"Berths are all single occupancy with interconnecting doors between pairs; but that works", Melissa replied.

"No accommodation for families? That's surprising."

In reply to Karl Braende (msg # 59):

"Well, you'd take three or four berths in that case. Then again, I can tell you it is the sort of train for creating them, if you know what I mean".

"Is that so?" he asked with half a cheeky smile and a raised eyebrow.

In reply to Karl Braende (msg # 61):


 Patrick looked the American tourist, or at least the stereotype of one right down to the portable mini bar and two bottles of bourbon, of course the fact that the ‘bar” had all metal utensils including a cork screw and Ice pick was just a coincidence.

 He did feel a bit “at sea” as this was his first time operating under what he felt was a citizen type operation instead of the traditional all military style, here we are and their they are and your target is and your withdraw route is and well what the hell this ain’t that was his last thought on the subject.

 Follow the lead and ask no questions is the secondary motto of all good GIs.

St Pancras International Station, London

Monday 24.08.2020, 1800 British Summer Time

Melissa had used the journey with Eric to give him a crash course in British trains for his undercover assignment. The coverage had been detailed in scope, going from Brunel through to Grouping to nationalisation to the current franchise system, with more than a few of her personal opinions creeping in along the way. After this, his head was full of strange expressions - terms like Pacers, Thumpers, Sprinters and Meridians...

They’d arrived at St. Pancras International at 1600 local time, which allowed them a couple of hours to look around and take photos to establish their covers.
The station is considered one of the best looking in the world after its massive refurbishment and extension in the 2000s to accommodate Eurostar services, the Victorian-era Barlow train shed covering a highly modern facility on three levels that contained a large number of shops, restaurants etc.. Not counting the eight platforms of the adjacent King’s Cross St. Pancras underground station, there were fifteen platforms for trains. A and B in the lower level hosted cross-London Thameslink services running from Cambridge, Bedford and Peterborough to Brighton, Sevenoaks and Mitcham. On the upper level, Platforms 1-4 covered domestic services to Nottingham, Sheffield and points north, including an example of the iconic High Speed Train, a 1970s British Rail design now at the twilight of its career, which Melissa was very happy to see.

11-13 covered high speed domestic services along the High Speed 1 line out to Kent using 140mph Javelin multiple units, which left Platforms 5-10 for the international services.

It had been agreed that the team would split into three and board separately.  The check-in area was on the ground floor, with a series of machines labelled with the TEE logo to convert the online tickets into plastic ones for the security gates and of course to serve as room keys.

Once through, they would have to go through the X-ray machines and personal scanners before going on to two sets of passport controls – one for exiting the UK and another for entering France. The Schengen Agreement, badly weakened in recent years, was sort of still in place; there was a roughly 20% chance of a passport check on arrival in Venice.

Of course, passport checks were one of their lesser problems – they still had to find the statue and get it off the train somehow.

Before leaving for London, Karl visited the armoury and drew several sets each of sap gloves (lead weights sewn into the knuckles), polymer knives, Glock 17C's and MP-7A1's (both with silencers), and several hundred rounds of ammo. Others might have different weapon preferences, but he'd make damn sure everyone would be armed with something.
He also added to the pile a spray can of CS gas for himself, a few tasers, and climbing and scuba gear before heading out with an air tank to see a man he knew about having it modified. [Private to GM: Civil engineer, foreign. Mods as per character sheet.]

Jack spent most of his time working on the crate he and Michael would be shipping. He made sure the wireless transmitters were clear, stowed the weapons inside, and then sealed the box. He finished it off by locking the top down with zip tie restraints.

He would briefly go over how to aim the sensing devices that Karl and Patrick would be carrying.

Once Michael was ready to travel they would load up and head for England.

Karl pushed his baggage trolley laden with climbing and scuba gear up to the security checkpoint, quietly confident his concealment measure would work. His bags sported various stickers from sporting chains, firearms manufacturers and extreme sports events - anything to help explain away the likely detection of gunpowder by the sniffers. They'd got him from Belgium so they must have been fairly effective.
[Language unknown: "Wiis continenc p ng meol?"] he asked in his native language, offering up a passport with nearly as many stamps as countries on the planet.
[Private to Patrick Donnelly: I think Karl's supposed to be teamed up with you. :s]

Jack and Michael hauled the crate of supplies after them on a trolley, a rucksack on Michaels back. Jack however was travelling in little more than the clothes he was standing up in plus a laptop carry bag slung over one shoulder.

They could see Karl and Patrick at the security station, but there was no sign yet of Melissa and her partner, Victor. Numerous security guards were wandering about the station casually keeping an eye on the throng of passengers and well wishers.

In reply to Assistant (msg # 67):

Patrick tagged along with Karl pulling his large bag with another slung over his shoulder and the Portable bar in his hand. He carried no items that could or would be a problem ..well except for a very nice folding Gerber knife , but even it was only a three inch blade and then the ice pick in the bar set. What he did have was a ton of other stuff all very American and all not so very well packaged and he stepped to the front of the line ahead of Karl with his “typical” American loud vice.
"Say How long is this gonna take we got to get on the bus gents, hey what do ye mean ye got to check everything?”

As Jack rolled the trolley toward the baggage check in he smiled at Patrick in the near distance "pretending" to be a loud obnoxious American.

Stopping the crate at the back of the line he sat on it and took out his smart phone.

Melissa

Melissa had finished geeking out over the BR Class 43 and was now checking in. Her jacket had been stuffed loosely into the top of her rucksack and she was now clad in a grey sleeveless top with black culottes. Already one builder had wolf-whistled her, something she wasn't too sure how she felt about.

She went into a separate line with Victor, trying not to draw too much attention.

The security and passport checks went quickly, without any problems - they were through in fifteen minutes.

[Private to Karl Braende: The officer doesn't understand your Norwegian.]

Melissa made her way up to Platform 7, where the TEE high speed sleeper service was being prepared for departure. The dark blue train was always an attractive feature and she double checked the location of her first class cabin... ah yes, D3.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:08, Sun 01 May 2016.

In reply to Patrick Donnelly (msg # 68):

"Great, a yank" the guard muttered barely audibly.
"You don't know what your mate just said do you?"

In reply to Security guard (msg # 71):

Patrick really did not know what the hell he had said so it was not too difficult to respond.

“ Nah, he’s going on all the time and most of it under his breath. Hell if he want’s ta let me know somthin or tell me something he sure as hell can tell me in American!”
He slid the bags forward and looked at the guard with what he thought was his best smile.
“ Now could ye just let me aboard with my stuff and I won’t have to repack, you know I ain’t got no bombs or nuten.”
Getting the response he expected he started to unshoulder his other bag and losing the smile
“Damn ye don got to be a Palace guard about this

Roll 1D20 against your Persuasion Asset then.
[Private to GM: Since he drew attention to himself...
Lets make it Easy shall we? 4x asset which in his case is 4 (4x asset of 4 = target 16).]

The guard absently indicated to Patrick and Karl to put their luggage on the conveyor belt to go through the xray machine, already talking to another traveller and barely paying any further attention. With the pair past the checkpoint, they were free to make their way down the platform and board the train.

Soon it was Jack and Michael's turn to try sneaking their contraband through.

As Jack and Michael prepared to go through, there was a sharp kerfuffle behind them. Six men and women in British transport police uniforms, along with one German Shepherd dog, were moving at a fast walking pace towards security. Two of them were carrying Glock pistols.

On the platform itself, Melissa saw a large sports bag had been thrown onto the tracks next to Platform 10...
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:12, Tue 15 Dec 2015.

Jack stood up, pocketed his phone, and began pushing the cart with their crate toward the counter. He made no effort to keep from looking at the cops as they approached but mostly focused on the job at hand.

"That was fun," Karl commented to Patrick as they moved down the platform.
"Hope all the checks are like that, or we could get in trouble."
The small arsenal of three SMGs, four pistols, tasers, and nearly a thousand rounds of small arms ammo, not to mention the CS gas, weighted gloves and selection of knives all hidden away in the air tanks and amongst the climbing gear would surely end up with a significant prison sentence if discovered.
"Oh pokker!" he exclaimed quietly, after looking back to the security checkpoint.
"Either we're done for, or Jack and Michael are knullet."

Michael stood in line behind Jack, waiting for their turn to go through security.  He  watched Patrick's shenanigans and just shook his head.

"Wanker", he said to nobody in particular.

He slipped the his battered black daypack from his shoulder and laid on the counter as directed by the guard.

At that point, the German Shepherd started barking loudly and pointing in their general direction.

Behind them, a young woman was looking rather nervous as well.

Michael turned to take a look the barking dog.  Such a thing as unusual in this situation.   It would be good to know if it was barking at him.

Jack continued to watch the police as the dog started barking. It would have been unusual to do anything else with such a spectacle taking place close by.

In reply to Karl Braende (msg # 77):

“HELL, well it’s either over or it is something else, let’s get our gear into our unit and start getting on with it like it is someone or something having nothing to do with us”
Here he stepped up onto the train and looked at Karl.
“That Ok with you Pard?”