"Roger that." Andy relayed the instructions to Mac, "will move there now and recontact you when we have confirmation of our suspicions, is that acceptable, Over?"

Kelsey acknowledged.

The pair carefully made their way down the steep side of the ravine to the rail line under the Highway bridge. Cypress Mountain loomed behind them, and a swollen stream rushed by them at their feet. The previous winter had seen heavy snowfall in the watershed of the North Shore mountains, there was even a flurry a week or so back at the higher elevations. Now the warm weather was melting it in a hurry.

The rail line they had left traveled from North Van along the shore and turned north with the coastline, then entered a tunnel through a shoulder of the mountain behind them, going north. The mouth of the rail tunnel gaped black and cold.

They headed the other direction, south. Thick evergreens with some leafy trees lined the double-gauge tracks on either side.

Soon they came to where the trees thinned a bit on the right. They crossed a drainage ditch and found a chain-link fence with low Elementary school buildings across a field and playground. Glass shards glittered beneath dark empty windows.

Slipping through a sagging section of chain-link fence, they found the once-groomed fields mottled with a mass grave. Different marked-off sections had a poured-concrete marker placed in the middle, marking numbers of buried corpses and a date.

The buildings appeared empty but they stayed out of sight near the edge of the field under the branches of the trees, invisible in the fringe of overhanging foliage to anyone without thermal imaging capability. Nearer the buildings were parked some West Vancouver District engineering and construction vehicles: A Bobcat, backhoe, 2 garbage trucks and a dump truck that had been used to transport and inter mass casualties.

Andy shuddered at the numbers and names on the graves, so many gone, lost to something you couldn't fight with steel, brain and brawn. It made him feel weak to his very core. He gave the vehicles a once over and inventoried them, they might be of use in the reconstruction work.

He contacted the Uni once more, "Topaz, our suspicions are confirmed, repeat confirmed. Please relay to University command for advice on how to proceed. We will try to determine the nature of the disease if it is deemed feasible, but we would like advice on how to continue, does the plan have a doctor's surgery on it? Over."

Topaz acknowledged the SITREP.

Experience and training suggested it would be unlikely that after months any pathogen would be active and infectious. Some might survive in soft tissue, but depending on what the microorganism in question it was unlikely to survive outside either a host or perhaps preserved soft tissue.

They slipped around the periphery of the field, keeping out of the open in among the shrubs and bushes now growing there.

Something seemed off when they got to the buildings. The vehicles had obviously parked there for years. Rust streaked their sides, windshields opaque with pollen and dust caked on. Tires were going flat.

Shrubs, even small saplings and trees, were growing around the heavy equipment, even up through the back hoe, parked off to the side on the wooded verge.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:28, Sun 30 Mar 2008.

Mac pulled out an IR-filtered flashlight and shone it on one of the markers. There was an alphanumeric string to identify the plot, the number of people buried within, an inscription and a date. All standard for mass graves, based on a template developed during the war in case this terrible possibility might come to pass.

There were nine such plots, laid out in a square pattern, three rows on three.



Mac whispered, voice choked with emotion.

"Shit... 1998. These graves have been here since the city was nuked. Middle of winter, January. Most people died then."

"Wonder what..." he paused to gain control of his voice. "Why, ah, there's not more grass? Three years, this should all be overgrown by now with bushes and trees by now, nothing visible."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:40, Sun 30 Mar 2008.

Fox nods silently to the Mountie while looking down at his boots. Fuck it, he thought. When Lee approached him he finally made the move to get ready, taking her hand and pulling himself up. He raises on eye to her only comment and grumbles, "Yeah."

Gearing up he looks at Champlain, "Our comms reliable now?" After an answer is given he wanders over to Taras, "You comming with us again or no? I need to know soon as possible."

Digging out his map he nods to Lee to join him. They return to Belanger and Fox says, "North Shore huh? Show me the area of operations. What's the insertion going to be?"

After being advised of the potenial for infection, Andy and McDonald quietly moved into the compound. They took care not to expose themselves to the communities on the islands and looked carefully for an official looking building, a Police or fire station, a town hall or a doctor's office. Somewhere where records might be kept. His silent footfalls echoed in his imagination as Andy reluctantly explored the community that should have been left to the dead.

Shadows and darkness played with his imagination and he breathed calmly and regularly, controlling his mounting unease through sheer force of will. He caught a movement flickering in the corner of his eye and spun on his heal to face it, his rifle responding to find any potential threat. Step by step he closed in on where he had seen the movement, Mac covering him with his cannon as he did.

Each step brought him closer to the door of a General Store. He looked in and could see nothing but a big advertising mirror at the back of the shop. He covered the inside and gestured Mac forward. As he did he caught a flash of movement again and he relaxed, the mirror was playing tricks on his imagination. He lowered his rifle and stood, turning his back to the door.

He smiled at Mac, "More fool me Mac. I thought it was the Indian that was supposed to get jumpy in the scary ghost town, not the stiff-upper-lip white man."

He smiled as he looked at the tension still on Mac's face, "Yeah, that's how I felt but it's OK, it was just a mirror and my overactive imagination."

Belanger nodded, impressed that Fox was pulling himself and the team together.

"McRae suggested Whisky Cove, here, about 1.5km NNW of his current position. 500m NW of Eagle Harbour."

He checked his watch noting it was around 0030 hours on April 4th.

"Once the patrol has been completed, we plan on insertion for 0600 hours, just before dawn on the 5th. 29 hours from now, give or take."

The radio seemed to be working fine now. They could use the university's radio and antenna to repeat their signals, but it would make them more mobile to have their own comms functioning.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:25, Sun 30 Mar 2008.

Mac sighed and put his rifle down, trying to stay loose.

"Shit, this is goddamn spooky."

He stepped over the shiny discs of DVDs scattered outside the convenience store's shattered main display window, boots crunching on pebbled safety glass.

"I think that's the fire hall over there."

Mac pointed at a modern wood-sided structure across the street.

"Good spot," Andy acknowledged, "lets move over there."

Andy stepped lightly and strained his senses to try to pick up any tell tale signs of pursuit or danger, her was doubly alert,the place was freaking him out and he definately didn't want his ass handed to him like the main team had. When they reached the Fire House, Andy circled it carefully to see if there were any signs of occupation. The last thing he wanted to do was dive in like John Wayne and end up sticking his gun up some local dingnitaries ass. He doubted that it would be the case here, but Old Ma McRae had always said, "better safe than sorry". Well, actually what she'd said was "pop down the store, son and get me another quart", but its what she meant.

Once Andy was sure the place appeared deserted, he switched to his pistol and tried the office door.

They were now a little ways south from the harbour itself, following Marine Drive back the way they came, looking for what passed for an official building. The 2-lane street was empty and deserted, no vehicles were parked along what was designated a Disaster Response Route.

There was an eerie feeling of emptiness and abandonment over the tiny suburban community. Everywhere was the scars of fire and burning, the jagged remains of wood-frame houses hidden among the trees. What was once an upscale bedroom community with no large buildings and draconian bylaws protecting any trees from being cut down was now inevitably returning back to the deep forest.

By the time they got to the store, they were out of the burn zone. The devastation seemed to be mostly affecting the area around the harbour itself, and not the bulk of the pre-war community that stretched through the hills and forest to the south and east.

Across the street from the convenience store where Mac and Andy had the bejeezus scared out of them was West Vancouver Volunteer Fire Hall No. 3., a modern 2-story building on the corner of Marine and The Dale.

The main doors opening onto Marine gaped wide, pumper and ladder trucks long gone. Trash and unlooted scraps littered the empty concrete-floored bays.

On The Dale side, nearest the convenience store where Andy and Mac stood, were the Fire Hall's main office doors, closed.

[OOC: approach? Enter through the bay doors in front (south), office doors on the side (west), go around to the back and look for another entrance?]

After Andy had done a circuit of the Fire hall, he braced his pistol in both hands and held the gun pointing towards the floor. He gestured to Mac that he would enter through the open doors to the appliance garage. Stepping carefully to avoid the trash, he entered.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:40, Sun 30 Mar 2008.

Mac covered Andy as he dashed across the street, then followed.

After a circuit of the building confirmed that there wasn't a vehicle parked out back, Mac slung his rifle and drew his own Hi-Power, chambering it. He followed Andy inside, and once through the bay doors covered the side of the room opposite.

The room was clear. They cleared the offices and then the back rooms. The building was empty of people, and long looted of supplies and useful equipment.

The offices and the front desk was empty and bare. Whoever had handled the move out of here had cleaned up after themselves well.

A trick of acoustics brought the sound of horses from outside, perhaps 100m to the east (back towards the distant bridge). They were closing slowly and not yet in sight, moving at a leisurely pace. Maybe a dozen horsemen traveling west along Marine drive, steel-shod hoofs on pavement.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:57, Sun 30 Mar 2008.

Andy and Mac heard the horses at about the same time. Ducking into the cover of the shadows, Andy found a good hiding place taht would offer a view of the column as it passed, he gestured to Mac to find a place wher he could watch the binome's six. Crouching silently, Andy patiently waited.

Nodding, Mac positioned himself behind Andy, facing to cover their rear arc and the rear entry to the building.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:35, Mon 31 Mar 2008.

The wide bay doors gave Andy a good view of Marine Drive, but anyone traveling along would have a hard time spotting them in the deep shadows where even the silver moonlight didn't penetrate. Plus, lying down in a rear doorway looking out into the bay and onto the road he looked like just part of the piles of discarded trash.

A single rider appeared, riding easily. The pointman's head filled the glowing green reticule of the starlight scope as McRae easily tracked him.

The scout wore what looked like Russian summer-pattern camouflage fatigues with a chest ammo-harness (no armour), single-tube NVGs (also probably Russian) and had an SVD Dragunov sniper rifle with night scope lying across the saddle. The scout also wore running shoes, not Russian-issue leather boots, and a camouflaged bandanna head scarf instead of a helmet.

There was a small Canadian flag stitched onto the right shoulder of the fatigues, glowing flourescent black-and-green in the magnified light-amplification image.

Wihtout stopping, the rider glanced into the bay (right at him, it seemed to Andy), then continued checking the areas. He continued riding at a slow walk without dismounting.

The main body of 9 more riders traveled 30m behind the point.

of the section (squad) 8 were soldiers dressed basically like the scout (some bare-headed or wearing bandannas or boonie-hats, western-style combat boots and running shoes). They were armed with AK-74 rifles, all with Maple Leaf shoulder flashes.

One large burly bearded man, possibly an NCO, wore a beret and  had a GP-30 grenade launcher (game stats as per the earlier BG-15) attached to his AKS-74, beside him was a signaler with a backpack radio. Another carried an RPK-74 SAW. A spare "pack" horse in the middle carried spare ammo, and a large bundle of olive-drab green glass-fibre tubes and cases that Andy recognised as a disassembled ATGM of some kind.

The 9th rider rode beside the NCO and Signaler. It was a clean-shaved young police officer dressed in camouflage with West Vancouver PD shoulder flashes and Corporal's Chevrons, black police bullet-proof vest. NVGs were flipped up on his head over a baseball cap turned backwards, and a C8 was slung on his back, sidearm holstered at the belt. He was talking on the radio, handset cord stretching across the gap of a few feet to the Signaler. Unfortunately, his face was not towards Andy, so he couldn't read the man's lips in the scope.

Moving slowly and keeping watch around them, the small mounted unit continued heading west past the Fire Hall without stopping. Getting into a fighht at less than 50m range with a section-sized unit would be suicide.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:42, Mon 31 Mar 2008.

Andy watched them go by and carefully noted the details he saw for his radio report. The mix of equipment was quite usual but the uniformity of some of the gear was very interesting. The patches as well suggested that they were trying to establish order, or, possibly to use an old symbol to their own ends. Andy continued to wait until the unit was well past his position.

With Andy supplying the information, Mac compiled a quick SALUTE report to transmit back to base using the secure channel. "Size, Activity, Location, Unit, Time and Equipment".

"...ah, be advised beginning SITREP. Break."

"Observered as follows: one-zero (10) riders on horseback, moving east-to-west along Marine Drive at Fire Hall number Three, appear to be nine Russian rifle or motor rifle troops escorting or accompanied by 1 individual dressed as West Van Papa Delta, at 0116 hours 05 April 2001, armed with 7 Alpha Kilo-74s, 1 Golf Papa-35 (GP-35 GL), 1 Sierra Alpha Whisky (RPK-74 SAW) and possible Alpha Tango Golf Mike (ATGM) with Charlie-8. Over."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:25, Tue 01 Apr 2008.

Andy and Chris stole along silently after the cavalry. Tracking them by sound, they stayed parallel and slightly behind the column, the woods and buildings that they moved through and around were dense enought to foil most NV, Andy surmmised, especially if it was PACt not Western. The horse march pace was easy to keep up with, the only real benefit to walking it had was that when the column stopped, Andy and Chris would have expened a heck of a lot more energy than the riders, still it was all just one more beautiful day on the job for the CAF.

Whilst tracking the column, Andy was careful to consider their operational security also. there was no point remaining invisible to the cavlry if they got seen by someone else. Not slick, he thought, not slick at all.

Shevchenko took his time to reply to Khandola. He was well aware that the way the words were going to be put will be important and his less than desirable command of Shakespeare's language put him in an initial disadvantage.

Khandola, is true...I left a nasty surprise for the bastards. They barbaque'd the team and I felt impotent. No one could see them. I was afraid that they would overrun and kill us all. I was careful enough to put the grenade near the shore. In case they wouldn't touch it the tide would do the job...

Taras didn't regret it. It was part of his job as a combat engineer to create "obstacles" to cover retreat and other maneuvers. But this is not what he had on mind when the mission started. He thought that he will be working towards the normal return to peaceful leaving and found himself as the first one to draw blood.

Khandola,...It may or it may not be the right thing to do...But this fucking savages got a lesson and the next time will think twice. I believe no one has been able to challenge their authority but times will change that.

Looking towards Fox he added:

Sir, the reason to move to the North Shore is to contact the population over there and offer the services of the UBC under the IRON program. So far we have a very dark picture of what is going on up there. It seems that armed forces are moving around but no population has been found yet. This put the portion of the North Shore investigated by the team pretty much same as the Stanley Park. I would like to have more information on that fishing community. If they are in an island then is perfect to move in as we have a natural perimeter to protect us. They may also have first hand information about those armed men".

Returning his gaze to Khandola, Taras concluded:

I am willing to lead the contact element for the North Shore if this is what the council and the CF and RCMP members decided is the right thing to do. But I will not risk the life of any of these members in any case. The main mission of the team sent from the island was gather information and at this point is what we are doing. I would like to have HQ reported of the findings in Stanley Park and also the North Shore. Report also the physical and material condition of the team and clarify the leadership while the Lieutenat recovers.

"That the same place McRae inserted? If so, I don't think we should do the same. Someplace else nearby should be chosen." Fox replies as he looks at the map.



"Who inserts 29 hours from now?" he asks looking up from the map with a hint of confusion in his voice.

Belanger took a sip of coffee.

An oil lamp cast a golden glow over the table spread with maps and the radio set.


"The plan was for you to insert 29 hours from now. To make official diplomatic contact with the community we were told was there."

"Whiskey Cove is to the north of Eagle Harbour and had not yet been visited. It is located between Eagle Harbour and the ferry terminal at Horseshoe Bay.  Maybe less than a klick to either."

"It's still a relatively good spot and I see no reason to change at this time.  The sniper recce element originally inserted at Ambleside, about 15km to the east and a little south."

"The plan was for the recce element to observe the community for a day, and the rest of the team insert on the morning after next. "

By way of explanation he offered, "taking at least a full day cycle to observe the target community is crucial. During the day they can count noses, observe traffic, gather information... not much you can see at night, except if a community is there and has guards. Which they mostly aren't and don't anymore."

He brought out a pad of paper covered with notes. He made a few changes, underlined a couple parts for emphasis:

"I have it all written down for reference. It is now... 0120 hours on April 04."

"I hope this is clear? If not, please let me know."

---

It is currently... 1315 on April 3rd, 2001."

"Leaving at 1945 hours, the team in the Whale-watcher and a zodiac will travel via Burrard Inlet and Howe Sound to Whiskey Cove."

"The recce element in the zodiac, McRae and MacDonald, will insert into Ambleside Park, covered by the team (which will recover the zodiac). They will proceed along high ground the BC Rail line, westward." he traced a route on the map to the immediate north of the Trans-Canada.

"Some time around twenty-four hundred on the 3rd (tonight) or oh-one-hundred hours on the 4th the recce element should be able to place Eagle Harbour under direct surveillance for around 24 hours, until around 2400 hours on the 4th.

After that, during the early morning hours of the 5th ("oh-dark-thirty"), they then relocate north along the high ground and recce the proposed main landing site at Whiskey Cove. They then remain in place for the main element to arrive at 0515, before dawn at 0615."

"In the mean time and prior to that (also on the night of the 3rd), the rest of the team will then conduct a visual reconnaissance of Stanley Park and the Lion's Gate Bridge, traveling by water from the east to west, then south along the seawall. If insertion is desired (but frankly not recommended absent the LAV for fire support) it can be done on the part of the seawall with the low ground behind it here to the immediate east of the bridge, where I believe there is a stairs and trail up to the bridge abutment"

"Once this visual reconnaissance is completed and well before daylight, the main element will retire to the Marina to be held in reserve until they RV with the recce element 1 hour prior to dawn on the 5th at Whiskey Cove."

"Both elements, accompanied at that point by the media team, will then proceed from Whiskey Cove to Eagle Harbour."

"For additional forces, the UBC reaction team and supporting Militia elements will be held in reserve at the Marina for the entire time. They will have as additional equipment night vision equipment and a GPMG from our stocks, as well as a C6 borrowed from the team."

"Comms will include the code words suggested, hourly check-ins, and so on. Arranged by the team Signaller."

Lacking vital information like the presence of possible hostile forces he included every other detail that went into a standard warning order, including the presence of civilians and the need to treat them with care.

"Rules of Engagement are as follows: Rights to Engage in self-defense is always paramount. Civilians and armed forces of unknown (but potentially friendly disposition) will be present. They may be suspicious or confrontational. Weapons are therefore to be kept at "Loaded", magazines inserted but no rounds chambered. (Support weapons above Section Automatic Weapon or single-shot grenade launcher level will be kept loaded and a round chambered, including the automatic grenade launcher on the rigid-inflatable whale-watcher.)

Armed hostile forces (defined as outlaws, criminals, enemy combatants etc.) are to be met by going to Action or Instant (weapons free) as per the aforementioned Rights to Engage according to the situation.

Minimal force necessary is to be used against unarmed threats.

Exceptions to the above restrictions (other than Rights to Engage) would be to defend civilian life and property. Civilian casualties are to be avoided at all costs and collateral damage to property unless necessary.

Any enforcement of the Criminal Code will be done by the RCMP personnel present, at his or her discretion. Although it is worth bearing in mind that the purpose of this mission is reconnaissance and not law enforcement."
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:44, Tue 01 Apr 2008.

Examining some horse droppings in front of the station, Mac said these were well-kept  healthy horses, well-fed on grain and hay, with little local grass.

Andy heard from Mac he'd grown up on a farm up north with horses all his life, and concurred with his assessment.

Mac decided to lead off as pointman, following the unit but on a parallel course, so that they wouldn't run into a "stay-behind" element waiting to ambush followers. This would be easy; the unit was traveling on Marine Drive and like it's cousin in the south side of the city it too was a Disaster Response Route cleared of vehicles stalled after the EMP of the nuclear attacks just over 3 years ago. They could also clearly hear steel horseshoes clashing on pavement from over a hundred metres away.

Andy continued to folloe the cavalry carefully. It was strange, he thought, this unit represented far more threat to him than the ghost town around him, yet he was strangely comforted by their prescence

They kept pace with the mounted patrol, heading back up the rail line as it paralleled Marine Drive off to the right.

The patrol traversed the burn area, not stopping. They passed by the street that turned left and led past Gleneagles Golf course to Whiskey Cove, between Eagle Harbour and Horseshoe Bay. The sniper element turned off the rail line when it entered the tunnel (going north) and instead traveled above the patrol on the Upper Levels Highway (Hwy. 99)

Near to Horseshoe Bay, the terrain restricted Marine Drive, the Trans-Canada (Hwy. 1) and the Sea-to-Sky Highway (Hwy. 99) into a natural choke point 400m wide with a steep-sided wooded mountain on the right (the western flank of Cypress mountain) and the cliffs overlooking the water on the left. (The BC rail line traversed this area via a 1 km tunnel beneath the mountain, coming out to the north of Horseshoe Bay.)

Just above the town and ferry terminal itself (to the south, on the side facing West Van), was a line of manned roadblocks and checkpoints strung across the bottleneck created by the forbidding terrain. To continue, they would either have to traverse the steep wooded slope of the mountain on the right, or the hilly forested peninsula on the left.

It was a fantastic defensive position.

Anyone coming north from West and North Van and the city itself towards Squamish and Lillooet (or vice-versa) would have no choice but to go through the roadblocks. There was chainlink fencing and concertina wire, 4 bunkers flanking the roads, 4 watch towers, "dragon's teeth" to direct traffic, spotlights powered by a generator they could hear rumbling in the background.

There were signs posted:


Far below them, the patrol stopped at the far left of the 3 checkpoints in the east-west perimeter (there was one on Marine, one on the Trans-Canada that led to the ferry terminal, and one on the Sea-to_sky bypassing the town). Sleepy-looking Milita dressed in US and CF surplus and armed with a motley collection of civilian weapons (hunting rifles, shotguns, pistols) let them through.

The nearer checkpoint (on the Sea-to-Sky) had a flag pole with the maple leaf flying (in Canada there is no real "flag" traditions like taking them down in darkness, etc.).
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:42, Wed 02 Apr 2008.