Repulse: Europe At War 2062-2064 - Plot & Excerpts
REARMAMENT The winter finally broke in the middle of March 2063. Although temperatures on the European mainland spent much of the preceding four months below zero, on the British Isles the last vestige of the fading Gulf Stream kept the weather at a chilly but damp consistency. Twenty-one-year-old Ian Pratt, a former immersive gamer who had answered his country’s call and joined the British Army, spoke later of his basic training as an infantryman: ‘My senses came alive, really. There’s nothing in gaming to compare with the feel of a real gun, the smell of real cordite. The change in air pressure when you fire your rifle is more disconcerting than the noise. How many hours did I spend playing make believe? And it was nothing like the real thing, nothing at all.’ Pratt’s experience was far from unique. Across the country, thousands of recruits underwent a life-changing period of instruction during which many discovered abilities they had not known they possessed. Men and women from all walks of life had their natural talents assessed and were assigned to battalions and regiments where those skills would be best utilised. The government’s initial fears concerning the rejection rate were well-founded: between October 2062 and March 2063, the monthly figure of rejected applicants seldom fell below 20% of the total who volunteered. The leading cause of rejection was obesity and related conditions. As one colour sergeant at a recruiting station in the city of Hull bemoaned to regional headquarters in a summary report: ‘There’s no shortage of goodwill, people are scared of the enemy and want to do something, but the quality coming in the door does leave something to be desired. Only yesterday a little round blob with stubby limbs sticking out wobbled up to me and said she wanted to apply for a signals battalion. What could I tell her? To get down to the Humber and help plug up the sea defences with some of that spare blubber? I told her to come back when she’d lost sixty pounds. It’s ridiculous that people who’ve spent their whole lives doing nothing more strenuous than blink their eyes suddenly think they can take part in a war.’ As the British Army expanded to a level of manpower not seen in over a century, some recruits found their military careers became a whirlwind of progression. The experience of twenty-four-year-old sergeant Sean Bolton was not untypical: ‘I joined the army on 21 August 2062 and did my basic training. I was assigned to infantry because my reaction speeds were supposedly good. I got pulled off in October to help on the south coast with deploying Falaretes. My unit was involved in the skirmishes around Hastings. Then, in December, my CO told me a promotion was on offer if I transferred to training. So within a few months of me joining, I found myself training the new recruits.’ Unlike previous wars, logistics in the build-up to Repulse did not present significant problems. Nearly all construction requirements were met by replicators, which also supplied uniforms. British Army guidelines stipulated minimum amounts of fresh fruit and vegetables per soldier per day, food which could not be replicated. These requirements were lowered in the winter as supplies became scarce. Despite diplomatic pressure applied through political channels, many global food producing corporations were reluctant to trade with the British Isles, and thus be seen to support its defence, lest they lose more lucrative contracts in far larger markets. Of the few that did, shipments had to be paid for in foreign currencies and were predictably more expensive, to compensate for the perceived risk. As the war progressed, the US and Canada would use their relative economic strength to supply more essentials.
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