Lee crosses her arms and leans over the railing to the man below - "Hello." she calls down. "That we are. How's about piloting us in?" she pauses and adds, "Then later over breakfast you can tell us how things are... our treat of course. What d'ya say?"
This message was last edited by the player at 14:43, Wed 16 Jan 2008.

He looked behind him at the narrow debris-choked channel, featuring a considerable amount of driftwood, flooded barge partway down the Celtic Shipyard's westernmost docks and a capsized pleasure boat fetched up against the bridge's low abutment on the island side.

"Ah... begging your pardon, Constable, but that seems a little dangerous to me. I can take your passengers over in my boat. Or, ah, I think the dock on the shipyard is clear enough to pull up to."

She looked over to the structures he indicated.

Across the channel from Deering Island lay the abandoned Celtic Shipyards. It had two wharfs on the river itself, and a long dock opposite from the island. The upriver wharf had suffered heavy damage from debris that drifted down the thousand-kilometre river system to fetch up here in the delta.

The second wharf on the river looked intact from where they sat idling in the slack tide.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:14, Wed 16 Jan 2008.

"I see." she replies slowly, nodding. "Just a second ok." Looking up to the bridge she radio's Ben and relays the message verbatim. She adds on to the end, "What d'ya want to do?"

While she waits for a reply she looks back down at the man, "We need a dock. We've got a heavy vehicle."

Indicating to the neighborhood, she asks offhandedly, "Safe around here? I mean, as much as it can be these days?"

"Got a vehicle, eh? I say the wharf is your best bet, then. Yeah, for sure. If it's an SUV or jeep you should have no problem."

The LAV wasn't visible down in the hold, especially for a man in a small boat!

"It's not bad too around here. Quiet. No neighbors!"

"There's the guys over at the Airport."

"Of course, there are mounties like you at UBC. They say we can call them for help if we need it."

Fox ignores the report about the airport sighting and continues to watch his arc of the boat. He leans over the edge and spits into the sea.

Fox's arc at this point was off the Port side, including Deering Island.

On the small island, nothing was moving. Up close, the expensive homes showed a few more obvious signs of neglect.

There were some broken windows, the odd sagging rain gutter, and of course overgrown yards and landscaping. It was difficult to see too much of most of the homes as most of the yards had fences, walls and hedges for privacy. Some doors gaped open and dark.

Several expensive cars, trucks and SUVs sat neatly parked on the street or in driveways where the EMP had fried their electronics. A few had hoods propped open.

Seeing the mountie was dealing with the man in the boat, Chris went back to checking out the river shore and the shipyard (roughly 12 to 3 o'clock).

He didn't see anything moving aside from an eagle soaring above the Fraser upriver of them, a few other birds flitting here and there in the sky and between the trees and the abandoned buildings on the shore.

Beside Ben on the bridge, Kirsch took his pipe out of his mouth. He had been chwing the stem while staring thoughtfully at the shore on both sides and the channel in between.

"Okay, I think we can do the wharf. A lot easier than that channel. It's hard to tell, but I think the wharf will take the weight of your tank better than those private boat docks."


[EDIT for clarity: Changed "LAV" to "tank" as the captian might not know what a LAV is and therefore mistake it for a tank, like some people have. Also, he's referring to the private boat docks as probably not being up to the task of handling the LAV's weight.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:44, Thu 17 Jan 2008.

"Ok then, the wharf it is." Truth be told Ben never expected they could unload anywhere else.

"McRae, Fox, Lee. The four of us will sweep and clear the closest buildings. Prepare to move once the ship is tied up."
"MacDonald, Champlain, take over the C-6 and '19 at that time."

If they encountered any locals, they'd have to take utmost care not to get them offside at this point. On the other hand they really didn't yet know if the locals would welcome their efforts to return law and order to their neighbourhood. The sight of a heavily armed and armoured vehicle being unloaded might just cause an incident they could do without.

"Lets try and do this as peacefully as possible."
Yeah, like that was really an option while carrying automatic weapons and bursting through doorways...

What about the tower?

Andrew almost drops it- the Lieutenant obviously has a lot on his mind- but he still wakes up some nights, drenched in sweat, after dreamed conversations with dead friends who's last mistake had been to "drop it".

"Sir, the tower? You want me to take a look while we head to the pier?"

"Hold were you are for the moment. I'll come down and relieve you on the '19 first."
Ben had meant to respond earlier but with other events closer to home, it's had slipped his mind.

The man in the boat caught a line thrown down by a deckhand, then cut the throttle on the Mercury outboard.

He looked up at Lee.

"Well, okay, anything else I can do for you? I guess if you don't need a lift, I should be heading back."

Jagelis relieved McRae at the Mk19, covering the shipyard.

Once at the stern, McRae unslung his C3A1 rifle and set it up in the bipod. Peering through the Unertl 10x telescopic sight, he made a few adjustments.

Focusing on the control tower was a little difficult due to the gently rolling movement of the ship. Nevertheless, he managed to get a pretty clear look. He couldn't make a positive ID on anyone there now, although there were plenty of shadows to hide in on the control deck. He was about 50% sure there was someone looking back at him, however.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:25, Thu 17 Jan 2008.

"Ok. Maybe we'll talk a bit later." she says offhandedly. However, she defiantly planned on speaking to him again.

Lee glances over to where Andy was trying to make out who was at the airport. Thumbing her radio she says, "I let him go for now. But our friend there knows who's at the airport."

He nodded. "Cool!. Right, well, I'm gonna take off. Don't want the kiddies gettin' into trouble, eh?"

With that he cast off and restarted his engine. Then motored back to the dock he came from, eventually entering the yard.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:00, Thu 17 Jan 2008.

As the man was returning home, Kirsch ordered a boat lowered so the First mate and a crewman could get a look at the western wharf.

After inspecting the pilings for damage and the channel around the wharf for debris or other underwater obstacles they gave the thumb's up to indicate it was clear. The mate and crewman in the boat then climbed onto the wharf to guide the ship in.

Kirsch throttled up the engines and reversed into the channel, then ordered the engines ahead at 1/4 speed, bringing the ship around so that it was pointing east, upriver.

Andy swore as the vibrations from the increased RPMs coming up through the deck from the engine room below him made looking through the scope a useless proposition.

With infinite care and much muttered swearing under his breath, the old captain took the wheel and nosed his old tub up against the undamaged wharf.

In short order with a slight lurch the Church nuzzled it's rust-streaked port side against the end of one of the long wharfs that jutted out into the river. The deck crew threw down lines to the men below, and they tied her fast to the iron cleats bolted to the weather-beaten wooden planks. The forward cargo crane was lined up neatly with the wharf.

With a sigh of relief, Kirsch wiped the sweat from his forehead and reported success to Lt. Jagelis.

"that was some fine maneuvering, if I do say so myself! Any time you want us to unload your tank, say the word. We're ready." The bridge always smelled like oil, smoke and human body odor, but it was would have been a lot more rank at the moment were it not for the fresh breeze coming in through the open bridge portholes. Kirsch lit a pipe in celebration.

The whole operation took around 10-15 minutes to complete, making it around 1100 hours Lima (local).

"Start on it right away," Ben responded to the captain.
"McRae, Fox, Lee. Lets get to work. MacDonald and Champlain, take over the '19 and C-6 please while we clear the nearby area."
It wouldn't be a hard job really and one they could expect to complete in probably less than ten minutes. A simple matter of swinging over onto the wharf, strolling to the nearby buildings and seeing if anyone was home. Once they'd found out if they were inhabited they'd set up a defence a short way from the shore end of the wharf while the crew, with possible assistance from Champlain and MacDonald, unloaded their vehicle and trailer.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:09, Fri 18 Jan 2008.

Chris looked alert, ready for action.

"Yes sir!"

Moving to the Mk 19 from the bow, Chris took hold of the spade grips and swung the weapon to cover the Airport.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:13, Fri 18 Jan 2008.

"You got it, sir!"

Kelsey took over the C6 GPMG.

She covered the warehouse-like buildings inside the Celtic Shipyards compound, as well as the trees bounding the property.

A gangway was lowered onto the dock and the team tromped down.

While they were quickly getting squared-away on the wharf, Kelsey performed a radio check.

Radios functioning, she gave Ben the thumb's up from above them on the deck of the ship where she was positioned with the C6.

"Did the local say anything about those buildings up there?" Ben inquired of Lee as they moved down the wharf. Although they knew little of the siutation in the area, or the threats that may lie in wait, he kept the barrle of his C-9 pointing downward but his eyes ever alert. It wouldn't do to alarm anyone by pointing machineguns into their faces, at least not yet....

Having done all he could to investigate the snoopers in the airport tower, and at least somewhat confident that they did not pose a clear and present danger to the boat or its crew, Andy replaces the lense caps on his C3's high-powered scope and lovingly slides the battle-tested rifle back into its padded drag bag. He leaves it, along with his barracks bag and combat pack, on board, sliding his heavy kevlar tactical vest over his head, atop which he securely straps his infrequently worn kevlar helmet. He hates the oppressive, weighted-down feeling of wearing the protective gear- not much use to a sniper in the boonies- but he acknowledges its value in urban areas.

Before boarding debarking, he says to Chris,

"There's someone over in the airport tower. Keep an eye on 'em, eh?"

As he steps off of the gangplank, he chambers a round in his C8A1 carbine and switches the selector from safe to semi-auto.

His head on a swivel, he follows the others towards the dock buildings, studying them carefully as he walks.

Chris answered, "gotcha, Chief. Got 'em covered!"

Sitting behind the auto-launcher, he pulled out his own binoculars. First he studied the distant building, then checked the surrounding airport.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:57, Sat 19 Jan 2008.

Given the word to go ashore to check things, out she grabbed her Halligan Tool and checked the light on her submachine gun. She also grabs her police helmet but doesn't put it on, clipping the chinstrap to her tac-vest instead.



"No, just said there were some people over at the airport. Nothing else was said really." - she answered as they walked along the wharf. "What are we doing? The closest building first? That'd way we won't have anyone between us and the ship?"
This message was last edited by the player at 10:31, Sun 20 Jan 2008.

"Yeah, that's the plan," Ben replied.
"You think we should try the friendly aproach before knocking?" he asked, pointing to the halligan.

"For sure. If anyone is home lets ask them to come out to talk." she replies. "If its just civilians around, and we don't look like we're going to mess with them, it'll help I think."