A single shot from a high powered weapon rings out near Matteson. It is not followed by another nor is anyone hit.

hit the ground moving for cover, obs

Matterson ducks down and moves for cover, throwing a quick panning gaze as he moves for the best cover he can locate on short notice.

After a few moments of scanning as he moves, he calls back, "Looks like we got a friend. Got a dead Russian up here, looks like he's was the commie sniper on the ambush," and he makes an indication into the tree, and continues to stay under the best cover he can manage.

"Our friend has a heavy rifle," he adds after a second. And continues to try and pick out the sniper with brief glances over his shoulder and around his cover.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:36, Wed 17 Aug 2005.

Bernhard, already on one knee, raises his rifle too his shoulder and scans in the direction the tracks lead before turning to where the shot came from.

As the shot rang out, Camilla practically fell to the ground.  The last strains of the echo fell away as she peered through the damaged foliage.  Her heart raced as she held still, just listening to the sounds around her.   At the mentioning of the dead Russian, her brain began ticking away.  Could it be?

First, as she propped herself up, Cam’s gaze sought out confirmation of those on the ground, her group came first, even though spotting them might have been somewhat difficult in certain cases. Ashton also caught herself scanning the roadway with a measure of concern she hadn‘t expected.

Being close to the major, Cam whispered lightly “If no bad people.. There is secret?.. No..  eem unkno?..  Un- *sigh* Sniper missing. -From village where we help you..  Sniper help us, we not see..”  It was frustrating not being able to say exactly what she meant. “Not sure it them..”   It was a possibility, even though remote.  Still Cam wasn’t going to bet her life on it. Though it made sense. Something like this was liable to attract a lot of attention.. And since there wasn’t anything here.. “I think we need go soon.”

Guido pondered and had a dumb thought 'most of us are in ruski uniforms, do we have a survivor? shame if I see him his dead'.

Bernhard cocks his head at Lt. Ashton,"One got away from the village?" He tries to decipher her meaning, and continues scanning.

Sitting in the BTR Brown jumps at the sound of fire and crouches down to get as much cover as possible.  Raising his AK he keeps a weary eye out for trouble as he looks to Jared and then to the others.

"Keep an ear out and an eye open for mortar fire."

With no more than that he lowers himself down in his seat and motions for the others to get down as well.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:52, Sat 20 Aug 2005.

Being close to the ground or already laying down on it made no difference to Tanya, she tried to get lower.  You couldn't get low enough with a sniper around.  She will try to take a look around to see if she can tell where the shot came from, if possible.

The seconds tick by....

Nobody moves...

Only Matterson and Dave have so far actually seen the now very dead body. Everyone else has gone to ground and stayed there.

Mortar rounds do not scream death from the sky and no more shots ring out.

A whole silent minute goes by....

[Private to Sergeant Virgil Matterson; Staff Sgt Dave Guido: The radio the body has fallen over is making a noise. Sounds like somebody is talking on the other end but neither of you can identify the language let alone understand what is being said.]

Slight creases formed on her brow as she motioned vaguely in the direction she had heard Masterson’s voice.. “What he said,  friend..  Sniper at slave camp, help us when we help you. We not find.” Naturally Camilla was keeping her tone low as she spoke, though it wasn’t too long past that silent minute that she picked herself up  and  glanced around with her rifle lowered.

“We need go back Camp yes?..”, While still hesitant about being up there and target-like, Cam rolled out the stiffness in her shoulder, taking a steady breath as she sought the others.

"Can someone that speaks um.. Russian come up here?" Virgil calls back towards the others, his AK against his shoulder and his head still peeking around to try and pick out the sniper from time to time. Never staying long enough for a good shot though- especially from sniper distance.

“Or we look Russian thing..”,  Of course Ashton didn’t speak Russian, so  she probably wouldn’t have been of much help anyway.  Taking stock of who might be on hand, she attempted to recall those that spoke Russian off hand, but- wasn’t entirely sure who all was about…  Besides, they could answer for themselves.  Though, when they had arrived, it was growing dim.  Twilight was upon them again it seemed,  dusk with its ways and its shady gloom.

Cam cut a glance down toward the road-way again trying to catch sight of something or someone, before nodding to the Major.. “You want I stay here with Team, while you go Russian?  Have Orders for us?.. Dave looking for bad people places”

Marcus pops his head around from his scanning as the question about Russian speakers is posed. He calls back to Matterson, "Russian for what?"

Winters points to the dead Russian in the tree, "How the f**k didn' we see that a**hole before?" He throws out, "I think we got a couple o' minutes of reprieve, mos' snipers re-position after a shot, unless his hide is that damn good." Adding quietly, "'Sides, don' think he was gunnin' fer us."

Staying low in his seat Jared looks cautiously over the steering wheel.  Snipers were the one thing that sucked more than all others.  As Brown spoke of mortar fire Jared nodded and muttered something about a close second...

"There's a radio squawkin' in Russian up here," Matterson says and hooks a thumb over his shoulder.

Bernhard looks to Lt. Ashton and nods,"Stay here while I figure out whats going on."

Finnegan then makes his way to the BTR-80,"Don, Zhukov, with me, Samuels take over the gunner position while Zhukov is away, and Sgt Gallin if you could, drive this beast if it needs to move. Don I may need you to help translate anything Zhukov hears over the radio, my Russian isn't as good as it should be. Since he doesn't have a western accent, he will use the radio Matterson is hearing if we need to respond."

Without waiting for a response from the BTR-80, Bernhard begins moving to Matterson's position. keeping low, and zig-zagging as he goes.

Michelle nods as she moves to the drivers seat, glancing out the windows the best she could. she didn't like the fact her people were out there, but she was at least able to help out if something went down. Silently, she actually hoped there were no  more wounded. they just didn't have the supplies. Although, finding a nice cashe of bandages and med suplies was too much to ask for in these times anymore.

Glad to be of some use but a little insulted that he wasn't trusted enough to translate without somebody checking, Zhukov clambered out of the gunners seat and out the door of the BTR-80. The RPK-74 cradled in his arms looked small in the big mans grasp as he jogged after the major in company with Don. As usual he didn't say much.

The trio cross the few dozen metres at a trot and arrive at the location of the body and radio. The bloodied man was dressed in Soviet army uniform and seated in a shallow depression overlooking the kill zone of the ambush. He is unshaven, dirty and looks to be in his mid twenties.

An AK-74 lies beside him and a map is spead across his legs. He is in excellent concealment from the road. From the disturbance to the leaf litter around him and a few scraps of food (apple cores, etc) tossed a few metres away, it is clear that he has been there for at least several hours. A small hole is in the back of his head and the forehead is nothing but a gapping ruin. obviously he was hit by a single high powered projectile from the rear.

A radio is underneath his body and a very quiet voice is coming from it questioningly. The handset is still held in his lifeless grasp. The volume of the radio is set too low to hear from more than about a metre away. Whoever this person was, they really didn't want to be detected.

There is no sign of the shooter but it can be assumed that they are not part of your group - the shot had to have come from the trees further from the roads edge. Meanwhile the rest of your team have taken up positions in all round protective cover - somebody facing each direction. Dave is the only one still still roving about searching for clues while Matterson is the closest of your troops besides the trio of Russian speakers (Don, Zhukov and Finnegan).

[Private to Donnachaidh (2nd Lt); Major Bernhard Finnegan; Nikolai Alekseyev Zhukov: Whoever lifts the handset to listen hears a Russian voice asking for confirmation of the fire mission. They do not sound very keen to fire without it.]

Major Finnegan picks up the handset and listens for a moment, then hands it to Zhukov,"Tell them to cancel the fire mission. Make something up about seeing things, or whatever you think sounds convincing." The Major then looks to Don,"Make sure he understands what I said, my Russian isn't all that good." Bernhard begins going through the dead soldiers things, taking everything useful. He picks up the map and studies it, hoping to find information about their enemies' location and disposition.

Nikolai takes the handset reluctantly but puts it down without speaking into it.
"Нет, улучшает для того чтобы не поговорить. Мой акцент мог быть по-разному к его."[Private to Donnachaidh (2nd Lt); Major Bernhard Finnegan: "No, better not to speak. My accent might be different to his."]
In the world as it is, high value ammunition such as artillery shells or mortars are not often fired without final confirmation. It is rare for units to be adequately supplied.
"Улучшайте препятствуйте им думать там будет radio недостатком."
[Private to Donnachaidh (2nd Lt); Major Bernhard Finnegan: "Better to let them think there is a radio fault."]

Cam listened to Smith’s response, watching him intently for a time, then nodded to Major Finnegan. “Yes sir.”, She sank back into the vegetation, casting a glance toward Tanya, then Winters with a quiet bob of her head..  Camilla picked out a spot  to watch and waited. Ashton was tired, having trekked across the country side fairly much all day, but there was enough tension in the air to keep her going.  Resting the barrel of her rifle over something solid, a rock, branch, dead-fall what-have-you, Cam thumbed the lip of her helmet upward and huddled in against the stock, hoping things went smooth and fast.

The field is littered with debris from the looting, mostly torn articles of clothing, broken truck parts and equipment, empty boxes and a few discarded shell casings missed by the scavengers. Footlockers stuffed with papers have been dragged from the trucks, opened and rummaged through in a ruthless search for valuables.
Marks are found at several points in within the woods to show where a large force had set up machineguns to sweep the road in a crossfire.
On the opposite side of the site to the radio and it's dead operator, a moaning sound is heard in the woods....
Tanya and Winters are the closest to this location with Cam not much further...