He laughed at Kelsey's joke.

"What do we want? I guess you could say we want political asylum here."

"What can we do to help you meet your goals?

"For one thing, I don't know if we want to fight for you, we're not looking to get involved in other peoples' problems. Besides, we're still loyal Americans. We won't stand in your way if you want to deal with Cyrus. He's a nutjob."

*Kelsey laughs with him when he laughs, then gives Clarke a sidelong glance and a slight nod*

"Well, we will have to work on changing you over to loving living here as a later agenda, counting on Hockey Night in Canada as a means,  in the meantime, not standing in our way is handy.  He's killed folks for no reason, and he'll be answering for that.  If you can give us information on them, that helps, we have a murderer, and we want information to bring him in with the least amount of fuss.  Everyone here has had a bellyful of combat, you know?"

In reply to Kelsey Sarah Champlain (msg #71):

Clarke didn't want to come down hard on Kelsey, as she seemed to be getting through to Ed.  Still, she didn't have the authority to negotiate for asylum or anything else.  "Kelsey, you offered the man chocolate.  Why don't you hand it over to him and let me do the talking?"

"We would appreciate if you didn't interfere with us when we deal with Cyrus.  If his people try to enter your territory, keep them out.  I think that's a good place for both sides to starts.  It will give each of us a chance to show the other what we can do."

"About asylum... we don't have relations with the current US government so they can hardly ask us to surrender fugitives.  I'm not about to assign manpower to harrassing peaceful citizens, either.  You could say you have assylum by default."

"Not get involved in other people's problems?" Clarke laughed. "You live here.  They're your problems too.  This group isn't about fighting, not as a primary goal.  Send one of your people to liaise with us, see who we are and how we operate.  Then decide if you want to get involved or not."

"My unit is a joint venture between local, state and federal forces.  Our primary mission is to gather intellegence about illegal activity and liaise with law inforcement to bring criminals to justice.  Where needed, we provide specialized personnel for apprehending fugitives.  We do not 'make war', and we don't need people to fight for us.  Not the way you mean.  If it comes to that then we've done something wrong."

"Kelsey's right.  Everyone's had a belly full of war and killing.  Even those who fought against us are laying down arms and joining our communities.  Why should you be any different?  It's time to wage peace instead of war.  I'm not asking you to sign on just yet.  I am inviting you get to know us."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:48, Sun 27 July 2008.

*A bit of a lopsided grin and a wink at the Survivalist, slight rolling of eyes, satisfied a bit with her 'ice breaking'.  The chocolate had done been handed over and dissapeared, it seems*
"Right, sorry boss."

Belanger nodded to Clarke.

"I can guarantee the local government will not be cooperating with the US military government in Washington State. The Canadian Federal government no longer recognises the government in Colorado Springs in any fashion."

Grinning back at Kelsey, Ed took the chocolate.

"Okay then. Let's say for now we will not interfere with any operations you are going to conduct against Cyrus and his people."

"I'll send someone to liaise with you guys. After you deal with Cyrus, we'll have a better idea where we both stand."

He chuckled ruefully.

"It's funny you know? I had the chance to come up to Canada during Vietnam, but I stuck it out and chose to serve my country. There was a Canuck in my unit, great guy, and there were other volunteers like him as well. We said that you sent us your best while we sent you our worst. But here I am, and where does that leave me?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:52, Tue 29 July 2008.

In reply to helbent4 (msg #74):

"It leaves you like the rest of us, Ed, ready to start over.  That, and someone who's proud enough to serve his country but smart enough to know when he shouldn't." She offered her hand to his for a shake to seal the deal.

"Done then.  We'll expect to hear from you when the business with Cyrus is done.  You can contact us via Shepherd or directly at our HQ, whichever you are more comfortable with.  Until then, it's nice to have met you."

Clarke gathered up her people and got ready to go, then turned back to Ed.  "I happen to love Earl Grey tea.  I would be pleased to share a cup or two with you at the Yacht Club when you're ready to get to know us better.  Few things are more social than a nice cuppa and some hot buttered scones."

*Kelsey grins back as well*

"I like beer, I'll buy the first round?"

*She winks at Clarke and scoots along*

Taras was dissapointed. He didn't like the way this negotiation was ending. Not only the survivalists were going to sit and do nothing while they were alien to the country. They also have a large cache of weapons of war. And Clarke just revealed to a perfect, non cooperative stranger the nature and mission of the unit. Yes, telling Ed that we were an intel unit with intents on taking Cyrus was not a smart thing to do. Will Ed walk away now, the entire enterprise will be fully compromised. The amount of information gather by the survivalists was pure gold. And also tempting to "sell" to Cyrus for profit. They were already dealing with him so, why not?. Compromising Cyrus and his leadership will complicate things for trading and the current relationship with the survivalists.

I'll tell you were you stand right now, Ed. The government that we represent is carrying a reconstruction program that includes providing medical, educational and community support elements. Everybody that is willing to cooperate will benefit from that. In your particular case, you are an alien, you have weapons of war and you are selling them to bad people with criminal business. But here is a word for you to consider: The government intention is to return normal life to the city and create a civil society. It is not at this point the will of the government to start prosecuting people. But we need real cooperation.

Shevchenko was not trying to dissimulate a strong accent in order to keep the focus of Ed in his speech. He wanted to make clear that the problem was the future and not the current situation that the survivalist were trying to perpetuate.

You and me are not that different. We fought for our countries and we decided when too much was too much. We both ran away from non democratic systems and came here, to this country to start a new life. It takes a compromise to do so. The combat operations are coming to a stop in the Island and in the North of the province. The Canadian Forces are regrouping and, as we speak, they will mobilize 2 brigades into Vancouver coming from Duncan and Chilliwack. At that point you will have to respond to a military command instead of civilian authorities like the RCMP that Belanger and myself represent.

Taras hoped the trick will work. Paving the road for the future was a necessary move to change Ed's mind.

We can work out things for you and your people. Help us to get rid of a murdered and we can offer you a passport to freedom. You can get a chance to obtain citizenship and have a normal, peaceful life. If we can restore the situation in Stanley Park with your help you will have the opportunity to conduct business with the UBC community, the North Shore and the Musqueam indian reserve. We can guarantee schooling, medical services and emergency response.

It was the last chance:

We are not asking much from you. There is a main complex of residences where Cyrus has his Headquarters and several families are gathered. Before we move in, we need you to secure that perimeter. You are a good soldier. No need to shoot anybody, just make sure that no criminal element escapes or any innocent gets hurt by them. What do you think?

Used to staying imobile for long periods of time, Andy kept his face impassive and his body seemingly calm and relaxed. He moved slightly to get Ed's bodyguard in eye contact. He held it for a few seconds, long enough for it to register as unaccidental. He checked that the Russian had his back to him and gestured at the bodyguard, he pointed to his radio and his ear, then to the bodyguard and back to his ear again.

He held up four fingers on his right hand and then made a move of turning his reception dial to channel 4.

Although Ed had been slowly warming up to Kelsey and Clarke, Taras' request set him a little aback. Not that it was unreasonable in and of itself, but coming from an unexpected direction and adding new elements to the equation. After all, Ed had warmed up but hadn't gone any further than a certain point, and it was important that they receive better return on their investment of time and energy on this meeting.

Stirring the pot further, as it were!

He squinted to read Taras' name-tag. Meanwhile his bodyguard moved over to Andy and they conferred on the tactical setup, and Andy advised him of the possible movement in the parkade fronting the waterfront service road.

"Well now, Sergeant... Shev-chenko. I will certainly take your words into consideration. Strictly speaking, I hadn't really planned on moving here permanently. Being, you know, a political refugee of sorts and all. Participating in a... police action, I guess, isn't what I rightly had in mind."

He thought it over for a second. "Like I said, I'll send someone to check things out with your people. If it's kosher, then we can work out a deal in a couple days. After all, we haven't done anything worse except trade a little ammo here and there for folks' self protection. Likewise, anything we got we got for "defensive purposes"."

"If not, well then it's xin loi!"

Lee almost chuckled a little. She didn't really speak Vietnamese, but she understood "Win loi" was an expression meaning roughly "too bad, so sad".
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:03, Wed 30 July 2008.

After checking each other over, the two soldiers had a quiet word.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:19, Wed 30 July 2008.

In reply to Andrew Montgomery McRae (msg #80):

Through his military career, Andy had trained almost as many times in the US as he had in Canada.

This was due not only to the needs of the US's closest ally (in operational and tactical terms) but also because the frugal Canadian Forces liked to take advantage as much as possible by training using well-equipped facilities and well-developed courses on someone else's dime. As a member of the Airborne he'd done the Ranger course at Ft. Benning, Georgia, as well as cross-training with the Mountain Infantry at Ft. Drum in New York and at the infantry school in Ft. Hood in Texas (where he found that so many cycles of prior trainees had reduced foraging in the arid climate to sucking on bark, not like the lush forests back home). Not to mention exercises in the NTC in Nevada.

Of course, during the war in Europe, and Alaska and the Yukon there were many joint operations with US Special Forces and Rangers.

Tyler looked and acted like an old pro, reminding him of many veterans he knew, and he acknowledged the information with a matter-of-fact demeanour.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:21, Wed 30 July 2008.

Andy nodded to his opposite number, the bumped fists and drifted apart.

In reply to helbent4 (msg #79):

Clarke stayed calm.  "It's time to go, people," she said.  "Ed, I'll be looking to hear from you as agreed.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:24, Wed 30 July 2008.

Shaking hands with Clarke and the rest of them, Ed had Tyler arrange with Kelsey some comms protocols. US and CF procedures were very similar, and this was no problem at all.

"It's been a pleasure, we'll see who wants to volunteer to hang with ya'all for a while. Say, call you tomorrow?"

Thank you for coming, Ed. We'll keep in touch.

Without further protocol Taras turned his back and got into the Land Rover.

"Sounds like a plan, Ed.  Kelsey will be looking for you to radio in."

(Ft Irwin -NTC- is located in California, in the Mojave.  Been there, didn't enjoy it much.)

Kelsey gets with Tyler, getting the protocols straight, and giving him a freq to use to contact him, subtly trying to get info on his comm equipment at the same time by talking shop.  Geekily.

Apparently, Ty's dad Ed was well-prepared for the apocalypse.

Ed's personal comms was the Motorola commonly favoured by SOCOM and other reconnaissance forces. The set back on Deadman's Island seemed powerful. Neither seemed encrypted.

They piled into the trucks and pulled out, as Ed and Tyler got back into their boat and puttered off into the night.

Belanger commented to the others in the Land Rover (Clarke, Taras, Kelsey) that things went well as he expected. He spoke as he drove, tracing his way back. For a few minutes they drove with the water on the left and the rail yard on the right.

"There are many kinds of survivalists, more than most people realise. Ed doesn't strike me as a religious extremist or a right-wing political dissident. Like Christian Identity or anti-government militiamen. We aren't going to bully or entice him into cooperation, he will come on his own terms, once he trusts us. Clarke, it was perhaps unwise to alert him that we were an intel unit, but he's not stupid and he can tell with a group of RCMP, Army and Navy working together we're part of some kind of special Task Force! At any rate, our foot is in the door, and this was a lot tougher assignment than the North Shore, where Taras had a personal contact and the people were eager for contact and cooperation. Ed chose a well-fortified isolated part of the city, held himself aloof, perhaps isn't interested in staying... HOLD ON!"

Several dark shapes darted out at them from the darkness, flashing in front of the headlights. Belanger swerved to avoid them, but it was difficult to tell what was coming at them. Lee was driving behind the Rover in the Suburban, Andy riding shotgun.

There was a small waterfront park (Portside Park) on their left, tracks and then warehouses and industrial buildings on their right, and a few blocks away in front the orange crane towers of the Port of Vancouver, obscured in the darkness.


OOC: as an RP note, Belanger is having his say and to speak at this point would be to literally interrupt him. It's night and you're travelling along the waterfront service road, just about to turn into the downtown eastside, the former skid row of the city. (Once it literally was a skid row, where logs were skidded down to the long-gone sawmills that lined the waterfront.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:44, Thu 31 July 2008.

*Taras grabs thee maglite from the duty belt in order to ilsuminate the exterior lateral of the vehicle not covered by the headlights*

In reply to Taras Vladimirovich Shevchenko (msg #90):

Clarke tapped her radio.  "Andy, we have Tangos in front of the Rover.  Can't see how many.  They just charged out of the darkness at us.  Heads up, if these are Stickmen they may have Molotov cocktails."  She pulled her side arm and peered into the darkness, trying to see who or what was out there.

Kelsey charges and preps her rifle, flipping the safety off and immediately seeking a target, as combat prepped reflexes take over, if she has space she will locate by touch one of her frag grenades, and get ready to throw mentally if need be.

(we have a machine gun mount on this baby?  someone up there?)

Andy shifted position to view the dark with his NVGs, his M4 ready if needed.

Slowing, Lee decided that running over whatever it was was preferable to having an accident. Accordingly, she kep the vehicle centred on the twin yellow lines.