The unit at Brandy's was put on alert, and the extra patrol unit brought into the area.

In a few minutes drive from the police station, the vehicles converged from north and south. The team sorted themselves into two stacks, each taking a stairwell up. It took some time and necessitated picking the locks on a few doors and breaking down some others, but everyone made it to the top in one piece.

Then, the ERT conducted a room-by-room search, floor-by-floor from top on down, clearing the structure. The "saucer" shaped structure on top of the office building's lowest  an observation deck, then a lever with a revolving restaurant (now stilled) and then some mechanical spaces on top.

Over a period of a half-hour, the teams cleared the entire building, leaving them in possession of one of the best views in the city.

Except for some broken windows facing west in the direction of the nuclear strikes, damage at the top floors was light. Few people wanted to hike dozens of floors just for a really nice view and the chance to hurl dishes from the restaurant out a smashed window (although judging from the debris left below, some did). Birds had entered in through the smashed windows in western sector of the lookout level, and that area was littered with feathers and bird droppings on the linoleum floors, and the sound of nesting animals in the false ceilings.

Andy looked around and whistled lowly, "Damn, if this view isn't worth hauling my ass up all those stairs, nothing is."

He looked out and said, "Hey, Taras, I can see your house from here."

Suddenly he remembered the backpack and asked, "Hey, Kel, where do you want this widget?"

Rob takes a look around and starts judging distances. Trying to draw an imagined circle of 1000 yards around the structure.

"Well this isn't of much use to the Stanley park fight beyond long range recon but it does give a commanding view of the area.  It's easily defended unless someone wants to bring the whole building down or lose a hell of a lot of folks taking it. A few folks stationed up here with good optics can give some real time intel on what is going on in the area and warn those on the ground of possible dangers. I would  highly recommend it. "

Exactly, Mr. Robert. That is the whole point. The old Police Station on Main St. wouldn't give us neither the room nor the strategic location. I will request a small team of militia for overnight watch as soon as we get out of here.

Tomorrow we are going to mobilize a large group of people to take effective charge over the train, skytrain and ferry stations. I will make contact with Bulat and we will work together to re-establish a maritime connexion with the North Shore. This will serve the purpose of diminishing the power of the stickmen. The Lions Gate bridge no longer will be the only place to cross over.

The uneventful operation "CROWSNEST" was the first step concocted in a large scheme of things to facilitate the movement of people and goods throughout the Lower Mainland. Once the communications hub will be restored, the next moves will be restoring a ferry line with the North Shore and activate the railroad system to communicate with the troops stationed in the interior from a military point of view and facilitate the restoration of heavy transport for commercial purposes.

This low key, non confrontational approach was paying off more than the previous combat patrols. While the core of this operations was focused on the strategic value, Taras also realized that the bulk of the work, once the facilities were secured will be resting in the hands of the civilian reconstructions teams. While the current joint operations ensemble created upon an eclectic mix of Canadian Forces active personnel, police and militia was a flexible and highly operative team the lack of a defined structure for the civilian reconstruction task forces prompted some ideas to deliver to the provisional Government and the military HQ.

Now was the time to leave the promises. Taras made some personal notes and remembered Andy about the extra mile: to pay a visit to "Brandi's" or the Hell's Angels nest and feed some disinformation.

"There should be a utility closet attached to the roof antenna, probably on the roof at the base, or near the roofline.  The cables should match up connectors.  I can guide you through it over the radio and test from here."

Mmmm, an additional booster and relay here would help some, maybe a lot with longer range needs.  On battery for now, but hopefully at some point a power grid can go up.

"OK, Kel," Andy replied, "I'm on it now."

He looked for the way on to the roof and tried to decide how to get up and find the utility station.

In reply to Andrew Montgomery McRae (msg #6):

Shining his flashlight up into the darkness, it looked like the fire stairs continued up to the top maintenance floor. There was probably a service elevator that accessed the maintenance space, but it was long-marooned on the ground floor.

It was up to Andy if he wanted to continue up alone, or pick a few companions to form a "stack" to accompany him from the rest of the team and the (somewhat fagged-looking) militia.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group gazed out the eastern glass-less picture windows towards Chinatown. The windows were blown in on both the restaurant and observation deck floors. There wasn't anything more dramatic than shards and drifts of pebbled safety glass, shattered by the Mach wave. There were no "blast shadows" on the opposite walls, and although there was some scorching there was little evidence of fire other than some charred brochures scattered around the floor.

Outside the windows was a different story.

North Burnaby, from the base of Burnaby Mountain and several kilometres south, was the scene of unimaginable devastation. At the northwestern base of Burnaby Mountain on the waterline of Burrard Inlet, was a clearly-identifiable blast crater at least a hundred metres across, gouged out of the bedrock and filled with water. The western face of Burnaby Mountain was charred black, burned and ravaged by fire and the blast. North Burnaby south to at least Lougheed highway was one huge tangled field of fire-scarred rubble and partially collapsed houses and buildings. The wreckage extended in places to the Freeway and beyond, where quirks of geography funneled the Mach wave in unpredictable ways and fires raged unchecked through the green spaces and suburban housing.

Andy picked several militia troopers and got them to cover him as he accessed the utility shed. It was unlikely that any threat would be encountered, but it was always better to take precautions that weren't needed than to be hung out on a limb for not being careful enough.

In reply to Andrew Montgomery McRae (msg #8):

Above the restaurant was an entire fairly maze-like maintenance floor. There were boilers and air conditioner units and elevator rooms. These were in addition to those on the top floor of the skyscraper the rotating restaurant/observation level was sitting on. There were quite a few electronics cabinets and telephone closets.

Finally, they found a door to the roof of the top levels. Andy opened it and looked out, but he couldn't see an actual shed or unit adjoining the base of the radio mast.

However, the view was spectacular. They could see the north shore mountains, the mountains over on the Island, the Gulf Islands, even far off Mt. Baker in the United States, across the border in Washington.

Andy paused for a long moment drinking in the breathtaking beauty of the view. Then he used the radio, once he'd made contact and verified his identity he said, "Am unable to find what you described. I suggest you come up to take a look. The view, heck, I can't describe it, you really gotta see it."

In reply to Andrew Montgomery McRae (msg #10):

"Right, as soon as I am allowed.  At least for the view."

In reply to Kelsey Sarah Champlain (msg #11):

Smiling, Lee listened to the radio.

"Yeah, go up and have a look. Go on!"

She went back to looking out the window at the blast area on the west side of Burnaby Mountain.

In a few minutes, Kelsey was upstairs in the maintenance level. She met up with Andy and his stack, and quickly found the large room under the mast where she could hook it into one of the radio antennas. There were TV and microwave transmitters up there, radio transmitters, ever cell transmitters. Their connections all came through the one room.

The superb panoramic view of the downtown peninsula in a clear sky brought the attention of the ex-Lt. The sun was quietly dipping towards the calm waters on the English Bay with the mountain range of the Vancouver Island in the distant horizon. Alerting Rachel's radio call sign, Taras was following strick chain of command protocol,reminded her about the impending mission to infiltrate the nest of the Hell's Angels in downtown in a discreet manner.

..and we will need to clear the area soon as well...

There was still a healthy downstairs fitness quest to the parking lot.

"Thanks Rachel!"

Kelsey wastes no time climbing up the steps, arriving winded and sweating a little, she pauses in the window room to take a look, waving.. soon distractedly.. to Rachel, that is until her eyes catch the view and she is drawn to it.
"Wow... it's been a long..."  Her eyes catch the swath of destruction and she frowns a little and heads farther up, turning away.  "Be right back"
She finishes the climb and starts checking out all the connections up there, taking her pack from Andy with thanks, and hooking it into the best gain antenna it can handle, then she starts looking over the rest.  "We need some power up here, if half of this is intact I can have us up and running for the area for all kinds of things, contacting the government, radio and television transmission, you name it."  She hopes as she follows the power back to the boxes that there is a standby... either a generator, solar or wind  "Some juice is all I need."

Once the radio equipment was deployed, Rachel got everyone to RV on the observation deck to begin the long trek down the stairs.

Unfortunately, the battery pack would have to last for now, it would take a day or so to bring in a portable generator and another few days to repair the building's generator.

The emergency "genny" was in the lower floor on the Burrard Inlet side and was mostly intact. Some parts had been removed and scavenged but mostly it needed to be refueled. The head of UBC maintenance, the Ukrainian emigre Oleksyn, would be coming by in the morning with a team of technicians to get on it. Unlike the stripped police station, Harbour Centre's mostly underground mall and lower levels had been somewhat looted but the upper floors remained mostly intact.

Once they were all on the ground floor, Andy's expedition to Brandie's would be ready to begin. The UBC ERT was in position across the street.

Once the building was clear for takeover Taras decided to consult with Clarke and call it a day. It was a long and productive day but things were far from over. The team needed to return to base, secure weapons, vehicles and get their well derserve rest after a quick After Action Report. The day will be not over until the "Brandi's" element was home.

Taras emphasized with Clarke and the rest of the team that the technical aspects of the reconstruction would be better handled by the University crews and the joint task will focus in the active deployment and operations ahead. He had a few words with Andy before departure:

Andy, I'm a little bit worried about the danger of your mission infiltrating the Hell's Angels. "Brandi's" is a dangerous place and it is unlikely that we can provide you with a solid back-up if we are going low profile. I know you are a good soldier but don't take unnecessary risks. Let them know that we are not pursuing any confrontation.

Then sgt. Shevchenko told Kelsey:

Kelsey: Tonight Andy will go to the Hell's cave and deliver the message that one of their members was shot in the back by some desertors and we saved his life. I expect some reaction, of course. We will have to conduct a radio watch in their frequencies.

Clarke was next:

I will alert the RCMP patrols for tonight to keep an extra eyes on bridges and principal roads to look for any outbound biker from downtown. We will have the physical and radio-electronic spectrum covered. In this case we want to make sure that they get the message.

"I keep my civ team on twenty-four wrap around watches regardless.  I will stay close to call for them and advise them of the situation as far as they need to know, and to bring anything to my attention immediately."

Most excellent, Kelsey!

Taras couldn't help but reveal a smile. The professionalism of the memebers of the team was the best asset for the Government forces.

Thank you everybody for the good job today. Maybe we should prepare a barbaque one of these days...

"Don't worry, Sir." Andy replied to Taras, "I'll do my best not to get rumbled and then raped, tortured and killed, in that order if I'm unlucky. I'll visit the prisoner and see how the land lies before I go."

"Ahhhhh...."  A blush raised by the praise and her eyes wander a moment, a slow grin forming  "Ah, I just already had that going on is all, but hey.. I will double check it.  The Angels don't seem to use the radio much, preferring courriers, so you might want to watch for that."

1600 hours

The team and various units headed back to base at UBC after a very successful mission. There was a generally very positive mood among the people there, matching the improving and warming weather.

Andy heard the Angel was conscious but uncommunicative, so he left for the hospital to see what he could glean from him.

Meanwhile, some important signals intelligence was intercepted. A series of confused communiques were being passed between the different "enemy" stations they were monitoring. There was a certain amount of panic among the four identified HA chapters (Vancouver, Coquitlam, Surrey/White Rock, the Valley) and so Angels were planning on having "Church" they next evening (Tuesday). Until then, no offensive action was to be taken by any HAs against the pigs under what was clearly a threat of death.

Kelsey hussles that information on to Clarke/Taras/Rachel as it develops, actually rather excited to get some use out of her surveilance for once.

"This is interesting, the Hotel Alphas are really freaking out.. it's clear they are told not to act against us under threat of death.. here.. look here at this transcript"
She flips to another page of hand transcribed radio notes, with times, stations, relative angle, and any other info that could be gleaned from each transmission.
"Now might be a very good time for another push of some sort, before this church of theirs, they are apparently badly off balance.  Or maybe right as this Church is happening tomorrow night.  Take out the Stickmen, maybe?  Think our main target might come out for us?"

Andy reached the hospital and went up to the guard posted on the HA's door. He spoke calmly and said, "I'm master Sniper Montgomery, I have been asked to speak with the prisoner."

In reply to Andrew Montgomery McRae (msg #24):

"Provost Belanger said someone'd be by. Good to see you."

The young RCMP officer (dressed in normal patrol uniform) nodded and smiled, but he still checked Andy's military ID, noting the time in his notebook.

"Okay, you're cleared to go on in. Call if you need help, if you know what I mean. The bastard isn't talking."

He opened the door, and Andy could see the prisoner, Thomas "Roadkill" Ryan, lying in bed, watching a rerun on TV. There were IV drips snaking to his arm. He ignored the door as it opened.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:31, Sun 14 June 2009.