With nothing else on the schedule, the various team members bedded down for the night. Like clockwork, Kelsey's friend made contact via radio. He had the information, as promised.
The first set of answers were in regard to Taras' questions:
a) Where are the Head Quarters located? Have they any prisoners with them?
- Todd says the main HQ is in the terminal located in the Level 4 Observation deck on the western side of the terminal. That's where most of the radio and telecom equipment is all set up. I think there was an older one in a more secure area of the terminal, but when the airport was abandoned Basil had them move it to where he could have a better view. There is a secondary command post in Burkeville (the Trolls' living area) at the community centre near Basil's house, which is relatively close to the bridges. It's the one Basil prefers to use now, closer to home.
b) What are the shortcomings being experienced by the trolls in their violent campaign?
- Mostly boredom and social isolation. Not much to do on the island for fun, no one comes there and they are not allowed to leave the island except once a week on Sundays at market. They don't harass people and there are severe penalties for Trolls who assault or rob travelers.
c) What is the trolls operational and political planning?
- Their operational planning is reactive and defensive in nature. Their outposts on the bridges are intended to slow down an enemy to allow for a reaction force from the terminal and reinforcements from Burkeville to arrive. Skyguard, the tower post, mostly looks out to the north, south or west and again will be used to vector a reaction force towards any intruders.
d) What are the trolls numbers, organisation, deployments, training, weapons and communications means?
- They have 94 effectives, organised into 3 rotating platoons and an HQ section. Roughly 30 in the terminal making up the QRF, 30 on bridge/toll duty and 30 in Burkeville as "reserves". There are three M113s; 1 track at the bridge (see below), 1 "ACAV" at the terminal and one mounting a 20mm Vulcan in Burkeville. Three Humvees, Five Milverados (Silverado MILCOTS). Most are trained US or Canadian soldiers from the airfield security detachment, but only a third have combat experience. Lots of small arms and ammunition, but target practice has fallen off lately.
The track on the bridge is a former ADATS vehicle. There are no more rounds so the turret and launch rails were removed but is intact. The thermal optics might have been moved to the Skyguard OP, but if so it's only marginally successful and don't usually work.
Heavy weapons-wise, there's one Ma-Duece at the roadblock on the Arthur Laing bridge and a second one at the terminal. In inventory, there are five M60 GMPGs and Four C6s, a half-dozen SAWs. All leftovers from the when the military pulled out. One 5.56mm portable minigun. There's four M203s, one MK-19 and a Carl Gustav, plus ammunition for them. No LAW rockets. No mortars or artillery.
They have radio and landline communications. Hand-held radios, phones in the bunkers. There are two radio sets in Skyguard, the tower OP.
e) How are the relations with the Hells Angels and other communities?
- No relation with other communities, no defensive arrangements. Trade with the HAs and the Free Market. The HAs have made overtures towards Wright but haven't gotten too far. Yet. The main point of contact with the HAs is via the Free Market on Annacis Island.
f) What is the magnitude of involvement of the trolls against other communities including plans against UBC?
- No plans I know of regarding other communities, nothing towards UBC. Basil doesn't like the "eggheads" but has no contingency plans to deal them other than defensively. There is doubt that the Trolls could mount large-scale operations off the island unless considerably provoked.
Again, Basil seems open to some kind of deal with UBC at some point, perhaps negotiated by a creditable third party.
g) What is the trolls morale like? How are the conditions in their bases?
- There is considerable boredom and discipline has been slipping. So far no major incidents. It's hard to say if anyone
h) What are the troll's intelligence network details and priorities for operations against other citizens?
- The Trolls have no off-island intelligence network, but they pick up some intel from the market and the HAs.
Seth's and Gunny Conklin's questions filled in more blanks.
They really don't use a lot of buildings other than the terminal and the housing in Burkeville, most are abandoned and haven't been stripped although most of the low-hanging fruit has been picked, so to speak. There is a still and fuel dump at the school to the east of Burkeville.
Patrols are random, going out from the reaction element in the terminal and using the trucks. There are about a dozen NVGs for patrols plus a thermal imager mounted at Skyguard and an image intensifier there, too. However, most of the time patrols kind of look for things to sell.
The bridges are mined, basically land-lay for the AT mines and AP mines, the bunkers protected by command-detonated Claymores. Most of the minefields were removed except for the western areas of the Island and the bridges. In other words, no minefields in the rear areas. All the various beaches and potential landing areas have bunkers, but they are now overgrown and abandoned for a couple years. The bridges were not set to blow, there were no demo charges in place.
Personnel wear whatever uniform they had before, US Army and USAF BDUs, CF combats, some Russians. Most have helmets and Kevlar. No special insignia. Basil has a second in command, the platoons are led by "LTs" (Basil fashions himself a "Captain"), squads by Sergeants, etc. All ranks are just what he made up. There are a few motorboats (small bass boats) docked at the marina at the abandoned Delta Vancouver Airport Hotel.
Map:
http://goo.gl/maps/cwnC
Map Notes: The Skytrain hasn't been built, neither was the Sport BC complex.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:12, Fri 31 Dec 2010.