity filled his body and then poured into the shark as he reached out and grabbed it, keeping it from biting him and at the same time sending untold numbers of volts into its body. The Tiger Shark wasn't killed, but it was hurt badly and it quickly began swimming away from its would-be prey....

Roger quickly swam to shore and felt himself 'return to normal', and as he felt his feet hit the sand and he walked up onto the beach he saw several members of SST 4 staring at him and he knew that they KNEW what had just happened to him*....


SSO Office, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 28 August, 1942

The Special Services Office had set up an annex at the Naval Base on Pearl Harbor while the members of SST 4 had been training with the Raiders in California and then embarking on the Makin Raid. Like the HQ building back in San Diego, the building was rather nondescript except for the heavy security detail. Shortly after arriving, the members of SST 4 and PFC Roger Myers were directed to a large office where two people were waiting for them. One was the familiar form of Commander Jay Marsden, the man who had briefed them on their Makin Raid assignment a few months back, while the other man was an unknown Petty Officer 3rd Class from the Coast Guard with a name tag that read: E. Tucker.

Marsden bid them all take a seat and introduced the 'Coastie' as Radarman 3rd Class Elias Tucker. Tucker was a Talent whose Powers had manifested during the Pearl Harbor Attack and he had been assigned as part of the Special Protection Detail of Supers guarding the President. Tucker had soon grown bored with this duty though and had requested a more 'active' assignment. With Gomez transferred out and put on 'Special Assignment' with Recruitment and War Bond Drives, a slot had opened up in SST 4. As had another slot with LTJG Boyd being promoted to full LT and given a New Assignment to head up a new SST that was still gathering various members. Boyd was shocked by this announcement, but he gave his sincere thanks and appreciation for all of his fellow Talents and that he was honored to have served with them. He saluted them all (a rare thing for an Officer to salute Enlisted men first) and shook everyone's hands before he left with a manilla envelope of new orders that Marsden had given him.

After Boyd's departure, a round of Awards were presented with everyone (minus Tucker) given a Bronze Star for their service at Mutaritari except for Gurung, who instead was given a Silver Star for his numerous daring actions during the Raid as written up in a formal request for the Award by Boyd. In addition, everyone save Myers and PH3 Franklin were also given the Purple Heart medal for being Wounded in Action (or the 'I forgot to duck' medal, as it was informally known).

Finally, SSGT Acme was Field Promoted to 2nd Lieutenant and was made the new Commanding Officer of SST 4, while Charlie 'Dutch' Van Horn was promoted to Staff Sergeant and second in command of the unit. PFC Myers and RD3 Tucker were officially made members of the Team as well.

That being accomplished, Marsden sat everyone down again and told them of their new assignment. In about two weeks, they would be traveling to Guadalcanal, a small island in the Solomon Island chain North of Australia where the Japanese had began to build an Airstrip and in response, where the United States had launched its first land offensive of WW2. In early August, the 1st Marine Division had hit the beaches of Guadalcanal and quickly overrun the surprised Japanese forces and captured the Airfield, which had been renamed Henderson Field. This was just the beginning....

In the 3 weeks since the Marines had landed, the Solomons had become a massive Sea/Air/Land battleground with numerous ships from both sides being sunk; scores of aircraft having been destroyed and several sharp engagements on land had been fought. So far, the Navy had gotten a bloody nose several times and getting more aircraft and supplies to the island was a major issue for both sides; but the Marines had held tenaciously to the base they had captured. However, the Japanese were apparently getting ready for a major effort to change that....

Marsden never said it, but he kept referring to 'SPECIAL Intelligence' the Allies had received letting them know about Japanese intentions and Roker got the distinct impression this meant they were reading coded radio messages....i.e. implying they had BROKEN some codes of the Japanese. However, the smarter-than-he-looked Sailor wisely said nothing. The SSO Officer DID however tell them that the messages they had retrieved from Mutaritari indicated that Unit 781; the Japanese Talent Command, was gathering Talents from all over to send to Guadalcanal, probably sometime in the middle of next month.

That being the case, the need for a U.S. Talent Team was obvious, and SST 4 had been tapped to be THAT team. First however, Marsden was going to have them be the initial 'trial group' for some Training at a new SSO Training Site on the big island of Hawaii (also called Hawai'i); designed to teach Supers how to fight in 'typical' Pacific Island Terrain. Officially known as 'Camp Hodgins', the members of SST 4 would soon refer to it by a different name.....'Hell's Motel'....

Camp Hodgins; Hawai'i; August 29-September 7, 1942

The eight members of SST 4 quickly grew to HATE everything about Camp Hodgins.....it seemed to be built on a strange combination of swamp, jungle, rocky mountain side and thick mud and the ten days they spent there felt more like a year. The Camp had a skeleton staff of about twenty Marines and Sailors; all leather-faced veterans of 15+ years of service and all seemingly with a demonic love of running, exercising, criticizing and delighting in the discomfort of the Team as much as was humanely possible. Every day was a never-ending series of runs, exercises, treks with full gear thru horrendous terrain, shooting at targets while frequently having live ammo being shot very close to them, close-combat drills with painful judo and boxing lessons and bayonets, etc. Nights were short, 4 hour affairs, frequently interrupted by either rain, buckets of water thrown on them and/or a Gunnery Sergeant or Chief screaming at them.

The Camp was run by a pair of Talents with interesting stories that had been told to them by Marsden before they arrived. The senior officer was Lieutenant Commander (LCDR) Niles 'Sun Blast' Elliott; a Submariner Captain who had the ability to generate powerful sun-colored blasts from his finger tip that exploded with deadly force when it impacted its target. HIs power had manifested during the Pearl Harbor Attack when he had been directing the Deck Gun crew of his Sub, the Sea Serpent in shooting at Japanese planes and he had pointed at a 'Val' Dive Bomber that exploded from his beam attack. Nobody had noticed but him though as the Deck Gun had fired at the same time and no one realized the Gun missed, but he hadn't. Elliott KNEW he'd be given a Patrol to counter attack Japanese Naval Ships and he hadn't wanted to miss that, so he told no one of his Power.

A few months later, he was on his second War Patrol in his Sub off the coast of the Philippines where he surfaced off the shores of Luzon island one night to recharge the vessel's batteries. While doing so, he 'felt' the power of another Talent, one whose ability was to be able to send his voice out on Radio Waves. The Sub picked up these radio waves as well and they learned that they were from Marine Staff Sergeant Adam Kilgore, who had been stationed in the Philippines** during the assault and who had escaped to fight as a guerrilla after the fall of Bataan and Corregidor. Kilgore had manifested the ability to send his voice out on Radio Waves and also to be able to turn nearly completely transparent, thus leading to him being dubbed 'The Ghost' by some of his fellow Filipino guerrilla fighters that he had joined up with.

Kilgore raided the Japanese frequently, but a mortar blast had severely damaged his left foot, limiting his effectiveness. At night, Kilgore sometimes went to the beach and sent out his 'radio call', just on the off chance it might catch someone's attention. Lo and behold, it did and soon Elliott was landing in a raft on the island at night; completely against orders; and soon the two Talents were back in Hawaii. Here, they reported themselves to the SSO and soon Marsden had come up with the idea to utilize the two Talents to create a 'Training Facility' for Talents for future Operations. The same thing had been done in England at Camp Achenarry in Scotland for SSTs operating in that Theatre of the War.

Kilgore's left foot had been amputated, giving him the new nickname of "Hopalong Ghost" and because of this, Active Service in a War Zone was forbidden for him. Likewise, Elliott's knowledge of Submarine Codes and Operations made him a liability in the event of his capture and even though both were awarded with a Navy Cross, they were no longer allowed to serve in hostile zones. Thus explaining thier having set up 'Hell's Motel'. The real idea was to give new Talents assigned to the PTO (Pacific Theatre of Operations) a month long course in being able to be most effective in typical terrain of the Theatre. This accelerated 10 day class for SST 4 was a 'trial run'.

At the end of the ten days, the eight members of SST 4 were exhausted, but all were better prepared for future actions***....



*Myers's Talent Powers have Manifested. Keep in mind, this first time required no Willpower roll. In the future, any time you want to 'activate' a power, it requires a Will Power roll against Difficulty 5 (all your powers are Minor)....you can spend Willpower points to add to the roll's result to try and ensure the Power works when you activate it. If any one power is successfully activated, you can activate another while the first is still active for free.

**It's anyone who served in the Philippines in the Marines (Acme, Dutch, Wade) if you want to have known Kilgore (you wouldn't know he was a Talent, but you could have served with him. It's not critical, but he might be an NPC contact again in the future)

***Everyone will have gained some points in the following Skills: Guns, Brawling, Brawling Parry, Melee, Melee Parry, Survival, Hide/Sneak. Sheets will be updated.



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