| Name: | Josh Erland |
| Nearest City: | Cape Corinth |
| Longitude: | 61741 |
| Latitude: | 88034 |
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Dialogue If you talk to Josh after getting the Maffoid mission, the following dialogue is shown: Josh: Hey again. Good luck out there You: Got any stories from the Mutant Cleansing? Josh: Oh yes, lots of them. Too many, in fact. It was a horrible war...
Though 'slaughter' might be a better word. We humans committed many
offenses for which there are no excuses. CDF and the
Federal Empire wants to keep it quiet of course, and who can blame them?
Groups like the Caustic Commandos were good in combat, but they
certainly didn't look good politically. You: Who are the Caustic Commandos? I've never heard of them. Josh: You wouldn't have. Was a military group working for the Empite, without
CCA knowledge. Caused quite a stir when CDF found them. Ran into them
once, if you're interested in hearing that story. You: Sure Josh: Well, I was in the Imperial Mountain Rangers back then. Started as a routine
patrol, as it often did. We had just been given VAT-120s instead of the
old 100s, so our commanding officer thought we should go try 'em out. There
were four of us in the group, plus two Force/Recon snipers with PSG-45s
running cover and scouting ahead. Obviously, the mutant attack came
from the only direction they didn't cover. You: That's bad luck. Josh: Sure was. The 120s performed well, but we were overwhelmed. The others
in my group were slaughtered, and I survived only by falling down a
hillside into a nearby river. When I woke up again, it was the middle of the night. I was tired and hungry, with no idea where I was. I started following the river, hoping to reach a settlement or outpost. Eventually, I came across the Caustic Commandos. They were dressed in rags rather than uniforms, with only half wearing any armor. You: Doesn't sound like they followed Imperial regulations? Josh: Uniform regulations weren't as strict back then. Other things though... The next day, I found out why they called themselves the Caustic Commandos. Over breakfast, their commander asked if I could lead them back to the mutants that attacked my group. I was young and wanted revenge for my friends, so obviously I said yes. We followed the river back the other way, and set up camp nearby. As it started getting dark, then Commandos prepared for attack. You: They attacked a mutant camp in the dark? Josh: At dusk, yes. They had these... strange weapons, like nothing I'd seen before. Bulky things, with glowing lights and guages. When I asked the commander about them, he told me not to worry. We snuck in close to the enemy camp, surrounding them in the darkness. The commander told me to 'stay back and watch the show'. You: What happened? Josh: They launched a coordinated attack, rushing into the camp. When they opened fire... Wach of their weapons sprayed a twenty meter cone of fine, corrosive mist. The smell of melting flesh was horrible, and the sounds... The screeching noise from the weapons I could take, and even the screams from mutants dying slow and painful deaths. It was the laughter that got to me... The commandos were laughing as they slaughtered those mutants, as if it was just a game... You: That's horrible! Josh: Yes... There's killing and there's killing. I knew the mutants would die as I lead the commandos there, but not like that. I thought it'd be over quickly, and then we'd return to base. Instead we returned to their camp, and I tried to sleep while they sat singing and drinking, while the mutants were wailing in the distance. I knew I should've snuck back to the mutant camp to finish them off, to stop their pain, but I was too cowardly. Come morning, we made our way back to the nearest military outpost. By then, the mutant camp was silent at last. Nothing lived anymore, not even the trees. You: Did you tell anyone back then? Josh: I spoke to one of my officers about it, but he told me to shut up about it. The Federal Empire needed all the men it could get. Hell, I should've been discharged and sent home to paid therapy after those couple of days, but I wasn't. I did stay far away from those more extreme groups though. Sorry if I've been depressing you, but this is my clearest memory from that time... and sometimes you've got to face the worst of humanity to appreciate the rest. You: No problem, thanks for sharing (End Dialogue)
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