.. You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs. Every cook will tell you that! I wouldn't worry too much about busting a lock. After us will come the RCMP and the rest of the reconstruction team from UBC. Plenty of handy men up there. Easier to replace a lock than a window, though!

"Locks, yes.  Doors would be bad to break."

A strong wrench will do. Perhaps the Cougar or humvee tool box has one!

In reply to Taras Vladimirovich Shevchenko (msg # 459):

The Marine, Keith, slung his C7A1 and looked a little thoughtful.

"I kind of think it's a bit of a waste to damage this installation. Even if I agree we need to put it back into action. Seems a shame to damage a perfectly good door if we pry it open, right? Because that's what we'll need to do.

"Why not, ah, see if the folks in that town, Aldergrove, see if they got a, you know, a locksmith? Maybe they got keys? Or even just someone who can pick a lock? Less fuss and muss, right?"

The RCMP conducted a holster evaluation during late 1994 and early 1995. This was part of their Small Arms Replacement to determine a successor to the RCMP issue .38 cal revolver. Security of weapon was considered the most important criteria for the holster with weapon access second. The RCMP found the Safariland 070 SSIII holster to have the best retention of holsters available at the time. Taras reached for his and pulled out the gun:

Yes indeed! Lock Smith & Wesson. Dial up 1-800-NINE-MIL.

The Sargent pointed the barrel in a safe direction. Placed his hand on the grip of the pistol without placing the finger in the trigger guard, pressed the button on the side of the hand grip to eject magazine and verified that the gun was unloaded with no round in the chamber.

The Smith&Wesson 5946 was easy to maintain, looked sexy in nickel plated, offered fairly accurate shooting and was "cop" proof. On the not so bright side was the long, heavy trigger pull and the heavy weight that takes it's toll carrying it around all day. This time the Ukranian was planning to put that extra weight to work in his favor.

In reply to Taras Vladimirovich Shevchenko (msg # 461):

The team was able to get ahold of the RCMP detachment up in Aldergrove. They could have someone there in an hour to access the building. The detachment didn't have keys but there was a locksmith and many local salvagers were skilled at picking locks. They would also be able to leave a detail to guard the radar if Taras thought it important.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:16, Tue 13 Dec 2016.

"Seems more sensible than breaking in for no good reason," said Mac.

Kel would try to stop anyone from shooting out the lock "Cowboy Style".

In reply to Kelsey Sarah Champlain (msg # 464):

That didn't seem to he happening.

The question was now whether they would wait for the locksmith and security team from Aldergrove, or the technical team under Bezhov, to arrive. That could take hours.

While they had a couple hours before the RV up in Port Kells with Tyler and Koldan, they probably didn't have enough time to wait there and then make the RV.

In reply to helbent4 (msg # 465):

We can always come back, as long as we are alive.  We did do a basic recon, which is we confirmed it appears to be unmolested.

Thomas returned from his walk around the perimeter and nothing seemed out of place. He walked over to the group as they stood near the gate.

While everyone made their way around the facility, Abbot stayed with the HMMWV and kept watch behind his gun.

Up on the railed access platform that was around the base of the radar, looking east, Taras, Kel and Mac could see a vast swath of forest had been blown down. Patches had burned out around them, but seemingly more concentrated several kilometres east-northeast of their position. They could maybe see a working farm to the north, out near Aldergrove, but the farms to the west, south in the USA, and east all seemed abandoned and overgrown.

The door up there into the radar was also solidly locked.

On the ground, it was obvious that entry could only be effected by inflicting damage on the building. Otherwise there was no movement other than birds and small animals.
This message was last updated by the GM at 22:10, Tue 20 Dec 2016.

And Hawke behind the wheel.

In reply to William Hawke (msg # 470):

After about forty-five minutes of waiting, there was a sound of vehicles coming from the North, in the direction of Aldergrove.

Andy transmitted, "Knight, this is Rook.

"Be advised two Victors approaching from the north down the MSR. Could be our locksmith under escort. Over.

An unmarked RCMP Chevy Caprice ("ghost car" grey) was leading a white Chevy Econoline van. Andy checked them out, then sent them towards the weather station.

The vehicle pulled up. The unmarked police car was driven by the RCMP's Aldergrove detachment Sergeant, Reece McMillan, along with PC Wendy Barnes. Both were in uniform. In the van was a civilian, Harvey Wong, a locksmith from Aldergrove. Both men were middle-aged, friendly. PC Barnes was in her 20's, obviously a new recruit.

Wong got to working on the weather station's front door.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:38, Wed 04 Jan 2017.

Thomas had moved back to the team vehicles to provide security and waved the additional vehicles in when they arrived on the scene. He then when back to scanning down the roads and keeping an eye on the immediate surroundings.

Kelsey will assist with security as the locksmith works, and will want to be one of the first in.

Mac, typical sniper, remained in his perch up on the tower enjoying the view.

Within fifteen minutes, the locksmith had the main door of the ground building open.

He went to work on the lock at the bottom of the stairs.

The 2 RCMP, having not much to do (as the entire team was keeping a solid watch on the area) decided to wander around the building, checking it out and the overgrown fields beyond the trees. They didn't see anything new but as there was going to be a rotating RCMP or Militia presence here it made sense to know the lay of the land.

It was now 1130 on a fine, early summer day.

They were due to meet with Koldan and Tyler (to discuss who might be using the border areas for transit) at 1200. Bezhov and company were due to arrive some time in the afternoon. At this time they were probably fording the Fraser River in their amphibious SAM-8 "Gecko" TEL vehicle.

In reply to helbent4 (msg # 475):

"Taras? Kel? Is there some reason we're waiting here?

"I suggest we get back on the road and either penetrate this zone further to determine the target of the strike, or double-back and meet with Koldan and Tyler. Bezhov will be here soon enough and there's Mounties to look after the place."

Kel takes a quick sweep of the place to familiarize herself then gets ready to mount back up.

"I agree Tremblay."

In reply to Kelsey Sarah Champlain (msg # 477):

Descending from the radar tower, Taras called everyone over for a quick discussion.

"Yes. Now that our good friend Bezhov and his crew are arriving soon, let us proceed east for another five Kilometres down this road. We shall turn back if we encounter a significant radiation hazard. Otherwise, we should find out all we can.

"Whether we have found anything or not we shall proceed to meet with Koldan and Tyler. They may have information on who's using this border post, and when, and we can use this to our advantage.

"Questions?"

"Negative!  Mount up!  We roll in five mikes, jump to it!"

Mac clambered down from his perch, listened to Taras then loped off to the Iltis to get ready to move out.

In reply to Christopher Little Hawk MacDonald (msg # 480):

The small convoy got on the road.

As they had seen, there was more and more evidence of a large fire. No doubt, the result of a nuclear strike in the direction they were travelling. It didn't seem like the farming city of Abbotsford was a worthy enough target, so there was some question as to where the nuke has hit.


GM Note: Players may make a Fieldcraft (AWA) check to determine from the map where the most likely location for the nuclear strike hit.