A New Hope, A New Home....

....US Highway 49 facing north out of Parchman Farm....

---

---

"Alright, everyone, listen up," Richard said as he and the other vehicle commanders stood next to a line of IAV Stryker infantry vehicles, formerly of the Mississippi National Guard's 155th Armored Brigade Combat Team - specifically the ABCT's 2-98 Cavalry (Motorized) - but which formed the basis for the 1st Mississippi Dragoons (Mounted), which dervied its' name from the Civil War-era 1st Mississippi Infantry, a regiment which fought at the Battles of Corinth and Nashville before battering itself to pieces in a series of withdrawals opposite Ulysses S. Grant's Army of the Tennessee during the Vicksburg Campaign...for over 150 years, the regiment had stood dormant but as conditions in central Mississippi slowly grew untenable, the former inhabitants of Parchman Farm - the former guards and the former convicts there, mixed with a sprinkling of survivors brought in from the surrounding towns and villages of the Mississippi Hill Country - had decided that, if they couldn't keep the former penitentiary running, that all of them would strike out together and find a new home, a new hope for themselves and their fellow man.

At least, Richard thought to himself, that's the consensus; what the individual thoughts are up to each individual here. Everyone was dressed in either Mississippi Department of Corrections gear, Mississippi Army National Guard fatigues or civilian clothing with military armbands denoting that they weren't bandits or brigands but an organized group. Atop each Stryker vehicle and accompanying support transport was the state flag of Mississippi, flying proudly above them....a sentiment even the mostly black former convicts agreed with; the common Mississippi sentiment, expressed by their second, Mose Allison, was that "since the world had taken a dump on the Magnolia State, why not fly something that takes one right back at it?" It wasn't the most polite view of the world but it was the honest truth and they were sticking with it.

Not everyone was with them, though: looking northward, Richard tried to imagine where Aspen was at ahead of them...before setting out, they'd come to an understanding: she would scout the way north for them, while Richard would lead them north, following her trail as they went along. "Wouldn't be the first time I've followed a woman somewhere," Richard thought to himself, "Won't be the last either..."

"Richard, what's the plan?" one of the others asked; shaking the cobwebs loose, Richard unfolded a map of central Mississippi and spread it flat against the side of his Stryker, an M1130 Commander's Vehicle. "We're here," he began, tapping their location on the map, "and Aspen said she was heading north, so we're going to follow her trail north - think tortoise and hare, with us as the tortoise - but if all goes well, we'll all be somewhere new. I just don't know where yet, gentlemen....now," pausing as he folded the map up and tossed it to his driver, who caught it and set it back inside the Stryker, "I can't promise you that things will be better as we go along but we haven't survived down here for over four years without being able to adapt and survive every step of the way. We've been training on these vehicles now for over six months, learning as much as we can, testing everything that still works....we will persevere, we will survive and we will find a new home, okay?" Looking around at everyone, Richard asked, "Any questions....any thoughts?"

Before he could finish, Mose added, "Any prayers?" Everyone smiled and a few chuckled in relief, including Richard. "Unless anyone wants to say anything, I suggest we mount up and prepare to move out, alright?" Without saying anything, the rest of the group headed back to their vehicles - either variants of the basic IAV Stryker or the half-dozen HEMTT transport and support vehicles - as Richard climbed aboard his own Stryker and soon climbed inside, settling down into the commander's cupola seat and switching on the vehicle commander's station. He knew everyone behind them had their own duties to attend to so he left them be for a few minutes as he brought everything up to operating tempo and did several radio checks with the rest of his Dragoons.

When it time, he got back on the radio and said, "All Dragoons, this is Dragoon 6. Move out..."