The first part of the day went well.

Taras relayed his information to Major Anderson at DRI Headquarters, who promised that there would be an answer soon. Then Taras departed for the North Shore.

Kelsey, Tyler, Andy and Mac departed for the Downtown in the HazMat vehicles. Tyler seemed to be clear about following orders and the chain-of-command, which was Andy for this component of the mission. A small group of comms techs accompanied them.

While still in the newly "secured" area of Vancouver, they spotted a small group on foot in the street carrying bags and with packs, towing a hand-cart piled high with possessions. It was a family from further east in Burnaby, who'd heard that there were some kind of services being restored in Vancouver and decided to move. They were met by Block Watch and were directed to one of the new community centres that were being set up, where ID would be issued and they would be allocated a housing assignment and ration card for food.

Coming into the downtown they first surveyed the bridges into the downtown (Burrard, Granville and Cambie), and found that they were structurally sound and had at least a lane or two cleared in the middle.

This time they did meet some 31 refugees in total over the course of the morning (all ages and sexes, mostly white). They came for basic medical attention, but weren't interested in leaving anything but their first names and wouldn't talk about anything (including where they lived or what they thought of the Angels or Undergrounders).

Still, it was a promising start! The comms techs managed to place the repeaters on the roofs of some high buildings, as hidden as possible, then they departed.

With Clarke in charge (with Kyoko along), Lee took the reaction element and a work party to the old Police Station at the heart of the Downtown East Side, the former skid row and poorest part of the city. They passed a UBC-based militia patrol on the way out, securing the streets of the newly-surveyed part of the city. It looked like the area had been hit hard by looting and arson, and the cop shop was no exception. The 4-story old building still looked good for their purposes, although a few scavengers scattered out the back door as they approached.

It looked like squatters had lived there for a little while at least, and the interior had been thoroughly gutted of any valuables or salvage (like copper wiring or light fixtures). However, aside from a ton of ripped-out drywall, broken furniture and trash that needed to be cleared out, the building was structurally sound and there were plenty of useful rooms. There was, aside from storage rooms and offices, a large underground garage with workshop accessed from the back alley (all looted of course) and an underground shooting range.

Fox took another work party to the local military HQ, the abandoned Jericho Garrison building. It had been the command post for the Canadian Forces in BC up until the early 90's. Then after severe cutbacks, land and buildings were sold off and it became a smaller administration centre for the Reserve (Militia) Regiments in the Lower Mainland. When the war started it became the administrative centre for Canadian troops being readied for Korea out at CFB Chilliwack and over on the Island at CFB Comox.

The building, adjacent to UBC, was in great shape. More to the point, there were still intact underground storerooms with tons of full uniforms ("combats") and assorted kit, although there were no modern weapons, ammunition, food or electronics. There were a few dozen worn-out C1A1 rifles and a half-dozen C2A1 automatic rifles, and around 20 Sterling submachineguns.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:47, Sat 04 Oct 2008.

Tyler had awoke a bit late in the morning.  His eyes slowly opened, immediately letting in the mild pain of light as his hangover was still gripping his head.  He rolled over a few times before finally rising from bed to greet the day.  His head sat beneath the shower head, his hands supporting him upright by leaning against the wall.  It was a rough night, and Tyler regretted what he had tried to do.

As he dried off, thoughts of his Jenny crossed along his mind.  A knock at the door, his uniform on, and Tyler quickly found himself at the cafeteria eating morning chow.  After a large breakfast, Tyler was brought into a briefing for the day's festivities.  He would be going back into the city.

After being issued a white HAZMAT jumpsuit, and a few other odds and ends, Tyler got ready to go, grabbing his gear, and then stepping over to his weapons.  He stood there for a moment, deciding finally on the CAR 15, considering that it fired NATO 5.56 rounds like much of the Canadian weapons.

Kelsey got up and got ready that morning, briefed and ready she went over her gear again, going with the standard selection she normally fielded for once they got free of the Hazmat team.

Out in the field she supervised and checked retransmitter placement, smiling inside the bunny suit as she did.  It might be a few days of observation or more before this really netted valuable things, but she is sure it would, especially if the Angels were using walkie talkies or CBs.

She checked the radio watch schedule before she went out, to ensure they had at least two at a time there, to double check their own radio checks, and to have the minimum for proper surveilance.

Andy got himself ready for another day of recce. He tooled up and headed over to Kelsey.

In reply to Andrew Montgomery McRae (msg #50):

Clarke was glad to see the group of recce personnel ready to go.  Once they were in the area they would be separating from the HAZMAT team to continue the mission on their own.  The HAZMAT crew was, after all, a distraction to get them into the area.

Considering the reaction to the last HAZMAT imitation in the area, back the police station Clarke had RCMP communications personnel (since all of hers were in the field) set up to test the new retransmitters. Once shown to be good, they were to monitor the radio chatter coming in from the HA's for any trouble brewing. That way, they would know if the teams needed to get out or would require assistance from the reaction units.

Clarke had one last thing to add for the recce team.  "See if you can re-establish contact with the undergrounders Tyler met before.  They may know things that can help you.  They may also be good allies for our operations.  We shouldn't miss an opportunity to make contact."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:33, Mon 06 Oct 2008.

The weather started out overcast and began to get worse as the day progressed.

An overcast sky turned to a light drizzle.

Over on the north shore Taras met up with Bulat and went over a map locating the positions of the Stickmen on the north side of Stanley Park. They were speaking Russian, Bulat had a terrible accent but at least they were mutually able to communicate.

"My friend, they seem to have 4 guards on the bridge where they can see north along the bridge and to the east along the Seawall, and another here on the lookout looking west along the other way on the Seawall."

"That means any vehicles approaching will be obstructed from view until the reach the centre of the span. They will have to dodge some stalled vehicles but most of the way is clear. Most vehicles, it seems they were able to roll off the bridge either way. Of course as mentioned it is solidly barricaded by cars, trucks, and logs at the park end."

With the teams in the city, the morning had been taken up by emplacing the repeaters and the interaction with the fair number of remaining city-dwellers that showed up for some basic medical attention.

There was little radio traffic from the HA's, they didn't seem to be stirring much, preferring to hang around the club. No one seemed to comment on the HAZMAT team.

The best location for a transmitter and OP of Brandie's would be the 35-story skyscraper across the street, Park Place. But, they hadn't yet gone by there, keeping well clear of the club for the moment.

As their current instructions were to make some kind of contact with the Undergrounders, the team moved instead towards the underground shopping mall stretching from West Pender all the way to the Etons' building on Robson, just over from the Law Courts and the Art Gallery (the former Law Court).

The meeting in North Vancouver was very productive. Showing rank helped a lot to keep the air professional and the old loyalties of yesteryear remained somehow in the misty air of the mountain side. Everybody noticed the sudden change of weather through the windows. The choppy waters will not help a calm crossing afterwards. Usually the evenings wouldn't improve the meteorological conditions in Vancouver. A sense of rush was also floating in the boardroom.

As a Combat Engineer, Taras knew well that some obstacles were laying ahead in the road and wanted to be prepared. The initial takedown will be fast and furious but the continuation of the mission will be surely slowed down by the inconveniences exposed by the intelligence gathered by the North Shore troops and also the useful descriptions obtained by Josh, the team insider.

The original idea proposed by the ex Lieutenant appeared to be taken into full consideration by Bulat and his militia. Not having enough time to check in person the current status of the vehicles, Shevchenko trusted a verbal description of the works performed in the BTR-70. Using welding equipment located in one of the numerous repair shiyards along the shore a snow plow from one of the munincipality fleet was fitted to the front of the vehicle. Due to the harsh exposition to weather conditions the cities of West and North Vancouver were veterans of many snowy winters compared to the milder rest of the Lower Mainland where endless soaking rain was the staple of the season. Therefore the snow implement became almost readily available. The width seems to fit almost perfectly, only a few inches short of the laterals.

For the side and wheel protection against coktail molotovs the russian troupe did have to go the extra mile and stir their brains. Finally, one of the corporals, a fitness enthusiast, came up with the idea of stripping the rubber floor of a nearby gym. Long and wide strips of rubber were procured, fastened and bolted to the side of the chassis. The unpredicted advertising of the fitness facility stenciled in one of the sides probably would pay for the cardinal sin of a reckless dismantling of the flooring.

Maybe the stickmen will think that they are invaded by the Army of "Just Ladies Fitness" thougth Corporal Andrei Zivko.

The BTR-70 will become their combat engineering or "breach" vehicle. Powerful enough and with a remarkable inertial weight to throw some kinetics around if needed. But this was not going to be enough. Shevchenko advised the militia to prepare a good deal of sandbags to initially fill any possible trench or dangerous gap in the roads but also to be used as a fire extinguising element and to erect defensive positions right after the takeover. Specially if considerable damage was going to be inflicted to any structure. A short list of explosives and associated elements quickly made it to his folders as well. Large and cumbersome logs could be difficult to deal with. Well placed explosive charges could resolve the problem in a expeditive manner. Plastique was the very best on his list. Easy to work with and give the required shape it was the ideal element to breach any solid barricade without the needs of large and unnecessary quantities of TNT that could endanger his own team members. An extra load of various grenade types and flares will complete his kit.

It was the intention of Taras to be part of this operation. As a veteran Combat Engineer he will offer his skill for the mission. He decided to be Commander of the BTR-70 if Clarke will approve it, that is. Bulat will be the Commander of the lead assault vehicle the BMP-2. Shevchenko will follow behind and will direct the Heavy Machinegun fire and once reached the Park and secure the bridge head, the BTR-70 with a dismounted infantry escort will "pioneer" the route and clear the access. From there and after maintaining radio contact, the armored column will further advance to meet the rest of the team at the stickmen main compound. In this manner they will act also as a reserve force that could be redirected to any hot spot. A contundent force to recon with.

Special care will be put in the readiness of each of the vehicles. Fuel, ammo, etc. will selected and prepared before the operation. With a final row of instructions for the militia and West Van Police representatives the meeting came to an end.

Without much delay the boat left the North Shore under a cold shower and gusts of wind. Like a wild horse, the prow will lift up and bow down at the mercy of the waves. The expert hands at the wheel kept the revs slow for a long return trip. The yellow raincoat didn't help much. The uniform, soaking wet, will need a good deal of a drier back at the Uni.

Keeping to shadows and moving fast when in the open, after bailing from the cover team the recon team moves like any well trained and experienced such team might in this situation.  They head for the underground mall.  Packed light for maneuverability, mostly ammo, some lighting, and some ration packs to pass out to the denizens, each team member equiped with a small radio and earpiece, likely prc-70's, and ready for a firefight they hope to avoid.  The Hazmat team and her own people are set up on the same Freq, scanning the others, hopefully to be able to pass on warning to them as soon as possible.  Hopefully the BMP is ready to extract them, as well.  Just in case.

"Keep a sharp eye and ear out for the Angels, and our real targets, the civilian populace"

Duckwalking behind a burned out car, Kelsey carefully surveys a parking garage opening before moving into it, guns always kept slightly down.

"Time to make friends"

Back at the RCMP office, Clarke was keeping track of Kelsey and the others.  "Keep in mind we suspect there may be informants for the HA and Stickmen in the Undergrounders.  Be friendly, but don't push.

Clouds started gathering overhead, forming an overcast layer that Kelsey was quite used to.

The small convoy stopped by the entrance that Tyler had exited before. Dismounting, they found the door locked, perhaps barred from the inside.

No one answered the door opening onto Granville, and no one also seemed to be watching them as Andy and Tyler scanned the dark windows of the office building above them and across the street.

Bearing in mind that the main objective for the day was to drop off a covert observation element to survey Cyrus' route from Stanley Park to Brandie's and back again, it probably would be a good idea to not push the envelope. There were days, perhaps a week before the raid on Stanley Park. There would be other opportunities to contact the Undergrounders. Taras had been careful to stress that they should be concentrating on one task at a time where possible.

Back in the van, Chris looked at the street map. He was unarmed, like the others in the white HAZMAT "bunny-suit" coveralls pretending to be a technician.

"Master Sniper," he addressed Andy, "I think that as the route of our target (Cyrus) comes East down West Georgia, bears left (northeast) down West Pender, then turns right (South) on Hornby, we should have at least two OPs. One watching from the northern corner of West Pender, and another watching Brandie's directly."

In reply to Christopher Little Hawk MacDonald (msg #57):

"Right, Chris, you with me on West Pender.  Mac number two and Tyler take the OP across from Brandies.  Let's mount up."

"Affirmative," agreed Andy, "lets' get in place."

Kelsey grins and winks at Andy.

"You snipers are in charge of this bit, I think.  Not my area of expertise.  Or, if you want me in charge, I will take your advice extremely seriously."

Tyler nudged McRae on the arm.  He nodded, and prepared to move, CAR 15 in hand.  Up to this point, he hadn't expected much in the way of anything exciting, so now that things were getting interesting, Tyler's combat senses kicked in.

"Rodge...let's get this done.  Good thing I brought the trusty binos to watch the winos...no?"

As the afternoon wore on, the group at the old police station (including Clarke and Lee) saw only 1 person. A man riding an old 12-speed bike with a bundle of scrap tied to the back and another in a bulging bag slung over his shoulder rode West down E. Hastings past the cop shop at the corner of Main. He didn't stop, and he gave no notice of the work party (who had parked their vehicles in the garage and back alley, and remained out of sight).

The recce team split off from the HAZMAT and other vehicles, 2x 2-person elements ghosting into the growing shadows. Rain started to spit, not a drizzle, not yet.

Kelsey and Mac hid in a 4-story office-commercial building on the corner of West Pender, Cardero and West Georgia. With the 10x image intensifiers and the scope of the sniper rifle, they could see west all the way to the Park. By moving over the rooftop to the edge of the building next door they could see all the way down West Pender to the corner of Hornby.

From the corner of Hornby and W. Pender Cyrus would pass out of their sight, to be visually picked up by Tyler and Andy, parked in the 14-story office building kitty-corner from Brandie's (on the corner of Dunsmuir and Hornby).

The teams settled in. Tyler and Andy were looking down on Brandie's roof, a much small 4-story building from across the intersection. It had what looked like a covered M2HB in a sandbagged position on the corner of the roof overlooking the intersection, but the position wasn't really ship-shape. The ammo was probably locked in a wooden bin nearby, there was trash and food containers littering the MG nest, which looked like it was used mostly as a lookout position, but it was empty now. A dozen Harleys were parked out front on Hornby, as well as a black late-model SUV and a Churchill Armoured Car. There was no one on the roof, and 3 bikers out front (apparently unarmed) under cover.

As darkness fell, a party of a half-dozen people towing 2 hand-carts piled with scavenged goods scuttled past Mac and Kelsey's position, heading for somewhere in the apartment blocks of the West End across the street.

Like Josh had said, 4 men on mountain bikes rode out of Stanley Park, heading towards them in the gathering twilight down West Georgia.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:46, Sun 12 Oct 2008.

Kelsey shuffled carefully from her lookout point towards the park, she tries to keep excitement out of her voice.
"This is Green two three.  Subject acquired visual, as expected, four bogies.  Standing by.  Out."  She broadcasts fast, milcom secure.

"Green two-three this is green six.  I copy.  Charlie Mike. Green six, out.

The could see it was Cyrus (from Josh's description) and 3 bodyguards riding down West Georgia, on mountain bikes. They didn't seem too concerned, keeping a poor look out as they rode. Confident, thinking of the night's pleasures ahead of them.

They rode past them and turned onto West Pender, then a while later in the distance turned onto Hornby. They could see a couple had crossbows slung across their backs, the others with machetes and knives. Cyrus had a large black athletic-style nylon bag around his shoulder, the trade goods for the Angels.

Already warned, Andy and Tyler picked up the 4 riders easily as they wove in and out of the abandoned vehicles, all over the place. If this were an ambush they'd be dead long before they knew what hit them.

They carelessly parked their bicycles outside Brandie's, not bothering to secure them. No one was foolish enough to mess with the customers of the Angels! Tyler and Andy got a good look at the 3 door bouncers dressed in baggy black fatigue-like clothes. One had what looked to be an M4 Carbine slung across his chest, another a shotgun and the last an Uzi SMG. All had sidearms either on their belt or in underarm rigs, and all wore tac-vests and tactical radios. (The repeaters had already picked up and relayed some of their chatter like call-signs, names, and so on.)

There was little other signs of life. As Cyrus and his homies were checked in 2 other (presumed) customers wandered down Dunsmuir from the west, heading towards the club. No guards were visible on the roof or other buildings.

In reply to helbent4 (msg #65):

I so wish we could just take that bastard out now.  Bet it might bring us real hell with the Angels.  If we do, has to wait a week, plan and calculate, figure out escape routes, support, diversion...

Shevchenko made it safe to UBC grounds only to find that most of the men and women of the CF, RCMP and militia were out in the field conducting their designated tasks either their routine assignments or special recce patrols. Upon arrival to the HQ the radio shack and adjacent command room, he was informed that even Lt. Cmdr. was outside the wire and around the some old Police station in the city.

It all appeared to be working well. An additional source of information could be gathered as the efficiency of Kelsey and her gadgets demonstrated. Taras will like to have an "in depth" investigation of the call signs, names, etc. of the HA. Once we have them "labelled" will be easy to broadcast to them by surname, name and nickname. The fastest way to communicate with them will be intercepting their comms. This way we exploit this to our advantage. Not only that, they could easily get their channels "jammed" and avoid any well orchestrated response from their part.

The burly ukrainian was in good spirits and patting the shoulder of the RCMP operator in the room and picking up a "talkie" to keep tabs wished farewell.

I'll be around checking some items in the basement...

Taras felt that he did have time enough until all the parties will return and went to his quarters. Walking down the stairs he opened a not too big storage room where he kept his "arsenal". Wrapped in an old towel the AKS-74U was resting over a small table. Dangling from an decrepit office chair was his lifchik or assault vest containing the prominent banana clips and hand grenades. No other weapons were visible. Only large wooden crates tagged with triangular red signs and lenghty cyrillic characters stencilled all along. It all stood as it arrived there almost six months ago. He approached one of the boxes and lifted the lid with the help of a nearby metal tool. 2 rocket launchers came out. Taras secured the rest of the contents and shouldering the launchers went upstairs to his room. At 12 kg each it would be necessary a few more trips to the basement to complete his combat load...

Around when Cyrus arrived at 1900, night fell and it began to rain. A cold light drizzle. The watchers on the roof continued their surveillance.

Over the next hour some 31 other patrons arrived, some walking from the West End, some riding bikes. A few riding motorcycles and even an open-topped Willys jeep, a rustly Ford Bronco and a 58' Buick Riviera in pristine factory condition. Weapons seemed to be knives, a few crossbows, some handguns and shotguns.

As the rain intensified the bodyguards retreated under the sidewalk awning, and no one manned the position on the roof.

In reply to helbent4 (msg #68):

Clarke jotted notes as the reports came in, transcribed the chatter.  She asked that the recce team identify who was speaking when if they could so she could match handles to descriptions the people who were talking.  If nothing else they should take notes.  Pictures with descriptions would be better.

In short bursts she asked several questions.  "See if you can identify this 'Bear' character, or the people we heard talking before.  Did you happen to get a look at the trash on the roof?  How long has that stuff been there?  Does it look like they are actively using the sniper nest now or it hasn't been used in a while?"

The queries were spaced out to maintain ComSec.

Using low light methods and photography, Kelsey does her best to collect data to look over when they return.  She adjusts her raingear to keep it from draining water right in and supresses a shiver, hoping her immune system can keep up with this lousy weather.

Andy reported that the garbage looked more like litter that had accumulated over time, not bulging garbage bags the club was too lazy to haul down to the water, splitting from being gnawed at by rats. There was no real way to tell without examining it up close.

"Bear" was mentioned once on the radio, along with other names. It was hard to establish context, and they didn't see the bikers they had observed the day before riding in the streets of the city.

A few more customers arrived over the evening, some left. All told, a careful count was kept of some 37 individuals, mostly white and all-male, of different ages.