Shells for Shells
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"It's impossible to even picture in your mind, isn't it? That the ruins we can see, stretching from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains towards the open plains, all eighty or so square miles of it, once had over seven hundred thousand people living in it, going about their lives. Now? You might find perhaps six hundred or so on any given visit, wandering in small bands. And you only have to look them in the eyes once to know that this place really is a city of ghosts." - Wandering scavenger, who declined to provide any name, June 2nd, 2071
Among the earliest 'true' successor states to the collapsed United States, the Cascadian Republic that had formed from the banded together states of Oregon and Washington, as well as British Columbia, had met its violent end in the year 2042. The collapse of civil order and subsequent occupation by the IJA had longstanding effects on both the Continental United States as well as overseas in being the final straw for the fracturing of what was once the People's Republic of China.
Yet a far nearer party to suffering from the loss of the Cascadian Republic was the Adan Coalition, a minor revivalist movement centered upon the city of Boise. Boise had been relying for some years on electric power imported from former Oregon's hydroelectric power plants, trading their manufactured semiconductors and telecommunications expertise in exchange. The loss of a stable source of power was keenly felt in both political circles and in flagging industries. The Coalition withered, it's lofty dreams left to distant memory.
In such circumstances, which persisted for twenty years, it is hardly surprising that the city's leadership was eager to support the Rainbow Uprising in any capacity it could. While it would be with surplus PRC and Indian equipment with which the Uprising would be fought, the Adan Coalition had sent members of what was once Idaho's National Guard to render assistance in a military advisory role to the various participant armies and had geared up the score of ammunition factories that existed within Boise's metropolitan area to supply as much in the way of munitions that could be spared, with the understanding that the resurgent Cascadian Republic would be willing to enter into a new trade deal much like the previous one.
It was not to be. While the Coalition's military advisors had arrived, the acceleration of the Uprising's timetable led to the ammunition order not being complete. With their work finished, the advisors returned home to Boise, and all of Ada county is said to have prayed for success. Those prayers were evidently not heard.
In the August Mutinies, the Adan Coalition watched their hope for a return to (relative) prosperity sputter out in the Rainbow Army's infighting. With the plans for a resurgent Boise laid to rest, the city began to wind down the wartime production they had worked towards to support their Cascadian allies. The truth was far harsher.
After the quelling of the Rainbow Uprising, the IJA had learned of the Coalition's involvement, though the exact source remains unclear. The response was thorough and utterly merciless.
Aerial bombing, drone strikes, artillery barrages. The Rocky Mountains echoed for weeks on end with the devastation of Boise. What occurred could not be called battle, and labeling it a massacre would only downplay the industrial approach that was employed. It was, to quote an Adan Coalition refugee, "nothing short of demolition from beyond the horizon."
It is still not known just how much of Boise's population died. What is known is that the Coalition's armed forces were destroyed to the last, with every equipment stockpile, munitions dump, armory and fuel depot leveled to the ground. The civilian government was among the first to be lost during the initial attack which destroyed the Idaho State Capitol building. Every last firearms producer and ammunition factory was razed.
After three weeks, the bombardment stopped, and the city's final death knell began. With public infrastructure savaged by artillery barrages, and with open masses of people being strafed by unmanned drones, there had been no ability to clear away the rubble, let alone bodies. Disease became rife among the survivors, among whom those who were able to abandoned the dead husk of what had been a city of over seven hundred thousand people.
In the Rockies, the echoes faded, and the city became still.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As per usual, feedback is welcome.
