Andy looked over at Rob and Mac and said, "Hell boys, I just got made up from Corporal about a day or two ago, don't wear the new title out."

He looked sheepishly at Rob, "Having you calling me Master seems stupid as when it comes to our trade, you're the master here. You can call me what you want, except "pookie", that'd be kinda gay."

In reply to Taras Vladimirovich Shevchenko (msg #10):

"I think everyone is geared up. If you think that the LAV should be the primary vehicle for reaction, I agree it's worked well so far just by being impressive. I went over asignments before, and I can go over them again."

She called over Rob, Tyler, Andy, Fox and Chris when everyone was free.

"Okay, if we have to deploy, we'll use the LAV. Sergeant Fox, you're vehicle gunner, I'll command. We can have one of the a militia drive, whoever knows how to drive trucks. Andy, you're in charge of the dismounts, which will be Chris with the SAW, Rob, Tyler and your two trainees."

While talking, she made sure everyone had gas masks in case they used the CS canisters, IR goggles, working flashlights and of course, personal radios.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:11, Mon 04 May 2009.

By noon, the rain had finally stopped, and the sun was coming out. There was still a great deal of standing water, and the sound of draining rainwater echoed through the quiet streets. There was a last minute check of gear, vehicles, weapons and of course radios.

The various units got sorted out, then left the start line around the designated time. Radio reports came in, confirming the various elements were in position and ready to proceed from west to east. No sign so far of bikers stirring at Brandi's from the RCMP marksman team that had that worthy establishment under surveillance, no outside radio traffic disturbed the ether.

Chris approached Taras.

"Sorry, Sergeant, totally slipped my mind you want to hear more about the airport. Well, I haven't been there again since I last reported."

He looked up at the watery sun breaking through the clouds, took a sip from his canteen.

"What would you like to know?"

Taras looked at the Little Hawk with a smile:

I certainly will be happy to have a report in the SALUTE format in written. Take your time...Try to include as much as information you might remember...After that probably I'll make you a few further questions...As I said, take your time and let me know when you are ready.

Taras took his leather attache and produced a note pad and slipped out also a pen that handed over Chris.

In reply to Taras Vladimirovich Shevchenko (msg #16):

He waved off the pen with an unconcerned look.

"It's okay, I already wrote a report, remember? The gist was I saw what looked like about 8-20 men and an M113 (armed with a fifty-cal) stationed on the near end of the Arthur Lang bridge."

"There's all these overpasses and underpasses and so on that connect from east and west SW Marine and go south onto the Arthur Lang. They're all blocked off except the big one coming west from SW Marine. There's a main roadblock under that overpass there, that's the only open way in and that's where the APC is parked. They got a little covered trading post, just, you know, a plywood stand, under the overpass so it don't get rained on too much, eh?

"There's another bunker above it on the overpass, and it has a good view of all the approaches to the east and west. Looks like both bunkers had some kind of MGs."

"I actually only saw eight guys, six on the bottom and two above, but if the positions were manned then there could be as many as 20 in the bunkers and APC.

In reply to Taras Vladimirovich Shevchenko (msg #16):

Clarke had been standing by, listening.  Taras seemed to have things well in hand, so there didn't seem to be any need to step in or micro-manage.

In reply to Andrea Clarke-Sullivan (msg #18):

Listening to the boys talk, Kelsey moves closer to the commander and talks quietly to her, smiling a little.  She'd been smiling a lot in the last day or so, apparently the horror of the other night not entering her mind for one reason or another.
Mmmmm, Clarke.  Want me to shake a few limbs and see if I can find someone to talk to on that side of things later?  That sounds like a prime case of try to negociate a common ground there.

In reply to Kelsey Sarah Champlain (msg #19):

Clarke nodded.  "Sounds like a good idea, Kelsey.  There might be a few HAM operators out there looking for someone to talk to.  Anything to open the lines of communication, get some more eyes and ears out there for us."

As the clock indicated that was already noon, Taras decided to proceed without further delay.

Lt.Cmdr. Clarke, with your permission...

Echo 6 to all units start operation. Only mobile units report back to acknowledge.

The ambiance of the room was all business. A large map of the area of operations was set up against the wall and one of the corners was occupied by the radio operator and its gadgets. Ex Lt. Shevchenko was leaning forward one of the copies of the map with demarkations of the operation. Other paperwork like radio codes and notebooks were spreading over the paired together tables in the middle. An old car part, probably from a large cylinder of a truck served the purpose of an improvised ashtray. Taras would wait for the confirmation of the car patrols to lit up and wait for news or the expected 20 minute update in position.

The various units reported in they were beginning their searches. They all had maps marked with their areas and the places they would have to look, mainly parkades and parking lots.

Things progressed as the hour ticked towards thirteen-hundred hours, no engagements. No sign of bikers prowling around.

A message came over the radio from one of the search teams. "Ahhh.... we found some people in the old Post Office building downtown. They're telling us to get lost. Say they're gonna kill us. Requesting backup, corner of West Georgia and Homer."

Kelsey glances at the map while replying, trying to figure out what team this might be.
"Echo one to unidentified element, please identify.  Request for backup and location received, please identify."

"Stick to the plan 'til the first shot's fired," Tyler muttered to nobody in particular.

He listened to the radio traffic go back and forth.  All this was a regular occurrence for him since the beginning of the war.  He held his weapon more tightly when he could hear a hesitation of identification from the other end of the radio.

"Champlain, just tell em to authenticate.  What's the authentication for this op?"

Tyler continued scanning the area, weapon at the ready, while Kelsey was busy with the radio.  Tyler figured that since they were both proficient radio operators, it would be best that they stuck together in case one went down, and the other would have to pick up the slack, and work the radio.

Kelsey grins a little "I got everyone's names.  Figured it made more sense until I can pull all these folks in for a class."

The unit identified themselves as one of the search units. Kelsey realised that satic or interference from an intervening building must have masked the first part of their previous transmission but they were coming in clear now.

"Echo one this is Alpha Two One. Say again, this is Alpha Two One. How do you read me? Over."
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:06, Wed 06 May 2009.

"This is Echo One, Alpha Two, I read you Lima Charlie, Loud and Clear, now.  Roger, and wilco on your request.  Stand tight."

Not sure who is on hand or if she needs to coordinate support, but whatever needs to be done, she will be in motion.

In reply to Kelsey Sarah Champlain (msg #27):

"Ahhh, this is Alpha Two One, Ten-Four. I mean, Roger. We've pulled back to the corner of Alexander and Dunsmuir, er, I mean Hamilton and Dunsmuir, up the street from Stadium Skytrain station. Out."

At the police station command post, the rest of the command team was nearby (Taras and Clarke), as well as Lee and the reaction team for the mission.

She grins a moment at Tyler.

"Go ahead and give the report, Tyler, get the reaction team on the way.  I'll keep up with the radios."

In reply to Kelsey Sarah Champlain (msg #29):

Lee looked at Champlain, confused.

"Ah, with all due respect our American friend, Tyler, but I'm going to wait for the command team to give the order before moving the ERT out."
This message was last edited by the player at 06:51, Thu 07 May 2009.

Kelsey blushes faintly, paused, biting her lip, then laughs tensely.
"Not quite how I meant... you know.. report.. ah.  Did you get that, Rachel?"

In reply to Kelsey Sarah Champlain (msg #31):

Seeing Kelsey's nervousness she smiled in reply and put a hand on her arm.

"I just decided to come in and see what's up. Nothing happening outside."

"Ah, I see, you meant report this to the command team. Don't worry, I'll get 'em. Hang tight, see if you can get some details out of the unit about who they saw, how many, what they were armed with, and so on."

She quickly found Clarke and Taras and explained one of the search teams had hit a snag in that there was someone who wasn't cooperating and had threatened them.

Lee finished her report with, "...no real details as of yet."
This message was last edited by the player at 10:10, Thu 07 May 2009.

Kelsey seemed to get things back under wraps pretty quick.  Maybe just a little startled.  "Roger that.  SALUTE, on it.

She turns and re-keys the radio.

"Alpha two one, this is Echo one, please provide details on resisting party.  (Break.) Size.. number of people.  Activity.. what they are doing  (Break.) Exact Location, and Equipment.. like what kind of guns or vehicles.  Over."

In reply to Kelsey Sarah Champlain (msg #33):

"Ahhh... roger that, Echo One. Standby."

There was a pause as the other station either talked to someone, and/or probably consulted the "cheat sheet" for comms protocols for "SALUTE".

"We, uh, saw two people. One, ah, female down by, like, uh, well, it's a big door, like an open loading bay door off Hamilton, and a man on the roof above it. At the northeast corner of the Post Office. We were just going in the big door and heading down this ramp, when this woman from inside yells at us to take off. We stopped at the top of the ramp, and the guy leans over the roof above us and tells us to "F-off" or he'd "effing" kill us. This was on the east side of the building, there are doors on the west but we were going in the only open big door. No guns or vehicles or anything visible. The guy looked pretty scruffy, like a street person. We can't see anyone now. Copy?"

Kelsey knew that Canad Post was organised differently than the US Postal Service. When she was a child, Canada Post Corporation had been "privatised" by the federal government, and so all the smaller post offices shut down in favour of privately run postal counters and kiosks in 7-11s, other corner and convenience stores, office supply and service outlets like Kinkos, FedEx and Mailboxes Et.. The "Post Office" in question was the main sorting and receiving plant downtown for the Lower Mainland, where CPC and contracted semis full of mail would pull in and a fleet of smaller postal trucks would go out to distribute the mail to other community distribution centres or mailboxes. All she could remember about it was it was a huge Stalinesque edifice across the street from the Library, the Queen Elizabeth II theatre, and a block or so away from the BC Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own) Armoury and the Skytrain.

In reply to helbent4 (msg #34):

"Roger, standby."

She writes down the information clearly and concisely and quickly delivers it to Cpl Lee  "Here ya go... doesn't sound to serious to me.. but not my decision, you are welcome to talk to them in person"

The radio was spitting details about the encounter in the Canada Post building and this did not go unnoticed by the Command element. Taras was writing down details in a notebook and glancing at Clarke. What would happen if they were called upon to inflict violence all over again... But as it happens, a central tenet in a quasi lawless post war society - and trying to survive in general -is that most of the threatened violence never goes beyond the stage of threat.

Alpha Two One, Alpha Two One,...this is Echo Six. Resume patrol. I repeat. You are instructed to resume patrol and notify any further occurrence...

Acting XO Sgt. Shevchenko made a mental picture of the situation and decided to focus on the objective of the cordon-and-search. Even though it could result obvious that the decision adopted was logical in purpose he felt indebted to justify his course of action towards his superior, the Lieutenant Commander:

Clarke, I believe those were Undergrounders based on the description provided by Alpha Two One. But it certainly seems to me that the Canada Post building holds an strategic value of its own and we should further investigate on this. The recently instated morning briefings taught us a very important lesson: The cooperation of the local population is paramount for the safety of our personnel in any mission. Before we move-in in that building I want to consult with Sepherd and find out what he knows about it. Perhaps we can put the site under cover surveillance now that we have our rank of snipers swelling...In any case I do not want to compromise the progress of the operation at this point. We certainly pin-pointed a possible source of trouble and that is very positive. Let's see what the rest of the operation will bring in.