Robert removes his webbing and kevlar, making a compact pile of gear on the ground and sits on it. Removing his helmet he scratches his head for a long time, watching the activities around him. He thought how fortunate he was that he didn't get badly burned. His combat shirt was darkened with sweat over his entire back which was covered by his Kevlar. When suggestion to continue closed his eyes a little, as if the idea caused pain from within.

"You want us to go back?" he asked, not sure if that was being suggested. "I recommend otherwise. I'll do it, but under clearly stated reluctance and disagreement. We lost hours of darkness, we've been shook up, and the enemy is alerted to our presence."

"Going back with help would be more like a probe. And the tactical situation doesn't to me, seem like thats required at the moment. That area is occupied by a hostile force. We need to come up with something different if were gonna try to establish comms with that community. Heading back in... in the same manor would only postpone that."

After a moment he repeats himself, "Mountie reaction unit is fine... But a change of plans is needed for the recce element. Speaking of which whats the deal on Mr. Jagelis?"
This message was last edited by the player at 03:31, Fri 28 Mar 2008.

"I think your LT will live. His arm has second-degree burns. Should heal in a week or two, but we won't know until he gets to hospital."

Belanger shook his head and swore in classic Quebecois fashion.

"Sacrement!"

"Not go back to the park, heavens no! As Taras pointed out beforehand, going there would be foolish. I trust his polite "suggestions" won't be equally politely ignored from now on."

"I mean on the North Shore. Do not worry, it's been less than an hour lost so far. Plenty of time to get back on schedule if we start right away, and I remind you the recce element is untouched."

"We can support them. If you're not up to it, then Lee can take over as unit commander."

"RCMP are specialists trained in negotiation and community relations. She is probably much better suited to direct this mission command anyways.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:27, Fri 28 Mar 2008.

Taras acknowledge the call of Belanger and was seen talking with him apart. Nodding, swinging his head. He was tired and the words didn't came out easy in that situation. After a brief conversation he excused and left the room only to fell in a chair resting the elbows on his knees and burying the head between his hands.

Thinking about it some more, Robert shook his head and says "No." After a pause he adds "Look, we're done for now. Time for mission complete isn't pressing down on us... The patrol is going to head back and reorg. Proper battle procedure will have to be done before he go to the North Shore, with or without the leftenant."
This message was last edited by the player at 07:12, Fri 28 Mar 2008.

Belanger looked at Fox and judged his character with long years of experience.

"The main mission isn't compromised in the least and we can help pick up the slack."

"What's going to change tomorrow or the next day, Sergeant? Your leftenant is still down for the count for days, either way."

He looked like he didn't want to make the call to bring the snipers back in, but would, reluctantly.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:59, Fri 28 Mar 2008.

Shevchenko was regaining posture, clarifying his mind and assesing damage control.

Belanger, listen. Whatever happened in the bridge doesn't affect at all at the North Shore mission. We need the information from the recce team. We cannot risk another ambush or just repeat mistakes while walking in no-man's land. Let the guys gather the info and depending on the situation up there we can judge what to do.

Trying to be calm and sound convincing wasn't easy. Diplomacy was a rare comodity in the Soviet Union and certainly a luxury in an Officer's world.

If the town is civilised and quiet we can move in without the Lieutenant. We can gather enough personnel to work with. Especially RCMP agents. Since we can't have neither an Officer or the armoured vehicle, a Police force will sound convincing enough. You can count with me for that task.

A moment of reflexion brought silence to the room. It was the time to balance different options.

...but if the situation in the North Shore seems to be bad...Then we can bring the snipers back and basically report the situation to HQ and move somewhere else...

Belanger looked convinced. This was more like it!

"I agree. We should continue."

"Let's not bringing in the recce element, at least not yet."

"Fox, if you want to pack it in I won't stop you personally."

"Lee, it's your game then."
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:14, Fri 28 Mar 2008.

Lee walks away from some of the activity to give Khondola a briefing as he requested. She lists of the events as they occurred, omitting any opinion towards the actions taken. She explains the sequence of events, and as much of the (limited) information she took in regarding their foes.


The short debrief complete, Lee returns to her patrol mates. Following Robert's lead, she dumps all of her armour, gear, and SMG in a small pile. Giving her self a quick lookover, she inspects her uniform for any burn holes or other damage.



"Even if Fox lets it be... I'd prefer not to." she says. "Actually I think we should pull out as well. It'd be different if it was bullets, but it wasn't. Half of the team was just rolling on the ground on fire."

Digging out her balaclava she rolled it up and placed in on her head like a regular toque. "What will change is the patrolling spirit. We won't be heading back in tonight with confidence or enthusiasm. "

A little of his French accent started coming through.

"Be reminded that you put yourselves into that position to be on fire, against mine and Taras's direct advice. But you are right, your spirit is obviously damaged. Maybe it will come back at some point.

Calming a little, Belanger looked like he wanted to be conciliatory, yet continuing was important.

"We really need the recce of the North Shore to continue. Please understand it's important to us."

He addressed Ben, who was coming around and hopefully had heard what was going on.

"Ah, I see your Lieutenant is awake, will you please do as we ask?"

"Again, I must emphasise that I am speaking about the original mission, the reconnaissance of the North Shore. Stanley Park will wait for another day, and I do not ask you to go back. If I may, you shouldn't have been there to begin with, but what's done is done."
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:19, Sat 29 Mar 2008.

Ben lay on the stretcher, his chared clothing laying in rags on the ground.
"Nothing changes," he mumbled through teeth gritted in pain.
"North shore goes as planned. No further action for this element tonight."
It would have been the wrong thing to do sending anyone back to Stanley Park while the inhabitants were all worked up.
"We know what we wanted. They're extremely hostile and any further contact will be violent."
Just who who be more violent to who remained to be seen....

"Amen to all that."

Kelsey transmitted the "Go" code to Ruby-1, signaling them to "Charlie Mike" or Continue Mission.

MacDonald listened to the handset for a moment.

"....ah, roger, I have good copy on that, over."

"Ruby-1, out."

He looked over at McRae and smiled. His white teeth were visible in the light of the quarter moon.

"Well, Master Corporal, sounds like we're back in business. If you  please?"

He began policing up his gear in preparation to moving out.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:45, Sun 30 Mar 2008.

McRae smiled back at his Opo. He packed away his kit and ponied up, "Let's go and let's see if we can do this without screwing the pooch, do you want point?"

"Man, always the Injun gets to walk point, eh? Doin' the White Man's job."

He winked, then flipped down his NVGs and picked up his FN,carrying it at "low ready" (muzzle down, finger off the trigger).

"Sure, let's get a move on. Too easy."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:51, Sun 30 Mar 2008.

Andy chuckled to himself and followed the point man, "Just don't go calling me "Raccoon Face" and we'll be all right."

Jagelis was loaded into the ambulance, oxygen mask strapped to his face and arm swathed in bandages.

The rest of the team saddled up. They could monitor Ruby-1's signals just as easily from UBC, as a backup for the reaction force at the marina (Diamond).

They had been given an old Land Rover Defender (hard top) from the Faculty motor pool to use as team vehicles, and Taras' UAZ was there as well.

Khandola took out his notebook and pen, calling Taras aside for a moment.

The conversation was quick and to the point. "Taras, do you wish to remain here and command the reaction element?"

Lee lets out a long and loud exhale. Very slowly she gathers her gear and readies herself again. Walking over she holds her hand out to Fox, sitting on his gear, to help him up. "Nobody is happy." she says to him. Removing her rolled up balaclava, she places her helmet on her head. Lee then Verifies the readiness of her SMG.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:45, Sun 30 Mar 2008.

It turned out it was a good idea that there was an advance recce of the community in West Van.

To get there, the two scouts made their way down the tree-lined railbed along the water almost to Eagle Harbour itself. It took a couple of hours, and they passed by silent vacant neighborhoods every once in a while, covering each other as they crossed open areas and the odd rail bridge over the rivers and streams carrying runoff from the North Shore mountains.

The empty suburban streets were littered with drifts of trash and streams ran down the middle, water backing up from plugged storm drains. Many of the relatively well-to-do houses of West Van had forlorn piles of belongings abandoned in front of them on the sidewalks, left there years before when the population was hastily evacuated without much more than the clothes on their backs.

They turned uphill north to circumnavigate the community of Eagle Harbour, running into the checkpoint blocking NW Marine Dr and concealed observation posts overlooking the Upper Levels (The Trans-Canada/Highway 1) where they expected they would be.

However, the various bunkers, dugouts and barricades were unmanned and had been like that for months since at least before the winter, water collecting in them and starting to fall apart and overgrown by the lush vegetation.

At around 0000 hours they were in position to overlook Eagle Harbour itself from the bridge on the Upper Levels. It was obvious the small community spread below them was also mostly abandoned.

There were no boats in the empty marina, no smoke drifting from chimneys of the houses. It was clear that most of the structures around the harbour looked like they were damaged in some way and the trees they could see showed obvious fire damage.

The only signs of life was on Eagle Island and a smaller adjacent islet, at the mouth of Fisherman's cove. At least a couple of fishing boats were moored on the wharfs there, and at least one of the large houses in amongst the trees had smoke drifting from its chimney. Eagle Island had no bridges to the shore although there was a wooden walkway between Eagle Island and its smaller companion, although they were only a couple hundred metres offshore at most.

Somehow, the population of a thriving community that they had expected to be hundreds if not over a thousand strong, had almost completely vanished.

http://marinas.com/view/marina/12395

[OOC: the first view is looking inland. Eagle Island is in the lower right of the picture. The raised highway in the background is the Upper Levels Highway where Ruby-1 is located. Although the area is well-forested, there are nice houses all throughout the trees. The high ground in the background is the foothills of the mountainous Cypress Park, a ski hill and recreation area.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:11, Sun 30 Mar 2008.

Andy surveyed the scene of devestation. Shit, he thought, not great for the first contact. He looked more carefully at the abandoned defences, trying to see any sign of violence that would explain the desolation.

Once he'd looked for that, he moved closer to the ex-community and looked around the perimeter for any areas of ground that had about as much new growth on them as the bunkers, he also looked closely at the doors and walls of the community to see if there were any common markings.

He looked over at McDonald, "Be very, very careful mate, there are a few things I can think of that would have caused this: fighting, famine or pestilence, have a good look for signs of battle or any big pits, I doubt if it was famine here. If it was fighting we don't want to find any of the buggers who did it and if it's illness, well, I don't want to die coughing my lungs up because I wasn't careful, OK? Have a good check around and if we can't see any obvious signs, we'll contact base. If we see any obvious signs, we'll contact base with our assumptions."

Andy continued to inspect the community in the minutest detail that his night vision gear would allow.

"Be very, very careful mate, there are a few things I can think of that would have caused this: fighting, famine or pestilence, have a good look for signs of battle or any big pits, I doubt if it was famine here. If it was fighting we don't want to find any of the buggers who did it and if it's illness, well, I don't want to die coughing my lungs up because I wasn't careful, OK? Have a good check around and if we can't see any obvious signs, we'll contact base. If we see any obvious signs, we'll contact base with our assumptions."

Lying on the cold concrete of the empty bridge, MacDonald handed McRae the night glasses.

"Well fuck me. Where is everyone?"

He pointed out the myriad signs like burned-out areas, mighty trees stripped of lower foliage, skeletal structures.

"I worked as a volunteer "smoke eater" in the summers, during forest fire season. Ther was a big fire here, man."

McRae knew that every year the forests of BC regularly suffered massive forest fires and volunteer fire crews were kept busy fighting the massive blazes during peak dry seasons. Much like the wild fires down in California, BC forests were much wetter but the fires were bigger and much more inaccessible. Often the smoke would turn the prairie sky dark for a thousand kilometres east of the Rockies.

"The wind is coming off the water west-to-east, so this burn didn't come from a lightning strike on the mountain behind us, 'cause that would go the other way."

MacDonald performed a quick radio check on the secure channel, making a preliminary SITREP so the rest of the team would know exactly where they were and what little they knew, so far.

---

Ben was sent on his way, his ambulance escorted by an RCMP SUV. He was soon sleeping in a clean hospital bed, IV drip on a stand beside him and a nurse on-call. Not so peacefully, as nightmares of fire and explosions intruded in his dreams. He would thrash and move his burned arm, and the pain would wake him. Finally, he drifted off to a dreamless slumber.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:02, Sun 30 Mar 2008.

McRae couldn't see any signs of violence. No spent shell casings, skeletal remains or even the tell-tale signs of house-to-house fighting like holes blown in walls to allow access or grenades to be thrown inside, were absent.

The defensive positions hadn't been overrun or demo'ed, there were no burned-out vehicles (although there were a few abandoned ones). Either someone had spent a lot of time and effort cleaning up debris (which made no sense) or the community hadn't falled to violence.

The patchy burned areas stretched on both the rugged north and south sides of Fisherman's cove, meeting to the east.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:08, Sun 30 Mar 2008.

Andy asked McDonald, "So,would the extent of the fire here be enough to drive the people off or was it caused by people trying to get rid of something? What do you think?"

"Good question."

He thought a bit.

"Could have been some kind of quarantine measure, I guess."

"One thing for sure, this was deliberately set on both sides of the harbour, as far west as possible. A stiff offshore breeze would have driven it inland where it would converge and hit the town before they knew what was happening."

"We could tell if we looked in some of those buildings. Maybe find a mass grave somewhere. We always dug 'em on sports fields, everywhere else in the mountains where I'm from is either trees or rock. Don't know if there's a school or park around here. Not like we're going to dig up any graves to examine remains."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:40, Sun 30 Mar 2008.

"Good point, we need to inform them before we go in anyway. Might as well pump them for info as well." replied Andy.

After they had the radio prepped, Andy contacted the Uni, "Topaz, this is Ruby-1. We have reached the target community and have found it deserted. There is no sign of violence but there are some unidentified but apparently controlled burns. We suspect sickness but would like to confirm. It is suggested that the easiest place for a mass grave would be a sports field, does the target community have such a thing. We would also appreciate advice about potential contamination. The only signs of life are on two small islands. Over."

Looking at the map and the "Blue Pages" of the telephone book, Kelsey took a drag on her cigarette.

"...ah, copy that on the possibility of disease. Wait one."

She scribbled down some figures, looked at the map again.

"Ruby-1."

"Be advised that there is a primary school, uh, Eagle Harbour Primary, on Marine Drive almost directly to the south of your position."

"There's a railroad beneath you in the gorge, coming out of a rail tunnel in the side of the hill. Follow that south for 600m. The field will be on your right, through a screen of trees, almost certainly a fence."
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:26, Sun 30 Mar 2008.